USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Volume 2) > Part 29
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came with the family to New Bedford in 1846. He received a public school educa- tion, and began life as a sailor under his father in 1842. In 1851 he became a master mariner, in which capacity he continued in the merchant and coasting service until 1873. In 1873 he engaged in the ship chandlery and grocery trade, which he carried on until about 1881, when he established his present ship brokerage and lumber busi- ness. Captain Gibbs is one of the oldest mariners in New Bedford, and is a member of Star in the East Lodge, F. & A. M. In December, 1867, he married Jane W., daughter of Theodore W. Leonard of Rochester, Mass., and they have two children : Elizabeth Leonard and George C.
Gibbs, Samuel W., physician and surgeon, was born in Fall River in 1854, a son of George W. and Susan Belle (Whelpley) Gibbs. ITis first American ancestor, Rob- ert Gibbs, came to Massachusetts early in 1600, and soon thereafter settled at the present site of Egypt, in Bristol county, where he purchased land extending half a mile along the Taunton River, and several miles back from the stream. The orig. inal homestead is now but fifty acres and is still owned by a descendant of the first settler. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Gibbs was Rev. Samuel Whelpley, D. D., of New Jersey, the author of various standard historical works. The parents of Dr. Gibbs came to Fall River when the town contained less than 4, 000 inhabitants. Ilis father was a carpenter by trade and before his marriage went to Mobile, Ala- bama, where he spent five years following his occupation. Ile then returned to Fall River and for thirty-five years was a successful merchant. Dr. Gibbs obtained his preparatory education in the schools of Fall River and then engaged in the drug business for eighteen years. During this period he studied medicine three years under Dr. E. Merrissal and surgery two years under Dr. Charles E. Terry of Fall River. In 1887 he entered the medical department of the University of Vermont, where he remained until 1889, completing the course in microscopical pathology. Ile spent the following year in the medical department of Dartmouth College and re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine from that institution in 1890. Since then he has pursued his profession in Fall River. He devotes special attention to the treat- ment of the diseases of the lungs and throat. He is a member of Fall River Lodge of Odd Fellows, Metacomet Encampment, Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, Loyal Knights and Ladies of Honor, New England Order of Protection, Golden Cross Encampment, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 1877 Dr. Gibbs married Susan Westgate Crapo of Fall River.
Gifford, Charles H., a prominent and well-known citizen of New Bedford, having been its postmaster and at present is a member of the State Board of Gas and Elec- tric Light Commission, was a son of that enterprising whaling merchant, William Gifford, and of Rhoda (Tucker) Gifford, a member of one of the oldest families that settled in southern Massachusetts. The Gifford family likewise enjoys the same dis- tinction as to early settlement in the same part of the State, Mr. Gifford being a di- rect descendant and the seventh of the line of William Gifford, who came to this country previous to 1650, for it is recorded that he was a member of the Grand In- quest at Plymouth in that year; he then lived at Sandwich; iu religious belief was a Quaker and as such suffered much persecution. Mr. Gifford's father, who died in New Bedford on March 24, 1866, in the sixty-eighth year of bis age, was born in Dartmouth, a birthright member of the Society of Friends, a quiet, unobtrusive,
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benevolent citizen who attached many friends. He was for some seven years en- gaged in mercantile business at Savannah, Georgia, and then located in New Bed- ford and became extensively engaged in the whaling business in which he continued to the time of his death, William Gifford is still held in remembrance as the typifi- cation of the upright, rugged and withal kindly merchant so common in that period. Charles H. Gifford was born in New Bedford, July 18, 1838. During his boyhood he attended private schools and the Friends Academy in New Bedford and later Haver- ford College, an institution of the Friends, at Philadelphia, Pa. After the comple- tion of his education he entered his father's office and there gained a knowledge of business methods. Not long after his majority he was admitted to partnership and continued the business for some years after his father's death. Mr. Gifford has always been an ardent Republican, having cast a vote for every Republican president from John C. Fremont to William Mckinley. He has represented the Sixth ward of his city several terms in the city government; was a member of the first city com- mittee on the introduction of pure water, also at one time on the board of trustees of the Free Public Library. He was appointed postmaster of New Bedford by Pres. ident Harrison, which office he held about five years; he gave the city an excellent office service, instituting many needed reforms and placed the office on the plan of a well ordered first-class post-office. In 1894 Mr. Gifford was appointed by Governor Greenhalge a member of the State Board of Gas and Electric Light Commission and is still serving in that capacity. His experience as a business man, and director of the New Bedford. Gas and Electric Light Company had made him well adapted to serve intelligently as a member of this board. Like his father, Mr. Gifford is pos- sessed of those pleasing qualities which gain friends. He has been connected with many business enterprises in the city, and is one of the oldest (in appointment) trus- tees of the New Bedford Institution for Savings, and has been twice nominated for the office of mayor of New Bedford. Mr. Gifford married, in 1858, Elizabeth P. Cummings, daughter of John Cummings of Dartmouth, and two children have been born to them: Frank H. Gifford, treasurer of the New Bedford Spinning Company, and Helen C. Gifford.
Gifford, John B., son.of William and Abigal (Bennett) Gifford, was born in Dart- mouth, Mass., May 6, 1834. He obtained such an education as was afforded by the common schools in those days, working on his father's farm nine months of the year and attending school three months. At the age of fifteen he began to learn the sail- maker's trade, working under Chapman & Bonney of New Bedford. This was in the days when the large whaling fleets fitted at that harbor. He worked for Chap- man & Bonney for five years and then was employed for two years in New York, seven in Boston and about thirteen years in Fall River as a journeyman sailmaker. Mr. Gifford has been in this business all his life and has hundreds of friends among the skippers. He now conducts a ship chandlery and sail loft in the old stone building at the foot of Center street on the Providence wharf. This build- ing is one of the oldest in Fall River; it was built in 1835 to store the American Print Company's goods, with a top story especially designed for a sail loft. Jonathan Peckham was the first occupant of the sail loft. Ile was followed by William Nooning, then by Nooning & Zuill and then by Mr. Zuill alone. Mr. Gif- ford was employed by the latter as foreman for eleven years, and in March, 1895,
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acquired the business. He occupies the entire building and gives employment to several men. He is a member of Fall River Lodge No. 219, and Fall River Encamp- ment No. 26, I.O.O.F. ; he is also a prominent Mason, being a member of Fall River Royal Arch Chapter and Council, and Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery. Mr. Gif- ford was married March 22, 1856. to Alice J., daughter of Warren and Celia B. Tripp, and they have four children: Mary H , wife of Edgar Wood. William W., Alice A., and Hattie E.
Gifford, John James, a native and lifelong resident of the town of Dartmouth, was born December 18, 1839, a son of Jeptha W. and Mary A. (Allen) Gifford. Dur- ing his boyhood Mr. Gifford worked on his father's farm and received the educational advantages offered by the public schools of his native town. He then learned the carpenter's trade, which he has since continued; he is also engaged in manufacturing and repairing carriages at his carriage shop in Russell's Mills. Mr. Gifford is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and enjoys the confidence of a wide circle of friends. In 1863 he married Jane B., daughter of Stephen and Hannah (Sole) Wood of Dart- mouth. For his second wife he married Eliza J. Devol of Dartmouth. The Gifford family. which is elsewhere mentioned in this work, is one of the oldest in the county. Mr. Gifford's father was a native of the town of Westport.
Gifford, William Leander, son of Leander and Harriet E. (Sanford) Gifford, was born in Taunton, November 26, 1855. He received his early education in the pub- lic schools of Taunton, and after leaving school engaged with the Boston Branch Grocery Co. for about one year, when he went with the Davenport & Mason express business as messenger. Preferring the grocery business to the express, he soon re- turned to the old firm and stayed with them a number of years. In 1883 he started in business for himself on High street, in the same location as he occupies to day, and the firm as Gifford & Trafton continued for nine years, when Mr. Gifford bought out his partner and carried on the business alone. During this time Mr. Gifford started and operated the Taunton Wire Nail Co., which he continued for seven years, and then closed out his interest in it to devote his whole time to the grocery line. Mr. Gifford is a member of Chas. H. Titus Lodge, F. & A. M., and King Philip Lodge of I. O. O. F. September 20, 1881, he married Mary L., daughter of Joseph E. and Mary Frances (Graham) Cobb (now deceased), and they had four children: Lola B., Lena C., Joseph L. and Gladys.
Gilbert, John, physician and surgeon, was born in Newton, Cheshire, England, January 3, 1847, and came with his parents to Fall River in 1859. He obtained his rudimentary education in England and for a short time attended the Fall River schools, but in the main is self-educated. For several years he worked in the cotton mills and in a grocery store, spending all of his leisure time in diligent study, de- voting much time to theology and preparing himself for the ministry in the Re- organized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, which upholds the doc- trine of the church as organized in 1830 by Joseph Smith and others, and which is in contradistinction to the Mormon church of Utah, its members looking with horror on the teachings of the Utah Church. When but nineteen years of age he was ordained to the ministry of this church and continued to preach, lecture, and organize churches until he began the study of medicine. He still continues his ministerial work although not actively. Dr. Gilbert officiated as clergyman of this church in
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Fall River for four years. At this time he also studied land surveying under Jesse W. Nichols. He first took up the study of medicine under Dr. John H. Jackson with whom he studied for some time. Later he spent two years at the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons in Boston, and one year in the medical department of the University of Vermont where he received his medical degree in 1886. In the same year he began practice at his present location on Pleasant street, Fall River, and has met with most encouraging success. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the American Medical Association; past chancellor of Mt. Vernon Lodge No. 57, Knights of Pythias, and a prominent member of the Sons of St. George, in which order he now holds the office of major in the Uniformed Rank. When a young man of seventeen he served one hundred days in the fall of 1864 in the 21st Unattached Company, M. V. M., and was prevented from re-enlistment by disability incurred in the field. He is a member of Richard Borden Post No. 46, G. A. R., in which he has held the office of chaplain, surgeon and junior vice-commander. Since 1894 Dr. Gilbert has held the chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Boston, attending to his duties as a lec- turer in connection with his professional work in Fall River. He was one of the city physicians of Fall River for three years. January 2, 1870, he married Elizabeth, daughter of John McKee of Fall River. Four children have been born to them, two of whom survive: Susan .Elizabeth and Milton John.
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Gillingham, Hon. James L .; special justice of the Third District Court of Bristol county, was born in Chelsen, Mass., July 13, 1857, a son of James and Anna E. (Love) Gillingham. The family is of Scottish origin and has been well represented in America for several generations. When he was an infant the family removed to Charlestown, and after the death of his mother in January, 1859; moved to Fair- haven, where he attended the public schools and was graduated from the High School in 1876. In that same year Mr. Gillingham entered the office of Richmond & Cook, general agents of the Equitable Life Insurance Society, and two years later began to thoroughly equip himself for the law, reading in the office of Hon. Thomas M. Stetson and Francis B. Greene. He was admitted to the Bristol bar April 20, 1880, and has since practiced in New Bedford. Ile was admitted as an attorney in the United States Circuit Court at Boston, on June 14, 1882. A practitioner in New Bedford, Mr. Gillingham resides in Fairhaven, the home of his boyhood. He has always taken an active interest in the welfare of the town; is a member of the Fair- haven Improvement Association, a trustee of.the Fairhaven Institution for Savings, the Riverside Cemetery, and the Millicent Library. In politics he is a Republican and has served on the town committee for a number of years, acting as chairman part of the time. He has been a member of the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee; has twice represented the Fourth District in the General Court and served on the committee on judiciary. Among the several appointive offices he has held were those of public administrator and of commissioner to qualify civil officers. On September 16, 1897, Governor Wolcott appointed him a special justice of the Third District Court of Bristol county. Mr. Gillingham has been a prominent Mason, past master of Concordia Lodge of Fairhaven and district deputy grand master of this district; he is also a member of Acushnet Lodge of Odd Fellows. He married in November, 1885, Elizabeth Byram Pratt of Fairhaven, and their children are Annie, Dana, James and Margaret.
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Glenwood Furnishing Co., The, Charles II. Lincoln, manager,-This company was incorporated in 1888 and are successors to the old firm of Edgar H. Reed, who had been in business since 1832. They carry a complete line of house furnishings and the floor space occupied by them in the store and storehouse is something over 40,000 square feet. It is the largest store of its kind in southeastern Massachusetts, and everything that is necessary for housekeeping can be found in their goods. The officers of the company are Charles F. Baker, president; William E. Walker, treas- urer; and Charles H. Lincoln, general manager and clerk. In busy times they give employment to about twenty- five hands in all of the different departments.
Goff, William N., was born in Rehoboth, March 1, 1856, a son of William II. and Cynthia (Ilorton) Goff, and educated in the public schools. He learned the jewelry business with 1). H. Smith, in 1886 established the grocery business, and in 1895 established his present business of dealer in real estate and insurance. In 1879 Mr. Goff married Sarah, daughter of Crawford Potter, and they have one daughter, Flora May. Mr. Goff takes an active interest in the affairs of his town, was select- man in 1897 and 1898, and is interested in school and church matters.
Golden, M. C., M. D., treasurer of the Taunton Herald Company, was born in Arc- tic, R. I., March 21, 1855. The Taunton Evening Herald was established in Novem- ber, 1893, and is a penny paper of eight pages of seven columns each. It has a daily circulation of 5,000 and its politics are independent. Dr. Golden, in addition to his ownership of the Herald, is one of the most successful of our physicians in general practice. He was educated in the public schools of Pawtucket, R. I., Dartmouth College, and was graduated from the medical department of the University of the State of Vermont. He commenced his practice in Taunton in 1881, and has been in continuous practice since that time, with the exception of one year, which he spent abroad in the hospitals.
Gorham, James H., son of Jabez. A. and Eliza (Tripp) Gorham, was born in New Bedford, September 8, 1863. His father, a scafaring man, was a lifelong resident of New Bedford, and well known and respected in the community. Mr. James H. Gorham completed his education in the New Bedford High School, and soon after went to South Dakota and engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business. Later he removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he took charge of the piano business of W. W. Kimball Co. Mr. Gorham has ever since been connected with this firm, being now, in addition to his New Bedford piano business, which he established on his return to New Bedford in 1892, superintendent of the New Eng- land agencies of the W. W. Kimball Co., which are the largest piano and organ man- ufacturers in the world to-day. Mr. Gorham is a member of the Order of Odd Fel- lows. In several lines of descent he traces his ancestry to early settlers of New Eng- land, his father's mother being a Standish and a lineal descendant of that historical character of the old Puritan days, Miles Stardish. In 1897 Mr. Gorham married Clarissa, daughter of William B. Nooning, who is elsewhere mentioned in this work, and they have one son, Standish.
Gorman, Augustus P., painter and wall paper dealer, and son of Thomas and Hanora (Manning) Gorman, was born in Fall River, August 28, 1860. His parents were both born in Ireland and came to this country early in life locating in Fall
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River. They died when their son Augustus P. was seven years old, and he attended school a few months each year and during the balance of the time worked in Eddy's woolen mill from his eighth to his seventeenth year. He was injured in the mill, and after his recovery obtained employment under P. P. Morris, with whom he learned the painter's trade. He was clerk for Mr. Morris for thirteen years, and in 1800 engaged in the wall paper and painting business for himself. He is located at the corner of Borden and Second streets, and carries on a large business. Mr. Gor- man was elected on the Democratic ticket to the State Legislature in 1884 and 1885, being the youngest member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the City Council from 1890 to 1895 inclusive; and was the Democratic candidate for mayor of Fall River in 1895. In 1893 Mr. Gorman married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard and Mary Lingane of Denver, Col., and they have one daughter, Margaret L. Gorman. Mr. Gorman is a member of the order of Foresters and the Knights of Columbus.
Gorman, James J., was born October 10, 1857, and began working in a cotton mill as a boy. At fifteen he began the tinsmith's trade, which he followed for over three years and then entered the Jesse Eddy Woolen Mill, where he remained one year. . after which he was second hand for six years. In 1888 he took a position as sales- man with R. S. Reed & Co., where he remained until 1889, when he became man- ager of the undertaking business of McDermot Bros. In January, 1808, he pur- chased this business, forming a copartnership with D. J. Sullivan (Gorman & Sulli- van). Mr. Gorman is prominent in many social orders, and a member of the A. O. H., the Foresters and the Knights of Columbus, of which he was made grand knight in 1897. In March, 1897, he was selected by the National Council for district deputy of the councils in Bristol county. In 1884 Mr. Gorman married Catherine McDermott, and they have five children: Augustus. John, Mary, Gertrude and Ruth. His parents were Thomas and Hanora (Manning) Gorman, both natives of Ireland.
Goward, Edwin T., was born in Easton, Mass., January 7, 1838, son of Dwelley and Lizzie Goward. His father was in early life a wholesale and retail butcher, afterwards a farmer, and they trace their ancestry to Francis Goward, who was one of the first settlers of Easton. Edwin T. Goward was educated at the public schools and afterward attended Pearce's Academy, at Middleborough. When twenty-one years of age he started in the wholesale and retail butcher business, supplying Taunton, Brockton and Bridgewater. He is extensively interested in real estate, erecting and selling houses; has a large tract of cultivated and wood land, and also has a very large cranberry bog near his residence on Purchase street, where he raises annually from two to five hundred barrels of mostly Early Blacks and of later varie- ties. He is also quite extensively engaged in small fruits for the various markets, and vegetables and hay. He married, November 1, 1865, Maria, daughter of Horace D. and Bathsheba A. (Williams) Howard, and they have two children: Bertha, who married H. Meyers, and Carrie W., who married .William Neal. He takes an inter- est in school and church institutions and ever advances the interest of his town and and town's people. In politics he is a staunch Republican.
Greene, Augustus A., was born in Warwick, R. I., February 26, 1804, spent his boyhood on his father's farm, and received his education in the common schools of his native town. Ile learned the trade of house carpenter, serving an apprentice-
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ship with Caleb Ladd of Warwick, which expired February 26, 1825. On the 20th of the same month he went to Providence, R. I., where he followed his trade as a journeyman until June 21, 1831, when he came to New Bedford. He continued in the same business until January 1, 1845, when be formed a copartnership with Henry T. Leonard and engaged in the lumber trade on Leonard's wharf. This firm was dissolved in 1850 and a new firm organized styled Greene & Wood, which is still in existence, although Mr. Greene retired from active business in 1871. He was a man of recognized business ability, of unswerving integrity, and of great force of character, and always had the respect and confidence of the entire community. He was a member of the Common Council in 1871 and of the Board of Aldermen in 1872, 1874 and 1878, serving the greater part of the time as chairman of the committee on public property. He directed the plans and contracts and superintended the con- struction of the present High School building, and in every capacity performed valua- ble and effective work for the city. He was long a prominent member of the First Baptist Church of New Bedford, and was actively interested in the building of the North Baptist chapel on the corner of County and Merrimac streets, purchasing the site, aiding generously in erecting the edifice, and building and donating the chapel parsonage to the society. He died October 80, 1887. Mr. Greene married, first, Miss Amy B. Gorton, of Warwick, R. I., who died May 22, 1876. He married for his second wife, on the 16th of October, 1877, Miss Lucy Parker, who survives him.
Greene, Nathaniel H., son of William H. and Marcia C. (Holmes) Greene, was born in Plymouth, Mass., April 6, 1832. His father, a native of Maine, resided in Plymouth nearly all his life, having moved there when a young man, to work at the rope-making trade. He later established a cordage business of his own and became well known throughout that vicinity. Mr. Greene worked in the summer and at- tended school a few months in the winter, until he was ten years old, and at that time he went to work in a rope factory, working from sunrise to sunset for twenty- five cents a day. When he was nineteen he came to New Bedford and began the mason's trade under James L. Pierce. After the completion of his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman until 1861, and then enlisted in Co. D, 23d Mass. Vol- unteers. After an active service for three years he was honorably discharged and continued to work at his trade in New Bedford. In 1866 he established himself in business as a mason and contractor, locating on South Second street, where he con- tinued in successful business for nearly four years. Mr. Greene was appointed superintendent of streets in 1880, and served in that capacity eight successive years, and in 1894 he was appointed to his present position as assistant superintendent of public works. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias; Post 190, G. A. R ; Acushnet Lodge of Odd Fellows, Annawan Encampment; and is an honorary mem- ber of the City Guards. In 1853 he married Betsey Bishop Eldridge, daughter of Daniel Eldridge of New Bedford. Of their ten children, six survive: Marshall S., Emma, N. Herbert, Frank A. C., Etta K., wife of Charles B. Church of New Bed- ford, and Charles E. .
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