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 5
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BAILEY, GEORGE W., son of Job and Lydia F. Bailey, was born at Scituate, Plymouth county, August 1, 1830.
He received his early education in the common schools of his native town, attend- ing summer and winter up to the age of twelve, then from twelve to sixteen years the winter terms only. He afterwards went one term to a private school.
In 1854 Mr. Bailey went into partner- ship with Howard Vinal in the boot and shoe manufacturing trade at Scituate. Upon the retirement of Mr. Vinal in 1855, he carried on the business alone until January 1, 1856, when he took George Leonard, Jr., of Boston, into partnership, the firm then becoming Bailey & Leonard. From 1858 to 1875 Jotham W. Bailey was a partner, under the firm name of G. W. & J. W. Bailey. Since the latter date Mr. Bailey has carried on the business by himself.
He was elected a member of the school board in 1885, and still serves in that capacity as chairman.
Mr. Bailey has been deacon of the Bap- tist church at Scituate thirty-three years, treasurer for twenty years, and chairman of the executive committee.
He was married at Scituate, November 26, 1856, to Hannah W., daughter of James S. Briggs, a former ship-builder of Scituate. He has only one son surviving, Herbert B. Bailey of Wollaston.
BAKER, EDWIN, son of Roswell and Bathsheba Baker, was born in Hawley, Franklin county, January 18, 1843.
He was brought up on a farm, and re- ceived huis education in district and select schools, and at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H.
At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the 52d regiment Massachusetts volunteers, and served under General Banks in the Louisiana campaign.
In 1864 he entered the employ of Dr. A. H. Taylor, in Shelburne Falls, as drug
clerk. Three years later he purchased the business, and has conducted it as his own since that time.
Mr. Baker is a prominent and leading citizen, and has held important offices in the town, and been honored with such business positions as director in the Shel- burne Falls National Bank, trustee in the Shelburne Falls Savings Bank, and trustee and treasurer of Arms Library.
For sixteen years Mr. Baker was super- intendent of the Congregational Sunday- school in Shelburne Falls. He is a Free Mason, being a member of Mountain Lodge, F. & A. M. He has served this
EDWIN BAKER
lodge in various capacities, and for four years was worshipful master. From 1882 to 1885 he was district deputy grand master of the 14th Masonic district.
He was a member of the lower branch of the Legislature in 1885 and 1886, and served upon the public health and Hoosac Tunnel committees. In 1889 he repre- sented Franklin district as State senator, and was a member of the committee on public health, agriculture, and engrossed bills, being chairman of the latter.
On the first day of August, 1867, Mr. Baker was married to Emma Isabel, daugh- ter of Edward and Hannah Bannister of Leeds, Yorkshire County, England.
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BAKER, JOHN I., son of Joseph and Lucy (Bisson) Baker, was born in Beverly, Essex county, August 16, 1812.
He left school at twelve and one-half years of age, and after a two years' engage- ment in a store in Salem and Beverly, he served a fourteen months' apprenticeship at shoe-making, and was connected with that business for nearly twenty years. He has also been engaged in rubber manufac- ture and in mercantile affairs, and has done an extensive business as surveyor, and in the settlement of estates.
Mr. Baker's proverbial characteristic of fair and equitable dealing was early devel-
JOHN I. BAKER.
oped, and he was frequently called upon to act as adviser or arbitrator in complicated and important cases. His business of later years has been largely in real estate.
He very early took an active interest in public affairs, and has performed long and conspicuously honorable service therein in town, county and state. He was town clerk of Beverly at twenty-three years of age, and for nearly twenty years thereafter, serving also as selectman for nearly one- half that time. In 1847 he was chosen county commissioner, also in 1850 and '53.
Mr. Baker has a phenomenal record of service in the state Legislature, having oc- cupied a seat in the House of Representa-
tives in no less than eighteen different sessions, being a member in 1840, '45, '46, '47, '52, '56, '65, '66, '69, '71, '75, '78, '79, '80, '81, '82, '83, and '84. He enjoyed the distinction for eight years of being the sen- ior member in service, and in consequence he has been obliged to call the house to order, and preside during the organization on those occasions. He was a member of the State Senate in 1863 and '64 ; council- or with Governor Banks in 1860, and with Governor Andrew in 1861 ; took a promi- nent part with the former in settling the long vexed question of the Rhode Island boundary, and was in intimate and active co-operation with the latter in fitting out all the Massachusetts troops in the first year of the war; and after leaving the official councils, continued in similar fel- lowship with Governor Andrew in all the subsequent work of the war.
In legislative work Mr. Baker served on many important committees, often as chair- man. The railroad committee received a good share of his service, and he labored earnestly in bringing about the establish- ment of a board of railroad commissioners.
He was largely instrumental in establish- ยท ing the present system of state valuation and taxation, and is still interested in state charities and prisons ; believes in female suffrage ; is a radical temperance man and prohibitionist ; member of the congrega- tion of the First Baptist society, Beverly ; was an early abolitionist, and of the anti- slavery wing of the Whig party ; was an active and prominent organizer of the Re- publican party, associated in his labors with John A. Andrew.
Mr. Baker continued in full fellowship with the Republican party until 1870, since which time he has acted independently, or with the Prohibition party ; in 1875 he was the Prohibition candidate for gover- nor. In 1878, '79, and '82 he supported General Butler for governor. In 1883 he was appointed by General Butler, who that year occupied the gubernatorial chair, as a member of the harbor and land commission, which position he still holds, having been re-appointed at the expiration of each term of his service of three years by Governors Robinson and Ames.
Mr. Baker was many years chairman of the Beverly board of selectmen and of the school board ; is president of Liberty Ma- sonic Association ; of Odd Fellows' Hall Association ; of the Beverly Gas Light Company ; of the Beverly & Danvers Street Railway Company , of the Beverly co-operative store, and vice-president of
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the Beverly Savings Bank. He takes a lively interest in the history and the pedi- gree of the early families of Beverly and vicinity, and continues an active and un- wearied promoter of the growth and pros- perity of the town which has so uninter- ruptedly given him so flattering a support at the polls. His sagacity and wide ac- quaintance with the prominent legislators in different parts of the State has had no little influence in keeping historic Beverly still undivided and in the enjoyment of all its town privileges, and with its property un- impaired.
BAKER, NATHAN BABBITT, the son of Joel Baker, was born July 20, 1841, at West Hawley, Franklin county.
He received his early education in the common schools in Savoy until 1858, when he was sent to Athol, where he attended the high school for one year, at the same time supporting himself by sawing wood mornings and nights. He was then called home to assist his father on his farm. In 1860 he was hired out to a farmer in Cheshire for six months, and in the follow- ing year to a farmer in Hawley.
Mr. Baker is now a farmer at Savoy Centre, being much interested in agricul- tural pursuits. He is a member and vice- president of several agricultural societies. His valuable services as an expert have frequently been called into requisition at agricultural fairs.
He is a member of the town school board, and has been frequently elected to represent the Republican party of his dis- trict at conventions and county nomina- tions.
He enlisted August, 1862, in company E, 52d Massachusetts volunteer militia, which was raised in Greenfield, and was honorably discharged in the fall of 1863. His health, however, was very seriously impaired, and he is one of those who to- day are suffering physical disability, oc- casioned by constant exposure and arduous service in the army.
Mr. Baker was married at Savoy Centre, October 28, 1868, to Sarah Abbie, the only daughter of Harman Snow, of that town, by whom he had five children : Walter Joel, who died in 1884, aged ten years, Sarah Abbie, Angie Mary, Nellie Bell, and Ada Hannah Baker.
He has been prominently identified with the Grand Army for several years, served in 1888 on the staff of Department Com- mander Walker, was re-appointed by De- partment Commander Goodale for 1889 as aide-de-camp and assistant inspector.
BAKER.
It is a singular fact, and one probably without a parallel in army history, that Mr. Baker was permitted to enlist while suffer- ing at the time from a disability which should have at once disqualified him from active service. His ambition to serve in the war led him to conceal his inability to raise his arm to a level with his shoulder, and this defect was not discovered until at an inspection at Port Hudson his superior officer tossed him a musket which he was unable to properly catch. It was too late, however, to prevent his continuing in ac- tive and honorable service.
BAKER, SMITH, son of Smith and Mary (Smith) Baker, was born in Bowdoin, Sagadahoc county, Maine, February 18, 1836. He was graduated from the Bangor (Maine) Theological Seminary in 1860, and was settled over the Congrega- tional churches of Orono and Veazie, Maine, until 1871, when he became the pastor of the First Congregational church, Lowell.
Mr. Baker has always taken an active interest in Sunday-school work ; the school connected with his church is one of the largest in New England. He has been a member of all the international Sunday- school conventions, and for several years past has been a member of the national executive committee. He is also chair- man of the Sunday-school committee of the national council of Congregational churches.
Mr. Baker is a frequent contributor to various religious publications, and since the re-organization of the " Golden Rule," has edited the Sunday-school lesson for that paper. In this work is seen the same pithy terseness of expression which char- acterizes his sermons. He has published two small books of " Talks to Young Men and Young Women."
Mr. Baker's pastorate in Lowell has been phenomenally successful. No less than twelve hundred have united with the church since his acceptance of its pastoral charge. The new and elegant place of worship has a seating capacity of thirteen hundred, and is admirably adapted to modern church work. Mr. Baker has been instrumental not only in preventing all dissensions, but in unifying the sentiment of his people. His is distinctively the " People's Church."
Mr. Baker was married September 13, 1860, to Isabella A., daughter of Alvah and Elizabeth Ditson, of Northumberland, Vt. The wife and one son, Alvah S. Baker, arc living.
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BALDWIN.
BALDWIN, JOHN STANTON, son of John Denison and Lemira (Hathaway) Baldwin, was born in New Haven, New Haven county, Conn., January 6, 1834.
He attended the public schools of Con- necticut, the Hartford high school, and finished with the state normal school. He had fitted for Vale College, but was obliged to relinquish his college course, from lack of funds.
Mr. Baldwin learned the printer's trade in Hartford, and was first called, at the age of nineteen, to the business which he has ever since followed, when his father became editor and proprietor of the " Boston Daily Commonwealth." He was placed in charge of the business office, where he remained five years. These were the years of the execution of the infamous " fugitive slave act" which stirred Massachusetts to its centre. The "Commonwealth " was the organ of the men who bitterly opposed this act, and its office was the daily rendez- vous of such men as Theodore Parker, Charles Sumner, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Wendell Phillips, Henry Wilson, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, William Claflin, John A. Andrew, Anson Burlingame, and others illustrious in the history of the anti-slavery agitation in Massachusetts. It was amid these as- sociations that Mr. Baldwin became a voter and formed the convictions which shaped his subsequent political course.
In 1859 he was associated with his father and brother in the publication of "The Worcester Daily Spy," and is now the senior proprietor and editor of that paper.
Mr. Baldwin was captain in the 51st Massachusetts regiment, where he served during the war of the rebellion; was a member of the House of Representatives from Worcester, 1871 and 1872 ; has been common councilman and member of Wor- cester school board ; is a member of the Church of the Unity, Worcester, and su- perintendent of its Sunday-school. He is also connected with several social and charitable organizations. He is a mem- ber of the Worcester Club, the. Quinsiga- mond Boat Club, the Massachusetts Club, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Society of the Army of the Potomac.
Mr. Baldwin was married in Worcester, October 19, 1863, to Emily, daughter of Albert and Mary (Eaton) Brown. Of this union are six children : Mary Eleanor, Robert Stanton, Alice Hathaway, John Denison, Henry Brown, and Emily Clinton Baldwin.
BALDWIN.
BALDWIN, WILLIAM HENRY, son of Henry and Mary (Brackett) Baldwin, was born in Brighton [ now Boston], October 20, 1826.
He received his educational training in the public and private schools of his native place. His first business experience was with the firm of Kelly & Spring, dry goods, Brighton, with whom he remained about four years ; next with James M. Beebe & Co., importers and dry goods jobbers, Bos- ton, and afterwards with Gannett, Balch & Co., in the same business in the same city. Mr. Gannett was a former partner in the firm of James M. Beebe & Co. Mr. Bald- win remained with this firm until April, 1850, when the firm of Baldwin, Baxter & Curry was organized, importers and job- bers of woolens. In 1858 Mr. Baxter died, and the business was continued under the firm name of Baldwin & Curry until July, 1865, when Mr. Baldwin disposed of his interest in the concern and engaged in the dry goods commission business, in which he remained until April, 1868.
In the winter of 1867-68 it was decided to resume the work of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union - organized 1851, incorporated 1852 - which had been interrupted and temporarily discontinued on account of the civil war. At a meet- ing of the life-members and friends of this organization, held April 15, 1868, a board of government was elected, the choice being made of Mr. Baldwin, without previous consultation with him as to the use of his name, as president of the board. Mr. Baldwin, after some hesitation - being then in active business-accepted, with the full intention of re-engaging in business at the close of the Union year ; but he became so deeply interested in the work of the Union, its growth and success, that he has remained in the position of president for the period now covering over twenty-one years. The membership of the Union April 1, 1889 (date of last annual report), was 5,165.
Mr. Baldwin has been actively identi- fied with many organizations and societies in Boston - religious, philanthropic, and others.
At the present time he is president of the " Children's Mission to the Children of the Destitute," Boston ; director in the " Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ;" director in the "Old Boston School Boys' Association ; " trustee Franklin Savings Bank, vice-presi- dent of the Unitarian Church Temperance Society (National) ; also a member of the
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BALDWIN.
BALL.
Boston Memorial Association, and of the Bostonian Society. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian Club, and a member of its council the first seven years; he has always taken a deep interest in the work of the Sunday-school ; was for sev- eral years president of the Unitarian Sun- day-school Society, and for twenty-five years superintendent of the Sunday-schools connected with the Church of the Unity and the Church of the Disciples, Boston.
Mr. Baldwin has always taken a lively interest in the political welfare of his city, state and nation, from a sense of religious duty, without being able to give that
WILLIAM H. BALDWIN.
amount of time which would have been required to fulfill the duties connected with public official positions. He has always been a strong advocate of our pub- lic schools, and for several years served as member of the Boston school board. Dur- ing the civil war he was a member of the war relief committee of the old ward eleven, Boston, which rendered important service to the families of those who were engaged at the front in the defense of the Union.
Mr. Baldwin was married in Boston, June 17, 1851, to Mary Frances Augusta, daughter of Jonathan and Nancy (Aldrich) Chaffee of Boston. Of this union were
nine children : Mary Chaffee, Maria Jose- phine, Harry Heath, Frank Fenno, Fanny Aldrich, William Henry, George Storer, Robert Collyer, and Richard Brackett Baldwin.
BALL, PHINEHAS, son of Manassah S. and Clarissa (Andrews) Ball, was born in Boylston, Worcester county, January 18, 1824.
The common schools of his native town, with a short attendance at Berlin Academy, gave him his educational training up to 1840, when he learned from an uncle the rudiments of surveying, which was the starting point of his after education in civil engineering. His later education has been obtained in the field, in actual con- tact with the practical work, and by per- sonal private study of various works on engineering, mostly relating to water-works and sewers.
He began his business life by associat- ing himself with Elbridge Boyden, archi- tect, Worcester, under the firm name of Boyden & Ball, architects and civil engineers. This partnership continued until 1860. Since that date he has carried on the business of civil engineering in the city of Worcester, doing general work up to 1865, but after that time engaged al- most wholly by the city until 1872. Since the latter date he has been engaged a large part of the time in the construction of water-works, and consulting on plans of water-works and sewers for towns and cities, chiefly in the State of Massachu- setts. He has also the management and direction of the Union Water Meter Com- pany.
Mr. Ball married, in Marlborough, De- cember 21, 1848, Sarah Augusta, daugh- ter of William and Rebecca (Howe) Holy- oke. Of this union were two children : Allard Holyoke (deceased), and Helen Augusta Ball. His second marriage oc- curred November 29, 1865, in Lancaster, with Mary Jane, daughter of Benj. B. and Mary (Carter) Otis.
Mr. Ball was a member of the common council, Worcester, 1862-'63 ; mayor of Worcester, 1865 ; water commissioner from 1863 to 1867 ; and city engineer from 1867 to 1872.
He was clerk of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association from 1857 to 1865, and treasurer seven years during the time, and was afterwards director, vice-president and president of the association for short terms; was for seventeen years one of the vice-presidents of the Mechanics' Savings Bank, and for seven years the president of
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1183001
the Worcester county conference of Uni- tarian churches.
Mr. Ball has taken out a number of patents, chiefly relating to water meters and water-works fixtures. He has been president of the Union Water Meter Com- pany since its incorporation, November 9, I868.
BALLIET, THOMAS M., son of Nathan and Sarah (Minard) Balliet, was born at Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pa., of Huguenot descent, March 1, 1852.
He received his early education at the public schools, and entered Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., where he was graduated in 1876, with the highest honors of his class. In September, 1877, he entered the divinity school at Yale College, and continued the study of theol- ogy for two years. Before entering college he taught in ungraded schools for two years, and for one year was teacher of mathematics in an academy at Lehighton, Pennsylvania.
Immediately after graduating from col- lege, he was chosen principal of the high school and superintendent of schools in Bellefonte, Pa., which position he held till he entered the divinity school, and two years later, on leaving the divinity school, he was elected teacher of Latin and Greek at the state normal school at Kutztown, Pa. At the end of two years he resigned, to accept the position of county superin- tendent of schools of Carbon county, Pa., devoting considerable time to lecturing upon educational subjects before teachers' conventions throughout the state. At the expiration of his three years' term he declined re-election and went to Chicago, where he taught for a term in the Cook county normal school, conducting teach- ers' institutes in the western states, and lectured at teachers' conventions. In 1885 he was elected superintendent of schools in Reading, Pa., and re-elected in 1887. At the same time he was also elected pro- fessor of logic, psychology, and pedagog- ics, in Haverford College, Philadelphia, but declined the election. In October, 1887, he was elected superintendent of schools in Springfield, and entered upon the duties of the office April 1, 1888. He has also had charge of the department of psychology at the Saratoga summer school since 1885, and of the same department at the Glens Falls, N. Y., and at the Penn- sylvania summer schools for 1888 and '89.
Mr. Balliet has obtained a wide reputa- tion through papers he has read before the State teachers' associations of Massachu-
setts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, New York and Pennsylvania, and through his lectures beforc educational conventions in Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylva- nia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and all the New England states but Mainc.
BANCROFT, WILLIAM AMOS, son of Charles and Lydia Emeline (Spaulding) Bancroft, was born in Groton, Middlesex county, April 26, 1855.
He attended the public schools and the Lawrence Academy, located in his native town. He became a student for two years at Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., and from this institution he was graduated in 1874. In the same year he went to Cam- bridge to live, and entered Harvard Col- lege. From childhood he took an active part in athletic sports, and, while in col- lege, was the captain and stroke oarsman of the famous Harvard University crews of '77, '78 and '79. Graduating from col- lege with his class in 1878, he entered the Harvard Law school, and subsequently the law office of district attorney William B. Stevens. He was admitted to the Suf- folk bar in 1881, having previously opened a law office in Boston with his classmate, Edward F. Johnson, now mayor of Woburn.
After the practice of the law for several years, in 1885 he entered the street rail- way business as superintendent of the Cam- bridge railroad. This position he held at the time of the strike of the six hundred employees in 1887, and was charged with the duty of re-organizing the service of the road. So energetically did he proceed in hiring new men and in running the cars, that, in fourteen days, all of the twenty- two lines were in full operation. After the consolidation of the various street railways of Boston into the West End Street Rail- way, he was, in 1888, appointed road-mas- ter and given charge of the two hundred and thirty miles of track operated by the company.
While practicing law he was a corre- spondent of several Boston and New York papers, and also devoted considerable time, from 1879 to 1884, to "coaching" the Harvard crews.
While a freshman at college, Mr. Ban- croft joined the state militia, in the spring of 1875, as a private in company K (after- wards company B), 5th regiment, and, after filling the positions of corporal and sergeant, was elected second lieutenant in 1877, first lieutenant in 1878, and captain in 1879. He was elected colonel of the regiment February 7, 1882, and still holds that commission. Under his administra-
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tion, the regiment has steadily gained in proficiency, and, in 1889, was detailed by the commander-in-chief, on account of its military excellence, as escort to the state delegation at the centennial celebration at New York, of Washington's inauguration as president of the United States. In this duty the regiment acquitted itself with much credit, and was in numbers nearly eight hundred strong-the largest regiment that has ever left the State before or since the civil war.
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