USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts > Part 74
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The career of Judge Borden has been for many years a moral force in the life of his adopted city. He has been deeply interested in the questions of the day and prominent always in those reforms having for their aim the well being of men, and his influence has seemed largely independent of his official position.
He will, however, at least by his professional brethren and by public men, be best remembered as the judge of the local court of New Bed. ford and its vicinage. To the bench he brought a thorough knowledge of the principles and practice of law, a fondness for legal research, a
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sound judgment and a rare kindliness of manners. Few criminals could run the gauntlet of his cross-examination, but heavy fines and long confinements were always held in disfavor, and if there was a gleam of hope of reformation, Judge Borden was always the first to detect it.
During the administration of Judge Borden as mayor, every munici- pal service was raised to its highest efficiency and politics as an inci- dent to such service was almost entirely obliterated.
In professional practice since his retirement from the bench in the summer of 1897 Judge Borden's attention has been given mainly to cases in the probate and insolvency courts, and in the settlement of estates his counsel and assistance are always in request. He is at this time president of the New Bedford Bar Association.
SIMEON BORDEN.
SIMEON BORDEN, for thirty-two years the clerk of the courts of Bristol county, was born March 29, 1829, in Fall River, Mass., where he spent his entire life. His first English ancestor went over to England from Bourdonnay, Norway, as a soldier under William the Conqueror, and after the battle of Hastings (in A. D. 1066) was assigned lands in County Kent, where the family afterward became wealthy and influential, the village where they resided being named Borden. Early in the seven- teenth century John Borden moved to Wales, where his sons Richard and John were married. These sons returned to Borden, in England, and in May, 1635, embarked for America. Richard (1) settled in Ports- mouth, R. I., in 1638. The line of descent from him is (2) John, (3) Richard, (4) Joseph, (5) Abraham, (6) Simeon, and (7) Nathaniel B., who was the father of the subject of this memoir. Nathaniel Briggs Borden was born in Freetown (afterward Fall River), Mass., April 15, 1801. The house in which his birth occurred stood on the west side of South Main street, nearly opposite the south end of the Pocasset Mill, and was celebrated in local annals from the fact that two British sol- diers were shot and killed at its eastern door when the English attacked the village in the Revolutionary war. Simeon Borden (6), father of Nathaniel B., was born in Freetown in 1759, removed to Tiverton, R. I., in 1806, and died there November 27, 1811. His wife, Amey Briggs, a woman of superior business ability and sterling character,
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was one of the founders of the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manu- factory, in 1814, and died May 26, 1817, leaving five children. Na- thaniel B. Borden was one of the organizers of the Pocasset Manu- facturing Company on August 15, 1821, and served as its clerk and treasurer until 1838. He was president of the Fall River Railroad from 1847 to 1854, and also of the Fall River Union Bank and the Fall River Savings Bank for several years prior to his death, which occurred April 10, 1865. He was for many years town clerk, selectman, assessor, and highway surveyor; a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1831, 1834, 1851, and 1864, and of the State Senate in 1845 and 1847; and was elected to Congress in 1834, 1836 and 1840. He was also mayor of Fall River in 1857 and an alderman from 1859 to 1865. He was four times married: first to Sarah Gray, second to Louisa Gray, third to Sarah G. Buffum, and fourth to Mrs. Lydia A. (Slade) Wilbur.
Simeon Borden, the eldest son of Hon. Nathaniel B. and Sarah (Gray) Borden, was of the eighth generation from Richard Borden, the original immigrant. He was the great-great grandson of Capt. Nathaniel Briggs; the great grandson of Col. Pardon Gray, an officer of the Revolution; a nephew of Simeon Borden, a foremost civil engineer and mathemati- cian; and a kinsman of Job Durfee and his son, Thomas Durfee, both chief justices of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. After attending the public school Mr. Borden prepared for college under that eminent instructor, Mr. Belden, of Fruit Hill, near Providence, R. I .; and in 1846 he entered Harvard, from which he was graduated with honor in 1850, being the first native of Fall River to graduate therefrom. Among his classmates were Charles Hale, editor of the Boston Adver- tiser, consul general to Egypt, and assistant secretary of state; Everett C. Banfield, assistant secretary of the treasury; Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Thayer, Bussey professor of sacred literature at Harvard and professor at Andover Theological Seminary; Hon. T. Jefferson Coolidge, U. S. minister to France; Hon. James C. Carter, of the New York bar; Gen. William A. Burt, postmaster of Boston; and a number of others who have won distinction in civil and professional life. On graduating from Harvard Mr. Borden entered the Cambridge Law School, from which he received the degree of LL. B. two years later. He then spent a year in the law office of William Brigham, of Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1853 and began active practice in Fall River.
The experience gained by long and faithful study, combined with a naturally judicial temperament, soon won for Mr. Borden the respect
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and esteem of both his fellow citizens and his legal associates. He was the associate counsel and prepared with great ability the case before the legislative committee defending the constitutional line, which sub- sequently became the present boundary line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He was also one of the counsel in the important Allen Mason will trial, which he prepared with remarkable skill and care. He was a member of the common council of Fall River two years and its president one year, a member of the board of aldermen for seven con- secutive years, city solicitor two years, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives two years, a trustee of the Fall River Free Library for seventeen years, one of the commissioners of the sinking fund, a trustee of the Fall River Savings Bank, a trustee of the Taun- ton Lunatic Hospital, and a member of the old fire department, being foreman of Niagara Engine Co. Upon the resignation of John S. Brayton as clerk of the Bristol courts in January, 1864, Mr. Borden was appointed by the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court to fill the vacancy until the annual election, when he was elected for the unex- pired term, and by repeated re elections he continued to hold that office until his death on the 9th of March, 1896.
Mr. Borden carried into the performance of public duties the same conscientious spirit and high standard which he exhibited in those of a private nature. He illustrated in civil life the very best New England examples. Possessing a sound legal training, his ability, fidelity, in- tegrity, and unfailing courtesy with which he discharged the arduous and exacting responsibilities of the office of clerk of the courts for nearly a generation, won the unstinted praise and approval of the judi- ciary, the bar, and all with whom he came in contact. He was justly called the model clerk, "and was without an equal in the Common- wealth." "His records, while elaborate, were simple and concise, and were expressed in clear, vigorous English. Beyond the required duties of his position, by his care and industry, the office has thirty bound volumes of exceptions and briefs of counsel in cases which have been argued before the Supreme Judical Court." He was largely instru- mental in establishing the valuable law library at Taunton. Among the resolutions adopted by the bar of Bristol county immediately after Mr. Borden's death, the following extracts are quoted :
" Devoted to the best traditions and loyal to the highest standards in the profession of the law, it was the lifelong purpose and constant effort of our friend and brother to uphold, in connection with the courts
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of the Commonwealth, the highest conception of professional honor and the noblest type of professional character.
"Always glad to welcome to the practice of the profession the young men at the opening of their careers, it was a delight to him to contrib- ute from the abundance of his knowledge and wisdom in order to make the pathway for them easier and pleasanter, asking for and thinking of no return for the help and assistance rendered other than the satisfac- tion which he derived in gratifying his own sympathetic nature."
He was a public spirited citizen, taking a deep interest in all worthy movements, and liberally supporting every charitable enterprise. In politics he was a strong anti-slavery advocate and a Republican. He was the first president of the Harvard Club in Fall River. Upon his death he was succeeded as clerk of the courts by his son, Simeon Bor- den, jr.
Simeon Borden, only son of Simeon and Irene (Hathaway) Borden, was born in Fall River, June 27, 1860. He attended the public schools of his native city and prepared for college in the high school, from which he was graduated in the class of 1878. The same year he en- tered Brown University and in 1882 was graduated with the degree, A. B. Shortly after graduation he became a clerk in his father's office, and continued in that capacity until 1888 when he was appointed assist- ant clerk of courts. He held this position at the time of Simeon Bor- den's death and was appointed to fill the vacancy until the next election. At this time he was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of clerk of courts and was elected by a large majority. He has many of the personal characteristics which endeared his father to all who enjoyed his sterling friendship, and is held in high esteem by all of those with whom, by virtue of his public position, he comes in contact.
CAPTAIN HERBERT A. CLARK.
CAPT. HERBERT ALLEN CLARK, of Attleborough, who holds the position of regimental quartermaster in the United States volunteer army, is the only surviving son of Samuel W. and Charity H. (Cushman) Clark, and was born in Middleboro, Mass., Feb. 22, 1859. He is descended from the earliest Puritan stock, his maternal ancestor being Robert Cushman, the financial agent of the Plymouth Colony, who joined the Pilgrims in New England in 1621. His paternal ancestor, John Clark,
Gabelman Ponto-Gravure Co
Herbert a. Clark
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came to Plymouth about 1623, and besides these Captain Clark is re- lated by ancestral ties to several of the prominent families of the Mas- sachusetts settlements, including that of Gov. William Bradford. His grandfathers, Abisha T. Clark and Elias Cushman, were both respected farmers of Middleborough, where his father, Samuel W., followed the occupation of carpenter and builder until his death in 1883, at the age of sixty-two. His mother, Charity H. Cushman Clark, still survives.
Captain Clark was educated in the Middleboro public and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1876. . On the 31st of January, 1877, he went to Attleborough, Bristol county, and entered the jewelry manu- factory of Horton, Angell & Co., with which firm he has ever since been connected. This widely known firm was established in 1870 by Edwin J. and Gideon M. Horton and Benjamin J. Angell, under the present style of Horton, Angell & Co., and from the first has been suc- cessfully engaged in the manufacture of men's and women's gold plated goods, such as cuff and collar buttons, sets, etc., from the first quality rolled-gold plate. It has gained a national reputation for the high standard and artistic workmanship of its product. As an apprentice during a period of a little more than three and one-half years Captain Clark thoroughly mastered every detail and acquired a practical knowl- edge of the business, and in the autumn of 1880 was made superinten- dent. He filled this position for several years, becoming a partner in the firm on the 1st of January, 1886. Edwin J. Horton had died and had been succeeded by Major Everett S. Horton, his brother, whose sketch appears in this volume; Mr. Angell and Gideon M. Horton died in 1886, but the firm name has remained unchanged, the present part- ners being Major E. S. Horton,-Capt. Herbert A. Clark, and Thomas S. Carpenter.
In politics Captain Clark is a staunch Republican, yet he has never sought nor accepted public office. He has, however, been somewhat active in local political affairs and is now (1898) a member of the Re- publican town committee of Attleborough. He is one of the most public spirited of citizens, taking a deep interest in all matters affecting the community at large, and liberally supporting every movement which promises reasonable benefit and general good. As a business man he has displayed ability and sagacity of a high order, and is a director of the Attleborough Savings and Loan Association and of the Attleborough Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
Captain Clark has been prominently and actively connected with mil- 90
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itary affairs during the past eleven years. He became a member and sergeant of Co. I, 5th Regt. M. V. M., at its organization in 1887, and was elected second lieutenant in 1889, first lieutenant in 1892, and cap- tain in 1895. In 1897 he was appointed inspector of rifle practice on the staff of Col. J. H. Whitney. The war between Spain and the United States brought him into the volunteer army as quartermaster of his regiment, which was mustered in as the 5th Mass. Vol. Inf., being ap- pointed quartermaster and mustered into service June 23, 1898. Cap- tain Clark is a thorough soldier, an excellent disciplinarian, and popular with his officers and men. He is a thirty second degree Mason, holding membership in Ezekiel Bates Lodge, King Hiram Chapter, and Attleborough Council, of Attleborough; in Bristol Commandery, K. T., of North Attleborough; in Aleppo Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston; and in the Scottish Rite bodies to and includ- ing the thirty-second degree, which were conferred upon him at Provi- dence, R. I., in 1896. He is also a member of Orient Lodge and Gideon M. Horton Encampment, I. O. O. F., and of Pennington Lodge, A. O. U. W., all of Attleborough. He is unmarried.
ABIEL CODDING.
ABIEL CODDING has been for many years one of the foremost business men of North Attleborough. He was born in Rehoboth, January 29, 1817, a son of Abiel and Chloe (Daggett) Codding. The family has been well represented in this vicinity for many years and members of it were among the first settlers of Taunton, Mass. James, one of the first of the name of whom there is any mention, was born in Taunton and was a farmer and soldier in the Continental army. He married Joanna Eddy, and their children were three: David, Abigail, who mar- ried Wheaton Barrows, and Abiel, who was born in Taunton, October 27, 1792. He removed to Attleborough when about fourteen years old and worked on a farm for Seneca Sanford, where he proved himself to be industrious, frugal and temperate. " He became a well-to-do farmer in this town (Attleborough), where he lived more than sixty-three years, leaving an example of industry and sobriety well worthy the imitation of the present generation." At the outbreak of the war of 1812 he was among the first to volunteer his services. He died Octo- ber 3, 1881, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. His wife was Chloe,
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daughter of Elihu Daggett, and thirteen children were born of their union.
Their third born was Abiel Codding, the subject of this sketch, and about a year after his birth they removed to a farm in East Attlebor- ough. Here Abiel Codding was reared, surrounded by the influences of a New England farm home and receiving the advantages afforded by the schools of that period. He early exhibited a natural aptitude for mechanics and at the age of sixteen entered the jewelry factory of H. M. Richards, with whom he remained three years. At the end of this period, when only nineteen years of age, he began a jewelry busi- ness of his own in association with Stephen Richardson. They con- tinued but a short time and Mr. Codding returned to his trade as a journeyman. He gave his whole mind to the details of his work and made many valuable improvements in the different kinds of tools used in the business. In the mean time his old employer, H. M. Richards, had established a plant in Philadelphia and Mr. Codding went there to take a position, but returned in a short time and entered the employ of Ira Richards & Co. In 1841 he became interested in this firm and so continued until it was dissolved -- over thirty years.
Few men attained a greater degree of success than he. In the first place he was naturally a mechanic, and secondly he had to a remarkable degree the power of application. He made many valuable improve- ments in the system of manufacturing and was granted many patents. Although now in his eighty-second year he is still a vigorous man, and well retains his faculties. He was a director of the Attleborough Na- tional Bank of North Attleborough; is president of the North Attle- borough Gaslight Company, of which he was one of the first directors; and president of the Attleborough Savings Bank of North Attlebor- ough. In the estimation of his fellow citizens no man stands higher than he.
Mr. Codding has always upheld the principles of the Democratic party, but takes no interest in political affairs and has never sought political preferment. He married, October 28, 1841, Ann Maria Rich- ards, daughter of Calvin and Olive (Blackinton) Richards, of Attle- borough. Five children were born to them; three sons, Arthur E., James A. and Edwin A,, all engaged in business in North Attleborough ; and two daughters, both deceased.
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HENRY H. CRAPO .- WILLIAM W. CRAPO.
Among the many citizens of New Bedford and Dartmouth who have achieved high honor and whose names are held in respect wherever they are known, are Henry H. Crapo, and his son, William W. Crapo. Born on a Dartmouth farm, from the sterile soil of which his parents could no more than wrest a livelihood, Henry H. Crapo showed his inborn attributes by closing his life in the highest office which the peo- ple of the State of Michigan could confer upon him. He was born in the northern part of Dartmouth on May 24, 1804, and his early years were full of toil. Boys in those times were made useful in some direc- tion at an earlier age than now. He probably developed manly qualities much more rapidly on account of his early labor and privation. With a native thirst for knowledge and perceiving that through the possession of an education he could rise above the circumstances that surrounded him, he made every sacrifice that would further his ambition. James B. Congdon records the fact that he has seen a dictionary in manuscript compiled (not copied) by him in his youth, and it is said that he fre- quently traveled the distance of eight miles from his home to New Bedford in order to learn the meaning of a word or phrase which had puzzled him. Unaided he made himself master of the theory of sur- veying and when there came the long-looked for opportunity to put his knowledge in practice he was not daunted by the fact that he had no compass, and going to a blacksmith shop, he fashioned a crude one for himself. Many other anecdotes are told of him, all of which bring into clear retrospection the great force of character and the native ability which he exhibited in surmounting unavoidable obstacles. In course of time he became competent to teach the village school and when a high school was to be opened he determined to apply for the principalship. He knew that the requirements of the law were rigid, and earnestly ap- plied himself to study in order to qualify for the position. J. H.W. Page, then, it is believed, a preceptor in the Friends' Academy, examined him and gave him a certificate of qualification. Mr. Page resided in New Bedford and to meet him the young student walked the distance one evening after his daily labor was finished, and when the thorough exam - ination was completed, trudged homeward the same night, happy in the possession of the coveted prize.
At the age of twenty-eight years he removed to New Bedford and became a land surveyor, sometimes acting as an auctioneer. He was
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soon elected town clerk, treasurer, and collector of taxes, and held these positions about fifteen years, or until the form of the municipal gov- ernment was changed, when he was elected treasurer and collector of taxes, holding the office two years. He was also police justice many years, served on the Board of Aldermen, was chairman of the council committee on junior education, and in this capacity personally prepared the report upon which was based the order for the establishment of the Free Public Library of New Bedford. Upon its organization he was chosen one of the first trustees. In this connection it may be noted that a local newspaper printed the following: "No man connected with the municipal government ever had to a greater extent than Mr. Crapo, the confidence of the people. He was exact and methodical in all matters of record; conscientious and laboriously persistent in the discharge of every duty; clear in his method and statements in all that appertained to his official transactions with the town and his towns- men, leaving at the close of his long connection with them, all that belonged to his department as a financial or recording officer so lumin- ous and complete that no error has ever been detected or improvement made upon his methods." In later life, after he had attained the ex- alted positions he was destined to occupy, Mr. Crapo often referred to the training he received in New Bedford civic meetings and offices, and averred that but for this he could not have succeeded in the loftier and more honorable offices which his fellow citizens of Michigan be- stowed upon him. While in New Bedford he was engaged to some extent in the whaling industry, a fine bark, of which he was part owner, being named in his honor, "The H. H. Crapo." He was president of the Bristol County Fire Insurance Compary, and secretary of the Bed- ford Commercial Insurance Company. He was an earnest worker in the State militia and for several years held a commission as colonel of one of the regiments. While an officer of the municipal government he compiled and published the directories of the place for 1836 and 1845. He organized the Horticultural Society of New Bedford and was its first president. In the cultivation of fruits and flowers he was actively interested, and as his position in life grew more secure, de- voted much attention to the cultivation of every kind of fruit and or- namental trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. At horticultura1 fairs in Boston and elsewhere he exhibited from his grounds one hundred and fifty varieties of pears of his own propagation, and one hundred and twenty varieties of roses. He became a regular contributor to the New Eng-
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land Horticultural Journal and gained a wide reputation as an authori- ty. After his removal to Michigan he came into possession of a farm of 1,100 acres, most of which he redeemed from swamp by a system of drainage perfected by himself. He engaged in breeding and importing fine blooded stock and in 1863 was elected president of the Genesee County Agricultural Society. During the late years of his life he be- came a regular contributor to the Country Gentleman, and after his death an affecting eulogy of himself was pronounced by the president of the National Horticultural Society at its meeting in Philadelphia in 1869. His removal to Michigan, which took place in 1856, was due primarily to investments in pine lands. He took up his residence in Flint city and engaged largely in the manufacture of lumber; inter- ested capital and built railroads, becoming one of the largest and most successful business men in the State. He at once took an active inter- est in the municipal affairs of Flint and was elected mayor after a resi- dence there of only five years. In 1862 he was elected a State senator to represent Genesee county and ranked with the leading men of Mich- igan in the war Senate. In 1864 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for governor and was elected by a large majority. He was re- elected in 1866, holding the office two terms and retiring in January, 1869. Governor Crapo's administration was remarkably efficient and especially characterized by his vetoing railway aid legislation and his firm refusal to pardon convicts, except upon overwhelming proof of their innocence or excessive sentence. During his last term he was attacked by the disease which terminated his life within one year. Few men would or could have withstood the intense suffering which he bore and still attended with unceasing zeal, energy and industry to the du- ties of his position. The press paid many tributes to his worth, the Detroit Tribune of July 24, 1869, closing an obituary notice as follows:
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