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 99
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works then being built from Natick to Boston. He worked a year each in a dry- goods store at Saxonville and in a market at Newton Upper Falls. Several years were then spent in the market business in Roxbury, North Attleborough and Chico- pee, and in 1854 he opened a dry-goods and grocery store in Holden.
Mr. White removed to Shirley in 1856, where he purchased a farm and saw- mill, and has manufactured baskets, shingles, staves, and dealt in northern hard and soft lumber at that place ever since.
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EDWIN L. WHITE
Mr. White was married in Holden, on November 30 (Thanksgiving Day), 1854, to Martha E .. daughter of William H. and Eliza B. (Graves) White. Mrs. White died at Shirley, June 23, 1873, leaving no chil- dren. A second marriage was consum- mated at Mansfield, March 7, 1878, with Hattie E., daughter of Rufus P. and Sarah A. (Goff) Hardon. They have one child : Mabel Reed White, born at Mansfield, August 6, 1881.
Mr. White had two younger brothers, George Reed and Henry Kirke, who en- listed in the late civil war - the first killed in battle June 30, 1862, and the latter dying April 19, 1872, of disease contracted while in the army.
Mr. White was first chosen selectman and overseer of the poor in Shirley, in 1865, and is now serving his nineteenth year in that capacity. He has been assessor of taxes, and held other town offices. He has been a Knight of Honor since 1878, and is now treasurer of Ayer Lodge, No. 588. He is a justice of the peace and quorum.
WHITE, FRANCIS EVERETT, son of George W. and Betsey (Burrell) White, was born in South Weymouth, Norfolk county, August 8, 1837.
He received his early education in the common and high school of his native town. From sixteen years old until of age, he served in a mercantile house in Boston, engaged in the South American and West India trade. In November, 1858, he went to New York as clerk in a house engaged in foreign trade, and remained until the breaking out of the war.
Mr. White enlisted September 21, 1861, as private in the 4th New York cavalry, and served in the army of the Potomac three years and three months. During his service he rose through the several grades to ist lieutenant and brevet-cap- tain
After the close of the civil war Mr. White returned to South Weymouth, and very soon settled in North Bridgewater (now the city of Brockton), where he engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, and where he still carries on the business, amounting to $650,000 an- nually.
Mr. White was married in North Bridge- water (now Brockton), May 2, 1866, to Adaline F., daughter of Charles L. and Betsey B. Hauthaway. Of this union were three children : Walter Hautha- way, Francis Burrell, and Henry Preston White.
· Mr. White has served his city as alder- man two years, and is a prominent factor in the Republican party, ever active in its interests, but uniformly declining to take any political preferment.
He is a member of Fletcher Webster Post, G. A. R., a director in the Brockton National Bank, and a prominent member in the different Masonic bodies. He is a large holder of real estate in Brockton, and a successful manufacturer.
Mr. White is a direct descendant from Peregrine White of the " Mayflower " com- pany, and his church connections are with the Congregational branch of the orthodox faith -his family religion from time im- memorial.
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WHITE, JAMES L., son of John D. and Delight (Hutchins) White, was born in Peru, Berkshire county, October 18, 1821.
The common district school gave him his early educational training. He first began life for himself by tilling the soil. Successful in this, he extended his busi- ness by taking in the lumber trade. This was in 1855, and farming and lumbering have constituted his business up to the present time. He has always been active in town matters, and alive to the public questions of the hour.
He has been town clerk of Windsor for eighteen years ; selectman and assessor many years ; was a member of the Legis- lature in 1855 and '73, and served his country during the war of the rebellion, as orderly-sergeant in company K, 49th regiment, Massachusetts volunteers.
Mr. White was first married in Windsor, his present residence, June 8, 1843, to Ruby, daughter of Lyman and Betsey (Snow) Bird. His second marriage was in Dalton, February 22, 1870, with Maria T., daughter of Leonard and Elizabeth (Weir) Darby. He has by his first wife, two children : Ward D. and Mary E. White (now Mrs. Ford), both living in Windsor.
WHITE, LUTHER, son of Andrew and Philena (Stebbins) White, was born in Gran- by, Hampshire county, September 2, 1841.
Common schools gave him his early edu- cation. Having prepared for college at Williston Seminary, he entered Brown Uni- versity in 1861, and was graduated in the class of 1864. Ile then studied law with Judges Wells and Soule, at Springfield, also with the Hon. Charles Robinson at Boston. He was admitted to the bar in 1868, at Cambridge. He practiced law in Spring- field for a time, and in 1870 removed to Chicopee, where he has since resided and continued in the practice of his profes- sion.
Mr. White was married in Chicopee, in 1872, to Mary, daughter of Moses C. and Adaline (Wells) Hadley. They have one child : Mabel A. White.
The close application necessary to the duties of his profession and to the business enterprises in which he is engaged has de- terred Mr. White from entering much into public life, and with the exception of being for a number of years a member of the school board, he has never filled any office in the gift of the people
He is interested in various corporations, and is a director of the Ames Sword Com-
pany, and the Overman Wheel Company, and was for seven years treasurer of the Ames Manufacturing Company.
WHITE, RALPH HUNTINGTON, son of Joseph and Sophia (Huntington) White, was born in Hinsdale, Berkshire county, January II, 1841.
His early education was accomplished at the public schools of his native place. The child was truly father of the man, for at the early age of eight years he began trading on his own account by peddling apples on the cars, and keeping a small stock of notions in his father's house.
When eighteen years of age he came to Boston and became a salesman in the retail dry-goods store of S. J. Wilcox & Co.
RALPH H. WHITE.
When twenty-one, he bought an interest in the firm of Bunker & Tower, dry-goods, and continued the business under the name of Tower & White, selling out in 1863 to enter the firm of Wilcox, White & Rora- back, which was then formed. In 1864 the name was changed to Wilcox, White & Co., and the ist of January, 1865, the busi- ness was sold out to Shepard, Norwell & Brown. A short time later Mr. White en- tered into partnership with his brother, under the firm name of R. H. White & Co., and March 1, 1865, they opened a whole- sale and retail dry-goods store at Nos. 44
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and 46 Winter Street. Here the new firm built up a large and constantly increasing business, which in a few years obliged them to enlarge their capacity by adding Nos. 48 and 50 Winter Street to their store, and later, to secure the erection of the magnifi- cent building on Washington Street, which the firm now occupies, arranged with especial reference to its large retail business. The success of the new store was phenom- enal. In 1883 the building was found to be too small, and was enlarged by the erection of an extensive addition covering an area of sixteen thousand square feet, forming one of the largest and best arranged, and most substantial business edifices in the country.
Besides the very large retail business which Mr. White has built up, his house has for many years been one of the largest importers of dry-goods in the country, and this wholesale business has extended from Eastport, Me., to San Francisco, Cal. The house is one of Boston's best-known insti- tutions, and it rarely falls to the lot of any one man to become so successful a merchant in so short a space of time as has this energetic, shrewd, and enterprising man of affairs in his especial line of busi- ness.
On the 25th of December, 1863, in Bos- ton, Mr. White married Ellen M., daughter of Samuel Hall and Eliza M. Tucker. Their four children are : Annie Huntington, Emily Hall, Edith, and Ralph Herbert White.
WHITING, FRED ERWIN, son of George Frederic and Harriet Louisa(Learned) Whit- ing, was born in Brookline, Norfolk county, December 21, 1857. He is a lineal de- scendant from Nathaniel Whiting, of Ded- ham, who married Hannah White, daugh- ter of John White, March 4, 1643. They had twelve children, of whom the young- est, Jonathan, born October 9, 1667, mar- ried Rachel Thorp, December 3, 1689. Jonathan and Rachel had ten children, of whom Ithamar, born April 12, 1741, mar- ried Mary Day, March 28, 1765. Ithamar and Mary had five children, of whom Esek, born February 10, 1769, married Lydia Goodridge, December 3, 1797. Esek and Lydia had five children, of whom Charles Horace, born May 26, 1800, married Plooma S. Barnard, December 25, 1825. Charles and Plooma had seven children, one of whom was George F., the father of Mr. Whiting.
His early educational training was re- ceived in private schools, and the Cam- bridge high school. He was fitted for col-
lege matriculation in the latter school, entered Harvard College, and was gradu- ated in the class of 1880.
After graduation he was one year with the Boston Knob Company, of which his father was president. He then became connected with the business of the "Bos- ton Herald," acting as private secretary to R. M. Pulsifer, its manager. While serv- ing in this capacity he was called to the oversight of many outside interests in which Mr. Pulsifer was interested, especi- ally when his patron was abroad, and though young in years, was often obliged to assume grave responsibilities. The results showed marked executive ability, and in March, 1888, he was admitted as partner of the firm who owned and published the " Her- ald." In May of the same year, when the entire "Herald " property was turned over to the Boston Herald Company, he was one of the firm owners, and was made
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FRED E. WHITING
clerk of the corporation and assistant busi- ness manager, which position he now holds. He is also a director in the company, and one of the three executors of the will of Mr. Pulsifer.
In 1879, '80, and '81 he was treasurer of the Cambridge ward and city committee. He is director and treasurer of the Hotel & Railroad News Company ; treasurer of
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the Hotel Pemberton Company, the Boston Electric Time Company, and of the Tux- pan Oil Company ; a life-member of the Y. M. C. U., and a member of the order of F. & A. M.
Mr. Whiting is a young man of compre- hensive theory and grasp in business methods. To a natural executive ability has been added an exceptionally varied ex- perience in business with Mr. Pulsifer, ex- tended over a broad field of activities.
Mr. Whiting was married in Cambridge, October 10, 1883, to Amy Estelle, daughter of Thomas T. and Clara Ophelia (Rolfe) Ferguson. She is a lineal descendant from Captain Rolfe, who married Pocahontas. Of this union are two children : Royal Goodridge and Philip Erwin Whiting.
Mr. Whiting's residence is Auburndale.
WHITMORE, WILLIAM HENRY, son of Charles O. and Lovice (Ayres) Whitmore, was born in Dorchester, September 6, 1836.
He was educated in the Boston schools, passing through the high and Latin schools. In 1859 he began his business relations in the firm of E. F. Jones & Whitmore, which was dissolved in 1860. He was a partner in the firm of C. O. Whitmore & Sons un- til 1865. His business at present is min- ing and smelting, and his residence Bos- ton.
Mr. Whitmore has been a conspicuous member of the Boston common council for eight years, and was president of that body in 1879.
Mr. Whitmore was married in Boston, June 11, 1884, to Frances Thérèse Wallen Maynard, who was the daughter of Edward F. and Frances Maria Russell (Curow) Maynard. Of this union is one son : Charles Edward Whitmore, born Septem- ber 26, 1887.
Mr. Whitmore's temperament and train- ing alike forbid him to be a quiet member of any society with which he may be con- nected, and the political history of the Democratic party, of which he has so long been a noted leader, could not be written without due prominence being given to his sagacious, bold, and successful moves in its interest. Nor has he confined his restless activity to the shifting scenes of politics. The more quiet walks of literature have found in him a patient worker and zealous student. Mr. Whitmore has achieved more than a local reputation for diligent research and accuracy in historical writing. He has been one of the commissioners of public records of the city of Boston, from 1875 to the present time.
WHITNEY.
WHITNEY, GEORGE, son of Amos and Sophia (Harris) Whitney, was born in Royalston, Worcester county, Sept. 21, 1817.
His education was limited to the com- mon school. In 1839 he engaged in the chair business.
In 1860 Mr. Whitney became interested in the manufacture of fancy cassimeres. His business at present embraces both the manufacture of woolen goods and chairs.
In 1840 he was married in Boston, to Eliza S., daughter of David and Elizabeth Simpson. They have one child : George Ellis Whitney.
Mr. Whitney was a member of the executive council under Governors Wash- burn, Gaston, and Rice, from 1872 to '77.
WHITNEY, HENRY MARTYN, was born at Winchendon, Worcester county, August 21, 1828. He is the son of Hananiah and Sarah (Beaman) Whitney.
He received his early education in the public schools of Lowell, to which place his parents removed when he was two years old.
His first connection with business life was in the counting-room of the Massa- chusetts Cotton Mills at Lowell, at fifteen years. He went in to fill a temporary vacancy for two weeks, and remained twenty months, during which he attended evening school.
He then entered the drug store of Carle- ton & Hovey, agreeing to remain with them five years. Not satisfied with the excellent common school education he had received, he took a course in the languages and mathematics by private instruction.
During his apprenticeship he received several excellent offers of partnership, which he refused, feeling in honor bound to stay the term agreed upon. One of these offers remained open to him, and at the expiration of that time (1849), the firm of Wilson & Whitney was organized at Lawrence in the location he has ever since occupied. In two years he bought out Mr. Wilson, and for several years carried on the business alone.
During his mercantile life he has em- ployed a great many young men, and as he ever maintained and inculcated the same spirit of honor in business that he manifested during his apprenticeship, he has the proud satisfaction of knowing that every living past employee of his is now doing well ; and they are noted as honorable business men in almost every state from Maine to Texas. Several of these he admitted in partnership till they found opportunities of
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bettering themselves, and many others he assisted in starting in business.
In 1854 he married Harriet, daughter of George and Clarissa (Morrill) Bagley, of Nashua, N. H. She died in 1876. He subsequently married, in 1879, Mary Wheat- land, daughter of Robert E. and Martha (Wheatland) Bemis, of Salem.
He was largely instrumental in securing the adoption of, and carrying into effect, the pharmacy law, and has from its organi- zation been president of the Massachusetts board of registration in pharmacy.
He is one of the trustees of the Essex Savings Bank, and for many years has been warden and treasurer of Grace Epis- copal church. He was instrumental in introducing the electric light in Lawrence, and is treasurer of the Edison Electric Light Company of that city, which was the second electric light company organized on that system in the United States.
WHITNEY, HENRY MELVILLE, son of James Scolly and Laurinda (Collins) Whit- ney, was born in Conway, Franklin county, October 22, 1841.
The public schools furnished him with his early educational training, supple- mented by one year at Easthampton Semi- nary.
His first entrance upon a business career was as a clerk in the Conway Bank, where he remained three years. He then went to the Bank of Mutual Redemption, Boston ; was afterwards clerk in the navy agent's office for one year (1860), and was then engaged in New York City in the shipping business.
In 1866 he became Boston agent, and in 1879 president, of the Metropolitan Steam- ship Company, Boston, which position he still holds. In 1887 he was elected presi- dent of the West End Street Railway Com- pany, the largest street railway in the world, and a corporation controlling all the horse-car lines now running in the city of Boston. He is also president of the Hancock Inspirator Company.
Mr. Whitney was married in Brookline, October 3, 1878, in St. Paul's church, to Margaret Foster, daughter of Joseph F. and Ruth (Bowman) Green. Of this union are four children : Ruth Bowman, Elinor Green, Laura Collins, and James Scolly Whitney.
Mr. Whitney has brought to the presi- dency of the West End Street Railway, thorough business experience, financial in- tegrity, and inventive genius. Before him and his associates lies the task of solving the problem of rapid transit in the city of
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Boston. The movements so far made to- ward bringing order out of chaos have been eminently successful.
WHITNEY, LEVI LINCOLN, son of John and Eliza Ann (Watson) Whitney, was born in Princeton, Worcester county, January 20, 1838.
He attended the common schools of his native town, and subsequently studied in Worcester Academy.
His first connection with business was in Chicago in 1859, as manufacturer of boots and shoes, under the firm name of Thomp- son, Whitney & Co. They were burned out in the great fire of 1871, when Mr.
LEVI L. WHITNEY.
Whitney came to Millbury and associated himself with Crane & Waters, manufac- turers of hosiery, and remained with them until 1885. He is now one of the firm of Whitney & Molt, manufacturers of indigo blue dye. He is also treasurer of the Stonemetz Printers' Machinery Company.
Mr. Whitney was married in Millbury, September 4, 1862, to Annie Rachel, daugh- ter of Hon. Hosea and Laura Ann (Hub- bard) Crane. Of this union are three children : Walter Lincoln, Laura Grace, and Maud Eliza Whitney.
Mr. Whitney was chosen a director in the Millbury National Bank in 1876, and has since continued in the position ; was
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elected a trustee of the Millbury Savings Bank in 1873; chosen its president in 1888, which position he still holds. He was selectman in 1877, '78, and '79, and again in 1881 and '87, serving as chairman of the board the last three years.
He was a member of the House of Rep- resentatives in 1881, serving upon the committee on banks and banking, and of the Senate in 1889, holding the onerous and responsible position of chairman of the committee on towns, performing good service also upon the committee on labor.
He is an active member in the order of F. & A. M., and is a member of the Wor- cester County Commandery, Knights Tem- plar.
WHITNEY, MILTON BURRALL, son of Samuel Hart and Marilla Lovisa (Dickin- son) Whitney, was born in Granville, Hampden county, October 6, 1825.
He is of the eighth generation in direct descent from Henry Whitney, who emi- grated from Herefordshire, England, and settled near Huntington, upon the easterly end of Long Island, about 1649.
He was educated in the public schools ; fitted for college in the private school of Rev. Timothy Cooley, of Granville, and was graduated from Williams College in the class of 1849, with the honor of clas- sical oration.
He engaged in teaching for two years after graduating, then studied law with William G. Bates, a leading lawyer in western Massachusetts ; was admitted to the bar in 1853, and upon admission, formed a partnership with Mr. Bates, which lasted till 1865. He then practiced alone until 1874, when he associated with himself James R. Dunbar, under the firm name of Whitney & Dunbar, which part- nership continued till 1886, when Mr. Dunbar was appointed associate justice of the superior court. Since that time he has been a member of the law firm of Whitney & Brigham.
Mr. Whitney has been repeatedly called to serve his town and state in many posi- tions of honor and trust, and as trustee or director in many local corporations. He has been a trustee in the Westfield Savings Bank continuously since 1857 ; a director of the First National Bank of Westfield since its incorporation in 1865, and its president since 1881 ; prior to 1865, he was a director of the old Westfield Bank ; has been for years the attorney for the town and many of the leading business Grins and corporations ; has practiced in all the counties of western Massachusetts ; was
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a member of the state Senate from the western Hampden district, in 1862 and '63. Although the Senate in 1862 con- tained thirteen lawyers, and he was one of the youngest members, he was made chair- man of the committee on public lands, and chairman of the joint special com- mittee on the important subject of the "Concord and Sudbury rivers." He also served on several other standing and special committees.
MILTON B. WHITNEY.
In 1863 he was a member of the Senate committee on judiciary, and chairman of the joint committee on federal relations, and took an active and leading part in the legislation of that session.
He was presidential elector in 1868, and a delegate to the national Republican convention which nominated President Garfield in 1880. He was appointed a member of the state board of education, in 1881, and was re-appointed in 1889, at the expiration of the term. He has always taken a lively interest in educational mat- ters, and has been found in the ranks of those who have at heart the raising of the standard of good citizenship in the Com- monwealth.
Early in life Mr. Whitney was a Whig in politics, and has acted with the Repub- lican party since its formation, but from
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the conservative cast of the man, he has never been an extreme partisan.
He had the rugged experience in early life of one who worked on the farm in summer and taught school winters in order to secure the necessary funds to pay for educational advantages.
Ever since he has been a member of the state board of education he has been chairman of the visitors of the state nor- mal school at Westfield, and of the board of visitors of institutions for the education of deaf mutes, and of the blind who re- ceive aid from the Commonwealth.
But while Mr. Whitney has given much time to uninterrupted and honorable edu- cational work, it is his thirty-six years' legal practice that has earned for him the posi- tion of one of the leading lawyers in west- ern Massachusetts.
WHITNEY, SAMUEL BRENTON, son of Samuel and Amelia (Hyde) Whitney, was born in Woodstock, Windsor county, Vt., June 4, 1842.
His early education was obtained in the public schools. He afterward attended the Vermont Episcopal Institute, Burling- ton ; studied music first with local teach- ers, afterwards with Carl Wels in New York, and later still with Professor John K. Paine, of Harvard University, taking lessons on the organ, pianoforte, compo- sition and instrumentation.
Mr. Whitney has been organist and di- rector of music of Christ church, Montpelier, Vt .; St. Peter's, Albany, N. Y .; St. Paul's church, Burlington, Vt .; is at present, and has been for the past eighteen years, organ- ist of the Church of the Advent, Boston, the choir of which church has become quite celebrated under his direction. He has frequently been engaged as conductor of choir festival associations in Massachu- setts and Vermont ; is first vice-president and one of the organ examiners of the American College of Musicians ; has writ- ten church music quite extensively, also piano and miscellaneous music. He has been conductor of many choral societies in and around Boston, and has the reputation of being very successful in training and developing boys' voices.
Mr. Whitney was for a time a teacher of the organ in the New England Conserva- tory of Music. He also established in this institution for the first time a church-music class, in which not only were the vocal pupils taught how to properly interpret sacred music, but the organ pupils as well, were instructed as to the management of the organ in church service.
WHITON.
Among Mr. Whitney's compositions are a trio for pianoforte and strings, many solos and arrangements for both piano- forte and organ, as well as several church services, Te Deums, and miscellaneous anthems, songs, both sacred and secular.
WHITNEY, WILBUR F., son of John and Eliza (Cushing) Whitney, was born in Westminster, Worcester county, Decem- ber 9, 1839.
He was educated at the common and high schools of his native town, at the Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, and passed the freshman year at Dartmouth College.
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