USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 21
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store of his uncle in Bath, and then carried on a harness and saddlery hardware business in Bath for two years, after which he took a course at Gray's Business College in Portland .. In 1889 he com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. E. M. Fuller of Bath, and continued his studies with him, when not attending medical lectures, until gradua- tion from the Medical Department of Bowdoin College in 1892. He then spent a year of study in the hospitais of New York city, and in August 1893 came to Bowdoinham, baying out the practice of Dr. Lancaster. His business has steadily increased from the start, and at present he is in the enjoyment of a very extensive and lucrative country practice.
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CHARLES A PALMER.
In October 1893 he was appointed Examining Sur- geon on the United States Pension Board that meets at Bath, and is still serving in that capacity. Dr. Palmer is a member of Kennebec Lodge Knights of Pythias of Bowdoinham, and in politics has always been a Democrat. He is unmarried.
PEMBER, REVEREND ELMER FREDERIC, Pastor of the Universalist Church in Bangor, was born in Riley, McHenry county, Illinois, August 26, 1853, son of Frederic and Euphemia (Erwin) Pember. His father was a native of Vermont, and his mother of Ohio. He received his early education in dis-
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trict schools and at the academy in Chester, Ver- mont, and was graduated from the Divinity School of Tufts College, June 16, 1875. On June 1, 1874, one year before his graduation, Mr. Pember took charge of the Universalist Society at Essex, Massa- chusetts, supplying the pulpit regularly during his Senior year in college. He was ordained to the
E. F. PEMBER.
ministry June 18, 1875, at Essex, and continued his pastorate there until December 1, IS77, when he accepted a call to Little Falls, New York, where he remained until elected Secretary and State Mis- sionary of the New York Universalist Convention. He served in this work until June 1, 1884, when he was called to the pastorate of the First Universalist Church at Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 1, 1887, he entered upon a pastorate at Titusville, Pennsyl- vania, and AApril 1, 1890, was called to the church at Bangor, where he is now serving his seventh year as Pastor. Mr. Pember belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and at present is serving as Grand Chap- lain of Maine. He is a member of St. John's Commandery Knights Templar of Bangor, also of the Scottish Rite bodies of the eighteenth degree, and has been elected to the thirty-second degree. He is also an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Royal Arcanum, of which he was Grand Chaplain in New York State for five years. In politics Mr.
Pember is a Republican, but his profession has naturally prevented him from taking a very active part. He was married in 1878 to Miss Martha S. Andrews of Essex, Massachusetts : they have three children : Martha E., Berta B. and Frederic E. Pember.
PALMER, JOAR W., Lumberman, and Ex-Col- lector of the Port of Bangor, was born in Nobleboro, Lincoln county, Maine, March 10, IS21, son of Elisha and Jane (Rollins) Palmer. He was edu- cated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty-one, in 1842, started in the lumber business, in which he has been engaged ever since. Mr. Palmer has served two years as Alderman of Bangor, three years as Representative from Bangor in the State Legislature, and two years as Senator from Penobscot county. In 1890 he was appointed Collector of Customs of the Bangor District, by President Harrison, and continued in the office four years. In 1896 he was again elected Representa- tive to the Legislature from Bangor. In politics Mr. Palmer has always been a Republican. He was
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JOAB W. PALMER.
married in 1846, to Betsey S. Hinman of Hartland, Maine; they have two children : Walter E. and Charles F. Palmer, both now in the lumber busi- ness.
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STEVENS, EZRA CURTIS, Superintendent of Maine Public Buildings, Augusta, was born in Gar- diner, Kennebec county, Maine, February 7, 1845. His father, Ezra Allen Stevens, was a well-known Freewill Baptist clergyman, and at the time of his death, in 1852, was interested in the publication of the Mogning Star, a denominational paper published at Dover, New Hampshire. His education was obtained in the common schools and at Hallowell Academy. He was appointed clerk in the post- office at Augusta in 1867, was in the railway mail service 1868-So, was Assistant Post-office Inspector 1881-4, and in the latter year was appointed Post- office Inspector in charge of the New England Division. In IS84 he was commissioned Post- master of Hallowell by President Arthur, and in 1888 he was appointed by Governor Marble as Municipal Judge at Hallowell, but declined to serve. He was Private Secretary to Governors Bodwell, Marble, Burleigh and Cleaves, and was also com- missioned by Governor Burleigh as a member of his Military Staff, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Colonel Stevens' service in the executive depart- ment was a. continuous one of ten years, and was eminently successful and satisfactory. In every position to which he has been called, he has proved a most able, efficient and trustworthy officiel. In January 1896, Colonel Stevens was appointed and commissioned by Governor Cleaves as Superintend- ent of Public Buildings, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General Benjamin F. Harris, which position he now occupies, to the general satisfaction of the people of the state without distinction of political party. In speaking of his appointment to this important position the Kennebec Journal editorially said : "The selection of Colonel E. C. Stevens to succeed the late General Harris as Sup- erintendent of Public Buildings is one that will meet with general commendation. There is no man in Maine better qualified for this responsible position. He has been faithful to every trust com- mitted to him, and is recognized as one of the most popular and capable officials in the state." Colonel Stevens is a man of courteous bearing and ready tact, and is well-known to the leading men of Maine, among whom he has a host of friends. In politics he has always been an active and earnest Republican. While an efficient worker for his party, he commands the respect of political oppo- nents by his fairness and honesty. His social and companionable qualities are best shown in the fraternal bodies of which he has been for many
years an active and influential member. He has long been identified with the Masonic Order, and has filled most acceptably the offices of Master of Kennebec Lodge, High Priest in Jerusalem Royal Arch Chapter, and Master of Alpha Council Royal and Select Masters, at Hallowell ; is a member of the order of High-Priesthood in Portland, and also a member of Trinity Commandery Knights l'emplar at Augusta. Colonel Stevens was married in 1868, to Emma I .. Norcross of Manchester, Maine ; they
E. C. STEVENS.
have one son : Walter Lee Stevens, now a promising young man, a student at Kent's Hill Seminary, Readfield, Maine.
SIMPSON, AARON LITTLEFIELD, Collector of the Port of Bangor, was born in Dixmont, Waldo county, Maine, son of David and Relief (Littlefield) Simpson. His paternal grandparents were English, and on the maternal side his grandfather was Scotch and his grandmother English. His grandfather Simpson served in the French and English war, marched through the wilds of Maine with Arnold's Quebec Expedition, and helped build the famous blockhouse now standing at Winslow on the Ken- nebec ; he also served in the War of the Revolution. His grandfather Littlefield served in the Revolu tionary War, and was in the battle of Ticonderoga :
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and his father, David Simpson, served in the war of 1812 and was in the battles of Shadagce and Stonemill. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and at neighboring academies, meanwhile laboring on the farm and in
A. L. SIMPSON.
later youth teaching school. He studied law, and was admitted to the Bar of Maine in June 1848. Subsequently he was admitted to practice in the District Court of the United States, and on Sep- tember 27, 1870, to the United States Circuit Court. Since admission to the Bar, Mr. Simpson has been engaged in the practice of his profession continu- ously to the present time. He has served as a member of the Common Council of Bangor three years, member of the Board of Aldermen two years, City Solicitor six years, and as Chairman of the Board of School Committee two years. He was the Democratic candidate for Presidential Elector in 1892, and for Representative to Congress in 1894. On January 31, 1895, he was nominated by President Cleveland for Collector of Customis of the Port of Bangor, was confirmed by the Senate on February 5 following, and on February 9 was com- missioned to the office which he now holds. Mr. Simpson has been twice married, and has three children, viz. : Gertrude Simpson, Maude Simpson Smith, and Howard W. Simpson.
TUELL, JAMES ENOCH, M. D., Augusta, was born in East Machias, Maine, June 25, 1854, son of James Leonard and Julia A. ( Bamford) Tuell. He is of early colonial descent, his paternal ancestors having come over in the Mayflower. His early education was received in the common schools, and at the East Maine Conference Seminary in Bucksport, Maine, from which institution he graduated in 1879. Following graduation he taught for three years in the public schools, meanwhile studying medicine with Dr. C. W. Johnson of East Machias, and then entered the Jefferson Medical College in Phila- delphia, graduating therefrom with the degree of M. D., March 29, 1884. He at once entered upon the practice of medicine in his native town, and continued there in active practice until May 1893, when he moved to Augusta, where his professional work has since received undivided attention and is meeting with due reward. Dr. Tuell is Medical Examiner in his district for the New York Mutual, Northwestern, Equitable, Hartford Life and Annuity and New England Order of Protection insurance
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J. E. TUELL.
companies, and is a member of the Medical Club of Augusta and the Maine State and American medical associations. He served as Health Officer of East Machias for the four years 1890-3, and has been a member of the Board of Health of Augusta
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for 1895-6. He is prominent in Masonry, being a member of Augusta Lodge, Warren Royal Arch Chapter, St. Croix Council Royal and Select Masters, Trinity Commandery Knights Templar, Delta Lodge of Perfection, Deering Council, Dun- lap Chapter of Rose Croix and Maine Consistory Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite. In politics Dr. Tuell has been always a Republican, but has never entered the political arena. He was married October 21, 1884, to Sarah E. Albee, of East Machias ; they have three children : Josephine F., Edwin E. and Fordyce Barker Tuell.
TURNER, JOHN MANWELL, M. D., Gardiner, was born in Leeds, Androscoggin county, Maine, August 12, 1856, son of John and Elizabeth Bishop
J. M. TURNER.
(Manwell) Turner. He received his preliminary education in the common schools, fitted for college at Wilton (Maine) Academy, studied medicine with Dr. D. E. Marston of Monmouth, Maine, entered the Medical School of Bowdoin College in 1879, and graduated from Dartmouth Medical Col- lege with the degree of M. D., November 15, 1881. Immediately after graduation he began the practice of medicine in Gardiner, where he has since been located. From the very first he showed wonderful aptitude for his chosen profession, and at once
entered into an extensive practice. While he is equally at home in any department of the healing art, his especial predilection is surgery, or more, particularly that branch of it relating to gynecology. He served as City Physician of Gardiner from 1883 to 1888, and has for many years been Surgeon for the Northern Division of the Maine Central Rail- road. Dr. Turner in 1895 spent six months in the hospitals of Manchester, New Hampshire, studying methods. The demands of a busy professional life have left him but little time for social or political duties, but in 1894 and 1895 he represented Ward Three in the Common Council of Gardiner. In politics he is a Democrat. He was married Septem- ber 26, 1888, to Olive Morse Lothrop, of Leeds, Maine ; they have one child : Flora E. Turner.
VOSE, THOMAS WYMAN, Judge of the Municipal Court of Bangor, was born in Portland, Maine, July 3, 1830, son of William and Mary Wooderson (Phillips) Vose. He is a descendant in the seventh generation of Robert Vose, who came to this country
THOMAS W. VOSE.
about 1638, settled in Milton, Massachusetts, pur- chased in 1654 a farm of the Worshipful John Glover for three hundred and eighty pounds - a part of which has remained in possession of his descendants until the present time - and died in
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. 1683. The line of descent is through Edward (son of the foregoing), William, Edward, William, William, and William, father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas W. Vose was educated in the common schools, and the academies of Hampden and East Corinth, Maine, and West Randolph, . Vermont. He fitted for college, but entered the Chandler Scientific School at Hanover, New Hampshire, one year in advance, and graduated therefrom in July 1858. He taught school during vacations, and after graduation read law in the office of Albert L. Kelley at Winterport, Waldo county, Maine, was admitted to the Bar in May 1860, and has been in active practice ever since. Mr. Vose commenced the practice of law in Winterport, where for two years he was a partner of Hon. Nathaniel H. Hubbard, and in January 1872 he removed to Bangor, where he has since resided. In 1876 he became a mem- ber of the law firm of Barker, Vose & Barker - composed of Hon. Lewis Barker, Mr. Vose, and Lewis A. Barker, son of the senior member - which relation continued until the decease of the junior partner, January 16, 1891, and then by agreement under the same firm name until the sudden and accidental death of the senior partner, October 9, 1891. Mr. Vose represented the" class towns of Winterport and Frankfort in the Maine House of Representatives in 1870, and the county of Waldo in the Senate in 1871. He was City Solicitor of Bangor nine years, has served on the School Board and Board of Aldermen of Bangor, and has been a member of the Bangor Water Board for the last eighteen years. In 1892 he was appointed, by Governor Burleigh, Judge of the Bangor Municipal Court, which position he now holds. In politics Mr. Vose is a Republican. He was married Novem- ber 16, 1859, to Ellen A. Chick, of Winterport, Maine. They have one child living : Elisha Chick Vose.
WHITING, FRED JEWETT, Judge of the Muni- cipal Court of Oldtown, was born in Newport, Maine, December 10, 1849, son of Philander and Esther F. (Burrill) Whiting, of English and Scotch ancestry. He received his early education in the common schools and the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, studied law in the office of Elliot Walker of Newport, and was admitted to the Bar on January 8, 1873. He commenced the practice of law in Corinna, Maine. In April 1888 he removed to Newport, where he continued in practice until he
received from Governor Burleigh the appointment of Judge of the Oldtown Municipal Court, January 6, 1891, for four years. This office he at present holds, by reappointment by Governor Cleaves, Jan- uary 6, 1895. Judge Whiting served four years as Supervisor of Schools in Corinna, and in a similar capacity in Newport for two years. He is a mem- ber of Old Hickory Lodge of Odd Fellows, New- port ; Phintheas Lodge Knights of Pythias, Oldtown ; and the Penobscot Club of Oldtown. In politics he
FRED J. WHITING.
has been always a Republican. He was married August 13, 1869, to Mattie E. Swett; they have three children : Milton T., Harry I. and Ralph L. Whiting.
WENTWORTH, THOMAS HORSEFIELD, Lawyer, Bangor, was born in Milton (now Orneville), Pisca- taquis county, Maine, August 21, 1837, son of Sina and Ann (Horsefield) Wentworth. His paternal grandfather, Shubael Wentworth, a Revolutionary soldier who was at the battle of Bunker Hill, was of the fifth generation in line of descent from William Wentworth, first emigrant of the name to America, who settled at Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1636. Shubael Wentworth descended from Regi- nald D. Wentworth, who is first mentioned in the doomsday books in England in 1066 as a lord of
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the manor; his mansion and estate are still extant - in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Jonas Horsefield, was an Englishman, and came to the Province of New Brunswick in 1819. Thomas H. Wentworth was educated in the common schools and at East Cor- inth (Maine) Academy. His father was a farmer and house carpenter, and in youth and early man- hood the son worked at both of these occupations, teaching school winters, until the early days of the Rebellion, when he enlisted, November 4, 1861, in Company H, Fifteenth Maine Infantry Volunteers. He was made Second Sergeant on the organization of the Company, and was successively promoted to First Sergeant, Second Lieutenant and First Lieu- tenant, serving in the Departments of the Gulf and of Virginia to the close of the war in the spring of 1865. In May 1865 he entered the law office of Hon. Lewis Barker, late of Bangor, as a student, and continued in that capacity until January 1857, when he was admitted to the Penobscot Bar. In the following July he settled in Bradford, Penobscot county, and commenced the practice of law, which he has since continued, with office in Bangor since 1890. Mr. Wentworth served as a member of the School Committee of Bradford two years and as Supervisor of Schools three years, also as Town Treasurer one year and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen two years. In 1887 he was a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature, repre- senting the towns of Bradford, Charleston and Lagrange, and serving on the Judiciary Committee. He was three times unanimously nominated for State Senator from Penobscot county, and was twice . defeated with the party ; but in 1882 he was elected, and served in the Senate of ISS3 as Chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Rules and the Special Committee on the Revision of the Public Statutes of Maine, also as a member of the committees on Judiciary, Towns and Pensions. At the close of the session he was made by special resolve a member of the committee of ten to continue the work of revision and to superintend the printing and binding of the Revised Statutes, and in the organization of the committee was made its Chairman. He was a United States Census Enumerator in ISSo ; and in 1890 served as Special Agent charged with an examination ,of county records to ascertain the recorded indebtedness of the Fourth Congressional District of Maine for the census of that year. Mr. Wentworth has been a Trial Justice since 1867, and Dedimus Justice since 1872. On December 24,
1892, on account of a vacancy in the offices of Judge and Recorder of the Bangor Municipal Court, he was temporarily appointed Recorder, and acted as both Recorder and Judge ex-officio until February 1, 1893. On April 10, 1893, he was appointed by Governor Cleaves as Commissioner of Inland Fish- eries and Game for the state for three years, and served as Chairman of the Board for the entire term. Mr. Wentworth is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, also of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has served officially at the head of the local lodges and posts in the several orders. He is also a member of the Methodist-
THOS. H. WENTWORTH.
Episcopal Church, a Trustee of the church at Bangor, the East Maine Conference Seminary at Bucksport, and the Wesleyan Grove Campmeeting Association at Northport, and was a Lay Delegate from the East Maine Conference to the General Conference at New York in 1888. In politics he is a Republican of the steadfast kind, and never scratched a ticket or failed to vote, except in 1862- 3, when in the army. Since 1890 Mr. Wentworth has been too busily engaged with other interests to be much in court practice of law, except in probate practice and the settlement of estates ; as trustee, guardian and attorney in these relations, he has the holding and management of funds amounting to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of upwards,
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which occupy no small portion of his time and ser- vices. He resides in Bradford, twenty miles out of Bangor, where he is quite extensively engaged in agriculture, including general farming and dairying. He was married January 30, 1865, to Abbie E. Wheeler, granddaughter of Colonel Francis Hill of Exeter, Maine ; they have had two children : Thomas R. and Stella A. Wentworth.
WOODSIDE, ALBERT, M. D., Rockland, was born in Wales, Androscoggin county, Maine, July 12, 1847, son of Calvin and Emily (Whittum) Wood-
A. WOODSIDE.
side, of English and Scotch ancestry. He was fitted for college at the Edward Little Institute, Auburn, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin in July 1869. After graduation he taught a high school in Illinois for a year, and then returning to Maine, was elected Principal of Monmouth Academy, filling this posi- tion one year. He studied medicine with Dr. Alonzo Garcelon and Dr. E. H. Hill of Lewiston, Maine, graduated from the Medical School of Maine (Bowdoin College) in June 1874, and commenced practice at Tenant's Harbor, St. George, Knox county, Maine. Here he remained until 1891, when he removed to Rockland, where he still con- tinues in the active practice of his profession. Dr.
Woodside is a member of the American Academy of Medicine and of the Maine Medical Association. He served for fifteen years as Supervisor of Schools of St. George. In politics he is a Republican. He was married June 23, 1875, to Miss Alice Skolfield Hunt ; they have two children : Mary Alice and Josephine A. Woodside.
WILLARD, BENJAMIN JESSE, Stevedore and North Atlantic Coast Pilot, Portiand, was born at Simonton's Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and to use his own picturesque phrase, was cradled in a fishing boat. The date of his nativity was October 30, 1828. When not quite eight years old he was taken on a fishing trip by his father, and followed the sea for many years thereafter. Serving as mate for some- time, in the winter of 1851 he bought an interest in the schooner Jerome, plying in the coal trade be- tween Portland and Philadelphia, and continued therein until 1853, when he left the coasting trade and went into the stevedoring business at Portland, building up a large trade. In 1856 he started to piloting ships, and soon became one of the most successful and noted pilots on the stormy North Atlantic coast. His name became known in its many hundred harbors. It was his fortune to pilot from Portland harbor the British fleet which bore the Prince of Wales home from his American visit, and to pilot into the same harbor the British iron- clad Monarch, bearing the remains of George Pea- body to the land in which that eminent philanthro- pist was born. It was Captain Willard, too, who took a prominent part in the capture of the confed- erate privateers who so boldly seized the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing in 1863 and nearly escaped with her into open waters. Until the Atlantic cable was laid Captain Willard met the incoming Euro- pean steamships, took the London and Liverpool exchanges, and conveyed the papers to the Associ- ated Press, which transmitted the news over wire to Boston and New York. It was his good fortune to be the first at the lamentable wreck of the European steamship Bohemian, off Trundy's Reef, in 1864, and to rescue many of her passengers and crew. He was also one of the pioneers in the swordfish in- dustry, owner of one of the first three-masted schooners which ever sailed from Portland, and of the first tow-boat owned in that city - built for him and his brother William. Since his retirement from the active life of a pilot Captain Willard has devoted himself to promoting the business interests of Port-
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land, aiding in the development of the Cape Eliza- beth Ferry, the island steamers, and kindred enter- prises, in all of which he has displayed the shrewd- ness and energy which earlier brought him fame and fortune. Captain Willard is descended from
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B. J. WILLARD.
the Willards of Eastbourne, Sussex, England. A younger branch settled later, in Kent, holding an estate in the Hundred of Branchley and - Hors- monden. There lived and died (in 1617) Richard, father of Captain Simon Willard, the colonist, who came over to Boston in 1634, and who was for thirty-five years a member of the General Court of the Colony. From him, in direct line, comes the subject of this sketch. Captain Willard is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Graffam) Willard. He has been twice married, first to Lois Gould, second to Henrietta Gardiner, by neither of whom he had issue. In politics he is a Republican. Not long ago he was persuaded to write his autobiography, and it proved to be an entertaining volume of adventure by sea and land which commanded wide reading, and which is familiarly known as "Captain Ben's Book."
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