Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 42

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268

USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 42

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

member of the Pine Tree State Club of Boston. In politics he is an uncompromising Republican. He was married November 26, 1849, to Harriet Wilson, of Malden, who died September 9, 1886 ; they had no children.

HEATH, EDWARD, Ex-Mayor of New Orleans, was born in Lisbon, Maine, January IS, 1819, son of Samuel and Eunice ( Berry) Heath, and died in Malden, Massachusetts, January 13, 1892. He came of oid New England ancestry on both sides, his grandfather, Nathaniel Heath, being Commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston for a period from May 1, 1765, and an active participant in the Revolution ; and his mater- nal grandfather, Josiah Berry, serving in the War of 1812. He was educated in the common schools, and when under twenty years of age engaged in lumber manufacturing at Gardiner, Maine, in part- nership with his brother Charles. In 1841 he went to New Orleans, where upon his arrival he was appointed Inspector of Customs by his brother-in- law Seth W. Nye, then Surveyor of the Port, and served in that position during the latter's term of office. Subsequently he bought out the old New Orleans firm of Miller, Harris & Waldo, house- furnishings and upholstery goods, in Camp street, and with the assistance of his brother Charles carried on this business until the breaking out of the Civil War. The two brothers had no sympathy with the cause of the Rebellion, and Charles returned North to his home in Malden, Massachu- setts, while Edward remained to look after their interests and face the business troubles and per- sonal dangers that were inevitable. His Union sympathies, which he was obliged to conceal as best he could, nevertheless placed him in a most uncomfortable position, and in a business way greatly to his disadvantage. He was forced to join a company of Home Guards, stationed at Annun- ciation Square, and was only allowed an occasional opportunity to visit his store, which was left in the hands of an unscrupulous clerk. When the announce- ment came that the Union fleet had passed the forts on its way to the city, General Lovell, in com- mand of the Confederate forces in New Orleans, ordered all the troops to present themselves at the Jackson Railroad preparatory to vacating the city. But as the Stars and Stripes were in sight once more, Mr. Heath decided to remain under the pro- tection of his flag, while most of the citizen sokliers

obeyed the order of the General. On the evacua- tion of the city by General Lovell and his troops, General Butler took command. The events that followed are well known to all readers of the various histories of the war period. When subsequently General Sheridan was placed in command of the Department of the Gulf, he cast about for some man of energy and probity, not engaged in politics, whom he could appoint Mayor of the city, and who would administer the affairs of the office in a wise and judicious manner. Edward Heath was pro- posed to him by Rev. J. P. Newman of the Meth- odist-Episcopal Church, as the man eminently

EDWARD HEATH.

suited to fill the office. Accordingly, after a limited interview, General Sheridan appointed Mr. Heath Mayor of New Orleans, which position he held until the appointment of General Hancock. The obstacles and difficulties which he was obliged to meet and overcome during his term of office were many and great. But General Sheridan stood firmly by him, and his administration proved eminently successful. In January 1891 he closed out his business affairs in New Orleans, by the sale of his stock in trade to the new firm of Heath, Schwartz & Company, who took a lease of his store for a terin of years, and returned North with his family, making his home with his brother Charles

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

to the time of his death, which occurred january 13, 1892. Mr. Heath was married July 18, 1855, to Harriet A. Heath, of Bath, Maine ; they had one child, Mamie A., born October 16, 1861, married in 1887 to Clarence E. Hinton of Faribault, Minnesota, and died April 23, 1889.

HURD, NATHANIEL N., Sheriff of York County 1895-6, was born in North Berwick, Maine, June 17, 1838, son of Thomas and Mary (Nason) Hurd. He is a grandson of John Hurd, and great-grandson of Thomas Hurd, both of whom were farmers of

N. N. HURD.

Somersworth, New Hampshire. His father, Thomas Hurd, was a farmer in North Berwick, Maine, and subsequently removed to South Berwick, where he established himself in business as a butcher. He then moved to Berwick and engaged in market gar- dening ; became prominent in municipal affairs and was a Deacon of the First Freewill Baptist Church for many years. His children numbered ten, of whom six are now living : Thomas S. of Berwick ; Nathaniel N., subject of this sketch ; Mary E., wife of Joseph M. Floyd of Chelsea, Massachusetts ; Hiram, George W., and Olive, who married George E. Libby of Lynn. Massachusetts. The father died January 30, 1884, aged seventy-six years ;

the mother, at the age of eighty-six, is living with her son Thomas in Berwick. Nathaniel N. Hurd received his early education in the common schools of Berwick and South Berwick. After leaving school he went to Salem, Massachusetts, where at the age of twenty he started life as a butcher. A year later he returned and established himself in the butchering business in Berwick. In 1861 he enlisted for three months' service in Company H of the First New Hampshire Regiment. Re- turning home upon the expiration of his term of enlistment he resumed his former business, also purchased and began the cultivation of a farm of about thirty acres. He soon re-enlisted, however, in Company D, Twenty-seventh Maine Regiment, and served in Virginia until again mustered out, in July 1863, returning once more to Maine. After work- ing in Kittery for about a year, he established a meat market in Somersworth, New Hampshire, in partner- ship with Charles Hough. Selling out his interest in this business after four years, he moved to Great Falls, New Hampshire, where he bought a grocery store, and with Moses Merrill as a partner continued for about a year, and then selling out, again resumed his trade of butcher. In company with William F. Libby, under the firm name of Hurd & Libby, he carried on a general meat and provision business for four years, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Libby taking the cart route and Mr. Hurd re- taining the store, which he conducted for five years thereafter. At the end of this time he returned to Berwick and engaged in farming until 1895, when he was elected Sheriff of York County, and removed to Alfred, the county seat. Prior to his election to this office, Mr. Hurd served as Deputy Sheriff for eight years, and for many years as Constable and on the police force in Great Falls and Berwick, his previous experience as a disciplinary officer having covered altogether a period of over twenty-one years. In politics Sheriff Hurd is a Republican. He is a member of Prospect Lodge Knights of Pythias, and of Littlefield Post Grand Army of the Republic, both of Great Falls, New Hampshire. He was married April 26, 1860, to Clara W. Tasker, daughter of Nahum Tasker of Milton, New Hamp- shire, by whom he had eleven children : Carrie B., born October 1, 1861 ; Mamie A., now the wife of D. G. McNair of New Haven, Connecticut, and niother of one child, Clara A. McNair ; Charles N., born May 29, 1867, married Lucy Flagg of Berwick, and father of two children, Clara and Marshall Hurd ; William A., born September 9, 1868, mar-

MEN OF PROGRESS.

289

ried Tressie Gould of Cambridge, Massachusetts ; Harry S., born November 26, 1871; Aziel L, born October 13, 1873; Lula J., born December 27, 1874, wife of A. J. Frank of Auburn, Maine ; and Albert A. Hurd, born November 19, 1879. His first wife died July 27, 1891, and in 1895, April 2, he was a second time married, to Miss Cena Neal, of South Berwick.

HUTCHINSON, STEPHEN DREW, Merchant, Paris Hill, was born in Hebron, Oxford county, Maine, September 25, 1812, son of Stephen and Asenath D. (Gilbert) Hutchinson. He is a direct descendant of Barnard Hutchinson, who was living at Cowlam, County of York, England, in 1282, in the reign of Edward I. Richard Hutchinson, a descendant of Barnard in the ninth generation, born in England in 1602, came to America in 1634 and settled in Salem village, now Danvers, Massa- chusetts. Reverend Joseph Hutchinson, descend- ant of Richard in the fifth generation (fourteenth from Barnard), the grandfather of Stephen D., born in 1755, was a Revolutionary soldier, was present at the defeat and capture of Burgoyne, afterwards became distinguished as a travelling preacher, and died in Hebron, Maine. His son Stephen, father of Stephen D., was a yeoman, and lived in Wind- ham, Hebron and Buckfield, Maine. His mother's family, the Gilberts, came from Sutton, Massachu- setts. His grandmother on the paternal side was Rebecca Legro, of German descent; at the church which the British troops passed on their way to capture the stores at Concord, she was one who ran across the field to notify the Americans of the approach of the enemy. The subject of this sketch acquired his early education in the common schools and in study by himself at home. He became a teacher in the public schools at the age of eighteen, and followed the teaching profession for fourteen years. The Hon. John D. Long of Massachusetts was among his pupils. Subsequently he was a farmer for three years, and a trader in Buckfield, Maine, for a season. In 1847 he was elected Register of Deeds for Oxford County, and moved to Paris, the county seat, where he has resided, at Paris Hill, ever since. In 1860 he again entered into trade, establishing a grocery, drygoods and general store at Paris Hill, in which he has since been engaged. Mr. Hutchinson held the office of Register of Deeds for Oxford County for eleven

years up to 1858, and prior to that time was Town Clerk of Buckfield for six years, and Superintendent of Schools oi Buckfield. He also served as Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of Paris Hill Acad- emy, and was one of the pioneers in building and organizing that institution. For many years Mr. Hutchinson's advice in business and in semi- legal matters, more particularly those pertaining to the law of real estate, has been much sought by neighbors and customers. He has always been noted for an inexhaustible fund of good stories which he tells with much skill and effect. Although having reached the age of eighty-four, he is still

STEPHEN D. HUTCHINSON.

mentally and physically vigorous, and his cheerful- ness, activity and intelligence, for one of his years, are remarkable. Mr. Hutchinson has been always a Democrat in politics, but voted for "sound money " in the Presidential election of 1896. He was married June 11, 1837, to Mary Atkinson, daughter of John and Lucy (Chipman) Atkinson of Minot, Maine; they have five children : Mary Annette, John R., Winfield S. (whose sketch fol- lows this biography), George W. and Katy Worth Hutchinson. His wife died in 1874, July 18 ; John R. and Katy W. died in the year 1896, the former March second, and the latter May tenth.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

HUTCHINSON, WINFIELD SCOTT, one of the Attorneys for the American Bell Telephone Com- pany, Boston, was born in Buckfield, Oxford county, Maine, May 27, 18.45, son of Stephen Drew and Mary (Atkinson) Hutchinson. The record of his paternal ancestry is given in the preceding sketch of Stephen D. Hutchinson, his father. His mother, Mary Atkinson, was a direct descendant of John Atkinson of Newbury, Massachusetts, who was born about 1640 and came to Newbury in 1663. She was the granddaughter of John Atkinson of New- buryport, Massachusetts, a Revolutionary soldier ; and was the daughter of John Atkinson of Minot,

W. S. HUTCHINSON.

Maine, and Lucy (Chipman) Atkinson, who came from Plymouth, Massachusetts. W. S. Hutchinson received his rudimentary education in the village schools of Paris, Maine, to which place his family moved when he was two years old. Subsequently he attended Paris Hill Academy, and for two terms at Hebron (Maine) Academy. In 1864 he entered Bowdoin College, a year in advance, and graduated from that institution in the first rank in 1867. Be- ginning at the age of thirteen he worked at daily or monthly wages as a farm hand, in the intervals between the summer and winter terms of the village school. At sixteen he began to teach in district schools, having charge of a school at North Norway,

Maine, in the winter of 1861-2. Thereafter until graduation from college he taught every winter, always with success, and for two winters, 1865-6 and 1866-7, was Principal of the High School at Brewer, Maine. For three and a half years after graduation he was connected with the Little Blue Family School for boys at Farmington, Maine. In the fall of 1871 he entered the law office of Chand- ler, Thayer & Hudson in Boston, and after pursuing the study of law there and at the Harvard Law School, was admitted to the Bar, in Boston, June 10, 1873. While a law student, and also during the early years of his practice, he taught in the Boston Evening Schools, at first as Principal of the East Boston Evening Grammar School, whence he was promoted in a few weeks to a position in the Even- ing High School, which he held for ten years, until his resignation in 1882. From the time of his admission to the Bar, Mr. Hutchinson became in- timately associated with the Hon, Peleg W. Chand- ler, the head of the firm with which he had studied, and this association was only terminated by the death of Mr. Chandler in 1889, after which he con- tinued the practice of law by himself in Boston, his services being for the most part taken up by New York and Massachusetts corporations. In the fall of 1892 he accepted an.invitation from the Ameri- can Bell Telephone Company to enter its service in a professional capacity, and withdrew from general practice. Mr. Hutchinson was the first President of the Unitarian Club of Newton, of which city he is a resident, and served in that office for two years, 1891-2 and 1892-3. He has also been since 1887 a member of the Tuesday Club of Newton, a literary club made up of professional and business men, with clergymen predominating. In politics he is an Independent. He was married January 1, 1870, to Adelaide 1 .. Berry, of Brunswick, Maine. They have a son : Harold Hutchinson, born May' 30, 1871, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1893, and now a member of the Harvard Law School.

LARRABEE, GEORGE HOWARD, A. M., Principal of Lincoln Academy, Newcastle, was born in Bridg- ton, Maine, July 16, 1866, son of William H. and Francina (Bradstreet) Larrabee. Acquiring his early education in the public schools of Bridgton, he graduated from the High School of that place in 1884 as valedictorian of his class, and entered Bow- doin College, where he attained high rank in his

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

class and graduated in ISSS. Soon after graduation he was elected Principal of the Buxton (Maine) - High School, where he remained for three years, and was then successively Principal for two years of Pennell Institute at Gray, Maine, and Principal of

GEORGE H. LARRABEE.

Bridgton Academy at North Bridgton two years. In the summer of 1895 he was elected Principal of Lincoln Academy at Newcastle, which position he still holds. As an educator Mr. Larrabee has been eminently popular and successful. The Buxton High School was exceedingly prosperous under his charge, his dignity of manner in school, and his geniality and sociability outside, gaining for him the esteem and kindly regard of the scholars and the community. During his two-years' Principalship of Bridgton Academy, the school had an increase in attendance of over fifty per cent, and Professor Larrabee was conceded to be one of the best teachers that the institution ever had, possessing an especially happy faculty of imparting knowledge to the students, and with them being very popular. Since coming to Lincoln Academy the school has continued to prosper under Mr. Larrabee's manage- ment, while his resolute yet pleasant deportment has won the confidence of pupils and parents, and of all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. Mr. Larrabee served as Chairman of the School Com-

mittee of Gray in 1893, and was President of the Cumberland County Teachers' Association in 1892. He is a member of Cumberland Lodge of Odd Fel- lows, also of the college society of the Theta Delta Chi, and was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa on graduation. In 1891 he received from Bowdoin the degree of Master of Arts. In college he acquired prominence in athletic sports, and was a member of the college baseball team throughout his course. In politics Mr. Larrabee has always been a Republican. He was married August 24, 1889, to Miss Grace D. Evans, of Denmark, Maine, who died March 30, 1894, leaving one child : Philip Henry Larrabee. In 1895, August 15, he was again married, to Miss Myrta C. Skillings, of Gray, Maine.

LEAVITT, ALONZO, a prominent merchant in western Maine, was born in Alfred, the famous old shire town of York county, son of James and

ALONZO LEAVITT.

Nancy (Stevens) Leavitt. His grandfather, William Leavitt, a resident of Exeter, New Hampshire, served with credit during the entire seven years' Revolutionary War, and long survived that memor- able struggle for independence. His grandmother was Betsey ( Ilarding) Leavitt of Milton Mills, New Hampshire. Alonzo Leavitt was educated in that

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

pride of New England, her public schools, in the town of Waterboro. Early evincing an aptitude for business, he entered his father's store when a boy, and there remained till 1858, when he formed a partnership with his brother Benjamin, establishing a firm that had more than local repute. In 1861 he removed to the city of Saco, and in 1865 came back to his native town, where he established a large business and remained in trade until 1891, when he removed to Sanford ; the great Goodall Mills there established furnishing an opening for enterprising business men. Into his firm he took his son, Frank C., in ISS5, and another son, J. W., in 1897. The business house is one of the most notable in York county. In politics Mr. Leavitt has always been a Republican. He has taken a deep and intelligent interest in secret-society work, becoming a Mason in 1866, and serving as Master of Fraternal Lodge in Alfred for six years. He is a charter member of White Rose Chapter, Royal Arch, of Sanford, and a member of the Portland Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. Mr. Leavitt has been twice married, his first wife being Eunice H. Swett, by whom he had a son, Fred A., now resid- ing in Boston. His second wife was Susan C. Nason, by whom he has had these children : Frank C., M. Nellie (deceased), Ida S. (wife of Fred J. Allen, Esq.,) and J. Will Leavitt.

ALLEN, FRED JOHN, Lawyer, Sanford, was born in Alfred, York county, Maine, July 27, 1865, son of John and Caroline P. (Hill) Allen. His paternal ancestors came from Scotland, probably more than a hundred and fifty years ago ; and his grandfather, Jotham Allen, was a pioneer settler of Alfred. His father was a native and lifelong resident of that town, where he followed the pursuits of farming and lumbering. He received his early education in the district schools and the Alfred High School, fitted for college at the Nichols Latin School in Lewiston, Maine, in the class of 1886, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1890. During his college course he taught school and clerked in summer hotels to defray expenses, being almost wholly dependent upon his own resources for his advanced education. Following graduation he studied law in the office of S. M. Came at Alired, in the meantime teaching for two years, a part of that time as Prin- cipal of West Lebanon (Maine) Academy. He

was admitted to the Bar at Alfred in May 1893, and in the following August opened an office in Sanford, where he has since practiced and resided. Having a good practice from the start, his business has steadily increased, and his spacious and hand- somely-fitted office in the Sanford National Bank Building is one of the finest professional and busi- ness offices in the county. Mr. Allen is the official Attorney of the Sanford National Bank, of which he is a member of the Board of Directors, and is also a Director in the Sanford Loan and Building Asso- ciation. He is a member of Fraternal Masonic Lodge of Alfred, White Rose Royal Arch Chapter

F. J. ALLEN.

of Sanford and Bradford Commandery Knights Templar of Biddeford, also of the Sanford Lodge of Red Men and the Sanford Cycle Club. In politics Mr. Allen is a Democrat, but has held no public office and is not an aspirant for political honors. He was married June 8, 1892, to Ida S. Leavitt, daughter of Alonzo Leavitt of Sanford.

MORRISON, CHARLES CARR, M. D., Bar Har- bor, was born in Mariaville, Hancock county, Maine, July 12, 1856, son of John T. and Lucy J. (Carr) Morrison. His grandfather came from Canaan, Somerset county, to Ellsworth, Hancock

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

county, Maine, about a century ago, and settled at the mouth of the Union River. In 1810 he moved to Mariaville, then an unbroken wilderness, and settled on the lot where the subject of this sketch was born, and where his father lived until his death at the age of eighty-two years. His mother's father came from York, Maine, and settled in Mariaville soon after 1810, where he died leaving a large family of children. Charles C. Morrison received his early education in the common schools, wtiere he took high rank as a scholar, and then taught school and attended the Maine Central Institute at Pittsfield, working his way through that institution. Ambitious of attaining a higher posi- tion than that of teacher, at the age of twenty-five he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. William Haines of Ellsworth, and soon after took a regular course at the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, where he graduated with honors March 13, 1883. He entered immediately upon the practice of medicine, locating at Bar Harbor on May 2, 1883, where he received a call to visit a patient the first day. Dr. Morrison introduced the practice of homceopathy on Mount Desert Island, and his services being early called in demand by sonie of the leading families among the summer resident .; of Bar Harbor, through the influence of Dr. William Tod Helmuth, the celebrated New York physician, a graduate of the same college as Dr. Morrison, he built up in a very short time one of the largest medical practices in Hancock county. Dr. Morrison was reared on a farm, and in the lum- ber woods for most of the time, studying at such intervals as were available to him. In youth and early manhood he employed men and teams in lumbering, and drove logs on the river by the thou- sand, giving only a limited time in the year to school attendance, and that usually in the autumn season. lle worked on the river at log-driving one spring after coming from medical college, as he could earn more money just then at that calling than at any other. When he arrived at the age of twenty-one he was chosen Second Selectman and Supervisor of Schools in the town where he was born and raised, which positions he held by re-election each year until he came to Bar Harbor to take up his life- work at the age of twenty-seven. In the first year of his school supervisorship he succeeded in locat- ing a schoolhouse in his own district to the general satisfaction and approbation of the people, a matter which had been a subject of dissension and dispute since the year previous to his birth. This speaks

for his tact, diplomacy and personal popularity, attributes which have clung to him ever since, and greatly to his advantage. In 1886-7 eame the noted " land boom " in Bar Harbor and its vicinity. Dr. Morrison made a few very profitable purchases and sales during 1886, and the following year, in common with many others elated by successful ventures and golden visions of the future, ran wild over the prospects and "went in for all he was worth "- using his own expression - looking for countless wealth to speedily follow. He made heavy purchases of land, paying just enough cash to enable him to control the property, and giving mortgages

CHARLES C. MORRISON.

and notes for the remainder. To his surprise and sorrow the boom soon broke, and when in 1888 he sat down in his office one day to study the thing over, he saw that it meant ten thousand dollars worse than nothing, with impending failure. But he knew no such word as fail. He resolved that he would work every day in the year, denying himself a vacation, for a lifetime if necessary, until he paid every cent of his indebtedness. He held to this resolution for four years, toiling incessantly and pay- ing thousands of dollars which he never expects to see again, but in the meantime working out and dis- posing of some of the property to good advantage, so that now he can pursue his way under fairly easy

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Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine, Part 42

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Boston, New England magazine Number of Pages: 1268

Author: Herndon, Richard; McIntyre, Philip Willis, 1847- ed; Blanding, William F., joint ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston, New England magazine
Number of Pages: 1268