Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 32

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 32

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On October 14, 1925, James J. Hurley married Helen M McGillicudy, and they are the parents of two children: I. John, born May 2, 1927. 2. James, born December 29, 1932.

WILLIAM F. FOLEY - Throughout his business career William F. Foley, has been con nected with transportation in one form or another, prior to his locating in Worcester and establish- ing the Motor Tire Service Company. This con .. cern he started in 1915 at No. 748 Main Street, and it was an immediate success. Ten years later it was moved to a more ample location at No. 795 Main Street, and its equipment and facilities greatly enlarged. Mr. Foley is a native of War- ren, Massachusetts, born August 26, 1877, a son of Jeremiah J. and Mary (Cronin) Foley, both of

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whom were born in Massachusetts of Irish pro- genitors. William J. Foley was educated in the public schools of Warren, and at an early age set out to make a livelihood for himself.

The first steady job which Mr. Foley secured was with the American Express Company, at Springfield, Massachusetts, with which corporation he was employed in various capacities for about seven years. He resigned in 1902 to go to New York City to establish an express business of his own. This he conducted for about two years with fair success, after which he sold out and returned to Springfield as the manager of the Boston and Springfield Express Company, remaining for an- other seven years. Again he resigned to go into business for himself, this time as the proprietor of an express between Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City. Three years later he became connected with the Mellor Manufacturing Com- pany, at North Hampton, Massachusetts, and after a year's experience came to Worcester to set up the Motor Tire Service Company as the sole owner and manager. He invested no large sum in this enterprise, and did little more expanding than the trade required. He had the natural qualifications for success, and experience had taught him how to make the most of an opportunity. At the time of writing, after a period which was not such as to make for profits, the company has enlarged so that it occupies many times its original floor space, and includes everything that goes into the making of a complete plant of its kind. Every kind of automobile and motor truck supply is carried in stock, and all manner of services are available. There are two filling stations, and a fully equipped modern machine shop. Mr. Foley has always been keenly interested in the progress in the commu- nities in which he lived. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He is a member of the Wachusett Country Club and the Commer- cial Travelers. Hunting and fishing are among his chief sports which he enjoyed in various parts of the United States and Canada, he has also hunted moose in the forests of New Brunswick.

In October, 1902, Mr. Foley married Helen E. Murphy of Springfield, Massachusetts, and they are the parents of two children: I. Anna G., born in 1904. 2. John W., born in 1916.

JOSEPH D. LANGLOIS was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, September 15, 1877, son of Ulric Langlois, a blacksmith, and Celina (Cagnon) Langlois. He received his education in the public schools of his native district and then, at an early age, began the task of earning a liveli- hood, being associated, at various times, with sev- eral different enterprises. For twelve years he was foreman in the employ of the T. H. Buckley Com- pany, manufacturers of lunch cars, and later he associated himself with the J. J. Hennigan Com- pany, who were engaged in the same line of man- ufacture. His next move was to Gardner, Massa- chusetts. By this time he had decided that he would engage in business for himself, so he learned the wheelwright's trade and for ten years continued in that work; but during that time, while giving careful attention to his wheelwright business, he was also, up to 1913, running a lunch car. This last occupation prepared him for his next venture, and in 1913 he took over the National Hotel,

which he operated successfully until 1920. In that year he engaged in the brick-making business, planning, eventually, to develop a manufacturing company of his own in this field. In 1926, in association with several other gentlemen, Mr. Lang- lois organized the Worcester Brick Company, of which he has been treasurer and general manager. The plant and offices of the Worcester Brick Company, at No. 188 Plantation Street, occupy twenty-six and one-half acres of land. At first the company employed forty-eight people, but since the installation of modern machinery, such as steam shovels, conveyors, hydraulic presses, and the like. the number of employees has been reduced to twenty-eight. The Worcester Brick Company has furnished brick for many of the large buildings that have been erected in Worcester and vicinity since 1926, including the $2,000,000 Auditorium, the new post office, the Worcester Art Museum, Grafton Hospital, Notre Dame Church, St. Joseph's Church, and many others.

Mr. Langlois is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Catholic Order of Foresters, also of the Society of St. Jean Baptist and of the Arti- sans. In his religious faith he is a Catholic, hold- ing membership in the Church of Notre Dame, at Worcester.

Joseph D. Langlois married, in 1898, Albertine Benoit, and they are the parents of a large fam- ily, of which they are justly proud. The children are: Charles, Ernest, Louis, Leo Paul, Arthur, Anita, Cecile, Juliette, Leah, Sylvia, Lorraine, Armand and Jeannette. The Langlois residence is No. I Salem Square, Worcester, at the Salem Square Hotel, which Mr. Langlois owns and Mrs. Langlois operates, a hotel containing some sixty rooms and located in the central part of the city of Worcester.

WILLIAM SWINTON BENNETT HOP- KINS (JR.)-Son of a great father who "was at the very head of the Massachusetts bar," Wil- liam S. B. Hopkins (Jr.), has not endeavored to shine in the reflected light of one of the ablest legal exponents of his day. Rather has he stood in his own shoes, while emulating his sire to the extent of adopting the law as his profession. For nearly three decades he has been assistant clerk of courts of Worcester County, and in that office continues to render constructive service gratifying alike to bench and bar in this jurisdiction.

William Swinton Bennett Hopkins, Sr., father of the clerk of Worcester County courts, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, May 2, 1836, son of Erastus and Sarah Hannah (Bennett) Hopkins. At one time, Erastus Hopkins occupied a place of leadership in both the Free Soil and Republican parties in western Massachusetts. He was a Lin- coln-for-President delegate to the national conven- tion that nominated the Emancipator. His great- grandfather, Dr. Samuel Hopkins, was minister in Hadley for fifty-four years, and a son of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of West Springfield, and Esther (Edwards) Hopkins, a sister of Rev. Jonathan Edwards. The immigrant ancestor of this Hopkins family was John Hopkins, who came from London, England, with Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1633, and located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, whence he removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636. Colo- nel Hopkins' mother was a descendant of Thomas

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Bennett, who came from England to Charleston, South Carolina, and married Mary Swinton, whose father came from Scotland and was a member of an ancient Scotch family. Their son, Thomas Bennett, married (first) Hayes Singletary, of St. Paul's Parish, and married (second) Anna Hayes Warnock. William Swinton Bennett, son of Thomas Bennett, Jr., and grandfather of Colonel Hopkins, married Anna Theus, daughter of Major Simon Theus, a soldier of the Revolution, and Rebecca (Legare) Theus, both parents of Hugue- not ancestry.

The boyhood of William Swinton Bennett Hop- kins, Sr., was spent in Northampton, Massachu- setts, to which town he returned in his early youth with his father. He attended public and private classical schools until his entrance at Williams College, where he completed his course and was graduated Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1855. His alma mater honored him with a Doctorate of Laws in 1896. On the occasion of the centennial celebration of the founding of the college he served as chief marshal of the commencement. He was at one time president of the Williams College Alumni Association. Having pursued some read- ing of law in the office of Hon. William Allen in Northampton, he concluded his studies in the Har- vard Law School, and was admitted to practice in January, 1858. In August, 1858, he opened an office in Ware, Massachusetts, but the Civil War and its demands upon his patriotism invaded a budding practice.

Mr. Hopkins received the commission of a captain from Governor Andrew in October, 1861, and recruited a company for the 31st Massachu- setts Volunteer Infantry. With his command he was ordered to the South, and landed at New Orleans, Louisiana, May 1, 1862. Soon afterward he was advanced to lieutenant-colonel and was at the head of his regiment for the greater time of his term of service, November 1, 1861, to April 8, 1864. He participated in the entire Teche cam- paign in 1863, ending with the capitulation of Port Hudson. He was with his regiment until December, 1863, when it was converted into cavalry and soon thereafter he resigned his commission.

Mr. Hopkins resumed the practice of law in May, 1864, at New Orleans, in which city he remained until September, 1866 meantime acting as special counsel for the United States Treasury Depart- ment. On his return to Massachusetts in October, 1866, he established an office in Greenfield, Frank- lin County, where he was in practice seven years.

It was in 1873 that Mr. Hopkins transferred his interests to Worcester, and with this city and county he was identified for the rest of his life. His first partnership relation was with Peter C. Bacon; later he was associated with Henry Bacon and Frank B. Smith under the style of Hopkins, Bacon and Smith. Following the death of Henry Bacon, the firm was reorganized with Frank B. Smith and the senior Hopkins, and his son, William Swinton Bennett Hopkins (Jr.), the new title adopted being Hopkins, Smith and Hopkins. With sustained zeal and great earnestness he gave him- self to the practice of his profession, for which he had an abiding love. He was so closely wedded to his practice that no offer of appointment to the bench or advancement into some great public serv- ice could lure him from it. His interest in public affairs was, however, always keen, and his respon-

sibilities as a citizen he fulfilled with rare ability and a readiness of service that was most exemplary. Before he had attained his majority, he was found stumping for Fremont for President. He subse- quently espoused the Republican cause and was staunch and eager in its support. Frequently he presided at rallies held in Mechanics Hall, Wor- cester. He was sent by his district as a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nomi- nated James Abram Garfield for President, and in 1897 he presided over the proceedings of the Repub- lican State Convention. He held the office of dis- trict attorney of the Northwestern District in 1871- 1874, that of district attorney of the Worcester District in 1884-87, and of city solicitor of Wor- cester in 1893-97.

It was claimed for Mr. Hopkins by his contem- poraries that he was second to none as a public speaker in the mellowing years of his latter life. Possessed of histrionic ability, he exercised his voice to the best advantage and his manner with telling effect in making his addresses. Extremely fond of the drama, he had participated in amateur thea- tricals. Even in the dry discussion of contested legal points in court, he was almost always assured of a large and interested gallery of his legal brethren on such occasions. It was a rare treat to hear and see him in action at the bar. He was especially felicitous in his fervid oratory on Memo- rial Day, on which annually he was sought as the principal speaker here. It was he who made the presentation speech, one of great beauty of rhetoric and eloquence, when the portrait of "Tom" Plun- kett was placed in the Hall of Fame in Mechanics Hall. Both Colonel Hopkins, and his greatest professional rival, F. P. Goulding, were orators at the exercises held in Mechanics Hall in com- memmoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Worcester as a city. A para- graph of Colonel Hopkins' address on that occa- sion stands forth :

Worcester has always been and is patriotically devoted to the country and the flag, and in its defense in every time of need she has been ready to shed her young blood. Under Bigelow she promptly started her minutemen for Con- cord, and her citizens stood for the flag with Washington through the Revolution and at York- town; her soldiers and sailors stood for the flag with Perry and Decatur on the sea and with Jackson at New Orleans: under the lead of Lin- coln she stood for the flag with Taylor at Buena Vista and Scott at Chepultepec; under the lead of Devens, another Lincoln and a Ward she stood for the flag from Bull Run to Appomattox; and now again in army and navy she bravely stands for the flag which waves over Dewey and Manila, and Sampson and Schley and Shafter at San- tiago.

Colonel Hopkins was affiliated with the Sigma Phi Fraternity of Williams College, the New York University Club, Boston University Club and the Worcester Club, of which last-named organization he once served as president. He died at Pine- hurst, North Carolina, January 14, 1900, in his sixty-fourth year. At memorial exercises held by the Worcester County Bar Association in the court- house in this city, April 10, 1900, the colonel's for- mer adversary in many a forensic encounter in the legal arena, F. P. Goulding, delivered a eulogy in which he said in part :

We shall say that he was, on the whole, equipped with the finest and best trained powers for the trial of causes of any displayed at this

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bar for a generation. We shall say that if he was not the best beloved of our associates, no one was more closely or securely placed in our affections. I must draw him as I saw him from day to day, in association which was for the most part one of antagonism-professional antagonism-always strenuous and unyielding, and looking for a victory on each side, yet friendly and constantly with mutual respect. Such a relation is calculated to put the touch- stone to character; and he must be a dull scholar who in that school does not learn the limitations and infirmities of his opponent, whether or not he learns the difficult lesson of his own limita- tions and infirmities. I think I knew the strength of this great lawyer, and knew also where the limits of it lay, if any were dis- coverable. In my estimate, the most striking characteristic of his power was his readiness. Nobody ever crossed swords with our friend who did not soon understand that he had met not merely an adroit master of legal fence, but also one whose powerful stroke could break down any opposing force not based on solid reason and fact. . There was something in that imperturbed equipoise, that self-contained tranquility, in the manner of our friend, on the eve of a great case, and in the midst of strife, where he was putting forth his utmost powers. Others might fret and sputter with ill-supressed nervous anxiety. He had no energy to waste in that way. An over-anxious client, who did not know him well, might think his counsel indifferent to his cause, and apprehend that this quiet gentleman was hardly up to the grade of a more demonstrative antagonist; but when the engagement was on, he would find that no resources of skill, no sagacity in choice of posi- tion, no strength of argument, no eloquence of appeal, were wanting to bring his cause to a prosperous conclusion, whatever the force might be which was arrayed against him.

He knew the law well, and he knew general literature well. His wide experience of cases necessarily acquainted him with the whole field of legal principles and his legal intuitions were quick and sound, so that the bearing of authorities at once was luminously clear to him. Rarely did he, if ever, fail to concede what might be plausibly claimed on the other side, and more rarely did he shun the hard places in his own case. He had small skill in dust-throw- ing and befogging a subject. He would fight his opponent in the open, squarely meeting the real cause in dispute. His attack or defense had rarely any finesse, except the legitimate finesse which is another name for true art in expression and exposition.

No man in the State was listened to with more interest and respect by the higher courts. He wasted none of their time with irrelevancies, but got at the heart of the controversy at once, and treated it in a natural way that could but illuminate the path to a just decision.

With juries he was a power not easily matched. Possessed of a natural ease and fluency of speech, he had encountered in youth some of the strong- est men of the Massachusetts bar and learned what Webster learned in his encounters with Mason that success in forensic contests that depend upon rhetoric is short lived. He es- chewed rhetoric that did not advance his argu- ment and he had ample supply of the kind that is ancillary to logic. If ever a man in these modern days illustrated by his work that the art of advocacy is a liberal art, he did so. The pettifogging instinct was foreign to his nature and to his practice. With a patience not easily surprised, even by the annoying tactics of the most vexatious antagonist, he never met such onsets by anything similar. And what was strong evidence of his just valuation of his own powers, he was never unduly cast down by defeat.

He died possessed of a great reputation as a lawyer. What was said of him by a distin- guished friend of his and a member of our bar under the first shock of bereavement that "he was at the very head of the Massachusetts bar," will be endorsed after mature reflection by our whole fraternity.

Thus passed one of the finest minds known in the annals of jurisprudence of this Commonwealth,

one who by the giving of his word might have ascended the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Colonel William Swinton Bennett Hopkins, Sr., married, January 20, 1859, Elizabeth Sarah Peck, of Easthampton, Massachusetts. Of their union there were born: I. Sarah Bennett. 2. Erastus. 3. Elizabeth Peck, married Alfred L. Aiken. 4. Wil- liam Swinton Bennett (Jr.), of whom further men- tion.

William Swinton Bennett Hopkins (Jr.), was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, November 21, 1871, second son and youngest child of Colonel Wil- liam Swinton Bennett and Elizabeth Sarah (Peck) Hopkins. His mother, born in Hatfield, Massa- chusetts, November 8, 1837, died in Worcester Sep- tember 24, 1915, was a descendant of Joseph Peck, who came from Hingham, England, to New Hing- ham, Massachusetts. Having received his early and college preparatory training, the latter in Worcester, he entered Williams College, where he won his degree of Bachelor of Arts and graduated in the class of 1894. He pursued two years of legal studies at the Harvard Law School, 1895-96, and a year in the office of his father, 1897. On June 30, 1897, he was admitted to the bar of Wor- cester County. In 1897 he entered the co-partner- ship of Hopkins, Smith and Hopkins, in associa- tion with which he practiced in Worcester until 1902, in which year the firm was dissolved. His next connection was as the senior member of the firm of Hopkins and Estey, the junior partner being Edward T. Estey, this arrangement continu- ing in effect until 1907, when it was dissolved by mutual consent.

It was in 1904 that Mr. Hopkins received his appointment as assistant clerk of courts of Wor- cester County, in which office he has performed a service commensurate with the family's tradition for excellence in the law. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, a trustee of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, a mem- ber of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, Wor- cester Historical Society, Worcester County Mu- sical Association, and Worcester Fire Society. His politics is that of his fathers, Republican, and he belongs to the Republican Club of Worcester. He is a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Worcester County Bar Association, Sigma Phi Fraternity of Williams College, Worcester Club, Tatnuck Country Club, Economic Club, Wor- cester Shakespeare Club, Players Club of Worces- ter, Fay Club of Fitchburg, Williams Club of New York and Worcester Art Museum. For eighteen years he has been a member of the vestry of All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church and has also served as clerk of the board. Mr. Hopkins' town residence is at No. 167 Pleasant Street, and country residence is "Windy Acres," at Boylston in this county. His official address is the Worcester County Court House in the city of Worcester.

JOHN WILSON BISHOP-Founder and executive head of the J. W. Bishop Company. building contractors of Worcester, John Wilson Bishop was for almost half a century an active figure in the life of this city. His foresight and vision, his energy and executive talents were all reflected in the growth and success of the company which he established. It was called into existence through his initiative, and with sure hand he guided

John Wilson Bishop

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its affairs for many years. Mr. Bishop rose to prominence through his own efforts. At the time of his death he was in all probability the oldest building contractor actively engaged in business in New England, a respected and well loved figure whose useful career contributed no little to the advancement of those communities in which his life was spent.

Mr. Bishop was born in White Sands, Prince Edward Island, now a province of Canada, on May 29, 1846, a son of William and Sarah (Hooper) Bishop. His father, a ship carpenter by trade, came to Canada from Plymouth, England, in 1818 and was for many years employed in the shipyards at St. John, New Brunswick. He was also for a time a farmer at White Sands, in the southern part of the island. Sarah (Hooper) Bishop, his wife, was also a native of England, a daughter of William Hooper. In 1857 William Bishop moved with his family to Lonsdale, Rhode Island. There were nine children in the family, and those who lived to maturity resided chiefly in Lonsdale, Providence and Smithfield.

John Wilson Bishop, following the custom of the time, went to work very early in the cotton mills in Lonsdale, joining the other boys of the neigh- borhood. Their schooling was very short and was limited to such instruction as the public schools afforded. Mr. Bishop attended classes for only a year, but he realized the importance of education in a successful and well-rounded life and for many years he applied himself with characteristic energy to study during his spare hours. Indeed, he never lost the habit, and it is safe to say that he was as widely informed as any who had the advantages of the best school training.

At fifteen, Mr. Bishop left the cotton mill to learn the trade of carpenter in the employ of Ezra Bliss of Pawtucket, and two years later moved to Providence, working for a year or more for John and Charles Hull, builders in that city. When he became of age he left home altogether, striking out for himself in order to find a field of larger opportunity. It was at this time that Mr. Bishop first came to Worcester. Entering the employ of H. W. Eddy, a Worcester contractor and builder, who had a carpenter's shop on Norwich Street, he afterwards worked for other builders in the city, including William Sibley, Thomas G. Learned, and George S. Clough. He was always a skillful craftsman, and when he entered business as a builder for himself in 1874, he had a thorough training in all branches of carpenter and shop work. Mr. Bishop rented a carpenter shop on Central Street and obtained his first contract in erecting the large brick stables of Harrington Brothers, on Central Street, a work of some magni- tude for a young contractor. Then he built the residence of Thomas B. Eaton on Boynton Street, and later the residences of C. S. Goddard and W. B. Fay, on Irving Street, both fine and costly houses. These early successes brought him con- siderable public attention, and from that time on his business developed rapidly.

In 1880 Mr. Bishop joined hands with George H. Cutting, another capable builder, with whoin he continued in partnership for thirteen years un- der the firm name of Cutting and Bishop. The business of the firm was extensive from the first and the partners were everywhere considered to be among the foremost builders of the State. When

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Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 32

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