USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 55
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On the 21st of March, 1866, the oldest daughter of Mr. Galloupe, Sarah Kittredge Galloupe, was married to the Hon. Ellis W. Morton. and in May the entire family, including Mr. and Mrs. Morton, sailed for England and traveled extensively through Europe until August,
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1864, when they returned. Mr. Morton, after a most successful career as assistant United States district attorney, in which he was connected with Ilon. Richard H. Dana, was elected to the House of Representa- tives of the State Legislature, and afterwards to the Senate, where he served two terms. Being in ill health, he declined the nomination of representative to Congress, and died in Swampscott the 24th of Sep- tember, 1844, leaving an only son, Galloupe Morton.
In 1842 Mr. Galloupe associated himself with the old Trinity Church parish in Summer street, and, from the time of his connection, a warm and intimate friendship of the closest personal relation existed between the rector, Rev. Phillips Brooks, during the whole of the remainder of the life of the beloved pastor, terminating only with his death.
In March, 1812, it having been determined by a vote of the propri- etors " to remove Trinity Church, provided a sale of the property could be obtained and a satisfactory location agreed upon and land secured for a new church," a petition to the Legislature was granted, and in 1842 land was purchased in what is now Copley Square. A building committee was created, consisting of Wardens Geo. Dexter and Charles Henry Parker, and the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Hon. Martin Brim- mer, Charles R. Codman, John C. Ropes, John G. Cushing, Charles J. Morrill, Robert Treat Paine, jr., Stephen G. Deblois, treasurer, and W'm. P. Blake, secretary. In April Mr. Galloupe was added, and the whole management was placed by the General Building Committee in the hands of an executive building committee consisting of Warden Charles Henry Parker, Robert Treat Paine, jr., and Charles W. Gal- loupe, with full powers to execute the work.
From that time for the ensuing five years, until the completion of the church and its consecration on February 9, 1842, Mr. Galloupe's time and attention was devoted to the erection of the building.
In 1829 Mr. Galloupe's daughter, Wilhelmina, was united in marriage to Dr. Samuel J. Mixter, of Boston, and the young couple having de- cided to spend some time in Austria for the completion of Dr. Mixter's studies, Mr. Galloupe with his family joined them in 1880, and after spending a year in Vienna, he with the two families returned to America.
Mr. Galloupe resides in Boston in the winter, and his summer resi- dence in Swampscott is well known as " Galloupe's Point."
.A half century ago but few opportunities were presented to the modest inhabitants of the country towns of New England for amuse-
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ment or entertainment of any kind during the long and somewhat dreary months of winter. The only means (aside from the "singing school ") afforded the quiet people to break the monotony of the lonely evenings was by attendance on the Lyceum lectures. The " Lyceum " was a literary society or club composed of the well-to-do class of people, formed in most of the small towns for the purpose of establishing a course of weekly lectures for the winter season, the expenses of which, assumed by the society, were made so small that the managers were able to place it within the means of all to attend. The town, in its corporate capacity, usually co-operated with the " Lyceum " by allow- ing the use of its hall without expense. The institution fell gradually into decay and is now obsolete.
To give some idea of the workings of the Lyceum, it will not be amiss, and somewhat interesting, to give a slight account of one of the oldest, and, during its existence, one of the most noted, as that of Beverly cer- tainly was. The ordinary price of the tickets for the course of twelve lectures delivered weekly was one dollar.
The " Lyceum " in Beverly, having been suspended for want of suf- ficient encouragement, Mr. Galloupe, with two young friends, deter- mined if possible to resuscitate it and create a new interest which should exercise a beneficial influence in the town and give solid enjoy- ment to those who were inclined to patronize it; but it was not an easy matter to bring into vigorous life an institution which had nearly reached its end by simple inanition. The town very generously offered the use of the town hall for the mere expense of lighting it, and the young men undertook the task of bringing it again once more into popular favor. They assumed the responsibility of engaging lecturers sufficient in number to make up a programme for sixteen lectures and entertainments, agreeing among themselves to make good any deficit which might occur. It will be a matter of surprise to many in these days of high prices to learn that the price of the entire course was placed at thirty-seven and a half cents, making something less than two and a half cents for each lecture; and it will be still more surprising to learn, which was the fact, that the first course was opened by His Excellency, the Honorable John Quincy Adams, ex-president of the United States, and that he was followed by Henry Ward Beecher, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wendell Phillips, John Pierpoint, Professor Solger, Professor Guyot of Harvard College, and other lecturers of note, and that in the course were included one or more concerts by
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the Mendelssohn Quintette Club; and that notwithstanding these great, and what would now be extravagant attractions, during the three years that the Lyceum was continued, none of the three engaged in the management were assessed for more than twenty dollars. No lee- turer received more than ten dollars for his services, and as they were entertained gratuitously by either Mr. Galloupe, Mr. William Endicott, jr., or Mr. Charles S. Giddings, who were engaged in the enterprise, the entire additional expense of the lectures was included in the small traveling expenses and the slight cost of the hall.
About 450 tickets were sold at thirty-seven and a half cents cach, which provided a fund of about $263, and as the price paid to the lect- urer was limited to ten dollars ($160), more than a hundred dollars was left for the payment of incidentals. Probably no other such case exists in the country.
In 1852, before public libraries were so extensively known as they are at present, the same three young men, finding they were so suc- cessful in their first enterprise, determined that their native town should have a library which should benefit those whose means were so limited that reading must be furnished gratuitously, if at all. It was a serious undertaking to procure subscriptions in a town like Beverly to establish a library, but they determined to undertake it, and after a continued application for nearly three years, they procured a sufficient sum, in their estimation ($3,000), in sums varying from one hundred dollars to twenty-five cents, to warrant the purchase of books. They proposed to the selectmen to present the library to the town, provided a room should be fitted up in the town hall for the reception of the books, and that the town should take charge of and assume all the care and ex- pense of conducting the library. After a public meeting, it was so voted by the town, and the Beverly Public Library-one of the very best, as well as one of the very earliest, was established upon a firm founda- tion, and its usefulness at the present day may be appreciated by the fact that the library has been increased from 3,000 to 15,000 volumes, and the average number of books annually in circulation is now nearly 40,000. Many interesting incidents were connected with the procuring of subscriptions, one of which will be related. Beverly had, in its time, produced many prominent people who were no longer residents of the town, and they, with their descendants, were pertinaciously invited to join in the work. One noted millionaire of Boston, a native of the town, who was waited upon by two of the young men, ushered
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them into his gorgeously furnished library, where he was most warmly solicited to assist his native town by a liberal contribution to the ob- ject. He heard all that was presented very coolly and patiently, and after all had been said, he replied: "Young gentlemen, I do not ap- prove of your project, and have no sympathy with such an undertaking. 1 do not consider it proper that the working class of people should have advantages equal to those who have reached a higher position, and it is an injustice to me that 1 am unable, with all my wealth, to give my children a better education than the children of any laboring man may have gratuitously ; for it is a truth that no better education can be had, with all my means, than a poor child may obtain, without expense, in the public schools of Boston. I can give you nothing." The young men, who had fully relied upon a subscription that would far outlead all the others, left the house very much disheartened and disappointed.
JOHN WITT RANDALL.
JOHN WITT RANDALL, son of Dr. John (H. C. 1802) and Elizabeth Wells Randall, granddaughter of Samuel Adams, the great patriot of the Revolution, was born in Boston, Mass., November 6, 1813.
He received his preparatory education at the Boston Latin School in company with many who were afterwards his classmates in college, by whom his peculiar and marked originality of character is well re- membered. Though among them, he was not wholly of them, but seemed to have thoughts, pursuits and aspirations to which they were strangers.
This was also the case after he entered college, where his tastes de- veloped in a scientific direction, entomology being the branch to which he specially devoted himself, though heartily in sympathy with nature in her various aspects. The college did little at that time to encourage or aid such pursuits, but Mr. Randall pursued the quiet tenor of his way till he had a very fine collection of insects and an extensive and thorough knowledge on that and kindred subjects, while his taste for poetry and the belles-lettres was also highly cultivated.
He studied medicine after graduation, but his acquisitions as a naturalist were so well known and recognized that he received the honorable appointment of professor of zoology in the department of
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invertebrate animals in the South Sea Exploring Expedition (called Wilkes's), which the United States were fitting out aboutt that time.
We can all remember the wearisome delays and jealousies which occurred before the sailing of the expedition, which finally caused Mr. Randall to throw up his appointment. Since that time he has led a quiet and retired life, devoting himself to his favorite pursuits, adding to them also one of the most rare and original collections of engravings in this country. He has also devoted much time to the cultivation and improvement of an ancestral country seat at Stow, Mass., for the ancient trees of which he has an almost individual friendship.
An account of his life and experiences from Mr. Randall's own pen would have been interesting, as well as amusing and witty, for in these qualities he excels. In excusing himself from giving this, he writes as follows:
As for myself, my life having been wholly private, presents little that I care to communicate to others, or that others would care to know. I cannot even say for myself as much as was contained in Professor Teufelsdröek's epitaph on a famous huntsman, viz. : that in a long life he had killed no less than ten thousand foxes.
It might have been interesting in former days to have related adventures of my foot-journeys as a naturalist, amid scenes and objects then little known or wholly unknown, where the solitary backwoodsman and his family, sole occupants of a tract of boundless forest, were often so hospitable as to surrender their only bed to the stranger and huddle themselves together on the floor. But since Audubon published his travels, and railroads have penetrated everywhere, such accounts cease to be original, and indeed the people themselves have become everywhere homogeneous. Itineraries fill all the magazines, and natural curiosities little known forty years ago have become long since familiar to the public.
As for my present self, I will say no more than that for health's sake, to be much out of doors, I have been for a long time engaged in hydraulie, planting, building, and other improvements on my grounds, which ereate, it is true, pleasant occupation, but when compared with wild nature, so varied about me, 1 am impressed with the conviction how inferior are our artificial pleasures to those simple enjoyments of wood, water, air and sunshine which we unconsciously and inexpensively share with the innumerable creatures equally capable of enjoying them.
As to my literary works: if 1 except scientific papers on subjects long ago aban- doned, as one on Crustacea in the Transactions of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; two on Insects in the Transactions of the Boston Society of Natural History ; one manuscript volume on the Animals and Plants of Maine; Critical Notes on Etchers and Engravers, one volume; Classification of ditto, one volume, both in manuscript, incomplete, and not likely to be completed, together with essays and reviews in manuscript, not likely to be published-my doings reduce themselves to six volumes of poetic works, the first of which was issued in 1856 and reviewed shortly after in the North American, while the others, nearly or partially completed
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at the outbreak of the civil war, still lie unfinished among the many wrecks of Time, painful to most of us to look back upon, or reflect themselves on a future whose skies are still obscure. 1
JOHN C. HAYNES.
JOHN CUMMINGS HAYNES, son of John Dearborn and Eliza Walker (Stevens) Haynes, was born in Brighton (now a part of Boston), Mass., September 9, 1829. On his father's side he is a descendant, seven generations removed, of Samuel Haynes, a sturdy, thrifty farmer, who emigrated to America from Shropshire, England, in 1635, and settled at Strawberry Bank, now Portsmouth, N. H., where he helped organ- ize the First Congregational Church of the town and became its deacon. On his mother's side he is of Scotch-Irish descent from the Gilpatrick family, many of his relatives now living in and about Biddeford, Mc .. where the first settlement was made.
He was educated in the public schools of Boston, finishing with the English High School. In July, 1845, he entered the employ of the late Oliver Ditson, the celebrated music publisher, commencing as a boy of-all-work at the very foot of the ladder. lle quickly made himself useful to his employer, and at the age of twenty-one was given an interest in the business. January 1, 1854, Mr. Haynes became a part- ner, the firm becoming Oliver Ditson & Co.
The death of Oliver Ditson, in December, 1888, dissolved the firm and led to the formation of a corporation by the surviving partners (Mr. Haynes and Charles H. Ditson, son of Oliver Ditson) and the executors of the estate of Oliver Ditson, several of the most useful of the young men who had grown up with the business being admitted as stockholders. The corporation was organized under the laws of Mas- sachusetts, with Mr. Haynes as president. The headquarters are in the large building 453 to 463 Washington street, Boston, and the branch houses, all of them a part of the corporation, are as follows: John C. Haynes & Co., Boston: Charles H. Ditson & Co., New York : and J. E. Ditson & Co., Philadelphia.
When young Haynes began as a store boy in 1845, the business of the firm was done by the principal and two clerks, the music business
1 From " Class Memorial," prepared by Thomas Cushing, a classmate, for the class of 1834, Har- vard College.
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and musical culture of the country being comparatively in their infancy. As the country increased in population, wealth and culture, so did the publications of the house increase in number and quality, until at the present time its employees number several hundred, its sheet music publications are nearly one hundred thousand, and its music book pub- lieations about twenty-five hundred.
Mr. Haynes has also been interested and is noted for his large and successful real estate ventures, and owns many valuable estates that have materially added to the assessed valuation of the city of Boston. When a young man he assisted in organizing the Franklin Library Association, and his many years' connection with it, taking part in debates and literary exercises, was of great advantage to him in his carly training and culture.
He is a life member of the Mercantile Library Association, of the Young Men's Christian Union, of the Woman's Industrial Union, and the Aged Couples' Home Society; he is one of the trustees of the Franklin Savings Bank, a director in the Massachusetts Title Insurance Company, treasurer of the Free Religions Association, member of the Massachusetts Club, Home Market Club, Boston Merchants' Associ- ation, and is president of the Music Publishers' Association of the United States. He takes a lively interest in the investigation of re- ligions, social, political and scientific subjects, and for many years has been president of the Parker Memorial Science Class, which holds its services every Sunday during eight months of the year. He joined the Free Soil party when a young man, casting his first presidential vote in 1852 for John P. Hale, went with it into the Republican party, with which he is still identified.
lle was a member of the Boston Common Council four years, from 1862 to 1865 inclusive, and while there interested himself in securing the opening of the Public Library on Sundays. In early life, after having been for many years a scholar in one of Boston's Baptist Sun- day schools, he became interested in the preaching of Theodore Par- ker in 1848, and the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, which was organized " to give Theodore Parker a chance to be heard in Boston," serving for many years as chairman of the Standing Committee. Ile was active in the construction of the Parker Memorial Building, and largely instrumental in its transfer to the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches, Boston; the object of this transfer being to perpetuate the
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memory of Theodore Parker in practical, charitable, educational and religious work.
Mr. Haynes was one of the organizers of the Parker Fraternity of Boston, for many years a powerful social and religious society.
The "Parker Fraternity Course of Lectures" was inaugurated by the Parker Fraternity because of the exclusion of Mr. Parker largely from the lecture platform of Boston, and was sustained for nearly twenty years. They were remarkable for their influence in moulding and directing public opinion, especially during the war of the Rebellion, and the years of reconstruction immediately following. In the first course in 1858 Mr. Parker delivered his four celebrated lectures on Washington, Franklin, Adams and Jefferson.
Mr. Haynes of late years has been connected with the Church of Unity, of which Rev. Minot J. Savage is the minister.
Mr. Haynes was married in Boston by Theodore Parker, May 1, 1855, to Fanny, daughter of Rev. Charles and Francis (Seabury) Spear ; of this union were seven children: Alice Fanny (Mrs. M. Morton Holmes), Theodore Parker (deceased), Lizzie Gray (Mrs. O. Gordon Rankine), Jennie Eliza (Mrs. Fred (). Hurd), Cora Marie (Mrs. E. Ilarte Day), Mabel Stevens and Edith Margaret Haynes.
JOSEPH N. FISKE.
JOSEPH NORTON FISKE Was born in Wrentham, Mass., March 4, 1814, and was the eldest son of Josiah J. and Jerusha ( Norton) Fiske. He was of English descent, and his ancestry can be authentically traced from the opening period of the thirteenth century. As early as the eighth year of the reign of King John (A. D. 1208) we find the name of Dan- iel Fisc, of Laxfield, appended to a royal grant which confirmed a deed of land in Digniveton Park, made to the men of Laxfield by the Duke of Lorraine. This grant is in the public record office of London. Simon Fiske held land in Laxfield early in the fifteenth century, and was lord of the manor of Stodhaugh. There are in several churches monumental tablets and brasses bearing the arms of the family, which seems to have been prominent in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. Col. F. S. Fiske, of Boston, has in his possession an interesting copy of the " Confirmation of Arms and Grant of Crest from College of Arms,
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London, " issued to the Fiske family in 1635. Nathan Fiske, the first American ancestor, was among the earliest settlers of Watertown, and came from Weybread, county of Suffolk, England, in 1642. From him the line of descent to the subject of our sketch is as follows: Nathan? (born January 23, 16:1), Henry3 (born January 24, 1207), David' (born December 12, 1759), Josiah J., 5 Joseph N. 6
Hon. Josiah Jones Fiske, the father of our subject, was born in Stur- bridge, Mass., November 28, 1485. He was graduated at Brown Uni- versity, where he was a classmate and friend of William L. Marcy, some time governer of New York. After leaving college in 1808, he was for a short time preceptor of an academy in Maine; but soon de- termined upon the law as a profession, and studied first in the office of the late Nathaniel Searle, L.L. D., of Providence, and afterwards with Timothy Bigelow, esq., of Boston. He developed marked ability as a lawyer, and soon found himself in the enjoyment of an extensive prac- tice. His office at Wrentham became a favorite resort for students; perhaps few lawyers unconnected with the law schools have superin- tended the legal instruction of a greater number of young men. To strong powers of logic and analysis Mr. Fiske added quickness of perception and readiness in expression ; he had an energy of character, a perseverance in carrying out his plans which no obstacle could dis- courage, and if he had continued to devote himself exclusively to the law, there can be little doubt that he would have ranked among the most eminent in that profession. But he lived in the time when the great manufacturing interests of New England were just being founded. Early foreseeing their importance, he was tempted to devote to them much of his own energy, and during the latter years of his life his attention was given to manufactures almost exclusively. His own enterprises were located in his native town, Sturbridge, and the now flourishing village of Fiskdale commemorates his name. He laid the foundation of the Sturbridge cotton manufactures; his first mill was built in 1822, and in 1834 he built another larger mill, containing ten thousand spindles and two hundred looms. He was active, intelli- gent, strong; strong in character and influence, strong in mind and judgment, with that enterprise and public spirit which seeks not selfish ends alone, but labors for the good of all. In public affairs he was prominent ; possessing the well-won confidence of his fellow townsmen, he was often chosen to positions of honor and trust. He was State senator from 1823 to 1826, inclusive, a member of the Governer's Coun-
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eil in 1831 ; served on the first Board of Railroad Commissioners created by the State, and hell many minor positions. From 1823 to Is ?? he was aide-de-camp to Major General Crane, and took a deep interest in the Masonic order, for several years being district deputy grand mas- ter. Like most active men, Mr. Fiske was in advance of the general thought and sentiment of his time. Subsequent developments have proved the wisdom of many of his views for the improvement of the towns of Wrentham and Sturbridge, which maythen have been deemed unwise or impracticable. In his manners he was always kindly and genial, and this virtue was above all conspicuous in his home life. His wife, Jerusha, was the daughter of Dr. Jenekes Norton, of Wrentham, and Jerusha Ware. He died August 15, 1838, at Sturbridge, the place of his birth. Two of his brothers were also graduates of Brown Uni- versity.
Of the ten children of Josiah Jones Fiske, Josiah J. and George Jenckes were well known as members of the Boston firm of James M. Beebe & Co., contributing largely, by their skill and energy in the management of the business, to the great success of that firm. Josiah died unmarried in 1850. George died at Nice, in France, in 1868, leav- ing a widow, Frances Lothrop, the daughter of James MI. Beebe, a son, George Stanley, born in Paris in 1867, and a daughter, Esther Lothrop, born at Nice in 1868. Miss Elizabeth Stanley is now the only remain- ing child of Josiah J. Fiske.
It will be seen from the foregoing that our subject, Joseph N. Fiske, came from a distinctively New England family, and one whose record is eminently creditable. Mr. Fiske's boyhood was passed in his native town of Wrentham, where he received his early education at Day's Academy, then the most popular school for the preparation of boys for college in Massachusetts, At school young Fiske displayed umusual application and interest in his studies and made most gratifying prog- ress. He had at first intended to take a collegiate course, but developed a strong inclination for mercantile pursuits, which led him to abandon his original purpose. In 1833 he came to Boston and acquired his early business training and education in the counting-room of Shaw, Patter- son & Company, one of the large dry goods commission houses for which at that time Boston was noted. For five years he remained with this firm, and then became the confidential clerk in the banking-house of George B. Blake & Company. In 1841 he engaged in business for himself, but from 1844 to 1846 was obliged by ill health to remain in-
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