USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Volume 2) > Part 11
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Mr. Lincoln of the mechanical. Both were industrious, hard working men, and they soon built up a flourishing business. The firm contin. ued until 1856 when a new firm, Kilburn, Lincoln & Son, was formed, consisting of Mr. Kilburn, Mr. Lincoln, and his oldest son, Henry C. Lincoln. The younger Mr. Lincoln brought into the business a prac- tical knowledge of mechanics and a thorough business training, having been associated with his father in business in various capacities since early manhood.
The firm made a specialty of the "Fourneyron Turbine." This, as improved by them, had a large sale, displacing the lumbering breast- wheels, and utilizing a percentage of power which the best of the latter never rivaled. In 1859 Mr. Lincoln made an extensive business tour through the Southern States, his firm having built up a considerable business with the manufacturers of that section of the country. In 1867 it was found necessary to build a larger machine shop, and it was decided to add an iron foundry to their works. To insure the success of the new feature, Charles P. Dring, who had been associated with the Fall River Iron-Works Company for many years, became associated with them. The name was changed to Kilburn, Lincoln & Co., and they became an incorporated company in 1868 under the Massachusetts General Incorporation Act. Mr. Lincoln's son in- law, Andrew Lus- comb, who had been engaged with them in the manufacture of gun parts for the United States Government, was also admitted. The new works were completed on a tract of three hundred rods of land in an eligible location near railroads and tidewater, and comprised a machine shop, iron and brass foundries, pattern house, paint shop, warehouse, and setting-up shop. Mr. Lincoln was elected president of the corpo. ration and held the position until his death, when he was succeeded by his oldest son, Henry C. Lincoln. Mr. Kilburn was elected treasurer and continued as such until 1872, when he was succeeded by Leontine Lincoln, who still serves. At this time Mr. Kilburn withdrew his in . terest and was elected treasurer of the King Philip Mills. In the same year additions were made to the works, with a view to the manufacture of looms on a large scale, and since then the company has been among the largest manufacturers of looms for cotton and silk weaving. It has a capacity of 5,000 looms per annum, besides other kinds of ma- chinery, as shafting, pulleys, dye.works and bleachery machinery, of which it has made a specialty.
Since Mr. Lincoln's death his interest has been held by his family.
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The company is now organized as follows: President, Andrew Lus- comb; treasurer, Leontine Lincoln; directors, Andrew Luscomb, Leon- tine Lincoln, aud Charles H. Dring.
In 1855 Mr. Lincoln became associated with his brother Lorenzo, his nephew James M., and his son Edward Lincoln in a paper manu- facturing enterprise in North Dighton. The firm was called L. Lin- coln & Co., and succeeded to the business, which was established in 1850 by Mr. Lincoln's two brothers, Caleb M. and Lorenzo. He retired from the firm before his death.
Mr. Lincoln had the greatest faith in the success of Fall River as a center for the cotton manufacturing industry, was one of the original stockholders of the Union Mill Company, an owner in several other corporations, and a director in the Tecumseh Mills from the time of the organization of that corporation. Although he took a deep interest in public affairs, Mr. Lincoln was adverse to holding public office, and never held but one, that of member of the Common Council of the city. He was one of the oldest members of Mt. Hope Lodge of Masons, of which lodge he was treasurer for many years. In politics he was a Free-Soil Whig until the formation of the Republican party, when he became an earnest adherent to the principles of that party. He was a man of sunny temperament, earnest of purpose, charitable in judgment, and distinguished in acts of practical benevolence. The Fall River Daily News closed an editorial notice of his death as follows: "Mr. Lincoln was held in great esteem and respect by his fellow citizens generally. He had the reputation of being an ingenious and skillful mechanic, and a business man whose integrity was unquestioned. He was a worthy and valued citizen whose loss must be felt."
LEONTINE LINCOLN.
LEONTINE LINCOLN, son of Jonathan Thayer and Abby (Luscomb) Lincoln, was born in Fall River, December 26, 1846. During his boyhood he attended the Fall River public schools and later a private school at Providence, R. I. Mr. Lincoln began business at the age of nineteen, when he entered the counting room of Kilburn, Lin- coln & Co., of which corporation his father was then president (later succeeded in the presidency by his oldest son, H. C. Lincoln). The firm was then, and still is, a large manufacturer of cotton and silk ma-
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chinery. Mr. Lincoln has been in the direction of some of the leading manufacturing and banking interests of the city, including the Seacon- net, Tecumseh, King Philip, Hargraves, Parker and Arkwright Mills, Barnard Manufacturing Company, Crystal Spring Bleaching and Dye- ing Company, Second National Bank, and a member of the board of investment of the Five Cents Savings Bank; he is also president of the Seaconnet Mills Corporation, president of the Hargraves Mill and the Parker Mills, and of the Second National Bank, and trustee of the ITome for Aged People.
In 1872 Mr. Lincoln succeeded E. C. Kilburn as treasurer of the Kilburn, Lincoln & Company Corporation, and still retains this con- nection, which now covers a period of twenty-six years. His active interest in the educational institutions of Fall River has long been manifest, and he has served as a member of the School Committee nineteen years and its chairman eleven years. He is also a member and secretary of the board of trustees of the B. M. C. Durfee High School. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the Public Library for twenty years, during which time he has served as secretary and treasurer of the board. Mr. Lincoln has written and spoken on educational, industrial and political subjects. He has been a member of the State Board of Lunacy and Charity since 1894 and was elected chairman of the board in June, 1898. IIe is a member of the Old Col- ony Historical Society and the Ameican Librarians' Association; also a member of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1896 at St. Louis, which nominated William Mckinley to the presidency.
In 1889 Brown University conferred upon him the honorary degree, A. M. He married, in May, 1868, Amelia S., daughter of John Dun- can, D. D., and Mary A. (Macowen) Duncan, and their children are Jonathan Thayer Lincoln and Leontine Lincoln, jr.
AUSTIN MESSINGER.
AUSTIN MESSINGER was practically a lifelong resident of Norton, Bris. tol county, Mass., where he was born November 2, 1817, and where he died February 1, 1898. He was descended in the sixth generation from Henry and Sarah Messinger, who settled in Boston prior to Janu- ary 27, 1640, at which time Henry "has a lot of land allowed him at 94
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Muddy river, by town grant, for two heads." Henry Messinger was the first known proprietor of the land on which now stands the build- ings of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Boston Museum. IIc was a joiner by trade, a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company in 1658, and a freeman in 1665, and probably died in 1681. Of his eleven children, Thomas, the tenth, was born March 22, 1661, married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Martha Mellows, and had three sons and three daughters. Ebenezer Messinger, son of Thomas, was born June 2, 1697, in Boston, and removed to Wrentham, Mass., where his first wife died November 21, 1752, aged fifty-one; she was Rebecca, daughter of Wigglesworth and Ursillear Sweetser, and they were married January 1, 1719, by Rev. Cotton Mather. Novem- ber 3, 1766, he married, second, Hannah Metcalf. He died June 9, 1768. He had eight children, all by his first wife. Sweetser Messin- ger, the seventh child, married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Eliza- beth Smith, and had twelve children, of whom Oliver, the youngest son, was born June 28, 1778. Oliver Messinger moved from Wrentham to a farm in Norton, Bristol county, where he died in January, 1850. He married, first, Patience Miller, who died leaving three children: Albert, James Oliver and Louisa. His second wife was Rhoda, daughter of Elder George Kilton, of Taunton. She was born April 23, 1792, and bore him two children, Austin and Rhoda Maria.
Austin Messinger received a limited common school education in his native town, but being possessed of great force of character and unusual intellectual attainments he very early displayed those strong qualities of head and heart, which ultimately brought him success and honor. By improving the opportunities that fell his way he became a well read, thoroughly posted man, and achieved prominence as the result of his own exertions. Before he reached his majority he had learned the painter's trade, and at the age of twenty-three he opened a paint shop in Taunton, where he carried on a successful business for several years. His health failing, he returned to Norton in the spring of 1846, and built the house in which he ever afterward resided, and which stands within a few feet of where he was born. A few years later he began to experiment with friction matches, and when, in 1857, the patent on them expired he commenced the manufacture on a small scale, first in a back room of his house. He took the first lot to Providence, R. I., in a sleigh, and disposed of them so advantageously that, upon his re- turn, he erected a small building and employed a few girls, and from
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that modest beginning grew one of the largest match plants in this part of the country. During its many years of success the establishment paid into the government treasury hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue taxes. In 1870 he formed a copartnership with his son-in-law, Andrew H. Sweet, and under the firm name of Messinger & Sweet the concern continued in the manufacture of matches until 1881, when the plant became a part of the Diamond Match Company's property. The firm managed the business in Norton until 1884, when it was dissolved, the machinery being removed to Boston. Afterward until his death Mr. Messinger was not engaged in active business, though he was always ready for any service that he could render.
Mr. Messinger early began to take an active part in politics and prominently identified himself with the Democratic party, casting his first presidential vote for Van Buren in 1840. In 1848 he entered the Free Soil party, and as its candidate was sent in 1851 to represent the town of Norton in the Massachusetts Legislature, being a member of that celebrated house which, after balloting nearly all winter, finally elected Charles Sumner to the United States Senate. Mr. Messinger's last Democratic vote was cast for James K. Polk in 1844. In 1856 he joined the Republican party, being present as a delegate at the famous Massachusetts convention when that party was organized in the State. Ile was town clerk of Norton from 1861 to 1883, a period of twenty-two years. In 1882 he was again sent to the Legislature, and in 1888 and 1889 was elected State senator from the First Bristol district by the largest majorities ever given a candidate there for that office. Dur- ing these two terms he served on the committees on drainage, towns, public charitable institutions, and parishes and religious societies. For nearly fifty years he was a justice of the peace, and discharged the duties of that office with singular ability and honor. In 1887 he was elected a member of the Board of Selectinen of Norton and served two years, and in the old days of High Sheriff Cobb he was appointed deputy sheriff. In all these positions as well as in business affairs Mr. Messinger exhibited great executive ability and achieved the distinction of leadership. He was a man of indomitable energy, of the highest integrity, and of broad intellectuality, and during a long and eminent career enjoyed the respect and confidence of the entire community. Ilis perseverance is best illustrated in connection with his match busi- ness, in which he was twice burned out, the last time in the summer of 1866. With characteristic enterprise he rebuilt his plant, and by his
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own efforts gained both success and wealth. He was president of the Norton Building and Loan Association and a trustee of the Unitarian Church for many years, and a member of King David Lodge, F. & A. M., of Taunton.
December 24, 1840, he married Selina A. F. Alden, daughter of Jason .F. and Keziah Eaton (Shaw) Alden, of Middleborough, and a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens of the Mayflower. She survives him. They had two children: Emma Evelyn, who died in infancy, and Mary Ella, born December 23, 1845, who married, June 8, 1870, Andrew Hodges Sweet, son of Joseph Dana and Abby A. (Hodges) Sweet, of Norton; they have one son, Austin Messinger Sweet, born May 10, 1874, who is associated in busi- ness with his father in Norton, and who married, April 8, 1896, Mary Alice, daughter of Allison J. and Delia M. Cowles, of that town.
ANDREW H. SWEET.
ANDREW H. SWEET was born in Norton, Mass., October 2, 1845, a son of Joseph D. and Abbie A. (Hodges) Sweet. His father was a farmer throughout his life. Mr. Sweet was educated in the public schools of Norton and taught school at Easton and Sharon. He next went into the grocery business, but afterward became identified in Norton in the friction match business under the name of Messinger & Sweet, which was consolidated into The Diamond Match Company, and he was with them for about three years, when he bought back from them the Norton property and started his present business, the manufacture of wooden and paper boxes. From this industry he now supplies the various manufacturers throughout New England and other points in the United States. In 1870 Mr. Sweet married Mary E., daughter of Austin and Salina A. F. Messinger, and they have one son, Austin M. Sweet, who is now interested in the business with his father. Mr. Sweet has been a father of the town; has been on the School Committee; represented his town in the Legislature two terms, and in politics is a Republican. He is a Unitarian and takes a general interest in his town and town's people. 1
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OBED NYE.
OBED NYE was descended from a family of English extraction, the American branch of which is kin to some of the nobility of that name in England. His paternal grandfather, Capt. Obed Nye, of Sandwich, was born in 1736, and was twice married; first to Mary Sellers, boin in 1739, died March 28, 1797, and second to Freelove Maxfield, born in 1748, died November 6, 1815. Captain Nye died November 10, 1815. By his first wife he had twelve children, namely: Jonathan, born in 1760, married, in 1784, Hannah Mandell (born in 1762, died Septem- ber 25, 1844), and died November 18, 1815; Obed, born in 1766, mar- ried Mary Marshall (died April 8, 1852), and died August 25, 1796, in France, leaving two daughters, Prudence, who married Joseph Bates, and Sylvia, who married, first, Johnakins Taber, and, second, William Mickel; Thomas, born in 1768, married Hannah Hathaway, and died in October, 1842; and Gideon, Philip, James, Deborah (Mrs. Thurston Potter), Mary (Mrs. Sylvanus Bartlett), Susan (Mrs. Ezra Smith), Mercy (Mrs. John Howland), Rebecca (Mrs. Luke Hammond), and Jane (Mrs. Reuben Swift). Capt. Obed Nye was a well known sailing master and afterward a resident of Acushnet, where he died. The deaths of himself, his second wife, and his son Jonathan, which oc- curred in November, 1815, were caused by a "spotted fever " or " black death " epidemic that prevailed in that locality about that time. Jonathan Nye was a respected farmer in Fairhaven. His wife Han- nah, was a daughter of Lemuel Mandell, and their children were Sarah, born June 16, 1785, married Solomon Matthews, and died November 26, 1866; Gideon, born November 21, 1786, married in December, 1811, Sylvia Hathaway, and died March 12, 1875; Rebecca, born September 25, 1788, married, in 1813, Alfred Nye (born in 1785, died January 19, 1864), son of Barnabas and Deborah Nye, and died March 29, 1867; Clement D., born in August, 1791, married in 1818 Susan, daughter of Asa and Virtue (Swift) Russell, and died in August, 1842; Clarissa H., born August 15, 1793, married October 8, 1815, William Gordon; Susan, born February 11, 1796, died August 11, 1804; Mary, born February 7, 1798, married Davis Thacher, and died March 20, 1875; Obed, the subject of this memoir; Deborah, born January 29, 1802, died November 20, 1803; Jonathan, born April 17, 1804, died October 27, 1853; and Susan M., born August 24, 1807, married July 4, 1828, Warren Thacher, and died May 1, 1891.
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Obed Nye was born in Fairhaven (Acushnet), Bristol county, Jan- uary 25, 1800, and received a limited education in the common schools of his boyhood. At the age of fourteen he began his business life as a clerk in the general store of Swift & Nye, at the Head-of the River, in which capacity he remained until he had reached his majority. He was then admitted to partnership under the firm name of Swift, Nye & Co., which continued for many years. Mr. Nye was connected with this business until 1861, when he retired, having accumulated a com- petency.
Mr. Nye commenced his business career on borrowed capital, and by the exercise of those sterling principles of honesty, energy and thrift which characterized his entire life, he achieved eminent success, and always had the respect and confidence of all who knew him. He was emphatically a self-made man. His integrity and uprightness won for him universal esteem. He was a man of good habits, of strong pow- ers of thought, and of decided principles and opinions, and in all his intercourse he was social, genial and companionable. Robust in mind and body, and broad and liberal in his Christian charity, he held to the doctrines of the Unitarian belief, but regularly attended the Orthodox Congregational Church. In politics he was originally a Whig and later a staunch Republican, and for a time represented his district in the lower house of the Massachusetts Legislature. For many years he was the local agent of the Hingham Fire Insurance Company, and he also acquired a wide reputation as a measurer of lumber. Active and en- ergetic in temperament, benevolent and charitable in all his dealings, and zealous in promoting the general welfare of his town, he was a good citizen, a kind neighbor and an honest man. His death occurred January 29, 1878.
On the 16th of October, 1821, Mr. Nye was married to Miss Abby, daughter of William Hathaway, jr., and Abigail Perry, his wife, of New Bedford. Her father was for many years one of New Bedford's leading citizens and a prominent factor in the great whaling industry. She was born June 5, 1801, and died May 10, 1864. They had nine children: Laura Hathaway Nye, born October 3, 1822, married Capt. Charles Spooner Taber (see sketch in this volume) and resides in Fair- haven; Helen Hathaway Nye, born February 16, 1824, died May 20, 1831; Abby Perry Nye, born June 20, 1826, married David Franklin Hall, and died January 19, 1893; William, born in 1827, died in 1828; Ann Hathaway Nye, born November 17, 1829, died July 9, 1831;
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IIelen Il., born August 5, 1832, died December 29, 1834; William H., born August 2, 1834, married Abby S. Davis, and died March 14, 1882; Francis II., born February 28, 1837, died May 3, 1864; and Rudolphus S., born May 17, 1839. Abby Perry Nye and David F. Hall had four children: Abby Frank Hall, born September 7, 1851; Ella Frances Hall, born August 5, 1852; Obed Nye Hall, born October 19, 1856, died in 1859; and Charles Taber Hall, born August 15, 1865. William H. Nye and Abby S. Davis had Emma Taber and Ella Hall Nye twins, born May 15, 1855, of whom Emma T. married Willard R. Pulsifer, has one daughter, Abby Caroline, and resides in Malden, Mass. ; Annie T., born December 3, 1858, married Rev. Thomas Ed- ward Potterton; Lillian Forrest Nye, born March 12, 1867, married Lieut. Andrew J. Henderson, U.S.N., and has two sons, Leland For- rest and Richard Lawrence; and Helen Hathaway Nye, born April 19, 1869, married, November 9, 1898, John Henry Appleton, a well known lawyer of Boston.
CHARLES S. TABER.
CHARLES SPOONER TABER, of Fairhaven, represented those inherent New England characteristics which marked the old-school gentleman. He was a lineal descendant of Philip Taber, who was born in 1605. Philip Taber came from England to Watertown, Mass., in 1633-4, moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod, in 1639, and served as a representative to the General Court at Plymouth, and removed to New London in 1650. He resided in Portsmouth, R. I., from 1655 to 1663, and afterward in Tiverton, R. I., where he died. He married, first, Lydia, daughter of John and Jane Masters, of Watertown, by whom he had five children: John, Thomas, Philip, jr., Joseph and Lydia. His second wife was a sister of his first one. Thomas Taber, son of Philip, sr., was born in February, 1645, lived in Dartmouth, now Fairhaven, and was a mason by trade. He married Esther, daughter of John Cooke, the last male survivor of the passengers of the Mayflower. She died in 1671-2, leaving two children. His second wife was Mary, daughter of John Thomson, of Middleboro, and a niece of John Cooke, her mother being the latter's sister. Thomas Taber was prominent in local affairs, serv- ing as selectman, surveyor of highways, town clerk and captain of militia, and two terms as representative to the General Court. During
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the King Philip war of 1675 his house was burned by the Indians, and soon afterward he built the stone house at Oxford village, the ruins of which are still in existence. He died November 11, 1730. The follow- ing is a copy of the deed given by John Cooke to Thomas Taber of land which has ever since remained in the Taber family, never having been sold since it was received by Mr. Cooke from the Indians:
To all to whome these presents shall come John Cooke of dartmouth in the Jurisdic- tion of new plim[oth] in new England yeaman sendeth greeting: and know yea that I the said John Cooke for and in consideration of the full and just sum of ten pounds of curant mony of new England to me in hand payd before sealing and delivering of these presents by Thomas tabor of the same towne and Jurisdiction aforesaid mason with which said sum of ten pounds I the said John Cooke doe acknowledg my self fully satisfied contented and payd and thereof and of euery part and persel thereof doe exhonorate aquit and descharg the said Thomas tabor his heires execu- tors and administrators for euer and haue by these presents freelly absolutely bar- gained sold allinated enfeoffed and confirmed and by these presents doe bargaine sell enfeoff and confirme from me the said John Cooke and my heires: unto him the said Thomas tabor and his heires and asignes foreuer: all that my whole sixt part of one whole share of lands both upland and meddow deuided and undeuided setuate lying and being within the township of dartmoth aforesaid: with all and singuler apurtenances and priueledges thereunto belonging or any wais apertaining with all my right and title of and into all and euery part and percell thereof to haue and to hould the aforesaid one sixt part of one whole share of lands both upland and medow land within the township of dartmoth aforesaid with all my Right and title therin or there unto the said Thomas tabor he his heires and asignes for euer to the proper use and behoofe of him the said Thomas tabor he his heires and asignes for euer to be houlden acording to the maner of east greenwich in the County of Kent in the Relme of England in free and common soccage and not in capity nor by Knights servis by the rents and servises thereof dew and of Right acustomed without the least hendderence or molestation of me the said John Cooke my heires executors and administrators allso the said John Cooke doth couenant and promise to and with the said 'Thomas tabor that it shall and may be lawfull for him the said Thomas tabor either by him selfe or his autorney to Record and inrole or cause to be Recorded and inroled these presents in his maiestis Court at new new plymoth aforesaid acording to the useuall maner of Recording and inroling deeds and euedences and for the full and absolut confermation of the same and every perticuler abotte specified doe frely set to my hand and scale this twenty and Haight day of november: one thousand six hundred Eaighty and two. Signed Sealed and delivered John Cooke [SEAL. ] In the presents of Samuell Spuner S his marke Jonathan Delano
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