USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 18
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Middlesex District. In Reading, where he has resided since 1874, he has been a member of the School Committee and a Director of the First National Bank, is a Director in various corporations and President of the Pine Tree Club of Reading, · and is a member of Good Samaritan Lodge of Masons and the Reading Athletic Club. He is also a member of the Middlesex and Pine Tree State clubs of Boston. In politics Mr. Brown is a Repub- lican, and claims the honor of being one of the original Blaine men in Massachusetts .. He was married September 24, 1874, to Elizabeth Anna Harrison of Newark, New Jersey ; they have three children : Arthur H., Gertrude C. and Sydney F. Brown.
BROOKS, JOHN G., M. D., Ex-Mayor of Belfast, was born in York, Maine, February 15, 1821, son of Solomon and Nancy (Savage) Brooks. His father
JOHN G. BROOKS.
was a man of some prominence in his time, and served in both branches of the Maine Legisla- ture. His grandfather Solomon Brooks and his grandmother Lois Brooks were both descendants of the Brooks families who settled in Massachusetts at an early period ; the latter was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts. His mother's ancestor, Major Thomas Savage, came to Boston in 1635 in the ship
Planter, was Captain of an artillery company in 1651, commanded the Massachusetts forces in King Philip's War, represented Boston in the General Court of Massachusetts for nine years, was other- wise prominent in the early history of Boston, and married Faith, the daughter of Anne Hutchinson, who was famous in the early religious controversies of Massachusetts ; he was descended from Le Sieur Thomas Le Sauvage, whose name appears as one of the survivors of the Battle of Hastings, 1066. The subject of this sketch acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools, and at South Berwick (Maine) Academy and Gorham (Maine) Seminary. It was his original intention to follow a mercantile career ; he was in a country store several years, and in 1839 entered a drygoods store in Boston, where he remained for a year, but was compelled to give up that occupation on account of failing health. Later he entered Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1848, and pursuing the study of medicine, graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia in 1851. In the same year he established himself in the active practice of his profession in Belfast, where he has since remained. During the early days of the Civil War, in 1861, he was appointed Examining Surgeon for drafted men and volunteers by the Governor of Maine. He was Examining Surgeon for the United States Pen- sion Bureau for many years, and has served as an officer both in the County and State medical socie- .ties. After many years of extensive and arduous practice, his health becoming impaired with in- creasing age has compelled his gradual retirement from the active duties of general medical practice. Dr. Brooks assisted in organizing the Belfast Savings Bank in 1868, and has been one of its Trustees from its organization. He was elected President of the Belfast National Bank in 1879, and has contin- ued in this office to the present time. He has also been interested in several local business enterprises in Belfast. He was a member of the State Senate in 1873, was Mayor of Belfast for two terms in 1874-5, and was a member of the House of Rep- resentatives in the State Legislature of 1880. In politics Dr. Brooks was a Democrat until the commencement of the Civil War, and has been a Republican since. He is unmarried.
BAILEY, DUDLEY PERKINS, Lawyer, of Boston and Everett, Massachusetts, was born in Cornville, Somerset county, Maine, son of Reverend Dudley
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Perkins and Hannah Barrows (Cushman) Bailey. On the paternal side he is a descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, and his maternal ancestor was Robert Cushman, also one of the Pilgrims. His early education was acquired in the district schools of Maine, by private tuition at home, and at Monson (Maine) Academy. He graduated from Colby University in 1867, studied law in the office of William L. Putnam of Portland, Maine, now Judge of the United States Circuit Court, and was admitted to the Bar at Portland, April 28, 1870. He entered upon the active duties of his profession at Freeport, Maine, in 1870; practiced in Portland in 1870-2 ; in Everett, Massachusetts, 1872-9 ; and in Boston and Everett from 1879 to the present time, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice, especially in the line of conveyancing and the exam- ination of titles. Mr. Bailey is also President of the Everett Herald Company, the corporation publishing the Everett Herald. He was a member of the School Committee of Everett in 1873-4, 1876-80 and 1882-91, serving as Chairman 1886-91 ; repre- sented Everett in the General Court of Massachu- setts in 1886-7; was a member of the Common Council in 1893-4, being President of that body in the latter year, and Alderman in 1895. He has also been a Trustee of the Everett Public Library from 1878 to the present time. He is a member of Palestine Lodge, Tabernacle Chapter and Brauseant Commandery of Masons ; the Middlesex and Pine Tree State clubs of Boston ; member and first Presi- dent of the Pine Tree Club of Everett ; and member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa societies of Colby University, also of the First Bap- tist Church in Everett, and life member and Director of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention. He was active in the founding of the Glendale Baptist Sab- bath School of Everett in 1888, and has been its Superintendent since organization. Mr. Bailey is a Republican in politics ; he served for several years on the Republican Town Committee, and has been a member of the Senatorial District Committee since 1894. While serving in the Legislature he was instrumental in securing legislation for limiting conditions and restrictions on real estate to thirty years ; for additional taxes on telephone companies ; codification of laws for the collection of taxes ; and for improved returns of the aggregates of assessors. He also drafted the city ordinances for the estab- lishment of the Board of Public Works of Everett, and for placing Everett's labor service under civil- service rules. Mr. Bailey has also been active in
the literary field. In 1867, while in college, he won the first prize offered by the American Free Trade League to undergraduates of American Colleges, for best essay in favor of Free Trade. He had editorial charge of the Portland (Maine) Press for a time, and has written somewhat extensively for magazines on financial topics, beginning with the American Exchange and Review in 1873, and later contributing to the Bankers' Magazine of New York. Among these articles may be mentioned historical sketches of Massachusetts Banks, Austrian Paper Money and the Crisis of 1873, Monetary System of Italy, Russian Paper Money, and the Spanish Bank
DUDLEY P. BAILEY.
of the Island of Cuba ; and several articles on the Clearing House System, reprinted in pamphlet form containing the fullest statistical data on that subject ever printed up to that time (1890) ; the part relating to Clearing Houses in Bolles's Practical Banking (1884) ; and History of the Boston Clear- ing House, published in the Professional and In- dustrial History of Suffolk County, 1894. He is also the author of the History of Everett printed in Drake's History of Middlesex County in 1879, the History of Everett in Lewis's History of Middlesex County published in 1890, and History of Everett (illustrated) in the Everett Souvenir of 1893. Mr. Bailey is unmarried.
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CRAWFORD, REVEREND GEORGE ARTEMAS, A. M., PH. D., D. D., Boston, was born in Calais, Maine, April 29, 1849, son of Reverend William Henry and Julia A. (Whittier) Crawford. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on the paternal side, and
GEORGE A. CRAWFORD.
on the maternal side is of English descent. His early education was acquired in the common schools, and at Hampden (Maine) Academy and Bucksport (Maine) Seminary. He graduated from the Boston University College of Liberal Arts in 1878, later receiving the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. from the School of All Sciences of that institution. In 1889 he received the degree of D. D. from New Orleans University. Mr. Crawford served for a short time in the army during the War of the Rebellion. For many years following 1870 he was a Chaplain in the United States Navy, retiring in 1889 on account of physical disability. He has also served as pastor of several churches in Maine, and in Boston and vicinity. He was connected with the editorial department of the Boston Daily Standard from the time it was started in March 1895 until December 1895, serv- ing as Managing Editor for three months, and left that paper to accept a position as Vice-President of the Old Glory Gold Mining and Smelting Com- pany, which he holds at the present time. Rev.
Mr. Crawford is a member of the Masonic Lodge, 1 Chapter and, Council, also of the Royal Arcanum, Beta Theta Psi college fraternity, and Grand Army of the Republic. He was married September 3, 1872, to Mary Ella Patten, of Zaldoboro, Maine. They have three sons : Howare T., born in 1874; Kendrick P., born in 1875 ; and Truman K. Craw- ford, born in 1878.
CURTIS, JOHN BACON, one of Portland's most active business men and wealthiest citizens, and known far and wide as "the Original Spruce-Gum Man " - an epithet which does not displease him - was born in Hampden, Penobscot county, Maine, October 10, 1827, son of John and Mary B. (Bacon) Curtis. The late John Curtis, father of the subject of this sketch, was the founder of the firm of Curtis & Son, the famous spruce-gum manufacturers, and for years was a farmer and lumberman in the town of Bradford. It occurred to the father one day that the gum from the spruce trees might be "run, " put
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JOHN B. CURTIS
up in attractive packages, and find a place in the market. The idea proved not only practicable, but highly successful, and in 1848 father and son re- moved to the city of Bangor, remaining there for a brief period, and then coming to Portland, where
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the firm has since continued. The business soon grew to great proportions. In 1869 the senior Curtis died, but the firm name has remained un- changed. John B. Curtis takes pardonable prid am the fact that he was the first " drummer" th .. ever went West from New England, making his first Western trip nearly fifty years ago. But Mr. Curtis has by no means confined his enterprises to gum. He has made a success in the dredging business ; has been a shipbuilder, putting a dozen or more vessels on the stocks ; and has built up the island traffic in Casco Bay by starting the Forest City Line of steam- boats, well known to all summer visitors. Before this line was established, the Casco Bay islands were of little account as summer resorts, being either entirely uninhabited or containing only a few fisher- men's cottages. Now they are covered with stately hotels and fine summer residences, owned by wealthy people from all parts of the country. Mr. Curtis was also the leading spirit in founding the Portland & Cape Elizabeth Ferry, and has made the present Franklin Wharf property in Portland what it is, a credit to Commercial street and to the city. Be- ginning life as a farmer, the agricultural pursuit has always had a fascination for him, so it is not astonish- ing that he has gone into it on a large scale. In 1880 he went to Texas, but not fancying the out- look there, kept on to Nebraska where he bought a ranch of fifty thousand acres. At first he tried sheep-raising, but that failing to pay, he took to cattle-raising, and now has great herds of white- faced Herefords. This and his other Western en- terprises have turned out extremely profitable. But he has not surrendered his Eastern investments, and passes his time in flitting from one corner of the country to the other. Mr. Curtis is a man of immense energy and perseverance, and great business sagacity, who has made a high and endur- ing mark for himself in the industrial world. He was married August 13, 1878, to Alice C. Bacon ; they have no children living.
COFFIN, ABRAHAM BURBANK, Lawyer, of Boston, was born in Gilead, Oxford county, Maine, March 31, 1831, son of Warren Coffin, a native of Bethel, Maine, and Hannah (Burbank) Coffin, born in Gilead. His early education was acquired in acad- emies at Bedford and Nashua, New Hampshire, his father having moved in 1833 to Londonderry in that state, where he became an extensive and suc- cessful farmer. He was fitted for college at Phillips
Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated from Dartmouth in 1856. Subsequently he studied law in Virginia, and in 1858 was admitted to the Bar in Richmond, that state. Then removing to Boston, after another year's study in the office of the late John P. Healey, he was admitted to the Suffolk Bar, and from that time has been engaged in the general practice of law, with offices at 27 School street. Mr. Coffin has been for many years prominent in state affairs. He was a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1875, when he held the Chairmanship of the Committee on Elections ; was State Senator in 1877-8, serving in
A. B. COFFIN.
each year as Chairman of the Committee on Taxa- tion and on the Judiciary Committee ; a member of Governor Robinson's Council in 1885-6; and Chairman of the State Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners from 1887 to 1891. In the town of Winchester, where he resides, he was for several terms a member of the School Committee, and for many years Chairman of the Town Board of Health. He is a member of William Parkman Lodge of Masons, also of the Calumet Club of Winchester and the Middlesex Club of Boston. In politics Mr. Coffin is a Republican. He was mar- ried August 16, 1888, to Mary E. Stevens, daughter of Junius M. and Elizabeth Lyon Stevens of Boston.
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. DAVIDSON, JOHN WILLIAM, Author, ex-Jour- nalist and Farmer, Hammond, was born in Salis- bury, New Brunswick, November 11, 1842, son of Samuel and Ann ( Hoar) Davidson. His father was of Scotch descent, while his mother came of English stock. both being natives of the Province of New Brunswick. When he was in his third year his parents removed to Eastport, Maine, and ·thence to Lubec a year later, remaining in the latter place four years, at which time his father, a carpen- ter by trade, obtained work in Brunswick, Maine. For the next eleven years the family resided suc- cessively in Brunswick, Bath and Gardiner, where
JOHN W. DAVIDSON.
the subject of this sketch attended the public schools. In 1860 the father took what was known as the "Aroostook fever," and migrated to that then comparatively-unknown region. Here the pale-faced schoolboy took his first lessons in hard labor, on a tract of wild land in Township B, Range Two, now Hammond, Aroostook county, six miles from Houlton village. In a short time he became quite a backwoodsman, clearing land in the sum- mer and working in the lumber woods during the winters. But this kind of life did not satisfy him, and he entered the office of the Aroostook Pioneer in Houlton, then conducted by W. S. Gilman, father of the present editor and proprietor. Here his latent talent for story-writing manifested itself,
his work appearing in the Pioneer under the signa- ture of " Brother Jonathan." After working in the Pioneer office several years as compositor, foreman and assistant editor, Mr. Davidson in 1876 removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, taking a position on The Republican, then under the leadership of Samuel Bowles the elder. He remained on this paper seven years, and during that time began writing under his own name, his stories and scraps of verse appearing in The Republican, the Spring- field Homestead, the Portland (Maine) Transcript, the Illustrated World, Hearthstone and Saturday Night, the last three papers published in Philadel- phia, besides in various Boston publications. In 1883 he went to Boston and obtained work on the Boston Globe. At this time he began writing serial stories for Saturday Night, and then for Golden Days, one of the leading juvenile publica- tions of the country, and from that time onward his work has been principally of a youthful character. Into these stories he has woven his own New England experiences in city and country, or the semi-barbarous life in logging camps, always aiming, as he claims an author should aim, to point some moral lesson. Gradually under the double strain of newspaper work and story writing, his health gave way, and in 1889 he returned to the hills of Maine, locating in Hammond upon the very farm which he had helped to clear nearly thirty years before. Casting aside everything of a literary character with his city raiment, he donned the coarse clothing of the farmer, and began, with feeble hands, to till the soil once more. In a surprisingly brief time strength and vigor returned to him, and grim dyspepsia, the bane of the so-called higher civilization, departed. After a short respite he once more took up his pen, writing on an average two stories of from fifty thousand to sixty thousand words each a year, and attending to his farm duties at the same time. These stories have appeared in Golden Days, of Philadelphia, and the Argosy, of New York. Only once did he ever draw a skeleton or model for a story, and when his work was com- pleted, as it bore no resemblance whatever to the pattern, he decided thenceforth to unravel the thread as he went along, much of it being as new - to him as to the general reader. In fact his charac- ters more frequently dominate him than he them. As his hands became somewhat cramped he sought relief in a typewriter, and found to his astonish- ment that he could compose more readily while banging the keys of the noisy machine than with the
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pen. In politics Mr. Davidson is a Republican, and though not prominent in general affairs, he is quite active in home matters, being Chairman of the Municipal Officers and a member of the School Board, as well as a leader in Christian work. He was married in 1869 to Mary E. Niles, daughter of John W. Niles of Ludlow, Maine. They have had three children : John Herbert, born in 1874; Florence Marian, who died in infancy in 1881, and Myra Evelyn Davidson, born in 1890.
EDMUNDS, CHARLES DOLE, M. D., Bangor, was born in East Corinth, Penobscot county, Maine, June 4, 1859, son of Charles Edwin and Caroline
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C. D EDMUNDS.
Matilda (Stockman) Edmunds. He is a grandson on the paternal side of Elawton Edmunds, born in Mexico, Maine, and Philena Chandler, born in Mercer, Maine; his maternal grandparents were Loring Stockman, born in Stillwater. Maine, and Hannah Dole, born in Orrington, Maine. His early education was received in the district schools of East Corinth and at East 'Corinth Academy. He prepared for college at the Waterville ( Maine) Classi- cal Institute, graduating therefrom in June 1879, and entered Colby University, from which institu- tion he graduated with the degree of A. B. in the class of 1883. Adopting the profession of medicine,
he pursued a three-years course at Harvard Medical School, graduating as M. D. in 1886, and in Sep- tember of that year came to Bangor and established himself in the office formerly occupied by Dr. Calvin Seavey, where he has since been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery. Dr. Edmunds served as City Physician of Bangor from March 1887 to March 1890, is Visiting Physician on the medical staff of the Eastern Maine General Hos- pital, and is a member of the Penobscot County and the Eastern Maine medical associations. He is also a member of the Zeta Psi college fraternity. In politics Dr. Edmunds is a Republican, but has never been active in political matters and has held no public office, except that of City Physician. He was ·married March 27, 1890, to Annie Woodbury Jones, daughter of Silas D. Jones of Bangor ; they have one child : Charles Storer Edmunds.
EMMONS, GEORGE PORTER, M. D., Superin- tendent of the Central Maine General Hospital, Lewiston, was born in Georgetown, Sagadahoc
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GEO. P. EMMONS.
county, Maine, July 7, 1859, son of Seward Porter and Louisa Ann (Hinckley ) Emmons. He acquired his early education in the town schools and Free High School at Georgetown, and the Nichols Latin School in Lewiston, graduated from Bates College
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. at Lewiston in 1882, and received the degree of A. M. from _that institution in 1885. He studied medicine at Portland, Maine, and received his de- . gree of M. D., from the Medical Department of Bowdoin College in 1885. For the first four years following his graduation in medicine he practiced his profession in Richmond, Maine, and since then has been established in Lewiston. Since July 1, * 1891, Dr. Emmons has been Resident Physician and Superintendent of the Central Maine General Hospital at Lewiston. He is a member of the Maine Medical Association and Androscoggin County Medical Society. In politics he has always been a Republican. He was married January 18, 1878, to Abbie C. Emmons, of Lewiston ; they have had two children : Annie M. F., who died in infancy, and George H. Emmons, aged four years.
HARTWELL, EREN TILTON, Mayor of Oldtown, was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 24, 1855, son of Alonzo and Josephine (Tilton)
EBEN T. HARTWELL.
Hartwell. He was educated in the public schools and the Hubbardston High School After his school career and home lite on the farm, he learned the carpenters' trade with his grandfather, Ebenezer Tilton, who was a contractor and builder in Massa- chusetts. For some time he worked at his trade in
Worcester and Gardner, Massachusetts, which latter place was his home in 1882. While there, and just before he came to Maine,' he built six houses for C. B. Knight of Worcester. In 1884 he established a planing and moulding mill in Oldtown, which he has carried on to the present time. Soon after coming to Maine he took up the business of building contractor, in connection with his mill work, and has since built many houses in Oldtown, also the Universalist Church in that city, besides various buildings in Bangor and surrounding towns. When the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad was ex- tended through to Houlton, Mr. Hartwell was awarded the contract for a large portion of the rail- road buildings along the line, the work covering a period of two years. The work was commenced in April 1892, and during its progress Mr. Hartwell lived with his crew of men in a box-car, pressing their way through the wilds of Maine, following close upon the track of the men who were laying the rails. During the two years fifty-two buildings were completed, including passenger stations, freight houses and dwellings, and notwithstanding the many difficulties and hardships of the task, due to distance from civilization, severe winter weather, etc., Mr. Hartwell was able to finish his contract within the specified time, and had the pleasure of knowing that the work was very satisfactory to the commissioners of the road. At the present time he is engaged in building the largest coal-shed and roundhouse belonging to the Bangor & Aroostook road, requiring halí a million feet of lumber in their construction. Mr. Hartwell was elected an Alder- man of Oldtown from Ward Two in 1895, and in 1896 was elected Mayor of the city, which office he fills with signal efficiency and ability. His political principles are Democratic. Mr. Hartwell is a Thirty- Second Degree Mason, also a member of Union Lodge and charter member of Gardner Lodge, Ancient Order United Workmen. He was married June 26, 1895, to Mary G. Covell of Worcester, Massachusetts.
HAMILTON, SAMUEL KING, Lawyer, of Boston and Wakefield, Massachusetts, was born in Water- boro, Maine, July 27, 1837, son of Benjamin Ricker and Sarah (Carl) Hamilton. He is descended from Scotch ancestors, who emigrated to America in the early part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Berwick, Maine, then a part of Massachusetts. His early education was acquired in the district schools
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of his native town, at the Limerick (Maine) Acad- emy," and Saco ( Maine) High School, and he received his collegiate training at Dartmouth, where he graduated from the Chandler Scientific Depart- ment in 1859. He at once entered upon the study of law in the office of Ira T. Drew at Alfred, Maine, where except for a portion of the time spent in teaching school he remained until 1862, when he was admitted to the York County Bar. He then formed a law partnership with Mr. Drew, which continued until dissolved in 1867 by Mr. Hamilton's removal to Biddeford, Maine, where he remained in practice about five years. In 1872 he
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S. K. HAMILTON.
took up his residence in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and opened an office in Boston, where he has since been engaged in the general practice of his pro- fession. Mr. Hamilton was a member of the School Committee of his native town for two years, and in Biddeford he served on the Board of Alder- men 1869-70, and also represented that city in the Maine Legislature. Soon after his location in Wakefield he became prominent in municipal affairs, and for the ten years 1876-86 served on the School Committee, nine of which he was Chairman ; was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen four years ; many years Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Beebe Town Library, and for twenty years has been Counsel for the town. In politics Mr. Hamilton is
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