Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 26

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933
Publication date: 1934
Publisher: New York, American historical Society
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III > Part 26

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Colonel Whipple was a member of the Alumni Council of the University of Vermont from 1924 to 1928, and in 1928 became a member of the board of trustees of that institution. He is also a mem- ber of the Economic Club; the Worcester His- torical Society; the Tatnuck Country Club; the

University Club of Worcester, of which he was president in 1931; the Worcester County Fish and Game Association; the Worcester County Repub- lican Club; the Kiwanis Club and the Players Club, both of the latter of Worcester. He is very fond of outdoor sports and travel, which are his chief recreations. Colonel Whipple has visited many of the countries of the world, making repeated trips abroad since 1921. His travels in that year took him to France, Belgium and Germany. In 1925 he visited Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France. Belgium, Holland and the British Isles; and in 1927 the British Isles, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and France. In 1929 he again visited the British Isles and in 1931 made a trip to South America, his intinerary including Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

On June 28, 1911, Colonel Whipple married Mildred D. Jenks of Adams, Massachusetts, who died in May, 1930. They became the parents of two sons: I. Robert J., a student at Princeton University. 2. William J., now a student at Phil- lips-Andover Academy. Colonel Whipple married (second), October 31, 1931, Gertrude S. Porter of Worcester. She is also active in the city's life and a member of many clubs. Colonel and Mrs. Whip- ple maintain their residence in Worcester at No. 4 Wheeler Avenue.

HENRY R. FINE-There are many promi- nent members of the business and professional coterie of Worcester, who, like Henry R. Fine, are of foreign ancestry and by the difference of fam- ily background and of point of view add greatly to the well-rounded characteristics of the municipal life and activities. Not so many years ago two brothers came from Russia, of which country they were natives, and with their parents settled in New England. One located in New York; the other, Maurice, by name, came to Boston ; married Ida S. Kaplan, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; and removed to Worcester. They were the parents of Henry R. Fine, who was born at Worcester, May 16, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Fine still remain as residents of the city, where the father is en- gaged in real estate operations.

Henry R. Fine was given the advantages of 2 public school education, being a graduate of both the grade and the high schools of Worcester, of the latter in 1920. Like many of his ancestry he had the ambition and the ability to stand hard work, to labor and to wait, while preparing him- self thoroughly for his chosen career. Mr. Fine matriculated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and pursued the regular course of study for two years. He then entered Boston Uni- versity Law School, from which he was graduated in 1925 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Dur- ing the following year he was admitted to the bar of Worcester County and began the practice of his profession. While this practice thus far has been general in character, Mr. Fine has a flair for specialism, is particularly well informed in tort, probate and real estate law, and seems destined to go far in these specialties.

Mr. Fine keeps in touch with his colleagues in the law as a member of the Worcester County Bar Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and B'nai B'rith. He was commissioned lieutenant in the Organized Reserve Corps, United States Army,

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in 1931. One of his chief recreations is golf, which he plays as a member of the Marlboro Coun- try Club.

Mr. Fine has his professional offices in the Slater Building, Worcester.

IVAN EDWIN BIGLER-As director of physical education and athletic coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Ivan Edwin Bigler takes an important part in the educational life of the city and county of Worcester. He occupies a position of respect and esteem in the minds of his fellow- men, and is able to aid them materially through his work and his counsel.

Mr. Bigler was born at Bradford, Ohio, on December 13, 1892, son of Charles O. and Mary (Wade) Bigler, both of whom are living in the State of Ohio. In the public and high schools he received his early education, later attending Juniata College and there taking his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1914. He was graduated from Spring- field College in 1917. Upon completing his aca- demic training, Mr. Bigler was given a commis- sion in the United States Marine Corps with the , rank of first lieutenant and was assigned to the Non-Commissioned Officers' School as an instruc- tor. There he remained until 1919, when he was transferred to San Domingo. On December 25, 1920, he resigned his commission, and came to Worcester as director of physical education at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Since that time he has been continuously associated with this insti- tution of learning, now having complete charge of the development of athletics. He was made coach of the baseball, basketball and football teams sev- eral years ago and so remains today.

Widely known throughout this region of New England as having introduced many new ideas in physical culture, Mr. Bigler has extended his work into many organizations and departments of Wor- cester life. He is actively interested in the pro- grams of the Worcester Boys' Club and the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the Marine Corps League, and also belongs to "The Skull," which he joined in his student days, and the Wachusett Country Club. His church is the Methodist Episcopal, his party the Republican. To each of these organizations and, indeed, to all the activities with which he is concerned, Mr. Bigler regularly contributes of his finest talents and abil- ities. In his spare time he enjoys hobbies of an outdoor nature, such as hunting and fishing. He also is fond of playing golf.

Ivan Edwin Bigler married, on September I, 1922, Helen Hathaway, of Bradford, Ohio. They became the parents of two children: Edwin and Mary Bigler, who attend school.

ARTHUR C. FREY-It is said that the ten years of Arthur C. Frey's residence in Worcester coincided with the years of a revolution in the business of the Worcester Gas Light Company. It certainly is more than a coincidence that when he came to take charge of the concern it supplied an average of only 3,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day, and not a dollar of income came from house heating, and that seven years later the city alone consumed daily nearly 5,000,000 cubic feet of gas, and the income from home heating totaled that year $130,000. The use of gas by the manufacturing plants of Worcester had meanwhile risen two hun-

dred and fifty per cent. How much of this re- markable progress was due to the efforts of the company's efficient manager the initiated can guess with a fair degree of accuracy.

Mr. Frey was born at Quakertown, Pennsyl- vania, July 18, 1889, the son of Eastburn and Emma (Cressman) Frey, both members of old Pennsylvania families. Arthur C. Frey is of the ninth generation of his family in America. His father was an agriculturist throughout most of his life and was particularly noted as a breeder of thoroughbred horses and cattle. Arthur C. Frey grew up on a farm and was educated in the pub- lic and high school of Quakertown, being a grad- uate of the latter institution in 1906. He then went to the Bethlehem Preparatory School to get ready for college and entered Lehigh University in the fall of 1907. In 1911 Mr. Frey was graduated from Lehigh with the degree of Mechanical Engi- neer and immediately became an employee of the United Gas Improvement Company, of Philadel- phia, as a cadet engineer. He took what was more than the equivalent of three years' training in a school of technology and remained with the com- pany until 1916, at which time he held the post of assistant foreman. On February 16, 1916, he went to Washington, District of Columbia, to serve as assistant to the superintendent of distribution for the United Gas Improvement Corporation, being so engaged for a period of four years, most of which were spent in the Nation's capital, although this large corporation owned and operated five com- panies. In February, 1920, he went with the Prov- idence, Rhode Island, Gas Company, as the pro- ducer plant foreman and general foreman and night manager at various times. July, 1922, saw him employed with the Pawtucket Gas Company as superintendent of distribution. In July, 1924, Mr. Frey came to Worcester as superintendent of the Worcester Gas Light Company's plant, later be- coming general superintendent, and in June, 1930, was appointed the manager of the company. Under his direction the corporation has made some re- markable strides in the gas production and sales business. During the period of his connection with the concern miles of pipes have been extended in all directions so that now, instead of serving only the city of Worcester, the plant serves some eight- een towns, and the mains supply eleven others on a wholesale basis. In September, 1931, the company absorbed the West Boston Gas Com- pany and with it a modern coal gas plant at Framingham. The Worcester and Framingham systems are thus tied together in a distributional service which supplies a population of about 375,- 000 people. On Mr. Frey rests the responsibility of knowning all about everything in this vast busi- ness, and that he does know this and gets efficient production and distribution of gas on a basis eco- nomical and satisfactory to the thousands served, is well known and appreciated.

His achievement has come as the result of native abilities, capacity to study and to work hard and long. He keeps in close touch with his colleagues in the engineering profession as a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Gas Association, the New England Association of Gas Engineers, and the Worces- ter Engineering Society. Fraternally, he is affil- iated with the Free and Accepted Masons, and he is a popular figure in the activities of the

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Kiwanis Club. Although a lover of sports, his business allows him only little time for recreation. He is somewhat of a skilled amateur gardener and gets a great deal of both recreation and pleasure from making the soil produce. Always civic- minded, the communities in which he has lived at various periods of his career have always benefited by his efforts on behalf of the advancement of the municipality and the betterment of its citizens.

On July 21, 1913, Mr. Frey married L. Mabel Stoneback of Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of two children: I. John Arthur, born June 2, 1917. 2. William S., born May 23, 1921.

ALDUS CHAPIN HIGGINS-As a manu- facturer and an inventor Aldus Chapin Higgins figures prominently in the industrial world as pres- ident of the Norton Company of Worcester. He has been identified in an active manner with this corporation for upward of a quarter of a century, which period witnessed its greatest growth and development. Born in Worcester December 7, 1872, he is a son of Milton Prince Higgins, who was one of the founders and the first president of the Norton Company, founder of the Worcester Trade School, a member for many years of the faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and actively connected with the industrial and civic affairs of the city. Katharine Elizabeth (Chapin) Higgins, mother of Aldus C. Higgins, was a leader in educational, social and religious activities, prom- inent in the Young Women's Christian Associa- tion and the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion and as president of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. According to the' family historian, the ancestry on the paternal side traces back to Richard Higgins, who settled in Plymouth in 1633, and to descendants of Elder William Brewster, who came in the "Mayflower." On the maternal side the ancestry is of old American stock dating back to Deacon Samuel Chapin, who was one of the earliest settlers of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, and whose descendants have been among the leaders in the development of that city, being numbered among its oldest and best known families.

Having passed through the grade and high schools of Worcester, Aldus Chapin Higgins en- tered the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, com- pleted his course, and was graduated in the class of 1893 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1896 he received from the National University Law School, Washington, District of Columbia, the degree of Bachelor of Laws and later, from the same institution, the degree of Master of Laws. The honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering was conferred upon him by the Worcester Poly- technic Institute in 1931.

After completing his college course, his first occupation was as assistant examiner in the United States Patent Office in Washington, where he re- mained for three years. His admission to the Worcester County bar was confirmed in 1896, in which year he engaged in the practice of law, successfully pursuing his profession under his own name for a number of years.

It was in 1901 that he became associated with the Norton Company, giving all his time to its legal affairs and to those of its allied corpora- tions, having the title of general counsel and sub- sequently being made manager of the abrasive

plants. He was appointed secretary and general counsel in 1913 and not long thereafter was elected treasurer and a director of the company, which position he held until January, 1933, when he was elected president of the Norton Company.

Mr. Higgins, on March 13, 1914, was the recipient of the John Scott Medal, which is awarded annually for exceptional achievement in the field of mechanical arts. It was established under the will of John Scott, chemist, of Edinburgh, in 1816. Custodianship of the legacy is in the corporation of Philadelphia and the award was made by the board of directors of City Trusts of Philadelphia to Mr. Higgins for his electric furnace, in which Alundum abrasive is made commercially. The development and manufacture of Alundum abrasive on a commercial basis was started by the Nor- ton Company in 1900 through the initiative of Milton Prince Higgins, the first president of the company. Naturally there were many obstacles that stood in the way of successful production. One of the most difficult of the problems con- sisted of finding a means of fusing bauxite in quantity, safely under absolute control. The water- cooled electric furnace furnished the solution of this problem. The ability to control the electric furnace processes so as to produce abrasives of varying toughness or temper has been a consider- able factor in the development of the grinding wheel industry, and the furnace invented by Mr. Higgins has been of notable importance in this development.

Mr. Higgins has numerous associations outside his executive offices with the Norton Company. He is chairman of the board of directors of the Riley Stoker Corporation of Worcester, director of the Boston and Maine Railroad, director of the Worcester County National Bank, director of the Worcester Bank and Trust Company, director of the Merchants and Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, director of the Bancroft Hotel Com- pany, and a director of a number of other cor- porations. He is also a trustee of the Peoples Saving Bank of Worcester.

He is a life trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, trustee of the Worcester Art Museum, trustee of the Memorial Hospital, and a member and councillor of the American Antiquarian So- ciety. Although he is not now active in political affairs, he held the chairmanship of the Wor- cester Republican City Committee in 1909. He is affiliated with the Worcester County Bar Asso- ciation, the American Society of Mechanical Engi- neers, and the Massachusetts Society of May- flower Descendants. He is a member and former governor of the Worcester Club and the Tatnuck Country Club, and others of his clubs are the Worcester Economic Club, the University Club of Worcester, and the Union Club of Boston. During the World War period he was chairman of the New England Section of Industrial Training for the War Emergency Committee, and participated as chairman and member of the executive com- mittee in the various patriotic drives and cam- paigns of his district. He is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Worcester.

Aldus Chapin Higgins married (first), June 6, 1898, Edgenie Brosius, of Washington, District of Columbia, who died September 24, 19II. The chil- dren of this marriage are: I. Elizabeth Brosius, born October II, 1900; married Vinton Chapin,

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who is assistant to the United States Under-Sec- retary of State. 2. Milton Prince Higgins, born October 28, 1903, who is associated with the Nor- ton Company. Mr. Higgins, married (second), January 16, 1914, Mary Sprague Green, of Wor- cester, daughter of the late James Green, an attor- ney-at-law, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins have their residence at No. I John Wing Road, Worcester.

GEORGE F. FOLEY-In the practice of law and in public life, George F. Foley, of Worcester, has for many years figured prominently in Massachu- setts life. His labors have been useful to his fel- lowmen, and his position is one of leadership and high standing among his colleagues and all who know him.

Mr. Foley was born in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, on November 6, 1896, son of Patrick J. and Mary J. (McManus) Foley. His father, a native of Scotland, came to America with his parents in his youth, settling in Cambridge, where his father was a steamfitter and contractor, later removing to Worcester and continuing in the same type of work. For some time, Patrick J. Foley was a member of the common council of Worcester, and he was a leader in public life until his death in 1930. He was also prominent in politics and in the labor move. ment. His wife, the mother of the man whose name heads this review, was born in Ireland and also came to the New World early in life.

The man of whom this is primarily a record, George F. Foley, received his early education in the public schools, later attending Boston University Law School, from which he was graduated in 1919 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar of this Comonwealth in the same year, since which he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession.

In the organizations of legal men he has long been a foremost worker. He is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar Association, as well as of the Worcester Bar Association. Early in his ca- reer he became interested in politics and public life and served for two years as a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, in which body he was one of the committee on insurance and the committee on taxation. While serving as a legislator, he introduced a bill that has been of great value to his constituents and to the State, making it possible to bring into the courts of Mas- sachusetts non-resident automobile drivers involved in motor accidents in this State. Before that bill was passed, it was necessary to bring suit in the State courts in the states where the drivers of offending automobiles lived. The new Massachu- setts law, introduced by Mr. Foley, was upheld as constitutional in both the Massachusetts Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. It had a countrywide influence, too; for, since that time, similar legislation has been adopted in other states.

Despite his public activities and his affiliations, however, Mr. Foley has devoted his time and atten- tion primarily to his own practice. In his political alignment he is a staunch Democrat and an adher- ent to his party's policies and principles. Each of the realms of interest that have from time to time absorbed his attention has received his fullest measure of support and enthusiasm; and, as a result, his position is one of leadership and high

standing among his fellowmen in all walks of life.

George F. Foley married, on January 4, 1926, Ellen V. Quinn, of Worcester. By this marriage there have been three sons: I. George V., born January 31, 1927. 2. William F., born July 12, 1928. 3. David, born February 3, 1930. The Foley family residence is situated at No. 96 Elm Street, Worcester ; and Mr. Foley has his law offices in the Slater Building, this city.

ARNOLD F. CARLSON-Among the impor- tant business concerns of the county is the Edwin Carlson Lumber Company of Briden Street, Wor- cester, of which Arnold F. Carlson is treasurer and general manager and Helmer E. Carlson is president. This establishment, now in operation for twenty years, bears the name of the founder, who was one of the most farsighted business lead- ers of the city.

Edwin Carlson, father of Arnold F. and Helmer E. Carlson, was born in Sweden, died in Worcester in 1928, and practiced the profession of architec- ture for a number of years. In 1914 he began the operation of a factory at No. 54 Herman street for the purpose of manufacturing interior woodwork. From the beginning the business has prospered, and he soon found it necessary to secure larger quarters. He purchased a considerable area of land on Briden Street and erected his own fac- tory building, with a floor space of more than sixty thousand square feet, and four other build- ings, which are used as warehouses. He con- tinued as head of the business until the time of his death, in December, 1928, when the concern was taken over by his sons, Arnold F. and Helmer E. He married Jennie E. Anderson, who was born in Sweden and died in Worcester in 1917.

Arnold F. Carlson was born in Worcester, Octo- ber 1, 1895, and received his education in the public schools and a business college. He then asso- ciated himself with the banking business and was thus occupied for several years. He later joined his father in the management of the Edwin Carlson Lumber Company and has been of invaluable as- sistance in the development of the business to its present high standing. On the death of the elder Carlson, the sons came into the operating owner-

ship of the company, Arnold F. being made gen- eral manager and treasurer, and Helmer E. pres- ident. In addition to the manufacture of interior trim, the concern has expanded its business pur- pose to include the lines of lumber and other mate- rials. The company has a private railroad siding with capacity for six freight cars. Its products are distributed throughout Worcester County and much of the adjacent territory.

When the United States entered the World War, Mr. Carlson enlisted with the infantry and saw service with the American Expeditionary Forces. When honorably discharged he held the warrant of a corporal. He is affiliated with Athelstan Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons and the Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of the Worcester Cham- ber of Commerce and the Exchange Club of this city. His religious communion is the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Carlson married, in 1920, Edith E. Shogren, a native of Massachusetts, and they have a daugh- ter, Martha J., born March 23, 1923. The Carl- son family home is at No. 23 Suburban Road, Worcester.

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EDWIN E. BROWN-Operator in real estate and insurance, in which field he has encoun- tered an unusual volume of business since the commencement of his career, Edwin E. Brown is one of the prominent business men of his city. Worcester, city and county, both, have cause to know him well; for he has been identified with the progressive undertakings of county and city since an early day.

Born in Ware Village, Massachusetts, on Jan- uary 5, 1853, he is a son of Shepard Darwin and Clarissa Brown, both of whom are remembered by the older inhabitants of Worcester.

It was during the 'sixties that the Browns came here from Ware Village; and hence, from Civil War times down to the present, the family has been one of the outstanding families in the history of the city, father and son having participated in useful ventures.

Edwin E. Brown attended the public schools of Worcester and has always regarded this as his native place, as his earliest memories include pic- tures of Worcester in times just after the Civil War. He engaged as insurance and realty broker at the outset of his active career and through the succeeding years has added materially and steadily to his ever-increasing reputation in this field of activity. He does a great deal in the field of mortgages, making this end of the business his principal one.

Mr. Brown has been married twice, and each union has been without issue. He contributes con- tinuously to the welfare of his community, sup- porting its worthy undertakings as a public-spirited citizen, and is recognized for his helpfulness in many directions.

WILLIAM CLEMENT MARBLE-No his- tory of the industries of Worcester could be writ- ten without space being given to the Marble name and deeds. The Curtis and Marble Machine Com- pany-there are now none but Marbles numbered among its officials-is the oldest of its kind under one family and one of the largest manufacturers of textile finishing machinery in the world. Of this corporation, more later. William Clement Marble is the son of Edwin Tyler and Harriet Hamilton (Chase) Marble, the former of whom was the founder of the company. The first American pro- genitor of this sturdy and distinguished family was Samuel Marble, Puritan, of English ancestry, who was a pioneer settler of Andover, Massachusetts. His son, Freegrace, was one of those who helped to establish the town of Sutton and was the fore- bear of nearly all the old Marble families in Wor- cester County. One of his sons was Malachi. father of Royal Tyler Marble, who, with Anne Bailey (Clement) Marble, were the parents of Edwin Tyler Marble, born in Sutton, August 18, 1827, and who died in Worcester, July 3, 1910.

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Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 26

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933 Publication date: 1934 Publisher: New York, American historical Society Number of Pages: 700

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933
Publication date: 1934
Publisher: New York, American historical Society
Number of Pages: 700