USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations > Part 24
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FREEMAN, HON. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, State Commissioner of Railroads, was born in Waterville, Me., September 10, 1835, son of Rev. Edward and Harriet Ellis (Colburn) Freeman. His father was a clergyman of the Baptist denomination, a graduate
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of Brown University, a native of Mendon, Mass , and was probably a descendant of one of the three Freeman brothers, who came over to Plymouth from England ; his mother was born in West Dedham, Mass., and after graduating from the high school at Medfield, engaged in teaching French and Latin, in which she was specially proficient. Rev. Mr. Freeman was engaged in the ministry at Waterville and later at Oldtown, Me., removing from the latter place to Camden in the same State, where he resided, with the exception of two years spent at Bristol, R. I., until his death in 1882. Edward was the eldest of ten children. He was personally taught and fitted for college by his father, who for many years taught
E. L. FREEMAN.
a high-class private school; but deciding to learn the printing business, in preference to taking a college course, he was apprenticed to A. W. Pearce, proprietor of a printing establishment in Pawtucket, R. I. Following his apprenticeship he entered the employ of Hammond, Angell & Co., Providence, remained with them several years, holding a partner- ship in the firm during the last two years of his connection, and then sold out his interest and com- menced business in Central Falls, where he has been successful in building up a large business, in- cluding all departments of printing. In 1886, his eldest son, William C., became a partner, and in March 1886 his second son, Joseph W., was taken
into the firm and the business is now conducted under the name of E L. Freeman & Sons. In 1880 the book and stationery establishment of Valpey, Angell & Co., Providence, was purchased, and is still the location of the present firm of E. L. Freeman & Sons, although the printing establishment has been maintained at Central Falls, and in 1888 a large stationery store was established at Pawtucket. The firm have had charge of the State printing for a number of years, and are the publishers of the Freemasons' Repository, a monthly magazine. Mr. Freeman's early established reputation for activ- ity, persistence, business ability and integrity has resulted in holding many positions of financial trust and responsibility, and his interest in public affairs has led to his being called to an uninterrupted period of service in public office for many years. In politics he is a Republican, and was Chairman of the Rhode Island Delegation to the Republican National Convention in June 1892. He has been a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island for more than twenty years, during two years of which he was Speaker of the House of Representa- tives, and at this time he is representing the city of Central Falls in the State Senate, being Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of that body. He was the last Senator from the town of Smithfield before it was divided, the first Senator from the new town of Lincoln, the last Senator from Lincoln before it was divided, and the first Senator from the city of Central Falls, thus representing two towns and one city in the Senate without change of residence. Mr. Freeman is at present State Commissioner of Railroads, which office he has held since May 1889. He has found time in the midst of a busy public and business life to give some attention to military affairs, and was connected with the state militia for many years, rising from private to Colonel. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows, Red Men, Knights of Pythias and Good Fellows. In Masonry he has held the office of Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island, Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Rhode Island, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; he has also taken the Cryptic degrees and those of the A. and A. Scottish Rite. For many years he was actively connected with the Fire Department of Central Falls, and served as fireman for nineteen years. He has been a mem- ber of the Central Falls Congregational Church since 1855, and for twelve years he has been the efficient
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Superintendent of its Sunday School. Mr. Freeman was married, in 1858, to Miss Emma E. Brown of Central Falls ; they have five children living : Wil- liam C., president of the Taber Art Company, New Bedford, Mass .; Joseph W., in business with his father ; Emma R., now Mrs. John A. Moore of Richmond, Va .; Rev. Edward, Methodist minister at Schuylkill Haven, Pa., and Lucy J. Freeman, now a senior at Wellesley College.
GRANGER, WILLIAM SMITH, President of the Granger Foundry and Machine Company, Provi-
W. S. GRANGER.
dence, was born in Pittsford, Vt., September 19, 1834, son of Chester and Mary Page (Smith) Granger. He is lineally descended from Launcelot Granger, who emigrated to this country in 1640, settled in Newbury, Mass., and removed in 1672 to Suffield, Conn .; he was one of the original proprie- tors of that town, and was wounded in the King Philip war. Among others of his ancestry were Rev. Peter Bulkeley, the founder of Concord, Mass. ; Gershom Bulkeley, Surgeon in the Colonial Army ; Charles Chauncy, President of Harvard University ; Jonathan Prescott, Captain in the Colonial Army ; and William Aspinwall, one of the founders of Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony. His early education was
acquired at Salem, New York, and Burr Seminary at Manchester, Vt., supplemented by one year's study at Lyon and Frieze's School in Providence, previous to entering Brown University in 1850, where he pursued a two years' course, and from which institution he has been honored by receiving the degree of A. M., conferred in 1890. His prac- tical training for active life was received at Augusta, Me., and Pittsford, Vt. Since 1868 he has resided in Providence, and is President of the Granger Foundry and Machine Company, who manufacture machinery for finishing textile goods and fine papers. He is also Director in the Second National Bank, and numerous other corporations. Mr. Granger is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution, Rhode Island Historical Society, the Hope and Squantum clubs of Providence, and the Providence Athletic Association. He was married, June 12, 1871, to Miss Caroline Richmond Pitman, of Providence ; they have two children : Mary Alice and Helen Richmond Granger.
GRANT, GEORGE HENRY, Superintendent of the Eagle Mills, Woonsocket, was born in Woonsocket,
GEO. H. GRANT.
December 11, 1837, son of Arunah and Eliza (Darling) Grant, the former a native of Cumber- land, R. I., and the latter of Wrentham, Mass.
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His education was begun in the public schools, from which he entered Smithville Seminary in North Scituate, and later graduated from the High School in Woonsocket. Being desirous of becoming master of a self-supporting trade, he entered the machine shops of Edward Harris, where he served an apprenticeship of three years, and then found employment in Woonsocket and afterward in Provi- dence. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he entered the service as Lieutenant of Company K, First Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and participated in the battle of Bull Run. Returning at the expiration of his enlistment period of three months, he raised a company that was merged into the Fifth Regiment Heavy Artillery and known as Company D, of which he became Captain. He took part in the battles of Roanoke Island, New- bern and Fort Macon, and in consequence of a bad wound at Newbern was compelled to resign and return home. Later he resumed his trade, and soon after was made foreman of the foundry and machine shops of Edward Harris. Three years later he accepted an engagement with the Groton Manufacturing Company as foreman of their machine shop, and after continuing in this relation a year, became superintendent of the mills. In 1883 this industry was reorganized as the Eagle Mills, of which he is the Superintendent at the present time. Mr. Grant has been a lifelong and ardent Repub- lican ; he cast his first vote for the first Republican candidate for President, and has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since. He has been several times a member of the Town Council, and for a portion of the time its President. When Woonsocket was made a town, in 1867, he was elected as a member of its first council ; and when later it became a city, in 1889, he had the honor of being its first Mayor. For a number of years he held the offices of Chief and Assistant Engineer of the Fire Department. He is a member of Woon- socket Commandery No. 23 Knights Templar, Morning Star Lodge No. 13 F. & A. M., Union Chapter No. 5, Palestine Temple A. A. O. N. M. S., Woonsocket Lodge No. 10 I. O. O. F., Washing- ton Lodge No. 1269 Knights of Honor, and Smith Post No. 9 G. A. R., all of Woonsocket. He worships with the congregation of the Universalist Church. Mr. Grant was married, in 1865, to Miss Ellen F. Rand, daughter of Franklin Rand of Paw- tucket ; they have five children : Harriet A., wife of James E. Pratt of Woonsocket ; George F , Edwin S, Ellen F. and William H. Grant.
HALL, WILLIAM HENRY, real estate broker, Prov- idence, was born in that city June 12, 1837, son of James S. and Eleanor Ryder (Snow) Hall. His early education was obtained in the public schools, until at the age of fourteen, being desirous of learn- ing a trade, he entered a large cigar factory, and in six months became an expert workman. But the occupation and confinement impaired his health, so much so that for two years his life was despaired of, although he retained his courage and ambition, and upon partial recovery cast about for some other active employment. When seventeen years old he borrowed from a friend a small capital of less than fifty dollars, and securing credit for the necessary
WILLIAM H. HALL.
materials, erected a small building and opened a store for the sale of fruits, confectionery and period- icals. His venture proved successful, and by careful methods and strict attention to business, he was soon accumulating money in a small way, while at the same time contributing to the support of his parents. With improved health came increasing ambition, and deciding upon a mercantile career, he attended a course of instruction in Scholfield's Commercial College, from which he received a diploma in 1859. At once securing a position as book-keeper with a large concern in Providence, he sold out his busi- ness in the store and rented the building to the pur- chaser. He retained his book-keeping situation in
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Providence four years, and then took a similar posi- tion with a large wholesale lumber house in Albany, New York. Early in 1865, being offered the position of Secretary and Treasurer of the Marietta and Vinton County Coal and Oil Company, of Prov- idence, he accepted the situation and returned to his native city, and continued in this relation until the business of the company was closed up. Mr. Hall began his operations in real estate in 1866. At that time the real estate business of Providence was practically monopolized by one or two firms, long established and influential, and his success in this line, established in the face of competition with the older and more powerful operators, is but little short of phenomenal, and can only be attributed to his personal qualities of unbounded energy, strict integrity, unflagging persistency and rare business judgment. His experience in the lumber trade was invaluable to him, and this, combined with his intui- tion and natural business abilities of a high order, enabled him in due time to establish for himself an enviable position and reputation as one of the lead- ing real estate brokers and dealers of Providence. In 1873 Mr. Hall purchased the Joseph Sweet estate in Cranston, now Edgewood, and at great expense of time, labor and money transformed the once unpretentious homestead with its spacious grounds into an imposing and elegant residence. In 1876 he erected the large business block in Weybosset Street known as the Hall Building. In 1890 he organized the Central Real Estate Company, with an authorized capital of two millions, for the purpose of bringing within the reach of people of moderate means a class of investments hitherto monopolized by the wealthy. Nothing perhaps more favorably illustrates Mr. Hall's business energy and sagacity than the remarkable success of this company ; hav- ing been its President and Manager since its organi- zation, he has been the chief factor in bringing this large business and investment enterprise to the sub- stantial position and high standing which it to-day occupies. Mr. Hall has been active and influential in public life, and has filled many elective offices, never having been defeated. He served six years as a member of the Town Council of Cranston, and was Town Treasurer one year, declining a re-election. He was a Representative to the General Assembly four terms, 1880-84, and for the two years succeed- ing was a member of the Senate, being the first Republican Senator elected from the town of Cranston ; he was again nominated, but declined a longer service. While in the Assembly he served
as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Accounts and Claims, and second on the Senate Committee on Corporations, and established a reputation as an excellent debater of governmental and economic questions. Mr. Hall finds his favorite relaxation from the cares of business in driving fine horses, and nothing gives him greater pleasure than handling the reins over his high-spirited four-in- hand team, while taking out a party of friends on his handsome drag. He was married, December 24, 1866, to Miss Cleora N., daughter of William L. Hopkins of Providence. Mr. Hopkins, who was one of the chief promoters and organizers of the Sons of Temperance society in Providence, is a descendant of Thomas Hopkins, from whom was descended Stephen Hopkins, one of the early gov- ernors of Rhode Island, and a signer of the Decla- ration of Independence.
HARKNESS, PROFESSOR ALBERT, PH. D., LL.D., Professor of the Greek Language and Literature in Brown University, and author of the well known series of Greek and Latin text-books which are in almost universal use, was born October 6, 1822, in that part of Mendon, Mass., which is now the town of Black- stone. He is the son of Southwick and Phebe (Thayer) Harkness. In his boyhood he attended the district school for ten or twelve weeks in the year, and when thirteen years of age he attended the Uxbridge High School for a single term, and the following year the Worcester Academy for a similar length of time. In 1838, after a year's study at home, mostly without a teacher, with occa- sional help from the Rev. Mr. Atkinson of Millville, he entered Brown University, where he at once attained high rank in his class, and was graduated as valedictorian in 1842. After graduation he en- gaged in the work of private instruction, but at the opening of the Providence High School in 1843 he became one of its teachers. He was Senior Master from September 1846 until August 1853, when he resigned and went to Europe for study and travel. After a year's study at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, he received the degree of Doctor of Philos- ophy at Bonn, being the first American to receive the degree at that university. He then spent one semester at the University of Goettingen, and during the summer of 1855 traveled in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and England. On his way to Greece he received notice of his appoint- ment to the Greek chair in Brown University, and
Albert Harkness.
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began his work in the following September. Twice he has had leave of absence for a year to revisit Europe. Professor Harkness' labors have not been confined to the class-room. He has lectured on education in different parts of Rhode Island and elsewhere, and has held many positions of respon- sibility and trust. He was president of the Franklin Lyceum in 1849, and of the Rhode Island Alpha of the Phi Beta Kappa from 1871 to 1873. He was one of the founders of the American Philological Association, one of its Vice-Presidents in 1869, and President in 1875-1876. He is a member of the Archæological Institute of America, and in 1881 was a member of the first committee appointed to consider the expediency of establishing an American School of Classical Studies at Athens, of which school he has been a member of the managing com- mittee from its establishment in 1882 to the present time. Professor Harkness has given special atten- tion to the methods of classical instruction. In his five visits to Europe he has made a careful study of educational questions, and at the great English and German schools and universities he has enjoyed peculiar privileges of inspecting academic work and of making valuable friendships among the leading professors and masters. He began his successful career as an author in 1851, with the publication of the First Latin Book. His later works are the Second Latin Book, the First Greek Book and Reader, the famous I.atin Grammar, two Latin Readers, an Introductory Latin Book, Practical Introduction to Latin Composition, Elements of Latin Grammar, editions of Caesar's Gallic War, of Cicero's Select Orations and of Sallust's Catiline, a Preparatory Course in Latin Prose Authors, a Latin Course for the First Year, and An Easy Method for Beginners in Latin. The publication of this series of text-books marked an era in the classical education of the country. A wonderful success followed the first appearance of the Gram- mar, in 1864; after thirty years it still deservedly leads its competitors, and its merits have been rec- ognized by the highest educational authorities of England and Germany. Professor Harkness is also the author of various scientific papers embodying some of the original results of his philological investigations, chief among which are two on the Formation of the Perfect Tense in Latin, and one on the Development of the Subjunctive in Principal Clauses ; these were published in the Transactions of the American Philological Association, and have been noticed with great respect by leading American
and European philologists. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Brown University in 1869. Professor Harkness is possessed of pecu- liar skill as a teacher, and is of a kind and genial dis- position and of a high character as a Christian scholar and gentleman. The esteem which his associates accord to him increases as the years go by, and he is honored and beloved, not only among his neigh- bors and fellow citizens, but wherever he is known on both sides of the sea. He was married, May 28, 1849, to Miss Maria Aldrich Smith ; they have two children : Clara Frances, born May 10, 1851, wife of Professor Poland of Brown University, and Albert Granger Harkness, born November 19, 1856, for- merly a professor in Madison University, now Pro- fessor of Roman Literature and History in Brown University.
HARSON, M. JOSEPH, merchant, Providence, was born in New York city, July 1, 1855, son of
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M. J. HARSON.
John and Alice (O'Connell) Harson. His ances- try is Irish. He received his early education in the public schools of New York and entered upon his practical training for active life as an office-boy in his native city, in 1867-68. He re-entered school at Bellefont, Pa., in 1869 and 1870, and for the three years 1870-72 worked as a machinist in ironworks at Danville, Pa. Following this experience he re-
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turned to New York and entered the employ of a prominent Broadway hatter, was a book-agent in 1876, and a partner in the book business in 1877. In the latter year he came to Providence, and in 1878 began the business career in which he has since been successfully engaged. He first opened a small store on Dorrance street, devoted exclusively to hats. This was an innovation in Providence, and many were the predictions of failure for the young merchant. But his enterprise and push won from the start, and within a year larger quarters were needed for his growing business, and he leased a more capacious store on Westminster street. The prophets were now certain that failure was inevitable as a result of Mr. Harson's bold move. But as before, these predictions only served to stimulate his determination. With unshaken faith in the wisdom of his policy and the efficiency of his methods, which especially in advertising were strik- ingly original, and even revolutionary in the hat trade, he carried out his plans with such success that the Westminster-street store, twice too large at the beginning, continued to grow smaller and smaller each year, until it was scarcely half large enough to accommodate the business flowing to him. Increased room became a necessity, and after long waiting for a suitable location, he secured the stores embracing the numbers 196-202 Westminster street, to which he removed September 5, 1891, and where he now has one of the largest and finest emporiums of its kind in the United States. Besides his large retail business, he has carried on a considerable wholesale trade, and has conducted at various times branch stores in the principal cities of New England. He has also been instrumental in starting a number of young men in business, in nearly every instance with good success Mr. Harson has always taken a deep interest in all movements for the advancement of young men. He has been active and prominent in the National Union of Catholic Young Men's Societies, was invited to deliver addresses before it in 1882-84-85-87, and has been accorded the highest honors it could bestow. In recognition of his society services, he has been complimentarily re- ferred to as "The Ozanam of America " He was one of the originators of the Catholic Congress held in Baltimore in 1889, and was elected Secretary of the committee appointed to arrange for future con- gresses. He is a frequent contributor to the Catholic and secular press and his articles are distinguished for their vigorous style, fearlessness of expression and sprightliness of treatment. A
series of thoughtful articles on the negro question, written by him in 1890, were the subject of much favorable comment and commanded widespread at- tention, and the Colored Congress held at Cincinnati in June 1890 passed resolutions of thanks and elected him an honorary member of its executive committee. In September 1880 Mr. Harson entered Brown University and took a special two-years course, attending meanwhile to all the details of his business. In June 1892 the Board of Fellows of the University conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts in connection with his class, the class of 1884. His address at the first dinner of the Providence alumni, held in the month of March 1894, will be remembered as one of the successes of the evening, though following such notable speakers as President Angell of the University of Michigan, Rev. Dr. Greer of New York, Professor Wheeler of Cornell University, Doctor Keen of University of Pennsyl- vania and President Andrews of Brown. He is a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, the United States Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, and the Catholic Club of New York. He is also a member and founder of the Phi Kappa Sigma college fraternity. In politics he is Indepen- dent-Democratic, but has steadfastly declined to accept nominations to public office. Mr. Harson was married, October 11, 1881, to Miss Marianna F. Kelly ; they have two children : Raymond Joseph, aged thirteen, and Henry Newman Harson, aged eleven years ; another son, Edwin Brownson Harson, died in infancy.
HASBROUCK, SAYER, M. D., Providence, was born in Middletown, N. Y., June 3, 1860, son of John W. and Lydia (Sayer) Hasbrouck. Dr. Has- brouck comes of one of the oldest Knickerbocker families of New York state, of Flemish and Hugue- not ancestry. His mother, Lydia Sayer, M. D., is a descendant in the seventh generation of Thomas Sayre, whose homestead at Southampton, Long Island, built in 1648, is said to be the oldest house now standing in the state of New York. His father, John W. Hasbrouck, editor and founder of the Orange County Press, and one of the old line Whigs that came into the Republican ranks upon the for- mation of that party, is lineally descended from Abraham Hasbrouck, a native of Calais, France, who lived for a time in England, and came to this country about 1675, landed at Boston, and went to Kingston on the Hudson, where he became the head
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
of the Paltz patentees, who controlled a large tract of land on the west side of the Hudson, where the town of New Paltz is at present located, and including Lake Mohonk, now a famous resort. Dr. Hasbrouck's great-grandfather, Captain Elias Hasbrouck, com- manded a company of rangers in the Revolution- ary army, was with Montgomery in the attack on Quebec in which the latter lost his life, and was also at the burning of Kingston by the British, on which occasion his store was destroyed. His grand- father, Richard Montgomery Hasbrouck, was named
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