USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 8
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Born January 30, 1869, in the town of Frank- lin, Franklin county, Vermont, Thomas Tetreau was taken as an infant by his parents to Law-
rence, Massachusetts, and it was with this city that his youthful associations were formed. It was here also that the preliminary portion of his education was obtained, for which purpose he at- tended the local public schools and was prepared for college in the high school there. He then went to Canada, where he attended the University of Ottawa, from which he graduated with the class of 1896. He did some post-graduate work during the following year, which won him the degree of B.S. He then entered McGill Univer- sity of Montreal, where he studied medicine and received his degree of M.D. He then returned to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he estab- lished himself in practice and continued there until 1903. He then went to Washington State, where he practiced for thirteen years or until he received the appointment of health officer of Portland, Maine. Upon first reaching Washing- ton, he had engaged in a general practice in the town of Yakima, but in the year 1905 he began gradually to devote his attention to the matter of public health and in 1911 gave up his private prac- tice altogether, being in that year appointed health officer of Yakima. Five years later he received the offer from Portland Maine, and re- turned East to take up his new duties. How ad- mirably and effectively he has performed them is acknowledged by the entire city, over the preser- vation of whose health he now presides. Dr. Tetreau takes as active a part in the other as- pects of the city's life as his very onerous duties will permit. He joined, while still in the West, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and keep up his association with that order now. He is also a member of the Portland Medical Club. Dr. Tetreau is a Catholic in religious belief and attends the Cathedral in Portland, being a mem- ber of the Cathedral Parish.
Dr. Tetreau was united in marriage, Novem- ber 17, 1901, at Lawrence, Massachusetts, with Josephine Davis, a native of Manchester, New Hampshire, a daughter of Alexander Davis, him- self a native of that place, and of Elizabeth (Bradley) Davis, his wife. Mrs. Davis was born in England and came to this country in early youth, where she met Mr. Davis and married him. Dr. and Mrs. Tetreau were the parents of six children, as follows: Ursula Elizabeth, born August 24, 1902; Philip E., born June 4, 1904; Francis A., born December 30, 1905; Dorothy A., born September, 1907; Catherine, born May, IOIO; and Thomas, Jr., born 1914.
There is something intrinsically admirable in the profession of medicine that illumines by re-
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HISTORY OF MAINE
flected light all those who practice it. Some- thing, that is, concerned with its prime object, the alleviation of human suffering, something about the self-sacrifice that it must necessarily involve that makes us regard, and rightly so, all those who choose to follow its difficult way and devote themselves to its great aims, with a cer- tain amount of respect and reverence. It is true that today there has been a certain lowering on the average of the standards and traditions of the profession, and that there are many within its ranks at the present time who have proposed to themselves selfish or unworthy objects instead of those identified with the profession itself, whose eyes are centered on the rewards rather than the services, yet there are others also who have pre- served the purest and best ideals of the calling and whose self-sacrifice is as disinterested as that of any who have preceded them. To such men we turn to seek the hope of the great profession in the future, to the men who, forgetful of personal consideration, lost themselves, either in the in- terest of the great questions with which they have concerned themselves or in the joy of rendering a deep service to their fellow-men. A man of this type is Dr. Thomas Tetrean, of Portland, Maine, whose work in that city in the interests of its health, as a health officer, has done the pub- lic an invaluable service.
WILLIAM B. BURNS-One of the prominent figures of the community of Mars Hill and its vicinity, William B. Burns, was born in Fort Fairfield, February 14, 1880, a son of Frank W. and Eliza N. (Slocum) Burns, his father having been employed in the customs house, and run- ning a livery business for thirty years. Of late years he has been engaged in farming and the breeding of horses.
William B. Burns was educated in the common schools of his district and graduated from the Fort Fairfield High School, going from that to the University of Maine, which he attended for two years. After leaving school he obtained a position of deputy collector in the United States Custom Service and was an official at the Port of Mars Hill for fifteen years. He then entered upon mercantile business, and at the same time operated his farm of 165 acres which lies three miles out of the town. Mr. Burns is a Republican in his political convictions. For four years he served the town as a selectman and has been on the school committee for six years, and for three years he was superintendent of schools at Mars Hill. Trustee of Aroostook Cen-
tral Institute for ten years. He is a member of the Masonic order, and also belongs to the East- ern Star, of which he has been a patron for two years. He is a member of the Baptist church.
Mr. Burns married, at Fort Fairfield, Septem- ber 24, 1902, Cora M. White, a daughter of Wil- liam J. and Emmeline (Barnes) White. They have seven children: 1. William Preston, born June 30, 1903. 2. Kenneth Bonney, born May 15, 1905. 3. Alice Louise, born February 8, 1907. 4. Robert Bruce, born March 14, 1909. 5. Hor- tense Eliza, born October 23, 1911. 6. Frank Wesley, 3rd, born March II, 1913. 7. Barbra Elizabeth, born September 23, 1917.
CAPTAIN CHARLES HENRY WELLS, late of Hallowell, Maine, where his death occurred, August 7, 1912, in the eightieth year of his age, was a native of this place and a well known fig- ure in the Chinese trade, both here and in the Orient, most of his active life having been spent in the latter region. Captain Wells was a mem- ber of a very ancient family, which has occupied a distinguished position in the various com- munities in which it has resided, both in America and still earlier in England. The name was originally de Welles, but in later times the pre- fix has been omitted and in some of the branhces the spelling contracted to the modern Wells. The first de Welles came to England with Wil- liam the Conqueror, and his descendants were prominent in the affairs of the Kingdom for many generations, and thence several branches emi- grated to the New England colonies and settled in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. The Connecticut family, from which Captain Wells was sprung, was founded there by Thomas Welles, or Wells, of Essex, England, whose prop- erty had been confiscated in the mother country for political reasons and who came to this coun- try as agents of Lords Say and Seal. He rose io be Governor of Connecticut and was recog- nized as one of the great leaders of the colonists in the early days. He had many descendants, some of whom settled at East Windsor, Connecti- cut, and it was there that Solomon Ensign Wells, the father of Captain Wells, was born, January 17, 1801. As a lad he was brought from there by his parents to Hallowell, Maine, where he en- gaged in farming for many years, and finally died, August 15, 1886, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. He married Louisa Batten Brown, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, where she was born, July 8, 1806. Her death occurred May 4, 1904, having nearly reached her ninety-
William B. Burns
le Hlaello
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BIOGRAPHICAL
eighth birthday at the time. Solomon E. Wells and his wife were the parents of the following children: Aroline, Charles, with whom we are here especially concerned; Julia, Lewis, and Frank.
Born, New Year's day, 1833, at Hallowell, Maine, Captain Charles H. Wells attended the public schools of this place until he had reached the age of eighteen. Two years prior to this the great discovery of gold was made in Cali- fornia and the period of the "Forty-niners" be- gan. Thousands rushed to the western coast from various parts of the country, and in 1851, as soon as he was sufficiently old to make it possible, the young man joined the hurrying and expectant throng that was yet pouring westward. He went by Panama and had to walk across the isthmus, there being no canal at that time. The youth was not daunted, however, and made the difficult and dangerous voyage successfully, and once on the Pacific coast took vessel for Cali- fornia. Arriving there he went to the gold mines in the northern part of the State and re- mained in that district for two years, alternating his prospecting with running a small frontier store and several other occupations. At the close of that period he returned to the East by the Nicaraguan route, and once more found himself in his native place. His trip to California had brought him one thing, even though no fortune had been found, and that was an intense fondness for a life of travel and adventure, especially by sea. Accordingly, in 1854, he went to sea be- fore the mast and thus embarked fairly upon his career. His taste for it was far too deep-seated to be altered by the mere incidental hardships and he soon became known as an excellent sea- man and an ambitious youngster. In addition to his knowledge of practical seamanship, which he gained in the routine of his daily work, he studied navigation and thus fitted himself for a more responsible post. In 1863, while in Scotland, he was made master of the American bark, Colonel Ledyard, and for several years commanded her in the trade between this country and Scotland. He then opened a ship-chandlery establishment at Glasgow and conducted that successfully for a considerable period. Once more, however, the old lure of the sea prevailed with him and he en- tered the employ of the Shanghai Steam Naviga- tion Company, and sailed as the captain of one of this company's vessels from Liverpool to Shanghai, under the British flag. The firm of Russell & Company of Shanghai was the repre- sentative of the English concern in the Chinese
city, and Captain Wells remained in the same employ, commanding in turn several of their vessels and trading in the coast waters and rivers of China. In 1876 the business was purchased by the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Com- pany, but Captain Wells continued his service under the new owners. until the year 1900. He was then sixty-seven years of age, and felt that it was time for him to retire from a life so arduous, so with many regrets, both on his part and that of the company, which was losing one of its most valued agents, he resigned command of his vessel and returned to the United States and his native Hallowell. The remaining twelve years of his life he spent here, winning for him- self a large place in the affections of his fellow citizens, and here his deatlı occurred at the age of seventy-nine. Among the many adventurous episodes of an adventurous life, Captain Wells always remembered with especial interest the oc- casion when, during the Civil War, his ship was chased by the Alabama of Confederate fame, but succeeded in making her escape. As a young man Captain Wells joined the Republican party, but most of his life being spent in the far East, he had little opportunity to keep acquainted with political issues at home. He always retained his allegiance to the old party, however, and on re- turning to this country in 1900, voted the ticket for the first time in fifty years. As a young man he also joined the Masonic order, but his activities in that body also lapsed. In religious belief he was a Methodist, and attended that church while in the United States, but in China he attended the Episcopal church at Shanghai.
Captain Wells was united in marriage, Febru- ary 17, 1860, at Bremen, Germany, with Emilie Bergmann, a native of Hamburg, where she was born, August 14, 1835. Mrs. Wells was a daugh- ter of Peter Philip Erhardt Bergmann, born at Ocvilgoenne, Germany, and Christina (Gerkens) Bergmann, born at Hamburg. Mr. and Mrs. Bergmann were married at Bremen, and there he was engaged in business as a merchant for many years; their deaths occurred in that city in 1876 and 1892, respectively. Mrs. Wells came with her husband to Hallowell, Maine, when he made his home there in 1900, and there her death occurred, December 13, 1903. They were the parents of three children as follows: I. Louisa Christina, who became the wife of Franklin Glazier Russell, of Jacksonville, Florida, where they now reside. They are the parents of three children: i. Hilda, now Mrs. Malcolm McCrory, and the mother of two children, Malcolm, Jr.,
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HISTORY OF MAINE
and Marion Russell, born October 25, 1918. ii. Franklin G., Jr., a graduate of Yale University, and now a lieutenant of artillery in the Sixty- second Division, with the American Expedition- ary Force in France. iii. Maria, born in Hallo- well, July 1, 1887, married, December 30, 1908, Hans Mutzenbecher of Hamburg, where she was being educated at the time in art and languages. She died in Hamburg, June 5, 1909. 2. Geor- giana Emelia, who resides in the old home at Hallowell. 3. Julia Maria, who also resides there. All three of Captain Wells' daughters are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Four years of their childhood were spent in Germany, after which they returned to the United States and studied at the Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy at Hallowell. In the year 1907 they took another extended trip in Europe.
The character of Captain Charles Henry Wells was an unusually strong one, and an unusually simple and direct one as well. From long habits of command his manner seemed at times almost stern, but the fact is, that although he was a strict disciplinarian and insisted on his commands being obeyed instantly, he was actually the re- verse of what is generally thought of as a marti- net. Still less was he ever violent, and rarely raised his voice above the pitch necessary to make it distinctly heard. He circumnavigated the globe no less than five times, besides count- less voyages on a small plan. He did not know the meaning of fear, and this fact, always potent withi plain men, together with a liberality to- wards his crews, accounted for the great hold he exercised over the many rough men he com- manded. Like all who ever sailed the seas as skipper, he had all sorts and conditions of men to deal with, but on the whole his crews were strongly devoted, and there were few ships kept or operated with the skill and snap of those of Captain Wells.
WILLIS ELWOOD SWIFT-Occupying the most conspicuous post in the gift of his fellow citizens, during the great World War, Willis Elwood Swift has been since January 1, 1917, the mayor of Augusta, the capital of the State, being the first mayor under the new charter which is known as "the responsible mayor plan of government." He has given the town an able, clean, business-like administration and his record is one to which he can point with justi- fiable pride.
Mr. Swift is a native of the State of Maine,
having been born in Sidney, September 19, 1870, a son of George D. and Clara A. (Sawtelle) Swift, the former born in New Sharon, Maine, and a farmer by occupation. His mother is a native of Sidney and both are still living.
Willis Elwood Swift was educated in the pub- lic schools and Dirigo Business College of Au- gusta, graduating with the class of 1890. He then entered the service of J. H. Cogan Company and with them he remained for five years. At the end of that time he bought an interest in the firni of Swift & Turner, which after ten years was incorporated under the style of Swift & Tur- ner Company and of this organization he is presi- dent. In 1914 he bought an interest in The Holmes Brothers Company, wholesale grocers, the concern later being incorporated and the name changed to The Holmes-Swift Company and of this concern he is treasurer. He has many other business interests, and among them may be mentioned that he is a trustec and mem- ber of the Executive Board of State Trust Com- pany.
In his political convictions, Mayor Swift is a Republican, and always has taken a very vital interest in municipal and State affairs, feeling that it is the duty of every citizen in each com- monwealth to take his share of the work for the common weal. He served in 1912 on the City Council and in the fall of that year he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 1914 he was elected by his party to the State Senate, and after two years of most acceptable service he was re-elected by his constituency to the second term in the same chamber. In De- cember, 1916, he was elected by his fellow towns- men the mayor of the city and the confidence in his ability, shown by this endorsement, he has fully merited as shown by the excellent work he has done in giving Augusta a clean cut and thor- oughly business administrative term.
Mr. Swift has always taken an active interest in fraternal orders, being a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He is a past presiding officer of all York Rite bodies and past district deputy of the Eleventh Masonic District. He is a mem- ber of the Abnaki and Rotary clubs of Augusta. He is a Universalist and a member of the Win- throp Street Universalist Church.
Mayor Swift married, July 22, 1894, in Angusta, Lillian Irene Holmes, born in Jacksonville, New Brunswick, and educated in the Fredrickton Nor- mal School. She is the daughter of George W. and Elizabeth (Grass) Holmes. Mayor and Mrs.
Wilbur & Oliver
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Swift have two children: Raymond Whitney, born April 22, 1895; graduated from Bowdoin College in 1917, and now a captain in the United States Army. He married, August 22, 1917, Mildred Farrington, daughter of Hon. and Mrs. Frank G. Farrington of Augusta. Their dangh- ter, Marjorie Irene, born December 22, 1898, was educated at Mount Holyoke College, and married, August 31, 1918, Lieutenant Almon Bird Sullivan, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Sullivan, of Rockland, Maine.
WILBUR CARTER OLIVER-The pioneer energy and hardihood persists in modern days in the men who, undeterred by the difficulties or hardships of poverty fight their way through present conditions, and finally reach the top. This is the reflection of one who is called to outline the career of such men as Wilbur C. Oliver and others of his type. He had the ambition, the pluck, and the perseverance to go through the first half of his ambition and then, unwilling to be content with what he had won, entered the second and more difficult phase of the struggle where his competitors were men of the first class. When a man has gone through such a business history, he is entitled to take a modest pride in his work, and to feel a certain satisfaction in the place he has won. Wilbur C. Oliver began 1: with no aids of fortune or of friends, and in the genuine pioneer spirit of honest and courageous will-to-win gained a positon in the business world of the city of Bath which is second to none.
Mr. Oliver comes of old American stock, the Olivers of New England being descendants of the Olivers of Sussex county, England, the earliest to conie over being Thomas Oliver, who brought his wife and children from Lewes in Sussex and settled in Boston in 1632. The tradition is that they were originally Scotch, and a Rev. Andrew Oliver came from Scotland to New Hampshire in the eighteenth century, to take charge of a church in Londonderry in that State, and after- wards went to Otsego county, New York, win, he was the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Springfield. Though others of the name came later in New England history, the names of Thomas Oliver and his wife Anne, are the only ones of the early colonists. A celebrated man of the name was the Peter Oliver who was gradu- ated from Harvard College, receiving his bach- elor's degree in 1735 and his master's degree in arts in 1773, and his doctor's degree in common law at Oxford, in 1776. He was the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Province of Massachusetts between the years 1771 and 1775. There were many Loyalists among that class and rank of men in those days, es- pecially among those who had been brought into close affiliation with the mother country, and Judge Oliver was of that party. Upon the evacu- ation of Boston by the British troops in 1776, he returned to England, and never came back to the country of his birth but died in Birmingham, England, October 13, 1791.
(I) John Oliver was born in Phippsburg, Maine, in 1788. When a young man he entered upon a mercantile career, establishing a store for general merchandise at Winnegance, Maine, and continuing in this occupation all the rest of his life. He married Catharine - and they had eight children, of whom one was John.
(II) John (2) Oliver, son of John (1) and Catharine Oliver, was born in Phippsburg, Maine, April 4, 1820. His education was gained at the local schools and when the time came for him to go to work, he obtained a position in the Phippsburg mills. In this occupation he contin- ued the rest of his life having been promoted to higher positions in reward for his faithful and efficient service. He was a member of the Bap- tist church, and he married Elsie, daughter of Isaac Marr. Their children were: Lucretia, Cleve- land Marr, Camelia, Charles W., Katherine, Chester, George, Emma and Wilbur Carter, of the present biographical account.
(III) Wilbur C. Oliver, youngest son of John (2) and Elsie (Marr) Oliver, was born in Phipps- burg, February 29, 1860. His education was gained in the local schools of his native town and at those of Bath to which he went as a boy of eleven. He was an ambitious lad with an instinct- ive preference for the best, and he hoped to be able to gain a liberal education but this in its formal sense was denied him and at the age of fifteen he had to enter the business arena. Like many other captains of industry he can say, "the world is my university," and the training he re- ceived was in the infinitely more varied and strenuous school of life itself. He first ob- taincd a position as a clerk in a grocery store, and then went to Gloucester, Massachusetts, where for two seasons he worked as a fisherman After that he returned to Bath and entered the employ of the Torry Roller Bushing Works. This business interested him greatly and the pos- sibilities that lay within the scope of the work appealed to his keen and clear-eyed judgment of affairs. With great enthusiasm and a painstak-
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HISTORY OF MAINE
ing industry, he made himself familiar with every step of the processes and with every detail of the administrative methods. His ambition was to be at the head of an establishment of his own on the same lines, and this aim was achieved : 1883, when lie opened his own place for the ga: vanizing of iron in Bath, under the firm name of the Bath Galvanizing Works. The beginnings of this industry were very modest, but good man- agement and modern business methods have brought the establishment into the front rank of those plants that are doing this type of work. The establishment is located at the corner of Vine and Water streets, and is a well equipped plant, the works having been greatly enlarged to accommodate the increasing volume of business. The extensive orders taken by the Bath ship- yards for the building of torpedoes for the United States Government was one among other reasons that urged the building of larger vats for the galvanizing of the large parts of boats. The fill- ing of this need and the expenditure of thousands of dollars on the necessary enlargement and equipment of the plant has been fully justified by the event, and by the enormous growth in late years of the business.
Mr. Oliver is a Republican and a very active and enthusiastic worker along party lines. He is greatly interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the city and has never spared himself in his efforts to affect the changes that will do away with abuses and install improvements in city administration. It is due to the efforts of such men that the life of a community becomes more wholesome and gracious from generation to generation. In 1904 he was elected a member of the common council of Bath from the second ward. In 1906 lie was elected alderman from his ward and as a president of the body was recog- nized by his associates as a superior presiding officer. In 1908 he was the unanimous choice of his party for the office of mayor, but he declined the nomination. He served more than one term as the chairman of the Republican City Commit- tee. He has always taken a deep interest in the improvement of conditions in city institutions. In 1906 the investigation which he was instru- mental in pushing for the improvement of the Bath city almshouse brought about its object and effected a marked change in the work done for the poor of the city. In the spring of 1913 there had been removed by Governor Haynes five sheriffs from as many different counties upon investigation by the Legislature, and Mr. Oliver was appointed for Sagadahoc county, and served twenty months. He then ran for the office of
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