USA > Massachusetts > Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts > Part 88
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137
657
MEN OF PROGRESS.
possession of his descendants." Mr. Holmes's first ancestor in America. from whom he directly descends, was William Holmes, of Scituate, born in 1592, died at Marshfield, 1678. His eldest son, John, was ordained pastor of the church in Duxbury in 1659, being the second pastor of the second church in Plymouth Colony. Three other sons-Josiah, Abraham, and Isaac -with others, were the carly settlers of Rochester; and Abra- ham became town treasurer in 1698. Abraham, his son Experience, his grandson Experience, his great-grandson Abraham, and his great-great- grandson Charles J. Holmes, five generations, lie buried in the Holmes family lot in the cemetery at Rochester. The subject of this sketch was educated at the academy at Rochester and the public and private schools of Fall River. He left the High School at the age of nineteen, to enter the Massasoit Bank as a clerk. When twen- ty-one, he was elected treasurer of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, then just organized, and within a year was elected cashier of the Wamsutta Bank, now the Second National Bank, which had just obtained a charter from the Legis- lature. These positions he has continuously held. Upon the establishment of the Fall River Public Library, in 1860, he was elected one of the six trustees of that institution, and has since filled that position with the exception of the year 1879. Mr. Holmes has also served the city in various other capacities, and represented it, and the sena- torial district in both branches of the Legislature. He was alderman during the years 1885-88 and 1889, member of the School Committee fifteen years, member of the House of Representatives in 1873, and of the Senate in 1877 and 1878, serv- ing as chairman of the committees on banking and on labor. He is chairman of the Civil Ser- vice Commission, president of several manufact- uring corporations, and personally identified with many of the religious and benevolent societies and associations of his city. At the age of twenty- three he connected himself with the Central Con- gregational Church of Fall River, and has ever since been an active member, and for a number of years the senior deacon of that church. When a young man, Mr. Holmes was very fond of and excelled in all athletic games and sports, playing in cricket and base-ball matches for more than twenty years. Mr. Holmes is widely known in banking circles throughout the State from the position he has held for many years as chairman
of the committee of the Associated Savings Banks of Massachusetts. To this committee is assigned the duty of a general supervision of all matters of legislation, national and State, affecting the in- terests of savings-banks. For the last thirty years in the discharge of these duties, it has been assigned to him to appear before the committee of ways and means and the banking committee of the House of Representatives, and the committee of finance on the part of the United States Senate. and present the claims of savings-banks for favor- able consideration ; and marked success has at- tended his efforts in that direction. Mr. Holmes was married May 4, 1858, to Miss Mary A. Remington, daughter of Joshua and Joanna Rem- ington, of Fall River. They have three children : Mary L., Anna C., and Charles L. Holmes.
HOLMES, HORACE MARSHALL, M.D., of Adams, is a native of Vermont, born in Water- ville, November 2, 1826, son of Jesse C. and Orinda (Oakes) Holmes. His ancestors emi- grated early in the history of the country from
H. M. HOLMES.
Scotland, and settled in Peterborough, N. H., where his father was born. He received his carly education in the schools of his native town, and
658
MEN OF PROGRESS.
finished at the Bakersfield Academical Institute at Bakersfield, Vt. His medical studies were pur- sued with the late Drs. H. H. and T. Childs, and at the Berkshire Medical College, where he grad- uated in 1852. Settling in Adams, he began prac- tice soon after his graduation, and has been actively engaged in his profession there ever since. He has never sought public honors nor aspired to public life, having found his chosen calling, with such influence as pertains to it, more congenial to his taste ; but he has been called to various posi- tions in which he has done good service. He was for several years a member of the Adams School Committee and chairman of the Board of Health, and in 1878 and 1879 represented his district, composed of Adams and North Adams, in the State Legislature, both terms serving on the com- mittee on public health. Dr. Holmes became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1857, and was for two years president of the Berkshire Medical Society. He is a charter mem- ber of the Berkshire Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and was two years master of the lodge ; and he is also connected with other Masonic organizations. He was married October 11, 1855, to Miss Helen C. Ross, daughter of Merrick Ross, of Pittsfield, and has a daughter and son : Jesse R., now wife of Charles E. Legate, of Adams; and Dr. Harry Bigelow Holmes, now associated with him in his practice. Mrs. Holmes died in 1880.
HOMER, THOMAS JOHNSTON, of Boston, mem- ber of the Suffolk bar, was born in Roxbury (now Boston), July 18, 1858, in the house in which he lives. His father was Thomas Johnston Homer, of Boston, for many years a merchant in St. Louis ; and his mother is Mary Elizabeth Homer, daughter of Jabez Fisher, of Boston. He is de- scended in the eighth generation from Edward Homer, of Ettingshall, parish of Sedgley, Stafford- shire, England; in the sixth from Captain John Homer, who came to Boston in a vessel, of which he was a part-owner, in 1690, and was the founder of the American branch of the family; in the eighth generation also, on the paternal side, from Samuel Green of Cambridge, about 1635, and Boston, 1686, first printer of America, who printed Eliot's translations into the Indian lan- guage, and was "college and colony printer " for about fifty years; in the fifth generation from Michael Homer, of Boston, one of the master-
builders of the Old South Meeting-house, and from Thomas Johnston, of Boston, who made the first organ made in the town, for old Christ Church ; is grandson of Joseph Warren Homer, of Boston, a custom-house officer, and for ser- eral years president of the Massachusetts Chari- table Society, of which he was a member for sixty- two years. On the maternal side he is descended in the fourth generation from Thomas Fisher, of Sharon (then Stoughtonham), who enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1776, at the age of fifteen. Mr. Homer is a graduate of the Roxbury Latin School, of Harvard College in the class of 1879, and of the Harvard Law School in the class of 1882. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in January, 1883, in the following June to practice in the Circuit Court of the United States, and in April, 1885, to practice in the United States Court of Claims in Washington. During his col- lege days he spent a summer in Europe, and after graduation he made the tour of the Pacific slope, visiting Alaska ; and his business has since taken him on various occasions West and South. His practice is a general one, but in recent years
THOS. J. HOMER.
has been largely connected with real estate trusts and the settlement of estates. For several years he has been one of the examining counsel of the
659
MEN OF PROGRESS.
Conveyancers' Title Insurance Company of Bos- ton, and a manager of the Home for Children and Aged Women in Roxbury. He is a member of the Bar Association of the City of Boston, and of the Tiffin and Abstract Clubs, and a former member of the University Club and the Boston Athletic Association. His favorite sport for many years past has been canoeing down the more rapid rivers of the New England and Middle States and of Canada, and he was one of the "American ('rew " of the " Viking " upon its journey by water from New York to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. He has written occasionally for pub- lication. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Homer is unmarried.
IRISH, JOHN CARROLL, M.D., of Lowell, is a native of Maine, born in Buckfield, September 30, 1843, son of Cyrus and Catherine (Davis) Irish. He was educated at Waterville College, Maine. and at Dartmouth College, where he received the degree of .1.B. in 1868. His medical studies were pursued at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York, from which he graduated with his degree in 1872. He began practice in his native town immediately after graduation, and remained there until November, 1874, when he removed to Lowell, where he has since been engaged in the practice of surgery almost exclusively, giving especial attention to abdominal surgery. While practising in Buckfield, he was a member of the board of examining surgeons of pensions in Maine. He has been medical examiner for the district since 1877, first by appointment of Governor Rice, at the expiration of his term of seven years, by re- appointment of Governor Robinson and subse- quently of Governor Russell. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of the Ameri- can Academy of Medicine, and honorary member of the Vermont State Medical Society. Dr. Irish has been a frequent contributor of papers on medical topics to various societies which have been published in the journals of the profession. The most noteworthy in the list are : "Reasons for the Early Removal of Ovarian Tumors," pub- lished in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, April 10, 1884; "A Discussion of the Statistics of Ovariotomy," Ibid., August 19, 1886; "Two and One-half Years' Experience in Abdominal Sur- gery," Ibid., December 27, 1888 ; "Laparotomy for Pus in the Abdominal Cavity and for Peritoni-
tis," read before the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety in Boston, June 7, 1887 ; " Treatment of Uterine Myo-fibromata by Abdominal Hystere-
J. C. IRISH.
otomy," read before the Massachussetts Medical Society, June 10, 1890. Since 1890, as the range of cases to the treatment of which abdominal sur- gery has been applied has greatly enlarged, Dr. Irish's work has been largely confined to this branch of surgery, so that in this specialty he is one of the American authorities, who have recently contributed much to its advancement. Dr. Irish was married July 17, 1872, to Miss Annie March Frye, daughter of Major William R. Frye, of Lew- iston, Me.
JACKSON, JAMES FREDERICK, of Fall River, member of the bar, was born in Taunton, Novem- ber 13, 1851, son of Elisha T. and Caroline S. (Fobes) Jackson. He was educated in the public schools and at Harvard College, graduating in the class of 1873 ; and his law studies were pursued in the Boston University Law School and in the office of the Hon. Edward H. Bennett. Admitted to the bar in 1875, he began practice at Fall River in the autumn of that year. He held the position of city solicitor for eight years, ending December, 1888, and then was made mayor of the city, in
660
MEN OF PROGRESS.
which office he served two terms, 1889 and 1890. He is now (1895) associated with David F. Slade and Richard P. Borden in the law firm of Jack-
JAMES F. JACKSON.
son, Slade, & Borden, which has one of the largest clientages in South-eastern Massachusetts. He has served as a line, staff, and field officer of the First Regiment Infantry of the State militia, leav- ing the service in 1891 as lieutenant colonel. In politics he is Republican. He is a member of the University Club of Boston, of the Wamsutta Club of New Bedford, of the Quequechan Club, and of the Harvard Club of Fall River, being now presi- dent of the latter. Mr. Jackson was married June 15, ISS2, to Miss Caroline S. Thurston, of Fall River, daughter of Eli Thurston, D.D. They have one child : Edith Jackson, aged eleven years.
JACKSON, WILLIAM HENRY, of Boston, artist, was born in Watertown, August 13, 1832, son of Antipas and Mary (Clapp) Jackson. He is on the paternal side of the eighth generation born in America. He was educated in the common schools of his native town. After learning con- struction and the use of tools with a carpenter in the village, he entered the office of Whitwell & Henck, civil engineers, in Boston, and studied en-
gineering. While with this firm he was employed on the original surveys for the improvement of the Back Bay. He was next engaged as assistant in the city engineer's office, under Mr. Cheesboro, and remained in the city's employ until April, 1861, when the Civil War broke out. Then he left the profession of engineering, and trained a company for the service, being elected first lieutenant of Company C, Fourth Battalion of Rifles, Major Leonard commanding. He had previously been connected with the Boston Light Infantry, Com- pany \, First Regiment, Massachusetts militia, having joined that organization in May, 1858. The Fourth Battalion was soon sent down the harbor to garrison Fort Independence ; and he was detailed and attached to the staff of General Bul- lock, and sent to Long Island to prepare camps for the Ninth and Eleventh Massachusetts Regi- ments. On the 16th of July he was mustered into the service of the United States with his regiment as first lieutenant Company C, Thirteenth Regi- ment, Massachusetts Volunteers, Colonel Leonard commanding. The regiment was at once sent to the front, landing at Hagerstown, Md., and picketed the Potomac River from Darnestown to Hancock. In September, 1861, Lieutenant Jackson was pro- moted to a captaincy. He was in the battles of Bolivar, Falling Waters, Dam No. 5, Hancock, Martinsburg, Winchester, Newtown, Sugar Moun- tain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, Bull Run, and Chantille. In October, 1862, he was promoted to major of the Second Regiment, Cavalry, Colonel Lowell, and recruited the Third Battalion in Worcester. He resigned from the service, disabled, and was mustered out in March, 1863. Thereupon he returned to the profession of engineering, opening an office in Niles Block, School Street, Boston. In the autumn of 1864 he was sent to Colorado to examine and report upon some mining property there. Subsequently the Mammoth Gold Mining Company was organized, and in the spring of 1865 he was sent out to Colorado to manage the property as agent. Like most of the gold mining companies, this company failed, being unable to work the ores by the proc- esses then in existence, and was closed out. Major Jackson then went into the lumber business, hav- ing a water-mill at Platte Canyon. In the spring of ISGS he sold out this property, and returned to Boston, where he again opened an engineer's office. In 187S he sold the business of this office to his brother, Charles F. Jackson, and devoted
66 1
MEN OF PROGRESS.
himself to the study of art, having already given some time, in 1874-75, to drawing studies with the late Dr. William Rimmer. He was the pupil at different times of J. J. Enneking, Du Blois, Thomaso Juglais, and Otto Grundmann. In the autumn of 1875 he assisted in organizing the Massachusetts Rifle Association, which did its shooting for some time at Spy Pond, and after- ward purchased the property and laid out Walnut Hill Range in Woburn, which is one of the most successful ranges in the country. On November 20, 1875. Major Jackson for the first time shot a target rifle in a match, using the rille of a friend. Then he purchased and shot a Maynard rifle. Shooting off-hand two hundred yards, on August 16. 1876, he won his first prize, a Remington long- range rifle, shooting against all comers. He prac- tised long range with William Gerrish on the marshes of Chelsea until the range at Walnut Hill was opened for long range. Entering the con- petitions for a place upon the American Team, he won the position. He shot in the match on September 13 and 14, 1877, America against Great Britain, when the Americans beat the
W. H. JACKSON.
British ninety-two points in the two days. He was captain of the American Team in 1878, when the "walk-over " was shot in September, making
the highest score, 433 out of a possible 450, which was four points better than the highest score of the previous year's shooting. In the three con- secutive days' shooting in the tournament at Creedmore for the championship, in 1879, he won against all America, making 206-213-214, total 633, four points above Sumner, the next man. lle won first place on the team to go to Ireland in the spring of 1870. The team shot the match at Dolymount, Dublin, the last of June, and beat the Irishmen. After the match there were individual matches the following three days, and Major Jack- son won the Abercorn Cup and a number of minor prizes. The team then went over to Eng- land, and attended the Wimbledon meeting, where Major Jackson was very successful, winning many prizes and medals. Upon his return to America the long-range rifle practice began to wane and the interest to die out, until 1885 there was no long- range practice with the small bore. With the military arm long-distance practice has taken the place of the small bore, not making such good scores, but being more practical. The small-bore practice was only a gentlemanly amusement, while the military is for real service. Major Jackson has not shot in matches for a number of years, but has devoted his whole attention to art matters. He is a member of the Boston Art Club, chosen to the board of management in 1894, and member of the Megantic Fish and Game Club. He was married March 9, 1865, to Miss Alice Holmes, of Boston. They have no children.
JEWETT, HENRY ALFRED, M.D., of North- borough, was born in Pepperell, January 14, 1820, son of Henry and Rebecca (Blood) Jewett. His paternal grandfather was Edmund Jewett, and his maternal grandfather John Blood, both also of Pepperell. He was educated at the Pepperell Academy. His training for his profession was largely under the tuition of Dr. Nehemiah Cutter of Pepperell and at the Pennsylvania Medical College in Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 1847. He began the practice of his profession in 1847 at Hampton, N.H., and, after remaining there a year, removed to Northborough, where he has been established ever since in the enjoy- ment of a successful business. On July 11, 1877, he was appointed medical examiner for his dis- trict, and still holds the office. He is a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Medical Society and of
662
MEN OF PROGRESS.
the Worcester District Medical Society. He be- longs to the United Order of the Golden Cross, member of the Unity Commandery of that institu-
H. A. JEWETT.
tion. In politics he is a Republican. Dr. Jewett was married in May, 1849, to Miss Sarah Abbie Lawrence, of Hampton, N. H. They have one son and two daughters : Henry Lawrence, Annie Re- becca, and Florence Leavitt (Jewett) Hatch.
JOHNSON, AMOS HOWE, M.D., of Salem, was born in Boston, August 4, 1831, son of Samuel Johnson, merchant, of the firm of J. C. Howe & Co., and of Charlotte Abigail (Howe) Johnson, daughter of Captain William Howe, of Brook- field. His preparatory education was acquired at the Chauncy Hall School, Boston, at Brookfield Family School from 1843 to 1847, and at Phillips (Andover) .Academy from 1847 to 1849. He graduated from Harvard College in 1853, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1856. For nearly five years, from January, 1857, to October, 1861, he was pastor of the Congregational Church in the town of Middleton, Essex County. In the spring of 1862 he entered the Harvard Medical School, received his degree of M.D). in 1865, and in the autumn of the following year settled in
Salem as a practitioner of medicine. In October, 1869, he went abroad, and further pursued medical studies in Berlin during the two succeeding win- ters, and in Vienna through the spring and early summer of 1870. In April, 1871, he resumed his practice in Salem. He became secretary for many years, and for two years president, of the Essex South District Massachusetts Medical So- ciety. He also became correspondent, and con- tributor to the Reports, of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, and so continued for several years. In 1873 he read an essay on the " Physiological Limitations of Religious Experi- ence" before the Essex South Congregational Club, which led, by invitation, to the delivery of nine lectures on the " Physiological Control of Religious Teachings " before the students of the Andover Theological Seminary. In 1876 he was a delegate from the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety to the International Medical Congress in Philadelphia. In 1877 he served on a commis- sion of three persons to examine and report upon the sewerage system needed for Salem. During the same year, upon the formation of the Massa-
A. H. JOHNSON.
chusetts Medico-Legal Society, he was elected, and still continues to be, an associate member. He was for fifteen years a member of the medical
663
MEN OF PROGRESS.
staff of the Salem Hospital. He has been a member of the consulting board of physicians of the Danvers Asylum for the Insane since its for- mation, and is at present its chairman. He was appointed orator of the Massachusetts Medical Society for its anniversary in June, 1883, and later was elected president of the society for two years from June. 1890. Dr. Johnson has served in the State Legislature : as a representative for the towns of Middleton. Saugus, and Lynnfield in 1862; and was for three years on the Salem School Committee. In 1868, two years after he began practice in Salem, he was made secretary of the Essex Institute, a position he resigned on going abroad in 1869. He has held the office of deacon of the South Church, Salem, for many years, and was president of the Essex Congrega- tional Club from 1889 to 1891. He was vice- president of the Alumni Association of the Har- vard Medical School for 1892 and 1893. Dr. Johnson was married September 22, 1857, to Miss Frances Seymour Benjamin, daughter of Nathan Benjamin, of Williamstown, and Mary A. (Wheeler) Benjamin, of New York, missionaries to Athens, Greece, and to Constantinople. His children are : Samuel Johnson, 2d, now a member of the firm of C. F. Hovey & Co., Boston ; Meta Benjamin, wife of Francis H. Bergen, of Staten Island, N.Y .; Amy H. : Captain Charles A., of Colorado Na- tional Guard, and real estate and rental broker, Denver ; Philip S., agent in New York for the commission house of Foster Brothers, Boston ; and Ralph S. Johnson, student.
JOHNSON, EDWARD FRANCIS, of Marlborough and Boston, member of the bar, is a native of New Hampshire, born in the town of Hollis, Octo- ber 21, 1842, son of Noah and Letitia M. (Clag- gett) Johnson. His great-great-grandfather on the paternal side settled in Hollis, buying the homestead which has been in the family since, and which Mr. Johnson now owns. The family is connected with the Johnsons of Woburn and Salem. Ilis mother was of the Claggett family of Londonderry, N.H., and related to the Mc- Questions of that section. Both families are Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. He was educated in the district school, at Crosby's Academical School, Nashua, N.H., and at Dartmouth College, grad- uating in July, 1864. His law studies were pur- sued at the Harvard Law School and at Mr.
Barrett's office, Nashua, N.H., till October, 1866, when he was admitted to the bar of Suffolk County. He established himself in Marlborough in April, 1867, and has since continued there, having also an office in Boston, which he first opened in 1872, dividing his time between the two places. He has served as judge of the Police Court of Marl- borough since its establishment in 1885. He has held no political office or been a candidate for such office, his time having been fully occupied with his professional work in Marlborough and Boston. Though having a general practice, he has been especially concerned with real estate law.
E. F. JOHNSON
probate matters, and land cases. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Marlborough. In polities he is a Republican, and has served on various State, county, Congressional, and town committees. He is connected with the Masonic fraternity, a member of United Brethren Lodge, Marlborough, and of Houghton Royal Arch Chap- ter. Mr. Johnson was married June 1. 1870, to Miss Arabella G. Carleton, of Lynn. They have three daughters : Mabel, Elizabeth, and Grace Johnson.
JOHNSON, WILLIAM LOUIS, M. D., of Uxbridge. was born in Southborough, October 23, 1856, son
664
MEN OF PROGRESS.
of Henry Flavel and Eunice Sophia (Fay) John- son. He is a descendant of William Johnson who came from Canterbury, Kent County, England.
W. L. JOHNSON.
and settled in Charlestown in 1634. William's children were active in the Indian wars of 1744 and 1755, and his descendants freely offered their lives and several gained distinction in the Revo- lution. Two were present at the surrender of Burgoyne, October 17, 1777. William Louis was educated in the public schools of Cambridge. He studied medicine with his father, a noted and suc- cessful Boston physician, and at the Harvard Medical School, entering in 1875, and graduating in 1878. He began practice in Cambridge, but in 1879 removed to Uxbridge, where he has since resided. He served on the School Committee of the town from 1883 to 1886, and has been a trustee of the Uxbridge Public Library since 1888. president of the board since 1893. He was presi- dent of the Thurber Medical Society in 1892 and 1893, and has been a member of the Massachu- setts Medical Society since 1878. He is a Free- mason, member of Solomon's Temple Lodge of Uxbridge, and its master in 1889 and 1890. In politics he is a Republican, and has served on the Republican town committee for several years, being chairman of the organization in 1889. Dr.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.