USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 66
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At the urgent request of his son, Mr. Lee retired from active busi- ness in 1810, and henceforth devoted himself to the more congenial pursuits of reading and writing, and to the study of the great questions
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of the day. He was succeeded, in the same store on India Wharf, by the firm of Bullard, Lee and Company, which consisted of Messrs. William S. Bullard, Henry Lee, jr., and Stephen H. Bullard. After more than a quarter of a century spent in honorable and peaceful re- tirement, and in the exercise of a genial and healthful influence upon all who knew him, he died on the 6th of February, 1862. In announe- ing the event of his death, the Boston Daily Advertiser said:
Mr. Henry Lee, who died at his residence in this city yesterday morning at the venerable age of eighty-five years, had been well known to our business community almost from the beginning of this century, and was highly respected for his attain- ments, his public spirit, and his many estimable personal qualities. In the prime of his life he was well known as a writer on financial topics, and it was his singular fortune in 1832 to receive the vote of South Carolina for vice-president of the United States on a ticket with John Floyd, for whom she voted for president. In the latter part of his life, until advanced age compelled him to withdraw his mind from the ex- citement of politics, we believe that Mr. Lee was a strong upholder of the ideas of Massachusetts. His death removes one of the most familiar names from the hon- ored list of our merchants of the old school.
It should be said that the vote given to Mr. Lee for the vice-presi- deney by the State of South Carolina was merely an expression of its gratitude for his opposition to high tariff legislation, and not because he had any sympathy with its attempt at nullification. The refer- ence of the Advertiser to his being a strong upholder of " the ideas of Massachusetts," meant, of course, that he gave his support to the prin- ciples of the Republican party, which were accepted by the majority of the people of the State during the war of the Rebellion and in the years that followed.
His simplicity, his cordiality, his eloquence in conversation (for noth- ing would have induced him to speak in public), his general informa- tion, contributed to place him in friendly relations with the whole community, and few men in private station have been more respected and beloved.
He married, June 16, 1809, Mary, youngest daughter of the Hon. Jonathan Jackson, by whom he had six children. His wife's brothers, Judge Charles and Doctor James Jackson, were eminent in their pro- fessions, and universally respected and beloved; her brother, Mr. Patrick Tracy Jackson, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Francis Cabot Lowell, after a brief career as East India merchants, founded at Waltham the first successful cotton cloth factory in Massachusetts, but never advocated permanent high duties, as did the Appletons, Lawrences,
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cte .. who became first the selling agents for and then stockholders in the factories.
The judicious estimate of his personal character and worth, given at his funeral by the Rev. Dr. Hedge, will help to make our sketch more complete :
Our friend, whose mortal remains we are about to commit to their final rest, has left an image in our memory which all who knew him in the days of his strength will delight to cherish.
I feel that I should be false to the spirit of his character, and do violence, especially to that modesty and simplicity, which seem to me its distinguishing characteristics, were 1 to expatiate concerning it in the way of eulogy.
But I cannot. in justice to myself, on this occasion, refrain from giving utterance to my own deep sense of his nobleness and worth.
Those who in years gone by were associated with him in the way of business will bear witness to the high principles and lofty integrity which governed his conduet in all commercial relations, and impelled him after repeated misfortunes to cancel obli- gations which the law could no longer exact, but which his own quick sense of honor made none the less binding.
1, who knew him only in the latter days of his retirement, can speak only of his qualities as they exhibited themselves in social intercourse. 1 esteemed it a privilege to converse with one whose pursuits and large experience of men and life had fur- nished his mind with such ample stores of thought and anecdote, and who had at his command such varied and exact information on topies of publie and national inter- est. 1 rarely left him without fechng myself enriched by his conversation.
But what most impressed and charmed me in his social character, as 1 recall it, was his perfect naturalness, his affluent humor, and a certain gaiety of spirit, found only, as I believe, in connection with great purity and innocence of heart and life. I have seen him at the age of nearly four score engaged in sports with young chil- dren as if himself were one of them, with entire abandonment of all false ideas of dignity and reserve. Ile seemed to me to retain in extreme age the playfulness and gentleness of a little child.
1 recall, moreover, with vivid satisfaction the high tone and generous strain of sentiments expressed by him on the great political question of the time in which 1 knew him, and I well remember the encouragement I derived from the patriotic zeal and prompt decision with which, at the breaking out of the war, the old man embraced the side of liberty and union.
His earthly existence was an acceptable offering, and when the sacrifice was done it was meet that the flame should goout. The incense of that sacrifice has ascended to heaven; to us remains the odor of a useful and honorable life.
Mr. Howells has preserved for all time, in one of his volumes, the memory of the Calcutta trade, with whose great development and gradual decline Mr. Henry Lee's active life was contemporaneous. The story is told by one who is supposed to have worked his way from the forecastle to the quarter-deck, and from the cabin to the counting-room ;
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" The place | India Wharf | was sacred to the shipping of the grandest commerce in the world. There they lay, those beautiful ships, clean as silver, every one of them, manned by honest Yankee crews. Not by ruffians from every quarter of the globe. There were gentlemen's sons before the mast, with their share in the venture, going out for the excitement of the thing, boys from Harvard, fellows of education and spirit ; and the forecastle was filled with good Toms and Jims and Joes from the Cape, chaps whose aunts you knew; good stock through and through, sound to the core. We had on a mixed cargo, and we might be going to trade with eastern ports on the way out. Nobody knew what market we should find in Calentta. It was pure adventure, and a calculation of chances, and it was a great school of character. It was a trade that made men as well as fortunes; it took thought and fore- thought. The owners planned their ventures like generals planning a campaign. They were not going to see us again for a year; they were not going to hear of us till we were signalled outside on our return."
It has been well said by a friendly critic of Mr. Howells: " This passage deserves a place in the best history of Boston that shall be written. for it perfectly pictures one of the great periods in Boston's commercial past, a period when the magnificent East India trade of the port laid the foundation for much of its present wealth and greatness. How strongly the difference between the broadening, cultivating effect upon those engaged in a trade which carried the mind out into remote parts of the world, and the restrictive effect of most of the mercantile occupations of to-day, is brought out. To be in the East India trade was almost a liberal education in itself."
JOSEPHI NICKERSON.
JOSEPH NICKERSON was a lineal descendant of William Nickerson who came from the County of Norfolk in England in April, 1631. He landed in Boston, but soon after purchased from the Indians a large traet of land in Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, and settled upon it. The grandfather of Joseph settled in Brewster, where the subject of this memoir was born March 3, 1804. He died in the same town February 28, 1880. He was the son of David and Priscilla (Snow) Nickerson. David Nick- erson was a ship master. He died at sea at a comparatively early age,
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leaving five sons, David, Joseph, Jonathan Snow, Frederic, and Thomas. All, except Thomas, went to sea and became ship masters. Frederic and Thomas became successful merchants and ship owners, and later in life became largely interested in railroads, Frederic was a director in the Union Pacific, and Thomas was president of the Atchison, To- peka and Santa Fé and Mexican Central Railroad Companies.
Joseph, the second son, was about twelve years old when his father died. Ile at once started as a cabin boy, and at the age of nineteen had won his way to the command of a full rigged ship. He soon be- came part owner of his ship and cargoes, and at the age of twenty-three retired with a fortune. He settled in Boston, and at some time in the thirties he with Captain Osborn Howes traveled in the West. They foresaw that a city would be built on Lake Michigan near where Chi- cago now is, and bought a large tract of land where they thought it would be located. The city came as they predicted, but unfortunately did not cover their land.
lle soon after engaged in business in Boston, and acquired very large interests in shipping. Ile also became a manufacturer, and owned mills for the manufacture of cotton. He was president of the Arling- ton Mills in Lawrence, owning at one time a majority of the stock. As his wealth increased he became interested in railroads, He aided in the construction of the railroads in lowa, which now form a part of the Northwestern system. He had a larger interest than any other man in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad Company, and it was mainly due to his courage and resources that the road was carried safely through a period of financial depression. Up to the last day of his life his business operations were carried on with full vigor. He was a man of strong character and convictions, self reliant and sagacious, lle was a born leader of men in large undertakings, and there were few, if any, whose judgment inspired wider or more profound confidence. His sympathies were deep, and he was most generous in aiding his friends in financial troubles. He was twice married. His first wife was Emi- line Winslow, and the second, who survives him, was Louise Winslow, daughter of Abraham Winslow, of Brewster. He left by his second wife two sons and two daughters. The elder, Albert Winslow, suc- ceeded him as president of the Arlington Mills and as director of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company. Albert Winslow died in 1893, and the younget son, George Augustus, a graduate of Har- vard College in the class of 1826. is now president of the Arlington
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Mills, and a director in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company.
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES.
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES, one of the country's great capitalists, and widely known as a man of strong and unsullied character, was born in Easton, Mass., June 8, 1835. He was the son of Oliver and Sarah Lo- throp Ames, his mother being the daughter of Hon. Howard Lothrop, of Easton, who had served in the Massachusetts Senate, and in other of- ficial positions, and sister of Hon. George Van Ness Lothrop, United States minister to Russia, during Cleveland's first administration.
At Bruton, in the shire of Somerset, England, was the ancestral home of the Ames family, and thenee, some fifteen years after the New Eng- land fathers set foot on Plymouth rock, William, the first one whose name appears in Massachusetts annals, removed to the settlement of Braintree.
The history of the Ames family forms an interesting chapter in the industrial annals of New England. The foundations of the family fortunes were laid about 123, when Capt. John Ames, great-grand- father of our subject, began the making of shovels in West Bridge- water. Captain John's son, Oliver, learned his trade at his father's forge, went to Easton, and in 1803 established the works, and firm, which have since attained world-wide reputation, under the name of Oliver Ames & Sons. Of Oliver's sons, the best known were Oakes. and Oliver, the latter being the father of Frederick L. Ames.
The first Oliver Ames, who gave his name to the shovel manufactory. never became practically interested in railroad affairs; in fact, within the period of his active career, railroad building had reached limits of comparatively small magnitude, and his mind and abilities were fully occupied with the enterprises which he had in hand. It was during the gold excitement in California, and a few years after, during the similar excitement in Australia, that Oliver Ames & Sons began to de- velop their great trade, which rapidly grew to large proportions. Later. the firm supplied immense quantities of shovels to the United States government during the civil war, and afterwards, through the sons, Oakes and Oliver, became interested in the building of the Union Pa- cifie Railroad. The full tide of the business success of these two broth-
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ers fell upon the exciting times incident to the first great railway de- velopment in this country. Large minded and vigorous, and possess- ing excellent judgment and clear-sightedness, they foresaw the ad- vantages that were likely to result to the country, and themselves, from just and judicious management of the rising interests, and accordingly threw themselves into railroad development with all the ardor and abil- ity for which their name had already become noted. Without them, and others like them, would never, in their day, have been forged the link that binds east and west in bonds that shall never more be sev- ered.
In the decade between isto and 1880, both died, -Oakes, the elder, in 1843, and Oliver, the younger, in 18 ;..
Frederick L. Ames received his early education at Concord, Mass. He was prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and was graduated from Harvard University in 1854. In recent years, and at the time of his death, he served as fellow and trustee of that institu- tion. In his youth he had a strong fancy for the law, but, in accord- ance with his father's wishes, he went into business, beginning as a clerk in the office of Oliver Ames & Sons at North Easton, and secur- ing promotions from grade to grade, according to the rules which pre- vailed in the establishment. After several years' labor as a subordi- nate, he was placed in charge of the accountant's department; here he exhibited marked business ability, and solely by his industry and apti- tude won advancement. He was in his twenty-eighth year when, in 1863. by the death of his grandfather, he became a member of the firm. In 18;6, before his father's death. the firm was reorganized under the title of Oliver Ames & Sons Corporation. Frederick L. Ames, treasurer. Soon after he succeeded his father as the official, and actual head, of that great manufacturing concern.
But it was not exactly in the path that his father had marked out for him that he became most famous. When his father died he was already a rich man, by reason of the great success that had attended his indi- vidual enterprises in the business world. He had invested as liber- ally as he could afford in western railroads, and while he was still comparatively a young man, he was a director in the Union Pacific. the Chicago and Northwestern, the Missouri Pacific, and Texas Pacific roads, and had gradually diverted his interests from manufacturing to railroads.
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While he retained his interest in the North Easton factory of his an- cestors, being treasurer of the corporation at the time of his death, it was in the larger field of railroad enterprises that he distinguished him- self, and has left a name conspicuous among the foremost men of the railroad world. Being a judge of the value, quality, resources and pos- sibilities of railway property, he was considered an adviser almost un- equaled in such matters. Universally conceded to have been one of the best informed men in railroad business in the country, he was vice- president of the Old Colony Railroad Company, a director in the Old Colony Steamboat Company, and held directorships in about half a hun- dred other railroad companies, including the following: Atchison, Col- orado & Pacific; Atchison, Jewell Company & Western ; Boulder Valley & Central City Wagon Road; Carbon Cut-Off Company; Central Branch Union Pacific: Chicago & Northwestern ; Colorado Western ; Denver, Leadville & Gunnison ; Denver, Union & Terminal; Echo & Park City; Fall River, Warren & Providence; Fitchburg; Fort Worth & Denver City ; Gray's Peak ; Snake River & Leadville; Golden Boulder & Cari- bou; Junction City & Fort Kearney; Kansas Central; Kansas City & Omaha; Laramie, North Park & Pacific Railroad & Telegraph Com- pany ; Lawrence & Emporia; Leavenworth; Topeka & Southwestern ; Loveland Pass Mining & Railroad Tunnel; Manhattan, Alma & Bur- lington ; Montana; Montana Union; North Park & Grand River Val- ley Railroad & Telegraph Company; Omaha & Elkhorn Valley; Ore- gon Railway & Navigation Company; Oregon Railway & Extension Company; Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern; Providence, Warren & Bristol: St. Joseph & Grand Isle; Salina & South Weston; Solo- mon; Union Pacific; Union Pacific, Lincoln & Colorado; Union Pa- cific, Denver & Gulf; Washington & Idaho; Walla Walla & Colorado River.
Besides his official connections with railroads, Mr. Ames's remark- able business energies found employment in other fields. He was president of the First National Bank of North Easton, president of the North Easton Savings Bank, and of the Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Ele- vator Company, and a director in the New England Trust Company, the Old Colony Trust Company, the Bay State Trust Company, the American Loan and Trust Company, the Mercantile Trust Company of New York, General Electric Company, Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, and others.
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In the business world Mr. Ames was not regarded as a speculator, his operations being always undertaken from practical standpoints. His judgment was clear, cool and sound, unmoved by mere hope, en- thusiasm or excitement of any kind, leading him straight to the mark. He was neither elated by success, nor depressed by failure, but kept an even temper amid the distractions of a most active business life. Associated in the closest relations with some of the most noted busi- ness characters in the country, his shrewdness and sound judgment en- abled him to work with them as their equal in enterprise and ability to manage, when legitimate operations were in question, while his probity, and strict integrity, rendered him proof against any doubtful enterprises or compromising combinations. He had all the Ames method in busi- ness operations, neglecting no details which ought to occupy his atten- tion, untiring and methodical in business habits, energetic to the last degree, forgetting nothing, and forsaking nothing, on the ground of lack of necessity for personal action.
Thus far we have considered Mr. Ames only as an able and eminent business man, but he was much more than that. His was a strong and cultivated intellect, a self-poised, self-respecting, vigorous character. He was a refined gentleman, who was at once courteous and dignified, a man conversant with, and interested in, all the great questions of the day, with decided literary and intellectual tastes, a lover of the beauti- ful in nature and in art. Not only in business matters, but upon the many other subjects to which he turned his attention, his judgment was remarkably clear and sound, always commanding attention and re- spect.
For years past he had been warmly devoted to the welfare of Harvard University. Through his liberality the Arnold Arboretum and the Bo- tanical Department of the university, in which he was especially inter- ested, have been able to greatly extend their usefulness.
In early life his profound love of nature, which he enjoyed to the last, turned him to horticulture, in which he became deeply engaged. Mr. Ames was one of the most liberal patrons of horticulture America has produced, and his collection of orchids was a great source of pride to every one interested in the progress of the art in which he found his principal pleasure. This great collection, begun many years ago, has gradually grown and improved until it surpasses all other collections of these plants in America, and in number, variety and condition has not a superior. Mr. Ames's love of nature was real and profound, and
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his exact and comprehensive knowledge of the plants in which he was particularly interested, has given him an international reputation among orchidologists, and many rare orchids have been named for him. His ambition and success in establishing this noted collection, sur- rounded in his glasshouses in North Easton by much of rare horticult- ural beauty, and in great variety, has resulted in having the fame for this work credited not alone to Mr. Ames and his own State, but also to our nation. Honor to the man whose work brings honor to his country.
For nearly thirty years Mr. Ames was an active member of the Mas- sachusetts Horticultural Society ; he had long been one of its vice-presi- dents, and as a member of the finance committee rendered it valuable service.
His country home in North Easton is one of the most extensive and beautiful estates in New England. His large greenhouses have been a public benefit and delight, as they have been freely opened, not only to the residents of North Easton, who took great pride in them, but also to visitors from far and near.
His interest in rural arts and in rural economy was deep and active, and he was for many years a trustee of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture.
Mr. Ames was intensely a New Englander, and had an abiding faith in the future of Boston, where his wealth had been invested to a de- gree that made him the city's largest owner of real estate. Here, also, it was, that as a client of Richardson, he exercised a marked influence for improvement upon the business architecture of the city, such as probably no other individual has yet exerted. In the great tower-like Ames building, at the corner of Washington and Court streets, de- signed by Richardson's successors, Mr. Ames leaves a substantial monu- ment, in the form of one of the most beautiful, and original examples of the gigantic office structures, that characterize our leading American cities.
But loyalty to his native town and village was one of his marked characteristics, and it was manifest in the beautiful architectural addi- tions he made to the place. With his mother and sister he largely in- creased the bequest left by his father to build, equip and endow a pub- lic library, and, employing Richardson as architect, he erected one of the most beautiful library buildings in the country. His gate-lodge, at the north entrance of his grounds, built of moss covered stones of
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irregular shape, is exceedingly unique and interesting. This and the beautiful railroad station which Mr. Ames erected at his own expense for the adornment of the village, are also worthy memorials of Rich- ardson's genius.
Mr. Ames was a liberal patron of the fine arts, and showed unusual discrimination in the selection of his purchases. In his winter home in Boston, he had a superb collection of paintings, tapestries, jades and crystals, among the latter, the largest known. He owned some of the finest examples of Millet, Rosseau, Troyon, Dias, Daubigny and Corot, and many other important paintings, notably two very fine por- traits by Rembrandt, dated 1632, of undoubted genuineness, and great value.
In polities Mr. Ames was originally a Whig, but later became a Re- publican. He never, however, cherished political aspirations, and his tastes disinclined him to seek positions that would bring him into pub- lic notice. Much against his will he was elected to the State Senate in 18:2. The nomination had been made in his absence, and without his knowledge. He served during his term ou the committee on manufact- ures, and agriculture. In religious life he was a devoted Unitarian, and took an active part in the affairs of the church at North Easton. and of the First Unitarian Church of Boston, and he was one of the most generous givers to denominational objects.
He was a liberal contributor to charitable enterprises, and person- ally devoted much time and money to worthy objects. He was presi- dent of the Home for Incurables, and a trustee of the Children's Hos- pital, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and of the MeLean In- sane Asylum. He was also deeply concerned in the work of the Kin- dergarten for the Blind.
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