USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 43
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circumstances, assured of an income if even he should not work at all. Dr. Morrison is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, a member of Mount Kebo Chapter of Bar Harbor, and St. John's Commandery of Bangor ; also a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Patriotic Sons of America, Independent Order of Foresters, and the Village Improvement Association, all of Bar Har- bor, and member of the Maine Homeopathic Medi- cal Society. He is a staunch Republican in politics, never missing an opportunity to cast a Republican vote and never cutting a ticket, and was Chairman of Delegates at the State Convention of April 1896 at Portland. He was married October 20, 1890, to Miss Ida Conners, of Bar Harbor, the public wed- ding at St. Savior's Church being followed by a reception at the St. Sauveur Hotel, at which about six hundred people were in attendance. They have two children : Charles C., Jr., and Mildred C. Morrison.
MOTLEY, WILLIAM HARRISON, Lawyer, Deer- ing, was born in Gardiner, Kennebec county, Maine, December 1, 1840, son of Nathaniel and Rachael (Horton) Motley. His father was a grandson of John Motley, who settled at Fort Hill in Gorham, Maine, and was the first ancestor of the family in this country ; John Lothrop Motley, the distin- guished historian, being one of his descendants. His son William, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was an influential citizen of Windham for many years. Nathaniel Motley received a liberal education, and after his marriage resided for some time in Vermont, at one time representing his town in the State Legislature. His wife was a daughter of Rufus Horton, a leading member of the Society of Friends in Portland. William H. Motley, the eighth of eleven children, assisted his father in mer- cantile pursuits until the breaking out of the Civil War. In August 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Seventh Maine Volunteer Infantry, and was sent at once to Virginia to join the Army of the Potomac, where he took part in many severe engagements, receiving two wounds in the Seven-Days Battles in the Peninsula, and being again twice wounded at Antietam. After this battle the regiment, being practically annihilated, was sent home to recruit its ranks, and on its reorganization Mr. Motley was made Lieutenant of Company I in the Thirtieth Maine Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was sent to join the Red River expedition in Louisiana,
where it participated in the battles of Pleasant Hill, Grand Ecore and Cane River Crossing, and in the action at Mansura Plains. Lieutenant Motley was made Acting Adjutant of his regiment, and at Alexandria, Louisiana, just before the last battle, he was severely wounded by a bullet that tore the flesh from the spine and caused paralysis. Notwithstand- ing his numerous injuries, however, the plucky soldier was in the hospital but twenty days during his entire term of service. The regiment was ordered from Louisiana to join Grant's command in Virginia, where it was in active service at Deep Bottom and in the Shenandoah Valley, and partici-
WILLIAM H. MOTLEY.
pated in the Battle of Cedar Creek, where Sheridan saved the day after the surprise and stampede of the Union forces by Early. After the cessation of hostilities Lieuterant Motley remained in the ser- vice for several months, being stationed at Savannah, Georgia, until August 20, 1865, when he received his discharge. On his return home he pursued his studies at Hebron ( Maine) Academy and Norway (Maine) Literary Institute. Subsequently he studied law in the office of H. M. Bearce, Norway, was ad- mitted to the Bar in 1872, afterwards read law for a year with the Hon. Thomas B. Reed in Portland, and then began practice in that city. For a time he practiced alone, meeting with excellent success.
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Later he was associated in partnership with H. A. Bletheim, and afterwards as senior member of the * firm of Motley & Sylvester. For the past twenty years Mr. Motley has resided in Deering, but had his law office in Portland until his -appointment in 1891 as Postmaster at Woodfords in Deering for a term of four years, since which time his office has been in the latter city. He also has a summer home on Long Island, Casco Bay. He is a mem- ber of Bosworth Grand Army Post and the Union Veteran_Legion, also of the Deering Club. In politics Mr. Motley is an ardent Republican, and while resident in Portland always took an active in- terest in political affairs, although steadily refusing official honors. He was married in October 1872 to Elizabeth E. Whitney, daughter of George P. Whitney of Oxford, Maine. They have two chil- dren : Ada Whitney Horton, wife of Charles F. Saw- yer of Bangor ; and William H. Motley, Jr., a student in Hebron Academy.
NOYES, EDWARD ALLING, Treasurer of the Port- land Savings Bank, and President of the Associated Savings Banks of Maine, was born in Eastport, Maine, October 6, 1839, son of Joseph Cobham and Helen M. (Alling) Noyes. He is descended from the Reverend William Noyes, whose son Nicholas settled at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635. Cut- ting Noyes, son of Nicholas, was the father of Joseph, whose grandson of the same name, born at Portland in 1740, was a member of the Provincial Congress during the War of the Revolution. Jacob, eldest son of the second Joseph, married Ann Jones, in 1797, and their son Joseph Cobham was the father of the subject of this sketch. Joseph Cob- ham Noyes, who moved from Portland to Eastport in 1819, at the age of twenty-one, was the first Free- soil Representative to Congress elected from the Eastern District, serving in the Twenty-fifth Con- gress, and later was Collector of Customs at East- port under the first President Harrison. His wife, Helen M. Alling, was a native of Connecticut, and was a granddaughter of Major John Webb, a Revolutionary soldier of, note. Edward A. Noyes received his early education in the public schools of Portland, and at the age of nineteen entered the counting-room of the l'ortland Savings Bank, of which his father was at that time Treasurer, and where he continued as clerk from 1859 to 1864. From 1864 to 1868 he was connected with the
Traders' National Bank of Portland. In the latter year, soon after the death of his father, he returned to the Portland Savings Bank and assumed the posi- tion of Assistant Treasurer, which he held until 1878, and since then has been Treasurer to the present time. Mr. Noyes is President of the Asso- ciated Savings Banks of Maine, Vice-President of the Portland Safe Deposit Company, and is one of the oldest and best-known bank officials in the state. But while devoting his time mainly to banking, he is also prominently identified with other enterprises and institutions. He is a Director of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Company,
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EDWARD A. NOYES.
Director and inember of the Finance Committee of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company of Maine, also Trustee and Treasurer of the Portland Public Library, of which he was Librarian for the first eleven years of its existence. He has also served in the City Government of Portland, as a member of the Common Council 1881-3 and of the Board of Aldermen 1883-5, and as Chairman of the Committee on Street Lighting, in which capacity he was in charge of introducing electric lights into the streets of Portland. In politics Mr. Noyes is an active Republican. He was married November 5, 1863, to Julia Augusta Edwards, daughter of John Edwards of Portland, and granddaughter of Thomas
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Edwards, first Judge Advocate-General of the Revo- lutionary army, and at the time of his death Grand Secretary of the Society of the Cincinnati. They have had seven children, of whom five are living : Helen Alling, Charles Edwards, Julia, Joseph C. and Sidney W. Noyes. Charles E. Noyes, the eldest son, fills the position of Teller in the Portland Savings Bank
RICHARDS, CHARLES FRANCIS, Treasurer of the Camden Savings Bank, Rockport, was born in Sharon, Massachusetts, January 6, 1826, son of Charles Richards of Sharon and Elizabeth Pierce
C. F. RICHARDS.
(Smith ) Richards of Canton, Massachusetts. He is of the eighth generation in descent from Edward Richards (1), who came from Dorchester, England, in the ship Lyon, in 1632, and settled first in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, afterwards moving to Ded- ham, that state, where he died. His son Nathaniel (2) inherited the homestead in Dedham. Jeremiah (3), son of Nathaniel, settled in West Roxbury ; William (4), son of Jeremiah, settled in North Sharon ; Benjamin (5), son of William, settled in East Sharon, where his son, Benjamin, Jr. (6), also lived and died; and Charles (7), son of the last- named, and father of the subject of this sketch, came to Lincolnville, Maine, whence subsequently
he moved to Rockport. A more detailed account of the family history is given in the sketch of Hon. Fred E. Richards, brother of Charles F., which ap- pears elsewhere in this volume The men in their line were " men of affairs," and the women were noted for their intelligence and beauty. Nathaniel Richards of Dedham and Captain Jeremiah of West Roxbury were the wealthiest men of the time in their respective towns, and were the leading spirits in all public enterprises. Benjamin, the great- grandfather of our subject, was a shrewd, pushing farmer, as was also Benjamin, Jr., the grandfather. The latter was distinctively a man of parts, whose early opportunities were limited, but who made ex- cellent use of such as he had ; he was passionately fond of music, which he read and sung readily, and possessed a magnificent bass voice which, had he lived in the present day, would have made his for- tune. His sisters were beautiful women. Mr. Richards's great-aunt Lothrop, whom he met on several occasions in her old age, was even then a beauty, and he was always impressed most forcibly with her personal appearance, refined manners and sound common -sense. Mrs. Capen of Boston, another of his great-aunts, whom he never saw, is spoken of as a woman remarkable not only for her beauty, but for her amiable disposition, winning ways and excellent life. The late Postmaster of Boston, Nahum Capen, was her son. Charles F. Richards fitted for college at what is now the Coburn Classical Institute in Waterville, Maine, and graduated from Colby University in the class of 1855. Paying his way through college by money earned in teaching, never receiving a penny of out- side aid from any source, he paid all bills as they became due, and had fifty dollars left in his pocket after the graduation exercises were over. From 1856 to 1862 he was Principal of the High School at Rockport, and for the three years following taught in Napa City and San Rafael, California. Return- ing to Maine in 1865, he was engaged in business as a merchant and lime manufacturer in Rockport until November 1870, when he became Treasurer of the Camden Savings Bank of Rockport, the duties of which office he still continues to discharge. Mr. Richards has served three years on the Board of Selectmen of Camden, and twelve years on the School Board of that town. At the present time he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Colby University. In politics he is a Republican. He was married May 11, 1857, to Lucinda Morse, of Sharon, Massachusetts ; they have one child : Annie
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Morse I ichards, born December 17, 1867, now the wife of H. H. Magune of Rockport.
RICHARDSON, ALBERT FRANCIS, Principal of the State Normal School, Castine, was born in Sebago, Cumberland county, Maine, July 2, 1841, son of Mark and Mary (Poor) Richardson. He is a great grandson of Joseph Richardson, who came from Scotland and settled in Lyndesboro, New Hampshire, where was born his grandfather Joseph Richardson in 1761. His father, Mark Richardson, was born in Gorham, Maine, in 1810. The latter died in 1872. On the maternal side he is descended from (1) Daniel Poor, born in England in 1638, the line being through (2) Daniel, born in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1656; (3) Daniel, of Andover, born 1689; (4) Jonathan, of Andover, 1724; (5) Jonathan, Andover, 1748; (6) Jonathan, Andover, 1772, and (7) Mary Porter Poor, born in Sebago, Maine, in 1810. Albert F. Richardson received his early education in the common schools of Sebago and at the Maine academies of Bridgton and Fryeburg, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1873. Following graduation he taught as Princi- pal of the Bridgton High School for five years, and from 1883 to 1888 as Principal of Fryeburg Acad- emy. In 1888 he became Principal of the State Normal School at Castine, in which position he has continued to the present time. While resident in Sebago Mr. Richardson served five years on the School Committee and for two years as a member of the Board of Selectmen, also as Fourth Lieuten- ant of a company of Sebago militia organized in 1862 by authority of the state. During his college course at Bowdoin he was elected in 1869 President of the Class of 1873, in 1872 President of the Athenean Society, and in the same year President of the D. K. E. Society. From 1879 to 1884 he was a member of the School Committee of Bridg- ton, and in 1883 he was appointed by Governor Robie as a member of the Board of Trustees of State Normal Schools, to which office he was reap- pointed in 1886. He has served in the Masonic order as Worshipful Master of Oriental Lodge of Bridgton, and as District Deputy Grand Master of the Eighteenth Masonic District in 1884-5; in the Odd Fellows as Noble Grand of Cumberland Lodge in 1876, Chief Patriarch of Mount Pleasant Encampment of Bridgton in 1880, Grand High Priest of the Grand Encampment of Maine in
1882-3 and Grand Patriarch in 1886, and Grand Representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge in 1887 ; and in the Good Templars as Worthy Chief Templar of Round Pond Lodge, of Bristol, Maine. In politics Mr. Richardson in youth was a Demo- crat, but since then has been a Republican. He was married November 27, 1873, to Emma F. Tol- man, daughter of Hon. Philander Tolman of Harri-
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ALBERT F. RICHARDSON.
son, Maine ; they have four children : Anna Mabel, Mary Cleaves, Augusta Hortense and Amy Kelton Richardson.
RUST, NATHANIEL JOHNSON, of the Rust & Richardson Drug Company, Boston, is a native of Gorham, Maine, and son of Meshach and Martha (Frost) Rust. Henry Rust, the founder of the Rust family in America, was among the early Puritan settlers of New England, having come from England and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1635. Two centuries after this immigration, on November 28, 1833, the subject of this sketch was born. He received his education in the public schools and Academy of his native town, and at the age of six- teen began his business life as an assistant in an apothecary store in South Paris, Maine. Two years afterwards, in 1851, he removed to Boston, in which city he engaged in the same business, and
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in 353 entered the employ of Weeks & Potter, wholesale druggists of that city, in whose service he continued until 1859. Failure in health caused him to pay a brief visit to Europe in the latter year. On his return from abroad Mr. Rust removed to New York city, where he engaged in the drug business with Demas Barnes & Company. During the spring of the following year, however. he was in Charleston, South Carolina, where he had the fortune to witness the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, the opening event of the great American Civil War. The year 1862 found lum again in Boston, where he engaged in business for
NATHANIEL J. RUST.
himself, as a member of the wholesale drug house of Carter, Rust & Company, a firm which after four years of successful business was re-organized under the title of Rust Brothers & Bird. Under this form it continued until January 1890, when the present Rust & Richardson Drug Company was established, in which company Mr. Rust is a Director. Mr. Rust, while devoting his time and attention closely to business, has been drawn into political life without particular desire on his part. He has always been an earnest member of the Republican party, and as such has been elected to several important political positions. In 1874 he was elected by a district of the city of Boston to the Massachusetts
Legislature, and re-elected in 1875 and 1876. During the succeeding two years he filled the post of Presi- dent of the Republican City Committee of Boston. He served also as a member of the Boston Common Council in 1878-9. His more recent public service has been as a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1891-2, and for the past eight years as a member of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners. He has ever been a consistent friend to good govern- ment, steadfastly opposed to political dishonesty of all kinds, and has never permitted political affiliation, religion or color to influence his action where a question of integrity and honest public service arose. Mr. Rust's true forte, however, is not politics, but business, in which latter he has played a very active part, being connected with many prominent Boston financial institutions. For three years he served as President of the North End Savings Bank, which position he resigned in 1885 to accept the Presidency of the Lincoln National Bank, of which institution he was one of the original founders. He resigned its Presidency in 1894 to make an ex- tended tour of Europe with his family. He is now a Director in the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank, Boston Gas Light Company, Dorchester Gas Light Company, Manchester Mills, Davol Mills of Fall River, the Wakefield Rattan Company, Boston Storage Warehouse Company, Lincoln National Bank, Mercantile Loan and Trust Company and Atlas Mutual Fire Insurance Company, with various other corporations, and for many years was a Director in the street-railways of Boston. Mr. Rust's prominent connection with these many sub- stantial corporations will suffice to show that he is an active and sagacious business man. While very retiring in disposition, he is a man of sound judg- ment and quick action, and his fairness of dealing has given him the full confidence of all his associates alike in finance and politics. He is at all times approachable by those who wish his advice, and is as unassuming and as regardful of the rights of others as when he began life. He believes in the neces- sity of recreation, is a member of prominent clubs of Boston, and has travelled quite extensively in Europe and North America.
STAPLES, HENRY GENET, President of the Maine Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Augusta, was born in Portland, Maine, November 30, 1335, son
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o' Ai and Ann C. (Merrill) Staples. On the pater- nal side he is descended from the Mcl.ellans, who first settled in Gorham, Maine, at an early period. 1 His maternal ancestry is English, but is traced only as far back as his grandfather, Joseph Merrill, who lived in Portland, Maine, and his grandmother, Abigail M. Pope of Sandwich, Massachusetts, sister of Commodore John Pope, late oi the United States Navy. He was educated in the public schools of Augusta, the Augusta High School, and at Yarmouth (Maine) Institute. Entering upon mercantile life, he was in trade in Iowa, Boston and Augusta prior to 186t, when he enlisted in the War for the Union, recruiting Company B, Third Maine Regiment, of
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HENRY G. STAPLES.
which he was elected Captain and received his commission in May 1861. Subsequently he was promoted to Major and later in 1861 to Colonel of the regiment, in which capacity he served in the Army of the Potomac during the memorable l'enin- sular Campaign of General McCleilan. He has long been a sufferer from malarial disease contracted in the swamps of the Chickahominy. Since the war Colonel Staples has been engaged in a variety of business enterprises, many of them of a public or semi-public nature, and has always been known as a driving business man, successful in private affairs and active in the promotion of matters for the general good of the community. He is one of the
founders and has been for many years one of the Board of Managers of the Augusta Board of Trade, is one of the founders and promoters of the Augusta Loan and Building Association, and is a Director and Secretary of the Augusta, Hallowell & Gardiner Electric Railroad, of which he is also one of the promotors and organizers. For many years he has been President of the Augusta Park Asso- ciation, and has held the Presidency of the Maine Mutual Fire Insurance Company since its organiza- tion. He is also a heavy real estate owner, and both on his own account and in assisting others has done much toward building up the city. Actively and largely interested in the welfare of the city and in public enterprises, he is the founder of " Staple- ton," a large and thriving residential district, and of "Capitol Square," another district near the State House grounds. He is also a part owner of Oak- wood Park and the Augusta Driving Park. Colonel Staples has served for years in the City Council of Augusta, a part of the time as President of that body, and two years on the Board of Aldermen. He is Past-President of the Third Maine Regiment Association, Past-Commander of Seth Williams Post Grand Army of the Republic, and a Companion of the First Class, Maine Commandery, Loyal Legion ; also a member of Bethlehem Lodge of Masons, and the Abnaki Club, the leading social organization of Augusta. In politics Colonel Staples is a thorough- going Republican. He was first married in 1862, and by this marriage had one child, Alice Blanche, now Mrs. Frank Curtis Twiss, of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1872 he was a second time married, to Rose E. Staples, of Springfield, Maine, a bright, vivacious lady of sterling personal qualities, the light of their interesting home. Colonel Staples believes in a busy life, if possible, to the close.
TOPLIFE, ALBION P., M. D., Woodfords, was born in Freedom, Carroll county, New Hampshire, March 14, 1843, son of Dr. Calvin and Ann (Andrews) Topliff. The Topliff family is of Eng- lish origin, the ancestral home being in Lincoln- shire, England. Dr. Calvin Topliff was born and reared in Hanover, New Hampshire, the seat of Dartmouth College, was graduated from the medi- cal .department of that institution, and for forty years was in active practice in Freedom, ranking among the foremost physicians of that section. He was Town Clerk of Freedom for many years, was
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also a leading man on the School Board, and was of Deering, of which Woodfords is a part, and while prominent in the councils of the Masonic frater- a resident of Freedom was Supervisor of Schools nity ; was Master of the Lodge at Freedom for a for several years. He is identified with the long period, and the new Calvin Topliff Chapter at that place is named in his honor. He died in Masonic Order, being a member of Woodfords I.odge, Greenleaf Chapter and Portland Com- mandery Knights Templar. In politics Dr. Topliff is a Republican, but has never been an aspirant for political preferment. He was married December 9, 1875, to Caroline B. Adams, daughter of James Adams, a prominent attorney of Norridgewock, Maine; of four children born to them, three are living : Annie T., Florence A. and Philip Topliff.
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A. P. TOPLIFF.
1867, having married a daughter of Deacon John A. Andrews of Freedom, who bore him six chil- dren, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest. Albion P. Topliff attended the common schools of his native town, fitted for college at the Masonic Charitable Institute in Effingham, New Hampshire, and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1867. He studied medicine with his father, and after supplementing his home instruction by a course at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, commenced practice in Freedom. In 1871 he removed to Gorham, Maine, where he practiced for several years, in the meantime taking a post- graduate course in medicine; and in 1878 he settled at Woodfords, in Deering, where he has since resided, actively engaged in successful and lucrative practice. Dr. Topiiff is a member of the Cumberland County Medical Association, the Maine Medical Society and the Maine Academy of Medicine, and keeps well in touch with modern progress in medical and surgical methods. He has served as a member of the School Board of the city
WALKER, AUGUSTUS HALL, President of the Bridgton Savings Bank, and senior member of the law firm of A. H. & E. C. Walker, Bridgton, was born in Fryeburg, Oxford county, Maine, Decem- ber 22, 1833, son of Isaac and Eliza (Colby)
AUGUSTUS H. WALKER.
Walker. His father, Captain Isaac Walker, was a native of Stow, Maine, where his grandfather, James Walker, was a prosperous farmer until his death froin an accident while yet in the prime of man- hood. His mother was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Evans) Colby, of Fryeburg. He re- ceived his early education in the district schools
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