USA > Maine > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of Maine > Part 91
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same night left with his family for the North by the only railroad that had not been destroyed by the Confederate Army. In 1862 he entered into part- nership with his brother Edwin Parsons in New York city, where he has since resided. In 1880 Mr. Parsons was Chairman of the Purchasing Com- mittee of the New Jersey Midland Railway Company which bought the road at the sale under foreclosure. He reorganized it successfully and was its President for about a year. It is now consolidated with the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad. In 1883 he was elected President of the Rome, Water- town & Ogdensburg Railroad Company, which office he still holds. His success in the management of this road has been phenomenal. In five years from the time he took charge the road was entirely relaid with steel and the property brought to trunk-line standard. While under his management, the mileage has been increased by the purchase of the Syracuse, Phoenix & Oswego Railway, the building of the Nor- wood & Montreal Railroad, the lease and consolida- tion of the Utica & Black River Railroad and the purchase of the Rochester & Ontario Belt Railway. In extending the latter road two miles into the heartof the city of Rochester, he had many opposing interests to combat, but " he got there all the same." When Mr. Parsons took charge of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad, it barely earned its fixed charges. In four years the company earned ten per cent on the stock, divided six per cent among its stockholders and put the balance into permanent betterments. The annual earnings per mile increased from thirty five hundred to about six thousand dollars. Under Mr. Parsons' manage- ment the stock became a regular six-per-cent divi- dend security, causing the stock to advance from about fifteen cents on the dollar to par, and the five-per-cent consolidated bonds from sixty-five to over par. In 1891, Mr. Parsons called a meeting of the Directors one evening and had a stock-divi- dend of twenty per cent declared, and on the fol- lowing day leased the road in perpetuity to the New York Central Railroad Company on a guarantee of all fixed charges, and five per cent per annum on the capital stock. Mr. Parsons is naturally a reti- cent man. He makes no boasts of his past achieve- ments nor promises for future successes. He quietly meets the issues of life as they arise, always adjust- ing his talent and energies to the exigencies of duty, and thereby masters the vast majority of circum- stances. He called the Board of Directors together one evening and laid before them the agreement for
the lease of the Utica & Black River Railroad, the road which had long been the competitor of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, and the first news the public received of it was the next morning, when all the station agents of the leased road were informed by telegraph that the road had been delivered to the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad Company. The press in commenting on the lease said that the merchants were dumbfounded at the news, and that not a man remarked, "1 told you so." This only illustrates how little Mr. Parsons is given to talk, and how richly he is endowed with go-ahead-ativeness. In 1892 Mr. Parsons was elected President of the New York & New England Railroad, which office he held for one year. In 1894, with his brother, George Parsons, he purchased of a Reorganization Committee the South Carolina Railway, and organized a new company under the name of the South Carolina & Georgia Railroad Company, which Mr. Parsons took charge of as President. In 1896 he was elected Chairman of the Committee to reorganize the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad Company, and in March 1897 he was appointed Receiver of the road. He was also one of the Committee appointed in March 1897 to reorganize the Brooklyn, the Union and the Seaside elevated railroads of Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Parsons has not however confined his operations to railroads. When New Orleans defaulted on its bonds and the value of its securities was depreciated to about one-third of their face value, he purchased large amounts of them, and compelled the city to levy taxes to pay them. This involved a long con- test in the Courts ; the decision of the Lower United States Court was unfavorable, but the United States Supreme Court ordered a peremptory mandamus to be issued to compel the levy of a tax to pay the principal and interest of the bonds. It was this decision that killed the New Orleans gambling premium bond scheme. Mr. Parsons is a member of the Lawyers' Club, the New York Chamber of Commerce, the New York Historical Society, the American Geographical Society and several other similar associations. For twenty-five years he was an attendant of the Reverend Doctor Howard Crosby's Church, and served many years on the Board of Trustees. He has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange twenty-eight years, where he occasionally drops in to give an order and to chat with the bulls and bears. Mr. Parsons was married in 1855 to Sarah 1. Shepley, daughter of the late Reverend Doctor David Shepley. They
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have seven children, four sons and three daughters. The two oldest sons, Charles Parsons, Jr., and Edwin Parsons, were graduated at Yale, and the two young- est are preparing for college. Mr. Parsons' city home is at the corner of Park avenue and Fortieth street, and his country residence is on his beach on the Maine coast at Crescent Surf, Kennebunk, Maine.
REDMAN, JOHN B., Mayor of Ellsworth 1834-5, was born in Brooksville, Hancock county, Maine, in 1848. Both his father, Erastus Redman, and his grandfather, Hon. John R. Redman, were for many years prominently identified with the business interests of Hancock county. When but two years old he came with his parents to Ellsworth, where he received his early education in the public schools. Subsequently he attended Phillips Acad- emy in Andover, Massachusetts, and in 1866 entered Bowdoin College, graduating with the class of 1870. During his college course he taught as Principal of the Orono High School and the Cherryfield and Bluehill academies. Soon after graduation he com- menced the study of law with the Hon. Arno Wiswell, father of Judge A. P. Wiswell of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. In 1873 he was admitted to the Bar, and commenced the practice of law in Ells- worth, in which he has since continued. He served for a time as City Solicitor of Ellsworth, and in 1880 was appointed Judge of the Municipal Court of Ellsworth, which position he held for four years. In 1884 he was elected Mayor of the city, and was re-elected in 1885. Politically Mr. Redman has always been strong in his allegiance to Demo- cratic principles, but his broadminded and liberal views upon public questions have won for him the esteem and goodwill of many among his political · opponents. He was a Delegate of his party to the National Convention that nominated Samuel J. Tilden, and was a Delegate-at-Large to the Demo- cratic National Convention that nominated General Hancock for the Presidency, officiating as one of the Secretaries of that convention. At the time of President Cleveland's first nomination, Judge Redman was made the Democratic candidate for Governor of Maine, and notwithstanding that Mr. Blaine was the Presidential candidate of the Repub- licans in that campaign, he made a vigorous and spirited canvass of the state and made a highly creditable showing in the election. He is an able public speaker, and has participated effectively in many political campaigns upon the stump in Maine
and other states. In 1886 he was appointed Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the District of Maine, by President Cleveland, but held the position only for a few months, until the consolidation of the district with that of New Hampshire and Vermont. Subsequently he received from President Cleveland the appointment of Collector of Customs for the Dis- trict of Frenchman's Bay, which office he at present holds. Judge Redman has a large professional practice and is widely known throughout the state. He has been actively and prominently interested in all matters affecting the welfare of his city, especially in the line of promoting new industries. He is a Director of the Burrill National Bank of Ellsworth, and for several years was connected with the super- vision of the city schools. He is also one of the Trustees of Bluehill (Maine) Academy, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College.
SMALL, RUFUS, one of the oldest active life- insurance agents in the United States, was born in Limington, Maine, September 22, 1814, son of John and Mary (Nason) Small. The name of Small is traceable in England as far back as the year 1300, at which time John and William Small were noted men of Dartmouth in Devonshire. The American ancestor was Francis Small, who is said to have been related to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and through the Champernownes to Queen Elizabeth of England. He settled first in Capssic, just out of Portland, Maine. He later lived in Scarboro, still later in Kittery, and also resided in Cornish, as it is recorded that in the summer of 1668 his house in that town was burned by the Indians. He then moved to Cape Cod, taking his younger children with him. From his oldest son, Samuel, who remained in Kittery, the father of the subject of this sketch is descended. Francis Small passed his last days in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with his youngest son, Daniel, of whom the mother of our subject is a direct descendant. Many of the immediate descen- dants of Daniel Small settled in Maine, but it is unknown which of them was the direct ancestor of Rufus. His grandfather, Reuben Small, who resided in Limington, York county, was twice married, and to his first union were born four sons, having the Bible names of Jeremiah, Reuben, John and Bar- tholomew. The children by his second marriage were Timothy, Daniel, Phoebe and Mary. Fo .... Small, father of Rufus, acquired a small tract of land
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situated near Small's Mills, on the stage road from East Limington to Cornish, and known to this day as Slab street, as most of the lands were fenced in with slabs from the mills. He built a small dwelling, in which Rufus was born, and aside from farming he worked in the mills, receiving the current wages, which were less than one dollar per day. This with the aid of his wife Mary, who was a famous knitter, and spinner and weaver of linen, supplied the limited wants of the family. His children by his first mar- riage were John and Mehitable ; and his second wife, Mary Nason, of Biddeford, whom he wedded October 10, 1810, became the mother of three sons,
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two of whom lived to maturity, namely : Rufus, the subject of this sketch, and Asa, born December 1816. Rufus Small was reared in accordance with the usual manner in vogue among the farming people of his day, and at the age of seventeen his father gave him his time. He apprenticed himself for two years to a blacksmith, David Strout of Limington, who agreed to teach him the trade, give him three months' schooling each year, allow him seventy-five dollars in cash to use as he pleased, and also furnish him with clothes, and a freedom suit. He learned his trade, which he followed for a time in Limington and afterwards as a journeyman in Boston, and
returning to Limington he bought the shop in which he had served his apprenticeship, and also the house and land of his old employer, Mr. Strout. He later gave his shop and goodwill to his brother Asa, and this particular period in Mr. Small's life marked the beginning of an unusually industrious and varied business career. He first built and ran a country store, in which he was prospering when store and stock of goods were destroyed by fire. He immediately built a new store and hotel, which he conducted for a time, but trusting his cus- tomers too liberally having resulted in the failure of the former, and finding no money in running a country hotel, he procured a peddler's cart on credit, hitched to it his little black mare, pro- cured a stock of goods and notions in Portland, and started out to do business on the road. In four days he was home again with quite a stock of goods left, and with over fifty dollars in cash profits, out of which he paid for his cart. Then starting out among his neighbors, who patronized him well, he continued the business so successfully that at the end of the first year he had saved enough to cancel his indebtedness to Portland creditors result- ing from his store failure, and leave him with a surplus of several hundred dollars. Then adding another horse and a new cart, and increasing his stock of goods, he was soon supplying with yankee notions all the country stores and many in the cities from New Hampshire to Eastern Maine, making his trip about once in two months, Before long he was carrying a stock worth ten thousand dollars, which required a new peddler's wagon at a cost of two hundred dollars, and a third horse cost- ing a hundred and twenty five dollars for a leader. With this splendid turnout, called a " spike team," he carried on a most successful business, becoming known and respected by the merchants of Maine and New Hampshire, and after some four years in all on the road retiring with about ten thousand dollars. Selling his property in Limington at a sacrifice, he moved to Biddeford, where he had in the meantime bought land and built a house, and went into the blacksmithing business. From 1850 to 1855 he worked at his blacksmith trade, bought and sold real estate, and carried on the auction and commission business in Biddeford. During this time, at the instigation of some of the most prom- inent men in Biddeford, he inaugurated and man- aged a lottery scheme, in which a well-known business block of the city figured as a sort of cap- ital prize. He was also interested in insurance,
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shipping, mechanical inventions, manufacturing, and various business enterprises, some of which were more or less profitable while others proved losing ventures. In 1855, Mr. Small was induced by Dr. Bridgman, General Agent of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Springfield, to take the agency of that company for the states of Maine and New Hampshire. From that time he has worked at the insurance business all his life. That Mr. Small is one of the few men capable of making a success of the arduous duties of a field operator in the life-insurance business, is demon- strated by the fact that he has since represented some of the largest companies at a high salary, and is still actively engaged in the work, having written up for insurance over seven thousand parties. He was in many respects the pioneer of the present system of life insurance, and during his experience of over forty-three years he has probably secured more applications covering large amounts than any other agent now in the business. After giving up the general agency for Maine, he represented the Massachusetts Mutual Company in different locali- ties, including Washington, District of Columbia, where he obtained interviews with President Lin- coln, Vice-President Johnson and other notable men of their time, resulting in their application for life policies, the final arrangement with Mr. Lincoln having been concluded the day previous to his assassination. He also insured the heads of each department, together with their subordinate officers and clerks, covering a large number of first-class risks. Several prominent insurance men of the present day gained their first knowledge of the busi- ness under his instruction, and it is a somewhat remarkable coincidence that of the many business men of Biddeford and Saco whom he insured dur- ing his earlier years, he has outlived ninety per cent of them. Since 1870 Mr. Small has made his head- quarters in New York city and for many years has resided at 1060 Dean street in Brooklyn. Although he has generally been successful in his business enterprises, his generous nature and desire to assist his relatives and others whom he considered deserv- ing have been the means of causing him many losses, and he is not as wealthy today as he otherwise would have been. During all these years he has been a member of the Congregational Church, to the support of which he is still a liberal contributor, and although he has many times suffered financially and otherwise from the cupidity and dishonesty of designing persons, he has borne his losses with
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patience, having implicit faith in a higher power that shall finally judge and rectify every injustice in this world. Like most young men of his day, he had a fondness for the militia, and was at one time Captain of the Jackson Guards of Limington, the members of which were nearly all named Small. While a member of the Guards he was drafted for the " Aroostook War," which fortunately proved a bloodless conflict. At the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, Mr. Small opened a recruiting office in Biddeford, under the Maine authorities and authorized by the Governor, and enlisted a com- pany of men for Colonel Neal Dow's regiment, then mustering in the capital of the state, Augusta. It was the intention that he should command the com- pany, but as Colonel Dow's regiment was more than full, Mr. Small's company was transferred to another that was incomplete, and was therefore not entitled to a full complement of officers. There being no official position for him, he returned home disap- pointed. One of his sons, Charles S. Small, was already in the service of his country, in the Fifth Maine. He served until honorably discharged by reason of being made nearly blind by a stroke of lightning while on picket duty with the Army of the Potomac, from which injury he now draws a pension. Mr. Small was for many years Moderator of the town meetings in Limington, which in those days were oftentimes the occasion of heated and excited discussion over political and local questions, and in which trying position he always gave satisfaction. He also served for fourteen years as a Justice of the Peace and Quorum in York county, covering two terms, receiving his first commission from Governor Dana in 1847 and his second from Governor Wells in 1856. He had also by the study of law become efficient as a Trial Justice in York county, as the records show. During his term of office he solem- nized many marriages. After moving to Biddeford he took great interest in the welfare of the town and in its elections. He served at varions times as Street Commissioner, Collector of Taxes, and as Chief Constable or Chief of Police. Ile held the latter office during the early days of the Maine Liquor Law, and being a firm believer in the Law, and well supported by the leading citizens and town officials, he succeeded with the aid of his heu- tenants in absolutely driving out the sale of biquets from the town, and also procured the issuance and execution of search warrants in all the towns of York county. He was also prominently connected with the old Biddeford Fire Department, in the ....
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when it was considered an honor to belong to a volunteer fire company and " run with the machine." Mr. Small was made a Master Mason in Adoniram Lodge, Limington, in 1849. His first Presidential vote was thrown for Andrew Jackson, his next for W. H. Harrison, and since the formation of the Republican party he has earnestly supported every candidate down to the present Chief Executive. On July 4, 1839, Mr. Small married Harriet Staples, daughter of Moses and Sarah (Tarbox) Staples, the former of whom was a native of what is known as the Guinea District in Biddeford, and his wife was born on the Plains Road near the mouth of the Saco River. The Staples family settled at Old Orchard many years ago, and John Staples, Mrs. Small's great-grandfather, who was a Revolutionary soldier, received a large grant of land on the Saco River, which was inherited in turn by her grandfather, John, and her father, Moses Staples. Moses was a hard worker and a very religious man. Mr. and Mrs. Small became the parents of nine children, of whom five are living. Three died in infancy, and Harriet Ellen, born March 25, 1848, married to Horace W. Blake, November 25, 1873, died in Brooklyn, New York, September 10, 1882. The living are Mary Elizabeth, aged fifty-six ; Charles S., aged fifty-five ; John Henry, aged fifty-three ; Sarah Alice, aged forty-five, and Georgietta, aged forty-two years. Mary Elizabeth married Joseph N. Coffin and lived in Biddeford. Charles S. served in Company K, Fifth Regiment Maine Volunteers, until honorably discharged for disability ; he married Fanny McKenny, daughter of Willis McKenny, of Saco. John Henry, who married a daughter of Captain Waldo Hill of Biddeford, is now Manager of the Maritime Department of the Washington Life Insurance Company of New York, and resides in Brooklyn. Sarah Alice married Elliot Jordan and resides in Oakland, California. Georgietta is now her father's housekeeper. Harriet Ellen left one son, Clarence Rufus Blake, who was reared and edu- cated by his grandfather and is now living in Brooklyn. Mrs. Small died January 1, 1887, aged sixty-eight years. Shortly after Mr. Small's marriage and " settling down " in Limington, he took to his home his aged parents to support ; and after his removal to Biddeford in 1850, he continued to take the same care of the parents until their decease at eighty-two years, giving them a Christian burial in his well-cared-for plot in the old Biddeford Ceme- tery, with marble headstones to their memory, as a dutiful son should do.
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ADDISON R. SMITH.
SMITH, CHARLES H., Soldier, retired, was born in Hollis, York county, Maine, November 1, 1827. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, he enlisted and was sent to Augusta in charge of a squad for his regiment, and thence was shortly after- wards transferred to Washington. In March 1862 he was sent to Upton Hill, Virginia, to take charge of camps abandoned by the Army of the Potomac on its departure for the Peninsula. On September 13, 1862, he was assigned to duty as Provost Marshal at Frederick, Maryland, where he remained until he rejoined his company, January 16, 1863, and thereafter was in service in the field until the close of the war. He participated in the campaign of 1862, including the reconnaissance to Front Royal ; the Battle of Cedar Mountain, after which he was detailed with his company to bury the dead on the battle-field, under a flag of truce; the retreat of General Pope, Second Battle of Bull Run, and the engagement of Frederick City, with regiment on Stoneman's Raid ; Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, and after charge rallied and conducted the regiment from the enemy's rear; commanded regiment at Middleburg, where his horse was shot under him ; commanded regiment at Upperville, and held the charge through the advance ; commanded regiment
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in skirmish with the enemy's rear guard at West- minster, Pennsylvania ; in Battle of Gettysburg, and the pursuit of the enemy that followed ; in skirmish at Hall town, and in the battle of Shepardstown ; commanded First Maine and Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry on reconnoissance from near Auburn to White Plains, through Thoroughfare and Hope- well Gaps, August 16-17 ; commanded regiment upon a reconnoissance to the Blue Ridge as far as Sperryville, the regiment being twice cut off by the enemy on the return, October 12-13 ; conducted a reconnoissance from Centreville to Manassas, find- ing and fighting the enemy, October 14 ; commanded First Maine and Second Pennsylvania Cavalry in the movement from Fayetteville towards Rappahannock Station, driving the enemy's pickets and outposts all away, and fell back at evening by orders, October 22 ; repeated the movement with the same forces October 23, meeting firm resistance ; commanded regiment through the Mine Run Campaign and con- ducted the rear guard of the left column of the army on its retreat from Mine Run to and across the Rapidan, November 26 to December ; commanded four regiments from Bealton Station to Luray, find- ing and fighting the enemy at Little Washington, Sperryville and Luray, December 21-24; com- manded regiment as part of the reconnoissance from Bealton Station to Front Royal and return, fighting the enemy at Salem, January 4, 1864 ; com- manded regiment on a reconnoissance to Sulphur Springs and Jefferson, April 18 ; commanded regi- ment in the campaign of 1864 from April 29 to June 24, fighting May 4; reconnoissance from Chancellorsville to Fredericksburg and return, and participating in the fight at Todd's Tavern, May 7 ; commanding regiment and Second Pennsylvania at Todd's Tavern, May 8; conducting the advance from Beaver Dam Station to Ground Squirrel Bridge, and fighting part of the way, May 10; conducting rear guards May 11, having a severe fight near Ground Squirrel Bridge and a skirmish later in the day, and having a horse shot under him ; fighting all day in front of Richmond, May 12 ; conducting the regiment and the prisoners of the defence from Haxball's Landing to the Chickahominy to build bridges and drive off the enemy, March 16-18; fighting at Hawes' Shop, May 28; commanded his regiment and Second Pennsylvania in the fight at Barker's Mills, June 2 ; under fire but not engaged, June 5-6 ; fighting at Trevillian Station, June 11 : conducting a reconnoissance to Louisiana Court- house and skirmishing with the enemy, June 12 ;
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