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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106
HENRY J. BIGELOW.
1850) ; "Rhigolene, a Petroleum Naph- tha for producing Anaesthesia by Freez- ing " (B. M. & S. J., 1866) ; " New and Successful Operation for Un-united Fractures, with Cases " (Ibid. 1867) ; " Ni- trous Oxide Gas for Surgical Purposes in 1848" (Ibid. 1868) ; "Fracture and Dis- location of the Hip" (Boston, 1869) ;
BILL.
" Medical Education in America. Address before Massachusetts Medical Society" (1871); "Death by Chloroform and Al- leged Death by Ether" (B. M. & S. J., 1872) ; " Alleged Death from Ether ; Let- ter to Editor British Medical Journal " (Ibid. 1873) ; " Turbinated Corpora Caver- nosa " (Ibid. 1875) ; "The True Neck of the Femur ; its Structure and Pathology " (Ibid. 1875) ; "Centennial Article on the Discovery of Anesthesia, in 'A Century of American Medicine,'" (Phila. 1876) ; "New Methods and Treatment of Ex- trophy of the Bladder and Erectile Tu- mors" (B. M. & S. J., 1876) ; "Lithola- paxy " (Boston, 1878) ; "Litholapaxy ; an Improved Evacuator " (B. M. & S. J., 1880) ; "The Code of Ethics adopted by the Massachusetts Medical Society ; A Minority Report " (Ibid. 1880) ; "A Sim- plified Evacuator for Litholapaxy " (Ibid. 1883) ; " A Radical Cure for Umbilical Hernia " (Ibid. 1889); " Fees in Hospitals " (Ibid. 1889) ; " An Old Portrait of a Sur- geon " (Ibid. 1889).
BILL, LEDYARD, son of Gurdon and Lucy (Yerrington) Bill, was born in Led- yard, New London county, Conn., May 14, 1836.
He obtained a common school and aca- demic training. At the age of sixteen he traveled in Canada and the United States, selling books; located in the book-pub- lishing business in Louisville, Ky., in 1857 ; on the breaking out of the civil war his business was destroyed and he went to Cleveland, Ohio ; thence to New York, where he remained until 1872, engaged in publishing.
On June 12, 1872, he married, in Brook- lyn, N. Y., Sophie, daughter of Ralph and Adaline E. (Bigelow) Earle. They have three children : Frederick L., Bertha E., and Lucy S. Bill.
Mr. Bill settled in Paxton in 1874, where he has since resided.
Town business employs such of his time as is not given to leisure or authorship. He has written several works, the latest being a history of Paxton.
In 1864 Mr. Bill was commissioned lieutenant in the Howitzer battery of the IIth brigade of the National Guard, New York. He was commissioner to the World's Fair, Hamburg, 1862; ten years on the local school board of Pax- ton, and ten years chairman of the board of selectmen ; and has also served as one of the overseers of the poor. At the last election he declined further town office.
56
BILLINGS.
BILLINGS, GILBERT M., son of Wm. L. and Eunice E. (Kelly) Billings, was born in Blackstone, Worcester county, Feb- ruary 18, 1853. He went to Milford when nine years of age, attended the public schools and graduated from the high school in 1869. He passed an examination for Brown University, but illness prevented his attendance.
He spent several months in a general store at Elizabethtown, N. Y., after which he was a book-keeper one year at the boot factory of Underwood, Sons & Fisher, in Milford, until the firm gave up business. For a year he was clerk in a shoe store in Fitchburg, and afterwards book-keeper four years for the firm of Clement, Col- burn & Company, in Milford, followed by six years at the factory of Houghton, Coolidge & Company.
In 1882 Mr. Billings, in company with Charles A. King, started the " Milford Gazette." In 1885 he purchased the inter- est of Mr. King, and has since conducted the business alone with success.
He was married in Milford, November 26, 1874, to Edith L., daughter of George B. Blake. They have one son: George W. Billings.
Mr. Billings has served two terms as trustee of the public library, and has been through the presiding officer's chair in local lodges of Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, and Eastern Associates.
BILLINGS, SANFORD WATERS, son of Sanford and Caroline Davis (Waters) Bill- ings, was born in Sharon, Norfolk county, October 3, 1834, on the homestead farm, which has been held in unbroken succession by his paternal ancestors for over a hun- dred and twenty-five years. He comes of sturdy old New England stock, and on the maternal side is descended from Governor Bradford of colonial fame.
He received his early education at the schools of his native town, fitted for college at the Opalic Institute at Attleborough, graduating at Amherst College in 1859. The following year he began teaching, organizing the Stoughtonham Institute, which he carried on with success until the establishment of the free high schools in Sharon and the neighborhood, when he was made principal of the Sharon high school, which position he still occupies.
He was always active in literary and debating circles. In Amherst he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, and presi- dent of the Athenian Society, and has re- mained president of the class of 1859 ever since graduation.
BIRD.
Besides his immediate occupation, he finds time to devote to town affairs, having acted on the school committee for more than twenty years, as justice of the peace -appointed by Governor Andrew in 1861 - as moderator at more than fifty town meetings, and as representative in the state Legislature in 1873 and '74, where he served on the committee on education. Hle introduced the bill authorizing cities and towns to provide free text-books in the public schools, and was instrumental in securing the provision of the law in his native town.
He is an active worker in church affairs, serving as superintendent of the Con- gregational Sunday-school for twenty years, and for several years he was president of the Norfolk County Temperance Union. He has long been a member of the Repub- lican town committee, and was for many years its chairman.
On the 17th of June, 1862, at Sharon, Mr. Billings was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis and Anna (Pierce) Morse. Their two living children are : Abbie Caro- line and Osmond Jesse Billings.
Mr. Billings is endeared to hundreds of his former pupils, to whom he has been not only instructor, but, also, counselor and friend.
He is a most ardent friend of the soldiers of the Grand Army, and expresses, by both word and act, the high estimation in which he holds their patriotic service.
He is pre-eminently a leader in all the educational and moral measures in the town of Sharon, easily holding such a position by reason of natural endowment and Christian training.
BIRD, FRANCIS WILLIAM, son of George and Martha (Newell) Bird, was born in Dedham, Norfolk county, October 22, 1809.
He attended the public schools of Ded- ham until 1824, then Day's Academy, Wrentham, Isaac Perkins, preceptor. Here he fitted for college, entered Brown Uni- versity, 1827, and was graduated in the class of 1831.
He began business as a paper maker in 1833. This industry he has followed and done much to develop, continuing in the same to the present time. He has associ- ated with himself various partners at different times, but always held control of the business, and in 1882 the firm became F. W. Bird & Son. Their mills are at East Walpole, where Mr. Bird now resides.
Mr. Bird was first married in Providence, R. I., January 1, 1834, to Rebecca Hill, daughter of Benoni and Amy (Brown)
57
BIRD.
Cooke, who died Feb. 5, 1835. He again married, June 20, 1843, in Boston, Abby Frances, daughter of Joseph R. and Mary (Reynolds) Newell. Of this union were six children : Frances Newell, F. W., Jr. (deceased 1874), Mary Reynolds, Charles Sumner, Caroline Augusta and Rebecca Hill Bird.
Mr. Bird was a member of the House of Representatives. 1847, '48, '67, '77, and '78 ; a member of the state Senate 1871. He was a member of the Executive Council with Governor Boutwell, 1852, and Gover- nor Andrew, 1863, '64 and '65. He was especially active in matters that pertained
FRANCIS W. BIRD,
to the general public policy; fought Know- nothingism with a will in 1854 ; was stren- uously opposed to the Hoosac Tunnel scheme. . He has been a typical independ- ent in his political associations. He was a Whig till 1846 ; a Conscience Whig till 1848; Free Soiler till 1856 ; Republican till 1872; Liberal Republican till 1874, and Independent Democrat to date.
Mr. Bird was a member of the Massachu- setts Constitutional Convention, 1853. He has ever been a man of great nervous en- ergy and strong individuality. He has the courage of his convictions, and always moves in accordance with their promptings. He is a man very widely known in com-
BIRD.
mercial and politica. circles, and probably has enjoyed the friendship of as many of the leading men of the State as any living man. Not a stain rests upon his character, not a suspicion attaches to the sincerity of his purpose. Outliving most of his com- rades who have made the State so illustri- ous by their wise counsel and patriotic labors, he still takes a keen and lively in- terest in all that tends to keep Massachu- setts in the van of every philanthropic cause and movement towards true reform.
BIRD, SAMUEL BRADFORD, son of Ebenezer and Sally (Knowlton) Bird, was born in Ashby, Middlesex county, Septem- ber 3, 1831.
He availed himself of the advantages of the common schools to gain a good English education, and was enabled to fit himself for a teacher of district schools. He taught during the winter months for six years, when he chose farming as his future voca- tion.
Mr. Bird was married in Boston, Novem- ber 28, 1861, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Ashbel and Laura (Nichols) Howe. They have no children.
Mr. Bird has been member of the Fram- ingham school board twelve years ; mem- ber of the board of selectmen ten years, six years chairman ; member of board of assessors twelve years, during nine of which he acted as chairman ; president of Mid- dlesex South Agricultural Society four years ; member of board of agriculture nine years ; director of South Framingham National Bank, until he resigned to be- come director of the Framingham National Bank, which position he now holds ; vice- president of the Savings Bank ; director and treasurer of the Framingham Union Street Railway Company, a road built and equipped largely by the efforts and influ- ence of Mr. Bird ; treasurer of the town of Framingham the past four years ; trustee of the public library ; member of the Republi- can state central committee two years ; has presided at the town meetings, with few exceptions, for the last fifteen years.
He was representative to the General Court 1886 and '87. Mr. Bird is an active business man, holds various trust funds, commands the respect of his townsmen, and is keenly alive to the interests of Fram- ingham, his present residence.
BIRD, WARREN A., son of Charles and Caroline F. (Frost) Bird, was born in Cam- bridge, Middlesex county, October 14, 1837.
His early education was acquired in the common schools of Somerville and
58
BISHOP.
BLEAKIE.
Natick, and his first business occupation was that of a dealer in coal, and this busi- ness he has continued without change to the present time.
On the 8th of July, 1862, Mr. Bird was married in Framingham, to Elvira A., daughter of George L. and Patience Ann (Langley) Sleeper, who died leaving him two children : Alice and Edith J. Bird.
Mr. Bird has been active in social and political life, as well as an enthusiastic business man throughout his career. For three years he was one of the selectmen of Natick, where he at present resides.
In 1876, '77, and '83 he represented the town in the House of Representatives, performing diligent and valuable service on the committees to which he was appointed.
BISHOP, ROBERT ROBERTS, son of Jonathan P. and Eliza (Harding) Bishop, was born in Medfield, Norfolk county, March 31, 1834. The family moved from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and Mr. Bishop's father was a prominent lawyer in Norfolk county.
Mr. Bishop was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, then under the charge of Dr. Samuel H. Taylor.
Ill health, however, prevented him from entering college, and subsequently his plans for the future were changed, and he entered the law office of Brooks & Ball, Boston. With this firm, and subsequently with the Hon. Peleg W. Chandler, supplemented by a regular course at Harvard law school, he received his legal education. He was graduated from the law school in the class of 1857, and spent a year in the office of Mr. Chandler, having been admitted to the Suffolk bar soon after graduation.
A year later he opened an office in Boston on his own account, and, in 1861, formed a law partnership with Thornton K. Lothrop, under the firm name of Lothrop & Bishop. This partnership was afterwards enlarged by the admission of Arthur Lincoln, as junior partner, and con- tinued until 1879, when it was dissolved.
Mr. Bishop was married in Holliston, December 24, 1857, to Mary H., daughter of Elias and Persis (Daniels) Bullard, of Holliston. Of this union are three chil- dren : Robert R., Jr., Elias B. and Joseph T. Bishop.
In 1863 Mr. Bishop removed to Newton, his present residence. In 1874 he was a member of the House of Representatives. He declined a re-election. In 1878 he was a member of the state Senate, and again in 1879, '80, '81 and '82. At the opening of the Senate in 1880, he received a unani-
mous election as president, and was re- elected in 1881 and '82.
Mr. Bishop's law practice has been con- cerned largely with important railroad liti- gation. He was for three years engaged in the notable case of the " Berdell Bonds," involving twenty millions of dollars, and in the organization, by the bond-holders, of the New York & New England Rail- road.
In 1875 Mr. Bishop was appointed one of the water commissioners for the con- struction of the water-works of the city of Newton.
He has served on the Newton school board, and was a delegate to the national Republican convention at Chicago, in 1884.
In 1882 Mr. Bishop was a candidate for governor, but was defeated by General Benjamin F. Butler. In 1888 he was appointed an associate justice of the supe- rior Court of Massachusetts, which position he still holds.
BLEAKIE, ROBERT, son of John and Mary (Maxwell) Bleakie, was born in Hawick, Roxburgshire, Scotland, August I, 1833. He came to this country in 1847, with his father, who left Scotland under an engagement with the Amesbury Manu- facturing Company, of Amesbury, to start there the making of fancy cassimeres.
Even at that early age of fourteen he had acquired a fair knowledge of weaving, having gone all through the training of bobbin-winding and power-loom weaving, and served an apprenticeship as a hand- loom weaver. So he readily went to work under his father, on the power looms at the Amesbury mills, and at this work he remained until 1852, when, having reached the age of eighteen, and his father giving him his liberty, he left home and found employment at $1.08 per day, at the Elm Street mill in Providence, R. I. He re- mained here until, in 1858, his abilities were recognized by John W. Stitt & Co. of New York, by whom he was engaged to manage their two factories at Franklin, N. J., where he made a great success and was highly appreciated by both employers and em- ployees. In 1860 he received and ac- cepted a tempting offer to return to Rhode Island.
The civil war breaking out shortly after disturbed this new arrangement, and Mr. Bleakie was for the time being left without employment. Nothing daunted, and having saved a few thousand dollars from his earnings, he hired a cotton-bat- ting mill in Tolland, Conn., had it fitted as a one-set woolen mill, and started in busi-
59
BLEAKIE.
ness for himself. Fortune smiled upon his enterprise, and men having capital were anxious to co-operate with him in manufacturing. A number of Providence business men united to build a large woolen
ROBERT BLEAKIE.
mill, now known as the Riverside mill, of which Mr. Bleakie was to have the man- agement, and receive one-third of the profits. Before this was completed, how- ever, he became weary of the amount of red tape involved, and the slow progress made, and being offered the management of the Hyde Park Woolen Company's mill at Hyde Park, he accepted the position, which he retained until 1873, when that mill was destroyed by fire. For the next two years he was employed as an expert, visiting and inspecting a number of mills in New England, till, in 1875, the founda- tion of the present firm of R. Bleakie & Co. was laid by Robert Bleakie, John S. Bleakie (his brother) and C. F. Allen associating themselves together and taking the Webster mill, Sabattus, Maine, subse- quently adding the Amesbury mills, and finally, in 1878, purchasing and greatly enlarging the Hyde Park Woolen Com- pany's property. Probably no woolen manufacturing concern occupies a stronger or better position in the market than this company.
BLISS.
Mr. Bleakie is emphatically a self-made man, having, without friends or influence other than such as he made for himself, advanced from a bobbin-boy to the envi- able position he now holds among our most successful manufacturers.
His own eventful career has made him an intelligent and earnest advocate of reform in, and reduction of, the present protective tariff, his letters in advocacy thereof, published during the last presiden- tial campaign in the " Boston Herald " and other papers, being yet fresh in the recol- lection of many.
Mr. Bleakie's abilities have frequently been recognized by his associates and fel- low-citizens. At the present time he is president of the Hyde Park Savings Bank, also of the Hyde Park Water Company, chairman of the Hyde Park board of select- men, vice-president of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League, and one of the executive officers of the Woolen Goods Association of New York City.
Mr. Bleakie was married in Shady Lea, R. I., December 1, 1860, to Isabella, daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth (Kidder) Hen- derson, who died December, 1880. Of this union were five children : Mary Eliza- beth, Robert Charles (deceased), Bessie B.,William, and Isabella Bleakie (deceased). He was again married October 12, 1882, at Attleborough, to Mary A., daughter of Abner and Emily L. Wetherell. They have one child : Eugene W. Bleakie.
BLISS, WILLIAM DWIGHT PORTER, son of Rev. Edwin E. Bliss, D. D., and Isa- bella H. (Porter) Bliss, was born in Con- stantinople, Turkey, August 20, 1856.
He received his early educational train- ing at home, and in Robert College, Con- stantinople. He subsequently attended Phillips Academy, Andover, one year, then entered Amherst College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1878. He then studied for his chosen profession in Hartford Theological Seminary.
He was first settled in charge of the Fourth Congregational church of Denver, Col. Ill health forcing him to resign his pastorate there, he was next called to the Congregational church in South Natick. He then withdrew from the communion of the Congregational church and entered the Episcopal church, being first stationed at Lee. He afterwards became rector of Grace church, South Boston, which posi- tion he still holds.
Mr. Bliss was married in London, Eng- land, June 30, 1884, to Mary Pangalo of Constantinople, daughter of John Pangalo
60
BLODGETT.
BLODGETT.
of Athens, Greece, and Eliza (Blunt) Pan- galo, daughter of the English consul at Salonica. Of this union were two chil- dren : Zoe Pangalo, and Enid Bouterweck Bliss.
Mr. Bliss has been master workman of the Knights of Labor Assembly in Lee, and represented them at the Cincinnati convention of the Union Labor party, Feb- ruary 22, 1887. In 1887 he was nominated lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts by the Labor party, but immediately resigned. He was president of the Ministers' Eco- nomic Society, Boston ; was the first chair- man, and is now secretary, of the Society of Christian Socialists of Boston, and editor of the " Dawn," a paper devoted to their interests.
In early life Mr. Bliss was devoted to the study of literature, poetry, and philosophy, leading his class in college in that depart- ment.
He became interested in social problems when settled as a minister in the manufac- turing town of South Natick in 1885, and has since followed this line of thought and work. He has written frequently for the "Andover Review," the "Christian Union," etc., and has lectured before economic and religious bodies upon what he deems the vital questions of the hour.
BLODGETT, CALEB, son of Caleb and Charlotte (Piper) Blodgett, was born in Dorchester, Grafton county, N. H., June 3, 1832.
His early education was obtained in the common schools and the academy in Ca- naan, N. H., to which place his parents removed in 1834. He fitted for college mainly at Kimball Union Academy, Meri- den, N. H., under Dr. Cyrus S. Richards. He entered Dartmouth College in 1852, and was graduated in 1856. For two years thereafter he was engaged in teach- ing in the high school in Leominster, Mass. He read law in the office of Bacon & Aldrich, in Worcester, and was ad- mitted to the bar in that city in February, 1860.
His first connection in business was in the practice of law at Hopkinton, as a partner of Henry L. Parker, a college class-mate. Later he removed to Boston, and was associated with Halsey J. Board- man in the same profession, from Decem- ber, 1860, to January 16, 1882, when he was appointed by Governor Long an asso- ciate justice of the superior court, which position he now holds.
He was married at Canaan, N. H., December 14, 1865, to Roxie B., daughter
of Jesse and Emily A. (Green) Martin, and has one child : Charles M. Blodgett. He has one brother, Isaac N. Blodgett, who is one of the justices of the supreme judicial court of New Hampshire.
He was made president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Dartmouth College in 1886, and in June, 1889, received from his alma mater the honorary degree of LL. D. Not the least of the honors, however, that have crowned his life is the estimation in which he is held by those who have prac- ticed before his court, and have received at his hands the impartial distribution of justice which should ever characterize an upright judge.
BLODGETT, PERCIVAL, son of N. French and Dolly A. Blodgett, was born in Orange, Franklin county, July 18, 1841.
He attended the common schools of that town until twelve years old, then only in winter until fifteen. Attended the Athol high school one term and Phillips Academy, Andover, two years. When he was sixteen years of age he taught his first school. He followed teaching until he entered business life at Templeton, March, 1865, when he formed a partnership with A. S. Dudley, under the firm name of Dudley & Blodgett, and carried on the business of a general country store for five years. The partnership was then dissolved, and Mr. Blodgett continued the business on his own account. He has done a large and lucra- tive business, and has, besides his employ- ment in trade, done something in convey- ancing, settling estates, etc.
Mr. Blodgett was married in Orange, May 1, 1867, to Georgia A. Worrick, daugh- ter of Philbrook and Dorothy Worrick. Mrs. Blodgett died January 17, 1879, leav- ing one daughter, Grace E. Blodgett, born April 28, 1870. Mr. Blodgett's second marriage was with S. Isabelle Chamberlain of Templeton.
He is a Republican, and chairman of the Republican town committee ; postmaster sixteen years, until the incoming of the Cleveland administration. For twenty con- tinuous years he has been member of the school board, for thirteen years town treas- urer, and seven years selectman and chair- man of the board. His church con- nections are with the Trinitarian parish, of which he is an active working mem- ber. Hle is trustee of the Boynton free public library, and president of the board. He was representative to the General Court in 1889, from the second Worcester district.
61
BOND.
BLOOD.
BLOOD, CHARLES ERASTUS, son of Leonard and Abigail Blood, was born at Pep- perell, Middlesex county, March 19, 1825.
He received his early education in the common schools of his native place. His first business connection was with Metcalf & Fisher, manufacturers of straw goods, of Medway village, in 1844. From this place he went to New York City. Here, and on Long Island, he remained until 1849, when he removed to Ware village, and was there engaged in the straw business till 1875, when he became interested in the drug business, his present occupation.
He has been overseer of the poor in Ware twelve years, selectman two years, member of school board five years. For the last fourteen years Mr. Blood has been special county commissioner of Hampshire county. He has served on the board of assessors one year, and since 1874 has acted as treasurer of the South Mutual Protection Association.
His church connections are with the Congregational church of Ware village, where he now resides.
Mr. Blood was married in Milford, in 1851, to Mary B., daughter of Josiah and Anna (Corbett) Perry. He has four chil- dren : Charles F., George F., Gertrude P., and Mary E. Blood.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.