USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Somerville, past and present : an illustrated historical souvenir commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the city government of Somerville, Massachusetts > Part 37
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Meleney, Clarence E., was born in Salem December 8, 1853, the son of Henry E. and Eliza A. (Innis) Meleney, of that city. His early education was obtained at the Hacker Grammar School of Salem. He was fitted for college at the Classical Institute, Waterville, Me., and was graduated at Colby University with the class of 1876. After graduation he was principal of academies at Warren and Presque Isle, Me .; the Methuen High; the Washing- ton Grammar at Marlboro, the Adams Grammar at Quincy; Grammar No. 2 at Yonkers, N. Y., and the Newton-street Grammar at Newark, N. J. For five years he was superinten- dent of schools at Paterson, N. J.
Mr. Meleney came to Somerville in 1888, having been elected superintendent of schools in this city, and he remained in that position five years. He married Miss Carrie E., daugh- ter of Rev. J. C. and Ellen Coit, of Newark, N. J.
Mentzer, Walter C., was born at Brady's Bend, Armstrong Co., Pa., son of Charles L. and Lucy J. (Brewer) Mentzer, October 26, 1852. His early boyhood was spent in Boston, he first attending school at Old Fort Hill, and later at the IIawes and Bigelow Grammar Schools, South Boston. He graduated from the Northboro High School in 1869, and com- pleted his education at Warren Academy, Woburn, Mass. He came to Somerville in 1872. Served in the Somerville Fire Department as call-man attached to Steamcr No. I, was present at the great fires in Boston, November 9, 1872, and May 30, 1873. He began busi- ness with his brother, Albert F. Mentzer, in 1872, and has continued in the wholesale provi-
ALFRED E. MANN.
Residence of WILLIAM L. MERCER, 342 Broadway.
Residence of LOUIS MINK, 85 Elm Street.
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sion trade, under the firm name of W. C. & A. F. Mentzer, for twenty-four years, doing busi- nass at 2512 and 27 North Market street, Boston, and Plymouth, Mass., as commission dealers for Armour & Co. of Chicago, Ill.
In Somerville, December 31, 1876, Mr. Mentzer was married to Clara B., daughter of Almon R. and Diana W. (Jackson) Thurston, of Barre, Vt. They have one son, Charles A. Mentzer, born November 5, 1877. Mr. Mentzer is identified with the Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, I. O. O. F., Charity Lodge, F. & A. Masons, Somerville R. A. Chapter, De Molay Commandery of Boston, and Aleppo Temple Mystic Shrine.
He served the city in the Common Council in 1885 and 1886, -was president of the Conncil the latter year, - was elected Alderman in 1887, elected on the Mystic Water Board 1889 and 1890; served as president of the Republican City Committee in 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896. He is vice-president of the West Somerville Co-operative Bank, and director of the Somerville National Bank. He resides at 36 Cherry street.
Mercer, William L., was born in Cecil County, near Baltimore, Md. He first engaged in business about 1864, in Columbus, O., where he had a boot and shoe store. At the time of the great fire in Chicago he was located there, and his store shared the fate of many others. Ile is a member of Magnolia Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Ohio Chapter, the Columbus Coun- cil, R. and S. M., and Mt. Vernon Commandery, K. T., all of Columbus, O. Mr. Mercer is engaged in the real estate business at No. 50 School street, Boston, and resides at 342 Broadway, in one of the most attractive houses in Somerville.
Merrill, Dr. Arthur Ellsworth, son of Robert and Elizabeth Allen Merrill, was born in Parsonsfield, York County, Me., November 30, 1861. His boyhood was passed on the home farm, where he imbibed good principles with the pure air of his native hills. Ilis preparatory education was obtained at Parsonsfield Seminary and at New Hampton, N. H. After pursu- ing the study of medicine for a time with Moses E. Sweat, M. D. (Parsonsfield), a noted physician of the old school, he attended two courses of lectures at Brunswick, Me., then entered Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., taking two courses, the preliminary and regular, also a special course in surgery, - receiving diplomas for each. Immediately after graduation he married Ella Frances Guptill of Cornish, Me., and came to Somerville, opening an office at 367 Medford street, where he still resides.
Dr. Merrill is very fond of hunting, and has brought from the Maine woods some rare trophies of his prowess. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Soley Lodge F. A. A. M., Sons of Maine, and Highland Chapter No. 35, Order of the Eastern Star. He has a growing practice, and has an honored name in the medical profession.
Merrill, Frank E., was born in Nashua, N. H., November 22, 1858. He fitted for Dartmouth in the public schools of his native city, but deciding to at once engage in active life he entered the railroad service, and soon rose to the responsible position of chief clerk of the passenger and ticket department of the old Boston & Lowell R.R., where he remained for many years. Mr. Merrill took up his residence in Somerville in 1880, and for fifteen years has resided in Ward 4, taking an active interest in the development of that section of the city. He was elected to the City Council in 1889 and 1890, where he served on important committees, and in the latter year was appointed to take charge of the detailed work of the Somerville Water Board, a municipal department which has been rapidly grow- ing in importance with the development of the city. Mr. Merrill is a member of the N. E. Water Works Association., of John Abbot Lodge, F. A. A. M., Caleb Rand Lodge, I. O. O. F., Elm Council, Royal Arcanum, and other societies, in which he has held offices of honor and trust.
Mink, Louis, was born December 29, 1836, in the province of Alsace, in France, the son of Lawrence and Madeleine (Walder) Mink. He was educated in the schools of his native country, and emigrated to America in 1860, arriving here in November of that year.
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Soon after coming to this country he became connected with the tannery of William Muller of North Cambridge, where he remained five years. In 1865 he embarked in the currying business on his own account, on Haverhill street, Boston. In 1868 he removed to Pearl street, and remained in that location until 1870, in which ycar he built the factory on the corner of Beacon and Sacramento streets in this city, now occupied by C. 11. Cushman & Co., where he".conducted an extensive business in currying leather, employing ncarly one hundred men. In 1888 he retired from business, and since that time has not re-embarked in it. Mr. Mink was married to Regina Fogel in 1865, and has seven children, four sons and three daughters. Ile resides at 85 Elm street.
Moore, Henry Martyn, was born in North Brookfield, Worcester County, in 1829, and spent his early life on a farm. In 1852 he came to Boston and entered the hat store of James W. Lee, where he remained until 1857, when the firm failed. The next year, with Mr. Smith, his present partner, he bought out the business, and they have continued to- gether to the present time. They are now the oldest concern in Boston in their line of business. For about seventeen years Mr. Moore traveled part of the time, selling goods in the West. Mr. Moore is well known as one of the leading men of the Y. M. C. A. world, and as such spreads the name and fame of Somerville wherever he goes.
It is as a member of the international committee that Mr. Moore and his work are best known. This committee, composed of thirty-two prominent business-men, with head- quarters in New York, has charge of all the Y. M. C. A. work on the North American con- tinent, not only supervising the work of the existing associations, but also establishing and encouraging new associations. The work on the committee requires a good share of Mr. Moore's time, but he manages, in addition to this, to give considerable attention to other Y. M. C. A. and church work. In 1872 he assisted in forming the Massachusetts state committee of five, and he has been a member, with the exception of two years, ever since. With Mayor Hodgkins and others, he was instrumental in forming the Somerville associa- tion a quarter of a century ago, and in its reorganization at a later period. He was president of the association in 1894. Mr. Moore is president of the board of trustees of Mr. Moody's Northfield Seminary, and is also trustee of Mt. Hermon School, having been inter- ested in them since their organization in 1880 and 1881. His connection with the Franklin- street Church, of which he has always been a prominent member, dates back to 1865. For fourteen years he has been deacon; he has also been chairman of the parish committee superintendent of the Sunday-school, and has held other positions in the church and Sunday-school. The only public office in this city which Mr. Moore has held is that of member of the School Committee. He began with the first board in 1872, and served thirteen years, resigning when he found that his other work was getting too burdensome for him. He has lived in Somerville since 1855. In 1865 he bought his present home at 82 Myrtle street. He married, in 1849, Mary Earle, a native of Belchertown, and has had six children, three of whom are now living.
Moore, Howard Dudley, the son of George and Charlotte C. Moore, was born at Moore's Mills, New Brunswick, November 21, 1854. He is a direct descendant in the fifth generation of William Moore, who came from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1709, and settled at Londonderry, N. H. His son William was a Tory, and in 1785 removed to New Bruns- wick, where he received from the Crown a grant of land near the St. Croix River, the present location of the picturesque village of Moore's Mills. Young Moore attended the village school during the winter months until he was fifteen, and when seventeen years of age he went to Lawrence, Mass., where for two years he worked at a mechanical business, and for three years was clerk in a law office. During the five years he was in Lawrence he took an active part in temperance and other organizations. At the age of twenty-two he decided to become a lawyer, and feeling the need of an education he fitted for college at Nichols'
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Latin School, Lewiston, Me., graduating therefrom in 1880, and entered Bates College with the class of 1884, but was unable to pursue the college course. As a commercial traveler he spent one year in the Southern States, and in 1882 came to Boston, and was for three years manager of the New England agency of the " People's Cyclopedia." In the meantime he kept up his studies, and in 1885 entered the Boston University School of Law, where he graduated in 1887. Ife was admitted to the Suffolk bar the same year, and commenced practice in Boston. Mr. Moore married Maud E. Roberts of Wollaston Heights in IS91, and at that time came to Somerville to reside. They have one child, a daughter. Mr. Moore has been president of the West Somerville Republican Club, a member of the Repub- lican City Committee, was a member of the Common Council of 1895, and a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1896.
Moore, Hugh Tallant, son of John and Tabitha (Davis) Moore, was born in Canter- bury, N. H., in 1801, and died in 1855. He resided in Boston ten years, and moved to Somerville in 1840. He was a useful and esteemed citizen. At the time of his death he held the following offices: treasurer and tax collector of the town, constable and overseer of the poor, a funeral undertaker, and he was also one of the coroners of Middlesex County ; all these offices he held for several successive years. Mr. Moore left two children : Mrs. George W. Hadley and Mrs. Horace P. Makechnie.
Morse, Enoch R., was born in Attleboro, Mass., July 25, 1822. He established him- self in business in Boston in 1839, removing to Somerville in 1852. He took an active part in town affairs, and was elected a member of the School Board in 1864. He held the position nine years, until after the incorporation of the city, and by his literary attainments and business experience was influential in promoting the educational interests of the town. Ile represented the city in the Legislature in 1876. So highly were his services appreciated by the town government that his name and memory were perpetuated in the Morse Grammar School, erected in 1869 on Summer street, while on the records of four other schools he appears as having been chosen to deliver the poem at the dedicatory exercises.
Newton, Dr. Frank L. S., was born in Truro, Mass., April 9, 1857, the son of Dr. Adin Hubbard Newton, a practicing physician, and S. Anjenette Hatch, a lineal descendant of Dr. Jacques Jerauld (Gerould), a Huguenot who emigrated to this country in the eight- eenth century. Ifis boyhood was passed with his parents in his native town and Chatham. He early became interested in the profession of his father, and in the pharmacy, subse- quently receiving the certificate of a registered pharmacist. In 1876 he accepted a position as grammar-school master at Essex, and afterwards was principal of the Westport High School. He took the medical degree of Boston University in 1884, and was house physi- cian in the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital. He began the practice of medicine at Provincetown, where he was appointed a medical examiner of Barnstable County by Gov- ernor Robinson, was a surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital service, and physician to the Board of Health. Later he pursued a course of study in Europe in the General Hospital clinics at Vienna, and the Rotunda Hospitals, Dublin, taking the degree of L. M. After this year of study he came to Somerville, where he has since resided. He is a member of Boston University Alumni Association, the Hahnemann Society, the Massachusetts and the Boston Homoeopathic Medical Societies, and the American Institute of Homoeopathy. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the medical board and medical and surgical staff of the Somerville Hospital. May 6, 1886, Dr. Newton married Miss Josephine Louise Lewis of Dartmouth, and they have two sons, Allison Lewis and Frank Hatch. Socially he is a member of the Central Club Association, Mystic Valley Club, the several Masonic lodges of Somerville, De Molay Commandery of Knights Templar of Boston, and is a thirty-second degree Mason.
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Nichols, George Leslie, son of George N. and Mary Abby (Traverse) Nichols, was born June 2, 1860, at Holliston, Mass., and was educated in the grammar and high schools of that town, he studied drawing under a private tutor with a view to adopting architecture as a profession, and while engaged in that study worked at the carpenter's trade. At the age of nineteen he had charge of building a $10,000 house and stable for George D. Ed- munds of Ilopedale. Ile followed the occupation of master builder until he was twenty- five years of age, when he began to practice the profession of architecture in South Fram- ingham, remaining in that town nine years, and moving to Somerville in 1890.
In 1888 he became connected with W. T. Sears, architect of Boston, as Superintendent of Construction, and was engaged in remodeling the Sears Building and in the construction of Hotel Sanford, an apartment-house costing $200,000, for Wm. T. Ilart, president of the Continental Bank. Mr. Nichols opened his present office at 70 Kilby street, Boston, in 1892, since which time he has constructed Odd Fellows' Building in North Cambridge, another large apartment-house for Mr. Hart, the Van Choate Electric Company's Factory plant at Foxborough, Mass., and other important buildings. He was married, June 18, 1885, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Titcomb of Kennebunk, Me .; they have no children. Mr. Nichols is a member of the Framingham Lodge 145, I. O. O. F., John Abbot Lodge, F. A. A. M., Monotomy Chapter, R. A. M., New England Order of Protection, the Boston Architectural Club, and the Boston Society of Architects. He resides at 20 Chapel street.
Nickerson, Alvano T., was born at Chatham, June 24, 1839, the son of Caleb and Julia A. (Hamilton) Nickerson of that place. He was educated in the district school, and came to Boston in 1854. Prior to 1867 he was in business for himself in Chicago, as a member of the firm of Ryder & Nickerson, since which time he has been in business alone at Charlestown Bridge. Mr. Nickerson came to Somerville in 1882. He is a member of Paul Revere Lodge, I. O. O. F., and a director of the Odd Fellows' Building Association, also a trustee for the Twenty Associates, and a trustee of the Somerville Hospital. He served the city in the Common Council of 1888 and 1889, and in the Board of Aldermen in 1890 and 1891. He has also been a member of the Board of Health since 1893. Mr. Nickerson married, in 1863, Laurietta Nickerson of Chathamn. They reside at 334 Broadway.
Nickerson, John F., was born October 13, 1846, at Provincetown, Mass., son of Jonathan J. and Rebecca D. Nickerson. He received his education in the Provincetown schools and in the Green Mountain Institute at South Woodstock, Vt. He commenced business in 1863 as clerk with Whiton Brothers & Co. of Boston, and remained with them about two years. He then took a position as bookkeeper with Hinckley Brothers & Co., but was, on account of an accident, obliged to leave their employ after two years of service. He subsequently engaged in the grocery business with T. D. Demond & Co., on Broad street, was soon admitted to the firm, and some years later he purchased the entire business which was then carried on under the firni name of John F. Nickerson & Co .; at the present time it is a corporation known as the John F. Nickerson Company, of which Mr. Nickerson is the president. He is a member of Soley Lodge, F. A. A. M., the Boston Wholesale Grocers' and Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Associations, and the United Order of Workmen. Mr. Nickerson was married to Georgiana P. Langmaid of Charlestown, Mass., June 1, 1869; they have three daughters, and have resided at 25 Flint street since June I, 1869. He was two years a member of the Somerville Water Board, but the pressure of his business has always prevented his holding other offices in the service of the city.
Norcross, Joseph Leland, was born in Woodbury, Vt., December 6, 1834. At the age of twenty-one years he came to Boston, where he engaged in the teaming business, having his headquarters at City Wharf until 1873, when he removed to his present place of business at 212 State street. In January, 1871, he was married and became a resident of Somerville, purchasing the estate No. 60 Marshall street, where he resides at the present time. Mr.
J. LELAND NORCROSS.
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MRS. J. C. NOURSE.
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT. 603
Norcross has been identified with a number of Somerville institutions from their first incep- tion. He withdrew from Franklin Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Boston, to assist in the organiza- tion of Paul Revere Lodge of this city, and has been treasurer of that lodge since its founda- tion in 1878. He is also a charter member of Winter Hill Encampment. In 1884, when the Odd Fellows organized a building committee to erect the substantial brick building on the corner of Broadway and Marshall street, Mr. Norcross was elected treasurer of the building association, a position which he has retained until the present time. He has always been actively interested in the Winter Hill Universalist Church, which he assisted to organize in June, 1878. In 1879 and 1880 he served the city as a Common Councilman, and in the two following years as an Alderman. Mr. Norcross has been one of the directors of the Master Teamsters' Association of Boston since its formation, and is now president of the association.
Nourse, Mrs. J. C., daughter of Tappan and Katie (Cummings) Libby, was born in Scarborough, Me., August 28, 1854. She was educated in the public schools of her native town, and in the Casco-street Seminary of Portland. In 1875 she was married to Mr. Charles Nourse. In 1881, her natural tastes being for a business life, she commenced in a rather small way in North Cambridge, where she continued until the autumn of 1886, when she removed to Davis square, and occupied the store Nos. 10 and II in Medina Building. Her increasing business in the years that followed demanding more room, she arranged to have one-half of the new Chapin Building finished and furnished to suit her ideas of what a modern dry goods store should be, and when it was ready for occupancy, she removed from her old quarters in June, 1896, and now has in the new store what is termed by a dry goods journal of New York "the largest establishment of the kind in New England, managed by a lady." Her emporium is arranged in an exceedingly attractive manner, and her continued increasing patronage demonstrates that her efforts to give the residents of West Somerville and vicinity a first-class dry goods store are appreciated.
Noyes, Frank A., was born at Auburn, Me., May 9, 1850. After receiving his edu- cation at the public schools of that city, and the Auburn Commercial College, he secured a position in Portland, where he remained for three years, as bookkeeper for J. H. Cressey & Co. In 1872 the firm removed to Boston, locating at 208 State street, with whom he con- tinued for ten years, and then entered the firm as Cressey & Noyes, remaining there until the completion of the Chamber of Commerce Building in 1892. There he is now located as a member of the firm of Noyes & Colby, in the wholesale grain business. Mr. Noyes has been connected with the grain trade of Boston for the past twenty-four years, and is favorably known throughout New England and the West. He is a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and is now one of the directors of that institution.
In 1874 he married Miss Anna R. Mason of Portland, Me., and they selected Somer- ville for their future home, and have since that time been residents of this city. Mr. Noyes has always taken an interest in fraternal organizations, and is a member of Soley Lodge, F. A. A. M., Excelsior Council, R. A., Sons of Maine, and is a past officer of Oasis Lodge, Somerville Encampment, Ivaloo Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., Highland Chapter, Order Eastern Star, and at the present time is associate grand patron, O. E. S. of Massachusetts. He resides at 95 Highland avenue.
Park, Elbridge G., was born in Ashby, Mass., in 1839. He received his education in the district and high schools of his native town, and came to Boston in 1860, and engaged in the produce trade, in which he remained two years. He then entered the restaurant busi- ness, and has continued in it for over thirty years, conducting large and successful establish- ments at No. 30 North Market and 123 Causeway streets, Boston, under the firm names of Durgin, Park & Co., and E. G. Park & Co. He removed from Charlestown to East Somer- ville in 1874, and has resided here since that time.
ELBRIDGE G. PARK.
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT. 605
In 1884 he represented Ward I in the Common Council, and was re-elected in 1885. He served on the Board of Aldermen in 1886 and 1887, and was president of the board the ยท last-named year, serving on some of the most important committees. Mr. Park is a member of the Soley Lodge, F. A. A. M., and the Coeur de Lion Commandery, K. T., of Charlestown; he is also a member of the Howard Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Charlestown.
Parker, Frederick Wesley, was born in Boston, May 9, 1863, son of Jerome W. and Ann Eliza (Wright) Parker. He is of old New England stock, being a direct descendant, in the eighth generation, of Francis Cook, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. Mr. Parker received a good common-school education, and at the age of seventeen took a minor clerkship in the banking office of Perkins, Dupee & Co., 40 State street. He rose rapidly, and in 1888 engaged in business on his own account, forming with Arthur W. Sawyer and Hazen Clement the firm of Sawyer, Clement & Co. In 1892 Mr. Sawyer retired, and the firm became Clement, Parker & Co., and continues as such at the present time, being located at 53 Devonshire street, Boston. They have been successful, and are quoted among the leading firms in the bank- ing business. Mr. Parker served in the Common Council of Somerville in 1894 and 1895, and was on the Finance and Public Property Committees. He is a director in the Somerville National Bank; a member of John Abbot Lodge, F. A. A. M .; Somerville Chapter, R. A. M .; Orient Council, and De Molay Commandery; is also a member of the Central Club, the Charlestown Club, the Exchange Club of Boston, and the " Society of Mayflower Descend- ants." He married Miss Nellie E. Blodgett of Cambridge, June 15, 1887; they have one child, Mildred, and reside at 65 Boston street.
Parsons, Horace M., the son of Daniel W. and Mary P. Parsons, was born in Rock- port, Mass., in 1864. When three months of age his parents moved to Boston, residing at the historical " North End," and the son attended the famous Eliot School, going subse- quently to the English High. Young Parson's first situation was at the drug store of Theo- dore Metcalf & Co., but fifteen years ago he entered the employ of Bigelow, Dowse & Ma- comber, as a boy, and has remained with this concern ever since, working his way up through various grades, until he is now head bookkeeper and cashier of the leading hardware corpora- tion in New England. Nine years ago he was married to Annie L. Millett, but she died soon after their marriage. In March, 1895, he married Sadie G. Saurman, and they now reside in an attractive home on Prospect Hill. When the Somerville Light Infantry was being reor- ganized, young Parsons, then twenty-two years of age, offered himself as a member. He was then six feet and four inches tall, and was a striking figure in the company. He was made a sergeant Sept. 9, 1887, and less than two years afterwards second and then first lieutenant. Upon the discharge of Captain Kirk he was elected captain, and has held the position for nearly five years, with great credit and marked ability. He was recently elected a major of the Eighth Infantry, but declined the position.
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