The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 52

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978

USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV > Part 52

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represented in the American Revolution; among those participating in the struggle were many members of both Sheldon lines. The late Pardon Sheldon, of Cranston and Pawtuxet, for many years a well- known and highly-honored resident of those towns, was a lineal descendant of John Sheldon, of Provi- dence, through a distinguished line of forebears.

Christopher Sheldon, grandfather of Pardon Shel- don, was a resident of Pawtuxet, R. I., where he was born in 1732. He married, in Providence, Janu- ary 7, 1753, Rosanna Arnold, and they were the par- ents of Remington Sheldon, mentioned below. Chris- topher Sheldon died in 1799.

Remington Sheldon, son of Christopher and Ros- anna (Arnold) Sheldon, was born in 1756, and died in 1829. He was a resident of Cranston, R. I., where he married Huldah Greene, descendant of the Greenes of Warwick. They were the parents of Pardon Shel- don, mentioned below.

Pardon Sheldon, son of Remington and Huldah (Greene) Sheldon, was born in Cranston, R. I., July 26, 1801. He married, on December 1I, 1825, Rebecca Walker Aborn, daughter of Jonathan and Dorcas (Tourtellot )Aborn, who was born September 30, 1806, and died in 1869. (See Aborn V). They had twelve children, as follows: I. Israel Remington, born April 7, 1827, died March 5, 1885. 2. Louisa Greene, born April 21, 1829, died Aug. 29, 1882. 3. Patience Aborn, born Nov. 8, 1830, died May 6, 1886. 4. Robert Aborn, born June 14, 1832, died June 13, 1849. 5. Pardon, born Sept. 28, 1834, died Sept., 1856. 6. Rebecca Walker, born June 27, 1836, died Sept., 1837. 7. Rebecca Aborn, born March 28, 1838, died Jan. 10, 1907. 8. James Rhodes, born June 2, 1840, now a resident of Savannah, Ga .; a veteran of the Civil War. 9. George Frederick, born Oct. 27, 1841, died Feb. 19, 1916. 10. Mary Tyler, born Nov. 3, 1843, residing at the old homestead in Pawtuxet. 11. Huldah Dorcas, born Nov. 20, 1845, a resident of Paw- tuxet. 12. Frank Louis, born July 1, 1847, a resident of Pawtuxet. Pardon Sheldon was a lifelong resident of Pawtuxet, R. 1., and a prominent figure in its life and affairs. He was active in town affairs for many years. He died on May 14, 1849.

(The Aborn Line).

The Aborns, exclusively a Rhode Island family, have been identified with Rhode Island life and affairs for about two hundred years, during which time de- scendants of the founder have been prominent in civic, business and social life in Providence and Kent coun- ties. Samuel Aborn, founder and immigrant ancestor of the family in America, was a shipwright, and many of his descendants have adhered to his calling, and followed sea-faring lives.

(I) Samuel Aborn, the progenitor, is first of record in Wickford, R. I., in the year 1710, when he pur- chased of Lodowick Updike twenty acres of land. He settled in Wickford, where he followed the calling of shipwright. He became the owner of considerable property, and rose to prominence in the affairs of the town. He married Susanna -, and they were the parents of three sons. Susanna Aborn died after

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

1753. Among the descendants of Samuel and Susanna Aborn have been many leaders in Rhode Island life.

(II) Captain Joseph Aborn, son of Samuel and Susanna Aborn, was born in 1722, and was a resident of Wickford, R. I., and later of Pawtuxet, in which latter town he was the first of the family to settle. He was a master mariner, and followed the sea during the greater part of his life. Captain Joseph Aborn married Elizabeth Scranton, born in 1723, and died in 1799, and is buried in Greene Cemetery, in Pawtuxet. (III) Daniel Aborn, son of Captain Joseph and Elizabeth (Scranton) Aborn, was born in Newport, R. I., July 1, 1749, and died in December, 1783, at sea. He was a sea captain. Daniel Aborn was com- mander of the vessel "Chance," which sailed from Providence, in May, 1782, a newly built privateer. A few days after leaving Providence the "Chance" was captured by the British ship "Belisarius," of the Brit- ish navy. Daniel Aborn was confined aboard the prison ship "Jersey." The filthy condition of the ship and the overcrowding of same caused thou- sands of deaths. Through the intervention of Gen- eral George Washington, Daniel Aborn, Sylvester Rhodes, Captain Dring and a few others were ex- changed. He later put to sea again, en route to the West Indies, and during a severe storm the vessel foundered and all hands were lost. He married, Jan- uary 8, 1769, Mary Arnold, daughter of Peleg Arnold, who was born in February, 1752, and died September 29, 1834.

(IV) Jonathan Aborn, son of Daniel and Mary (Arnold) Aborn, was born in 1772, in Pawtuxet, R. I., and died in Calcutta, March 10, 1720. Like the ma- jority of his forebears he followed the sea, as a mas- ter mariner. He married Dorcas Tourtellot, who was born in 1775, and died January 9, 1850. She was the daughter of Daniel and Urania (Keech) Tourtellot, of Gloucester, R. I., and a descendant of Gabriel Bernon, a French-Huguenot family of distinction.

(V) Rebecca Walker Aborn, daughter of Jonathan and Dorcas (Tourtellot) Aborn, was born in Paw- tuxet, R. I., in 1806, and died in 1869. She became the wife of Captain Pardon Sheldon, with whom she is buried in the cemetery in Pawtuxet.

JOHN G. BROWN, president of the Glencairn Manufacturing Company, began the manufacture of silk cotton, mercerized flat shoe laces and narrow fabrics in Pawtucket, R. I., in 1908. His plant, located at No. 110 East avenue, Pawtucket, contained but ten braiding machines at the beginning, but the business quickly grew beyond their capacity to produce and in 1909 Mr. Brown purchased the factory belonging to the New England Thread Company, at the corner of Cottage and Saun- ders streets, and began operations on a much larger scale. Mr. Brown was sole owner of the business he founded during the first year of the existence of the Glencairn Manufacturing Company, but in 1909 John N. Alexander associated with him Messrs. Brown and Alexander, the principal owners and managers until the present. The business has enjoyed a steady growth, and in 1917 it was necessary to make additions that doubled the capacity of the mill. The manufacture of

elastic braids has been added since 1913, and the plant at present is now engaged in the manufacture of leg- gings and breeches, boot and shoe laces for the United States Government, the staple lines of the company's manufacture also being fully maintained. Over one hundred hands are in constant employ, and forty thou- sand square feet of floor space is in use in the different departments. The present officers of the company are: John G. Brown, president; John N. Alexander, treas- urer ; James P. Brown, secretary, and William New- man, agent. The company maintains a New York office in the Woolworth building, Mr. Newman, agent of the company, in charge, and who also through that office manages the agencies throughout the United States, Mexico, Central and South America.

John G. Brown, born in Lowell, Mass., came to Paw- tucket with his parents when a child. After completing public school courses he took a course of technical in- struction at the New Bedford Textile School, received a diploma of graduation, and when twenty-one years of age began the business of which he is the founder developer and executive head. He is unmarried.

John Nelson Alexander came to Pawtucket from Sar Francisco, Cal., in the year 1909. He is a graduate of Stanford University, class of 1909. He became inter- ested with Mr. Brown in the Glencairn Manufacturing Company soon after his arrival, was for some year! president of the corporation, being now its efficien treasurer.

James P. Brown, secretary of the company, and brother of John G. Brown, is now in the service of hi country, in the navy.

These young men have built up a valuable busines: enterprise from its very foundation, and to their ability industry and progressive spirit, Pawtucket owes a shar of her prosperity.

HARRY McPHERSON HOLBROOK, an emi nent lawyer of the Rhode Island bar, is a son of Wil liam H. and Josephine (Webb) Holbrook, his father native of Massachusetts, his mother a daughter of leading Southern family. William H. Holbrook, afte the Civil War, located in the South, and until 1883 wa chief engineer of the Santa Fe system of railroads. I! that year he resigned his position and returned to Nev England.

Harry M. Holbrook was born in Vicksburg, Miss April 14. 1866. His early life was spent in the Sout and in travel with his parents, his education having bee supervised entirely by private tutors. In 1883 he cam to his grandfather in Massachusetts, his father havin met with reverses through railroad speculation. Afte his return to New England, Mr. Holbrook engaged i teaching, acting for three years as principal of Glastor .; bury Academy at Glastonbury, Conn. During the period he continued his studies of law, and later move to the State of Nebraska and completed his legal studie; under the preceptorship of William O. Hammill, famous jurist of that State. He was admitted to th Nebraska bar in 1889, but in 1890 the ill health of hi father brought him to Massachusetts, where he engage in blooded stock breeding until 1894. The winter c 1891 was spent in New York City as legal adjuster fc an insurance company. In 1894 he abandoned stoc,

Harry M. Holbrook

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BIOGRAPHICAL

ming, and during the following four years taught in assachusetts schools, but in 1898 applied for and ined admission to the Massachusetts bar. He prac- ed very successfully for several years, accumulated ne capital, which, added to by a fund raised in Bos- 1, was invested in silver mines and smelter in old exico. Later the unsettled conditions which threat- ed the investment caused Mr. Holbrook to make a irney to Mexico, where he remained until 1913. The elter and mines are now shut down, the Revolution ving destroyed their productive value, but the invest- :nt is intact. After returning North, in 1914, Mr. olbrook located at Providence and has taken leading ak at the Rhode Island bar. He has been connected th many important cases, and is both learned in the v and skillful in its application to the cause in hand. e is a member of the bar associations of the city and ate, and has been admitted to all State and Federal urts of the State, and is held in highest regard by the ethren of his profession. A son of a soldier of the lion, he became a member of the order, Sons of terans, and held the rank of captain and department mmander in Massachusetts. He is a present member the Cranston Blues, a famed organization with an cient history. He is a Democrat in politics, but is tremely independent, shaping his party action in cordance with his personal opinions and beliefs.

Mr. Holbrook married (first), in 1891, Carrie Maude uger, they the parents of two sons: Louis Tufts and enry Parsons Holbrook. He married (second) Daisy . Wesley, and they are the parents of two daughters, ary Ruth and Edna Elsie, and of a son, John Wesley.

DANIEL JACOBUS MAHLER-An authority in rmatology and manager of the D. J. Mahler Com- ny's College of Dermatology and Laboratory, the larg- t in New England, Mr. Mahler is best known among ose who constitute his vast army of patrons or arers, and he lectures in all parts of the United States, s reputation extending also to foreign lands. He is a n of Jacob Mahler, a native of Wolfstein, in the nine Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), a town of France in the partment of Mt. Tonnere, forty-three miles northwest om Manheim, ceded to France in 1801, restored to ermany in 1814. Jacob Mahler came to the United ates, settled at Hackensack, N. J., and died at Provi- nce, R. 1., in April, 1890. He was twice drafted in e Civil War, the first time rejected on account of his ing near-sighted, but drafted later, but saw no service, ace being declared. He married Anna Elizabeth ller, daughter of Frederick and Anna Katherine Erbe) Filler, a native of Saxony.

Daniel J. Mahler was born in Hackensack, Bergen ounty, New Jersey, October 7. 1860, and until 1873, udied there under private teachers. In that year he me to Providence, R. I., and in 1880 began business der the firm name, D. J. Mahler Company, at No. 331 Testminster street, later moving to No. 2491/2 West- inster street, where he began the practice of derma- logy. During the years 1885-86-87 he pursued scien- ic courses of study under private tutors of Brown niversity. In 1900 he removed his business to No. 131 athewson street, and on October 18, 1902, incorporated the D. J. Mahler Corporation, under the laws of the ate of Maine, capital $100,000, D. J. Mahler, president.

Later the company purchased the estate at Nos. 3124-64 Pawtucket avenue, East Providence, R. I., transformed the residence into a College of Dermatology, and built a commodious laboratory, where all the specialties of the Mahler Company are compounded. Progress has marked each year of Mr. Mahler's history, and through his creative genius new products have been evolved which have won leading place in toilet preparations. He is a dermatologist and hair specialist of a quarter of a century fame, and has given exhibitions and demonstra- tions of his skill in the principal cities of the United States. His knowledge has been greatly increased through travel, and when freed from business care he finds pleasure in art and literature. He has risen to a strong position in the business world, and is highly re- garded professionally and socially. His writings, lec- tures, electrical devices and proprietary beautifying pre- parations are greatly sought after, as is his treatise "Conseits de Beaute." He is a member of Redwood Lodge, No. 14, Free and Accepted Masons; Providence Lodge, No. 14, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; King Philip Lodge, No. I, Improved Order of Red Men; and Providence Athletic Club.

Mr. Mahler married Teodelinda Machada, born in the Azores, but a resident of Pawtucket since childhood. Children : Daniel Jason, Phyllis Maybelle, and Arthur Young. The family home is a beautiful one on Paw- tucket avenue, East Providence, R. I.

JOSEPH T. WITHEROW, one of the successful attorneys of Pawtucket, R. I., and a man who has already made a name for himself in the public life of this region, is a native of West Stockbridge, Mass., where he was born, December 29, 1889. He is a son of William and Margaret (Curtin) Witherow, old and highly-respected residents of that place, both of whom were born in that part of the State. Mr. Witherow re- ceived the elementary portion of his education at the public schools of his native town until he had completed the grammar school courses. At about this time his parents removed to Pawtucket, R. I., and it was here that he attended the high school and prepared himself for college. He then entered Brown University at Providence, and graduated with the class of 1911, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He had in the mean- time determined to adopt the law as a profession and, accordingly, matriculated at the law school of the Uni- versity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. After completing the usual four years' course, he graduated with the class of 1914 and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Throughout his school and college years he had proved himself an intelligent and painstaking student, and at the close came to the opening of his career unusually well equipped both with natural gifts and a training that was the result of long and conscientious effort. Immediately after graduating from the University of Michigan, he came to the East and settled at Pawtucket, where he passed his bar examinations and established himself in the practice of his chosen profession. He opened an office at No. 18 East avenue, in this city, and this has remained his headquarters ever since. He has built up an excellent practice and has handled many important cases up to the present, proving himself to be a most capable and conscientious attorney.

Besides his legal activity Mr. Witherow has interested

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.

himself in the conduct of public affairs in the commu- nity, and has come to be regarded as a leader of the local organization of the Democratic party. In the year 1916 he was elected a member of the Rhode Island Legislature and is now serving his second term in that office, having been reelected in 1918. He is a member of the Bar Association of Pawtucket, and of the local branch of the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Witherow is unmarried.

CHARLES SISSON is a scion of an ancient and honorable New England family founded in Rhode Island by Richard Sisson, who was made a freeman of the Colony at Portsmouth in 1653. By his wife Mary he had sons: James, John, and George, all of whom married, and from them sprang the different branches of the family in Rhode Island. Charles Sisson, now a retired manufacturer of Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the descendants of Richard Sisson, whose life has been worthy of the best traditions of the Sisson name, and who, in the retirement which he has fully earned, reviews a life of exceptional activity and value. His father, Asa Sisson, was also one of the men whose genius made for Rhode Island a name written big in manufacturing annals, he being a well-known mechani- cal expert and builder of cotton machinery at Anthony, R. I. Mary A. (Peck) Sisson, wife of Asa Sisson, and mother of Charles Sisson, was a daughter of Perez Peck, a builder of cotton machinery, and a prominent manufacturer of the Pawtucket Valley. Thus Charles Sisson came rightfully to his inheritance, predestined through heredity to become a manufacturer, and through native ability sure to fill commanding position.

Charles Sisson, son of Asa and Mary A. (Peck) Sis- son, was born in Coventry, R. I., September 7, 1847, and there attended the public school. He next entered Friends' School, now the Moses Brown School of Provi- dence, in 1862, and there remained until graduation with the class of 1866. He began business life as a clerk with the firm of Vaughan & Greene, who were then just be- ginning the manufacture of webbing at Hamilton, R. I. From this entrance into the business world in 1866 dates his half century of active business life, seventeen of the first years of that period having been spent with Vaughan & Greene, and their successors, The Hamilton Web Company. In 1883 Mr. Sisson resigned his posi- tion with the last-named company and removed to Providence. That same year, 1883, he formed a part- nership with Oscar A. Steere and under the firm name, The Hope Webbing Company, started a ten-loom mill on Sprague street, Providence, for the manufacture of narrow woven fabrics of cotton, wool and silk. The partners were both practical mill men, and not un- familiar with each other, they having been associated with the firm, Vaughan & Greene, Mr. Steere in the manufacturing, Mr. Sisson in the managerial depart- ment of the operations of that firm. Each had shown his ability in his own department, Mr. Steere having demonstrated inventive genius and mechanical skill, Mr. Sisson having risen from clerk to general superintend- ent. Thus the firm was well balanced from the start, a condition which insured success.

The little ten-loom business increased in importance each year until, in 1889, The Hope Webbing Company

was incorporated, a large mill at Pawtucket erectec and the business removed thereto. Further expansio: followed, and a great business developed in narrow woven fabrics. The great mill, the largest of its kin in the country, was completed in 1907, and a great par of the special machinery in use later was built from del signs and patents produced by Oscar A. Steere, wh was superintendent of the plant from its very beginning The original capitalization of the company was $100,000 but this later was increased to $1,000,000. As treasure of the company from 1889 to 1909; as manager fron 1909 to 1915, and president from 1915 to 1917, Mr. Sis! son was the active mover and responsible head of th company which owned and operated the largest mill o its kind in the United States. In 1917 he retired fror all active participation in business life.

His life has been a very successful one, and fror lowly beginning he has won his way through shee ability to high and honorable position. He is a membe; of the Home Market Club of Boston, is vice-presiden of the Rhode Island Historical Society, a trustee of th Moses Brown School of Providence (a school h attended in youth), is a member of the Society o Friends, and in politics an independent Republican. H is a member of the Providence Chamber of Commerce and always actively interested in the welfare of hi city ; served the city of Providence as councilman fror 1896 to 1905; and for one year was a member of th Board of Aldermen. In North Kingston he was member and chairman of the school board of the Tow Council, and for a time its president. He has neve sought public office, neither has he shirked any duty public or private, but has met squarely every deman made upon him, and in a public-spirited manner dis charged every obligation of citizenship.

Mr. Sisson married, in New York City, October 4 1888, Elizabeth Davis Eyre, of Philadelphia. They ar the parents of six children : 1. Charles P., born in 1890 is a graduate of Moses Brown School, Brown Univer sity, A. B., Harvard Law School, LL. B., has practice law since 1915, and is now third assistant solicitor c the city of Providence; he married, June 17, 1916, Mar garet A. Gifford, and they are the parents of a daugh ter, Mary Eyre, born March 30, 1918. 2. Russell Eyre born in 1891; a graduate of Moses Brown Schoo Brown University, A. B., and a student of the Rhod Island School of Design, now second lieutenant in th Ordnance Department of the United States Army. . Hope, born in 1893; educated in the private and publi schools, and Brown University; married Charles F Roundy, of Pawtucket, R. I., and they are the parent of a son, George Roundy. 4. Ruth, born in 1894; edu cated in the private and public schools, Brown Univer sity and Wellesley College, now a teacher of physica culture at Ogdensburg, N. Y. 5. Alice, born in 1895 died in infancy. 6. William Eyre, born in 1898; a gradu ate of Moses Brown School, Brown University, A. B 1918.

ELMER E. MOORE, M. D .- This is an early Nev England name, and is found with various spellings i the pioneer records, such as Moors, Moores, Mooer and Mores, also sometimes as Moore. It was identifier with the settlement and development of several Nev

Charles Sisson

He s

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BIOGRAPHICAL

igland towns. Its Revolutionary record is an honor- le one, and its members have been no less worthy in ril life. The Moore coat-of-arms is as follows:

Arms-Azure, on a chief indented or, three mullets Lles.

Crest-Out of a ducal coronet a demi-swan rising gent, beaked proper.

Motto-Fortis cadere, cedere non potest. (The brave ay fall, but cannot yield).

(I) Edmund Mooers, born about 1614, came from uthampton, England, to Boston, Mass., in 1638, and found of record in Newbury, Mass., as early as 1640, ith his wife Anne. He died in Newbury, June 7, 1676. mong his children was Jonathan, of whom further.

(II) Jonathan Moore, son of Edmund and Anne ooers, was born in Newbury, Mass., April 23, 1646. e subscribed to the oath of allegiance in 1678, and ther he or his son, bearing the same name, was a Idier in 1707. He married Constance Langhorne, and nong their children was Jonathan, of whom further. (III) Jonathan (2) Moore, son of Jonathan (1) and onstance (Langhorne) Moore, was born in Newbury, ass., April 30, 1681, and died April 8, 1745. He mar- ed January 17, 1714, Mary Poor, born August 12, 1692, ughter of Joseph and Mary (Wallingford) Poor. mong their children was Joseph, of whom further.

(IV) Joseph Moore, son of Jonathan (2) and Mary Poor ) Moore, was born in Newbury, Mass., February 1715, and presumably resided in Massachusetts. mong the children born to Joseph and Sarah Moore as Daniel, of whom further.

(V) Daniel Moore, son of Joseph and Sarah Moore, as born in Newbury, Mass., in January, 1734. He re- ded in Haverhill, Mass., where he married, January 1753, Abigail Springer, born August 28, 1729, in New- iry, daughter of Henry and Joanna ( Pike) Springer. mong their children was Joshua, of whom further.

(VI) Joshua Moore, son of Daniel and Abigail Springer) Moore, was born in Haverhill, Mass., March , 1755, and he died there about 1816. He married orothy Moody, born April 2, 1769, in Newbury, Mass., aughter of Caleb and Dorothy (Sargeant) Moody. mong their children was James Spencer, of whom rther.

(VII) James Spencer Moore, son of Joshua and orothy (Moody) Moore, was born in Strafford, Vt., ctober 23, 1805, and died in Royalton, Vt. He was idge of probate for Orange county in 1856-57-58, and as prominent in local affairs. He married, February , 1830, Julia Ann Comstock, born February 20, 1809, ed November 25, 1892, in Pawtucket, R. I. Children : ohn, born June 21, 1831, died April 7, 1832; David omstock, of whom further; John Harris, born Aug. 3, 1836, died Jan. 8, 1907; Carrie Asenath, born Feb. :, 1841, died Aug. 17, 1865, in Strafford.

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The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 52

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn Publication date: 1920 Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 978

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978