The story of Essex County, Volume III, Part 2

Author: Fuess, Claude Moore, 1885-1963
Publication date: 1935
Publisher: New York : American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 610


USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume III > Part 2


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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59


mother was a native of Newbury, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens make their home in North Andover.


(VIII-B) Samuel Dale Stevens, second son of the late Moses Tyler and Charlotte Emeline (Osgood) Stevens, was born at North Andover, June 16, 1859, and died at his home in North Andover, February 21, 1922. After attending the local grammar and high schools, he was graduated in 1877 from the Highland Military Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts, and immediately afterwards became connected with the woolen mills operated by his father. Together with his older brother, Nathaniel Stevens, he became a partner with his father in the firm of M. T. Stevens and Sons in 1885. In 1901 the firm was incorporated as the M. T. Stevens and Sons Company, of which Samuel D. Stevens became vice-president, holding this office and taking an active part in the man- agement of the company until his death. He was also a trustee of the Andover Savings Bank, a director of the Andover National Bank, and of the Merrimack Mutual Savings Fire Insurance Company of Andover.


As a trustee of the Stevens Memorial Library and president of the Improvement Society he gave his services and his counsel to promote the interests of the community. During the war he was chairman of the Public Safety Committee and was actively interested in the Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives. Though never seeking politi- cal office, there was no service for the wel- fare of the town which he did not willingly undertake. In the years immediately preced- ing his death he was greatly interested in the old records concerning North Andover and the wool manufacture, being the founder and moving spirit of the North Andover Historical Society, an organization to pre- serve the traditions and records of the town. He was also greatly interested in studying the ancient methods of textile manufacture


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


and, to illustrate the development in the woolen and worsted branches of the wool manufacture, he collected many different types of spinning wheels, flax wheels, hand looms, hand cards, hand combs, as well as hand-woven blankets, coverlets, and spreads. He worshipped at the North Parish (Uni- tarian) Church, North Andover, of which he was treasurer at the time of his death. Since his death his widow, Lucy A. Stevens, has presented to the North Andover Histori- cal Society a building, distinctive and ap- propriate in design, as a memorial to Samuel D. Stevens.


On June 16, 1885, Samuel Dale Stevens married Lucy Abbot, daughter of Dr. Ezra Abbot, a native of Andover and a prominent physician of Canton, Massachusetts, where he practiced his profession for forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens became the parents of three children : 1. Abbot, treasurer of the M. T. Stevens and Sons Company. 2. Sam- uel Dale, Jr., formerly assistant treasurer of the M. T. Stevens and Sons Company, who died January 5, 1933. 3. Caroline.


(VIII-C) Moses Tyler Stevens, youngest son of the late Moses Tyler and Charlotte Emeline (Osgood) Stevens, was born at North Andover, April 15, 1871. He was edu- cated at the Lawrence Private School, the Frederick N. Knapp School at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Philadelphia Textile School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1899 he became a partner, with his father and two older brothers, in the firm of M. T. Stevens and Sons, continuing as such until 1901, since when he has been secretary, vice-president and a director of the M. T. Stevens and Sons Company, the corporate successor of the earlier firm. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Stevens Linen Works and vice-president and a director of the Open Road Publishing Company. His clubs include the Union, St. Botolph and City Clubs, of Boston, and the


North Andover Country Club, and he is also a member of the Harvard Musical As- sociation. His religious affiliations are with the North Parish (Unitarian), North An- dover, of which he is now treasurer.


Mr. Stevens is not married and makes his home at North Andover.


CHARLES HOWARD BANGS, M. D. -A figure long prominent in medical and historical circles, Dr. Charles Howard Bangs, held a place in the respect and affec- tion of the citizens of Great Lynn and Swampscott that was enviable. He began his medical practice in the early 'nineties and rose to high place in his profession, and was widely known and popular in medical societies as an official and a contributor to their publications. A scion of families old in the annals of New England, he was greatly interested in history and genealogy, served actively in various organizations de- voted to these and allied subjects, and wrote often and interestingly on historical topics. Dr. Bangs was the prime mover in the "Old Home Week" movement and the founder of the "Edward Bangs Descendants"; past president of the University of Massachu- setts ; professor in the Middlesex College of Medicine and notably prominent in all pub- lic and civic activities.


Dr. Bangs was the only child of William B. and Martha Philpot (Sweat) Bangs, and was born in Limerick, York County, Maine, April 14, 1861. He was in the direct line of descent from Edward Bangs, shipwright and merchant, who was born in Chichester, Sussex, England, in 1592, and came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1623. The doctor traced the history of the family over a period of four hundred years, and pub- lished the results of his research under the title of "Edward Bangs the Pilgrim." He also organized the society known as "The Edward Bangs Descendants" which has


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


members in thirty of the states, Canada, and England.


A farmer's son, Charles Howard Bangs received the preliminaries of his education in the district schools, adding to it as he could between the busy farm seasons. He also taught school in the towns of Parsons- field, Waterloo, Buxton, Cornish, and Stan- dish, before he was graduated from Lime- rick Academy, in 1882. Ten years later he was graduated from Bowdoin College Med- ical School with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, but prior to this had pursued medical studies in the Portland (Maine) School for Medical Instruction, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, and the Maryland Maternity Hospital. After a few months of practice at Sanford, Maine, Dr. Bangs removed to Lynn, Massachusetts, in September, 1892, where he continued until 1916, when he moved the slight distance to Swampscott which was thereafter his place of residence and of work to the time of his death in 1933.


In 1908 Dr. Bangs established an office in Boston, deyoting himself to the practice of dermatology. He was for fifteen years the dermatologist at Lynn Hospital, and for several years filled that position at the Mid- dlesex Hospital at Cambridge. He was a member of the American Medical Associa- tion, and had been frequently assigned by that society to speak upon public health in various parts of New England. A Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, he served for twelve or more years on its coun- cil, and represented the society as a delegate to the Maine Medical Society, and was its secretary. He was president of the Essex County District Medical Society during its centennial year, having previously served as its secretary and upon its board of cen- sors. He helped organize the Lynn Medical Society, and had filled every elective office in that body and served on many of its com-


mittees. He was one of the members of the American Congress on Internal Medicine at its organization, and was an active mem- ber of the New England Dermatological Society.


His writings have appeared in various medical jour- nals and health publications. His love for teaching and his realization that the most direct way to master a subject is to teach it, has caused him to associate himself with the teaching staff of medical schools and hospitals. In his special department of dermatology he has been called to address the nurses in the train- ing schools of twelve hospitals from Bangor, Maine, to New York City.


Dr. Bangs was one of the organizers and a trustee of the University of Massachu- setts, Inc., and organized the School of Pediatry, which was imperatively needed, as there was no such school in New England, and only six in the United States. To this and other departments of the university he gave freely of his time, and served as presi- dent. He was also a trustee of Limerick (Maine) Academy from which he was grad- uated in 1882.


The Old Home Week movement inaugu- rated by Governor Frank W. Rollins, of New Hampshire, appealed strongly to Dr. Bangs, for in it he saw a means of return- ing to New England some of the resources of men and means of which the appeal of the West had depleted the East. He helped to organize and became the executive vice- president of the Massachusetts Old Home Week Association, of which the Governor of the Commonwealth was president. He furnished the statistical studies, so widely copied, showing the great tide of migration that had poured out of New England in past generations to populate other states. He was also secretary of the New England Old Home Week Association of which Gover- nor Rollins was president, and had a good opportunity to see the great benefit of the movement as shown by the purchase of


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


ancestral homes, the rebuilding of old churches, the endowment of the old schools and academies, and the general reawaken- ing of the feeling of appreciation of a sturdy New England ancestry in those who had left the old homes to seek their fortunes in distant states.


The keen interest Dr. Bangs had in all things historical was manifested in many ways and his ability recognized by election to various offices in organizations such as the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, of which he was president in 1922-23, and was vice-president general of the national society. He was historian of the old Essex Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution of Lynn for many years; vice-president of the Swampscott Historical Society ; and served variously as a member of the Lynn Historical Society. Many of his writings were of an historical character and printed in all kinds of me- diums from the newspaper to the formal history. He was instrumental in saving the historic "Old Humphrey House" in Swamp- scott, by proving after extensive research, that it was undoubtedly built for Deputy Governor John Humphrey probably as early as 1634, and therefore one of the old- est houses in New England. Under his leadership the Swampscott Historical So- ciety purchased the house and made it the center of its activities and Colonial col- lections.


In June, 1894. Charles Howard Bangs married Eva A. Parcher, daughter of George and Emma (Chase) Parcher, of Saco, Maine. Miss Parcher was secretary of the Maine Board of World's Fair Commission- ers, and traveled in New England and Mex- ico in 1892 in the interests of the World's Columbian Exposition. Dr. and Mrs. Bangs were the parents of two children: I. Wil- liam Parcher Bangs, born March 29, 1900; graduate of Boston University, now residing


in Hyannis, Massachusetts. 2. Althea Bangs born August 27, 1904, a graduate of the State Normal School at Framingham, Mas- sachusetts; now residing at Swampscott. Mrs. Bangs died in 1928.


Dr. Charles Howard Bangs died at his home in Swampscott, August 6, 1933.


HON. ALDEN PERLEY WHITE-The character of a man can generally be meas- ured not only by what he has accomplished in his given profession, but by what he has contributed to the social, civic and business affairs of his community. Measured in these terms, Judge Alden Perley White was a great and humane person, recognized as such and respected by all who came in con- tact with him or knew about him. Of a dis- tinguished old New England family, he came to occupy one of the most important and responsible positions in the legal circles of Essex County.


Alden Perley White was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1856. He was the son of Amos Alden White, born March 26, 1823, in Wenham, Massachusetts, and of Harriet Augusta Perley, the daugh- ter of Artemas Ward Perley and Eleanor (Putnam) Perley. His mother was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, April 15, 1817. She died in Danvers, August 19, 1874.


Amos Alden White was the son of Amos Curtis White and Lydia Porter White. He became well established as a shoe manufac- turer in Danvers, and died there April 3, 1885.


Artemas Ward Perley, the father of Har- riet Augusta Perley, was a cooper by trade and lived in Boxford, Massachusetts.


The earliest paternal ancestor in America was William White, who with his wife, Sus- anna Fuller, came over in the "Mayflower." William White, the son of a clergyman, came from Basset-Lawe in England.


Alden P. Phía


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


In 1608 a small band sailed for Amster- dam, where they stayed nine months. In 1609 they sailed to Leyden, where William White married Susanna Fuller, and where their son, Resolved, was born.


In 1620-21 they came to America with William Bradford, stopping first in Prov- incetown Harbor and later landing at Plym- outh. Peregrine, son of William, was born on the boat.


Intermediate ancestors were:


Resolved White Judith Vassal


Josiah White


Remember Reed


Samuel White


Dinah Kenney


Samuel White


Martha Prichard


Joseph White Curtis


Amos C. White Lydia Porter


Amos Alden White


Harriet Augusta Perley


Alden Perley White


Jessie Carter


The earliest maternal ancestor was Allan Perley, the emigrant ancestor of the Perley family in America. He was born in Wales, in the first quarter of the year 1608, and died in Ipswich, Massachusetts, December 28, 1675. He came to America at the age of twenty-two years in the fleet with Governor Winthrop and located in "Charlestowne Vil- lage," on land now included in the city of Woburn.


Intermediate maternal ancestors :


Allan Perley John Perley


Susanna Bokesen


Mary Howlett


Mrs. Abigail-Towne Peabody


Amos Perley


( Mehitable Perley


Nathaniel Perley


Lydia Ayers


Eleanor Putnam


Mrs. Elizabeth Boardman


The daughter of Artemas Ward Perley and Eleanor Putnam Perley was Harriet Augusta Perley, who married Amos Alden White, whose son was Alden Perley White.


Alden Perley White was educated in the public schools of Danvers, Massachusetts,


and went to Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts, before entering Amherst Col- lege in the class of 1878.


He received several prizes and medals throughout his college course for essays, public speaking, and so forth. He was gradu- ated among the first in his class. He also gave the "Grove Oration" at his gradua- tion, of which the Springfield "Union" com- mented : "The Grove Orator, A. P. White, of Danvers, showed that this oration could be exceedingly humorous without being silly. Amid the chaff of nonsense lay a great many grains of sound sense and advice for which one is not apt to look to a grove ora- tion."


He attended the Harvard Law School after graduation from college, and on com- pletion of the law course he was admitted to the bar of Essex County in 1880. In May of that year he started the practice of law in Salem, under the name of Perry and White.


He was appointed a Special Justice of the First District Court of Salem in 1890. He resigned that position to accept the post of assistant district attorney of Essex County in 1891. He served in this office for four years with District Attorney William H. Moody. When Mr. Moody went to Con- gress, Mr. White was elected his successor. He served in this position one term of three years until 1899.


His interest in the civic affairs of the com- munity in which he lived is reflected in the numerous and responsible offices which he held and the prominent organizations which he served. For a number of terms he was on the Salem board of aldermen, becoming a member of this body during Mayor Peter- son's first administration in 1903 and serving until 1906. During his first year he was elected president of the group and also be- came a member of the Salem school board after the adoption of the present form of government.


Thomas Perley


Mrs. Hannah-Goodhue Cogswell Margaret Cogswell


Artemas Ward Perley


Mary Howe


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


He served at one time on the school com- mittee, and he was president of the Amherst Alumni Association of Boston.


The distinction gained in his legal profes- sion was recognized and he was honored on January 3, 1918, when he was appointed by Governor McCall, Judge of the Probate Court of the County of Essex, an office which he filled with distinction until his death. He succeeded Judge Rollin E. Harmon, of Lynn.


Alden Perley White married (first) Mary Howe, in Danvers, Massachusetts, on June 13, 1884. She was born in Clinton, Iowa, March 9, 1865, the daughter of Isaac B. Howe and Hannah R. (Gould) Howe. She died in Danvers, Massachusetts, August 4, 1885. The one son of this marriage, Alden Eaton White, died in Danvers in the year 1893, aged seven and one-half years. Mr. White married (second) in Springfield, Mas- sachusetts, Jessie Carter, on June 2, 1896. She was born in Springfield on May 31, 1865, the daughter of Horatio Nelson and Abigail (Griswold) Carter. Horatio Nelson Carter was one of the two partners in a prosperous dry goods store called Carter and Cooley, of Springfield, Massachusetts.


The children from this marriage were: I. Carter, born in Salem, August 9, 1898. 2. Barbara, born in Salem, October 3, 1899; married, November 27, 1926, Richard K. Baker, of Boston. Their children: Philip Morrill Baker, born in Boston, February 21, 1928; Barbara and Lucy (twins), born in Boston, May 6, 1931. 3. Nancy Perley, born in Salem, Massachusetts, November 12. 1900. 4. Emily Alden, born in Salem, Massachu- setts, March 1, 1907; married, August I, 1931, Marshall Goldthwait Hall, of Marble- head.


In addition to having a keen interest in his profession, Judge White took an active part in the social life of the community. He was an orator of distinction. Through his proficiency in this line, he was constantly in


demand. He delivered the principal address at the exercises in observance of the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Salem, in 1926. He also made the presenta- tion speech on the fiftieth anniversary of Bandmaster Jean Missud's connection with the Salem Cadet Band in 1928.


The esteem in which his professional col- leagues held him was demonstrated on May 12, 1931, when three hundred and fifty mem- bers of the Essex County Bar Association and friends tendered Judge White a dinner at the Hotel Hawthorne in recognition of his fifty years of legal service.


He was an author and an authority on his- torical subjects. He was a charter member of the Danvers Historical Society and was elected as president in 1926. In line with this phase of activity he wrote a history of Danvers which was published some years ago, and is looked upon as one of the out- standing and authoritative works of its type.


Judge White held various offices in the following organizations: The Merchants' National Bank of Salem; he was elected to the board of directors on January 8, 1918, re- maining in that office till death. The Salem Public Library ; elected to the board of trus- tees in 1924, holding that position till 1933. The Salem Athenaeum; elected a trustee in 1897-1928. The Salem Chamber of Com- merce ; became a member in 1928; toastmas- ter at the dinner in 1933. The Hawthorne Memorial Association ; elected president at first meeting of the board of directors on June 1, 1910; held that office until the fulfill- ment of the purpose of the association : the erection of the statue of Hawthorne (sculp- tor, Bela Pratt) with dedication of the Haw- thorne Memorial on December 23, 1925; he gave the dedicatory address. The Whittier Society of Haverhill ; elected to the board of trustees on May 15, 1922; became president of the board December 12, 1923, holding that office till death. Governor Dummer Acad-


Steel Engraving byMICorn


American Historygal ". "y


G. Piatt Andrew


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


emy of South Byfield, Massachusetts; be- came trustee in 1902; elected president of the board in 1925, remaining in that office till 1933. Tabernacle Church Council, Salem ; became a member at large in January, 1930, and at that time was elected chairman of the council to serve five years. Member Salem Young Men's Christian Association, 1904- 1933. Member Salem Light Infantry Vet- erans' Association, the Sons of the American Revolution, Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities, and the Peabody His- torical Society ; secretary of the Essex Bar Association for twenty years; member of Salem Oratorio Society, 1886-90, and its president 1893-1902. Became a member of Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, in 1884; member of the board of directors, 1889; vice-president, 1896, and president from 1926 to 1933. During his term as chief executive he arranged several courses of lec- tures by distinguished speakers, and by earnest effort he greatly stimulated interest in the institute throughout the community. He held this office until his death.


Judge White died July 9, 1933, at his sum- mer home in Danvers. His passing was keenly felt by the host of admirers and friends whom he had known throughout his long and distinguished career. This com- ment was made by the local newspaper : "Always affable and courteous, the commu- nity found him approachable at all times. He possessed a remarkably fine legal mind and a quiet dignity that fitted the high office which he held. He was known as one of the ablest lawyers of the Essex bar. He was for many years secretary of the Essex Bar Association."


Judge White was possessed of a rare tem- perament. He was artistic, a lover of music and of all fine literature. He had a keen sense of justice and a love for humanity. He had a radiant personality of which all who came in contact with him were con-


scious. His court decisions were given with equal justice for all, for poor as well as for rich.


An old lady ninety years of age said of him : "I never heard one word against him."


A friend wrote of him: "I think I have never known any one who so combined dis- tinguished public service with such simple and unaffected friendliness. I am glad I had the very great privilege of knowing him."


Another friend wrote : "His cheerful happy ways, his delightful humor, his generous and sweet nature, generosity public and private, a certain innocence and trust, all these were combined with keen understanding and rare wisdom."


He was called "The Beloved Magistrate." He was even more truly the Beloved Friend.


The following tribute appeared in the local paper a few days after his death. It tells clearly how he stood in the community in which he lived :


JUDGE WHITE A REAL PERSONIFICATION OF THE WORD "FRIEND"


EDITOR OF THE "NEWS": To have been thrown with Judge White in any way, however slight, was to have met with pleasure. In thinking of it now we feel the power and the delight in that great word-friend. Judge White's friendliness put sunshine into the casual things of every day. It gave charm to his speech and made his presence comforting.


Whether he was here or there, doing this thing or another-working or playing, mingling with his inti- mates, meeting a chance acquaintance, or walking among strangers, there it was, his friendly spirit, a hand silently stretched out to help his fellow-travelers along the way of life.


It makes us pause in our little round of getting, to think of his giving-the quality, and value of it- giving himself. It makes us humble and grateful in our remembrance of him, for we have seen the simple beauty in being a Christian-"Worthy of the high calling to which we are called."


COLONEL A. PIATT ANDREW, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, member of Con- gress from Essex County, is descended from English, Scotch, Irish, French and


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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY


Dutch ancestors who settled in Massachu- setts, New York, and in New Jersey in Colonial days, among the earliest settlers of Ipswich and Newbury being Merrills and Osgoods. Six of his ancestors served in the War for Independence, four being offi- cers. He was born in LaPorte, Indiana, February 12, 1873, son of Abram Piatt Andrew, captain in the Civil War, and Helen Merrill.


He attended Lawrenceville school and re- ceived a degree of Bachelor of Arts from Princeton, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard. Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard 1903-08. Expert adviser and editor of the extensive publications of the Aldrich National Monetary Commission (1908-11) which prepared the way for the Federal Reserve Act. Successively Direc- tor of the Mint and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Taft Administra- tion.


Served more than four years in France during the World War. Organized in 1915 a volunteer ambulance corps known as the American Field Service with the French Army, which, with over 2,400 American volunteers as drivers, and some 1,200 auto- mobiles donated by Americans, carried the wounded of many French divisions on the battle fronts in France and the Balkans be- fore America's entry into the war. Con- tinued in the American Expeditionary Forces as major and lieutenant colonel. Awarded Croix de Guerre and made officer of the Legion of Honor by France, and offi- cer of the Order of Leopold by Belgium, and given the Distinguished Service Medal by the United States.




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