USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Volume 2) > Part 12
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the abovesaid John Cooke apeared and acknowledged this Instrument above written to be his act and deed this: 51b: of march 168!
John Alden Assist
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This deed is recorded according to order in ye Book of Euidences of land Enrowled See page 388
pr Nath" Clarke Secretary
By his second wife, Mary Thomson, Thomas Taber had ten children, of whom Jacob was born July 26, 1683, and died April 4, 1773. He married his second cousin, Sarah, daughter of Stephen West and Mercy Cooke, daughter of John Cooke. She was born August 1, 1686, and died September 5, 1775. They had four sons and four daughters, the former being Bartholomew, Jacob, John and Stephen. Bartholo- mew Taber was born September 11, 1717, married Mercy, daughter of Joseph Bowditch and granddaughter of Jacob Taber's sister, and had eight children, of whom three were sons, viz. : John, Jacob and Bar- tholomew. The father died in 1803. Jacob Taber, of the fifth gen- eration from the original immigrant, Philip Taber, was born in 1779 and died, of spotted fever, in December, 1815. He was a sailor. He married Dolly Spooner, daughter of Seth and granddaughter of Judge Walter Spooner, and had seven children, of whom five grew to matu- rity :Charles S., the subject of this memoir; Margaret, born March 21, 1811, married Jonathan Nye, and died February 11, 1879; Mary H., born November 30, 1812, married Rudolphus W. Dexter, resides in Dorchester, Mass., and has one son, Franklin Bowditch Dexter, of New Haven, Conn. ; Sally S., born July 1, 1814, married Nathaniel Nye, and lives in New Bedford; and Jacob S., born in 1816, who was drowned in New Bedford harbor in May, 1831.
Charles Spooner Taber was born on the old Taber homestead in Fairhaven, Bristol county, December 5, 1809. His father died when he was six years old and he remained with his mother until he reached the age of sixteen, when he shipped as a common sailor on the Colum- bus, which was bound for Marseilles with a cargo of oil. Returning home he spent about a year at the Fairhaven Academy, and then en- tered the merchant service as a sailor, in which he became first mate. Concluding after a time that whaling was more profitable he arranged for a voyage on a whaler as boat steerer, and was conveyed to the ves- sel by his youngest brother, Jacob S., who was drowned while return- ing to shore. This sad event changed his course. Ile abandoned his plans, and for two years carried on an outfitting business for sailors.
In 1835 Mr. Taber accepted the position of boat steerer on the ship Shylock, of Rochester, a whaler bound for Tristan d'Acunha Island and the South Atlantic, and returning ten months later he shipped on
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the next voyage as first mate of the same vessel, going to the Indian Ocean and Madagascar coast. This trip occupied a period of twenty months. He was then given command of the same ship, and on his first voyage of twenty months circumnavigated the globe. In 1839 he sailed again as master of the Shylock, bound for New Zealand and New Holland, and after securing nearly 2, 200 barrels of oil (2,500 being a full cargo) he decided to go to the Fiji Islands for the remainder of the load. While off these islands they were becalmed; suddenly a breeze sprang up, and about eleven o'clock at night the vessel struck a coral reef not indicated on the charts, and rapidly went to pieces. Captain Taber hurriely secured his quadrant, compass and glass, and without his boots succeeded in reaching one of the three boats, two of which got clear. Of the entire crew only one, a boy, was lost. The captain distrusted the hospitality of the Fiji Islanders, who were can- nibals, and accordingly shaped his course for the Friendly Islands, which they reached after an exposure of two days and three nights to the elements and the ravages of hunger and thirst, and where they were kindly received and entertained. Going from one island to another they finally reached Vavau, one of the Tonga Islands, where they found an English missionary station. The missionaries not only relieved their necessities, but also placed their vessel at Captain Taber's service, and they conveyed him to Hobartstown, whence he went to Sydney, New Zealand, and thence came to Boston.
Captain Taber was soon offered the command of several vessels, which shows the confidence and esteem that was reposed in him. He accepted the command of the Huntress, of New Bedford, and made a very successful voyage of thirty months, visiting the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. After returning he started on another voyage as mas- ter of the Elizabeth, of New Bedford, but failing health caused him to leave his ship at Pernambuco and return home. He then devoted his attention to the culture of the old Taber homestead, which was held by him in direct inheritance through Thomas, Jacob, Bartholomew, and Jacob Taber. In 1877 he moved into Fairhaven village, where he died May 18, 1892. Captain Taber was a typical whaler of the most pros- perous period of the great whaling industry in New England. He was a man of ability, of great force of character, and of unswerving integ- rity. He wrote a most interesting narrative of his shipwreck off the Fiji Islands, which has been printed for private distribution by his widow. In politics he was a Republican, but never sought nor ac-
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cepted public office, being content to exercise the duties of a quiet, respectable citizen. In religion he was liberal, attending with his wife the Unitarian Church, and was probably the last survivor of the little band who bid off a scat in the church (then the Freewill Baptist) at its dedication in December, 1832. He possessed a sanguine temperament, was pleasing and social in all intercourse, and during a long and event- ful life had the respect and confidence of all who knew him.
On the 8th of December, 1846, he married Miss Laura Hathaway Nye, a woman of uncommon intelligence and character and of a re- markable memory, who survives him and resides in Fairhaven. She is the daughter of Hon. Obed Nye, a prominent merchant at the Head- of-the-River (Acushnet), whose sketch appears in this volume.
JAMES M. OSBORN.
JAMES MUNROE OSBORN, one of the leading citizens of Fall River and for many years a foremost cotton mill promoter, was born in Tiv- erton, R. I., August 27, 1822, and is the youngest son of Thomas Osborn and Anna Durfee, his wife. His grandfather, William Osborn (some- times spelled Osband), was born in Newport, R. I., August 13, 1729, came to Tiverton in carly life, and married Elizabeth Shrieve in 1751. Their children were as follows: Weaver, born April 17, 1756, served seven months in the Patriot army during the Revolution, married Hannah Durfee October 16, 1788, moved to Palmyra, N. Y., in 1791, and died September 1, 1820; Wilson, who died at the age of twenty- five; Elizabeth, born June 3, 1758, married R. Palmer, and died De- cember 15, 1785; Patience, who died young; Thomas, born March 31, 1766; and William, born July 18, 1769, married Mary Durfee, and had two daughters who died young. Thomas Osborn was a ship's carpen- ter and afterward a farmer, and died, where he had always lived, in Tiverton, October 7, 1833, aged sixty-seven. In 1797 he married Anna Durfee, whose father, Joseph Durfee, fought at the battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary war and died soon afterward of typhoid fever while on his way home. He had nine children, viz .: William, born November 25, 1798, married Ruth Hambly, October 8. 1822, and died January 28, 1829; Thomas, born December 30, 1800, married Elizabeth Hambly in March, 1827; Joseph, born August 20, 1803, married Eliza Gardner, May 2, 1830; Ann, who died young; Wilson, born April 15,
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1808, married Mary Allen, August 19, 1832; Eliza Ann, born May 25, 1810, married Alexander Milne, a Baptist preacher, January 4, 1837; Patience, who died young; Weaver, born May 23, 1815, married Pa- tience Dwelly, January 7, 1837; and James M., the subject of this sketch. William Osborn, the grandfather, died October 29, 1810.
James M. Osborn was left fatherless when he was eleven years old, and thereafter his life was one of almost constant toil and manly indus- try. For six years he remained with his widowed mother on the farm, availing himself in the mean time of such educational advantages as were then afforded by the common schools of his town. Afterward he served a three years' apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade with his brother, Weaver Osborn, and subsequently followed that business in Providence and other places until 1845, when he removed to Fall River, Mass., and entered the employ of John Kilburn, general machinist. Mr. Os- born continued in Kilburn & Lincoln's employ, in that establishment, until February, 1855, when, in copartnership with his brother Weaver, he purchased the blacksmith shop of Gideon Packard, at 44 Bedford street. The firm of W. & J. M. Osborn not only conducted the leading blacksmith and machine shop in the place, but in 1859 also became associated with other prominent business men in building the Union Mill, which was the first cotton mill in Fall River that was supported by the public generally, all previous mills having been operated by close corporations. Afterward the firm took stock and was interested in the Granite Mills, and in 1867 invested in the Merchants Mill, built by the Merchants Manufacturing Company, in which Mr. Osborn was made a director, and of which he has been president since 1895. The firm was also interested in the two Stafford Mills, and Mr. Osborn is now a director in that company.
In 1871 Mr. Osborn was elected a director and the treasurer of the newly organized Slade Mill, the building of which he superintended. By this time the firm had discontinued its blacksmithing and machine business, and was devoting all its energies and resources to the advance- ment of its extensive manufacturing enterprises, all of which proved successful from the start. They next became interested in the original Osborn Mill, to which another mill was subsequently added, and Mr. Osborn is now a director and the president of that company. They were also interested in the Union Belt Company, the Fall River Bobbin Mills, and other large corporations. The copartnership of W. & J. M. Osborn was dissolved in 1880.
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In these and other enterprises Mr. Osborn developed strong execu- tive ability and excellent judgment, and was everywhere regarded as a man of the highest integrity. His foresight and superior management soon placed him among the leading business men of southeastern Massachusetts. He was one of the original directors of the Globe Yarn Mill, and superintended the erection of Mill No. 3, and has been a stockholder in the Parker Mill since its organization. He has been a trustee of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank since its incorpora- tion is now a member of its board of investment.
Mr. Osborn has long been prominent in public movements having for their object the moral and spiritual advancement of the community. For many years he was active as a temperance worker in connection with the Sons of Temperance. He has served in both branches of the city government, and for many years he has been chairman of the standing committee of the Second Baptist Church of Fall River, of which he and his wife are old-time members. In 1859 he built his present comfortable home at 540 Cherry street.
On August 9, 1847, Mr. Osborn married Miss Mary B., daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth (Buffington) Chace, of Somerset, Mass., and they have had three children: Annie E. and Nathan C., who died young, and James E. The latter was born January 24, 1856, was graduated from the Fall River High School, and is now the treasurer of the American Linen Company of that city. He married Delia S., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Durfee) Carr, of Fall River, and has three children : Marion, Elizabeth Carr, and Richard.
As a citizen Mr. Osborn is universally esteemed and respected. His long and active career in connection with the cotton mill interests of Fall River, his prominence in advancing the general welfare of his city, his support of public charities, and his quiet, unostentatious display of the higher attributes of manhood have all won for him a special degree of distinction which he merits in the highest sense of the term.
WEAVER OSBORN.
HON. WEAVER OSBORN was for many years one of the most prominent mill promoters and bankers of Fall River. William Osborn (or Osband) his grandfather, was born August 16, 1729, in Newport, R. I., removed to Tiverton, in the same State, in early manhood, and in 1751 married
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Elizabeth Shrieve, by whom he had six children: Weaver, a Revolution- ary soldier, born April 17, 1756, who married Hannah Durfee in 1788, removed to Palmyra, N. Y., in 1791, and died in 1820; Wilson, who died aged twenty five; Elizabeth, born June 7, 1758, married a Mr. Palmer, and died in 1785; Patience, who died young; Thomas, the father of the subject of this sketch; and William, born July 18, 1769, who married Mary Durfee. William Osborn died October 29, 1810. Thomas Osborn was born in Tiverton, R. I., March 31, 1766, became a ship carpenter and later a farmer, and died October 7, 1833. He was married in 1797 to Anna Durfee, whose father, Joseph Durfee, was a soldier in the Patriot army at the Battle of Bunker Hill. She died May 23, 1845, aged seventy-two. Their children were William, born No- vember 25, 1798, married Ruth Hambly in 1822, and died January 28, 1829; Thomas, born December 30, 1800, married Elizabeth Hambly in 1827; Joseph, born August 20, 1803, married Eliza Gardner in 1830; Ann, who died young; Wilson, born April 15, 1808, married Mary Allen in 1832; Eliza Ann, born May 25, 1810, married Rev. Alexander Milne, a Baptist minister, in 1837; Patience, who died young; Weaver, the subject of this memoir; and James M., born August 27, 1812, who is noticed at length in this volume.
Weaver Osborn was born in Tiverton, R. I., May 23, 1815. Re- maining on his father's farm until he was eighteen years old, he made the best of his meagre advantages and obtained a fair education in the common schools, supplemented by a few months' attendance at the Little West Hill Seminary at South Kingston, R. I. In 1833 he went to Fairhaven, Mass., to learn the blacksmith's trade, which he followed successfully until the engrossing cares of heavy cotton mill interests caused him to abandon it. In 1835 he purchased the blacksmith shop of Nathaniel Pierce in Tiverton, which he continued about eight years. He then spent a year in Providence, R. I, and on his return to Tiver- ton in 1844 associated himself with Andrew Robeson for a period of four years. In 1848 he resumed business in Tiverton, where he re- mained until his shop was burned in January, 1855, when he removed to Fall River River, Mass. In February of that year he formed a co- partnership with his youngest brother, James M. Osborn, and bought the blacksmith shop of Gideon Packard, on Bedford street, which they successfully conducted for several years, doing a large machine and blacksmithing business. The firm of W. & J. M. Osborn continued until 1880, when it was dissolved.
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In 1859 the firm became interested with others in building the Union Mill, which was the first cotton mill in Fall River that was operated by other than close corporations. They were subsequently interested in the Granite Mills, the Merchants Mill, the two Stafford Mills, and the Slade Mill. By this time the firm had discontinued its blacksmithing and machine business, and was devoting its chief energies to the pro- motion of its heavy mill interests, all of which proved successful. They were also interested in the Osborn Mills, the Fall River Bobbin Mills, the Union Belt Company, and other important corporations.
Mr. Osborn was a ruling factor in these as well as in other enter- prises, and developed great business ability. He was the principal founder of the Osborn Mills, was chiefly instrumental in erecting the first building in 1872, and served as president and a director of the corporation until his death. Much of the success of that great concern is due to his executive management. He was also a director of the Montaup Mills for several years from 1872. He was continuously a director and a member of the board of investment of the Pocasset National Bank from its organization in 1854, when it was known as the Pocasset Bank under the State laws, and was president and chairman of the board of investment of that bank from 1873 until his death in 1894. For many years prior to his death he was also a trustee of the Citizens' Savings Bank of Fall River and of the State Workhouses at Bridgewater and Tewksbury, Mass.
In politics Mr. Osborn was originally a Whig and cast his first vote for Henry Clay, but after the Republican party was formed In 1856 he was a staunch supporter of the principles of that organization. He was for several years a member of the Fall River Board of Water Commissioners, and always took a just pride in the advancement of his city. He was elected to represent the town of Fall River, R. I., in the Rhode Island State Senate in 1857, 1858 and 1859, and served on the military and other committees, and was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1868, 1869, 1871, 1873, 1876 and 1877, and of the State Senate in 1879. He became a captain in the old State Militia, and had much experience in the settlement and adjustment of estates.
Among Mr. Osborn's chief characteristics were strict integrity, sound practical judgment, and unswerving fidelity to every trust committed to his carc. As blacksmith, cotton mill promoter, banker, and legis- lator he achieved distinction and honor, and throughout an active career enjoyed the confidence, respect, and esteem of all who knew
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him. He was a man of decision, great force of character, and unfail- ing resources, and in every sense a representative and enterprising citizen. His death occurred at Fall River on the 6th of February, 1894.
Mr. Osborn was married January 7, 1837, to Patience B. Dwelly, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Slade) Dwelly, of Tiverton, R. I., who survives him. Their children were Mary S., of Fall River; Daniel W., who died in his twenty-third year; and Thomas F. and Anna Jane, both of whom died at the age of nine. Mrs. Osborn was born in Tiv- erton, on the 27th of May, 1817, and like her late husband is a member of the Baptist Church, which they joined in 1843.
DR. CHARLES L. SEIP.
DR. CHARLES L. SEIP was born at Easton, Pa., October 16, 1842. His preparatory education was received in the excellent schools of his native town and later he took an academic course in Philadelphia. Very early in his career his natural inclination and ambition led him to the study of medicine, in which he persevered, and after five years of patient en- deavor was enabled to enter the Philadelphia School of Anatomy and Surgery, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated with honor. He continued his thorough preparation for his chosen profession in the Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in March, 1882. Dr. Seip is a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, and the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the County of Philadelphia. Dr. Seip took up his residence in New Bedford in 1887 and has gained a wide acquaintance and practice. Previously he had successfully practiced in Philadelphia, Pa., and Middleborough, Mass. He married Miss Lydia Cobb, a daughter of Wilson and Mercy Cobb, of Middleborough, Mass.
HENRY G. REED.
THE FAMILY of Reed, variously spelled Read, Reade, Rede, Reid, and Reed, traces its ancestry back to the Norman conquest, to one Brianus, a noted man of Lincolnshire, England, who, in 1139, was registered as "Brianus de Reed." He left two sons, Robert of Reed
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and Thomas of Reed-dalc. This new Reed family occupied nearly the same locality for several centuries, and from it descended William Rede, an eminent mathematician, who was made bishop of Chichester in 1339. Among the names contained on the muster roll of William the Conqueror in 1050 was John Rede, or John of Rede. William Reade, son of William Reade and Lucy Henage, of Maidstone, Eng- land, was born in 1605, and in 1635 sailed from Gravesend, County of Kent, in the ship " L'Assurance de Lo," Isaac Broomwell and George Persey, masters. He settled in Weymouth, Mass., where in 1636 he bought a house and land of Zachary Bicknell for seven pounds, thir- teen shillings, four pence, and where he died before 1658. He was made a freeman September 2, 1635, and was sent as a representative to the General Court in 1636 and 1638. By his wife Avis he had Will- iam, Esther, Thomas, John, Mary and Margaret. John Reed, or Reade of the second generation, was born in Weymouth in 1649, and in 1673 married Bethia Frye, born in Weymouth in 1655, daughter of George Frye, born in England in 1616, who settled in Weymouth in 1640. He was a house carpenter and a man of means, owning several large tracts of land. Some of his land in Taunton, which he purchased about 1680, is now in the possession of the subject of this article. He was the ancestor of the Reeds in Taunton, but he removed from that town to Dighton, where he died January 13, 1720-21. Ilis wife died October 20, 1730. They were buried in Dighton on Burying Hill, be- tween Upper and Lower Four Corners. Their children were John, William, Thomas, George, Mary, Ruth and Hannah. William Reed (3), of Taunton, died in 1734, and his homestead is still in the family. June 8, 1721, he married Mary Richmond, of Norman descent, who was born in 1699 and died in 1784. Their children were John, William, Mary and Abigail. ITis widow married, in 1738, Stephen Andrews, a man of learning and picty and familiarly known as "St. Stephen." John Reed (4), born in 1722, was a blacksmith, a devout Christian, a captain in the militia, and one of the Committee of Inspection and Correspondence during the Revolution. He died in December, 1788. December 30, 1746, he married Dorothy Pinneo, daughter of James Pinneo, a native of Spain, who fled to France to escape persecution; there, with other Huguenots, he suffered similar persecutions, and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes he came to New Eng- land. Their children were Ruth, Lois, John, Mary, Dorothy, Hannah, Zilpah, Enos and Lydia. Mr. Reed married, second, January 9, 1771,
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Mrs. Hannah Austin, by whom he had Nathan, Phebe, and David and Jonathan, twins. John Reed (5), born March 29, 1752, was a prom- inent citizen and an exemplary Christian, and served as selectman and representative several years, and frequently as arbitrator in disputes. He was also a justice of the peace and a soldier in the Revolution. November 21, 1775, he married Mary, daughter of Brig .- Gen. George Godfrey, of Taunton, and their children were John, born August 11, 1776; William, October 6, 1778; Polly, August 31, 1782; Dolly, May 31, 1785; Marshall, January 17, 1788; Hodges, June 3, 1790; Sophia, September 2, 1792; and Zilpah, December 22, 1796. Mr. Reed died February 24, 1841, and his wife October 12, 1843. John Reed (6) was for more than half a century a leading merchant in Taunton, where he died November 9, 1864. May 31, 1804, he married Rebecca Gooding, of Dighton, who was born September 28, 1782, and died January 31, 1872. Their children were Mary Ann, born May 20, 1805; John, June 17, 1808; Henry G., the subject of this sketch; Rebecca, April 12, 1813; William A., September 2, 1816, deceased; Sophia J., November 9, 1819; and Elizabeth G., September 4, 1823.
Henry Gooding Reed, the seventh in lineal descent from William Reed, of Weymouth, was born in Taunton, Mass., on the 23d of July, 1810. He attended the public schools and Taunton Academy, and dur- ing vacations helped his father in the store. In early life he spent his leisure making useful articles for the family and neighbors and miniature ship and other toys for his playmates. When eighteen he became an apprentice in the shop of Babbitt & Crossman, of Taunton, and remained with them and their successors until 1831, when he at- tained his majority. During this apprenticeship he thoroughly mas- tered his trade and laid the foundation of a successful future career. He continued in the various departments of the Taunton Britannia Manufacturing Company until 1835, first as a journeyman and after- ward as time-keeper and superintendent, and when that corporation was compelled to suspend, in the latter year, the managing agent con- tracted with him and Charles E. Barton to carry on the business. In 1837, in connection with Mr. Barton and Gustavus Leonard, Mr. Reed began the manufacture of britannia ware, employing twelve hands. The business has been continued ever since, and is noticed in detail on another page of this volume. The product consists of electro-plated and sterling silver ware, having a wide and unexcelled reputation, and furnishes employment in times of ordinary prosperity to eight hundred
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