USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 5
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The type that has become familiar to the world as the successful New Englander, prac- tical and worldly-wise, yet governed in all matters by the most scrupulous and strict ethical code, is nowhere better exemplified than in the person of Mr. Rumery, a figure who carries down into our own times something of the substantial qual- ity of the past. The successful men of an earlier generation who were responsible for the great industrial and mercantile development of New England experienced, most of them, in their own lives the juncture of two influences, calculated in combination to produce the marked charac- ters by which we recognize the type.
GEORGE ADDISON EMERY, one of the leading attorneys and men of affairs of Saco, Maine, where he is identified with many large private interests and important public under- takings, is a native of this place and a son of Moses and Sarah Cutts (Thornton) Emery, high- ly respected residents here. Mr. Emery was born November 14, 1839, in his parent's home at Saco, and his early education was received at the local schools. He later entered Bowdoin Col- lege, where he received the degree of A.B. and was graduated with the class of 1863. His father was an attorney here and the young man deter- mined to follow the same profession, so that im- mediately after his graduation he entered his father's office and there began the study of his chosen subject. This he pursued to such good purpose that he was admitted to the bar of York county in 1866 and the same year established him- self in practice here. He very rapidly made a reputation for himself for ability and learning, and in 1867 was appointed judge of the Municipal Court. He served in this capacity until the close
of 1871, when he returned to private practice which he developed into one of great extent and handled much of the important litigation of this region. Another post that he held for several years was that of court recorder in which he dis- charged his duties to the satisfaction of all con- cerned. In 1881 he was elected from this dis- trict to the Maine State Legislature and was a member of that body in that and the three years following. He was city solicitor for a number of years and served from 1890 to 1894, 1903 to 1904, and from 1908 to 1909. Mr. Emery is presi- dent of the York Bar Association. Besides his official and semi-official posts Mr. Emery is prominently identified with a large number of business concerns and organizations of a finan- cial character, among which should be mentioned the Provident Association, of which he has been the general agent here since 1871, and the Laurel Hill Cemetery Association, of which he is the president. He is also a director of the York National Bank, and has been its president; and a trustee of the Saco Savings Bank, since June 10, 1906. Mr. Emery is a trustee and the sec- retary and treasurer of Thornton Academy, and he is a member of its Alumni Society. He is a member of the board of the Dyer Library Asso- ciation; a corporate member and the secretary of the York Institute, and an officer in other edu- cational organizations and societies, including the Maine Historical Society. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Unitarian Church. For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Emery has been associated with the Masonic Society, and for twenty-five years when he resigned that office had served as secretary of Saco Lodge. Mr. Emery is unmarried.
FULLER DINGLEY-One of those men who in the momentous days of the Civil War when the Union was in danger enlisted to go to the defense of his country, Fuller Dingley was a typ- ical representative of the old New England cour- age and energy. He came of a family which had been in this country for many generations, Sav- age's "Genealogical Dictionary" giving the first of the name as Jacob Dingley, of Marshfield, who died in 1691. The family spread to Duxbury, and descendants of this man are to be found there to this day. Stackpole's "History of Durham," Maine, refers to Millard and Jeremiah Dingley. It was in this town that the Hon. Nelson Dingley was born. The story is told of a certain Samuel Mitchell, who brought his wife, Betsey Dingley, from Cape Elizabeth all the way on horseback,
Futter Bingley
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the couple living in a corn barn until their house was built.
Fuller Dingley was born in Bowdoinham, Maine, September 9, 1831, and died in Gardiner, Maine, November 18, 1897. He was educated at the public schools of his native town and was afterwards sent to Litchfield Institute, and then learned the trade of a carpenter. He went to Newport, Rhode Island, to work, but at the out- break of the Civil War he enlisted and served as lieutenant of the Seventh Rhode Island In- fantry. In the United States War Department Records of the War of the Rebellion, Section I, 24, pt. 2, p. 571, the report of Colonel Zenas R. Bliss commanding the Seventh Rhode Island Regiment of the date of July 28, 1863, mentions Lieutenant Fuller Dingley as follows: "I sent Lieutenant Sullivan, regimental adjutant, and Lieutenant Fuller Dingley with a company of Twenty-ninth Massachusetts. They posted the company as directed and started to return to headquarters. They probably lost their way in the darkness and walked into the enemy's lines and were captured. We learned from rebel prisoners that two lieutenants were taken prison- ers from a position in the lines and sent imme- diately to Richmond." Lieutenant Dingley was sent to Andersonville, and other prisons, and in 1865 received honorable discharge. At the close of the war Mr. Dingley came to Gardiner and went into the hardware and coal business with his brother, James B. Dingley, and remained in this business with his brother until his death. Mr. Dingley was a Republican in his politics but never cared for office. His brother, on the other hand, took an exceedingly active interest in all municipal activities and served the city as mayor. It is possible that the rheumatism that Mr. Fuller contracted in his prison experience, and which left him somewhat of an invalid all the rest of his life, had its effect upon his ambition to hold any position in the service of the town. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Re- public, and was an attendant of the Congrega- tional church.
Mr. Dingley married, at Newport, Rhode Island, September 9, 1857, Mary Jane Parkinson, daugh- ter of William D. Southwick, and Fanny (Albro) Southwick, both of them natives of Newport. Mr. and Mrs. Dingley were the parents of two children, only one of whom is now living: Emily Goff, who married, September 14, 1886, Charles Francis Swift, who died July 3, 1912; they had one child, Marion Dingley, who married Oxsheer Meek Smith, June 27, 1914. Mr. Smith is the
president of the Citizens' National Bank of Cameron, Texas.
ERNEST LeROY GOODSPEED, one of the most promising of the young lawyers of Gardi- ner has by his excellent work in his profession and his keen interest in and support of Gardiner activities won an excellent standing in that com- munity.
He was born in Randolph, Maine, October 27, 1888, the son of LeRoy W. and Georgia (Good- win) Goodspeed. As a boy he attended the pub- lic schools of the locality and was graduated trom the Gardiner High School in 1904. He ma- triculated at Bowdoin College and was graduated in 1909. This was followed by work at the Uni- versity of Maine Law School, from which lie ob- tained his legal degree in 1914. Since that time he lias been practicing law in Gardiner, building up in that period an excellent clientele and do- ing work which gives much warrant for future success. Although he has been busy in his pib- fessional work, he has not allowed that to inter- fere in what he considers the obligations of a citizen to take a share in the town affairs. He has been especially interested in the work of the board of education and has been a superintend- ent of schools for the town of Randolph for two years, and also served as a selectman of Ran- dolph for a year. He has been also the city solictior of Gardiner. In his political prefer- ences Mr. Goodspeed is a Democrat. He is a member of Herman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; of the Elks of Gardiner, the Kappa Sig- ma fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa of Bowdoin College, the legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, and the Phi Kappa Phi. During the World War he served in the United States army. He and his family are members of the Episcopal church.
Mr. Goodspeed married, October 18, 1916, Olive Paine, daughter of William E. and Alice Paine, of Hallowell, Maine, and they have one child, Ernest LeRoy, Jr., born August 16, 1917.
EBEN EVANS SCATES was born in Ran- dolph, New Hampshire, October II, 1860, the second son of Sinette S. and Margaret (Booth- man) Scates. The Scates were among the earliest settlers of New Hampshire, emigrating from England. Mr. Scates' father died when he was four years old. Later his mother moved to Bridgeton, Maine, where she married Joseph Dufton. A year later they moved to Lisbon Falls, Maine, where Mr. Dufton went into the
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HISTORY OF MAINE
drug business. Mr. Scates was educated in the public schools of Lisbon Falls.
In 1879 Mr. Scates came to Fort Fairfield as manager of a drug store Mr. Dufton opened. The latter died soon after this and Mr. Scates bought out the business and has ever since conducted it at the old stand, and is the only merchant in Fort Fairfield doing business now who was in trade in 1879. With his brother, Hon. John Clark Scates, of Westbrook, Maine, he organ- ized the Scates Lumber Company, and built a shingle mill on the Aroostook river, near Fort Fairfield, which he operated several years. In 1892, in company with C. D. Cutts, he incorporated the Cutts & Scates Furniture Company, manu- facturers, wholesale and retail dealers in all kinds of furniture. In 1899, in company with W. L. Collins, he established a drug store in Caribou, Maine, under the name of Scates & Company, and a few years later one in Washburn, Maine. In these various activities he has shown great energy.
He has also done his share in the service of the community, having served for several years as assessor of Fort Fairfield Village Corporation and for a number of years as a member and chair- man of the Fort Fairfield School Board. For forty years he has been prominent in the rapid progress and development of the Aroostook val- ley, the garden of Maine. He is a Republican in his political preferences, but has never en- tered politics for office or political preferment, preferring to devote his energies and activities rigedly to business. Mr. Scates all his life has been very prominent and active in the fraternal societies of his town and State. He is a member of Eastern Frontier Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. In Odd Fellowship he has been espe- cially active and prominent, having passed all the chairs in the Subordinate Lodge, Encampment, and Canton, and has held State grand offices in both Grand Lodge and Grand Encampment, and has been a colonel in Patriarchs Militant and on the staff of General John C. Underwood, general commanding the Patriarchs Militant of the World. He attends the Congregational church, , of which his wife is a member. Mr. Scates de- votes some of his spare time to literature. A few years ago he published a book on Odd Fel- lowship. He has just completed the manuscript of a historical book that he will publish this year, 1919, on the life of John and Sophia Baker, who figured so prominently both locally and in- ternationally in the events leading up to the Aroostook War.
EAMES, EMMA (de Gogorza, Emilio Mrs .. pronounced Ames and Go-gor-tha) world-re- nowned soprano and opera singer, was born in Shanghai, China, Aug. 13, 1865. Though she first saw the light of day under the fervid castern sun, she was of decided American ancestry and inherited the best traditions of New England. The singer's father, Ithamar Bellows Eames. of Freeport, Maine, was the son of an East India sea captain. Her mother was Emma (Hay- den) Eames, of Bath, Maine, the daughter of John and Martha (Brown) Hayden, the last named being the daughter of a Bath pioneer. one of the Lemonts of the colony settling at Dromore. The Lemonts were of Huguenot blood and were originally French refugees to Ireland. coming to America from Londonderry. Mme. Eames' father, with a passion for adventure and travel, began his career by running away to sea, and as success attended his various mari- time experiences, he became captain of a mer- chantman. He finally decided to study law, and graduated from the Harvard Law School. Start- ing the practice of law in Boston, Massachusetts, he visited Bath, Maine, where he was married in December, 1861. He had been offered a most renumerative practice in Shanghai, and, taking his bride with him, he went to that city. It was quite in accordance with the sea-going tenden- cies of the young attorney for him to think of taking his wife so far overseas on a wedding journey. He was admitted to the bar of Shang- hai, and remained for some time in China prac- ticing law in the international courts. As this was before the days of consular service his pro- fessional duties were considerable. On Decem- ber 19, 1863, a son, Hayden Eames, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Eames. The birth of their daugh- ter occurred two years later. The family con- tinued to live in Shanghai until 1870, when the ill health of Mrs. Eames necessitated her return to America. The children accompanied their mother, while Mr. Eames stayed in Shanghai.
Mrs. Eames established her residence in Port- land. Maine, where her daughter passed the next five or six years of her life. There the happiest years of her childhood were spent. and there her school life began. In the midst of this happy child life her father met with reverses of fortune, as a result of which the young girl was sent to Bath, Maine, to make her home with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Hayden. Mrs. Eames continued her resi- dence in Portland. There she directed the edu- cation of her son, who was ultimately fitted for the United States Naval Academy, from which
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he graduated in 1882. Thus the formative period of Emma Eames' life was spent quite apart from parental love and influence, circumstances which destined her for the most intense suffering. The travail of her spirit at that time, its striving to understand and conquer itself and the forth- putting of her creative power in the struggle for self-realization may have been the educa- tional process by which the hitherto untrained girl discovered the methods most effective to her in mastering the obstacles of her art and in commanding its secrets of skill. The formal process which she followed, however, consisted of the study of music in Boston, Massachusetts. This study, which she entered upon at the age of seventeen, was made possible by her uncle, General Thomas W. Hyde, who had been told by various persons of discriminating judgment of his niece's gift of voice. She studied with Miss Munger, with Annie Payson Call, and Delsarte, from whom she had private lessons. She also, during this time, benefited from the interest of many distinguished musicians, includ- ing John Knowles Paine, professor at Har- vard; Ernst Perabo, pianist and composer ; and William Gericke, conductor of the Boston Smyphony Orchestra, 1884-89, who taught her many of Schubert's songs. After studying one year, the young soprano was given a lucrative position as soloist in the Channing Church, Newton, Massachusetts. Before another year she began concert work and was engaged to sing the part of one of the sprites in Schumann's "Manfred" with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Mme. Eames' mother, realizing that her daugh- ter had a musical foundation which warranted her going on to a more adequate development of her talents, decided to take her abroad to study. They accordingly went to Paris, where the singer studied with Madame Mathilde Mar- chesi, a noted professor of singing, "a Prussian from Frankfort," veritably, and an excellent drill master. As in many instances before and since, the young student did not pursue her way un- hindered by some pernicious influences in the vocal teaching she received, which might have seriously hampered her artistic development. She was fortunately thrown much upon her own fine resources; and the beauty of her voice was, moreover, indestructible. Like spirit in a tor- tured body, it refused to be mutilated, disin- tegrated or destroyed.
When Gounod wrote a ballet for his opera, "Romeo and Juliet," to be given a special pro- duction at the Grand Opera whence it was to be transferred from the Opera Comique, a Juliet
was needed. She was taken to Gounod, he was so delighted with her voice and her gifts of beauty and talent that he wanted her to sing the part of Juliet, and desired to engage her at once. This, and other operas of his composition, sung by Mme. Eames, was taught her by Gounod, himself. The directors were afraid of intrust- ing such an important rôle on so great an oc- casion to a person who had practically never sung on any stage before, and insisted upon hav- ing Patti sing the first six performances, with Jean de Reszké, The success of the enterprise being thus assured, the unsophisticated prima donna was to replace Patti and to continue with the rôle, if her success should warrant it.
Mme. Eames made her debut in "Romeo and Julet" on Madch 13, 1889, at the Paris Grand Opera House before one of the most critical andiences in the world. To quote contemporary papers, the circumstances were vastly to the advantage of the young and idealistic singer, and she embodied the type of Juliet so entirely that none could believe she had never acted be- fore. From her opening passages she scored an overwhelming success. She awoke, next morning, to find herself acclaimed a star. The following day Sir Augustus Harris, of Covent Garden, London, wired her to arrange for his next season and fix her own terms. This offer she declined, and remained in Paris to complete her two years contract.
During the next two years Mme. Eames sang Marguerite in "Faust" and was intrusted with two creations,-Colombe in "Ascanio" by Saint- Saens and the title role in "Zaire" by De La Nux. In the spring of 1891, she made her bow to a London andience, appearing at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, April 7, as Marguerite, and adding to her repertoire Elsa in "Lohen- grin," Mireille in the opera of that name, Countess in "Le Nozze di Figaro," and Desde- mona in "Otello." She appeared in the operas of her repertoire nearly every subsequent season at Covent Garden, and the last season there she also sang "Aida." After the close of her first season at Covent Garden, Mme. Eames was married, August 1, 1891, to Julian Story, the painter. Mr. Story was the son of the distinguished poet-sculptor, William Wetmore Story, who resided for many years in Rome. and the' grandson of the great American jurist and judge of the Supreme Court, Joseph Story.
In the autumn of 1891, Maurice Grau having offered Mme. Eames a contract with Abbey. Schoeffel and Grau for the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, she came to America and
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HISTORY OF MAINE
made her hrst American appearance- in Chic .. go, New York and Boston. Opera was not widely popular in those days, and was enjoyed only by the educated few, but opera goers will not for- get the season which followed at the Metro- politan Opera House, New York, when Mme. Eames together with Jean and Edouard de Reszké-this combination being known as the "Ideal Cast," which overcrowded the opera and thrilled their audiences with such performances as will long live in the rememberances of those privileged to be present.
In 1892, Mme. Eames sang a short season in Madrid, Spain, with great success. On account of ill health she was obliged to return to Paris, and from that time her appearances were con- fined to the United States and England, with the exception of two engagements at Monte Carlo. The popularity at this time enjoyed by the New England opera star was to last, ever- increasing throughout her final year in New York, 1908-09, which proved a succession of triumphs such as no other American singer has ever experienced.
Mme. Eames sang all the operas in the lan- guage in which they were originally written. She sang "Tannhauser," "Faust," and "Lohen- grin" in two languages, but as a rule refused to sing an opera in any language except that in which it was composed. During these years her rôles included: Aida, "Aida," Verdi; Amelia, "Ballo in Maschera," Verdi; Charlotte. "Wer- ther," Massenet; Colombe, "Ascanio," Saint Saens; Countess, "Le Nozze di Figaro," Mozart; Donna Anna, "Don Giovanni," Mozart; Donna Elvira, "Don Giovanni," Mozart; Desdemona, "Otello," Verdi; Elizabeth, "Tannhauser," Wag- ner; Eva, "Die Meistersingers," Wagner: Elsa, "Lohengrin," Wagner; Sieglinde, "Die Walküre"; Ero, "Ero e Leandre," Mancinelli; Ghisella, "Ghisella," Franck (at Monte Carlo only) ; Iris. "Iris," Mascagni; Juliet, "Romeo and Juliet." Gounod ; Lenora, "Il Trovatore." Verdi; Micaela. "Carmen," Bizet (with an "all star" cast) ; Mireille, "Mireille," Gounod: Mistress Ford. "Falstaff," Verdi; Pamina, "Magic Flute," Mo- zart (historic representation); Santuzza, "Caval- leria Rusticana," Mascagni; Tosca, "Tosca," Puccini; Yasodhara, "Light of Asia," Isidor de Lara (opera given in London with Mme. Eames and Victor Maurie in the principal rôles, the latter as Buddha); Zaire, "Zaire," De La Nux.
These rôles proved the singer's extraordinary versatility, because in each she carried convic- tion and infused into them a personal note
which made each her own. Her absolute sincerity, her ability to forget self in her art, and her great magnetism, which was only trans- cended by her strong spiritual appeal, won her a place unique in the annals of opera.
Mme. Eames' beanty united with distinction of manner and personality, her strong dramatic instinct and emotional understanding, with her marvellously even voice of highly sympathetic quality made her the interpreter par excellence of the rôles she portrayed. Added to this she possessed intelligence and artistic sense which permitted her to dress her characters to per- fection. She did this unaided except, of neces- sity, by her dressmakers. She did not appeal with the conscious perfection of the artist, but by a simplicity of expression that was more the outpouring of her profound self. Her voice, in- deed, was the counterpart of her high ideals and her love for beauty, goodness and truth. In her art she sought not to do of herself that which is good, but endeavored ever to keep her eyes fixed on an abstract idea of perfection. She was passionate after truth. Because of her fear of insincerity to play a part savoring of another's interpretation, it was her custom never to see an opera from the time it was assigned to her until she herself had sung it. She scrupul- ously avoided reading all newspaper criticisms, with the exception of the first accounts of her Paris debut, to which she referred in order to ascertain whether or not she would be justified in continuing an operatic career. This was ow- ing to her habit of looking at herself from a totally impersonal standpoint, as she sought to escape from the bondage of the conventional by her mastery of self wrought from within. "Outward from within," was her motto.
Her interpretative power and ability to be- come the character she represented was marked. At the end of her creation of the role of Iris, she received the greatful thanks of the Japanese for having placed before the public so consistent a portrayal of the pure little Japanese maid. She rendered Aida popular by making her pal- pitating, beautiful and vivid. Her "make up" was such as will never be forgotten by those who saw her and which imitators have been powerless to reproduce. No detail was too small in the composition of her characters for her to overlook. Always she was able to place before the public a character in which she had effaced herself, through mastery of herself.
Mme. Eames sang many of the heroines of Wagnerian operas and in these she was always
Florent Santacon
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BIOGRAPHICAL
at her best. To hear her sing Elsa's dream was to hear not human song but pure ecstacy. [) see her as Elizabeth praying to save the soul of Tannhauser was to see the white embodi- ment of all the angels. She could, of course. enthrall her hearers as Eva, the lovely daughter of the Nuremberg jeweler in "The Master Singers," while as Sieglinde, the beautiful, divine goddess and helpless instrument of destiny, her art pulsated with the Old World's primal love. In all these rôles she was undeniably supreme.
During many years at Covent Garden, Mme. Eames had the friendship and admiration of Queen Victoria, who with other members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales, singled her out for countless attentions. The prince never missed a performance during Mme. Eames' London season. She appeared repeatedly at Her Majesty's Theatre in royal and in private concerts, taking part in many "command" per- formances at Windsor Castle as well as each season at the Buckingham Palace concerts. Both the Queen and the Prince (afterward King Edward VII) were also her personal friends. Mme. Eames sang at the Jubilee of Queen Vic- toria who decorated her with the Jubilee Medal in 1897. This was one of a very few instances where the medal was given to a woman outside the immediate court. The Queen also gave the singer on various occasions many rich gifts and jewels. These valued mementos were destroyed by fire in the autumn of 1915, on their voyage from France.
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