USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Brookline > History of Brookline, formerly Raby, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire : with tables of family records and genealogies > Part 37
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Final Decree of the Court Relative to Daniels Academy Fund.
"Fourth. The sixty-fourth paragraph in said instrument shall be modified and amended so that as so modified and amended, construed and executed, the same shall be of the tenor, form and effect as follows:
"SIXTY -- FOURTH: I give and bequeath to the Board of Select- men and the School Committee of the Town of Brookline in the State of New Hampshire, and their successors in office, the sum of FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ($15,000.), in trust however, and not otherwise, for the following trusts and uses:
"First. To expend an amount not exceeding said fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.) for the purchase or acquisition, by gift or otherwise, of a proper site in said Town of Brookline, and for the erection thereon of a suitable building, to be designated and named The Daniels Academy Building, In Memory of Eliza D. Dodge, which said building shall pro- vide a room or rooms adequately furnished and equipped for the uses of the public schools of said Town of Brookline, and shall further contain a public hall, designed, constructed, furnished and equipped for the use of the citizens of said Town of Brookline, for educational, social and public purposes and meetings, together with a room or rooms in said building for the use of the public library of said Town, and for offices for the Town officials thereof. The said building, when so constructed, shall be con-
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veyed by the said trustees to, and shall become the property of the said Town of Brookline, to be by the said Town maintained for the purposes above set forth.
"Second. Any excess or surplus remaining in the hands of the said trustees, after the disbursements above provided for the acquisition and construction and equipment of said site and building shall be held by the said trustees and their successors in said trust, and shall be maintained perpetually by them as a distinct and separate trust fund, to be known and designated as The Eliza D. Dodge School Fund and the said trustees shall annually present to the citizens of said Town of Brookline, in writing, an accurate statement and account of said fund, and the said trustees shall annually pay over to the School Committee of said Town, the annual net income of said fund for the use and benefit of the public schools of said Town.
"SIXTH. The sixty-seventh section of said instrument shall be modified and amended so that as so modified, amended, construed and executed, the said section shall be of the tenor, form and effect as follows:
"All the rest, residue and remainder of my property and estate, real and personal, whatever the same may be, and wherever the same may be situated, I give, devise and bequeath as follows:
"The same shall be divided into two equal parts, one of which parts shall be paid over to the trustees mentioned in the second section of this instrument, as hereby modified and amended, for the purposes, uses, and upon the trusts therein set forth and specified; and the other part thereof shall be paid over to the trustees mentioned in the sixty-fourth section of this instrument, as hereby modified and amended, for the purposes, uses, and upon the trusts therein set forth and specified."
The decree provided further, that Rufus B. Dodge, as executor thereof, should "pay on account of costs, expenses of professional services, aris- ing from and on account of the controversy as to the probate of said will, and the settlement and adjustment thereof, and the agreement for com- promise thereof, all counsel fees."
Herbert Parker, Esquire, of Boston, Mass., appeared in the case as counsel for the town of Brookline.
The foregoing decree was dated Jan. 22, 1912. At the date of its be- ing rendered, the Board of Trustees of the Dodge fund consisted of George L. Dodge, David S. Fessenden and Lewellyn S. Powers, constituting the board of selectmen, and George H. Nye, Mrs. Nancy J. Daniels and Arthur A. Goss, constituting the board of education. Shortly after the date of the
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decree, the executor of the will paid over to the board of trustees the fif- teen thousand dollars building fund; and the board began to make prepa- rations for erecting the building.
August 17, 1912, Mrs. Samuel Swett, by her deed of gift of that date, conveyed to the board of trustees the lot of land upon which the building was subsequently erected, in honor of the memory of her husband, Samuel Swett. Among other conditions mentioned in the deed was the following: "That the trustees shall prepare and install or cause to be prepared and installed, permanently in said building ,when the same is erected and com- pleted, a suitably inscribed tablet in honor of the memory of said Samuel Swett." The deed also provided, further, that in case the town should ever cease to use the land for the purpose for which it was conveyed, the same should revert to the donor and her heirs.
The work of constructing the building was begun in the fall of 1912, soon after the date of Mrs. Swett's deed of the land to the trustees. The work was performed and the materials furnished by contract, under the supervision of the board of trustees; and was completed in the summer of 1913.
The cost of the plant, all told, amounted to the sum of about seven- teen thousand and five hundred dollars; an excess of two thousand and five hundred dollars over and above the sum originally devoted to its establish- ment under the terms of the will. This excess resulted, principally, from the extra expense incurred by the trustees in grading the building lot; an opera- tion which the peculiar location of the lot made absolutely necessary. It was paid for by an appropriation raised by the town for that purpose.
Soon after the completion of the building, Walter L. Parker, Esq., of Lowell, Mass., in honor of the memory of his father, William Harrison Parker, a native of Brookline, presented the town with the flag-staff, which at the present time is standing on its grounds, and, also, with a beautiful United States flag. to be used in connection with the staff.
The beautiful and ornate clock which adorns the wall of the build- ing's auditorium, was presented to the town in the summer of 1914, by Miss Ellen C. Sawtelle, a native of Brookline.
Dedication of the Daniels Academy Building.
On Friday, the 29th day of August, 1913, the Daniels Academy Build- ing was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies to the public use. The dedi- catory ceremonies, which were in charge of officers of the Old Home Week Association for that year, were conducted in the hall of the Academy Build-
HON. THOMAS H. DODGE
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ings, and were largely attended by citizens of the town and visitors from abroad. The programme of the exercises was as follows :
Programme.
Selection, Invocation,
Townsend, Mass., Brass Band. Rev. Warren L. Noyes.
Song,
Mr. Roswell C. Nye.
Greeting,
George H. Nye, Pres. of the Day.
Response,
Music, Welcome Song,
Address,
Mr. Percival Betterly, of Fitchburg, Mass. Quartette. Rev. George H. Hardy, of Ashburnham, Mass. Townsend, Mass., Brass Band.
Selection,
Reading, Mrs. Mabel Perkins.
Dedication Address, Selection,
Hon. Herbert L. Parker, Worcester, Mass. The Band.
March 7, 1914, the board of trustees, in accordance with the terms of the will, conveyed the building fully completed and equipped, together with the land upon which it is located, to the town. At the date of said conveyance of the building, no part of the fund set apart under the terms of the will for its support and maintenance has as yet been received by the board of trustees; nor was the amount of said fund definitely known by them, the same remaining to be established by the decree of the pro- bate court for the county of Worcester, Mass., in which court the settle- ment of the Thomas H. Dodge estate was still pending. It is expected that the fund will amount to a sum of not less than forty-five thousand dollars.
THOMAS H. and ELIZA DANIELS DODGE.
Mrs. Eliza Daniels Dodge, in honor of whose memory, her husband, Thomas H. Dodge, late of Worcester, Mass., deceased, by his last will and testament, left to the town of Brookline a generous legacy for the purpose of erecting, supporting and maintaining the edifice at the present time stand- ing, and known as "Daniels Academy Building," was born at Brookline, February 6, 1822.
She was the daughter of John and Bridget (Cummings) Daniels, and a grandchild of James McDaniels, one of the earliest settlers in this town; coming here from Groton, Mass., in 1743. Her grandfather, James Mc- Daniels, served as a soldier for Brookline in the War of the Revolution; and,
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before and after the war, was classed among its prominent and influential citizens. On the maternal side of the house, she was a descendant in the eighth generation of Isaac Cummings of Ispwich, Mass., and a grand-child of Lieut. Benjamin Cummings of Hollis; who marched from Hollis as a private in the company of Capt. Reuben Dow at the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775, and was afterwards in the battle of Bunker Hill; and a grand-niece of Samuel and Prudence (Lawrence)Cummings of Hollis, whose daughter Prudence married David Wright and settled in Pepperell; Mass.,; where at the time of the Lexington alarm in 1775, she was the leader of a patriotic band of women who captured the notorious tory, Leonard Whiting, near Jewett's Bridge in that town.
Her childhood and young womanhood were passed in Brookline, in whose district schools she was educated, and for which throughout her en- tire life she continued to manifest a firm and abiding love and affection.
The name of "Daniels Academy Building" which is applied to the edi- fice in her memory standing here at the present time, probably had its origin in the fact of her original purpose of founding an academy in its place.
She married, June 29, 1843, Thomas H. Dodge, a son of Malaichi and Jane (Hutchins) Dodge, and a native of Eden, Vermont; where he was born September 27, 1823.
At the date of their marriage, Mr. Dodge was, and for many years had been, a resident in Nashua; his parents having removed to that city when he was fourteen years old. He was educated in the district schools of Eden, the public schools of Nashua, Crosby's Literary Institute of Nashua, and the Gymnasium Institute at Pembroke.
He read law in the offices of the Hon. G. Y. Sawyer and Gen. Aaron F. Stevens of Nashua; and was admitted to the Hillsborough County Bar, upon examination, at Manchester, Dec. 5, 1854. Soon after his admittance to the bar, he opened an office in Nashua, and began the practice of his profession.
During his residence in Nashua, in his minority, he became interested in the subject of manufactures; especially in the manufacture of cotton cloths; in which, by assiduous study, he acquired a knowledge so thorough and practical that in 1850, he wrote and published a pamphlet entitled, "Review of the Rise and Progress and Present Importance of Cotton Manufactures of the United States;" which attracted immediate at- tention and was widely read, both in this country and in England.
During this period, also, he manifested, or rather developed, a natur- al genuis for invention; which he put to practical use in the production of
1
MRS. ELIZA (DANIELS) DODGE
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many labor saving devices; among which the most important, perhaps, was a press for printing upon paper or cloth from the roll; which was patented November 18, 1851.
In 1855, Mr. Dodge's skill as an inventor, together with his reputa- tion as an able lawyer and his knowledge of manufactures, had become so widely known as to attract the attention of Hon. Charles Mason; who was then United States Commissioner of Patents; by whom he was that year appointed a member of the board of examiners at the patent office, Wash- ington, D. C. He accepted the appointment, and removed from Nashua to Washington, where in many years of valuable service as a member of the board of patent examiners, he acquired a fame which was national in its scope.
In 1858, Mr. Dodge resigned from his position on the board of patent examiners, and opened a law office in Washington; where, for several years he conducted a highly successful business in that line, and from whence he finally removed to Worcester, Mass .; where he passed the remainder of his life. He died at Worcester in 1908; leaving a large estate, which, under the terms of his last will, was distributed among his friends and relatives and public institutions, in generous bequests; not the least of which, in the estimation of its citizens, was that which he left to Brookline in honor of the memory of his wife.
Mrs. Dodge was a generous hearted and public spirited woman, thoroughly democratic in her ideas, dignified and courteous in her manners and in her disposition charitable to a degree. In her lifetime, from her abundance she gave freely and generously to the worthy poor, and to charitable and other public institutions. At her decease, under the terms of her will, her large estate was distributed widely and wisely. Among the beneficiaries therein named, were twenty-nine public institutions and near- ly fifty of her relatives and friends. She died at Worcester, March 27, 1908; and is buried in that city with her husband.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
Biographical Sketches of Physicians Residents of and Practicing in Brookline from 1827 to 1914, Inclusive.
David Harris, 1827-1849-Jonathan C. Shattuck, 1850-1861-David P. Stowell, 1862-1867-Darius S. Dearborn, 1875-1879-Alonzo S. Wallace, 1879-1888-Charles H. Holcombe, 1888 -.
DAVID HARRIS, M. D., was born in Dunstable, now Nashua, July 20, 1798. He was a son of Jonathan and Rachel (Johnson) Harris. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826, and from Pittsfield Medical School. In 1827 he came to this town and began to practice his profession, being the first regularly educated physician to settle here. He continued to live and to practice in Brookline until his death, which occurred January 26, 1849. He is buried in his family lot in the South cemetery.
Concerning Dr. Harris' reputation, both professionally and as a citi- zen, the following excerpts from his funeral sermon, preached by Rev. Daniel Goodwin, who was a fellow citizen with him, speak eloquently and convincingly.
"It is now twenty-two years since Dr. David Harris came among you, and commenced the labors of his profession. By his valuable and self-deny- ing services, his wise and judicious deportment, he secured and retained to the last the entire confidence and high esteem, not only of this community, but of that of the neighboring towns, as a physician and a man. Few men in the profession, similarly situated, it is believed, ever had warmer or more numerous friends or fewer enemies than he. Indeed, it is not known that he had an enemy on earth. Everybody esteemed him and spoke well of him; and the reason was that he was a friend of every one, and was always willing, at whatever sacrifice, to do all he could for the good of others. He made no invidious distinctions between the rich and the poor. His practice has been very great, extending over a large territory. He enjoyed, in an unusual degree, the confidence of the medical profession in this vicinity, as a safe and skilful physician."
"As a citizen he was no less esteemed and beloved. He was honest, upright, open-hearted, could be believed and trusted everywhere, and in
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everything. ******* As a counsellor he was wise and discreet. He was a, lover of good order and a firm and stedfast supporter of the institutions of religion. His crowning excellence, however, was his piety, which was humble and unobstrusive, but deep and real."
Dr. Harris was the first postmaster of Brookline, having been appoint- ed in 1828. He was re-appointed in 1834. He was many times a member of the superintending school committee, and represented the town in the legislatures of 1831, 1832 and 1834. He married Louisa, daughter of Williard and Olivia (Bowers) Marshall of Nashua.
JONATHAN CHAM- BERLAIN SHATTUCK, M. D., son of Wayling and Lucinda (Parker) Shattuck, was born in Pepperell, Mass., Sept. 10, 1813. He prepared for college in the public schools of his native town and in Pepperell Acad- emy, and graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1842. For the four years immediately following his graduation from Dartmouth he was engaged in teaching school. He then studied medicine, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1848. Soon after his DR. JONATHAN C. SHATTUCK graduation he settled in Brookline, where he began his professional life.
From the beginning, Dr. Shattuck's success as a physician was as- sured. Possessed of more than ordinary natural abilities, and by his edu- cation thoroughly equipped for his work, he entered into the performance of his professional duties with a zeal and enthusiasm that soon acquired for him the reputation of being a careful and skilful physician; and as such he was known, not only in Brookline, but also in the surrounding towns; all of which were included within the scope of his practice.
As a citizen Dr. Shattuck was held in the highest respect and esteem by his fellow citizens; in his intercourse with whom he was genial and
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affable and gentlemanly, and by whom he was honored by being many times elected as superintendent of schools. He was moderator in 1853, selectman in 1860 and 1861, and town clerk in 1861.
He was a man of strong will power, and of equally strong convictions; a firm believer in the Christian religion, and an equally firm advocate of the strict observance of the moralities of life; and as such, in any and all causes in which the welfare of the public was a matter in issue, his work and influence were invariably exerted on the side which he believed to be right and just.
Soon after coming here, Dr. Shattuck and his wife united with the local Congregational church. In 1850, he erected on the summit of the hill in the rear of the church the dwelling house which at the present time, (1914) is owned and occupied as his home by Albert T. Pierce. After the house was completed, he conceived the idea of connecting it with Main street by building a roadway down the south side of the hill. With that end in view, he approached the Congregational church and society, which owned the land over which the proposed new road would have to pass, with a proposition to buy or lease the same. Upon considering his propo- sition, a majority of the church and society voted not to accept it, and re- fused to either sell or lease the land. As the result of this vote, the church and society, which had already divided into factions, became embroiled in a bitter church war; which lasted for many years, and in which the only matter at issue was the advisability of selling or leasing, or otherwise dis- posing of, the land in question; the intrinsic value of which was not over ten dollars. In the end the war divided the church in twain. In 1858, Dr. Shattuck and several of his friends severed their connection with the Congregational church, and subsequently united with the local Methodist Episcopal church.
Dr. Shattuck continued to reside and to practice in Brookline until 1861. In the latter year he removed from Brookline to Pepperell, Mass., where for several years he conducted a private hospital. While residing in Pepperell, during the winter when Gen. Grant's army was in camp along the banks of the Mississippi river north of Vicksburg, Dr. Shattuck, although he was at the time in poor health, responded to a call for volunteer surgeons, and served for four months as a surgeon in the army hospital in St. Louis. In 1866, failing health, and the certainty that he could not long survive the rigors of the New England climate, induced him to seek a new home in Minnesota. The change in climate was apparently bene- ficial to him. His health improved, and for awhile he engaged in the practice of his profession. But not for a long time. His health again gave
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out, and for the last four months of his life his decline was marked and rapid. He died in Minnesota of consumption, May 17, 1878.
December 4, 1850, Dr. Shattuck was united in marriage to Phebe Ann Cummings, daughter of Samuel and Joanna (Wyman) Cummings of Antrim. One child was born of this marriage, Nellie Vrybena, born in Brookline, August 6, 1855. She married Jan. 29, 1876, at Zumbrota, Minn., Dudley Snow Brainard, M. D., son of Oliver and Mary Snow Brainard of Williamsburg, N. Y .; children, Mary Phebe Brainard, b. Oct. 29, 1876; Dudley Shattuck Brainard, b. Oct. 15, 1884.
DAVID PORTER STOWELL, M. D., a son of Rev. David and Emily (Starrett) Stowell, was born in Townsend, Mass., Sept. 22, 1838. He graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1857. In 1860 he enter- ed Amherst college, but did not graduate. In 1862, he graduated from the University of New York, and the same year commenced to practice his profession in this town; having, however, read medicine in the office of Samuel Dearborn, M. D., in Milford. In 1863 he served for a short time in the War of the Rebellion, as assistant surgeon in the eighth New Hamp- shire Volunteers. In the latter part of the sixties he removed from Brook- line to Greenville. In 1877 he removed from Greenville to Mercer, Me. In 1898 he removed from Mercer to Waterville, Me., where he practiced his profession until his death which occurred Feb. 12, 1903. During his residence at Waterville, he was for eight years city physician, and served on the board of education ten years. He was a Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Dr. Stowell married Sarah Elizabeth Batchelder, of Mount Vernon, May 21, 1863. He was survived by his wife, but left no children.
DARIUS STEARNS DEARBORN, M. D., was born in Northfield, January 4, 1834. He is a son of David and Nancy Clay Dearborn. He passed through the public schools of his native town, and graduated from the New Hampshire Conference Seminary in 1855. For a number of years after his graduation from the Conference Seminary he was located in the west, journeying there over the plains at the time of the excitement over the discovery of gold in Nevada. During this period he engaged to some extent in teaching school. On his return to the east, he read medicine with Dr. Luther Knight of Franklin, and attended lectures in the medical schools of Dartmouth College and the University of New York; graduat- ing from the latter institution in 1875. Immediately after his graduation from the University, and the same year, he settled in this town and began the practice of his profession. He remained in Brookline for a period of four years; during which he enjoyed a lucrative practice, and was highly
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esteemed, both as a citizen and as a physician, by his fellow citizens. In 1879 ill health compelled him to give up work; and in that year he sold out his business in Brookline to Dr. A. S. Wallace. After regaining his health, he settled in Milford, and resumed in that town the practice of his profession. His practice in Milford covered a period of thirty years in length, and in that time his reputation as being a most excellent and trustworthy physician extended throughout the country.
As a citizen, Dr. Dearborn was kind, courteous and gentlemanly in his bearing towards all with whom he came in contact. He was a warm and steadfast friend, and a sturdy, but not bitter, opponent. He was sympathetic by nature, and responded willingly to all calls upon him for aid and assistance, professional or otherwise, on the part of those who were worthily poor; rendering his services without money and without price. Simple in his manner of living, and inclined to be reticent and retiring in his intercourse with his fellow men, he neither sought, nor cared for official honors nor political preferments; preferring rather to live a simple life, and enjoy the rewards consequent upon a faithful and conscientious perform- ance of his duties as a physician and a citizen. He retired from practice in 1907, and the same year removed from Milford to Northfield; where at the present time he is living on-"His old home farm." He married Sept. 8, 1875, M. J. Adams.
ALONZO S. WALLACE, M D., was born in Bristol, Me., Feb. 17, 1847. He is the only son of David and Margaret F. Wallace. His grand- father, David Wallace, was one of the early settlers of New Hampshire.
Dr. Wallace fitted for college in the public schools of his native town, Lincoln Academy, New Castle, Me., and the Eastport Conference Semi- nary, Bucksport, Me. He attended the medical schools of Bowdoin College and of Portland, and graduated from the medical school of Dartmouth College in 1874.
During the years in which he was preparing for college, he was en- gaged to some considerable extent in teaching and also held the position of superintendent of schools in his native town. At an early age he was prin- cipal of Bucksport, Me., High School. After graduating from Dartmouth Medical School, he accepted the position of assistant teacher in the Re- formatory School of the city of Boston, and in a short time was promoted to the principalship of the school. After holding this position for several years, during which he acquired an enviable reputation for his excellent management, he resigned to accept the position of first assistant port phy- sician of the city of Boston, and was soon promoted to port physician.
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