USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 65
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mean time Mr. Lewis and Prof. Robinson developed the automatic clinch machine, which has proven a great success as a sole fastener. The manufacture and sale of these two valuable patents have not, how- ever, completely engrossed Mr. Lewis's time and attention. He is president of the Shoe Lasting Machine Company of New York, which owns and controls in all foreign countries the Chase Lasting Machine -- a leading machine in its line. He is also interested in several other machines well known and generally used in the shoe industry.
Mr. Lewis has borne an important and well recognized part in the present advanced condition of the boot and shoe industry caused by mechanical appliances. He is a man of great inventive ingenuity, of excellent business qualifications, and both from a personal standpoint as well as in results beneficent to the interests with which he is so largely identified, has been highly successful. He is a member of the Park Street Church, the Art Club, Congregational Club and Apollo Club of Boston; the Aphelion Club of Winthrop, and the John A. Andrew Post 15, G. A. R.
Mr. Lewis resides at Winthrop, where he is chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and has taken an active part in public affairs and the material progress of the town. He is a Republican in politics, but while a strong adherent of his party's principles and policies, has been too closely devoted to his large and constantly increasing business con- nections to take part in political life.
M. M. CUNNIFF.
MICHAEL MATTHEW CUNNIFF, son of Michael and Ellen (Kennedy) Cunniff, was born in Boscommon, Ireland, in 1850, his parents coming to Boston when he was three months old. His elementary education was obtained in the Boston public schools, supplemented by a course of commercial training in the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College, Boston. His business career was commenced in Boston in the wine and spirit trade with his brother Bernard. He subsequently retired from that line to enter a general banking and brokerage business, principally in the handling of gas securities and real estate. He has also been identified with the West End Street Railway, the Charles River Enbankment Company, and other land and railroad improve-
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ments in Boston and vicinity. For many years he has been an active force in State and city political affairs. He was chairman of the Democratic City Committee for two years, chairman of the executive branch of the Democratic State Committee two years, and has been a member of the State Committee for fifteen years. He was a member of the executive council of Governor Ames in 1888, and was renomi- nated, but declined the honor for 1889. He is a director in the Me- chanics' National Bank of Boston, having taken a prominent part in its reorganization ; also a trustee in the Union Institution for Savings, Bos- ton; a director in the Bay State Gas Company; is one of the foremost capitalists in the organization of the Boston Gas Syndicate, and is largely interested in the gas business. He is also a member of several local yacht clubs, always having taken a lively interest in yachting matters; is a prominent member of the Suffolk Club, and of the Char- itable Irish Society of Boston. He was chief ranger in the Independent Order of Foresters and is a member of the Protective Order of Elks, and an honorary member of the Kearsarge Veterans.
Mr. Cunniff possesses excellent business qualifications and has been highly successful in all of his undertakings. He is an ardent Demo- crat and has been earnest in his support of the principles and candidates of his party. Naturally a leader and organizer, his services are eagerly sought, and the victories of his party in city and State owe much to his skillful generalship. Loyalty to his friends is one of the cardinal traits of his character and the secret of his popularity. Mr. Cunniff was married in Boston, June 30, 1890, to Miss Josephine MeLaughlin, daughter of the late Francis Mclaughlin, one of Boston's leading mer- chants and manufacturers. Two children, Michael M., jr., and Joseph- ine, have been born to them.
JOHN C. SPOFFORD.
JOHN C. SPOFFORD, one of the leading architects of Boston, was born in the town of Webster, Me., November 25, 1854, where his early life was spent on a farm. His father was Phineas M. Spofford, a ship carpenter and farmer of more than local repute. The first rudiments of the carpenter and mason trade, which have been of such incalculable service to him in his extensive building operations since, were obtained
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from his uncle, Calvin Spofford, who still resides in Webster. On the paternal side he is descended from John and Elizabeth (Scott) Spof- ford, who came from Yorkshire, England, and in 1638 settled at what is now Georgetown, Mass. On the maternal side he is also connected with the Wentworth family, being a lineal descendant of John Went- worth, who held by Queen Anne's appointment the lieutenant-govern- orship of the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1430. Captain John Wentworth, the grandson of Governor Wentworth, and great- great-great-grandfather of our subject, fought on the "Plains of Abraham" at the battle of Quebec and was one of those brave men who helped to carry the gallant Wolfe to the rock, beside which he died. Foster Wentworth, the son of Captain Wentworth, entered the Revolutionary Army at the age of seventeen as waiter for his father. He died at the advanced age of ninety-nine years, and is distinctly remembered by Mr. Spofford, who was seven years old at the time of his death.
Young Spofford early evinced a taste for the calling in which he is now so successfully engaged. While attending the district school he practiced drawing and attained to quite a degree of proficiency even at this early age. He supplemented the district school with several terms at Monmouth Academy and the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill. While prosecuting his studies at these institutions he taught in district schools for several terms, and with such acceptance that he was chosen a member of the School Committee in his native town, where he did valuable service in the cause of education. Later on in 1876-7 he served as principal of Smith's Business College in Lewiston, Me.
Having early evinced a liking for architecture, Mr. Spofford in 1879 determined to adopt it as a profession. With this end in view he in the year named entered the office of H. J. Preston, a well known Boston architect, where he began in earnest the practical study of architecture. In February, 1881, he engaged as a draughtsman with Messrs. Sturgis and Brigham, then one of Boston's leading firms of architects. Under his engagement with this firm he had charge of many important public and private buildings. Among the number may be mentioned the beautiful residence of H. H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Company of New York city, and the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company's building, State street, Boston. In 1887 he entered into co- partnership with Willard M. Bacon, under the firm name of Spofford & Bacon, but the partnership only extended one year, when Mr. Spofford
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united with Charles Brigham, his former employer, and formed the firm of Brigham & Spofford. While this copartnership continued, Mr. Spofford obtained many large and valuable contracts for the firm, among them being the alteration and enlargement of the Capitol buildings of Maine and Massachusetts. The contest for the former work was a most bitter one. A large number of architects were banded together to defeat the enterprising young man who proposed to rebuild the Capi- tol in his native State, but he showed the committee such a comprehen- sive, simple and practical plan for the work in hand, at such a low fig- ure, that they decided in spite of outside pressure to award him the contract. He is entitled to no little credit for the part he bore in this memorable struggle and for the victory he won against great odds. The conflict for the Maine State House only sharpened his zeal to win the contract on the Massachusetts Capitol. Here he met the same opposi- tion, but was armed with an unanswerable argument in the shape of the most complete set of plans and specifications for the work shown to the legislative committee, and after long and deliberate consideration his firm again bore off the banner.
Of other important work, of which Mr. Spofford had charge during his partnership with Mr. Brigham, might be mentioned the Lewiston City Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind in New Eng- land; the Memorial Hall of Belfast, Me .; the beautiful Presbyterian Church at Roxbury, Mass. ; the Asylum for Inebriates and Dipsomaniacs at Foxboro, Mass .; and the magnificent residence of J. Manchester Haynes (which was recently burned), of Augusta, Me.
In February, 1892, Mr. Spofford severed his connection with Mr. Brigham, and the work of completing the building of the Massachusetts State House devolved upon his partner, who now has full charge of the work.
Early in the year 1892 Mr. Spofford's health failed him, and in com- pany with his physician, Dr. A. Sanford, he took a trip to Europe. While abroad he made the best use of his time, in not only repairing his health, but in glancing over the finest architectural structures in London, Paris, Liverpool, and other cities which he visited at his lei- sure. Returning to his old home in Boston after five months' absence, he opened an elegant suite of offices in the John Hancock building, and commenced business on his own account. He has now in operation the plans for several large buildings. His plans and specifications for the Bangor City Hall were accepted by the city government, and the
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building will be erected under his supervision. He has also in hand at present the erection of a Methodist Church at Everett; alterations of a town hall at Tyngsboro; a beautiful residence at Arlington, besides several minor residences. Mr. Spofford takes great interest in social and fraternal organizations. He is a Mason and Odd Fellow, and has been grand protector of Massachusetts in the Knights and Ladies of Honor, not to speak of the dozens of minor fraternal associa- tions he is a member of, many of which have honored him with the highest offices in their gift. In 1888 he was elected president of the "Spofford Family Association." At the time he was chosen to this position seven hundred of the members of the Spofford family from all parts of the country assembled to commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival from Yorkshire, England, in this country of John Spofford and Elizabeth Scott. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Historical Genealogical Association, and has served for four years as a member of the School Board of Everett.
Mr. Spofford was married, July ", 1881, to Miss Ella M. Fuller, of Turner, Me., an accomplished and charming lady. Their whole mar- ried life has been spent in the town of Everett, where they have a beautiful home. They have one daughter, Mabel Fuller Spofford, now nine years of age.
A staunch Republican in political faith, Mr. Spofford has been a con- spicuous figure in Everett politics ever since his residence there; is a member of Young Men's Republican Club of that city; of the Republi- can Club of Massachusetts, and has been chairman of the Republican Town Committee of Everett. He is a firm friend and a zealous advo- cate of any cause he espouses, and socially is popular and highly es- teemed. Mr. Spofford belongs to a long lived race, and can look back upon a childhood spent in a home where have dwelt five generations of his own kin. He possesses extraordinary powers of physical endur- ance, and to-day, hardly in the prime of his usefulness, he has attained to a position of well deserved prominence, which gives promise of bril- liant achievements in the future.
GEORGE A. LITCHFIELD.
GEORGE A. LITCHFIELD was born in Scituate, Mass. He early mani- fested a love for books, and with an unconquerable desire for a liberal
Johnlespofone
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education fitted for college by studying while at work upon a shoe- maker's bench. He studied at Brown University, after which he entered the ministry. His health breaking down after a settlement of five years in Winchendon, Mass., he was obliged to discontinue a pro- fessional life, and entered upon a business career, which has always been successful.
For several years he had a large life insurance business in the west- ern part of the State, but sold to engage in other enterprises. In 1842 he purchased one-half interest in the well-known firm of Brigham, Whitman & Co., tack manufacturers of Whitman, Mass., and the firm name became Brigham, Litchfield & Vining. For seven years they did a large and successful business. At the expiration of this time they sold the entire plant, making one of the largest sales ever occurring in that town.
Mr. Litchfield then became the active promoter of the Massachusetts Benefit Association, which has since, under his management, grown to be the largest Natural Premium Life Company in New England, and one of the largest and most successful in our entire country.
Mr. Litchfield is widely and favorably known in insurance circles, and great credit is due him for his conservative and energetic policy in the management of his company, which has brought it to its present pros- perous and commanding position.
His untiring and whole-hearted attention to business has not, how- ever, prevented him from always manifesting a deep interest in all the public affairs that have a claim upon the time and effort of every true citizen. He was for twelve years a member of the School Committee in Winchendon, and also for some time in Whitman, and was promi- nent in the management of town affairs.
In politics Mr. Litchfield has always been a staunch Republican, in- til recently being the president of the Republican Club in Quincy, in which city he has resided for thirteen years.
But it is not alone Mr. Litchfield's ability that has brought him an enviable reputation. He has other qualities which are equally deserv- ing of mention, and these are his never-failing kindness and courtesy of manner-shown impartially to all with whom he has dealings-and, best of all, his incorruptible integrity, which scorns a mean act, and will triumph by fair means, or not at all. The crying need of our age is more men of the stamp of Mr. Litchfield.
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ADAM WARNOCK.
ADAM WARNOCK, supreme secretary of the American Legion of Honor, was born in New York city, December 19, 1846, where he received his education and business training.
Early in life he became connected with fraternal organizations and has occupied prominent positions in every society with which he has been identified. He joined the American Legion of Honor in Brook- lyn, and at the organization of the Grand Council of New York he was elected supreme representative, being chosen supreme secretary in 1882, which position he has occupied up to the present time. During his occupancy of the office the society has erected a magnificent build- ing for its headquarters at No. 200 Huntington avenue, Boston; has rapidly increased its membership, and has accumulated a reserve fund of $500,000 with which to guarantee its certificates, and stands to-day one of the strongest organizations of its kind in the country. It is principally due to Mr. Warnock's keen business insight, and his careful study of life insurance, that has placed the American Legion of Honor in the advanced financial position it now occupies.
He has held many positions of trust in other societies, having been for a number of years representative from the State of New York to the Supreme Lodge Knights of Honor, president of the Knights of Honor Veteran Association, president of the National Fraternal Congress, and grand secretary of the Royal Arcanum, State of New York. He was long a member of Atlas Lodge, F. & A. M., of New York city, and is now a member of Columbia Lodge of Boston. He is also a member of
Corinthian Royal Arch Chapter and Ivanhoe Commandery, Knights Templar. He is connected with the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and several similar societies. His activity in the many societies with which he is connected has made the name of Adam Warnock familiar to thousands throughout the length and breadth of the land, and he is one of the best known and best informed men associated with the busi- ness of fraternal insurance. A natural force, strength of character and will power are among his conspicuous characteristics, and he is an orator of no mean ability.
Mr. Warnock is a member of the Union Boat Club and Boston Ath- letie Association, and takes a keen delight in the better class of athletic sports, being himself a good amateur tennis player and oarsman. Per- sonally he is an affable gentlemen, with whom it is a pleasure to be ac-
Adam Warnock.
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quainted, and one has to meet him face to face and feel the charm of his genial and unaffected manners to understand the hold he has upon the hearts of his companions in the various organizations with which he is connected.
Since his election as supreme secretary of the American Legion of Honor he has resided in Massachusetts, in a pleasant home at Cam- bridge, where his fireside is graced by his esteemed wife and a happy family of three sons and two daughters.
WARREN W. RAWSON.
WARREN W. RAWSON, son of Warren Rawson, was born in West Cam- bridge (now Arlington), January 23, 1847. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, also at the Cotting Academy, and at a commercial college in Boston. At the age of seventeen he began work with his father, who was a leading market gardener. He enthu- siastically entered upon the work, studied the science of the business in all of its aspects, and successfully mastered every detail. At the age of twenty-one he purchased one-half of his father's farm, and three years later the remainder, since which he has also become the owner of a place on the corner of Medford and Warren streets, purchased about ten years ago of W. H. Whittemore, where his residence and hot-houses are established. The intelligence with which his business has been prosecuted, united with energy and well directed persistence, has met with a high degree of success. He was the first to build hot-houses to any extent in his town, and the first to put in an irrigating plant for outside purposes. He was also the first to use steam in heating green- houses, and to use electric light in bringing forward plants. He found that this light hastened the growth of plants fifteen per cent., partic- ularly in the winter season. His place embraces one hundred acres, where are employed sixty-five men and twenty-five horses. Three thousand cords of manure are used each year besides large quantities of fertilizers. He is the most extensive market gardener in this part of the country, and the leading producer of celery. Large quantities of seeds are raised by Mr. Rawson, and he has been instrumental in in- troducing many new kinds of vegetable seeds, which are sold by him not only in this country but Europe. As a seedman he is especially
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well known, and was vice-president of the National Seedsmen Conven- tion which met in Chicago in 1893. He also has a large seed store at No. 34 South Market street, Boston. Outside of his private business, which he has so successfully managed, he has occupied many promi- nent positions. He is president of the Middlesex Agricultural Society of Concord; president of the Market Gardeners' Association of Boston; member of the State Board of Agriculture, and one of the Executive Committee of that board, member of the Board of Control of the Mas- sachusetts Experiment Station at Amherst; president of the Brackett Club, which was instrumental in electing J. Q. A. Brackett governor in 1889; chairman of the Republican Town Committee, and a member of the School Committee, now serving his third term of three years each. He is a well known lecturer on agriculture; is the author of a work en- titled: "Success in Market Gardening," and also a work on celery culture. In the spring of 1890 he was appointed by the governor chair- man of the Gypsy Moth Commission. On February 20, 1868, Mr. Raw- son was married to Helen M. Mair. Two children were born to them, only one of whom ( Mabel) survives. His wife died May 4, 1872. He married his present wife, Sarah E. Mair, September 21, 1824. They have had three children, of whom two are living, Alice and Herbert Rawson.
NAHUM CHAPIN.
NAHUM CHAPIN, son of Harvey and Matte (Rossa) Chapin, was born in Jamaica, Windham county, Vt., July 16, 1820. His early education . was received in the public schools of Waltham, where his parents re- sided and settled in 1824. Subsequently he for four years attended Smith's Academy at Waltham. After graduating he became a ma- chinist apprentice with the Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham, where he was made overseer four years later, which position he held for three years.
In 1840 he entered into the provision business in Charlestown, in which he remained for twenty years. In 1860, under the firm name of Richardson & Chapin, he engaged in the distilling business, and in 1877 the firm of Chapin, Trull & Co. was formed, and still continues in successful operation, with works in Charlestown and headquarters in Boston.
NW Rawson
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During the years 1811 and "78 Mr. Chapin represented Ward Five in the State Legislature, and was on the Board of Assessors in Charles- town and Boston from 1867 to 1879, and was one of the commissioners to carry into effect the act of annexation of Charlestown to Boston.
Mr. Chapin is a veteran and pioneer in educational circles, having for twenty-one years been in active service upon the school boards in Boston and Charlestown. His wide experience and practical knowledge have proved him a valuable member of this important interest of the city, and his conscientious work has earned for him the title of the "fighting member." He was influential in changing the system of furnishing materials for the different school departments, and secured the order creating the Committee on Supplies, which has proved to be of great value financially, and in every way satisfactory. He served in the Common Council of Charlestown from 1856 to 1860, and in the Board of Aldermen in 1861 and 1872.
Mr. Chapin was married at Waltham in 1841 to Lucy, daughter of Zaccheus and Harriet Farwell. They have had four children: George Francis and Lucy E. F., both of whom are married, and John Henry and Nahum Harvey Chapin, both of whom are dead, the latter being married and dying at thirty-nine years of age. Mr. Chapin is one of the trustees of the Warren Institution for Savings, a member of the standing committee of the Universalist Society, a director of the Bunker Hill National Bank, and was a director for many years of the Middlesex Horse Railroad, Boston Consolidated Street Railway, and other corpo- rations, and is one of the most esteemed on the roll of active members of the old City Guards of Charlestown.
GEORGE CURTIS.
GEORGE CURTIS was born in Westminster, Mass., September 3, 1817. His mother was Lydia Gilbert, of Sharon, Mass. His father, Francis Curtis, was a native of Walpole, Mass., and fifth in descent from the ancestor William Curtis, who came from England September 16, 1632. George was educated in the common schools and academy of his native town. At the age of seventeen he left home to learn the carpenter trade with William T. Merrifield, of Worcester, Mass. He remained there until twenty years of age, when he came to Boston and com-
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menced working at his trade. He continued (with interval of teaching school) until the age of twenty-eight, when he engaged in business for himself in Roxbury. Several of the large buildings destroyed in the great Boston fire of 1872 were built by him, as were also fine private residences in the towns of Milton, Canton, Stoneham, Waltham, and mills in Malden. He served as alderman for four years before the annexation of Roxbury to Boston; also as overseer of the poor in Rox- bury and Boston for nearly a score of years. In 1854, in consequence of an injury received by sunstroke, he left the building business and entered into the lumber trade, wholesale and retail. During the years 1861 and 1862 he was a representative to the General Court of Massa- chusetts; was connected with several military organizations, and was actively engaged in enlisting soldiers for the war. In the year 1883 he retired from the lumber business, and was succeeded by Curtis & Pope. He served the city of Boston as an alderman in the years 1881, 1883 and 1884, and was again a representative to the General Court in 1885.
THOMAS KELLY.
IN the business life of Boston for more than a quarter of a century there were few better known or more deservedly held in esteem for business sagacity of a high order and sterling integrity of character than Thomas Kelly, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Ire- land, June 13, 1833, and at the age of eighteen years came to America. Here, without money, without influential friends, and possessing only the advantages of a limited education, he began life in the new world. But he possessed a strong will, robust health, and a determined pur- pose, which, united to inherited business qualities, eventually won for him a high place among the foremost business men of Boston.
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