USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Volume 2) > Part 16
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WILLIAM FRANCIS KENNEDY.
WILLIAM FRANCIS KENNEDY, managing editor of the Fall River Daily Globe, is a native of Fall River. He is a son of Matthew and Mar- garet (Donovan) Kennedy, and his father, who was a resident of Fall River many years, was engaged in the cotton manufacturing business, holding positions as overseer in different mills in this vicinity. When William F. Kennedy was an infant the family removed to Taunton where he attended the public and high schools. After leaving school
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he secured a position with the Whittenton Manufacturing Company, with whom he remained in the capacity of clerk and paymaster for a period of eighteen years. During his residence in Taunton Mr. Ken- nedy was always active in political circles and was for a number of years in the city government, being president of the Taunton Common Council in 1884. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland postmaster of the city and served the term of four years. He had always done more or less work for the local papers and thus acquired a taste for and much experience in journalistic work. He finally became representative in this section of the State for the Boston Globe, and his work in this capacity led to his being tendered, in 1890, the position of managing editor of the Fall River Daily Globe, which position he accepted and still holds. Mr. Kennedy has done much during his con- nection with the Globe to give it the title which it justly holds as one of the most enterprising newspapers in this section.
HENRY A. NOYES.
HENRY ANDREWS NOYES was born in Newburyport, Mass., September 25, 1870, a son of Amos (deceased) and Anna P. (Andrews) Noyes. He received his early education in the public schools of Newburyport and Boston Business College. After graduating from the latter he began his business career as a newspaper man on the Herald in Newburyport, and after remaining about a year on the Herald he went to Lowell with the Morning Mail as a reporter. While in Lowell Mr. Noyes contracted typhoid fever, which unfitted him for business for some time, and on his recovery he became editor of a weekly paper in Newburyport. He then went to Northampton for awhile on the Herald, and then to Brock- ton on the Despatch and Gazette as city editor. This position he held for two years and gave it up and came to Taunton on the News five years ago. The News changed hands soon after his arrival and a position was offered him as editor of the Herald, which he accepted, and has been with them now about four years. At the age of seven- teen and when Mr. Noyes was in Newburyport, he was elected secretary of the Board of Trade of that city, and was the youngest secretary in the State.
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JOHN H. ABBOTT, M. D.
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PHILIP D. BORDEN.
PHILIP D. BORDEN, who died in Fall River May 2, 1896, in the seventy- ninth year of his age, was for many years one of the foremost business men of the city. He was a son of Thomas and Lydia (Durfee) Borden, and born in that part of Tiverton which is included in Fall River, in 1817. At an early age he began work in the Fall River Iron Works and for some years served as private secretary to Holder Borden. Later he was appointed superintendent by the Iron Works Company, and still later occupied a similar position in the American Linen Mill. He was a prompt, active and energetic business man, and during his life held many positions of honor and trust.
JOHN H. ABBOTT., M. D.
JOHN HAMMILL ABBOTT, M. D., of Fall River, is the youngest son of James and Catharine (Henry) Abbott, and was born in Fall River, Mass., on the 11th of August, 1848. His father was born in Skipton, York- shire, England, in 1813, and came to America with his wife in 1842, settling first in Fall River. Later he became the senior member of the firm of Abbott & Sanders, proprietors of the Crompton (R. I.) Print Works, and subsequently he built a cotton mill in Apponaug, R. I., which was sold to Jordan, Marsh & Co., of Boston, and which is now the site of the Oriental Print Works. During the latter years of his life he was employed in the establishment of the American Printing Company, of Fall River, where he died, widely respected and esteemed, February 17, 1875. His wife, Catharine (Henry) Abbott, was born in 1810 in Clitheroe, a parliamentary borough in the county of Lancashire, England, and the birthplace and early home of the late Governor Fred- erick Thomas Greenhalge, of Massachusetts. She died in Fall River on the 15th of July, 1893.
Dr. John H. Abbott attended the public schools of his native city and of Crompton, R. I., whither his parents removed when he was a boy. He was graduated from the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., and then entered the Fruit Hill Seminary, a private institution in North Providence, where he finished his prepara- tory studies. Afterward he was a clerk in the drug store of Jacob Mott in Providence for several years, or until the spring of 1864. This ser-
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vice had a brief interruption, however, when he enlisted in November, 1863, in the 3d Rhode Island Cavalry, from which his release was se- cured on the ground of his youthful age. In April, 1864, he again en- listed in the Union cause, this time in the United States Signal Corps, and served mainly in the Department of the Gulf under Generals Canby, Gordon Granger and Reynolds. He was also on detached service on board the U. S. sloop of war Monongahela for a time, participating in Farragut's memorable naval battle of Mobile Bay and being present at the siege of Fort Spanish and other movements around Mobile until the surrender of that city. He was honorably discharged as sergeant in December, 1865, and returning to Providence was bookkeeper in his father's cotton mill until early in 1867, when he began the study of medicine with Dr. James R. Birdsall, of Camden, N. J. In the spring of 1868 he was appointed apothecary on board the U. S. ironclad Sau- gus, U. S. navy, and served until December 13, 1869, when he resign- ed. During this service he was attached to the North Atlantic squadron in the vicinity of Key West, Fla., and Cuba, and became well acquainted with the people and cities of the West India islands.
On resigning from the navy Dr. Abbott resumed his professional studies with Dr. Albert C. Dedrick, of Centreville, R. I., and in 1870 he entered the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. March 9, 1872. He at once began active practice at Centreville, but in September, 1873, established himself in Fall River, where he has ever since followed his profession with uninterrupted success, winning a reputation which easily gives him a leading place among the foremost physicians not only of that city, but also of Bristol county.
Dr. Abbott has always been an ardent and staunch Republican, and in the councils of his party has wielded for many years a potent and wholesome influence. He was city physician and president of the Board of IIealth of Fall River from 1879 to 1882 and a member of the Fall River Common Council from Ward 1 in 1877 and of the Board of Alder- men in 1896 and 1897 from Ward 2. He was a member of the Republican State Central Committee from the Second Bristol district for five years, chairman of the Republican City Committee of Fall River for four years, an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1888, and a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892. He has also been a delegate to numerous Re- publican State, Congressional, and local conventions, and during the
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three years of Governor Oliver Ames's administration, from 1887 to 1889 inclusive, was a member of his staff with the rank of colonel and assistant quartermaster-general He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and of the South Bristol Medical Association, of which he was president in 1898.
In fraternal circles Dr. Abbott's popularity and reputation extends into some of the leading national bodies. He is a thirty second degree Mason, holding membership in Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery, K. T., of Fall River, and in Massachusetts Consistory, of Boston. He was commander of Richard Borden Post, No. 46, Grand Army of the Re- public, for four successive years, an inspector on the staff of Depart- ment Commander John W. Billings in 1880, and a delegate to the National Encampments of the G. A. R. at Portland, Me., and Indian- apolis, Ind. In the Knights of Pythias, beginning as a charter mem- ber of Mount Vernon Lodge No. 157, of Fall River, he has passed through all the chairs of the subordinate and Grand lodges to the post of grand chancellor of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, which he held from February 18, 1891, to February 17, 1892. In 1895 he was elected supreme representative to the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Pythias for four years from January, 1896, and is now serving in that capacity. He was brigadier general commanding the Massachu- setts Brigade, Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias, for two terms of four years each, serving from July 24, 1889, to July 24, 1897, and in the latter year was appointed brigadier general and chief engineer on the staff of Major-General James R. Carnahan, of Indianapolis, Ind., commanding the Uniform Rank of the Order. Dr. Abbott is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Pil- grim Fathers, of the New England Order of Protection, of the Benev- olent Order of Elks, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a public spirited, patriotic, and progressive citizen, a man of broad intellectual attainments, a physician of recognized ability and skill, and a firm adherent of those principles which spread the great- est good among his fellow beings. In every capacity he has won an honorable reputation and merited distinction, while in the community where his professional labors have covered a period of a quarter of a century he is highly respected and esteemed.
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ROBERT TREAT PAINE.
ROBERT TREAT PAINE, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence, was born in Boston, Mass., March 11, 1731. His father was Thomas Paine, pastor of a church in Weymouth and later a mer- chant of considerable prominence in Boston; his mother was Eunice Treat, who was the daughter of Samuel Treat and a granddaughter of Samuel Willard, president of Harvard College from 1701 to 1707.
Robert T. Paine entered Harvard College and was graduated in 1749. He spent some years in teaching school, and later became a sailing master, making three voyages to North Carolina and one voyage to Greenland in the whaling service. He must have been somewhat un- decided as to his future lifework, as he left the sea and studied divinity, and in 1755 was a chaplain in the army in the French war. He finally took up the study of the law, reading with Judge Willard, of Lancaster, Mass., and Benjamin Pratt, of Boston. He was admitted to the bar of Suffolk county in 1759.
He began the practice of his profession in Boston, but in 1761 re- moved to Taunton, where he rapidly advanced and secured a place in the front rank of the lawyers of that vicinity, and his fine mental en- dowment, his profound knowledge of the law and his thoroughness in practice soon brought him an extensive business. He represented Taunton in the General Court in 1769.
In 1770, in the absence of the attorney-general, he conducted the prosecution of Captain Preston and others for the Boston massacre, and exhibited great ability therein. Upon the breaking out of the Rev- olution he warmly espoused the cause of the colonists, and was a dele- gate to the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775, a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778, and won lasting honor as a signer of its Declaration of Independence. He served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court and was speaker of the House in 1777.
In 1776 he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court, but declined the honor. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1779, and upon the acceptance af the constitution was made the first attorney-general of Massachusetts and served as such until February 12, 1790.
In 1780 he returned to Boston, where he bought and occupied the Governor Shirley residence on the corner of Milk and Federal streets. In 1790 he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial
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Court, which position he filled with great ability until 1804, when he resigned. He received the honorary degree of LL. B. from Harvard in 1805. He died May 11, 1814.
In 1770 he married Sally, daughter of Thomas Cobb, and sister of Gen. David Cobb, of Taunton.
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Abbe, Alanson J., M. D., son of Frederic R. and Mary T. (Thayer) Abbe, was born in Abington, Mass., February 18, 1861. When he was eight years old his par- ents removed to Boston and he obtained his preliminary education in the Boston Latin School, from which he was graduated in 1877. In the same year he entered Harvard College, receiving the degree of A. B. in 1881. Hle then entered the Har- vard Medical School, taking the volunteer four years' course and receiving the de- grees of A. M. and M.D). cum laude. During the last year of his medical course he acted as interne (resident physician) at the McLean Asylum. Dr. Abbe located in Fall River shortly after graduation and has since been in eminently successful prac. tice in that city. He has of late years confined his practice to diseases of the ear and eye, in the treatment of which he has acquired an enviable reputation. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and secretary and treasurer of the Bristol South District. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, the Fall River Medical Society and has been on the staff of the Fall River Hospital since its establishment. June 10, 1888, he was married to Louisa L., daughter of James H. Eaton of Andover, Mass., and they have two children: Alice Thayer, born May 7, 1890, and Frederic Eaton, born May 2, 1892.
Adams, Charles II., son of Zenas L. and Sarah C. (llinckley) Adams, was born in Nantucket, April 30, 1843. His father, who died in New Bedford, November 17, 1883, in his seventy-fourth year, was for many years a successful master mariner and later in life became interested to a large extent in shipping interests in New Bed- ford. He was a native of Cape Cod and a direct descendant of Thomas Adams, brother of John of Quincy; of a retiring disposition and yet possessed of a fine ex- centive and business ability, he greatly endeared himself to all with whom he asso- ciated, and his death was sincerely mourned in business circles. Charles H. Adams was educated in the schools of Nantucket and in the East Greenwich Seminary at East Greenwich, R. I. After leaving school and before he was eighteen years of age, he had formed a copartnership with Otis Churchill in Waterford, Saratoga county, N. Y., and under the name of Churchill & Adams conducted a milling and lumber business. Later this copartnership was dissolved and he engaged in the grocery business in New Bedford in company with his father and brother, Zenas, under the name, Zenas I. Adams & Sons, this copartnership being discontinued after a dura- tion of five years, when he engaged again in the lumber business, this time in Dighton and Swansea, Bristol county, Mass. Later Mr. Adams gave his attention to various mercantile enterprises in Westfield aud Pittsfield, and at the death of his
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father he returned to New Bedford to take charge of his shipping interests. He has served in the Common Council one term, representing Ward 3; and is a member of Pacific Lodge of Odd Fellows. He married, in 1866, Nannie B., daughter of Jona- than Bisbee of Fairhaven, and they have one daughter, Alice, wife of Nathaniel C. Smith of New Bedford.
Adams, George A., was born in Springfield, April 3, 1850. His father, Gardner Adams, was a native of Franklin, Norfolk county, where John Adams settled in 1701. Gardner Adams married Eunice R., daughter of Alfred and Electa Darling, and through live was identified in mercantile pursuits. George A. Adams was edu- cated in the public schools, Harvard and Tufts Colleges, teaching school two years in Goddard Seminary, Barre, Vt. He was admitted to the bar May 8, 1873 at Ded- ham and opened his practice in Attleborough the same year. November 30, 1871, he married Clara I. Gowen, and they have one daughter, May S., and one son, Charles G. Mr. Adams is one of the conservative men of Bristol county, for nine years member and chairman of the School Committee; five years one of the Select- men; chairman for several years of the Prudential Committee of the fire district; and was representative in the Legislature in 1884-85, serving on the judiciary and probate committees.
Alden, Silas, was born in Newton, Mass., July 8, 1809, a son of Paul and Rebecca (Newell) Alden. His father was a farmer and died when Silas was a youth. Shortly after his mother removed to Dedham, Mass., where he was educated in the public schools, and when he was sixteen years old he began to learn the carriage trimmer's trade, which he followed for seven years, five years in Dedham and one year each in Boston and New Bedford. At the end of this period he entered a wholesale dry goods store in Boston as clerk, and remained four years. He then started in the re- tail dry goods business in New Bedford, locating on Purchase street, at the present site of Wing's store, and here he conducted a business for upwards of ten years. In 1848 he sold out and went to Worcester county, where he engaged in farming for five years. He then returned to New Bedford, where he has since resided. Mr. Alden has served as superintendent of the poor for seven years, six years as secre- tary of the board, and he has also served on the Board of Assessors for three years. In politics he has always been a staunch Whig and Republican. In 1840 he married Emily, daughter of Francis Howland of New Bedford, and of their three children, two survive: George N. and Ella, wife of James A. Baker of Fall River. Mr. Alden is a member of the most famous of the old Puritan families, being seventh of the line of John Alden.
Alger, Arthur Martineau, is a son of Rev. William II. and Anne Langdon (Lodge) Alger, and a direct descendant of Thomas Alger, who settled in Taunton about 1665. He was born in Boston, September 23, 1854: received his early education in the Boston Latin School, and was graduated from the Boston University Law School in the class of 1876. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in June of that year, and immediately located for practice in Taunton. He was city solicitor of Taunton from 1888 to 1889 inclusive; alderman in 1885; mayor in 1890; clerk of the First District Court of Bristol from 1879 to 1893. In the latter year he became registrar of probate and insolvency for the county of Bristol, and now holds that office. He has contributed articles to the American Law Review and the Harvard Law Re-
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view, and is also the author of " A Treatise on the Law in Relation to Promoters and the Promotion of Corporations." April 22, 1882, Mr. Alger married Lelia C., daughter of George B. and Elizabeth S. Sanders, of Taunton, who died October 24, 1895, leaving two daughters: Mary Lodge and Anne Langdon.
Allen, Henry K. W., was born on the homestead farm, North Attleboro, March 22, 1818. His father, Josiah Allen, was a native of the same neighborhood, and the family trace their descent from Ephraim Allen, who settled there about 1700. Josiah married Rowena, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Tingley. H. K. W. Allen was educated at Southampton, L. I., N. Y., and spent some three years in the South at Mobile, Ala. In 1843 he married Mary D., daughter of Jacob Blackinton, and they had five sons and two daughters: Henry B., Walter S., Charles J., George W., Albert I .. , Mrs. Mary E. Grant and Mrs. Frances M. Maxey. Mr. Allen is one of the practical and successful farmers of this town, serving as a member of the Legis- lature, justice of the peace forty-two years, justice of the Magistrate's Court eighteen years, selectman and assessor of taxes for several years.
Allen, James Eben, son of John and Eliza W. (White) Allen, was born in Dart- mouth, February 19, 1841. After completing the prescribed courses of the common schools of his native town, he entered Peirce Academy at Middleboro, and was grad- nated in the class of 1865. Mr. Alleu has devoted his entire life to agriculture and is one of the best known farmers in this vicinity. He has always taken an active interest in politics in the best sense of the term, and has frequently been elected to public office. He was selectman of Dartmouth for six years and overseer of the poor for nine years. For the past six years he has served as road commissioner, and at present is a special county commissioner. In 1802-03 he represented his dis- triet in the State Legislature, serving on the fish and game committees, and as chairman of the committee on county estimates. Mr. Allen is a prominent Mason. a past master of Noquochoke Lodge, F. & A. M., of Westport; a member of Sutton Commandery of New Bedford, and Aleppo Temple, M S., of Boston. He married, in June, 1865, Adelaide A., daughter of Capt. James HI. and Nancy (Allen) Slocum, of Dartmouth, and of their union four daughters were born: Eliza W., wife of Henry C. Pearson; Abbie E., Nancy S .. and Sarah T. For his second wife he married Lula A., daughter of Israel and Lydia (Slocum) Brightman, of Dartmouth.
Allen, Capt. James R., youngest son of Prince and Jane (Packard) Allen, was born in the town of Dartmouth, Bristol county, Mass., July 30, 1816. His father died when he was an infant, and his mother, with a family of six children, removed to the town of Acushnet, where she resided until her death. Captain Allen received his early education in the district schools, and at the age of fourteen he began the life of a sailor. His first voyage was as cabin boy on a whaling ship; he spent nearly forty years at sea, having served in all capacities, the last four or five voyages as master of the vessel. He has traveled all over the world, having made two or three trips around Cape Horn and Cape Good Hope. In 1868 Captain Allen returned home to his farm in Acushnet, where he has since lived a retired life. October 23, 1859, he married Pamelia daughter of Barnabas and Phoebe (Swift) Douglass, and they have four children: Josephine, wife of James L. Humphrey, jr. ; Sarah J., wife of Joseph T. Leonard: Millie D., wife of Thomas Hersom, jr .; and Leslie C., who resides at home. Captain Allen might have held public office many times, but has declined all
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political honors, preferring to remain an independent citizen. Though well on in years, he is hale and hearty, and bids fair to enjoy for many years to come the uni- versal respect and esteem in which he is held in this community.
Allen, Walter S., son of Frederick S. and Susan (Gardner) Allen, was born in New Bedford, July 16. 1858, and is a member of one of the oldest of New England fami- lies, one which has been well represented, and, in fact, always located in this sec- tion. The first of the name was George Allen, from whom Mr. Allen is a direct de- scendent in the eighth generation. George (1), Ralph (2), Ebenezer (3), James (4), Prince (5), James (6), Frederick S. (7), and Walter S. (8). George Allen, who was the progenitor of most of the name in this section, sailed from Weymouth, England, in 1635, and, after remaining a short time in Lynn, removed to Sandwich, of which place he was one of the first settlers. Some of his children bought land in Dartmouth and thus the family took root in this section. Many of them were members of the Society of Friends, and five of the sons of George were collectively fined £280 for holding or attending Quaker meetings. On the maternal side Mr. Allen descends from the Nantucket Gardners, also Quakers, who were among the first settlers of the island of Nantucket. Mr. Allen's father, Frederick S., was a native of New Bedford, and a prominent and successful merchant, having been engaged in the whaling business for over fifty years (firm of Swift & Allen). He served at various times in the city government, was a director in numerous manufacturing corporations, and was counted one of the leading business men of the city. For several years he was vice-president of the Five Cents Savings Bank. He died May 10, 1896, in the eighty- fourth year of his age. Walter S. Allen was educated in private schools and at the Friends Academy in New Bedford, and later he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, and took the B. S. degree with the class of 1879. In the same year he went abroad to continue the study of chemistry at the University of Leipsic, where he remained two years and then returned to become a special student at Harvard, remaining one year. At the end of this period he accepted a position as instructor in chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he filled until 1885, when the State Board of Gas Commissioners was created, and he became secretary of the board. In 1892 he resigned to enter the employ of the Bos- ton Gas Light Co., as assistant to the treasurer and general manager, and served in that capacity until the fall of 1896. Mr. Allen has for many years been a student of the question of municipal ownership of street railways and gas plants, and has made several European trips to investigate the workings of the different systems in the cities of England and the Continent. In 1897 he became the secretary of a special committee created by the Legislature to investigate the relation of street railroads and municipal corporations. The report of this committee was adopted by the Leg. islature substantially as recommended, the first time recorded when a special com- mittee obtained a bill embodying its recommendations from the Legislature to which it made its report. Mr. Allen is an active worker for the interests of the New Bed- ford Public Library and has been a member of the board of trustees since 1892. He is a member of the Wamsutta Club of New Bedford; the St. Botolph and University Clubs of Boston, and the University Club of New York.
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