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 24
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He chose the law for a profession, was admitted to the Boston bar, and formed a
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CUSHMAN.
CURTIS.
connection with William Gardner Reed, under the firm name of Reed & Curtis.
In ISS9 he was elected city clerk of Boston.
EDWIN U. CURTIS.
Mr. Curtis was secretary of the Repub- lican city committee in 1888. He is a mem- ber of Rabboni Lodge, F. & A. M., St. Matthew's Chapter, R. A. M., and of St. Omer Commandery of Knights Templar. He is a director of the Roxbury Club, and assistant secretary of Bowdoin College Alumni Association, Boston.
Mr. Curtis is unmarried.
CURTIS, GEORGE, was born in West- minster, Worcester county, September 3, 1817. His mother was Lydia Gilbert of Sharon. His father, Francis Curtis, was a native of Walpole, the fifth in descent from William Curtis, the ancestor who came from England, September 16, 1632.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools and academy of his native town. At the age of seventeen he left his home to learn the carpenter's trade of William Merrifield of Worcester, where he remained until twenty years of age, when he went to Boston. He continued working at his trade, with intervals of teaching school, until the age of twenty- eight, when he engaged in business for him- self as builder, in Roxbury. Many of the
large buildings destroyed by the fire of '72 were built by him, as were also many fine residences in the towns of Milton, Canton, Waltham, Stoneham. He served as alder- man four years in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston. After the annexation, he was also alderman of Boston during the years 1881-'82 and 'S4. He was overseer of the poor in Roxbury and Boston nearly a score of years. In the year 1857, owing to a partial sun-stroke, he left the building business and engaged in the lumber trade.
Mr. Curtis represented his district in the General Court for the years 1861 and '62, and again in 1886.
He was connected with several military organizations, and was actively engaged in enlisting soldiers for the war. He was commander of the Roxbury Horse Guards for four years, and was subsequently appointed major of cavalry.
He retired from active business in 1883, succeeded by the firm of Curtis & Pope. He is director in the Rockland Bank, and one of the trustees of the Roxbury Club.
Mr. Curtis was married in Fitchburg, September 18, 1845, to Martha Ann, daugh- ter of Joseph and Susan Thurston Upton, of Fitchburg. Of this union are four children living : Henry Clifford, Martha Gertrude (now Mrs. Cate), Edwin Upton, and Nelson Curtis.
CUSHMAN, SOLOMON FRANCIS, son of Solomon and Harriet (Adams) Cush- man, was born in Monson, Piscataquis county, Maine, November 18, 1826.
For his early education he was depend- ent upon the public schools and the acad- emy. Through his boyhood, besides the time required for study, his leisure hours were expended upon the farm, and in early youth he found employment working in the Maine pineries, and for seven years was engaged as a clerk in a country store.
In 1856 he became connected as book- keeper with the Monson Woolen Manu- facturing Company, at Monson. In 1866 Mr. Cushman formed a co-partnership with Horatio Lyon, succeeding to the business of the Monson Woolen Manufactory. This co-partnership continued for twelve years, when he purchased the entire business and became sole proprietor, which position he still holds, being an extensive manufacturer of woolen goods.
On the 16th of November, 1852, Mr. Cushman was married in Monson, Maine, to Candace Brown Packard, and is now the father of six children : Edward Dick- inson, Rufus Packard, Solomon Fred.,
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Hattie Frances, Thaddeus Lyon and Robert Holmes Cushman.
In 1881 and '83 he was a representa- tive in the Legislature, and has also most acceptably filled the position of selectman. Among other benevolent and mercantile trusts, he has served as director in the Na- tional Bank, trustee of the Savings Bank, trustee of the Monson Academy and treas- urer of the library.
SOLOMON F. CUSHMAN.
He moved from Monson, Me., in 1854, to Palmer, Mass., and in 1856 he went to Monson, Mass., which place has since been his residence.
CUTTER, ABRAM EDMANDS, son of Abraham and Mary (Gibson) Cutter, was born in Newburyport, Essex county, Jan- uary 24, 1822. His father was a mason and builder. He erected many of the fac- tories and important buildings in Saco and Biddeford, Maine, and also represented Saco in the Maine Legislature 1853 and '54. He died in Saco, August 25, 1886, at eighty-seven years of age.
Mr. C'utter was educated in the public schools of Saco, Me., where his father re- moved when the son was but four years of age. This was supplemented by a three years' course in Thornton Academy, Saco.
After leaving the academy he entered a store in Saco, where the drug business was
CUTTER.
combined with book-selling. This business he followed for some years, with the ex- ception, in the meantime, of a year spent in two voyages to Europe, in a sailing ves- sel, and another term of study in the academy.
He came to Boston in 1843, and was employed in the drug store of the late William Brown ; remained there and in same business in another location till 1852, when he removed to Charlestown and opened business as book-seller, the firm being McKim & Cutter. At the end of three years he purchased his partner's interest, and continued the business till within a recent period.
Mr. Cutter was elected to the school board of Charlestown in 1857, serving six- teen years before annexation, and nine years after that as member of the Boston school board.
He was first married July 7, 1853, in Charlestown, to Mary Eliza, daughter of Barnabas and Eliza (Whittemore) Ed- mands. His wife died February 11, 1854. His second marriage was October 13, 1857, with Elizabeth Finley, daughter of Wash- ington and Elizabeth (Hay) Smith, of New York. They have no children.
Mr. Cutter has always been identified with, and interested in, the various local charities and institutions of the city, and actively connected with the Harvard Uni- tarian church of Charlestown. He is best known as an active educational supporter, and a champion of our public schools.
CUTTER, CHARLES AMMI, son of Caleb Champney and Hannah (Biglow) Cutter, was born in Boston, March 14, 1837.
He was fitted for college at the Hopkins classical school, Cambridge ; was gradu- ated from Harvard in 1855, and from the Cambridge divinity school in 1859.
In 1861 he was made assistant in the cataloguing department of Harvard College library, which position he held for seven years, and on the ist of January, 1869, became librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, which office he still holds.
He has prepared a new classification for libraries, and written two articles in the "North American Review " on " Harvard College Library ;" " Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalogue " (Washington Bu- reau of Education, 1876; new edition expected 1889) ; "Boston Athenæum : " How to get Books, with an Explanation of the new way of Marking Books" (Boston, 1862) ; edited the "Catalogue of the Library of the Boston Athenaeum, 1870-
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CUTTER.
$71 " (5 vols., Boston, 1874-'82), and has been a contributor to the " Nation " for the past twenty years. Since January, 1881, he has edited the " Library Journal " (New York), and was president of the American Library Association, 1887-'89.
May 21, 1863, Mr. Cutter was married to Sarah Fayerweather, daughter of Charles John Appleton, of Cambridge. They have three children : Louis Fayerweather, Ro- land Norcross, and Gerald Clifford Cutter.
CUTTER, LEONARD RICHARDSON, the son of Daniel and Sally (Jones) Cutter, was born in Jaffrey, Cheshire county, N. H., July 1, 1825, under the shadow of the old Monadnock mountain. He obtained his education in the common schools and academy of his native town.
Until twenty years of age, his time not devoted to study was spent on the farm, with the exception of three terms of winter school taught by him between the ages of seventeen and twenty.
Mr. Cutter went to Boston in 1845, and found employment in a grocery store, where everything was sold in the line of groceries, save intoxicating liquors. After serving a six years' clerkship, he went into business for himself, in which he continued ten years. He is now engaged in the real estate busi- ness in the city of Boston, and still carries out the practical side of his theory of non- lease of property to be used for sale of intoxicating liquors.
Mr. Cutter was married in Brighton, 1852, to Mercy, daughter of Phineas and Mercy (Fairbanks) Taylor. Of this union are two children : Agnes E. and Emma A. Cutter.
Mr. Cutter was an assessor in Boston, 1859, '60 and '61 ; was alderman 1871, '72, 73 and '74; chairman of the board one
year, and acting mayor the last month of 1873, the mayor having resigned. He was a member of the Boston water board six
LEONARD R. CUTTER.
years, and water commissioner eight years, retiring in 1883. He served as chairman of the board four years.
On retirement of Mr. Cutter from his connections with the water board, special resolutions commendatory of faithful per- formance of duty were tendered him by the board.
DAGGETT, HANDEL N., son of Eben- ezer and Sarah (Maxcy) Daggett, was born in Attleborough, Bristol county, Jan- uary 27, 1821.
His education was gained by attending the common schools of Attleborough, Day's Academy, Wrentham, three years, and two years in Perkins's Academy, Attleborough.
Mr. Daggett commenced business as manufacturer of print cloths at Falls Vil- lage, Attleborough, January, 1844, in con- nection with his brother, Homer M. Daggett, and continued in this business several years under the firm name of H. N. & H. M. Daggett. This firm was dissolved in 1855.
In 1861 Mr. Daggett began the manufacture of mohair braids, his being the first estab- lishment of the kind in the country. This proved remunerative under the protective tariff of 1862. He still continues the manu- facture of braids of all varieties, and on an extensive scale, as sole owner.
Previous to 1861, mohair, as well as alpaca braids, were imported from England, France and Germany. In less than three years after the manufacture was begun here with American machinery, the foreign article was driven out of the market, the American braids being of a quality far superior to the foreign.
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DAGGETT.
Mr. Daggett has enjoyed the confidence of his townsmen, in early life serving them in various offices - selectman, overseer of the poor, assessor, town clerk, etc., cover- ing a period of ten years.
He represented his town in the General Court in 1863, and again in 1883.
He is director in the First National Bank, Pawtucket, R. I., and in North Attle- borough National Bank; is vice-president of the Cotton & Woolen Mutual Fire In- surance Company of Boston, treasurer of
HANDEL N. DAGGETT.
the Attleborough Branch R. R. Co., and is treasurer of several manufacturing and other corporations.
DAGGETT, HOMER M., son of Eben- ezer and Sarah ( Maxcy) Daggett, was born in Attleborough, Bristol county, January 27, 1821.
He received his early education at the common school and the academy in town, subsequently attending Day's Academy, Wrentham, and the high school at Wor- cester.
In 1844 Mr. Daggett started in business with his brother, Handel N. Daggett, in Attleborough, in the manufacture of cotton goods. In 1852 he removed to Farmer's Village in Attleborough, where he was engaged in the manufacture of spool thread.
DALTON.
In 1860 he was appointed cashier of the Attleborough Bank, located at North Attle- borough, and at about the same time
HOMER M. DAGGETT.
assisted in the organization of the Attle- borough Savings Bank, of which he was appointed treasurer. He continued his connection with both banks until 1873, when he resigned both offices to re-engage in the manufacture of coarse cottons and knitting cotton at Farmer's Village.
In March, 1875, Mr. Daggett assisted in the organization of the First National Bank, Attleborough, and was elected its cashier, which office he still holds, enjoying a repu- tation as an authority on banking business.
He was elected to the Senate in 1860 ; has been a deacon of the Attleborough Baptist church since 1857.
He married in Attleborough, May 28, 1843, Angelina, the daughter of Otis and Content Smith Daggett, by whom he has six children : Alice A., Homer M., Jesse Taylor, Sanford, Jennie and Frederick Daggett.
DALTON, SAMUEL, the son of Joseph A. and Mary Dalton, was born at Salem, Essex county, June 25, 1840.
He received his early education in the public schools of Salem, and was graduated at the Salem classical and high school with the class of 1856.
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DAMRELL.
DAMRELL.
His first connection in business was with his father in the leather business, a short time only, then as clerk to Gove Brothers & Co., Boston, then as salesman to E. B. Hull & Co., Boston, all in the same busi- ness. From this situation he entered the army in 1861, as sergeant, and was mus- tered out as Ist lieutenant in 1864, having served the full term under the three years' call.
In March, 1877, he was appointed com- mander of the 2d corps of cadets, and was a member of Gov. Long's staff, being ap- pointed colonel and inspector, December 10, 188I. This office he resigned January 3, 1883.
On January 4, 1883, he was appointed by Gov. Butler adjutant-general of the State of Massachusetts, with rank of briga- dier-general, which position he still holds.
Gen. Dalton was married in Salem, March 9, 1863, to Hannah F., daughter of W. F. and Abigail Nichols, of Salem. His family consists of a daughter and son : Edith B. and R. Osborn Dalton.
DAMRELL, JOHN STANHOPE, son of Samuel and Ann (Stanhope) Damrell, was born in Boston, June 29, 1828.
He attended the public schools of Boston and Cambridge, and worked on a farm in Haverhill until he was ten years of age. His first connection in business was with Isaac Melvin of Cambridge, to whom he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a carpenter. He then came to Boston as a master builder, and in 1856 he formed a partnership with James Long, continuing until the dissolution of the co-partnership in 1874. During an interregnum of three years he made no contracts nor built any buildings, by reason of attachments being placed upon his real estate and working capital, on account of his connection with the explosion of buildings with powder at the great Boston fire in 1872.
In 1877 he was appointed by the mayor of Boston as inspector of buildings, which office he holds at the present time.
April II, 1850, at Cambridge, he was married to Susan Emily, daughter of John and Susan Snelling (Monks) Hill. The fruits of this marriage were five children : Eliza Ann, John E. S., Carrie M., Charles S. and Susan Emily, of whom only the two sons are now living.
It is in the fire department that Mr. Damrell has done conspicuous service and won an enviable reputation. He took an interest in fire matters in his early boyhood, his father and brother being members of the Boston fire department. He joined
" Hero Engine Company No. 6," in 1848, and continued through all the grades of membership and official position until 1858, when he was elected an assistant engineer.
In 1868 he was elected chief engineer of the department, and thus continued until 1874, when the department was placed under a commission,
From first to last Captain Damrell has been universally conceded to be a master of the science of the extinguishment of fires, and an expert of advanced ideas con- nected with that important service. He was unanimously elected president of a convention of chief engineers called at Baltimore in 1874 in consequence of the sweeping conflagrations that had taken place in the cities of Portland, Chicago and Boston. He was the first president of the Massachusetts State Firemen's Association. He has also served as president of the Firemen's Charitable Association, Boston Firemen's Mutual Relief Association, Boston Veteran Firemen's Association, and is to-day actively connected with these and kindred organizations.
JOHN S. DAMRELL.
He has also been connected with the state militia, serving as lieutenant of the old Mechanic Rifles of Boston, an honorary member of the National Lancers, and has been a member of the Ancient and Honor-
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DANA.
able Artillery for the past twenty years. In 1852 he was elected major of the Ist Mas- sachusetts regiment, but did not qualify.
During the war he performed patriotic service under Governor Andrew and Mayor Lincoln of Boston, in filling the quota of men allotted to the city. He is a member of the Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows, and is a Mason of the 32d degree. He has been, since its organiza- tion, president of the Supreme Parliament of the Golden Rule Alliance, and for the past fifteen years a trustee of the state school for the feeble-minded.
His church connections have ever been with the Methodist Episcopal church, serv- ing for twenty-three consecutive years as superintendent of a Sabbath-school. He has been identified with the Good Tem- plars, and is an ardent Prohibitionist.
A large number of interesting and valu- able presents received at various times from his comrades, the city authorities and the general public, attest the popularity, high character and unquestioned ability of Boston's celebrated fire-captain. He is now president of the Boston Firemen's Cemetery Association, and chairman of the executive committee to erect a monument to their honor.
DANA, RICHARD HENRY, son of Rich- ard Henry and Sarah (Wolson) Dana, was born in Cambridge, Middlesex county, Jan- uary 3, 1851.
He received his early educational train- ing in the private and public schools of his native city. He fitted for college in St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., and was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1874.
He chose the profession of law, and pur- suing his legal studies in the Harvard law school, was graduated in 1877. He began practice with his father at Boston in 1878, then with H. I .. Harding in 1879, and is now in business alone. Besides being en- gaged in the active practice of the law, he is manager of various large and important trusts.
Mr. Dana was married in Cambridge, January 10, 1878, to Edith, daughter of the late Henry W. and Frances (Appleton) Longfellow. Of this union were five chil- dren : Richard Henry, Jr., Henry W. L., Frances A., Allston, and Edmund Trow- bridge Dana. His residence is Cambridge.
Mr. Dana went abroad in 1882 to recover from the effects of a serious attack of ty- phoid fever. Since his return he has de- voted the spare time from his profession mostly to the cause of civil service reform,
DANA.
writing numerous articles in the "Civil Service Record," of which he became chief editor in January, 1889. He was a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Civil Service Re- form League which presented a bill for the reform of the civil service of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth. He was sec- retary of the independent Republicans at their meeting in New York, February 23, 1884, and has been connected with several philanthropic societies in Boston, especially the Associated Charities, in which organiza- tion in 1878 and '79 he labored, and whose scheme of work he formulated.
In the winter of 1887-'8 he drew up a bill for the introduction of the Australian ballot law, which was in substance adopted by the Legislature (1888, chapter 436).
He was much interested in improved dwellings for the laboring classes, and is vice-president of the Improved Dwellings Association which built a fine building (1888-'9) at South Boston, which is proving a success both financially and as a benefit to the poorer classes. To the organization of the corporation, and the plans of the building he gave much time. In 1884-'5 he built a house for a summer home on a part of the estate formerly belonging to his grandfather at Manchester-by-the-Sea.
DANA, THOMAS, son of William and Lucinda (Weston) Dana, was born in Springfield, Windsor county, Vt., Decem- ber 8, 1833.
He obtained his early education in the common schools of his native place and at Wesleyan Academy, graduating there in 1848.
In 1850 he began his business life with Tarbell & Dana, wholesale grocers. At twenty-one years of age he was taken into the concern as a partner, under the firm name of Tarbell, Dana & Co. In 1863 he pur- chased the interest of Mr. Tarbell and formed the firm of Thomas Dana & Co., which has continued with increasing pros- perity to the present time.
Mr. Dana was married in Upper Falls, Vt., February 9, 1855, to Helen P. Wil- liams. In 1861 he was again married to Mary C., daughter of Sewall and Rebecca (Hyde) Baldwin, of Cambridge. They have three children : William Franklin, Helen, and Ada Dana.
Mr. Dana has never allowed himself to be drawn into the arena of politics, belong- ing rather to that small but influential body of citizens who control events by their force of character, and shape public opinion by their own lives of unimpeached integrity.
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DAVIS.
Mr. Dana's experience and commercial sagacity find better scope in the manage- ment of trusts and direction of large finan-
win nt
THOMAS DANA.
cial responsibilities. He is president of the Union Glass Company, director in the Maverick National Bank, and many other monetary institutions.
DAVIS, ANDREW JACKSON, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Robinson) Davis, was born near Blooming Grove, Orange county, N. Y., August 11, 1826.
His youth was passed in comparative poverty and subjected to hard labor. His education was limited. He inherited from his mother a delicate physical constitution, fair mental powers, a highly spiritual nature and intuitive faculties. His father was a shoemaker. While yet a boy his parents removed to Poughkeepsie, N. Y. On vari- ous occasions during his childhood he claims to have heard spirit voices. In 1843 Wil- liam Levington, of Poughkeepsie, is said to have developed in him extraordinary clairvoyant powers. Although ignorant of books, he is said to have been able to in- telligently discuss questions medical, psy- chological and of general character. On March 7, 1844, he fell into a trance which lasted sixteen hours, during which time he affirms that he was "in the spirit " and conversed with spiritual beings. The next
DAVIS.
year, during one of his clairvoyant states, he dictated lectures on magnetism, which were put into writing by the Rev. Gibson Smith. In 1846, being clairvoyant, he com- menced the dictation of his first work, " Nature's Divine Revelations," which was taken down by the Rev. William Fishbor- ough, of New Haven, Conn. Much of the time during these eventful years he was engaged in healing the sick. His dictated works produced a sensation, as they pre- sented a wide range of subjects and re- jected the idea of any special authority in the teachings of the Bible.
No man, perhaps, has done more to impart vitality and coherency to the spir- itual movement than Andrew Jackson Davis.
He was first married July 1, 1848, to Mrs. Catharine DeWolf Dodge, who died November 2, 1853. His second marriage occurred in Clarendon, N. Y., with Mrs. Mary F. Love. They were mutually sep- arated by a decree of divorce granted Feb- ruary 3, 1885. August rith of the same year Mr. Davis was married to Della E. Markham, of Detroit, Mich., a graduate of the United States Medical College of New
ANDREW J. DAVIS.
York City, in 1883 -from which institu- tion she received the degree of M. D. and doctor of anthropology.
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DAVIS.
Besides his literary labors, he was for years on the lecture platform, from which he was forced to retire, in 1865, on account of a protracted throat trouble.
The published works of Mr. Davis, be- sides the one mentioned, are : " The Great Harmonia," six volumes ; " The Physician;" " The Seer ; " "The Teacher ; " "The Re- former ; " "Stellar Key ;" " Arabula ;"
" Tale of a Physician ; . " " The Forma-
tion ; " "The Temple ; " " Views of our Heavenly Home ;" "Approaching Crisis ; or, Truth against Theology ;" " Penetralia," and its sequel, " Answers to Ever-recurring Questions ;" "History and Philosophy of Evil ; " " Death and the After Life ;" " Har- monial Man;" "Events in the Life of a Seer ;" "Philosophy of Special Provi- dences ;" " Free Thoughts Concerning Re- ligion ;" "The Inner Life," and "The Genesis and Ethics of Conjugal Love."
DAVIS, CHARLES GIDEON, son of William and Joanna (White) Davis, was born in Plymouth, Plymouth county, May 30, 1820. His grandfather was a son of Thomas Davis, who married Catharine Wendell, of Albany, N. Y., of the family from which Wendell Phillips and Oliver Wendell Holmes derived their Christian names. His mother was in the seventh generation from Peregrine White, born in the cabin of the " Mayflower." The father of the subject of this sketch died in 1824. His mother was left with five chil- dren, one of whom, Sarah, died in childhood. Hon. William T. Davis is his younger brother.
At ten years of age he was sent to a 1 private school in Hingham, thence to the high school in Plymouth, until the spring of 1836, when he was sent to Bridgewater, where he completed his preparation for Harvard College, which he entered that year, and from which he was graduated in the class of 1840, a Phi Beta Kappa.
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