USA > Massachusetts > One of a thousand, a series of biographical sketches of one thousand representative men resident in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89; > Part 10
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BOARDMAN, HALSEY J., son of Na- thaniel and Sarah (Hunt) Boardman, was born May 19, 1834, in the town of Nor- wich, Windsor county, Vt.
In the common schools of his native town he fitted himself for higher educa- tional work, entered Thetford Academy, from which he was graduated valedictorian of his class, in 1854. He entered Dart- mouth College the same year, graduating with high honors in 1858.
He entered the law office of Norcross & Snow, Fitchburg, changing subsequently to the office of Philip Sears, Boston. He was admitted to the Suffolk county bar in 1860, commencing the practice of the law in Boston, in July of the same year. His first connection in business was as senior partner in the law firm of Boardman & Blodgett, Boston, the firm name remain- ing the same until the junior partner, Caleb Blodgett, was made judge of the superior court. Stephen H. Tyng was a subse- quent partner, also Frank Paul, the present firm name being Boardman & Paul.
Latterly, owing to defective sight, he has found it necessary to throw off much of the labor incident to the legal profes- sion, and, while seeking relief in various manufacturing and railroad interests, has
been repeatedly called by his fellow-citi- zens to participate in the councils of the Commonwealth.
From 1862 to 1864 he held the appoint- ment of commissioner of the board of en- rollment, under President Lincoln, for the 4th congressional district. He was also chairman of the ward and city committee in 1874, president of the common council in 1875, Republican candidate for mayor in the same year, representative to the General Court in 1883-'85. He was elected to the Senate in 1887 and '88, serving as president both years. He is a prom-
HALSEY J. BOARDMAN.
inent member of the New England His- toric Genealogical Society. His business relations have made him influential as a railroad official, being president of the Duluth & Winnipeg Railroad, and director of several others.
In Boston, November 6, 1862, Mr. Boardman was united in marriage with Georgia M., daughter of George and Maria C. (Moseley) Hinman. Their children are Flora M. and Millie I. Boardman.
BOND, GEORGE WILLIAM, son of George and Ann Sigourney (Hammatt) Bond, was born in Boston, June 22, 181I. He is a lineal descendant of William Bond, who came from England to this country and settled in Watertown, in 1649. A tracc
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BOND.
of French blood flows in his veins, derived from Andrew Sigourney, one of the early French Huguenot settlers in Massachusetts. On the maternal side he is a descendant from John Howland, one of the Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic in the historical " Mayflower." George Bond, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Boston in the same house which his life- long friends, Amos and Abbott Lawrence, afterwards occupied for business purposes. He began business as an auctioneer and commission merchant in company with Samuel Whitwell, under the firm title of Whitwell & Bond. The new house rose to remarkable distinction, being widely known in mercantile circles throughout this and other countries.
George William Bond received his edu- cation in private schools until he had attained his tenth year. He then entered the Latin school. When his course in that school was nearly complete, he was sent to the school at Roundhill, Northampton, then kept by Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft. There he remained two years. In 1827 he entered the store of Daniel Denny & Co., dry goods jobbers, Boston, and, in 1832, was admitted to partnership in the house of Whitwell, Bond & Co. While in the former employ, he familiar- ized himself with the handling of wools. Similar opportunities presented themselves in his new place, and in connection with other houses succeeding them. In 1847 he abandoned the dry goods business and commenced that of wool broker, a pursuit in which he is still occupied.
In 1874 Mr. Bond received the honorary degree of A. M. from Harvard College, " in recognition," as President Eliot remarked at the time, "of his public spirit, and of his thorough knowledge of the important industries of wool growing and wool manu- facturing."
Mr. Bond is recognized as the first and standard authority on all practical questions relating to the wool business in the United States. His thorough knowledge of the subject led to his being consulted by the National Association of Wool Manufac- turers, in forming the tariff on wool in 1867.
In 1869 Mr. Bond communicated to the National Association an elaborate paper in explanation of the system adopted by him in his classification of wool. This was published in the first volume of the " Bulle- tin" of that Association. A final report from Mr. Bond on the standard samples of wool, addressed to the Hon. George S.
BOND.
Boutwell, secretary of the treasury, was, by his permission, published in volume iii. of the " Bulletin " of the association. Another most important paper was read by Mr. Bond before the Boston Society of Natural History, in 1887, on the " Origin of Merino Sheep." This appeared in volume vii. " Bulletin." Mr. Bond has held the posi- tion of chairman of the committee on sta- tistics in the above association.
Mr. Bond was married in Boston, July II, 1833, to Sophia Augusta, daughter of Henry K. and Maria R. (Craycroft) May. Mrs. Bond died in 1841, leaving three sons and one daughter: George, William Sturgis, Henry May and Sophia E. (now Sophia E. Wheelwright). George was in partnership with his father until 187 1, when he removed to Philadelphia. Henry May and William Sturgis were graduated from Harvard Col- lege in 1859 and 1862, and joined the Union army. Henry was wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, and subsequently by Mosby's guerillas. The latter wound proved fatal. William is now in partner- ship with his father. In 1843 Mr. Bond married Louisa C. Greenwood, of Boston, by whom he became the father of five children, none of whom are now living.
BOND, NELSON FREEMAN, son of Benjamin and Arethusa (Bowen) Bond, was born in Ware, Hampshire county, January 9, 1839.
Passing through the common schools and high school of Ware, he fitted for col- lege in Monson Academy, in 1858, '59 and '60. He entered Amherst College in 1860, and left in October, 1861, entering the army, enlisting in company D of the 31st regiment, Massachusetts volunteers. He rose from a private through the various grades to that of captain and brevet- major. His military service was chiefly confined to Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.
He was wounded June 14, 1863, at the siege of Port Hudson, La., by a minie- ball through the right lung, and for a long time was not expected to survive.
After the war, he engaged in raising cotton in Alabama, 1866 and '67, but re- turned North in the spring of 1868, on account of ill health.
He entered the employ of J. Cushing & Company, wholesale and retail flour and grain dealers, Fitchburg, in April, 1870. In June, 1876, he formed a partnership, under the firm name of Bond, Baker & Co., grain dealers, Waltham. This part- nership continued three years. He was then clerk for six years for the parties who
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BOOTH.
purchased the business. He returned to Fitchburg, March, 1885, and has been cashier for J. Cushing & Company to date.
NELSON F. BOND.
Major Bond was married in Paxton, September 3, 1868, to Maria E., daughter of Justus and Sarah E. (Jennison) Shaw. Of this union were three children : Vinnie Arathusa, Frederic Sylvester and Ben- jamin Walter Bond. (The last two de- ceased.)
Major Bond has been a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States since May 2, 1883. He has served three years on the school board of Fitchburg, and was in 1889 one of the representatives from Fitchburg to the Legislature, serving upon the committee on education.
BOOTH, EDWIN THOMAS, son of Junius Brutus and Mary Ann (Holmes) Booth, was born in Bel Air (Harford county) near Baltimore, November 13, 1833. He was named Edwin Thomas as a compliment to his father's friends, Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn. He was the seventh of ten children, and became early associated with his father in the vicissitudes of the career of that wonderful and eccentric actor.
Most of his boyhood was spent at his father's town residence in Baltimore. Ed-
win and his brothers ingeniously trans- formed a spacious arbor, situated upon the grounds, into a theatre, where, assisted by the future comedian and brother-in-law, John S. Clarke, they performed, before select juvenile audiences, classic and roman- tic dramas, with the female element rigor- ously eliminated.
On the roth of September, 1849, Mr. Booth made his first appearance on any stage in the character of "Tressel," in Cibber's version of Richard III. at the Boston Museum, undertaking the part to help out the prompter, to whom it was usually assigned in connection with his other stage duties.
His first appearance on the Philadelphia stage was on May 22, 1850, as " Wilford " in " The Iron Chest." It was in this part, also, that he appeared first in New York City, September 27, 1850, at the National Theatre. At the same theatre, in 1851, his father being ill, he suddenly and promptly took the place of the elder tragedian, and for the first time in his life enacted Richard III. This effort, remarkably successful for a comparative novice, was hailed as the indication of great talent, and as the augury of a brilliant future. In 1852, ac- companying his father and his elder brother, J. B. Booth, Jr., he crossed the Isthmus and played in a variety of engagements in California. In 1854 he was a member of a dramatic company, including the popu- lar actress, Miss Laura Keene, as leading lady, that took a trip to Australia. Return- ing to California in 1856, he came East, and first appeared at the Front Street Theatre, Baltimore, and then made a tour of all the cities of the South, being everywhere well received. In 1857 he appeared at the Boston Theatre as "Sir Giles Overreach" in a "New Way to Pay Old Debts," and his great success on this occasion, always regarded by him as the turning point in his career, determined him to persist in the resolute endeavor to win the first place as a tragic actor. His life since then has been marked by many vicissi- tudes of personal experience, and by fluctuations of fortune, but it has been one of lofty purpose and continuous advance- ment.
On July 7, 1860, he married Mary Dev- lin, of Troy, N. Y., who died at Dorchester, Mass., February 21, 1863, leaving a daugh- ter, Edwina. Mr. Booth, subsequently, on the 7th of June, 1869, married Mary Mc- Vicker, the daughter of a Mrs. Runnion, who became the wife of James H. Mc- Vicker of Chicago, a prominent actor and
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BOOTH.
BORDEN.
manager. Mrs. Booth died in New York in 1881, leaving no children.
In 1862 Mr. Booth made a trip to Eng- land, appearing in London, Liverpool, and Manchester, and on returning to America became the manager of Winter Garden Theatre, New York, remaining associated with the house until its destruction by fire in 1867. Here he produced, on a magni- ficent scale, " Hamlet," "Othello," "Mer- chant of Venice," "Richelieu," and other plays, and was the recipient of a gold medal presented by the leading citizens of New York, in commemoration of the, at that time, remarkable achievement of run- ning " Hamlet" for one hundred consecu- tive nights. He was afterwards associated with the Walnut Street Theatre in Phila- delphia.
In April, 1865, the appalling tragedy at Washington compelled Mr. Booth to leave the stage, and it was then his wish and purpose never to return to it. In 1866, however, persuaded by his friends, he re- appeared as "Hamlet" in the Winter Garden Theatre in New York, and was once more welcomed to professional life by a
EDWIN T. BOOTH.
most enthusiastic and sympathetic greet- ing. In 1869 he opened the new Booth Theatre, which had been built for him the previous year in New York City. This he
managed until 1874, when it passed out of his possession. In 1876 he made a tour of the South; in 1880, and again in 1882, he visited Great Britain and Germany, and was there received with extraordinary enthusiasm. In 1883 he returned home and resumed his starring tours in America.
He has published an edition of his prin- cipal plays in fifteen volumes, the text cut and adapted by himself for stage use, with introductions and notes by William Winter, the well-known dramatic critic of the "New York Tribune."
Mr. Booth is still in the zenith of his strength. He lives to lead the American stage of to-day with the same power as of old, and the glory of having given a series of the grandest pageants, graced by the pres- ence of some of the most celebrated actors that have ever been seen in this country, will be linked inseparably with the renown of Edwin Booth, when his biographer shall come to write the true story of his career.
BORDEN, PHILIP D., son of Thomas and Lydia (Durfee) Borden, was born in Tiverton, Newport county, R. I., May II, 1816.
His early education was obtained in the common schools of those days, by three months' attendance in the winter, and he was employed in the summer as cabin-boy, cook, and deck-hand, with his father until April, 1830, when he entered the service of the Annawan Manufacturing Company, and remained there until November, 1832. He attended school three months during the winter of 1832-'33. In the spring of 1833 he went to work for C. M. Coggeshall, cash- ier of the Union Bank. R. I., and divided his time between the bank, and the lum- ber yard of Cook, Borden & Co., of which Mr. Coggeshall was a partner. There he remained until the fall of 1834. January 1, 1835, he entered the employ of Holder Borden, to go to the American Print Works, whose property at that time belonged to the Fall River Iron Works Company, but is now a separate corporation. Later he changed from the Print Works to the Fall River Iron Works Company Rolling and Nail Mill as superintendent, and remained there until December 31, 1874, as superin- tendent, assistant treasurer, and treasurer -a term of just forty years.
From January, 1875, to August, 1879, he spent his time in comparative leisure, though much time was spent in connection with the water board, of which he was chairman, and other occupations. He was appointed as a member of the water board in the spring of 1871, and served in that
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BORDEN.
capacity until September 6, 1882, when he resigned. The council voted not to accept his resignation, but Mr. Borden declined to further act. He was a member of the board of aldermen for 1864 and '65, declin- ing to be a candidate for another year, as his other duties demanded his time.
Mr. Borden was married October 1, 1838, in New Bedford, to Sarah Freeman, daugh- ter of Samuel and Betsey (Willcox) Bennett of Fall River. Of this union were eight children, of whom only three now survive : Thomas S., Philip D., Jr., and Frank Bor- den. His first wife died August 3, 1858. He was again married May 23, 1872, to
PHILIP D. BORDEN.
Caroline, daughter of Benjamin and Ruth Seabury of Westport.
Mr. Borden was a director in the Meta- comet National Bank from its first forma- tion in 1853 until 1880, when he resigned on account of his not being qualified by the financial circumstances which he, with others, was called to pass through in Fall River. He was a director of the R. Bor- den Manufacturing Company from its first organization up to 1880. He had in pre- vious years been a director in the Fall River Iron Works Company, American Print Works, Annawan Manufacturing Company, and other corporations. He is now treasurer of the American Linen Com-
pany, to which position he was elected in August, 1879, and is a director in the B. M. C. Durfee Safe Deposit and Trust Com- pany.
In 1843 he was appointed by the pro- bate court as associate trustee of the estate of William Valentine, with Jefferson Bor- den (deceased), and is now acting as sur- viving trustee. This has been quite a large estate, and from its accumulation there have already been considerable amounts divided among the several wards as they have attained their majority.
BOTTUM, JOHN BENNETT, son of Samuel Adams and Leonora (Porter) Bot- tum, was born in Northampton, Hampshire county, July 7, 1852.
After an early educational training in the common schools of Northampton, and under private instruction, Mr. Bottum studied law with Allen & Bond, of North- ampton ; the former, now Judge William Allen of the supreme judicial court, the latter, district attorney for the northwest- ern district in this State. After a prepara- tory course in law, he entered Columbia College law school, New York City, from which he was graduated in the class of 1874 ; was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state of New York, in the spring of 1874, and in June of the same year was admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
He began practice at once, in North- ampton. In 1875 he entered a partnership under the name of Bond Bros. & Bottum, which continued until the death of one of the members in 1882. Since that time he has practiced alone.
He has frequently acted as district attor- ney pro tem. during the absence of the office incumbent. He was chairman of the Republican county and senatorial commit- tees in Hampshire county for several years, and is now chairman of the Republican city committee, Northampton ; was a member of the House of Representatives 1886, '87, '88 and '89, serving on the fol- lowing committees : probate and insol- vency, bills in the third reading, judiciary, and rules, and in 1889 was House chairman of the committee on mercantile affairs. In 1886 he was on the joint special committee to sit during the recess, to consider and report to the next General Court such recommendations and changes as it might deem advisable or necessary in the judicial system relating to the inferior courts of the Commonwealth. In 1887 he was a member of the House committee to the centennial of the adoption of the Constitu-
.
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BOURNE.
tion of the United States at Philadelphia, and in 1889 was House chairman of the centennial committee to New York, at the centennial of Washington's inauguration.
Mr. Bottum has always been a student of national affairs ; is a staunch supporter
JOHN B. BOTTUM.
of protection to American industries and markets, and an opposer of free trade. He was active and a welcome speaker in the last presidential campaign, and did his full share in presenting the claims of the Re- publican party to the suffrage of his fellow- citizens in the State.
BOURNE, JONATHAN, son of Jonathan and Hannah (Tobey) Bourne, was born in Sandwich, Barnstable county, March 25, 1811, the tenth of a family of eleven chil- dren. His father, a sturdy New England farmer, trained his sons to habits of indus- try, and taught them lessons of self-reliance.
At the age of seventeen Mr. Bourne went to New Bedford, and entered the store of John B. Taylor, remaining nine months, and then spent the winter months in attendance at the village school in his native town. The next spring he attended the school of B. F. Fry, New Bedford ; then found employment in the grocery store of John Webster, with whom he sub- sequently entered into partnership. Hle soon after purchased Mr. Webster's inter-
est and managed the business alone until 1838, when he sold out the business, his whaling investments having become suffi- ciently important to demand his full atten- tion. Devoted to his business, he rapidly increased its volume, until he became at one time the individual owner of more whaling tonnage, probably, than any other man in the country, if not in the world.
During the late civil war, when other owners, disheartened, were selling their vessels to the government, Mr. Bourne not only retained his property, but, with his usual pluck and sagacity, bought five new vessels, and prosecuted the business with redoubled vigor.
Although always interested in politics, first as a Whig and then as a Republican, Mr. Bourne never sought any political office. He was, however, repeatedly called upon to serve his fellow-citizens in posi- tions of responsibility and trust. Decided in his views, and fearless in expressing them, he often met with opposition, but never failed of an election when a candi-
JONATHAN BOURNE.
date. He served three years as alderman of New Bedford, and five years in the executive councils of Governors Robinson and Ames.
Mr. Bourne was three times chosen delegate to the national Republican con-
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BOUTWELL.
ventions, and at Chicago, in 1860, was the first of the Massachusetts delegation to abandon Seward, and cast a vote for Abra- ham Lincoln. For five terms of two years each he was elected by the Legislature a state director of the Western (now the Boston & Albany) Railroad. Upon the death of John A. Parker, Mr. Bourne was chosen as his successor in the directory of the Merchants' Bank of New Bedford, and upon the death of Charles R. Tucker, in 1876, was made president of the bank, which position, together with that of presi- dent of the Bristol County Fire Insurance Company, he held until his death, which occurred in New Bedford, August 7,
1889.
Mr. Bourne made good use of the limited school advantages he enjoyed in early days, and fitted himself for the practical side of business life in which he held such high rank. His success was due to tireless industry, financial integrity, personal at- tention to details, probity, and to a cour- age tempered by caution. Possessed of strong individuality, quick and self-reliant, he was ever just in his decisions and thoughtful of those connected with him in social and business relations.
BOUTWELL, GEORGE S., son of Sewall and Rebecca (Marshall) Boutwell, was born in Brookline, Norfolk county, January 28, 1818. He is a lineal descend- ant of James Boutwell, who immigrated from the neighborhood of London, Eng- land, becoming a " freeman " in Lynn in 1638, and of John Marshall, who arrived in Massachusetts by the ship "Hopewell," 1634, and settled in Boston.
Mr. Boutwell's early educational train- ing was received in the public schools. In his thirteenth year he was employed as a clerk in a country store at Lunenburg and remained four years. He subsequently taught school in a country district in the town of Shirley. At eighteen he began the systematic study of law, putting him- self under the tuition of an attorney, and employing all available time in pursuance of his object ; he also re-commenced the study of classics under the direction of Dr. A. B. Bancroft. He was admitted to the Boston bar in :853. He delivered his first public lecture before the Groton Ly- ceum at the age of nineteen. In 1840 he publicly advocated the election of Van Buren to the presidency. At the age of twenty-one he was chosen a member of the school board of Groton. In 1841 he was elected a representative to the General Court, and served in the subsequent
legislative sessions of 1842, '43, '44, '47, '48, '49, and '50.
Official positions were crowded upon his acceptance. Between 1842 and 1850 he was railway commissioner, bank commis- sioner, commissioner of Boston Harbor, and a member of special state committees on insanity, and public lands of Maine. He was governor of Massachusetts in 185 1 and '52. In 1853 he was made a member of the state board of education, and retained his connection with the board for ten years, and for five years discharged the duties of secretary.
From 1851 to 1860 he was one of the overseers of Harvard College. In 1856 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; and in 1861 a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of Cambridge, and delivered the commence- ment oration in that year. He was a member of the Peace Congress in 1861 ; delegate to the Chicago conventions of 1860 and 1880 ; was elected a delegate to the Baltimore convention of 1864, but declined the appointment. He organized the department of internal revenue, and served as commissioner until 1863, when he resigned to take his seat in Congress. During the 38th, 39th, and 40th Congresses he served on the judiciary committee and committee on reconstruction, and for a time was chairman of the latter.
In 1869 he was appointed secretary of the treasury of the United States, and in the administration of President Grant rendered most valuable service to the nation. He originated the plan of refund- ing the public debt, and began himself the work of refunding, which has been so suc- cessfully pursued by his successors. In 1873 he was elected to the United States Senate in place of the lamented Henry Wilson, and served four years. In 1877 he was appointed commissioner to revise the statutes of the United States, which work was completed in 1878. In 1880 he was designated by the president as attor- ney to defend the government before the international commission created to dis- pose of claims of citizens of France against the United States, and of citizens of the United States against France. The claims against the United States amounted to thirty-five million dollars, only six hundred and twenty-five thousand of which were allowed. His five annual reports of the state board of education are worthy of mention, also his commentary on the school laws of Massachusetts, and his volume on educational topics and institutions. In
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