USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 16
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gaged in the active practice of medicine since that time. Dr. Weymouth was City Physician of Saco in 1892, a member of the Board of Health from 1892 to 1895, and has served as United States Pen - sion Examiner since 1893~ He is a member of the
H. A. WEYMOUTH.
Saco and Biddeford Medical Club and the York County Medical Society, serving for the last two years as Secretary and Treasurer of the former organization. In 1886 Dr. Weymouth was elected Alderman from Ward Three, one of the strongest Republican wards of the city, and was elected to the State Senate from York county in the same year. In politics he has been always a Democrat, and has served on the Democratic City Committee for the last ten years, as Chairman during most of that time. He is prominently connected with various fraternal and insurance societies, including the Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Golden Eagle, New England Order of Protection, Order of American Mechanics, United Order of the Golden Cross, Ancient Order of United Workmen, etc., in most of which he has served as Medical Examiner and as representative in the Grand and Superior . bodies. He was married October 1, 1879, to Miss Laura P. Goshen, of Saco. Three children died in infancy ; they have a daughter living : Stella B. Wey- mouth, born April 11, 1893.
WHIDDEN, JOHN WILLIAM, M. D., Portland, was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, February 4, 1856, son of Benjamin F. and Eliza T. (Spaulding) Whidden. He is a descendant of Ichabod Whidden, who was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1630, and died in Greenland, New Hampshire, 1715. His father, Benjamin F. Whidden - born in Greenland, December 12, 1813, died June 19, 1896 - passed most of his life in Lancaster ; he was a lawyer, Judge of Probate, and was sent by President Lincoln to Hayti as first United States Commissioner and Con- - sul General, where he negotiated a commercial treaty between this country and that republic. His grandfather, James Whidden, served in the Revolu- tionary War as Captain of a company of General Stark's troops. His maternal grandfather, William . Dustin Spaulding, was a son of Edward Spaulding, who was carried in the arms of his mother, Phebe, from Haverhill, New Hampshire, to Lancaster, through the forest with only spotted trees for a guide, and with no companion ; Phebe was a de- scendant of the Hannah Dustin famous in New
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J. W. WHIDDEN.
Hampshire history for her heroism in outwitting the Indians and in defending herself from them. Dr. Whidden's early education was acquired at Lan- caster Academy in his native town and Phillips Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire. He attended
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Dartmouth College in the literary department two years, and left to pursue his medical studies at the Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1879. Aside from the studies of his collegiate courses, his training for active life consisted chiefly of work in hospitals as Interne, "and as assistant to college professors. After graduation, as class leader, Dr. Whidden prac- ticed a year in La Porte, Indiana, in association with the foremost physician there, and then went to Wellington, Kansas, where he entered at once upon a busy practice. Becoming in a short time pros- trated by malaria, he was obliged to return to New England to, recover his health, and settled in 1881 at Saco, Maine, where he remained until April 1885, when he removed to Portland, where he has con- tinued in active,practice since. Having no desire for public life, and attending strictly to the duties of his profession, he has declined all solicitations and opportunities to fill civil or political office. Preferring to spend his leisure time in his own home, in study and personal recreation, he has feit neither the inclination nor the necessity for mem- bership in societies, orders or clubs, and has been associated with none of importance. He is a member and ex-President of the Homoeopathic State Medical Society. Caring nothing for the ex- citement of political life, the mysteries of secret orders, or the restlessness of society demands, Dr. Whidden has found relief from the cares of steady professional work by vacations passed in camp life, in the forests and on the lakes, with rod, gun and canoe, thereby renewing health and strength, and storing up energy for future work. He was married June 7, 1882, to Miss Harriet E. Shaw, of East Machias, Maine; they have one child, Harold Franklin Whidden, born November 10, 1884.
WINSLOW, JACOB S., Merchant and Shipowner, Portland, was born in Pembroke, Maine, December 19, 1827, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Clark) Wins- low. His father was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1795, and settled in Pembroke in 1812 ; he was a seaman most of his life, as was his father, Snow Winslow, before him; was mainly engaged in the coasting trade, and died .in 1841, his wife sur- viving him more than fifty years, her death occurring in May 1893. Snow Winslow died at Havana of yellow fever. The subject of this sketch was the second son in a family of ten children. Ilis early
boyhood was spent on the farm and at school. In- heriting from his ancestors a desire for the sea, at the age of fourteen he went on board a vessel as a common sailor, where his industrious habits and integrity of character soon gained for him the con- fidence of his superiors and led to his rapid ad- vancement. Just before reaching his majority, hav- ing been for some two years First Mate of a vessel, he became Master of the brig Noble, in which he made two trips --. one to Philadelphia and a second to the West Indies. He then successively commanded the brigs Fannie, Calista, Bloomer and Jeremiah Fowler, and barks Maine Law and Philena, building
J. S. WINSLOW.
the latter vessel and sailing her for about six years to the West Indies and Europe. In 1862, after more than twenty years of marine life, Captain Wins- low retired from the sea and opened an office on Central Wharf, Portland, where he began trade in ship stores and chandlery, and engaged more ex- tensively in shipbuilding. He has constructed in all some one hundred vessels of different classes, at his yards in Yarmouth, Pembroke and Portland, and has continued to hold a controlling interest in all or nearly all of them. From 1868 to 1890 he had associated with him, as partner in business, Henry P. Dewey, a gentleman of fine business ability, under the firm name of J. S. Winslow & Company. Mr. Dewey retired in 1890, and Eleazer W. Clark
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.
was admitted under a continuation of the old firm. name. Upon his retirement from the sea and lo- cation in Portland, Captain Winslow began to take an active interest in the affairs of the city, and has since been an earnest promoter of all enterprises tending to its prosperity and the welfare of its citizens. He was President of the Portland Board of Trade from 1890 to 1893 ; is Vice-President of the Casco National Bank; President of the International Steamship Company ; a Director of the Maine Steamship Com- pany and the Portland & Boston Steamship .Com- pany ; and is extensively interested in other lines of transportation, including electric roads, being Pres- ident of the Portland & Cape Elizabeth Electric Street Railroad. Captain Winslow is also interested in local and state legislation, was a member of the Common Council for 1868-9, one of the Represen- tatives from Portland to the State Legislature in 1876-7, and is an active member of the Republican party. He was married in 1853 to Philena, daughter of Zenas and Eliza Morton of Lubec. Mrs. Winslow died May 14, 1877, and in 188t he married, second, Miss Melvina C. Clark of Pembroke, by whom he has three daughters : Philena C., born in July 1882 ; Grace S., born in September 1883, and Elizabeth Winslow, born in September 1885.
WOODMAN, FRED HOBART, Treasurer of the Woodman-Cook Company, manufacturers of silver- plated ware, Portland, was born in Palmyra, Somer- set county, Maine, December 28, 1855, son of David and Mary J. ( Hall) Woodman. He is of old New England ancestry on both sides. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and at the Maine Central Institute, Pittsfield, taught school at the age of eighteen, lived on a farm until twenty, worked fora short time in an insurance office at Lew- iston, was a clerk for the Bates Manufacturing Com- pany of Lewiston from the age of twenty-one until he was twenty-five, and afterwards was an overseer in a cotton mill at Cornwall, Ontario. He came to Portland in May 1884, taking a position with Em- ery, Waterhouse & Company, a well-known hard- ware house, and remained with them several years. About 1890 Mr. Woodman bought an interest in the business of Stevens & Smart, manufacturers of silver-plated ware. This business was originated in 1878 by Rufus Dunham, who since 1837 had been manufacturing britannia-ware in Portland. Mr. Dunham and his sons continued the new feature of their business with success for four or five years, when the senior member retired and the firm was
reorganized as Stevens, Smart & Company, the partners being Alfred Stevens, who had also been a manufacturer of britannia-ware in Portland ; Ne- hemiah Smart; and Mr. Dunham's eldest son, Joseph. Later the son retired and the firm name became Stevens & Smart. Soon afterwards Mr. Woodman bought out Mr. Smart, the firm becoming Stevens, Woodman & Company ; and after a couple of years he purchased the entire interests and formed the present corporation of the Woodman-Cook Coin- pany, of which he became the Treasurer and Gen- eral Manager. The business now occupies three times the space and employs three times the help formerly required when Mr. Woodman took hold of
FRED H. WOODMAN.
the enterprise, and with its factory in Portland and branch offices in Boston, New York, and Philadel- phia, has established a trade covering the whole of the United States. Mr. Woodman is a prominent Mason, being a member of Portland Lodge, Mount Vernon Royal Arch Chapter, Portland Council and Portland Commandery, all of Portland, and in Odd Fellowship is a member of Manufacturers' and Me- chanics' Lodge of Lewiston and Una Encampment of Portland. He is also a member of the Portland Club, and of the Portland Board of Trade. In pol- itics Mr. Woodman has always been a Republican, but has never sought nor held public office. He was married June 2, 1877, to Miss Jessie Fremont Shaw, of Lewiston ; there are no children.
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YOULAND, WILLIAM EDWARD, President of the Biddeford Board of Trade, was born in Durham, Androscoggin county, Maine, June 9, 1854, son of Thomas S. and Hattie J. (Beals) Youland. The Youland family is of Scotch origin, its ancestors hav- ing been among the old Scottish chieftains, and Mr. Youland's great-grandfather, John Youland, and his brother Benjamin were participants in one of the many Scotch rebellions against the English govern- ment ; were exiled, and coming to America, took part in the Revolutionary War ; John Youland after- wards returned and was executed for high treason. Edmund Youland, son of John Youland and grand- father of W. E. Youland, served in the war of 1812. He raised a, family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, of whom Thomas S., Mr. Youland's father, was the seventh born. Thomas Youland was born in Lisbon, Maine, and upon reaching manhood adopted agricultural pursuits as an occupation, set- tling in Durham, where he resided until 1861, when he returned to Lisbon, and his inherited patriotism being aroused, he enlisted as a private in the Twenty-ninth Regiment Maine Volunteers and served until the close of the war, his Regiment forming a part of Sheridan's command, during that General's Shenandoah Valley campaign, and partici- pating in the Battles of Winchester and Cedar Creek, where Sheridan saved the day by his famous ride. After his discharge from the service he returned to Lisbon, where he resumed farming. He is still residing at Lisbon Centre in retirement. His wife, Hattie J. Beals, a native of Durham, be- came the mother of seven children, two of whom died in childhood. William E., the subject of this sketch, was the second born, and resided in Durham until he was seven years old, when he moved with his parents to Lisbon, and received his education in the common schools. At the age of ten years he took charge of his father's farm. At twelve years he entered the paper mill at Lisbon Centre, and at fourteen became a weaver in the Farnsworth Mills at Lisbon Centre, and later became secondhand. After seven years' employment in this mill, he pur- sued a course of study at the Dirigo Business Col- lege in Augusta, Maine, during the progress of which he was under the necessity of living in a mnost eco- nomical manner. He won his diploma, and returned to his father's home in Lisbon, again entering the employ of the l'arnsworth Company. After a few months' labor as a weaver he severed this connection and found employment in the Webster Woolen Mills at Sabbatus, Maine. As weaver, he worked
here, upon an average, from six in the morning to seven at night, for five years, and during that time he stved the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, which he invested for the benefit of his parents, without thought or consideration for his own future prospect. He had a natural inclination towards mercantile pursuits, and, after trying in vain at twenty-eight different stores in Portland and Lewis- ton, he at last succeeded in persuading J. W. Pitcher of Lewiston to employ him at a salary of three dollars a week, on which he had to support a wife. Two months later he became a clerk in the dry- goods store of Whittum & Farrar, at eight dollars a
WILLIAM E. YOULAND.
week, where after a year his salary was increased to nine dollars. After working there for two years, he was engaged as head clerk for Oswald & Armstrong, with whom he continued for six months. He next secured a position as salesman with R. H. White & Company in Boston, where he remained for six months, when Bradford Peck induced him to re- turn to Lewiston, to take a clerkship in his new store, later advancing him to the responsible posi- tion of buyer for the cloak department and manager of that branch of the business. He eventually be- camera stockholder and a Director in the concern. Eight years later he severed his connection with that company, and on September 2, 1893, formed a partnership with Samuel Boothby of Portland and
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G. W. Richards of Houlton, and they established themselves in business in Biddeford, under the firni name of W. E. Youland & Company, with Mr. Youland as manager of the business. They deal in dry and fancy goods, cloaks, furs, suits, carpets and small wares, their large stock requiring two spacious floors, and are supplying a large and constantly in- .creasing trade, which necessitates a force of twenty clerks. The firm conduct business upon a liberal and progressive scale, believing that a commercial enterprise depends for its success upon the frequent and continual introduction of novelties as an induce- ment for public attention, and by following closely upon these lines, their establishment has already secured a firm business footing, becoming a perma- nent business institution of the city and one of the largest drygoods stores in York county. In various business and other enterprises of Biddeford, Mr. Youland has interested himself. He is President of the Biddeford Board of Trade, is a stockholder in the Masonic Building Association, and the instigator of the business movement known as Merchants' Week. He is prominent in Masonic Circles, being a member of Dunlap Lodge, also a member of York Chapter and Maine Council of Royal and Select
Masters, and of Bradford Commandery Knights Templar. He is also connected with the Pilgrim Fathers, in which organization he has filled all the chairs, and is now Representative to the Supreme Colony. In politics Mr. Youland is a staunch Re- publican ; he was however elected, by a large majority, Alderman from Ward Seven on the Citi- zen's ticket at the spring election of 1896, and is now President of the Board and serving on several important committees. He is earnestly interested in the moral welfare and general improvement of the community and is an active member of the Jefferson-street Free Baptist Church, with which he is officially connected, has served at the head of its various committees, and is now Superintendent of the Sunday School. He was actively connected with the Lewiston Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, having served as its President. Mr. Youland is a man of culture and refinement, and has a beautiful home and an interesting family. He was married October 9, 1883, to Miss Susie F. Teel, of Lewiston. They have three children : William E. Youland, Jr., aged eleven ; and Galen Linwood and Grace Lillian, twins, aged eight years.
PART II.
ALDEN, GEORGE ADELBERT, of George A. Alden & Company, rubber importers, exporters and com- mission merchants, Boston, was born in Hope, Knox county, Maine, April 7, 1830, son of Silas and Sarah (Lindley) Alden, and a descendant in the eighth generation of John and Priscilla Alden of the Mayflower. Hon. John Alden ( 1), of Duxbury, Massachusetts, was born in England in 1599, came over in the Mayflower in 1620, married about 1621 Priscilla Molines, daughter of William Molines of Lyons, France, who with his wife came also in the Mayflower, and died in Duxbury, September 12, 1687. Tradition represents Priscilla to have been very beautiful in her youth, and John as comely in person. He was the last survivor of those who came in the Mayflower and signed the compact in her cabin in 1620; was distinguished for practical wisdom, integrity and decision, and early acquired, and retained during his long life, a commanding influence over his associates; was much employed in public business, and was assist- ant to the Governor for many years. His son Joseph (2), of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was born in 1624, married Mary Simmons, and died February 8, 1697 ; he was a farmer, and had his father's proprietary share in Bridgewater, where he settled in that part now known as West Bridge- water. John Alden (3), son- of Joseph, of Bridge- water and Middleboro, Massachusetts, inherited the homestead in West Bridgewater, married Hannah White, daughter of Captain Ebenezer White, and died September 29, 1730, aged 56 years. David Alden (4), son of the foregoing, of Middleboro, was born May 18, 1702, married Judah Paddleford, and died August 24, 1763. Job Alden (5), of Middle- boro, son of David, was born September 24, 1737, and married Lucy Spooner in 1764. Ebenezer Alden (6), of Union, Maine, son of Job, and grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born Sep- tember 20, 1774, married in 1799 Patience Gilmore,
daughter of David and Johannah (Miller) Gilmore, and died August 10, 1862 ; he was Postmaster at Union for several years, also Coroner and Select- man, was prominent in business affairs, and erected the first carding machine in Union, in the spring of 1795. Silas Alden (7), son of the foregoing and
GEO. A. ALDEN.
father of George A., was a druggist of Bangor, Maine, born June 23, 1804, and died January 23, 1891. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Captain John W. and Lucy Williams (Jones) Lindley ; Captain Lindley was a son of Levi Lind- ley of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and settled in Union, Maine, in 1794; his wife, born in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1785, was a daughter of Thomas Jones, an Englishman, and a near relative
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of John Lindley, the distinguished English botanist. George A. Alden was educated in the public schools of Bangor, to which place his father re- moved when the son was but four years old. After graduation from the high school, he assisted his father in the drug business for a short time, and in November 1848 went to Boston and secured a position in the wholesale and retail drug store of William B. Little & Company. He continued with this firm, in charge of the retail department of the business, until 1851, when he went to Philadelphia, where he remained about two years. Returning to Boston, his services were at once engaged by the reorganized firm of George F. Little & Company, as Manager, and in this relation he continued until - August 1855, when he severed his connection with this house and entered upon his independent com- mercial career as broker in merchandise. He was successful from the start, and after continuing the business alone for two years, he admitted to part- nership Isaac P. T. Edmands, under the firm name of Alden & Edmands, which soon ranked among the largest handlers of india-rubber and goatskins in the country. In 1874 the firm was dissolved, Mr. Alden retaining the rubber interest, and Mr. Edmands continuing the goatskin part of the busi- ness. Mr. Alden conducted the business alone until 1878, when his son Adelbert H., having become of age, was made a partner, under the present firm name of George A. Alden & Company. Since then the business of the firm has undergone many changes and extensive development. From that time to the present their dealings in rubber and gutta-percha have been conducted on a steadily expanding scale, their operations and interests in these lines exceeding those of any other concern in the world. New branches have been created, and their interests extended in various ways. In 1880 they took up the shellac trade, and under the name of the New York Shellac Company, they now do nearly one-half the entire business done in this commodity in the United States. In 1884, for the purpose of carry- ing on more extensively the importation of rubber, they organized the New York Commercial Com- pany, Limited, with a capital of six hundred thousand dollars, of which Mr. Alden became President and his son Secretary and General Mana- ger. Eight years later, in 1892, the capital of this company was increased to two-and-a-half millions, and the name changed to the New York Commer- cial Company, Mr. Alden continuing as President,
and A. H. Aldien becoming Vice-President and General Manager. The importation of cocoa was added to their various interests in 1887, and their operations in this line have continually increased, until at the present time they are ranked as the largest importers in the United States. Boston has always been the financial centre of operation of this firm, but the growth of the business during recent years has necessitated close and intimate relations with New York, where business offices are maintained. As a commission merchant Mr. Alden has long been the most prominent figure in his line in New England, and for many years has been at the head of the largest business of its kind in the United States. Besides his connection with the various interests mentioned, he is President of the Seamless Rubber Company of New Haven ; a Director of the Boston Rubber Company, Boston Rubber Cement Company and Revere Rubber Company of Boston ; and Director of the National Revere Bank of Boston. He was an original mem- ber of the Boston Merchants' Club and the Boston Athletic Association ; member of the Algonquin, Tempie, Pine Tree State, Country, Trade and Exchange clubs of Boston ; and a life member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, also of St. Andrew's Royal Arch Masonic Chapter and De Molay Commandery Knights Templar. For nearly thirty years Mr. Alden resided with his family in Cam- bridge, but during the last six or seven years his. summer residence has been " The Ridge" in Wellesley, which comprises over eight hundred acres, and is known as one of the finest farms in New England ; his winter residence is at the Hotel Vendome in Boston. He was married in 1856 to Harriet J. Hadley, daughter of Elijah Hadley of Charlestown, Massachusetts; they have two chil- dren : Adelbert Henry and George Edwin Alden. Adelbert H. Alden, the elder son, born May 8, 1857, early evinced talent and inclination for a commercial career, and before he had attained his majority had exhibited unusual business tact and ability. Since becoming associated in partnership with his father his connection with the growth of the business has been both active and intimate, and its general management and development during recent years have been in no small degree due to his superior business instincts and ability. He was one of the leading promoters and organizers of the United States Rubber Company, and since 1890 lias resided in New York. He was married October 29, 1879, to Mabel Crafts Thayer, daughter of
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Charles E. Thayer of Boston : they have had two children ; Adelbert Thayer and John Victor Alden. Mr. Alden's younger son, Geo. Edwin Alden, is President of one of their corporations. He was married December 18, 1890, to Edith Mills Brad- ley of Burlington, Vermont ; they have two children, Priscilla Molines and John Alden.
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