Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 12

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268

USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 12

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

ful, modest and unassuming officer. He is held by the Paymaster-General as one of the best officers in the pay department of our country." - From the Portland Star. That the press voiced popular sen- timent was indicated by the fact that in September of that year Colonel Robie was elected to the Senate of Maine and was re-elected in 1867. In 1866 he was appointed Special Agent of the Treasury De- partment by Hon. William Pitt Fessenden, and served two years ; and from 1868 to 1873 he was an active member of the Republican State Committee. Eight times he has been called on to represent his native town in the Lower House of the State Legis- lature, officiating acceptably as Speaker in 1872 and again in 1876. Three times he has been a mem- ber of the Executive Council, under Governor Washburn in 1861, Governor Davis in 18So, and Governor Plaisted in 1881-2. He was in early life a member of the Whig party, but since its organiza- tion has been in full sympathy with the Republican party. In 1873 Colonel Robie revisited Florida and received hospitable entertainment from those who thirty years before had been his pupils. The fact that many had served in the Confederate army had not impaired the strong friendships formed in early manhood. In the educational and industrial inter- ests of Maine Colonel Robie has always taken a warm interest. The establishment of the State Normal School at Gorham is largely due to his in- Auence while representing his native town in the State Legislature. In 1878 he was one of the Com- missioners to the Paris Exposition of the World's Industry and Art, and during that year travelled extensively in Europe, by keen observation and phil- osophic thought increasing and maturing his quali- fications for the high office which he afterwards was called to fill. In many business enterprises he has been and is still a most potent factor. He has been for many years a Director of the Portland & Rochester Railroad Company, whose early life his father was active in fostering. He has been like- wise for a long period a Director of the First National Bank of Portland, of which he is now President ; and in 1885 he was elected President of the Eastern Telegraph Company. He is a Director and member of the Financial Committee of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, and at one time was Business Manager of the Portland Press Publishing Company. He has been for eight years President of the Board of Trustees of the Maine State Insane Hospital. The society called the Patrons . of Husbandry attracted his favorable no-

tice some years ago, as he saw in the organization an instrument fitted to infuse fresh vigor into the agri- cultural interests of Maine and a power to prevent the depopulation of its agricultural sections. Giving the weight of his personal influence to the society, he has largely augmented its efficiency for good. In ISS2 he was chosen Worthy Master of the State Grange and was re-elected its chief officer for eight successive years, and under his administration the order grew in numbers and social power to a phe- nomenal extent, becoming one of the most benefi- cent of the industrial and social organizations of Maine. He is a member of the Portland Com- mandery of Masons, an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and an interested member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He has recently been honored by his town changing the corporate name of one of its schools, calling it the " Frederick Robie High School." This intimate association with the history, the head, the heart and the hand of the state, natu- rally led to the idea that Colonel Robie would make an admirable Chief Magistrate. It occurred simul- taneously . to many minds in different parts of the state, and everywhere his name was received with marked favor. His familiarity with all affairs of the state, his integrity and sound sense, with his many other marked qualifications, made him the candidate. Hundreds of old soldiers remembered him as the courteous and obliging paymaster ; scores of men were familiar with him as a member of nearly a dozen Legislatures ; hundreds of farmers regarded him as the head of their order ; business men every- where acknowledged his possession of attributes which make a wise and prudent Governor. Thirteen hundred and thirty-one delegates were present at the convention which nominated him - the largest convention of the kind ever held in the state - and gave him ninety-eight votes more than were cast for his distinguished competitor, William W. Thomas, Jr. The ensuing political campaign was one of the most exciting ever known in Maine, one of the lead- ing issues being the differences between Governor Plaisted and the Executive Council of which the Republican candidate was Chairman. Colonel Robie's canvass was cordially commended by the Republican press within and without the state, his public career of twenty years being so irreproachable that no flaw in his record could be found, and the fact that he was personally known to voters in three-fourths of the towns in the state strengthened the ticket, which contained the

MEN OF PROGRESS.

names of four candidates for Congress. An Inde- pendent movement was organized to defeat the Republican ticket, but fell to the ground. James G. Blaine privately stated that in his opinion, " the nomination of Colonel Robie was the strongest that could have been made, and that to it was largely attributable the subsequent splendid victory at the polls." Governor Robie received a majority of nearly nine thousand votes over his competitor, Governor Plaisted, and his inauguration took place in January 1883. His inaugural address to the Legislature was a strong and sensible document, evincing a just state pride and an intelligent famil- iarity with the affairs and demands of the common- wealth. He was re-elected in 1884 by an increased majority reaching nearly twenty thousand. He was Chief Magistrate of Maine from 1883 to 1887, and it is needless to state that he was one of the most popular and efficient governors ever occupying the gubernatorial chair. Governor Robie was married November 27, 1847, to Olivia M. Priest, an accom- plished lady of Biddeford,, Maine. The following children have blessed their union : Harriet, wife of Clark H. Barker, ex-Postmaster of Portland ; Mary Frederica, wife of George F. McQuillan, a promi- nent lawyer of Portland ; Eliza, who died September 3, 1863, and William Pitt Fessenden Robie.

ROWELL, GEORGE SMITH, Business Manager and Managing Editor of the Portland Daily Advertiser, was born in Hallowell, Maine, March 12, 1846, son of Eliphalet and Ellen F. (Smith) Rowell. His paternal great-grandfather Moses Warren, of Waltham, Massachusetts, was a Revolu- tionary soldier and fought at Bunker Hill; and his grandfather on the mother's side, Samuel Smith, a sea captain, served in the War of 1812. His father, Eliphalet Rowell, was born in Livermore, Maine, for twenty-five years edited the Hallowell Gazette, was Paymaster in the army during the war, Post- master of Hallowell twelve years, several times represented Hallowell in the State Legislature, has served as Mayor of Hallowell, and at the present time is Judge of the Municipal Court of Hallowell and Superintendent of the State Industrial School for Girls. George S. Rowell acquired his scholastic education in the public schools of Hallowell, supple- mented by a two-years course at Colby University in the class of 1869. Having learned the printers' trade, he was at a youthful age Assistant Editor of the Hallowell .Gazette, in 1864 taking full charge,

while his father was serving as Paymaster in the army. In 1866 he taught school at Ashland, Aroostook county. Leaving college in 1867, he went to Aroostook county as Assistant Editor of the Aroostook Pioneer, of Presque Isle, since moved to Houlton. Afterwards, with A. W. Glidden, he bought out and ran for a short time the Presque Isle Sunrise, at Presque Isle. In December 1868 he came to Portland as Foreman of the Daily Advertiser, -in which capacity he continued until 1871, when he was made Cashier. With the excep- tion of a short time in 1873-4, when he was in the drug business in Presque Isle, Mr. Rowell has con-

GEO. S ROWELL.

tinued with the Advertiser, as Business Manager, for many years, until the death of Mr. Richardson, the editor, in 1888, when he bought a controlling interest, and has since been Managing Editor and Business Manager. He was President of the Port- land Press Club in 1891, President of the Maine Press Association in 1894-5, and is a member of the Maine Historical Society and the Fra- ternity Club of Portland. He is also a member of Trinity Masonic Lodge, Portland Commandery Knights Templar, Maine Consistory of Thirty- second Degree Masons, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, having enlisted in the army in 1865. In 1892 Colby University conferred upon Mr.

MEN OF PROGRESS.

Rowell the degree of A. M., out of course. In politics he is a Republican. He was married April 17, 1871, to Miss Lydia E. Galiagher of Presque Isle.

RUSSELL, FRANKLIN EDGAR, of the Russell, Snow & Davis Company, wholesale clothing. Boston, was born in Camden, Maine, July 11, 1850; son of Dexter W. and Esther A. (Jones) Russell, grandson of Amasa Russell, and great-grandson of Levi Russell. Levi Russell was a soldier of the Revolution, serving in Capt. Caleb Turner's Com-

FRANKLIN E. RUSSELL.

pany on seacoast defence service at Bristol in 1775, in Capt. Nathan Walker's Company in garrison at Fort George in 1776, and in Capt. Thomas Star- rett's Company on service in the eastern depart- ment at Camden in 1779 ; his name also appears as private on a pay warrant of Capt. Starrett's Com- pany dated October 18, 1783. Mr. Russell was educated in the town schools of Camden, graduat- ing from the high school in 1870. In 1871 he went to Boston and became connected with Isaac Fenno & Company, an old firm of fifty years' stand- ing in the wholesale clothing business, where he has since remained. He worked in the shipping department until the establishment was burned ont in the great fire of November 1872, and upon the firm's resumption of business was sent out on the

road with samples, proving very successful as a salesman, and in course of time establishing a trade that exceeded a hundred thousand dollars a year. In January 1895, Mr. Russell bought out the old firm and organized the Russell, Snow & Davis Com- pany, of which he is the head, and which as succes- sors to the long-established and time-honored house of Fenno, does a very large and constantly increasing business extending throughout the New England and Western states. Mr. Russell has always been a patriotic son of Camden, having kept alive his interest in his native town and his confi- dence in irs prosperous future. The Camden local paper says of him : " Mr. Russell is a Camden boy " and takes great interest and pride in his native town, and is always ready by word or act to help advance its prosperity. He is the proprietor of the Boston Store, and in the great fire of November 10, 1892, he lost both his store building and entire stock of goods. With characteristic energy he at once secured a new place of business and stock of goods, and in less than five days had his store run- ning again. In the spring he began the erection of 2 fine new brick block upon the site of his old building, which is one of the ornaments of our town. It has a beautiful front of mottled brick and granite and contains one of the finest and best stocked dry and fancy goods stores to be found in Knox county, also the property of Mr. Russell. This new build- ing and store forcibly demonstrate the pluck, enter- prise and public spirit of their owner, as well as his confidence in the future prospects of his native town. Mr. Russell is a gentleman of excellent social qualities, is an honorable, bright and progres- sive business man, and has a host of friends, not only in his native town, but all over the state." Mr. Russell is a prominent Mason, being a mem- ber of Aberdeen Lodge, St. Paul's Chapter. Boston Council, and Boston Commandery Knights Tem- plar. He is also a member of the Pine Tree State Club of Boston, and the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. In politics he is a Republican. He was married December 28, 1876, to Miss Charlotte S. Davies, daughter of Edgar W. Davies, a well-known Boston journalist, for many years connected with the Boston Traveller, the greater part of the time as assistant editor.

SARGENT, HERBERT READING, Merchant, Port- land, was born in Parkman, Piscataquis county, Maine, June 20, 1836, son of Increase Sumner and

MEN OF PROGRESS.

Judith H. (Loring) Sargent. He is of old New England ancestry, being descended from (1) William Sargent and Abigail Clark of Gloucester, Massa- chusetts, through (2) John Sargent and Hannah Howard, (3) John Sargent and second wife Mary Ring, (4) Dr. Thomas Sargent (Surgeon attached to Saltonstall's expedition against Castine in 1799) and first wife Lucy Haskell, and (5) Montgomery Sargent and Esther Elwell, his grandparents. He was educated in the town schools of Parkman and North Yarmouth, and until the age of twenty-two worked on farms in Parkman, in Boxford, Massa- chusetts, and in North Yarmouth, Maine. He then worked at the mason trade in Portland until April 22, 1861, when he enlisted in Company E, First Regiment Maine Volunteers, in which he served three months, as private, First Corporal and Fourth Sergeant respectively until the expiration of his term of enlistment, August 8, 1861. On Septem- ber 10, 1861, he re-enlisted in Company E, Tenth Maine, was mustered as Second Sergeant on October 4, was commissioned as Second Lieutenant on January 16, 1862, as First Lieutenant on March 29, 1862, and as Captain on August 9, 1862, and was discharged at Portland on May 8, 1863, by reason of expiration of term of service. He at once raised a company (Company C) for the Thirty-second Maine Infantry, was mustered as Captain, March 23, 1864, was transferred to Company C of the Thiriy-first Maine on December 12, 1864, and served until mustered out after the close of the war, July 17, 1865, near Alexandria, Virginia. Captain Sargent was engaged in the battles of Winchester, Falling Waters, Luray Pike and Cedar Mountain in 1862, and the Wilderness, Nye River, Spottsylvania and the siege of Petersburg in 1864, besides partici- pating in numerous skirmishes and minor engage- ments. Before Petersburg he was under fire every day from June 24 to July 30. He was four times wounded -in the right hand, in the fall of 1861, while guarding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad near Annapolis Junction ; in the left shoulder, and in the bridge of the nose, at the battle of Cedar Mountain, from which latter wound he carried a part of a ball back of his nose for nearly ten years ; and by grape- shot across the kidneys at Spottsylvania, and was in the hospitals at Culpepper and Alexandria, Virginia, and in the officers' hospital at Annapolis, Maryland. At the battle of the mine explosion before Peters- burg, July 30, 1864, he was taken prisoner by Mahone's Division, and was confined successively in Petersburg, Danville, Richland county jail, the

Insane Asylum yard at Columbia, South Carolina, and at Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was paroled about February 25, 1865; was passed through the lines on Cape Fear River about ten miles above Wilmington on March I, went to Camp Parole at Annapolis and remained until May 3, when he joined his regiment near Alexandria. Among the most important events of Captain Sar- gent's military career, he had charge of a hundred and fifty men to put a pontoon bridge across the Shenandoah River near Front Royal ; was in com- mand of the Thirty-second Maine Regiment from June 24 to July 30, 1864, serving also at this

.....

HERBERT R. SARGENT.

time as Brigade and Division Officer of the day ; served as Provost Marshal of the Second Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps ; was on Colonel Stephen M. Weld's staff about two months ; and on July 3, 1862, when in charge of eighteen men on the Luray Pike near Front Royal, a hundred and fifty Rebel cavalry coming down upon them, they repulsed the enemy and put him to rout, emptying three saddles and capturing one of the horses and equip- ments. Captain Sargent's most intimate comrades of his army life were Chaplain George H. Knox and Major John M. Gould of the Tenth Maine, and Cap- tain E. S. Keyes of the Thirty-second. After the war he continued in the service of the government for many years, being Inspector of Customs at Portland

MEN OF PROGRESS.

from 1865 to ISSO, and has held two commissions as United States Deputy Marshal, under Charles Clark in 1863 and George D. Bisbee in 1887. He was also Deputy Sheriff and Messenger of Insol- vency Court for Cumberland county for eight years, 1882-90, and for fourteen years a Constable of the city of Portland. For some years he has been located at Middle and India streets, Portland, in the coal and wood business. Mr. Sargent is a member of Maine Lodge and Past Chief Patriarch of Eastern Star Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows ; Past Sachem of Cogaweso Tribe, Past Great Sachem of the Great Council of Maine, was for five years Great Keeper of Wampum for the State of Maine, Improved Order of Red Men ; member and Master of Exchequer of Bramhall Lodge, Knights of Pythias ; charter member of Bosworth Post, joined September 17, 1867, and Aide-de-Camp on the staffs of Department Commander and Com- mander-in-chief, Grand Army of the Republic, and member of the Lincoln and Portland clubs. He was also a Delegate to the National Encampment of the Grand Army at Milwaukee and a Delegate to the National Encampment at St. Paul in 1896, was Representative to the Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias for two years, and is representative to the Great Council of Red Men of the United States for 1896-7. In politics Mr. Sargent is a Republican. He has been twice married - first, in Portland, October 24, 1860, to Abbie W. Fernald, who bore him three children : Jennie P., Herbert Knox and Abbie W. (deceased) ; second, in Sedgwick, Maine, March 23, 1868, to Eleanor W. Sargent, by whom he has had two children : Hattie E. and Mary R. (deceased) Sargent.

SHAW, THOMAS P., Paymaster of the Maine Central Railroad, was born in Bath, Maine, August 13, 1849, son of John and Ruth (Stetson) Shaw. He was educated in the public schools of Bath, and on leaving school, in 1867, took a trip to Europe for health and pleasure in the ship Mercury, one of the old line packets between New York and Havre, commanded by his maternal uncle, Capt. Thomas P. Stetson. Upon his return he took a position as clerk in the bookstore of his brother in Bath, which he filled for a time, and in December 1869 entered the employ of the Portland & Kennebec Railroad Company as freight clerk at Bath. On the consoli- dation of the Portland & Kennebec and Maine Central railroads, in April 1871, he went to Augusta

as clerk in the General Ticket office. In the spring of 1874 he removed to Bangor, as clerk in the Treas- urer's Office of the European & North American Railway. In September following he was elected Paymaster and Freight Auditor of the Maine Central Railroad, and returning to Augusta, held this position until January 1892, when the duties of the office were divided in consequence of consolidation and increase of business of the corporation, Mr. Shaw retaining the position of Paymaster, which he still

THOS. P. SHAW.

holds. In November 1875 the headquarters and general offices of the road were removed to Portland, where he has since resided. Mr. Shaw is a Director in the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad Company, and is Treasurer of the Portland Union Railway Station Company and of the Maine Central Railroad Relief Association. He has been a member of both branches of the city government of Portland, having been Common Councilman in 1884-5 and 1885-6, and Alderman in 1888-9 and 1889-90, serving on the Finance, Fire-Department and Street- Lighting committees. He also represented Port- land in the State Legislatures of 1891 and 1893, where he was a member of the committees on Finance and on Apportionments under the census of 1890. Upon the reorganization of the State Militia after the war, Mr. Shaw became Quarter- master-Sergeant on the staff of the First Regiment,

MEN OF PROGRESS.

Maine Volunteer Militia, and has since served as Military Secretary on the staff of Governor Davis in IS80, and as Senior Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Major-General Joshua L. Chamberlain commanding the First Division Maine Militia, acting as Assistant- Adjutant-General a part of the time, until the expi- ration of his term in March 1885. In 1893 he was appointed Colonel and Commissary-General on the staff of Governor Cleaves, which position he holds at the present time. Colonel Shaw is a prominent Mason, being a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council, Commandery, York Rite, Thirty-Second Degree Scottish Rite and Royal Order of Scotland, and Past Grand Commander of the Grand Com- mandery Knights Templar of the state. In politics he is a Republican. He was married February 18, 1879, to Miss Fannie M. Alden, second daughter of Darius and Berthia (Nickerson) Alden, of Augusta, Maine ; they have had three children : two that died in infancy, and Thomas P. Shaw, Jr.

SHAW, FRANK LEWIS, Principal of the Shaw Business College, Portland, was born in Portland, March 18, 1857, son of Jason H. and Margaret Knights (Thurston) Shaw. He is of old Oxford- county, Maine, stock, his grandfather having moved to Portland from Paris Hill about 1830. He obtained his early education in the city schools of Portland, and then took a commercial course of study in the Portland Business College, graduating therefrom August 30, 1878. Immediately upon graduation he engaged as teacher in that institution, in which capacity he remained until September 18, 1884, when he organized the Shaw Business Col- lege, and on October 1, 1884, opened that now widely-known training school for commercial life, which he has conducted with great success to the present time. Ten years later, September 14, 1894, Mr. Shaw bought out the Dirigo Business College in Augusta, which has since been carried on as a branch of the Portland institution. Mr. Shaw opened his school in 1884 with one student. As early as 1888 the attendance was in excess of any other like institution in Maine, and in 1895 the maximum attendance at the Portland College was two hundred and twelve, with an enrolment of over five hundred students during the year. This measure of success as an educator speaks for it- self, and it is scarcely necessary to add that Mr. Shaw, besides being a competent instructor and an exceedingly efficient yet popular disciplinarian, is

an active, earnest and capable man of true business instincts. He is a firm believer in " practical " education. This idea has been the strong point in the work carried on at the college, and has had much to do with the marked success enjoyed by the schools and by the students who have been connected therewith. An interesting incident reported by the Portland Evening Express, strik- ingly illustrating the realistic methods of instruction pursued in Mr. Shaw's colleges, is worthy of a place in this sketch. "That the system in Shaw's Busi- ness College, which has a branch in Augusta, gives a thorough practical business training, is illustrated

F. L. SHAW.

by the following incident : In this college all the forms observed among merchants and bankers in the conduct of regular business transactions are observed. Imitating the actual business methods of mercantile houses, the names of well-known establishments are sometimes closely copied, and this fact led to a curious error a few days since, which shows that the business methods of the col- lege are exact enough to make the very elect in business circles mistake them for actual bona-fide transactions. The ' Dirigo College Bank' of the Shaw Dirigo Business College at Augusta, in the ordinary course of school instruction, drew upon the ' Shaw College Bank' in this city a cashier's check for $5,000. This was made payable to the

MEN OF PROGRESS.

order of H. B. Claflin & Cc., the assumed name of one of the practicing business houses in the Shaw College in this city. A letter containing the check was mailed, directed to ' H. B. Claflin & Co., Portland, Me.,' but not to the care of the Shaw Business College, as it should have been. A postal clerk noticed the name of the well-known drygoods house in New York city, and assuming that it was directed by mistake to Portland, sent the letter to New York, where of course it found its way into the counting-room of the H. B. Claflin Company. There, so businesslike was the student's letter, and so apparently realistic was the check for $5,000 that the clerk treated it in every respect as a regular remittance. The check was stamped on the back, ' For deposit only for account of the H. B. Claflin Company,' and in ordinary routine of business was sent to a bank in New York city for deposit. At the bank the mistake was discovered, and thence the check commenced its return travel through the H. B. Claflin Company of New York to its starting point at Augusta, whence it was sent to the 'H. B. Claflin & Co.' of Shaw's Business College in this city. The incident at once serves as a re- minder of the practical business instructions in the college, and the importance as well of great care in the direction of letters." Mr. Shaw is a charter member and Past Chancellor of Ivanhoe Lodge Knights of Pythias, also a representative to and member of the Grand Lodge. In politics he is a Republican. He was married April 9, 1880, to Miss Lena C. Johnson; they have had three children : Charles F., Harold S. (deceased) and Ralph H. Shaw.

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Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 12

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Boston, New England magazine Number of Pages: 1268

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268