USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume III > Part 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
In 1925 Mr. Wood resigned from the presi- dency of the American Woolen Company. The resulting unaccustomed inactivity was more than he could bear. He speedily broke down in health and on February 3, 1926, he died.
DEAN K. WEBSTER-The Webster family of Massachusetts has a distinguished and colorful history in military, civic, social and business affairs of the State that estab- lishes it among those families that are hon- ored for their leadership. According to family records, John Webster came from Ipswich, England, to Ipswich, Massachu- setts, in 1634, and was the grandfather of
Dearturbeter
495
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
Hannah Dustin, who was the mother of several children taken captives by Indians and carried up the Merrimack River. It is said that she fought her way to freedom by the use of a tomahawk. One of John Web- ster's descendants settled at Newburyport and a grandson of this pioneer was in charge of the ferry on which Washington crossed the Merrimack River on his visit to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The first blacksmith in Haverhill was descended from John Webster, and for shoeing the town oxen received a grant of land.
Later, members of the Webster family removed to Derryfield, New Hampshire, the original name of Manchester. Shortly be- fore the Civil War, Henry K. Webster, father of Dean K. Webster, of this record, removed to Lawrence. Following the ex- ample of the Webster family, which name has been well represented in American mil- itary affairs since pioneer days, Henry K. Webster enlisted in the Federal Army and after two years active service was taken prisoner by the Confederate forces and was confined to prison camps for seven months, most of the time on Belle Isle, on the James River. In 1868 H. K. Webster established a grain business in Lawrence and became one of the prosperous business men as well as a prominent civic leader of the city. Actively continuing his business until his death on February 23, 1920, he served as mayor of Lawrence, in ISSo, held other pub- lic offices and was president of the Law- rence National Bank for several years. He also served as chairman of the board of di- rectors of the consolidated Merchants Trust and the Lawrence National Banks, was a member of the investment committee of the Essex Savings Bank, and was identified with numerous other business, civic and so- cial organizations of Lawrence.
Dean K. Webster was born on May 10, IS70. the son of Henry K. Webster and
Elsie (Johnson) Webster. Educated in the public schools of Lawrence, Mr. Webster is a graduate of Lawrence High. He also had the advantages of a commercial school training and of one year's study of law. He entered his father's business in 1891 and since 1903, when the business was incor- porated as the H. K. Webster Company, has directed its affairs. One of the best known firms in its field, the H. K. Webster Company manufactures specially prepared dairy and poultry feeds known as the Blue Seal Brands and distributes its products in car-load lots, its markets being located prin- cipally in Maine and New Hampshire. This firm has an honorable record of nearly sev- enty years of service and has an enviable prestige among the leading commercial houses of Lawrence.
In addition to successfully managing his own business, Mr. Webster is active in many other organizations. He was a trustee of the Lawrence Savings Bank, organized four mutual fire and casualty insurance companies, which he served as president over a period of twenty-four years and from which he retired in 1931. He has taken a prominent part in public affairs and has given generously to philanthropic causes. He served for two years as president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Law- rence and is a trustee of the Central Metho- dist Episcopal Church. In Masonic circles he is distinguished by having been elected to the Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, in recognition of his many valuable services to the order. He has held high offices in various York or American Rite bodies and in three of the Scottish Rite bodies. He has also served in high positions in all Grand bodies : Three years as Grand Master of the Grand Council, Royal and Select Masters of Massachusetts, and has served as a director of the Grand Lodge since 1930. He is also a member of Aleppo Temple, Boston, Ancient
496
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Aside from his home and business, Mr. Webster's principal interest is in Masonic work.
On May 31, 1894, he married Clarabell Hatch of Lawrence, and they have two sons : Dean K., Jr., and Walter N., who are associated with their father in the active management of the grain business at Law- rence. The H. K. Webster Company has doubled its volume in recent years and has now become one of the leading manufac- turers of grain products in New England.
CHARLES E. OBER -- Although the financial activities of Charles E. Ober have largely centered in Boston, he is a native of Beverly, and during the most of his life has been intimately connected with its affairs. He was born on November 9, 1869, the son of Edward H. and Mary (Diggins) Ober, the families of both of whom came originally from England, and were among the early settlers of the Beverly section. Edward H. Ober was a contracting builder, and many of the beautiful homes on the North Shore are monuments to his skill and ability.
Charles E. Ober attended the local schools of his birthplace, and was graduated from the Beverly High School with the class of 1885. He followed the usual custom of at- tending the Bryant and Stratton Commer- cial College, as a necessary preparation for a business career. He was still a youth when he became associated with Adams, Blodget and Company, investment dealers in Bos- ton, and has since continued his connection with the long established firm, now known as Stone and Webster and Blodget, Incor- porated. Mr. Ober is the vice-president in charge of the Boston office, and during his career has been interested financially and in other ways in many parts of Eastern Mas- sachusetts. He is a director of the Worces- ter Street Railway Company.
Beverly holds a unique place in the affec- tions and interests of Mr. Ober. For many years he was vice-president of the Beverly National Bank, before being elected its presi- dent. He is a director of the Beverly Co- operative Bank and a trustee of the Beverly Savings Bank. He was a member of the Beverly city council during 1895 and 1896, and in 1897 was elected alderman. Mr. Ober was also chairman of the citizens' commis- sion which was responsible for the building of the present fine high school. Among his clubs are the Exchange, Boston City, Salem Country, and others.
On June 2, 1903, Charles E. Ober married Elizabeth W. Hill, of Beverly, and they are the parents of a son, Edward H. Ober, gradu- ate of Exeter Academy, and a Bachelor of Arts, Harvard University School of Busi- ness Administration. He is now (1934) with the Stone and Webster and Blodget, Incor- porated.
REV. FRANCIS M. JURAS-Pastor of St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church (Lithu- anian), in Lawrence, the Rev. Francis M. Juras has made a highly respected name for himself, not alone for his successful devo- tion to his church and parish, but in civic life and the organized activities of his peo- ple. He was born in Siauliai, Lithuania, June 16, 1891, and was educated in his native city. In 1909, while the country was still under the domination of the Russian govern- ment, he was graduated from college and, during the following three years, was en- gaged in the preparation of pupils for col- lege. Some of the cultural and educational background of these early years are reflected in the facility with which he influences peo- ple of all races and classes. He is a linguist, speaking, besides his own Lithuanian, Latin, Polish, German, English, Russian, and sev- eral of the Slav dialects.
497
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
Francis M. Juras sailed for the United States in 1912, with the intention of study- ing for the priesthood. Three of his sisters are nuns of the teaching order, his brother died just before his ordination to the priest- hood. Taking up the study of English at St. Charles' College, Catonsville, Maryland, after eighteen months he entered St. Vin- cent de Paul University, of Chicago, remain- ing until 1917. In that year Francis Juras matriculated at Kendrick Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, where he continued his studies for four years, specializing in philos- ophy and theology. During that time he was under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Sioux City Diocese in Iowa. Feeling that he would be handicapped in performing his work in English and knowing that in that diocese there were not many Lithuanian people, he applied to His Eminence, Cardi- nal O'Connell, for affiliation to his arch- diocese. His Eminence, Cardinal O'Connell, granted him this affiliation and in 1921 Father Juras was sent to St. John's Semi- nary. He showed such marked ability that in 1922, one year less than the time required to complete a seminary training, he was ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence, Cardinal O'Connell, in the Cathedral, Bos- ton, on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The work to which he had given so many years of preparation began formally as assistant to the St. Francis' Parish, Lawrence, imme- diately after his ordination. On April I, 1927, the Rev. Francis M. Juras was placed in charge of St. Joseph's Parish, Lowell, Massachusetts, where he remained until May, 1929, when he was transferred to his first parish, St. Francis, as pastor. The one interlude in his clerical activities came in 1925, when His Eminence, the Cardinal, granted him permission to go on the Pil- grimage of the Holy Year to Rome. During that trip he extended his pilgrimage to the
Holy Land and other famous shrines in Europe.
Rev. Francis M. Juras has had no easy task in leading and strengthening and to a certain extent, rehabilitating, the parishes of St. Francis, Lawrence, and St. Joseph's, Lowell. The latter has been revivified, and in St. Francis he has had to lead the way to the completion of the upper part of the St. Francis' Church, in 1931. In addition to regular duties, Father Juras has given lectures twice a month to the Arch-Confra- ternity of Christian Mothers, and once a month he delivers lectures to the Lithuanian Roman Catholic Ladies' Association of America. Occasionally he lectures in the neighboring Lithuanian parishes on the Catholic action. He has been a trustee of the Lithuanian Catholic Federation of America, and has played prominent rôles in such organizations as the Lithuanian Catho- lic Students' League of America, of which he was the president and secretary; the Knights of Lithuania, of which he was the president ; the Lithuanian Catholic Temper- ance Association of America, of which he was secretary, and has been an ofttime con- tributor of articles to magazines represent- ing the three societies just named. He was spiritual director of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Association of Labor, and for many years has been a literary member of this body. In 1932 he was elected secretary of the Lithuanian Catholic Priests' League of America, an office he still fills with satisfac -- tion to the league. For two years he was secretary to the Students' Aid Organization, and in his own parishes of St. Francis and St. Joseph has formed such societies as the Young Ladies' Sodality, Holy Name soci- eties, the Young Men's Association, and others. He is well known to the Lithuanian people of this country and abroad not only as an exemplary priest and an excellent
498
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
preacher, but also as a man accomplishing great charitable purposes. A life devoted to the uplift of humanity, of genuine bene- faction to all people, and the pointing of the way to the Father of all mankind, such is the career of Father Juras.
ELBRIDGE ROBERTS ANDERSON- In the field of law Elbridge Roberts Ander- son, of Boston and Essex County, has won a place of prominence like to that of his father in education. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, September 12, 1864, the son of Dr. Galusha and Mary Eleanor (Roberts) Anderson, the latter a native of Massachu- setts. Galusha Anderson was of New York State birth and won high reputation as an educator, writer and minister. He was presi- dent of the University of Chicago for eleven years, was for five years president of Deni- son University, and was a professor in New- ton Theological Seminary. As a minister he was pastor of the Second Baptist Church, St. Louis, Missouri, the Strong Place Bap- tist Church, of Brooklyn, New York, the Second Baptist Church, of Chicago, Illinois, and, finally, of the First Baptist Church, of Salem, Massachusetts. He wielded a facile pen, and is favorably recalled as the author of "Science and Prayer," once widely circu- lated; "Neighbors Were Neighbors," a de- scription of farm life; and also "A Border City in the Civil War." Dr. Galusha Ander- son died at the home of his son Elbridge, in Wenham, Massachusetts, in July, 1918.
Elbridge Roberts Anderson gained his ele- mentary education in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts, and of Chicago. Illi- nois. Before being graduated from the Uni- versity of Chicago, in 1885. he entered the Colorado State School of Mines, pursuing special courses, for one year and then re- turned to the University of Chicago. His legal training was acquired, as was usual in
his time and place, under private tutelage, while a student in Chicago. Late in 1885 Mr. Anderson removed to Salem, Massachu- setts, where he was admitted to the bar dur- ing the following year, in June. He first joined the firm of Sterns and Butler, of Bos- ton, with which he remained for a year. In 1888 he joined in a partnership with Charles W. Bartlett and Clinton Gage to form the firm of Bartlett, Gage and Anderson. Five years later Mr. Gage retired and the firm became Bartlett and Anderson. It is both interesting and important that the associa- tion of these two men in law practice con- tinued over a period of twenty-one years, making them the oldest legal concern in Massachusetts in point of continuous and unchanged association. The present title of the firm is Anderson, Mintz and Owen.
In the most exacting of professions, El- bridge R. Anderson has won wide recogni- tion for pronounced abilities and unusual skill from colleagues and his large clientele. He is a member of the International Law Association, the American Bar Association, Massachusetts State Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Middlesex, Norfolk and Essex County Bar Association. He resides in Wenham, Massachusetts, where he has served the town as counsel; has been a member of the finance commission, was chairman of the park commission and has been a member of the board of health for eighteen years. Among his clubs are the Exchange Club, of Boston, the College Club, of Wenham, and he is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, Illinois Beta Chap- ter, Chicago University. For years Mr. An- derson has been a popular figure among sportsmen who follow yachting, wing shoot- ing and fish the streams of Eastern Maine for the lordly salmon.
Elbridge Roberts Anderson married (first), in 1889, Elizabeth Dodge Harris, who died on May 2, 1932, and they had a daughter,
499
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
Mary Addison Luscomb, who died in 1923. Mr. Anderson married (second), in October. 1933, Blanche Webster Hobbs, of Winthrop.
GORDON ABBOTT-Since 1893 Gordon Abbott has been engaged in banking activi- ties in the Boston area and is at present chairman of the board of directors of Old Colony Trust Company, and is connected with many institutions prominent in the financial and business life of New England.
Mr. Abbott was born on January 18, 1863, son of Jeremiah and Ellen M. (Bangs) Ab- bott. Attending the Noble School, in Bos- ton, he afterward entered Harvard Univer- sity, Cambridge, being graduated there with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1884. In the autumn immediately following his graduation, he started work with Abbott, Wheelock and Company, his father's firm, which was engaged in the import and export of metals. This work frequently took him to Europe, and during the existence of the so-called "copper corner," he passed two years in Paris.
It was early in 1893 that his Harvard classmate, T. J. Coolidge, offered him the vice-presidency of the Old Colony Trust Company. Mr. Coolidge had just founded that enterprise at that time, and together Mr. Coolidge and Mr. Abbott took an im- portant part in its development. Not only has Mr. Abbott been connected with the Old Colony Trust Company from that early period of its history, but since 1910 has been chairman of its board of directors. Experi- encing a gradual growth, the institution came to be one of the most important of its kind in New England.
In the course of his banking career, he has come to be officially associated with a number of widely known corporations in different parts of the United States, such as the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, in which he is a director and a
member of the finance committee, and the Provident Institution for Savings, of which he is vice-president and a trustee. He is also a director and member of the finance committee of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, a director of the New York Central Lines, a director of the Ester- brook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company, a director of the International General Elec- tric Company, and a director and a member of the executive committee of the General Electric Company.
From 1883 to 1887 he was a member of the Ist Corps Cadets. Since March, 1912, he has been connected with the Veterans' Associa- tion of the Ist Corps Cadets, serving from April, 1918, to April, 1929, as its vice-presi- dent.
He has long been connected with many civic and charitable organizations. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Boston Public Library from 1926 to 1931 and its president from June, 1929, to June, 1930. He is now serving as president of The Children's Hospital; he has been a member of its board of managers since 1896, and from January, 1906, to January, 1917, he was its treasurer. From January 1, 1917, to May, 1929, he acted as chairman of its executive committee. He has retained at the same time a deep interest in his alma mater, and has served since June, 1903, as chairman of the class of 1884. Along with his other activities, Mr. Abbott is a member of the Somerset Club, the Eastern Yacht Club and the Exchange Club, of Boston, and the Knickerbocker Club of New York. Mr. Abbott is a member of the Arlington Street Church, Boston.
Mrs. Abbott was, before her marriage, Katharine Tiffany, who was born in Balti- more, Maryland, on September 24, 1872. Her marriage to Gordon Abbott took place in Baltimore on November 6, 1895. The Ab- botts have become the parents of three chil-
Essex-26
500
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
dren : I. Katharine, now the wife of George L. Batchelder, Jr. 2. Eleanor, the wife of Francis B. Lothrop. 3. Gordon, who mar- ried Esther Lowell Cunningham.
DR. CLAUDE MOORE FUESS, Ph. D., Litt. D., L. H. D., head master of Phillips Academy at Andover and a well-known edu- cator and author, was born in Waterville, New York, January 12, 1885. He is a son of Louis Philip and Helen Augusta (Moore) Fuess and a descendant of old American families. Dr. Fuess was educated at Water- ville High School, from which he was gradu- ated in 1901, and at Amherst College, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1905. In the following year he took the degree of Master of Arts at Columbia Uni- versity and in 1912 received the further degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the same institution.
Dr. Fuess has been associated with Phil- lips Academy since 1908, when he became instructor in English and editor of the "Phil- lips Bulletin." These duties occupied him for a quarter of a century, at the termination of which, in 1933, he was appointed head master of the academy. During the interval he firmly established his reputation as an educator and his qualifications for the re- sponsibilities which devolve upon him as administrative head of one of the leading preparatory schools of the country. Dr. Fuess was also for some years executive secretary of the Phillips Academy Alumni Fund. In 1928 he was appointed Elizabeth Milbank Anderson Foundation professor of English, and in 1927-28 was elected presi- dent of the New England Association of Teachers of English. He has been since 1933 a trustee of Governor Dummer Acad- emy and is a member of the board of visitors of Amherst College, Brown University and Harvard University.
In addition to his educational activities, Dr. Fuess has made many contributions to English critical scholarship and American history. He is the author of the following volumes: "Byron as a Satirist in Verse," 1912; "An Old New England School," 1917; "Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Great War," 1919; "The Town of Andover, Massa- chusetts, in the World War," 1921; "The Life of Caleb Cushing," 1923; "All For An- dover," 1925; "The Andover Way," 1926; "Peter Had Courage," 1927; "Daniel Web- ster," 1930; "Rufus Choate," 1927; "Carl Schurz," 1932; and "Amherst, the Story of a New England College," 1935. He has edited a number of publications, including : "English Narrative Poems," 1908; "English Essays," 1914; "Selected English Letters," 1914; "Milton's Minor Poems," 1913; "Se- lected Short Stories," 1914; "A High School Spelling Book," 1915; "A Little Book of Familiar Verse," 1922; "Selections from Victorian Poets," 1922; "Good Writing," 1923; "Amherst Memorial Volume," 1926; "Men of Andover," 1928; and "Practical Precis Writing," 1929. Dr. Fuess has also contributed to the "Dictionary of American Biography" and is the editor of the present history.
During the World War, Dr. Fuess served, in 1917, as New England secretary of the American Red Cross fund drive, and in the first months of 1918 as a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Selective Serv- ice. In April, 1918, however, he was ap- pointed civilian chief of the Personnel Divi- sion at Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Jackson- ville, Florida, and on September 27, 1918, was commissioned major in the Quarter- master Corps. In that capacity he was assigned to Camp Johnston and remained until December 19, 1918, when he was honor- ably discharged.
Dr. Fuess has been a member of the Mas- sachusetts War Memorial Commission and
Claude M. F ness
503
THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
a member and State Historian of the Ameri- can Legion in Massachusetts. He is also a trustee of the American Antiquarian Society, a member of the Headmasters' Associa- tion, the Modern Language Association of America, the Massachusetts Historical Soci- ety, the Society of Colonial Wars. the Mili- tary Order of the World War. and the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Delta Phi fraterni- ties. He is a Republican in politics, a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church and a mem- ber of several clubs, including the Authors', Harvard, and Tavern clubs of Boston, the Century and University clubs of New York, and the North Andover Country Club. In recognition of his distinguished career, the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred upon him by Amherst College (1929), Columbia University (1931), Dart- mouth College (1931), and Yale University (1934), and the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Williams College in 1935.
On June 27, 1911, Dr. Fuess married Eliz- abeth Cushing Goodhue, of Andover. They are the parents of one son, John Cushing, a graduate of Harvard College.
HON. MALCOLM LAWRIE BELL- In a life distinguished for its accomplish- ment and public service Malcolm Lawrie Bell has come to occupy some of the fore- most positions in the government of his na- tive community and State and through his achievements in the various offices he has filled has won the esteem and respect of a grateful and admiring public. Today he is a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he is chairman of the Committee of Transportation and is also working on various other important units. Throughout his career he has displayed a unique ability in the field of public service and has won a richly merited recognition as a legislator.
Malcolm Lawrie Bell was born in Mar- blehead, Massachusetts, on November 30, 1890, the son of the Rev. S. Linton and Leila E. (Lawrie) Bell. His father, a na- tive of Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland, came to this country about 1880 and settled in Marblehead. The elder Bell, who was a Congregational minister, was trained for his calling at the Presbyterian Academy of Norwich, England, later studied under va- rious tutors and took several courses in con- nection with the Cambridge University ex- tension scheme. He then spent three years at the Congregational Theological Semi- nary in Nottingham, England, and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1876. His first pastorate was in the settlement of West Bristol, England, and later he served in Pinchback, retiring from there to come to the United States, where he became the pastor of the old North Church of Marblehead, a post he filled for the eighteen years prior to his death in 1902.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.