Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 1

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268

USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 1

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M. L.

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01085 7644 E

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MEN OF PROGRESS

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS

LEADERS IN BUSINESS AND

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

IN AND OF THE

State of Maine 1

COMPILED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF RICHARD HERNDON

EDITED BY

PHILIP W. MCINTYRE AND WILLIAM F. BLANDING

BOSTON NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE 1897 840

1743445

Eile schon

Ye MEN OF MAINE, with purpose strong, The Wheel of PROGRESS roll along, And neither pause nor falter ; But freely each his off'ring bring, The best he has of everything, To lay upon the altar.

Our Grand Old State, with honest pride, From sea-girt shore to forest wide, We would proclaim thy glory ; Thy sons their lives in war did give, And by their valiant deeds shall live For aye in song and story.

And be our station high or low, It matters not, we onward go As brother walks with brother ; And we this book would dedicate To thee, beloved Pine Tree State, And greet thee as a mother.

JOHN WILLIAM DAVIDSON.

A802

MEN OF PROGRESS.

PART I.

ADAMS, JOHN MILTON, Editor of the Eastern Argus, Portland, was born in Rumford, Oxford county, Maine, September 22, 1819, son of Nathan Jr. and Susan (Merrill) Adams. His American ancestor was William Adams, who arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1635, and subse- quently settled in Ipswich, that state. His grand- parents on the Adams side were Nathan and Betsey (Poor) Adams, the latter a daughter of Eben Poor; Nathan Adams was of the sixth generation from William Adams, and was a soldier of the Revolution. His maternal grandparents were Ezekiel and Sarah (Emery) Merrill; Ezekiel Merrill was also a soldier of the Revolution, and their youngest child, Susan Merrill, was the first white child born in Andover, Maine, and for whom a lot of land was voted by the proprietors of the town. John Milton Adams, bereft of a father's care in his youth, was compelled while yet in tender years to depend largely upon his own inherent resources, receiving from a widowed mother with five children to care for, only such aid, support and instruction as her many other cares and responsibilities permitted her to give him. Faithful in his filial love, the first five years after his father's death were devoted to assisting in the work of the farm. His early education was acquired in the common schools. At the age of fifteen he sought better instruction, preparatory for college ; but upon finding that some two years of his college course would have to be given to Greek, he concluded that he could utilize that time more profitably in studies of his own selection. He accordingly applied himself primarily to studies that would qualify him for teaching district schools, not neglecting Latin and the higher mathematics. In Bridgton and Bethel academies he accomplished this, and at seventeen he commenced teaching, still pursuing his studies. In 1838, the troubles over the northeastern boundary question becoming

serious, the young man in a spirit of adventure, and with a desire to see the new country, volunteered as a soldier in the Aroostook War, as it was called, and was made Orderly Sergeant of Capt. John T. Hall's Oxford-county company. The international

JOHN M. ADAMS.

dispute was speedily settled however, and the volunteers were discharged after a month's service, having gone no farther than Augusta on their way to the scene of strife. At nineteen, through the influ- ence of a relative and intimate personal friend, Mr. Adams received an invitation to teach an academy at Newmarket, on the eastern shore of Maryland, which was accepted, and nearly two years were pleasantly spent there, when the death of a brother compelled his return to Maine. Gorham Seminary

MEN OF PROGRESS.

was then at its best, under charge of Rev. Amos Brown, and here he spent the summer and autumn of two years, devoting himself to the studies of the college course, excepting Greek, and teaching in winters the while. After graduating from the Seminary he entered St. Hyacinthe College, Canada, for the Senior year, his especial purpose 'being to acquire a thorough knowledge of the French language, the professors there having been educated in Paris, France. After graduation from that institution he came to Portland and entered the law office of Fessenden & Dublois, his mother having made the acquaintance of General Fessenden at Fryeburg Academy. He pursued his law studies successfully, teaching French meanwhile in Master Packard's school, and in 1846 he was admitted to the Cumberland Bar. He at once opened an office in Portland, and as he had while a student attended to the business of the firm in the lower courts, he quickly found himself at home in business for himself. He borrowed money to purchase a library, the first of his borrowing, and then had his life insured, being determined that no one should lose a dollar by trusting him, a resolution which he has always since observed. Having met with encour- aging success in practice at the end of three years, he entered into partnership with Hon. John A. Poor, the enterprising projector and able promoter of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, now the Grand Trunk, Railway, who had lately removed to Portland from Bangor. The following year Hon. A. W. H. Clapp invited Mr. Adams to accompany his nephew, A. J. Emerson Clapp, in a tour through Europe, expenses paid. It was an opportunity that could not be refused. They embarked in November and returned in the following June, 1850, having visited the capitals and principal cities of England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium. As correspondent of the Railroad Gazette, of which Hon. Henry V. Poor, another kinsman of Mr. Adams, was editor, he wrote a series of letters upon the railroad systems of the different European countries and upon the political outlook at that period - some two years after the Revolution of '48. In 1855 Mr. Adams edited the Eastern Argus, to which he had previously contri- buted occasional articles, for Hon. John Appleton, who was then Secretary of Legation at London, James Buchanan being Minister to England. It was in the midst of an exciting political campaign, in which Samuel Wells was chosen Governor. Mr. Appleton returned home the following year, but

soon resigned the editorship of the Argus to take charge of the Democratic organ at Washington. In the meantime Mr. Adams had become a law partner of Nathan Clifford. This relationship continued for something less than two years, when Mr. Clifford was appointed a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Both members of the firm had spoken of their pleasant association as probably a partnership for life ; but such it was not to be. The Argus was then without an editor, and Mr. Adams was unanimously chosen by the eight proprietors to fill the position, but it was not until after much persuasion that he could be induced to accept, so strong was his preference for the law. He took charge of the Argus in May 1857, and has since continued its editor, and for some years after the great fire of 1866 was also the sole owner. The

Argus was founded in 1803 to support the adminis- tration of Thomas Jefferson, and it has unwaveringly stood by Jeffersonian principles ever since. Dur- ing the Civil War it supported the Union cause and was heartily disgusted with professed Democrats of the Vallandigham persuasion. Mr. Adams has

been always an earnest friend of education. He was a member of the School Board of Portland for several years, and also served as County Superin- tendent of Schools, in which capacity he addressed by appointment, meetings of citizens on education in every town of Cumberland county. He was appointed by Governor Hubbard a member of his staff, with rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In his younger years he was frequently a delegate to state and national conventions. He was appointed Reporter of Judicial Decisions by Governor Wells, and published Volumes 41 and 42 of the Maine Reports. He was a member of the Legislature in 1877 and 1878, and served on the Finance and Legal Affairs committees at each session. In the latter year he received every vote of his party in the House for Speaker. At both sessions he tried, in vain, though otherwise influential, to get the law so amended that the person who steals real estate and holds it twenty years, thereby acquires an in- defeasible title to it. As the law stands, a citizen who purchases real estate," paying full consideration for it, is liable to be dispossessed after any number of years, if another person can discover a defect in his title to the property ; while in the case of per- sonal property that has been stolen, the owner can take it whenever and wherever he can find it, on proving his ownership. Mr. Adams was appointed by President Cleveland, during the latter's first

MEN OF PROGRESS.

!"in, a Visitor to the United States Military V .demy at West Point. On account of his busi- new engagements he has felt compelled to decline becoming a candidate for Congress, and for Governor, both of which honors his political friends .he urged him to accept. Mr. Adams has always tell the respect and esteem of his political oppo. 1.ent, as well as of his party associates. Cordial, urteous and genial in manners, his honesty of j. Irpose, lofty character and kind and gentle nature, in business and social life, have won him admirers und warm personal friends among all classes with whom he has associated. He is justly held in the highest regard in the community in which he resides, and by the fraternity of which he is an honored and a brilliant member. He was one of the originators of the Maine Press Association, in which he still continues to take a warm interest and is usually the leading spirit, both in its summer excursions and winter reunions, and always enter- tins his editorial brethren with great cordiality. Mr. Adams was married September 16, 1850, to Mrs. Sophia (Wattles) Preble, widow of Edward E Preble, a beautiful and accomplished woman, a native of Alexandria, Virginia; they had no children. On April 18, 1867, he married Adela Sophronia Hobbs, daughter of William Whitman and Sarah Farrington ( Merrill) Hobbs of Norway, Maine, the latter a daughter of Ezekiel Merrill of Andover, Maine. They have had five children : Susan Merrill, born May 13, 1870 ; Sarah Whitman, born February 3, 1874 ; John Milton, Jr., born June 11, 1877, a very promising young man who died in his fifteenth year, December 18, 1893; Adele Hobbs, born July 20, 1880, and Charles Henry Adams, born March 21, 1883.

ACHORN, EDGAR OAKES, Lawyer, Boston, was born in Newcastle, Lincoln County, Maine, August 20, 1859, son of Dr. John Taylor and Clara Clark ( Rundlett) Achorn. He is descended on the Paternal side from Johann Eichhorn, who came from the Kingdom of Saxony in Germany and settled in Waldoboro, Maine, under the Waldo grant in 1748; and from John Taylor who came from England to ituate, Massachusetts, and thence to Newcastle, where he settled earlier than 1635. On the maternal side his first American ancestor was Vthan Rundlett, who came in 1665 from Exeter, New Hampshire, to Wiscasset, Maine, where he ac-

quired large possessions. His mother was also one of the " Chase heirs, " who contested the title to the Townley estate in England. He received his early education in the common schools, fitted for college at. Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, was graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1881, studied law at the Boston University Law School, and was admitted to the Bar on June 16, 1884. From 188t to IS83 he was Principal of the Whitman (Massa- chusetts) High School, and in 1884-5 was a member of the School Board of that place. Since his admission to the Bar Mr. Achorn has practiced

EDGAR O. ACHORN.

law in Boston, where he has built up a large client- age. In politics he has always been an active Re- publican, having stumped the state during several campaigns. He has also organized and been prom- inendiy identified with the Scandinavian vote of Massachusetts. As a writer he has contributed to some of the leading periodicals of the day. Mr. Achorn is President of the Association of the Sons and Daughters of Maine in Plymouth County, Mas- sachusetts, and is also President of the New England Association of the Zeta Psi Fraternity, and a member of the Grand Chapter. He was married October 8, 1889, to Sophie M. Apenes, the grand- opera singer, of Christiania, Norway ; they have one child : Erik Rundlett chorn.

MEN OF PROGRESS.

AYRES, REVERENDWILLIAM SULLIVAN, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Portland, was born in Russell- ville, Kentucky, October 10, 1862, son of James E. and Sarah` (Crutcher) Ayres. He is descended from one of the early families of Virginia, originally of Scotch and Huguenot ancestry, his grandfather Ayres going early into Southern Kentucky and establishing a plantation there. His early education and training were almost wholly received under the tuition of his father, who was a teacher by profes- sion. Afterwards he entered Newton Theological Institute at Newton, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1885, and in June of that year he 'was ordained and installed as pastor of the Worthen- street Baptist Church in Lowell, Massachusetts. After a year and a half of his pastorate the church edifice was burned to the ground. He remained with the church until a new building was erected and the work of the church taken up and carried forward in its new quarters for a couple of years, and in November 1891 became Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Portland, where he has since

BAKER, CLARENCE ATWOOD, M. D., Portland, was born in Newcastle, Maine, January 3, 1852, son of John Plummer and Abby Williams (Ford) Baker. He acquired his early education in the town schools of Bristol, Maine, and at Lincoln

CLARENCE ATWOOD BAKER.

៛

W. S. AYRES.

continued his labors. Rev. Mr. Ayres was mar- ried December 11, 1889, to Miss Emma Young of Greenfield, Missouri; they have three chil- dren : Clarence E., Edith Abbie and Ernest W. Ayres.

Academy in Newcastle, where he fitted for college. In 1874 he entered Bowdoin College. After gradu- ation from that institution in 1878 he studied medi- cine in the Portland School of Medical Instruction, and entered Bowdoin Medical School, from which he graduated in 1882 with the degree of M. D). Soon after graduating in medicine he settled in Portland, where he has since practiced his profes- sion, with the exception of a period covering a little more than a year, which he spent in taking a post- graduate course at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and in the hospitals of Europe. Dr. Baker is a member of the Portland Medical Club, the Maine Academy of Medicine and Science, Maine Medical Association and American Academy of Medicine, and is a fellow and life member of the British Gynæcological Society. In politics he is a Republican. He was married June 4, 1884, to Miss Mary Augusta Whitman, of Providence, Rhode Island.

MEN OF PROGRESS.

BARTLETT, RALPH SYLVESTER, Lawyer, Boston, was born in Eliot, Maine, April 29, 1868, son of Sylvester and Clementine ( Raitt) Bartlett. He is of English descent on the paternal side, and his maternal ancestry is Scotch. His early education

RALPH S. BARTLETT.

was begun in the country schools of Eliot, and in the fall of 1882 he entered Berwick Academy, South Berwick, Maine, one of the oldest academies in the country, where he fitted for college, graduating in the class of 1885. He then entered Dartmouth College, graduating with the degree of A. B. in 1889, next to the youngest member of his class, and in June 1892 from the same institution, he received the degree of A. M. His legal training was obtained at the Law School of Boston University, from which he received the degree of LL. B., "magna cum laude," with the class of 1892. In July 1892 he was admitted to the Suffolk Bar, and in November 1895 to the Bar of the United States District and Circuit Courts, since which former date he has been associated with the office of Ex-Governor William E. Russell in the Exchange Building, Boston, en- gaged in an active general practice. Mr. Bartlett is an enlisted inember of the First Corps of Cadets, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and is also a mem- ber of the University and Dartmouth clubs of Boston, of which latter organization he is Secretary. In poli- tics Mr. Bartlett is a Republican. He is unmarried.

BEALS, THOMAS PORTER, President of the Thomas P. Beals Company, Portland, was born in Wiscasset, Maine, March 24, 1833, son of William and Hannah (Porter) Beals. His father was pro- prietor of the Wicasset House, one of the largest hotels in the place, and for several terms repre- sented that town in the Legislature. Of nine children, only three are living : Mrs. Mary C. Gould, of Lynn, Massachusetts; Mrs. H. B. Dennison, wife of the ex-President of the Dennison Tag Manufacturing Company, Boston ; and Thomas P., the subject of this sketch. After completing his school education in the academy at Wiscasset, Mr. Beals came to Portland, in 1848, at the age of fif- teen, to work for Walter Corey & Company, in the furniture business, where he remained until 1861, when he enlisted as a private in the Seventh Maine Regiment. He was soon promoted to Sergeant, in which capacity he served for a year, when he was discharged for disability and came home. Six months later he became a member of the police force of Portland, where he remained until the spring of 1864, when he re-enlisted in the Thirty-

THOS. P. BEALS.

second Maine Regiment as First Sergeant. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and then to Captain, and participated in seven battles : North .Anna River, Cold Harbor, Tolopotomy Creek, Petersburg, Poplar Grove Church, Hatchers Run

MEN OF PROGRESS.

and the Capture of Petersburg, April 21, 1865. In the storming of Petersburg he led the charge on Fort Mahone, and was wounded. He came home as a member of the Thirty-first Maine Regiment, with which the Thirty-second had been consoli- dated. At Petersburg Captain Beals secured the muster roll of the Confederate regiment occupying Fort Mahone, which he still has in his possession. In August 1865 he was re-appointed on the police force of Portland, and later became Deputy Sheriff and Crier of the Courts of Cumberland county. In 1867 Mr. Beals resigned, and commenced the man- ufacture of furniture on Congress street, at the present site of the R. C. Cavanaugh School, subsc- quently removing to Federal street and from there to the corner of Middle and Franklin streets. At first he employed but a small force of workmen, and his products were largely wrought by hand process. Year by year as the trade extended, improvements were made and facilities increased for doing a greater volume and a better class of work. In 1871 he admitted Joseph T. Darling to partnership, and the year following, Chas. L. Dow, and the firm name became Thomas P. Beals & Company for two years, when Mr. Beals continued the business alone on Kennebec street, and later on Exchange street, returning finally to his present location on Market street. In 1890 his son, Fred H. Beals, entered the concern, and they purchased a building on Newbury street, to which they have made various additions to provide for their rapidly increasing business. In 1892 the business was incorporated, under the name of the Thomas P. Beals Company, with Thomas P. Beals as President, Fred H. Beals as Secretary and Treasurer, and Sewall C. Ripley as Superintendent. The company's factories on Market and Newbury streets cover over two acres of floor space, and they employ on an average fifty skilled workmen. They manufacture chamber sets, bedsteads, woven-wire and spiral-spring beds, are among the largest chair jobbers in New England, and today finds the Thomas P. Beals Company in the front rank of furniture manufacturers. Mr. Beals is a member of Maine Lodge and Eastern Star Encampment of Odd Fellows, also of the Maine Charitable Mechanics Association, Bosworth Post Grand Army of the Republic, Loyal Legion., and the Veteran Firemen's' Association. His geni- ality, enterprise, integrity and public spirit, with his thorough-going business qualities, have brought him an extensive acquaintance in business and social life, at home and abroad. In all movements to

promote and advance the interests of his city, and in any worthy public enterprise, he is always ready to lend his active services and energetic support. Mr. Beals' views in regard to politics and religion have always been of a liberal nature ; he is free to express his own ideas and to respect those of others. He has been three times married. His first wife was Maria F. Simonton, daughter of James and Lucy (Haskell) Simonton of Portland ; she died in 1872, leaving two sons : Frederick H., who is in business with his father, and Charles T. Beals, who died in 1889. His second wife, Celia A. Smith of Boston, was a daughter of Jacob and Maria Smith of Exeter, New Hampshire ; she passed away in 1889. In IS91 he married Adelaide M. Bibber of Portland, daughter of Captain Bibber of Brunswick, Maine. The family reside at 517 Cumberland street, Portland.

BERRY, ALFRED HENRY, Treasurer and General Manager of the A. H. Berry Shoe Company, Port- land, was born in Georgetown, Maine, September

A. H. BERRY.

9, 1844, son of Alfred I. and Mary Elizabeth (White) Berry. He received his early education in the common schools, and his training for active life in a country store. In August 1867, he came to Portland, where he was employed by Ara Cush-

MEN OF PROGRESS.

man & Company, shoe manufacturers, until June 1, 1868, when he engaged with Charles J. Walker & Company, and remained with them as salesman and partner twenty-one years. In October 1889, he organized the A. H. Berry Shoe Company, which concern commenced active business in Jan- uary 1890. He has been Treasurer and General Manager of that corporation since the start, and the business established has reached large propor- tions and continues to enjoy an excellent measure of prosperity. Mr. Berry is a Director in the Canal National Bank of Portland, and in the Fal- mouth Loan and Building Association. He is a member of the Portland, Bramhall League and Athletic clubs. In politics he is a Republican. He was married July 11, 1871, to Miss Frances F. Crosby ; they have one child : Harold L. Berry.

BRADBURY, ALBERT WILLIAMS, of Portland, United States District Attorney, was born in Calais, Maine, January 29. 1840, son of Bion and Alice (Williams) Bradbury .. The Bradbury family in this country is descended from Thomas Bradbury who came from Essex county, England, to Salisbury, Massachusetts, in the early part of the seventeenth century. John Bradbury, fourth in descent from Thomas, was the founder of the family in York county, Maine ; he was a member of the Provincial Legislature, and was for ten years Judge of Probate and one of the Executive Council, warmly espous- ing the cause of the colonies at the breaking out of the Revolution. His son Joseph was an officer in the War for Independence and died at Saco in 1821, aged eighty-one years. Joseph's eldest son, Jeremiah Bradbury, read law in the offices of Cyrus King at Saco and Nicholas Emery at Parsons- field, was admitted to the York Bar in 1805, and was Collector of Customs for the District of York for seven years, resigning to accept the position of Clerk of Courts of York county, to which he was appointed by Governor King in 1820, and which he held with but a single year's exception until 1841 ; his wife was Mary Langdon Storer, daughter of Captain Seth Storer, and a descendant of John Langdon of New Hampshire, President of the Continental Congress. Their eldest son, Bion Bradbury, was born in Biddeford, December 6, 1811, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1830, admitted to the York Bar in 1834, was Collector of Customs for the District of Passamaquoddy 1844-57, served in the Maine legislature 1849-50 and 1862,

elected the last time by the unanimous vote of both parties, was a candidate for Congress in 1858 from the Sixth District and in 1874 from the First Dis- trict, and candidate for Governor in 1863 ; he was an eminent lawyer, was for many years a distin- guished leader of the Democratic party, a member of the National Democratic Conventions of 1856, 1860 and 1880, and in 1885 was appointed Surveyor of the Port of Portland, which office he held at the time of his death, July 1, 1887 ; he married Alice Williams, daughter of Colonel Johnson Williams of Brooklyn, New York, afterwards of Waterville, Maine, who was the son of Dr. Obadiah Williams,

A. W. BRADBURY.

a distinguished citizen of Waterville. Their eldest son, Albert W. Bradbury, is the subject of this sketch. During his infancy his family moved to Eastport, where his early days were passed. He was fitted for college at the University Grammar School in Providence, Rhode Island, and was graduated from Bowdoin in 1860. In the early days of the War for the Union, .August 1861, Mr. Bradbury commenced to recruit for the First Maine Battery of Mounted Artillery, was mustered in as Second Lieutenant the following Decem- ber, and passed through the successive grades of First Lieutenant, Captain and Major of the First Maine Mounted Artillery, and Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel of Volunteers. He first served in General

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Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 1

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Boston, New England magazine Number of Pages: 1268

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268