USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 5
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engaged with the affairs of business to devote much time to literary work, but he has edited a series of volumes entitled Half-Hour Recreations in Popular Science, and in 1872-4 compiled several volumes of juvenile and standard poetry. He has always been much interested in archæology, and in 1888 brought from Northern Italy a large collection of Paleo- Italian antiquities of great archaeological value. Educational matters have also enlisted his warm interest and active support, and in 1895 he donated a valuable tract of land to the town of Gorham and to the State Normal School of that place, an act which called forth from his native town the follow- ing token of appreciation : "Resolved, That the thanks of the Town of Gorham be extended to Mr. Dana Estes of Boston for his generous and public- spirited gift of land for a street, and for his char- acteristic thoughtfulness for our best development in opening to the public grounds of surpassing natural beauty"; and from the Normal School Trustees the following : " Resolved, That the Trustees of the Normal School of Maine, in appre- ciation of Mr. Estes' great interest in the cause of education and the best development of the school at Gorham, hereby extend their sincere thanks for his timely and generous gift." Mr. Estes resides upon his handsome suburban place in Brookline, where, besides being actively interested in general local affairs, he is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Newton Boulevard Syndicate, and has been prominent in pushing forward the enterprise that is likely to play so important a part in the future development of that beautiful suburban city. This enterprise consists of the extension of the great Commonwealth Avenue through the heart of the city of Newton to the banks of the Charles River at Riverside and Weston, thus making a continuous parkway from the Boston Public Garden to the Metropolitan Park reservations on the upper Charles. He has also a fine seashore residence at Marble- head Neck. Among other public benefactions Mr. Estes has undertaken the work of restoring and repairing the tomb of one of Maine's most distin- guished early settlers, - Sir William Pepperell of Kittery, the commander of the colonial expedition which accomplished the glorious feat of the capture of the French fortress of Louisburg, the Gibraltar of America, for which the Maine General of Militia was knighted by the King of England. This inter- esting historical relic is to be hereafter in the care of the Maine Historical Society, a guarantee that it will not again be allowed to fall into a state of
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neglect and local abuse. Mr. Estes was first married April 11, 1867, to Louisa S., daughter of Peter and Mary ( Filgate) Reid, of England. He was married second, November 10, 1884, to Grace D. (Cones) Page, daughter of Samuel E. and Charlotte Haven (Ladd) Coues, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. By the first marriage there are three children : Frederick Reid, Dana, Jr., and Philip Sydney Estes.
FAIRBANKS, JOSEPH WOODMAN, President of the Franklin County Savings Bank, Farmington, was born in Winthrop, Maine, November 16, 1821, son
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J. W. FAIRBANKS.
of Columbus and Lydia W. (Tinkham) Fairbanks. Descendants of those Pilgrims who came to Ply- mouth in the Mayflower, and of others of the better class of those who early in the seventeenth century emigrated from England to the Provinc of Massa- chusetts Bay, his forefathers were from generation to generation men whose sound judgment, sterling worth and strict integrity received public recognition in their selection to fill town and colonial offices. He was the third child in a large family of children. His father, Columbus Fairbanks, was a son of Colonel Nathaniel Fairbanks of Winthrop, who was an early settler, a leader in public affairs, a patriot of the Revolution, and who repeatedly represented
the town in the General Court of Massachusetts ; he married January 1, 1793, Lydia Chipman, who was a descendant through Jacob Jr., Jacob, Samuel, and Hope, wife of John Chipman, from John Howland the Pilgrim, of whom the colonial records say : " He was a godly man and an ancient professor in the ways of Christ, and proved a useful instrument of good in his place." On his mother's side Mr. Fairbanks traces his ancestry to a prominent Middle- borough family, her father, Major Seth Tinkham, having emigrated to Wiscasset in 1777 or 1778, where he married, May 20, 1786, Catherine Wood- man. His early life was spent upon his father's farm, and his education was that which he was able to obtain by attendance during the winter months at the district school; of greater value were the moral training, the integrity and the habits of self denial and continued effort which he was taught at home. by precept and example. Such with little variation was his life until he went to Farmington, Maine, in the autumn of 1844, to engage in business. At the age of twenty-five, efficient, saving, clear of head and sound of judgment, he entered upon a successful commercial life which continued until 1878. His deficiencies in early education were neutralized by a shrewd observation and a careful continued reading of the newspapers - a practice not so common then, as now - aided by a natural aptitude for acquiring information. These resulted in an equipment generous, practical, and available at all times for immediate use. A Whig in politics, he joined the Republicans at the beginning, and was chosen delegate to the County Convention held at Strong, Maine, August 7, 1854, when and where it is claimed the Republican party was organized. His first Presidential vote was cast for Henry Clay, and he has never missed a State or Presidential election since. During the Civil War he was a strong supporter of the Federal Government, and a most constant and able advocate and exponent of the principles for which it fought. His contributions were liberal, and his name was among the first of those in town who volunteered to send substitutes to the front. For many years Mr. Fairbanks has been closely identified with the business interests of the town. He lent his influence to the estab- lishment in Farmington of the first State Normal School, and was active in giving to the town the best railroad facilities. After the great conflagration of 1886 he was chosen Chairman of the Buikling Com- mittee which erected the Congregational Church, the Savings Bank and a block of stores. In the
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selection of plans, collection and management of funds, and in the supervision of the erection of these buildings, as well as of numerous bridges and school- houses, he has shown executive ability, an educated taste, and a business economy which have added much to the beauty of Farmington, and have promoted and guarded the financial welfare and condition of the church, the town and the state in whose behalf they have been exercised. The present year he has been placed in charge of the erection of the new Normal School building at Farmington, by the Board of Trustees. Among the offices of trust held by Mr. Fairbanks have been those of Representative and Senator to the Legisla- ture of Maine, 1864-1868, and of Valuation Com- missioner, ISSo-SI. He is now President of the Franklin County Savings Bank and a Trustee since 1868, the date of its organization, Vice-President of the First National Bank, Chairman of the Repub- lican County Committee, Trustee of the State Normal School, and is serving his seventh consecu- tive terin as Selectman and Assessor of the town of Farmington. He has ever been an active and staunch supporter of the Congregational Church, notably efficient in its service of song. In his life Mr. Fairbanks has at all times shown those traits of character which we like to consider as peculiarly Vuenican. Such success as he has acquired has ben due to no accident of birth or of event; it has ben the direct result of worthy habits, generous endowments, and prominent traits of character. In his proved sound judgment, and correct estimate of men and things, he shows firmness but not obsti- n.tcy. Noteworthy in his energy, his self-reliance, his integrity, his charity towards others, and in his love for family, his character commands respect and esteem. A strong believer in his country and its form of government, in his political party and its principles, in his state and in his town, in their pres- ent and in their continued welfare and success, a zealous and far-seeing guardian of their interests, his partisanship never degenerates into intolerance. At an age when most men have given up their grasp on affairs and need to throw burdens on younger shoulders, he is still first in the council among those who instigate and direct, and the most energetic among those who execute. Of those upon whom weaker men rely, those whose advice is sought, whose aid is desired, of those whom others choose to honor, he belongs to the highest type of true American. Mr. Fairbanks was married October 14, 1852, to Miss Susan E. Belcher, who died in Farm-
ington, November 8, 1875 ; she was the daughter of Hon. Hiram Belcher, member of the Thirtieth Congress, and Evelina Cony his wife, cousin of Gor- ernor Samuel Cony of Augusta. Five children were born to them ; two daughters are now living : Mit- tie Belcher and Charlotte, the latter now Mrs. Clif- ford Wood of New York City. He married a sec- ond time, October 25, 1876, Miss Henrietta F. S. Wood, daughter of Gen. Samuel and Florena (Sweet) Wood of Winthrop.
FAIRFIELD, HAMPDEN, Lawyer, Saco, was born in Saco, December S, 1835, son of John and Anna
H. FAIRFIELD.
P. (Thornton) Fairfield. He is a descendant in the eighth generation from John Fairfield, who was made a freeman at Salem in 1640, and is a great- grandson of Rev. John Fairfield, a graduate of Har- vard College and a settled minister of Saco for many years. On the maternal side he is a great-grandson of Dr. Thomas G. Thornton and Col. Thomas Cutts, both distinguished residents of Saco, of early and renowned families. His father, John Fairfield, was Governor of Maine during the exciting period of the Aroostook War, and was twice chosen Repre- sentative to Congress, four times elected Governor and twice United States Senator, all within the space of twelve years. Hampden Fairfield acquired
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his early education in the public schools of Saco, attended Bowdoin College where he was graduated in 1857, studied law, was admitted to the York County Bar in May 1860, and entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in Saco. For the three years 1868-70 he was Clerk of Courts of York County, at Alfred, after which he came to Saco, where he has continued in active practice to the present time. In politics he is a Democrat, but has refrained front entering public life, preferring to devote his time and energies to his profession. Mr. Fairfield was married November 30, 1859, to Miss Ellen K. Fer- kins of Kennebunkport, Maine ; they have five child- ren : Caroline A, now Mrs. Alfred M. Goodale of Waltham, Massachusetts ; Edward C., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Hattie N., now Mrs. Frank H. Fairfield of East Orange, New Jersey ; Sarah H., now Mrs. Arthur C. Freeman of Waltham, Massachusetts, and Ellen H., now Mrs. Luther R. Moore of Saco. Mr. Fairfield takes a pardonable pride in the fact that he can boast of having nine grandchildren.
FAUNCE, GEORGE BURRILL, Real Estate and In- surance Agent, Roxbury, Massachusetts, was born in Waterville, Maine, August 11, 1824, son of Asa and Miriam (Burrill) Faunce. His American ancestor was John Faunce, who came from Rochester, Eng- land, of which city his father was Mayor at the time, and joined the Pilgrimns at Plymouth in 1623. His father, Asa Faunce, was born in Sandwich, Massa- chusetts, in 1776, in the house that is now occupied by other descendants of the same name. His son has recently visited the graves in England where the Faunces are buried, in the church at Rochester. George B. Faunce's early education was limited. He attended the town schools of Waterville until 1836, then one year at private school in China, Maine, and then commenced to take care of him- self, his parents having died during his infancy. At the age of thirteen, in 1837, he went to Belfast, Maine, where he served for nine years as clerk in his brother's store. In the fall of 1846 he went to Roxbury, Massachusetts, and engaged in the grocery business, in which he remained until 1860. During this time he was elected Overseer of the Poor, and served two years in the Common Council, one as President of that body. In 1862 Mr. Faunce was appointed Agent of the Norfolk and the Dedham fire insurance companies. The following year he was elected a Director in each of these companies,
and later was elected President of the latter, which position he still holds. In connection with his in- surance business he has been largely interested in buying, developing, selling and managing real estate, for others as well as for himself. In politics Mr. Faunce is independent of any organization in state and city affairs, always voting for those whom he thinks best qualified and adapted for the respective offices to be filled. Since the annexation of Roxbury to Boston he has had very little time or inclination to hold public office, but in 1877 he was elected an Alderman of the City of Boston on an independent ticket, and served one year only. During his term
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GEORGE B. FAUNCE.
of office the great park system of Boston was in- augarated, beginning with the Back Bay Park, which Mr. Faunce was interested in and voted for. He also presided at a public meeting held in the Dud- ley Street Opera House, Roxbury, to encourage the Franklin Park project. As a young man he took an active interest in the purchase of Forest Hills Cem- etery, and during his two years in the Common Council he approved of and voted for nearly all the public grounds in Old Roxbury, in which he took a deep interest.
FOGG, Joux 11., Lawyer, Portland, was born in Gorham, Maine, October 19, 1837, son of Daniel and Joanna ( Files) Fogg. His paternal ancestor
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
Samuel Fogg of Hampton, New Hampshire, was the common progenitor of the Foggs in this country, and his grandfather Moses Fogg was an officer in : : Revolutionary Army. On the maternal side, his crushather Joseph Files of Gorham, Maine, was the
JOHN H. FOGG.
win of Lunes Files, of English descent, and one of the first settlers of Gorham. He received a common- school and academic education, but no collegiate training. He worked on his father's farm until the age of sixteen, then taught school until the breaking mit of the Rebellion in 1861, when he entered the army on May 26 and served during the war. He and gessively a private, Sergeant-Major, Second Luitenant and First Lieutenant in the Seventh Maine Volunteers in 1862, was detailed on special duty a- Judge-Advocate of a General Court-Martial in 1863, and was commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps by Secretary of War Stanton in 1864. After the war he studied law, was admitted to the Cumberland Bar in 1871, and commenced practice in Portland, where he has since resided, devoting his time almost exclu- sively to the professional demands of an extensive chentage. Mr. Fogg was a member of the Superin- tending School Committee of Gorham in 1869-70 and i8 ;: , was a member of the City Council of 1. nie . for the years 1832-3-4, and was Represen- tative from Portland to the State Legislature from
1887 to 1892. He is a member of the Greenleaf Law Library and the Cumberland and State bar associations, the Portland Club, Portland Society of Natural History, the Genealogical Society of Port- land, Sons of the American Revolution, and Bosworth Post of the Grand Army. He is also prominent in Masonry, being a member of Ancient Landmark Lodge, Greenleaf Chapter and Portland Council, miember and Past Commander of St. Albans Com- mandery Knights Templar, and in Odd Fellowship is a member of Unity Lodge of Portland and the Grand Lodge of Maine. In politics Mr. Fogg is a Republican. He was married November 17, ISSO, to Miss Mary A. Bridgham.
FORD, ROBERT FRANCIS, of the J. R. Whipple Company. proprietors of Young's Hotel and the Parker House, Boston, was born in North Berwick, York county, Maine, April 4, 1848, son of Caleb Fernald and Susan (Grant) Ford. His paternal ancestry is traced to the Widow Ford who with two sons came to America in the year following the
ROBERT F. FORD.
arrival of the Mayflower, and settled on Cape Cod, whence subsequently they removed to the province of Maine. His grandfather Ford was born within three miles of the grandson's birthplace, in the county of York, when the town was practically a
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
wilderness. He carried on a blacksmith shop and made plows, sleds, buckets, barrels, rope, etc., for the settlers of the surrounding district, and did freighting by team to Portland and Portsmouth. His son Caleb, Robert's father, succeeded him in his blacksmithing and general manufacturing, until the changed conditions, consequent upon the devel- opments of trade and commerce, made the business no longer profitable, and he then became a pros- perous farmer of North Berwick. Robert's first training for active life was that of farm work, while his early education was limited to that afforded by the common schools of his native town. At the age of nineteen, in February 1867, he came to Boston, unacquainted with anyone in the city, and after a little time secured a position in the dry- goods business with the firm of J. S. Hawes & Company, now extinct. This connection lasted but a year, when despite flattering offers to continue with the firm, he went South and remained for a little more than a year. Then after a brief engage- ment with Craig, Stone & Company of New York, a beef concern (at Shreveport, Louisiana), which he was offered special inducements to continue, but declined, he returned to Boston, and engaged in the hotel business with George Young at Young's Hotel. Here Mr. Ford commenced at the foot of the ladder, and rose until he reached the responsible position of steward, which he retained under the new administration of Hall & Whipple as proprietors in 1876. After Mr. Whipple succeeded to the sole proprietorship, the latter conceived the idea of forming a partnership with the heads of the different departments, and Mr. Ford was chosen as one of his associates in the J. R. Whipple Company, in which he still remains, as partner both in Young's Hotel and the Parker House. The J. R. Whipple Com- pany are also proprietors of the new Hotel Touraine, now in process of construction, to be completed and opened September 1, 1897. This palatial ten-story hotel, covering an entire block enclosed by Tremont, Boylston, Tamworth and Lagrange streets, is to be constructed of steel-frame and red-brick with buff- stone trimmings, in the Louis XII style of architec- ture, from plans by Architects Winslow & Wetherell of Boston, at a cost of three million dollars. It will be finished and furnished throughout in the highest degree of refined elegance, fitted with every modern improvement, including a number of new and original features for the entertainment and comfort of guests, such as a large library and a Turkish smoking-room on the first floor, and is to be the"
finest and most luxurious hotel edifice in Boston or New England. Mr. Ford is a prominent Mason, being a member of Boston Commandery Knights . Templar, and of the Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite. In politics he is a Republican, of sound money principles. He was married November 9, 1873, to Hannah Abbie Preble, daughter of Willianı Preble of Cape Neddick, York, Maine, and a lineal descendant of the family to which the famous Commodores of that name belonged. They have three children : Maud F., Charles F. and Roxann S. Ford.
GOODWIN, CHARLES EDWIN, Cashier of the Biddeford National Bank, and Mayor of Biddeford in 1888-9, was born in Saco, Maine, April 2, 1850,
CHAS. E. GOODWIN.
son of Joseph P. and Mary A. (Hayford) Goodwin. His early education was confined to that which he obtained in the public schools of Biddeford, and his business training was received in the Biddeford National Bank, the leading financial institution of the city, with which he has been connected for a continuous term of nearly thirty years, entering as Clerk in May 1867, receiving promotion to Assist- ant Cashier in June 1872, and becoming Cashier in May 1874. Mr. Goodwin is also a Trustee of the Biddeford Savings Bank, and President of the
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
Hardy Machine Company of Biddeford. He was seven years City Treasurer of Biddeford, 1887-94, and in 1888 was elected Mayor and re-elected in 1889. In politics he is a Democrat. He was mar- ried January 24, ' 1872, to Miss Lucy Jeannette Dyer of Dayton, Maine; they have two children : Fred Chapman Goodwin, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1895, and Syrena May Goodwin, now a stu- dent at Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts.
GOUDY, LEWIS ALDEN, of Goudy & Kent (cor- poration), Biscuit and Confectionery Manufacturers, Portland, was born in Boothbay, Maine, June 10, 1849, son of Alden and Augusta Parker (Soule) Gondy. He is descended on the maternal side from George Soule, one of the Pilgrim Fathers. He acquired his education in the common schools of Boothbay and the graded schools of Bath, Maine, and as a boy worked summers on a farm. From the age of seventeen he was in the service of the Maine Central Railroad three years, 1866-9, as clerk, and from 1869 to 1881 was clerk and book- keeper for the wholesale grain and flour house of Waldron & True, Portland. In 1881 he commenced the manufacture of biscuits and fancy bakery prod- ucts in Portland, to which the manufacture of con- fectionery was added in 1885, the business being conducted under the firm name of I .. A. Goudy & Company until 1885, then as Goudy & Kent until 1893, when the firm became incorporated under the same name, and still continues, with Mr. Goudy as President and General Manager. From small beginnings a business of extensive proportions has been established, the trade extending over the whole of the state of Maine, and into the other New England states and Canada. Mr. Goudy is also Treasurer of the Lakeside Press, Portland, and has been prominently identified with many import- ant enterprises and movements tending to the pro- motion and advancement of the city's industrial and otherwise material interests. He is a promi- nent Mason, being a member of Landmark Lodge, Mount Vernon Chapter, Portland Council and Portland Commandery, is a member of Beacon Lodge and Machigonne Encampment of Odd Fel- lows, and of Ivanhoe Lodge Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Maine Charitable Mechanics' Association, the Portland Board of Trade and the Portland Club. Mr. Goudy has never been a candidate for political or civil office,
but has always been active in helping the cause of candidates who were worthy as well as ambitious. In politics he has been always a Republican, although sometimes independent of party dictations.
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LEWIS A. GOUDY.
He was married February 2, 18 13, to Miss Annie Jane Ayers ; they have four children : Annie Louise, Isabel Augusta, Ellen Chase and Alice Dinsdale Goudy.
GUTHRIE, SIMON BERNARD, Postmaster of .Gorham, was born in Gorham, December 10, 1853, son of Michael and Mary ( Fitzpatrick) Guthrie, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The name of Guthrie was prominent in Scotland as early as the thirteenth century. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Daniel Guthrie, who was born in Scotland, was a farmer in the south of Ireland, where his children, four sons and a daughter, were born. Michael, the father of Simon B., the youngest of this family, was born in 1800, and emigrated to America when a young man, making a short stay in Portland and then settling in Gorham, where he died in 1883 ; his wife, who was of Irish birth, became the mother of ten children - Bridget, Daniel, Thomas, Roger, Simon B. (the subject of this sketch), Mary, James, Catherine, Michael and Elizabeth - eight of whom
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are now living. Simon B. Guthrie grew to manhood in his native town. When a boy he met with a peculiar accident which was the occasion of a triumph in surgery considered very remarkable at the time. He injured the knee-pan in such a way that he was unable to walk for six months, and when he did get about the limb was crooked, and he was quite lame for seven years. Dr. H. H. Hunt then performed an operation, the ninth of the kind in the records of surgery, which fully straightened the limb and made it as strong as ever. The boy attended the common schools of Gorham until the age of fifteen. In 1868 he started to learn the
SIMON B. GUTHRIE.
shoemaker's trade, and after serving his apprentice- ship entered Gray's Business College in Portland. On finishing his course of study he worked for a while at currying leather and then for two years at shoemaking. In 1877 he formed a copartnership with John S. Leavitt, Jr., of Gorham, under the firm name of Leavitt & Guthrie, and started in the boot and shoe business in Gorham. In the spring of 1878 his brother Daniel took the place of Mr. Leavitt, and the name was changed to D. & S. B. Guthrie. This partnership lasted two years, when Mr. Guthrie purchased his brother's interest and has since been sole proprietor of the business, carrying a full line of footwear and doing fine custom-work and , repairing. Mr. Guthrie has taken an active
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