Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 16: Westport, 1924 (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 16: Westport

It is only within the past quarter of a century that the Acoaxet country, the Westports, has witnessed any appreciable changes from the farm and community conditions that had existed nearly the same for a century or more. Within the twenty-five years, many descendants of old settlers, branching out into business relations elsewhere and seeking new homes, have disposed of homesteads that had been in families for generations; and people of other nationalities, leaving the factories and the fishing, have been purchasing lands and providing new homes for themselves in this old Quaker country. Within two decades, road building on modern lines has become universal in the town, even to its southernmost limits, through the seashore resorts and along by the shores. The district school building is rapidly disappearing, and the present-day structure that is taking its place is overflowing with the increasing school population. Upon the foundations of the first homes, everywhere has arisen the cottage of today; the Portuguese and French arrivals have established their neighborhoods and churches; and along the shore have come a multitude of summer home makers.

North Westport has witnessed just such changes as_ these, - the Beulah or Greenwood section having been built up within a half dozen years, with its new $12,000 public school in process of construction in 1923; and in this part of the town is a school that was built only ten years ago to provide for the' growing educational interests. A Congregational church and the postoffice have their location here; and the Watuppa Grange was instituted in 1921, with a large membership of farmers and townsfolk in general.

Westport Factory is no longer the scattered hamlet, but rather a steadily increasing village both of natives and many newcomers in the vicinity of the plant of the Westport Manufacturing Company. Here, just about halfway between the cities of New Bedford and Fall River, is the old water power privilege of a succession of mills; the Union school,, built within fifteen years; the Union Christian Church, built about the year 1908; and the Catholic church for the French residents, just over the Dartmouth line, and in process of building in 1923. Beyond, is the small but comparatively new settlement of Brownell's Corners, where a_ public schoolhouse was being built in 1923, and where a Congregational church has long been established. The Head of Westport, known as the "Head," is a live part of the town, with its library, Congregational church, schools and postoffice. Central Village is a small section of the town where the high school had been established about eight years. Here there is a Friends meeting, a Portuguese Catholic church, postoffice, primary school, and where a new schoolhouse was being built in 1923. Westport Point, formerly a whaling port, is now almost entirely a summer resort, with church, school and postoffice. Horseneck Beach, where an extensive causeway was under construction in 1923, is entirely a community of summer homes, with a postoffice open during three months of the year; and South Westport is all farming district.

The town's assessed valuation in real estate in 1922 was $4,125,375; in personal, $552,450. Edward L. Macomber was town clerk, Charles H. Gifford treasurer. The Free Public Library, Miss Annie R. Howland, librarian, had a circulation of 2526 books in 1922; the Westport Public 'Library, Miss Emily F. Sisson, librarian, had a circulation of 3502 books.

Past and Present - Westport, the Acoaxet Indian plantation, was incorporated under its present name in 1787, it having originally been part of the Dartmouth territory. Portions of Dartmouth were ceded to the town February 25, 1793, and March 4, 1805, and again a part of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1861. The first townhouse was built on Ichabod Potter's land, and the first town meeting held there April 6, 1789. No historian of this southland was better informed with regard to the foundations of the first white men's homes here than the late Henry B. Worth, Esq., who had made a thorough study of deeds relating to the township of Dartmouth and Westport. Mr. Worth, who was secretary of the Dartmouth Historical Society, and had written and read many papers concerning this part of the State that are to be found among the publications of that society, was of opinion that the first settler at the head of Westport was Richard Sisson, who had located his home on the west side of the river and at the south side of the main highway, and was elected surveyor of town roads in 1671. He has stated that Richard Gifford, also an early settler, was a land king of Acoaxet, and in the 1712 apportionment at the head of Westport he received nearly 400 acres. Previous to that, George Lawton, Benjamin Waite and John Tripp had secured seventy acres of land along the river, and in 1712 they formed a combination to utilize the water power north of the present village. They built two mills, that on the west side of the river, known as Lawton's mill, that on the east side as Waite's mill, and later as Tripp's or Chase's mill. Joseph Peckham and Beriah Goddard were also first purchasers in this part of the town, as well as Mary Hix, who was owner of the Hix ferry that was conducted by her and her sons until 1745, when William Hix built the first bridge there. Nicholas Howland was a purchaser of lands in this section, so was Paul Cuff, a slave who had received his freedom in 1765. The Giffords lived at Horseneck and at Westport Point.

The Friends were tenacious of their beliefs and of their religious rights from the first settlement of the section, or from the time when the Quakers and the Baptists began to assert that privileges should be accorded them apart from the Congregationalists, and that they should be relieved from paying the Congregational ministerial tax. Thus they began their meetings, and they have maintained them to this day. Again we quote from the papers of the late Henry B. Worth, whose information concerning the Friends was based upon his life study of the township in general. He has stated that Acoaxet was strongly Quaker, and has held tenaciously to that form of belief even to modern times. They had a meeting-house seventy years before New Bedford, at Central Village. In 1761 there was a demand by them for a place of worship in the north part of the town, so a building was erected at George H. Gifford's Corner, and called the Centre Meeting-house, which was maintained until 1840, when it was removed to the north side of the road, about a quarter of a mile west of the bridge. This was discontinued about thirty years ago (1878).

Just what happened, says Mr. Worth, in 1840, to induce the Friends to move their meeting-house nearer the village may be inferred from some hints to be found in the records. In 1830 George M. Brownell purchased from Dr. J. H. Handy a lot of land which in 1845 was conveyed by John QO. Brownell to the First Christian Baptist Society. 'There had then been a meeting-house on this lot, which in 1859 is described as "the old meetinghouse." 'There is some reason to infer that it may have been built soon after 1830. Evidently the Quakers felt that it was necessary to have a meeting-house nearer the dwellings of their members, or they might attend the other meeting.

The First Christian Church in Westport was organized in 1819, and the church was built in 1824, with Peleg Sisson for the minister. The society was incorporated January 9, 1844, and the church joined the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Christian Conference in September, 1862. The Second Christian Church at South Westport was organized September 18, 1838, and the church building was dedicated February 1, 1876. The Third Christian Church was organized at Central Village, June 10, 1839, and the church was erected in 1842. The Fourth Christian Church, at Brownell's Corner, was organized July 4, 1843, and the church building was opened and dedicated the same day. The First Christian Church at North Westport was organized January 1, 1858. The Pacific Union Congregational Church was organized in May, 1855.

The most extensive business in the section and one of the oldest in the county, is that of the Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company, at Westport Factory, employing many hands and producing at full capacity more than 1,500,000 pounds of goods annually. In 1789, William Gifford and Lemuel Milk bought the site for an iron forge; and in 1854 the property was purchased by William B. Trafford, who transferred it to the Westport Manufacturing Company, Mr. Trafford having been associated with Augustus Chace at Globe Village. In the early sixties, Mr. Trafford in company with his two half-brothers, George and Ilijah Lewis, reorganized the concern, Mr. 'lrafiord remaining as manager to the time of his death in 1880. William C. Trafford was made treasurer in 1872. The incorporation took place-in April, 1916, and to that date the business had been managed by five men - William B. Trafford, Ilijah R. Lewis, George W. Lewis, Andrew R. Trafford (who died October 20, 1917), and William C. Trafford, who died March 8, 1922. Upon the death of the latter, Henry L,. Trafford was elected president, in May of the same year. 'The capital is $600,000 - $400,000 preferred and $200,000 common. 'he mill was built in 1812. In May, 1919, the company took possession of its modern up-to-date cotton waste plant in Fall River, a three-story structure, 70 by 126 feet. At Westport Factory, the old office building standing since 1872, has been removed and an elaborate new office building has been constructed, modelled upon the lines of the mill structure.

Outside of the factory, farming, poultry raising and fishing are the industries of the town. A large proportion of the farms are productive and well located for market-gardening, and include the properties of Edmund Gifford, Nelson Gifford, Frank Perry, John Costa, Nason Macomber, William Hicks, Joseph Bone, John, George and William Smith.

relating to school affairs in this part of the town in the early days, there is no way of knowing about that arrangement. Previous to 1840 it is not possible to find the record of any purchase of land for school purposes in Westport. The schools throughout the town in 1923 were as follows: The high school, whose four-year arrangement had been completed in 1923; the schools at North Westport, Sanford Road, Beulah Road, Factory, Head, Brownell's Corner, Macomber's Corner, Point, South Westport, Horseneck, Acoaxet. There were 774 pupils, and the amount of appropriation for schools maintenance was $45,000. Edward L. Hill was the superintendent.

Family And Personal History

JAMES MADISON MORTON, A.M., LL. D. - For nearly a quarter of a century Judge Morton Was an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, his work as a jurist being characterized by ability, learning and sound judgment. He resigned his position on the bench in December, 1913, and received in response a letter from Governor Eugene N. Foss, granting his request to be relieved, in which the governor said in part: "You are fully entitled to retire from the arduous duties of the Supreme Court, and while I sincerely regret that the commonwealth is no longer to have the benefit of your wisdom and experience upon the bench, I nevertheless recognize the justice of your request, and in congratulating you upon your long record of splendid public service I accept your resignation."

Learned in the law, with the record of many years of successful practice at the Bristol county bar, of judicial temperament, a dignified bearing, and a warm love for his fellow-men, no man ever ascended to a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts with a better equipment than Judge Morton. He came of a notable family which included Governor Marcus Morton, who was also a Member of Congress; Chief Justice Marcus Morton, of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts; and Judge Marcus (2) Morton, of the present Superior Court.

The founder of the family in New England was George Morton, who came from England to New England in 1623 on the ship 'Ann," settled in Plymouth and wrote the first history of Plymouth Colony, published in England, entitled "A Relation or Journal of the Beginnings and Proceedings of the English Plantations Settled at Plymouth in New England." His son, Nathaniel, was secretary of Plymouth in 1647-1685, and the author of that valuable work, "New England Memorial," compiled from the writings and observations of Governor William Bradford and himself. George Morton married, in Leyden, Holland, Juliana Carpenter, who bore him sons and daughters. George Morton died in 1624. The line of descent to Judge James M. Morton is as follows:

(1) George Morton and his wife, Juliana Carpenter; (II) their son, Lieutenant Ephraim Morton, and his first wife, Ann Cooper; (III) their son, Eleazer Morton, and his wife, Rebecca Dawes; (IV) their son, Nathaniel Morton, and his wife, Rebecca (Clark) Ellis; (V) their son, Major Nathaniel Morton, and his wife, Martha Tupper; (VI) their son, Job Morton, and his wife, Patience Purrington; (VII) their son, James Madison Morton, and his wife, Sarah M. A. Tobey; (VIII) their son, James Madison (2) Morton, and his wife, Emily F. Canedy; (IX) their only son, James Madison (3) Morton, and his wife, Nancy J. B. Brayton; (X) their children: James Madison (4), died 1908; Brayton; Sarah; Hugh.

Major Nathaniel Morton, of the fifth generation, was a lieutenant of a company of "Minute Men" of East Freetown, later was commissioned captain and then was made major. Job Morton, of the sixth generation, was a graduate of Brown University, class of 1797. For twenty-four years he was a selectman of Freetown and for eleven years a deputy to the General Court. James Madison Morton, of the seventh generation, was postmaster of Fall River under President Pierce, and in early life was treasurer of the White Cotton Mill, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. He married, May 30, 1830, Sarah Maria Ann Tobey, who was born March 23, 1807, and died ninety-four years later. James Madison Morton was their oldest child.

James Madison Morton was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, September 5, 1837, and died at his home in Fall River, Massachusetts, April 19, 1923. His father was at one time treasurer of the White Cotton Mills of Fairhaven, but later moved to Fall River, and here the son was educated in public and private schools. In 1856 he entered Brown University for a special course, receiving his Bachelor's degree at graduation in the class of 1859. He prepared for the profession of Law at Harvard Law School, whence he was graduated LL. B., class of 1861. He at once began practice at Fall River in the office of Judge Louis Lapham. He was city solicitor in 1864-1867, and in 1864 formed a partnership with John §. Brayton under the firm name of Brayton & Morton, which continued until Mr. Brayton was elected clerk of courts. Mr. Morton practiced alone from 1873 to 1876, when he formed a partnership with Andrew J. Jennings, which continued until Mr. Morton's appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court in 1890. During the period of 1863-1890 he was connected with much of the important litigation in the courts of his section, and by common consent came to be regarded as the leader of the Bristol county bar. In 1890 he was appointed by Governor Brackett an associate judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, and for twenty-three vears he sat upon the bench of that court, rendering distinguished service. His retirement was regarded as a distinct loss to the judiciary of the State, the press commenting upon it in terms most flattering to Judge Morton. The Boston "Transcript" said:

It will seem somewhat strange not to have a Morton upon the Supreme bench of Massachusetts. The people of his generation in the State have not known it without one. From 1869 to 1891 Judge Marcus Morton was a member of that 'court, during later years its chief justice. At about the time of his retirement Judge James M. Morton, who has just re signed, was appointed, and for twenty-three years has proved himself a worthy representative of a family that has been unusually prominent because of the number of judges of the higher courts that have come from it.

Time has laid a hand gently upon Judge Morton, who retires soon, at his own request, from the Supreme Court, where he has served the people of Massachusetts with distinguished ability for nearly a quarter of a century. He is seventy-six. Bench and bar and public will unite in wishing the eminent jurist an old age bright and serene - he has earned it.

During his term on the Supreme bench Judge Morton continued his residence at Fall River, and after his long and faithful service on the bench he enjoyed. a life of contentment and ease for several years. He then was persuaded to accept an election in 1917 as a delegate to the convention which served the constitution of the State of Massachusetts. He took a very active part in the proceedings of that body, being chairman of the judiciary committee, and serving with ability and zeal. He was deeply interested in the deliberations of the convention, whose work, a redraft of the Constitution, was approved by the voters upon submittal to them.

Though always a lawyer, allowing nothing to come between him and the full duty he owed his clients and the public, Judge Morton while practicing law at Fall River was identified with its development and acquired important business interests. He was president of the Union Mills Company, a director of the B. M. C. Durfee Trust Company, the First National Bank, and of several cotton mill operations, but withdrew from all these offices when appointed to the Supreme bench. After retiring from his judicial position he again served as a director of the B. M. C. Durfee Trust Company, the First National Bank and the Union Mills, holding these positions until his death, in April, 1923.

Judge Morton was a lifelong member of the Unitarian church and greatly devoted to its welfare, attending its services very regularly. He was a member of the Unitarian Society, which he served at times as moderator and chairman of its standing committee. In politics he was a Republican. His clubs were the Union of Boston, the Quequechan of Fall River, and he was a member of the Bunker Hill Association, and the Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences.

On November 6, 1866, Judge Morton married Emily Frances Canedy, daughter of John Luther and Elizabeth (Read) Canedy, and a direct descendant of Alexander Canedy, a Scotchman, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, about the year 1700.

(1) Alexander Canedy; (II) his son, William Canedy, and his wife, Elizabeth Fuller; (III) their son, Lieutenant William (2) Canedy, and his wife,

Charity Leonard; (IV) their son, William (3) Canedy, and his wife, Mary Brown; (V) their son, John Luther Canedy, and his wife, Elizabeth Read; (VI) their daughter, Emily Frances, and her husband, Judge James M. (2) Morton; (VII) their son, James M. (3) Morton, and his wife, Nancy J. B. Brayton.

To Judge and Mrs. Morton three children were born: 1. James Madison (3), a sketch of whom follows. 2. Margaret, married Willard F. Keeney, a lawyer of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she died in 1920. 3. Anne, resides with her mother at the family home at No. 487 Rock street, Fall River. Judge Morton received from Brown University, in 1882, the degree of A. M., and in 1894 that of LL. D. In 1917 the Boston "Herald" thus spoke of him:

James Madison Morton, for years one of the most distinguished members of the Massachusetts bench, retired from his position as associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1913. Although he is past eighty years of age, he is very much in the forefront of Massachusetts affairs, for he is a delegate to the constitutional convention and is taking an active part in its proceedings.

He likes pictures, and he likes books. History and biography are his favorite subjects. His public experience has been confined largely to the bench until his election to the constitutional convention, where he is now gaining experience in the making of governments, after his long career in the administration of justice.

"My hobby ever since I completed my law course has been the study and_ practice of law,'' were his own words on his personal life. ''My favorite pastime is salmon fishing, and my greatest happiness is when I am with my wife and children."

Such was the life of Judge James M. Morton, who died honored by the bench and the bar, esteemed in his city, and loved by his friends and by all who knew him.

JAMES MADISON MORTON (3) - When James Madison Morton, Sr., resigned the seat upon the Supreme Bench of the State of Massachusetts, in December, 1913, that he had occupied for nearly twenty-five years, there was still a Judge James Madison Morton in active service, for that eminent jurist and his son had been contemporaries upon the bench although in different courts. James M. Morton (3) was appointed United States District Judge for Massachusetts by President Taft on August 9, 1912, an office which he still holds. He is the eighth District Judge of the United States in Massachusetts since the establishment of the court in 1789, on the adoption of the Constitution. Learned and sensible in the law, with the qualities of character that command respect and confidence, and with unusual ability in legal administration, Judge Morton, who assumed judicial office in his eighteenth year of practice, has peculiar qualifications for the high office he fills.

James Madison Morton (3), son of Judge James Madison and Emily Frances (Canedy) Morton, and of the ninth generation of the family in New England, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, August 24, 1869. He prepared in the city schools, Phillips Exeter Academy, and then entered Harvard University, from which he was graduated A. B., (1891), A. M. and LL. B., receiving the last named degrees, class of 1894, and being the law orator at that commencement. He began professional practice at Fall River, immediately after graduation from Harvard Law School, and became a law partner of Andrew J. Jennings, who had been his father's partner from 1876 until the latter's appointment to the Suprme Bench in 1890. From 1896 until 1912, Mr. Morton practiced his profession at Fall River and won high standing as a lawyer of learning and skill. From 1903 to 1912, he was a member of the Board of Police Commissioners of Fall River and was largely instrumental in bringing the police force up to a very high standard of efficiency. The Great War threw upon the federal court many new, delicate, and difficult questions of law and of administration which Judge Morton handled with marked success. He still retains Fall River as his home.

In politics Judge Morton is a Republican, and in religious faith a Unitarian. He is President of the Sagamore Manufacturing Company; chairman of the directors of the Wentworth Institute of Boston; director of the Boys' Club of Fall River; and a member of the following clubs: Union, Tavern, Har- .vard of Boston, Fall River Country, and Quequechan of Fall River. He is known as a yachtsman and fisherman.

Judge Morton married, June 10, 1896, Nancy J. B. Brayton, daughter of Israel Perry and Parthenia (Gardner) Brayton, of Fall River. Four children were born to them: 1. James M. (4), born June 10, 1897, died May 14, 1908. 2. Brayton, born October 24, 1898; a graduate of Harvard, A. B., 1920, who afterwards studied at Cambridge University, England, and at Harvard Law School; during the war with Germany, + 1917-18, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight officer. 3. Sarah, born September 29, 1902; now a student at Smith's College. 4. Hugh, born September 10, 1906; now a student at Williams' College.

ZEPHANIAH W. PEASE, a contributor to this work, was born in New Bedford, August 21, 1861, the son of Peleg and Joanna Morton (Thomas) 'Pease. He is of "Mayflower" and Revolutionary ancestry, being of the eighth generation from John Howland, and a descendant of Noah Thomas, a Revolutionary soldier, who was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill.

Peleg Pease, father of Zephaniah W. Pease, was born in New Bedford in 1822, the son of Zephaniah and Mary (Spooner) Pease. He died: in 1879, Mary (Spooner) Pease was the daughter of the captain of a merchant ship, and was born in Plympton, Massachusetts, in 1828. She is still living.

Peleg Pease was an assistant editor of the "Mercury" in 1876, and a writer of verse and many humorous articles that appeared in the local newspapers. He was for many years a member of the School Board.

Mr. Pease graduated from the high school in 1877, and after a brief experience on a Fall River newspaper became a reporter on the morning "Mercury," of New Bedford, in the fall of 1880. In

1895 Mr. Pease became editor of the "Mercury," a position he has since occupied. The same year Mr. Pease was appointed by President Cleveland collector of customs for the Port of New Bedford, an office he held until 1900. Mr. Pease has also served on the New Bedford Water Board, and is a member of the selective service board of Division No. 3. Mr. Pease is the author of "The Catalpa Expedition," published in 1897, a "History of New Bedford," and "Life in New Bedford A Hundred Years Ago," and has contributed many special articles to various publications.

Mr. Pease married (first), October 24, 1888, Anna F. Bryden, of Fairhaven, who died in 1921, and has one son, Bryden Pease, who is with George H. Mc- Fadden & Brother, cotton merchants of Philadelphia. In October, 1922, Mr. Pease married (second) Eliza C. White, of Fairhaven.

early education was obtained in the public and high schools of Gloucester, following which he matriculated at Trinity College, and subsequently, at Boston University. He was then employed for some years as private secretary to the famous sculptor, William Ordway Partridge. After his resignation from this position Mr. Hutt followed his innate flair for literature and was engaged for many years as a journalist for a number of publications throughout Eastern Massachusetts. While residing in Lynn, Massachusetts, and covering a period of five years, he had charge each week of a page of illustrated historical articles for the Lynn "Daily Item," concerning the history of Lynn and its environs. So thorough was Mr. Hutt in this connection and so great his scope of research, that he was honored by election to the Lynn Historical Society. Later, while a resident of Taunton, and for the same unusual and constant application to historical research and study, he was elected as secretary to the Old Colony Historical Society. He is also a member of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. _

The name of Frank Walcott Hutt is not unknown among the American literati He is the author of many plays, musical comedies and short stories that have been published in various magazines, and specimens of his excellent verse are included in a number of anthologies pertaining to the lyric side of prosody. Perhaps his greatest and most monumental work in the literary field is the compilation of the historical data that goes to make up this "History of Bristol County" - the most comprehensive, withal compendious, historical account of this section extant. As editor-in-chief, author of the greater part of the contents, and _ supervisor of the work of a corps of assistant writers, Mr. Hutt has achieved and given a bequeathment to future generations of an history that has no peer in this very specialized and exacting field of literary endeavor.

RICHARD JACKSON BARKER - The following is the record of the lines of Barker and Lawton, united in the marriage of Richard Jackson Barker and Eliza Harris Lawton.

(1) The American founder of the Barker branch herein recorded was Robert Barker, who was born in 1616, and came to this country at an early date with John Thorp. In 1641 he was one of those who bought from Jonathan Brewster, son of Elder Brewster, a ferry and one hundred acres of land at Marshfield. Later, he settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he served as surveyor for several years. He died about 1691. He married Lucy Williams, who died March 7, 1681 or 1682. Children: 1. Robert, born February 27, 1630, died September 257/29. cee rancis,edied sinmly 20 mesa lsaaceemen - tioned below. 4. Abigail, died in May, 1718. 5. Rebecca, died in 1697.

(II) Isaac Barker, son of Robert Barker, was a surveyor of Duxbury in 1674, and a constable in 1687. He married, December 8, 1665, Judith Prince, daughter of Governor Thomas and Mary (Collier) Prince. In 1710 his widow married William Tubbs, of Pembroke. Children: 1. Samuel, born September 2, 1667, died February 1, 1738-39. 2. Isaac, mentioned below. 3. Robert, born in 1673, died September 6, 1765. 4. Jabez. 5. Francis. 6. Rebecca, 9/. Mary. 8) Lydia.) 9s Judith. 10) Martha: 11. Bathsheba.

(III) Isaac (2) Barker, son of Isaac and Judith (Prince) Barker, seems to have been a man of great business ability, as he was interested in numerous enterprises, owning a grist mill on the Herring brook, engaging in merchandising, in farming, in laying out roads and erecting water works. He was a great student for his day and was a member of the Society of Friends. He died May 7, 1754. He married, October 23, 1707, Elizabeth Slocum, of Dartmouth, daughter of Peleg and Mary (Holden) Slocum; she was born February 12, 1687, and died August 18, 1774. Children: 1. Mary, born August 1, 1708, died in 1788. 2. Sylvester, born in May, 1710. 3. Peleg, born in August, 1712. 4. Prince, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth, born December 9, 1719. 6. Lydia, died August 13, 1754.

(IV) Prince Barker, son of Isaac (2) and Elizabeth (Slocum) Barker, was born February 9, 1716, and died January 27, 1784. Prince Barker was a very hospitable man and was noted for his honesty. He married, November 6, 1746, Abigail Keen, of born October 26, 1747. 2. Isaac, born May 1, 1749. 3. Abigail, born January 29, 1751. 4. Deborah, born January 29, 1753. 5. Benjamin, mentioned below. (V) Benjamin Barker, son of Prince and Abigail (Keen) Barker, was born November 30, 1756, and was a prominent and wealthy man. In 1773 he took half the Barker fulling mill, near the homestead, and later bought the homestead and farm in Scituate. Also he owned considerable property in Tiverton, and was very well-to-do when he died, June 19, 1837. He married (first) January 31, 1785, Ann Barker, daughter of Abraham and Susannah (Anthony) Barker, of Tiverton; she was born August 29, 1750, and died August 16, 1789. He married (second) June 23, 1791, Rebecca Partridge, of Boston, daughter of Captain Samuel Partridge; she was born in 1752, and died August 11, 1835. Children by first wife: 1. Abraham, mentioned below. 2. Susan Ann, born April 27, 1788, died March 5, 1861. By the second wife: 3. Samuel Partridge, born August 2, 1792, died in the far West.

(VI) Abraham Barker, son of Benjamin and Ann (Barker) Barker, was born November 16, 1786, and died February 24, 1855. He married, January 7, 1819, Margaret Buffum, daughter of David and Hepsibah (Mitchell) Buffum; she was born at Newport, Rhode Island, August 27, 1785, and died November 4, 1839. Children: 1. Benjamin, of whom further. 2. Eleanor, born December 4, 1824, died November 29, 1869. 3. Elizabeth Huntington, born August 11, 1826, died May 8, 1900. 4. Margaret Buffum, born April 9, 1829. 5. Anne, born July 20, 1832, died December 15, 1857.

(VII) Benjamin Barker, son of Abraham and Margaret (Buffum) Barker, was born September 24, 1822, and died April 14, 1897. He lived in Tiverton and was extensively engaged in the lumber business. He was highly honored and respected by those who knew him. He married, December 1, 1847, Catherine Jackson Dennis, daughter of James and Hannah (Jackson) Dennis, of Cranston, Rhode Island. She was born December 7, 1829. Children: 1. Richard Jackson, mentioned below. 2. Benjamin, born July 19, 1858. 3. Catherine Wheaton, born January 25, 1863, married Effingham C. Haight, of Fall River, Massachusetts.

(VIII) Richard Jackson Barker, son of Benjamin and Catherine Jackson (Dennis) Barker, was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, January 27, 1849, and died November 26, 1921. He was named for his maternal great-grandfather, Hon. Richard Jackson, who was a member of Congress from Rhode Island and very prominent in the State. Hon. Richard Jackson was the founder of the Washington Insurance Company, served on the Board of Fellows of Brown University, and filled numerous important offices in the State. He was the father of Governor Charles Jackson, of Rhode Island. Mr. Barker was a descendant of four Colonial governors, including Governor Prince, of Massachusetts, and he traced his ancestry likewise to Roger Williams. He was educated at the Friends' School in Providence, the Eaglewood Military Academy at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and the Rensselear Institute, Troy, New York. While a student at the military academy, he enlisted in the Union Army in the Civil War, although then but a boy, and toward the end of the conflict, when only eighteen years of age, he was appointed judge advocate of the First Brigade, Rhode Island Militia, by General Burnside, and served on his staff. In later life, his most cherished possessions were two swords worn while attached to General Burnside's staff when he held the rank of major. Upon the completion of his education, he entered business with his father, and upon the death of the elder man, continued the Fall River Lumber business alone, in his later years having as his associate and partner his son, Richard Jackson Barker, Jr. Mr. Barker was the founder and the first president of the Warren Trust Company; was prominent in local financial circles; and his reputation in business as in private life was one based upon the strictest integrity. His political faith was Democratic, although. his tendencies were independent, and _ his attitude towards public questions was always marked by a keen desire for public welfare above party success. He served as a member of the Tiverton Town Council, and was its president at one time; and twice was the candidate of his party for the State Senate from Warren. Mr. Barker was a lover of art and all things beautiful. In the communities whose life he touched he is respectfully and affectionately remembered as a man of high principle -and kindly spirit.

Richard Jackson Barker married, October 9, 1873, Eliza Harris Lawton (see Lawton VIII). Mr. and Mrs. Barker were the parents of a son, Richard Jackson, Jr., mentioned below.

(IX) Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., son of Richard Jackson and Eliza Harris (Lawton) Barker, was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was graduated with honors from the English and Classical Private School in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1894, and entered Brown University, class of 1898, attending two years. After leaving college he was associated with his father in the lumber business in Fall River, Massachusetts, and is now conducting the enterprise, succeeding his father, the Hon. Richard Jackson Barker, with great success. He is the third in a direct line to engage in the lumber business in _ Fall River, known as the Barker Lumber Company, and now carries on the business very successfully. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Quequechan Club, the Sons of Brown, and the University Club.

Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., married, October 6, 1917, Jessie Satterlee Durfee, a granddaughter of Hon. Nathaniel B. Durfee, member of Congress from Rhode Island. Jessie Satterlee (Durfee) Barker, wife of Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., is also a lineal descendant of Governor William Green, Colonial Governor of Rhode Island. The ceremony was performed in Grace Church, Providence. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Lawton, born February 7, 1919.

(1) George Lawton, the early ancestor, was among the first settlers at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, being admitted an inhabitant of the Island of Aquidneck in 1638. He was a descendant of Admiral George Lawton, of the Royal Navy. In 1639 he was one of the twenty-nine persons who signed the compact for a body politic. In 1748 he received a grant of forty acres near that of his brother Thomas, and the same year he was admitted freeman, and was deputy from Portsmouth in 1665- 72-75-76-79-80. He was assistant in 1680-81-82-83- 84-85-88-89-90. He also held many other important positions, showing his capability and prominence in the colony. He married Elizabeth MHazard, daughter of Thomas and Martha Hazard, and he died October 5, 1693, being buried in his orchard.

(II) George Lawton, son of George and Elizabeth (Hazard) Lawton, married, January 17, 1677, Naomi Hunt, daughter of Bartholomew and Ann Hunt, and lived in Portsmouth. He died September 11, 1697, and his widow married (second) October 11, 1701, -Isaace Lawton. Children: ) 1 Elizabeth; born November 15, 1678. 2. George, mentioned below. 3. Robert, born October 14, 1688. 4. Job, born January 22, 1692.

(III) Captain George Lawton, son of George and Naomi (Hunt) Lawton, was born April 30, 1685, and married, February 26, 1707, Mary Gould, of Newport, the ceremony being performed by Governor Samuel Cranston. He died April 11, 1740. Children, born in Portsmouth: 1. Robert, mentioned below. 2. George, born April 20, 1710. 3. Job, born December 28, 1712, died December 11, 1713. 4.. Job, born April 26, 1717.

(IV) Hon. Robert Lawton, son of Captain George and Mary (Gould) Lawton, was born February 4, 1708, and married, November 11, 1742, Mary Hall, daughter of William Hall. Children, born at Portsmouth: 1. George, mentioned below. 2. Mary, born March 31, 1747. 3. Elizabeth, born July 4, 1750. 4. Phebe, born March 30, 1752. 5. Robert,

(V) Hon. George Lawton, son of Hon. Robert and Mary (Hall) Lawton, was born April 12, 1744. He served in the Revolution in 1777, as a private in the Rhode Island regiment commanded by Colonel John Cook, and while the command was on duty at Fogland Ferry, Rhode Island, Mr. Lawton was wounded in the leg and left arm by a cannon shot from a British ship lying in the Seaconnet river. He married, April 10, 1766, Ruth Brownell. He may have married (second) Anne Borden. Children, born in Portsmouth: 1. Robert, born January 22, 1767. 2. Thomas Brownell, born September 16, 1768. 3. George, mentioned below. 4. Mary H., born April 5, 1772. 5. William, born September 16, 1774. 6. Joseph, born April 2, 1776. 7. Ruth, born October 17, 1786, probably by his second wife.

(VI) Captain George Lawton, son of Hon. George and Ruth (Brownell) Lawton, was born June 7, 1770, and married, January 31, 1808, Patience Turner Lawton, daughter of Hon. Robert and Patience (Turner) Lawton. Patience (Turner) Lawton was the daughter of Dr. John Turner, a Revolutionary surgeon of eminence. Children, born at Portsmouth: 1. Robert N., born October 7, 1808. 2.

(VII) Moses Turner Lawton, son of Captain George and Patience Turner (Lawton) Lawton, was born at Portsmouth, December 25, 1817. His father moved to Tiverton soon after his birth, and here he grew up. His father was a large landowner of Tiverton. Mr. Lawton was a Republican in politics. "Although a man of quiet tastes, his pleasing disposition had made many friends for him during his life of over three score years and ten." He married Elizabeth Tillinghast Harris, descendant of Elder Pardon Tillinghast and Roger Williams, who was one of the early graduates of Warren Seminary, Warren, Rhode Island. He died August 26, 1893, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River. His wife was active in church and educational work, being one of the first women in the United States to be elected on a school board, an office which her daughter, Mrs. Barker, held for twenty-one consecutive years as the chairman of the school board of Tiverton. Children: Hon. George Robert, born December 31, 1858; Eliza Harris, mentioned below.

Richard Jackson Barker (see Barker VIII). She completed her school life at Vassar College. She has always been keenly interested in educational affairs, and in 1885 was elected to the school committee of Tiverton, serving as clerk until she made her home in the South. Upon her return to Tiverton, she was again elected to the school committee in 1896, and served as chairman for twenty-one consecutive years. She resigned from office at the end of this time and was most agreeably surprised by a reception tendered her by the townspeople in the parish house of the Central Baptist Church, when she received many testimonials of esteem and numerous gifts, loving cups, paintings, gavels and leather chairs in memory of the occasion. From the founding of the Women's College in Brown University, she has been one of the corporation. Mrs. Barker has been active in patriotic work, and has long been prominent in the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was regent of the Gaspee Chapter, of Providence, with a membership of more than three hundred, having been the first woman not a resident of Providence to hold that office. Previously she served the chapter as_historian for fourteen years, and during that time the office of State historian was created, which she filled for a six-year term under Three State Regents. She was elected by an uhusually large vote in the National Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution to the high office of vice-president general in April, 1906, and during her term of office served upon the most important committees, being chairman of the Magazine Committee, chairman of the Furnishing Committee, member of the Auditing Committee, secretary of the Patriotic Educational Committee, and chairman of the program committee, and secretary of the Philippine Scholarship

Committee. When she resigned the regency of Gaspee Chapter to accept the office in the national organization, she was presented with a_ silvermounted gavel in Colonial style, made of wood from the old Gaspee room. Mrs. Barker is an honorary member of several Massachusetts chapters, and is also honorary regent of Gaspee Chapter and honorary State regent of Rhode Island. During her State work she was chairman for thirteen years of the Gaspee Prize Committee at the Women's College of Brown University, and she was chairman for New England for the Daughters of the American Revolution exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition. She has also been historian of the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Dames. Mrs. Barker is State regent for Rhode Island of the Pocahontas Memorial Association, and was a speaker at the turning of the first sod for the monument, when she was presented with the gavei used on that occasion. She is chairman in Rhode Island for the Sulgrave Institute, and a member of the Women's Committee, of which Mrs. Alton Brooks Parker is chairman. She is likewise a member of the Colonial Wars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a former organizing State regent of the Daughters of the American Colonists.

For many years Mrs., Barker has been __vicepresident of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, and has served upon its important committees. During the Spanish-American War she was one of the chairmen of the Rhode Island Sanitary Relief Association, was vice-president of the Tiverton branch of the Rhode Island Anti-Tuberculosis Society, was a commissioner at the Atlanta Exposition, is a director of the Woman's Union, and on the board of the Woman's Exchange in Fall River, as well as serving as secretary of the Emergency Hospital of the city until it was merged with the present Union Hospital. Since that time she has served upon the board and as secretary and vicepresident of the Union Hospital. Mrs. Barker is a former visitor to the Rhode Island State College, having served for several years. She is a member of the Republican State Central Committee for Newport county, embracing Newport, Jamestown, Middletown, Little Compton, Portsmouth and Tiverton; and of the Republican Women's Executive Committee, appointed by the Men's Republican State Central Committee. She is also on the executive board of the Newport County Republican Club; a former member of the board of governors of the. Rhode Island Women's Republican Club; and a member of the Women's Club of Fall River. Mrs. Barker is a charter member of the Republican Club of New York, and on November 27, 1923, was appointed a member of the executive board of the Republican Finance Committee of Rhode Island, having already been a member of the Finance Committee and the only woman from Newport county so honored. In the course of her civic and patriotic activity, Mrs. Barker had contributed articles to several magazines and she is also the author of a _ historical volume, "The Daughters of Liberty." Mrs. Barker's mother, Elizabeth 'Tillinghast (Harris) Lawton, the first woman school board member in the United States, was a woman of prominence and usefulness in educational affairs in Rhode Island. Her mantle fell upon her daughter, and the choice of Mrs. Barker as the speaker of the day upon the fortieth anniversary of the Rhode Island Normal School was a tribute to the service of both. Mrs. Barker possesses great executive ability, is a graceful presiding officer and a ready public speaker." She is a woman of splendid presence, and has lent her support and influence to many worthy patriotic and Civic causes.

The former home of Mrs. Barker is well named "The Outlook," and has an unrivalled location in Tiverton, overlooking Narragansett Bay and the surrounding country about Mount Hope Bay. The grounds were artistically laid out by Mrs. Barker, and the mansion was tastefully and beautifully appointed. They had a fine library and have collected treasures from all parts of the world. Mrs. Barker's collection of more than 11,000 book plates, said to be one of the best in this country, and the first made by a woman, was exhibited at the Atlanta Exposition and was awarded a medal.

NATHAN DURFEE - The importance of the position Nathan Durfee holds, plant executive and assistant treasurer of the American Printing Company, can be better appreciated by knowing that the corporation whose destinies he guides operates 500,000 spindles in its mills, manufacturing cotton cloth, and converting it into prints and percales in its print works, which is the second largest plant in the United States in the number of printing machines in use and the largest in production, 5,600 hands being employed. Mr. Durfee is a native son of Fall River, and of a family long connected with the manufacturing, financial and civic interests of that city; in fact, Durfees were large landowners at Fall River long before the building of the town. In addition to the large holdings inherent in the family, Thomas Durfee, of the third generation, married Patience Borden, daughter of Joseph Borden, of Freetown, and united the fortunes of two of the leading families of the district. The early Durfees were landowners and agriculturists, but in the fourth generation Charles Durfee became prominent in public life, and his son, Dr. Nathan Durfee, a physician, finally retired from his professional work and became identified with the moral and religious life of Fall River. His son, Holder Borden Durfee, gave himself to cotton manufacturing, as has the latter's son, Nathan Durfee, to whom reference was made in the opening paragraph. He is of the seventh American generation of his family and has won high standing in the business world, worthily representing this ancent Fall River family.

(1) The family history begins in England, where Thomas Durfee, born in England in 1643, settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1660, He later acquired title to lands at what is now the city of Fall River, his tract covering the area from Rodman to Osborn streets on the south, and from the shore to Eight Rod Way. He bought that tract of

(11) Benjamin Durfee, son of Thomas Durfee, in addition to the lands given him by his father, purchased more, becoming one of the largest landowners of the city. He married Prudence Earle in 1699, and to his son Captain William Durfee, he gave the land given him by his father. Among the children of Benjamin and Prudence (Earle) Durfee was a son, Thomas, of further mention.

(III) Thomas Durfee was born in_ Tiverton, Rhode Island, November 5, 1721, and became one of the magnates of his day, living in a manner commensurate with his wealth. The farm on which he lived and died he inherited from his father, it including all that part of the Fall River of the present day lying north of the line of Elm street and south of Turner street, extending from the shore to Watuppa Lake. He owned other large tracts, and on the death of his father-in-law, Joseph Borden, of Freetown, he came into possession of valuable water power. He enclosed a large park, in which he maintained a herd of deer, and at his home he entertained with generous and warm-hearted hospitality. Among his guests was General Lafayette, who upon his return to France acknowledged his entertainment by the Durfees by the gift of a pair of blooded French hounds. A high-minded, upright and intelligent man, he was calied to high place in the public service, and during the Revolution he used a large portion of his estate to further the cause of independence. He represented Freetown (now. Fall River) for many years in the Great Court and in the General Court; sat in the State Senate thirteen sessions by election; was a member of the governor's council six years, and judge of the Court of Sessions for Bristol county several years. He died at his home July 9, 1796. Thomas Durfee married, August 9, 1747, Patience Borden, of Freetown, daughter of Joseph Borden, and they were the parents of a large family, including a son, Charles, of further mention.

(IV) Charles Durfee was born in _ Tiverton, Rhode Island, November 20, 1761, became one of the leading citizens of Fall River, and there died February 8, 1812. A man of. means, he gave his time to the care of his private estate and to the public service. He served as local magistrate (justice of the peace) for many years, was selectman of the town, and in 1803 called to meet in his office the citizens who wished to discuss the advisability cf incorporating the town of Fall River. He married, in Freetown, Massachusetts, November 23, 1792, Welthe Hathaway of Freetown, born there in 1771, died at Fall River in February, 1851, daughter of Gilbert and Mary (Weaver) Hathaway. She survived her husband, and married (second) at Fall River, June 7, 1820, Silas Payne. Descent is traced in this branch through Dr. Nathan, eldest son of the ten children of Charles and Welthe (Hathaway) Durfee.

(V) Dr. Nathan Durfee was born in then Freetown, now Fall River, Massachusetts, June 18, 1799, and died there April 6, 1876. After public school courses he entered Brown University, whence he was graduated A. B., class of 1824. Later choosing a profession, he prepared at Harvard Medical School and in 1831 was awarded the degree of M. D. by that institution. He practiced his profession for a time at Fall River, also, and for several years, conducted a drug store located in the first brick structure erected in the township. Later, after building his own brick residence at the northeast corner of Bank and North Main streets, he established his drug store in that building. Dr. Durfee did not enjoy his professional work and finally retired from beth his profession and the drug business, and while he was most of his active life interested in Fall River Mills and manufacturing he had, like his ancestors, a great love for the land and gave himself to the care of his estate, owning :t is said about 1,000 acres at one time. Among the manufacturing and transportation corporations which he served as a director were the Iron Works; American Print Works; the Old Fall River railroad and the Cape Cod railroad. He was one of the owners of the Bay State Steamboat Line; was principal owner of the Massasoit Steam Print Works, which burned in 1875; was interested in several banks, and after the fire of 1843 he built the Mt. Hope block, to be used as a hotel.

Dr. Durfee was a member of the Congregational church, a founder of its Sunday school, and a leader in moral thought, his activities covering a wide range. He was also a leader in civic affairs, held several city offices, and represented his district in the State House of Representatives. His large estate was divided by a will probated June 18, 1876, among his children, generous bequests being also made to the Foreign and Home Missionary societies. He was a man of broad sympathies, publicspirited and progressive, few men leaving a more beneficial impress upon the life of Fall River than DOr. Nathan Durfee.

Dr. Durfee married at Fall River, April 24, 1827, Welena Borden, born May 5, 1801, and died January 30, 1863, daughter of Captain George Borden, of the prominent Borden family. Dr. and Mrs. Durfee were parents of five children, all born at Fall River: Mary Maria, born July 8, 1829; Minerva, born January 24, 1836, died May 11, 1837; Harriet M., born July 20, 1838; Holder Borden, of whom further; and Annie G., born May 6, 1842.

(VI) Holder Borden Durfee, only son of Dr. Nathan and Delena (Borden) Durfee, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, September 20, 1840, died in the city of his birth March 4, 1919. He was a man of education and sterling business quality, growing into prominence as a cotton manufacturer and having intimate connections with several large corporations. He was one of the founders and a director of the Montauk Mills (later known as the Osborn Mill No. 2); held the same relation to the Annawan Manufactory and to the Narragansett Mills, he also serving the last-named as president. He took a deep interest in municipal affairs, and in 1875 served as chief engineer of the Volunteer

Fire Department. He was an official member of Central Congregational Church, and a member of the building committee in charge of the erection of the church edifice dedicated December 13, 1875. He met all the responsibilities of citizenship fairly, shirking no duty and meeting to the full every obligation imposed upon him.

Holder B. Durfee married, at Fall River, October 25, 1865, Sylvia B. Durfee, born September 6, 1844, died October 8, 1882, daughter of Joseph and Minerva (Chace) Durfee. Mr. and Mrs. Durfee were the parents of a son, Nathan, of whom further; and a daughter, Anne D., born May 5, 1871.

(VII) Nathan Durfee, only son of Holder Borden and Sylvia B. (Durfee) Durfee, was born at Fall River, the home of his ancestors for two and cne-half centuries, and the birthplace of his grandfather, Dr. Nathan Durfee, whose name he bears. He was born September 11, 1867, and there yet resides, the years having brought him the responsibilities of the manufacturer and financier as well as their rewards. After completing public school study with graduation from B. M. C. Durfee High School, Fall River, in 1885, Nathan Durfee entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whence he was graduated B. S., class of 1889. He then spent one year as civil engineer with the Masaschusetts Sewerage Commission, then was with the Thompson- Houston Electric Company of Boston, and after the merging of that company with the General Electric Company he was for a year located in Schenectady, New York, with the latter company. He then returned to Fall River, where in 1895 he became a member of the cotton brokerage firm, Bassett & Durfee, an association that continued until 1912, when he became assistant treasurer and plant executive of the American Printing Company. He is also a director of the American Printing Company; Fall River Iron Works Company; the Metacomet National Bank; Fall River Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Company; Fall River Electric Light Company; Fall River Gas Works Company; and is a trustee of the Fall River Five Cent Savings Bank. He is vice-president of the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, and by virtue of his office a member of the executive committee. He-ably fills his place in the business life of his city, where so long the name of Durfee has been so well and so favorably known, and in his keeping the best traditions of the family are secure.

During the World War period, 1917-18, Mr. Durfee aided all in his power through committees and personal work in the activities of those two important years. He served as vice-chairman of the Second and subsequent Liberty Loan Committees, and was a member of*the City Committee on Preparedness, also served on the executive committee of the Red Cross. In politics he is a Republican, now chairman of the City Planning Board of Fall River and interested in all civic affairs. He serves Central Congregational Church as a member of the executive board. He is interested in the Boys' Club, of which he is vice-president and member of the finance committee. His clubs are the Quequechan; Fall River Country, which was organized in his office in 1898 and of which he was president the first few years of its life; Rhode Island Country; Acoaxet; Merchants', and Union League of New York City; and the Wardroom, of Boston

Mr. Durfee married, June 2, 1897, Helena Woodrow Brown, of Chillicothe, Ohio, born November 30, 1869, daughter of Allison and Elizabeth (Barry) Brown. To Mr. and Mrs. Durfee two children have been born: Dorothy, born October 15, 1900, at Fall River; she was educated at Miss Porter's School at Farmington, Connecticut. 2. Nathan Barry, born May 11, 1904, at Fall River; he is a graduate of Hotchkiss Preparatory School, Lakeville, Connecticut, class of 1922, now a freshman at Yale University.

JOHN CRUICKSHANK MILNE - 0On his ninetieth birthday, May 18, 1914, John C. Milne, after eighty-two years of continuous and conscientious labor as a printer, retired from the publication of the Fall River "Evening News," in the founding of which he was concerned as a partner sixty-nine years earlier in life. He was at that time (1914) believed to be the oldest active printer in the world, both in actual years and in years of service. A photograph taken the preceding April 22, shows him true to life after an earthly pilgrimage covering ninety years, and every man who looks upon him may breathe the thought: "May I look as well and bear my part as well as did he." The record of his connection with the printing trade as compositor and publisher for more than fourscore years has perhaps never been surpassed in newspaper history.

The "News" was founded by Thomas Almy and John C. Milne as a weekly, April 3, 1845. Mr. Milne was then not quite twenty-one years of age. Fall River was a town of about 10,000 inhabitants. Mr. Milne's life, the growth of the "News," and the growth of Fall River have been closely identified since. Mr. Milne was actively engaged on the paper up to November, 1913, when he passed his interest to his son, Joseph D. Milne, who had been connected with the "News" since July, 1877, as reporter and managing editor, and for several years as part owner. He now has a half ownership with Frank S. Almy, who succeeded to the half interest held by his father, Franklin L. Almy, upon the latter's death, June 12, 1912. Mr. Almy has been connected with the business office since July, 1896, succeeding his father as business manager.

John Cruickshank Milne was born in Milfield, Scotland, May 18, 1824. He was the son of Sergeant John Cruickshank, paymaster of a British regiment stationed in Scotland, and Annie Milne, daughter of Rev. John Milne, a Baptist clergyman. His parents died when he was three or four years of age, and he was brought up by his grandparents, Rev. and Mrs. John Milne, who formally adopted him after coming to the United States. He received his primary education in a private school at Glasgow, and with his grandparents and an uncle came to Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1832. There, at the age of eight years, he went to work in the printing office of an uncle, making his advent in a trade that was to become his life work. A keen mind and a natural aptitude for the mechanical part of the trade enabled him to develop into a rapid and accurate compositor in a comparatively brief time. Three years later, in 1835, came the only lengthy interruption that was to figure in his life as a printer for more than fourscore years. With his grandparents and an uncle he came to Fall River, Massachusetts, where other uncles had made homes already. No opportunity to continue in the printing trade presented itself, and he secured work in the blue dye house of the calico print works, conducted on Pocasset street by Andrew Robeson & Son, his pay $2.25 a week, the hours from five o'clock in the morning until six o'clock at night. He remained in the print works three years. Cloth printing by machinery was in its infancy at that time. The methods which had been devised and the machines which had been constructed were but half successful, and printing at the Robeson factory was still done by the primitive block printing system. One impression of the figure on the pattern was conveyed to the white cloth by each application of an engraved wooden block, which was first immersed in the coloring matter, then carefully placed upon the cloth to be printed, and tapped smartly with a mallet to transfer the imprint.

An act of the Massachusetts Legislature early in 1838, and the broad-minded generosity of Andrew Robeson, proprietor of the print works, had an important effect in shaping Mr. Milne's life during the next few years. This legislative act prohibited the employment of children under fourteen years of age unless they were allowed to attend school at least three months in the year, or for periods approximating that time. Mr. Robeson, realizing that the loss of three months' wages would be a hardship to the parents of the 150 boys employed in his works, established a system of part-time schooling, giving them three hours a day for the entire year, saving their earnings to their families, and more than fulfilling the requirements of the law.

This opportunity for improvement was eagerly grasped by young Milne, then in his fourteenth year. The boys in each room in the factory were divided into three classes, and for three hours each day each class studied and recited under the direction of Louis Lapham, afterwards for many years a practicing attorney in Fall River and judge of its police court. Mr. Lapham, a block printer of more than ordinary intellectual attainments, was paid nine dollars a week for his services as an instructor. Mr. Lapham also opened an _ evening school at the corner of South Main and Anawan streets, and the name of John Milne was enrolled as a student there, too. Such ambition was bound to attract attention, and the interest which Mr. Lapham found himself taking in young Milne resulted in his discovery that the boy could set type.

Mr. Lapham's knowledge of this fact proved the means of returning the boy to his trade. William Canfield had just started the publication of the Fall River "Patriot and Tiverton Advertiser," and when Mr. Lapham told Mr. Canfield of his factory-boy student who could set type, Milne received and accepted an offer to enter the "Patriot" office as a compositor. His wages were increased to four dollars a week. The "Patriot and Advertiser" was the first of a series of papers of varying lengths of life, all more or less short, upon which Mr. Milne worked during the next six years. The interurban nature of its title emphasizes the close connection of Fall River, Massachusetts, and Tiverton, Rhode Island, at that time, and also tells a good deal about the newspaper of the day, and the extremely precarious chances for their success. The publication of the laws enacted by Congress in three papers in each State was an important item of revenue, and the Fall River "Patriot and Tiverton Advertiser" was selected as one to reap the welcome harvest in Rhode Island. The setting up of these laws was one of the tasks given young John Milne.

It was while working in the office of the "Patriot and Advertiser" that one of the strongest and most helpful friendships of Mr. Milne's life was formed. There he met Thomas Almy, a native of Tiverton, who had learned his trade as a printer with the Bristol, Rhode Island, "Phoenix." Mr. Almy was the older, but the difference in their ages was never a barrier to their intimate friendship. Mr. Milne worked with and for Mr. Almy on several local papers and later, as stated above, became a partner with him in founding the Fall River "News". One of the papers which Mr. Almy published, with Jonathan Slade, and on which Mr. Milne worked, was a weekly called the Fall River "Argus." It was printed in New Bedford, and was brought to Fall River each week by stage coach. Its life, like that of most of the local papers of the day, was not long.

The six years after 1838 were important ones to Milne. While he worked long hours in the printing office he was enabled also, through persistent application and the kindly thoughtfulness of his friend, Mr. Almy, to continue his studies in Latin, Greek and mathematics. During one of the periods between these short-lived weeklies, Mr. Milne entered Pierce Academy in Middleboro. He _ had saved a little money, and with the aid of relatives and the encouragement of Mr. Almy, he improved the opportunity to increase his learning. Filled with a genuine desire to acquire an education he applied the same principle of concentration to his studies that he had given his work in the printing office. His willing expenditure of effort again attracted attention. The principal of the academy, Avery Briggs, became interested in him and in his work, and noting the evidences of a bright intellect urged him to prepare for college. But the boy was penniless and without friends who could give him financial assistance, and at the end of six months he returned to Fall River and the printing office. His friends, Thomas Almy, drove to Middleboro for him, and the two returned to prepare another weekly newspaper for the people of Fall River village. Though still but a dim hope, the idea of entering a college was allowed to die. Mr. Almy encouraged him to continue his studies and so arranged his hours of work that he could recite each day to Rev. George M. Randall, the first permanent Episcopal rector in Fall River, and later the first bishop of Colorado. The boy arose each morning at five o'clock to study before going to the newspaper office for a day's work. Each noon at Rev. Mr. Randall's house he recited his translations of Virgil, Cicero or New Testament Greek. When George B. Stone opened the first high school in Fall River, May 10, 1849, Mr. Milne took up his studies there in mathematics. Brown University was the ambition of most Fall River boys at that time who aspired to a college education, and it was still Milne's hope ultimately .to matriculate there.

The great fire which devasted Fall River on Sunday, July 2, 1843, created a big demand for labor in the reconstruction that followed, and brought in a larger number of carpenters and masons than the town had ever seen. The advent of this large body of workingmen of an intelligent class had an immediate effect, and occasioned a local agitation for a ten-hour day system, instead of the thirteen and fourteen-hour workday that was the rule throughout New England. An organization known as the Mechanics' Association was formed, with Thomas Almy and John C. Milne as two of its. members. Mr. Almy and two others were appointed a publishing committee, and on Saturday, April 27, 1844, Mr. Almy published the first issue of the "Mechanic," a weekly devoted almost entirely to the cause of the workingman and the agitation of the ten-hour day. Upon Milne, twenty years old at this time, devolved the greater part of the work of setting the type for the paper. Young Milne retained his interest in the labor question through the months that followed, and when the Bristol County Charitable Mechanics' Association was formed early in 1845, he was elected its secretary. This organization had fifty mechanics enrolled at its start. Its purposes were "union and benevolence."

During all this time Milne had been pursuing his studies, still in the hope of eventually entering Brown University, but in the fall of 1844, finding himself still without means, he abandoned this cherished purpose. The town was resuming its normal condition. Houses and business buildings had been rebuilt, and with the reconstruction of the burned portion of the village masons and carpenters left for their homes in other places. With their departure the enthusiasm in the ten-hour day agitation suffered a corresponding decrease. Interest in the Mechanics' Association waned, and the "Mechanic" felt the reaction in the loss of subscribers. A debt of about one hundred dollars assumed gigantic proportions in the face of the paper's restricted finances. On April 2, 1845, its publication ceased. Mr. Milne resolved to go to New York, where there were greater opportunities, and on August 27, 1844, he left Fall River on the sloop "Rollo" of Somerset, which carried him as far as Flushing, Long Island. In New York he chanced to meet Rev. Asa Bronson, his pastor, a clergyman whose impress upon Fall River remained for many years, a friend of the working people, and a staunch supporter of the "Mechanic" and the Mechanics' Association. He told Mr. Bronson of his hope of finding employment in one of the New York printing offices and received a proffer of the clergyman's help. Mr. Bronson took him to the home of Mayor James Harper, founder of the great publishing house of Harper Brothers. Mayor Harper received them kindly but could give the lad no employment at that time, as many of his old employes were temporarily without work.

Young Milne went to the printing office of Leavitt, Trow & Company in Ann street, where Alfred G. Pierce, formerly a compositor on the Fall River "Monitor," was employed. Mr. Pierce introduced the boy to his foreman, Mr. Flagg. There was no opening at that time, but Mr. Flagg promised him a place as soon as possible. Milne returned to Fall River and a few weeks later he received a call to go to work. Leavitt, Trow & Company employed about forty or fifty men. The firm was engaged in the printing of a number of large books and Young Milne was immediately set to work, with a number of other compositors, on a 1,500 page job. Each man was handed several pages of copy. In a short time, but long before any of the older and more experienced printers had finished their stints, young Milne was back to the foreman for more copy. The foreman was as tounded. He refused at first to believe that the boy had finished with his first allotment. But when the galley of type was shown a new speed marvel was added to the boasts of the shop. The boy was but bearing out the predictions for his success as a compositor which had been made for him in Fall River. By one writer in Fall River he had been referred to as "our office boy John, who sticks type like all possessed." Mr. Jewell, assistant foreman in the office of Leavitt, Trow & Company, declared him to be "a perfect salamander."

Through the system of giving out work to the compositors in the office, an increasingly large share of the copy passed through young Milne's hands. In spite of the fact that he was receiving but twothirds of the wages paid the other printers, because he was under age, he was doing more work than any of them. His supremacy in speed and accuracy came to be unquestioned, a fact that was definitely decided when Lawrence Cummings, one of the compositors, came to him and said: "John, until you came they called me the fastest compositor in the office." Cummings, instead of being _ jealous of the new compositor, became Milne's staunch friend and remained so until his death. This ability to compete successfully with grown men of wide experience was a cheering factor in young Milne's life. Though practically destitute of means and dependent upon his own resources for his livelihood, he was never without a light heart. So long as there were printing offices he felt secure in his ability to make his way; if he was allowed to go into an office and demonstrate his abiilty to set type he knew that his chances of winning employment were better than even. Upon leaving New York he received a most gratifying commendation from his foreman, who said: "John is not only very swift, but also very accurate."

The latter part of 1844 formed one of the most important passages in the young man's life. While he was in New York, Thomas Almy was contemplating the publication of a new weekly in Fall River. The early deaths of the half dozen or more papers on which both he and young Milne had worked during the preceding six years had not convinced him that Fall River did not offer a field for another weekly. He wrote his belief to young Milne, asking him to return to Fall River and become his partner in the new enterprise. Mr. Almy had about $600 in accumulated savings. His young friend, underpaid because he had not yet attained his majority, and requiring practically all he earned for his living, had nothing. That is, he had no money to put into the business. But he had something of equal if not greater value - ability. Mr. Almy, although a good workman, had not had the advantages of much schooling. The studies in which young Milne had delved in his preparation for college had given him an ability to write that would be of immeasurable help on the proposed paper. All these things were considered in the discussions which preceded the foundation of the "News." Young Milne left the Leavitt, Trow &

Company office in New York and returned to Fall River on Christmas eve, 1844. A few days later he and his partner went to Boston and bought an equipment for their office.

How closely these two young men had come to be identified with the newspaper work on this section was shown by an offer made 'to them by a number of New Bedford men at about this time. The "Mercury," which supported the Whig party in politics, was the only paper published in New Bedford, and a number of influential citizens desired a paper that would disseminate Free Soil principles. The two young men from Fall River were invited to attend a meeting in the office of Mayor Rodney French. The found there eight prominent men who offered to make them a gift of $1,000 and to guarantee 800 subscribers for the proposed paper at the start. Milne, who had been given a strict religious training, declined to enter into the negotiations when he learned that a morning paper was wanted, which would necessitate working on Sundays, but recommended Edmond Anthony, who then was publishing the "Independent Gazette" at Taunton, Massachusetts. Mr. Anthony accepted the offer and the new paper, known as the New Bedford "Standard," was established in 1850. About this time an offer to take charge of a Providence paper was also declined by Mr. Milne.

ond floor office at No. 5 Bedford street, April 3, 1845. The name had been chosen after many suggestions; most of them, high sounding and presumptuous, had been discarded. The junior partner gave expression to his feelings on the question, when one friend suggested "The Spirit of the Age." "How much of the spirit of the age can we express in this little manufacturing village, of which the world has hardly heard, as yet? Our only purpose can be to give the public the news, and let that be our title.' The lofty captions in whose origin Pegasus might be traced were laid aside; the elaborate headings which had been "set up," "proved up" and studied were "thrown in" and the plain, straightforward caption, the Fall River "Weekly News," appeared in their place. The task which faced the partners was one of grown man proportions. As Mr. Milne's first biographer said in a volume published in 1890, "One of a Thousand:" "The difficulties experienced in those days, when these two young men undertook the work, were laborious, and their lives self-denying; but by incessant application and rigorous economy they achieved success."

Fall River, the field of their labors, had a population at that time of about 10,000 people. The "News" was started with 500 subscribers. All the matter that went into its forms was set by hand by the two partners. Every Wednesday afternoon the paper went to press, each partner running off half the edition on the cumbersome, hand-operated machine. This part of the work came particularly hard on the slightly built, young partner, who was compelled to use all his strength and weight on every impression. Young Milne wrote much of the local news that went into its columns. Within a few weeks after the issue of the first edition of the weekly, Benjamin F. Glasby of Providence was added to the office staff. Mr. Glasby was rated high amond the swiftest compositors of New England, but when he engaged in a contest with young Milne, he was compelled to admit the latter's superior speed. His youthful employer set 1,680 ems, long primer, each hour for four successive hours, or 6,720 ems. 'The remarkable nature of this performance may be realized when it is stated that 1,000 ems an hour in long primer was held to be good typesetting.

Dr. Phineas W. Leland, collector of the port of Fall River, was one of the first regular contributors to the columns of the "News." His assistant, Jonathan Slade, wrote items of marine arfd general intelligence. John Westall was the author of an article in the first and in numerous subsequent issues. Accounts of accidents and happenings which came under his notice were contributed by Dr. Foster Hooper.

Beginning as they did with extremely limited capital and with an established paper competing against them in a limited field, the two young men had a battle facing them that might well inspire older business men with awe. When their first ton of coal was purchased they could not afford to pay for having it carried upstairs to their office, so they essayed the task themselves and carried it in in baskets from where it had been dumped on the sidewalk. Henry Fish, a local banker, watched them with interest. "Those boys will make it go," he prophesied. At the end of three years the business began to show signs of ultimate success, and each partner received $516 for his twelve months of taxing toil. For the two preceding years neither had drawn what he might have earned at his trade. But the "News" was winning the commendation of the public for its enterprise and thoroughness in covering the local field, and the realization of doing something for themselves and doing that something well spurred the young men on.

A job printing business in connection with the newspaper office was for the first three or four years about all that kept them above water. This branch of the business received a helpful impetus in the acquisition of the work of a thread manufacturer, Oliver Chace. The spirit of accommodation which the young men had made a part of their business policy was the direct cause of their favor in Mr. Chace's eyes. When he came to them one day and asked them to print him a number of labels immediately, they abandoned the task in hand and did it, although the return was but $1.25. A rival printer had refused to do the work in the time stipulated, a fact that lost him a valuable customer, and gave to the young publishers of the "News" one of their greatest helps.

After eight years in the second-story office on Bedford street, the "News" moved to the northeast corner of North Main and Market streets, again on the second floor. Up to this time and for several years after the partners put back much of the earnings of both the job office and of the weekly into the business. Their old back-breaking handpress was discarded for a second-hand Adams press, the first power-press to be used in the city. As no mechanical power was at first available, a man was hired to turn the driving wheel, a_ position which brought him the sobriquet "the power of the press." When Prentiss' laundry was opened in an adjoining building, a belt was run from the laundry engine through one of the printing office windows to the press. A single-cylinder press and a doublecylinder press, with a separate folding machine, came into the office in the course of time, as the subscription lists increased.

The first issue of the "News" was delivered by its publishers. After a few weeks two carriers were employed. One of these was Franklin L. Almy, who, although of the same name as the senior partner, was not related to him. The younger Almy was twelve years of age at that time and he delivered the paper to all subscribers living north of the Quequechan river. Another boy had for his district that section of the town south of the stream, which was to become the nucleus of the greatest cotton manufacturing city in the country. Franklin L. Almy became infected with the fascination of the printer's ink, and in the following September he entered the News office as an apprentice. He became a journeyman in 1850, foreman of the job office a short time later, and in 1862 he was taken into the firm as a partner. Upon the death of Thomas Almy, in 1882, John C. Milne and Franklin L. Almy purchased his interest in the publishing and printing business, and continued as partners until the second Mr. Almy's death, June Be 1912.

At the start, the "News" was a Democrat paper, remaining an advocate of the principles of the party until the Democracy went over to the slave-holders of the South just before the Civil War. From the beginning it was a staunch advocate of human freedom, the cause of temperance, and the best interests of the community in general. Its young publishers gave it a reputation for accuracy and high purpose, and soon brought it to a point of influence and power in the town. An attention to local news unusual in that day made it popular from the beginning. The "Monitor," begun in 1826, went out of existence soon after the War of the Rebellion. The "Monitor" was Whig in politics and upheld the old, high protective system. Its followers were the followers of Henry Clay. The young publishers of the "News" inclined to the political faith of the Democrats, under Martin Van Buren, and advocated the introduction of free trade to a certain extent. In many ways it succeeded the "Mechanic," many of the subscribers of that paper changing over to the "News" when it made its appearance.

How stringent were the early circumstances of the young men is shown in an incident of their paper's early existence, an incident which also shows the indomitable spirit that was a noteworthy factor in Mr. Milne's ultimate success. A wealthy and extremely influential resident of the town had become interested in the ambitious spirit displayed by young Milne. After first testing the boy's mettle with a contemptuous denunciation of his paper, and finding pleasure in the sturdy, yet respectful answer, he relaxed his habitually serious expression into a smile and openly complimented the young men on the readable character of the paper. Young Milne immediately returned to the printing office, and obtaining from his partner a bill for two years' subscription to the paper, one year of which was already overdue, he hurried to the office of the big man of business. The latter, upon ascertaining that the bill was for two years instead of for the one that he owed, demanded the reason. "Well," was the reply, "we have trusted you for a year, and we thought you might be willing to trust us for a year, now." He received the payment for the two years, $2.00, and won a steadfast friend in the wealthy business man.

Charles Sumner, who added so much to the fame of Massachusetts in the United States Senate, and who figured so prominently in the legislative battles over the slavery question, owed his election in no small measure to the virile pen and fiery enthusiasm of Mr. Milne. Sumner was elected April 23, 1851, on the twenty-sixth ballot. He received 193 votes in the General Court, against 166 cast for Robert C. Winthrop, his opponent. There were twenty-five scattering votes and two blanks. Eleven days before, on Saturday afternoon, April 12, a meeting was held in Fall River, in response to the following call written by Mr. Milne: "Freemen of Fall River! As you love Liberty and would see the cause of Freedom sustained and vindicated in a National Senate, be on hand and vote for the instructions. As you loathe slavery and would spurn the man hunter from your soil, be there and bear your strong testimony against the detestable Fugitive Slave Law." The meeting adopted resolutions instructing the four Fall River representatives in the General Court to vote for Charles Sumner for the United States Senate, rather than the Whig candidate, Winthrop. As a result, one of the four, N. B. Borden, elected as Whig, changed his vote and broke the deadlock which had tied the election. Senator Hoar, speaking at a dinner in memory of Charles Sumner, in Boston, in 1894, referred to the effect of the memorable meeting which responded to Mr. Milne's call as "the instruction . . . which decided the great contest when Mr. Sumner was elected Senator in 1851."

In 1861 James Buffinton was elected to Congress from the Fall River district, and he named Mr. Milne clerk of the House Committee on Accounts. Thus it was that Mr. Milne spent five or six months at the national capital during the early part of the Civil War. He was there when the first battle of Bull Run was fought. He saw the troops march out of Washington, pass General Scott in review, and onward to where they were to meet the Confederate Army. He was in the midst of the stirring scenes at the nation's headquarters during the troublous times that followed. When he was not engaged in his duties at the Capitol he visited the various hospitals in the city in search of Fall River boys who might have been wounded in the army campaigns. On one of these visits, after a two-mile tramp through mud ankle deep, he met Mrs. Rebecca L. Pomeroy, matron of Columbia College Hospital. Mrs. Pomeroy had helped the wife of President Lincoln care for their little son Tad, during the illness that resulted in his death. From her Mr. Milne heard, at first hand, the touching story of the Martyred President's terrible suffering; his agony at the bedside of his dying son; and his equally great sorrow at the realization that the country was in the midst of a mighty conflict. Mr. Milne had stood at the gate of the White House grounds as the little white coffin was borne out.

Among the incidents related to Mr. Milne by Mrs. Pomeroy, one was stamped indelibly on his mind. It had an intimate bearing on one of the most important acts in President Lincoln's life, and Mrs. Pomeroy, relating it but a few weeks after its occurrence, made Mr. Milne feel it as keenly as though he himself had figured in it. President Lincoln, filled with gratitude for the help Mrs. Pomeroy had given during his son's illness, often went to the hospital after the boy's death and took Mrs. Pomeroy for a drive through the streets of the capital. One afternoon while they were taking one of these drives, sadly discussing the overwhelm- ing problems that faced the nation the while, Mrs. Pomeroy half unconsciously placed her hand on the President's shoulder and said: "It seems, Mr. President, that you have been raised by God to free the slaves. Why don't you do it?" Lincoln seemed to weigh the question for a moment, then he answered: "Well, Mrs. Pomeroy, if it is the will of God that I am to be the instrument in His hands by which the slaves are to be freed, He has but to make it unmistakably known to me and it shall be done, no matter what the cost." On January 1, 1863, Mr. Milne saw in Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation another answer to Mrs. Pomeroy's question. Mr. Milne resigned his position at the Capitol after six months and returned to Fall River. He was elected a member of the Fall River Common Council in the same year, 1861, and served for five years.

A daily edition of the "News" had been started in 1859. Ten years later the paper had outgrown its printing office, and land was purchased at the corner of Pleasant and Second streets and the present News building erected. On August 2, 1869, the first issue was printed in the new quarters. The paper was of four pages, three of which were given over to advertising. A steady growth and improvement have gone on since. The old hand-set methods gave way almost. entirely to linotype machines; the old flat-bed presses were abandoned in favor of the modern machines which print from stereotyped plates; and the pages and size of the page were steadily increased until!' the present twelve-page, eight-column paper is produced, four and a third times as large, with three editions daily.

Mr. Milne was urged in 1884 to become a candidate for the Legislature and, although he declined to make any effort toward his own election, friends who felt that in him Fall River would have a strong representative at Boston worked in his behalf, and had him elected. He served for the five years following. As a member of the Committee on Banking and Charitable Institutions, he forwarded many projects of interest and help not only to his own constituents in Fall River but to the people of the whole State. <A bill which he introduced and advanced through the successive stages to its enactment as a law was declared by one of his colleagues to be "the most important thing done by the committee on banking for five years." Mr. Milne's measure was intended to increase the stability of savings banks in Massachusetts, a purpose which it admirably achieved, if the unanimous endorsement of savings bank treasurers throughout the State can be taken as a criterion. The law amended the savings bank regulations by making the division of surplus in extra dividends discretionary with the trustees instead of compulsory. An immediate effect of the change was an increase in the bank's stability. A guarantee fund provided for in connection with the new regulation formed a last reserve which assured the depositors their money in case of trouble.

his first year in the Legislature. Near the close of the session, on June 2, 1884, during an afternoon given over to mock activities, Mr. Milne read a review of the year in verse. The review was enthusiastically received, its keen summaries of the important happenings and contests of the House, and the evidence of a deep understanding of both its characters and incidents, receiving more than passing notice. During a recess of the House later, Mr. Brackett of Boston was called to the chair, and Mr. Dresser of Boston, after a few introductory remarks, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That our hearty thanks are due and are hereby tendered to our esteemed fellow-member, Mr. John C. Milne, of Fall River, for his most entertaining poem, read before us on June 2, and that we ask a copy of the same for publication." Among those who heard the reading was one of the State printers. He enjoyed the lines as much as any of the members and printed thereview for the legislators without cost.

One of the most bitterly fought measures of the session was that which sought to divide the town of Sandwich and create the new town of Bourne. The review speaks of the bill as follows:

There's Kimball, to do, Brings in a bill dividing our big Sandwich right in two; The present shape of that old town makes half the people mourn, Who ask another Bourne."

After telling of the battle which waged between the proponents and opponents of the measure, Mr. Milne described its disposition in these words:

Anti-vaccination, a matter that is being given the earnest consideration of the State's legislators today, was an agitated question in 1884, also, and as in the present instance it was a Fall River man who introduced the bill. Mr. Milne's review in telling of its defeat said:

As a member of the Committee on Charitable Institutions Mr. Milne turned his talent for writing to a helpful and inspiring purpose. Each year, with other members of the committee, he made regular visits to the institutions throughout the Commonwealth. The children in the State Primary School at Monson won his especial interest. On his second. visit there, on May 18, 1885, and on his third visit, on May 26, 1885, he addressed the pupils, in verse, with cheering, inspiring words. By vote of the committee these two addresses were printed and presented to the school for the inspiration and guidance of the scholars.

Among a number of important works of interest to Fall River accomplished by Mr. Milne while in the Legislature were the securing of the free use of the water of the North Watuppa pond by the city, and a grant of $100,000 for the ereciion of the Superior Court House on North Main street.