Bristol County, Massachusetts - Biographical sketches (4 of 5 so headed), 1883 (part 3 of 3)

James Munroe Osborn, son of Thomas and Anna (Durfee) Osborn, was born at Tiverton, R. I., Aug. 27, 1822. His grandfather, William Osband, was a native of Newport, R. I., where he was born Aug. 16, 172D; he married Elizabeth Shriove in 1751; had children, Weaver, Elizabeth, Patience (died young), Thomas, William, and Wilson, and died Oct. 29, 1810, aged eighty-one. Thomas Osborn, father of J. M., was born at Tiverton, R. I., March 31, 1766 ; was a ship's cooper, and when not on a voyage engaged in farming. He married Anna Durfee in 1797, had nine children, of whom James M. was the youngest. He died, aged sixty-seven, Oct. 7, 1833. His mother being left a widow when James was eleven years old, he remained with her on the farm, availing himself for six years of such common-school advantages of education as were given by the town schools, when he learned the blacksmith trade of his brother, Weaver, with whom he stayed three years ; he was then twenty. Going back to the farm, he tried seine fishing with unsatisfactory results, and relinquishing this field of labor he resumed blacksmithing in Providence and worked in other places until 1845, when he came to Fall River and entered the employ of John Kilburn, for whom he worked until the death of Mr. Kilburn, some eighteen months thereafter. Mr. Kilburn's shop was shortly after taken by Kilburn & Lincoln, and Mr. Osborn began work for them and continued there until 1855. In February of that year he joined his brother, Weaver, in the purchase of the shop of Gideon Packard, No. 44 Bedford Street, where they commenced business for themselves under the firm-title of W. & J. M. Osborn.

In 1859 the incentive of making Fall River a leading manufacturing centre of the State was given to the live business men of the city, and W. & J. M. Osborn became interested in and helped build the Union Mill, so soon to be followed by others. The firm afterwards took stock and were interested in the Granite Mill, and in 1867 invested largely in the Merchants' Manufacturing Company, in which corporation Mr. Osborn was made a director. Companies desiring to establish themselves here soon saw that the assistance of this active and progressive firm was a step, and not an unimportant one, to success, and the members of it were soon associated with others in the erection of the Stafford Mill. By this time other and weightier duties superseded the business which the firm was organized to transact, and, retaining the firm-name, the blacksmithing was dropped. Mr. Osborn, in 1871, was elected director and treasurer of the Slade Mill, then organized, and devoted himself to the duties of that office, and superintended the building of the mill. The next corporation in which the brothers were interested was the Osborn Mill. The copartnership of W. & J. M. Osborn continued until 1880. They were interested in the Union Belt Company, Fall River Bobbin Mills, Montaup Mills, and other corporations.

Mr. Osborn married, Aug. 9, 1847, Mary B., daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth (Buffinton) Chace, of Somerset. (See history of Chace family in history of Fall River in this volume.) They have had three children, only one of whom, James E., now survives. He was born Jan. 24, 1856, graduated at Fall River High School, married Delia S., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Durfee) Carr, and has one child, Marion.

Mr. Osborn is a director of the Globe Yarn-Mill, Merchants' Manufacturing Company, and a trustee of the Fall River Five Cents Savings-Bank. In politics Whig and Republican. He has been from early life a temperance worker in connection with the order of Sons of Temperance. He has never used tobacco or liquor. He has been a member of the city government, serving in both branches. He and his wife have been long connected with the Second Baptist Church of this city as members, and Mr. Osborn has been for several years and is now chairman of the standing committee of the society. Mr. Osborn erected the pleasant residence which is now his home in 1859, occupying it the same year. He is a pleasant, affable man, and has been truly the architect of his own fortune, and enjoys a warm place in the regards of many friends.

Danforth Horton

Danforth Horton, son of Aaron and Bethaney (Baker) Horton and grandson of Solomon Horton, was born in the town of Dighton, Mass., Nov. 19, 1812. His grandfather, Solomon Horton, married Hannah Talbot, a native of Dighton, and had ten children, seven sons and three daughters, - Aaron Horton, son of Solomon and Hannah (Talbot) Horton, was born in Dighton, Mass., in 1779 or 1780, and died Dec. 3, 1854, aged seventy-four years. He married Bethaney, daughter of Samuel Baker, of Rehoboth, and had five sons and two daughters, viz., Mason, deceased ; Danforth ; Hiram ; Nancy B., wife of Jarvis W. Eddy ; Nathaniel B. ; Angelina, wife of Levi Baker; and Alvah, deceased.

Mr. Horton married for his second wife Sally, daughter of Cromwell and Sarah (Mason) Burr, of Rehoboth. Danforth Horton spent his youth on his father's farm, and attended the common schools until about the age of nineteen, when he began to learn the trade of a mason with James Horton, of Rehoboth. He subsequently worked at his trade in Providence, Taunton, and New Bedford, and in 1833 settled in Fall River, where he has ever since resided.

About one year after his arrival in Fall Eiver he formed a copartnership with Lloyd S. Earle, which continued till 1860. As contractors and builders during that period they did a large amount of business, erecting in whole or in part some of the most substantial buildings in the city, including many of the business blocks and dwellings. They carried on every kind of masonry, and as builders sustained a high reputation for the substantial and solid character of their work.

In 1858, Mr. Horton was elected surveyor of highways, and two years afterwards superintendent of streets, which latter position he held till 1878, and for a considerable period of the time held the office of surveyor of highways.

Mr. Horton was superintendent of lights for many years, and for some time had charge of the teams of the fire department. As superintendent of sewers he had charge of all those constructed prior to 1878. He is a director in the Eobeson Mills, and president of the company since February, 1882. He has also been a director of the Bourne & Stafford Mills since the organization of the companies, and was a director for some time of the Merino and Tecumseh Mills, and of the Fall River Granite Company. He is at the present time a director of the Pocasset National Bank, and a trustee and vice-president of the Citizens' Savings-Bank, of Fall River.

In his political principles he was in early life a Democrat, affiliating with the Free-Soil branch of the party in 1836 and subsequently, so that in 1856 it was easy for him to join the Republican movement, of which he has since been a stanch advocate, although never aspiring to political honors.

He married Sarah B., daughter of Carlton and Sarah (Brayton) Sherman, of Fall River, Jan. 29, 1835. She was born in Fall River Feb. 18, 1810. Her father, Carlton Sherman, was a native of Freetown, a son of Silas Sherman, and had four children, - Benjamin B., Zeruiah A., Persis P., and Sarah B. He was a farmer and cabinet-maker, and died, in his seventy-fourth year, July 10, 1849. His wife died Jan. 15, 1845, aged seventy years.

Dan forth Horton is one of the self-made men of his time. Starting out a farmer's boy, with limited education, and with no capital save his own indomitable energy and perseverance, he has made his way to a high standing among the men of character and business integrity of Fall River.

Lloyd Slade Earle

LLOYD SLADE EARLE. Lloyd Slade Earle, son of Sladeand Hannah (Gibbs) Earle, was born in Somerset, Mass., Dec. 11, 1812, and soon after settled in the town of Swansea. Slade Earle, his father, was a farmer in that town, where he was born in 1791. He married, in 1812, Hannah Gibbs, daughter of Robert Gibbs, and had six children, viz. : Lloyd S., Gibbs, George W., Slade W., Hannah J. (Mrs. William Maxam, of Swansea), and John M. Slade Earle and his wife were members of the Baptist Church in Rehoboth.

Lloyd S. spent his youthful days in Swansea. His advantages for an education were such as the common schools of his day afforded to farmers' boys who had to work during the summer, as our subject generally did, either on his father's farm or hired out to some neighboring farmer, till the age of seventeen.

It was at this age, in 1829, that he went to New Bedford to learn the mason's trade. After serving an apprenticeship of four years with Pierce & Wheaton, contractors and builders, he went to Fall River in the summer of 1834, and found employment with Ephraim G. Woodman, and the fall of the same year entered into copartnership with his brother-in-law, Danforth Horton, for the purpose of carrying on the contracting and building business. Mr. Earle did not, however, at once embark in business, but returned to Swansea, and taught school during the winter of 1834-35 in his own district. The two following winters he taught in Dighton. The partnership with Mr. Horton continued till 1860, during which time they did a large business. After it Avas dissolved Mr. Earle continued to carry on a heavy business of his own, erecting some of the finest mills and houses in Fall River. He built sixteen mills, among which we may mention the Granite Mills, American Print- Works (twice, on account of fire), Flint Mills, American Linen Mill, Shove Mills, Union Mills (first), Bourne Mill, and Wampanoag Mill No. 2. He has been a very successful contractor for brick and stone work, and also for finishing, plastering, etc., the interiors of houses.

In politics, Mr. Earle was first a Democrat, acting with the Free-Soil branch of the party, and has been a Republican since that organization was formed, in 1856. He has taken some interest in local affairs. He served one year as a member of the Common Council of Fall River, and in 1860-61 he was a member of the General Court. He has always been a strong temperance man, having never used tobacco or liquors of any kind.

He married Persis P., daughter of Carlton Sherman and Sarah Brayton, in 1836. She was a daughter of Carlton and Sarah (Brayton) Sherman, and was born in Fall River, Jan. 23, 1808. She had one brother and two sisters, viz., Benjamin B., Zeruiah A., and Sarah B.

daughter of Durfee Borden, of Fall River, and had three children, - Lloyd B., died in infancy; Emma P. and Mary A., with their mother, survive. Andrew B. Earle was a grocer. He died Jan. 12, 1867, aged twenty-nine years.

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd S. Earle are members of the First Baptist Church in Fall River. He has taken a deep interest in Sunday-school work, and has been a teacher, more or less, for nearly forty years.

He is a director in the Shove, Wampanoag, Robeson, and Bourne Mills, a trustee of the Citizens' Savings-Bank, and member of its board of investment.

Mr. Earle is actively connected with some of the leading enterprises of Fall River, and has taken a deep interest in all public improvements, as well as in all measures and institutions calculated to conserve the moral and intellectual welfare of the community.

He is a self-made man, and the architect of his own fortune, having started in life a poor boy, and by his own unaided exertions made his way to the honorable standing which he holds among the substantial men of the city. In all his business and social relations he has sustained a high reputation for honor and integrity.1

William Marvel

William Marvel was born in Swansea, Mass., on the 21st day of March, in the year 1800. His father, William Marvel, was a mason by trade, and the Marvels, Marbles, or Marbels, for these are different spellings of one family name, had been generally" mechanics since they came to this country from Wales, about the year 1650. Charles and Joseph, brothers, and the first of the name in this part of the State, were ship-builders, and many of their descendants followed the same profession, building vessels for Newport, New Bedford, Warren, and neighboring ports. Prudence Mason, his mother, was descended from a family of Baptist Puritans, who fled to this country at the time of the Restoration. Many of the Masons were well-to-do farmers, but several are recorded as tanners and shoemakers. Is it to be wondered at that coming from such a stock, the child should have developed a remarkable love and aptitude for the mechanical arts ?

About the year 1805 or 1806 a small cotton-mill was started in what was then known as the " Mason neighborhood," now Swansea Factory, by those pioneers of manufacturing in this county, the Wheelers - Nathaniel and Dexter - and Oliver Chace. When the mill was put in operation, William Marvel, then hardly six years old, was hired to tend the "breaker" or carding-machine. He remained here, employed in different parts of the mill, most of the time until 1812 or 1813. His work was occasionally interrupted by attendance at school during the summer term, and for a month or six weeks in winter, and by two longer intervals, when he was engaged in farming. In 1813 he was hired to clean and repair the machinery of a small mill, situated in what was then a part of Tiverton, now Globe village. At that time there were no spindles running in Fall River, but in the next year the Troy Mill was built. His services seem to have been demanded in all the earlier manufacturing; enterprises in this city, for in 1814 he was employed in the Troy Mill, the next year as overseer in a small mill owned by Dexter Wheeler, and later hired by Benjamin E. Bennett, carding rolls for hand-spinning. He was constantly occupied in the mills either in Fall River or Swansea until 1819, when a long, severe illness prostrated him. Before he regained sufficient strength to endure the confinement and hard work of a factory, he learned the shoemakers' trade, and was occupied one season seining herring and shad at Dighton.

In 1821 he returned to Fall River, and was overseer in the old Troy Mill until it was destroyed by fire in October of that year, and afterwards found work in the machine-shops of Oliver Chace, and Harris, Hawes & Co.

Mr. Marvel was married on the 4th of March, 1827, to Lydia Gifford, daughter of Daniel Giffbrd, of this city. They had three children, - one son, died in infancy, and a daughter, died at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and a daughter, Ann E., married, May 14, 1855, William W. Stewart, son of Anthony Stewart, of Newport, R. I. In 1824 the firm of Harris, Hawes & Co. was dissolved, but Oliver Hawes continued the business, hiring William Marvel to build spinning-frames, and in 1825 the two formed a copartnership. They not only built machines, but owned and ran a small mill, making satinet wraps for J. & J. Eddy. Finding their business increased beyond their facilities, in 1841 they hired a new shop of the Iron- Works Company, and at the same time took William C. Davol into partnership. Mr. Davol about this time obtained a patent on a speeder, and soon after introduced the " Sharp & Roberts' Self- Acting Mule," the first in this country. The possession of these two patents brought a great amount of business to the firm, and for nearly forty years Marvel & Davol (Mr. Hawes withdrew in 1857) were employed in building machinery for every department of cotton-manufactory, besides looms for weaving linen-damask. Their machines were in demand through the whole country from Biddeford and the many factory-towns of Maine through all the New England States, New York, New Jersey, and as far south as Baltimore. They supplied all the spinningmachinery for the great Pacific Mills at Lawrence, and until within a few years no mill has been built in Fall River without their help in some of its equipments. Mr. Marvel withdrew from active participation in the business about 1865, but it was not until the works were destroyed by fire, April 14, 1876, that he finally severed his connection with the firm, which three years later sold out to the Iron-Works Company.

Many positions of trust, requiring business ability and sound judgment, have been offered to Mr. Marvel at various times, but, naturally retiring and reluctant to accept responsibility, they were generally refused. He was for a short time director in the Metacomet Bank. In his earlier days he held numerous public offices, was chairman of the school committee, and several times elected fireward, holding a position similar to that of our chief engineers. In connection with Thomas Durfee, he made the first hook-and-ladder apparatus used in this city. He was for many years inspector of steamboats for Fall River, New Bedford, and Newport. In politics he has always voted the old Whig or Republican ticket, and in the war of 1812 joined a volunteer company, but was never called into active service.

Such is a brief outline of the busy life of an energetic, persevering man. Fall River is justly proud of her rapid growth and supremacy in manufactures, and that supremacy is due to the labors of just such earnest, skillful, keen-sighted, hard-working men. It is the opinion of one of our oldest and most successful business men, whose portrait also appears in this book, that the name of William Marvel is more closely identified with the progress of manufactures in this city than that of any other man.

The story of his life is a history of every advance and improvement in cotton manufacturing for more than fifty years, during which he was employed in building machinery. Eminently practical, he knew the whole business, from the earliest and simplest processes to the action of every steel nerve and iron muscle in the elaborate and complicated machines of the present day. His success in his chosen profession was due not only to his industry, ambition, and careful attention to the details of business, but to an unusual talent for mathematics. Taught by himself, he mastered the deep principles of that science, and spent many hours solving the knotty problems involved in calculating the intricate movements of different machines. As far as can be ascertained, he is the oldest cotton-spinner now living in Bristol County. Mr. Marvel is what is called a " self-made man." With far less than the advantages that every child now enjoys, and obliged to assist in the support of his father's family at an age when many are scarcely out of the nursery, he has by his own unaided efforts acquired an enviable position in the community, and now at eighty-three, still hale and vigorous, is enjoying his richly-deserved rest, respected by all for his clear judgment, unbending integrity, and upright, useful life.

Samuel Martin Luther

Samuel Martin Luther, son of Samuel and Abigail Luther, was born in the town of Swansea, Mass., Nov. 15, 1806. His grandfather, Frederick Luther, was a native of Warren, R. I., where he lived and died at a ripe old age. He was a farmer by occupation and had children, one of whom was Samuel, who was born in Warren and settled in Swansea, where he followed the occupations of farmer and carpenter. He died in Fall River in the fall of 1843, and his wife Abigail died in 1858 or 1859. Their children were: (1) Rebecca, married James Bowen ; (2) Polly, married Willard Barney; (3) Abby, married James Richards; (4) Daniel B., followed the seas; (5) Priscilla, married John Bushee; (6) Samuel M. ; and (7) Nancy, married John Baker.

Samuel M. Luther had very limited advantages for an education. He attended the district school some three months every winter (when not otherwise engaged) until he was about seventeen years of age. He remained at home, working on the farm, till the spring of 1826, when he came to Fall River and commenced as an apprentice at the mason's trade with John Phinney, one of the early contractors and builders of Fall River. After serving his apprenticeship of three years, he continued to work for Mr. Phinney as a journeyman till 1831, when he began business for himself as a contractor and builder. The first work he did after starting for himself worthy of mention was the building of the stone church (Congregational) situated on North Main Street, Fall River. Since that time he has had a hand, in whole or in part, in the construction of many of the most substantial dwelling-houses and mills in this city.

As a contractor and builder, Mr. Luther has been one of the most successful in Fall River. Being a practical workman himself, he has given his personal attention to all his more important jobs, and was ever careful to see that those whom he employed did their work well. He required no more of others than he was willing to do himself. He has been a director in various corporations in Fall River, and is at the present writing director in Robeson Mill.

Politically, he is a Republican. He has been twice married, first to Abby M. Bosworth, of Warren, R. I. Of this union three, children were born, all of whom died young. Mrs. Abby M. (Bosworth) Luther was born Feb. 21, 1809, and died July 11, 1854. Mr. Luther married for his second wife Harriet, daughter of William and Susanna (Spencer) Bateman, Nov. 18, 1857. She was born July 8, 1817, in Newport, R. I. They have one son, Charles B., born Nov. 15, 1860, in Fall River. He prepared for college at the High School in this city, and graduated from Brown University in the class of 1883.

Mr. Luther commenced life a poor boy, but by his indomitable energy, keen perceptions, good sense, sound judgment, coupled with honesty and economy, he has accumulated a competency for old age.

He detests anything that savors of shams, hut honors all well-directed efforts which have for their object the good of society and the elevation of mankind.

John Palmer Slade

John Palmer Slade, son of John and Mary Slade, was horn in Somerset, Bristol Co., Mass., Nov. 13, 1824. He is of Welsh descent, and traces his lineage back to Edward Slade, who was born in Wales and came to Newport, E. I., among the early settlers of that colony. William, the son of Edward, was the founder of the family at Slade's Ferry, in Somerset, and settled there in 1680. The line of descent is as follows: On the paternal side, Edward1, William', Edward3, Edward4, Baker5, John6, John7, and John P.8; on the maternal side, Edward1, William2, Edward3, Edward*, Baker5, Edward6, Mary Slade7, John P.8

His grandfather, John Slade, on his father's side, and Edward, ou his mother's side, who were brothers, lived in Swansea and Somerset, and were respectable farmers. John Slade married Phoebe Pierce, of Somerset, and had sons, Pierce, John, and Edmund. Dying at the age of twenty-seven, his widow married Wing Eddy, by whom she had several children, and died at an advanced age.

John Slade, son of John, was born in Swansea, and married Mary, daughter of Edward Slade, of Somerset. They had children, - Winslow (lost at sea), John P., Edward and Mary (twins, died in infancy). The father died at the age of twenty- seven, and the mother at thirty-nine.

John P. Slade, the subject of our sketch, was deprived of his father at the early age of four years, and of his mother at fourteen. Being without a home, he went to live with Capt. Robert Gibbs, a farmer of Somerset, Mass. He continued there until about the age of eighteen, when a desire for higher knowledge than he had been able to obtain in early boyhood at the common schools induced him to spend some six months at Myers Academy, in Warren, R. I.

In the fall of 1841 he came to Fall River, Mass., as a clerk for Hale Remington, who was then engaged in the grocery and drug business. He remained in this capacity about eight months, when he accepted a clerkship with his cousin, F. P. Cummings, a cotton dealer and general merchant, located at Georgetown, S. C. At the end of the following eight months he entered into copartnership with Mr. Cummings, under the name and style of Cummings & Slade, and after some two years he purchased his partner's interest, settled up the business, and came to Fall River in the spring of 1848. For the next seven years he served as clerk and conductor for the Fall River Railroad Company, which was afterwards changed into the Old Colony.

In 1855 he entered the office of Hale Remington, a general commission merchant, as clerk and salesman, and continued in his employ three years.

In January, 1858, he formed a copartnership with A. B. Macy (firm of Slade, Macy & Co.) in wholesale commission and insurance business at Fall River. At the close of the first year the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Slade continued the business alone until January, 1879, when he associated with himself his eldest son, Leonard N. Slade (firm of John P. Slade & Son, engaged in the general commission and insurance business).

Mr. Slade began life as a poor boy, dependent upon his own unaided exertions for success in whatever branch of industry he might choose to pursue. He is in every respect a self-made man, and the architect of his own fortune.

At the formation of the Granite Mills corporation in 1863 he was one of the original subscribers, ,and that corporation was organized in his office, and he was elected a director in 1873. At the organization of the Davol Mills in 1867 he was made a director. In 1872, at organization of Shove Mills, was made treasurer and director, and at the death of its president, Charles O. Shove, in 1875, was elected president, and served until 1880. He is also a director of the Weetamoe Mills, and president of Laurel Lake Mills.

Oct. 25, 1856, soon after the organization of the Fall River Five Cents Savings-Bank, was elected its secretary, and still remains in that position. Has been a director of the Fall River National Bank since January, 1865.

Mr. Slade has been married three times, - first to Sarah L. Lewin, daughter of Martin and Mary Lewin, of Somerset, Mass. She died of typhoid fever soon after marriage. Second, to Ruth Ann Gardner, daughter of Preserved S. and Ann Maria Gardner, of Swansea, Mass., by whom he had two sons, Leonard N. and Abbott E. Slade, both living ; the latter is now treasurer of Laurel Lake Mills. Third, to Lois A. Buffinton, daughter of Moses and Ruth B. Buffinton, of Swansea, Mass. They have had four children, viz., Mary E., Benjamin (deceased), John Milton (deceased), and Louis Palmer.

Benjamin Covel

BENJAMIN COVEL. Benjamin Covel, son of Benjamin and Polly (Newell) Covel, was born in the town of Berkley, Mass., March 2, 1818. His father was a native of Killingley, Conn., and was a farmer and ship-carpenter by occupation. He was twice married, - first | to Polly Newell, and had children, Samuel and Benjamin ; second, to Susan Tinkham. He settled in Berkley previous to his first marriage, and continued i to reside there until his death. March 15, 1848, aged ! sixty-four years.

remained at home, working upon his father's farm, until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Fall River, and commenced as an apprentice at the carpenter and joiner trade with Melvill Borden, a contractor and builder in wood. He remained with him about a year and a half, when he went and finished his apprenticeship with the firm of Pierce, Mason & Co., and continued in their employ till the summer of 1842. In September of that year he went to Boston as a boss-carpenter to work for Samuel Sanford. Mr. Covel had the general oversight of all the repairing and erection of new tenement-houses put up by Mr. Sanford. In November of the same year he returned to his native town (Berkley), and remained there the winter following, and in the spring of 1843 went to Fall River, and in company with James Smith built the Pearl Street Church, Richardson House, Wilbur House, and many more. Mr. Covel has been constantly employed for the past forty years as a contractor and builder in wood, not alone in Fall River, but in Boston, Newport, R. I., and elsewhere. Among the finest buildings erected by him in Fall River we may mention the Troy Buildings, the Durfee Block, the residence of William C. Davol, Jr., A. S. Covel, and many others. At the time of the extension of the Old Colony Railroad from Fall River to Newport, he built all the bridges and depots on the line. At the present writing (1883) he is putting up a large freight-house in Boston for the Old Colony Company, which is sixty by three hundred and eighty feet. He has been president and director of the Crescent Mills since its organization, and vice-president and trustee of the Union Savings- Bank.

Politically he is a Republican. He has held various offices of trust and honor in his adopted city, and has been a delegate to County and State Conventions. On the 14th of December, 1841, he married Angeline, daughter of Halsey and Mercy (Allen) Baker, of Dartmouth, Mass. She was born Jan. 3, 1821, in Dartmouth. They have four children, - (1) Alphonso S., treasurer of Crescent Mills; (2) Benjamin F., a machinist; (3) Thomas D., a merchant under the firm-name of Sanford & Covel ; (4) Ina F., who died at two years of age.

Mr. Covel commenced life a poor boy, but by his characteristic energy, indomitable will, quick perception, and resolute character he has surmounted all obstacles, and is now (1883) in good circumstances, and is surrounded with all the comforts of a happy home.

James Henry

Fall River owes an imperishable debt to such men as James Henry, who, with well-stored minds of practical knowledge, have given large and comprehensive abilities, sterling integrity, and wise and sagacious industry to the development of those manufacturing interests that are the source of her wealth and prosperity. Justice to the men who have spent long lives in her service demands that they be worthily mentioned in her history, and we give an outline of the business career of one of its most prominent and useful representatives when we write of James Henry. He was born Aug. 5, 1805, in Clitheroe, England. Clitheroe is a busy cotton-manufacturing town on the Ribble, in the greatest cotton-manufacturing district of the world, Lancashire.

Robert Henry, his father, was an overseer of calicoprinting in the employ of James Thompson, who owned and managed the Primrose Print-Works. James Thompson was a famous manufacturer, known for his enterprise and liberality throughout Europe. He selected the best talent to instruct his apprentices, employing several scientific men and French chemists as practical teachers. The system of seven years' apprenticeship was, in his establishment, the best possible educator. Of its immense advantages in the way of securing the most thorough knowledge and highest skill in the learner no one can doubt. Miles Bracewell, father of John Bracewell, for many years had charge of the " color department," and his son was apprenticed in the establishment, and both John Bracewell and James Henry are living arguments of the excellence of the apprentice system as existing in Clitheroe.

Robert Henry married Sarah Ireland, and had six children, - Mary, James, Nannie, Catharine, William, and Margaret. They all grew up, had families, and only James and Catharine are living. James was but eight years old when his father died, and his mother was left to struggle with poverty in bringing up her family. She was, however, a woman of rare strength of character, deep Christian fervor, and remarkable industry. Her courage and skill kept the family together, and her uprightness and womanly virtues made her a model mother, whose instructions bore good fruit in succeeding years.

The most of the education received by James in youth was acquired at Sunday-school, which he regularly attended. At a very early age, soon after his father's death, he commenced labor in the printworks as a " tier boy." He continued in this service until he was about eleven, when he was employed for a short period in the department of machine printing, and then was apprenticed to learn " block printing." He began at the lowest round in the ladder of his advancement, and was long and rigidly held at each until he could safely mount the higher one. Seven years were thus passed in the acquisition of knowledge which afterwards made him so important a factor in the rise and fortunes of the American Print-Works and Globe Print-Works. After his apprenticeship he worked for two years longer, when the subtile and irresistible influence of America drew him to her shores. He arrived in Boston Aug. 15, 1829, in the ship " Hellespont," Pratt, master.

After a short visit to friends in Taunton, he went to Springvale, Me., where a number from his native town were engaged in color-printing, and engaged as color-maker. Staying there something more than a year, he went to Lowell, Mass., to work as a colorprinter. Becoming ill, however, he went to Dover, N. H., for medical treatment, and stayed three months. Regaining his health shortly after his return to Lowell in 1832, he was solicited to come to the infant town of Fall River, Mass., and take charge of the color department of the " Globe Print- Works." He accepted the position, and rapidly won a reputation for ability, energy, and skill. From that time to the present, over fifty years, Mr. Henry has been identified with the growth and development of this city. He remained at the " Globe" as color-maker for two years, when he entered the employ of the "American Print- Works," then just organized, as head color-maker. This was under the administration of Holder Borden, who had the tact of securing the best talent in every department. In 1837 he became manager of the American Print-Works, Jefferson Borden becoming agent, on the death of Holder Borden. Mr. Henry had as his assistant his brother, William Henry, who remained with him in that capacity until his death in 1856. Mr. Henry about 1850 was called to be superintendent of the Globe Mills also, and continued to ably direct the fortunes of the corporations under his superintendence. By his tireless perseverance, his quickness of insight, and his perfect command and knowledge of the minute details of every branch of his work he kept the reputation of the goods at the very head of their class, and did much toward establishing the permanent prosperity and reputation of these mills. He continued in these responsible labors until apprised by failing health of the necessity of throwing the arduous duties upon younger men, when, in 1873, he resigned both positions, with the satisfaction of knowing that his son Robert was to succeed him in both.

Mr. Henry has built up a handsome property by his unwearied and faithful services and investments in manufacturing corporations. He has made every dollar he owns in the interests to which his life has been devoted, and is now stockholder in various corporations, both in Fall River and elsewhere. He has been president and director of the Merchants' Mill since its organization. He was a director of the King Philip and Chase Mills also until compelled to resign by failing health.

Though born and educated in England, he became an American from the very day his feet touched American soil. His pride and hopes for this country are as intense as any native son's. His love for Fall River is as tender and steadfast as though its air was the first he breathed, and during his residence here he has endeared himself to all classes of people by his liberality and his keen personal interest in whatever affected the welfare of the city or the condition of its inhabitants. He has been Republican in political sentiment, and was elected alderman in the first city election of Fall River. He has held that office eight years. He was quick to suggest and ready to assist any movement helpful to the material or moral advancement of the city.

He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the prime of life, under the pastorate of Rev. James D. Butler, and has been an ardent supporter of its institutions and every good cause in the community. He has long served as Sunday-school teacher, classleader, and steward, discharging those duties as pleasant labors of love.

For over half a century, from the activities of early manhood to the well-developed years of old age, Mr. Henry has borne himself a gentleman, kindhearted and liberal, and has ever stood high in the esteem of the better element of society.

Hon. John B. Hathaway

In looking over the past history of Fall River, we find some men now living who were in business over half a century ago, and have retired and are enjoying the fruits of their labor at a good old age. Of those now living who toiled in the past and worked their way up from small beginnings to ample fortunes by their persevering industry and close application we now mention Hon. John B. Hathaway. He was son of John and Amy (Read) Hathaway, and was born in Rochester, Mass., June 28, 1809. His parents moved to Assonet (Freetown) when he was but six years old, and from that time he has been identified with Bristol County. When he was eleven, his mother, then a widow, indentured him to a farmer in Berkley to serve five years. This service accomplished he learned the shoemaker's trade, and worked two years in Assonet. He was then requested to remove to Fall River by Gardner D. Cook, of that city, into whose employ he went for six months, receiving twelve dollars per month and board. Thus in a very modest way was his successful career commenced.

In the spring of 1828 he went to work for Andrew Robeson at calico-printing, where he remained until 1831, when he had to leave on account of ill health. He then hired a shoe-shop of Nathaniel B. Borden, located about where Trafton & Anthony's hardwarestore now is in Borden Block. It was about fifteen by twenty feet, formerly used as a tailor-shop on the corner. It was moved three times to make room for other buildings, the first time for the French's building, corner of South Main and Pleasant Streets ; the second to make room for Edward Smith to put up a boarding-house, and the third for Westgate & Craigin to put up a building.

In 1834 he went into Smith's building, and took his brother, Joseph B. Hathaway, into partnership, and added to the boot and shoe business groceries. They remained in company until 1841, when he was taken sick, and sold out to his brother Joseph. In about a year afterwards he started the wholesale grocery business in the basement of the old hotel building, corner North Main and Bedford Streets, where he was burnt out in 1843. Unfortunately he was not insured, and lost every dollar he had in his business. He then put up the first building erected in the place after the fire. It was on Bedford Street, where David Wilcox is now located, and continued the same business until 1854, when he built on the corner of Bedford and Second Streets, where he removed and continued until he sold out to Petty, Lawton & Co. in 1864.

He married Sept. 11, 1832, Mrs. Betsey F. Gray, daughter of Edward and Amy (Tripp) Phillips, of Westport, where she was born. They have no children.

In spite of various disasters Mr. Hathaway was prosperous in business, accumulating a comfortable fortune. He was one of the city's most successful merchants, shrewd as a buyer, expert as a salesman, and with an easy affability of manner which attracted customers. He is now a director in Mechanics' Manufacturing Company, Fall River. In politics he is Republican. He was a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1866-67, and of the Senate in 1869-70, serving his constituents with acceptability.

He owns a pleasant home on the corner of Rock and Cherry Streets, also real estate in various parts of the city, besides a farm near Westport Point, which he has transformed from a rocky and almost barren place to a beautiful summer residence. The past ten years he has passed his winters in Florida. He keeps his eyes open, and has a good idea of what is going on around him. He is a genial companion, fond of a good joke, and has a keen appreciation of humor, and enjoys the esteem of a large circle of friends.

Benjamin Earl

The wise man said, many years ago, that " a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." One of those who has been accorded this "good name" - not by seeking for it, but by the oft-expressed judgment of his fellow-citizens, based upon an upright and correct life through a long series of years, and in many public and private capacities - is the subject of this sketch.

Benjamin Earl has been a resident of Fall River for nearly sixty years, coming to the then rapidly growing village in 1826. He was born at Taunton, Mass., Aug. 7, 1809, and was the third child of Hilliard and Mary Ware Earl. His ancestors have always lived in this section of the State and Eastern Rhode Island. He is a direct descendant of Ralph Earle, who came to this country from the town of Exeter (probably), in England, between the years 1633 and 1638, and settled at Portsmouth, on the island of Rhode Island. We find his name, with nineteen others, appended to a petition to the king, dated April 30, 1838, craving permission to form themselves into a body politic in that town. William Earle, the son of this Ralph, was also of prominence in the town, and with one other erected and maintained the windmill (1668 - 85j on Windmill Hill, so called, and for this valuable service to the town he was given two tracts of land in the immediate vicinity. He also was owner of half a share of the thirty shares into which the land adjoining the " Quequechan" or "Fall" River (at Fall River, Mass.) was divided, and his farm covered what is now one of the most populous and valuable districts of the city of Fall River. His well, which was long distinguished as a most excellent one, and was freely resorted to by the people of fifty years ago, was uncovered recently when putting in the curbing in front of the easterly buttress of the new post-office building.

The descendants of these two men lived at Dartmouth and in New Bedford, Mass. From thence Hilliard Earl, the father of Benjamin, went to Taunton, and, having married, established himself in business, and formed his circle of acquaintances among the first families of that ancient town. But that fell destroyer of New England life, consumption, soon seized him for its victim, and he died at the early age of thirty-seven years, leaving a widow and six young children, the eldest but ten years of age. He had employed all his capital in carrying on his business, and in the settlement of his affairs but little remained for the family. The mother, nevertheless, courageously pressed on, and with prudence and economy successfully reared her young family, trained them in good habits, and gave them a fair common-school education.

Benjamin, at the age of thirteen or fourteen years, made his first venture in life by shipping as cabinboy on one of the numerous fleet of coasting-vessels hailing from Taunton. Like many a boy of our day he found life upon the sea abounding in stern realities, and a severe storm and gale off the coast of Cape Cod thoroughly weaned the young lad from the desire for a seafaring life. Returning to Taunton he became an apprentice to a wool-carder and cloth-dresser, one whose treatment of the orphan boy was such as caused him ever to be held in highest esteem and remembrance. He continued in the business but a few years, when in May, 1826, he came to Fall River and found employment in Bennett's wool-carding mill, then located on Central Street, where now stands the massive and lofty North Mill of the Pocasset Manufacturing Company.

In the fall of the same year (1826) he entered the printing-office of the Fall River Monitor as an apprentice, and became thoroughly acquainted with the business in all its detail as then conducted. His success was such that in the course of a-few years, with the advice and assistance of friends, he was enabled to purchase the entire establishment, both paper and office-material, and on July 1, 1830, not yet having quite attained his majority, he sent forth his first issue as proprietor. He continued the business of printing and publishing until March, 1838, when he sold out in order to devote his time and energies to the cognate branches of the book and stationery trade, into which he had entered a year or two before. The period covered by his publication of the Monitor was an exciting one in the affairs both of the town and the Dation. The late James Ford, Esq., one of the oldest and most highly-esteemed members of the bar of this city, was editor, and its columns were often filled with spice which possibly, on occasions, was of a somewhat personal character. It was the period of the great Morgan excitement on Masonry and anti-Masonry, the paper assuming the Masonic side of the controversy, and its publisher, though never a member of any secret organization, became well known in this section by the sobriquet of " Jack Mason." It was at this time that politics ran high and the famous contest occurred in this Congressional district between Hodges and Ruggles, which required no less than seven elections before the question was settled in favor of the former. This time also covered the Presidential term of General Jackson with its days of " nullification" excitement.

In the spring of 1836, Mr. Earl purchased the bookand stationery-store of Mr. S. L. Thaxter, and was the principal dealer in that department for many years. In the early years of this business, and also in the last two years of the publication of the Monitor, he had associated with him as partner Mr. J. S. Hammond, who at a later period became one of the proprietors of the Providence Journal.

In the memorable great fire of 1843, which swept through the village with such destruction of property as to render many homeless and penniless, Mr. Earl lost his entire stock in trade, and but barely escaped with his life. He had packed his goods into cases, with the vain hope of their removal, and realizing that with their destruction went the savings of many long and laborious years, he lingered so long, while the fire traveled so rapidly, that almost before he was aware of it the buildings were in flames upon both sides of the street. He ran the fiery gauntlet, escaping with the smell of fire upon his garments. His stock of goods was entirely destroyed, and his insurance also came to naught by the failure of the insurance company, which could not meet so large a loss at one time as that caused by the great fire of Fall River. But a good credit secured from his jobbers the voluntary oiler of a new stock of goods as soon as he could find a roof to cover them, and after a temporary resting-place on Pleasant Street, where the Borden Block now stands, he was one of the first to select and occupy a store in the Granite Block (erected in 1844), where he has continued business to the present time. In 1870 he admitted his son, Henry H. Earl, into

While Mr. Earl was neither a politician nor a partisan in the objectionable sense of those terms, he has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, and has been honored by his fellow-citizens in elections and appointments to numerous official positions, covering a period of more than forty years.

He was town clerk from 1836 to 1846; treasurer and collector from 1843 to 1846; representative to the General Court in 1847; selectman from 1847 to 1850; deputy collector of customs for the district of Fall River from 1849 to 1853; a member of the committee on drafting a city charter, which was granted by the Legislature and accepted by the town in the spring of 1854 ; a member of the Common Council and president of the same in 1858 ; an alderman in 1859; city auditor and collector from 1862 to 1867; and a member of the school committee from 1867 to 1870. In 1848 he received a commission as justice of the peace, which he has held by renewals to the present time. In 1853, at the requests of the banks, he was appointed a notary public, and for many years was the principal notary for the financial institutions of the city, holding his commissions by renewals from that date to the present. In 1874 he was commissioned by the Governor (a life appointment) " to qualify and administer the oaths of office to civil officers," and for the past six or eight years (until failing health prevented) has annually inducted into office the successive city governments of the city of Fall River. So that for forty-five years he has been almost constantly in one or more official positions, performing the duties of these diversified trusts with perfect fidelity and rare ability, and proving the wisdom and insight of those who selected him for these varied responsibilities.

He was elected a member of the Fall River Savings-Bank corporation in 1841 ; the next year he was chosen one of the trustees, and in 1852 was placed on its board of investment, where he was continued by annual elections until 1882, when failing sight and hearing caused him to decline further service in that position. He also served as secretary of the board from 1862 to 1880, when, by a change in the by-laws, the treasurer of the bank was made ex officio secretary. His interest in the successful management of this institution, one of the largest in the State, was very great, and during the trying times which came upon the city from 1877 to 1880, the critical periods in its history, excited his liveliest apprehensions, and rested like a great burden upon his mind day and night. None rejoiced more than he when the days of peril were passed and the customary course of financial transactions resumed their sway.

His legislative service was under Governor George N. Briggs, with Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden for senator, and Cushing, Hayden, of the "Atlas," Banks, Bout- well, Schouler, Bird, and others, as colleagues in the house. His aldermanic year under Mayor (now Judge) Josiah C. Blaisdell was distinguished as one in which the government kept within its appropriations for municipal purposes, a wise and conservative course of action, worthy to be followed by its successors. His faithful discharge of duty in his office of collector of taxes for the city is indicated by the fact that while, for the six years previous to his term, the uncollected taxes averaged some three and a half per cent., the average for his six years was reduced to one and three-fifths per cent., and this notwithstanding the tax-levy was increased $167,000, viz. : from $102,000 in 1861 to $269,000 in 1867. Moreover, this period covered that of the civil war, with all its vicissitudes aud the many and rapid changes in the population of a working community.

In 1836, Mr. Earl was brought under more direct religious influences, and having made a public confession of his faith, united with the First (orthodox) Congregational Church of Fall River, then under the pastoral care of Rev. Orin Fowler. Upon the organization of theCentral Congregational Church in November, 1842, he became one of its original members, and in 1844 was elected its first deacon, an office which he has held to the present time. His fidelity in this position is again conspicuously illustrated by the statement that for thirty-three consecutive years he served as office-bearer in the celebration of every communion service, save one, when he was confined to his house by sickness. By reason of his prominence as an officer of the church, his tender sensibilities and kind and considerate action, he was repeatedly called upon by neighbors and friends and fellow-townsmen to superintend the last sad rites to the dead ; and this was continued to a comparatively recent period, when, with the growth of the place and the constant requirements of such service, others made it a special branch of business, and assumed that which beforetime was demanded of neighborly kindness and respect. To within a few years he has also been called upon oftener, perhaps, than almost any other person to assist as bearer on such occasions. The experience gained in this service, prompted him many years ago to secure the construction of a tomb by the town upon the public burial-grounds - the first in the place - for use in stormy and wintry weather, and at such other times as occasion might require. Mr. Earl has filled various other offices in the church and society, as treasurer, member of the standing committee, superintendent of the Sabbath-school, etc.

He took an active part also in the various local associations instituted in past years for the moral and social welfare of the community. An ardent lover of music, he identified himself with most of the musical organizations formed during the first twenty-five years of his residence in Fall River. As a member of church choirs he played upon several instruments - the flute, clarionet, violin, and double-bass viol - previous to the introduction of the modern organ; and when that came into use, continued his interest and services vocally, - a period of some thirty years from first to last. He was leader of a band of field music early in life, and besides seeing service in the military brigades of this section of the State, assisted in the reception to General and President Jackson on his visit to Massachusetts in 1833, - an event of great moment and distinguished honor in those times.

Thus the measure of his days has been filled out in usefulness to others as well as in the care of himself and his ; and whether in public or in private life, in the community as a citizen or as an officer in church, town, or State, at home or abroad, in the house or by the way, he has been faithful to the trusts committed to him ; has shown marked ability in the execution of his numerous and diversified duties, and has merited, as he has received, from a grateful community the "good name" which "is rather to be chosen than great riches."

Mr. Earl was married in Fall River, in 1830, to Miss Nancy Simmons, eldest daughter of Capt. Nathan B. Simmons, then of Tiverton, R. I. They have had a family of six children, two of whom died in infancy, and four of whom are still living, two sons and two daughters. In November, 1880, it coming to the knowledge of their church associates that the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding would occur early in the month of December of that year, arrangements were quietly made, and much to the surprise of the venerable couple, they were invited to celebrate their golden wedding in the parlors of the New Central Church, on the evening of December 2d. A large gathering of old acquaintances, interspersed with many of a younger generation, graced the happy gathering. Their pastor, the Rev. M. Burnham, made a congratulatory address, and placed in their hands an elegant solid silver vase, suitably inscribed as a memorial of the occasion.

A lady friend voiced some of their earlier life experiences in poetical form, while the young men of the congregation brought forward a staff of life in the shape of a substantial gold-headed cane of black ebony. Mr. Earl made a characteristically modest and happy response in receiving these good wishes and elegant and costly tokens of esteem, and acknowledged with heart-felt gratitude the leadings of Divine Providence in all these long years of residence and service in the home of his adoption, together with the measure of temporal prosperity which had attended them.

Two years later, in July, 1882, he was seized with a severe and what appeared at first to be a fatal illness. For some months previous his eyesight had been failing, and now the disease culminated in a partial paralysis of the optic nerve, together with a general weakness of body, which seemed to indicate a breaking down of the hitherto vigorous and healthy constitution. But though prostrate at length upon a bed of sickness, from which he has never risen, and for the past few months shut out from the blessed sunlight by the total loss of vision, he has, nevertheless, retained his courageous spirit and happy, hopeful disposition. Clear in mind, while weak in body, he has found his faith sustained and strengthened in the promises of Him whose coming he awaits with the calmness of a Christian's hope and trust, and whether the time be long or short he has the assurance within of receiving his Master's salutation, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Jefferson Borden

Jefferson Borden, the oldest living person of the residents of Fall River who have been identified with the inception, growth, and the present established supremacy of its distinctive industry, was born on the 28th of February, 1801, in the then village of Freetown. He was the twelfth of thirteen children of Thomas Borden, in the fourth generation from John Borden, the founder of the family in Fall River. His father's farm was situated in the east part of the village, comprising a tract upon which have since been erected the Richard Borden, Chace, and other mills. Jefferson worked on the farm, going to school regularly as the local season commenced, until September, 1816, when, in his sixteenth year, he lefthome for the first time, and obtained a position as clerk in the provision-store of William Valentine, in Providence. In 1819 he returned to Fall River, thoroughly educated in the routine details of a business of trade and barter, but already entertaining the ambitious vision of a commercial career that would recognize no limits of its operations. His brother Richard, six years his senior, was running the craft " Irene and Betsey" in trading trips, in connection with his gristmill, located on the lower stream. For the ensuing year Jefferson, when not absolutely needed on the farm, joined Richard in the sloop expeditions to Conanicut and Prudence. In 1820 the two brothers bought out the small store of Holder Borden, and ! Jefferson was put in to conduct the business. In 1821, upon the organization of the iron-works enterprise, he was chosen clerk of the establishment. He retained this position till September of the following year, when the company opened a warehouse and salesroom in Providence, and the business experience and proclivities he had already demonstrated pointed him out as the most eligible representative of the growing industry. Mr. Borden was a few months over his majority when he undertook the office of agent of the company at Providence, but the shrewd, sagacious promoters of the iron-works knew they had chosen the right man for the place. The event amply proved the correctness of their judgment, the agent's wise, systematic control really directing the home production of the company, while his keen perception and clever manipulation of the market constantly extended the field of its operations throughout the Union.

For fifteen years Jefferson Borden remained at his place in Providence. In 1837 the ill health of his cousin Holder made a vacancy in the management of the American Print-Works, and he was recalled to Fall River.

While in Providence, Mr. Borden had a high position as a business man, and was associated with the men who were then the leaders in business affairs. He is at present probably the last survivor of the board of directors of the old United States Branch Bank, and after that was abolished by Gen. Jackson, was a member of the board of directors of the Blackstone Canal Bank until he removed to Fall River.

For thirty-nine years Mr. Borden was the executive officer and managing agent of the print-works, retiring from active control only during the spring of the present year. He assumed the position at a period which will not be forgotten in financial annals as the extreme test of industrial and commercial endurance. No panic has been more severe and no depression of business more general than that of 1837, and its distressing stringency upon all elements of recuperative life was greater than it could ever again be, in the degree that all industry and enterprise was comparatively immature, the country itself lacking the great elasticity it now possesses in the wonderful development of its natural and productive resources. To undertake the work of carrying a great establishment successfully through such a period of embarrassment on every hand was a terrible trial of a business man's best powers, and it is undoubtedly safe to say that when an all- wise Providence removed Holder Borden, the projector and worker, from the control and direction of the enterprise, the only person thoroughly fitted for the exigency by experience and managing power, and probably superior to Holder in his approved financial ability and estimation among capitalists, was wisely and fortunately chosen.

His well-known reputation for business capacity in Providence was of great assistance in overcoming the difficulties at this most trying period, when not only was there great stricture in the money market, but several of the accredited agents of the company failed.

During the panic of 1857 also Mr. Borden's financial ability was severely tested, and at that time also some of the agents failed. Then, however, Mr. Borden was for weeks confined to his bed by sickness when the difficulties were greatest, but he still conducted his correspondence, dictating to a confidential clerk the replies to his letters, and directing all his business affairs.

Upon the destruction of the American Print- Works by fire in 1867, Mr. Borden's extraordinary capacity for recuperation and support through a most trying period was again in forced requisition. The rapid restoration of the establishment in all its operative powers was truly remarkable. The eyes of all were able to observe with startled wonder the immediate re-erection of the great structure, the spacious rectangle of solid granite going up almost like the Khan's palace in Coleridge's phantasy, and the huge engines and machines reassuming their old places with a concurrent promptness; yet few appreciated or even guessed that greater difficulties than these mere material matters, difficulties calling for rare credit and unquestioned responsibility, had been met and overcome.

Since his return to Fall River, Jefferson Borden has been largely concerned in the various enterprises that have marked the progress of the city. A partner of the deceased Col. Richard in the important special undertakings of his later years, he was with him interested in the old Bay State Steamboat Company (of which he at one time owned three-fifths of the stock), the Fall River Railroad Company, the Borden Mining Company, and other extensive operations.

Another great trust which should be noted in connection with Mr. Jefferson Borden's business career is the management of the Valentine estate as trustee since 1839, at first in connection with Maj. Bradford Durfee, and later with Mr. Philip D. Borden. An eminent probate judge has said that there is scarcely another such case on record of an estate which at its first appraised valuation was less than two hundred thousand dollars, and from which there has already been divided more than ten times that amount among the different heirs as they became of legal age, besides providing for their support in the mean time.

Mr. Borden's retirement from immediate connection with active business has not severed his close relation to the earnest life and progress of his native city. He is still president of the Fall River Iron-Works Company, the Fall River Bleachery, the American Linen Company, the Troy Cotton and Woolen Company, director in Borden Mining Company, the Annawan Manufacturing Company, the Fall River Machine Company, Fall River and Providence Steamboat Company, the Metacomet Manufacturing Company, Fall River Iron-Works, and Fall River Gas Company. He has also been for many years a trustee of Brown University, and until the weight of years made it impossible to attend to the business was an active member of the executive committee of that body, and officially concerned in other business organizations. His long life, full from the start of honest purpose, intense application, and constantly hopeful energy, claims for him at last exemption from the cares of business routine, and Providence has yielded to its declining years the blessings such careers worthily demand, - -competence, the serene joy of a beautiful home, and the affectionate esteem of the community.

Dr. Nathan Durfee

Dr. Nathan Durfee was born in Fall River, then Freetown, in 1799. He was a graduate (with his brother Thomas R.) of Brown University in 1824, they being the first college graduates from this town. He studied medicine, and received the degree of M.D. at Harvard University, but the practice of the profession was not suited to his tastes, and he continued in it but a brief period of time. He opened a drug-store on what is now Central Street, a little distance west of Main, erecting for this purpose the first brick building in the township. It was very small, but was then remarkable for its neatness and beauty, and its adaptedness to the use for which it was constructed. This he occupied until the erection of his brick dwelling-house on the corner of Bank and North Main Streets, where the Narragansett Hotel now stands. The first story of this house he occupied for his store until he gave up the business, after a brief experience in it.

He soon discovered an interest in the growing industries of the place, and though not entering directly upon the management of any one business, was associated with others in the general direction of many new enterprises coincident with the progress of Fall River. In this way he became a director in the Fall River Iron-Works, American Print- Works, the old Fall River Railroad, and the Cape Cod Railroad; was one of the proprietors of the Bay State Steamboat Line; was largely interested in several of the banks, and in later years entered heartily into the new manufacturing projects of the city, and at his death was director in at least seven of the corporations and president of three. In earlier times, as a mercantile venture, he embarked in the whaling business, fitting out, in company with other persons at this port, several vessels for the whale fishery, and establishing oil-works. The venture did not prove very successful, however, and was finally abandoned. A more successful enterprise was a flour-mill, which did an extensive business for many years. He was principal owner of the Massasoit Steam Mill, for the manufacture of print cloths, which were destroyed by fire in 1875.

Besides filling various municipal offices, Dr. Durfee was a representative to the General Court for several years, and was always one of the most publicspirited of citizens. After the "great fire" he erected the Mount Hope Block for a public-house, not as a profitable investment, but to give character and respectability to the then growing town.

Dr. Durfee was a large land proprietor, owning nearly one thousand acres, a portion of it valuable for real estate purposes, in and about the city.

Besides being for some years the president of the Bristol County Agricultural Society, he was the originator and president for a long period of the Bristol County Central Society, and contributed liberally both of money and zeal to its advancement. He was a trustee of the State Agricultural College, and its treasurer until declining health necessitated his resignation. Kind-hearted and genial in his disposition, he was ever ready to help and encourage the unfortunate and despondent, the frequent losses sustained by him in his readiness to aid those seeking his assistance never chilling his sympathy or preventing his efficient action when again sought by any who needed a helping hand. He was a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, and during the active period of his life was a public and efficient worker in it.

The moral and spiritual welfare of his native town and city was ever prominent in the mind of Dr. Durfee, who was one of the earliest projectors of the Sunday-school work, and instrumental in establishing several suburban mission schools. He was closely identified with the Central Congregational Church, being an original member and contributor of onequarter of the lot upon which the society's first house of worship was erected. Always one of its most active and efficient members, he took an especially deep interest in its development, and, with the late Col. Richard Borden, furnished a large portion of the funds used in the construction of the new and elegant edifice erected in 1875, and considered one of the most perfect ecclesiastical structures in the country.

William C. Davol

WILLIAM C. DAVOL. William C. Davol was born Jan. 5, 1806, in Fall River, and while yet a lad entered the Troy Mill, then just commencing operations. He was made overseer of the spinning in 1819, and superintendent in 1827, a position which he occupied until 1841, when he became partner in the firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol, and engaged in the manufacture of cotton machinery. He was an intimate friend of Holder Borden and Maj. Durfee, and when the latter went to Europe, in 1838, to investigate the improvements in cotton and iron machinery, accompanied him. By letters of introduction, a little Yankee ingenuity and persistence, he effected an arrangement with the owners of the Sharp & Roberts self-acting mule, to secure patents for their manufacture in the United States, and the manufacture of cotton and other kinds of machinery from the most approved patterns was entered upon at once by the new firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol. Mr. Davol soon projected improvements to beautify and perfect the operation and durability of the selfacting mule, and from these patterns built one hundred and eighty thousand spindles. In 1847 a newset of patterns were made, which superseded the old, and from which one hundred thousand spindles were soon constructed. In 1852 and in 1854 other new mules were perfected with a combination of improved principles for spinning fine yarn. At the same time Mr. Davol's inventive genius was at work upon other parts of cotton machinery, resulting in patent carders, speeders, and drawing-frames, by which the productive power was quadrupled. The advantage to any manufacturing community to have among its number one such man cannot well be estimated, and the high opinion of Mr. Davol's practical worth may be gathered from the opinion of a well-known cotton manufacturer, as expressed in the statement that " William C. Davol was worth more to Fall River, for the twenty years succeeding the building of the Metacomet Mill, than all others put together because of his improvements in cotton machinery." This is high praise, but is in some respects justified by the statement of another noted manufacturer, who said, " There's more in the man than in the mill."

The Davol Mills, for the manufacture of sheetings, shirtings, silesias, etc., were named after Mr. Davol, who was elected and still holds the position of president of the corporation.

Hon. William Stedman Greene

Hon. William Stedman Greene, ex-mayor of Fall River, was born in Tremont, Tazewell Co., 111., April 28, 1841, and removed with his parents to Fall River, Mass., in July, 1844. He was educated in the public schools of the city, and in the autumn of 1856 was employed in a fancy goods and millinery store, but only continued in that occupation six months. In March, 1858, he entered the employ of John P. Slade in the insurance business, and remained with him until May, 1865.

He was married to Mary E. White, of Providence, R. I., in March, 1865, and they have three children, two sons and one daughter. In 1865 and 1866 was engaged in life insurance business in Providence, R. I., Buffalo, N. Y., and New York City.

In June, 1866, returned to Fall River, Mass., and formed a copartnership with his father, transacting business as auctioneers, real-estate, stock, and insurance brokers under the name and firm of Greene & Son, of which firm he still remains an active member.

In the fall of 1875, Mr. Greene was elected a member of the Common Council from Ward five, and served in that body during the years 1876, '77, '78, '79, and for the last three years named served as president.

He has always been an active Republican, and in 1876 was chosen chairman of the Republican City Committee. An active campaign was entered upon and a canvass of voters made and an estimate of the probable result made, predicting a Republican majority of seven hundred and eighty-seven. The result being that President Hayes had a majority of 861, and the Republicans carried five of the six wards, and gave their senatorial candidate over one thousand majority, and elected their entire representative ticket. In November, 1879, Mr. Greene was nominated by acclamation as the Republican candidate for mayor, and was elected the following December by four hundred and sixty-one majority. In the

State election on the first Tuesday in November, 1879, the Democratic candidate for Governor carried the city by twelve hundred and fifty-nine majority. In the face of this result the outlook for the election of so outspoken a Republican as Mr. Greene only one month later did not seem promising, but his friends worked actively and with determination, with the successful result before stated.

His administration of the office was marked with firmness and economy. He vetoed two appropriations for three thousand five hundred dollars and two thousand five hundred dollars respectively, for the celebration of Fourth of July, both of which were sustained. He also vetoed an appropriation of seven thousand dollars for a city stable, but this veto was not sustained. During the year an ordinance was prepared under his direction creating the office of superintendent of public buildings and inspector of buildings, establishing a fire district and regulating the construction of buildings throughout the city ; also an ordinance creating the office of city engineer and defining his duties.

In May, 1880, he was chosen an alternate delegate from the First Congressional District to the Republican National Convention, holden in Chicago in June, 1880, and was present and participated in the deliberations of the convention, which resulted in the nomination of Hon. James A. Garfield for the Presidency. In November, 1880, was unanimously renominated by acclamation by the Republicans as candidate for mayor, and was elected the following December by thirteen hundred and sixty-eight majority. He entered upon his second term in January, 1881, and in March, 1881, was appointed postmaster by President Garfield, and on the 28th day of March, 1881, resigned the office of mayor, and assumed the position of postmaster, April 15, 1881. Under his administration of that office additional mail facilities have been obtained, mail messenger service has been established to and from the railroad depots, the number of letter carriers has been increased, and the routes for the collection and delivery of letters have been greatly extended, and few cities are now provided with better mail facilities. He is a member of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, and is superintendent of the Sabbath-school, which position he has held during the past five years. He is also a member of the board of trustees. He is a member of the Mount Hope Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Fall River Royal Arch Chapter, and Godfrey De Bouillon Commandery Knights Templar, but has never held any official position in either of these bodies.

Mr. Greene is a public-spirited citizen, and all measures tending to advance the interests of Fall River have found in him an earnest advocate.

E. T. Leonard

Ebenezer Turell Leonard was born in Gardner, Mass., July 19, 1812. He commenced the study of medicine under Drs. Perry, Bowditch, Gould, and Wylie, of Boston, and afterwards studied at the Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1886. He commenced practice in Weymouth, Mass., in the spring of 1836, and remained there ten years. He removed to Fall River in 1846, and has labored here uninterruptedly until the present time. He graduated at Harvard Medical School in 1836. He has held the following offices in the South Massachusetts Medical Society: president two years, and vice-president and councilor two years.

Hon. James Buffinton

Hon. James Buffinton was born on " Chaloner Hill," in Troy (now Fall River), Mass., March 16, 1817. His parents removed to Swansea, near the village of that name, in his infancy, where the first years of his childhood were passed, and where he commenced attending school ; but soon the interests of the family caused their return to his native village, which henceforward became his home. His earlier years were those of self-denial and constraint, yet all through his boyhood and youth his promptness in thought and independence in action were indicative of the coming man. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, his mother being an approved minister of that body of Christians for many years. She was careful in the training of her youngest born - the subject of this sketch - to inculcate in his mind the love of truth and virtue, to lay a foundation for the principles of honesty and uprightness, and to nurture him in a strict regard for the same.

He attended public and private schools a part of each twelvemonth, until he was some fifteen years of age, when he was sent for two or three terms to the Friends' Boarding School in Providence, R. I., where he made good use of his privileges, and progressed satisfactorily in his studies. Here, as elsewhere, the activity of an irrepressible nature often led him to the front, and in sports and exercises of muscular power and skill he ever showed an ambition to lead. After leaving school he commenced the study of medicine with the late Dr. Thomas Wilbur, pursuing his investigations in this science successfully to the period when he should have attended medical lectures as a finishing step to make him a veritable M.D. Failing to obtain the necessary funds at the proper time satisfactorily to himself, he turned his attention to teaching, and spent two or three years as a preceptor in public and private schools at Westport, and afterwards in Dartmouth, at or near Padanaram, the southern extremity of the town. Here, from constant association with men interested in navigation, his thoughts were turned in this direction, and he finally shipped for a whaling voyage on board the ship " South Carolina," about to sail from that port.

Making a successful voyage, he returned home, and engaged in business as a druggist. Subsequently abandoning this enterprise, he entered the dry-goods and millinery trade. About this time also he united in marriage with Miss Sarah Perkins.

During these years he possessed the full confidence of his fellow-townsmen, who often by their suffrages acknowledged his qualifications, electing him to positions of trust and usefulness. He was a prominent and efficient member of the fire department, and in 1851 was chosen selectman, being re-elected in 1852, and again in 1853.

On the adoption of a city charter in 1854 he was elected mayor by a majority over all of three hundred and thirty-one, in an aggregate of twelve hundred and sixty-one votes.

At the second city election, in 1855, he was reelected mayor ; but the same autumn, his executive abilities having become more generally known and appreciated, at a convention called to nominate a candidate for representative in Congress, he was chosen by acclamation, and subsequently elected by a majority of several thousand. When the Rebellion was being inaugurated, his attention in the House was, if possible, increased, and no effort was lost to advance the nation's cause and preserve her life and usefulness. On his return home early in the spring of 1861, he immediately set influences at work to raise a company of volunteers in person, joining the " Boys in Blue" in their drill, their marches through the street, and in all their preparations to become defenders of their country's life and integrity.

In 1864 Mr. Buffinton, having declined a re-nomination for Congress, accepted an office in the Internal Revenue Department, tendered him during President Johnson's administration.

The duties of this office - general treasury agent - were satisfactorily performed for a year or two, when he was appointed revenue collector for the First District of Massachusetts, which office he held until after the death of Mr. Eliot, his successor in Congress, in June, 177<», when he was again elected by those whom he had so faithfully served in previous years as their representative in the national councils. He served two terms, and was re-elected for a third, when death intervened. Thus was spent the remainder of his useful life, the last few weeks in distress of body, yet to the last with the same alert mind, anxious to do his whole duty, prompt in his attendance upon each session of the House, and finally dying with the harness on. He remained in his seat, against the wishes of his friends, until the adjournment of Congress, when he came home to die in less than one hour after being welcomed by his beloved domestic circle, Sabbath morning, March 6, 1874.

Charles H. Dean

Charles H. Dean, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was born in the town of Freetown, Mass., Nov. 29, 1821, and died at his residence in Fall River, Mass., July 22, 1882. He was seventh in descent from Walter Deane, his paternal American ancestor, and ninth in regular descent from Walter Deane, who lived a few miles from Taunton, England.

This first Walter Deane had several children, but only one son, William Deane. Nothing is known of Walter Deane, except that he died in England, in 1591. His son William was born there, and died there. He died in 1634. He had nine children, the three youngest of whom, John, Walter, Margaret, we know came to America, and were first at Dorchester in 1636 or 1637, and in Taunton in 1637-38. " Walter Deane married Eleanor Strong and had six children, but we know the names only Benjamin, Ezra, and Joseph. He was a representative to the General Court as early as 1640, and was a selectman in Taunton for many years, and with his wife was living as late as 1693." (See history of pioneers of Taunton.)

Benjamin Deane,1 son of Walter and Eleanor (Strong) Deane, was married to Sarah Williams, Jan. 6, 1680 or '81. They settled in Taunton, Mass, and had children, - Naomi, Hannah, Israel (born Feb. 2, 1685), Mary, Damaris, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mehitable, Benjamin (born July 31, .1699), Ebenezer (born Feb. 24, 1702), Lydia, and Josiah (born Oct. 23, 1707). His will was made Feb. 2, 1723, and probated April 14, 1725.

Ebenezer Deane, third son of Benjamin Deane, married Rachel Allen, of Rehoboth, Jan. 19, 1709 or '10. He had several children, among whom - were Joshua and Ebenezer. * He marched with his son Joshua in defense of their country against the French and Indians. He was captain of a company, and served with distinction in that war.

Ebenezer Dean, Jr., son of Capt. Ebenezer, Sr., was born about 1730, and died Jan. 5, 1819, in his ninetieth year. He was known as Deacon Dean. He married Prudence, daughter of John King, of Raynham. She died March 10, 1787, in her fifty-fifth year. Their children were ten in number, of whom we know of Ebenezer, Abiather, Enos, Levi, and Apollos.

Mr. Dean resided in Taunton, but purchased a tract of land in Freetown, and gave to his sons Levi and Apollos. Gen. Peirce, of Assonet, says, ''There was a small house on the farm of Levi Dean, which was

Levi Dean, son of Deacon Ebenezer and Prudence (King) Dean, was born in Taunton, Dec. 13, 1767, and died Nov. 1, 1840. He settled in Freetown on a farm given to him by his father, and the farm is now (1883) in the family. He married Betsey Dean in 1792. She was born Feb. 27, 1770, and died Aug. 22, 1836. Their children were King, Eliza, Gains, and Prudence, all born in Freetown, Mass.

King Dean, son of Levi, was born in Freetown, Sept. 24, 1795, married Betsey Lawton, Oct. 20, 1817, and had five children, - Anna E., Benjamin D., Charles H. (deceased), George W., and James O. (deceased).

Mr. Dean was a farmer during the earlier part of his life in Freetown. About 1830-33, however, he settled with his family in Fall River, where he was engaged in farming at first, then he worked in the packing department of the Robinson Print-Works for many years. Finally in 1849 he went to California, and returned via the Isthmus of Panama, at which place he contracted a fever from the effects of which he died at New Orleans, Dec. 26, 1850. Mrs. King Dean died Jan. 30, 1872, aged seventy-four years. The line of descent from Walter Deane, of England, to Charles H. Dean, the subject of our immediate sketch, has been Walter1, William2, Walter3 (the first of the name of this line in America). Benjamin4, Ebenezer5, Ebenezer6, Levi7, King8, and Charles H.9

" Charles H. Dean came to Fall River very young, and became interested in the dry-goods business, and started for himself in 1847, which he continued until his death. As a merchant he was generally liked. Ill his business he was strictly honorable to everyone, being no respecter of persons ; the rich and poor were used alike. He was always the courteous gentleman that won the respect and admiration of all. He was a thoroughly Christian man, and a working member of the First Baptist Church in this city. His kind words and counsels were often heard in the way of doing good to his fellows, no matter in what station in life. He was liberal to the worthy poor, and yet he always had enough and to spare. Mr. Dean was largely interested in manufactures, being a stockholder and director in several of the cotton-mills of Fall River, among which we may mention the King Philip, Merchant, Osborn, and Wee tarn oe Mills. He took a considerable interest in the municipal affairs of the city, and was a director in the Globe Railroad Company. He was a man of large and broad views on all things that pertained to the welfare of the community, and being a man of more than ordinary intellect, he was the better able to deal with the great, important questions of the day in a most intelligent and satisfactory way. Politically he was a Republican, but he did not seek political honors, but preferred to attend to his legitimate business.

which endeared him to all, and if in daily life he was unostentatious and quiet, he was always as genial and pleasant, and in this way not only won the respect but secured the friendship of all whose friendship was worth having. He was, too, a man of refined and generous sympathies, and these found expression in kind, cheerful words where cheer and comfort were most needed. He was a gentleman by nature and social intercourse, and a Christian from convictions. Goodness of heart was as natural to him as song to the bird or sweetness to the flower."

He was one of the best of husbands and fathers, and it was in his home life that he appeared to the best advantage. Mr. Dean was a man who will long be remembered for his many nameless acts of kindness to those who needed them. He will be remembered for his general courteousness of manners and for his many virtues. Truly a good man has gone home to rest.

Oct. 19, 1847, he married Louisa M., daughter of David and Louisa (Chase) Peirce, of Somerset, Mass. She was born in Somerset, Jan. 26, 1824, and died April 9, 1877.

Their only child, Mary L., married, Sept. 3, 1873, George S. Davol, of Fall River, and has three children, - Stephen B., Louisa D., and Charles D.