Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 94

Author: Herndon, Richard; Bacon, Edwin M. (Edwin Monroe), 1844-1916
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Boston : New England Magazine
Number of Pages: 1036


USA > Massachusetts > Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts > Part 94


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


the army, first as assistant surgeon of the Seventh Massachusetts Volunteers (appointed to that po- sition in May, 1861), and subsequently as surgeon


Z. BOYLSTON ADAMS.


of the Thirty-second Massachusetts Regiment, ap- pointed in May, 1862. While with the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, he took part in the bat- tles of Williamsburg, Va., May 5, 1862, and Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines; and, while surgeon of the Thirty-second Regiment, he was at llarrison Landing and in the second battle of Bull Run and battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville, and Gettysburg. In 1864 he was made cap- tain and subsequently brevet major of the Fifty- sixth Massachusetts Regiment, being brevetted "for gallantry and meritorious conduct in the assault before Petersburg, Va.," April 2. 1865. While captain, he was in the battle of the Wilder- ness. He was wounded three times, and was a prisoner (wounded) in Lynchburg and Libby prisons. Dr. Adams has been president of the Middlesex South District Medical Society (1883- 84), vice-president of the Massachusetts Medical Society (1894), and president of the Medico-Legal Society of Massachusetts (1892-93-94-95). He has also been a member of the Medical Improve- ment, Medical Observation, Obstetrical, Medical Benevolent, Natural History, and other societies


704


MEN OF PROGRESS.


in Boston. He became a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion in 1867, and has been junior vice-commander of that organization. He is also a member of the Union Veterans' Union. Dr. Adams was married December 8, 1870, to Miss Frances Ann Kidder, of Boston, daughter of Francis Dana Kidder. They have two children : Frances Boylston and Zabdiel Boylston Adams.


AMORY, ROBERT, M.D., of Brookline, is a native of Boston, born May 3, 1842, son of James Sullivan and Mary Copley (Greene) Amory. His


ROBERT AMORY.


paternal grandparents were Jonathan Amory and Mehitable (Sullivan) Amory, daughter of Gover- nor James Sullivan of Massachusetts, who was the only governor who died during his term of office (namely. 1787). On the maternal side he is a de- scendant of John Singleton Copley, through his grandmother, daughter of Elizabeth Clark (Copley) and Gardiner Greene. His early education was acquired at the old Epes Sargent Dixwell's school. He was graduated at Harvard College, A.B .. in 1863, from the Medical School in 1866, then also receiving the degree of AA. M. from the college. In the spring of the same year he was interne at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Subse-


quently he studied in Professor Tardieu's labora- tory at Paris and at Dublin Rotunda Lying-in Hospital. In 1868 he became lecturer in physio- logical medicine at the Harvard Medical School. and later professor of physiology in the Bowdoin College Medical School in Maine. He has been medical examiner for Norfolk County for six years, and has served as assistant surgeon, sur- geon, and medical director of the Massachusetts militia. He is the author of a number of notable contributions to the medical literature of the day, his works including: " Physiological and Thera- peutical Action of Bromides of Potassium and Ammonium," published in Boston in 1872, written in conjunction with Dr. Edward H. Clarke: "Whar- ton and Stille's Medical Jurisprudence," fourth and fifth editions, Philadelphia, 1882, prepared with Professor Edward S. Wood ; " A Treatise on Electrolysis in Medicine," New York, 1886 ; and several articles in medical journals in London, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. He was also the editor and translator of Professor Kuss's " Lectures on Physiology," published in Boston in 1875. He has held leading positions in medical societies, having been a trial commissioner of the Massachusetts Medical Society, secretary and afterward president of the Massachusetts Medico- Legal Society, treasurer of the Society of Medical Sciences, secretary and afterward president of the Norfolk Medical Society; and he has for some years been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In Brookline town affairs Dr. Amory has served nine years as secretary of the School Committee, and six years as a trustee of the Public Library. He has been and is also now concerned in business affairs as president and manager of the Brookline Gas Light Com- pany. He is a member of the St. Botolph, Algon- quin, Somerset, and University clubs of Boston, and of the University club of New York. Dr. Amory was married first, in May, 1864, to Miss Mary Appleton Lawrence. She died in 1882, leaving a daughter, Alice, born in May, 1865. He married second, in September, 1884, Miss Katharine Leighton Crehore. Their children are : Robert, Jr., Mary Copley, and Katharine Amory.


APPLETON, FRANCIS HENRY, of Peabody and Boston, connected with manufacturing and business corporations and with agricultural in- terests, is a native of Boston, born June 17, 1847,


705


MEN OF PROGRESS.


son of Francis Henry Appleton (A.B., L.L. B .. Harvard) and Georgiana Crowninshield (Sils- bee) Appleton. His paternal grandfather, Will- iam Appleton, was born in the North Parish of Brookfield, November 16, 1786; was first in busi- ness as a clerk in a store at Temple, N.H., in 1801 ; came to Boston in 18o2 ; was representa- tive in Congress from Boston 1851-54, and also in 1861, until ill-health compelled him to resign ; died February 15, 1862 ; married in 1815 to Mary Ann Cutler, who died March 29, 1860. Mr. Appleton's grandfather on his mother's side was Nathaniel Silsbee, who was born in Salem, Janu- ary 14. 1773 ; was a merchant there : representa- tive in Congress from Essex County 1816-20 ; representative in the State Legislature 1821-22 ; State senator from Essex County 1823-25, and president during those three years : United States senator from Massachusetts 1826-35; delegate to the national convention to nominate President in 1840 ; died July 15, 1850; married in 1802 to Mary Crowninshield. of Salem : she died Septem- ber 20, 1835. Francis H. Appleton was educated at Salem in Henry F. Waters's school, at Mr. Sul- livan's school in Boston, at Newton one year with the Rev. S. F. Smith, at St. Paul's School, Con- cord, N.Il., over five years, and at Harvard Col- lege, graduating in the class of 1869. He was also for a short time at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, but withdrew to become a special student at the Bussey (agricultural) Insti- tute of Harvard University. Immediately after leaving college, Mr. Appleton began life on a farm in Peabody in connection with studies and work at Bussey Institute, and he has since done much toward developing farming to a higher degree of perfection. He has held the plough and driven haying tools over almost all of his cultivable lands. His farm is situated on the banks of Suntang Lake, twelve and a half miles, in a bee-line, north- erly from Boston, and four and a half miles from the seashore, with post-offices at Lynnfield, and stations at West Peabody, one and a half miles, and Lynnfield, one mile. It embraces about two hundred acres, with over one-half in trees. over one-quarter of pasture, and the balance in cultiva- tion, with homestead and buildings and many or- namental trees, all in the township of Peabody. Mr. Appleton's business has been general and per- sonal, as well as in trusteeships in varied forms of responsibility. He has been for many years a director of several manufacturing and business


corporations, and has been largely occupied with the affairs of agricultural organizations. He has been a member of the Essex Agricultural Society since 1869. a trustee from the town of Peabody for several years until 1892, and president 1892- 95 : was a member of the Board of Control of the Massachusetts State Agricultural Experiment Station from ISSS until its consolidation with the trustees of the State Agricultural College in 1895 ; was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture from the Bay State Agricultural Society from 1887 to 1890, and is now member from the Essex Agricultural Society, 1890 to 1896,


FRANCIS H. APPLETON.


second vice-president 1894 and 1895 : was a trustee from 1870 to 1875, and is now president of the New England Agricultural Society: has been a trustee of the State Agricultural College since 1887 ; and is now president of the Boston Poultry Association, incorporated in 1895. He has also been a trustee (elected for two six-year terms). and was president at the time of his resig- nation. of the l'eabody Institute of Peabody. founded by George Peabody as a library and for lectures : a trustee since 1883 and secretary and librarian of the Massachusetts Society for Promot- ing Agriculture, incorporated in 1792 at the re- quest of leading business men of that day, who


706


MEN OF PROGRESS.


were also agriculturists ; vice-president for Massa- chusetts of the American Forestry Association since 1892; vice-president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society since 1892 ; a life member of the New York State Agricultural Society from 1872 ; and for some time a member of the Field Meeting committee of the Essex Institute of Salem. From 1873 to 1875 he was eurator of the Bussey Institution (agricultural) of Harvard Uni- versity. He was the writer of the Report on Agriculture at the Vienna Exposition in 1873, for the Massachusetts Commission. In politics Mr. Appleton is a Republican, and active in party service. He was a delegate to the National Re- publiean Convention in 1892 from the Fifth Massachusetts Congressional District, and in 1894 was elected president of the Republican Club of Massachusetts. In 1891 and 1892 he was a member of the lower house of the Legislat- ure for Peabody. He has long been connected with the First Corps of Cadets, Massachusetts Militia, holding the rank of Captain of Company A since 1879. He is a member of the following clubs at Harvard University, - Institute of 1770, Delta Kappa Epsilon (chapter A), Porcellian, A.D., and Hasty Pudding ; a member of the Som- erset and University clubs of Boston ; and is pres- ident of the Alumni Association of St. Paul's School at Concord, N.H. Mr. Appleton was married June 2, 1874, to Miss Fanny Rollins Tappan. They have had five children : Marian, John (died young), Amy Silsbee, Francis Henry, Jr .. and Henry Saltonstall Appleton. Mr. Apple- ton resides in Boston a portion of the year.


ATWOOD, HARRISON HENRY, of Boston, architect, is a native of Vermont, born in North Londonderry, August 26, 1863, son of Peter Clark and Helen Marion (Aldrich) Atwood. His parents removed to Massachusetts when he was a child, and he was educated in the public schools of Charlestown and of Boston proper. After leaving school, he was for some time in the law office of Godfrey Morse and John R. Bullard in Boston, and then took up the study of archi- teeture. He was for four years with the late Samuel J. F. Thayer, and a year with George A. Clough, the first city architect of Boston, there- after practising successfully until May, 1889, when he was appointed by Mayor Hart to the position of eity architeet, succeeding Charles J. Bateman.


While in this office, he completed the legacies of unfinished work left by former administrations,- namely, the Horace Mann School for Deaf-mutes


H. H. ATWOOD.


on the Back Bay, the South Boston Grammar School, the Roxbury High School, and several minor buildings, -- and laid out, completed, or con- traeted for much important work. The list of his buildings comprises four of the finest publie school- houses in New England,- namely, the Henry L. Pierce Grammar School, Dorchester District, the Prince Primary School, St. Botolph Street, Back Bay, the Bowditch Grammar School, Jamaica Plain Distriet, and the Adams Primary School, East Boston (all of these buildings placed in one single contraet, a method of doing the publie work never before or since attempted by the architect's de- partment),- four or five engine-houses erected for the fire department in East Boston, Jamaica Plain District, South Boston, the Brighton District, and the city proper, and several structures for the police, water, sewer, and park departments. Mr. Atwood's service as eity architeet covered the two years of Mayor Hart's administration. During the previous three years. 1887-89, he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature for the Eighth Suffolk Distriet, serving on the committees on State House, liquor law, mercantile affairs, and


707


MEN OF PROGRESS.


cities. In 1888 he was an alternate delegate from the old Fourth Congressional District to the National Republican Convention at Chicago ; in 1892, a delegate from the new Tenth District to the convention at Minneapolis, and the nominee of his party for Congress in the autumn of the same year, but defeated at the polls by six hundred and eighty-four votes. Again nominated in the autumn of 1894, he was elected by a thousand plurality, after one of the most extraordinary and exciting campaigns ever witnessed in the Commonwealth. to represent the Tenth Congressional District, being the youngest member of the Fifty-fourth House, Mr. Atwood has been a member of the Boston Republican ward and city committee since 1884, serving four years as secretary of the organ. ization ; and he was for two years a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He is a member of St. John's Lodge, Freemason, of St. Paul's Chapter, and Boston Commandery, and is also an Odd Fellow. He was married in Bos- ton, September 11, 1889, to Miss Clara Stein, eldest daughter of John August and Sophia Johann (Kupfer) Stein. They have two sons : Harrison Henry, Jr., and August Stein Atwood.


BAKER, WILLIAM HENRY, of Boston, member of the bar, is a native of Maine, born in the town of Cornville, Somerset County, July 22, 1865, son of Jarvis E. and Eliza Ann (Mckinney) Baker. Ilis paternal grandfather, William Baker, resided in New Brunswick, about twelve miles from Houlton, Me., and was a farmer ; and his maternal grand- father, Henry Mckinney, of Madison, Me., was also a farmer. The latter came originally from the vicinity of Portland, Me., and was of Scotch- Irish descent. William II. was reared on a farm, and educated first in the common schools of Nor- ridgewock, Me., and later at the Eaton School, in the same place, then well known through the country as a family school for boys, from which he graduated June 22. 1883. The next two years he spent in Boston, engaged as a book-keeper, and part of the time reading law evenings. In Oc- tober, 1885, he entered the Boston University Law School, and, taking the full course, graduated therefrom with the regular degree of LL.B. in June, 1887. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar on the 6th of August following, and in September to the Somerset County bar, in Maine, and began practice in Boston on October 16, 1887.


During the succeeding years he has been engaged in a large and extensive business. His practice is almost wholly confined to the courts, where he has been employed as chief counsel in many im- portant trials. Among his notable cases were the conspiracy suit of the Rev. W. W. Downs ?. Joseph Story et al., in which, being counsel for the plaintiff, he obtained a verdict of ten thou- sand dollars for his client, before a jury ; the suit of Whelton 7. West End Street Railway Com- pany, tried in 1895, being a suit for personal in- juries, in which the jury found a verdict for him for seventy-one hundred dollars ; and the State of Connecticut 7. Dr. George E. Whitten, charged with murder in the second degree, 1895, in which he succeeded in getting his client released on a writ of habeas corpus in the United States Circuit Court, in a writ directed to the sheriff of the county court at New Haven claiming that the defendant was detained of his liberty "without due process of law and in violation of the Consti- tution of the United States." This latter case is noted because it attracted the attention of both States. Mr. Baker makes it a point never to go


WILLIAM H. BAKER.


into any trial without being thoroughly informed as to the law in the case. He has won numerous cases by keen cross-examination, but where he


708


MEN OF PROGRESS.


has succeeded best has been in his closing ad- dress to the jury. In politics he is an earnest Republican, but the only political work that he has done has been in making speeches for the Republican party in the campaign of 1892. He was married October 11, 1893, to Miss Lottie E. Stevens, of Oakland, Me. They have no chil- dren.


---


WILBERT S. BARTLETT.


BARTLETT, WILBERT SEYMOUR, of Boston, real estate operator, is a native of Maine, born in the town of Bluehill, February 2, 1863, son of George S. and Susan M. (Hamilton) Bartlett. He is a descendant of one of the three brothers Bartlett who first came to this country, being of the Maine branch. His ancestors originally set- tled on what is known as Bartlett's Islands. His paternal grandfather was one of the first to extract oil from the pogie, then very numerous along the New England shore, which became quite a famous industry in the history of Maine, and which after- ward brought millions of dollars into the State. He was educated at the Waterville ( Me.) Classi- cal Institute, and prepared for college; but, his health failing, he went West instead. He re- mained there three years recuperating his health. Then, returning East, he entered the real estate business in Boston, with which he has since been


occupied. Ile has made a specialty of develop- ing suburban properties, among which have been Russell Park in Melrose, in which houses worth from five to ten thousand dollars each have been erected, and the estimated value of the property is five hundred thousand dollars ; Belmont Park, in which is three hundred thousand dollars worth of property; and other pieces in Watertown, Newton, and Revere. Mr. Bartlett is a member of the order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Democrat. He was married in March, ISSS, to Miss Carrie Claus, of Boston. His residence is at Belmont.


BATCHELDER, HENRY FLANDERS, M.D., of Danvers, was born in Middleton, October 10, 18Go, son of John A. and Laura A. (Couch) Batchelder. He is a grandson of the late Colonel Amos Batchelder, of Middleton. He was edu- cated in the Salem public schools, graduating from the High School, and studied medicine in the Boston University School of Medicine, where he was graduated with the degree of C.B. (bachelor of surgery) in 1882, and M.D). in


HENRY F. BATCHELDER.


1883. He began practice in 1883 in his native town, and two years later removed to Danvers, where he has since been actively engaged. He


709


MEN OF PROGRESS.


was president of the Essex County Homeopathic Medical Society in 1884, and vice-president of the Massachusetts Surgical and Gynecological Society in 1892. He has also been some years a member of the American Institute of Home- opathy. He is a Freemason, member of Amity Lodge of Danvers. In politics he is a Republi- can. Dr. Batchelder was married April 30, 1884, to Miss Caroline E. Taft, of Dedham. They have one child : Hollis Goodell Batchelder.


BEACH, HENRY HARRIS AUBREY, M.D., Bos- ton, is a native of Middletown. Conn., born De- cember 18, 1843, son of Elijah and Lucy S. (Riley) Beach. A few years after his birth the family moved to Cambridge, Mass., where he was educated. At the age of twenty he entered the regular army, and was assigned to responsible hospital service. In this work he was actively occupied until a year after the close of the Civil War, when he was honorably discharged from the service, and appointed a surgical house officer at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He took the regular Harvard Medical School course, and upon his graduation in 1868 at once began practice in Boston, at the same time serving as surgeon to the Boston Dispensary. Soon after graduation, also, he received the university appointment of "assistant demonstrator." Sub- sequently he was promoted to the position of demonstrator of anatomy in the Medical School, and for fifteen years continued the teach- ing of practical anatomy there in connection with the lectures of Professor Oliver Wendell Holmes. Since that time he has devoted his teaching to the department of clinical surgery at the Massa- chusetts General Hospital, with which he has been actively associated as a surgeon for twenty- two years. For two years he was associate editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal: and during the years 1873-74 he was president of the Boylston Medical Society of Harvard University. As member of the local medical societies, - the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Boston So- ciety for Medical Sciences, the Society for Medi- cal Improvement, and the Society for Medical Observation,- he has contributed many valuable professional articles to various medical publica- tions. In 1871 Dr. Beach married Miss Alice. the daughter of Edward D). Mandell, of New Bedford, who died in ISSo. In 1885 he was


married to Miss Amy M. Cheney, of Boston, the brilliant pianist and composer, whose work is highly appreciated by the musical public. Of her


H. H. A. BEACH.


Mass in E-Hat, announced by the Handel and Haydn Society as one of the features of the season of 1892, it was said in the secretary's cir- cular : " All who have obtained acquaintance with it are unanimous in their admiration of its beauty, brilliancy, and strength. A work of such magni- tude by a woman makes a positive addition to the history of music." The success of her later work, "Festival Jubilate," written by request for the Columbian Exposition in 1893, has broadened her reputation until it is already of national char- acter.


BEAL, JOHN VAN, of Randolph and Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Ran- dolph, born July 3, 1842, son of Eleazer and Mary (Thayer) Beal. He is a descendant in the direct line of John Beal, who came from Hingham, England, to Boston, in the ship " Diligent," in 1638, and settled in Hingham, Mass. ; married first Nazareth Hobart, sister of the Rev. Peter Hobart, the first minister of Hingham, and second Mary Jacob, widow of Nicholas Jacob, and died in Hingham in 1688. Israel, a great-grandson of


710


MEN OF PROGRESS.


John Beal, born in Hingham in 1726. was the first of the family to settle in Randolph, moving there about 1751, when he married Eunice Flagg. ITis son Eleazer, born in Randolph in 1758, in the latter part of the eighteenth century pur- chased a homestead of about one hundred acres, which is still owned by John Van Beal and his brother. Eleazer, the father of John Van, was the third of that name in the family and town. lle was born in Randolph in 1Sos, and died there in 1891. In early life he was a school-teacher, afterward a manufacturer of boots and shoes, be- coming before 1837 the most extensive manu-


JOHN V. BEAL.


facturer in that line in the town ; next a civil engineer, and interested in the building of a branch of the Old Colony Railroad to Fall River ; then for ten years (1844-54) town clerk and treasurer of Randolph ; a representative in the General Court in 1848 ; and in 1861 Democratic candidate for Congress in the Third District. At an early age he passed through all the military honors of that day in the old Massachusetts mili- tia up to the title of colonel, by which he was afterward known. His old commission papers are still in his son's possession. He was elected general, but this rank he declined. John Van Beal's mother was a daughter of Micah and


Phoebe (Stetson) Thayer, of Randolph. He was educated in the Randolph public schools, includ- ing the High School, and at Phillips (Andover) Academy, where he was fitted for college, and graduated in 1863. Being in ill-health, he did not enter college, but became a school-teacher. This occupation he followed, teaching successively in the intermediate, grammar, and high schools of Randolph until 1871, when he entered the law office of Jewell, Gaston, & Field, in Boston, as a student. Soon after he entered the Harvard Law School, where he received his degree of LL. B. by passing examinations in 1872. After further read- ing with Jewell, Gaston, & Field, he was admitted to the Suffolk bar June to, 1873. He began practice in Randolph, and for the first three years confined himself to the local legal business. Then be extended his field to Boston, taking desk room in the office where he had studied as a student, the firm having become Jewell, Field, & Shepard. After the dissolution of this firm, through the death of Mr. Jewell and the appointment of Mr. Field to the Supreme Bench, he continued in the office with Mr. Shepard and J. C. Coombs until 1891, when he opened an office alone. His prac- tice has been general, mainly in the civil courts ; and he has made a specialty of probate matter. Mr. Beal has held no public office, preferring to remain a private citizen; and he belongs to neither society nor club. He has never entered politics, "because," as he states, "of the means one is now obliged to adopt in order to secure an election." He is connected with the Congrega- tional church in Randolph, and has for many years served as clerk of the church organization. He has also held the position of superintendent of the Sunday-school for some time. As a repre- sentative of one of the oldest families of Ran- dolph and a foremost citizen, Mr. Beal was se- lected as orator on the occasion of the centennial celebration of Randolph, July 19, 1893 ; and the oration which he then delivered is now in press. Of his family, he and an invalid brother, who shares his home with him, are the last survivors. He has never married.




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.