USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Newton, Garden City of the Commonwealth > Part 6
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ALDEN SPEARE, second mayor of Newton, was born in Chelsea, Vt., Oct. 26, 1825, although his ancestors were natives of Massachusetts. His father and grandfather were physicians.
Young Speare fitted for college in the Newbury, Vt., Academy, but was obliged to abandon the idea of becoming a physi- cian on the death of his father. He came to Boston in 1844, and in 1851 founded the firm of Speare, Burke & Co., oil, starch and mill supplies. This firm was later succeeded by Speare, Gregory & Co., which firm was succeeded by Alden Speare's Sons & Co., and this in turn by the corporation of the Alden Speare's Sons Company, although Mr. Speare retired about ten years ago.
Mr. Speare was connected with a large
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ALDEN SPEARE.
number of business enterprises, including a directorship in the Everett National Bank, vice-president of the Boston Penny Savings Bank, director of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, director of the Mexican Central Railway, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, a director of the Ashland Emery and Co- rundum Company and president of the Walpole Emery Mills. He was an active member of the Boston Chamber of Com- merce and its president for four years.
During his residence in Boston Mr. Speare served three terms as a member of the school committee.
Mr. Speare married Miss Caroline M. Robinson in 1849, and removed to New- ton Centre in 1864.
In Newton his political service included a term as a member of the school commit- tee, two terms as mayor, in 1876 and 1877, and as a valuable member of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners.
Mr. Speare was very active in religious matters, being repeatedly elected to the general conference of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and for four years was presi- dent of the Boston Wesleyan Association.
His benefactions were many and in- cluded $100,000 to the Boston Univer- sity, land for the Newton Centre Metho- dist Church, and a new town hall and library for Chelsea, Vt.
Mr. Speare's death occurred very sud- denly at Pasadena, Cal., on March 22, 1902. He is survived by a widow and four children, Lewis R. Speare, Edward Ray Speare, Minnie, wife of Rev. Dr. William 1. Haven, secretary of the American Bible Society, and Ella M., wife of Dean Will- iam E. Huntington of Boston University.
OTIS EUGENE HUNT, M. D., one of the best-known physicians in the city, was born in Sudbury in 1822, a son of Joseph G. and Lucy (Howe) Hunt.
His early life was spent upon a farm and at the public school, and he prepared for college in the Wayland, Holliston and Wilbraham academies, teaching school meanwhile to secure funds for his educa- tion. He entered Wesleyan University in 1844, but was obliged to leave at the end of nine months on account of his health. Later he studied medicine in the office of Dr. Goodenough of Sudbury and
OTIS E. HUNT, M. D.
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EDMUND W. CONVERSE.
in the Boylston Medical School of Boston, and while a daily attendant at the Massa- chusetts General Hospital saw ether ad- ministered for the first time in that institu- tion as an anasthetic. He was graduated in medicine and surgery at the Berkshire Medical College in 1848, and for sixteen years practised his profession in Weston. He then removed to Waltham, and in 1874 removed to his present residence in Newtonville, where he continued in active practice until 1885, when ill health com- pelled him to retire. At the opening of the Newton Hospital Dr. Hunt was elected chairman of the medical board and a con- sulting physician upon its staff.
Dr. Hunt married Aroline Emily, daughter of Nahum and Abigail Thomp- son of Sudbury, in 1849, and has two chil- dren, a daughter, the wife of Hon. John A. Fenno, and a son, Dr. William O. Hunt of Newtonville.
Dr. Hunt served ten years on the school board of Weston and two years upon the school committee of Wal- tham.
He is connected with Grace Episcopal Church and the Newton Club.
EDMUND WINCHESTER CON- VERSE, a member of one of the most respected families in Newton, was born in Boston, Mass., June 5, 1859, and is a son of Edmund W. and Charlotte Augusta Converse.
He was educated in the Newton High School and is the senior member of the firm of Converse, Stanton & Co., dry goods commission merchants, with offices in Boston, New York, Chicago and Phila- delphia.
Mr. Converse was a director of the Na- tional Tube Works from 1894 to 1898, and is at present a director of the Atlas National Bank, president of the Conanicut Mills, Fall River, and a director of the Universal Winding Company.
He is a member of the Commercial and Algonquin clubs of Boston, the Mer- chants' Club of New York, the Brookline Country Club, the New England Kennel Club, the Newton Golf Club and Hunne- well Club.
Mr. Converse married Miss Julia Anna Pearson, and resides in the Converse home- stead on Centre Street, Newton.
HENRY EDMUND BOTHFELD, the tenth mayor of the city of Newton, was born in New York City, March 4, 1859, and is the son of Herman F. and Julia Bothfeld. His parents settled in Newton, where he received his education. When eighteen years of age Mr. Both- feld began his business life with the firm of Lewis, Brown & Co., importers, and in 1885 was admitted to the firm of J. A. & N. Harwood, manufacturers. In 1890 this firm was merged into the National Fibre Board Company, where he remained until 1900, when he engaged in his pres- ent occupation of managing trust prop- erty.
Mr. Bothfeld began his political career in 1891, when he was elected to the com- mon council of Newton. He was re- elected in 1892, elected an alderman in 1893 and 1894, and was president of the board both years.
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HENRY E. BOTHFELD.
His value as a public servant was easily recognized during the consideration of the important problems of the abolition of grade crossings of the railroad and of street improvements, and he received the unusual honor of a unanimous nomina- tion and election as mayor for 1895.
During his term of office as mayor the grade crossing, Washington Street widen- ing and boulevard construction matters were finally determined.
The strain of municipal work proved too much for his health, and he was obliged to decline the tender of a renomi- nation to the mayoralty. In 1896, how- ever, he accepted the position of chair- man of a commission to revise the city charter, the present charter being the re- sult of its labors.
Mr. Bothfeld is a director in the Hunne- well Club, an incorporator and director of the Newton Co-operative Bank, a corpora- tor of the Newton Savings Bank, a mem- ber of the Newton school committee, the American Unitarian Association and the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Asso- ciation, a member and ex-president of the Newton Education Association, one of
the standing committee and treasurer of the Channing Religious Society, member of the Boston Real Estate Exchange, member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, member and ex-president of the Claflin Guard Veteran Association, vice- president of the Newton Choral Associa- tion, and an associate member of Charles Ward Post 62, G. A. R. In 1885 he mar- ried Miss Haidee H. Soule, and with his family of four children lives at 91 Hunne- well Avenue.
EDGAR WILLIAM WARREN, was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., Oct. +, 1853, and is the son of Henry E. and Susannah ( Wood) Warren.
He received his education in the com- mon and high schools and entered the shoe business. He is now a large shoe manufacturer, with factories at Somers- worth, N. H.
Mr. Warren came to Newton High- lands in 1894, where he has a comfortable home on Lincoln Street, and has been ac- tively identified with the interests of the city ever since.
He was a member of the common
EDGAR W. WARREN.
61
LUCIUS G. PRATT.
council from Ward 5 in 1897, and served as an alderman in 1899 and 1900. He is also a prominent member of the Newton Highlands Congregational Church.
Mr. Warren married Miss Delia H. Prentice, and they have two children, Henry E. and Bessie L. Warren.
LUCIUS GALE PRATT, one of the prominent citizens of Newton, came to the town in 1854, and since that time has always identified himself with its interests. He was born in Brattleboro, Vt., May 3, 1824, and spent his early years in that place. At fifteen years of age he went into a country store in the village, and at twenty-one bought the business and carried it on successfully for ten years. Wishing for a wider field, he came to Boston in 1854, where he went into the wholesale grocery and tea business.
In 1870 he gave up active business and became interested in the building of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to the Pacific. He also took part in the building of the Mexican Central Railroad, of which he was a member of the first board of directors.
He was also a director of the Everett National Bank.
Elected to the board of selectmen of Newton in 1871, Mr. Pratt served there for three years, until the town became a city in 1874, when he served for two years on the board of aldermen. He was chair- man of the civil-service examiners for Newton for many years, and a trustee of the Newton Hospital. In the latter in- stitution Mr. Pratt has always taken a great interest, and as chairman of the finance committee has worked faithfully for its benefit and to help to place it upon a firm basis. He with Mr. E. W. Con- verse of Newton built and equipped the Nurses' Home and Training School.
Mr. Pratt attends the Unitarian Church of West Newton, where he resides. He has five children now living, all of whom are married, -two daughters, Mrs. Arthur Carroll and Mrs. Edwin Oakes Jordan, and three sons, Alfred Stuart, Herbert Gale and Frederick Sanford Pratt.
EDWARD HOWARD HAS- KELL, ex-member of the Governor's Council, extensive paper manufacturer and one of the leading merchants of Boston, was born in Gloucester, Mass., Oct. 5, 1845. His father was William H. Haskell, who married Mary Smith of Litchfield, Me., and both his parents come from good colonial stock.
Colonel Haskell's preliminary education was in the common and high schools of Gloucester. In 1859 he entered the office of the Gloucester Telegraph, and on Sept. 28, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, 23rd Massachusetts Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. In the December following he was ordered to special duty with the signal corps of the Burnside expedition and was slightly wounded at Newbern, S. C.
In 1862 he was ordered to the Army of the Potomac and was soon transferred to the command of General Pope and parti- cipated in the engagements of Cedar Mountain, Kelley's Ford, Rappahannock
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EDWARD H. HASKELL.
Station, Manassas Junction and Bull Run. From September, 1862, to August, 1863, he was an instructor in the signal corps at Georgetown, D. C. While there he was assigned to special duty to the War De- partment and was brought frequently into contact with President Lincoln and the leading members of his cabinet, in the meantime also participating in the cam- paign at Antietam. He was ordered to special duty with General Burnside in the East Tennessee campaign of the following winter, and in June, 1864, was assigned to duty with General Schofield in the memorable campaign of General Sher- man. He was honorably discharged in October, 1864.
Upon his return to civil life Colonel Has- kell re-entered the office of the Glouces- ter Telegraph to continue his journal- istic work. After two years of this service he was compelled to give up his profession because of failing health, and entered mer- cantile life. He became interested in the paper trade in 1875 and soon laid the foundation of his present successful busi- ness. As treasurer he assisted in the or-
ganization of the Rumford Falls Paper Company. He also, later on, became actively interested in the organization of the Great Northern Paper Company, the largest and most successful mills of the world. He was president of the Bos- ton Paper Trade Association for three years, and was twice elected vice-presi- dent of the Boston Associated Board of Trade.
In 1877 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Gloucester, and in 1880 he was appointed assistant adjutant general on the staff of Governor Long and served in that capacity for three years. Colonel Haskell was elected secretary of the Republican state committee in 1879 and served for five years.
In 1880 and 1884 he was elected a del- egate to the National Republican Conven- tion in Chicago, and served as secretary of the National Convention of 1880. He was elected executive councillor in 1882 and served in the council of Governor Butler. Two years later he was senior member of the executive council of Gov- ernor Robinson. He served on the staff of the commander in chief of the Grand Army in 1890 and in 1894, and is now a member of the board of trustees of the Soldiers' Home.
Colonel Haskell has been prominent in connection with the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society, the Massachu- setts Temperance Society and the National Temperance Society, and to all of these he has contributed liberally both of per- sonal effort and financial support. He was for several years a member of the state board of lunacy and charity, and a trustee of the Westboro Homeopathic Hospital, and is now president of the New England Baptist Hospital, and a trustee of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital and of the Newton Hospital.
Colonel Haskell was married June 27, 1866, to Hattie J. Munsey of Gloucester. Their family now consists of Edward A., Marian R. and Edith L. Haskell.
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OTIS PETTEE.
OTIS PETTEE, a member of a noted Newton family, was born in the Upper Falls, Dec. 5, 1823, and is a son of Otis and Matilda (Sherman) Pettee. His father was the founder of the Pettee machine works, the predecessors of the Saco and Pettee machine works of to-day.
Mr. Pettee received his education in the Newton schools and then entered the ma- chine works with his father and became in- terested in the manufacture of cotton and cotton machinery, continuing in business until 1881. Mr. Pettee has had a long and distinguished service in the town and city government, having been a se- lectman in 1857, 1858, 1870, 1871, 1872 and 1873 and its chairman for the two latter years, an assessor in 1862, 1863 and 1864, town auditor in 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869, an alderman in 1874, 1875, 1877, 1878 and 1879 and presi- dent of that body in 1874 and 1875. He has also served for seven years on the board of health and its chairman the greater part of the time, three years as an assistant assessor, as a trustee of the Newton Cemetery since 1864 and twenty- two years as its treasurer, and has been a
trustee of the Newton Hospital since its organization.
Mr. Pettee married Miss Julia Maria Smith of Needham and has one son, Otis T. Pettee, with whom he now lives at Newton Upper Falls.
ALEXANDER MARSH FERRIS was born in Whiting, Vt., April 6, 1839. His parents were Robert Hammond Fer- ris and Fanny Rogers (Tarbell) Ferris, and his ancestors served in the early colonial and French and Indian wars and in the Revolution. His early education was re- ceived in the public schools of Lowell.
His first business experience was as a bookkeeper and salesman, followed by some years in dry goods, beef packing, machinery and stock brokerage business. At the outbreak of the Civil War he re- signed his position as bookkeeper, devoted several months to study in the military school of Professor Salignac in Boston, and was attached to the 30th Massachu- setts as senior captain. He served with it until it came home on a veterans' furlough. He was provost marshal of the first divi- sion of the 19th army corps. He took part
ALEXANDER M. FERRIS.
6.
REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK.
in several battles and was wounded at Port Hudson.
After returning from the war he assisted in forming the 7th Regiment, Massachu- setts Volunteers, and was elected captain of Company A in October of 1864 and in November, 1865, was commissioned lieu- tenant colonel by Governor Andrew, hold- ing that position until he went to Chicago in 1868, where he remained until 1889.
In 1874 he helped organize the first regiment of Illinois state guards and was senior captain of that body. In 1890 he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company, and served as its com- mander in 1900 and 1901.
He resides in Newton. He is a mem- ber of the Grand Army, of the Loyal Legion, president of the Veterans' Asso- ciation of the 30th Massachusetts Volun- teers, member of Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revolution, a thirty- second degree Mason, and vice-president of the Newton Club.
In politics he is a Republican. He was married Jan. 17, 1861, to Miss Emma Jane Fowler, and they have one child, William M. Ferris.
FRANCIS EDWARD CLARK, D. D., known throughout the world as the founder of the Christian Endeavor move- ment, was born in Aylmer, P. Q., Sept. 12, 1851, his father, Charles Carey Symmes, and his mother, Lydia (Clark) Symmes, being natives of New England. His par- ents dying while he was quite young, he was adopted by his uncle, Rev. Edward W. Clark, assumed his name and entered his home in Claremont, N. H.
He was educated in the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden and graduated with honor in 1873 from Dartmouth College. After three years of theological study at Andover he entered upon his first pastor- ate at the Williston Church, Portland, Me. During his pastorate he conceived and or- ganized the Christian Endeavor Society. In 1883 he was called to the Phillips Church, South Boston, where he remained until his election as president of the United Society of Christian Endeavor and editor of its official organ, The Golden Rule, in 1887. In 1895 he was elected president of the World's Union of Christian Endeavor, and he is also a member of the prudential committee of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions.
Dr. Clark has made several trips to England and Europe, besides three trips around the world, and into every state and territory of the United States and Canada, and his name is a household word in every land. In the course of his busy life Dr. Clark has written many books, among which we note " World-wide Endeavor," " Our Journey Around the World," " A New Way Around an Old World," " The Great Secret " and " Training the Church of the Future."
Dr. Clark is a member of the Auburn- dale Congregational Church, of the Twen- tieth Century Club, the Monday Club, the Winthrop Club and the Newton Boat Club.
His wife was Miss Harriet Elizabeth Abbott, and their children are Maude Wil- liston, Eugene Francis, Harold Symmes and Sydney Aylmer Clark.
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LEWIS ASHFIELD KIMBERLY, Rear Admiral, U. S. N., was born in Troy, N. Y., April 2, 1830. He was the son of Edmund Stoughton and Maria T. (Ellis) Kimberly, his father being a well-known physician of Chicago and one of the original incorporators of that city. His mother was a descendant of Governor Lewis Morris of the royal province of New Jersey.
His first commission was in 1855 as a master, followed by another as a lieutenant within a few months. July 16, 1862, he was commissioned as a lieutenant com-
nongahela of the South Atlantic station. After two years as captain of the Omaha on the Pacific station he was attached to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for six years, and promoted to commodore Nov. 27, 1884, when he was assigned to the Charles- town Navy Yard until 1886. July 26, 1887, he was made a rear admiral and selected to command the Pacific squadron, and in March, 1889, was on the flagship Trenton during the great hurricane which swept the island of Samoa.
In 1891 he was engaged on shore duty as chief of the board of inspection and
BRAY'S BLOCK.
mander and served on board the Hart- ford, the flagship of Admiral Farragut's squadron. He did valiant service when the ship was fired upon, and engaged the Port Hudson batteries while steam- ing past, and later saw hard service in Mobile Bay. He reached command rank July 25, 1866, and was assigned to the receiving ship New York until 1870, when he went to the Asiatic station for two years. He then had command of the ironclad Canonicus in the North Atlantic service until a commission as captain Oct. 3, 1874, gave him the charge of the Mo-
survey, and upon retirement April 2, 1892, by age limitation, made his home in West Newton until his death on Jan. 28, 1902.
He was a member of the Loyal Legion, of the Farragut Association, of the Sons of the American Revolution, of the So- ciety of Foreign Wars, and an honorary member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association and of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
He was married in 1874 to Miss Nannie Marriott Cushman, daughter of Commodore Charles H. Cushman, at
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Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, and they have two children, Victor Ashfield, at pres- ent an ensign in the United States Navy, and Elsie Stewart Kimberly.
ALVAH HOVEY, D. D., LL. D., for thirty years president of Newton Theological Institution, and for fifty- three years a teacher in the same, was born in Greene, Chenango County, N. Y., March 5, 1820, and is the son of Alfred and Abigail (Howard) Hovey.
He was educated in youth in the dis-
Dr. Hovey is a trustee of Worcester Academy ; trustee and fellow of Brown University ; vice-president and trustee of Wellesley College ; corporate member of General Theological Library, Boston ; member of board of managers of Ameri- can Tract Society, New York ; member of Victoria Institute, London ; trustee of New England Conservatory of Music. He is a member of Theological Club "C. C."; honorary member of Boston Social Union; member of The Neigh- bors of Newton Centre ; member Theo-
RESIDENCE, ARTHUR C. WALWORTH, CENTRE STREET.
trict school of Thetford, Vt .; later in the logical Circle ; member Harvard Biblical Club.
Academy at Brandon, Vt .; graduated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H .; and at the Newton Theological Institution, Newton Centre.
He taught in Derby Academy, Ver- mont, and Colby Academy, New Hamp- shire, and became instructor of Hebrew and librarian at the Newton Theological Institution in 1849. He was professor of Church History 1852-54, Professor of Christian Theology 1854-98, and Presi- dent of the Institution from 1868 to 1898, when he accepted the professorship of General Introductions and Apologetics.
Dr. Hovey married Miss Augusta Maria Rice of Newton Centre, and they have four children, - Professor George R. Hovey ; Helen A. (married Rev. W. B. Parshley of Yokohama, Japan) ; Hattie L. (married Rev. John R. Gow of Somerville) ; and Frederick H.
Dr. Hovey served as a member of the school committee of Newton many years ago, but his life work has been in the In- stitution with which he has been so long identified. He resides in a comfortable home on Sumner Street, Newton Centre.
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ARTHUR C. FARLEY.
ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER FARLEY, president of the Auburndale Village Improvement Society and a promi- nent citizen of Auburndale, was born in Boston, Mass., March 13, 1851, and is the son of Noah W. and Permelia H. (Thayer) Farley. He was educated in the Phillips grammar and the Chauncv-Hall schools of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and immediately entered the dry goods business with his father in the firm of Farley, Harvey & Co., to which he was admitted as a partner in 1880.
Mr. Farley is the treasurer of the Boston Merchants' Association and a director in the Home Market Club of Boston, as well as the president of the Auburndale Village Improvement So- ciety. He is also a member of the Au- burndale Congregational Church and of the Joseph Warren Lodge of Masons of Boston.
He married Miss Helen Judd, daugh- ter of Colonel Charles H. Judd of Hono- lulu, H. I., and they have four children, Ruth, Emily, Charles Judd and Arthur Francis Farley.
HARRY LANG BURRAGE, one of the most successful business men in the city, was born in Boston May 25, 1872, and is the son of Herbert E. and Ruby M. (Childs) Burrage. His parents re- moved to Newton Centre in 1873 and to West Newton in 1875, so that Mr. Bur- rage is almost a native of the city.
He was educated in the Newton schools and graduated from the high school in class of 1890, where he was quite prominent in athletics. His remarkable business career was begun as a messenger in the Lincoln National Bank of Boston during the summer of 1889 and in the same position in the Third National Bank in the same fall. In 1891 he was appointed discount clerk, in May, 1894, assistant cashier, and in December, 1894, was elected cashier, serving until May, 1899, when he resigned to accept the vice-presidency and active management of the Eliot National Bank. In June, 1902, he was elected president of that bank and still holds that position. The bank has a capital of one million dollars ($1,000,000), a surplus of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($850,000), and ten millions ($10,000,-
HARRY L. BURRAGE.
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HENRY A. PRIEST.
000) of deposits, and Mr. Burrage is the youngest man in the United States having the management of a bank of its size.
Mr. Burrage was a vice-president of the American Bankers' Association and for three years a member of its executive council.
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