Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 98

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 98

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country. Additions to the factory, which origi- nally consisted of a single three story wooden building, seventy feet long, were made from time to time, until by 1875 it had become a great struct- ure in the form of a quadrangle, with an inner court, having a frontage of one thousand feet and

a total floor area of about four acres. In Novem- ber that year this structure was almost entirely destroyed by fire. But within a few months a new and greater factory arose in its place, embrac- ing a group of brick structures four stories high,

built around a quadrangle, as before.

Subse-

quently various additions were made, until now the

buildings have three times the original area, and contain nearly ten acres of floor space. An addi- tional factory has also been built at Middlesex Fells, one and a half miles from the older one in Malden, like that well lighted and ventilated, per- fectly fitted and equipped, and reputed to be the finest of its kind in the world. The business dur- ing Mr. Converse's forty-two years of management has increased from an output in 1853, by the Mal- den Manufacturing Company, of from three hun- dred to six hundred pairs of rubber boots and shoes per day, to about fifty thousand pairs per day in 1895 ; and more than three thousand oper- atives are now employed. Mr. Converse has been

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

devoted to the welfare of Malden since he first made that place his residence, and the evidences of his interest appear in substantial results of his work and in numerous magnificent gifts. He was largely instrumental in securing the incorporation of the city of Malden, and was its first mayor, elected by an almost unanimous vote. In 1878 and 1879 he represented the district in the lower house of the State Legislature, and in 1880-81 was senator for his district Chief among his gifts to the city is the free public library, one of the most beautiful of public buildings, designed by the late eminent architect 11. H. Richardson. It was a gift in which his wife joined, in memory of their eldest son, Frank E. Converse (who was murdered in 1863 by E. W. Green, then post- master of Malden, in the latter's attempt to rob the Malden Bank, of which young Converse was the assistant cashier), and is known as the " Con- verse Memorial." Mr. Converse has also been a generous giver to the Malden Hospital, the " Old People's Home " of Malden, the "Consumptives' Home " in the Roxbury District, Boston, Welles- ley College, of which he is a trustee, and to various other charitable, philanthropic, and educational institutions. He has been a member of the Bap- tist church since his boyhood, and was for many years a deacon of the Malden Baptist church. The fine stone church building of the latter was erected largely through his contributions. Mr. Converse has been president of the Malden Bank since 1856, and he is also president of the Malden Hospital Corporation, the Rubber Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Company, a director of the National Exchange Bank of Boston, a trustee of the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank, and a trus- tee of the Soldiers' Home. In politics he is a Republican. He was married September 4, 1843, to Miss Mary Diana Edmands. They have had four children : Frank E., Mary Ida, Harry E., and Francis Eugene Converse. The second is now general manager of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company.

COOK, CHARLES CLARKE, of Fall River, broker and manager of estates, was born in Fall River, March 28, 1854, son of Alexander O. and Mary S. (Bronson) Cook. His paternal grandparents were Perry and Lydia (Gifford) Cook, of Tiverton, R.I., and his maternal grandparents, Asa and Marinda (Jennings) Bronson, of New York and Connecticut. He was educated in the public

schools of Fall River. He began business life in 1871 as a clerk for Hathaway & Dean, grocers, in which occupation he was employed about a year. Then he entered the store of Cook, Grew, & Ashton, plumbers, tinsmiths, and dealers in mill supplies, as salesman, taking charge of their mill supply department, and continued until 1887. when in June he became general agent for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company of Springfield. Since that time he has added to his business real estate, stocks, accident and fire insurance, and the management of estates, real and personal. He is a member of the Boston Life

CHARLES C. COOK.

Underwriters' Association. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Cook was married October 4. 1877, to Miss Wealthy J. Winslow. They have had one child : Benjamin A. Cook (born August 17, 1878, died .August 22, 1882).

COOK, REV. JOSEPH, of Boston, lecturer, author, and editor, was born in Ticonderoga, N. Y .. January 26, 1838, son of William Henry and Marette (Lamb) Cook. He is of the Cooks of Connecticut, the ancestor of whom is supposed to be Francis Cook, of Plymouth, who came from Kent, England, one of the Pilgrim Fathers. Sam-

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

uel Cook and his son, Warner Cook, who was Joseph Cook's grandfather, were born in Connecti- cut, and went to Ticonderoga soon after the Rev- olution. William Henry and Marette Cook were born in Ticonderoga. Joseph Cook was educated at Phillips (Andover) Academy under the cele- brated classical teacher, Dr. Samuel H. Taylor, graduating there in 1857 ; at Yale College under President Woolsey ; and at Harvard under Presi- dent Hill, graduating from Harvard in 1865. He was at Yale two years, entering in 1858, and then left, his health having become impaired. He entered Harvard in 1863 as a junior, and in 1865 was graduated with high honors, also taking sev- eral of the first prizes. His theological studies were pursued at the Andover Theological Semi- nary under Professor Park and Professor Phelps ; and, after his graduation in 1868, he took a fourth year there, studying advanced religious and philo- sophical thought. He was licensed to preach, but was not ordained, and in 1870 was acting pastor of the First Congregational Church in Lynn. He also spoke as an evangelist and lecturer for two years. But he never sought a settlement. In September, 1871, he went abroad, and studied under Tholuck at Halle, Germany, and also in Leipzig, Berlin, and Göttingen, and visited ttaly, Egypt, the Holy Land, Turkey, Austria, France, and Great Britain. Returning at the close of 1873, he took up his residence in Boston and be- came a lecturer and author. In 1875 he founded the Boston Monday Lectureship, and has spoken in it for twenty years. "The lectures of this series have been given mostly in Tremont Temple, and early led to calls upon him to deliver on other days of the week courses of lectures in the prin- cipal cities of the country. Eleven volumes of his " Boston Monday Lectures " have been published by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., besides numerous editions in London. In Boston alone he had de- livered two hundred and forty-six lectures on phil- osophical, scientific, and political topics to large audiences, besides the same number of preludes, or addresses on vital points of current reform. 'These audiences, which have been held for twenty years, were gathered at noon on Mondays, the busiest hour of the busiest day of the week, and often overflowed Tremont Temple. In the year ending July 4, 1878, for example, he delivered one hundred and fifty lectures, - sixty being given in the East, sixty in the West, and thirty new ones in Boston,-issued three volumes, and travelled on

his lecture trips ten thousand five hundred miles. The next year, ending July 4, 1879, the number of his lectures reached one hundred and sixty, seventy-two given in the East,-twenty of them in Boston and ten in New York,-seventy in the West, five in Canada, two in Utah, and eleven in California. He crossed the continent twice in the four last months of the season. During the winter following he conducted a Boston Monday- noon lectureship and a New York Thursday even- ing lectureship at the same time. The Boston Monday lectures for many years were published in full by the New York Independent, the Chris-

JOSEPH COOK.

tian Advocate, the Boston Advertiser, and other papers. At the close of the twenty years' record the executive committee of the lectureship, in its report, referred to its remarkable success, running through a fifth of a century, as without Ameri- can or European precedent. "The lectures," it said, " have been attended by great numbers of preachers, teachers, students, and other educated men ; ... and the lectureship has been heard in behalf of every urgent reform, as well as in sup- port of all the leading evangelical truths." On the honorary committee are Professor Park, of Andover, Bishop Huntington, Bishop Vincent, the Rev. Dr. John Hall, Dr. Storrs, Dr. Cuyler, and

735

MEN OF PROGRESS.

other distinguished clergymen. Dr. V. J. Gordon was for twelve years president of the executive committee. In 1880-82 Mr. Cook, accompanied by his wife, made a lecturing tour of the world, visiting England, Germany, Italy, Palestine, India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and other places. In all the great cities which he visited he had immense audiences. His journey covered two years and seventy-seven days, and during this time he spoke oftener than every other working day while on the land. He made one hundred and thirty-five public appearances in the British Islands, lecturing in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales before audiences of extraordinary size, quality, and enthusiasm. In Edinburgh he gave five lectures during eight consecutive days, his audiences crowding the largest halls. At one lecture the Lord Provost presided, and at others Professor Calderwood, and Principal Rainy of the Free Church New Theological College. At Edin- burgh, as well as at Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and London, many ministers of various denominations were present. On the occasion of the delivery of his lecture on " Conscience " in Edinburgh the stu- dents of Edinburgh University and of the Theo- logical Colleges of the city had a special section of the Free Assembly Hall assigned to them. Mr. Cook's farewell lecture in London was given in the Metropolitan Tabernacle to an immense audience on the 31st of May, 1882, Dr. Allon, the editor of the British Quarterly Review, occupy- ing the chair. During this tour he was entertained at public breakfasts at Belfast, Cardiff, Leicester, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, and London. After spending some months in Germany and Italy, Mr. Cook next went to India by way of Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, where he spent three months. He lectured in Bombay, Poonah, Ahmednagar, Lucknow, Al- lahabad, Benares, Calcutta, Bangalore, and other places to large audiences, composed of both Europeans and natives. In that country and Cey- lon he made forty-two public appearances in eighty-four consecutive days. All of the principal towns from the Himalayas to the sea gave him eager and overflowing audiences of Hindus. During his stay in Calcutta he and the leaders of the Brahmo-Somaj, or Society of Theists, then rep- resented by the Hindu reformer, Keshub Chun- der Sen, exchanged visits and explained their relig- ious opinions. From India his tour was continued

to China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands. He gave twelve lectures in Japan, six of them in English and six through an interpreter ; one in Canton, one in Foochow, and three in Shanghai ; and in Australasia he gave long courses to brilliant and crowded assemblies in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and other leading towns, making fifty-eight public appearances in all. In 1884-85 Mr. Cook made a circuit of the continent, lecturing, as usual, to great audiences in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Portland, Ore., Victoria, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, St. Louis, Montreal, St. John, and Hal- ifax. In 1888 he founded Our Day, a Monthly Record and Review of Reform, and conducted the periodical as editor-in-chief for seven years. On beginning a second tour of the world in May, 1895, by the way of Australia, Japan, and India, he resigned his editorship and sold his interest in this periodical. Mr. Cook is a member of the Athenaum, Boston, the Victoria Institute, Lon- don, and of the Boston Committee of One Hundred. In politics Mr. Cook is indepen- dent, and a political Prohibitionist. He took an active part in the World's Parliament of Relig- ions held in Chicago in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. He re- ceived the degree of LL.D. from Howard Uni- versity, Washington, D.C., in 1892. Mr. Cook was married June 30, 1877, to Miss Georgiana Hemingway, of New Haven, Conn.

CORT, JOHN, of Webster, editor of the Web- ster Times, is a native of England, born in Roch- dale, March 9, 1837, son of John and Betsey (Mills) Cort. He is of English-Scotch ancestry. He was educated in the national school in his native town. He learned the printer's trade, serving his apprenticeship in England, and subse- quently became an editor. Coming to this country, he worked for various firms in Providence, R.I., and in New York, and in 1874 took charge of the Webster Times, which he has since conducted. He held the position of registrar of elections from 1887 to 1890. In politics he is Republican. He is a Freemason, member of Webster Lodge, and has been its secretary for two years; is an Odd Fellow belonging to Maanexit Lodge ; and is con- nected with the Royal Arcanum, having occupied the positions of orator and regent of Ben Franklin Council. The success which he has achieved and

7.36

MEN OF PROGRESS.

the position he has attained have been won by his own efforts. Ile was married July 6. 1861, to Miss Jane Rossall. They have had one daughter.

JOHN CORT.

who died in November. 1893, at the age of twenty- seven. She was her father's assistant in the con- duct of his newspaper.

COWLES, FRANK MELLEN, of Boston, of the Cowles Art School, is a native of Vermont, born in Ryegate, June 29, 1846, son of George and Mary ( Bradlee) Cowles. He is descended from the Eastmans, Chamberlins, Bradlees, and Cowleses, who were prominent and active families in co- lonial and Revolutionary times,-a direct de- scendant of Ebenezer Eastman, captain at the siege of Louisburg, who also served in the French wars, and of the Hon. William Chamberlin, one of the first lieutenant governors of Vermont and one of the framers of the constitution of that State, who held rank as an officer in the Revolutionary War. The Bradlees fought with Cromwell's Ironsides, and were knighted for brav- ery. The Cowleses were among the carly settlers of Farmington, Conn., where they became a wealthy and influential family, being the original proprietors of the town. Their name dates back

to the time of Edward the Confessor. The greater part of Mr. Cowles's ancestors were in active professional life,- doctors, lawyers, minis- ters, literary and scientific men. His father was a prominent and influential man in the county in which he lived. Mr. Cowles was educated at the Peacham Academy, Peacham, Vt., which was founded in 1797, and is still in a flourishing con- dition. It is associated with many old-time and interesting traditions, while its name is dear to the hearts of many well-known men and women who received the foundation of their education within its venerable walls. He fitted here for Dart- mouth College. But several years of illness pre- vented literary studies. Upon the advice and encouragement of A. H. Bicknell, who saw merit in his artistic productions, he took up the study of art, after a time entering the Massachusetts Normal Art School, where he remained one year. and subsequently taking a two years' course in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. At this time he had a studio and took pupils, to whom he imparted some sound truths. Noticing the lack of individ- ual effort and the need of competent modern

F. M. COWLES.

methods of instruction, the idea of establishing a school occurred to him ; and so early as 188o he began laying plans for the institution which now

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

bears his name. By instinct and education as well as executive force and training, he was well equipped for the special performance of an inno- vator and inaugurator ; and his school has steadily advanced from the modest start in 1882 to a fore- most place and a name equal to that of any other institution of its kind in the country. Thousands of students have graduated from it, and many of them have attained distinction in the art world as designers, sculptors, and painters. Mr. Cowles is a member of the Boston Art Club. He is un- married.

CRAM, BENJAMIN MANLY, of Boston, deputy superintendent of the street-cleaning division of the street department of the city, was born in Fast Boston, August 19. 1858, son of Daniel and Mary A. (MacNulty) Cram. His father, born in South Lyndeborough, N.H., in 1815. was a grandson of Benjamin Cram, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, under General Stark, who served as captain at the battle of Benning- ton, though not a commissioned officer. His mother was born in Northumberland, England, in 1817, and came to this country, when a child, with her parents, who settled in Boston. She was of an old English family. Benjamin M. was edu- cated in the East Boston public schools. His first work was on the Welland Canal at St. Catherine, Ontario, with his father, who had taken a large contract on that work : and he had charge of men when but seventeen years of age. This work covered five years. Then in 1881 he was engaged on the Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Railroad, at that time building from Binghamton to Buffalo, N.Y. His next experi- ence was in Louisiana, on the Vicksburg. Shreve- port, & Pacific Railroad ; and, that work completed, he was appointed superintendent in charge of twelve miles of road on the Pine Creek Railroad in Pennsylvania, with a force of fifteen hundred men. Subsequently he had charge of the work from Goshen to North Windham during the double-tracking of the New York & New England Railroad from Putnam to North Windham in 1883 ; and upon its completion he was employed in other railroad building or extensions,-on the South Pennsylvania Railroad, the Chicago, Mil- waukee, & St. Paul, and in the East again, on the Meriden & Waterbury, and on the approach of the new bridge across the Thames River at New London. In 1889 he returned to Boston, and di-

rected the work of constructing the foundation of the power house of the West End Street Railway on Albany Street. During the next four years he

BENJAMIN M. CRAM.

was employed as superintendent of construction of various sewer. bridge, and reservoir works, and in 1894 principally in laying gas mains, both as superintendent and contractor. He was ap- pointed to his present position in charge of the street-cleaning division of the Boston street de- partment on March 22, 1895. by Mayor Curtis. In the autumn of 1894 he received the Republican nomination for representative in the Legisla- ture, from Ward Twenty, Roxbury District, and made a close run, being defeated by the smallest margin of any Republican for years in the "banner ward of Democracy " of Boston. Mr. Cram is a member of the Sons of the Revolution. He was married February 7, 1883, to Miss Olive Orinda Hunt, youngest daughter of Jerome B. and Susan B. (Aldrich) Hunt, of Bath, N. Y .. who were Friends. They have two children : Olive Hunt and Benjamin M. Cram, Jr.

CRAWFORD, REV. GEORGE ARTEMAS, of Bos- ton, managing editor of the Daily Standard, is a native of Maine, born in Calais, April 29,

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

1849, son of the Rev. William Henry and Julia Ann (Whittier) Crawford. He is of Scotch-Irish descent on the paternal side and of English on

GEORGE A. CRAWFORD.

the maternal side. His father was a Methodist Episcopal elergyman. He was educated in acad- emy and university, graduating from the Boston University A.B. in 1879, and A.M. and Ph. D., later in the School of All Sciences. He studied for his profession in East Maine Conference Sem- inary, Bucksport, Me., and took a special course in Hebrew and New Testament Greek in the School of Theology of Boston University. He became a chaplain in the United States navy in 1870, and served on the active list until retired in the spring of 1889. He received the degree of D.D. in 1890 from the New Orleans University. He is a Freemason, member of the Amity Lodge, Camden, Me., and is a member of the Beta Theta Pi. He has had some experience in connection with weekly papers, but began his real newspaper work as an editorial writer for the Boston Daily Standard. Changes in the staff put him in tempo- rary charge of the editorial department, and suc- cess led to his retention as managing editor. He has the fullest knowledge of the purpose for which the Standard was started, and the most perfect

sympathy with that purpose. He enjoys his new

work. Dr. Crawford was married September 3, 1872, to Miss Mary E. Patten, of Waldoborough, Me. They have three children : Howard T., Kendrick P., and Truman K. Crawford.

CROCKETT, EDWARD SHERMAN, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Maine, born at Bryant's Pond, July 22, 1869, son of Nathaniel Bennett and Lydia Jane (Wardwell) Crockett. He is of Scotch-English ancestry, a descendant of Ensign Joseph Wardwell in Vose's First Regiment in the Revolutionary War, attached to the corps of Lafayette. He was educated in the public schools of Boston and at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kent's Hill. His legal train- ing was obtained in the Boston University Law School and in the office of William B. Gale ; and he was admitted to the Suffolk bar June 25, 1895. Previous to his studies in the law school he grad- uated from Burdett's Business College, and for five years was a book-keeper for various Boston business houses. Mr. Crockett early entered pol- itics, and became active in the Republican city

EDWARD S. CROCKETT.

organization. In 1892 and 1893 he was president of the Ward Ten Republican Club ; in 1894, mem- ber of the Republican city committee for Ward

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

Ten; and in 1895 a member of the executive committee of the Boston Young Men's Republican Club. He was a member of the Common Coun- cil in 1895, and became prominent through a pro- test which he entered, in a meeting of the council May 23, against the appropriation of money from the city treasury to private organizations, the occasion being the report of committee on the celebration of the 17th of June. In politics Mr. Crockett is a Republican with a special platform,- " one non-sectarian free public school system, no property or public funds to be used for sectarian purposes, restriction of immigration, ex- tension of time required for naturalization, com- plete separation of Church and State, no one to hold public office who does not give first alle- giance to the United States and its institutions." He is a member of the American Protective Asso- ciation and of Grace First Methodist Episcopal Church of Boston.

CUMMINGS, EUSTACE, of Boston and Wo- burn, leather manufacturer, was born in North Woburn, April 22, 1834, son of Moses and Harriet (Cutler) Cummings. He is of an old Woburn family, a descendant in the fourth generation of David Cummings who removed from Topsfield, Essex County, to Woburn in 1756, and built one of the first tanneries in the town. His grand- father, David's son Ebenezer, married Jemima Hartwell, of Bedford, June 22, 1774, and died June 4, 1821 ; his father, Ebenezer's son Moses, was born October 10, 1800, died in 1840. A predilection for the leather business has in the Cummings family almost become hereditary. All of Mr. Cummings's ancestors on his father's side were tanners; and he followed directly in their footsteps, at the age of seventeen, after obtaining his education, which was acquired in the public schools of North Woburn, beginning work in a leather factory. When twenty-three years old, he entered business on his own account in the man- ufacture of leather, as junior partner in the firm of Shaw, Taylor, & Co., Boston. Five years later he became a member of the firm of Cummings, l'lace, & Co .; and in December, 1862, made an- other change, taking a younger brother into part- nership, and making the firm name E. Cummings & Co. This relation continued for upward of twenty-five years, until the death of his brother in September, 1888 ; and the firm name still remains

unchanged. Mr. Cummings has served on the Board of Selectmen of his native town, and has also been a director of the Woburn Board of

EUSTACE CUMMINGS.

Trade and of the Woburn Co-operative Bank. Mr. Cummings was married on the ist of January, 1854, to Miss Angeline Moore, of Woburn. They had three children : Wilbur E. (born January 16, 1855), Ella A. (born December 18, 1856), and Isabella J. Cummings (born September 17, 1859 : died September 9, 1884). He married second, July 9, 1867, Miss Ellen French, of Exeter, N.H. Their children are : Grace M. (born March 10, 1870), Edward H. (born February 25, 1874), and Ethel R. Cummings (born January 1, 1880).

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Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 98

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

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