USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine > Part 4
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"You never had a doubt in your own mind that the position was in perfect accordance with justice and common sense?"
"Never for a moment.
Men, you see, being creatures of use and wont, are naturally bound up in old traditions. While every court which had considered the question had decided one way, we had been used to the other. Fortunately for the country, there was no wavering in our ranks."
Robert F. Porter says: "Mr. Reed is a born debater, aggressive and cautious, able to strike the right nail on the right head, and at critical moments to condense a whole argument with epigrammatic brevity. His epigrams are worthy the literary artist, in that they are perfect in form : though struck out on the spur
of the moment, you cannot take a word from them nor recast them."
At one time, after a sharp reply to a meni- ber who attacked him, Mr. Reed quietly con- cluded in this way: "Since I have embalmed this fly in the liquid amber of my remarks, I will proceed with the main question."
A writer in McClure's Magasine says : "Reed has shown better than any parliamen- tarian living how the turbulent battlings of legislative bodies, so chaotic in appearance, are not chaos at all to one who has the ca- pacity to think with clearness and precision upon his feet. Such a man assimilates the substance of every speech and judges its rela- tive bearing upon the question. At the be- ginning it is hard to tell where a discussion will hinge; but gradually, as the debate goes on, the two or three points which are the key of the situation, become clear to the true debater.
Mr. Reed will neither vote for a man whom he distrusts nor a measure which he detests, no matter how much his constituents clamor for it. He is not one who can be "all things to all men." Socially, he is serene and good- natured, and his conversation sparkling and exhilarating. He belongs to the Cumberland Club, whose one hundred members are of the different political parties. Most of them have been boys together at school and call each other by their Christian names. There reigns supreme a fine spirit of equality, an unpreten- tious, give-and-take sort of intercourse, which is the ideal object of a club. Mr. Reed says such a club is only possible in a conservative city like Portland.
Mr. Reed has never allowed his engrossing duties as a public man to interfere with his literary pursuits. He is well versed in Eng- lish and foreign literatures, and he has con- tributed political articles to some of the lead- ing magazines of the day. He takes cheerful views of human life and society, and is not one of those who look backward for a golden age. His words give no uncertain sound : "Whoever doubts progress doubts God. The rich have grown richer, but so have the poor - richer in rights and privileges, richer in comforts and happiness."
Mr. Reed married in 1870 a daughter of the
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Rev. S. H. Merrill, who served in the war as Chaplain of the First Maine Cavalry. The Portland residence . of Mr. Reed and his charming wife and daughter is a substantial three-story brick house, commanding a fine view of Casco Bay and picturesque shores.
EV. HARRISON SPOFFORD WHITMAN, President of Westbrook Seminary, which under his able management has entered on a new era of usefulness and prosperity, has been a resident of Deering since 1892. He was born February 5, 1844, in Woodstock, Me., son of Harrison and Delphina (Perham) Whitman. His great-grandfather, Jacob Whitman, was a patriot soldier of the Revolutionary War.
Harrison Whitman was a native of Wood- stock, and received his education in the com- mon schools of that town. He remained with his parents on the farm, and throughout the active period of his life was engaged in agri- culture. At the time of the Aroostook War he was made Captain of a company of infan- try organized to take part in that contest. His wife, whose maiden name was Delphina Perham, was born in Woodstock. They had a family of four children, three of whom arc now living, namely: George Washington, residing in Norway, Me .; Angela, the wife of Rufus Farrar; and Harrison Spofford, the leading subject of the present sketch.
Harrison S. Whitman was first an attendant of the public schools of Woodstock, later of the Norway Liberal Institute; and in 1864 he entered Bowdoin College, from which he was graduated with honor in the class of 1869, being among the foremost in scholarship. Immediately after leaving college he accepted a position as principal of the high school at Thomaston, Me. ; and two years later he went to Dean Academy in Franklin, Mass., where for a year and a half he was Professor of Latin and Greek. In 1874 he entered the Divinity School of Tufts College, near Boston, Mass., for a three years' course; and shortly after completing his studies there he was ordained as pastor of the Mechanic Falls Universalist Church. During the six years that he had charge of that church its membership was
largely increased, and provision was made for the payment of a heavy debt that had been in- curred. On leaving Mechanic Falls he ac- cepted a call to the Universalist church in Dexter, Me., where he ministered faithfully for three and a half years. He was installed as pastor of the Winthrop Street Universalist Church in Augusta in 1886, and was closely identified with its work and interests until 1890, when he accepted the position of State Missionary. The two years of his incumbency were characterized by able service, among his labors being the raising of a permanent mis- sionary fund of ten thousand dollars.
In 1892 Mr. Whitman entered his present position as President of Westbrook Seminary. Since he took charge of this institution its attendance has increased about forty per cent. He has also strengthened the corps of teachers, and advanced the grade of scholarship. The sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, which has been received from the alumni, has been used in making various needed repairs and altera- tions; and at the present time he is interested in a movement to raise ten thousand dollars to be added to the endowment fund of the seminary.
On June 5, 1879, the Rcv. Harrison S. Whitman was joined in marriage with Miss Susan Frances Warren, who is a lady of supe- rior ability and attainments, a daughter of Chadbourne Warren, of Great Falls, N.H.
When in Dexter, Mr. Whitman served as Supervisor of Schools; and he was Secretary of the Maine Statc Universalist Convention for four or five years before he became the State Missionary. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge of Mechanic Falls and of Asy- lum Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows of Augusta.
EV. EPHRAIM CHAMBERLAIN CUMMINGS, A.M., was born in Albany, Me., September 2, 1825. His father was Francis Cummings, a man of enterprise and public spirit, chiefly engaged in farming with some lumbering oper- ations upon wild lands in which he was inter- csted. His mother was Lois (Chamberlain) Cummings, daughter of Deacon Ephraim
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Chamberlain of Waterford, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Mr. Cummings's paternal grandfather, Asa Cummings, was one of the pioneers of the town of Albany, of patriarchal character, a Deacon of the Congregational church, who regularly conducted religious services, when there was no settled minister. He kept the records of the town for a long series of years, and was a Revolutionary soldier.
Ephraim Chamberlain Cummings left his home in Albany after the death of his mother, when quite young, and came to Portland to live with his uncle, Dr. Asa Cummings, edi- tor of the Christian Mirror. He prepared for college at North Yarmouth Academy, and when not quite sixteen years of age entered the class of 1844 at Bowdoin. But the state of his health was not deemed equal to a college course at that time; and it was not till after some years of alternate labor and study in the country, and still other years in his uncle's office in Portland, that he again entered Bow- doin College, where he graduated in the class of 1853.
He became a teacher during that fall and winter in the Bucksport Academy. The fol- lowing summer he taught the Augusta High School, and in the year 1855 was a tutor of Latin and mathematics at Bowdoin. Though he was not averse to mathematics, his early preference was for philosophical studies and the languages. His home associations, train- ing and intellectual tendencies led him toward the Congregational ministry. He entered Bangor Theological Seminary the same year that he was tutor, and was graduated in 1857. In March of the following year he became minister of the First Congregational Church in Brewer, and in May, 1860, he assumed the pastorate of the North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vt. For nine months, in the years 1862-63, he served as Chaplain in the Fifteenth Regiment of Vermont Volun- teers, of which Redfield Proctor, afterward Secretary of War, and now United States Senator, was the brave and efficient Colonel. While residing in St. Johnsbury Mr. Cum- mings made his first tour in Europe and the Orient, remaining ten months.
The Rev. Ephraim C. Cummings was mar-
ried October 18, 1866, at Portland, Me., to Miss Annie Louise Pomeroy, daughter of the Rev. Swan Lyman Pomeroy, D.D., of this city, and in 1869, with his wife, again crossed the ocean, remaining in Europe nearly two years. He was in Rome at the time of the Ecumenical Council, saw and heard some distinguished representatives of the Roman church; and in Germany he witnessed the memorable demonstrations of triumph after the Franco-Prussian War. He saw the old Emperor, William I., the Crown Prince Fred- erick, and the great Bismarck and Von Moltke, then in the zenith of their power.
Since his return in 1871, Mr. Cummings has been a resident of Portland. In December, 1872, he was appointed Provisional Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Bowdoin College. This engagement expired at the end of the college year in 1873, and since then he has devoted most of his time to his studies, which are of a nature to demand a more or less retired life, and exemption from distracting professional efforts. He has been, and is, a student of current as well as classical litera- ture, but his mental energies have been di- rected mainly to theological and philosophical subjects.
In 1873 Mr. Cummings published a volume of discourses entitled "Birth and Baptism," and in 1885 another work called "Nature in Scripture." With reference to this book it is enough to quote the words of the late Thomas Hill, D.D., LL.D., sometime President of Harvard University, afterward pastor of the First Parish Church in Portland, Me., a ven- erable name with which any author might be happy to have his work associated : - "One hundred and forty-nine years ago, Joseph Butler published his immortal 'Analogy.' Taking, as it were, a text from Origen, he illustrated it by a profound series of argu- ments, in which he shows that the very objec- tions raised by deists of that age against Christianity, lie with equal force against ad- mitting the existence of a Divine Providence. No weightier line of thought and argument ever came from the pen of an English theo- logian. And now, after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, Mr. Cummings has given to Portland the honor of first producing a
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worthy companion and complement of 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature.' That work was confined to the task of showing that the difficulties and mysteries of religion have their perfect parallel in the difficulties and mysteries of nature. This takes up, in an equally broad and comprehensive manner, the other half of the subject, and shows that the general doctrines and teaching of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are in precise accord- ance with the general course of that education by which nature and experience begin the de- velopment of the mind and character of man. If the reader will have the patience to read the volume carefully, chapter by chapter, in order, he will find it full of unexpected light. He must be a well-read theological scholar if he does not find it in the highest degree in- structive; and he must lack all interest in re- ligious themes if he does not find the volume interesting."
Mr. Cummings is also the author of a work entitled "The Great Question, or Twelve Lessons in the Faith," besides various papers read before the Maine Historical Society, especially those concerning the Catholic mis- sions of the Jesuit period, not to mention con- tributions to the newspaper press.
The labor of such men as Mr. Cummings, though in general but faintly appreciated by the bulk of society, is doubtless of benefit and importance to mankind. Few men, even when possessing the inclination, are able to devote much time to the study of the higher problems of life. The busy cares and tumultuous anxie- ties which press sternly on every hand and confront the majority of men, with threaten- ing mien, in the daily struggle for existence, force them to concentrate their faculties upon material, rather than on spiritual things; it is left therefore, to a chosen few, whose natural bent, acquired scholarship, and greater free- dom from material cares, fit them for such pursuits, to devote their talents and opportu- nities to research in the higher realms of thought, that through their efforts in co-opera- tion with recognized teachers having more di- rect access to the popular mind, the dark tide of modern materialism and unbelief may be stemmed, and every human soul have the
strengthening assurance that in the acceptance of revealed religion our trust is not founded upon "cunningly devised fables," but on the eternal truth of nature, the testimony not alone of man, but of God and his universe.
A general characteristic of Mr. Cummings is his entire freedom from dogmatism. His thoughts take a wide range and he is toler- ant of wide diversities of opinion and belief. His satisfaction and reward in his work must lie in the fact that it is intimately connected with the progress of mankind in those season- able revelations of truth, that make for the practice of righteousness, and the life of faith, hope, and charity.
Mr. Cummings is Vice-President, and a regular attendant, of the Fraternity Club of Portland, whose members are mostly men of strong intellectual bent, who delight in dis- cussions which tax the highest human facul- ties. Mr. Cummings is always listened to with pleasure and profit, and highly appre- ciated for his amplitude of information and readiness in its use. He is also a Trustee of the Portland Public Library.
ON. LEANDER VALENTINE, the first Mayor of Westbrook, Me., was born in Westbrook, March 14, 1814. He was the son of William and Abigail (Spring) Valentine, and the scion of an ancient family, many generations of which were born in Eccles, England. The immigrant Valentines settled in Massachu- setts; and in Hopkinton, that State, William, the father of the Hon. Leander Valentine, was born on April 14, 1773. In 1803 he removed to Westbrook, Me. (then Falmouth), where for some time he was engaged in the manu- facture of nails; and he was also for a while in the grocery trade. In 1815, disposing of his other business, he turned his attention wholly to farming, which occupied his time during the remainder of his life. A Demo- crat in politics, he took an active interest in public affairs, serving efficiently as Selectman of the town for several years; and he was one of the original Trustees of the Saccarappa Grammar School Association. He died in Westbrook, April 16, 1845.
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Leander Valentine received his education in the common schools of Westbrook and at the Westbrook Seminary. He taught school in his early manhood, from 1835 to 1854, most of the time within the limits of his native town. Subsequently he was engaged in the grocery trade at Saccarappa, first with T. B. Edwards, afterward as successively a member of the firms of Valentine, Hardy & Co. and Valentine & Pennell. A capable and in- fluential business man, he was elected Presi- cent of the Westbrook Trust Company at the time of its incorporation in 1890, and re- mained in office up to the time of his death. In politics he was a Republican from the or- ganization of the party, and one of its stanch supporters. In the carly days of Westbrook he served as Selectman for two years, and he was a member of the School Committee twelve years. He represented the town in the legis- lature of 1847-48, was a member of the State Senate in 1849; and in 1850-52 he was a member of Governor John Hubbard's Execu- tive Council. He was appointed by President Lincoln weigher and gauger at the Portland custom-house in 1861, and after serving creditably for six years was promoted to the position of Assistant Appraiser. One year later he succeeded to the Appraisership, an office which he held for nine years. He was then forced to resign on account of ill health. In 1891 Westbrook was incorporated as a city, and it was natural and fitting that the voters should call their foremost citizen to the chief executive's chair. Mr. Valentine served one year with credit as Mayor; and at the end of his term, feeling the weight of increasing years, retired from public life; but, though freed from the responsibility and care of office, he was not forgotten by his fellow-citizens, his advice and counsel being constantly sought. He died July 23, 1895.
August 28, 1842, Mr. Valentine was mar- ried to Margaret W., daughter of Joseph W. and Alice Coolbroth, of Gorham, Me. Mrs. Valentine died May 23, 1892. She had but one child, a daughter, whom they named Marcena Adriana. This child was born May 16, 1845, and died April 1, 1846.
In religion Mr. Valentine was a Universal- ist. He was always a generous supporter of
the church of his choice; and at his death he bequeathed the society one thousand dollars as an endowment, the interest only to be used. He also bequeathed one thousand dollars to Westbrook Seminary. He was a man of very engaging social qualities, possessed of wide general information and good conversational powers. Every one enjoyed his company, and delighted to hear him talk. Liberal and op- timistic, he always looked on the bright side of life, and never lost confidence in mankind. All who knew him reposed in him the utmost confidence, and in his long life he never did anything to shake their trust.
This sketch was prepared by Charles B. Woodman, of Westbrook, who was for many years a townsman of Mr. Valentine.
ARTWELL LITTLE, a prosperous farmer of Brunswick, has a pleasant home about a mile and a half from the village on the River Road. He was born in Whitefield, Me., December 10, 1837, son of Samuel and Hannah (Boynton)
Little. Mr. Little's paternal grandfather, who also bore the name of Samuel, was a na- tive of Whitefield, but spent the greater part of his life in Pittston, Me. A cooper by trade, he was likewise a successful farmer. He died at the age of seventy-eight.
His son, Samuel Little, the father of Hart- well, was born in Pittston, and reared to farm life. He learned the trade of a ship carpen- ter, and followed it for many years, acquiring a sufficiency of this world's goods. He is now living on a farm in Bowdoinham, Me., at the advanced age of eighty-four. Mr. Samuel Little is a man of intelligence and good judg- ment, a fact fully recognized by the citizens of Whitefield during his residence in that town, who made him Selectman and Town Treasurer. His wife, who also has attained the age of fourscore and four, was born in Alna, Lincoln County, Me., daughter of John Boynton, a well-to-do farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Little are members of the Baptist church. They have had eleven children, eight of whom are yet living, namely: Albion ; Hartwell; Harriet, wife of Nathan B. Peasley, of Whitefield; Celia, wife of L. W. Blen, of
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San Jose, Cal .; Henrietta A., wife of James A. Morse, of Zempa, Ariz .; Melissa Ann, who is living with her parents; Zina F., a broker in Portland; and John, superintendent of Lord & Taylor's dry-goods establishment in New York. The two last named are twins.
Hartwell Little remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age. He acquired the rudiments of his education in the common schools, finished his course of study at the Pittston Academy, and then taught in a district school in Pittston. On attaining his majority he went to California, where he at first rented and afterward purchased a farm. There he remained seven years, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and teaching school at intervals. In 1866 he returned East and set- tled on the farm which he now occupies, a fine estate of one hundred and twenty-five acres, beautifully located. Here for nearly thirty years he has been successfully engaged in gen- eral farming, making a specialty of fruit rais- ing. He also has a choice dairy, which now includes fourteen cows. For ten years, from 1882 to 1892, he had a milk route and em- ployed a team, supplying customers in Bruns- wick. He then kept eighteen cows; but, finding the work too arduous in connection with his other interests, he disposed of some of his cows, and gave up the route. He has some fine live stock on his farm, and raises a number of horses. Mr. Little is a charter member of the Patrons of Husbandry. He has served for some time as Assistant Steward of the State Grange, and has served as Master of the local Grange.
On March 10, 1863, he was married to Lovesta F., daughter of Deacon Peter King, a manufacturer of edge tools in Whitefield and one of the prominent men of the town, which was Mrs. Little's birthplace. Mr. and Mrs. Little have two sons, Charles Winfield and Harry Hartwell. Charles W. Little, who is a farmer in Brunswick, married Carrie Griffin, of Freeport, and has two children - Florence May and Winfield Edward. Harry Hartwell Little, who also is a farmer, resides with his father. He married Mary Way, of Lawrence, Mass., and has four children - Gladys Lovesta, Samuel, Jennie M., and Clara Belle (the last two being twins).
Mr. Little is prominent in the councils of the Democratic party in his district, and was in the State legislature in 1874 and 1875. He is a member of the United Lodge, No. 8, A. F. & A. M., and of the Order of the Golden Cross. He joined the Baptist church when he was fifteen years of age, and has for a long time been prominent in parish affairs, serving efficiently on the various committees and holding the office of superintendent of the Sunday-school for many years. Mrs. Little also is an esteemed member of the Baptist church. Mr. Little is a well-informed man, being one who reads a great deal and takes an especial interest in history and biography. Gifted with sound judgment in practical affairs, he has taken a leading part in local politics ; and his opinions are always worthy of respect.
ENRY J. DAVIS, an esteemed citi- zen of Deering, who is now in busi- ness as a florist and landscape gar- dener at Deering Centre, was born in Westport, Me., December 8, 1847. He is the son of Captain Daniel O. and Mary E. (Jewett) Davis, and comes of Revolutionary stock on the paternal side.
His great-grandfather Davis, who was an officer in the Continental army, lost a limb while in the service; and after the war he was pensioned by the government and was granted a large tract of land in New Hampshire. His son John, the father of Daniel O. Davis, was in youth an expert tool-maker, and later was engaged in the marble business in New Hamp- shire. In 1849 he went to California and made a fortune in mining, later returning home to invest the money acquired. He died in Ohio.
Daniel O. Davis entered the navy when a boy, and followed the sea for forty years as a master mariner. Being subsequently ap- pointed messenger in the custom-house at Portland, he performed the duties of that office for some time, resigning his position in 1895, and in April of that year going to California, where he is now supervisor of the office work of the Pleasanton Hop Company at Pleasanton. In politics a Republican, he represented West-
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. port, Georgetown, and Boothbay in the State legislature in 1857-58, and was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen of Westport for years. Captain Davis is now about sixty-seven years of age, and is strong mentally and physically.
His wife, Mary E. Jewett, was a daughter of Stephen and Mary (Quinn) Jewett, of Row- ley, Mass. Stephen Jewett was an enterpris- ing and successful man, a large farmer and mill-owner, who also owned many vessels en- gaged in plying between Maine ports and the West Indies, trading at various marts along the coast. He was likewise interested in the fisheries. Mrs. Davis died in California in 1890. Of the children born to her and her husband, four are living - Henry J. ; Daniel O., Jr. ; George A. ; and Emeline R. The latter married and lives in California. George. A. Davis is general manager of the Pleasanton hop works, where his father is supervisor. Daniel O., Jr., also lives in California.
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