USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 15
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Nathan Whitman, great-grandfather of Pro-
fessor Whitman, was born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1766, died in 1829. He married Mercy Byram, born in 1770, died in 1829, in East Bridgewater, and they were the parents of seven children, all of whom grew to mature years, including a son, Gilbert Whitman, born in East Bridgewater, October 10, 1788, died at Water- ville, Maine, December 5, 1868. He was a farmer of Waterville, a Republican in politics, and a Baptist in religious faith. During the Civil War he was captain of the Waterville Light Infantry. He married, in December, 1813, Syrenia Fobes, born in 1788, died December 11, 1863, daughter of Ezra Fobes, of East Bridge- water. They were the parents of seven children: Syrenia Fobes, Eliza Jane, Gilbert, Celia Fobes, Ezra Fobes, Edson Fobes, and Nathan Whit- man. This review traces the career of the last named child, Nathan Whitman, father of Pro- fessor Whitman.
Nathan Whitman was born in Waterville, Maine, April 29, 1829, died at Bangor, Maine. February 17, 1917. He was for years a farmer of Waterville and Sangerville, Maine, but later became a merchant, conducting business success- fully in Sangerville, Abbott, and Bangor, Maine. He was a member of the Baptist church, and in politics a Republican. Nathan Whitman mar- ried Helen Augusta Thoms, born in Augusta, Maine, December 17, 1840, died in Bangor, Maine, May 4, 1916, daughter of Benjamin N. and Lydia Penney (Wharff) Thoms. Benjamin N. Thoms, son of Benjamin Thoms, was born in Falmouth, Maine, January 5, 1816, died in Bangor, Maine, February 16, 1895. He learned the trade of car- riage smith in Portland, and afterwards con- ducted a carriage manufacturing business, first in Augusta, then in Bangor, Maine. He was ac- tive in politics, and a member of the city gov- ernment for several terms. Lydia Penney (Wharff) Thoms, his wife, was born in Litch- field, Maine, February 26, 1813, died in Bangor, in 1899, daughter of Isaac B. and Sally (Penney) Wharff, the pioneer settlers of Guilford, pre- viously referred to. Nathan and Helen Augusta (Thoms) Whitman were the parents of three sons: William Norris, boru December 15, 1862; Henry Fobes, born April 14, 1864; and Charles Huntington, of further mention.
Charles Huntington Whitman, youngest son, of Nathan and Helen Augusta (Thomns) Whitman, was born in Abbott, Maine, November 24, 1873. He completed the public school education with graduation from Bangor high school, class of 1892, thien entered Colby College, whence he
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was graduated Bachelor of Arts, 1897. He was a fellow in English, Yale University, 1898-1900, and received his degree, Doctor of Philosophy, from that institution in 1900. During 1905-06 he was a student at the University of Munich. From 1900 until 1906 he was instructor in Eng- lish at Lehigh University, and assistant professor 1904-06. He then transferred to Rutgers Col- lege (New Jersey), as associate professor of Eng- lish, 1906-II; professor and head of the depart- ment of English from 1911 until the present. Since 1918 he has also filled the chair of English at the Women's College of New Jersey. He is a member of the Modern Language Association of America; American Association of University Professors; The Concordance Society; Connecti- cut Academy of Arts and Sciences; Phi Beta Kappa, vice-president Colby College chapter; Delta Kappa Epsilon; also a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Club of New York City; and vice-president of the Association of Teachers of English of New Jersey. He is known to the literary world as author of "A Subject-Index to the Poems of Edmund Spenser" (1919); of "The Bird Names of Old English Literature" (1899); translator of "The Christ of Cynewulf" (1900), and as a contributor to the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Anglia, and Modern Language Notes. His club is the Alumni and Faculty of Rutgers College; his religious affiliations are with the Baptist church.
Professor Whitman married, in Portland, Maine, May 29, 1902, Rachel Jones Foster, born July 14, 1877, daughter of Doctor Charles Wil- but and Esther Bennett (Parker) Foster, her father a physician of Portland, and a member of the city school committee. Children: Hilda Trull, born August 31, 1908; Alan Foster, born December 31, 1909; Dunbar, born July 6, 1912; and Esther Huntington, born August 19, 1917.
ROBERT JOSEPH CURRAN is a member of a family which is of Irish origin and has made its home in this country for three generations. His paternal grandfather was Patrick Curran who, with his brother, Thomas Curran, served both in the Mexican and Civil wars. He mar- ried Ann Burns, and they were the parents of a large family of children, three of their sons serv- ing with the father in the Civil War.
John J. Curran, father of Robert Joseph Cur- ran, was born at Portland, Maine, is now living in Lewiston, Maine, more than seventy years of age. He served in the Seventh Regiment, United States Infantry, in which he enlisted when under
fifteen years of age, and he served in the field throughout the Civil War. He belongs to the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was engaged in business as a general contractor for a time in Portland and afterwards in Lewiston. Mr. Curran married Margaret A. Connors, a native of St. Johns, New Brunswick, who removed to Bangor, Maine, as a child, and later to Lewiston, where she met Mr. Curran. She was a daughter of Michael Connors, a native of Ireland, and of Margaret (Welch) Connors, his wife, both of whom resided in Lewiston for many years. John J. Curran and his wife were the parents of four children, all of whom are living at the present time (1917), as follows: Annie, unmarried, who enjoys an enviable reputation as a singer; Mar- garet E., widow of Frank J. Lange, and resides in Lewiston; Edith G., who became the wife of John P. Breen, of Lewiston, one child, Mary Edith Breen; and Robert Joseph, with whose career we are particularly concerned.
Born May 22, 1879, at Lewiston, Maine, Robert Joseplı Curran passed his childhood and early youth in his native city. He attended the local public schools for the elementary portion of his education, and was prepared for college at the Lewiston High School, from which he graduated in 1897. He then entered Georgetown Univer- sity, and took the course in law at the well known law school of that institution. He graduated with the class of IgII, taking the degree of LL.B. He supplemented his course in law at this place by studying the same subject for some three years in the office of McGillicuddy & Morey, eminent at- torneys of Lewiston, and finally, in the month of September, 1911, was admitted to the bar of An- droscoggin county. He at once opened an of- fice at No. 171 Lisbon street, Lewiston, Maine, and has since remained at that place, practicing his profession by himself. Mr. Curan has made success of his chosen profession, and is regarded as one of the leading young attorneys. In the year 1912 lie was appointed a recorder for four years of the Lewiston Municipal Court, and on March 1, 1916, was appointed judge of the Muni- cipal Court for the period of four years, and is at present occupying this responsible position. For a time Judge Curran was employed as a civi- lian clerk by the Federal Government in the De- partment of Commerce and Labor at Washington, D. C., and for three years worked for the War Department in Portland as chief clerk to the con- structing quartermaster. Mr. Curran, while at- tending the law school of Georgetown Univer- sity, formed many associations which he has ever
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since kept up, and one of the mediums through which he has been able to accomplish this has been his membership in the Georgetown Uni- versity Club of New England, with headquarters at Boston. He is also a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Columbus. In his relig- ious belief Mr. Curran is a staunch Catholic, as his ancestors on both sides of the house have been for many years, and he attends with the members of his family St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Lewiston.
Mr. Curran's career is one of great usefulness to his community and one, there seems every reason to believe, that will be extended indefinitely. A man of vigorous personality and energetic ways, he seems fit to carry on for many a year the activities by which his city as well as himself are benefitted.
ALFRED L. NOYES, one of the principal mill- owners, lumberman and farmers of Limestone, Maine, where he was born, September 11, 1877, is a member of an old and distinguished family in this State, and a son of Josiah M. and Sybil B. (Davis) Noyes, old and highly-respected resi- dents of Limestone, where his father was engaged in business as a farmer and mill-owner for many years before his death. The childhood of Alfred L. Noyes was passed in his native town, and he attended there the local common schools, where he distinguished himself as a bright and indus- trious pupil. Upon completing his studies at these institutions, Mr. Noyes took up farming as an occupation, and has continued in that line up to the present time. He also engaged in the lum- ber business and became the owner of a saw mill in this vicinity. Besides carrying on an extensive business in this line Mr. Noyes has also become interested in various other industrial enterprises hereabouts, and is now the owner of a large grist mill and starch factory at Limestone. He has also been exceedingly interested in financial oper- ations here and is at the present time a director in the Limestone Trust Company. Mr. Noyes is one of the leaders of the Republican party in this region, but, although he has held the office of selectman for a single term in this township, he is nevertheless, quite unambitious for political preferment of any kind, preferring to exert such influence as he is capable of in his capacity as private citizen. He is a well known figure in fraternal circles, however, and is a member of Limestone Lodge, No. 214, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and holds the office of treasurer in the same. Although not a formal member of any church, Mr. Noyes attends the Methodist
Episcopal church at Limestone, and is a liberal supporter of the work of the church society, es- pecially in connection with its various benevolent and philanthropic undertakings.
Alfred L. Noyes was united in marriage, July 20, 1898, with Ethel M. Long, a daughter of War- ren A. and Nellie C. (Chase) Long, and they are the parents of the following children: Warren M., born March 12, 1900; Linwood E., born March 25, 1902; Josiah M., born December 12, 1905; Dora E., born May 30, 1909; Philip D., born October 2, 1911; Gerald G., born March 31, 1913.
GEORGE EGERTON RYERSON BURPEE, a graduate of the University of New Brunswick, an engineer of recognized standing, and one of the most successful and largest operators in lum- bering enterprises in Northern Maine, was a na- tive of Canada, having been born at Sheffield, New Brunswick, in that country, in November, 1834. His death, which occurred on Thanksgiv- ing Day, November 25, 1904, at St. Margaret's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, was felt as a se- vere loss by the city of Bangor, of which he was one of the most prominent and influential citizens. Mr. Burpee, in the services which he rendered in connection with the upbuilding and development of this region, gave a fair exchange for the title of "American citizen," which he assumed upon coming to live in this region, and which he was always proud to bear, although his heart con- tinued warm and true to his native Canadian prov- ince. He won much fame as an engineer and builder of railroads, and as one of those men who developed the lumber interests of Maine to its present great importance. Mr. Burpee was also an Egyptologist of note, but for none of these things will he be remembered so long and with such affection as for his Christian philanthropy. He was a man of deep and true Christian charac- ter, and was always helpful to those about him, contributing constantly through many channels to the relief of suffering and distress. Large of body and mind, his heart was in pro- portion, and he was readily touched by human misfortune of any kind. A member of the Cen- tral Congregational Church from the time of his coming to Bangor, it was largely through his devo- tion that the beautiful church edifice which stood on French street, and has since been burned, became a reality, he being the largest contributor towards its erection. Force of character, allied with bril- liant talents, brought him an eminence in his pro- fession in the East, and success in the business world he entered.
George Egerton Ryerson Burpee was a son of
Alfred & Ningar
5. Egerton Ryerson Burpee
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Isaac and Phoebe (Coburn) Burpee, the former a native of Massachusetts. Isaac Burpee was taken very early in life to New Brunswick, Canada, by his parents, where he married, and where his six children were born. He passed the remainder of his life in New Brunswick, and both his death and that of his wife occurred in that country. George Egerton Ryerson Burpee, or as he was always called, Egerton R. Burpee, was given all the ad- vantages of an education in good intermediate and preparatory schools, and later entered the University of New Brunswick, at Frederickston. He had already determined upon an engineering course, and after pursuing this line of study was graduated as a civil engineer. He at once plunged into active professional work and in a few years had attained a high reputation as an engineer and builder of railroads in the Dominion of Canada. His first important work was the construction of a railroad from St. Andrews to Quebec Junction, near Honlton, Maine, the planning and super- intendence of its construction being his own work. His next notable achievement was the construc- tion of the present line of railroad between St. Johns, New Brunswick, and Bangor, Maine. As already stated, he was a large operator in lumber interests in the northern part of the State, and finally made his home at Bangor, where his death occurred. Mr. Burpee was a member of the Cen- tral Congregational Church of Bangor, which is now known as All Soul's Church, and was deeply interested in its welfare. During his entire life he was by nature a student, and became deeply interested in Egyptian history and the learning of the ancients. He and Mrs. Burpee visited Egypt on several occasions, and on one of these spent several months there, but during this time Mr. Burpee was unfortunately very ill and unable to do much in the way of exploration.
George Egerton Ryerson Burpee was united in marriage, in January, 1870, shortly after locat- ing at Bangor, with Louise Godfrey Thissell, daughter of James and Louise (Godfrey) Thissell, a descendant on both sides of the house from old and distinguished Maine families. Mr. and Mrs. Burpee were the parents of one daughter, Louise, who became the wife of Professor William Otis Sawtelle. Professor and Mrs. Sawtelle are the parents of five children, as follows: Egerton, Lou- ise, Eleanor, Janet and Margery.
ALLEN QUIMBY-The year following gradu- ation from Bowdoin College, Allen Quimby be- gan teaching in Augusta, Maine, and during the
four years he spent as an educator he also pur- sued a regular course of law study. Although he was duly admitted to the Maine bar he did not practice, but since 1901 has been engaged in the manufacture of birch veneer, at Stockholm, a plantation of Aroostook county, Maine. Allen Quimby is a son of Joseph H. and Nancy Jane (Fogg) Quimby, his father a successful contrac- tor and builder of North Sandwich, New Hamp- shire, a member of the State Legislature, and for several years first assessor of the town.
Allen Quimby was born in North Sandwich, Carroll county, New Hampshire, April 12, 1873. He was graduated from Phillips Andover Acad- emy, class of 1892, and from Bowdoin College, A.B., class of 1895. In the fall of 1896 he began teaching in Cony High School, Augusta, Maine, continuing until 1901. In 1900 he was admitted to the bar of the State of Maine, having studied law in the office of Heath & Andrews, attorneys of Augusta, during the preceding four years. After admisison to the bar he taught school for another year, then abandoned professional work and entered the commercial field as a manufac- turer of birch veneer, a business which he has successfully followed from that year until the present, 1919. He is treasurer of the Standard Veneer Company and Standard Box Company, of Stockholm, Maine, also vice-president and direc- tor. It is around these industries, developed by Mr. Quimby, and with the Millikens of Augusta, that the prosperous village of Stockholm, Aroos- took county, Maine, has grown up, and to that section the coming of these men named has been a veritable blessing.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Quimby has been for several years first assessor of Stockholm, but he is essentially a business man, with little liking for political office. He is a member of the Eco- nomic Club of Portland; an attendant of the Con- gregational church; member of the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon; the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks; Masons, and the Knights of Maccabees. While in college he was prominent in athletics, making the Varsity football team, upon which he played for three years. He also ranked high in scholarship, and was an associate editor of the Bowdoin College paper, The Bugle.
Mr. Quimby married, December 21, 1897, Millie Launder Smith, daughter of John Tyng and Julia Katherine (Forsaith) Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Quimby are the parents of three children: Allen, Jr., born March 5, 1908; Jeanette Launder, born June 15, 1912; and Langdon Christie, born June 1, 1913. The family home is in Portland, Maine.
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JOHN WASHBURN-The surname Washburn is derived from the name of two small villages, Little Washbourne in Overbury, in Southern Worcestershire, and Great Washbourne in Glou- cestershire, England. The word itself is from two Saxon words, meaning swift flowing brook. The family, however, is of Norman ancestry, and the founder in England was knighted on the field of battle at the time of the Conquest, and en- dowed by William the Conqueror with the lands and manors of Little and Great Washbourne. The English lineage is traced to Sir Roger de Washbourne, of record, as early as 1259.
The American ancestor, John Washburn, a son of John Washburn, and of the eleventh genera- tion from Sir Roger de Washbourne, was bap- tized at Bengeworth, England, July 2, 1597. He came to New England in 1632, and settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He and his son John, in 1645, were among the fifty-four original pro- prietors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He is the progenitor of all the Washburn families in New England, and his descendants are scattered throughout the United States. He died at Bridge- water, Massachusetts, in 1670.
In the seventh generation from this hardy pio- neer of the family is Israel Washburn, born in Raynham, Masachusetts, in November, 1784, came to Maine in 1806, and taught school, l'ocat- ing in 1809 at Livermore, in that province. He was the father of Elihu B. Washburne, who al- ways clung to the final "e" on his name. Elihu B. Washburne removed to Galena, Illinois, practiced law, and was elected continuously to Congress for sixteen years, and was known by the sobri- quet as the "Watch Dog of the Treasury." An- other son, Israel Washburn, was also a congress- man from Maine and governor of the State. An- other son, Cadwallader Colden Washburn, was governor of Wisconsin, a member of Congress and a major-general in the Civil War.
The western immigration seems to have an at- traction for members of this noted family, and in the early pioneer days of Minnesota, William Drew Washburn came from Livermore, Maine, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, became interested in the flour mills, water power and railroad inter- ests of that locality, represented his district in Congress for a number of terms, and served in the United States Senate from 1889 to 1895.
Another member of the family, John Wash- burn, found his way to Minnesota. He was born at Hallowell, Maine, August 1, 1858. He is the son of Algernon S. and Anna Sarah (Moore) Washburn, and was educated at private schools
and Bowdoin College. He removed in 1880 to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and entered the employ of the Washburn Mills, and was advanced to the position of buyer of wheat, finally becoming a member of the Washburn-Crosby Company, and is now president of that corporation. In the finan- cial circles of his adopted residential city he is prominently identified; he is a director of the First National Bank; the Security National Bank; and the Minneapolis Trust Company; also is a member of the directorate of the Chicago & Great Western Railway Company; of the Brown Grain Company; the Barnum Grain Company; and president of several milling and elevator corpora- tions. Mr. Washburn is an ex-president of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republican in politics, and attends the Univer- salist church. His social clubs are Minneapolis, Minikahda, La Fayette, and he is a member of the college fraternity Psi Upsilon.
Mr. Washburn married, July 28, 1884, Elizabeth Pope Harding, of Hallowell, Maine.
ROGERS PATTEN KELLEY-Comprehen- sive study and research, with close application and deep professional interest in one's work, will eventually bring success and advancement in any chosen calling, and along these lines Rogers P. Kelley has risen to a position of prominence in connection with the practice of law. For more than seventeen years he has followed his profes- sion in Auburn, where' a liberal patronage is accorded him.
Robert R. Kelley, father of Rogers P. Kelley, was a native of Phippsburg, Maine. He was reared and educated in his native town, and upon arriving at a suitable age devoted his attention to the lumber business, which he followed suc- cessfully for many years, at first in his native town and later in Bath; Maine, in which city he spent the greater part of his active life, and where his death occurred, in his seventy-seventh year. He was highly respected in his community, and his business carreer was characterized by un- faltering determination and by marked diligence. He married Annie Edgecombe, a native of Bath, Maine, who was born July 5, 1824, and who died when but thirty-six years of age. She was a direct descendant of Sir Piers Edgecumbe, of the House of Mount Edgecumbe (or Edgecombe) of Corn- wall, England. G. T. Ridlon in his book, "Saco Valley Settlements and Families," refers to the Edgecombe family as "one of the most ancient and distinguished families in Devonshire, Eng- land." Mr. and Mrs. Kelley were the parents of
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E. L. Tablets
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two children: Charles S., who now resides in Massachusetts, and Rogers Patten, of this re- view.
Rogers Patten Kelley was born at Phippsburg, Maine, January 22, 1858, and was deprived, by death, of his mother's care when only six months old. Immediately after the death of his mother, the responsibility of his care and training was assumed by his aunt, Miss Elizabeth S. Edge- combe, of North Bath, Maine, where his early as- sociations were formed and his education begun. He there entered school at the early age of four years, and without interruption pursued his stud- ies, entering the upper grammar school in the city of Bath, at the age of fourteen years. He was an apt and diligent pupil, but at the age of fifteen years, he was compelled by circumstances to dis- continne his studies and take up the serious busi- ness of life. He therefore secured a position in a hardware and ship chandlery store in Bath, where he was employed for four years and four months. He was possessed of a great ambition to gain a more thorough education, and accordingly, when the opportunity arose, he resumed his interrupted studies, matriculating in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, now known as Kents Hill Seminary, and graduated from that institution in 1885. He then became a salesman, representing leading houses, handling anatomical and other educa- tional specialties, for use in high schools and colleges, in which vocation he met with extra- ordinary success, and in which he continued until 1891. By this time he had acquired sufficient cap- ital to enable him to engage in business on his own account, and he established himself in Ken- nebec county, Maine, in a mercantile line, and there conducted for three years a general store, meeting with well merited success. In 1894 he sold out this business in order that he might ful- fill a long cherished ambition to pursue the study of law. Accordingly, at the age of thirty-seven having an unusual degree of courage, he com- menced the study of his chosen profession. In January, 1895, he entered the law offices of Sav- age & Oakes, in Auburn, Maine, and there con- tinned his law studies until his admission to the Androscoggin bar in 1898. On account of a severe illness, Mr. Kelley did not begin practice on his own account until 1900, but thereafter he rapidly worked his way up to the position which he now holds among the leading members of his pro- fession in Auburn. His offices are located at No. 53 Court street, Auburn, and much important liti- gation is there handled. Mr. Kelley has not con- fined his attention entirely to his professional
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