USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 11
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NORRIS ELWYN ADAMS-When Mr. Adams came from college with his newly-ac- quired honors he began teaching, and for eighteen years he followed the profession of a pedagogue in Massachusets and Maine, winning a high de- gree of success. He then became a factor in the business world, and since 1906 has been en- gaged as a wholesale and retail lumber dealer in Wilton, a village in Wilton township, Franklin county, Maine, eight miles from Farmington. He is the son of Asa M. and Elmira R. (Wilkins) Adams, his father being a successful farmer for many years.
Norris Elwyn Adams was born at Perkins Plan- tation, Franklin county, Maine, November 25, 1862, and there attended the district school. He prepared at Wilton Academy, Wilton, Maine, go- ing thence to Bates College, whence he was graduated A.B., class of 1888, a classmate being the famous divinc, Samuel Woodrow. After
graduation he began teaching in Groveland, Mas- sachusetts, there remaining eight years. From Groveland he went to Sangus, Massachusetts, as principal of the high school, continuing in that position six years, after which he spent four years as principal of the Jordan High School in Lewiston, Maine. During these years he won high standing as an educator, each position lead- ing to one more desirable from the teacher's point of view. In 1906 he withdrew from the profession and established in the lumber business in Wilton, Maine, there operating both in whole- sale and retail quantities. He is a trustee and a director of the Wilton Trust and Banking Company, and has other business interests of importance. Mr. Adams is a Republican in poli- tics, has served as a member of the school board for three years, but has little liking for political life. He is a member of Wilton Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; King Hiram Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Pilgrim Commandery, Knights Templar; Kora Temple, Shrine; order of the Eastern Star, with which his wife is also af- filiated; Williamson Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and the Masonic Club. He is an attendant on the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is interested in all good causes.
Mr. Adams married, in Wilton, August 6, 1884, Mary, daughter of John and Mary (Pratt) Le- groo, her father a lumberman of an old Maine family, his mother born on Monhegan, an island off the coast of Hancock county, Maine, upon which a lighthouse is maintained by the United States Government. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are the parents of two sons, Harold Legroo, born February 24, 1891, married, and resides in Wil- ton; Chester Norris, born September 25, 1896, now a corporal of the United States Army, serv- ing in the Eleventh Company, Third Battalion, One Hundred and Fifty-first Depot Brigade.
ORIN RAND LeGROW, whose death oc- curred in his home at Portland, Maine, May 25, 1889, when he was but fifty-three years of age, was for a number of years a well known and suc- cessful lumber dealer, and his death was felt as a severe loss by a large proportion of the com- munity. He was a member of the well known firm of LeGrow Brothers, which was one of the largest dealers in all kinds of lumber in this region. He was one of eight children born to Ephraim and Lydia (Purington) LeGrow, and was himself a native of the "Pine Tree" State, having been born at Windham, Cumberland county,
Norris Elwyn adams
Crin R Salmão -
Input S. Lovejoy
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BIOGRAPHICAL
September 22. 1835. He was educated at the pub- lic schools of his native town and at Kents Hill Academy. His childhood was spent on his father's farm and he grew up amid the whole- some rural surroundings which have produced so many of America's leading men. Upon reach- ing young manhood, however, he decided to strike out into the world on his own account, and ac- cordingly left the parental roof and went to Aroostook county, in company with his brother- in-law, a Mr. Winslow. Here he prospered and became the owner of valuable farming land and followed the occupation of farming there until the outbreak of the Civil War. The patriotism of Mr. LeGrow stirred him to enlist in the de- iense of his country and he joined the Seventh Battery, Maine Volunteer Artillery, and served from the end of the year 1862 until the close of the war. Upon receiving his honorable dis- charge, Mr. LeGrow returned to his native State, and settled in the city of Portland, where he became connected in a clerical capacity with the lumber firm of Alexander Edmond, with whom he continued for a short period. He then with- drew from this concern and formed a partnership with his brother, Albert LeGrow, and the firm of LeGrow Brothers was founded. They engaged in the lumber business and bought out the inter- est of Mr. Edmond, which they increased very largely until they became known as one of the most important lumber dealers in Portland. Their office was located on Preble street, and was there continned by Mr. LeGrow until the time of his death. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in this city.
It was not alone in the world of business that Mr. LeGrow was active in the life of Portland. On the contrary there were but few departments of its affairs in which he was not a participant and he was affiliated with a number of important organizations here. He was a member of Bos- worth Post, Grand Army of the Republic of Port- land, and was active in the work of the organ- ization. He was also a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Knights of Pythias, all of Portland. In his re- ligious belief he was a Universalist and attended the church of that denomination at Portland.
Orin Rand LeGrow was united in marriage at Windham, Maine, with Lucinda E. MacDonald, a native of that place and a daughter of Thomas Webb and Hannah P. (Proctor) MacDonald. Mrs. LeGrow was educated at the public schools of Windham and graduated from the high school
there, after which she taught in the same schools for a period before her marriage. She is a very active woman and has much executive ability and is now associated with many important forms of work in Portland. She is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps in connection with Bos- worth Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and has filled all the offices there. She is also a member of the State Relief Corps of the same organization. Mrs. LeGrow is a member of the Maine Order of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Portland, having held all the of- fices in the Chapter and being now a past regent. She is a member of the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic of Maine, and a member of the Pythian Sisters. She is a member of the Congress Square Universalist Church and is ac- tive in the work of the church society. She is a woman of great culture and refinement and pos- sesses an unusually keen artistic sense. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. LeGrow, two of whom died when they were very young, the one surviving being Flora Louise, who in 1897 married T. W. Carman of Portland, who was connected with the Baker Extract Company, manufacturers of extracts, perfumes, etc. About a year after this marriage the firm moved the manufacturing part of the business to Spring- field, Massachusetts. After a few years the senior members of the firm retired and Mr. Car- man became the head of what is now a very large and widely known establishment. A branch office is still conducted here in Portland.
There is always something of tragedy when death steps in before its time and removes from the scenes of his earthly endeavors a man whose abilities promise not only a successful career to himself but advantage to the community of which he was a member. This was particularly the case in the death of Mr. LeGrow and was inten- sified by the lovable personality and high charac- ter of the man. He was well known and re- spected throughout the community where he re- sided, where his essential democracy of spirit and his tolerance toward his fellows, made him very popular with all classes of men. He was a staunch Republican in his politics, but did not enter political life, preferring to exert such influ- ence as he could in his capacity of private citzen.
RUPERT SCOTT LOVEJOY, D.M.D., who is among the successful dentists of the younger generation in Portland, Maine, comes from a fam- ily which has been long identified with that State. His father, Fred Emmons Lovejoy, was born in
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Bethel, Maine, March 31, 1863. He now resides in Portland but spends only the summer months of the year there, going in the winter to New Smyrna, Florida, where he recently cleared a tract of land on the Indian river, and established a winter resort, which has already met with great success, He married Elizabeth Hobart Sawyer, a native of Portland, who was an artist of no mean ability as well as an excellent pian- ist. To them were born two children, both of whom are now living: Rupert Scott, the subject herein; and Clifford Sawyer, born February 27, 1887, who has specialized in scientific dairy farm- ing and is now the owner of a farm with the most modern equipment for carrying on this work.
Rupert Scott Lovejoy was born June 3, 1885, in Portland, Maine, where he received his elemen- tary education in the public grammar and high schools. He then received instruction from a private tutor, under whom he was prepared for college. He then entered Tufts Medical and Den- tal College at Boston, where he took a course in dental surgery and was graduated therefrom in 1909, with the degree of D.M.D. He at once returned to Portland and there began practice in August of that year. He was one of the first dentists of Portland to adopt the use of the X- ray in conjunction with his profession, and also one of the first to search out systematic dis- eases of the body having their origin in the month. He has thereby developed a large and remunerative practice.
From an early period in his life Dr. Lovejoy has evidenced a remarkably strong taste for art in its various forms and an unusually keen and sensitive aesthetic appreciation of it. Indeed, for some time during his youth he entertained the hope of making a profession of music and paint- ing, but on abandoning this idea he still perse- vered for his own and others' pleasure at his work on the piano and pipe-organ so that at the present time he may be said to have attained a high degree of efficiency therein. Aside from this Dr. Lovejoy is also very much interested in ar- tistic pictorial photography and oil painting, in both of which he himself does work which com- mands the attention and admiration of the art world. He is the author of many charming sketches and finished canvases, subjects of which have been taken from the picturesque country about Portland and other sections of Maine. Much of his work has been exhibited at the Lon- don Salon and in America at the Pittsburgh and California Salons, in which places it has been
awarded various medals for its merit. In mili- tary matters Dr. Lovejoy has shown much in- terest doing some of the dental work of the National Coast Guard and dental work of drafted men before entering the war. It is here evident that a man of such versatile activity as he has displayed, has much to add to the growth and development of any community whatsoever with which he may become associated. The excellent balance of that practical and scientific element within him with that of the artistic and aesthetic is indeed a thing most rare and worthy of marked appreciation even when considering it from an entirely impersonal point of view. He is loyal and devoted to his family and to his friends and his personality is such that it commands the nt- most respect from all who come into contact with him. He is prominent in club and fraternal life and is affiliated with a number of organizations, professional, artistic and social. He is a member of the Delta Chapter of the Psi Omega Dental fraternity; the Portland Society of Art; the Port- land Camera Club; and the Portland Photo-Pic- torialists Club. In religion Dr. Lovejoy is a Methodist and attends the Pine Street Church of that denomination.
Dr. Rupert Scott Lovejoy married April 27, 1914, in Portland, Maine, Irene Groton Libby, a native of Waldoboro, Maine, and a daughter of Edward B. and Mary (Groton) Libby, who have for a number of years resided in Portland. To Dr. and Mrs. Lovejoy has been born one child Richard Sawyer Lovejoy, born January 24: 1916.
EDWARD PLUMMER-During his seventy years of life Edward Plummer, a resident and leading business man of Lisbon Falls, Maine, ac- complished a great deal toward developing the natural resources of that section of his State, and everywhere are the commercial monuments to his progressive, public spirit, many mills and railroads having been organized largely through his enterprise. He was a native son of Maine, and his parents were Henry and Wealthy (Estes) Plummer.
Henry Plummer was a son of Robert and Zil- pah (Farr) Plummer, and was born December 18, 1796. He was a prominent farmer and mill man, operating a grist and sawmill which was former- ly owned by the Gerrishes prior to 1835. He was a licensed preached in the Free Will Baptist church, and contributed liberally to the building fund of the new church and its support after its completion. He married (first), February 18, 1819, Wealthy, daughter of Silas and Mary (Sar-
EDWARD PLUMMER
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BIOGRAPHICAL
gent) Estes. She was born May 22, 1800, and died January 15, 1830. He died February 18, 1876, aged seventy-nine years.
Edward Plummer was born in Durham, Maine, January 4, 1830, died there January 7, 1900. The first nineteen years of his life were spent in Dur- liam, and there he acquired a good common school education. In 1849 he left home, went to Lisbon Falls, and near that town made his first business venture, the purchase of a saw and grist mill. There be conducted a success- ful milling business for thirteen years, then sell- ing out to the Worumbo Company, and accepting a position with the buying corporation. He superintended the construction of the woolen mills at Lisbon Falls; was one of the prime movers in the building of the Rumford & Range- ley Lakes Railroad; the pulp and paper mills of the Lisbon Falls Fiber Company; was a promoter and a large owner of stock in the Androscoggin Water Power Company, for which he was agent from the time it was organized until his death, and in many other ways advanced the interests of his section of Maine. He was a natural leader, a man of enterprise and progress, a valu- able citizen in every particular, always inciting to greater effort, both by precept and example. In many of his enterprises he was associated with Hugh J. Chisholm, a kindred spirit, they both striving for the advancement of the material wel- fare of their town.
Mr. Plummer was a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1870, and ren- dered public service in many other ways. He made his home at Lisbon Falls for practically his entire business life, although prior to his death he purchased a residence in Portland, which he intended for a winter home. He was a Repub- lican in politics, a member of the Masonic Order, broadminded in his views, liberal in all things, well known and everywhere respected. He won substantial success in life entirely through his own inherent quality, reinforced by an ambition to rise in the world and to render a good ac- count of his stewardship. He was popular with the young and the old, his genial personality at- tracting all, while his sterling qualities of char- acter ever retained them as friends.
Mr. Plummer married Augusta Taylor of Lis- bon Falls, who died there, leaving three children: Walter, a lumber manufacturer of Lisbon Falls; Harry E., also engaged in the lumber business at Lisbon Falls; Ida F., married W. H. Newall, and resides at Lewiston, Maine.
Mr. Plummer married (second) Sara A. Shaw,
of Freeport, Maine, daughter of Parmenia C. and Emmeline T. (Allen) Shaw. She was educated in the public schools of Maine and Massachu- setts, and at a private school in Bath, Maine. She later became a teacher in the schools at Lis- bon Falls. After the death of her husband she removed her residence to Portland, but spends the winter months in New York City. She is a woman of cultured artistic tastes, her home show- ing the cultivated tastes of its mistress. To her natural tastes she adds the culture of travel, she having traveled extensively with her husband in earlier days, touring the West Indies and her own country very thoroughly. She is interested in Red Cross work, is a member of the Unitarian church, and of literary and social societics. 11 inmate of her Portland home is her mother, now aged ninety years, who is the object of her de- voted daughter's loving care.
FRANK WINSLOW YORK-There are many branches of the York family in Maine, and it may be said of them that almost without excep- tion their members have in one way or another won distinction and an honorable position in the community. That particular branch with which we are concerned in the present sketch and of which Frank Winslow York, treasurer of the Maine Central Railroad Company, is a member, is descended from one Joseph York, grcat- grandfather of Frank W. York, who was the first of the family to come to Maine. Since that time the family has grown and spread to such an extent that it is now represented in inany different parts of the State. Mr. York's father, Joseph Samuel York, belonged to that branch which settled in Falmouth, Maine, where he was himself born. He removed, however, at an early age to the city of Portland, where he engaged in business as a sail maker and con- tinued thereat for a number of years. It was in Portland also that his death occurred when he was but fifty-five years of age. A man of the highest moral standards, he earned a well- deserved reputation for honest dealing and pub- lic spiritedness, and his death was mourned by a large circle of personal friends and business associates. Joseph Samuel York married Fran- ces A. Ilsley, a native of Portland and a daugh- ter of Theophilus and Miriam Ilsley, old residents of that place. Mrs. York, Sr., survived her husband for many years, her death eventually occurring in Portland when she was nearly eighty years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. York, Sr., three children were born as follows: I. George W., born May 28,
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HISTORY OF MAINE
1854, died June 20, 1915; he was associated for many years with the Maine Central Railroad and held the office of treasurer with that corpora- tion for about fifteen years and until his death. 2. Frederick H., born in Portland, and a resident of that city, married Nellie E. Merrill, also a native of Portland. 3. Frank Winslow, of whom further.
Born June 1, 1860, at Portland, Maine, Frank Winslow York, youngest son of Joseph Samuel and Frances A. (Ilsley) York, has made his na- tive city his home up to the present time. It was there that he received his education, at- tending for this purpose the local public schools, both the Grammar and High School grades. Upon completing his studies at these institutions, Mr. York, having then attained the age of twenty years, began his long and successful business career in a humble clerical capacity, in a firm of stock brokers of Portland. After working in the office of this concern for a short period, he secured a position as bookkeeper for the firm of Sargent Dennison & Company. He did not, however, remain very long with this company, but secured a position as clerk in the general passenger department of the Maine Central Rail- road, thus beginning the long association with that corporation which has extended down to the present with a single interruption of three years. His elder brother, George W. York, was already connected with this company, and here Frank W. York remained for seven years, his aptness and intelligence, to say nothing of his industry and willingness, recommending him to his superiors and placing him in line for advance- ment. After seven years, however, he withdrew from this employ and became connected with the United Mutual Life Company, with which concern he remained for about three years. He then returned to the office of the Maine Cen- tral Railroad Company and occupied a post in its audit department, where he served for a time in the position of stenographer. He also held the same position both in the general manager's and president's offices, and then, on June I, 1915, he was suddenly raised to the post of treasurer of the company to succeed his brother, whose death occurred only a few days later. In this responsible office Mr. York continues at the present time (1917). His duties call for an unusual degree of good judgment and general knowledge of the financial situation, both of which are displayed by him in a high degree.
But Mr. York, despite the onerous character of his duties, has always devoted and still de-
votes much time and attention to the other as- pects of the community's life, such as those con- nected with public obligations and social inter- course. For fifteen years he served as a mem- ber of the Maine National Guard, and at the time of his resignation held the rank of first lieutenant in the First Regiment. He is also affiliated with a number of fraternities and other organizations in Portland, among which should be mentioned the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Or- der of Red Men. He is particularly prominent, however, in the Masonic Order, and is affiliated with Atlantic Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Greenleaf Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Portland Council; Royal and Select Masters; and Portland Commandery, Knights Templar, and has been the recorder of the last named body for the past eleven years.
Frank Winslow York was united in marriage, October 17, 1893, with Clementina Rafaela de Pachaco, like himself a native of Portland and a daughter of Adolpho and Elizabeth W. (Farmer) de Pachaco. Mr. de Pachaco is now deceased, but is survived by his wife, who at the present time makes her home in the town of Falmouth. To Mr. and Mrs. York one child has been born, Russell Harding, November 25, 1903. He is now a pupil in the Peddie Institute of New Jersey.
Frank Winslow York is one of those men who by sheer force of character have won their way to places of esteem and honor in the com- munity. He is what is sometimes called a man's man, his tastes being of the wholesome out-door kind which appeal to men generally, and here it may be incidentally remarked that he is par- ticularly fond of the national game of baseball and might be described as a "baseball fan." Be- ing that type which has become familiar to the world as the successful New Englander, prac- tical and worldly-wise, yet governed in all mat- ters by the most scrupulous and strict ethical code, stern in removing obstacles from the path, yet generous, even to his enemies, he has car- ried down into our own times something of the substantial quality of the past. The successful men of an earlier generation, who were respon- sible for the great industrial and mercantile de- velopment of New England, experienced, most of them, in their own lives, the juncture of two influences, calculated in combination to produce the marked characters by which we recognize the type. For these men were at once the product of culture and refinement and yet were so placed that hard work and frugal living were the neces-
John A. Nadeau
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BIOGRAPHICAL
sary conditions of success. Frank Winslow York is one of the most successful and influential men in his community. He enjoys the highest kind of commercial standing and his social po- sition is a most enviable one. Virtuous, hon- orable, public-spirited, his life and career exhibit strikingly those virtues and talents typical of the best strains which have contributed so material- ly to the prosperity and development of this country. Normally, but not unduly, ambitious to occupy a position of prominence in the com- munity in which he has chosen to make his home, he has bent to that end his natural gifts of mind and body and an energetic temperament which acknowledges no discouragement, yet never during the whole course of his successful achievement has he forgotten the rights or in- terests of others, or sacrificed them to what might have seemed his own. He is far too much of the philosopher to strive unduly or to make others unhappy at his striving. Yet he has suc- ceeded in making himself a leading citizen, and thus has proved himself of the most valuable type of citizen, not one who makes haste to be rich, but one whose energies are normally em- ployed and whose own advantage is so closely allied with that of the community-at-large that both are subserved by the same effort.
JOHN ARTHUR NADEAU-For over half a century John Arthur Nadeau lived in Fort Kent, a village of Aroostook county, Maine, on the river St. John, which separates it from New Brunswick, Canada. While the principal business of Fort Kent is lumbering and lumber manufac- turing, Mr. N'adeau, after reaching mature years, became a merchant and spent his life in the operation of his two stores, the former in French- ville, the latter in Fort Kent, in the same county. He became a leading man of his community, and was one of the strong and influential Democrats of the county, serving in high office. He was a man universally respected, and his word was held sacred.
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