USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 63
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
Born August 1, 1869, at Webster, Maine, James
William Murray, son of Dennis and Mary (Crooke) Murray, passed the first twenty years of his life in his native town. During that time he attended the public schools and as there were no high schools at that time in the town, took up special studies in which he proved himself to be a student of intelligence and aptness. Upon com- pleting his studies, the young man secured a posi- tion as paymaster in the woolen mill at Webster and continued in this employ until the year 1911. In that year he came to Anburn, and was ap- pointed by Governor Plaisted, of Maine, to fill the unexpired term as registrar of probate for An- droscoggin county. Mr. Murray has been ex- tremely active and energetic in the general affairs of Auburn and is a well known figure in the social life there. His hobby, if he can be said to have any, is the national game of baseball and he de- scribes himself as a "fan."
For the amount of schooling that Mr. Murray has received, he is a man of remarkably broad education and the widest reading. A good gen- eral education is quite impossible to gain in our public schools, but Mr. Murray is a man of un- usual erudition and of great special knowledge of many branches of culture. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that he is a natural scholar, one of those whose study by no means stops when they leave school for the last time. It is then only commencing and during their entire life they continue to be students, learning from everything with which they come in contact. It is this which can be said to have caused Mr. Mur- ray's success in the business world. He is a self-made man in a larger sense than in which the term is generally used, in the sense, that is, that he made of himself everything that is possible in every department of his character and career.
JOHN FAIRFIELD WHITCOMB was the eighth child of Eleazer and Abigail Joy Whit- comb, the other children having been: Charles, Abigail, Horatio, Mary, Elizabeth, Octavius, Fran- ces, and Caroline. He was born September I, 1838, at Ellsworth, Maine, and was educated in the public schools of his native town. In early life he followed the blacksmith's trade. At the time of the Civil War he offered his services to the government, receiving a commission as first lieutenant, afterwards acting as captain of his company when the captain died. He was slightly wounded during his term of service. He served one term as postmaster of Ellsworth, and repre- sented his town in the Legislature in 1872-73. He was called "Colonel," receiving that title while
John Fairfield'Whilecml.
309
BIOGRAPHICAL
on Governor Dingley's staff. He was at one time president of the Hancock County Savings Bank, also one of the trustees.
Mr. Whitcomb engaged in the lumber business, to which his life was mainly devoted, being asso- ciated with Charles H. Haynes and John O. Whit- ney, under the firm name of Whitcomb, Haynes & Company, having their established place of business at Ellsworth Falls, Maine. They manu- factured cooperage stock extensively, as well as the various forms of long and short lumber, and dealt largely in timber lands. For many years this reliable firm conducted an honorable and suc- cessful business, which still continues, the same having been incorporated since the death of Mr. Whitcomb, on August 13, 1913. Mr. Whitcomb was a Commandery Mason, and he and his family were attendants at the Congregational church.
Mr. Whitcomb married, in 1860, in Ellsworth, Maine, Madilena G. Haynes, daughter of Charles and Louisa (Hammond ) Haynes, and they have had the following children : Laura Maud, deceased ; and Benjamin Bradford, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and for eighteen years deputy collector of customs at the port of Ellsworth, and he be- came one of the directors in the lumber business above referred to, on its incorporation as Whit- comb, Haynes & Whitney.
GRANVILLE CHAPMAN HORR, for many years a well known citizen of Portland, Maine, and who served as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War, was a native of this city, and a son of Calvin and Harriett (Payne) Horr. Mr. and Mrs. Horr, Sr., resided for some time at Westbrook, Maine, but were identified with Port- land during the major part of their lives. Their son, Granville Chapman Horr, was born here, May 14, 1843, and afterwards, while still a small child, removed with his parents to Westbrook. It was here that he first attended school, and he was still a scholar, in his teens, when the Civil War broke out. The youth at once enlisted in Company E, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, and was shortly afterwards promoted to the rank of corporal. He served for a period of nine months, seeing considerable active service, and then, upon receiving his hon- orable discharge, located at his home town of Westbrook, where he secured a position as clerk in a local store. Shortly after, he came to Port- land, where he secured a similar position in the store of George Warren, and remained in that employ for upwards of quarter of a century. From the time of his coming to this city he had
made it his permanent residence, up to the time of his death, which occurred at his home, August 7, 1894. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Mr. Horr was prominent in the fraternal and social circles of the city, and was a member of Sac- coppa Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he was a Republican, and in religion a Congregationalist, attending the Second Church of that denomination in Portland.
Granville Chapman Horr was twice married, his first wife being Mary Libby. There was one child born of this union, Walter F. Horr, who resides at the present time in Portland, and married Ma- tilda Davidson, by whom he has had nine children: George, Philip, May, Florence, Alice, Louise, James, Emily and William. After the death of his first wife, which occurred in January, 1891, Mr. Horr married Jennie L. (Wylie) Whitehouse, of Portland, Maine, a daughter of Captain Par- ker and Elizabeth (Clark) Wylie, and widow of George C. Whitehouse. Mrs. Horr survives her husband, and at present resides on Spring street, Portland. She is a very prominent woman in the community, especially in church circles, and is a member of the Williston Congregational Church. She is devoted to her home.
CARL BORDEN FLYNN, son of James A. and Annie M. (Foster) Flynn, was born March 23, 1880, at Machiasport, Maine, his father hav- ing been a master mariner sailing from that port for many years.
Mr. Flynn went through the public schools and finished the course at the Machias Port High School, after which he went into navigation and has been a master mariner for eighteen years. Captain Flynn took command of a vessel at the age of nineteen; at one time he was the young- est master on the coast. He sailed vessels out of New Haven, Connecticut, for fifteen ycars. After following the sea for eighteen years he went into the shipbuilding business, remaining in that for two years. Mr. Flynn has held the of- fice of first assessor of taxes and second select- man of the town of Harrington. He is a mem- ber of the Sons of the American Revolution, tracing his descent to Samuel Marston who served in the Continental Army from New Hampshire during the Revolutionary War. He holds mem- bership in the Masonic order, being a member of lodge, chapter and commandery of Machias. He is also a member of the Red Men, the Grange, the Neptune Association of New York, and the New York Marine Society. He is a member of the Methodist church.
310
HISTORY OF MAINE
He married a! New Haven, Connecticut, May 13, 1903, Carrie Wood Munroc, daughter of D. Thorpe and Emma L. Munroe. Their children are: Evelyn L., born July 1, 1904; Munroe C., born February 26, 1907; Horacc F., born October 9, 1911; and Carrie L., born July 22, 1914.
LOUIS ANDREW PETERSON-Among the many nationalities which pour their thousands of emigrants yearly upon the shores of the United States, Denmark is to be numbered, although those who reach us from its freedom-loving shores are not so many as we could wish. For there is less reason for the Danes to stray abroad from their native land than for the people of other places, which, though less rugged in their natural aspects, are not so favored with that spirit of liberty which, of all things, men hold dearest. Such of them as do find their way hither, however, are the more welcome, since we know them for what they are, possessed of the simple and fundamental virtues; honor, courage, indus- try, which above all others are important and to the advantage of a community in the persons of its members. Such a man, for instance, as Louis Andrew Peterson, who thought not himself a na- tive of Denmark is of Danish parentage, his father, John Christian Peterson, having been born in that country in the year 1836. The elder Mr. Peterson came to the United States at the age of twenty years and first made his home in the city of Chicago, where he remained five years, engaged in his trade as a carpenter. He was in that city at the time of the great fire. From Chi- cago he came to Portland, Maine, where he re- sided for two years, and tlien went to Scarboro, where he has made his home ever since. Mr. Peterson is now living retired on a competence. He married at Clinton, Iowa, Elena Lawson, and they were the parents of five children, as follows: Jennie Christina, who died at the age of twenty- six years; Meta Maria, who is a professional nurse and makes her home with her parents at Scarboro; Helena Georgiana, now the wife of Charles Walker, of Scarboro; Louis Andrew, of whom further; Elliott Scott, of Portland, where he is at present working in the employ of his brother, Louis Andrew Peterson.
Louis Andrew Peterson was born April 13, 1877, at Scarboro, Maine, and there spent the early years of his childhood and youth, attending the local public schools for his education and fin- ally graduating from the Scarboro High School in 1895 after preparing himself for college. He then entered Gray's Business College, where he
took a commercial course, and after completing his studies there learned the trade of carpenter, which his father had followed for so many years, and began work in his native town. He also did work at Cape Elizabeth and later at Portland, where for eleven years he followed liis trade. In the year 1910, Mr. Peterson's attention was for- cibly directed to the great opportunities existing in the automobile business, then enjoying a per- iod of very rapid development. Accordingly he purchased a one-half interest in the Spear Auto- mobile Company and three years later became the sole owner of that prosperous concern, the name of which was changed to that of the Peterson Motor Company, which it has borne since 1913 to the present time. In the year 1914 Mr. Peterson erected the present handsome building which is now the quarters of the concern, at Nos. 327 and 329 Forest avenue, Portland. This building, which measures forty-two by eighty- five feet and is two stories in height, was added to in 1917 by the erection of another building adjacent, measuring fifty by eighty, re- sulting in a plant as completely equipped with all modern devices as any in the State. Mr. Peter- son is extremely active in many other aspects of the life of Portland, and is particularly well known in social and club circles there. He is a member of the Woodfords Club and has made himself a leader in many important movements undertaken for the general civic betterment of the city. In his religious belief Mr. Peterson is a Congregationalist, but his wife attends the Free Will Baptist church in Portland.
Louis Andrew Peterson was married, January 28, 1903, at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, to Annie Lou- ise Murray, a native of that place, born March 2, 1873, a daughter of William D. and Elizabeth Frances (Dyer) Murray, old and highly respected residents there, who are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Peterson three children have been born, as follows: Roland Elliott, December 7, 1905; Murray Gignoux, November 23, 1909; and Roger Curtis, October 6, 1913.
The career of Mr. Peterson has displayed tal- ents and abilities as varied as the directions in which they are expended, but most especially does it show those first and cardinal virtues of courage, honesty and charity without which no normal or lasting achievement may be wrought. He has been engaged during his life in many occupations among many different people and classes of peo- ple, but he always has proven himself in every sense a man among men and was instinctively ac- corded a high place in their regard, and this is
Raymond albert
311
BIOGRAPHICAL
the place which he now still holds. His family life is not less worthy than those other relations of business and the business world in general in which he has distinguished himself, and he shows himself the most devoted of husbands and fathers.
RAYMOND ALBERT, the well known and ef- ficient town clerk of Madawaska, Mainc, where he is engaged in business as a general merchant and in the handling of produce from the local farms, is a native of Madawaska, Maine, where his birth occurred September 12, 1876, and a son of Eloi and Delina (Dufour) Albert, old and highly respected residents of this place, where the for- mer has been engaged in farming operations for many years. Raymond Albert enjoyed the ad- vantages of an excellent education as a lad, and attended the Madawaska Training School at Fort Kent, from which institution he graduated with the class of 1896. After completing his studies at this institution Mr. Albert, himself, engaged in the profession of teaching for a number of years, but in the year 1900 opened his present general store at Madawaska and has been actively en- gaged in its operation ever since. He has met with a high degree of success in this enterprise, and is justly regarded as one of the most suc- cessful and active business men of the region. He does a large trade in handling the produce of the local farms here, selling again to the vari- ons markets in and about Madawaska. In addi- tion to his private business Mr. Albert has inter- csted himself in the general financial and mer- cantile development of the community, and at the present time is connected in an official capac- ity with the Van Buren Trust Company, of Van Buren. In politics Mr. Albert is a Republican, and has been very much of a leader of his party in this section. In 1897 he was elected to the of- fice of town clerk and has licld that responsible post for twenty consecutive years, attending to its complicated and responsible duties in the most highly efficient manner so as to give satisfaction to the whole community, both political friends and foes. In his religious belief, Raymond Albert is a Roman Catholic and attends St. David's Church of this denomination at Madawaska. He is very active in the work of the parish, and is also a prominent member of the local council of the Knights of Columbus.
Raymond Albert was united in marriage, Octo- ber 26, 1907, at Madawaska, Maine, with Marie Cyr, daughter of Jacques and Justine (Albert) Cyr, old and highly respected residents of that
place. To Mr. and Mrs. Albert the following chil- dren have been born: Aline, born October 21, 1908; Romeo, born October 23, 1911; Leonide, born August 28, 1914; and Rene, born September 30, 1916.
RICHARD ROBERT SCHONLAND -Tlc annals of the American business world are crowded with the records of men of German birth or parentage who have wrought high places for themselves in the New World and gained the good will and respect of their chosen fellow citi- zens. By this means they have done the country an invaluable service and have given it a full equivalent in labor for all the wealth they have been so successful in drawing to themselves, for the work of our citizens of German extraction has almost been universally of a productive type. But their service has not been wholly a material one and no less worthy of note has been the mental and moral effect of having presented be- fore our eyes concrete examples of great achieve- ment from small beginnings. An excellent ex- ample of the foregoing is Richard Robert Schon- land, himself a native of Manchester, New Hamp- shire, but a son of Charles Henry Schonland, a native of the Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, and of Julia (Hoppe) Schonland, also a native of that region. Mr. Schonland, Sr., came to the United States from his native land while still a youth, and lived in this country for sixty years, until his death which occurred in Lawrence, Mas- sachusetts, at the age of seventy-seven. He was a sausage manufacturer by trade and engaged in that business in Lawrence, Massachusetts, for a number of years. He married Julia Hoppe in this country, and her death occurred in Lawrence at the age of seventy-five. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: William F., Henry C., Richard R., Louise, Charles, who is engaged in business with his brother, Richard R .; Minnie, Fred, Theodore, deccased, and Robert.
Born March 18, 1861, at Manchester, New Hampshire, Richard Robert Schonland, son of Charles Henry and Julia (Hoppe) Schonland, re- moved while still an infant with his parents to the city of Boston. Here his earliest childish asso- ciations were formed, but he was still only five years of age when his parents once more removed, this time going to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and it was in this place that his childhood and youth were passed. It was at Lawrence that he re- ceived his education, attending for this purpose the local public schools, and it was at Lawrence that he learned the trade of sausage making in
312
HISTORY OF MAINE
his father's establishment. Mr. Schonland has never engaged in any other line than this, and at the age of thirty-one, after a long apprenticeship in his father's establishment, came to Portland, Maine, and there established his present large business. In this enterprise he was associated with his brother, Charles Schonland, and the two young men, with characteristic energy and in- dustry, set to work to build up a business which should set a standard in the excellence of its product and the efficiency of its management. In this ambition they were highly successful and the firm of Schonland Brothers, with offices at Nos. 8 and 10 Union street, Portland, is now the leading concern of its kind in Maine. Every kind of sausage is manufactured at their plant, but they make a specialty of frankfurters, and supply an enormous amount throughout the East.
Richard R. Schonland has made himself a con- spicuous figure in the general life of Portland. He is a Democrat in politics, has taken a leading part in the local organization of his party, and has been elected a number of times alderman from the Sixth Ward on its ticket. He served on the Board of Aldermen in the years 1912, 1913 and 1914, and gave evidence of his disinter- estedness and public spirit in all his official con- duct. Mr. Schonland is also very prominent in fraternal circles, especially so in connection with the Masonic order, where he has taken his thirty-second degree. He is a member of Atlan- tic Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Greenleaf Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Portland Council, Royal and Select Masters; Portland Commandery, Knights Templar; and Kora Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the local lodge of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a life member and past exalted ruler of the Portland Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Besides numerous other fraternal organizations, Mr. Schonland is a member of Portland Yacht Club, and the Portland Power Boat Club. He attends the Congress Square church.
Mr. Schonland was united in marriage, De- cember 14, 1884, at Lawrence, Massachusetts, with Helene L. Geisler, a native of Germany, a dangh- ter of Henry and Wilhelmina (Eichler) Geisler, of that country. Mrs. Schonland's mother is de- ceased, but her father lives in retirement at Law- rence. Mr. and Mrs. Schonland have had six chil- dren born to them, of whom two are deceased. The four that are living are as follows: Helene, now the wife of Alton W. Mabry, of Watertown, Massachusetts, where he is engaged in the busi-
ness of manufacturing pianos; Mildred L., who became the wife of J. Henry Keefe, an officer in the United States Navy, having been graduated from Annapolis with the class of 1917; Richard Palmer, a student in the Maine State University, class of 1917; and Herbert E., a student in the Portland High School, class of 1918. The two children that are deceased are Carl F., who died at the age of twenty-five, and Edwin, who died in infancy.
Measured as a man, Mr. Schonland occupies a position in the community allotted to few to hold. The worth of his citizenship is recognized by all and the offices, political and otherwise, that he has been chosen to fill have been administered with the same high efficiency that marks the administration of his own large and important private concerns. A man of strict integrity and lofty purpose, he counts his friends among the high and the lowly, and his friendship is always to be depended upon. He is most kindly of heart, very approachable, genial in disposition, and holds sacred the rights of others.
JOHN B. FARRELL, who held a position of respect and esteem in his community, and served it loyally and faithfully in more than one office, was born in Van Buren, Maine, January 9, 1832, and died June 25, 1881. He was a son of Michael and Julia (DuBay) Farrell, his father having been a farmer and carpenter, and also the proprietor of a hotel.
John B. Farrell attended the common schools, and worked on a farm for a time. He also be- came interested in the hardware business, and while yet a young man was in the employ of the Government as a mail carrier. He always took a keen interest in political matters, his sympathies being with the Democratic party. He held sev- eral town offices, among them being that of sheriff, and he was sent to the State Legislature by his district, and served his constituency well and faithfully. He was a member of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Farrell married, at Van Buren, January 9, 1854, Emily Michand, daughter of Fabien Mich- and, and their children were: Julia, Leonard, Al- fred, Edmund, Jane, Ellen, Elizabeth, Emmeline, Emily, Melvina and Euphemia.
FRANCOIS X. MARCOTTE has for long oc- cupied a prominent position in the life of Lewis- ton, Maine, having been identified with its gen- eral business and industrial development, and is of French-Canadian parentage, his father, Hubert
John B. Farrell
313
BIOGRAPHICAL
Marcotte, having been born at Deschambault, Canada, where he carried on the occupation of farming, near Wotten. It was at Wotten that the elder man died, in the year 1867. Mr. Marcotte, Sr., married Leocadie Touyin, and she died when her son Francois X. was but nine days old.
Born February 7, 1859, at Wotten, Canada, Francois X. Marcotte spent the early years of his life at his native town. It was here also that he attended the schools for the preliminary portion of his education, and at the age of nineteen en- tered a private night school at Lewiston, Maine, where he had subsequently removed. His first position in Lewiston was as a weaver in the mill there, where he remained for a period of six years. He then returned to Windsor, Canada, and here opened a general store, which he con- ducted for about four years. At the end of this period, however, he sold this place and again re- turned to Lewiston, where he obtained a position as a clerk in a furniture store at No. 132 Lincoln street. The young man was, however, anxious to own a place of his own, and at the expiration of four months was able to gratify his ambition when he was offered the establishment where he was then employed. This place he purchased and still owns. In addition to the furniture business, he added an undertaking business, and has re- cently opened a music store close by, at No. 136 Lincoln street, which is entirely up-to-date, and a model of its kind in the neighborhood, as well as his grocery store at No. 196 Lincoln street, which he has conducted for eight years. Mr. Marcotte, however, does not confine his attention entirely to business, but takes an active part in the life of the community generally. For six years he served on the Board of Water Commis- sioners and has held other similar offices of like importance. He is a director and stockholder in the Manufacturers National Bank at Lewiston, and is also a member of several societies. In his religious belief Mr. Marcotte is a Catholic and attends St. Peter's Catholic Church at Lewiston. He is deeply interested in church affairs and takes an active part in support of same, giving a great deal of his time, attention and money to its phil- anthropic undertakings.
Francois X. Marcotte was united in marriage, February 15, 1881, at St. Sophio, Halifax, with Marie S. Gosselin, a daughter of Pierre and Mar- garet (Roy) Gosselin, who were prominent and highly respected members of this place, both now deceased. Mr. Marcotte is an enthusiast of mu- sic and is a considerable critic. He is especially fond of French music, and whenever the oppor-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.