USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
One of the special features of the house has always been direct importations of the finest qualities of foreign merchandise. Its managers send to the farthest corners of the earth for goods, and many of these orders go out without limit as regards price, they believing that this is the only way to be sure of securing the best quality, and they will have no other. One house in Bordeaux has been furnishing the firm with the highest grades of wines for nearly fifty years. The great advantage to the cus- tomer from direct importation is that the firm stands directly between the producer and the consumer, and the charges of middlemen are thus redneed to the very small- est minimum. The extent of this importing business is simply marvelous. There is but one house in New England that pays as much money in duties at the custom- house, and that single exception does a commission business, and imports anything that anybody may want. The importing done by S. S. Pierce & Co. is confined largely to fancy groceries, cigars, wines and perfumery. The duty on cigars is very heavy, and counts up fast. The same high integrity which has characterized the dealing of the firm with its customers prevails in its business with the government.
For twenty years there has not been even a question as to any invoice, and its statement as to values has always been accepted as correct. The changes which are constantly going on in the taste of the people, and the introduction of new articles of diet, have produced quite a revolution in the importing business. Before the day of gelatine Russian isinglass was used exclusively in the manufacture of jellies, and it cost at one time as high as eighteen dollars a pound. Once the firm was compelled to send into the interior of Russia for its supply, which had to be carted in dog sleds through the great forests of that country to a seaboard town for shipment to this
603
BIOGRAPHIES.
country. That business is now at an end. At one time so little oatmeal was con- sumed in New England that all the stoek needed to supply the demand for gruel was kept in a drawer no larger than is used for spices. Now the firm imports Irish oat- meal in lots of twenty tons, and that raised in this country is bought by the carload.
One of the best evidences that can be offered of the confidence which the com- munity has in the honesty and fair dealing of the firm, and of the success which the present managers have had in upholding in every way the high standard set by the founder of the house, is the retention, through three generations, of the patronage of the families who were its first customers. The name of John II. Rogers is to be found on the books of the firm as early as October 28, 1831, and his account was con - tinned until his death, some time ago. Edward Austin, who opened an account a few days later, is still a customer. The firm of French & Emmons began buying goods of the firm on November 18, 1931, and one of the partners is still a patron of the house. John Codman has been a continuous customer since February 1, 1832; Horatio Hammond, who was recently buried with military honors at Bermuda, made his first purchase of the firm on January 18, 1833. Then there are the descendants of Thomas Lamb, John Codman, John Reed, B. W. Crowninshield, Samuel Q. Coch- ran, and many others, who are continuing in the footsteps of their ancestors, first made as far back as 1832.
The firm has successfully resisted the strong temptation and tendency in the gro- cery trade to buy cheaper goods, which are said to be just as good as the higher- priced articles. AAnd this recalls a remark made by one of its most distinguished and oldest customers, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. A gentleman told him he had found a place where he could buy groceries cheaper than they could be obtained at S. S. Pierce's. "I can't afford to buy anything cheaper than what they sell," rephed the doctor. The increase of business has been steady every year since the firm was es- tablished. All through the years of panic and depression, and even when prices were at the highest, business was best. So that at the present time it is eight times larger than it was twenty years ago. Besides the great retail store on the original site (erected in 1883), the firm owns the immense Pierce Building, in Copley Square (erected in 1887), in which a branch retail business is conducted, while the wholesale business and the storage of the bulk of stock have been concentrated in the new building at the head of Central Wharf, next to the Chamber of Commerce (erected in 1×91.)
THOMAS NICKERSON.
THOMAS NICKERSON was a native of Brewster, Mass., a member of the widely connected family of that name, who have inhabited that part of Massachusetts for generations. He was born in 1810, the youngest of five brothers, all left fatherless and almost penniless in their youth. From Cape Cod they came to Boston, where Joseph, the eldest, and Thomas became well known in railroad circles. The former,
604
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume, was once the largest shareholder in the Atchison and New Mexico railroads, and was always the staunch friend of these enterprises. Frederick, another brother, was at his death a director of the Union Pacific Company. All of these brothers were evidently possessed of superior business quali- ties, as their success shows. From poverty they all came to wealth by their own industry and effort.
Mr. Nickerson, after some reverses in his early store-keeping, formed a partnership with Pliny Nickerson for the ownership and management of vessels. The firm of Nickerson & Company was for thirty years one of the best houses in the city. Its fleet was once the largest in the United States. Anticipating the decline in maritime commerce, Mr. Nickerson retired from the firm about twenty-five years ago, to give his attention to railroading, in which he had become largely interested. Although he had been prominently identified with the shipping inter- ests and had been highly successful in this line of business, it was his subsequent connection with railroads that most thoroughly brought out and illustrated his remarkable business ability.
The Atchison Railroad came into the hands of Eastern parties in 1820. In the fall of the same year Mr. Nickerson was elected one of the trustees of the Land Grant Bonds, and in that capacity, in connec- tion with a committee from the Board of Directors, composed of Mr. Emmons Raymond and Mr. Alden Spcare, reappraised all of the lands which would come to the railroad company, and by such reappraisal saved to the company more than two millions of dollars.
In May, 18;1, Mr. Nickerson was elected a director of, the Atchison road. In May, 1873, vice-president. The road had been completed early in the year 18:3 and a certificate of acceptance had gone to Wash- ington ; but the road, except the first one hundred miles, was without business or connection beyond the western line of the State, with the exception of two feeble stage lines, one to Santa Fé and the other to Pueblo. For the year previous the Atchison company, in order to sc- cure money, had been obliged to secure the endorsement of the direc- tors of the road on its paper. It soon became apparent that the road could not pay the interest on its bonds, and a scheme was drawn up looking to extension of a portion of its coupons. In this, the then president, Henry Strong, did not sympathize, but preferred that the road should go into the hands of a receiver. Mr. Nickerson, on the other hand, was fully determined that the road should not go into the
605
BIOGRAPHIES.
hands of a receiver, and that the funding scheme of the coupons should be carried through. This, notwithstanding the opposition of the presi- dent, with the hearty co-operation of the other directors of the road, Mr. Nickerson, by his prompt and able management, was able to ac- complish, and many of the oldest directors and friends of the road be- lieve that this one aet of Mr. Nickerson's was not only manifestly for the advantage of the road, but for all parties who had any interests in Western enterprises, and to him, more than to any other person, should be given the credit of its successful accomplishment.
In May, 1814, he was elected president of the road, and when he retired five years later, eight hundred miles of road had been built, and in such a healthy condition were its affairs that the first bonds were worth 120, second mortgage bonds sold at par, and the stock at 110.
Mr. Nickerson, while president of the Atchison road, was selected as the man best adapted to harmonize the New York and Boston parties in the Atlantic and Pacific road. The directory of this company was made up of representatives in equal numbers of the Atchison and St. Louis and San Francisco companies. Ten million dollars were immedi- ately subscribed, and its bonds were marketed at a premium, when the Mexican Central Company was organized to build from El Paso to the capital, 1, 100 to 1,200 miles, and unanimously elected Mr. Nicker- son president, which position he most ably filled until August 1, 1884. Besides these railroad enterprises he was interested in numerous minor projects of similar character in many parts of the country.
As a railroad projector and manager he was remarkably successful, but so quietly and modestly did he go about his work that the world at large knew comparatively little of him. Only his intimate associates and those brought within elose contact with him fully appreciated his strong and vigorous personality. The world has been told often and much about most of the leading railroad projectors of the country, but the extreme modesty of Mr. Nickerson prevented any reference to him- self, except in reports of meetings of his various companies. It was always a peculiar feature of his character to keep out of sight, at least out of public gaze. He was always a plain, hard working man, and while at the time of his retirement from business, when he had proba- bly as great and substantial a financial following as any man in the country, he was less known to the publie than a score of others far less deserving of mention.
606
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
Mr. Nickerson resided for many years in Boston, but during the latter years of his life resided at Newton Centre. He was connected with the Baptist Church ; had been superintendent of a Sunday-school, and took a leading part in missionary and benevolent society eireles. He was a liberal giver, and contributed largely to mission and home charities. He took an interest, but not an active part in politics, although he was at one time a member of the Legislature from Boston, and held several positions of public trust.
Personally, Mr. Nickerson was of a genial and hospitable nature. He was as simple in his tastes as a New England farmer, but denied himself no comfort or luxury. Any extravagance in business or on his farm displeased him. While he had but little time for social pleasure, he was fond of company, and was a generous host. He was in many respects what we are pleased to call in America, "a self-made man " in the best sense of the term. Ile first had to build himself, and hav- ing laid a good foundation and builded carefully, he was strong him- self and a tower of strength to others. Men do not fail to find merit where it exists, and the eminent qualities of his heart and head have been recognized and honored by his associates.
He died at Newton Centre, July 21, 1891, leaving three children : Theodore, his only son, who was associated with his father in some of his railroad projects; Mrs. T. L. Rogers and Mrs. Edward 11. Mason, all of whom lived near their father's residence. Mr. Nickerson's wife died just one year prior to his death, and from that shock he never fully recovered.
GEORGE C. LORD.
GEORGE C. LORD, son of George and Olive (Jefferds) Lord, was born in Kennebunk, Me., February 22, 1823. He was descended from Nathan Lord, who came from England in 1636 and settled in Kittery, Me. Until he was sixteen years of age he attended the public schools of his native town, and in 1839 came to Boston and entered as clerk the store of Holbrook, Carter & Co., a dry goods house on Kilby street. After remaining there about four years he became in 1843, at the age of twenty, a partner in the firm of Damon & Howe, wholesale grocers, on Long Wharf. Though still a young man, he displayed a special
607
BIOGRAPHIES.
aptitude for business, and with a character of which integrity, industry and intelligence were the ingredients, he successfully crossed the threshold of a career in which he became one of the substantial and respected merchants of Boston. In 1817 he formed with his brother, Charles Il. Lord, the firm of George C. Lord & Co., which for many years was largely engaged in the shipping business and built and man- aged a fleet of ships and barks which found their way into the waters of every sea. Before the outbreak of the war they built the following vessels, a list of which has an interest as showing what at that time must have been the amount of Boston capital invested in navigation, when so large a tonnage was launched and managed by a single firm :
Name. Tonnage.
Built at.
Name.
Tonnage. Built at.
Ship Crimea
899, Kennebunk
Ship Ruthven
903, Kennebunk
Ship Wm. Lord, jr.
1,21%,
Ship Charles H. Lord
939,
Ship Ina Russell
1,153.
Ship Wales.
791, Bath
Ship H. M. Hayes
1,370,
Ship Kearsage
1,000, Newburyp't
Ship Regulator
968.
Ship Arracan
819, E. Boston
Ship International
1,003,
Bark Union
666, Kennebunk
Ship Waban.
706,
Bark Henry Ware.
Ship G. W. Bourne
663.
Bark Bennington.
Ship Ophelia.
596,
..
Bark Holyoke.
Ship Otonoco
..
Bark Hesper
6-10.
Ship Josephus
These vessels sailed largely under charters, though occasionally loaded wholly or in part on the owners' account, and their flags were familiar objects in the ports of Liverpool, New Orleans, San Francisco, Cadiz, Valparaiso, Calcutta, China and Australia. Their captains belonged to the aristocracy of the ocean, and included such navigators as William Kelley, William Chatfield, Isaac Smith, Tobias Lord, David Brown, Hiram Newcomb, John H. and Hiram Perkins, C. B. Williams, Edgar Paine, John Wallace, John C. Lord, W. H. Harding, G. M. Edwards, Wm. B. Nason, John W. Barker, A. N. Williams, C. Thomas, Capt. Seavey, William Williams and Noah Mason.
At the decline of navigation during the war many of these vessels were sold in London to British owners, and Mr. Lord gradually with- drew from active business on his own account. The firm of George (. Lord & Co., however, continued with Charles 11. Lord, a brother of George C. Lord, Robert W. Lord, a son, and Charles W. Lord as its members, until the death of Charles 11. Lord in 1892, when the firm was dissolved.
608
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
About 1865 Mr. Lord was chosen president of the New England Mutual Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and until 1881 devoted himself to its service. This company under the presidency of Mr. Lord rapidly increased its business, and when he retired from its con- trol it had become one of the strongest in New England. Associated with him in its management as directors were some of the leading capitalists and ablest business men in Boston, among them being Henry L. Richardson, John Gardner, J. Cushing Edmands, Isaac Taylor, Ezra H. Baker, Alpheus Hardy, Osborn Howes and Jacob W. Seaver.
In 1866 he was made a director in the Boston and Maine Railroad, in 1880 vice-president, and in 1881 president, at that time resigning his position as president of the insurance company. In 1889 he resigned, having seen during his presidency the business of the road multiplied seven times. At the time of his death he was a director of the Second National Bank of Boston, the Boston Safety Deposit Company, the American Loan and Trust Company, the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad, the York Harbor and Beach Railroad, and the Newton and Watertown Gas Light Company.
Mr. Lord married September 23, 1846, Marion Ruthven, daughter of Robert Waterston, the head of the large and well known dry goods house of Waterston, Pray & Co., and sister of Rev. Robert C. Waters- ton, of Boston. In 1849 he became a resident in Newton, and until his death felt a deep interest in the welfare of that town, assisting in the formation and aiding in the support of the Free Library; and especially earnest and liberal as a member of the Channing Unitarian Church. Ile died at his home in Newton February 23, 1893. No man received, or deserved, a larger share of the respect of the community in which he lived. He belonged to that class which in these days of speculation is unfortunately not enlarging, from which the testator selects an exec- ntor or trustee, and contending parties seck a referee. His good sense, his love of justice, his untainted integrity, his fearless independence, were traits which his fellows carly discovered and did not fail to make use of.
The various corporations with which Mr. Lord was connected adopted at his death resolutions eulogizing his worth. The directors of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company placed upon the records of the company, among other tributes to his memory, the following:
609
BIOGRAPHIES.
Mr. Lord was remarkable for the calmness and correctness of his judgments. No matter how momentous the questions at issue, or how disturbing the conditions sur- rounding them, he was always cool and deliberate; his conclusions were based upon correct reasoning, and were never controlled, or even influenced, by the excitement of the moment.
lle was by nature kind to all and considerate of the feelings of others, generous with his advice, his active assistance and his means to all causes that benefit man- kind. These qualities he showed with such a naturalness and freedom from ostenta- tion, that it was apparent he was unconscious of his unselfishness, and that he per- formed these aets of kindness without thinking that he was doing in any way differ- ently from what every one else would do.
BENJAMIN S. ROTCH.
BENJAMIN S. RoreH was born in Philadelphia, March 4, 1812. Hc belonged to a family distinguished in several generations for commer- cial enterprise and success, for intelligence and refinement, and their engaging social qualities. To his great-grandfather, William Rotch, of Nantucket, belongs the distinction of being one of the prominent founders of the prosperity of New Bedford, and being the first to estab- lish our whale fisheries in Europe. It was from one of his ships (the his- toric Dartmouth) that the tea was emptied into Boston harbor, a some- what curious coincidence, as it was from another of his vessels that the American flag was first unfurled in the River Thames. Of such an- cestry Mr. Rotch was a fitting representative. From them he inherited a character of uncommon strength and beauty. From the beginning he lived up to the family traditions, and his whole life was the embodi- ment of the finer elements of the race to which he belonged.
After a thorough preparatory course, he entered Harvard College, from which he was graduated with honor in 1838, being marshal of the class which numbered among its members Lowell, Eustis, Devens, Story, and many other well-known men. He never lost his interest in the college, but was always alive to its well being, watching with jealous thoughtfulness the new measures, which from time to time were introduced there, and ready to render any service that he might, offi- cially or otherwise, in departments where his own attainments fitted him to be particularly useful.
Ile began life as a merchant in New Bedford, but had no especial fondness for the laborious and common place routine of mercantile pur-
77
610
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
suits. Soon abandoning a field of activity uncongenial to his tastes and inclinations, he turned his attention toward manufacturing, and in carly life did much to promote the industries of New Bedford. With his brother, William, he founded the New Bedford Cordage Company, which still remains a monument of his energy and ability. Later on he was one of the first to discover and develop the value of the MeKay sewing machine, which has since won a world wide reputation.
Mr. Rotch was married in 1846 to the eldest daughter of the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, and accompanied the latter to England when he was appointed minister at the Court of St. James. It was during this and subsequent visits to Europe that he had the opportunity to improve and cultivate that interest in the fine arts which rendered his influence most valuable in this community. Gifted with a refined taste and sensi- tive feeling for form and color, his careful study of foreign collections, supplemented by practical work, made him a competent and fastidious critic, as well as a painter, whose landscapes have been shown to ad- vantage in our local exhibitions. He was keenly alive to the impossi- bility of suddenly producing in a strictly commercial community works of art of the highest excellence, yet he was ever ready with a kind word and generous hand to help forward its cause. Many a struggling artist will remember gratefully the timely help which was so unostentatiously and freely given. For several years before his death he gave much thought to the question, of how he could best advance the interest of art in this country, and decided that architecture, in which he had edu- cated his eldest son, was the branch which most needed encourage ment, it being the art whose development in a new country naturally preceded the less practical ones of painting and sculpture. His sud- den death came before his plans were matured, and it became a pious duty for his heirs, two sons and two daughters, to carry out his inten- tions. It was decided to found, as a memorial, a traveling scholarship for students of architecture. The high degree of success which has at- tended this the first traveling scholarship in this country, has inspired a number of similar foundations, so that its good influence has extended far beyond its owns beneficiaries. It has been a decided factor in guid- ing and helping on the movement among us for a truer appreciation of art, and for a larger development and better training of our native ar- tistic talent.
Unobtrusive and retiring in disposition, Mr. Rotch had no desire for political or official prominence, but he nevertheless exerted marked in-
611
BIOGRAPHIES.
fluence in the community, and in private, and in many ways worked for the good of society. His good judgment made him a wise counselor, and his unswerving and fearless regard for truth and justice made him often a champion of those who had none other to befriend them. His critical judgment was constantly appealed to in all artistic matters, and for many years he served most acceptably as trustee of the Athenaeum and of the Museum of Fine Arts. He also for many years was a trus- tee of the Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, the Perkins Institute for the Blind, and an overseer of Harvard College, while for eight years he served as aid on the staff of Governor Briggs, with the rank of colonel.
During the period of the late civil war Mr. Roteh, a strong Republi- ean, was prevented from going into active service by imperative duties to his sick wife, but he gave his ardent energy and lavishly of his wealth to help the Union cause. At the time when Charles Sumner was practically ostracized by the aristocratie set in Boston, Mr. Roteh's home was always open to the senator, and a life long friendship was deepened under these trials.
Mr. Rotch was a member of the leading social and artists' clubs of Boston, but enjoyed especially the refined atmosphere of the Wednes- day and Thursday Evening Clubs. In the closer relations of life he was a delightful companion, yet so retiring and sensitive was his nature that the privilege of his intimate friendship was extended to but a few, but by those who were so fortunate as to have shared it he will be long remembered. His interest in agriculture found expression in his farm in Milton, to which he was one of the first to import rare Alderneys and Jerseys. For several years he was an active member of the Massachu- setts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, and took a lively inter- ests in its deliberations. Ile was a religious minded man, careful to fulfill his duties in the church to which he belonged, being at the time of his death the senior warden of Emanuel Church.
Mr. Rotch died suddenly at his summer house in Milton, August 19, 1882, and is survived by two sons and three daughters. His wife died in 1893.
RICHARD SULLIVAN FAY.
MR. FAY was born in Cambridge, Mass .. June 15. 1806, and was the son of Hon. Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay, judge of probate in Middle-
612
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
sex county. He was educated in the schools of that town, and entered Harvard College in 18221, being graduated in 1825 with good distinc- tions as a scholar. Among his classmates were Charles Francis Adams, Rev. Frederick H. Hedge, Rev. S. K. Lothrop, John L. Sibley, Sears C. Walker, and many others who distinguished themselves by useful and honorable service. At the close of his college career he entered upon the study of law at the law school in Northampton when that in- stitution held a high place under the direction of some of the most brilliant lawyers in the Commonwealth. He established himself in business in Boston in connection with Jonathan Chapman, who became a leader at the Suffolk bar, and mayor of the city of Boston.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.