USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 2
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
During the World War he served upon various committees and gave effective aid in the various campaigns and drives. He was made president of the Lynn Real Estate Exchange, and was a volun- teer worker for the war work insurance, in which capacity his thorough knowledge of the insurance business in general, especially of the rates, enabled him to give valuable assistance to the "boys" in ser- vice, in the matter of getting out their war risk policies. After the drafting of men began, he served on the legal advisory board, and was later awarded a medal for his valuable services in this field, re- ceiving many yetters from the heads of the various departments in connection with which his work was done. Mr. Cotter is a director of the Knights of Columbus Building Association, and he is chairman of the board of directors of the Knights of Colum- bus School, in charge of a work which is being more appreciated each year. He is president of the Lynn Board of Underwriters, and was one of the incor- porators of the Master Builders' Association, which was incorporated in 1888, Mr. Cotter having at that time been a member of the Lasters' Protective As- sociation for one year. He also is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, of which he was for several years treasurer.
On September 30, 1889, James Cotter married Catherine E. Scott, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, daughter of John and Matilda (Lambert)
James Potter .
.
5
BIOGRAPHICAL
Scott, and they are the parents of six children: Mary, who married William P. Welch, and has a daughter, Helen Clair; Kathleen, who married Ralph E. Campbell; Helen, who in the early years of her beautiful young womanhood, died, in August, 1919; James J., who is associated with his father in the real estate business; Mildred, who is attending school; and Dorothy, who is also attending school. All of these were born in Brooklyn, New York, ex- cept the youngest, Dorothy, who was born in Lynn, Massachusetts.
The family are members of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, and reside at No. 3 Chester Place. Mr. Cotter is a self-made man, and while not weal- thy as wealth is estimated in these days, is still rich in the knowledge that he has lived a useful and suc- cessful life, contributing to the welfare of those about him, and enjoying in full measure those things which are the immaterial but the real wealth of a human life.
WINFIELD SCOTT NEVINS-In many branches of progressive endeavor in Essex county the name of Winfield Scott Nevins will long be re- membered. Author, journalist and historian, famil- iar with the records of the past, and looking upon the activities of his day with the vision of the ideal- ist, he was nevertheless broadly practical, and bore a part in those civic affairs which most closely have to do with the daily welfare and comfort of the people.
Mr. Nevins was a native of the State of Maine, and a son of Amos Harris and Mary A. Nevins. The father was a teacher in early life, and followed that profession for some years, later being engaged in farming until his death. He was a man of consid- erable prominence in his home community, for many years, New Gloucester, Maine, serving on the board of selectmen of that town. His scholarly tastes were a lifelong habit, and he kept his interest in literature and educational affairs until his death, one of the significant memorials of New Gloucester being the free public library which he founded.
.
Winfield Scott Nevins was born in Brunswick, Maine, December 6, 1850. His early education was acquired in the public schools, but he later covered a comprehensive course in letters at Gorham Acad- emy, Maine, and there the talents, inherited from his father and augmented by his affluent nature, gained the impetus which carried him far in the pro- fession of his choice. Coming to Salem in his youth, Mr. Nevins was for many years connected with the daily press of this city and of this section, in one capacity or another, and his writings later were given more permanent form. He contributed innumerable articles and some fiction to the maga- zines, and a number of his more significant works were published in book form. He was the author of "Old Naumkeag," an historical sketch of Salem and the surrounding towns; the "North Shore," a local guide; "The Intervale," a sketch of the White Mountains; "Education and Salem Schools," etc., etc. Probably his most permanently important work
was "Witchcraft in Salem Village," on which sub- ject he was.a recognized authority. In a footnote to his article on "Witchcraft in Massachusetts," posthumously published in the "Americana" maga- zine (First Quarter, 1922), Mr. Nevins said, in re- gard to that article, and broadly in regard to his writings on witchcraft:
* * I make no claim to originality of material. That was exhausted years ago by the many writers on this subject.
Nevertheless, Mr. Nevins brought to his work in this field not only the perspective of a later century, but the intimate insight into motives and the keen discrimination in determining values which only a mind of rare breadth can compass. Mr. Nevins also won considerable note on the lecture platform, treat- ing a wide range of subjects, both with and without accompanying stereopticon illustrations.
The practical side of Mr. Nevins' nature was con- tinually evident in his civic and business relations. He was for many years proprietor and manager of the Salem "Evening Telegram," for thirty-four years an active member of the Essex Institute, of Salem. President of the School Board during the first four years of its existence, his membership in that body covered a period of eleven years and embraced much constructive activity. He was one of the original members of the Salem Sewage Commission, and for several years was identified with the Salem Plan- ning Board. His work in these various capacities was not that of the novice. Mr. Nevins had trav- eled much, both in the United States and abroad, having made nine trips to Europe. These subjects of vital civic import had for years been his study during his travels, and he accumulated information the comprehensive and exact nature of which was of the greatest assistance to various Salem bodies having these matters in charge. In fraternal circles Mr. Nevins was very prominent. He was at one time president of the Loyal Protective Association of Boston; was past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and past noble grand of Fraternity Lodge, of Salem, in the same order, and was twice an ap- pointive officer of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was a member of Starr King Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and for a number of years was manager of the famous "Ye Honorable Boarde," a social club, of which he was a charter member. He was a man of deep religious convic- tions, and a member of the Universalist church.
Mr. Nevins married, in Salem, June 22, 1881, Mary Elizabeth Leavitt, daughter of Israel P. and Eliza- beth A. Leavitt. Mrs. Nevins still survives him and resides in Salem.
The death of Mr. Nevins occurred on October 23, 1921, and in his passing, the city of Salem, as well as the large circle of personal friends of which he was the center, has sustained a loss which will be felt for many years to come. He has left the world richer for his interpretations of various phases of the past and the time of which his activities formed a significant part.
6
ESSEX COUNTY
EDMUND C. WENTWORTH, who is one of the leading citizens of Haverhill, president of the Na- tional Paper Box Manufacturers' Association for the years 1920-1921, vice-president of the Granite State Spring Water Company, treasurer and gen- eral manager of C. H. Hayes Corporation, director of some Haverhill banking institutions, and active in many phases of some Haverhill banking institutions, and active in many phases of the business and civic affairs of Haverhill, was born in Plaistow, New Hampshire, February 27, 1877, the son of Nathaniel A. and Isabella (Hayes) Wentworth, both now de- ceased. The father was born in Denmark, Maine, and the mother was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Edmund C. Wentworth received his early school- ing in Plaistow, New Hampshire, and later attended school in Haverhill, Massachusetts. After a year in the Haverhill High School, he resolved to enter upon a business life without further delay, and therefore, in 1892, became an employee in the plant of C. H. Hayes. The business had been originally developed by George Wentworth, who sold to Messrs. Varney and Hayes in 1881, that partnership continuing until 1892, when Mr. Varney retired, Mr. Hayes being thereafter in control. Young Went- worth started at the bottom, but in four years had become foreman of the paper box department, and was a capable executive. In 1899, he accepted a position as general manager with the Lynn Box Company, at Lynn, Massachusetts, and continued in that responsibility until 1902, when he returned to Haverhill, and again took up connection with the C. H. Hayes Corporation. He was appointed super- intendent of the plant, and elected vice-president of the company in that year, and held those offices until 1916, then became treasurer and general man- ager. By-the-way, it is interesting to note that at one time the power and light used in the city of Haverhill was generated in the C. H. Hayes Cor- poration plant.
Mr. Wentworth has manifested an active, helpful, public spirit; he has been prominent in many pub- lic movements, especially those bearing on the in- dustrial progress of the city. He holds active mem- bership in the Haverhill Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club, and in 1916 was the president of the former, and is now treasurer and director. During the time of national stress, when the World War drew into war work persons in the home sectors and civilian life almost as thoroughly as those who actively were enrolled into the armed forces, Mr. Wentworth co-operated notably in the more im- portant local activities, taking part in all the cam- paigns for war funds, the Liberty Loans, Red Cross, and other drives. He is a director of the Haver- hill Trust Company, the Haverhill Morris Plan Bank, and the City Five Cent Savings Bank. He has been prominently identified with State Masonic bodies; is a Mason of thirty-second degree, Knights Templar, and past master of the Merrimack Lodge, Haverhill. He also is the district delegate of the Tenth Masonic District. Socially, he belongs to the Pentucket and Agawam clubs. Religiously, he
attends the North Congregational Church, of Haver- hill.
Mr. Wentworth married, October 26, 1898, Flor- ence P. Kimball, daughter of A. Perley and Ellen (Coffin) Kimball, the former originally of Chester, New Hampshire, and the latter of Newbury, Mas- sachusetts, but both in later life residents of Haver- hill, where their daughter, Florence P., married Mr. Wentworth. Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth have two children: Edward K. H., born in 1900; and Nor- man P., born in 1902.
CHARLES HACKER PINKHAM-The story of the business side of the medicine known the world over as Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is one of absorbing interest, and well worth the telling. The business was started through force of circumstances, and grew out of the local success attending the use of a prescription or recipe Lydia Pinkham possessed, a botanic remedy for the dis- eases of women. She, without a thought of money making, used to prepare this medicine from the herbs which she steeped over the old fashioned stove, and gave it freely to such of her neighbors as she thought it would benefit. This she did for years, and the fame of the remedy spread over a wide territory. People who called were given free- ly and without pay, for a period of perhaps ten years, when the family became very poor, through the father's losses. The wife, calling her children around her, discussed ways and means, the decision being that an attempt should be made.to market the medicine which had heretofore been given away, and the distribution of the vegetable compound as a commercial transaction was begun.
Lydia (Estes) Pinkham was of ancient family, early Massachusetts pioneers, the site of the first Friends' meeting house in Lynn having been a gift from an Estes. Lydia was the daughter of William Estes, born January 29, 1768, died in Lynn, March 3, 1848. He married, July 3, 1805, Rebecca Chase, born January 20, 1781, died February 11 1862, daughter of Benjamin and Eunice (Reed) Chase, granddaughter of Samuel Chase, son of William Chase, son of William Chase, the American ances- tor. William and Rebecca (Chase) Estes lived on a farm near Lynn, and in time the city, absorbed the farm for building purposes. Lydia Estes passed through school with honor and chose teaching as her profession. In her studies on economic and social problems she became interested in the ques- tion of slavery and eventually took strong position with the opponents of that system. She was for years secretary of the "Freeman's Society," formed for the purpose of aiding the slave, some of her fellow members being Whittier, Garrison and Lowell, all Abolitionists. Lydia Estes married, September 8, 1843, Isaac Pinkham (as his second wife); he having a daughter, Frances Ellen, born March 11, 1838, by a previous marriage, who be- came the wife of Samuel Lane, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Isaac Pinkham was born in Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, December 25, 1815, died in Salem, Massachusetts, February 22, 1889. He mar-
--
Char For. frilshaw
-
--
1
1
1
ยท
7
BIOGRAPHICAL
ried (first), Mary Shaw, (second), Lydia Estes, as stated above. He was a grandson of a Revolution- ary soldier and of good family connection. The Pinkhams settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, where, during the next two decades, four children were born to them, a fifth' at New Bedford, Massachu- setts, as follows: Charles Hacker, of whom fur- ther; Daniel Rogers, born in 1847, died in 1849; Daniel Rogers, second, born November 19, 1849, served in the Massachusetts Legislature, but was stricken with a fatal disease, and died October 12, 1881; William Henry, born December 20, 1853, took an active part in the management of the business with his brother Charles H., but two years after his marriage to Emma Frances Barry, he contracted tuberculosis, and died December 3, 1881, two months after his brother; Aroline Chase, born in Bedford, Massachusetts, June 17, 1857, married William Henry Gove.
Just before the Civil War, the family moved to Bedford, Massachusetts, three years later returning to Lynn, taking a house on the outskirts of Lynn. Isaac Pinkham was a real estate dealer and over- speculated in houses and farms, thus tying up his cash and reducing his commissions by having to pay interest charges. The Pinkhams became "land poor," but, true to her Quaker training, Mrs. Pink- ham helped in true wifely fashion, and the children were all kept in school until graduated from high school. All aided in the family support, even when young, the boys as peddlers of pop corn and as "chore boys" for the neighbors. The eldest son enlisted in the Union Army, returning uninjured, and until the final crash of the family fortune in 1873 they were a comfortably housed, happy, and fairly prosperous family. Then came the "panic" days, and of that period the biographer of Isaac Pinkham has written: "When the crisis of 1878 burst upon the city of Lynn, Isaac Pinkham had been for years one of the best known builders and real estate dealers in the city, and he had built up a large part of Wyoma, where he then lived. The length and severity of this strain was too great for anyone extensively interested in land to remain sol- vent, so great was the depression. In 1876 his limit was reached, and everything he owned was lost, even their home, and they went out again into the world without a cent. Himself too old to battle again with life, he was fortunate in having three active sons and a daughter, the latter a teacher in the public schools; and these all combined their forces to restore to their parents that which they had lost. Looking about to see what they could best take up, the 'Pinkham Boys,' as they were called by the neighbors, decided to undertake the manufacture of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Com- pound. The great success which they achieved filled with joy the last days of Isaac Pinkham and his wife, and demonstrated that the zeal, wit and sturdy valor of the Pinkham ancestor had lost none of its strong life and helpfulness."
After the decision to go into business as manu- facturers of the compound was arrived at between
the mother and her children, a small advertising campaign was begun, all bearing a hand. Later, when a little "ad." in a Boston newspaper brought an eighteen dollar order for the compound, a special holiday was decreed. The compound was still pre- pared by Mrs. Pinkham in her own kitchen, and for seven years she with her children fought on until finally the tide turned. She lived to see the sale of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound spread over a wide domain, and as all had labored, so all the family shared in the prosperity that came to the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company. The death of her two sons in the fall and winter of 1881, and the death of a daughter-in-law, told heavily on Mrs. Pinkham's health, and on May 17, 1888, at the age of sixty-four, she passed away.
Those who knew Mrs. Pinkham describe her as a woman of tall, slender, graceful figure, with a kindly, attractive face, which bespoke grace and beauty of character. Devotion to her family was her ruling trait, and to the last she preserved a remarkable alertness of mind. At the age of fifty- seven she was the winner of an old fashioned spell- ing bee, spelling down every competitor. The last one to go down before her was a young man, who later became her son-in-law and manager of the business which bears her name. In her business she gave advice free to all inquirers, a department that grew to such proportions that in one year she and her staff of women assistants received and answered one hundred thousand letters.
Charles Hacker Pinkham, eldest son of Isaac and Lydia (Estes) Pinkham, was born in Lynn, Mas- sachusetts, December 9, 1844, and died November 10, 1900. He was educated in grade and high schools at Lynn, and after school years were over, became a worker and aided his brother and father in pro- viding for the family. He enlisted in the Lynn City Guards, Company F, Eighth Regiment, Massachu- setts Volunteer Infantry, and served a three months' and a nine months' term of enlistment. After the war he was a clerk with his father for a time, then was with the Boston & Lynn railroad, collecting fares between Lynn and Swampscott. He contin- ued his contributions to the family fund for several years, aiding his mother in getting a little business inaugurated after the father's failure in business in 1873, and when a start had been made became man- aging head.
In association with his brothers, Daniel R. and William H., he organized an advertising campaign, and made Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound known everywhere. The compound, originally made over the kitchen stove in the Pinkham home, now boasts of a laboratory home occupying many thou- sands of square feet of floor space, and at the time of the death of Charles H. Pinkham four hun- dred people were therein employed. After the death of his two brothers, in 1881, he was in sole control of the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company, as president and general manager. Two years later his mother died, and he and his sister were the last survivors of those who founded the great business.
-
8
ESSEX COUNTY
He was a wise, aggressive and progressive man of affairs, and to his able management the great suc- cess of the company is due. He was one of the most liberal advertisers of his day, and left behind him a record of great achievement.
A Democrat originally, Mr. Pinkham later acted with the Republican party. The only office he would ever accept was that of park commissioner. He was very charitable, deeply devoted to his family, and highly esteemed wherever known. He was a member of the First Universalist Church, the Grand Army of the Republic, Golden Fleece Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Sutton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Olivet Commandery, Knights Templar; Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. His clubs were the Park, Oxford, Lynn, Republican, and Press, all of Lynn; the Sphinx, of New York, and the Article, of Boston.
Charles H. Pinkham married, September 11, 1878, Jennie Barker Jones, born in Lynn, September 27, 1856, daughter of John A. and Lucy R. (Barker) Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkham were the parents of six children: Arthur Wellington, born December 9, 1879, (q.v.); Lucy Emery, born June 26, 1883, mar- ried Charles Amos Burnham; Marion Frances, born June 20, 1885, married Hermon Emerson Smith, of New York; Elsie Barker, born February 6, 1891, married S. Earle Haines, of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania; Daniel Rogers (3), born January 15, 1899, married Olive C. White, of Providence, Rhode Is- land; Charles Hacker (2), born September 6, 1900.
The ancestry of Charles Hacker Pinkham, tracing as it does to Richard Pinkham, of Dover Neck, New Hampshire, 1640, to Matthew Estes, born in Dover, England, 1645, to William Chase, the Puritan, and to Revolutionary sires, is not more honorable than his own life and deeds. ' As the eldest son he bore the heavier burden of establishing and developing a new commercial enterprise, and after the death of his brothers, he carried the responsibility alone for nearly two decades. He left sons who worthily bear the name and they, the ninth generation of Pink- hams in New England, have taken the place in the business life of New England formerly occupied by their honored father.
ARTHUR WELLINGTON PINKHAM-Now ex- ecutive head of the business founded by his grand- mother and developed by his father, Arthur W. Pinkham carries on the great business their genius created, and upon the foundations they laid and built he has helped add until a perfect commercial superstructure has been reared that will forever perpetuate the name. Other business enterprises have claimed Mr. Pinkham, and he is one of the men prominent in the commercial world, a manu- facturer and financier, a citizen public-spirited and progressive, and in every department of city life, church, fraternal, and social, he is well known, use- ful and popular. He is of the ninth American gen- eration of Pinkhams, a son of Charles Hacker and Jennie Barker (Jones) Pinkham, and grandson of Isaac and Lydia (Estes) Pinkham (q.v.).
Arthur Wellington Pinkham was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, December 9, 1879. He was educated in the public schools of the city, a graduate of San- born grammar school in 1894, Classical High School, class of 1898, and a student at Brown University, 1898-1901, when he left the university to take the place in the business world made vacant by the death of his honored father. In June, 1921, he was enrolled as a graduate of his class of 1902 and grant- ed the degree of Ph.B. out of course. While the responsibilities he was called on thus early to as- sume were both numerous and weighty, he quickly settled under the load and has developed into the strong, self reliant man of affairs, a fine executive manager, wise in council and strong in action.
Mr. Pinkham is president of the Lydia Pinkham Medicine Company; president of the National City Bank of Lynn; director of the Bartlett Somers Shoe Company; the Renton Heel Company, and the Lynn Gas and Electric Company. To these purely busi- ness enterprises he gives himself with energy and enthusiasm, but they, by no means, measure the ex- tent of his activity. He is chairman of the Lynn Independent Industrial Shoe School; chairman of the Home Rule Committee; a member of the board of trustees of Lynn Hospial. In all of these pub- lic activities he takes a deep interest and gives to his official duties the same close scrutiny and at- tention as to his private affairs. In politics Mr. Pinkham is a Republican, and in 1902-03 served as a member of the Lynn School Committee. In May, 1904, he began a five years' term as park commis- sioner under appointment of the mayor. He is a member and treasurer of the First Universalist Society; a member of Essex Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution; a member and an ex-president of the Oxford Club of Lynn; and in Masonry has attained the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
Mr. Pinkham married, November 11, 1911, Ruth Marie Griffith, of Glens Falls, New York, and they are the parents of two children: Charles Hacker (3), and Richard Griffith.
REV. JOHN P. SULLIVAN, A. B .- In ecclesias- tical circles in Essex county, Rev. John P. Sullivan is a figure of prominence, having rounded out thirty- three years of ceaseless activity in the priesthood. Among the people of those churches which he has served as pastor he is deeply beloved, and it is fit- ting that the review of his life should stand on the permanent records of this county. A' native of this State, he is a son of John and Bridget (O'Day) Sul- livan. His father, who is now deceased, was a vet- eran of the Civil War, and a brother died while serving in the Spanish-American War.
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.