USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 30
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office, and sending out annually an immense quan- tity of its product into every section of the United States. In 1891 Dr. True took into partnership his son, Edward C. True, a young man of inherited energy and exceptional business capacity, and since then the business has expanded with increasing rapidity - the sales for 1895 exceeding by thirty per cent those of any previous year. Dr. True's laboratory and residence close by are among the finest buildings in the city, and his house is filled with handsome paintings, rare bric-a-brac and various works of art, in which he is a connoisseur. In his personality he is one of the most charming of men, having a rare and genial nature that radiates warmth and sunshine wherever he goes. Although seventy-nine years of age, he is still hale, fresh, and vigorous, and goes through his daily routine of work with the energy of a man of fifty-five. In his specialty Dr. True found just what he was fitted for ; he stuck to his profession with a determination to succeed - and he succeeded. He was married May 3, 1846, to Hannah H. Frost, of Norway, Maine, who died October 10, 1861 ; three children by this marriage are living : Mrs. Henry Lowell of Auburn, Abram F. True of Boston, and Mrs. W. I. Parsons of Auburn. In 1864, January 1, he was a second time married, to Sarah A. Curtis of Auburn ; they have two children living : Edward C. and James Rawson True, both now of Auburn.
TIMBERLAKE, FREMONT ERNEST, Bank Ex- aminer of Maine, was born in Livermore, Andros- coggin county, Maine, July 18, 1856, son of Nathan and Adelia (Millet) Timberlake. His grandfathers, James Timberlake of Livermore and Zebulon Millet of Leeds, were among the earliest settlers of their respective towns, and the old homestead which was the place of his birth has been in possession of the family for over a century. He acquired his early education in the common schools of his native town and at Monmouth and Wilton academies, mean- while working on the farm summers and teaching school winters. In 1879 he commenced the study of law in the office of Hutchinson & Savage at Lewiston, Maine, continuing to teach winter terms of school and pursuing such other occupations as offered, to defray the expenses of his legal education. In March 1882 he was admitted to the Maine Bar at Farmington, and early in the summer of 1883 opened an office in Phillips, Maine, where he has
since practiced and resided. From the start he was successful, handling his cases in a skilful and business-like manner, and soon establishing a repu- tation that brought him a large and lucrative prac- tice. In September 1886 he was elected County Attorney of Franklin County, in which office he served for three successive terms, January 1887 to January 1893. For eleven years he was Treasurer and one of the Trustees of the Phillips Savings Bank, and was also a Director of the Union National Bank of Phillips. Mr. Timberlake has always manifested an earnest public spirit, and has been deeply interested and prominently active in all matters tending to promote the financial, moral and social welfare of
F. E. TIMBERLAKE.
his community. Largely to his efforts and influence was due the building of the Phillips & Rangeley Railroad, to which enterprise he devoted much time and energy, having been Treasurer during its con- struction, a Director and Attorney since 1889, and at a later period being elected General Passenger and Ticket Agent and re-elected Treasurer. He has also served for several years as Attorney for the Sandy River Railroad, and much of his law busi- ness of later years has been in connection with these and other railroads throughout the state. Mr. Timberlake's abilities as a sound lawyer, an energetic business man and an able financier very soon commanded attention outside of his county
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and district, and in September 1895 he was appoint- ed Bank Examiner of Maine, which position he at present holds. He is a Republican in politics, and has always been active in furthering the interests of his party ; for the last six years he has been a member of the Republican State Committee. He is much esteemed for his social qualities, and has a large circle of warm friends which he has won by his liberality, genial nature, and quiet, unassuming
manners The hours of rest and recreation which he manages to steal from a busy life are mainly spent at his cottage, on the shores of the picturesque Rangeley Lakes. Mr. Timberlake was married June 16, 1883, to Emma Augusta Grover, daughter of Leonard A. and Mary A. (Barnes) Grover, of Bethel, Maine ; they had three children : Mellie , Grover, Leonard Fremont and Enima Augusta Timberlake. Mrs. Timberlake died April 27, 1887, aged twenty-five years, mourned not only as a true wife and loving mother, but by a wide circle of friends to whom she had become endeared by her womanly character, amiable disposition and rare personal charms.
TRUE, CHARLES AUGUSTUS, County Attorney of Cumberland County, descendant of the well-known Massachusetts family of that name, son of Samuel Augustus and Ellen (Hart) True, was born in Port- land, November 24, 1860. He gained his earlier education in the schools of his native city and was graduated from Colby University, with honors, in the class of 1882. Adopting the study and practice of law as his path in life, he began, soon after graduation from the University, attendance at Har- vard Law School, meanwhile pursuing, as a student, reading with the famous legal firm of Symonds & Libby. In 1885 he was admitted to the Cumber- land Bar, and at once entered upon active practice, gaining a position at the front from the outset. In 1889 he was appointed Assistant County Attorney, and in 1892 was nominated and elected County Attorney, a position which he at this date ( 1896) holds, having been re-elected in recognition of his services to the shire. During his terms a number of criminal cases of much importance - some cases carrying life imprisonment - have come under his charge, and he has brought the criminals to judg- ment. His success in prosecution of offenders is
doubtless due in great measure to his intimate knowledge of the law, his clear and admirable man- mer of presenting cases before the jury and bench, and the coticiseness with which those cases are put to the jury ; but his early training as a newspaper reporter - in which amusement he indulged in youthful days - may have something to do with it. However that may be, it is a fact that Mr. True has gained high lionors in an office filled by notable men since Maine has been a state. In politics Mr. True is a Republican, and a prominent member of that party in the state, taking high rank among its young leaders. In secret and benevolent societies
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CHAS. A. TRUE.
he is affiliated with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. On October 10, 1888, he was joined in marriage to Gertrude A. Paine, the issue being a daughter named Gertrude. The True family, now represented in Portland by one of its best known merchants and substantial citizens (Samuel Augustus True, the father of Charles), is of English descent, coming to this country in the early colonial days. The Maine pro- genitor came from Salisbury, Massachusetts, prior to the Revolutionary War, and settled in New Glou- cester. The grandfather of the subject of the present sketch moved from New Gloucester to Portland.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
WILLIS, CHARLES W., Associate Editor of the New England Grocer, Boston, and a widely known writer and contributor to various periodicals, was born in Leeds, Androscoggin county, Maine, October 31, 1862, of English and Dutch parentage. His education procured, very largely through his own efforts, he started out to make his way in the world when still a mere boy. Choosing the news- paper profession as the vocation best suited to his tastes and qualifications, his first noteworthy expe- rience was as the correspondent of a Philadelphia agricultural journal, in which capacity he traveled extensively through New Jersey, Delaware, Mary- land and Pennsylvania. Coming to Boston in 1886, he became connected with the Boston Globe, where he did general work, and as marine editor repre- sented that paper for a time on the floor of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. Early in 1888 he severed his connection with the Boston Globe, to become associate editor of the New England Grocer, the pioneer of trade journals in that field, and to-day a solid and successful weekly publication having full sway in the Eastern States. In this position he has continued to the present time. In 1890 Mr. Willis was sent to Jamaica, West Indies, on an im- portant mission, by the New England Grocer, to make a thorough study of the banana, cocoanut, spice and coffee-growing industries, and while in Kingston, the capital of the island, he was received by Sir Henry Arthur Blake, K. C. M. G., Governor and Captain-General of Jamaica and its dependen- cies, and by Hon. H. W. Livingstone, the Colonial Treasurer. In the latter part of 1895 he made a second trip to Jamaica, this time on an independent mission, accompanied by his wife. On his return he had published an illustrated volume of travel in Jamaica, entitled " Buckra "-Land, which was well received and proved to be a financial success. As a writer on Jamaica, her natural wonders, climate and people, Mr. Willis was the pioneer, and his work has been highly commended by the news- papers of the island. In 1893 he was elected by the Board of Governors a member of the Institute of Jamaica, an institution under the patronage of the Colonial Government, for the promotion of science, art and literature in that colony. He is widely known as a correspondent, not only in this country but abroad, especially in the West Indies, England and the Hawaiian Islands, and under the pseudonym " Allan Eric," he is a constant contrib- utor to the illustrated magazines, among them being Onting, The Midland Monthly, The Canadian
Magazine, The Home-Maker, Goldthwait's Geo- graphical Magazine, The Tuftonian, The Ladies' Home Journal, The Youth's Companion and many others. He is the well known " Town Crier" of the Boston Sunday Courier. In the business world Mr. Willis has taken an active part. He is a prominent member of the Boston Fruit and Pro- duce Exchange, and served on the Board of Direc- tors of that body during 1894 and 1895. He is a member and Secretary of the Paint and Oil Club of New England, a member of the New England Railroad Club, and of the Boston Press Club. In August 1896 he received the appointment of Vice-
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C. W. WILLIS.
Consul of the Republic of l'araguay, for the port of Boston. He has interested himself in Western mining, and is a Director of the Ashmont Gold Mining and Leasing Company, composed of Bos- ton capitalists, owning and controlling one of the richest gold-mining properties of the Cripple Creek district of Colorado, located at Anaconda. He is also interested in other Boston business enter- prises. In political belief he is an ardent Republi- can, a protectionist and a champion of " sound money." Mr. Willis was married in September 1887 to Miss Lillian S. Winterton, a Boston lady of English parentage, and resides in Somerville, where he is surrounded by books and other evidences of his calling, and by collections made during his travels.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
WALKER, JOHN EDWIN, M. D., Thomaston, was born in Union, Knox county, Maine, February 23, 1858, son of Dr. John Bailey and Bertha E. (Rust) Walker. He received his general education in the Thomaston High School, the Maine Wesleyan Semi-
JOHN E. WALKER.
nary at Kent's Hill, the Hallowell ( Maine) Classical and Scientific Institute, and at Bowdoin College, where he graduated as A. B. in 1881, and from which institution he received the honorary degree of A. M. in 1884. Adopting the profession of medi- cine, he graduated from the Maine Medical School (Bowdoin College) in 1834, and since graduation has been engaged in active practice in Thomaston. Besides attending to the demands of his extended and growing private practice, Dr. Walker has served since 1888 as Physician to the Maine State Prison. He is a member of the Maine Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine, the Maine Academy of Medicine and Science, and the Ameri- can Medical Association. In politics he has always been a Republican. He was married November 25, 1885, to Josephine E. Percy, daughter of Capt. N. E. Percy of Phipsburg, Maine; they have no children.
WALKER, CHARLES, Postmaster of Lewiston, was born in Rumford, Oxford county, Maine, Sep- tember 16, 1837, son of Timothy and Luna (Ab-
bott) Walker. His father, Timothy Walker, was the son of Charles and Hannah (Pickering) Walker, and grandson of Colonel Timothy Walker, the principal grantee of Rumford. Timothy Walker was born in Concord, New Hampshire, July 10, 1813, and in early manhood came to Rumford to look after the large interests of the family in Rum- ford lands, and became possessor of the first settled farm in the town, where he spent the remainder of his days. He served with credit in both branches of the Maine Legislature, was much in town office, and was a director in several moneyed institutions in the town and outside. He was a man of firm con- victions, and of many charitable deeds. Although possessed of large means, being of plain and simple habits, he lived in unpretentious style. He died January 25, 1882. Charles Walker spent his youth and early manhood in his native town. After at- tending the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill and the Maine State Seminary at Lewiston, he studied law in the office of Judge Charles W.
CHARLES WALKER.
Walker of Auburn, and was admitted to the Andros- coggin County Bar September 28, 1860. From 1863 to 1868 he was Acting United States Assistant Assessor for J. B. Ham, Lewiston, and from the lat- ter year to 1871 was a partner in the firm of J. B. Ham & Company, dealers in corn and flour. In 1883 he was elected City Treasurer, and in 1884-5
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
he was elected respectively Mayor, Treasurer and Member of the State Legislature. In March 1887 he was appointed Postmaster of Lewiston, and served a term of four years. In 1892 he was again elected City Treasurer, was re-elected in 1893, and in May 1893 was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Carlisle, Disbursing Officer for the United States Post Office Building in Lewiston, then under construction. In April 1895, without any recommendation other than his own personal appli- cation, he was again appointed Postmaster of Lew- iston, by President Cleveland, which office he still holds. Mr. Walker is also a Trustee of the Andros- coggin County Savings Bank, and a Director in the First National Bank of Lewiston. In politics he has been always a Democrat, but once, when he voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He was mar- ried December 2, 1860, to Augusta P. Hall, of Paris, Maine ; they have no children.
ALLAN, WILLIAM RICE, of T. W. Allan & Son, lumber manufacturers, Dennysville, was born in Dennysville, May 24, 1847, son of Theophilus W. and Martha R. (Sargant) Allan. He is a great- grandson of Colonel John Allan, born in Edin- burgh Castle, Scotland, January 31, 1746, son of Major William Allan of the British army. His grandfather was Mark Allan, born March 31, 1775, and his grandmother on the paternal side was Susannah Wilder, born August 9, 1774. His mother was born in Portland, Maine. He was educated in the common schools of Dennysville and at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Portland, and from earliest boyhood has been engaged in the lum- bering business, in association with his father, T. W. Allan, until the latter's death in 1894. T. W. Allan was one of the best-known lumbermen of Eastern Maine, having carried on the lumber busi- ness in the same place for over seventy years; he died January 7, 1894, aged ninety years, having always been held in high estimation by all who knew him. The business was for many years con- «lucted under the firm name of J. & T. W. Allan, and later under the present style of T. W. Allan & Son, the membership consisting of T. W. Allan and his elder son, N. S. Allan. Mr. Allan has served his town in various public capacities, as Supervisor of Schools for thirteen years, as Second Selectman for seven years, and as First Selectman for the present year, 1896. In 1893-4 he represented the
eastern part of Washington county in the Maine Senate, as a member of that body serving on the Education and Insane Hospital committees, and as Chairman of the Temperance Committee. He is a member of Crescent Masonic Lodge and Crescent Chapter Royal Arch Masons, of Pembroke, Maine ; St. Bernard Commandery Knights Templar, of East- port, Maine ; and Delta Lodge of Perfection, Scot- tish Rite, of Machias, Maine. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, his great-grandfather, Colonel John Allan, having been in command of Eastern Maine through the Revolutionary War. In politics
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WM. R. ALLAN.
Mr. Allan is a Republican, and a believer in the political rights of all men He was married Jan- uary 26, 1871, to Helen M. Kilby of Dennysville ; they have had five children : Bertha Todd, Sargant Maxwell (deceased), Edith M., Donald Mark and Martha Sargant AAllan.
BARRETT, FRANKLIN RIPLEY, President of the Portland Savings Bank, Portland, was born in Port- land, January 21, 1835, son of Charles E. and Eliza- beth M. (Baker) Barrett. The Barrett family were among the carly New England colonists, James
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
Barrett having settled at Charlestown, Massachu- setts, in 1643. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Lieutenant-Colonel John Barrett, served in the Revolutionary army, and was also at Ticonderoga, and before Quebec in the Regiment of the Cumberland, in the command of the brilliant Colonel Seth Warner. His son John, grandfather of our subject, was graduated at Harvard College in 1780, and was a lawyer well-known in Western Massachusetts, living in Northfield, where he died in 1816. Charles E. Barrett, father of Franklin R., was born in Northfield, January 6, 1804. At the age of twelve, his parents having died, he was taken
FRANKLIN R. BARRETT.
by his guardian to Portland, Maine, where he fitted for college. Graduating from Bowdoin in 1822, he read law, was admitted to the Bar, and practiced for a time. But his especial talents were for finance, and he became eminent as a financier, being for many years President of the Canal National Bank of Portland, Treasurer of the Atlan- tic & St. Lawrence (now the Grand Trunk) Rail- road, and a Director of the Portland, Saco & Ports- mouth Railroad (now in the Boston & Maine sys- tem) and other corporations. Many of the best years of his life were largely devoted to the financial interests of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence enterprise,
of which he was one of the foremost promoters and original incorporators, and of these was the last sur- vivor. He was also active and prominent in the corporation that constructed the canal from Port- land to Sebago Lake. In politics he was originally a Federalist, later a Whig and finally a Republican. Although never an aspirant for public office, he served for a time as a member of the Board of Aldermen of Portland, where he died January 4, 1894, within two days of his ninetieth birthday anniversary. His wife, a daughter of Joseph Baker of Portland, died in 1875. They had six children, of whom only two are now living : Mary E. and Franklin Ripley Barrett. A third, George P. Barrett, well-known and highly esteemed in Portland, died in June 1896. Franklin R. Barrett received his early education in the public high school of Portland and the old Portland Academy, and graduated from Brown University with the degree of A. B. in IS57. Inheriting to a marked degree the financial tastes and abilities of his father, his career since leaving college has been in many respects similar. His first financial position was in the office of the local Treasurer of the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1875 he became a member of the firm of Swan & Barrett, and subsequently was elected a Director of the At- lantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, and a Director of the Canal National Bank, having been for many years connected with this institution, in which his father was a Director for a period of half a century. After serving for some years on the Board of Direc- tors of the Portland Savings Bank, he was in 1891 elected President of this institution, the foremost of its kind in Maine and the eighth in rank in New England. Mr. Barrett is also Secretary and Treas- urer of the Maine General Hospital, Treasurer of the Portland Female Orphan Asylum and Portland Society of Natural History, and a Trustee of the Portland Public Library. With the pressure of so many and heavy business cares and responsibilities, he finds but little time to devote to political inter- ests, or to social affiliations outside of his circle of intimate friends. In politics he has taken no active part, and the only Portland organizations to which he belongs are the Maine Historical Society and the Cumberland Club. In religious belief he is a Unitarian, being an attendant and supporter of the old First Parish Church, the oldest in the city. Mr. Barrett was married August 15, 1872, to Mary D. Boyd, daughter of John Parker Boyd, a repre- sentative of an old Portland family. Mrs. Barrett died March 9, 1878, leaving no children
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BROWN, FREDERIC, Town Treasurer of Perry, was born in Perry, January 2, 1847, son of Caleb and Emily ( Frost) Brown. His ancestors in the Brown, Frost and Prescott families came to this country from England prior to the Revolution.
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FREDERIC BROWN.
After attending the common schools he served in the War of the Rebellion for two years and one month, enlisting at the age of seventeen in Com- pany D), Second Regiment Maine Cavalry. He participated in the Red River Expedition under General Banks, and also in most of the raids made by Colonel A. B. Spurling in Florida in the fall of 1864 and winter of 1865. Since the war he has followed the occupation of carpenter and builder. Mr. Brown has been Town Clerk and Treasurer of Perry since March 1895, previous to which time these offices were held by his uncle, L. P. Brown, for a continuous period of thirty-four years. He is a member of Belmont Masonic Lodge of Belmont, Massachusetts, and of I. C. Campbell Grand Army Post of Pembroke, Maine. In politics he is a Republican. He was married in 1878 to Miss Delora Ilersey, of Pembroke, Maine.
CLARK, GEORGE WASHINGTON, Farmer, Perry, was born in Perry, March 23, 1844, son of Nathan-
iel and Sarah ( Estay) Clark. His great-grandfather, Richard Clark, was one of the earliest settlers of New England, his name being on record in the museum at Plymouth, Massachusetts, as having landed from the Mayflower. His father was born at or near Eastport, Maine, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. His education was acquired in the public schools. At the age of seventeen, in 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Maine Regiment of Volunteers, and served in the War of the Rebel- lion until discharged two months after his regiment was mustered out and three months after his term of enlistment had expired, being in the hospital when the regiment returned home. In early life he followed the sea, and for fourteen years was master of coasting and sea going vessels. Since that time he has been engaged in farming. Captain Clark has served two terms on the Board of Selectmen and Assessors of the town of Perry, and also two terms
GEO. W. CLARK.
on the School Committee. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of I. C. Campbell Post Grand Army of the Republic, and charter member of Perry Grange Patrons of Husbandry. He was married March 1, 1877, to Almira P. Ross of Perry ; they have two children : Frank and Annie Myrtle Clark.
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DOW, FREDERICK NEAL, Collector of the Port of Portland 1883-5 and 1890-95, and identified with a number of Portland's foremost business corporations and financial institutions, was born in Portland, December 23, 1840, son of Neal and Maria Cor- nelia Durant (Maynard) Dow. His paternal ances- try is derived from John Dow of Tynemouth, Eng- land (1540), whose grandson, Henry, came to America in the first half of the seventeenth century, and was father of that Henry Dow active in civil and military affairs of the colony of New Hampshire ; and from Christopher Hall, who also came to this country in the first half of the seventeenth century.
FRED. N. DOW.
On the maternal side he is descended from Ser- geant John Maynard, the famous lawyer of the Commonwealth period of English history, and from William Maynard, his mother's grandfather, an officer in the Revolutionary War, wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill; also from the Huguenot Durant family. He was educated at Portland Academy, Portland High School, and the Friends' School in Providence, Rhode Island. He left school to fit for the business which his honored grandfather, the late Josiah Dow, then ninety years of age, was about to relinquish, and to which his renowned father, Neal Dow, because of his devotion to the cause of temperance, was thereafter to give
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