USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The history of Medway, Mass., 1713-1885 > Part 44
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REV. SAMUEL CHENERY DAMON, D. D.
SAMUEL CHENERY DAMON, son of Samuel and Alony (Chenery) Da- mon, was born Feb. 15, 1815, in Holden, Mass. His grandmother was Abi- gail Penniman, a daughter of James and Abigail (Clark) Penniman, of East Medway. He graduated in 1836 from Amherst College, Mass., and in 1841 from the Theological Seminary in Andover, Mass. He was ordained Sept. 15, 1841, and sailed as Chaplain of the Seaman's Friend Society to Honolulu,
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Sandwich Islands. This position he filled for forty years with great ability and usefulness. He was the "Father Taylor" of the Pacific. Early in his missionary life he established a monthly paper called The Friend, the first newspaper printed in the North Pacific, and at the present time an in- fluential publication. The Rev. Dr. Damon died Feb. 8, 1885. He was held in high estimation in Honolulu, and his funeral was attended by many of the dignitaries, including the King and the Diplomatic and Consular Corps.
DEA. PAUL DANIELL.
PAUL DANIELL, son of Jeremiah and Pearlee (Richardson) Daniell, was born July 7, 1789, in the ancient Daniell homestead, and his life was spent in cultivating the ancestral acres which were cleared amid the primeval forests of two hundred years before by his great ancestor, Joseph Daniell, the second white settler within the limits of Medway, and whose dwelling was burned by the Indians in those savage days of the burning and massacre of Medfield in 1676. Mr. Daniell still clung to the ancient spelling of the name as well as to the productive lands of his ancestor. He was the last to write the name, Daniell, in this line of descendants of Robert Daniell, although the ancient spelling has been retained in other branches of the family. Dea. Paul Daniell was a man of excellent qualities of mind and heart, a public spirited citizen, and an active Christian. For more than forty years he was a faithful member, and for more than thirty years an honored deacon of the First Church of Christ in Medway.
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Deacon Daniell filled many offices in the town and was three times, in 1834, 1835, and 1840, chosen to go to the General Court to help make the laws of the Commonwealth. Whatever position he filled, whatever business was entrusted to him, faithfulness always characterized his action. He was very much of a reader, full of wit, a good thinker, well acquainted with the writ- ings of different theologians, and a great admirer of the Rev. Dr. Emmons. Deacon Daniell died Feb. 15, 1875, in the eigthy-sixth year of his age.
" Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace."
THE RESIDENCE OF DEA. PAUL DANIELL.
Mr. Paul Daniell married Eliza Breck, daughter of Daniel Breck, Esq., of Sherborn, Mass. Mrs. Daniell was a woman of rare quality and pious devotion. She survived her husband some ten years, and died suddenly, on the morning of June 16, 1885.
PROF. JOSEPH LEONARD DANIELS.
JOSEPH LEONARD DANIELS, son of Paul and Eliza (Breck) Daniell, was born Aug. 1, 1833, in East Medway. His father gave him the name Joseph in memory of his ancestor who lived on the same spot, and whose house was burned by the Indians just after the burning of Medfield, Feb. 21, 1676. His childhood and youth were spent with his father on the farm ; his early education was in the "old brick school-house." He was a regular attendant in the winter but was early removed from the summer school be- cause needed on the farm. He speaks of his early teachers gratefully, as faithful and enthusiastic in their work, and says: "I believe they were good instructors and laid the foundations well." When seventeen years old he was for two terms a member of the Hopkinton Academy, of which the Principal was then the Rev. Daniel J. Poor. At the age of seventeen he taught a district school in " the wild-cat district," in Milford, Mass. At the age of nineteen he entered Phillips Academy, Andover, in preparation for college.
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Two years later found him teaching a winter school in Holliston, Mass. He returned the next year to Andover, finished his preparatory course, being assigned the Latin Salutatory at graduation. He entered Yale College in 1856, and graduated in 1860, taking the Townsend Prize and being elected class orator. He remained in New Haven until 1863, taking the theological course in the college, also attending one full course of medical lectures, mean- while serving for two years as assistant librarian in the Yale College Library. In May, 1863, he was licensed to preach ; in July he went from New Haven, taught a few weeks in the Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. ; from there he was called to the position of principal of Guilford Institute, Guil- ford, Conn. This position he filled for two years. In April of 1865 he was called to the Professorship of Greek in Olivet College, Michigan, which he now fills, and is also the instructor in German. He was ordained to the Gos- pel ministry April 27, 1876, and has preached more or less on the Sabbath in the College Chapel, and in other pulpits in the vicinity. He spent from June to December of 1873 abroad in travel and study, chiefly in Germany and Italy. He married, Nov. 26, 1863, Miss Julia Burrage Allen, daughter of William T. and Mrs. Caroline (Gibson) Allen. Miss Allen was for two years prior to her marriage, a popular and successful teacher of a young ladies' school in Medway Village. The children are : Mira Allen, born Oct. 30, 1866 ; William Breck, born Nov. 25, 1868.
DEA. ANSON DANIELS.
ANSON DANIELS, son of Eleazar and Charlotte (Richardson) Daniels, was born July S, 1813, in East Medway, now Millis, Mass. His father was a cabinet-maker, and held a captain's commission in the state militia. He pursued his studies in the public schools of his native place, and upon leav- ing the paternal roof he settled in the westerly part of the town, and devoted himself to art and literature. He was very successful as a painter of por- traits, and was an apt writer of verse for occasions. He had a wonderful love for the beautiful in nature and in art. Many public and social occasions were enlivened by his ready lines of verse. And many a home is gladdened by the life-like portrait on the wall of the loved whose presence is gone and whose voice is hushed forever. For twenty-eight years Deacon Daniels served as a valued member of the school committee and was in that office at the time of his death. He represented the town in 1866 in the State Legisla- ture. For forty-two years he was a member of the Second Church of Christ, and for twenty-two years an honored Deacon in that body. He was a man who was worthy of, and received, honor and love in all the walks of life.
A citizen of the town who knew him intimately through a period of forty years, pays the following tribute to his gifts and character :
" I have occasionally visited his modest studio and invited friends with me, and always with high appreciation of the works of his art and great pleasure in his intelligent and critical judgment in matters pertaining to his profession. Knowing many of the persons whose portraits he painted, I am satisfied few artists have been more successful than he in reproducing life-like features and expressions on canvas.
" In miscellaneous poems for every occasion he has far excelled many whose fame has been much wider. I betray no secret to some when I refer to a poem which has never yet been published, or even known to but few of his more intimate friends. It
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is of greater length than any which he has ever written, and when he read it to me I felt and said to him it would do honor even to Whittier, and is much in Whittier's style. It is due to the name of Deacon Daniels to publish this with many of his miscellaneous poems in a neat illustrated edition, to meet the demand of his numerous friends and ac- quaintances for some tangible memorial of his many virtues. But Deacon Daniels was more than poet or artist. He was a man of broad and generous culture, an intelligent and loyal citizen, and a Christian of a type both rare and beautiful. He possessed a dis- criminating knowledge of religious truth, and while strong in his own convictions he was tolerant of others. In spirit gentle and mild, he was conciliating without com- promise of principle, or harsh in criticism of others' faults.
" If he lacked vigor and ambition to push forward, it was the result of temperament and not of mental or moral weakness. While not aggressive by nature he could stand firmly by his own convictions amid great opposition, and was seldom at fault in his judgment of others. His faults, if any, ' leaned to virtue's side.' .
" The clock of the new year of 1884 had struck, when with a choice basket of flowers, the gift of friends, I made a New Year's call, and with the following lines from a lady friend, as a fit expression of our friendship and esteem for one who has since entered ' The garden beyond the iron gate ' :
". Where everlasting spring abides, And never fading flowers.'
" ERINNERUNG.'
""'Gratitude is the memory of the heart '
"A New Year's greeting, cherished friend, we bring,
And while the merry bells ring out the hours,
We tune the lyre, our sweet songs we sing;
We strew the pathway with the choicest flowers.
" With grateful joy thine artist's skill we own ;
Thine art divine, that spans the abyss of death,
Brings back to earth the faces we have known.
And makes them warm again with vital breath.
"From chapel walls the sacred canvas smiles
Sweet benedictions on the place of prayer ;
Full many a grief thy glowing skill beguiles ; And fills the heart with angel's visions fair.
" We thank thee for thy generous gift of song ;
For others' feasting thou has struck the lyre,
And now for thee we pour the strains along,
With praise too faint, yet warm with friendship's fire.
"Against cold winter's pallid cheek we lay Our floral offering, bright as bowers of spring ;
The good dwell ever in the balmy May, Though ten times seven the birthday bells may ring.
"Thy spirit dwells in Beulah land afar ; Earth's wildest tempests die away at even ;
Earth's clanging strifes no more discord- ant jar
Thy harp strings, tuned to harmonies of heaven.
" Sweet peace attend thee, and bright visions fair, As down life's sunset slope thy footsteps stray.
May the good Father keep thee in his care, Till glory's dawning ushers in the day."
Alas, ere the glad greetings of the next New Year were heard this gifted painter, poet, friend, had passed beyond the pearly gate. Deacon Daniels died Nov. 6, 1884, at the age of seventy-one years. At the time of his death he was a member of the committee appointed to prepare the History of Med-
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THE RESIDENCE OF DEA. ANSON DANIELS.
way. To him the editor of this volume is much indebted for valuable con- tributions which were the result of his patient research and willing devotion of time and labor.
ALFRED DANIELS, EsQ.
ALFRED DANIELS, son of Joseph and Orinda (Barber) Daniels, was born in East Medway. He learned the trade of a clothier of George Barber, Esq., and continued in that business several years. About 1836 he formed a co- partnership with Mr. Julius C. Hurd, and commenced the manufacture of batting which grew to be a large and prosperous business and both partners became wealthy. He built the house occupied by the late A. P. Phillips, Esq., and his partner a similar one at the opposite end of the Village. Un- fortunately, as it proved, the firm became involved in the affairs of the Nor- folk County Railroad, which ended disastrously in 1857. Afterwards he formed a business connection with Mr. Edward Eaton, and was in a fair way to retrieve his fortunes, when he died July 24, 1868. Mr. Daniels was a shrewd business manager, of a genial temperament, fond of a joke, a good citizen, who all his life possessed the esteem and confidence of his neighbors and those best acquainted with him. Mr. Daniels was the grandfather of Edwin Alfred Daniels, M. D., of Medway.
REV. HIRAM CLARK DANIELS.
HIRAM CLARK DANIELS, son of Amos and Sarah (Pierce) Daniels, was born Aug. 10, 1815, in East Medway. He pursued his preparatory studies for two years, 1837-'39, in Worcester, Mass., and graduated in 1844 from Dartmouth College, N. H. He engaged in teaching a part of nearly every year from 1835 to 1845. He graduated in 1847 from Bangor Theological Seminary, and preached several years under the direction of the Home Missionary Society, in Kennebunkport, St. Albans, and Wilton, Me. On account of a severe bronchial complaint, with loss of voice, he was led to re- linquish public speaking. He engaged in various agencies, was a book- keeper, and had the management of a farm. The Rev. Mr. Daniels married. June 26, 1851, Miss Susan M. Cressey, daughter of John Cressey, Esq., of Rowley, Mass.
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WILLARD DANIELS, EsQ.
WILLARD DANIELS, son of Japheth and Betsey (Ryder) Daniels, was born Sept. 10, 1803, in Holliston, now Medway, Mass. He was a lineal de- scendant of Robert Daniell, who settled as early as 1636 in Watertown, Mass., and of Joseph Daniell, who settled about 1648 in Medfield, Mass. Mr. Dan- iels was of an enterprising spirit, and while his early advantages for educa- tion were limited he seems to have put into active use his knowledge, and dis- played a remarkable business ability. At the age of twenty-three years he married Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, née Grant, and the same year, 1826, he com- menced the manufacture of boots, being the first to engage in that business in the town. He had a small shop about twelve by fifteen feet square on the road leading from West Medway to Braggville. In this small way he started an industry which has proved the largest and most successful and lucrative of any in the town. In 1834 he removed to the village of West Medway, which consisted of a very few scattered dwellings. He erected a house and boot factory. The factory was thirty by fifteen feet and two stories high. Here he carried on the manufacturing of boots thirty years and more. The business increased so that in 1856 he made an addition of thirty by fifteen feet, to his factory, and in 1862 he made a still larger addition of fifty by thirty feet and employed about one hundred and fifty hands. It is no small credit to any man to start a new business and give to it growth and success. This honor belongs to Mr. Daniels. He was a man of great energy and remark- able industry. A day of sixteen hours of work was not too long, and all the working days in the year were none too many for him. He was interested in all public affairs, but declined the honors of office to which his townsmen would gladly have elected him, except in a single instance when he consented, in 1842, to be their Representative to the General Court, and served as a mem- ber of the State Legislature. Mr. Daniels did much to promote the growth of West Medway. His enterprise, energy, and great industry gave to him a prominence as a citizen, and he had the respect of all. He died March 25, 1874, at the age of seventy years. His son, Leander S. Daniels, Esq., now carries on the same business and in the same place.
LEANDER SLOAN DANIELS, EsQ.
LEANDER S. DANIELS, son of Willard and Mrs. Elizabeth (Fisher) Daniels, née Grant, was born May 8, 1834, in Medway. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and commenced business at the early age of nineteen years. He was married in 1855, to Miss Elizabeth Hixon, who lived but a few years and died in 1859. Mr. Daniels married in 1861, Miss Adeliza M. Harding, of East Medway, who was a lady of remarkable loveliness of character and greatly beloved. Her death occurred in 1883, soon after a trip to Europe. For more than thirty years Mr. Daniels has con- ducted the manufacture of boots, in recent years on an extended scale, em- ploying some two or three hundred hands. He inherited much of his father's enterprise, energy, and ability, and has had a very honorable and prosperous business career. Mr. Daniels has so conducted his business affairs as to have the universal confidence and respect of his townsmen and business associates. He was elected in 1867, Representative to the State Legislature, and served
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in the session of 1868, with credit to himself, and the approval of his con- stituents.
DEA. WILLIAM DANIELS.
WILLIAM DANIELS, son of Henry and Mary Ann (Pike) Daniels, and son-in-law of Dea. Paul and Eliza (Breek) Daniell, was born Feb. 3, 1825, in East Medway. Mr. Daniels received a good English education and was a teacher in the public schools. He settled on the farm of his ancestor, Mr. Henry Daniels, who was of the fourth generation of the name in Amer- iea. He became a prominent citizen, filled all the important offices in the town, and served in the State Legislature two years, in 1863 and 1864, during the trying period of the War for the Union. Ile held the office of deacon in the First Church of Christ, and was for many years the superin- tendent of the Sunday School.
Charles F. Daniels.
CHARLES FISKE DANIELS, son of Luke and Jemima (Fiske) Daniels, was born July 19, 1817, in Franklin, Mass. For some years he was en- gaged in the straw goods business, being for a while a successful manufac- turer of straw goods in Lowell, Mass. In later life Mr. Daniels became a real estate broker. He removed to Medway in 1867, and at once was recog- nized as a prominent citizen. He was chosen on the board of selectmen four years, on the board of school committee three years, and was a trustee
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THE RESIDENCE OF CHARLES F. DANIELS, ESQ.
of the Medway Savings Bank. He was associated for many years in the sale of real estate, with the Hon. J. F. C. Hyde, of Newton, Mass. Mr. Daniels was a self-made man, and acquired a good property. His residence on Holliston Street was one of the finest in the town. He was esteemed a man of good judgment, and his death, Aug. 2, 1884, was a public loss.
EDWIN ALFRED DANIELS, M. D.
EDWIN ALFRED DANIELS, son of George and Amy A. (Jefferson) Daniels, was born in Medway, Mass. His father died when he was four years old, and he went with his widowed mother to live with his grandpa- rents, in Uxbridge, Mass. When fifteen years of age he went to Woburn, Mass., entered the high school and graduated in 1870. He took the ex- aminations and was admitted the same year to Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. Subsequently he decided not to pursue the academic course and entered the Harvard Medical School, where he remained for a year and a half and then suspended his medical studies and taught school in Newton and in Woburn. But in 1875 he resumed his course in the Harvard Medical School, and in 1877 graduated, taking the degree of M. D. He then returned to his native town and Dec. 15, 1877, established himself in the practice of medicine as the successor of A. L. B. Monroe, M. D., who wished to retire from the duties of his profession. Dr. Daniels at once entered upon a good practice and has made for himself a favorable reputation for skill in the art of medicine and surgery. Dr. Daniels has the confidence and respect of his patrons and the medical profession. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and for several years has served with great acceptance on the School Committee of the town.
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OLIVER DEAN, M. D.
OLIVER DEAN, son of Seth and Edna (Pond) Dean, was born Feb. IS, 1783, in Franklin, Mass. After learning the English branches in the town schools he studied Latin in Framingham Academy and Greek with the Rev. Dr. Crane, of Northbridge. He began the study of medicine with Dr. James Mann, of Wrentham, but completed it with Dr. Ingalls, of Boston, and re- ceived his degree of M. D. from the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1809. He practiced in Boston until 1812, when he removed to Medway, but his health broke down under his labors here and in 1817 he left his profession to assume the Agency of the Medway Cotton Manufactory which position he held nine years. In 1826 he was elected Superintendent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, Manchester, N. H., and continued there for eight years. Having by skillful management accumulated a fortune he retired in 1834 to a small farm in Framingham, Mass. From 1844, until 1851, he resided in Boston, Mass. He next purchased a portion of the farm of the deceased Dr. Emmons and made Franklin his home till his death, which occurred Dec. 5, 1871. Dr. Dean devoted his last years chiefly to plans for the education of youth which resulted in the founding of the Dean Academy in Franklin, and which by his ample fortune is well endowed. He con- tributed largely to the endowment of Tufts College, to the Franklin Library, and to Grace Church, and will be long remembered in Medway as the foun- der and liberal patron of the Dean Library Association. Although of a dif- ferent religious faith, he was an early and life-long friend of the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Ide, of West Medway. While in Medway he was largely instrumental in the settlement of Dr. Ide, whose declining years he cheered with liberal tokens of his regard, and by his will provided largely for his future wants. Dr. Dean first married Caroline Francoeur, of Wrentham. She died Oct. 27, 1866, and in 1868 he married Mrs. Louisa C. Haines, of Wrentham, who still sur- vives. He left no children. He was frugal and temperate in his habits, industrious and sagacious in business, intelligent and persistent in plan and purpose, and rarely failed in their accomplishment. He administered his own estate and has left enduring monuments of his skill and genius for busi- ness, and of his regard for knowledge and virtue as essential to all human progress. Vid. The History of Franklin, Mass.
CHARLES HENRY DEANS, ESQ.
CHARLES HENRY DEANS, son of Samuel and Hannah Le Baron (Wheaton) Deans, was born May 2, 1832, in Easton, Mass. He pursued a course of classical study in the academy in New Hampton, N. H., for four years, and entered, in 1854, the Sophomore class of Brown University, Provi- dence, R. I. At the close of his Junior year his health failed, and he was obliged to leave college without graduating. His class graduated in 1857. Subsequent to leaving college he studied law with Samuel B. Noyes, Esq., and Ellis Ames, Esq., of Canton, Mass., and was admitted in 1858 to the Bar of Bristol County. He immediately opened an office in West Medway, where he has continued in the practice of his profession to the present time. Mr. Deans held the office of Trial Justice for twenty-one years. He has served
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on the school board for eighteen years, and is still a member. He was a Trustee of the Medway Savings Bank, and for fourteen years the President of the New England Awl Company. He was also the President of the Evergreen Cemetery Association.
REV. DAVID DEMING.
DAVID DEMING, son of David and Mary Deming, was born July 20, 1681, in Wethersfield, Conn. He graduated, at the age of nineteen years, from Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. He was the first pastor of the Church of Christ in Medway, his ministry extending from 1715 to 1722. Vid. THE CHURCHES. Nothing is known of his family beyond the follow- ing town record : " Jonathan Deming, the son of Mr. David Deming and Mariah his wife was born March 5, 1719." The Rev. Mr. Deming died in 1746, at the age of sixty-five years.
EDWARD EATON, EsQ.
EDWARD EATON, son of Dea. Ebenezer and Amy (Walker) Eaton, was born Nov. 28, 1818, in Framingham, Mass., but came early in life to Med- way, and lived with his grandfather until the death of Mr. Walker in 1840. He inherited the estate of his grandfather, where he afterwards resided. He engaged in the teaming and express business under the firm name of Baker & Eaton. Afterwards he engaged in the manufacture of batting with Mr.
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RESIDENCE OF EDWARD EATON, ESQ.
Alfred Daniels until Mr. Daniels' death, when he formed a partnership with Mr. E. C. Wilson for the manufacture of batting and wadding, which was continued until his death, which occurred Aug. 31, 1883. He was a man of great activity and business energy, and became one of the most successful manufacturers. The Village had frequent occasions to acknowledge his lib- erality for religious and charitable interests as well as for other objects of public benefit. He was on the board of selectmen, and in 1873 represented the town in the State Legislature. He married, March 25, 1841, Sarah Ann Harding, daughter of Seth and Mary (Learnard) Harding. There were no children. Mr. Eaton's death was a great public loss.
REV. FERDINAND ELLIS.
FERDINAND ELLIS, son of John and Rhoda (Partridge) Ellis, was born June 16, 1780, in Medway. He graduated in 1802 from Brown University, Providence, R. I., where he was tutor from 1802 to 1805 ; afterwards he taught school for fifteen years in Exeter, N. H., and subsequently he became a Baptist clergyman and was settled as pastor of the Baptist Church, June, 1818, in Exeter, N. H. He resigned September, 1828. The Rev. Mr. Ellis was regarded as a fine scholar, a successful teacher, and an excellent preacher. He married Lydia Whitmarsh, of Providence, R. I. Mrs. Ellis died Feb. 22, 1838, and the Rey. Mr. Ellis died March 15, 1858.
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