USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 51
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upward to a position of responsibility, and now holds the post of general manager of this large and im- portant concern. He has not confined his in- terests, however, to this single enterprise, but has become connected as a manager and director of the Oxford Electric Company and other concerns. He is also vice-president of the Board of Trade. It is natural that a man so prominently connected with large industrial interests would also become a figure of influence in the financial situation, and this Mr. Gordon now is. He is a director and stockholder of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Lewiston, and is well known throughout the entire community as a conservative, yet prog- ressive financier.
Mr. Gordon possesses one of those well rounded minds which express themselves spon- taneously in many different lines of activity and which take pleasure in well nigh every aspect of life. He is himself a very well known figure in the social world of Lewiston, and is closely iden- tified with the important fraternal organizations. He is affiliated with the local lodge of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, but it is with the Masonic Order that he is most closely associ- ated. He has taken his thirty-second degree in Free Masonry, and is a member of practically all the Masonic bodies in this region, including Tran- quil Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Bradford Chapter, Royal Arch Masons;
Council, Royal and Select Masters; Lewiston Commandery, Knights Templar, Tem- ple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and Consistory, Sovereign Princes of the Royal Secret. In his religious be- lief he is a Congregationalist.
Fred Daniel Gordon was united in marriage, October 1, 1902, at Auburn, Maine, with Eldora Church, a native of that city, a daughter of Her- bert C. and Alfreda (Berry) Church, old and highly respected residents there, where her father was engaged in the express business. Mr. Church died in the year 1916, but Mrs. Church survives him and now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Gordon at Lewiston. To Mr. and Mrs. Gordon one child has been born, Scott Howard, June 13, 1907.
Mr. Gordon is in many particulars typical of the best class of New England business men. It is due to these men that business standards and ideals are so high in that section of the country, since they bring their personal ideals, incul- cated from the cradle, to be a model for the con- duct of all commercial relations .. So far from being compatible with a high degree of practi-
cality, this is really but the result thereof, the result of understanding the uniformity of the great moral laws in their application to life. Men of real practicality, of real intelligence, are not in- consistent, and such an illogicality as that which we too commonly hear about us to the effect that absolute honesty is all very well for the home but that business is business is quite impossible to them. Their vision is larger and they look be- yond the immediate result of the sharp practice and the momentary advantage it may bring to the establishment of solid reputations upon which alone lasting business success may be built. Mr. Gordon is a man of unusually strong personality, who makes a distinct impression for good upon the community of which he is a member. In all his career in business life, involving the discharge of so many responsible duties, he never is ques- tioned as to the honesty of his motives, however much his adversaries might disagree with him on points of policy. His intentions are universally regarded as sincere and he is acknowledged to have filled his posts with a single eye to the com- mon weal and the most whole-souled impartiality and disinterestedness. He is a most worthy suc- cessor to his long line of virtuous ancestors, and the inheritor of their sterling characters.
FRANK LEWIS SHAW, the capable and tal- ented president of the well known Shaw Busi- ness College, on Congress street, Portland, Maine, is a native of this city. He is a son of Jason Howard and Margaret Knights (Thurston) Shaw, old and highly respected residents here. Frank Lewis Shaw was born March 18, 1857, and at- tended the public schools of Portland, including the Portland high school. He then took a special course in the Portland Business College, where he did so well that he was offered a position as instructor in the same institution when he had completed his studies there. This he accepted, and for six years he taught in the college. He realized how valuable this training had been in his own case and accordingly in the year 1884 he organized the Shaw Business College, of which he became the president. This concern he incor- porated, and as its success in Portland was as- sured, he established branches of it elsewhere until there are now three flourishing schools, the one at Portland, one at Bangor, and a third at Augusta. Here courses are given in shorthand, telegraphy and secretarial work, as well as gen- eral business courses, and a course in operating the Burroughs automatic bookkeeping machine. Mr. Shaw has met with the highest kind of suc-
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ALShaw,
Wilfreed B. Frisbey M.Q.
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cess in his enterprise, and is yearly turning out great numbers of highly qualified men and women to take positions in the financial, commercial and industrial occupations of the State. Mr. Shaw is not so completely occupied by his school work, however, as to be unable to attend to outside In- terests, and he has always felt a deep concern for the general welfare of his native city. He is a Republican in politics, and while it is quite out of the question for him to hold office of any kind, as long as his duties are as onerous as they are, yet he has made himself active in the politi- cal situation. He is past chancellor of Ivanhoe Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which he was a charter member, having joined this body at the time of its organization, January 18, 1881. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Port- land, and has done active work in this connection for the welfare of the city. He is also a mem- ber of the National Geographical Society of Washington, D .. C., of the United Accountants and Bookkeepers Association of America, and of the Rotary Club of Portland.
Frank Lewis Shaw was united in marriage, April 9, 1880, with Lena C. Johnson, a daughter of Charles Johnson, a highly respected citizen of this place. To Mr. and Mrs. Shaw four children have been born, as follows: Charles F., born Oc- tober I, 1881, and died in April, 1910; Harold S., born January 31, 1884, and died July 11, 1890; Ralph H., born November 29, 1891; and Karl H., born March 7, 1898.
ALFRED TENNYSON HICKS, the popular and efficient postmaster of the city of Auburn, Maine, comes of good old stock of the "Pine Tree State," and exhibits in his own character and per- sonality the virtues and abilities for which that region is famous. Mr. Hicks is a son of Edwin and Loraine Weston (Stone) Hicks, his father having been engaged in farming for many years, and also served as a locomotive engineer on the Grand Trunk and later the Panama Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks, Sr., resided at Monmouth, Maine.
Alfred Tennyson Hicks was born at Mon- mouth, Maine, October 3, 1863. During his child- hood he attended the public schools of his na- tive region and was later sent to Auburn, Maine, where he attended the Edward Little High School and was there prepared for college. The family circumstances were not very good at that time, however, and accordingly, instead of carry- ing on his own education, he turned his efforts toward imparting knowledge to others, and for two years after leaving high school was a teacher. At the end of that period, however, he
decided that greater opportunities awaited him in a mercantile line, and accordingly embraced the opportunity which offered at about that time of engaging in the jewelry business. He rapidly developed a very considerable trade and followed it uninterruptedly for a period of some twenty- three years. During that time he became known as one of the most successful and trustworthy merchants in the city and enjoyed an enviable reputation which was reflected in his success in business. But it has not been so much in the business world as in the department of public affairs that Mr. Hicks has come to be best known in his chosen community. For many years he has identified himself with the local organization of the Democratic party, the principles and policies of which he has always staunchly supported, but in spite of the fact that he has taken so active a part and that his voice has always been influ- ential in party councils, Mr. Hicks has always studiously avoided public office and never held such a post until 1914. On the first of June in that year, however, he was appointed by Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson postmaster of Auburn, Maine, and at once accepted this honor. Since assuming office Mr. Hicks has devoted himself unremittingly to his responsible duties and has snceceded in instituting many much needed re- forms in his department, and in developing and increasing its usefulness greatly to the advantage of the community. He is giving a most efficient administration, and has won for himself the ap- proval and support of practically the entire citi- zenship of the community. Mr. Hicks is a mem- ber of the Masonic order, the Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Order of the Golden Cross. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Au- burn. In his religious belief he is a Universalist.
Alfred Tennyson Hicks was united in marriage, Jannary I, 1896, with Christina May Hood, at Groveton, New Hampshire. Mrs. Hicks is a daughter of Azel Bumpus and Ella Flora (Goss) Hood, old and highly honored residents of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are the parents of one daughter, Theresa May, born September 24, 1898.
WINFIELD BENJAMIN TRICKEY, M.D .- The bearer of this name is well known to his fellow-citizens of Pittsfield as one of the suc- cessful physicians of the younger generation. In addition to his professional reputation Dr. Trickey is counted upon as a man who takes a helpful interest both in community affairs and in Masonic circles.
George Myron Trickey, father of Winfield Ben-
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jamin Tricker, was born in Exeter, Maine, and was a son of Benjamin Trickey. The Trickey family is of English origin, the founder of the Am- erican branch having settled in New Hampshire. George Myron Trickey has always followed ag- ricultural pursuits. He married, in East Corinth, Maine, Ann Eliza Jewell, a native of Lisbon, New Hampshire. Mrs. Trickey is now deceased.
Winfield Benjamin Trickey, son of George My- ron and Ann Eliza (Jewell) Trickey, was born November 19, 1881, in East Corinth, Maine, and received his primary education in the district schools of his native town, afterward attending the East Corinth Academy, and graduating with the class of 1899. He then studied for a time in the school of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of Boston, eventually matriculating in Bowdoin Medical School, Bowdoin College, and receiving his degree in 1913. After devoting a year to study and practice in the Eastern Maine General Hospital of Bangor, Dr. Trickey settled in Pittsfield, December 1, 1914, and in the few years that have since elapsed has built up a most excellent practice. He is a member of the Penob- scot Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the Phi Chi medical fraternity. While an adherent of the Republican party, Dr. Trickey has never identified himself actively with the affairs of the organization, having no desire for office, and being fully occupied with the work of his pro- fession. He is a third degree Mason, and a mem- ber of the First Baptist Church of Malden, Mas- sachusetts.
Dr. Trickey married, January 23, 1915, in Port- land, Maine, Florence Marcella Buck, born at Bath, Maine, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cowley) Buck, both natives of Maine, and mar- ried at Bath, in that State. Mrs. Buck is de- ceased. The business of Mr. Buck is that of a locomotive engineer. Dr. and Mrs. Trickey are the parents of one child: Ruth Elizabeth, born January 28, 1918.
Adapted by nature for the profession he has chosen, and having enjoyed the advantages of thorough training and equipment, Dr. Trickey during the opening years of his practice, has made a record which justifies the belief that the future holds for him much success and no incon- siderable achievement.
GEORGE HENRY McINTOSH-One of the popular figures in the life of Lisbon Falls, Maine, is the present postmaster of that progressive town, George Henry McIntosh, who has during his long residence here become most intimately
identified with every department of its life and affairs. He is a member of a family of Scotch origin which came from that country to America probably in the person of one John McIntosh, great-grandfather of the Mr. McIntosh of this sketch. Whether or not he was the immigrant ancestor, there is no question as to his having been the founder of the family in Maine, to which State he came at an early age and settled at the village of Harpswell. From there he later migrated to Durham, where he lived and eventually died. He was a farmer during his en- tire life, and became a well known man in his adopted community. The present Mr. McIntosh is a son of George C. McIntosh, a native of Durham, Maine, born March 4, 1833. For a time he engaged in business as a manufacturer of shoes, and later drove an ox team for the Andros- coggin Water Power Company for some thirty- one years. He married Mary Eliazbeth Orr ,a native of Topsham, Maine, who died December 17, 1903, at Lisbon Falls, when seventy-three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh, Sr., were the parents of four children, of whom George Henry McIntosh is the only one living at the present time (1917). These children were as fol- lows: Rhode Francis, who died at the age of eight years; George Henry, with whose career we are especially concerned; Irving Lester, who was a successful merchant at Lisbon Falls for six- teen years, his career being terminated by his death, which occurred when he was only forty- six years of age; and John.
Born October 25, 1861, at Durham, Maine, George Henry McIntosh, second child of George C. and Mary Elizabeth (Orr) McIntosh, passed but the first seven years of his life in his native town. He was then brought by his parents to Lisbon Falls and has continued to reside in this community ever since. He began his education while still living at Durham, but later attended the local public schools of Lisbon Falls, continuing until he was fifteen years of age, when he secured a position in a saw mill, and worked in that ca- pacity until the time of his marriage in 1884. From the time that he had reached the age of man- hood up to the present, Mr. McIntosh has taken a very active part in the life and public affairs of the community, and as early as 1904 was elected street commissioner. He has been intimately identified with the local organization of the Democratic party, and has been considered a leader in its councils for a number of years. He served on the town committee of this party for twelve years, six of which he was chairman,
giuteam Sterrus
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and was appointed to his present position of postmaster on January 5, 1916, by President Wil- son. Since his assumption of the duties of post- master, he has conducted that important depart- ment with the greatest efficiency and has greatly increased its service to the community-at-large. He is a man of wholesome tastes, finding his chief pleasure in the life of out-of-doors, and he is particularly fond of the natoinal game of base- ball, taking every opportunity he can spare to watch the games between the local teams and their opponents. In his religious belief he is a Baptist and is a member of the Free Baptist parish at Lisbon Falls. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancel- lor, and a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks of Lewiston.
George Henry McIntosh was united in marri- age, December 24, 1884, with Hattie M. Cox, a native of East Dixfield, Maine, a daughter of Wil- liam B. and Satira M. (Flagg) Cox, old and highly respected residents of East Dixfield, and now both deceased. Although Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh have had no children of their own, their home has been very far from childless. They have adopted and brought up no less than five children, two of whom were girls, namely, Gladys E. and Bernice E. Cox, the daughters of Mrs. McIntosh's brother. Bernice Eldora was appointed assistant postmas- ter to her adopted father and now serves in this responsible capacity. Gladys E. became the wife of Harry L. Lowell, of Quincy, Massachusetts, where they reside at the present time, and are the parents of a son, George Lowell.
Mr. McIntosh is that typical American product, the self-made man. He has the self confidence and ready resource of the man who has had to care for himself from childhood, a familiarity with the world and its affairs that springs from the same thing and a long course in the stern school of experience. Yet his sophistication has in no wise the effect upon him that it does on small minds of making him cynical, but touches his large nature only to enrich it with all the vivid tones of life. From first to last he has kept his mind and spirit pure and his senses open to new impressions. As a mere child he exhibited un- usual powers of observation and gained a large store of information. He is of an essentially friend- ly nature and yet is not averse to a bit of an argu- ment, and when such arises can hold his own with the best. Despite his popularity and his own strong taste for the society of his fellows, he is possessed of an unusually strong domestic in- stinct and spends as much time as he can manage
in the attractive home which he has established in the city, surrounded by his immediate house- hold and the familiar intimates who are very near to forming a part of it. He is a loving husband and has shown the greatest devotion to the chil- dren that he has taken into his home, his thoughts being ever busy for the welfare and happiness of his family.
J. PUTNAM STEVENS-There are many famı- ilies in Maine bearing the name of Stevens which have come to that part of the country from Massachusetts, where they have been in existence from early Colonial times. That par- ticular branch, however, with which we are con- cerned was founded in Maine by one Joseph Stev- ens, who came front Ipswich, Massachusetts, to Winthrop, Maine, in 1720, and became an exten- sive farmer there. The family continued to reside at Winthrop through a number of generations, and it was there that Joseph Warren Stevens, the father of J. Putnam Stevens, was born August 15, 1825. During his life, however, he removed to North Wayne, Maine, where he was engaged in business as a contractor and builder until his death, May 8, 1889. He married Mary Currier Ingalls, a native of Madison, Maine, born April 4, 1823. She survived her husband many years, and died at North Wayne, December 30, 1912, at the venerable age of eighty-nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were the parents of three children, as follows: J. Putnam, with whose career we are concerned; Betty M., deceased; and Mary L., who became the wife of Ernest Hutchins, of Liver- more. She at present (1917) resides at North Wayne, a widow.
Born November 24, 1852, at Winthrop, Maine, J. Putnam Stevens removed with his parents when four years of age to the town of Wilton, Maine, and somewhat later to North Wayne. He received his education at Wilton Academy and Maine Wesleyan Seminary. Upon completing his stud- ies at the latter institutions, he took up for a time the profession of teaching, but later be- came associated with the North Wayne Paper Company in the capacity of treasurer. In 1885 he came to Portland, Maine, where he has made his home for the past thirty-two years, and has grown to be closely identified with its affairs. When first arriving in Portland, he became associated with a wholesale grocery house as commercial trav- eler and continued in this capacity until 1887, when he accepted a position as general agent for Maine of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insur- ance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. He
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has continued in this business ever since, and has built up a large and successful agency here. Mr. Stevens has been extremely active in pub- lic life and has held many important political offices during his residence in Portland. In the year 1905 he was elected to the Maine Legislature and served in that responsible capacity for the sessions of 1905 and 1906. In 1911 and 1912 he was a member of the School Board of Port- land, and in both these offices discharged his duty in a manner highly satisfactory to his con- stituency and the community at large.
Mr. Stevens has been prominent in Masonic cir- cles. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of Maine Consistory, Portland, Maine. He is affiliated with all the local Masonic bodies, except his Blue Lodge affiliations, which are with Asylum Lodge, of Wayne, Maine, of which he is a past master. He is a member of Green- leaf Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Portland Coun- cil, Royal and Select Masters; St. Albans Com- mandery, Knights Templar. He has held offices in all these various bodies, and for service ren- dered and number of years as a member, he en- joys the distinction of being a life member of all his York Rite Masonic bodies. He is a past potentate and life member of Kora Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Lewiston, Maine. He is also past imperial po- tentate of the Imperial Council of the order, being the first New England man who has ever at- tained this exalted position. This office placed him at the head of two hundred and fifty thousand members of the order in North America. He has for many years been a member of the Royal Order of Scotland. He is also very prominent in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is past exalted ruler and life member of Port- land Lodge, No. 188. He is affiliated with a num- ber of clubs, among which should be mentioned the Woodfords Club and Fern Park Club of Port- land, the Boston City Club and the Home Mar- ket Club of Boston. He is past president and a director of the Maine Sportsmen Fish and Game Association . He is also past president of the Maine Commercial Travelers Asosciation and the Maine Life Underwriters Association. He is one of the directors of the Forest City Trust Company of Portland, and one of the trustees of the Maine Institution for the Blind. In addi- tion to the above, he is also a member of Samo- set Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, and of the Quarter Century Traveling Men's Associa- tion. He was the first patron of Iona Chapter, of Portland, Order of Eastern Star, and has held the
office of past grand patron of the State for this order.
J. Putnam Stevens married (first) January I, 1879, Julia A. Wing, of Wayne, Maine, who died March 1, 1900. They were the parents of one son, Carl P., born April 7, 1883, who now resides at Seattle, Washington, where he is manager and sales agent of the Westinghouse Electric Com- pany and controls the terirtory of Washington and Oregon for this great concern. Mr. Stevens married (second) June 19, 1901, Mrs. Clara Josie Currier, of Washington, D. C., whose maiden name was Clara Josie Paine, and who is a na- tive of East Livermore, Maine.
J. Putnam Stevens is a man of broadest culture and that kind of enlightenment which comes of knowing the world at first hand. He has trav- eled extensively and particularly in all parts of his own country, including Alaska and Honolulu, and in addition has spent some time in Old Mex- ico, been to the Canal Zone, South America, and all the West Indian islands, including Cuba, Ja- maica, Porto Rico, Trinidad, Barbadoes, St. Thomas, Martinique. He has also been abroad and has delivered many delightful lectures on his travels. He is a man of scholarly tastes, and is interested keenly in the subjects of local history and genealogy. He is descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors, and by virtue of the participation of two of his ancestors in the Am- erican War of Independence enjoys a membership in the Maine Society of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution. He is also extremely fond of athletics and out-door exercises of all kinds, and is a member of the Cumberland County Fishing and Angling Association and the Davy Crockett Hunting Club.
The versatility of the typical New England business man is something to fill with wonder- ment the peoples of older and less wide awake countries than these United States, and in a great measure to bear out the contention of Carlyle that talents of all kinds are in essence one and the same ability, and that it is pretty much the accidents of circumstances that deter- mines what expression it shall have, in poetry, in the management of affairs, in the leadership of men. Gifted with a high degree of natural ability, these men find a thousand channels in this land of opportunity in which their powers may flow, and thus enter as many enterprises as their tastes or interests dictate. Such a figure do we find in J. Putnam Stevens.
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