USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > History of Bath and environs, Sagadahoc County, Maine. 1607-1894 > Part 32
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From the tow-boat business Captain Morse extended his enter- prises to coastwise navigation. Besides owning "pieces " in many vessels he built in his ship-yard, after 1879, seventeen of the largest class of coastwise vessels, and purchased schoners from other builders so that he managed the largest coastwise fleet belonging to any one port.
Commencing in the winter of 1876 the Morse Company was among the first to undertake the enterprise of cutting and storing ice on the upper Kennebec and shipping it to southern cities, extending the business to Boothbay and the Hudson River. His vessels were largely employed in the transportation of ice with return cargoes of coal for northern ports, and, of later years, using barges also for colliers, purchasing small-sized ships and converting them into barges. Since his death this same line of business has been con- tinued by his successors, Morse & Co.
Capt. B. W. Morse was born in Bath, April 1, 1825, and was a grandson of Jonathan Morse, of Phipsburg, and married Miss Anna E. J. Rodbird, who was born in Bath, April 10, 1830. They were married, in New York, July 19, 1853, by the Rev. E. H. Chapin. Their children are: Jennie Rodbird Morse and Charles Wyman Morse. Captain Morse died May 30, 1887, and was interred in Oak Grove Cemetery, where a magnificent granite monument has been erected to his memory by his family, representing an oak broken off twenty feet from the ground -a very fitting memorial of his strength
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of character and life. He enjoyed, to a high degree, his home where he had a library of rare books, of which he was a constant reader, He always led an upright and exemplary life, dealing squarely in every phase of his business transactions.
Charles Wyman Morse was born in Bath, October 21, 1856; graduated from the High School in 1873, and Bowdoin College in 1877, after which he went on a tour of Europe. On his return he engaged in business with his father, B. W. Morse. In 1884 he became treasurer of the Knickerbocker Towage Company, and in 1888 its president; has been a director in the Lincoln Bank since 1887 ; and is the head of the house of Moses & Co., of New York City, having an office and building vessels, barges, and tug-boats at Bath. April 14, 1884, he married Miss H. B. Hussey, of Brooklyn, N. Y., where they reside, and have several children.
Oliver Moses came to Bath a tin-worker, and with his brother, William V. Moses, kept a stove store, operated . foundry, and built vessels. He engaged in banking, was instrumental in inducing Bath to invest in the building of the Knox & Lincoln Railroad, and was chief manager in its construction.
William Vaughn Moses .- The buisness life of Mr. Moses was connected with his brother, Oliver, in the firm of W. V. & O. Moses. The two sons of Mr. Moses, William O. and Albert, having com- pleted their education in the High School of their native city, united with their father in ship-building, in 1856, making the firm W. V. Moses & Sons. The vessels built by them were: ships W. V. Moses, N. Larrabee, Sarah Freeman, bark Rome, ships Fannie Lar- rabee, Thos. Freeman, Riverside, North Star, Invincible, Franconia, Palestine, Lucy Melville, G. Strickland, Oleron, Frank Haynie, and Lizzie Moses.
The business career of William V. Moses was one of success. This was well earned by his unvariable attention to his business, his strict integrity, and pleasing manners. With a fine physique was added a uniformly cheerful countenance. In his just and upright walk he made no enemies. Without taking active part in political party matters he was ever a solid Democrat. In religious
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sentiments he affiliated with the Swedenborgian denomination, and was, through life, a practical, temperate man in all things. Of such a man it may be unnecessary to add that he lived and died a most respected citizen.
Galen Clapp Moses, second son of Oliver Moses, was born in Bath, August 30, 1835, and has made his home in his native place. He received a thorough education, going through all the grades of the city schools, and was graduated with honor from Bowdoin Col- lege in the class of 1856. Entering upon his business career he was, for a time, secretary of the Bath Mutual Marine Insurance Co., and subsequently was a partner with William H. Mclellan, in the wholesale grocery business until 1865, when he took the management of the Worumbo Manufacturing Co., whose woolen mills are located at Lisbon Falls. To the successful building up of this great indus- try he has given the best years of his life.
In 1882 he succeeded his father as President of the First National Bank of Bath, which office he still holds. In 1083, upon the re-organization of the 'Twenty-five Cent Savings Bank, he became its president, and continued to hold the office for six years, until the old assets of the bank were liquidated and the bank placed squarely upon its feet again. In 1875 he became deeply interested in the organization of the Old Ladies Home, becoming one of its man- agers, and, on the death of B. C. Bailey, became its second president. In 1888, upon the re-organization of the New England Ship Building Co., as the New England Co., he became its president, holding the office at the present time. When the Bath Iron Works undertook to go into iron ship-building to obtain government work, which resulted in the contracts for Gun-boats Nos. 5 and 6 and the Harbor De- fense Ram, Mr. Moses gave most valuable financial and other assistance, being one of the directors of the Bath Iron Works. In 1887 Mr. Moses offered to give a public library building to the city, which has since been completed, and is a credit both to the architect, George Edward Harding, formerly of Bath, and the gener- ous donor. Mr. Moses also contributed liberally to the purchase of the land for the library site. He has been an active member of the Board of Trade; has served upon the school committee for six
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years, and has been identified with, and prominent in, the organi- zation and management of many other private and quasi public corporations. In 1886 he became a member of Winter Street Church, to the support of which he has been a liberal contributor. He is also a leader in contemporaneous religious movements of which the Young Men's Christian Association is the most notable, and of which he is president. In 1889 he was elected a member of the State Historical Society, and takes an active part in its pro- ceedings.
Although a life-long Democrat Mr. Moses takes no active part in party politics. He has been twice married.
Frank Oliver Moses married, October 16, 1855, Miss Ann Maria Swanton Larrabee, daughter of Stephen Larrabee, and has four children : Orville Bowman Moses, Emma Pedrick Moses, Lydia Clapp Moses, and Olive Moses. Orville Bowman Moses married Jennie Cate of Dresden. Mr. Moses was educated at the Bath schools, graduating from the High School. ollowing his father's later business of ship-building, he built the ships Oliver Moses, Robert Cushman, Frank Boult, John Carver, H. V. Baxter, and James Wright; barks Andaman, Niphon, and Annie; and schooner Orville. In 1869 he retired from active business.
Henry Wilson Owen resided in Wayne when he married Clara M. Martin, who was born in Hallowell, August 15, 1810. They were wedded in Augusta, June 20, 1832, and settled in Wayne, where there were born to them a daughter and son, and two sons in Bath, and one in Brunswick, of whom there are now living: Emma M., who married Gilbert E. R. Patten of Bath; Frederick Elwell, who married Miss I. Gilchrist, of Ohio, July 27, 1886, and Henry W., who married Miss E. Brown. Mr. Owen was a merchant, and in the latter years of his life was in the dry goods trade in Bath, where he did an extensive business and was greatly respected by his fellow-citizens. His death occurred in Bath, February 26, 1866.
Isaiah Percy .- This eminently Christian citizen was the son of Francis and Jane Wyman Percy, and was born in the " Percy neigh- borhood " in Phipsburg, December 23, 1806.
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On January 29, 1833, he married Beulah B. Bowker, eldest daugh- ter of Major James Bowker, a lady of many womanly and religious traits. He first settled in Phipsburg, and in 1840 moved to West Bath, where he raised a family of eight children who have all done honor to their parentage in their mature life. He owned and lived on a farm, but during his active life, pursued his trade of ship-joiner, working in Bath ship-yards. He joined the Congregational Church of his native town, and later the Central Church of Bath, of which he became the senior deacon.
His wife died April 22, 1885, and after that time he lived in his ripe old age in the devoted care of his eldest daughter. Deacon Percy has always been known as an uncommonly substantial man from youth upwards. He was a man of reading and thought, and if he had had the advantages of early education and oppor- tunity, would have made a public man of value. In early life he became a professed Christian and ever lived up to its require- ments. He belonged to the ancient Georgetown branch of the Percy family, whose ancestors were among the e; y settlers at the lower end of Phipsburg, and whose genealogy has been traced back to the noble blood of the English Percys. His father was conspicu- ous as a devout Christian of the Congregational Church, and he was a grandson of Thomas Percy, who had been a deacon of the same church half a century, and was known by way of distinction as "Deacon Thomas," who was of conspicuous character as well as a notable citizen.
Isaiah Percy was a man universally esteemned for his thoroughly upright character, and his bright intellect and keen judgment in all matters. He represented West Bath twice in the Maine House of Representatives, and repeatedly served the town as selectman, and in other positions of trust.
For forty-nine years he lived in the Percy homestead, where a family of boys and girls were raised. There are five children : Timothy, of Portland; Gershom, of Los Angeles; George, of San Francisco; Mrs. John P. Cobb, of Bowdoinham, and a daughter not inarried.
He was one of the earliest advocates of abolition, not that he
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would free the slaves without compensation to their owners, but on the ground that, as slavery was a national sin and crime, the nation should procure the liberty of the slaves at any cost.
Seth T. Snipe was born is Arrowsic, February 5, 1839. He passed his youthful days in that town, and on May 22, 1864, married Miss Ann Maria Spinney of the same place. When the War of the Rebellion commenced he was living in Massachusetts, and when the Forty-fourth Regiment of that state was organized he enlisted in its ranks, in 1862. Going to the front the regiment was in active service in North Carolina, participating in five or six battles. At the close of the term of his enlistment, he came to Bath, in 1868, and entered into the grocery business, in which he has continued ever since.
Mr. Snipe has served two years in the Common Council, of which he was president in 1890-91; five years on the Board of Aldermen and two years its president; has been treasurer of the People's Ferry Company nine years; trustee of the Military and Naval Orphan Asylum ten years, and its president five years; has been clerk of the Winter Street Church since 1883; a deacon since 1876; senior deacon since 1888; superintendent of its Sunday School since 1886. As member of Sedgwick Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, of Maine, he has been commander, adjutant, quartermaster, and was a delegate to the National Encampment in Minneapolis, in 1884, San Francisco, in 1886, and Detroit, in 1891.
Mr. and Mrs. Snipe have one son, Langdon T. Snipe, who was a graduate of Yale College in 1889, and is a graduate of the Medical Department of Columbia College, New York. In 1893 he com- menced medical practice in Bath.
Mr. Snipe is a descendant of the men of that name who were prominent residents of ancient Georgetown, of whom Charles Snipe was a member at the formation of the Rev. Mr. Emerson's church at that place, in 1765, thus inheriting the religious sentiments of the Congregational denomination, to which he has always remained attached.
John O. Shaw was born, in Bath, in 1838. He was educated in the city schools. In 1854 he went to sea, but coming home during
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the war he entered the United States Navy, as ensign, and served in the East Gulf Squadron under Admiral Bailey. After the war Mr. Shaw engaged in the book and stationery business in Bath in 1865. He has been a member, for several years, of both branches of the City Government, and was president of the Common Council four years. In 1890 and 1892 he was elected representative to the Leg- islature, and in 1893 was elected mayor of Bath.
' Having been made a Mason in 1864, he has held the higher offices in Solar Lodge, was High Priest of Montgomery Chapter five years, has been Eminent Commander of Dunlap Commandery, has filled several offices in the Grand Masonic Bodies of Maine, and was Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, of Maine, for 1886-87.
In August, 1864, he married Mary E. Macloon, daughter of Capt. E. C. Macloon, of this city. They have had seven children, four boys and three girls, of whom three boys and one girl are now living.
The ancestors of Mr. Shaw were notable pioneers in the settle- ment of Bath, were of stalwart character, and the name of Shaw is indelibly identified with the history of the town, oth in private and public capacities. Of these characteristics Bath's present mayor is a worthy representative. Inheriting patriotic impulses he joined the Union forces in the late war, cheerfully serving the country in its time of need. Since his return from the front he has taken a promi- inent part in the affairs of the city, serving several years in the city government, and president of the Common Council many years, until his almost unanimous election to the office of mayor, in the perform- ance of the duties of which the city feels certain of ability, honesty, and economy. As senior warden of Grace Church he has ever been one of its chief pillars, and superintendent of its Sunday School. His children living are: Wallace E., Fred P., John, and Rachel L. Wallace E. is with him in his business. Fred P. carries on a book- store in Brunswick. John is employed at the Bath Iron Works.
Fritz H. Twitchell was born, in Portland, in 1855, educated in the public schools and graduated from Portland High School. For several years he was in the wholesale dry goods business in Portland,
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with the firms of Locke, Twitchell & Co., and Twitchell, Chapman & Co. He came to Bath in 1879, and in 1881 married Miss Emma Patten Harding, daughter of the late Col. E. K. Harding.
He is connected with many manufacturing and gas and electric corporations, being clerk and buyer of the Worumbo Manufacturing Company, of Lisbon Falls, treasurer of the Androscoggin Water Power Company, treasurer of the Bath Gas and Electric Company, and Bath Street Railway Company.
He has taken considerable interest in Masonry and Knights . of Pythias, having been Eminent Commander of Dunlap Commandery, Knights Templar, and is now an officer in the Grand Commandery of Maine; has been Chancellor Commander of Patten Lodge and Grand Chancellor of Maine, Knights of Pythias.
He was a member of the City Council in 1883, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, and 1890, and four of these years was president of that body. He was mayor of Bath in 1891 and 1892, and a member of the House of Representatives, of Maine, for 1893-94.
Francis Adams was born in Charlestown, Mass., July 18, 1824, and is a descendant of Francis Adams, one of the early Plymouth settlers. His father was Richard Adams, and his mother was of the family of Hunter, of Topsham, to which town they moved and settled on a farm. He graduated at Bowdoin College, in 1850, with rank that admitted him to membership with the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity of that institution.
He then spent two years in part reading law in the office of Ebenezer Everett, in Brunswick, and in teaching in the high school in that town, after which he taught in the Topsham Academy and Litchfield Institute. In 1857 he entered the law office of W. G. Barrows, in Brunswick, and was admitted to the Bar in Sagadahoc County in 1859, and commenced the practice of his profession at Topsham, and soon after succeeded to the law business of Judge Barrows, on his promotion to the Bench. In 1869 he removed to Bath.
While residing in Topsham he served several years on the boards of superintending school committee and selectmen of that town.
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He was county attorney for Sagadahoc County from 1864 to 1874. On July 8, 1867, Mr. Adams married Miss Clara Jane Hildreth, of Topsham. They have had five daughters and one son - Mar- garet Jane, Sarah Angeline, Clara Augusta, Alice Fairfield, Francis, Pauline Hildreth-all living but Alice Fairfield, who died in infancy.
George Evans Hughes was born in Boston, January 19, 1852. His education was commenced in the schools of Bath, graduating from the High School in 1869, and having fitted for college he entered Bowdoin in 1873. In 1874 he took charge of Bath High School and was principal of it until 1884, when he resigned to enter upon the practice of law, of which he had made a study during his years of teaching. In 1884 he was admitted to the Bar of Sagada- hoc County, and opened an office in Bath.
Although not entering largely into party politics, Mr. Hughes acceded to the wishes of the Democratic party of the city to run as its candidate for member of the Legislature in 1884, and for mayor in 1888, and at each election received a large complimentary vote in a city overwhelmingly Republican.
In July, 1884, Mr. Hughes married Miss Susan M. Nealley, daughter of L. S. J. Nealley, who was for many ears collector of the Port of Bath.
William Edgar Hogan is one of a family of eight children, and was born in Bangor, August 1, 1849, and early found that his way in the world must necessarily be from his own exer- tions, and later in life became the stay of the family many years. He took to books and liked study, and, going through all the grades of the Bath schools, he graduated from the High School in the class of 1867. He then went to Phillips Academy, Andover, to prepare for a college course; remaining there two years he entered Dart- mouth College in 1870; was admitted to the Sophomore class, and graduated in 1872. During his course in college Mr. Hogan taught school two winters, and, after graduation, taught in a Grammar School in Bath three. years, studying law at the same time with Washington Gilbert. In 1876 he was admitted to the Bar, and has been in the practice of law in Bath ever since; was register of deeds
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four years ; postmaster of Bath from January, 1882, until 1885, and was again appointed in 1889. He has ever been an active Republican in politics.
Joseph McCobb Trott was born in Bath in 1853; educated in the public schools of Bath; studied law with Judge Washington Gilbert; admitted to the Bar in 1879, and at once entered upon the practice of the law at Bath.
Franklin Pierce Sprague was born in Phipsburg, June 28, 1852, and, on September 26, 1883, he married Miss Ida B. Bailey, who was born in Anson, Me., March 23, 1863. He was a citizen of Phipsburg until March, 1882, when he became a citizen of Bath, where all his three children were born.
Mr. Sprague started in his business life with a good education, acquired solely by his own exertions. After going through the pub- lic schools of his native town, he attended courses of instruction at the Maine State Seminary and Nichol's Latin School, Westbrook Seminary, Bates College, and in the winters of 1890-1, the law department of the Boston University.
In March, 1875, he was elected supervisor of schools, and again in March, 1880; was elected a member of . e State Legislature in September, 1880, from Phipsburg and its classified towns; was elected to the Common Council of Bath in 1885, 1890, and 1893, having refused a nomination in 1891. Mr. Sprague is a member of the Maine Bar Association, and is a member of the Patten Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He has ever been a strong Republican. After a course of study of law he was admitted to the Bar in April, 1880, and to the United States Circuit Court in 1888, practicing in Bath.
Mrs. Dr. Lombard, who, with her husband, lived at West Bath at so early a date as 1760, was the first to professionally attend the sick within the region around about Bath. Her specialty was attend- ance at childbirth in the duties of which she was expert, and, for such in particular, was called from far and near. To be ready for a summons in the night her custom was to be in readiness at a minute's warning, and as she often had to ride on a "pinion" on
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the horse, behind the man who came after her, she kept her pillion ready at hand. At such times when the man came within hailing distance of her dwelling he would call out loudly, "Granny Lombard! Granny Lombard!" Quick to hear, she would, at the first sound of his voice, leap from her bed, hastily dress, seize her pillion, emerge from the house, and, from a neighboring high rock, mount behind her patron,and speed to her destination. Her "call" ended, she was paid a silver dollar, her regular fee, and conveyed home in the same manner she came.
Dr. Samuel Eaton Duncan lived in the house now owned by one of his descendants, Chapin Weston, near the Harding Station of the Maine Central Railroad. The doctor came from Topsham and bought the farm on which this house stands, in 1772, and died there, June 30, 1782, at 39 years of age. His practice extended to Bath. Doctor Duncan is ancestor of all those who are residents of Bath of that name. He had the reputation of possessing great skill in his profession. He was born in 1743 and married a daughter of Benjamin Donnell, Sr. In 1718 he was living in the house situated on High street, south of South street.
In 1788 a Doctor Sampson practiced medicine at Bath-Lemont.
Dr. John Hart was born in Ipswich, October 13, 1751 ; studied medicine with the eminent Dr. John Calif ; came to Bath at the age of 19, and secured a large practice.
Dr. Belshazza Stilkey was born in Hamburg and came to this country during the Revolutionary War, as surgeon of a Hessian regiment. At the close of the war he settled in Brunswick, and his practice extended to Bath.
Dr. Samuel Adams was born in Killingly, Conn., in 1745, and descended from Henry Adams who came to New England in 1630; studied medicine with Dr. Nathaniel Freeman, of Sandwich, Mass .; practiced in Truro ; served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War, in the artillery department, under General Knox, and was fre- quently in company with General Washington. At the close of the war settled in Bath, when he was the only physician in the place, and had an extensive practice. He married four times and had
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nine children, to all of whom he gave the best education attain- able at that day. He was a charter member of Solar Lodge and its second Master, in 1805 and 1806. He died in Bath, March 14, 1819, aged 74 years. He was said to have been "the most intelligent and successful practitioner of medicine in the state."
Dr. Benjamin D. Bartlett was reputed a skillful physician, had notable social qualities, and enjoyed universal esteem. He was Master of Solar Lodge in 1820 and 1821. He moved from Bath.
Dr. Moses Holbrook was, for some years, in practice in Bath, and had the reputation of skill in his profession, as he was also in the art of Masonry, and was Master of Solar Lodge in the years of 1813, 1814, and 1815. Subsequently he became a resident of Charleston, S. C.
Dr. Timothy Waldron lived in the fourth house north of the Ropewalk Creek; was surgeon during the War of 1812 in Col. Andrew Reed's regiment, and was in the campaign at Coxs Head. He had two sons, Timothy and Charles. The latter became a physician in Bath. He married the widow, Mrs. Welch, eldest daughter of Dr. Prescott, a popular lady. The father died October 6, 1836, at 55 years of age.
Dr. Josiah Prescott came to Bath about 825 and practiced here all his life, on the allopathic system, and was a leading physician.
Dr. Amos Nourse had been a prominent citizen and practitioner at Hallowell, where he had been for a number of years a leading physician.
Dr. John Stockbridge studied medicine with Dr. G. Hitchcock, in Pembroke, Mass .; received the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth College and finally settled in Bath, where he practiced until his death. J. Gilman Stockbridge, son of John, was born in Bath, gradauted at Medical School of Bowdoin College, commenced prac- tice at Bath in 1827, and continued there during his life. He married Miss Mary R. Harding and had no children.
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