USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 33
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Ammi Whitney was born February 13, 1833, in the town of Cumberland, Maine, son of Ammi Ruhamah and Hannah (Hall) Whitney, and a member of a very old and distinguished Maine family, Mr. Whitney, Sr., being for many years a farmer in the region of Cumberland, Maine, and a man of prominence in the community. His son, Ammi Whitney, was educated in the pub- lic schools of Falmouth, Maine, and upon com- pleting his studies in these institutions secured a clerical position in the agricultural warehouse
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and seed store of Parker, White & Gannett, of Boston, Massachusetts. Here he remained for a number of years, but being of a strongly am- bitious nature and desirous of becoming inde- pendent, he withdrew from this firm and formed a partnership with Hosea Kendall under the firm name of Kendall & Whitney. This was in the year 1858, and the enterprise then begun has con- tinued uninterruptedly to the present time. The concern deals in agricultural equipment and sup- plies of all kinds and is one of the largest in this line of business in New England, but Mr. Whitney has by no means confined his atten- tion to this single enterprise, as at the present time he is one of the most influential figures in the business and financial world of the city, his influence extending to a number of important concerns. He is president and treasurer of the Kendall & Whitney corporation; vice-president and director of the Casco Mercantile Trust Com- pany, and director of the Union Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Portland; director in the Cum- berland County Light & Power Company, the Saco & Biddeford Railroad, the Harpswell & Casco Bay Steamboat Line, the Union Mutual Loan Association, the Oxford Paper Company, the Fitzgerald Land & Lumber Company, the Union Safe Deposit Company, the Casco Loan Company, the Portland Loan Company, and the Jefferson Theatre. Mr. Whitney's activities in connection with the general life of the com- munity, and especially in connection with its charitable movements, have already been com- mented upon. He is at the present time a di- rector of the Home for Aged Men and the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary. Mr. Whitney is a staunch Democrat, and has always fulfilled, in the fullest degree, his obligations to society as a cit- izen. He has not, however, been actuated by any ambition to hold office at any time, and has consistently refused to consider any suggestion which might draw him from private into public life. He is a member of the Bramhall League Club of Portland. In his religious belief Mr. Whitney is a Unitarian and attends the First Parish Church of Portland.
Mr. Whitney married, October 10, 1860, Emily Stevens Haskell, a daughter of Samuel and Adaline (Stevens) Haskell. Of this union five children were born, as follows: Emma Haskell, who died in infancy; Alice Prince, Kate Dunlap, Samuel Haskell, and Joseph Walker.
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JOSEPH WARREN SAWYER-Several gen- erations of this branch of the Sawyer family
have been citizens of Maine, but originally came from Massachusetts. Joseph Warren Sawyer, of Millbridge, Washington county, Maine, settled in Millbridge with his newly acquired LL.B. and has been there professionally engaged until the present. He is a son of Warren and Mary Louise (Knowles) Sawyer, his father a sea cap- tain and shipbuilder of Millbridge.
Joseph Warren Sawyer was born in Addison, Maine, September 29, 1878, but soon afterward his parents moved to Millbridge, and there he attended public school. Later he was a stu- dent at Kent's Hill Preparatory School and Heb- ron Academy, going thence to the law depart- ment of the University of Maine, receiving his degree, LL.B., at graduation, class of 1910. He then returned to Millbridge, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He has also business interests of importance, be- ing secretary and manager of the shipbuilding firm, The Sawyer-Mitchell Company of Mill- bridge. He is a member of the Washington County Bar Association, and has won his way to honorable position at the bar and in business. Mr. Sawyer is a Republican in politics, and for six years was chairman of the Republican Town Com- mittee. He is also a member of the Republican County Committee and active in party affairs. He is affiliated with the Masonic order, holding membership in the lodge and chapter, member of the Knights of Pythias, and of Phi Delta Phi, (University of Maine Law School).
Mr. Sawyer married in Millbridge, Maine, De- cember 4, 1901, Helen N. Wyman, daughter of Jasper and Lucretia Dyer (Wallace) Wyman.
FRANCIS HECTOR CLERGUE, son of Jo- seph H. and Frances (Lombard) Clergue, was born in Bangor, Maine, May 28, 1856. After at- tending the public schools of his native city, he became a student at the University of Maine, and upon his graduation from that institution in 1877, and having prepared himself by legal studies, he was admitted to the bar of the State, and later he practiced at the United States Su- preme Court. His practice of law, however, was of short duration, in 1880 he became interested in manufacturing and hydraulic engineering, and so rapidly was his rise in this profession that we find him in 1894 president of the Lake Supe- rior Power Company, the Algoma Steel Com- pany, and the Algoma Central Railroad. At about this time he became interested in the de- velopment of the hydraulic power of the Falls of St. Mary at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and
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Ontario, and in the construction and operation in that locality of various factories, comprising blast furnaces, steel rail, rolling mills, iron mines, pulp mills, transportation and steamship lines. He also became connected with the Al- goma Central Railroad and the Algoma Eastern Railroad Companies. Mr. Clergue is unmar- ried, and maintains business offices in New York City and Montreal, Canada.
DEARBORN CILLY SANBORN, late of Farmington and Wilton, Maine, his death oc- curring at his home at the later place, Septem- ber 30, 1904, was a man of great prominence in the community, and was highly-respected and esteemed by his fellow-citizens in both these communities. Mr. Sanborn was a son of Cap- tain John W. and Mary J. (Locke) Sanborn, both of whom were natives of Tilton, New Hampshire, but who came later to Chesterville, Maine, where the former engaged in the occupation of farm- ing.
In Chesterville, Dearborn Cilly Sanborn was born, February 24, 1839, but it was at the public schools of Chesterville that he received his edu- cation, attending those institutions until he had reached the age of fourteen years. His educa- tional opportunities were extremely limited, but he was a lad of great ambition, and realized the value of a good education, so that he supple- mented his studies with wide, independent read- ing and continued to practice that habit during practically all the remainder of his life. At the age of fourteen he was obliged to engage in some remunerative occupation, and accordingly secured a position in a shoe shop at Lynn, Massachu- setts, where he remained for two years. His enterprising disposition was shown in the next move he made, for at sixteen he went West and secured a position on a ranch in Minnesota, where he worked until eighteen years of age. He then went still further West, and settled in the Santa Clara valley, in California, where once more he worked on a ranch for five years. At the end of that period he felt it his duty to return to the East, to care for his father and mother, and here made his home at Farmington, where they were residing at the time. He formed a partner- ship with F. J. Austin of that place, and they engaged in business as manufacturers of spools, to supply the various manufactories of this region with that important article. Their fac- tory was at Weld, Maine, and there they did a most successful business until the year 1885, when Mr. Sanborn retired from active life. He
then came to Wilton, Maine, where he bought the house in which his daughter now lives, and resided there until his death, in 1904. He was very prominent in the life of Farmington, and for several years was a director of the First National Bank at that place. In politics he was a Democrat, but never identified himself with the local organization of his party, and had no am- bition for public office. Mr. Sanborn was a member of Wilton Lodge, No. 156, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Wilton. In his re- ligious belief he was a Universalist, and attended the church of that denomination at Weld and afterwards at Wilton.
Dearborn Cilly Sanborn was united in marriage, January 1, 1873, with Sarah A. Williams, a na- tive of Chesterville, Maine, where she was born in the year 1851, a daughter of Thomas and Sally (Carson) Williams, the former a native of Ches- terville, and the latter of Mount Vernon, Maine. Mrs. Sanborn died October II, 1916. To Mr. and Mrs. Sanborn two daughters were born at follows: Lillian A., died November 16, 1914, and Nina G., who at present resides in the old home at Wilton.
ARTHUR JEREMIAH ROBERTS-Among the noted educators of Maine is Arthur Jeremiah Roberts. He was born at Waterborough, Maine, October 15, 1867, the son of Albert Hall and Evaline A. (Dearborn) Roberts. He was grad- uated from Colby College in 1890 with the de- gree of A.B., and in 1900 was granted the de- gree of A.M. by Harvard University. He was from 1895 to 1908 Professor of English Litera- ture in Colby College, Waterville, Maine, and on July I, 1908, he was inaugurated president of Colby College, which position he now holds.
Professor Roberts married, August 27, 1895, Ada Louise Peabody, of Gilead, Maine.
JOHN ROBERT GRAHAM-From the hum- ble home of a mechanic, as son, to become the founder of a great business; to turn at middle age to the world of rapid transit and accom- plish there what veterans in that field had failed successfully to achieve; to enter the field of finance and become a leader, that surely is a noble record for one life. Yet this and more John Robert Graham did.
He was democratic by nature, and wherever he resided there at once he appeared as a public spirited citizen. Though he spent most of his life in and around Boston, nevertheless when he became a resident of Bangor, he at once inter-
Jeartern 'C. Lantern
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ested himself with local affairs, as if he had lived there all his life. The people of Bangor felt instinctively that he was their friend and fol- lowed his leadership unquestioningly. Nor were they disappointed; for when that city suffered from the great fire wherein many of its finest buildings were burned, when many were dis- couraged and said, "Bangor will never recover from the blow," it was Mr. Graham who sounded the note of confidence in the city's future. "Would the large building that he had contem- plated building now be built?" was asked 011 every hand. His answer was unhesitating: "Yes, it will be built, and if there is any man who, because of the fire, has real estate to sell, I am ready to buy it." The effect was immediate; men who had lost heart, hearing the words of this leader of finance, took courage again and a new and better Bangor is the result.
He was born in the North of Ireland at Flor- ence Court, County of Fermanaugh, December 19, 1847. He died at the White Mountains, August 24, 1915. His parents were of Scotch descent, as were all his ancestors. His paternal grandfather was Matthew Graham; his maternal grandfather was Anthony Henderson, who mar- ried Anne Moffatt. His mother was Anne Jane (Henderson) Graham, a woman of character and grace who exercised no little influence upon the developing character of her son. His father was James Graham (1810-1878), who was a mechanic, and who was beloved in his home town for his jovial and industrious disposition.
In 1848 they removed to America, settling in Boston. Here John R. Graham was reared and sent to school. At ten years of age he worked out for one dollar per week and his board, and was allowed to attend the Brimmer Street School. This continued until he was thirteen years of age, when he left school permanently and entered into business life. From fourteen to sixteen he was with his brother, Matthew Graham, who was in the shoe business. At six- teen, he entered the employ of James T. Penni- man, of Quincy. When seventeen years of age, he showed his devotion to his adopted country by enlisting in the Civil War, being attached first to the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, Company E, and later joining Company A of the Forty- second Massachusetts Infantry. He was mus- tered out in 1865. He was a leading member of Post No. 88, Grand Army of the Republic of Quincy. Although he never spoke of his ex- ploits in the army, it is only fair that it be noted here that he was at Petersburg and his regiment was among the first to enter Richmond.
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At the close of the war, he returned to Massa- chusetts, and with the aid of his brother, who had been engaged in the shoe business with the T. E. Mosely Company, they opened a factory at Quincy. This plant enlarged rapidly until the Graham Shoe was known far and wide. It is still manufactured, his sons carrying on the busi- ness. In 1887 the Quincy Street Railway Com- pany had fallen upon very difficult times; the property did not pay nor did it seem it would pay for many years. Mr. Graham undertook its reorganization and was more than successful. He became recognized as an able street railway man, and was consulted as such by men far and near. At this same time he became interested in electric lighting in connection with the street railway. He was appointed one of the members of the first Rapid Transit Commission in Massa- chusetts in 1893. This was a source of some gratification in later years. When the Quincy Street Railway Company was taken over by the Bay State Company, he was elected vice-presi- dent of the latter corporation. From 1898 to 1901, he was the general manager of the Brock- ton Street Railway System. In May, 1892, upon his return from a trip to Europe, he received a pressing invitation from the president of the General Electric Company to investigate the con- dition of the Public Works Company of Ban- gar, Mainc. This company was the first in New England to run electric cars and second only to Richmond, Virginia, in the country. So im- pressed was he with the possibilities of the city, that he reported favorably to the General Elec- tric Company, and with New York and Philadel- phia capital he took over all the holdings of the Public Works Company, being its general manager and treasurer. Later, in 1905, when the Bangor Railway & Electric Company was or- ganized and took over all the railway and elec- tric light and water departments of the old com- pany, he became president and general manager. So well was his work done that even while car- rying a vast improvement enterprise, his com- pany from pay-no dividend, earned and paid reg- ularly its seven per cent. annually. So great was the confidence of his fellow directors, that whatever plan he proposed they were ready to finance, almost without limit. In addition to this great work, he instigated the building of the Lewiston, Waterville & Augusta trolley line, a section of territory that had never before had electric traction facilities. He was instrumental in taking over the syndicate of the Portland Street Railway Company which became the Cum- berland County Power & Light Company, with
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several plants and a large business. He also
constructed the Fairfield & Shawmut Strect Rail- way. The Penobscot Central Railway from Ban- gor to Charleston was taken over by his com- pany, February 1, 1907, rehabilitated, and brought to a paying basis. The Hampden Street Rail- way was acquired about this same time.
Besides his street railway improvements, Mr. Graham was a director of the Merrill Trust Company of Bangor, and of the Union Trust Company of Ellsworth. He was president of the Bangor Power Company, and of the Orono Water Company, of the Bar Harbor & Union River Power Company and of the Graham Realty Company. Through this latter company he in- stigated large improvements in the erection of fine office and business buildings in his adopted city. Indeed, he showed himself a public spirited citizen in every way.
Mr. Graham was a Republican in politics, and was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. He found much recreation in riding behind a spirited horse. When he was the owner of a stock farm in Kentucky, no blooded horses had better records than his. He owned, at one time, the famous stallion, "Constantine." He took great interest in light harness racing, and was one of the originators of the Readville Race Track. For a number of years he fought ill health and went twice to California in its interest. In 1913 he visited the Azores, Italy and other parts of Europe. All through his life Mr. Graham was a great reader. He was fond of Shakespeare's works, English History, the works of Bryon and Goldthwaite.
Mr. Graham was twice married, his second wife surviving him. He married (first) Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James T. and Maria A. (Brooks) Penniman, granddaughter of Stephen, Jr., and Relief (Thayer) Penniman, and of Thomas and Eliza (Thayer) Brooks, and a de- scendant from James Penniman, who came from England to Boston on the Lyon in 1631. There were eleven children of whom the following sur- vive: Robert; Clara, now Mrs. F. E. Jones, of Quincy; John; Edith, now the widow of Walter L. Sawtelle; Mary, now Mrs. Perley Barbour, of Quincy; Annie, now Mrs. Elmer Ricker, of Quincy; Harold, who is now a director of the Graham Realty Company; Lester; Beatrice; and Edward M., who has been connected with his father in his Bangor interests.
Although never exploiting his charities, Mr. Graham was a very generous giver. He was a noble father, a devoted husband and a patriotic citizen.
WILLIAM PHILIP BRENEMAN, one of the successful business men, proprietor and manager of the
Anburn Brush Company, of Auburn, Maine, is a son of Edward and Eliza M. (King) Breneman, his father having been a well known and successful manufacturer of agricultural im- plements.
William Philip Breneman was born April 6, 1871, at Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, and it was at the public schools of his native re- gion that he gained the general portion of his education, and graduated at the Central High School in the year 1890. In 1898 he came East, entering the Bible Normal College of Springfield, Massachusetts. From this institution he graduated in 1900, and from that time to this has been ex- tremely active in the eastern business world. He had already had some business experience be- fore coming to the East to take his course in the Bible Normal College, having served as a clerk in the Third National Bank of Dayton, Ohio, and later as the cashier of the Central Union Telephone Company at Dayton. After completing his studies he also returned to the West for a time and secured the post of secretary and treasurer of the Charles A. P. Barrett Com- pany, one of the large manufacturing concerns of his native city, with which he remained from 1901 to 1904. The Charles A. P. Barrett Com- pany was engaged in the manufacture of paint and were jobbers and retailers of paints, wall papers and allied commodities. In 1904 he came once more to the East, and there became a mem- ler of the firm of T. A. Huston & Company, manufacturing bakers and confectioners. He re- mained in that firm for nearly ten years, but eventually, in 1914, became proprietor and man- ager of the Anburn Brush Company, which manu- factures brushes, mops, etc., in Auburn. He has been thus engaged since 1914, and has developed a very large and still increasing business. He has been a member of the Superintending School Committee of Anburn for one term, the duties in connection with which he has discharged with the most commendable zeal and intelligence. Mr. Breneman has not engaged actively in political life. He is a member of Tranquil Lodge, No. 29, Free and Accepted Masons, of Auburn, and Bradford Chapter, No. 38, Royal Arch Masons, of the same town. He is also a member of How- ard Council, No. 161, Royal Arcanum. Since early manhood Mr. Breneman has been a church member, and after coming to Auburn he joined the Court Street Baptist Church of that city.
William Philip Breneman married, June 14, 1900, at Auburn, Helen Reed Beede, a daughter
com P. Breveman
Jakut Robert
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of Josliua William and Abbie Maria (Reed) Beede, old and highly respected residents of this city. To Mr. and Mrs. Breneman the following children have been born: LeRoy Beede, born October 7, 1902; Lucy King, December 10, 1904; Marian Elizabeth, October 30, 1907, and Sylvia Reed, September 10, 1912.
JOHN ALFRED ROBERTS, one of the pros- perons and successful farmers of Norway, Maine, where he has been engaged in agricultural opera- tions for a number of years, is a son of John M. and Mary (Potter) Roberts, old and highly re- spected residents of Gardiner. The elder Mr. Roberts was also a farmer, but made his home in Gardiner, and it was in that place that John Alfred Roberts was born, September 10, 1852. Only three months afterwards, however, his par- ents removed to Andover, Maine, and it was at the latter place that he received his early edu- cation, attending for this purpose the local com- man schools. Later, having an ambition to be- come a teacher, he entered the Oxford Normal Institute at South Paris, Maine, and finally grad- uated from that institution in 1873. He then ma- triculated at Bowdoin College, and graduated therefrom with the class of 1877, one of his class- mates being R. E. Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole. After completing his studies, Mr. Roberts entered the profession that he had de- cided upon as a youth, and became a teacher. After a few years in this calling, however, Mr. Roberts, who had inherited a strong taste for agriculture and a rural life from his father, gave up this profession and bought a farm at Norway, Maine, which he has since been occupied in run- ning. In this he has met with highly gratifying success, his farm being regarded as one of the model places in the neighborhood, and himself as an authority on agricultural matters general- ly. Mr. Roberts is a Republican in politics, and was elected commissioner of agriculture for the State of Maine, January 1, 1913, for a two years' term. So valuable was his service in this of- fice, that in 1917 he was reelected to it and at the present time is serving in this capacity. He has done much to improve the condition of the farms of the State, and to develop agricultural resources generally. He is a member of Norway Grange. In his religious belief Mr. Roberts is a Universalist and attends the church of that de- nomination at Norway. Mr. Roberts has served in both Houses of the Maine Legislature, was for four years overseer of Maine State Grange, and twelve years trustee of the University of Maine.
John Alfred Roberts was united in marriage, August 24, 1881, at Norway, Maine, with Carrie A. Pike, of this place, a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Fobes) Pike. They are the parents of one child, Thaddeus Blaine Roberts.
SETH L. LARRABEE-One of the conspicu- ous figures in the legal fraternity of Portland, and bearing an honorable reputation throughout the State of Maine, Seth L. Larrabee will not soon be forgotten by the community of which he was a prominent and respected member. He was a lawyer who upheld the highest traditions of the Maine bar, and as a citizen, nobly bore his share of the burdens imposed by Republican institutions.
Seth L. Larrabee was a representative of the seventh generation of an old New England fam- ily of Huguenot extraction, of whom the first American ancestor of record was Stephen Larra- bee, of Lynn, Massachusetts. Thomas Larrabee, the son of this first of the name, was the progenitor of a line of four Benjamin Larra- bees. The second Benjamin Larrabee was born in 1740, and was a patriot soldier in the strug- gle with the mother country. "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolu- tion" contains the following record of him: "Captain; engaged July I, 1775; service six months, sixteen days, on sea coast in Cumber- land county; also, official record of a ballot by the House of Representatives, dated February 5, 1776; said Larrabee chosen second major, Col- onel Jonathan Mitchell's (Second Cumberland county) regiment of Massachusetts Militia; ap- pointment concurred in by Council February 7, 1776; reported commissioned February 7, 1776." Jordan L. Larrabee, the grandson of this patriot, was the father of the Seth L. Larrabee of the present biography. He was a prominent and re- spected farmer of Scarboro, Maine, and served the town for a number of years on the board of selectman. He married Caroline F. Beals, and their two children were: Albion W., and Seth L., of the present biographical notice.
Seth L. Larrabee, son of Jordan L. and Caro- line F. (Beals) Larrabee, was born in Scarboro, Maine, January 22, 1855. Here in his boyhood he did farmwork on the old homestead of his family, and went to the local schools, laying there the foundations of the mental vigor and initiative which later marked the man. His preparation for college was done at Westbrook Seminary, which course he finished in 1870. He matricu- lated at Bowdoin in 1871, and received his de- gree of Bachelor of Arts in 1875. He helped
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