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 15
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His first business connection was with John Q. A. Griffin, and William S. Stearns, with whom he had studied, and in October, 1868, he formed a co-partnership with William S. Stearns, under the firm name of Stearns & Butler. This co-partnership has continued uninterrupted to the present time.
Mr. Butler was married in Pittston, Pa., January 1, 1870, to Laura L., daughter of Jabez B. and Mary (Ford) Bull. Of this union is one child : John Lawton Butler, born July 10, 1871.
Mr. Butler was member of the House of Representatives 1880 and '81 ; was elected by the Legislature of 1884 as member of executive council for the 3d councilor dis-
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trict, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Charles R. McLean ; and was re- elected by the same district 1885 and '86.
He has served twelve years on the Somer- ville school board ; president of the Eastern Associates three years ; supreme regent of the Royal Arcanum 1883 to '85 ; supreme representative of the Knights of Honor : 887, '88; is at present chairman of the committee on laws and advisory counsel of the Grand Lodge A. O. U. W. of Mass .; and supreme treasurer of the Home Circle, and Royal Society of Good Fellows. He is a member of the New England Commercial Travel- ers' Association, Order of Free Masons, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, American Legion of Honor, Knights of Pythias, Cross of Pythias, and president of the National Fraternal Congress.
His residence is Somerville.
BUTLER, WILLIAM SANFORD, son of Thomas H. and Martha (Wheat) Butler, was born in New London, New London county, Conn., February 15, 1838.
His early education was received in the public schools of Malden. His parents, though not in circumstances to enable them to bring up a family in luxury, nobly acquitted themselves in amply providing for that course of moral and intellectual training which tends to develop those qual- ities requisite to the highest and most lasting success.
At fifteen years of age Mr. Butler left school to accept employment with Phineas Sprague of Malden, and remained in his steady employ for ten years. He acquired during this term of service a reputation for rare business sagacity and judgment that secured him a position with L. Oudkirk of New York. His progress in the metropo- lis was rapid and substantial, and he soon was employed as salesman by Seligman & Macy, of the same city.
In 1866 Mr. Butler returned to Boston with an increased knowledge of the world, and of the business which he was pre- pared to follow with added responsibilities. With Seligman & Macy he took control of the establishment, which he now occupies as sole proprietor, at that time owned by Cushman & Brooks. Many important changes have been made in this place, and from the unpretentious building it was at first, it has been transformed into an exten- sive business house of stately proportions.
Mr. Butler has been sole proprietor of the business since 1873. This was the year of the well-known financial disaster, the results of which were felt until 1880. It was the latter year that Mr. Butler
showed his business judgment by enlarging his establishment, which at that time con- sisted of the street floor and basement. The enlargement and improvements have
WILLIAM S. BUTLER.
continued up to the present time, until now he holds the five stories and basement of the stone-front building, Nos. 90-98 Tremont Street.
On October 7, 1862, Mr. Butler was married to Charlotte F., daughter of Ed- ward and Betsey M. (Ayers) Whittredge of Malden. Of this union were four chil- dren : Florence, Lottie, Frances, and Wil- liam Butler. He subsequently married Mrs. Margaret Jane Folsom of Boston.
Mr. Butler has never even allowed the temptations of public position or the ex- citements of political life to interfere with the hours that he divides between his busi- ness interests and the more enjoyable claims of the family circle at Longwood, where he resides.
BUTTERWORTH, HEZEKIAH, son of Gardner M. and Susan (Ritchie) Butter- worth, was born in Warren, Bristol county, R. I., December 22, 1839.
He was fitted for college in the Warren high school, and pursued a special course in Brown University.
Evidently foreshadowing his life work as a widely known writer, his tastes led him
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early into editorial work, and we find him engaged as editor of a local paper, con- tributor to the "Independent," "Congre- gationalist " and "Youth's Companion." In 1870 he became assistant editor of the last named paper, and has been no unim- portant factor in the phenomenal success attending its circulation.
He wrote " Zig-zag Books," eleven vol- umes, for Estes & Lauriat, of which over three hundred thousand volumes have been sold. He wrote "Story of Hyannis " for the American Tract Society, for which he
received the George Wood gold medal. He has published two volumes of poetry - " Poems for Christmas, Easter and New Years" (Estes & Lauriat), and "Songs of History " (New England Publishing Com- pany).
Mr. Butterworth has written much for the leading literary magazines and papers ; has traveled extensively, and published some twenty volumes of books and a num- ber of successful librettos of cantatas.
He is unmarried and resides in Boston.
CABLE, GEORGE WASHINGTON, son of George Washington and Rebecca Board- man Cable, was born in New Orleans, La., October 12, 1844. His mother was of New England stock.
The private academy and high school gave him his educational training on the bookward side; and mingling with the business world as brander of goods in the United States customs warehouse, and as cashier, book-keeper, financial secretary, and reporter, gave him the key to those practical formulas, the solution of which is so necessary to " Mr. Cable, the Author and Lecturer."
Mr. Cable was married in New Orleans, La., December 7, 1869, to Louise Stewart, daughter of William Allen and Louisa Stewart Bartlett. Of this union are seven children : Louise Bartlett, Mary Board- man, Lucy Leffingwell, Margaret Bartlett, Isabel Stewart, William Noble, and Doro- thea.
Mr. Cable began writing for the " New Orleans Picayune," and was soon regularly attached to the editorial staff. The con- tributed articles on Creole life to "Scrib- ner's Monthly " ( now the "Century ") brought him prominently before the liter- ary world.
Among the published works of Mr. Cable are " Old Creole Days" (New York, 1879); "The Grandissimes" (1880) ; " Madame Delphine" (1881) ; "Doctor Sevier" (Boston, 1883) ; " The Creoles of Louisiana " ( New York, 1884) ; "The Silent South " ( 1885), and " Bonaventure," (1888).
Mr. Cable has prepared for the United States government an elaborate report of the social statistics of New Orleans.
His residence is Paradise Road, North- ampton.
CALL, CHARLES AMOS, son of Amos and Ruhema C. (Skeele) Call, was born in Springfield, Hampden county, June 3, 1839. He secured a common and high school education.
He began business life with the Bemis & Call manufacturing company, as clerk, and was subsequently promoted to the position of superintendent.
CHARLES A. CALL.
In 1865 he opened a grocery business and has since continued in the same line.
Mr. Call was married in Springfield, October 4, 1864, to Engenia L. (deceased),
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daughter of James B. and Julia A. (Carr) Stillman. Of this union were two chil- dren : Jennie S. (deceased), and Arthur A. Call.
Mr. Call has held nearly every office in the gift of his native city ; served as mem- ber of the common council in 1867 ; was elected member of the board of aldermen in 1883, '84 and '85, being president of the board in 1885 ; was member of the House of Representatives in 1888 and '89, serving on the committee on banks and banking, of which he was chairman the latter year.
CALLAHAN, JOHN FRANCIS, son of John and Catherine (Calnan) Callahan, was born in Boston, November 25, 1852.
He was educated in the public schools, and while yet of tender age turned his attention toward industrial pursuits. After fitting for commercial life at Bryant & Stratton's college, he commenced at the bottom round of the ladder when only thirteen years old. He continued in mer- cantile life, and is now one of Boston's prosperous merchants, residing at Roxbury Highlands.
January 15, 1875, he was married, at Boston, to Mary Donovan, whose sister, Hannah Donovan, was awarded a medal by the Massachusetts Humane Society for saving life from drowning at Nantasket Beach, August 5, 1888. Their children are : Frank, George, Joseph and Mary Callahan.
Socially, Mr. Callahan stands foremost among the Irish-American sons of the old Bay State. He was a director of public institutions of the city of Boston for 1886, '87, '88 and '89 ; was four years treasurer of the Charitable Irish Society ; seven years a member of the Democratic City committee, serving on the finance and executive committees, and was two years on the state central committee. He has participated in all the state, congressional, councilor, senatorial and other political conventions in which his district was con- cerned for the past six years. Mr. Calla- han is still prominent in Democratic poli- tics, and also in Irish-American society movements.
CAMPBELL, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, son of Benj. W. H. and Isabella (Sutherland) Campbell, was born near Halifax, N. S., September 12, 1834, and there commenced his education, which was continued in New York public and private schools.
Well informed in classical and general literature, he entered the Harvard medical school in 1855, and graduated in 1857.
CAMPBELL.
The same year he began the practice of his profession in East Boston, and in a short time became one of the leading physicians of the place. During the years 1862-'64, he served as assistant-surgeon in connection with the army of the Potomac. He was attached to the U. S. A. field hospital, Pamunkey River, Va., and was subse- quently at the Webster U. S. hospital, Manchester, N. H.
Such was his devotion to duty in the field that his health became seriously im- paired, and he felt compelled to take a trip to Europe. While there, he walked the hospitals of London, Edinburgh and Paris,
BENJAMIN F. CAMPBELL.
and made the acquaintance of some of the most eminent physicians of these cities. Upon his restoration to health, and subse- quent return, he resumed his practice in East Boston, where he still resides.
December 20, 1866, he married Albina M. C., daughter of Jacob and Phila (Alley) Anderson, of East Boston. Of this union are three children: Grace, Benjamin Frank- lin, Jr., and Blanche Sutherland Campbell.
His attainments easily qualified Dr. Campbell for public service, and his neigh- bors have not been slow in availing them- selves of his influence and abilities. He was a member of the Boston school board three years; was the representative of East
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CANDLER, JOHN WILSON, son of Captain John and Susan (Wheelwright) Candler, was born in Boston, February 10, 1828. The family is of Saxon origin. Two branches of the family are noted in English history, the one in county Suffolk, and the other in Essex. In the church militant, as well as in the army, the Cand- lers achieved reputation and influence. Captain John Candler, the grandfather, emigrated from Essex, England, to Mar- blehead, Essex county, and married Abi- gail Huling Russell, about the close of the revolutionary war. Mrs. Candler was the descendant of a Huguenot family, and the widow of Lieut. Thomas Russell, com- manding a privateer during the revolu- tionary war. Captain John Candler, Jr., the father, was an officer on board the frigate "Constitution," and was with Com- modore Stewart in the same vessel on his famous cruise through the British Channel.
Mr. Candler was born while his father was in active business as ship-builder and merchant in Boston. He was educated in the Marblehead Academy, in the Dummer Academy, Byfield, and finished his scholas- tic course under the tuition of Rev. A. Briggs, a Baptist minister of Schoharie Academy, N. Y.
On leaving school he accepted a clerk- ship in Boston. Soon after the death of his father in 1849, the family removed to Brookline, where Mr. Candler has ever since resided. For the past thirty-two years Mr. Candler has been a member of different firms of ship-owners engaged in foreign trade. The present firm name is John W. Candler & Co. Their business is chiefly with the East and West Indies and the Cape of Good Hope, and is of such a character and magnitude as to class the senior member with the most eminent and widely-known merchants of this country.
Mr. Candler's intelligent interest in pol- itics and in all public questions, coupled with his skill and ability as a public speaker and presiding officer, have continuously brought him into notice. Foreign trade has given him exceptional opportunities of acquiring extensive and precise informa- tion ; business experience has taught him how to use it. He was an intimate friend of the late Governor John A. Andrew, and through the war for the Union was a staunch and efficient supporter of the great " War Governor " in his patriotic task.
In 1866 Mr. Candler was a member of the Legislature, but declined a renomina- tion. From 1869 to 1873 he was an earn-
est advocate of a board of prison commis- sioners. After the creation of the board by the State he served for several years as its chairman. For four years he devoted much time to the prosecution of the work of building the separate prison for women, asking no compensation, and defraying his own expenses. He is a prominent member of the national board of trade and has served for several terms as one of the vice- presidents from Massachusetts. He was president of the Boston board of trade 1877 and '78, and declined renomination. He has been president of the Commercial Club three terms.
Mr. Candler is a Republican in politics, but of the liberal wing of the party, advo- cating change of navigation laws, judicious revision of the tariff, and modification of sundry commercial treaties. In 1876 and '78 he was a prominent candidate for congressional honors. In 1880 he was elected a member of the 47th Congress by the Republicans of the 8th congressional district, and in 1888 he was elected to the 5 Ist Congress in the 9th district by a large majority, after a very exciting and mem- orable contest, in which the Hon. Edward Burnett, the previous representative, was again the opposing candidate.
Mr. Candler was married in September, 1851, to Lucy A., daughter of Henry Cobb, of Boston. She died in October, 1855. His second marriage occurred in November, 1867, with Ida M., daugh- ter of John and Amelia Garrison, of New York. His family consists of three daughters : Cora, who married Charles I. Bush of Weston, and who resides in West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. ; Anita, who married Hon. David S. Baker, Jr., of North Kingston, R. I., residing in Wick- ford, R. I .; and Amelia Candler.
CAPEN, ELMER HEWITT, son of Samuel (2d ) and Almira ( Paul ) Capen, was born at Stoughton, Norfolk county, April 5, 1838. He was educated at the Pierce Academy, Middleborough, and at the Green Mountain Liberal Institute, Woodstock, Vt. In 1856 he entered Tufts College, gradu- ating in 1860. He then spent a year at the Harvard law school, completing his legal studies under Thomas S. Harlow, of Bos- ton, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1863.
For a year he practiced law, but, becom- ing interested in religious activities, he transferred his allegiance from law to divinity and took a course in theology under Rev. Dr. Chambre. October 5, 1865, he was ordained and called to take
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charge of the Independent Christian church at Gloucester-the church founded in 1770 by Rev. John Murray. He remained with this church for four years, when he accepted a call to St. Paul, Minn., where he spent a year, and then became pastor of the First Universalist church at Providence, R. 1. From here he was called to the presidency of his alma mater, and inaug- urated June 2, 1875.
While he was a student in college, Mr. Capen was sent to the Legislature, in 1860, where he was the youngest member. Since 1876 he has been a trustee of the Univer- salist General Convention. In 1877 he received the honorary degree of D. D. from the St. Lawrence University of New York. For the last four years he has been presi- dent of the Law and Order League of Massachusetts. He was appointed by Gov- ernor Ames, in December, 1888, a member of the board of education.
Dr. Capen's government of Tufts Col- lege has been signally successful in various directions. Endowments and buildings have been added, and the number of stu- dents has constantly increased.
Dr. Capen has been twice married : first to Letitia H. Mussey, of New London, Conn., and in February, 1877, to Mary L., daughter of Oliver Edwards, of Brookline. He has three children : Samuel Paul, aged eleven ; Ruth Paul, aged ten, and Rosa- mund Edwards, an infant.
CARPENTER, ERASTUS PAYSON, son of Daniel and Abigail (Payson) Carpen- ter, was born in Foxborough, Norfolk county, November 23, 1822. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and an enterprising and successful manufac- turer and business man. His paternal grandfather was an officer in the rev- olutionary army, and his mother's grand- father was the first town clerk of Fox- borough.
He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, Tol- man's private school, Baker's Academy (Dorchester), Day's Academy (Wrentham) and under the private tuition of Rev. Mor- timer Blake.
Before completing his preparation for college, he decided upon a business career, and at the age of twenty entered the employ of his cousin, Oliver Carpen- ter, in the straw goods business, at one hundred and twenty - five dollars per annum. Here he remained some five months, when he entered the employ of Warren Carpenter, a brother of Oliver, engaged in the same business. In Janu-
CARPENTER.
ary, 1843, while yet a minor, he entered into partnership with Warren Carpenter, having charge of a branch store in Rich- mond, Va. In 1852, with Oliver as part- ner, he built the Union straw works, Fox- borough, then the largest works of the kind in the world, employing some six thousand people. This business was successfully carried on until September, 1861, when Mr. Carpenter went to London, and sold the property connected with the business to Messrs. Vyse & Company, for whom he continued as superintendent and manager. This business frequently paid as high as $20,000 U. S. tax per month on manufac- tured goods. He remained connected with this business until 1870, when other inter- ests demanded his attention.
Mr. Carpenter was a large stockholder in the local telegraph company which built and operated a line between Fox- borough and Mansfield in 1858-'9. In 1862 he began his efforts to obtain rail- road accommodations, and organized the Foxborough Branch Railroad, which in time was merged into the Mansfield & Framingham Railroad, in which he at one time owned a controlling interest, and of which he was the first president. He was also president of the Framingham & Lowell, the Martha's Vineyard, and the New York, Boston, Albany & Schenectady railroads.
During the war of the rebellion Mr. Car- penter was unremitting in his efforts in be- half of the soldiers. He organized and was elected captain of a rifle company in 1861, the town appropriating three thou- sand dollars to equip it with Sharp's rifles. When the services of this company were tendered the government, it was not accepted on account of its arms, as rifles then had not taken the place of muskets. He was chairman of the committee having in charge the expenditure of ten thousand dollars of the town's funds in aid of volun- teers and their families, and all his acts during the years of the war were such that when the veterans organized their G. A. R. post, they named it the " E. P. Carpenter Post."
In 1872, '73 and '74 he was a member of the state Senate, serving as chairman of the railroad committee, and delivering one of the most able arguments upon the Hoosac Tunnel question ever presented, of which the Senate ordered ten thousand copies printed for distribution.
Mr. Carpenter has held nearly all the offices in the gift of the town - chairman of selectmen, highway surveyor, overseer of
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the poor, etc., rendering most efficient ser- vice in each of these positions. He has been president of many local improvement, char- itable or business societies, among them the Rock Hill Cemetery Corporation, Foxbor- ough Savings Bank, Foxborough Loan Fund & Building Association, and Kankakee Improvement Company, the Temperance Reform Club, Sylvan Association, " Pro Bono Publico; " chairman of the committee for improving Foxborough common, build- ing town hall, and memorial hall. He was the financial backing of the " Home Library," a literary weekly local paper, in 1857 ; established and gave financial aid for several years to the Foxborough English and classical school, which was succeeded by the Foxborough high school ; organized the Foxborough fire department in 1850, and was captain of Cocasset fire engine company. He built the first cottage in Cottage City, and organized the company that built up this famous watering place, personally superintending the work. He had charge of building straw shops in Nantucket and Medfield, Medfield town hall, Sea Cliff Inn at Nantucket, Sea View House at Cottage City, Mattakeset Lodge in Katama, and the large hotel and other buildings at Shelter Island Park, L. I.
On the 4th of February, 1844, at Foxbor- ough, Mr. Carpenter married Catharine E., daughter of William and Hannah (Hall) Kerr. Of this union were Gardner Anson, William Daniels, Julia Alice (deceased), Jennie Wood (wife of Robert M. Powers), and Catherine Payson (wife of Irving W. Lane).
CARR, ALONZO AUGUSTUS, was born June 7, 1836, in Hudson, Middlesex county.
His early education was received in the common schools of Fitchburg and Ashby, with the exception of one term in New Ipswich Academy.
While a young man, he taught school in the towns of Gardner and Ashby. He held a clerkship in Beaufort and Charleston, S. C., from 1864 to 1866. In 1866 he, with Henry C. Wilder, bought of R. S. Simonds, in Ashby, a tub and pail manufactory, under the firm name of Carr & Wilder, continuing in business together until 1881. He has since carried on the business alone.
Mr. Carr was married in Ashby, January 12, 1870, to Hattie M., daughter of William and Fanny L. Whitney. This union has been blessed with a family of six children : Blanche L., Bertha G., Helen F., Lawrence Whitney, Arthur W., and Myron A. Carr.
Mr. Carr served as representative to the General Court in 1874 and 1883. He has
been selectman, town clerk, and superin- tendent of schools. He is president of the Soldiers' Memorial Association, and has been a member of the church finance committee, and an officer in the Sabbath- school of the Congregational church, of which he is a member.
Mr. Carr enlisted in the Ist Massachusetts cavalry, September 25, 1861, and served three years in North and South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. He was in Gen. Grant's army at the siege of Petersburg, Va., and was subsequently honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of service.
His father and mother are living, the former aged eighty and the latter seventy- five.
Mrs. Carr's father is still living at the advanced age of ninety-one, and is father of Myron W. Whitney, the celebrated basso of Boston.
The subject of this sketch, with his wife, brother, sister and aged parents, all living quite near each other, may be mentioned as a pleasant family circle, exceptionally beloved in each other's life.
CARRIGAN, EDWARD C., was born in England, March 15, 1850, of Irish parents, and died in Colorado, November 7, 1888. He came to this country in 1857, being but seven years of age. He was a vigor- ous, intellectual lad, and early determined to make something of himself. When but thirteen years of age he enlisted as a drummer-boy in the Ist Vermont regiment, and was twice wounded in action. After leaving the army, he studied at Woodstock, Vt., Dean Academy, Boston evening high school, and entering Dartmouth College, was graduated in the class of 1877. He was a member of the Dartmouth Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, secretary of the Alumni Association of New England, and a member of the board of councilors of the Alumni.
After leaving college he devoted himself to journalism, serving with characteristic energy the " Herald," " Globe," and " Jour- nal" of the city of Boston. In 1880 he entered the law office of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, where he continued to successfully prosecute his life work. He was a grad- uate of the Boston University law school.
While studying law he passed the ex- amination of the Boston school board for a certificate of the highest grade, giving him the rank of head master of the Latin and high school. In 188t the school board placed him at the head of the Bos- ton evening high school, of which he had been a pupil. This school rapidly ad-
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