USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 43
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AUGUSTUS NOBLE BERRY, the founder of the large industrial enterprise known as the Berry Paper Company, at Lewiston, Maine, and
John B. Pelletier
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one of the most successful business men of that place, is a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was born January 3, 1842. He came as child with his parents to the "Pine Tree" State, his first home here being the town of Andover, where he spent his boyhood and early youth. Here it was that he received his education at the local public school, after which he continued to reside with his parents until he had attained his majority. At the age of twenty-one he returned to his native State and engaged in business there with a Mr. J. N. Allen, of Boston, under the firm name of J. N. Allen & Berry. For thirty years he continued to be thus occupied, but eventually the association was severed and he came to Maine once more. Here he settled in Auburn in the year 1892, and founded in that city the Berry Paper Company, in association with his son, Edgar M. Berry. In 1898 he retired from active management of this concern, but to this day retains a financial interest in the business. Mr. Berry was very active in other departments of the community's life, and was a conspicuous figure in social and fraternal circles here. He was a prominent member of the Masonic frater- nity and took an active part in the work of that great order. During his youth Mr. Berry was excessively fond of all sorts of outdoor sports and pastimes, but was particularly famous as a hunter of large game. He never allowed a spring or antumn to pass without taking a hunting trip, and his prowess on these occasions was well known to all his associates. In his religious be- lief Mr. Berry is a Universalist and attends the church of that denomination at Lewiston.
Augustus Noble Berry was united in marriage at Andover, Maine, with Miss Lora J. Newton, a native of that town. Mr. Newton met his death while serving his country in the Civil War. Mr. and Mrs. Berry were the parents of six children as follows: George Augustus, who now resides at Melbourne, Australia, where he represents a shoe company as salesman; Alice, who became the wife of William Boothby of Auburn, Maine; Irene, who died in the year 1898 at the age of twenty-three; Frank, who died in infancy; Edgar M., who was born on January 15, 1879, mentioned below; Ethel Angusta, who became the wife of John M. Littlefield, of Lewiston.
Edgar M. Berry is a graduate of the Edward Little High School at Andover with the class of 1897 and of a Schenectady business college in 1898. After completing these courses he assisted his father in the organization of the Berry Paper Company and after the elder man's retirement in
1898, assumed entire control of this great busi- ness. He is at the present time actively engaged in its management and is still further develop- ing its interests. Like his father, Edgar M. Berry, is a Mason, and he is also a prominent figure in the social world of Lewiston. He mar- ried on July 6, 1903, Miss Florence I. Hinckley, a native of Rangeley. They are the parents of one child, Norman Augustus Berry, born Novem- ber 11, 1905.
It is not always easy to discover and define the hidden forces that have moved a life of ceaseless activity and large success; little more can be done than to note their manifestations in the career of the individual under consideration. In view of this fact, the life of the distinguished manufacturer and public spirited citzen, Augus- tus N. Berry, of Lewiston, Maine, affords a strik- ing example of well defined purpose, with the ability to make that purpose subserve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. In addition to his long and creditable ca- reer in his exacting business, he has also proved himself an honorable member of the body politic; rising in the confidence and esteem of the pub- lic, and in every relation of life he never fell be- low the dignity of true manhood or in any way resorted to methods that invited criticism or censure. He is essentially a man among men, having ever moved as one who commanded re- spect by innate force as well as by superior abil- ity, and his life and labors eminently entitle him to representation among the representative men of his city. To the more basic virtues of essen- tial honesty and courage, Mr. Berry adds a de- lightful personality with those graces of bearing and manner, those amenities of social intercourse, in themselves no inconsiderable virtues. Spring- ing as they do from a broad tolerance and sym- pathy for one's fellows, they are closely related to that Christian charity without which, we are told, the other virtues are vain. And charitable Mr. Berry is, giving liberally to all worthy phil- anthropic movements.
JOHN B. PELLETIER-One of the well known lawyers of his section of the State, John B. Pelletier boasts a French ancestry, being a son of Beloni and Delina (Michaud) Pelletier, both now deceased. He was born March 2, 1882, at Cyr Plt., Maine, and after attending the district schools went to Van Buren College, from which he was graduated in 1899. He was also a student at the House of Philosophy in Montreal, Canada, and afterwards read law in the Hon.
ME .- 2-14
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Peter Charles Keegan's office, and took the course in law at the Bangor Law School. He was ad- mitted to the Maine bar in 1909, and has since become one of the successful attorneys of the State.
Mr. Pelletier has held a number of posts in- dicating the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. In I911 he was sent to represent his district at the Maine Legislature, and served the town of Van Buren as tax collector in the term of 1906-7, and from 1915 to 1918 he was town clerk, and during the year 1918 was chairman of the board of selectmen. He is auditor of the Van Buren Trust Company. In his religion Mr. Pelletier is a Roman Catholic, and he is a mem- ber of Madawaska Council, No. 1635, of the Knights of Columbus.
He married at Van Buren, Maine, January 9, 19II, Rose M. Dionne, a daughter of Louis and Agnes (Powers) Dionne, and they have two chil- dren: Matrine, born January 10, 1916, and Jus- tine, born November 1, 1918.
FREEMAN EVANS SMALL, M.D., late of Portland, Maine, where his death occurred at his home, March 19, 1909, was one of the most prominent medical practitioners in the city, with the life of which he was most intimately asso- ciated for a great number of years. He was a son of Henry A. and Fannie D. (Evans) Small, old and highly respected residents of Stoneham, Oxford county, Maine, and it was at that place their son, Dr. Small, was born, July 24, 1854. Dr. Small obtained the elementary portion of his education at the local public schools of Stone- ham, and later attended Gould's Academy, at Bethel, Maine, where he was prepared for col- lege. He then entered Amherst College, where he took the usual classical course and was graduated with the class of 1877. He had in the meantime Inade up his mind to adopt medicine as a profes- sion and with this end in view matriculated at Maine Medical School at Brunswick, and was graduated there in 1879 with his medical degree. After the completion of his studies Dr. Small went to the town of Rumford Center, Oxford county, and there established himself in prac- tice. He was very successful there but in spite of the fact did not feel wholly satisfied, as he believed that a greater opportunity awaited him in a larger city. Accordingly, after remaining for about seven years at Rumford Center, he came, in 1886, to Portland, where he began to practice immediately. Once more he was very successful, and in a short time built up a large
and widespread practice that extended into many parts of the city and even beyond. He re- mained permanently located here and only death terminated his active and useful career. He opened an office opposite Lincoln Park and there he made his headquarters until the close of his life. He gained a great reputation as an able and learned physician, and for many years was a member of the staff of the Maine General Hos- pital in this city. He was also connected with the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, during the first few years of the existence of that institu- tion. Dr. Small was always keenly interested in .the general welfare of the profession of which he was so distinguished a member, and was ac- tive in the work of many of the societies and other organizations of a professional character. He was a member of the Portland Medical Club, the Cumberland Medical Society, the Maine Med- ical Society, the American Academy of Medicine and the American Public Health Association. Besides these professional organizations he was affiliated with the Masonic Order, having taken the thirty-second degree. He was a member of Blazing Star Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Chapter, Council, Commandery, Temple, and Consistory. In politics he was a Republican, but the demands made upon his time and ener- gies by his professional duties made it impos- sible for him to take an active part in public affairs such as his abilities no doubt fitted him for. He was a public spirited citizen, a true friend, a devoted husband and father and an hon- orable and virtuous man.
Mr. Small was united in marriage, at Rumford Center, Maine, 1879, with Mary E. Hoyt, daugh- ter of Rev. Patrick Hoyt, a well known divine of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Small is a woman of the greatest culture and is deeply devoted to her family. One child was born to Dr. and Mrs. Small, a daughter, Lida Isabelle, born at Portland, and attended school here dur- ing her girlhood. She was afterwards a student at Mount Holyoke College, from which she was graduated with the class of 1910. She then took up teaching as a profession and has taught in . a number of important institutions since that time. Her first position was in the West Hamp- ton Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hamp- ton, Virginia, where she spent two years in the academic department. She next taught at the Moody School at Mount Herman, Massachusetts, an institution for boys, where she had classes in Latin and mathematics: For the past three years Miss Small has taught Latin at the Kents Hill
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Seminary, Kents Hill, Maine, and at the same time makes her home with her mother at Port- land. She is a woman of the highest cultivation and intelligence, and has proved herself a very able teacher.
ROGER A. GREENE was born September 26, 1887, in Hoosick Falls, New York, and is a son of George Edward Greene, also of that town. The father was a native of Cambridge, New York, where he was born in 1860, but later removed to Hoosick Falls, where for a number of years he has been established as one of that community's most prominent lawyers, and where he has also taken an active part in local affairs. George Ed- ward Greene is at the present time serving in the capacity of superintendent of the street rail- ways of the town, and is also associated with a number of large business enterprises in that region and is president of the water power com- pany there. He married Mary Elizabeth Foster, and they became the parents of six children, as follows: Lilla A., who became the wife of Ralph T. Simmons, of Troy, New York; Roger A., of further mention; Margaret, who is the wife of Homer O. White, of Ossining, New York; Mary, who resides with her father at home; and Foster and Paul, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Greene died in 1903.
Roger A. Greene received his education in the public schools of his native city and attended both the grammar grades and the high school there. After leaving school he secured a posi- tion with the Schenectady Power Company, and there worked for a time, but while thus engaged he held to an ambition long cherished by him of winning for himself a more advanced cduca- tion than he had yet received. This ambition was given a practical point by his desire to take up a professional career, and with this end in view, as soon as he found his way clear to do so, he entered the Marietta Academy at Marietta, Olio, where he studied until he was prepared for college. He then matriculated at the Marietta College, where he applied himself to the usual classical courses and made a name for himself as an excellent scholar. During this time, low - ever, his attention was coming to be more an ' more centered on the law, and eventually he left Marietta College to enter the law school of thic University of Pennsylvania, from which he grad- uated with the class of 1913. Mr. Greene was admitted to the bar in the same year as he was graduated, and it was then that he came to Lewiston, Maine, where he at once established
hi aself in the practice of his profession and has continued actively therein until recently. Mr. Greene has won an enviable reputation as a ca- pable and learned attorney, as well as one who has obviously set out to maintain the best tra- ditions of the bar.
It has not been entirely in connection with his professional practice that Mr. Greene has made a place for himself, but he has interested himself in the affairs of the general community. He is a member of the Republican party and was its candidate for county attorney in 1916. Mr. Greene lost this election, but in March, 1917, was elected city solicitor for Lewiston, and until he entered the United States Army filled that office with a high degree of efficiency. Before coming to Lewiston, Mr. Greene had been actively inter- ested in military matters, and for two years was a member of the Second Regiment, New York National Guard. This interest and this activity he continued in Lewiston, and in June, 1917, hc organized the Nelson Dingley Battery of Heavy Field Artillery to form a part of a regiment of heavy artillery of the Maine National Guard. Mr. Greene was chosen captain of this battery. After six weeks' training Captain Greene was sent with one hundred men to an artillery camp at East Boxford, Massachusetts. The ranks of his company were filled to war strength of one hundred and eighty-one men, and it became the Trench Mortar Battery of the Fifty-first Artil- lery Brigade, Twenty-sixth Division, United States Army. This company left in October, 1917, for service in France, beng the first Trench Mortar Battery to leave the United States.
Mr. Greene has always been a strong advocate and enthusiast for outdoor sports of all kinds and is himself an unusually fine athlete. He was a member of the football teams of both Marietta College and University of Pennsylvania, and al- though devoted to athletics in every form, per- haps finds his chief pleasure in this game. He is well known in this connection throughout the region, and since his coming to Lewiston has coached a number of different football teams with remarkable success. He was coach for Bates College for the years 1913, 1914 and 1915, and did much to develop that team, as well as proving a stimulus to athletics generally in the college. In 1916 he was coach for the Colby College foot- ball team, which paid a tribute to the efficiency of his instructions by becoming the State cham- pion in that year.
Mr. Greene is well known in club circles in Lewiston, and is a member of the Calumet Club,
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and now holds the office of treasurer. He is also affiliated with the Masonic Order, and while in college became a member of the Sigma Chi, and the Phi Delta Phi, legal fraternity. In his religion belief he is a Congregationalist, and ac- tive in the work of this church, having done no: a little to advance its interests in the community. The purposes of the country in this great war have appealed to Mr. Greene with unusual strength, and he has proved his enthusiasm for democracy and his fundamental patriotism by the work which he did in connection with the artil- lery battery.
Mr. Greene has, of course, not yet reached the height of his successful career, his age being only thirty years, but his character and ability have already given him an enviable reputation and made him one of the prominent figures in the life of the city. His sterling qualites of character, integrity, industry and a strong sense of justice, have done even more than that for him, liaving won for him a host of friends and ad- mirers.
GEORGE ALBERT MURCHIE, one of the important men in his section of the State of Maine, inherits the sturdy virtues of his Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Andrew Murchie, came from Paisley, Scotland, to St. Stephen, New Brunswick, on the east bank of the St. Croix river and opposite Calais, Maine, about 1784. He brought with him from Scotland the enterprise and thrift that belong to the fortunate holders of a birthright in that conservative but deter- mined nation that won the respect of the world in their stand for the rights of religious and per- sonal liberty. He married, in the province of New Brunswick, Janet, daughter of Colin Camp- bell, of the noted Campbell clan of Scotland. Andrew Murchie was among the original "Loy- alist founders of the Settlement of Quoddy," which became the thriving town of St. Stephen, and he carried on a farm which afforded his fam- ily a very respectable support.
James Murchie, a son of Andrew and Janet (Campbell) Murchie, and father of George Albert Murchie, was born in St. Stephen, New Bruns- wick, August 16, 1813. He was sent to the com- mon school of St. Stephen, and assisted his father in the farm until he had passed his majority by two years. In 1836 he married Mary Ann, daughter of John Grimmer, of St. Stephen. His father-in-law subsequently served as collector of customs for the port of St. Stephen. James Murchie after his marriage engaged in farming
and in cutting and marketing logs during the win- ter season. He obtained a permit from the gov- ernment to cut logs on the common lands of the Province of New Brunswick on paying a small sum per square mile for the privilege, and he soon became the largest single operator in timber in the woods of the province, which logs he readily sold to the various mill owners. He continued this business for eighteen years, when he re- tired with a fortune of $20,000. With this as a capital he began the manufacture of lumber in Calais, Maine, and in connection with that busi- ness carried on a general store. He was cap- tain of a company of local militia of the prov- ince; was justice of the peace, and held offices in the local government of the Province of Ste- phen. He built or purchased several vessels for the prosecution of his business beyond the confines of the home yards, and his son, John G. Murchie, became a captain of his first vessel when he had attained the age of twenty-one years, having studied navigation for that purpose. In 1862 he launched the bark Bessie Simpson, and Captain John G. Murchie was transferred to the command of the new bark Mary Rideout. As busi- ness increased, Mr. Murchie admitted his sons one by one, his sons, John G. and William A. Mur- chie, becoming partners in 1862, and Captain James later, and the name of the firm became James Murchie & Sons, which grew to be one of the most extensive business concerns in the State of Maine, with home office and yards in Calais. In 1903 the business was incorporated as James Murchie's Sons Company, Calais, Maine. In the Dominion of Canada their mills are located at Benton Deer Lake, Edmunston, and Fredericton. The corporation is a large owner of timber lands in Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec. Mr. James Murchie was one of the stockholders of the New Brunswick and Canada Railway, and the difficulties he met and overcame in carrying out this work were apparently insurmontable. He was one of the builders of the church at Old Ridge, New Brunswick, and of the cotton mill at Milltown, New Brunswick, the second largest in Canada. He was a member of the Legislature of the Province of New Brunswick in 1874; he supported the non-sectarian school system and was a member of the Legislature up to 1878. Mr. Murchie was married twice, his first wife, Janet (Grimmer) Murchie, having died in 1857 He married (second) in 1860, Margaret, daughter of Jackson Thorpe, of St. George, New Bruns- wick, and he had altogether by his two wives, thirteen children, of whom George Albert Mur-
Ser. t. Munchie
Francie Stanley
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chie of the present sketch was the seventh child, and a son of his father's first wife.
George Albert Murchie was born at Old Ridge, New Brunswick, September 16, 1849, and died at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, July 1, 1914. His early education was gained at the public schools, later taking the business course at Bryant & Strat- ton's Commercial School, Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up in a family which had the large timber interests already mentioned, Mr. Murchiie was from his early youth drawn into the current of the lumber business of the firm of James Murchie & Sons, which was later to be incorporated as the James Murchie's Sons Company.
Like his father, Mr. Murchie was a man of civic spirit and felt that the duties of a citizen in- cluded service to the State and community. Though his business cares were onerous and pressing, he took his share in political matters and faithfully fulfilled whatever office he under- took. After moving to Calais he became a mem- ber of the Board of Aldermen, servng in 1889, 1890 and 1891. In 1892 he was elected mayor and served until 1896. He served in the Maine Legislature for three terms, and in the House in 1897 and 1899, and in the Senate in 1901. He was a member of the governor's council in 1903 and 1905 under Governor John F. Hill, and William T. Cobb.
Mr. Murchie was always an active and inter- ested member of the fraternal organizations. He was a past master of Victoria Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; St. Croix Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; St. Croix Council, Royal and Select Masters; Huglı de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar, all of Calais, and belongs also to the Delta Lodge of Perfection of Machias, the Knights of Pythias, and the St. Croix Club. He was a Universalist in his religious beliefs.
Mr. Murchie married at Milltown, New Bruns- wick, December 30, 1880, Cora H. Harmon, born in Milltown, August, 1852, a daughter of Daniel Harmon, a well known lumberman of that region. Their children were: James, deceased; Helen W .; Harold H., born March 8, 1888, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and of Harvard Law School, now practising law in Calais, married in 1913, Jessie E. Ross.
MANASSEH HOVEY SMITH, a lawyer, was a native of Maine, where he died in 1865. He married Mary Myrick Dole, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Carleton) Dole, and they were the parents of seven children: Mary Caroline Fox, of Portland, wife of Frederick Fox, and now his
widow; Manasseh, of further mention; Elizabeth H .; Everett; Edith; Harold; Osgood.
Manasseh Smith, eldest son of Manasseh H. and Mary Myrick (Dole) Smith, was born at Warren, Maine, December 24, 1841, died in Port- land, Maine, November 10, 1915. He was edu- cated at Warren Academy, and at Bowdoin Col- lege, entering the last named institution in 1858, and was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity there. After leaving college, he began the study of law under the direction of his father and until the death of the latter, in 1865, father and son were associated in law business. After that year Mr. Smith practised as a member of the firm of Reed & Smith, his partner being Thomas Brackett Reed, one of Maine's most illustrious sons. They conducted an extensive practice in Maine State and Federal courts. Later Mr. Smith formed a partnership with George E. Bird, a well-known jurist of the State, and continued the practice of his profession until he moved to Canada, where he remained for four years. He then returned to Portland, where he soon after- wards retired. Mr. Smith was the State com- missioner for the revision of the game laws in 1875-6. He devoted much time to the study of the game laws of the European countries, and the code of laws which he assisted in framing for Maine served as a model for other States. In recognition of the foresight and scientific knowl- edge of bird and animal life exhibited in this work he was made an honorary member of the New York Game Association. He was a strong Democrat as was his father before him. A bio- graphical sketch of the elder Mr. Smith appears elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Smith married, Georgiana W. Hall, a daugh- ter of George Benson and Mary (Patterson) Hall, of Haldemand House, Montmorenci Falls, Quebec, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of eight children: Georgiana Mary, mar- ried Henry N. Ogden; Gertrude; Helen, married F. C. D. Palmer; Katharine Benson, a Red Cross nurse in France; Manasseh, a lientenant with the American Expeditionary Forces; Ruth Pat- terson; Bertha Hall; Ralph Emerson, deceased. The family are members of the Protestant Epis- copal church.
FRANCIS EDGAR STANLEY, inventor and manufacturer, was born in Kingfield, Maine, June I, 1849, and died at Wenham, Massachusetts, July 31, 1918. He was the son of Solomon and Ap- phia (French) Stanley, and one of a family of several children. His father was a farmer and
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