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 13
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Mr. Brooks was first married May 6, 1850, to Mary Jones Chadwick, who died March 14, 1851. His second marriage occurred November 29, 1854, with Louise, daughter of Henry and Mary Ann (Davis) Winsor. Of this union were six children: Fanny, Edward, Henry, Frederic, Eliza- beth Boott, and Louise Winsor Brooks.
In 1862 Mr. Brooks represented the town of Medford in the lower branch of
the Legislature. Mr. Brooks was sent with Edmund Dwight to distribute the Boston French relief fund among the peasantry in the neighborhood of Paris after the Franco-Prussian war of 1871.
BROOKS, PHILLIPS, son of William Gray and Mary Ann (Phillips) Brooks, was born in Boston, December 13, 1835.
He received his early education at the common and high schools of Boston, where he fitted for Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1855, subsequently study- ing theology at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va.
In 1859 he was ordained and became rector of the Church of the Advent, in Phil- adelphia. Three years later he took charge of the Church of the Holy Trinity, in that city, which position he occupied until 1869, when he became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, with which he is still identified.
Dr. Brooks has risen to one of the most prominent positions in the Episcopal church. He has declined many calls to other churches since he became rector of Trinity Church in Boston - in 1881 to the Plummer professorship in Harvard College, and later the office of assistant bishop of Pennsylvania, to which he was elected in 1866 - wisely preferring to re- main in his Boston parish, where he has become a power that may justly be said to be unrivaled in the church.
His present church edifice, noted through- out the United States for its unique archi- tecture and fine interior decorations, was constructed at a cost of more than half a million dollars. In its pulpit the figure of Dr. Brooks has become one of the most familiar sights of Boston, and the immense auditorium is constantly thronged with an eager and expectant audience, in culture and intelligence second to none in the country.
Dr. Brooks has published many of his sermons and lectures, among the most popular of which may be mentioned : "Our Mercies of Re-occupation " (Phila- delphia, 1865) ; "Addresses by Bishops and Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church " (Philadelphia, 1869) ; " The Liv- ing Church" (Philadelphia Protestant Episcopal Book Society, 1869) ; "Ser- mon preached before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Bos- ton " (Boston, 1872) ; Address delivered May 30, 1873, at the dedication of An- dover (Mass.) Memorial Hall (Andover, 1873); "Lectures in Preaching," delivered before the Yale divinity school (New York, 1877) ; "The Influence of Jesus," Bohlen
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lectures, delivered in Philadelphia in 1879 (New York, 1879) ; " Pulpit and Popular Skepticism " (New York, 1879) ; "Candle of the Lord," and twenty other sermons (New York, 1883); "'Twenty Sermons " (New York, 1886); "Tolerance," two lec- tures to divinity students (New York, 1887).
BROOKS, WILLIAM HENRY, son of Reuben P. and Margaret (Eliot) Brooks,
WILLIAM H. BROOKS.
was born at Schuyler's Lake, Otsego county, N. Y., January 5, 1855.
He was given his early mental training principally at home. He fitted for college at the Clinton Liberal Institute, Clinton, N. Y., entered Dartmouth College in 1872, and was graduated in the class of 1876. He then studied law with Warren C. French, of Woodstock, Vt .; formed a law partnership with Edward W. Chapin, of Holyoke, in 1878; continued these rela- tions nntil 1882, when he withdrew from the law firm. Since the dissolution of the law partnership he has been in busi- ness for himself as practicing attorney, Holyoke, where he now resides.
In October, 1877, he was married to Mary French, of Woodstock, Vt., who died in June, 1882. She was the daughter of Warren C. and Sarah (Steele) French. Of this union were three children : William
BROWN.
S., Eliot Palmer and Mary F. Brooks. His present wife, Jennie, was daughter of Ed- win and Maria (Adams) Chase. The issue of this marriage were two children : Rachel and Chase Brooks.
Mr. Brooks was city solicitor of Holyoke for three years, 1881, '82 and '83. In 1884 he was nominated for mayor by the Re- publicans, and defeated by James E. Delaney, the Democratic candidate, by a small majority.
BROWN, EDWIN, son of Albert and Mary Blair (Eaton) Brown, was born in Worcester, March 24, 1844.
In 1860 he began his business life in the City Bank, Worcester. From 1862 to '63 he served in the late civil war as a private soldier in company C, 5 Ist regiment, Mas- sachusetts volunteers, returning to the City Bank as book-keeper, and remaining there until 1867.
EDWIN BROWN.
From 1867 to '68 he was teller in the Worcester National Bank, afterward becon- ing assistant cashier in the City National Bank, which position he held until 1871.
From 1871 to '80 he was one of the firm of T. K. Earle & Co., manufacturers of machine card clothing.
He is now treasurer and manager of the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company, Worcester.
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BROWN.
Mr. Brown was married in Worcester, June 12, 1872, to Mariana Mifflin, daughter of Timothy Keese and Nancy Shove (Hacker) Earle. Of this union are Earle, Edwin Hacker, Caspar Mifflin, and Lloyd Thornton Brown.
BROWN, JEREMIAH, son of Asa and Sarah (Cook) Brown, was born in Hadley, Hampshire county, April 7, 1836. He is of sturdy New England stock, being de- scended from one of the earliest settlers of Hadley. When he was only three years old, his parents removed to the city of Northampton, where he received his early education in its public schools. On leaving school he learned the trade of mason, and has, for many years, been a prominent con- tractor and builder, the head of the firm of Brown & Bailey.
In 1862 Mr. Brown enlisted in the 52d regiment, Massachusetts volunteers, and faithfully served his full term of service. Upon his discharge from the army, he returned to Northampton, and, in renewed connection with his partner, William A. Bailey, has devoted himself closely to his business.
Mr. Brown has been more or less promi- nently associated with the city government ever since its charter. He was for many years either councilman or alderman, and, in December, 1888, was elected mayor of the city. He is a Democrat in politics, being very strongly opposed to monopoly and class legislation.
Mr. Brown was married in Springfield, in January, 1863, to Martha, daughter of Syd- ney Barber. Of this union are two chil- dren.
BROWN, ORLAND J., son of Harvey and Lucina (Fuller) Brown, was born in Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, February 2, 1848.
He availed himself of every advantage offered by the public schools, and supple- mented this by attendance at Power's Institute, Bernardston. He began teach- ing in the public schools at the age of six- teen ; taught and studied alternately from that time until he began the practice of medicine and surgery at Adams, in January, 1871. He removed to North Adams in March, 1872, where he has practiced con- tinuously to the present time.
Dr. Brown was first married November 22, 1871, to Eva M., daughter of William and Amelia (Blakeslee) Hodskins. Of this union was one child, William O. Brown, the mother dying at his birth, October 14, 1873. Dr. Brown's second marriage, Sep-
tember 13, 1876, was with Ida M., daughter of Homer and Martha (Phelps) Haskins. She died in 1881, having borne him two children, Agnes O. and Ida M. Brown (the latter dying in infancy). Dr. Brown was again married, December 16, 1884, to Alice T., daughter of Edward and Celestia (Stevens) Stowell.
Dr. Brown has been assistant surgeon of the 2d regiment, Massachusetts volunteer militia since 1878. He has been deacon of the First Universalist church since 1885, and superintendent of the Sunday-school since 1872, besides holding various other church offices. He has been one of the medical
ORLAND J. BROWN.
examiners for Berkshire county since 1882 ; health officer of North Adams most of the time since 1880 ; member of the House of Representatives in 1889, serving on the com- mittee on public health ; vice-president of the Union Medical Association of Benning- ton Co., Vt., and Berkshire Co., Rensselaer and Washington counties, N. Y. ; member of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; member of the Massachusetts Medico- Legal Society, also a member and presi- dent of the Medical Association of North- ern Berkshire, and is ex-president of the Berkshire District Medical Society. He belongs to the order of F. & A. M. and several benevolent organizations.
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BRUCE.
Dr. Brown received his medical educa- tion first in the University of Vermont, taking his degree, M. D., in 1870. He subsequently has taken courses of study at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and at Rush Medical College, Chicago. He has been a very busy and successful practitioner, excelling particu- larly in treatment of diseases of women and children. He accredits his unimpaired constitution to his being early in life accus- tomed to the physical labors and exercise incident to farm life.
BROWNE, CAUSTEN, youngest son of William and Sarah Justice (McIntire) Browne, was born in Washington, D. C., October 9, 1828. He is of old Massa- chusetts descent on his paternal side, the first American ancestor, Nicholas Browne of Droitwich, England, having settled in Reading in 1638, whence the family were transplanted in 1742 to Newburyport, where it has been largely and creditably repre- sented ever since.
Mr. Browne's father took up his resi- dence in Washington in 1812 while yet a boy, and there married a Maryland lady. It was in this city that Mr. Browne re- ceived his early education, mainly from George J. Abbott, a highly esteemed teacher of that day, and at the age of fif- teen he entered the sophomore class of Columbian College near the city. Here he remained two years and then entered the service of the United States Coast Survey, in which he remained until he became of age.
On his twenty-first birthday he went to live in New York City, and immediately commenced the study of law, partly in the office of the late Charles M. Keller, one of the leading patent lawyers of the country, and partly under the direction of William Curtis Noyes, who enjoyed at that time the reputation of being the leading equity lawyer of the New York bar. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Browne was admitted to practice in New York.
At Washington, June 2, 1852, he was married to Katharine Eveleth, eldest daughter of General William (U. S. Ord- nance) and Sarah (Eveleth) Maynadier. Of this union were five sons : Alexander Porter, who is his father's law partner, William Maynadier, Henry Rossiter Worth- ington, Causten, and James Maynadier.
In October, 1852, Mr. Browne removed to Boston, where he has since resided. Very soon after establishing himself in Boston, he set himself about discharging the debt which every lawyer is said to owe
to his profession, by writing a treatise on the construction of the statute of frauds, a branch of the law of contract. The sub- ject was one of uncommon intricacy and difficulty, but the favor with which Mr. Browne's treatise was received, and which it has ever since enjoyed at the hands of professional critics, leaves no doubt of the quality of the work. It was published in 1857, and has passed through four editions since that time. With the exception of this work, Mr. Browne has confined himself to the practice of his profession, having at no time held or sought political or mercan- tile office of any kind. While the circum- stances of his early professional study gave a predominance in his practice to the pat- ent law, he has devoted considerable atten- tion to the kindred subject of copyright, and is a recognized authority thereon.
Mr. Browne is a member of the Episco- pal church, and actively interested in its affairs. He has also taken much interest in the Citizens' Association of Boston, of which he is now vice-president. He was for several years president of the Boston Bar Association. He is a member of the Union and St. Botolph clubs.
BRUCE, ALEXANDER BERN, son of David and Jemima (Bern) Bruce, was born September 17, 1853.
Receiving his early educational training in the common schools of Andover, he en- tered the employ of J. P. Kent, cracker baker, Lawrence, Mass., at the age of fif- teen, as a boy, and worked his way up to be foreman of that concern. Upon the death of Mr. Kent, he formed a partnership with the son of the deceased, under the firm name of Kent & Bruce, and has since continued the business, which has grown to be one of the largest of its kind in the state.
On the 24th of September, 1870, at Law- rence, Mr. Bruce married Mary, daughter of William and Mary (Cooper) Mitchell, by whom he has one son : David Bruce.
Mr. Bruce is a member of Phoenician Lodge of Masons, Mt. Sinai Lodge Royal Arch Chapter, Bethany Commandery, K. T., Aleppo Temple, Nobles Mystic Shrine, Royal Good Fellows, Lawrence Lodge, B. P. O. E. (first exalted ruler), and has been past grand of Lawrence Lodge, I. O. O. F., and past chief patriarch Kearsarge En- campment. He is also a director in Odd Fellows' Hall Association, and a member of the Alma and Home clubs of Lawrence. Ile is president of the Merrimac Valley Felt and Wool Company of Lawrence, and is a director in the New England North
.
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Western Investment Company, and also a director in the Merchants National Bank, Lawrence. He was a member of the board of aldermen of the city of Lawrence in 1884, mayor of the city in 1886, and re- elected in 1887.
ALEXANDER B. BRUCE.
Mr. Bruce is essentially a self-made man, having by his own individual efforts risen from comparative obscurity to a most prom- inent place among the leading business men of Lawrence. He has twice served the city as chief executive, an honor sel- dom conferred upon one so young, and was eminently successful in administering the duties of that office. He has always been a staunch Democrat in politics, but his election in both instances has been secured by the votes of the business men of Law- rence, regardless of party lines.
BRUCE, GEORGE ANSON, son of Nathaniel and Lucy (Butterfield) Bruce, was born in Mount Vernon, Hillsborough county, N. H., November 19, 1839.
He fitted for college at the Appleton Academy, Mount Vernon, N. H., and was graduated from Dartmouth in the class of 1861. He immediately began the study of law.
In 1862 he entered the service of the Federal army as Ist lieutenant, 13th New Hampshire volunteers, served as aid, judge
advocate, inspector and assistant adjutant general on staff duty. He served through the war, and was mustered out of service, July 3, 1865.
He returned home, scarred, but victori- ous, and honored by three distinct brevet promotions. The first was for service at Petersburg in 1864; the second, that of major, for gallant conduct at the capture of Fort Harrison the same year, and the third, that of lieutenant-colonel, for dis- tinguished services in connection with the capture of Richmond, April 3, 1865.
After his return to civil life, Mr. Bruce en- tered again into the study of the law, under the direction of his old preceptors in Low- ell, but kept his residence at Mount Vernon, N. H. In the spring of 1866 he was elect- ed to the Legislature of New Hampshire, an event peculiarly creditable to his stand- ing in the community, as he was the first and only Republican ever elected from that district.
Admitted to the bar at Lowell, October, 1866, he began the practice of his pro-
GEORGE A. BRUCE.
fession in Boston in 1867. There he has since established himself in a most honor- able place among the leaders of the legal fraternity, securing a large clientage and lucrative practice. He continued to reside in Boston until 1874, when he removed to
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BRYANT.
the adjoining city of Somerville, where he still resides.
Mr. Bruce was mayor of Somerville in 1877, '80 and '81, and a member of the state Senate in 1882, '83 and '84, being president of the Senate the latter year.
Since his retirement from active political life, he has given his time and energies to the more important cases which from year to year come before the Legislature. His long and varied experience while a member, his wide acquaintance with public men, his sagacious reading of human nature, make him a powerful ally and a formidable antagonist. He has the reputation of be- ing successful in nearly every cause in behalf of which he has appeared before a legislative committee.
Mr. Bruce was married in Groton, in 1870, to Clara M., daughter of Joseph F. and Sarah (Longley) Hall.
BRYANT, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, was born at East Andover, Merrimack county, New Hampshire, February 25, 1825. His mother was of revolutionary stock, and of one of the oldest families in town.
Mr. Bryant availed himself of the limited educational advantages offered by the dis- trict school of his native place, subse- quently attending for a portion of a term the high school at Franklin. His ambition for study was greater than his means for its gratification.
His first commercial transaction was in borrowing enough money at the age of fourteen to defray the expense of an entire term at Boscawen Academy, giving his note therefor, which he paid with interest at the end of three years. Drifting about a term at a time among the various acade- mies in the state, at Concord, Claremont, Gilmanton and New London, he entered New Hampton, and then perfected his collegiate equipment, so that he entercd the sophomore class at Waterville College, Maine, a year in advance of his fellows.
At the academies and in college he de- veloped an intense passion for debate, and took a leading part in all the lyceums at home and the societies connected with the various institutions of learning he at- tended, to which he undoubtedly owes much of the freedom and ease that have since characterized his oratorical efforts.
At twenty-two he entered the office of an eminent law firm - Nesmith & Pike - at Franklin, and after something less than two years' hard study went to the Harvard law school, from which he graduated in 1848 ; was admitted to the bar of Grafton
county at the November term of the same year, and having opened an office at Bris- tol in that county, in November, 1848, upon his admission, entered upon the active practice of his profession.
At twenty-five he was elected one of the commissioners of the county of Grafton, and held the office for three years, being chairman of the board two years. At twenty-nine he was appointed prosecuting attorney for that county, and discharged his duties with marked efficiency. In 1853 he removed from Bristol to Plym- outh ; and from that time he was en- gaged on one side or the other of nearly
NAPOLEON B. BRYANT.
every important cause there tried by the jury.
In 1855 Mr. Bryant removed to Con- cord, and entered into partnership with Lyman T. Flint.
Mr. Bryant prior to 1856 had acted with the Democratic party, in whose faith he had been reared, but in that year he supported, by voice and vote, the nomination of John C. Fremont, effectually speaking in all the large towns, and in nearly every county in the state. In 1857 he represented the city of Concord in the New Hampshire Legislature, was re-elected in 1858 and '59, serving as speaker the last two years. In 1860 he was at the Chicago convention as
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BUCHANAN.
a substitute delegate, working strenuously and effectively for the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. He stumped the state for him, and after his election removed to Boston. He was a delegate to the Baltimore con- vention in 1864, a firm supporter of Mr. Lincoln's renomination and a strenuous opponent of Andrew Johnson for the second place on the national ticket.
He delivered the centennial oration in his native town in 1879. Since he has re- sided in Massachusetts he has refused to hold any political office whatever, and has only interested himself in politics by mak- ing speeches during the state and national campaigns.
From the time of his taking up his residence in Boston, until 1887, he devoted his time almost entirely to an extensive and constantly increasing general practice in the several counties in East Massachu- setts; in both the state and federal courts, and not infrequently has been called to his old circuit in New Hampshire when he could spare the time.
Mr. Bryant was married at the age of twenty-four to Susan M., the daugh- ter of Abraham Brown of Northfield, N. H., by whom he has three surviving children.
He retired from business in April, 1887, and is known in both public and private life as a most genial and courteous gentle- man.
BUCHANAN, JOSEPH RODES, son of Dr. Joseph and Nancy Buchanan, was born in Frankfort, Franklin county, Ky., December 11, 1814. At the age of sev- enty-four he is still in his prime as to health, vigor, and application, editing " Buchanan's Journal of Man."
His father's death in 1829 left the son to maintain himself unaided. As a printer, teacher, and medical student, he took an original course, and began in 1835 the career of public teacher, devoting himself to his life work, the consummation of physiology, by ascertaining the unex- plained functions of the brain and nervous system, founding his labors on the theory of Gall and Spurzheim, which he subjected to years of patient analysis and criticism, rejecting errors and adding important dis- coveries. His study of comparative devel- opment was superseded in 1841 by the discovery of the impressibility of the brain, and the power of affecting the brains of intelligent persons so as to determine the location of their various functions. In 1842 he published his explanation of the brain, showing the psychic and physiolog-
ical functions of all parts, a condensed statement of which he gave in his "Sys- tem of Anthropology " in 1854. Having graduated from the medical department of the Louisville University, he presented his discoveries to the faculty and authorities of the university for examination, and on the first presentation of his subject he was sustained by Professor Caldwell of his alma mater, and subsequently by Robert Dale Owen, and his experiments were repeated by eminent scientists in this coun- try and Europe.
In the winter of 1842-'43 Dr. Buchanan presented the subject in New York, and received the endorsement of a committee of eminent men, the late William Cullen Bry- ant being chairman. The same year a committee of physicians in Boston pub- lished a report of experiments signed by their secretary, Dr. Bowditch, showing a successful demonstration of the new sci- ence. A few months later the faculty of the State University of Indiana, under
J. RODES BUCHANAN.
President Wylie, made a report of wonder- ful experiments on the brain by Dr. Bu- chanan, and their high estimate of the importance of the new science. The next year he was cordially endorsed by a large meeting in Boston, and specially eulogized by its chairman, Rev. John Pierpont. At
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this time he gave many experimental illus- trations of the science of psychometry, which he discovered in 1842. Its princi- ples are fully set forth in his " Manual of Psychometry," published in 1885, and now in its third edition.
In 1846 Dr. Buchanan, finding the med- ical profession averse to his investigations, joined with the liberal physicians in Cin- cinnati in establishing a new school, the Eclectic Medical Institute, which origi- nated the independent eclectic party in the profession. Dr. Buchanan was made dean of the faculty, and his new physiology was the most striking novelty of the insti- tution. In 1857 he left Cincinnati to attend to the interests of his family estate in Kentucky, and during the war and the year succeeding was chosen chairman of the Democratic state central committee, and originated the measures which pro- duced tranquillity and harmony between the conflicting parties. His policy was so highly appreciated that he was nominated by eminent citizens as a candidate for the office of governor, but declined the nomi- nation.
In 1877 he took a position as professor in the Eclectic Medical College of New York, which he held for four years, during which time the growth of the college was phenomenal.
He is widely known as a medical re- former, and was the first to procure the admission of female students to a medical college. In 1882 he published " The New Education," now in its fourth edition, which proposes a complete revolution in educational methods. Of this work an able author, Rev. B. F. Barrett, says : " I regard it as by far the most valuable work on education ever published." He has also published " Therapeutic Sarcognomy," exhibiting the relations of the soul, brain, and body, and the new system of practice based upon its principles, which he teaches in his Boston "College of Therapeutics." Professor Winterburn and others who have attended his lectures recognize him as " the highest living authority on the psy- chic functions of the brain." The aim of Dr. Buchanan's " Journal of Man" is to give the world the results of his labors, and to apply to social progress the theo- ries of his philosophy. In 1883 he was chosen president of the proposed " Ameri- can University," to be located in Boston, and has since proposed the establishment of a medical college of high order to cm- body the most recent developments of advanced science.
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