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 90
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Mr. Sweet was married in Norton, June 8, 1870, to Mary E., daughter of Austin and Salina A. F. (Alden) Messinger. Of this union is one child : Austin M. Sweet.
Mr. Sweet. was a representative to the General Court from Norton in 1873. He has been selectman, assessor, and overseer of the poor.
Mr Sweet is a self-made man, and his success in life can readily be attributed to his habits of industry, frugal economy, and a strict adherence to temperance principles.
SWEETSER, MOSES FOSTER, son of Moses and Elizabeth Dean ( Foster) Sweet- ser, was born in Newburyport, Essex county, September 22, 1848. He is descended from the Sweetsers of Hertfordshire, Eng-
land, whose records run back to the Ref- ormation. In 1637 Seth Sweetser crossed the ocean and settled in Charlestown (now Boston), and his posterity included many true Puritan soldiers. During the war of the rebellion several members of the family held military commands. Moses Sweetser, a friend of Sumner and Wilson, has dwelt for twenty-five years in West Virginia, and is one well-known and respected through- out the Ohio Valley.
In 1861-'64 Mr. Sweetser dwelt at Fair- fax Court House, in northern Virginia, where he witnessed many exciting scenes of the war, and was finally sent North to the Highland Military School. He also studied
MOSES F. SWEETSER.
at Dummer Academy, and in 1867 gradu- ated from the Putnam Free School, at New- buryport. His classical studies were car- ried on at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and Columbian College, Washington. In 1870 he crossed the ocean, and spent nearly two years in Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, and Greece, observing the Franco-Prussian war, the Commune, and the Italian siege of Rome. Returning, he prepared four guide- books, on the Baedeker plan : "New Eng- land " (1873), " The Middle States " (1874), " The White Mountains " (1875), and " The Maritime Provinces " (1876). He has also
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written the following : " Chisholm's White- Mountain Guide " (1880), " Picturesque Maine " (1880), " Pocket Guide to Europe " (1882), " King's Handbook of Boston Har- bor " (1882), "Summer Days Down East " (1883), the American sections of Cassell's " Great Cities of the World " (1884), "How to Know New York " (1886), "Chisholm's Mount-Desert Guide" (1888), "King's Handbook of Newton " (1889), "Here and There in New England " (1889), and a score of others, besides magazine articles, stories, etc. Another standard work of this author was the fifteen-volume series of
"Artist Biographies " (1877-'78), devoted to Raphael, Angelo, Leonardo, Claude, Titian, Guido, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Durer, Reynolds, Turner, Landseer, Murillo, Angelico, and Allston.
Mr. Sweetser's pleasant little rural estate of "Sunset Rock " is in Dorchester, near Boston, and looks out across the Neponset Valley to the "Blue Hills" of Milton. October 17, 1877, he was married, at Trin- ity church, Boston, to Edith Ashton, daugh- ter of William Charles and Elizabeth Ann (Hamilton) Balch. Their children are : Harold and Arthur Sweetser.
TAFT, EDGAR SIDNEY, son of Bezaleel and Lucy M. (Bragg) Taft, was born at Keene, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, June 30, 1853.
His early education was obtained at the public schools in Keene, Swanzey, Acworth, and Alstead. He worked in the summer, attending school in the winter, while pre- paring for a liberal education. During this time he met with a serious accident which prevented his going to college, and after recovering he learned telegraphy and found employment with the Eastern Railroad, as operator at Greenland, where he remained until he moved to Portsmouth. During the latter part of this employment he began reading law with the Hon. Albert R. Hatch, of Portsmouth, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar on the Ist of September, 1882, to the United States circuit court on the 9th of October, and to the supreme judicial court of Massa- chusetts on the 30th of October of the same year.
After practicing law in Boston for a short time, he was obliged to give up on account of ill health, and went into the employ of the Pullman Car Company, where he re- mained for about two years ; then, moving to Gloucester, he opened a law office, June 1, 1885, where he still practices and resides.
Mr. Taft is a popular and prominent Mason, having received the lower degrees in St. Paul's Lodge, No. 30, of Alstead, N. H .; was demitted and became a charter member of Winnicut Lodge, No. 92, of Greenland, N. H., being the ist senior warden and 2d master of the same ; he was the youngest past master in the state of New Hampshire, having served one year as senior warden, and two years as
master of a lodge before he was twenty-five years of age ; in 1881 he was demitted from Winnicut Lodge, and joined St. Andrew's
EDGAR S. TAFT.
Lodge, of Portsmouth, of which he is now a member, and is also a member of Wash- ington Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Portsmouth, and of Winslow Lewis Com- mandery of Knights 'Templar, at Salem, Mass. He is a charter member of Win- gaersheck Tribe, No. 12, Improved Order of Red Men, having held various offices in that order, and now being one of the great
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representatives to the great council of the United States. He is a member of the Royal Society of Good Fellows, being grand counselor of the grand assembly of Massachusetts at the present time. He is also a member of the New Hampshire Club.
Mr. Taft is a Republican in politics, and in 1889, by the largest majority ever given a representative from the roth Essex dis- trict. he was sent as a representative to the state Legislature. There he served as clerk upon the committee on railroads, of which he was an active working member, and at the close of the session was spoken of by the press as one of the leaders of the House.
Mr. Taft is distinctively a self-made man, having worked his own way from the begin- ning through school and while reading law. He has now a large law practice, and has been successful in his business enterprises.
TAFT, MOSES, was born in Uxbridge, Worcester county, January 26, 1812.
The district schools and academy of Ux- bridge gave him his early mental training, as he attended no other, save the Friends' school, in Bolton, taught by Thomas Fry.
MOSES TAFT.
Using the opportunities for such im- provement in the way of business educa- tion as we have named, he fitted himself for the business followed by his father, the manufacture of satinet. He has almost
constantly been engaged in the same kind of manufacturing business, first on his own account, secondly with Samuel W. Scott, in Burrillville, R. I .; then return- ing, he was engaged with James W. Day, as Taft, Day & Co .; and later, upon the withdrawal of Mr. Day, the firm be- came Taft & Capron. He has also been interested in manufacturing in Caryville, Northborough and Southborough in this State, and at Proctorsville, Vt.
Mr. Taft is president of the Blackstone Bank, and of the Uxbridge Savings Bank.
April 27, 1834, he married Sylvia Ann Wheelock. Of this union were : Sarah W. (now Mrs. Lewis T. Murdock), Susan H. (now Mrs. William E. Hayward), and Luke H. Taft. Mr. Taft's second marriage was with Mrs. Emeline (Taft) Wing. He has no children by the second marriage.
Mr. Taft represented his town in the Legislature in 1847, and has frequently been called to serve on the board of select- men. He is a member and officer of the First Congregational society of Uxbridge, and of the Uxbridge Lodge of I. O. O. F. He is widely known as a successful manu- facturer and financier, and has been closely allied to the prosperity of his town.
TALBOT, ZEPHANIAH, was born in South Hanover, Plymouth county, June 22, 1834.
His early education was obtained in the public schools of those days, and at Han- over Academy, he then serving a full apprenticeship with the Corliss Steam En- gine Company, Providence, R. I.
His first connection in business was with D. K. Stetson, Woodville, a village of Hopkinton, in the manufacture of shoe- nails and tacks, under the firm name of Stetson & Talbot. In 1866 they moved to Holliston, where Mr. Talbot continued an active member of the firm twenty-one years. In February, 1887, he purchased the interests of his partner, and continued the business as sole owner. In 1882 he became treasurer of the Holliston Mills, which position he still holds.
Hemarried in Boston, May 21, 1863, Eliza F. Paul. They have four children : Henry P., Minnie E., James, and John E. Talbot.
Mr. Talbot was elected to the board of selectmen, Holliston, in 1886 ; was chair- man of the board of assessors from 1876 to '79 inclusive ; a member of the school board nine years ; was for several years a director in the Holliston National Bank, and Holliston Savings Bank.
He was a staff officer in the regular ser- vice of the United States navy during the
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civil war, having entered the service in 1860 as third assistant engineer in the United States steam sloop-of-war "Wyoming," under the command of John K. Mitchell. He made a two years' cruise in this vessel, touching at the principal ports on the At- lantic and Pacific coast of South America, the Sandwich Islands, and San Francisco. He was attached to Minister Clay's lega- tion, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to Peru for five months dur- ing this time, remaining in the harbor of Callao. At Panama the commander and seven officers resigned to enter the South- ern Confederacy. Mr. Talbot applied to the navy department for active duty at the seat of war ; was ordered home from San Francisco, returning via the Isthmus of Panama. He received two promotions. He served as chief engineer on the United States gunboats " Chocura " and " Iosco," being government superintendent while the engines were being put into these ves- sels at the Charlestown navy-yard, and was appointed chief engineer on their first going into commission. He was on block- ade duty in these vessels in the North At- lantic squadron under rear admirals Lee and Porter until the close of the civil war. He participated in both bombardments and the capture of Fort Fisher. He was appointed first assistant professor of steam engineering at the Naval Academy, An- napolis, Md., in the fall of 1885, steam en- gineering being first introduced into the curriculum of study at that time.
He resigned from the United States navy in 1866 to enter business. His eldest son, Henry, was graduated from the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, chemical course, in 1885. He remained there as instructor three years, and is now taking a two years' course in Leipzig, Germany.
TAYLOR, CHARLES HENRY, son of John I. and Abigail R. (Hapgood) Taylor, was born July 14, 1846, in Charlestown, Middlesex county, and was educated in the public schools of Charlestown.
When sixteen years old he enlisted in the Union army, and served until wounded and sent home. When twenty-one he made a successful excursion into the field of politics and was appointed private and military secretary, with the rank of colo nel, by Gov. William Claflin. While hold- ing this office he acquired the intimate knowledge of the internal working of the state government which has been of ines- timable value to him through later years.
In journalism he has climbed the ladder from the first round, beginning in the com-
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posing room and occupying the reporter's desk, the correspondent's position, the editorial sanctum, and the controlling manager's chair, in orderly, though rapid succession. When connected with the " Boston Traveller," and later, while Gov- ernor Claflin's private secretary, he was correspondent for the " New York Trib- une " and the "Cincinnati Times." In Somerville, in 1872, he was elected by a unanimous vote of all parties, to the state Legislature, and the following year was chosen clerk of the House, succeeding the famous "Warrington."
CHARLES H. TAYLOR.
On the 7th of February, 1866, Colonel Taylor was married in Charlestown, to Georgianna O., daughter of George W. and L. F. Davis.
In 1873 Colonel Taylor formed his first connection with the " Boston Daily Globe." At that time the paper was losing money steadily, and seemed a hopeless and help- less journalistic experiment. The fact that under his administration the "Globe " has attained the largest circulation of any paper in New England, speaks volumes for the plick, sagacity, and ability of its manager and editor-in-chief. No American jour- nalist ever accomplished a more complete success in so short a time, and very few have been able to achieve even so much.
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The " Globe," it should be remembered, was outside the charmed circle of the " Associated Press" combination, and every other newspaper's hand was against it. Discredited by a long and disastrous record of failure, loaded with financial em- barrassments, and harassed by the united hostility of its rivals, it was indeed a very hazardous undertaking to attempt its resuscitation. Colonel Taylor practically created a new "Globe," and what was at first an "experiment " is now a positive and lively reality. It has a sparkle and an individuality that commends itself to many readers not of its own chosen politi- cal faith. While in its columns the Demo- cratic doctrine is in all essentials practi- cally maintained, the "Globe" is often found criticising its party managers and reproving its leaders in a tone that clearly indicates its consciousness of entire inde- pendence.
TAYLOR, GEORGE SYLVESTER, son of Sylvester and Sarah (Eaton) Taylor, was born in South Hadley, Hampshire county, March 2, 1822. He received his education- al training in the public schools of South Hadley, Chicopee Falls, and Springfield.
His first entrance into business life was with Col. D. M. Bryant, in a country store at Chicopee Falls, at the age of six- teen, where he remained two years. Pre- vious to this he had worked in his father's market, and on the home farm. In 1840 he became a partner with S. A. Shackford, under the firm name of Shackford & Taylor, which relation continued twenty- three years. In 1863 he went into com- pany with B. B. Belcher, under the firm name of Belcher & Taylor, manufacturers of agricultural tools. The next year the business was transferred to the Belcher & Taylor Agricultural Tool Company, which has since that time carried on the manu- facture. Mr. Taylor is agent and treas- urer of said company, having held the positions of agent twenty-one years and treasurer twenty-five years.
He was married in Chicopee, November 25, 1845, to Asenath B., daughter of Elias H. and Rebecca (Boylston) Cobb. Of this union were seven children. The four surviving children are : Ella S. (Mrs. Lyon), Edward Sylvester, William Cobb, and Albert Eaton Taylor.
Mr. Taylor has been repeatedly called by his fellow-citizens to positions of public trust. He was assessor two years, select- man three years, has been a representative to the Legislature, and was one year in the state Senate.
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He was superintendent of the Congre- gational Sunday-school twenty-five years, and has been a deacon of the Congrega- tional church since 1859. He was presi- dent of the Hampden County Agricultural Society three years, and is at present a member of the state board of agriculture. He is president of the Chicopee Falls Savings Bank, and president and general manager of the Chicopee Falls Building Company. He has held the commission of justice of the peace since he was twenty-two years of age.
When the police court of the town was established, he was appointed special jus- tice, and held the office until his election to the Legislature. Mr. Taylor was one of a family of nine children, two sisters and seven brothers, all of whom lived to mature years, and married. His father reached the age of eighty-eight, and his mother, seventy-seven. They celebrated their golden wedding, September 12, 1865, and lived together five years thereafter.
TAYLOR, JAMES BRAINERD, son of Cyrus W. and Margaret M. (Armstrong) Taylor, was born in Boston, on Fort Hill, August 22, 1845. His ancestor, Abraham Taylor, was one of the first settlers of Concord, 1640, and a later ancestor was one of the leading settlers of Dunstable, about 1690. His mother was of Scotch and English parentage, her paternal grand- father being a preacher in Perth, Scotland.
Mr. Taylor entered the primary depart- ment of Chauncy Hall school in the fall of 1855, the late Susan N. Nickerson be- ing his teacher, was fitted for college, and graduated at Harvard in the class of 1867.
After a year at the Harvard law school, under Professors Washburn, Parsons, and Holmes, he studied Hebrew in the Newton Baptist Seminary, and theology in Andover Theological Seminary, graduating from the latter institution in 1871. He declined a call to the chair of rhetoric in Iowa State College, and accepted the chair of oratory in Bowdoin College, offered by President Chamberlain. He remained there two years, giving occasional instruction also in elocution in the state normal schools of Maine, and Bangor Theological Seminary.
In 1873 Mr. Taylor returned to Boston. He was shortly called to his old school (Chauncy Hall) to teach literature, elocu- tion, Latin, and history.
In the summer of 1883 he visited Europe for the second time, and shortly after his return invited the heads of the classical and mathematical departments at Chauncy Hall to form with him the educational firm
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of Taylor, De Meritte & Hagar. In the fall of 1884 this firm founded the Berkeley school in the new Y. M. C. A. building, corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets. The school numbered one hundred and fifty pupils the first year, and employed a dozen teachers. It has continued to in- crease in numbers, and is now easily recog- nized as one of the most prominent private schools in Boston.
JAMES B. TAYLOR.
Mr. Taylor is connected with various literary, social, and charitable societies ; was first annual regent of Mystic Side Council, R. A .; is superintendent of the Central church Sunday-school at Newton- ville, where he resides ; president of the " Every Saturday Club," a literary organi- zation of seventeen years' standing, lim- ited to forty members, and including among them several prominent educators ; he is a member of the Congregational clubs of Newton and Boston, and of the famous Schoolmasters' Club of Boston and vicinity.
Mr. Taylor was married in Boston, Jan- uary 1, 1872, to Julie S., daughter of Rev. William C. Jackson, formerly a missionary in Asiatic Turkey, where Mrs. Taylor was born, and Mary (Sawyer) Jackson. From this union there are three children : Brain- erd, William Harold, and Harriet May Taylor. Mr. Taylor's children enjoy the
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somewhat unusual distinction of having their four grandparents living, two of them over eighty years of age.
TAYLOR, WILLIAM, was born of Irish parents in St. John's, Newfoundland, April 15, 1831.
He ran away from home at the age of fourteen, and began his sailor's life as a stowaway. During the next fourteen years he sailed in every sea, and rose by pluck, honesty, and self-education from cabin-boy to captain.
In 1859 he settled in Boston, and en- gaged in various lines of business with success. In 1870 and '7 1 he was a member of the city council ; in 1872 and '73 he was in the House of Representatives, serv- ing on several important committees. As one of the minority of the committee on federal relations, he opposed the vote of censure that was passed on Charles Sum-
WILLIAM TAYLOR
ner. He was the originator of the bill for the better protection of seamen. In 1876 he was again in the common council, and three years later, in 1879, he was elected to the state Senate, where he served with credit on several committees, including fisheries and harbors. He carried through, against strenuous opposition, the bill for manhood suffrage, which was, however, defeated in the House, and still awaits
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legislative action. He made the first attack since " Know-nothing " times upon the obstructive laws regarding naturaliza- tion, and was successful in changing some of their most restrictive features. At the close of the session he was appointed on a special committee on contract convict labor, which sat during the recess, and made a lengthy report, which was ac- cepted and published by the next Legis- lature.
Mr. Taylor was re-elected in 1880, and served as chairman of the committees on fisheries and leave of absence ; he served also on the committee on prisons. He originated and carried through the bill for the regulation of private detectives, and made a lasting and valuable record on prison reform. On the liquor question he was decided and conservative. He was a straightforward, concise, and able debater, and has left his impress on the legislation of the State.
In 1883 he was appointed health com- missioner by Mayor Palmer, and re-ap- pointed in 1886 by Mayor O'Brien. Dur- ing these six years his energy and execu- tive ability won recognition from business men and politicians alike, and when he left this office he was offered the position of manager of the docks, warehouses, and elevators for the New York & New Eng- land Railroad Company, a responsible and important post which he now fills to the satisfaction of all concerned.
TAYLOR, WILLIAM P., son of Luther and Abigail ( Kendall ) Taylor, was born in Milford, Hillsborough county, N. H., October 17, 1826.
His early education was obtained in the public schools. He began business life in Lunenburg, Mass., in 1848, as a black- smith. This he continued until 1859, when he went into trade, in which he re- mained until 1876. In the latter year he began the manufacture of furniture, and also engaged in the drug business.
He was first married in Lunenburg, May 29, 1851, to Mary E., daughter of William and Eliza (McIntire) Robinson. Of this union were three children : Mary E., Helen E., and William O. Taylor. His second marriage was in Townsend, Janu- ary 25, 1870, with Anna, daughter of Jonathan P. and Harriet N. (McIntire) Clement.
Mr. Taylor has been postmaster twenty- three years, town clerk five years, and assessor and treasurer one year. He was a representative to the Legislature in 1887, serving on the committee on elections.
TEELE, ALBERT KENDALL, son of Ben- jamin and Miriam (Savels) Teele, was born in Charlestown, now Somerville, Middlesex county, February 10, 1821.
His early education was obtained in the public schools of Medford, where he resided until fifteen years of age. In 1836 he en- tered Phillips Academy, Andover, where he fitted for college, and entered Yale College in 1838, graduating in 1842. In 1845 he received the degree of A. M. from his alma mater. He pursued the theological course at the Yale Seminary, and was ordained and installed over the Congregational church in Naugatuck, Conn., in 1845. This pastorate continued till 1849, when he preached in the First church in Medway for part of a year. He received a call to settle as pastor, but being at the same time called to the First Evangelical church in Milton, he accepted the latter and contin- ued its active pastor for twenty-five years. Since then he has been pastor emeritus. In 1874 he received the degree of D. D. from Middlebury College, Vt.
In Stratford, Conn., August 21, 1845, Mr. Teele was married to Cornelia, daugh- ter of Lucius and Harriet (Curtis) Curtis. Their children are : Cornelia Fannie and Hattie Curtis Teele.
In 1877 Dr. Teele was appointed on the board of trustees of the Liversidge Institu- tion of Industry -a home for destitute boys. In this position he still continues, finding in the supervision and care of these homeless boys a fitting supplement to his ministerial life. For twenty-five years he was a member of the Milton school com- mittee, much of the time its chairman. He is chairman of the Milton public library trustees, and chairman of the trustees of the Milton cemetery. Under authority of the town, as chairman of the committee ap- pointed for that purpose, he wrote a most ex- cellent history of Milton, which was pub- lished in 1887 and received with great favor, not only by the citizens, but by all interested in the preparation of local histories through- out the State. He still resides in Milton, beloved and esteemed by his fellow-citi- zens, in full sympathy with a friendly com- munity, and in the serene enjoyment of the delights of the beautiful town he has loved and served so well.
TEMPLE, R. DEXTER, son of William and Mary (Coggin) Temple, was born in Reading, Middlesex county, April 8, 1838.
The common schools furnished his edu- cational training. After leaving school, at the age of seventeen, he learned the trade of shoemaker, and worked at this business
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until the year 1879, when he entered the business of real estate agent and general auctioneer.
In September, 1886, he accepted from the board of health the appointment of undertaker, which is his present occupa- tion.
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