USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 28
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LADD, REVEREND AMMI STORER, A. M., D. D., of Calais, Prohibition Candidate for Governor of Maine in 1896, was born in Phillips, Franklin county, Maine, June 17, 1835, son of Captain Jesse E. and Sophronia E. Ladd. He was educated in the common schools and at Gardiner (Maine) Lyceum, and devoted several of the early years of his life to teaching. In 1860 he joined the Maine Methodist Conference, and for the thirty-six years from that time has been actively engaged in minis- terial work, having held pastorates in East Wilton and Temple, Strong, New Sharon, Kent's Hill, and the cities of Waterville, Biddeford, Bath, Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Bangor, Gardiner and Calais. In both Bath and Biddeford he had a second pastorate. He has twice been a member of the Methodist General Conference, at Baltimore in 1876 and at Cincinnati in 1880, and in 1892 was Presiding Elder of the Lewiston District. For a long time he has been identified as Trustee with the Maine
Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Kent's Hill, and in 1893 he was Financial Agent of the East Maine Conference Seminary at Bucksport. Preferring the work of the pastorate, however, he voluntarily retired from the latter position after one year's service, and was appointed to the Knight Memorial Church at Calais, where he is now serving his third year as pastor. Rev. Mr. Ladd has for many years been prominent throughout Maine as a public lecturer and pulpit crator. In addition to his religious and educational work, he has lectured on temperance and many other subjects in nearly all portions of the state. His services have been
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A. S. LADD.
in especial demand for Memorial Day addresses. He has long been among the foremost of the clergy or laity of Maine in temperance work, and although for twenty-five years his political principles allied him with the Republican party, for the last ten years he has been an earnest and active Prohi- bitionist. He was in 1892 the candidate of the Prohibition party for Congress in the Second District, and in 1896 he was the Prohibition candi- date for Governor of the State. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him in 1873 by Colby University, and in May 1896 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rust University, Holly Springs, Mississippi. Rev. Mr. Ladd was
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married July 10, 1861, to Miss Lydia Golder, of Angusta, Maine, who died March 1, ISSo; they had one child, deceased in 1867. He married, second, in 1851, Miss Marion Merryweather, of Portland. In 1886 he was a third time married, to Miss Helen Osgood of Bangor ; they have had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Mr. Ladd has a daughter by his second wife, Lida Goldler Ladd; also, a daughter by adoption, Annie Mabel Ladd.
MARSHALL, EDWARD SIMPSON, Proprietor of the Marshall House, York, was born in York, Feb- ruary 2, 1842, son of Nathaniel Grant and Sophia (Bragdon) Marshall. He is a descendant of the Marshalls of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and his paternal grandmother was Eunice Grant, whose ancestors were among the early Scottish immigrants, the first being James Grant, who fought against Cromwell, and was taken prisoner, but escaped to America. His mother's people, the Bragdons, are among the oldest families in New England, the first settler of that name, Arthur Bragdon, coming to York soon after 1640. His father, Nathaniel G. Marshall, born May 2, 1812, was widely known throughout Maine, both in business and political circles. In early manhood he taught school and was engaged in mercantile business in York. Later he read law and was admitted to the Maine Bar. He served as Sheriff of York County, and as State Senator, and held for many years various town offices. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him Assessor of Internal Revenue for the First District of Maine, in which office he continued, with head- quarters at Portland, until 1870, when he tendered his resignation and retired from official life. He died in York in 1882. Edward S. Marshall was eincated in the common schools of York and at Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine. In the early years of the Civil War he was a clerk in the Kittery Navy Yard, and for the four years following was Internal Revenue Clerk under his father at Portland. He was then appointed As- sistant Assessor for half the city of Portland, but in 1870 resigned this position to aid his father in the erection of the Marshall House at York, one of the pioneer seashore resort hotels. This hotel as originally built accommodated a hundred and fifty priests. In 1875 the son became sole proprietor, as he still is, and subsequent changes and additions have given the house twice its original capacity.
Standing on Stage Neck, around which sweep the tidal waters of York River, it commands an ocean and inland view of surpassing beauty, and has become a widely known and favorite resort. Mr. Marshall was mainly instrumental in establishing the York Harbor & Beach Railroad, and was the first President of the corporation, in which he is now a Director and the largest individual stock- holder. He is President of the Piscataqua Navigation Company, of which he was also an incorporator, and is a Director and one of the incorporators of the York County National Bank of York village. He has been for many years an
EDWARD S. MARSHALL.
extensive owner of shore property, and in 1895 he built and equipped an electric-light plant of large capacity, to light his grounds and for general light- ing purposes throughout the town. Mr. Marshall is a Republican in politics. He served as a mem- ber of the Maine Legislature in I889, and is now a member of the Executive Council under Governor Cleaves. He has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah K. Dennett, daughter of Hon. Alexander Dennett of Kittery; she died June 6, 1870, aged twenty-four years, leaving one child : Frank D. Marshall, born May 29, 1870. Subse- quently he was married to Georgia V. Main, daughter of John Main of York, and by this union
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has had one child : Blanche Estelle Marshall, born August 22, 1873, died May 7, ISSr. Mr. Marshall's son, Frank D. Marshall, received his education at Berwick Academy, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School, of which latter he is a recent graduate, and is now a member of the Maine Bar.
MARSTON, CHARLES ALBERT, Lumberman, Skow- hegan, was born in Waterville, Maine, May 26, 1851, son of Isaiah and Eliza (Coburn) Marston. His paternal ancestors were farmers, the American pro- genitor of the family having come to this country
C. A. MARSTON.
from Norfolk county, England, in 1637. His father, Colonel Isaiah Marston, was the son of Kenelon Marston, who was born in Barnstable. Cape Cod, and moved to Waterville in 18or. His mother, Eliza Coburn, was the sister of Governor Abner Coburn and Congressman Stephen Coburn, and was of Scotch- Irish descent. He was educated in the country schools and Bloomfield (Skowhegan) Academy, and at the Dirigo Business College in Augusta. His early life, until the age of eighteen, was spent in hard work on the farm, during which period he attended school winters. When ten years old, in 1861, his parents moved from Waterville to Skow- hegan. At eighteen he became a member of an engineering corps in Illinois, in which he continued
for a year, and then for six years worked for his uncles, A. and P. Coburn, in a brickyard, and also at farming and lumbering. In 1879 he settled on a farm in Skowhegan and pursued the farming avo- cation for himself until 1885, when he moved to the village and went into the steam-fitting and plumb- ing business, as a member of the firm of Forrest & Marston. In 1888 he engaged in lumbering, in which he has continued to the present time. Upon the death of ex-Governor Coburn, his uncle, in 1885, Mr. Marston as one of the heirs to the estate of Abner and Philander Coburn, the latter having died in 1876, succeeded to a very large lumbering interest. The firm of A. & P. Coburn was one of the largest lumber concerns of New England, and owned vast tracts of timberlands in Maine, Canada, and several of the Northwestern states. Mr. Marston is also largely interested in city waterworks, electric lighting and electric railroads in Skowhegan, and in 1893 with others he incorporated the Bloom- field Shoe Company, which operates a large shoe factory in Skowhegan, and of which he is Treasurer and principal owner. He has held various muni- cipal offices, is now Chairman of the School Board, was a member of the Maine House of Representa- tives 1891-4, and member of the Senate 1895-6. In politics he is a Republican, and served twelve years on the Republican Town Committee, for eight years as Chairman. He is a member of the Masonic Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council, Commandery and Mystic Shrine ; Odd Fellows Lodge, Encampment, and Canton of Patriarchs Militant, in which he holds a Major's commission ; Ancient Order United Workmen ; Knights of Pythias, both bodies, having recently been commissioned on the staff of the Brigadier-General commanding the Maine Brigade of the Uniform Rank; and the Patrons of Hus- bandry. He is also a member of the Home Market Club of Boston, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Milburn Club of Skowhegan. Mr. Marston was married October 4, 1876, to Sarah Steward, daughter of Philander C. Steward of Skowhegan ; they have five children : Roy Leon, Lola Eliza, Molly . Geneva, Coburn Steward and Claire Randolph Marston.
MCCORISON, JAMES OLLAND, M. D., North Berwick, was born in Bath, Maine, May 29, 1851, son of James F. and Mary .A. (Randall) Mc( prison. Ile is descended on the paternal side iror one of the early Scotch colonists of Maine (then Massa-
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chusetts) - a Presbyterian clergynian. On the maternal side his ancestors were among the early English colonists, and were members of the Society of Friends. He acquired his carly education in the public schools and at Bath High School, and commenced active life as a clerk in Samuel Ander- son's drug store in that city, where he served a full four-years apprenticeship, 1869-73. While en- gaged in the study of medicine with Dr. Charles A. Packard of Bath, he became a registered drug- gist. In the spring of 1876 he engaged in the drug business at North Berwick, Maine. Soon after, he completed his studies in medicine, gradu-
JAMES O. McCORISON.
ating from the Medical School of Bowdoin College, and disposing of his interest in the drug business, gave entire attention to the practice of his profes- sion. Dr. McCorison has had eighteen years of successful and lucrative practice. He was Super- visor of Schools of North Berwick in 1889-90, and in June 1895 was appointed a Trustee of Berwick Academy. He is a member of the Maine Medical Society, and the medical societies of York county, Maine, and Strafford county, New Hampshire, having served as President of the York County society. He is also a member of Yorkshire Lodge, Unity Royal Arch Chapter of South Berwick and Bradford Commandery Knights Templar of Bidde-
ford, in the Masonic fraternity ; Eagle Lodge and Columbian Encampment of Odd Fellows, and Past Major in Canton Columbian ; member of Lincoln Commandery and Grand Trustee in the Grand Lodge, United Order of the Golden Cross. In politics Dr. McCorison has been a lifelong Repub- lican. He was married in December 1874 to Ada O. Copeland, of Reading, Massachusetts, by whom he had three children : Annie Ethelyn, Carl Cope- land and Sarah Bell McCorison. In May 1889 he was a second time married, to Joanna H. Hall, of North Berwick, Maine ; they have had four children, of whom two are living : John Hall and James Oliver McCorison.
MURCHIE, JAMES, head of the lumber manu- facturing firm of James Murchie & Sons, Calais, was born in Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, August 13, 1813, son of Andrew and Janet (Campbell) Murchie. He is of Scottish ancestry, his father having come from Paisley, Scotland, about the year 1784, and his mother, a native of New Brunswick, being a daughter of Colin Campbell. Andrew Murchie was among the first Loyalist founders of the Saint Stephen District in New Brunswick - just across the Saint Croix River from Calais, then known as the settlement of Quoddy, and now the thriving town of Saint Stephen. James Murchie was educated in the common schools, and lived on his father's farm until 1836, when he engaged in farming on his own account, which he continued for eighteen years, cultivating his farm in summer and cutting and hauling logs in winter. A " permit " to cut timber on the Crown lands of New Brunswick could be purchased at that time for a small sum per square mile, and Mr. Murchie soon became the largest single operator in the woods of that section, selling his logs to the mill-owners. In 1853, as a result of his eighteen years of steady and earnest labor and prudent management, both on the farm and in the forest, Mr. Murchie was in possession of twenty thousand dollars, and with this capital he began the manufacture of lumber, and also opened a general store. He had then a family of ten children, and the sons - all energetic workers - were early trained to business pursuits. The eldest, John, studied navigation, and at the age of twenty, when his father purchased his first vessel, he sailed as her aptain. In 1862, when Mr. Murchie built the bar . Bessie Simpson and John was transferred to her command,
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the third son, James, went with him, and a few years later became Captain of the bark Mary Rideout. As the business increased, the sons one by one were taken into partnership, W. A. about 1862, and later Captains John G. and James S. leaving the sea to join their father as partners, and thus was established the firm of James Murchie & Sons, now one of the most extensive lumber con- cerns in the state of Maine or the province of New Brunswick. In Maine, besides their mills in Calais, they own and operate a large mill at Princeton for the manufacture of fruit-boxes, for the Florida and Mediterranean markets, from which they shipped
JAMES MURCHIE.
in 1896 about a million boxes, or four cargoes, to Sicily ; and [on the Canadian side they have mills in New Brunswick at Benton, Deer Lake, Fredericton and Edmundston. They are large owners of timber lands in Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec, and also own valuable real estate in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Murchie has been called upon to fill many important positions of honor and trust in the state and the neighboring province. In his earlier business life he held at different times various local offices, was Justice of the Peace and a Captain in the Militia. He was one of the eight original stockholders of the New Brunswick & Canada Railway (now under lease to the Canadian Pacific), who guaranteed to build the road for eight
hundred thousand dollars, and the story of the difficulties he encountered and overcame in the carrying out of this work would itself fill a volume. Throughout the valley ot the Saint Croix are seen many noteworthy testimonials to his public spirit and enterprise. He built and placed out of debt the church at Old Ridge, New Brunswick, now in a prosperous condition ; and the handsome little gothic church in Milltown, New Brunswick, where. the Congregational Society meet and which is his place of worship, is largely of his planning and personal supervision during its construction. He was prominent in organizing and starting the Calais Shoe Factory, in which he is a leading stock- holder, and the splendid Saint Croix Cotton Mill, the second largest in Canada, standing in sight of his beautiful home in Milltown, is another monu- ment to his untiring energy and boundless enter- prise. While successfully conducting one of the largest industries in Eastern Maine, he has also served as President of the New Brunswick & Canada Railway, the Frontier Steamboat Company, Saint Croix Cotton Mills and Saint Croix Lloyds Insurance Company, Director of the Saint Stephen Bank and Saint Croix Shoe Factory, and Trustee of the Saint Croix & Penobscot Railroad. In 1874 Mr. Murchie was elected a member of the New Brunswick Legislature, as a supporter of a free non-sectarian school system. In his pub- lished card to the electors of Charlotte county, announcing his candidacy, he said : " I am in favor of free non-sectarian schools, and believe that all the property of the country should contribute to educate the children, and that it is the only true principle that insures an education to the poor man's child. . . . I shall support the present gov- ernment in all the measures that I think are for the benefit of the county and province in general. I will legislate for improvements that will build up our county, and tend to keep our population at home and encourage immigration to our province, and if elected, I will serve you to the best of my ability." Mr. Murchie served in the Legislature until 1878, during which time he secured the repeal of the tax on wild lands, which had previously been many times attempted by various members without success. The school measure which he supported was passed, and is in force and working well in the county to-day. Mr. Marchie has always been alive to the needs and welfare of Calais and Saint Stephen and particularly watchful and active whenever, a has sometimes happened, their interests have been
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threatened by hostile legislation. . An example of this spirit was when a few years ago efforts were made by certain railway people to obtain a charter for a bridge enabling the Shore Line to cross the Saint Croix River below the docks. The consummation of the project would have obstructed the navigation of the river and been a serious damage to the business interest of both towns. A strong attempt was made to lobby the bill through the Dominion Parliament, and the services of a number of able advocates and influential men had been secured to effect its passage. Mr. Murchie went to Ottawa. and by his clear, forcible presentation of the case and straightforward business appeal, defeated the promoters of the scheme and averted the impending danger that had alarmed the property owners of Calais and Saint Stephen. Mr. Murchie's sons, associated with him in the firm, are all capable business men and useful citizens. The eldest, John G. Murchie, was for several years Mayor of Calais, and George A. Murchie, the fourth son, is the Border City's present Mayor, serving his fifth term. Incidentally in this connection it is an interesting fact that Saint Stephen, the sister town across the river, also has a Mayor Murchie, a nephew of the subject of this sketch. W. A. Murchie. the second son, while having in charge the large general correspondence of the firmu, finds time to fill the offices of Treasurer and Agent of the Calais Tugboat Company, Director of the New Brunswick & Canada Railway and the Frontier Steamboat Company, Director of the ('alais Shoe Factory, and Vice-Consul for Brazil and the Argentine Republic. James S. Murchie has control of the concern's shipping business ; Henry S. Murchie is Paymaster and looks after the books of the firm; and the youngest son, Frank C. Murchie, prominent in athletics and a social favor- ite, has charge of the mills at Fredericton. Two other of Mr. Murchie's sons, Charles F. and Hor- ace B. Murchie, are established in New York as successful lumber-commission merchants in Wall street. While the house of James Murchie & Sons has been very successful, yet few business firms have met with more numerous or more relatively- serious losses. They have lost heavily at times as endorsers of paper for firms that failed. They also lost their mills at Benton by fire; a large mill property in which they were heavily interested at Magaguadavic, New Brunswick, was a complete i . from the same cause ; during a conflagration in Saint Stephen in 1877, their wharves and a large
quantity of luinber at that place were destroyed ; and in the great Calais fire of August 27, 1870, their loss of property amounted to fifty thousand dollars. They have also lost a number of vessels, and their Calais mills have been more than once destroyed by fire ; but the courage and energy of Mr. Murchie, seconded by the business capacity of his sons, have surmounted every obstacle and placed the firm in the high position which it occupies in the business world to-day. Mr. Murchie was married in 1836 to Mary Ann Grimmer, daugh- ter of John Grimmer, afterwards Collector of Cus- to's for the Port of Saint Stephen ; they had ten children : john Grimner, William Andrew, James Skiffington, Elizabeth Caroline, Mary Adaline, George Albert, Annie Maria, Charles Frederick, Emma Jane and Horace Beverly Murchie. Mrs. Murchie died in 1857, and in 1860 Mr. Murchie was a second time married, to Margaret Thorpe, daughter of Jackson Thorpe of Saint George, New Brunswick ; they had three children: Alice Mabei, Henry Simpson and Frank Campbell Murchie. Mr. Murchie's second wife died ...
His sons resident in New York, and others of his children whose lines have been cast elsewhere, are accustomed to spend the summer seasons, accom- panied by their families, at the home of their father in Milltown, where at such times is gathered a family group of four generations. Yet the weight of years rests lightly upon him; he is hale and vigorous, rarely uses glasses, and writes himself most of his correspondence, seldom dictating to his typewriter except upon matters of ordinary business routine. With his extensive business interests established " under two flags," he watches carefully the tariff legislation of both countries, is an advocate of a system of reciprocal trade rela- tions between them, and considers hostile legisla- tion on the part of either as injurious to both.
NELSON, FRANK, Cashier of the Calais National Bank, Calais, was born in Bangor, Maine, January 4, 1837, son of Samuel and Cynthia (Aldrich) Nelson. He is descended from Thomas Nelson, one of twenty families who emigrated from Rowley, Yorkshire, England, to this country, with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, in December 1638, probably spent the winter in Salem, Massachusetts, and removed in the spring of 1639 to a place between Ipswich .nd Newbury, called for some time Mr. Rogers' Planta-
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tion, but in September of the same year given by the General Court the name of Rowley. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Moses Aldrich, who came to America in 1670. He was educated in the public schools of Bangor and at the Portland
FRANK NELSON.
(Maine) High School. At the age of fifteen he learned telegraphy, in which he was engaged in 1852-6, and from 1856 to 1860 he was an account- ant in Boston. In 1860 he came to Calais, where he was engaged in mercantile business until 1866, and was Treasurer of the Calais & Baring Railroad Company from 1866 to January 1, 1869, when he was elected Cashier of the Calais National Bank, in which position he has continued to the present time. Mr. Nelson has also held the agency of various promi- nent fire insurance companies since 1866, his com- mission from the Home Insurance Company dating from January I of that year, and since that date has served as Notary Public and Justice of the Peace. For fifteen years, 1880-95, he was also President of the Calais Savings Bank. He is President of the St. Croix Club of Calais, an organization comprising one hundred and sixty members, incorporated in 1896, is a Republican in politics, and served as a member of the Common Council of Calais in 1875, as Alder- man in 1876, and again as Alderman in 1881-2-3-4. Mr. Nelson was married August 30, 1859, at Calais,
to Henrietta Brewer Foster, a lineal descendant of John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley. They have five children : Frank Aldrich, born January 13, 1861 ; Ellen Foster, born February 18, 1863 ; Louise Mar- . rett, born May 4, 1868 ; Kate Winthrop, born June 26, 1874, and Edwin Marrett Nelson, born December 12, 1876.
HUNTER, SAMUEL BELCHER, M. D., Machias, was born in Strong, Maine, July 18, 1830, son of David Fossett and Lydia Ann (Belcher) Hunter. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on the paternal side, and on the maternal side is of English and Welsh descent. He acquired his early education in the common schools and at Farmington (Maine) Acad- emy, and received his medical training at the Maine Medical School, Brunswick, and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, graduating from the latter institution March 12, 1855. While growing up he worked at farming when not in
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SAMUEL B. HUNTER.
school, and taught school for several years while fitting for college. Since graduation he has prac- ticed medicine and surgery continuously in the state of Maine, for two years in Franklin county, and for thirty-nine years in Washington county, except during the war and at times when he was visiting various colleges and hospitals. Dr. Hunter
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served in the army as Assistant Surgeon of the Ninth Maine Volunteers, Surgeon of the Seventh Maine Volunteers, Acting Assistant-Surgeon of Coast Batteries, and Provost-Marshal Surgeon of the Board of Enrolment for the Fifth District of Maine. Since the war he has been United States Examining Sur- geon for pensions, and is now Acting Assistant-Sur- geon of the Marine Hospital Service for the Port of Machias He is a member of the Maine and the American medical associations; of Harwood Ma- sonic Lodge, and St. Elmo Commandery Knights Templar, both of Machias, also of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. In politics he was originally a Whig and since a Republican, but is not a politician in the ordinary acceptance of that term. He has never engaged in any business out- side of the practice of medicine, and has never accepted any office or appointment unless it legiti- mately belonged to or was connected with his profes- sion. His early training upon a farm endowed him with a physical vigor that has enabled him to with- stand for many years the severe demands of a large and hard, but successful and lucrative, country prac- tice. Dr. Hunter was married September 28, 1855, to Miss Amelia R. Lincoln, of Perry, Maine ; they have two children : Sarah Lincoln and Lydia Ann Hunter.
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