Bristol County, Massachusetts - Biographical sketches (2 of 5 so headed), 1883

Biographical sketches

The Huttlestone family is of good English stock. The name was formerly Hnddlestone, the name now of a solid village in England. Valentine Huddlestone came from England to America in the first part of the seventeenth century to Newport, and settled ultimately in Dartmouth (now Fairhaven), where, in 1694, he was one of the fifty-six original proprietors of the town. He had two sons by his wife Catharine, - Henry, born Sept. 21, 1673, and George, born Sept. 28, 1677. From one of these (Henry probably) was no doubt the Henry of whom we write, but we have no data to establish the fact.

Henry Huttlestone was born in Fairhaven, Mass., in 1768, at or near the residence of the late Hon. John A. Hawes. His father, Peleg Huttlestone, was a man of good circumstances and repute in his day, a landholder, and a valuable citizen. He was born in 1741, and died in 1801 ; his wife Tabitha was born in 1743, and died in 1790. Henry Huttlestone, although of limited education, early manifested great business ability. He became owner of numerous vessels, and was extensively engaged in fitting out ships for the European trade. He was also a merchant for many years in his native town. He was a man pleasant to meet, of winning manners, and a general favorite for his benevolence and sympathy towards suffering. During the Napoleonic wars and embargoes and the perilous times connected with the war of 1812 he lost heavily, numbers of his ships being captured or destroyed by the belligerent European powers. He had at the time of his death several claims against the Spanish, French, and English nations for captured vessels, yet only one of the claims - one against the French government - ever realized anything for his heirs. He married Rhoda Merrihew, of Fairhaven. They had seven children, - Henry (deceased), Nancy (deceased), Betsey (Mrs. Charles Stoddard), Stephen (deceased), Jane (deceased), Killey (deceased), and Mary. Mr. Huttlestone died in January, 1831. He was Unitarian in religion, and a Whig in politics.

Rowland Rogers, son of Abishai and Judith Rogers, was born in Mattapoisett, Mass., March 21, 1810. He became a merchant in Fairhaven, and March 21, 1833, married Mary, youngest child of Henry Huttlestone. They had three children, - Eliza (deceased), Henry H., and Rufus A. In his latter years, Mr. Rogers was an accountant. He was a Democrat from principle. He could give sound reasons in support of his belief, and was one of the little band of from five to seven in the town who steadily voted the Democratic ticket, undaunted by the bitter partisanship of the times. He died in 1861. His wife is now living in Fairhaven, with youthful appearance for her years, beloved by all who know her.

Henry Huttlestone Rogers was born in Fairhaven, Mass., Jan. 29, 1840. He was a quick and diligent student, and graduated at the Fairhaven High School. Upon leaving school he engaged as clerk in a store in Fairhaven, where he remained until his twenty-first year, when he went to Oil City, Pa., and started business for himself by establishing an oil refinery. He exhibited good business qualities, was hard-working and energetic, yet the refinery did not pay, and after a faithful but unsuccessful effort to succeed, he abandoned it and became assistant superintendent of Natrona Chemical Works. His manner of transacting business attracted the attention of Charles Pratt, of " astral oil" celebrity, and in a few months' time he left the chemical works for a position in the New York house of Mr. Pratt. This, in a short time, resulted in Mr. Pratt's admitting Mr. Rogers to a partnership in the firm now Charles Pratt & Co. He is of qitick, energetic temperament, carries through successfully whatever he undertakes, and has a warm, social nature, which endears him to a large circle of friends. Plis family spend their summers in Fairhaven with his mother, and for which Mr. Rogers has the strongest attachment, believing the town of his birth the finest place on earth. His love for Fair- haven and for its improvement has recently been manifested in a most pleasant and valuable way, by the offer recently to build, at his own expense, a highschool building in that town, contributing also the land on which it is to stand.

Mr. Rogers married, Nov. 17, 1862, Abbie, daughter of Capt. Peleg Gifford, of Fairhaven. They have five children, - Anne, Cara, Amelia, Mary, and Henry H. He is Republican in politics. He is yet in the prime of life, and, with many years of active business before him, is a fair type of the impetuous, rushing, successful Americans of the nineteenth century.

Rufus A. Rogers was born in Fairhaven, Feb. 22, 1843. He married Maude Thumm, and is now an accountant, residing in Oil City, Pa. He has two children.

Hon. John A. Hawes

Hon. John A. Hawes was born in Fairhaven, Mass., Sept. 27, 1823. He graduated at Harvard in 1845, and studied law with J. H. W. Page, Esq., in New Bedford, but he never practiced the profession nor engaged in any regular business. He has been selectman and a member of the school committee in his native town, and was captain of Company E, Third Massachusetts Regiment, in the nine months' service during the Rebellion. In 1871-72 and 1874- 75 he was a member of the State Senate, often temporarily filling the chair, and was for some time the elected president pro tern. He was at one time president of the Bristol County Agricultural Society and commander of the Massachusetts Department Grand Army of the Republic. He took considerable interest in yachting. He was one of the originators of the New Bedford Yacht Club, and was elected its first commodore in 1878, an office which he held while his health remained good. He resided upon the old homestead, his children being the fifth generation living upon the same land. Mr. Hawes was a Republican in politics, and in religion he tended towards Rationalism. He died March 10, 1883. His wife is Amelia (Hallet) Hawes. Children, - Elizabeth Borden, Amelia H., and Mary. He was a good citizen, a warm friend, and a generous hearted man.

John A. Hawes, father of John A., was for some time a member of the firm of Cornell & Hawes, New York City. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Borden, of Fairhaven. John Hawes, father of John A., Sr., was a prominent man in New Bedford and vicinity. He was for many years collector of that port, and was one of seven to organize the first Methodist Society in New Bedford.

Nathaniel Church

Nathaniel Church, son of Joseph and Deborah (Perry) Church, was born in Fairhaven, Mass., Nov. 16, 1798. He had the advantages of good blood and a long line of reputable ancestors, reaching away back through early colonial days to a substantial standing in " merrie England." With only a common school education, he attained a success in life which showed business qualities, energy, and prudence. When but a little past his majority he went to Rhode Island, and engaged as a merchant with his brother Ebenezer as E. P. Church & Co. He remained in trade there until 1831, when he removed to Fairhaven, where he entered into merchandising, and continued steadily in trade until near the close of his life. He then was engaged for a few years in a brass foundry in Fairhaven. He was more or less connected with various whaling expeditions, but these were not remunerative. He married, Aug. 22, 1829, Lydia, daughter of Barney and Sarah (Cook) Hicks. She was born in Westport, Mass., Dec. 15, 1800. On both sides she is descended from old families of good repute, and to-day, with vigorous mental faculties, she» is in good physical health, and with cheerful content in the society of her old friends and affectionate daughters, she is awaiting the summons to meet her husband on the " other shore." They had seven children, of whom four attained maturity. They were Sarah C, Nancy F. (deceased), Mary L. (married Ansel G. Jenney, resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has four children), and Lydia M. Mr. Church was Whig and Republican in political affiliations; as such he was called to fill many positions of honor and trust. He was town clerk many years; was many times chosen overseer of the poor and selectman; held the commission of justice of the peace for nearly all of his active life; was called to represent his district in the Lower House of the State Legislature twice, discharging his duties with impartiality and ability. He was, during his extended business life, called to administer on many estates, and from his cautious, careful, and wise advice many received much benefit. He was a man who, while unostentatious in his giving, did not withhold a helping hand from worthy charities or public benefactions, but gave liberally. He was a man of strict integrity, of many virtues, and one whose life served well to merit the confidence and esteem which he received from a large circle of friends. He died March 17, 1865, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.

Charles Spooner Taber

Charles Spooner Taber, son of Jacob and Dolly (Spooner) Taber, was born on the old Taber homestead in Fairhaven, Dec. 5, 1809. His earliest ancestor of the name in Fairhaven was Thomas Taber (son of Philip, who came to this country probably in 1633, and lived successively in Watertown, Yarmouth, Martha's Vineyard, Portsmouth, R. I., and Tiverton), who was born in 1645, settled here as early as 1672, and died in 1730. He was a mason by trade, and built and occupied a stone house at Oxford village, which was recently demolished. Capt. Taber inherits his landed estate, north of Oxford village, from this

Thomas, his great-great-grandfather, through his greatgrandfather Jacob (born in 1683, died in 1773), his grandfather Bartholomew (born in 1717, died in 1803), and his father Jacob (born in 1775, died in 1815). Capt. Taber's father, a sailor, died, when he was about six years old, of spotted fever, and remaining with his mother until he was sixteen, he shipped as common sailor on the " Columbus," bound for Marseilles with a cargo of oil. After his return he attended the academy at Fairhaven for a year or so, and again entered the merchant service as sailor, and remained in that for a number of years, rising to the position of first mate. Thinking whaling more profitable, he arranged to go a voyage on a whaler as boatsteerer, and was conveyed to the vessel by his brother, Jacob S., who on his way back to the shore was drowned. This sad event changed his course. He gave up the voyage, and for two years carried on outfitting for sailors. In 1835 he shipped as boat-steerer on ship "Shylock," of Rochester, a whaler, bound for Tristan d'Acunha Island and South Atlantic. Returning in ten months, he shipped on next voyage as first mate of the same ship, and went to the Indian Ocean and Madagascar coast. After a voyage of twenty months he was given command of the same vessel, and in his first voyage of twenty months circumnavigated the globe. He sailed again in 1839 as master of the " Shylock," and went to New Zealand and New Holland. After getting nearly two thousand two hundred barrels of oil, two thousand five hundred being a full cargo, he concluded to go to the Fiji Islands for balance of load. They were becalmed off these islands, when a breeze sprang up, and about ten or eleven o'clock at night the ship struck on a reef not located on the charts. She went to pieces rapidly. Capt. Taber went below and hurriedly took his quadrant, compass, and glass, and without his boots succeeded in reaching one of the three boats. The islands were inhabited by cannibals, and the captain distrusting their hospitality shaped his course for the Friendly Islands. Two boats got clear, but one was lost, yet of the entire crew only one, a boy, was lost. After two days' and three nights' exposure to the elements and hunger and thirst they came to the sought for islands, and were kindly received and entertained. They went from one island to another until they came to Vavau, one of the Tonga Islands, where was an English Methodist missionary station. The missionaries relieved their necessities, placed their vessel at Capt. Taber's service, and after he visited all their stations they conveyed him to Hobartstown, whence he went to Sydney, New Zealand, and thence to Boston. Of these kind and faithful missionaries Capt. Taber retains the warmest memories.

He was soon offered command of several vessels, and accepted that of the " Huntress," of New Bedford, and made a highly successful voyage of thirty months, visiting the Indian and South Pacific Oceans. This was his last completed voyage. After his return he started on another trip as master of the " Elizabeth," of New Bedford, but failing health, with indications of consumption, caused him to leave his vessel at Pernambuco and return home. Since then he has attended to the culture of the ancestral acres granted to his ancestor, John Cooke, and held by him in direct inheritance through Thomas Taber, as before mentioned. Capt. Taber married, Dec. 8, 1846, Laura Hathaway, daughter of Obed and Abby (Hathaway) Nye. Her father was a merchant for many years at the "Head of the River" (Acushnet), was born in Fairhaven, and a member of one of the old and honored families.

Capt. Taber is Republican in politics, but is content to remain outside of official honors and preferment. He is of sanguine temperament, is pleasing and social in his intercourse with others, and having amassed sufficient wealth to be removed from any pecuniary anxiety, is enjoying life with a quaint and happy philosophy, and with content is passing on towards the " twilight" in a home cheered by a more than ordinary intelligent and agreeable wife. He is liberal in religion, and with his wife attends the Unitarian Church. He is probably the only one living who bid off a seat in the church (then Freewill Baptist) at its dedication in December, 1832. All in all, Capt. Taber is a fair type of the hardy, resolute whalers of the most prosperous days of that great industry of this part of New England.

Ellery T. Taber

Ellery Tompkins Taber, son of Timothy and Peace (Kelly) Taber, was born in Fairhaven, Mass., Aug. 23, 1809. His father was a painter by avocation, and followed the sea. He was on the sloop "Thetis," bound for Savannah, when that ill-fated vessel was capsized in a squall, in November, 1809, and with the rest of the persons on board was lost. Thus, at the early age of three months, Ellery was left an orphan. Mrs. Taber, the mother of Ellery, was descended on her mother's side from the Wood family, which was one of the old families of the town, and, like the Tabers, largely connected with its history.

Ellery was taken home by his father's sister, Mrs. Mercy Tompkins, and was given the name of her husband, Ellery Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins was a carpenter by trade, and in his pleasant family Ellery remained until he was thirteen years old, receiving the instruction given in the village schools. He then shipped on board the sloop "Julia Ann," plying between New Bedford and Albany and New Bedford and New York, and continued on her for four years. He next shipped as foremast hand on ship "Millwood," a whaler bound for Brazil Banks. This voyage lasted one year, and he remained on her for another voyage of the same length. His third voyage was in ship " Leonidas" as boat-steerer for eighteen months. He was next third mate of ship

" Meteor," of Hudson, on a voyage of eleven months to Tristan d'Acunba. Then we find him first mate of the " Alexander" for a ten months' voyage, and from this he went in the same capacity on the good ship "James," of New Bedford, going to the Indian Ocean and Mozambique Channel. After this voyage of nineteen months he was promoted to master of the same vessel, and remained her captain for three voyages. He next took command of the " Montpelier," of New Bedford, and made a long cruise in the Indian and North Pacific Oceans.

In 1846, having acquired a competency, he retired from active labor, and has since resided in his pleasant home in his native town. His seafaring life was not only successful financially, it was fortunate. He never was shipwrecked, never had the slightest accident, and during his numerous voyages lost but one man. He married (first), in 1836, Emily, daughter of William and Emma Taber White, of Fairhaven. She died in 1842, and several years after her death he married her youngest sister, Maria. Mrs. Taber is a lineal descendant of Peregrine White, of " Mayflower" birth. Her great-grandfather lived in Freetown, where her grandfather, William, was born. He moved to Fairhaven, was a blacksmith, and very prominent in business circles. He built probably the first cotton-factory in the State, on the Acushnet River. His six sons became manufacturers. His son William was father of Mrs. Taber.

Mr. Taber is Unitarian in religious belief; has ever voted the Democratic ticket, even when barely half a dozen votes were cast in the town. His townsmen have intrusted him with the office of selectman, but he has never cared for office. A quiet, unassuming man, he illustrates finely what may be accomplished with steady, persistent effort by a poor, uneducated boy relying on his own exertions.

Cyrus D. Hunt

Cyrus D. Hunt was born in East Weymouth, Nov. 15, 1833. He attended the public schools of his native place until thirteen years of age, when he assisted his father, who rebuilt the government breakwater of Fort Adams, Newport, R. I. He worked with him for three years, during the summer, attending school in East Weymouth during the winters of that time. At the age of sixteen he entered the nailfactories of the Weymouth Iron Company, and learned the trade of making cut nails. He worked at his trade ten years, - five in East Weymouth, one in Providence, R. I., and four in Somerset, Mass. By too close application to his work he impaired his health so much he was obliged to leave the factory in 1861. After a few months' recreation he entered the Bridgewater Normal School. For this step he had prepared himself by study while at work at his trade.

64. In the summer of 1864 he entered the employ of the American Nail-Machine Company, of Boston. This company purchased property at Fairhaven, Mass., to which place the machinery and business was transferred in 1865. Mr. Hunt took charge of the business at the time of the transfer, and having convinced his directors of the necessity of a change in the business, they authorized him to engage in the manufacture of tacks and small nails. The company was reorganized in 1867, and named the American Tack Company.

By the purchase of the Jude Field trade-mark and the good-will of Mr. Guerineau, son-in-law of Jude Field, the company became the legitimate successors of A. Field, who was one of the first to start the tack manufacture in this county, having begun the business of making tacks and shoe nails in 1824 in the city of New York. Subsequently the company bought out M. M. Rhodes & Sons, of Taunton, who were the first to make lining and saddle nails and tufting-buttons by machinery; also Martin G. Williams, of Raynham, the inventor and original manufacturer of chisel-pointed boat nails. With the advantage of these three established lines of trade the company was able to do a fair business and to increase it by the natural growth of trade and the increase of business of the country.

The company has a capital of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and employs some one hundred and twenty-five hands, including boys and girls, the latter doing the light work and the packing of the goods. The sales of the company aggregate some two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year, and the goods go to all parts of the world, as the tacks and nails made by American manufacturers are regarded as superior to any other made.

Mr. Hunt has been assiduous in his devotion to his business, and being a practical workman, secured success where less attention would have brought failure. In politics he has always been a Republican, being fully convinced that the policy of the Republican party to " foster, protect, and encourage home manufactures" was wise and for the best interests of the people, while a protective tariff furnishes employment, and at the same time provides a revenue for the government in a manner hardly felt by our people. He has voted for every Republican President, and has always used his influence to promote the interests of the party, but has never held any office, believing his time and abilities could be better employed in attention to his business, and that it was better to succeed in a small way than to risk a failure by attempting to do too much.

Mr. Hunt married Sarah E. Mansfield, of Braintree, Mass., who was born March 17, 1837, by whom he has had four children, - Wallace D., Frederick M., Alice E., and Mabel F.

Mr. Hunt's mother was a daughter of Laban Porter, a descendant of Richard Porter, one of the early settlers of Weymouth, who came from Weymouth, England, in 1635.

Enoch Hunt, the paternal ancestor of Cyrus D., came from England to Wessagussett (Weymouth) with the first settlers of that ancient town. He was a blacksmith by trade. He returned to England, but his son Ephraim, born in England in 1610, remained in Weymouth, and became the progenitor of the Weymouth line of the Hunt family. He, like his father, was a blacksmith, and married for his first wife Anna Richards, and for his second, Ebbitt Barns. By these two wives he had six sons, who became the fathers of twenty-six sons and as many daughters, whose descendants are numbered by thousands, and have settled in all parts of the United States.

Ephraim (2), born in Weymouth in 1650, died in 1713. His son John was born in Braintree in 1688, and his son Andrew, born in 1743 and died in 1794, was the father of Daniel, who was the grandfather of Cyrus D.

Obed Nye

The Nye family is of English extraction, and the American branch can claim kindred with the noble families of that name in England. Capt. Obed Nye, born 1737, had two wives, - Mary, born 1739, died March 28, 1797, and Freelove, born 1748, died Nov. 10, 1815. His death occurred Nov. 10, 1815. His son Jonathan was born 1760, and died Nov. 18, 1815. These three deaths so close to each other were caused by that fearful epidemic, " spotted fever," or " black death." Jonathan married Hannah Mandell, born 1776, died Sept. 24, 1844, aged eighty-two. Their son, Obed Nye, was born in Fairhaven (Acushnet) Jan. 25, 1800. He had but limited education from schools, but from the age of fourteen began his business life as clerk in the store of Swift & Nye, at the " Head of the River," where he stayed until he was of age. Then he became a partner, the firm becoming Swift, Nye & Co. This firm continued many years, and Mr. Nye remained connected therewith until 1861, when he retired, having acquired considerable property. He did a great deal of measuring lumber in his time, and had quite a reputation in that way. He was a self-made man. His first capital was borrowed, but his honesty, energy, and thrift were the foundations of his success. He married, Oct, 16, 1821, Abby, daughter of William and Abigail Hathaway, of New Bedford. She died May 10, 1864, aged sixty-three. (See biography of William Hathaway, Jr., of New Bedford.) Of their children five lived to grow up, - Laura H. (Mrs. Charles S. Taber), Abbie P. (married David S. Hall,

Mr. Nye was of active and energetic temperament, was for many years an agent for Hingham Fire Insurance Company, and represented his district in the Lower House of the State Legislature. He was a man of good habits, of strong powers of thought, and decided principles and opinions. Politically he was a Whig and Republican. He was social and genial in his intercourse with others, and his Christian charity was broad, holding to Unitarian doctrines in belief, although a regular attendant of the Orthodox Congregational Church. He had robust health both in body and mind until a few years previous to his death, which occurred Jan. 29, 1878.