USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III > Part 84
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 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
Mr. Bishop began his banking career, strictly speaking, on graduation from the law school, when he became associated with the Federal Reserve Bank at Boston. He was connected with this institution for eleven years in a semi-official ca- pacity as manager of the securities department. He next was assigned to travel in the six New England states as a confidential representative of the Federal Reserve Bank. In 1930 he was elected president of the First National Bank of Gardner. He came to this town to live in February, 1931; a man of pleasing personality and engaging qual- ities, he has made many friends since taking up his executive duties.
He is affiliated with the American Institute of banking, a director of the Gardner Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Fidelity Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Melrose; the Chair City Club, Gardner Boat Club, and Congregational Church.
Enos R. Bishop married, December 17, 1906, Ethel Bailey, of Lisbon, New Hampshire, and they have a daughter, Charlotte. The family home is at No. 20 Cross Street, Gardner.
RALPH K. HUBBARD-The textile indus- try and financial profession as expounded by their leaders in this county have received additional impetus through the efforts of Ralph K. Hubbard, president of the Packard Mills, Inc., of Dudley, and president of the Five Cents Savings Bank, of Webster. Mr. Hubbard is a product of Mas- sachusetts educational institutions and had long training in the woolen manufacturing trade before assuming his present offices.
Mr. Hubbard's father, Ezra L. Hubbard, was a native of New Hampshire and for many years conducted a general carriage business at Nor- wood, Massachusetts. He married Eva M. King.
Ralph K. Hubbard was born in Norwood, May 5, 1891, and received his early education in the public schools, including graduation at the Norwood
High School in the class of 1908. He finished a course at the Lowell Textile Institute, graduat- ing in 1911. From the institute he went to the American Felt Company, with which he was asso- ciated for a short time. His next connection was with the Squam Lake Woolen Company in the capacity of superintendent, which position he filled for three years. He later transferred to L. W. Packard and Company, woolen mills, at Ashland, New Hampshire, where he was superintendent of the plant.
In 1921 Mr. Hubbard came from Ashland to Webster and was installed as treasurer of the Packard Mills, Inc. He was elected president of this corporation in 1929, this being the office he has since held. The Packard Mills manufacture material for women's wear, principally cloakings, and give employment to about one hundred and fifty people. The plant and offices in Dudley are among the finest and most complete in the textile trade in that community. In May, 1932, Mr. Hubbard was elected president of the Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, having been chosen vice- president in 1931.
In public affairs, particularly those relating to the cause of education, he is active and cooperates with the townspeople. He was chairman of the school board of Dudley four years and president of the Webster District Hospital. One of the most highly placed Free Masons in this section of the State, he has advanced into the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is also affiliated with the Worcester County Commandery, Knights Tem- plar; and Bektash Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord, New Hampshire. He is a member of Webster Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Prom- inent in club life, he is a member and past president of the Webster Rotary Club and a member of the Vesper Country Club, of Lowell, and the Webster Golf Club. His principal recreation is taken on the links.
Mr. Hubbard married, September 10, 1913, Gladys B. Healy, of Lowell, and their children are: Dorothy E., Harriett B. and Edwin L. Mr. Hubbard and his family have their residence in Webster, where he built a fine new home in 1932.
REGINALD STEVENS KIMBALL-In the Brookfield vicinity of Worcester County, Reginald Stevens Kimball has figured prominently in educa- tional affairs. He is now head of the Brookfields Superintendency Union No. 10, and his place in the life of this region is one of leadership and very high standing.
Mr. Kimball was born in Newport, Rhode Is- land, on June 21, 1899, son of Frank G. and Harriet (Patterson) Kimball, both natives of Rhode Island. The father was employed for more than forty years as a shoe clerk in Newport, Rhode Island, and was a member of the T. Mum- ford Seabury Company until his death on Decem- ber 13, 1932. He was widely known in New- port, where his wife today makes her home. It was in the public schools of Newport, his birth- place, that Reginald Stevens Kimball received his early education; and in 1916 he was graduated from Royers High School, that city. Proceeding next to Brown University, Providence, Rhode Is- land, he was graduated from that institution in 1921, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
326
WORCESTER COUNTY
A year later, in 1922, he took the Master of Arts degree.
Turning to teaching as his life's work, he be- came an instructor in Hope High School, Prov- idence, there continuing for one year. From 1922 to 1925 he was instructor in advanced mathematics and history at the Worcester Normal School, be- coming, in 1924, head of the history department of that institution. Through the entire three years, he acted as administration assistant. In the sum- mer of 1925 he taught at the North Adams School. In the autumn of the same year he was made director of the Citizenship Training Association and was given headquarters at Columbus, Ohio, there remaining until 1928.
His next step was to widen his academic learn- ing. With this purpose in mind, he returned to the university, going this time to Harvard and taking up graduate studies. In 1929 he received his degree of Master of Education. In the fol- lowing year, 1930, he studied at both Harvard and Boston universities. He was appointed in that same year to his present position as head of the Brookfields Superintendency Union No. Io, having been so named by the boards of the school commit- tee of East and North Brookfield. He now has under his supervision eight schools, having a total of thirty-one teachers and about eight hundred and fifty students.
Along with his other activities, Mr. Kimball manages to take part in general educational affairs, chiefly through his affiliations with different groups and societies. He is a member of the Worces- ter County Teachers' Association, the Worcester County Superintendents' Association, and the New England School Superintendents' Association. He also belongs to the Massachusetts Schoolmasters' Club, the National Education Association, the Na- tional Council of Social Studies, the American Sociological Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Mathe- matical Society, and the Visual Instruction Asso- ciation. Into each of these groups he has regu- larly put his finest energies, with the result that he is widely known and esteemed by his contem- poraries. He is likewise active in fraternal and social affairs, being affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons. His Masonic membership is in St. Paul's Lodge No. 14, in Rhode Island. He is also a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.
Reginald Stevens Kimball married, on December 28, 1925, Helen F. Easton, of Newport, Rhode Island. To this marriage there were born four children: 1. Helen Frances, born September II, 1927. 2. Arthur Frank, born November 6, 1928. 3. Starelle Easton, born March II, 1931. 4. Chase Patterson, born July 21, 1932.
DR. LEONARD WHEELER was engaged in general medical practice in Worcester for forty years, until he retired in 1912.
Abel Wheeler, father of Dr. Wheeler, was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, in 1790, descendant of the pioneer ancestor, Thomas Wheeler, born in England in 1630, who came to this country and settled in that part of Concord which later was set off and incorporated as Lincoln. Thomas Wheeler was a sergeant in the militia, a farmer and a leading citizen, and his great-grandson, Edmund Wheeler, of the fourth generation in Abel Wheeler's paternal line, was a sergeant in
the Revolutionary War. Abel Wheeler also traced his descent from several others of the original settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, includ- ing the Stearns family and the Monroes of Lexing- ton. In early life Abel Wheeler was engaged in teaching in Norfolk, Virginia; in White Plains, New York; and in Boston. Later, he went West for a time and then returned and settled in his home town, Lincoln, where from 1838 to the time of his death he was engaged in farming. He took an interest in local public affairs and was one of the founders of the Unitarian Church of Lin- coln and also one of the active workers for the establishment of the high school, serving as a member of the school committee for many years. In politics he was in early years a Whig and later a Republican. Abel Wheeler married Charlotte Bemis, who died at the age of ninety-one years, daughter of Deacon Amos Bemis, a descendant of Joseph Bemis, born in England in 1619, died Au- gust 7, 1684, an early settler of Watertown, Mas- sachusetts, in which community he served as select- man in 1648, 1672, and 1673. Abel and Charlotte (Bemis) Wheeler became the parents of six chil- dren, of whom two are still living: Dr. Leonard Wheeler, of further mention; and Charlotte, who makes her home in Lincoln.
Dr. Leonard Wheeler was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, August 31, 1845, and received his earliest school training in the public schools of his native town. In 1860, at the age of fifteen, he began his college preparatory course at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, where he spent his freshman year. In 1863 he entered Harvard as a sophomore and three years later, in 1866, was graduated, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered Harvard Medical School, from which, after serving an interneship of one year in Massachusetts General Hospital in Bos- ton, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1870. Wishing to make his preparation for pro- fessional practice as complete as possible, he went abroad for two years, studying in Vienna and . in Breslau from 1870 to 1872. In July, 1872, he came to Worcester as superintendent of the City Hospital, which had just been organized and at that time contained eight beds, and served in that capacity until 1874, when he engaged in general practice in Worcester. He did not, however, en- tirely sever his connection with the City Hospital, which now provides accommodation for more than 1,500 patients. Dr. Wheeler built up a large and important practice and for four decades ministered ably to the needs of his large clientele, retiring in 1912. In addition to his general practice and his work in the City Hospital, he also served as sur- geon at the Memorial Hospital from 1888 to 1900; as consulting physician at St. Vincent's Hospital in 1894; and as trustee of Massachusetts State Hos- pital at Foxborough in 1905. He is a member of the Worcester County District Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Amer- ican Medical Association. He is also a member of several non-professional organizations, includ- ing the American Antiquarian Society; the Worces- ter Art Museum, of which he was one of the incorporators; the St. Wulstan Society; the Har- vard clubs of Worcester and Boston; the Worces- ter Club; and the Worcester Fire Society, which last formed the nucleus of the present Worcester Fire Department. It was part of the old "hand
327
WORCESTER COUNTY
department" and one company was known as the Wheeler Engine Company. Throughout his life Dr. Wheeler has been a close and discriminating student, and the results of many of his researches have, from time to time, been reported in the med- ical journals. Politically he supports the Repub- lican party. His religious affiliation is with the Unitarian Church.
Dr. Leonard Wheeler married, at Worcester, November 21, 1897, Elizabeth Bancroft Cheever, daughter of the Rev. Henry Theodore and Jane (Tyler) Cheever. Her father was pastor of parishes in New York City, Jewett City, Connect- icut, and in Worcester, and she received her early education in the schools of those cities and then entered Smith College, from which she was grad- uated in 1885. Dr. and Mrs. Wheeler have four children: I. Bancroft Cheever, born June 6, 1899, graduated from Harvard in 1920, and is now en- gaged in medical practice in Worcester. He mar- ried Mary Richmond, and they have one child. 2. Leonard, Jr., born July 20, 1901, is an attorney in the Boston firm of Goodwin, Procter and Hoar. 3. Eunice, born September 25, 1903, a graduate of Smith College. 4. Nathaniel, born June 20, 1906, graduated from Harvard College and business col- lege, is now employed in the Worcester County National Bank. Since his marriage Dr. Wheeler has made his home at No. 12 Chestnut Street.
GEORGE WASHINGTON COOK-For sixty years, George Washington Cook has occupied a position of prominence in the life of Barre. He has been a leading business man during all this period and through his many services in the public interest has contributed much to the welfare and progress of the community.
Mr. Cook was born in Petersham, Massachu- setts, on March 22, 1853, a son of Ellis and Mary M. (Loring) Cook and a member of an old Ameri- ican family. His first ancestor in the colonies was Major Aaron Cook, born in England in 1610, who came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630. Later he resided in Windsor, Connecticut, and in Hadley, Westfield and Northampton, Massachusetts, where he died on September 5, 1690. His son, Captain Aaron Cook, and Sarah Westwood, were the first persons to be married in Hadley. His grandson, the Rev. William Cook, was a graduate of Har- vard College and for more than forty years was a minister at Sudbury. Captain Samuel Cook, in the fifth American generation of his family and the grandfather of George Washington Cook, of this record, was born on February 18, 1753. He married Lydia Parmenter of Westminster, Mas- sachusetts, and they became the parents of ten chil- dren: William, Samuel, Mary, Sarah, Jane, Eliz- abeth, Nathaniel, Sewell, Catharine, and Ellis. Captain Samuel Cook spent his early life in Worces- ter, Massachusetts, and Clinton, New York. After the outbreak of the Revolution he enlisted from Worcester in the patriot cause, serving in Captain Samuel Bigelow's company. Thus George W. Cook enjoys the distinction of being one of the few living grandsons of a Revolutionary soldier. Captain Cook's sister married Nathaniel MacCarty, a successful and widely known merchant of Peter- sham, who accumulated a large fortune for those days and built the old Colonial dwelling on South Main Street, which became a Petersham landmark. For many years Captain Samuel Cook resided on
a farm in the southerly part of Petersham, which later passed in succession to his son, Nathaniel.
Here Ellis Cook, father of George Washing- ton Cook, was born on May 27, 1819. He was educated in the public schools and at Petersham and Leicester academies, and on August 24, 1844, married Mary M. Loring of Petersham, daugh- ter of Artemas and Mercy (Sears) Loring, who were formerly of Greenwich. Ellis and Mary M. (Loring) Cook became the parents of three chil- dren: I. Sarah J., born November 24, 1846. 2. Samuel F., born March 9, 1849, died in Brook- lyn, New York, on August 4, 1891. He was a dentist at Barre and in Brooklyn, New York. 3. George Washington, of whom further. Ellis Cook died at Petersham on June 12, 1871, and his wife at Barre, August 4, 1910.
George Washington Cook received his prelimi- nary education in the public schools of his birth- place and subsequently attended Highland Insti- tute in Petersham. He prepared for college, but the death of his father in 1871 made it necessary for him to change his plans and in the following year he began the active business of life, entering the employ of Wetherill and Mudge, general mer- chants of Petersham. On March 3, 1874, he took up his residence in Barre, where his activities have since centered.
On coming to Barre, Mr. Cook obtained a posi- tion with the local merchants, Follansby and Dear- born, and in 1880, in association with C. H. Fol- lansby, he purchased this business, carrying it on successfully under the firm name of Follansby and Cook until 1889. At that time his health failed and it became necessary for him to seek other employment. Meanwhile he had married and in 1891, with his father-in-law, James F. Davis, he formed a general insurance agency under the firm name of Davis and Cook. This enterprise had previously been carried on for a quarter of a cen- tury by Mr. Davis alone. Under the new manage- ment the business was largely increased and with the death of the elder partner, in 1903, Mr. Cook assumed entire control, continuing, however, to employ the old firm name.
Mr. Cook has had many other local interests, the development of which has been of great benefit to the community. In 1894, with others, he formed the Barre Water Company, raising the necessary funds for construction of the works, which were completed and used for the first time on October 25, 1895. This undertaking was carried through against the strongest opposition of a large majority of Barre's best citizens, who were confident it would prove a failure not only as a source of water sup- ply but financially. In the following summer, how- ever, there was a fire which threatened to destroy a large portion of the village. This occurrence settled unmistakably the question of the value of the water system as a protection against fire, while in later years the domestic convenience of a con- tinued supply of excellent water won over all op- position. In 1906, after the company had proved a paying investment, the town, by unanimous vote, decided to acquire the property on terms which provided for eventual public ownership free of cost to taxpayers. Mr. Cook has held the office of water commissioner and superintendent since its construction, and without his persistent efforts it is doubtful, if the town today would enjoy so fine a water system.
328
WORCESTER COUNTY
For many years Mr. Cook has been a trustee of the Barre Savings Bank and is now serving as vice-president of this institution and as a mem- ber of its board of investment. During all these years he has continued in a very successful way the general insurance business with which his name has been connected for more than four decades. He is a director and member of the executive com- mittee of the Merchants and Farmers Trust Com- pany of Worcester. For thirty years he has been a justice of the peace and for an even longer period he has been one of the public administrators of Worcester County, doing an extensive probate business and settling many complicated estates. Mr. Cook has served as assessor of the town, is a trustee of the Barre Library Association and a member of its finance committee. In 1889 he was elected special county commissioner for the county of Worcester, was chosen county commissioner in 1892 and in that office gave to the county the longest continuous service since the establishment of the board of county commissioners. During the past six years he has been purchasing agent for the Metropolitan Water Supply Commission, spend- ing more than $4,000,000 for the purchase of prop- erty for the State.
Mr. Cook was chairman of the building com- mittee of Barre's beautiful high school and gram- mar school building. He took an active part in the construction and furnishing of the new Court- house and was prominent in effecting the extensive changes and additions made to various public buildings, including the Jail, the House of Cor- rection, the Training School at Oakdale and also important improvements in the Courthouse and House of Correction buildings in Fitchburg.
On March 13, 1878, George Washington Cook married Mary Louisa Davis of Barre, daughter of James F. and Lydia (Holden) Davis. In 1896 he purchased the property near Barre Center known as Barre Falls, one of the most interesting and picturesque places in this section of the State. Here he has planted many thousand trees and shrubs of different varieties, setting out 125,000 evergreen and nut trees on forty acres, built dams and constructed roads. This property is now known as Cook's Canyon. Mr. Cook has always allowed the public access to its beauties, and for years it has been one of the chief points of scenic interest in New England.
In religious faith Mr. Cook is a Unitarian. He has always been a liberal contributor to church and charitable enterprises and has proved himself a generous friend to those in need. While it is difficult to single out for special emphasis some few of the many services he has rendered his com- munity, he, perhaps, derives the most satisfaction from his development of Cook's Canyon, from his establishment of the Barre water works and from the part he played in the building of the new Worcester County Courthouse and in the rebuild- ing of the county jails and other public buildings. These completed tasks stand as monuments to his civic pride and enlightened public spirit.
JOSIAH MANNING LASELL-President of the Whitinsville National Bank, Josiah M. Lasell has been the executive head of this strong, modern institution for twenty years. He is also a director of the Whitin Machine Works, the great corporation which is the industrial backbone
of the community. In township affairs he has served in a number of offices and is known as one of Whitinsville's most substantial citizens.
Josiah Lasell, father of the banker, was born in Schoharie, New York, and came of stock that originated in England. After graduation at Wil- liams College he taught school for a time and after removal to Whitinsville became a manu- facturer. He was prominent in local affairs and was elected to the board of selectmen and the school committee. He married Jane Whitin, who was born in Whitinsville.
Josiah Manning Lasell, son of Josiah and Jane (Whitin) Lasell, was born in Holyoke, Massachu- setts, September 15, 1863, and prepared for col- lege at Phillips Andover Academy, where he was graduated in 1882. He was graduated from Wil- liams College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1886. His business career began in association with the Whitin Machine Works and he soon was elected to the board of directors. For a number of years he served the corporation as its clerk.
Meanwhile he manifested an aptitude for finance and was elected a director of the Whitinsville Na- tional Bank. It was in 1913 that he was elected president of this institution, which is the office he has since held continuously. In 1905 this bank occupied its handsome and modern quarters in its own building, which is one of the architectural gems of the town. He is also a trustee of the Whitinsville Savings Bank.
He has yielded to the insistence of the people that he serve them in public office and has held membership in the board of selectmen, the school committee, and the board of sewer commissioners. In all local affairs for the improvement of the community he lends his support and influence, be- ing active when time and opportunity offer. He is a member of the Union Club of Boston, the Wil- liams Club of New York, the Tatnuck Country Club of Worcester, and the Whitinsville Golf Club.
Mr. Lasell married, June 27, 1888, Mary F. Krum, of St. Louis, Missouri, and their children are: I. Josiah, married Nora Elliott and resides in Paris, France. 2. Elizabeth. 3. John W., married Frances Sumner, of Worcester. 4. Margaret Hard- ing, married Earl Smith, of Shrewsbury. 5. Philip Bradford. 6. Nancy Manning. 7. Chester Hard- ing, married Ruth Drake, of Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania.
THE HARRINGTON AND RICHARD- SON ARMS COMPANY, of Worcester, is one of the well-known and among the oldest concerns of its kind in the United States.
Gilbert Henderson Harrington, founder of the company, was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, April 17, 1845, son of Henry Henderson and Cornelia Bush (Wesson) Harrington. He was of old Colonial stock, tracing back to the immigrant ancestor, Robert Harrington, a native of England, who came to this country, settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, and became prominent in the local public affairs of his day. From him the line descends through his son Thomas Harrington; his son Thomas, an inn-keeper of Waltham; his son Thomas, born in Cambridge and settled in Shrews- bury, the first of his line in that town; his son Jonathan, who was a soldier and pensioner of the Revolutionary War; his son, Colonel Daniel Har-
Josiah 2. Basell.
329
WORCESTER COUNTY
rington, born in Shrewsbury, served as colonel of a regiment of militia; his son Henry Hender- son Harrington, who married Cornelia Bush Wes- son, a sister of D. B. Wesson, famous inventor and manufacturer of firearms, of the firm of Smith and Wesson, and became the father of Gilbert Henderson Harrington, founder of the Harring- ton and Richardson Arms Company.
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.