USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 67
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He then associated with him John B. Cotton, who became Assistant Attorney-General of the United States under Presid :nt Harrison ; and later, Wallace H. White, a son-in-law, became a member of the firm, under the name of Frye, Cotton & White. The business of the firm of which Mr. Frye was the head was extensive and important, being largely connected with the affairs of the cotton-manufactur- ing corporations which constitute the principal industry of the city of Lewiston. A logical mind and quick perceptions contributed to his success, and he early gained a reputation as an advocate of pronounced ability. The rapidity with which he absorbed the facts of a case, and the promptness < a sturdy champion of the principles of the Republi-
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can party. He took also a leading part in the dis- cussion of all important national questions. He was one of the members of a Congressional committee sent to New Orleans to investigate the election in the state of Louisiana in 1874, and to effect a compromise between the discordant factions, which the committee accomplished. In the dis- tribution of the Geneva award, he espoused the cause of the actual losers, conducted the contest in the House through four Congresses, and in the Senate through one, until the bill as originally in- troduce by him became a law, and the entire fund was distributed according to its terms. In the Sen- ate he has for several years been Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, one of the largest and most important in that body ; he has also served on
the Committee on Foreign Relations, and on Privileges and Elections, and also as Chairman of the special Committee on Pacific Railroads. He was unanimously elected President pro tempore of the Senate in 1896. He took a leading part in all matters touching our fishery relations with Canada. It was largely due to his efforts that the attention of the country was called to the condition of affairs in Samoa, which resulted in the settlement of the com- plications there. He introduced the bill providing for a Congress of American Nations, and took charge of it until it became a law, as he did also of the bill providing for the Maritime Congress, and all leg- islation resulting therefrom. As Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, he has charge of all matters relating to the general commerce of the country, and he never fails in passing through that body such measures as he reports and advocates. With most of the important legislation of Congress during the past twenty-five years, he has been closely identified. For thirty years he has been a platform speaker in every political canipaign, and in nearly every Northern state; and whether he addresses the public or his colleagues in Congress, his speeches are remarkable, not only for their elo- quence, but for the directness and courage with which he expresses his convictions. Senator Frye in private life is a man of scrupulous integrity and honor, of religious tendencies, and of pronounced temperance views, making occasional speeches upon this topic. Domestic in his tastes, a lover of art and of all that is beautiful in our cultured civiliza- tion, he is at his best in the sanctity of his home, away from the busy cares of statesmanship. He is very devoted in his friendships, is a good story- teller, is fond of outdoor sports, especially trout and
salmon fishing, and spends a part of every summer at his comfortable log camp on a little island oppo- site Indian Rock in the Rangeley Lakes. He was married in February 1853 to Caroline Frances Spear, of Rockland, Maine. They have two living children : Helen Frye White, wife of Hon. W. H. White of Lewiston, Maine, and Alice Frye Briggs, wife of Frank U. Briggs of Auburn, Maine.
GARCELON, ALONZO, A. M., M. D., Governor of Maine in 1879, was born in Lewiston, Maine, May 6, 1813, son of Colonel William and Mary
ALONZO GARCELON.
(Davis) Garcelon. His father, who was a promi- nent citizen of Lewiston in his time, was exten- sively engaged in agricultural pursuits. His boy- hood was spent in working on the home farm and in attendance at the town school winters. At the age of sixteen, in 1829, he entered Monmouth (Maine) Academy, where he spent a year and a half, and subsequently attended the Maine acade- mies of Waterville and Newcastle. Entering Bow- doin College in 1832, he graduated therefrom in 1836, meanwhile by teaching school winters defray- ing the expenses of his collegiate course. Follow- ing graduation he was Principal of Alfred (Maine) Academy for three terms, and then relinquished
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teaching to enter upon the study of medicine with Dr. Abiel Hall of Alfred. Subsequently he entered the Medical School of Dartmouth College, also becoming a private student of the celebrated Dr. Muzzey of Hanover, New Hampshire. In 1838 Dr. Muzzey was called to a professorship in the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and his prpil accompanied him, mainly for the reason that better facilities would be afforded him in his studies, especially in the way of large hospital prac- tice. From this institution Dr. Garcelon graduated in 1839, and in October of that year he returned to Lewiston and at once began the practice of his pro- fession. He immediately gained prominence as a physician, and acquired an extensive practice, which he has maintained to the present time. His services are in almost constant demand, and though he is past eighty years of age, he appears to be as vigorous, mentally and physically, as he was thirty years ago, and thinks nothing of driving twenty-five miles into the country to attend a patient. He resides in the easterly part of the city, where he has an elegant estate, with a fine farm connected, the operations of which he directs with as much inter- est and as successfully as could any young farmer. In politics Dr. Garcelon was raised as a Whig, but he admired President Jackson for the firm stand he took against nullification, and allied himself for a time with the Democratic party. He was strongly opposed to the institution of slavery, regarding it as a gigantic evil, and consequently he early became a Free Soiler. During the war he was a Republican, but he could not support his party in some of its reconstruction measures, and more especially was he opposed to the attempted impeachment of Andrew Johnson, deeming that action unfair and unwise ; so he withdrew and joined the Democratic party, of which he has been a prominent and active member to this time. Dr. Garcelon represented Lewiston in the Maine Legislature in 1853 and in 1857, and was ir the State Senate in 1855. He was the Democratic candidate for Congressman in 1868, and made an excellent run in his district, which has always been strongly Republican. In 1871 he was elected Mayor of his city, being the first Democratic Mayor of Lewiston. The Demo- cratic party in 1878 tendered him the nomination for Governor of the State, but there being three candidates in the field, there was no election by the people. The duty of electing the Governor falling upon the Legislature, that body, at the beginning of the session in 1879, chose Dr. Garcelon Governor,
and he served his term with distinction and ability. Political excitement at this time was intense throughout the state, and Governor Garcelon assumed his positions on the questions of the day with rare good judgment, and maintained them to the end with great firmness and dignity, so that he secured the approval of his political friends and the respect of his enemies. In city and county affairs Dr. Garcelon has always taken a lively interest, and it is no exaggeration to say that there is no man living to-day who has done more during the past forty years to promote the industrial and commercial interests of Lewiston, and to make it what it is, than he. He took especial interest in securing the erection of the Lincoln Mill, the first important mill in Lewiston, and exerted his best efforts in securing the construction of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, and subsequently the An- droscoggin & Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and still later the Lewiston & Auburn - the first and last now under the management of the Grank Trunk, and the other forming a part of the Maine Central system. For seven years, 1850-7, he was Presi- dent of the Androscoggin Railroad, and in 1872-3 he assumed the position of General Agent or Super- intendent of the construction of the Lewiston & Auburn, the building of which was fought by the capitalists interested in the mills of the city with all the means which their capital and influence could bring against it. In 1847 he furnished the capital to start the Lewiston Journal, and in company with his brother-in-law, the late William H. Waldron, who was a practical printer, he retained its control until its success was firmly established. Simultane- ously he proposed the formation of the county of Androscoggin, and it was mainly by his perseverance and influence that the project was brought to a suc- cessful termination. In the decade of the fifties the location of the Maine State Seminary (now Bates College), Riverside Cemetery, public thor- oughfares, and other matters of public interest always found in him a pioneer and an effective advocate. In 1861 he was commissioned as Surgeon- General of the State during the Rebellion, and dur- ing the entire period was untiring in the discharge of his official duties in the state, and in rendering such assistance at the front as was in his power. He is broad-minded and far-seeing, positive in his opinions, and quick to act. His sense of justice and right is highly developed, and he is a deadly foe, an outspoken enemy of all shams, humbugs and false pretensions. Being social, kindly, frank,
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polite and agreeable in his manners, he is a fine ex- ample of the old-school gentleman. As a citizen he is public-spirited and liberal, and his efforts to improve and build up his native city are unceasing. Dr. Garcelon was first married in Great Falls, New Hampshire, to Ann Augusta Waldron, granddaughter of Job Philpot of Somersworth, New Hampshire ; she died in December 1857, leaving four children : Charles A., Ellen E., Alonzo M. and Edward L. Garcelon. , In 1,859 he was again married, to Olivia N. Spear, daughter of Captain A. Spear of Rock- land, Maine. A daughter, Edith S., now the wife of F. ". Dennis, was the fruit of this union. Mrs. Olivia Garcelon died January 2, 1889.
JONES, CHARLES WILLIS, Lawyer, Augusta, was born in Vassalboro, Kennebec county, Maine, March 16, 1862, son of Albion K. and Ellen W. (Weeks) Jones. His great-grandfather on the paternal side came from England, and was one of the first settlers of the town of Jefferson, Lincoln county, Maine. His maternal grandfather, Abner Weeks, was a prominent business man of Houlton, Aroostook county, Maine. Charles W. Jones was the elder of the two children comprising his parents' family, the other being Frederick A. Jones, now of Boston, Massachusetts. He was born and reared on a farm, and after attending the town schools, fitted for college at Oak Grove Seminary in Vassalboro, Maine, and at Waterville (Maine) Classical Insti- tute. When he was twelve years old his father died, leaving the management of his business largely to the son, so that on becoming of age he was equipped with a more than ordinary business experience and training, which has been of great value to him since. Entering upon the study of law with S. & L. Titcomb of Augusta, he was admitted to the Bar in Kennebec county at the October term of the Supreme Judicial Cou. c in 1888, and from that time has been actively and continuously engaged in the practice of law in Augusta. Mr. Jones has devoted himself largely to commercial law business, and has built up a large and lucrative practice in that special line. He has always been active in Republican politics, both local and. state. In 1892 he was ap- pointed Chairman of the Board of Inspectors of Prisons and Jails, by Governor Burleighi, and during his term of office introduced many improvements both in the management of jails and at the State
Prison. He was a delegate from Maine to the Congress of the National Prison Association of the United States, at Baltimore, in 1892. In 1896 he was elected an Assessor of the city of Angusta. Mr. Jones is prominently identified with the Masonic order, and served as Master of Neguemkeag Lodge of Vassalboro in 1887 ; he is a member of Augusta Lodge, Cushnoc Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Jeru- salem Council Royal and Select Masters and Trinity Commandery Knights Templar, also of the Abnaki Club of Augusta. He was married March 11, 1891,
C. W. JONES.
to Pauline S. Sawtelle, of Bangor, Maine ; they have a son : Frederick Sawtelle Jones, born July 6, 1892. Mrs. Jones is widely known as a portrait artist.
MORSE, EDWARD EMERY, M. D., L. M., Wash- ington, District of Columbia, was born in Bangor, Penobscot county, Maine, January 7, 1867, second son of Charles Brown and Elsie ( Emery) Morse. He is of the ninth generation in descent from Samuel Morse, originally from Wiltshire in Eng- land, who came over to Massachusetts shortly after the founding of the colony. He received his general education in the public schools of his native city, and studying for the medical profession,
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was graduated from the Medical Department of Columbian University in Washington, District of Columbia, March 17, 1892. He received the highest honors of his class at graduation, being the winner of the Corcoran prize of fifty dollars in
EDWARD E. MORSE.
gold, annually awarded to the student graduating with the highest average rank for the entire col- lege course. Following graduation he received an appointment on the resident staff of the Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington, where he remained for nearly a year and then went abroad for further study. While in Europe he spent the greater part of his time in the hospitals of London, Edinburgh and Dublin, and was for six months a resident of the world-famous Rotunda Lying-in Hospital of Dublin, graduating at the end of that period with the der ree of L. M. On his return to the United States he began the practice of his profession in Washington, where he has since resided. Dr. Morse is Demonstrator of Obstetrics in the Medical Department of Columbian Univer- sity, and is connected with the gynæecological department of the Emergency and the Garfield hospitals. He is a member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia and the Clinical Society of Washington. He is a Republican in politics, and is unmarried.
MURPHY, NATHAN OAKES, Governor of Arizona 1892-3, and Delegate from that Territory to the Fifty-fourth Congress, was born in Jefferson, Lin- coln county, Maine, October 14, 1849, son of B. F. and Lucy A. (Oakes) Murphy. On the paternal side he comes of Protestant-Irish ancestors, who came from the North of Ireland early in the seven- teenth century and settled in what is now Ports- mouth, Maine. His maternal progenitors were English, and came to America in 1670. On both sides his American ancestors performed military service in the War of the Revolution. He received his early education in the common schools of Maine and Wisconsin, and after teaching school for a time in the latter state, went to the Far West and engaged in mining and railroad building, and in various commercial interests, in Arizona. From 1870 to 1889 he was prominently identified with Western enterprises, and from that time to the present has been continuously in public and official life. He served as Secretary for Arizona from
NATHAN O. MURPHY.
April 21, 1889, to June 2, 1892 ; as Governor of the Territory from the latter date to April 13, 1893, and as Delegate from Arizona to the Fifty-fourth Congress 1895-7. Mr. Murphy is a Republican in politics, and was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1892 at Minneapolis. He is a Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason,
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also a Knight Templar and member of the Mystic Shrine. He was married August 6, 1894, to Sarah E. Banghart, of Prescott, Arizona; they have a son : Paul F. Murphy.
PENDLETON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, of Pendie- ton, Carr .r & Nichols, ship brokers, New York, was
B. F PENDLETON.
born in Searsport, Waldo county, Maine, November 28, 1829, son of Phineas and Nancy (Gilmore) Pendleton. He is descended from (1) Bryan Pen- dleton, who came to Massachusetts from England about 1635, the line being through (2) James, (3) Joseph, (4) William, (5) William, (6) Peleg and (7) Phineas Pendleton. Of the foregoing, Joseph, the two Williams, Peleg and Phineas were all born in and about Stonington, Connecticut. Peleg Pendle- ton moved to Maine in 1783, and settled on the farm now owned by his grandson, the subject of this sketch. Benjamin F. Pendleton acquired his early education in the common and high schools of his native town, and received his training for active life on the farm and on the sea. His life occupations have been those of shipmaster, shipbuilder, ship- owner, and later that of shipbroker. . At the age of twenty-one he was placed in command of the bark Edgar, and subsequently commanded the brig Leg- horn, and ships Wm. V. Bent, Bell Rock, Moonlight,
Charlotte W. White, Nancy Pendleton and Wm. H. Conner. He was also engaged in shipbuilding a part of the time, between 1870 and 1881, at different places in Maine. In 188 t he retired from the sea and established himself in the shipbrokerage business in New York, and in 1885, in association with B. F. Carver and Wilfred V. Nichols, formed the firm of Pendleton, Carver & Nichols, in which he continues at the present time. Captain Pendle- ton resides in New York, but usually spends part of each year at the old homestead in Searsport, which he maintains as a summer home. In politics he is a Republican. He was married November 11, 1852, to Rachel M. McGlathry. They have one daughter, Jennie M., married to Wilfred V. Nichols, whose children are a son, Benjamin Franklin, and a daughter, Winnifred Nichols.
SMALL, CYRUS KING, Merchant, New York, was born in Limington, York county, Maine, April 11,
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CYRUS K. SMALL.
1848, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Kennard) Small. His father, Major Henry Small, was a native of Maine and a farmer by occupation. He was educated at the Limington Academy of his native town, and at the age of fifteen, in 1863, went to New York and engaged in the coffee-brokerage business, in which he has ever since continued.
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He was for many years a member of the old house of Small Brothers, established in 1865. In 1887 he established the firm of Mackey & Small, which has been known ever since as one of the largest . coffee houses in the United States. Mr. Small is a member of the New York Athletic and the Down Town (social) clubs. In politics he is a Republi- can. He was married September 2, 1874, to Elizabeth I. Hepburn, of Pennsylvania ; they have a daughter : Eleanor Small.
STEARNS, SOLOMON SARGENT, M. D., Washing- ton, District of Columbia, was born in Lovell, 1 Oxford county, Maine, June 18, 1838, son of Solomon and Sally ( Heald) Stearns. His father,
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S .. S. STEARNS.
Stearns of Billerica (born November 26, 1686, died August 2, 1776), son of John Stearns of Billerica (born May 1654, died October 26, 1728), whose birth was the first recorded in Billerica. The latter's father was John Stearns of Watertown (died March 5, 1668-9) son of Isaac Stearns, who came to America in 1630 in the same ship with Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. Solomon S. Stearns received his early education in the common schools, prepared for college at Gould's Academy in Bethel, Maine, and Gorham (Maine) Academy, and in 1858 entered Waterville College, now Colby University. He left college in his Junior year, 1861, for the army, and served in the Civil War as First Lieutenant of the Fourth Maine Volunteer Infantry until mustered out with his regiment August 19, 1864. After the close of his army service he studied for the medical profession, and in 1868 graduated from the Medical Department of Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia. In 1892, he received the honorary degree of M. D. "cum laude " from the Southern Homoeopathic College of Baltimore, Maryland. Since 1868 he has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Washington. Dr. Stearns is President of the Southern Homoeopathic Medical Association, was President in 1896 of the Washington Homo- pathic Medical Society, and is an ex-President of the Washington Medical and Surgical Club. In politics he has always been a Republican. He was married April 1, 1864, to Maryett M. Barker, of Lovell, Oxford county, Maine. They have three children : Lena O., born November 22, 1866; Eudora A. M., born September 15, 1868 ; and John Sargent Stearns, born October 30, 1870.
SUMNER, ALEXANDER BAKER, Merchant, Lubec, was born in Lubec, February 19, 1833, son of Joseph and Sarah Barker (Wiggin) Sumner. He is descended in the eighth generation from William Sumner, who was born at Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, in 1605, came to New England in 1636 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He re- ceived his early education in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen went to sea, making trips in coasting vessels. In 1850 he entered the office of Jeremiah Fowler, manufacturer of ground and employ five years. In 1857 he was employed with the civil engineering corps on the Detroit and Mil- waukee Railway, then under construction, with
who was Brigad'er-General of the Maine State Militia, was born July 21, 1798, and died April 16, 1849. He was the son of Benjamin Stearns (born September 12, 1757, died May 24, 1836) and Susannah Frye of Fryeburg. Benjamin was a Jus- tice of the Peace for many years, and was the son of Hon. Isaac Stearns (born June 16, 1722, died April 23, ISO8) of Billerica, Massachusetts, an . calcined plaster, and remained in Mr. Fowler's officer in the French War, also Representative and Senator in the State Legislature; his wife was Sarah Abbott of Bedford. His father was John
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headquarters at Ionia, Michigan ; and in 1858-9 he was gold mining in Butte county, California. Returning to Lubec in 1860, he was engaged until the second year of the Civil War in the ship-chand- lery and grocery business, with Simeon Ryerson, by whom the business was established in 1851. On August 14, 1862, he enlisted in the Sixth Regiment Maine Infantry Volunteers, was commissioned Sec- ond Lieutenant on August 25, joined the regiment at Antieta->, was assigned to Company A, and was promoted to First Lieutenant on March 3, 1863. On May 3 following, the regiment was engaged in the ch ge on Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg,
A. B. SUMNER.
Virginia ; forming with the Fifth Wisconsin (also of the Light Division, Sixth Corps), the apex of the wedge of the assaulti .. g column. Captain Gray was killed, and twenty-three enlisted men were killed or wounded, from a total of forty-seven on duty in the company. Lieutenant Sumner was promoted to Captain on June 3, 1863, and commanded a battal- ion of five companies from July 17 until August 21, when a new regiment was organized, designated as the First Regiment Veteran Infantry Maine Volun- teers, of which he was commissioned Major on October 29, 1864. He was on duty constantly until the surrender of Lee, having been with the Sixth Corps' in every movement of that body from
Antietam to Appomattox. For distinguished and meritorious service in the field he was commis- sioned Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers by brevet, to rank from April 2, 1865. Returning to Lubec at the close of the war in 1865, Major Sumner resumed the business which he left in 1862, estab- lishing however the new firm of A. B. Sumner & Company, and making grain, feed and coal the specialties of the trade. Mr. Ryerson retired from business in 1884, and the firm has continued to the present time with W. T. Comstock as junior partner. Mr. Sumner was a member of Governor Perham's military staff in 1872-3, ranking as Colonel and Brigadier-General. He has served as Town Clerk of Lubec (1856), as Town Treasurer in 1876-7, and as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen in 1880-1-2. In 1877 and 1878 he represented Washington county in the Maine Senate, and in 1887 and 1888 he was a member of the Executive Council from the Seventh Councillor District, during the administrations of Governors J. R. Bod- well and Sebastian S. Marble. He has been a member of Washington Masonic Lodge, Lubec, since 1854, and is a member of William H. Brawn Post, Department of Maine, Grand Army of the Republic, serving as Post Commander for two years ; also a member of Maine Commandery Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Society of the Army of the Potomac. In politics Mr. Sumner is a Republican ; his first vote for President was cast for General Fremont in 1856. He was married October 8, 1866, to Sarah Adelaide Ryerson, of Lubec.
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