USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 37
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is eminently a man of affairs, possesses great execu- tive ability, extended experience in legislation and thorough acquaintance with the affairs of state. He is a staunch believer in the principles and policy of the Republican party, and from his first vote has always supported its measures and candi- dates. For more than thirty years he has taken an active part in every political campaign in Maine, and at various times has done effective work upon the stump in Massachusetts, New York, and even in far Western states. He has always opposed all schemes savoring of national repudiation and dishonor, is a firm believer in sound currency, and an advocate of a revenue system that, while supplying the needs of government, shall afford protection to American in- dustries and workingmen, and give American man- ufacturers the preference in American markets. It is nowhere doubted that in his hands as Executive of the State the business interests of Maine will be safe and well cared for, and that his gubernatorial administration will be thoroughly Republican with- out being offensively partisan. Governor Powers is the owner of a principality in the wild lands of Northern Maine, being the possessor of no less than one hundred and ninety thousand acres of forest territory in Aroostook, Penobscot and Somerset counties. He is a member of the Masonic fratern- ity, and of several social and political clubs. He was married December 25, 1886, to Martha A. Averill, of Lincoln, Maine. They have four children : Wal- ter A., aged 8 ; Martha Pauline, aged 6 ; Doris Vir- ginia, aged 4, and Ralph A. Powers, aged two years.
PUTNAM, HARRY LYMAN, M. D., Houlton, was born in Houlton, September 9, 1863, son of Lyman O. and Martha A. (Packard) Putnam. His grand- parents came from Massachusetts as early settlers of Houlton, and were of English descent. He re- ceived his early education in the public schools of his native town and at Houlton Academy (now Ricker Classical Institute), and graduated from Colby University in 1886. During his student life from 1880 to 1886 he taught in various public schools of Maine, and from 1886 to 1888 was Principal of the High School at Deep River, Con- necticut. Entering upon the study of medicine, he graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1890, and since graduation has practiced his profession continuously at Houlton, with good success. Dr. Putnam has occupied the position of
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Superintendent of Public Schools of Houlton since 1891. He is a member of the American Academy of Medicine and the Bellevue Alumini Association, also of the Odd Fellows fraternity and the college society of the Delta Kappa Epsilon. In politics he
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HARRY L. PUTNAM.
is a Republican. He was married May 14, 1891, to Gertrude M. Bass, of Scotland, Connecticut ; they have one child : Donald E. Putnam.
ROLLINS, ALBERT GEORGE, was born in Vassal- boro, Kennebec county, Maine, 1859, eldest son of George A. and Margaret Carleton Rollins. He was educated at Oak Grove Seminary, the famous Friends' School at Vassalboro, Maine, and during intervals of schooling up to the age of fourteen hardened his muscles and trained himself for the rough combat of this world by work on a farm. He had an inborn taste for books, which he gratified at every opportunity ; but in practical life his bent was toward the mercantile profession. In 1874 he entered the drygoods business at Angusta, the State Capital ; and February 21, 1876, came to Portland and entered the employ of the widely-known busi- ness house of Owen, Moore & Company. In the latter part of the eighties he became a member of the firm, and upon its reorganization as a corpora-
tion became its General Manager. Time has shown that he toxde no mistake in the choice of a career , for he is generally recognized as a sagacious busi- ness man who combines soundness of judgment with rare executive ability. Mr. Rollins has not permitted the cares of business to disturb his early tastes and distract him entirely from the leisurely side of life. He indulges his love for literature and for society, is fond of travel, having traveled exten- sively all over this country and made several European tips. Interested in politics, his judg- ment has citen been consulted by party managers. He has always been a Republican, casting his first vote in 1881 for William Senter, that year chosen Mayor of Portland, but has persistently refused to permit his name to be used for elective office. His interest in state and national affairs, and his prom- inence in the councils of the Republican party, attracted the attention of Governor Cleaves, who in 1893 appointed him to the post of Military Sec-
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ALBERT G. ROLLINS.
retary, with the rank of Major, upon his staff. There he has made an admirable record and won the esteem of all associated with him, in military or civil life. Major Rollins is known among those who know him best as one of the brightest of men in conversation, quick and brilliant in repartee, with a fund of appropriate anecdote always at command.
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In short, he is a young man who has made a suc- cess in everything undertaken. Major Rollins is a meniber of the Portland and Athletic clubs, the Portland Society of Art, Portland Yacht Club, Maine Genealogical Society, and honorary member of the Lincoln Club of his city. He was married Febru- ary 21, 1894, to Caroline Ricker, daughter of Hon. Joseph S. Ricker of Deering, Maine, who is one of the most prominent railroad men in the country. Two sons have been born to them : Joseph Ricker and Richard Rollins.
SHEAD, EDWARD EDES, President of the Frontier National Bank, Eastport, was born in Eastport, Feb-
EDWARD E SHEAD.
ruary 9, 1835, son of Oliver and Sophia Jones (Johnson) Shead. His grandfather, Oliver Shead, was one of the earlier settlers of Eastport, was the first Representative to the General Court of Massa- chusetts in 1807, was the first Postmaster of Eastport, and held many public offices. On the maternal side he is a direct descendant in the eighth generation from John and Priscilla Alden, " famous in the his- tory and legendary poetry of Massachusetts." He was educated in the public schools of Eastport, and at the age of twenty-one, in September 1856, com- menced business as a druggist and apothecary, in
which he has continued to the present tinsx Mr. Shead has been President of the Frontier National Bank since 1885, was one of the Selectmen of East- port in 1886 and 1887, and has served for a number of years as a member of the Superintending School Committee. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of Eastern Lodge of Masons, of East- port. He was married September 16, 1868, to Lucia Wadsworth, daughter of the late S. B. Wads- worth of Eastport, and granddaughter of General Peleg Wadsworth of Hiram, Maine, an officer of the Revolution and a friend of Washington. They have two children : Oliver Wadsworth Shead, born Novem- ber 6, 1869, a graduate of Harvard College of the class of 1893, also a graduate of the New York Law School, and now practicing law in Boston ; and Edward Wadsworth Shead, born February 9, 1874, at present a student at Brown University.
SMITH, HILLMAN, Mayor of Auburn 1894-6, was born in Hampden, Penobscot county, Maine, April 4, 1835, son of John L. and Harriet ( Footman) Smith, of Irish and English ancestry. He was educated in the common schools and academy at Hampden, and at Bucksport (Maine) Seminary, and received his training for active life in working on a farm and teaching school. Subsequently he was for eight years in the grocery business, and in the wholesale and retail ice business for three years. He enlisted in the army August 28, 1861, at the age of twenty- six, and on September 7 following was commis- sioned as Second Lieutenant of Company K, Eighth Maine Regiment; was twice promoted, and was mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service, October 16, 1864, as Captain of his . company. From 1870 to 1883 Mr. Smith resided in Lewiston, where he served on the School Board and as a member of the City Council, and from 1879 to January 1883 as City Marshal. In the fall of 1882 he was elected Sheriff of .Androscoggin County, mov- ing to Auburn, the county seat, January 1, 1883, where he has since resided - as Sheriff and Jailor from January 1883 to January 1887. Since that time he has been a member of the Auburn School Board for four years, has been a member of both branches of the city government, and a member of the Water Board. In March 1894 he was elected Mayor of Auburn, which office he held by re-election until March 1896. On November 20, 1896, he was ap-
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pointed, by the Governor, Warden of the Maine State Prison at Thomaston for four years, assuming the duties of that office on December i following. Mr. Smith was married August 28, 1862, to Sarah J. Perry, of Augusta, Maine ; they have two children
HILLMAN SMITH.
living : Dr. Addison R. Smith of Freeport, Maine, and Mrs. Bessie Smith Little of Auburn. .
SWAN, CHARLES EDWARD, M. D., Calais, was born in Winslow, Kennebec county, Maine, Septem- ber 5, 1822, son of Francis and Hannah (Child) Swan. He comes of good medical ancestry. His American ancestor was Henry Swan of Salem, Massachusetts, who came from Kent, England, in 1638. Dr. Thomas Swan, only son of the forego- ing, was a leading physician in his time in Boston, and the latter's son Thomas, a Harvard graduate in 1689, was also a practicing physician in Boston. William Swan, founder of the family in Maine, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who came to the state in 1794, was an officer of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment in the Revolution. The father of Charles Edward removed from Winslow to Calais in 1834, where he died in 1862 at the age of seventy-seven. His mother was the daughter of James Child, a prominent citizen of Augusta, Maine.
Charles Edward Swan received his early education in the common schools and at Washington Acad- emy, East Machias, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1844. At once entering the Medical Department of that institution, the Maine Medical School, he graduated as M. D. in 1847 and commenced practice in Calais, where he has since continued. Dr. Swan was a Delegate from the Maine Medical Society to the convention of the American Medical Association at Detroit, Michigan, in 1853. He is a member of the American Acad- emy of Medicine, also of the Council of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick, and is on the Con- sulting Staff of the Maine General Hospital at Portland. In politics he was originally a Whig and later a Republican to the present time. Dr. Swan was married in September 1849 to Mary D. Downes, of Calais, who died in July 1851 ; there were two
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CHAS. E. SWAN
children, both now deceased. He was again mar- ried September 8, 1890, to Mrs. Minerva H. Horton.
TALBOT, JOHN COFFIN, Lawyer, East Machias, was born in East Machias, November 3, 1816, son of John Coffin and Mary ( Foster) Talbot. John C. Talbot, the father, was a son of Peter and Lucy
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( Hammond) Talbot of Stoughton, Massachusetts, married in 1771, and settled in East Machias, Maine, in 1773. l'eter Talbot, his great-grandfather, was a Captain in the Revolutionary army. His \mother was a daughter of John Foster, third son of Colonel Benjamin Foster, who was born in New Hampshire in 1726, was a soldier in the first French and Indian War under Sir William Pepperell, was in the battle at the capture of Louisburg, which was fought on his nineteenth birthday, and was also in the second French War under General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga ; he came with his wife from Scar- boro, Maine, to East Machias in 1765, and was the
JOHN C. TALBOT.
chief leader in originating and planning the first naval engagement of the Revolution, which resulted in the capture of the British armed schooner Mar- garetta, at Machias, June 12, 1775. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the town schools, also by home instruction from one of the best of mothers, and at Washington Academy in East Machias, which he entered at seven years of age. He worked at lumbering, in the woods, on the river and at the sawmill, and also upon a hard and rocky farm, from 1832 to 1837. In the latter year he entered Bowdoin College, and graduated from that institution in 1839, having the valedictory oration assigned to him, and being elected a mem-
ber of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After studying law in the office. of Hon. J. A. Lowell at East Machias, he was admitted to the Bar at Ellsworth, October 24, 1840. From 1840 to 1862 he prac- ticcd law at Lubec, removing in the latter year to East Machias, where he has since continued in the practice of his profession, relieved by active work on the farm. Mr. Talbot has not only conducted a large low basiness, but has been active and promi- nent in public affairs, and has served in many im- portant public offices. He was Deputy Collector of Customs at Lubec, Maine, from October 1, 1843. to April 18, 1848; Deputy British Vice-Consul 1843-8; Representative to the Legislature from Lubec 1849-53 inclusive, also in 1856-7, and in 1853 was Speaker of the House of Representatives ; was candidate for Governor in 1876, receiving a larger vote than was ever before cast in Maine tor a Democratic gubernatorial candidate ; Representative from East Machias for a continuous period 1880-90 inclusive ; and Chairman of the Legislative Com- mittee to the Centennial of Washington's Inaugura- tion, at New York, April 30, 1889 ; has been a Trustee of Washington Academy since 1859 ; was a Selectman of East Machias for twenty-two years, and Town Clerk for twenty-one years. He has been a member of Washington Lodge of Masons since 1848, serving as Worshipful Master of that body for eight or ten years, and has been District Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern District in the Grand Lodge of Maine. He is also Vice-President of the Maine Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and since 1874 has been President of the East Machias Public Library Association. In politics he has been always a Democrat, and has served as State Delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Cincinnati in 1856, and as District Delegate to the National Conventions at Philadelphia in August 1866, and at New York in 1868. Mr. Talbot is still hale, hearty and vigorous, is much interested in all public improvements, and in the progress of scientific knowledge, and very hopeful of its results in the elevation of humanity, physically, intellectually and morally. He has never had occasion to employ a physician, and although nearing four-score years, " his eye is not dimmed nor his nervous force abated." He was married December 10, 1849, to Clara Antoinette Wass, daughter of David and Hadasseh Wass of Addison, Maine ; she died October 30, 1878, and in 1880 he was again married, to Esther B. Wass, a sister of his first wife. There were six chiktren :
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Mary H., married Prentiss M. Woodman of Minne- apolis, Minnesota ; Annie M., married Rev. S. V. Cole of Taunton, Massachusetts; John C., Jr. (deceased) ; Frank M. Talbot of New York City ; William H. (deceased) and Esther B. Talbot, now a teacher in Minneapolis.
TALBOT, JAMES RICH, Lumber Manufacturer and Shipbuilder, East Machias, was born in East
date for Speaker of the House. In politics Mr. Talbot is a Democrat. He was a Delegate to the Chicago National Convention in 1864, Presidential Elector for his Congressional District in 1876, and a mem- ber of the Democratic State Committee from 1888 to 1893. He was married October 19, 1846, to Caroline D. Foster, who died March 20, 1877. In 1878, December 23, he was again married, to Elizabeth T. Burrall, of East Machias ; they have four children : James R., Marion, Rebecca B. and Jones Harold Talbot.
THOMAS, CALVIN PHILBRICK, M. D., Brewer, was born in Newburg, Penobscot county, Maine, December 5, 1850, son of James Thomas, Jr., and Mary J. (Philbrick) Thomas. His paternal grand- parents were James Thomas, a native of Lincolnville, Maine, but a resident of Newburg, Maine, and Sally Bussy, born in Newburg, Maine. On the maternal side his grandfather was William Philbrick,
JAMES R. TALBOT.
Machias, February 7, 1819. son of M. Jones and Betsey ( Rich) Talbot. He is a grandson on the paternal side of Peter Talbot of Stoughton, Massa- chusetts, and Lucy Hammond of Boston ; and on the maternal side, of Samuel Rich and Sarah Bracy of Ware, Massachusetts He received his education in the common schools and at Washington Academy in East Machias. In 1842 he commenced lumber- ing and shipbuilding, and has continued actively engaged in the lumbering business to the present time. Mr. Talbot has filled various town offices in East Machias, having been Selectman from 1860 to 1882 inclusive and again in 1885, and served as Town Treasurer in 1883. He was also a member of the Maine Legislature for eight successive sessions, 1860 to 1879, serving as State Senator from Washing- ton county in 1875 and 1879, and in 1873 was a candi-
CALVIN P. THOMAS.
born in Tamworth, New Hampshire, and his grand- mother was Sally Stimpson, born in Searsport, Maine. He received his early education in the public schools of Newburg and at Hampden (Maine) Academy, and attended Bowdoin Medical College for two years. The last year of his medical course was spent at Dartmouth, from which institu-
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tion he graduated in November 1875. Subsequently he studied for six winter terms at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In February 1876 he com- menced the practice of medicine and surgery in Brewer, where he has since continued. Dr. Thomas is a member of St. Andrew's Lodge, Mt. Moriah Chap- ter, St. John's Commandery, and Maine Sovereign Consistory Scottish Rite, in the Masonic order, also a member of Wildey Odd Fellows Lodge of Brewer. In politics he is a Republican. He was married December 30, 1876, to Mary E. Merrill, of East Eddington, Maine ; they have two sons : Cal- vin M. and Frank H. Thomas.
TWITCHELL, FRITZ HENRY, Mayor of Bath 1891-2, was born in Portland, Maine, November
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FRITZ H. TWITCHELL.
15, 1855, son of Thomas E. and Dolly G. ( Barker) Twitchell. He received his early education in the public schools of his native city, graduating from the Portland High School in 1872, and for several years after graduation was in the wholesale drygoods business in Portland, with the houses of Locke, Twitchell & Company and Twitchell, Chapman & Company. In 1879 he came to Bath, where he has since resided, and where he carly became associ- ated in the management of many corporations in
which Bath capital is largely interested. Mr. Twitchell has been active in the promotion of all enterprises that in his judgment would conduce to the public welfare of the Shipbuilding City, and has long enjoyed to an unlimited extent the especial confidence of the business community. He is con- nected with the Worumbo Manufacturing Company of Lisbon Falls as wool buyer and as Clerk of the Corporation, is Treasurer of the Androscoggin Waterpower Company of Lisbon Falls, Treasurer of the Bath Street Railway and Bath Gas and Electric Company, and is interested and a Director in vari- ous other manufacturing, lighting and street-railway corporations. Mr. Twitchell was elected a member of the Bath City Council in 1882, 1884-5-6-7, 1889 and 1896, and served as President of that body 1884-7 and 1896. In 1891 he was elected Mayor of Bath, to which office he was re-elected in 1892. He is now serving his second term as Rep- resentative in the Maine Legislature. Mr. Twitchell is prominent in the Masonic order, being a member of Ancient Landmark Lodge, Mount Vernon Chap- ter, Portland Council, Dunlap Commandery, Rose Croix Chapter Perfection Lodge, Portland Council Maine Consistory, Royal Order of Scotland, and Aleppo Temple of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is Deputy Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Maine, and in 1890 was Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pyth ias of Maine, in which order he is a member of Patten Lodge of Bath. He is also a member of the Sagadahoc Club of Bath, Abnaki Club of Augusta, Cumberland Club of Portland, Exchange Club of Boston, Lotus Club of New York and the Troy Club of Troy, New York. In politics Mr. Twitchell is a Republican. He was married June 26, 1881, to Einma P. Harding, daughter of Colonel E. K. Harding of Bath ; they have one child.
VICKERY, PELEG O., Founder and President of the Vickery & Hill Publishing Company, Augusta, was born in Danville, Androscoggin county, Maine, sixty years ago. After attending the common schools and working on the home farm until the age of six- teen, he took an academic course and fitted himself for a teacher. His tastes and desires however were inclined toward business rather than to the teaching profession, and instead of engaging in the work for which he had received an especial training, he entered that best of all preparatory schools for an
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active life, the printing office. He followed this business until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he offered his services to his country, entered the army and served with distinction about a year, then returning to Maine and opening a small job- printing office in Augusta. In this business he con- tinued for some years, during which time his restless and ambitious spirit prompted him to give earnest and comprehensive study to the publishing question .. After much consideration and investigation of the subject, he reached the conclusion that the vast body of people throughout the world were almost entirely unsupplied with light literature. There were vari- ous high-class magazines and bound novels foi people of abundant means, and a cheap class of literature of a highly sensational character for others ; but light fiction of a healthy order and real merit for the common people did not exist. He was impressed with the belief that a monthly story-paper of good literary merit, adapted to the tastes and the purses of the great middle class, would be a popular innovation and prove a good investment. Inspired with this idea, he began in 1874 the publication of Vickery's Fireside Visitor, which within a couple of years had attained a circulation of one hundred and sixty- five thousand copies montilly. With the won- derful growth of the paper's circulation, stimulated by the advertising which he scattered broadcast over the country, the business assumed large pro- portions, and it became necessary to remove from the leased quarters, which he then occupied, into a large building which in 1879 he erected and fitted for himself. In the meantime the citizens of Augusta, mindful of the remarkable push and energy which Mr. Vickery was showing in his own business affairs, and desirous of manifesting their appreciation of him as a man and fellow-citizen, had elected him for five consecutive years Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, to the City Council one year, and to the Board of Aldermen two years. In 1878, in recognition of the fact that " his reputation and financial success have been achieved by integrity, fidelity to business trusts, and vigilant and persevering industry," he was elected one of Augusta's Representatives to the Legislature, and re-elected in 1879. In 1880 and again in 1881 he was elected Mayor of Angusta by large majorities, and in 1882 was re-elected to that office without opposition. While thus rapidly mounting the ladder of political success, Mr. Vickery's publishing busi- ness grew to such an extent that he was compelled to retire from the political arena and devote himself
entirely to the interests of his publications. At this time his only daughter was married to a young Maine physician, Dr. John F Hill, recently gradu- ated from Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, and who had come to Augusta to settle in his pro- fession. The demands of the business having become too great for one man to supervise its details and carry its responsibilities alone, without endangering his health, Dr. Hill was prevailed upon to enter into partnership, under the firm name of Vickery & Hill. The business continued to develop with striking rapidity. Commencing on the same lines of success as marked the career of the Fireside
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P. O. VICKERY.
Visitor, were successively established Happy Hours, Hearth.and Home, and Good Stories, papers designed for home reading wherever the English tongue is spoken. The continual growth of the printing plant necessary to do the increasing work necessitated an enlargement of the building, which was made. But even with this extension the limit of floor room was soon reached, and a new de- parture became necessary. With the usual energy and enterprise, preparations were made to displace the splendid lot of presses that were then working on the papers. In less than a year the old plant of presses was abandoned and sold, and a new giant rotary-cut, perfecting press was working out a hun-
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