USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 26
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HOVEY, FRANK WILLIAM, Lawyer, Pittsfield, was born at Bare Island, New Brunswick, Canada, March 9, 1863, son of William and Elizabeth (Brown) Hovey. On the paternal side he is of English descent, and on the maternal side of Scotch ancestry. His early education was received in the common schools of Houlton, Maine, at Houlton Academy, and the Maine Central Institute, Pitts- field. He worked on a farm summers and attended school in winter until he was eighteen years of age, and taught school in various parts of Aroostook county while preparing for college. After studying law for a year in the office of Ansel I .. Lumbert at Houlton, he entered the Boston University Law School, from which he graduated "magna cum laude " in June 1887, having been admitted to the Maine Bar at Portland on April 30 of that year. Since 1887 he has been engaged in the practice of law at Pittsfield. Mr. Hovey has tried and won many important cases, and has a large number of cases each year before the Law Court. While County Attorney for Somerset county he conducted many important criminal trials, and during his four
years in that office aiways tried the cases alone, without the assistance of the Attorney-General, and nevet while prosecuting officer did he lose a verdict. He has at the present time an extensive and lucra- tive practice. He was elected Representative to the Legislature from Pittsfield in 1889, was County Attorney :891-5, and Senator from Somerset county in 1895. He is Treasurer, Director and General Counsel for the Sebasticook & Moosehead Lake Railroad Company, is a Trustee of the Maine Cen- tra! Institute, and has served for six years as Super- visor of Schools of Pittsfield. In politics he is a Republican, and has been Chairman of the Pitts- field Republican Town Committee for six years ;
FRANK W. HOVEY.
also is a member of the Third Congressional Dis- trict Republican Committee. Mr. Hovey is a pub- lic-spirited citizen, being among the foremost in promoting whatever is for the benefit of the town. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Pittsfield, and an active worker for the good of the church and community, always prominent in chari- table projects and works of philanthropy. He is a member and Noble Grand of Phlentoma Lodge of Odd Fellows, member and Chief Patriarch in 1895 of Sebasticook Encampment of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Pittsfield Social and Literary Guild. He was married June 3, 1887, to Gertrude Sawyer, daughter of Capt. C. H. Sawyer of Pittsfield ; they
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
have had two children : Ruth (deceased February 26, 1896, aged two years and six months) and Byron Hovey, aged two years.
STEARNS, SEWARD SMITH, of Norway, Judge of Probate of Oxford County, was born in Lovel!, Oxford county, Maine, March 11, 1856, son of Obed and Eliza Ann (Barker) Stearns, and grandson of Benjamin and Susannah ( Frye) Stearns, the former a son of Isaac and Sarah (Abbott) Stearns of Bil- lerica, Massachusetts, and the latter a daughter of Simon Frye of Fryeburg, Maine. He received his early education in the common schools of Loveil
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S. S. STEARNS.
and at Fryeburg Academy, and graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1879. While in college he was managing editor of the Bowdoin Orient during his Senior year, was also editor of the Bowdoin Bugle in his Junior year, was chosen to receive the " wooden spoon," indicating the most popular man in the Junior class, and in his Senior year was awarded the " 1868 Prize " for the best written and spoken oration. Entering upon the study of law with Judge .\. H. Walker of Bridgton, Maine, he was admitted to the Bar in March 1882, and in the following May began practice at Water- ford, Maine. In 1884 he came to Norway and formed a partnership with Henry M. Bearce, which
continued until the latter's death in May 1894, since which time he has practiced alone. Mr. Stearns has held various town offices in Lovell and Norway, and was President of the Norway Public Library from its organization in 1886 to 1892: From 1389 to :893 he held a government position as Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the Western District of Maine. He has served four years as a member of the District Republican Com- mittee (Second Congressional District), and in September 1896 he was elected Judge of Probate for Oxford county, by a plurality of 3,415 votes, the largest plurality ever given any candidate in the county. Judge Stearns is a prominent Mason, having served as Worshipful Master of Oxford Lodge, High Priest of Union Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Thrice Illustrious Master of Oxford Coun- cil Royal and Select Masters, Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Maine, and is a member of Lewiston Commandery Knights Tem- plar and Portland Consistory of Thirty-second Degree Masons. He is also a member of Norway Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married February 5, 1855, to Nellie B. Russell, who died June 17 following In 1891, March 31, he was a second time married, to Mary E. Jordan, of Poland, Maine. They have had two children : Rachel Jordan, born June 16, 1892, died in infancy, and John Barker Stearns, born February 13, 1894.
ALLEN, SAMUEL HENDERSON, Warden of the Maine State Prison, Thomaston, was born in Cush- ing, Knox county, Maine, October 17, 1826, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Henderson) Allen His paternal ancestors were of English origin, having emigrated from Gloucester county, England, and settled at Gloucester, Massachusetts, removing later to New Gloucester, Cumberland county, Maine, where his father was born. On the maternal side he is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His mother was born at Pleasant Point, Cushing; her father and four of her brothers were sea-captains. His early education was acquired in the common schools of his native town, and at select schools in Thomas- ton and Rockland, Maine. When he was three years old, his father purchased and moved on to a farm at " The Meadows," in the town of Thomas- ton, where he grew up, and remained with his father, engaged at farming, lime burning and lumbering, during his minority. In 1847 he was employed at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, as overseer,
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
under Warden Benjamin Carr. In 1849 he went to New Orleans, where he spent the winter, and then shipped as Mate of a vessel, for Bordeaux, France. Returning to New York he reshipped as Mate and made one more voyage, when he retired from the sea and was again employed, tor about a year, as overseer and disciplinarian at the Maine State Prison. The years 1853-4 he spent in the South, employed by the Brunswick (Georgia) Canal and Lumber Company, having charge of five hundred slaves in the work of excavating a canal and build- ing two canal locks, one at Brunswick, the other twelve miles distant on the Altamaha River, above Darien. In 1857, having returned to Maine, he contracted with Warden Hix of the Maine State Prison for the labor of the convicts, and employed them in the manufacture of carriages, sleighs and harnesses. In the spring of 1861 he was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs for the Port of Thomaston, but resigned shortly after to enter the army. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Allen enlisted in the First Maine Cavalry, in which he was commissioned as the first Major on Septem- ber 28, 1861, was promoted to Colonel on March I, 1862, and in command of his regiment served in the Army of the Potomac during the 1862 spring and summer campaigns. In the following September he was appointed Military Governor of Frederick City, Maryland, by a special order of General Burn- side, afterwards confirmed by the War Department. He remained in this position until January 1863, when in consequence of seriously impaired health, occasioned by the exposures incident to army life, he was induced by the urgent advice of a medical board, composed of prominent army surgeons, to
resign and take a trip to the Pacific Coast. After spending a year in California and Nevada, Colonel Allen returned East greatly improved in health, and in 1864 was employed by Charles Gould and Amos Gaylord of Wall street, New York, to purchase min- eral lands in West Virginia and Kentucky, in
which undertaking he was acompanied by Professor
Richardson of London, England, and Professor Shepard of Yale College. as geologists. For the
next three years he was engaged in the oil business
in Pennsylvania, and for the ten years 1867-77 he was in the hotel business, as Proprietor and Man- ager of the Stevens House, in Broadway, New York.
In the spring of 1877 he became associated with
Governor Joseph R. Bodwell and fra D). Sturgis of
Augusta, Maine. in the ice and lumber business on
the Kennebec River, with headquarters at Gardiner.
He continued actively engaged in this business until 1888, when he was appointed Warden of the Maine State Prison at Thomaston, which position he at present holds. Colonel Allen has been an earnest and active Republican in politics since the organization of the party. He was a Representa- tive in the Maine Legislature from Thomaston in 1856, and in 1885-7 served two terms as State Sen- ator from Knox county. He was also an Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1884 at Chicago, and at the Chicago convention of 1888, to which he was a Delegate-at-Large, was chosen by his associates as the Delegate from Maine to notify the successful candidate, General
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S. H. ALLEN.
Harrison, of his nomination. Colonel Allen began his military experience before the period of his army service, having served in early life in various capac-
ities in the militia of his native state. He was Major on the staff of Major-General Cochrane, and later held the same rank on the staff of Major-Gen- eral William H. Titcomb. While serving on the staff of General Titcomb he had the distinction of doing escort duty to Jefferson Davis, during a review of the state militia at Belfast, at the time of
that distinguished personage's visit to Maine as
Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Pierce,
a few years previous to the Civil War. He is a member of P. Henry Tillson Post, Grand Army of
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
the Republic, of Thomaston, the Maine Com- mandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Society of the Army of the Potomac. Colonel .Allen was married in 1859 to Margaret Adelia Ingraham, daughter of Joseph Ingraham of Rockland, Maine ; they have a daughter : Lucy, now Mrs. Lucy Allen Tobey, of Thomaston.
WHITEHOUSE, WILLIAM PENN, of Augusta, Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Court, was ·born in Vassalboro, Kennebec county, Maine, April 9, 1842, son of John Roberts and Hannah (Percival) Whitehouse. His American ancestor
WM. P. WHITEHOUSE.
was Thomas Whitehouse, who came from England and in 1658 settled at Dover, New Hampshire, where he married the daughter of William Pomfret, Town Clerk, and died in 1707. On the maternal side he is a descendant of John Percival of Barn- stable, Massachusetts. After attending the district schools of his native town and the China (Maine) High School, he fitted for college at the Waterville (Maine) Academy, and in 1858, at the age of six- teen, entered Colby University. From this institu- tion he was graduated in 1863 with the first honors, delivering the commencement oration, and also being appointed from the two members of his class who had attained the A. M. degree, to deliver the
Master's oration. Among his classmates were Gov- ernor Marcellus L. Stearns of Florida, Colonel F. S. Haseltine of the Boston Bar, Judge Percival Bonney of Portland, and Doctor John O. Marble of Worcester, Massachusetts. And among his con- temporaries in college were J. Manchester Haynes of Augusta, ex-Speaker of the Maine House of Rep- resentatives and ex-President of the Senate ; Colonel Richard Cutts Shannon of New York, ex- Secretary of Legation at Rio Janeiro, Brazil, and now Member of Congress ; Colonel Zimro A. Smith of Indianapolis, soldier and journalist; General H. C. Merriam of the United States Army ; and George Gifford, journalist, and United States Consul at Basle, Switzerland. Following graduation he taught school, and for a time was Principal of Vassalboro Academy. Having decided to adopt the legal pro- fession, he studied law in the office of Sewall Lan- caster at Augusta, and later with United States Senator Hale at Ellsworth, Maine, and was admitted to the Bar in Kennebec county, in October 1865. Mr. Whitehouse commenced practice in Gardiner, Maine, in partnership with Lorenzo Clay. In December 1866 he removed to Augusta, where he has since continued in general practice. Early gaining a reputation for integrity and professional ability, in 1868 he was elected City Solicitor of Augusta, and in that capacity won several important cases for the city, and added to the public estimate of his legal ability by his skill and power as an ad- vocate. In October 1869 he was appointed County Attorney of Kennebec county, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Francis E. Webb, and was twice elected to that office, serving for a period of seven years. In February 1878 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Kennebec county, which had just been established by act of the Legis- lature, as an auxiliary to the Supreme Judicial Court, having jurisdiction of all civil suits at law except real actions, and exclusive, original and appellate jurisdiction in all criminal matters in the county, including capital cases. After the second year of its establishment its powers were enlarged to comprise the entire criminal jurisdiction, and its civil department was also extended. "The twelve years during which Judge Whitehouse presided in the Superior Court," says General Charles Hamlin, Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court, in an article written for The Green Bag, " are remembered for the ease and urbanity with which he dispatched business. Industrious and polite, clear and interesting in his charges to the
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
jury, he soon became popular - in the right sense of that word - with the Bar, and retained its respect and esteem. His rulings were rarely ever reversed by the Law Court. His judicial lite resembles that of Chief-Justice Weston, of his city, and with whom he has many traits and qualities in common, but perhaps having more active humor and the cultivation of that natural and easier inter- course that exists between the Bench and Bar in later times." Judge Whitehouse was appointed to the Bench of the Supreme Judicial Court on April 24, 1890, succeeding Judge Danforth, who died in March preceding. Again quoting irom General Hamlin's article : " His previous experience on the Bench of the Superior Court at once gave assurance of his success as a nisi prius Judge in this court, and the last five volumes of Maine Reports amply attest the ease and ability with which he performs his work as a Law Judge. His style indicates a good knowledge of both English and Latin classics, and is natural and finished. His sociability makes him a charming conversationalist and an engaging companion. His love of nature - for he is a good hunter and fisherman - combined with a genial and sunny temperament, will prevent his becoming nar- row or conservative." Judge Whitehouse received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater, Colby University, in 1896. He was married June 24, 1869, to Evelyn Treat, daughter of Col. Robert Treat of Frankfort, who was descended in the fifth generation from Col. Robert Treat, Colonial Gover- nor of Connecticut. Their only child is Robert Treat Whitehouse, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1891, now a practicing lawyer in Portland.
TOBEY, WILLIAM BURTON, Agent and Treasurer of the North Berwick Company, woolen manufac- turers, North . Berwick, was born in Machiasport, Washington county, Maine, January 11, 1851, son of Horatio N. and Sarah E. (Foster) Tobey. He was educated in the schools of East Machias, and received his early business training in a country store in association with his father at Machiasport, following which period he was for seven years con- nected with the wholesale drygoods house of Deering, Milliken & Company, Portland. From 1877 to 18SI he filled the position of bookkeeper for the North Berwick Company at their mills in North Berwick, and in 1881 was made Agent and Treasurer of the Company, which offices he has since held. He is abo Treasurer of the Dirigo
Slate Company of Monson, Maine, a Director of the North Berwick National Bank and the North Berwick Agricultural Association, and Secretary of the North Berwick Building Association. Mr. Tobey takes an interest and active part in all mat- ters pertaining to the public good, and is a believer in progression, in business and socially. He has served his town in various public capacities, and was Collector and Treasurer in 1886, and Town Auditor in 1896. In politics he has always been a Republican, was Chairman and Treasurer of the Republican Town Committee in 1888, was Delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1888 at Chicago, and is President of the Mckinley Club of
WM. B. TOBEY.
North Berwick. In religion Mr. Tobey is a Liberal. He was married in 1875 to Arianna A. Small, of Machiasport, by whom he had two children : Thad. B. and William H. Tobey. In ISS9, October 23, he was a second time married, to Julia H. Whittier, of Bangor ; they have one child : Dorothy I. Tobey.
GRANT, ERNEST BARSON, United States Shipping Commissioner, Boston, was born in Gardiner, Maine, December 28, 1854, son of William B. and Catherine (Babson) Grant. He is a descendant of Governor Dudley of Colonial fame, also of Simon Bradstreet,
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who was born in Habling, England, in 1603. came to America in the ship Arbella in 1630, and died in Salem, Massachusetts, March 27, 1697 ; was Secre- tary of Massachusetts Colony 1630-43, Deputy Governor 1678-9, and Governor 1679-86 and 1689- 92. After attending the public schools of Gardiner
ERNEST B. GRANT.
he worked as a clerk in a store for a time, and in 1872 went to Boston and entered the clothing house of Phillips, Sherman & Company (now A. Shuman & Company), where he remained for six months, and then, owing to illness, returned home. In March 1873 he again went to Boston, and entered the office of the United States Shipping Commis- sioner as office boy. In 1875 he was made Chief Deputy, and in 1887 was appointed Commissioner, retaining the office until 1890. In 1894 he was again appointed Shipping Commissioner, and holds the position at the present time. Mr. Grant is also connected with the firm of George B. Grant & Com- pany, coal dealers, Boston. He was married in 1881 to Kate Mansfield, of Boston ; they have two children : Frank T. and Elliot M. Grant.
February 8, 1853, son of Dr. John S. and Catherine (Hynds) Weidman. He received his early edu- cation in the schools of Dryden, New York, studied medicine with Dr. Isaac Briggs of Dryden, and graduated from the University Medical College of New York in 1886. After taking a special course in Bellevue Hospital, New York, he began the prac- tice of medicine in 1886 at Cuyler, Cortland county, New York, where he remained for three and a half years. Then removing to Marcellus, New York, he continued in practice there until 1891, when he came to Rockport, Maine, where he has since resided and practiced. Dr. Weidman was Health Officer at Cuyler in 1886-S, and has served as
S Y. WEIDMAN.
Health Officer of Rockport for 1895-6. He is a member of various Masonic bodies, having joined the Blue Lodge at Dryden, New York, in 1876, the Chapter at Camden, Maine, in 1894, and Clare- mont Commandery Knights Templar at Rockland, Maine, in 1895. He was married at Englewood, New Jersey, November 26, 1891, to Clara B. Tal- bot, daughter of David Talbot of Rockport ; they
WEIDMAN, STEPHEN YATES, M. D., Rockport, was born in Etna, Tompkins county, New York, . have one child : Marion Weidman.
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PART III.
BABSON, THOMAS MOCRATE, City Solicitor of Boston, Massachusetts, was born in Wiscasset, Maine, May 28, 1847, son of John and Sarah (McCrate) Babson. His paternal grandfather, John Babson, was a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, from which place he moved to Wiscasset about I Soo, where he established a newspaper, and kept a book store, afterwards engaging largely in building and owning vessels. His maternal grandfather, Thomas McCrate, came to this country from Ireland sometime in the latter part of the eight- eenth century, was a wealthy merchant of Wis- casset prior to the War of 1812, in which he served as Colonel of Militia, guarding the Maine coast, and was Collector of the Port of Wiscasset under Presi- dent Jackson ; his son, John D. McCrate, was a leading lawyer and a member of Congress from Maine. John Babson, father of the subject of this sketch, was prominent in business and politics both in Maine and Massachusetts, having been Collector of the Port of Wiscasset, United States Treasury Agent on the Canadian frontier, and United States Shipping Commissioner for the Port of Boston from 1872 until his death in 1887. Thomas M. Babson was educated in the public schools of Wiscasset, the Highland Military School of Worcester, Massachu- setts, and Chauncy Hall School, Boston. He pre- pared for the law at Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1868, was admitted to the Bar in 1869, and began practice in Boston. Soon after he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was engaged for two years in the practice of his pro- fession. Returning East at the end of that time, he resumed practice in Boston, devoting himself especially to the trial of causes, acquiring a con- siderable practice in the Admiralty branch of the United States Courts, being admitted to the United States Circuit Court in 1873, and to the Supreme Court of the United States in I88S. In 1879 Mr. Babson first becaine connected with the law depart-
ment of the city of Boston, when he was appointed by Mayor Prince as Fourth Assistant City Solicitor, under the late John P. Healey, then City Solicitor. Two years later he was made Second Assistant, in 1885 First Assistant, and in 1891 Corporation Coun- sel by appointment of Mayor Matthews. In May
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T. M. BABSON.
1895 he was appointed City Solicitor by Mayor Curtis, and at the present time fills that office by reappointment by Mayor Quincy in May 1896. Mr. Babson has the reputation of having tried more jury cases than any other lawyer of his age at the Suffolk Bar. In 1876 and 1877 he was a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legis- lature, representing Ward Sixteen of Boston, and as a member of the Committee on Elections in the
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
session of 1877, he prepared many of the reports of that committee which have been published in Russell's Election Cases. He has also compiled the statutes affecting the city of Boston. Mr. Babson is a member of the Curtis, University and Pine Tree State clubs of Boston. In politics he is a Demo- crat. He was married June 30, 1890, to Helen Stevens, daughter of Joseph L. Stevens of Glou- cester, Massachusetts; they have two children : Elinor, born September 4, 1891, and Ruth Stevens Babson, born March 15: 1895.
BIBBER, RANDALL DOYLE, M. D., Mayor of Bath, was born in Brunswick, Maine, September 1, 1845, son of John Doyle and Mehitable Cowen (Hall) Bibber. He is descended from Lemuel Bibber, who came to this country and settled at Dover, New Hampshire, in 1680. His maternal ancestors came from England about 1640, and
RANDALL D. BIBBER.
settled in Massachusetts. He received his general education in the public and high schools, graduated from the Medical School of Bowdoin College in June 1871, and at once established himself in his profession at Bath, where he has continued in 'active practice to the present time. Dr. Bibber is a member of the Maine Medical Association, and
since 1872 has been a Surgeon of the Marine Hos- pital at Bath up to 1896. He has served as Presi- dent of the Sagadahoc Historical Society since 1893, and is also President of the Home for Aged Couples and Old Men in Bath, which he established. Dr. Bibber was elected Mayor of Bath in March 1895, and is now serving his second term. He was married in February. 1873 to Sarah Aborn Thorn- ton ; they have one child : Harold Thornton Bibber.
BRIRY, MILTON STORY, M. D., President of the Bath Savings Institution, Bath, was born in Bow- doin, Maine, May 17, 1825, son of Joseph and
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MILTON S. BRIRY.
Mary (Story) Briry. His paternal grandfather was born in England, came to this country in 1776, married a Miss Gardiner, and had a large family of sons and daughters. His maternal grandfather was a native of Massachusetts, married Olive Catlin, and came to Maine in 1790. He attended the common schools until the age of sixteen, fitted for college at Litchfield (Maine) Academy, studied medicine, and graduated from the Maine Medical School of Bowdoin College in May 1853. Soon after graduation he commenced the practice of medicine at Bath, in which he has continued to the present time. Dr. Briry is a member of the Maine
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