USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 59
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SUFFOLK COUNTY.
Quixotic editorial management had conducted the concern. Mr. Bowles was succeeded as managing editor by Mr. Joseph B. Morss, who put into its columns many years of solid and effective work. The war for the Union came, and the price of the paper was advanced to four cents, and later to five cents a copy. The Traveller showed great enterprise in the collection and publication of war news, and, in common with all the other wide-awake newspapers of that period, made rapid strides in circulation in consequence. Mr. Reuben Crooke followed Mr. Morss as managing editor of the paper, under Mr. Worthington's direction. An indefatigable worker, a ready and well-informed writer, and a man who carried his conscience into all his editorial labors, Mr. Crooke well sus- tained the Traveller's reputation as a champion of sturdy Republicanism in politics, and kept it on the right side in all the moral reform move- ments of the time. He still remains with the paper.
The Traveller, under Mr. Worthington's direction, showed remark- able foresight in discussing political situations. It seems to have divined, as if by intuition, the safe and the sagacious course for its party to take, and its counsels, not always taken, have been well-nigh invariably verified by the events. In 1860 it was the first paper to suggest, as the successor of Governor Banks, the man who became the great war governor of the Commonwealth. When Governor Talbot's declination to accept a renomination in 1879 necessitated the choice of a new standard bearer against the formidable candidacy of General Butler, the Traveller brought forward the name of Honorable John D. Long. Against the united and strenuous opposition of the other Re- publican dailies of Boston, it urged Mr. Long's nomination upon the Convention, and he was nominated and elected. In 1882 it warned its party against the nomination of Mr. Bishop, and urged the selection of Mr. Crapo as the opponent that year of General Butler. The party disregarded its advice, and went to defeat as it had presaged. In 1883 again, against every other Republican paper in Boston, it insisted that Honorable George I). Robinson was the wisest nomination that could be made against Governor Butler, basing its argument on the claim, which it repeated over and over again, that necessarily Governor Butler must be met on the stump and talked down before the people, and that Mr. Robinson was emphatically the man for that service. The party came near to making another nomination, but at the eleventh hour the Traveller's advice was taken, Mr. Robinson was nominated, and in the campaign which followed Governor Butler was beaten-exactly as the
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Traveller had said he would be-by Mr. Robinson's contest with him on the stump. In the larger field of national polities the paper has shown the same intelligence and insight. A strong and consistent ex- ponent of the radical or stalwart type of Republicanism, it, nevertheless, counseled the party with great earnestness against the continuance of the faction fight precipitated in 1880-81 between the Grant-Conkling and Blaine-Garfield wings. Again and again it foretold the national overthrow of Republicanism if the fend was kept up. When the Chi- cago convention was about to meet in June, 1885, the Traveller ap- pealed most earnestly to the New England delegates to join the Arthur column early and secure the defeat of Mr. Blaine, whose candidacy it plainly intimated would, in its belief, be perilous to the party at the polls. Over and over again it warned the Massachusetts delegation that the Edmunds movement was farcical, because it had no chance of success, and recorded its opinion that if it was persisted in Mr. Blaine's nomination would be seenred on the second or third ballot at the latest. In all these forecasts the Traveller proved to be absolutely cor- rect. The Edmunds movement proved to be utterly barren of result, Mr. Blaine was nominated on the second ballot as the direct result of the action of Massachusetts, and in the end, as it had feared, Mr. Blaine and the party suffered national defeat. This is a remarkable record of political far-sightedness, and the credit of it belongs to Mr. Worthing- ton, who, at all the turning-points of affairs, laid down its course and inspired its utterances, A keen and close observer of the current of public affairs, with a strong faculty for perceiving the practical points in a political situation, his judgment gave the paper this singular pre- eminence as a sound and safe political guide. Although writing but little himself, he was a very ready and correct critic of good writing, and always drew around him, by an instinctive appreciation of literary talent, an editorial corps of capable and accomplished writers. Always a warm admirer of Honorable Chester A. Arthur, he sturdily champi- oned him against the hostile criticism of the so-called half-breed presses at the time of his nomination for the vice-presidency. When President Garfield's death was announced, Wr. Worthington promptly undertook to correct the prejudice created against the new president in the public mind by the same presses, and the Traveller's predictions of a conserv- ative, capable and patriotic administration by Mr. Arthur were abun- dantly realized in the three years which followed. Without solicitation President Arthur tendered to Mr. Worthington the office of collector of
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the Port of Boston in April, 1882. A bitter opposition was made to his confirmation by Senator Hoar, purely on political grounds, but the ap- pointment was confirmed by a very large majority, and even those who then opposed it now concede that he proved a most efficient collector, that he conducted the business of the office with an eye single to the service of the government and the business community which had to do with the Custom House, and never allowed partisan considerations to interfere with the management of the large force of employees under his orders. It is doubtful, indeed, if true civil service reform was ever carried out more perfectly in any government office in the country than at the Boston Custom House under Collector Worthington. He served as collector until December 1, 1885, after which he continued to direct the publication of the Traveller until May 1, 1890, when he sold the paper and has since devoted his time and energies solely to the man- agement of his private affairs.
AARON W. SPENCER.
AARON W. SPENCER was born in Springfield, Windsor county, Vt., January 17, 1823, where his ancestors had long been residents. His father was Guy Spencer and his mother Mary Warner, of Acworth, N. H. He received a common school education, and was graduated at Chester Academy, Chester, Vt. Mr. Spencer came to Boston in 1842, beginning his business career as messenger boy with Messrs. J. W. Clark & Co., bankers and brokers, whose place of business was in the Globe Bank Building at the corner of State street and Wilson's lane. The building has been demolished by the extension of Devon- shire street, into which Wilson's lane has been merged. Mr. Spencer was admitted to partnership in the firm of J. W. Clark & Co. in 1850, and retired in 1856 to establish the banking-house of Spencer, Vila & Co., retiring from this firm and from active business in 1867. In 1853 Mr. Spencer married Miss Josephine Vila, of Roxbury. The firm of Spencer, Vila & Co. did a large business while Mr. Spencer was at the head of the house, and during the war for a considerable period they were the exclusive agents of the Treasury Department for the sale of government securities in the New England States, their sales aggregat- ing hundreds of millions. They probably had the largest southern and
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western correspondence of any banking-house in Boston. Mr. Spencer joined the Boston Stock Exchange, which was then known as the Bos- ton Board of Brokers, in 1850. He was president of the Exchange for the years 1860, '61 and '62, and at that time was one of the largest operators connected with the Exchange. Mr. Spencer's second term as president of the Exchange was for the years 1889, '90 and '91, when he retired, declining re-election. The house of J. W. Clark & Co. was one of the first to become interested in the then undeveloped mineral districts of North Michigan, even before the old "Cliff " and " Min- nesota " mines, now obsolete, began to pay dividends. In this con- nection Mr. Spencer frequently visited Lake Superior and passed over the sections which now comprise the Calumet and Hecla, Tama- rack and Osceola mines, then covered by the primeval forest, with no more indication of the great mineral wealth beneath the surface than has Boston Common at the present day. Mr. Spencer has been con- nected with the mining interests of Lake Superior from that time, and retains large interests in the leading producing mines. Since his re- tirement from business Mr. Spencer has taken no prominent part in the transactions of the Exchange, although he continues his connection with it and is a daily attendant at its sessions. His only son, Alfred Warner Spencer, a graduate of Harvard, died in 1886; his only sur- viving child is Mrs. Frederick Lewis Fay. Mr. Spencer's residence since 1853 has been on Columbia street of the Dorchester District of Boston, where he owns one of the most attractive estates in the vicinity, com- prising nearly twenty acres, on which the most perfectly rural condi- tions have been maintained, including the stone walls built a hundred years ago and shaded by oaks of more than a century's growth. Mr. Spencer is a member of the Algonquin, Temple, Athletic, Suffolk, Art and Country clubs.
GEN. FRANCIS A. OSBORN.
GEN. FRANCIS AUGUSTUS OSBORN was born in Danvers, now Pea- body, Mass,, September 22, 1833, and is the eldest son of Augustus K. and Mary (Shove) Osborn, ancestors of whom settled in New England in 1645. His early education was gained at his place of birth. In 1845 he came to Boston, and from that time until he graduated in 1849 he attended the Boston Public Latin School. He began his business
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career with W. Ropes & Co., Russian merchants, remaining in their employ as clerk for six years. For five years thereafter he engaged in the ship chandlery business. In the mean time he had become a mem- ber of the State militia, and when the civil war began he was an officer in the New England Guards. Upon its organization into a battalion of two companies he was commissioned captain of the original company April 19, 1861. A few days later the battalion was sent to Fort Inde- pendence to do garrison duty, where it remained for a month. At the expiration of this time it returned to Boston, when Major Thomas G. Stevenson, of the battalion, and Captain Osborn offered their services to Governor John A. Andrew and were soon after commissioned col- onel and lieutenant-colonel respectively of the Twenty-fourth Massa- chusetts Volunteers. The first service of this regiment wasin Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, taking part in the battles of Roanoke Island and Newbern, and several other minor engagements. Lieuten- ant-colonel Osborn, who had been in command of the regiment since the middle of March, was promoted to the colonelcy on December 28, 1862, after which the regiment served in the Department of the South, participating in the sieges of Fort Wagner and Fort Sumter, doing reg- ular duty in the trenches for several months. On August 26, 1863, the regiment made, under Colonel Osborn, an assault upon the enemy's riffe-pits in front of Fort Wagner and captured them, taking prisoners nearly the whole occupying force. This was a brilliant and valuable victory, especially noteworthy, as three previous assaults upon these rifle-pits by other regiments had been repulsed. The importance of the work came from the fact that the enemy, by holding these rific-pits, which were in a strong position, had been able to check completely the advance of the engineering against Fort Wagner. After the victory of Colonel Osborn's regiment, work was at once resumed, and speedily resulted in the capture of the fort. In the spring of 1864 the regiment was sent with the Army of the James to join the operations around Richmond and before Petersburg, being there actively engaged during the summer and fall of 1864. During this service Colonel Osborn was slightly wounded in the neck by a spent ball. On November 14, 1864, he was mustered out of service, and for gallantry was brevetted brigadier-general, the original appointment being dated October 28, 1864. Upon his return to Boston he was for a time cashier of Blake Brothers & Co., bankers. On March 19, 1867, he was appointed naval officer for the district of Boston and Charlestown, and served for two
BIOGRAPHIES.
years. He then went into the stock brokerage business, having been previously elected a member of the Boston Stock Exchange. On Jan- uary 1, 1844, he became treasurer of the Corbin Banking Company of New York and Boston. In May, 1883, he sold out his interest and soon after resigned as treasurer. In November, 1883, he organized the Eastern Banking Company, becoming its president, a position he still holds. He has been a director of the Tremont National Bank since January, 1876, and was the original treasurer of the New England Mortgage Security Company, having been elected in April, 1875, but on June 14, 1839, resigned on account of pressing business, but is still, however, a director. For 1865, 1868 and 1869 he was a member of the City Council, and for the last named year was Department Commander of the Department of Massachusetts, G. A. R. He was one of the original charter members of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and was first commander of that commandery, being succeeded by General Devens. Beyond the interests already mentioned General Osborn has been active in many other directions. He has been a trustee of varions land asso- ciations; for many years has been largely interested in real estate, and was a member of the first Board of Directors of the Real Estate Ex- change and Auction Board, and its president from March, 1891, to March, 1892, when he declined re-election. He was largely instru- mental in the organization of the Citizens' Association in December, 1884, and was its first president, serving for four years and then declin- ing a re-election. In June, 1886, he was appointed civil service com- missioner by Governor Robinson, and for three years served as chair- man of the board, but the condition of his private business cansed him to decline reappointment to office by Governor Ames. General Osborn has been twice married, first to Miss Mary M. Mears, and of this union was born one daughter; and second to Miss Emily T. Bouvé; of this union have been born four children -- two daughters and two sons.
JOHN BREWSTER.
IN the commercial and financial history of Boston John Brewster was for many years an important factor. He was born in Wolfborough, N. H., December 14, 1812. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk in
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a general hardware store at Rochester, N. H. Two years later he filled a similar position in a hardware store in Dover in the same State, where he remained for five years. He then, in 1835, came to Boston and began a business career on his own account, embarking in the dry goods trade as a member of the firm of Williams & Brewster. A short time thereafter the firm of Brewster, Cushman & Bancroft was formed, their business quarters at first being located at 44 and 46 Hanover street and afterwards at 63 and 65 Water street.
After several years of highly successful business, Mr. Brewster, in 1851, retired from the dry goods trade, and with Charles A. Sweet established the banking house of Brewster, Sweet & Co., at 16 State street, but later at 40 State street. In 1844 Mr. Sweet retired, when the firm name was changed to Brewster, Basset & Co., at which time it was composed of Mr. Brewster, William Basset, Henry E. Cobb and Arthur F. Estabrook. In 1883 the firm was again reorganized under the firm name of Brewster, Cobb & Estabrook, the new members being Charles E. Eddy, C. II. Watson, Arthur L. Sweetser and Frank B. Bemis.
Mr. Brewster's suecess as a banker was conspicuously noteworthy. At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, his firm being one of the leading banking establishments of Boston, became the agent of the United States government, and placed many millions of government bonds upon the market. It also figured largely in many of the large financial operations which have made Boston famous in financial circles throughout the world. As a business man Mr. Brewster possessed abilities of a high order. Ile inspired confidence in any enterprise in which he enlisted, and by the uniform success which attended his undertakings, surrounded himself by a wide cirele of friends who largely relied upon his judgment in matters of a financial nature. He was a man of genial and generous nature and one whose sympathies were easily aroused and never appealed to without ready response. With no taste for public life or political honors, he devoted his energies to the more genial pursuits of a strictly business career, in which he achieved by laudable means a well deserved place among the conspicn- ously successful business men of Boston. He died suddenly at his home in Cambridge, Mass., January 13, 1886. His large fortune, after amply providing for his son and relatives, he bequeathed to en- dow the Brewster Free School and Academy of his native town. Wolf- borough.
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CHARLES W. PARKER.
CHARLES WALLINGFORD PARKER, the senior member of the firm of Macullar, Parker & Co., was born in Framingham, Mass., June 2 ;. 1831, and is a son of Charles and Mary Hildreth (Wallingford) Parker. The first of the family in America was Thomas Parker, who, in 1635, at the age of thirty, came to this country from England in the vessel Susan and Ellen, and settled first in Lynn, but subsequently removed to Reading, where his son Hannaniah was born and lived until his death. John, a son of the latter, removed to Lexington in 1:12. A son of the last named, also named John, settled in Framingham in 1236, and from that time to the present this town has contained representa- tives of the family. Peter, the great-grandfather, and Josiah, the grandfather of our subject, were both born and died in Framingham, re- siding on a farm which for more than one hundred and fifty years was in the possession of the family. Upon this estate, also the home of his father, the carly life of our subject was passed. His education, al- though confined to the district school and Framingham Academy, was thorough and beyond the advantages enjoyed by the average farmer's son of that time. At the age of sixteen he began his business career in a retail clothing house in Worcester, in which Addison Macullar and George B. Williams were salesmen. Two years later, March 1, 1849, Addison Macullar opened a similar store on his own account, and young Parker entered his employ as store boy, salesman and book-keeper, in fact was the only employee. About 1850 George B. Williams became associated with Mr. Macullar as partner. under the firm name of Macullar, Williams & Co., and in 1852 the firm established a house in Boston on North street for the manufacture of clothing, but retained their Worcester retail store. Upon the opening of the Boston branch, Mr. Parker came here as book-keeper for the firm. Two years later they removed from North street to No. 41 Milk street, and in IS5: they established a retail store in the old Washington Coffee House, just south of where the Transcript office now stands, being one of the first retail stores of any consequence in that locality. The immediate and large business which was developed soon demanded larger quarters, and the whole estate from Washington to Hawley streets was secured. In 1860 another removal was made to 192 Washington street, at which time Mr. Parker was admitted to the firm, the name being changed to Macullar, Williams & Parker, In 1864 they removed to 200, now 100
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Washington street, into a new store built for them by the trustees of the Joshua Sears estate. This was destroyed in the great fire of 1822, and the present larger and finer structure was completed in 1844. In 1880 their quarters were enlarged by the addition of the adjoining store, 398 Washington street. These buildings extend through to Haw- ley street, a distance of 225 feet, and are five stories in height, giving a total floor space of about two acres. Mr. Williams retired from the firm in 1849, and the firm name became Macullar, Parker & Company. Mr. Macullar died March 11, 1893, thus terminating a business associa- tion with Mr. Parker which covered a period of forty-six years, which was remarkable not only for its length but also for the unbroken har- mony, mutual esteem and sincere affection which existed between them.
The house of Macullar, Parker & Company has long occupied a lead- ing position in its special line in New England, both in the character and the extent of its business operations, representing in its history. from the pioneer period, all the changes and developments in an in- dustry which now constitutes the most important manufacturing pur- suit in Boston. Of late years the control and management of the busi- ness have developed upon Mr. Parker, and the high degree of success attained is due to his superior business qualifications. He is a man of careful judgment and a high order of executive ability-attainments well known and thoroughly appreciated in the business community with which he has been so long and prominently identified. Of broad and liberal views, he has found time in an active business career to keep fully abreast of advancing thought in many avenues of knowledge, and is much interested in letters and art. He has traveled extensively, not only in his own but foreign lands, which to one of his keen and discriminating mind has been a source not only of pleasure, but the means of acquiring wide and general information.
Mr. Parker was married in Chelsea, November 30, 1854, to Miss Mary J., daughter of Charles E. and Ann (Iluse) Schoff. They have had five children: Mary, Charles S., Herman, Allston (deceased), and Ross Parker.
HENRY C. JACKSON.
HENRY CLAY JACKSON, for many years one of the most prominent figures in Boston's commercial affairs, was born in what was formerly
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known as North Bridgewater, Mass., but is now the city of Brockton, April 19, 1838, and is a son of Ephraim and Lney (Wilde) Jackson. Ilis early education was received in the public schools of his native town and later supplemented by a period of instruction at the Adel- phian Academy, at that time a well known local institution. Equipped with a practical education and naturally ambitious, young Jackson at the age of seventeen came to Boston. Here he began his business career in the dry goods house of William F. Brett & Bro., then located in Federal street. He remained with this concern until 1861, when he entered the employ of Josiah Caldwell & Co., engaged in a similar line of trade, with whom he continued until the beginning of 1863. His experience in the business up to this time had been varied and general in character, and his natural business aptitude, his energy and keen comprehension of the requirements and possibilities of the trade, had not escaped attention. About this time the firm of Pierce, Stearns & AAdams, successors of the old dry goods house of Pierce, Howe & Co., was undergoing reorganization, which resulted in the formation of a new firm under the name of Jackson, Mandell & Daniell. With the inauguration of this firm came a radical change in the general charac- ter and manner of conducting the business, with the purpose of making it more especially a New England house. To assist in the accomplish- ment of this idea Henry C. Jackson was invited to link his fortunes with the new firm, and from that time until his retirement from the firm- a period of twenty-nine years-he devoted all of his great energies un- reservedly to its interest. From the beginning marked success attended the firm, year by year, adding not only to the extent of their trade, but gaining prestige and reputation for solidity and reliability unsurpassed by any house in Boston. It became a large importer of foreign goods, and in special lines of a dry goods jobbing trade became one of the best known concerns in the United States. So well were the affairs of the house managed, and upon such firm basis had it become established, that although one of the heaviest losers in the great fire of 1842, it was so strong financially that not a minute's delay was occasioned in meet- ing every obligation, and within a few days new quarters were secured and its business was moving along as usual, having met the unusual strain without having asked a single favor or the extension of a dollar of obligation. So strikingly was its strength shown in this catastrophe, which overwhelmed so many, that it excited widespread comment and universal admiration. The spirit and energy exhibited by this firm at
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