Worcester County, Massachusetts - Biographical sketches (5 of 5 so headed), 1889 (part 1 of 5)

Biographical sketches

Stephen Salisbury,' the first of the name in Worcester, was born in Boston, September 25, 1746, the son of Nicholas and Martha (Saunders) Salisbury. Upon attaining his majority, in 17G7, he came to Worcester and established here a branch of the commercial house of Samuel & Stephen Salisbury, his partner being his elder brother. The firm imported hardware and other goods, English and West India, and their trade was among the largest at that time in Boston. Worcester proved a favorable situation for the centre of a large country trade. The town had scarcely a thousand inhabitants, but it was the centre of a large district from which people were attracted to it by the sessions of the courts and other business of the county offices, and it lay on the main highway of travel from Boston to the West. The Salisburys imported their own goods and the country traders found that they could buy almost as cheaply in Worcester as in Boston, and save the heavy cost of carriage over the rough roads of that time. Mr. Salisbury was an enterprising merchant, exact and just in his dealings, and his liberality and kindliness were »uch as to give him the personal affection of Ms customers to an unusual degree.

At the time of his arrival in Worcester pohtical affairs were engaging much of the attention of the people, and the breach with the government of the mother country was slowly widening toward the complete separation which was to occur a few years later. In Worcester the excitement was higher than in most other places, for here were some of the most obstinate as well as most influential loyalists or Tories in the province, and also some of the most enterprising and resolute of the defenders of colonial rights. Mr. Salisbury early and decidedly committed himself to the patriotic cause. He accepted no office, but his name often appears in the town records as a member of a committee to prepare resolutions protesting against some act of tyrannical authority, or instructions to a Representative in the General Court, or to carry out some patriotic purpose.

Mr. Salisbury bought a large farm to the westward and northward of his place of business, which was at Lincoln Square, in the house now known as the Salisbury Mansion. To the east of the front door was the counting-room and salesroom. The household occupied the rest of the house and the heavy goods were stored in warehouses near by. Mr. Salisbury was of fine presence and of courteous manners. His housekeeping was elegant, but not ostentatious. Until he was well advanced in life his mother presided over his household, and not until after her death did he marry, January 31, 1797, Elizabeth

Tuckerman, daughter of Elward and Elizabeth Tuckerman, of Boston, by whom he had a son, Stephen, born in the next year; also Elizabeth Tuckerman, born in 1800, who died in 1803, and Edward Tuckerman, born in 1803, who died in 1809. Amid the exacting cares of business he found time to cultivate and improve his farm, and of the trees which he planted, among which, after the fashion of that day, were many Lombardy poplars, a few yet remain. Mr. Salisbury died May 11, 1829, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. When he died he was described by his friend and pastor, the Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, as a "just man." His son said of his physical aspect: "His figure was s^ght and graceful, and his face was handsome, and he retained a complexion of youthful freshness until the end of his life."

Stephen Salisbury,^ the second in Worcester, was born March 8, 1798, in the house built by his father in 1770 and now standing at Lincoln Square, a house whose comely dignity proves that the builders of that time had other merits besides mechanical skill and thoroughness.

His education, begun in the district school, was continued at Leicester Academy and Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1817. Among his classmates were George Bancroft, also of Worcester, Caleb Gushing, Samuel E. Sewall and Samuel J. May. After leaving college Mr. Salisbury studied law with the Hon. Samuel M. Burnside and was admitted to the bar. He did not make the law his profession or engage at all in its practice, nor probably did he ever intrad to do so. But the study was a useful part of his education and equipment for a life of varied business employments and responsibilities. He spent two years in European travel, an advantage which was not enjoyed by so many Americans then as now. Mr. Salisbury was never a man of leisure. Besides his private affairs, which, in all their details, had his personal attention, he was much occupied with public matters and financial trusts. He was a selectman of the town in 1839, a member of the first Board of Aldermen under the city charter in 1848, a Representative in the General Court in 1838 and 1839, State Senator in 1846 and 1847, a Presidential elector in 1860 and in 1872, a director of the Free Public Library when the board was first organized and president of the board from 1863 to 1865, and again from 1868 to 1872. He was an overseer of Harvard College from 1871 to 1883 a trustee of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and treasurer of its funds for fifteen years from its foundation. He was a member of the American Antiquarian Society from 1840, a member of the council from 1843, vice-president in 1853 and president from 1854 until his death.

two years, having been first chosen in 1832, and its president for thirty-nine years, from 1845. He was president of the Worcester County Institution for Savings from 1845 to 1871, when he resigned that office. He was a director of the Worcester and Nashua Kailroad Company from its organization, in 1845, and its president in 1850 and 1851. He was a director also of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad Company. He was the first president of the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science, now the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, holding that office until his death. He was also for nine years a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester, was a trustee of Leicester iij3ademy, president of the Worcester Horticultural Society and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Mr. Salisbury, in accepting these various trusts, recognized the duties they brought with them, and was exact even to punctiliousness in their discharge. Though always occupied, he was never hurried, and the time fixed for the completion of any official business by him always found the work done and his report prepared. He expected equal exactness in his associates, and did not shrink from rebuking in them any neglect of duty. It is said that when he was president of the library directors he made a point of advising any director who had been absent from two successive meetings that it was his duty to resign his office unless he could be sure of more constant attendance in the future.

In his long life Mr. Salisbury saw the littleinland village of his boyhood, whose industries and interests were those of the centre of a flourishing agricultural district, grow to a city of seventy thousand people, the home of varied manufactures, some of which had their origin here, others had been developed by the ingenuity of Worcester inventors to an excellence not attained elsewhere, and several, in the amount of capital employed, the skill displayed in their processes and the extent of their production, had few rivals in the world. The railroad system also had its beginning and its extraordinary growth, changing all the conditions of business, bringing here, as to other New England towns, cheap food and materials of manufacture, making the people no longer dependent for the staples of subsistence upon the farms of the immediate neighborhood, making it possible to collect here the materials of an unusually varied industry, and t;o transport its products at a cheap rate to the remotest parts of our own and to other countries. It is remarkable that Worcester, with but scanty natural water-power, with no near supply of ores or coal or other essentials of manufacture, and no cheap water carriage, should not only have kept pace with other towns of New England having one or more of these advantages, but have outstripped most of them in the development of its industries and its growth in wealth and population.

Such results are not due to a mere caprice of destiny, which, without visible cause, makes one village grow into a city and lets another, equally open to the favors of fortune, remain stagnant. The causes of prosperity and increase cannot always be traced with exactness and their relative efficiency assigned to each. They are many and diverse, and their mutual relations are intricate. Among the causes operative here was probably the political and social distinction which the town early acquired from the eminent men who, from colonial times onward, made their homes here, exerting a wide influence by their characters and their achievements in their professions, iu politics and in statesmanship. Such men, by giving their town an honored name, made their fellow-townsmen proud of it and the more willing to establish here the work-shops and factories which their ingenuity and skill had created. Another factor of prime importance in the growth of the town, doubtless, was that Worcester was fortunate in having, at the beginning of the era of manufacture, besides ingenious inventors and skillful mechanics, wise directors or captains of industry, - men of orderly and provident minds, who recognized the value not only of capital inventions, but of minor improvements of macliinery or process, the necessity of systematic and organized operations and scrupulous care of financial credit. These pioneers of manufacture trained their assistants and successors in correct habits of business, and gave a tone to the productive industries of Worcester which has enabled them to set at naught the natural disadvantages of their position as compared with that of their most successful rivals.

But, besides these and other favoring conditions, which cannot be detailed here, was the influence of the capitalists of the town, of whom Mr. Salisbury was the chief in extent of means and weight of character. He would scarcely be described as enterprising, still less as adventurous, but he was equally far from stubborn and obstructive conservatism. His imagination was not easily kindled by the enthusiasm of a sanguine projector or his reason convinced by a specious calculation of seductive profits. His coolness of temper, rigorous inquiry into details and sobriety of judgment as to results were sometimes exasperating to men of sanguine temperament, hasty conclusions and enthusiastic advocacy. But there is no doubt that this wisely conservative spirit of one having so great financial influence was immensely advantageous to the town in keeping its business sound, safe and healthy, and saving it from the shocks to credit and the losses of capital which would have followed the establishment of superficially promising, but insecurely founded enterprises. On the other hand, Mr. Salisbury was not timid or unduly tenacious of profit for himself or for those whose interests were in his charge. Both his fortune and his character made it his opportunity and his duty to have a large share in directing and assisting

Amid the new forces, the lately discovered resources of ingenuity and skill, and the quickened enterprise which were recasting the destiny of Worcester when his active business life began, his judgment was undisturbed. He insisted upon convincing proof of solidity as a condition of encouragement to any new undertaking ; but, once satisfied of that, his support was prompt and steadfast. The soundness and healthy growth of Worcester enterprises, and the generally excellent credit of our business men, are among the proofs of his wisdom. Mr. Salisbury contributed materially by his counsels and financial support to the development of the railroads centering here, and throughout his life was a large stockholder and director of one or more of them. He built at Lincoln Square the factory long known as " Court Mills," for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and, when the land was needed for other purposes, he built for the Ames Plow Company, which had succeeded to the business of the earlier partnership, the large factory on Prescott Street. He built for Ichabod Washburn the Brst wire-mill on Grove Street, and enlarged and improved the works to adapt them to the expanding business, finally selling the site to the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company. He also built several large factories, variously occupied, on Union Street and near it. Besides these direct contributions to the material progress of the community, Worcester is largely indebted to his exactness, method and fidelity in business for the high standard of commercial integrity and honor which has generally prevailed here, especially in financial institutions.

Such were Mr. Salisbury's relations to the community on its business side. His interest was certainly not less, and his influence larger, and, doubtless, more lasting, in the advancement of learning and in the establishment and fostering of institutions devoted to education and culture. He was a scholar and the friend of scholars. His love of literature gave him one of the pleasures which he most valued, and he was a systematic and thoughtful reader of good books in his own and other languages. His official relations to Harvard College have been already mentioned, and from that institution he received the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1875. He was a liberal benefactor of the American Antiquarian Society and its president for many years, presiding at its meetings with a benign and dignified courtesy, taking a keen interest in the papers presented and the discussions \o which they gave rise, contributing himself the results of careful research and sound judgment in a simple, clear and dignified style. It was his custom to entertain at dinner the members of the society when they met in Worcester, and the annual gathering at his table in unrestrained social intercourse of

The wide range of Mr. Salisbury's intellectual interests and sympathies is illustrated by his equal care fur the Antiquarian Society, which preserves the history of the past, and the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science, now the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which gives practical training to the mechanics, engineers, chemists and architects of the future. Of this latter institution he was the president from its origin until his death, and the largest contributor to its endowment. He superintended its affairs faithfully and wisely. The eminence which this school has already attained among institutions of like character and purpose is due in large measure to his generous bounty and sagacious counsel.

Mr. Salisbury's advice and aid were sought for many enterprises of education or charity, but he never gave until his judgmeut was satisfied or to escape importunate solicitation. In his private life he was courteous, dignified, but simple in his manner and in his habits. He was constantly accessible, though the demands upon his time and strength were greater than most men could endure, and it never occurred to any man who knew him that they met otherwise than as equals.

Mr. Salisbury was of a devout and reverent spirit. A member and constant attendant upon the services of the church of the Second Parish (Unitarian), he was thought somewhat old-fashioned by his contemporaries of later years in his strict observance of Sunday. His open mind recognized and respected sincerity and the essentials of true religion in Christians of all sects, and he often attended with satisfaction and spiritual profit the services of churches other than his own. He was all his life a student of the

Mr. Salisbury married, November 7, 1833, Rebekah Scott, daughter of Aaron and Phila Dean, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, who died July 24, 1843, leaving one son, Stephen Salisbury, Jr. He married, June 26, 1850, Nancy Hoard, widow of Capt. George Lincoln, who died September 4, 1852. He married as his third wife, June 2, 1856, Mary Grosvenor, widow of the Hon. Edward D. Bangs, for many years secretary of the Commonwealth.

In his youth Mr. Salisbury was not apparently of vigorous constitution, but correct habits and an active life increased his strength, and during most of his life his health was uniformly good. While his physical strength declined in his last years, he had no mental infirmities, but his mind was as clear and as active as ever, seeming, indeed, to maintain a constant and healthy growth. His last illness, of several weeks' duration, was rather the effect of age and the gradual failure of his bodily powers than of any acute disease. Having met every duty as it came, and left no task unfinished, he faced death without anxiety or regret,

Stephen Salisbury ' (3d), was born March 31, 1885, in one of the block of brick houses near the lower end of Main Street, in Worcester, opposite the courthouse. He was the only child of Stephen and Rebekah Scott Dean Salisbury. His education was begun at the private infant-school of Mrs. Levi Heywood on Main Street, where the insurance building now stands. At the age of six years he passed the winter of 1841 and 1842 with his parents at Savannah. In 1842 he attended the private school of Mrs. Jonathan Wood, at the corner of Main and School Streets, and for a short time in 1844 was a pupil at Miss Bradford's private school in Boston. He entered the public grammar-school on Thomas Street in 1845, and continued there, under the instruction of Warren Lazell, and afterwards of C. B. Metcalf, until, in 1848, he entered the Worcester High School, of which Mr. Nelson Wheeler was then master. He entered Harvard College in 1852, and was graduated in due course four years later.

Immediately after leaving college Mr. Salisbury went to Europe, and became a student at the Frederick William University in Berlin. In the spring of 1857 he attended lectures for some months at the Ecole de Droit in Paris, and during the summer and autumn traveled with his classmates Rice and Kinnicutt in England, Scotland and Ireland, and later in the year extended his travels to Turkey, Asia Minor and Greece, making a month's horseback tour in the latter country with a guide and muleteer, during which he became familiar with the life of the people, and visited many places of historic interest. He resumed his studies at Berlin the next winter, and in the spring revisited Paris, whence, in May, he set out with his father's family upon a tour of several months in Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

After this absence of more than two years, Mr. Salisbury returned to Worcester in December, 1858, studied book-keeping for a time, and then entered the 0 ffice of Dewey & Williams as a law student. A year later he entered the Harvard Law School, and after two years' study received the degree of LL."B., and was admitted to the bar in Worcester in October, 1861. In the winter of that year he visited his classmate David Casares in Yucatan, studying during his stay of six months many of the Maya Indian ruins and monuments. It may be added here, though out of the order of time, that Mr. Salisbury again visited Yucatan in 1885, extending his journey to other parts of Mexico and to Cuba. He re-examined some of the ancient buildings which he had formerly seen, and studied the character of the descendants of their builders. In this journey he observed with satisfac- tion the progress of the country since his former visit, and gained confidence in the great future of the Mexican Republic, of which the many lines of railway already constructed, and the pacific, wise and resolute administration of the government by its enlightened president, Porfirio Diaz, are the most important factors now visible. Mr. Salisbury revisited Europe in 1888, and traveled in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain. He saw Spain under conditions peculiarly favorable for becoming familiar with the domestic life of the people, as lie was accompanied by a gentleman from Yucatan, with whom he visited relatives of the latter still living in the mother country. Most of the chief cities of Spain were visited in this journey, which extended also into Portugal.

In 1863 Mr. Salisbury was elected to the Common Council of Worcester, and was re-elected two years later. In 1866 he was president of the board. He became a director of the Worcester National Bank in 1865, and was made its president in 1884, on the death of his father. He was a member of the Board of Investment of the Worcester County Institution for Savings in 1877, and has been its president since 1882, when, upon the death of the Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, Mr. Salisbury succeeded him in that office. He has been, since 1863, a director of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company ; was a director of the Worcester and the Nashua and of the Boston, Barre and Gardner railroads at the time of their absorption by the Boston and Maine and the Fitchburg railroad companies respectively, and has been officially connected with other financial and business corporations. He was chosen a commissioner of the sinking funds of the city of Worcester in 1889. He was president of the Worcester County Horticultural Society in 1882.

Mr. Salisbury has been one of the builders of Worcester. Besides the Salisbury and Dean buildings, for business and residence, on Lincoln Square, an addition to the City Hospital and the laboratory of the Polytechnic Institute have been erected at his expense. He has given to the city, as a park or pleasureground, the tract, of about eighteen acres, bordering on Salisbury Pond, known as Institute Park, and has contributed in other ways to the prosperity and wellbeing of the city and the support of its institutions for charity, education and research. He has been a trustee of the City Hospital since its incorporation, and secretary of the board since 1872; and was for ten years secretary of the Memorial Hospital, of which he still continues a trustee ; and he was for ten years treasurer of the Music Hall Association, of which he still is a director.

Mr. Salisbury was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1863, a member of the council in 1874, a vice-president in 1884 and became its president in 1887. He has contributed to its transactions several papers on the early inhabitants of Yu- ) catan and their arts, as illustrated by recent discov- eries there, and has translated for the society, from the German, several valuable papers by Dr. Valentini, on these and kindred subjects. He also read, at the April meeting of the society, in 1888, a paper on " Early Books and Libraries."

He is also a member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografiay Estadistica,of theConservatorio Yucateco, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and of the American Geographical Society. He was elected a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1884, and of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology in 1887.

Samuel Swett Green

Mr. Green was born in Worcester, February 20, 1837. He is a son of the late James Green and a nephew of Dr. John Green, the principal founder of the Free Public Library.

Through his father, Mr. Green is descended from the ancestor of an old Worcester County family, which traces its origin in America to Thomas Green, of Maiden, Mass., who came to this country from England in about the year 1635 or 1636, and having lived elsewhere (perhaps in Ipswich, Mass.) for fourteen years or thereabouts, settled in Maiden.

His .son, also named Thomas, married Rebecca Hills, of Maiden, a daughter of Rose Dunster (who was a sister of Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College).

Their son. Captain Samuel Green, became one of the chief founders of the town of Leicester, in this county, to which place he removed in about the year 1717. His son, Thomas Green, who went from Maiden to Leicester when a boy, became one of its most distinguished residents. He was an eminent physician, a successful man of business and at the same time the founder of a Baptist Church in the portion of Leicester called Greenville and its acceptable pastor for a long series of years.

Thomas Green's son, John Green, came to Worcester in about the year 17.57, at the age of twentyone years, and began successfully to practice medicine here, having studied his profession under the supervision of his father, in Leicester. He became the ancestor of a numerous family, several representatives of which still live in Worcester. He married for a second wife Mary Ruggles, a daughter of Judge, or, as he is commonly called. General Ruggles, of Hardwick, a distinguished resident of Worcester County. Their son, John Green, of Worcester, was also an eminent physician. He married Nancy Barber, a descendant of one of the Scotchmen who came to America and settled iu Worcester after their families had lived for a time in Ireland.

He was the grandfather of the subject of this memoir and the father of the late Dr. John Green, who was the most skillful surgeon and practitioner of medicine that has ever lived iu this place, and will always be remembered as the principal founder of the Free Public Library.

It may be added here that the line of distinguished doctors who have borne the name of John Green has been continued in the present generation by an older brother of the subject of this memoir, John Green, M.D., a very eminent ophthalmic surgeon, whose home is in St. Louis, Mo. The only other living brother or sister of Samuel S. Green is James Green, Esq., a lawyer in Worcester.

Mr. Green's mother is Elizabeth Swett, daughter of Samuel Swett, of Boston and Dedham. Through her mother, who was a daughter of Dr. John Sprague, of Boston, she and the subject of this sketch are descended from an ev en earlier resident of the Massachusetts Bay Colony than Thomas Green, namely, Ralph Sprague, who came to Charlestown, in 1629, from LIpway, Devonshire, England.

Through General Ruggles Mr. Green is also descended from Rev. John Woodbridge, one of the earliest settlers of Newbury and from his wife's father, Thomas Dudley, the second Governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Rev. John Woodbridge was the brother of Rev. Dr. Benjamin Woodbridge, whose name stands first on the list of graduates of Harvard College.

The first school attended by Samuel S. Green was that of Mrs. Levi Hey wood. Her school was discontinued, however, before long, and he was sent for several years to another infant school, which was kept by Mrs. Sarah B. Wood, now of Chicago, the widow of Jonathan Wood. From that private school he passed, upon examination, into the public grammar school on Thomas Street, which, during his studies there, was under the charge of Mr. Caleb B. Metcalf. Going next to the High School, he graduated from that institution in 1854, and immediately entered Harvard College. Among his classmates there, were two other graduates of the Worcester High School, namely, Eugene Frederick Bliss, who is now a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the late Lieutenant Thomas Jefferson Spurr, who was mortally wounded at the battle of Antietam. Mr. Green graduated from Harvard College in 1858. In the early part of the summer of 1859 he sailed from Boston for Smyrna as a passenger in the barque " Race Horse," and before returning home, in the same vessel, visited Constantinople. Remaining two years in Worcester on account of ill-health, he resumed his studies at Harvard University in the autumn of 1861, and graduated from the Divinity School connected with that institution in 1864.

During the Civil War, and while in the Divinity School, Mr. Green was drafted for service in the army, but was debarred from entering it by delicate health. He took the degree of Master of Arts at Harvard University in 1870, and June 28, 1877, was chosen an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society by the chapter of the order connected with the .same university.

chanlcs' National Bank of this city, and in the course of a few months teller in the Worcester National Bank. The latter position he held for several years. Mr. Green became a director of the Free Public Library January 1, 1867, and four years later, January 15, 1871, librarian of the same institution.

The latter is the position which he now holds. A history of the Free Public Library, including an account of the work done under Mr. Green's administration of its affairs, is given in another portion of this volume, in the chapter on Public Libraries.

The library has grown rapidly in size and usefulness under his care. It contained, December 1, 1888, 73,669 volumes. The use of its books in the year ending with that date was 206,290. A feature in that use is the remarkably large proportion of books that is employed for study and purposes of reference. Mr. Green is regarded as an authority among librarians in respect to matters relating to the use of libraries as popular educational institutions, and in respect to the establishment of close relations between libraries and schools.

He was for several years chairman of the Finance Committee of the American Library Association, and has lately been a member of the council of that organization. At its last regular meeting, held in September, 1887, he was elected its first vice-president. He has also been for several years chairman of a committee of the association, the duty of which is to try to secure from Congress legislation satisfactory to libraries for the distribution of public documents. Mr. Green was a delegate of the American Library Association to the International Congress of Librarians held in London in October, 1877, was a member of the council of that body, and took an active part in the discussions carried on in its meetings. Before the close of the Congress the Library Association of the United Kingdom was formed. Mr. Green was chosen an honorary member of that association in July, 1878.

He has been for many years a member of the committee appointed by the overseers of Harvard University to make an annual examination of the library of the university, and began, in 1887, to deliver annual courses of lectures as lecturer on public libraries as popular educational institutions to the students of the school of Library Economy connected with Columbia College, New York City.

Mr. Green was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain May 8, 1879, and on April 28, 1880, a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Since October 22, 1883, he has been a member of the council of the latter organization. He was also elected a member of the American Historical Association soon after its formation. October 12, 1882, Mr. Green was chosen a member of the Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Rev. Edward H. Hall, upon his removal from Worcester to Cambridge.

In 1886 he assisted in the formation of the Worcester High School Association, and was chosen its first president and re-elected to the same position in

In the summer of 1886 he was chosen president of the Worcester Indian Association, aud held the office for two years. Mr. Green is a vice-president of the Worcester Art Society. He was also at two different times and for several years treasurer of the Worcester Natural History Society.

Mr. Green has written constantly for the Library Journal since its establishment, and has made many contributions to the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. He has also written papers for the American, Journal of Social Science, the Sunday Review of London and other periodicals.

Two books by him were published by the late Frederick Leypoldt, of New York, namely, " Library Aids" and "Libraries and Schools." Both were printed in 1883. The former work, in a less complete form, had been previously issued by the United States Bureau of Education as a circular of information.

At the request of the secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, Mr. Green wrote an appendix to his forty-eighth annual report on "Public Libraries and Schools." The essay was afterwards printed as a separate pamphlet.

Mr. Green has made many addresses and read a number of papers on library and other subjects. Among them are "Personal Relations between Librarians and Readers," a paper which was presented to the meeting of librarians who came together in Philadelphia in October, 1876, and formed the American Library Association (of this paper two editions have been printed and exhausted); "Sensational Fiction in Public Libraries," a paper read July 1, 1879, at one of the sessions of the meetings of the American Library Association held in Boston in that year (this paper was also printed in pamphlet form and widely distributed) ; "The Relation of the Public Library to the Public Schools." a paper read before the American Social Science Association at Saratoga in September, 1880 (this address was printed in the form of a pamphlet, and has been widely read and very influential in awakening an interest in work similar to that described in it) ; papers and an address on subjects similar to the one last mentioned, read or delivered at meetings of the American Library Association in Cincinnati and Buffalo and at Round Island, one of the Thousand Isles in the St. Lawrence River.

The more elaborate historical papers which have been prepared by Mr. Green are : " Gleanings from the Sources of the History of the Second Parish, Worcester, Massachusetts," read at a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held in Boston April 25, 1883, and " The Use of the Voluntary System in the Maintenance of Ministers in the Colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay during the Earlier Years of their Existence," an essay which formed the historical portion of the report of the council of the American Antiquarian Society, which Mr. Green presented to that society at its meeting in Boston April 28, 1886.

Mr. Green is chairman of the committee which has had charge of the assignment of portions of the present history of the county of Worcester in so far as the history of the town and city of Worcester is concerned.

The committee has also read the papers prepared at its request for the history, and made such suggestions to the writers, before and after their preparation, as it seemed to it desirable to make.

Charles A. Chase

Charles A. Chase is one of our fellow-citizens who is native and " to the manner born." He was born in the house on Salisbury Street - afterwards converted into a double one, and now to give way to the new Armory Building - September 9, 1833.

Anthony Chase, his father, though born in Paxton, June 16, 1791, came to Worcester at a very early age, his father buying a farm on the heights of Fowler Street. He was educated at Leicester Academy, and later married Lydia Earle, daughter of Piiny Earle,of Leicester.* In the year 1816 he was engaged in business with his future brother-in-law, John Milton Earle, at first in carrying on a general store in Worcester, and later in publishing the Massachuielis Spy. Mr. Chase was the first local agent here of the Blackstone Canal; was county treasurer from 1831 to 1865, secretary of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company from 1831 to 1852, and its president from that time to his death, August 4, 1879. He was the first secretary of the Worcester Lyceum ; was one of the originators of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association, and held several offices of public trust.^

The subject of our sketch attended infant school in the little seven-by-uine school-house which has stood until recently at the north end of Summer Street. He was one of the class that graduated from the Thomas Street Grammar School, in 1845, into the new " Classical and English High School." He remained in the High School for five years, taking, in addition to the classical course, an extended course of mathematics, under that most competent instructor, William

E. Starr. During his connection with the High School he printed a juvenile paper. The Humble Bee, which is noticed more fully in the chapter of this history relating to newspapers. He entered Harvard College in 1851, and was graduated in 1855, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1858. By invitation of his friend, Mr. Charles Hale, editor of the Boston Daily Adoertiser, he joined the staff of that paper in 1855, and filled the position of reporting the various departments and of office editor for seven years. In 1862 he made a five months' tour of Europe, seeking rest, and on his return was led, from family considerations, to take up again his residence in Worcester. In the autumn of 1864 he was elected county treasurer, succeeding his father, and held the office for eleven years. In 1875, Mr. Harvey B. Wilder - who had been appointed by the county commi-sioners register of deeds at his father's death - gave notice that he should not be a candidate at the polls for the remaining year of his father's term. The Republican County Convention placed a candidate in the field, but a large number of influential gentlemen of both parties, having at heart the interests of this important office, invited Mr. Chase to stand as an independent candidate. The Democratic County Convention also tendered him the nomination, and he was elected, some towns in the county giving him a nearly unanimous vote. He served as register for the centennial year of 1876. The managers and dictators of the Republican party spared no pains to defeat his re-election. The party lines are always drawn more closely in the year of an election of President, and, having induced Mr. Wilder to withdraw his opposition and to stand as a candidate, the Republicans were enabled to defeat Mr. Chase at the polls, and Mr. Wilder returned to his desk in the office in January, 1877. Mr. Chase was soon afterwards elected secretary of the Worcester Board of Trade.

In 1879 Mr. Chase, under contract with Messrs. C. F. Jewelt & Co., of Boston, wrote a history of Worcester for the County History published by that firm. This work was required to be done in a limited time, but he was able to incorporate into it considerable matter, the result of original research, which had never before appeared in print. In the same year he served as treasurer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Company. The Western Union Telegraph Company were among the stockholders. The instruments used were the Edison transmitter and the Gray receiver, and the service which they gave has not been improved upon to the present time. After spirited competition with the American Bell Telephone Company, which had established a rival exchange, the Telegraph Company and the Bell Telephone Company entered into a kind of partnership, covering the whole country, and the two Worcester exchanges were merged into one, the Worcester gentlemen selling out their stock.

On November 10, 1879, Mr. Chase was elected treasurer of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, (succeeding Mr. Charles A. Hamilton, who had died in office,) and still holds that trust. He was secretary of the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association from 1863 to 1866 ; vice-president, 1867-68, and on the Lecture Committee from 1866 to 1880; a director of the Public Library from 1868 to 1874; director of the Citizens' National Bank from 1880 to 1889, and of the Worcester National Bank from January, 1888: director of the Merchants' and Farmers' Fire Insurance Company from 1883 ; is vice-president of the Worcester Art Society, a trustee of the Washburn Memorial Hospital, and a councilor of the American Antiquarian Society.

Nathaniel Paine

Nathaniel Paine is a public man in the sense that he has been identified with many of the city of Worcester's most important and most cherished institutions. He belongs to an old Worcester family, and his Christian name, Nathaniel, appears in each one of its generations since it was founded in America. Stephen Paine emigrated to New England in 1638, from the township of Great Ellin^ham, Norfolk County, England, and settled in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He brought with him his wife and three sons, and, as the records show, four servants, though some of them may have been helpers in his business, which was that of a miller. It appears, at least, that he was a man of substance, as well as energy and character. In 1641-i2 he removed, with four of his townsmen, to Seekonk, and the new settlement, which had the advantage of the mini.-trations of Rev. Samuel Newman, came presently to be called Rehoboth. The name of Stephen Paine often appears on the records of the new town as holding offices of honor and truat. He died at Rehoboth in 1679.

One of his three sons disappears from history. The eldest son was called Stephen. His second son, Nathaniel, born in England, came to New England with his father and became a man of some considerable prominence in Rehoboth, and was a deputy from there to Plymouth Court in 1676-77. The only son of Nathaniel named for his father was the progenitor of the Worcester Paines, and early in life became a resident of Bristol, R. I. He was a judge of Probate, and also one of the Council of Massachusetts Bay from 1708 till his death, in 1723. One of his sons - the third Nathaniel - was a representative in the Colonial Legislature and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. And so we come in the fifth generation to Timothy, born in Bristol, R. I., in 1730, who removed to Worcester with his mother in 1739-40, and married, in 1749, Sarah, daughter of Hon. John Chandler and Hannah Gardiner, his wife, by which marriage the Paines and Chandlers became' first connected.

Timothy had seven sons and three daughters, of whom five were married. Nathaniel, the six°th child was the grandfather of the present Nathaniel Paine.'

He was a representative to the General Court in 1798, was judge of Probate for Worcester County thirty-five years, resigning in 1836 on account of ill health, and was one of the founders and a councilor of the American Antiquarian Society.

He married the daughter of Gardiner Chandler, whose residence was on Main Street, opposite Park Street. Judge Paine's house and office were on the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, his garden and grounds extending up the north side of Pleasant Street nearly to Chestnut Street. Judge Paine died in Worcester in 1840. He had seven children. The second son, Gardiner, was in business. He was active in military matters, held the office of major by the appointment of Governor Lincoln, and was a charter ' member of the Worcester Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Horticultural Society, in which he took an active interest. He was the father of the present Nathaniel Paine, and died in Januarv 1854. ^'

It may partly appear from this fragment of genealogy that the Paines have been prominent in the affairs of the day since their ancestor, Stephen, landed on Plymouth shores.

The present Nathaniel Paine is a worthy representative of the name. He was born in Worcester Augu.st 6, 1832, and was educated in the public schools of the town. At seventeen years of a-^e he entered the Mechanics' Bank of Worcester, and^ever since has devoted himself to financial affiiirs. His intelligence and solid trustworthiness brought him early into notice. In 1854 the growing city required additional banking facilities; the Cty Bank was or- " ganized under the State laws, and Mr. Paine, then only twenty-two years of age, was made assistant cashier. Three years later he became cashier, and has held that position ever since. To large business capacity he adds the courteous manners which spring naturally from a kind heart. Such honors as have come to him have been given ungrudgingly. He has not sought them-they have come mainly in the line of his scholarly taste.s joined with his methodical training as a banker. His grandfather and his greatuncle were among the founders of the American Antiquarian Society, and Mr. Paine was early admitted to that ancient and dignified body as a matter of course. Since 1863 he has held the responsible position of treasurer and custodian of their various and considerable bequeathed funds. He is also a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, the New England Historic Genealogical Society and corresponding or honorary member of the Long Island, the Pennsylvania and the Georgia Historical Societies.

He was one of the founders of the Worcester Natural History Society, and for several years its president. For a long series of years he was a director of the Free Public Library, and most of the time was the secretary of the board and treasurer of the funds belonging to the library. He has served in the City Council two years, and was for several years a trustee of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. He is now president of the Worcester Art Society.

These titles may be quickly read, but they count for a vast amount of patient, unsalaried labor for the public welfare, extending over a. long series of years. Mr. Paine has a large and interesting library, but its distinguishing feature is not so much costly bindings and rare editions, although it is not without these expensive treasures. One of his favorite tasks is to patiently expand volumes by adding to them rare portraits, autographs and MS. bearing on their contents. In this way, " Irving's Life of Washington," originally iii five volumes (the special edition of one hundred and ten copies), has grown to ten volumes, and contains rare and almost priceless matter- A " Biographical History of the Fine Arts," in two volumes, has been extended to nine, and the portraits of artists, originally one hundred, now number upw ards of eight hundred.

His volume of " Autographs and Portraits of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence" is complete, with the exception of a few autographs.

The making of scrap-books Mr. Paine has cultivated as a fine art ; nor is the element of humor lacking from his collection - the works of Cruikshank, John Leech, Du Maurier and Nast have not been forgotten.

Mr. Paine is the author of several monographs on matters of history and bibliograi)hy. Among them may be mentioned " Remarks on the Early Paper Currency of Massachusetts,'' "Historical and Chronological Notes on the Town of Worcester," and " Bibliography of Worcester History."

William Dickinson

Worcester has been signally fortunate in having among her citizens many who, though not natives, have by their ability, enterprise and integrity added greatly to her pros|)erity and renown. By the phrase " who though not natives " ia simply meant such as were not actually born within her borders. And it is much to her credit for discernment that she has perceived the good qualities of this class and for her shrewdness that she has availed herself of their efficient services and cordially enrolled them among her sons. Even in looking over the biographical sketches in the present volume the student of Worcester's history will find much that is striking in the direction here indicated. But while this is said, the fact is not to be forgotten that she has always had many of native birth who have done honor to her name, and contributed their full share in the building up of the fair name she now so pre-eminently enjoys.

Among those who were not natives in the sense indicated must be ranked Mr. Dickinson, whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in Amherst, Mass., on the 6th of October, 1804, and died in September, 1887, having nearly completed his eighty-third year. He was a son of Samuel Fowler Dickinson, a lawyer of high standing in the Hampshire bar, and father of a large and reputable family, one or two of whom filled responsible public offices in the county.

Mr. Dickinson's education was good, though he was not a college graduate. From the common district school he entered Amherst Academy, where he received such training as fitted him at the age of fifteen to enter upon the business life in which he was so successful and acquired so fair a name that he was long regarded as a worthy model for the imitalion of all who seek a high position in the business world. He always entertained a great respect for learning, and was liberal in his contributions for the support of educational institutions; was a member of the School Board for three years ; gave the bell for the High School and the fountains that now adorn the plat in front of the building. He was a director of the Free Public Library and a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity.

His first employment after completing his education was in a Boston dry-goods house. He was subsequently in the paper manufacture in Hardwick and Fitchburg.

It was in 1829, at the age of twenty-five, that Mr. Dickinson came to Worcester, and here he resided till the time of his decease, nearly sixty years. He at first applied himself in the service of others ; was a clerk in two or three business establishments, and then in other similar, but to him rather uncongenial, employment, till 1836, when he was elected to the responsible and trustworthy office of cashier of the Central National Bank. This, of course, was a voucher for his honesty and capability as a financier. He held the office for fourteen years, and such a character did he acquire for promptness and integrity in pecuniary matters that he soon found himself in various offices where skill and trustworthiness weie of the greatest importance, such as treasurer of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company and treasurer of the ]\Ierchants' and Farmers' Insurance Company, both of which offices he held for many years, not less than forty. He was likewise for a long time a director in the Quinsigamond Bank and in the Providence and Worcester Railroad.

In 1863 Mr. Dickinson, with one or two associates, began the manufacture of paper machinery, which was continued some eight years, and then he engaged in the felting business, in which his son, Mr. Samuel F. Dickinson, subsequently became connected with him.

but from time to time he filled various local ofl3ces with credit to himself and benefit to the public. He was a Common Councilman and an alderman for several terms. So far as he was a partisan he ranked with the Republicans, having been of the old Whig school. By Governor Butler he was appointed a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, and for the general he entertained profound respect, almost adoration, induced probably by the efficient services rendered by that able commander during our Civil War.

In his religious views Mr. Dickinson was liberal, but identified with the Trinitarian Congregationalists. Though a regular attendant on the services of the Union Church, he was not what is technically called a " professor."

Mr. Dickinson became a man of large means, and his liberality kept pace with his accumulations! He was justly regarded as a most valuable citizen, a sympathetic neighbor and a fast friend. In social life he was esteemed for his intelligence, urbanity and far-reaching fellow-feeling. He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Eliza Hawley, of Andover. By her he had one son, who became a graduate of Brown University and afterwards a lawyer in New York. His second wife was Miss Mary Whittier, also of Andover. By her he had two sons and one daughter. It was the elder son, Samuel F., who became a partner in his father's business! George S., the younger son, was a graduate of Yale. The daughter, Helen W., married Thomas L. Shields, of Pittsburg, Pa.

George Chandler

Dr. Chandler has been long and favorably known from his connection with New England Hospitals for the Insane. He was born in Pomfret, Ct., on the 28th of April, 1806, and hence has already attained an age that few of us reach. He was a son of Major John Wilkes and Mary (Stedman) Chandler. His father was a farmer, and on the farm the son worked till the age of seventeen, attending the district school during the terms usual at that period. After his seventeenth year he was a student in the Academies of Dudley and Leicester, in this State, and that of Woodstock, in Connecticut. He entered Brown University, where he remained a part of two years, but graduated from Union College in 1828. He studied medicine with his brother-inlaw, Dr. Hiram Holt, of Pomfret ; attended a course of medical lectures at Harvard College, and another at Yale, receiving at the latter the degree of Doctor of Medicine. This was in 1831, in November of which year he settled in Worcester in the practice of his profession.

In March, 1833, Dr. Chandler went into the State Lunatic Hospital as an assistant to Dr. Samuel B. AVoodward, then in charge of the institution. Here he remained till May, 1842, when he retired, his first marriage taking place very soon after. In October of the year just named he took charge of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, at Concord, an institution built after a plan submitted by him. The management of this asylum was begun with small means, though much credit by local merchants was oftered. It had the capacity of a hundred and twenty patients, and the first admission was in October. After a little more than three years it became nearly full and was out of debt, on a charge of but two dollars and twenty-five cents per week for the care and board of each inmate.

To the surprise and much against the wishes of the Board of Trustees, but in compliance with the earnest solicitation of friends, he resigned his charge there - a charge made pleasant to himself by his successful performance of the duties devolving on him, and by his successful efforts otherwise in behalf of the institution.

After an interval of a few months he succeeded Dr. Woodward as superintendent of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester, which position he resigned in July, 1856, after ten years' service. During his residence of twenty-five years in the two institutions (the one at Concord and that at Worcester) he had the charge, wholly or in part, of about six thousand insane persons. That at Worcester was always full while he was assistant, and at the time he was superintendent it was especially so, the number being at one time five hundred and sixty-eight.

Since leaving the care of lunatics he has made his home in Worcester. In 1862 he was at Fortress Monroe, as medical chief of the ship "St. Mark's " detailed to bring home the wounded in the Civil War, and in August took on board one hundred and thirty-four of McCIellan's wounded .soldiers, to be landed in Chester, Pa.

Dr. Chandler has been called to fill various offices of a public and semi-public character, and has always acquitted himself with ability and discretion, meriting and receiving the approbation of his fellow-citizens. He has been an inspector of the State Almshouse at Monson, a member of the Legislature, a justice of the peace and an alderman of the city. He has likewise been a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and an honorary member of the New Hampshire and Connecticut Medical Societies. It may be mentioned too, that he was commissioned as surgeon of a Light Infantry Regiment.

Dr. Chandler was united in marriage, for the first time, on the 4th of May, 1842, with Josephine Rose, daughter of Joseph W. and Harriet (Paine) Rose,' and granddaughter of the late Dr. William Paine, of Worcester. The children by this marriage were Mrs. A. George Bullock and Mrs. Waldo Lincoln, of Worcester. His second wife was Mary E. Douglas, widow of Charles A. Wheeler, whom he married I April 8, 1874, but by whom he had no children.

It is quite unnecessary to enlarge upon the merits of Dr. Chandler as a citizen, as he is too well known to need anything of that kind. The respect that has been universally awarded him, these many years, and the success that has attended him in the various important and often trying positions he has occupied, abundantly testify to his high character and worth.

William Workman, M.D.

Dr. William Workman was of Scotch-English descent. The ancient family seal has for its motto : " Non pas I'ouvrage, mais I'ouvrier," which may indicate a French origin of the family. But it is known that the Workmans had lived for several generations in England. One of them was Rev. John Workman, a clergyman of the Church of England at St. Stephen's Church, Gloucester, a man of " great piety, wisdom and moderation." He was prosecuted by Archbishop Laud, about 1634, for preaching against the use of pictures in churches, was suspended from the ministry, imprisoned and excommunicated, and died in consequence of the persecution which he suffered. A little later we find the name of William Workman, an officer in the English army, under Oliver Cromwell, who distinguished himself in the campaign in Ireland in 1649, especially at the siege of Drogheda. He was rewarded for his services by a grant of large estates ol coniiscated lands in County Armagh, in the North of Ireland. In 168t) his son William was among the Protestants who were compelled to flee from their homes to the fortress of Londonderry, where they were shut in by the Irish Catholic army, and suffered the horrors of that remarkable siege. The musket which he used during this siege is in the possession of a branch of the family in the old country. In the next generation a part of the Workman family settled near the market-town of Coleraine, on the river Bann, in Ulster. Two generations later a number of families from Coleraine came to the United States, and founded a town of the same name in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Among these was the widow of William Workman, a grandson of William Workman of Londonderry, who crossed the Atlantic in 1735, bringing her son John, then a boy of six years. This widow was a woman of great force of character, a stanch Scotch Presbyterian, who lived to a great age. Her son, John Workman, lived in Deerfield, Mass., during his minority. He married Phebe Stewart, of Concord, Mass., and, about 1750, purchased a tract of uncleared land, in what is now the southeastern part of Coleraine, and erected on it a farm-house, in which he lived more than sixty years. Two apple-trees, which are said to have been planted by him, are still standing. He died in 1813, at the age of eighty-four. His second son, Daniel Stewart, married Dorothy Perry, of Westminster, and settled on his father's farm. He was a well-to-do farmer, who lived independently on his ancestral acres. He had twelve children, of whom eight lived to adult years. His farm, which has been in the possession of the family for four generations, is of excellent soil, and is situated in a beautiful hilly region. He died in 1855, at the age of eighty-four years.

His son William was the oldest of his children, and, therefore, inherited the name by which so many of his ancestors had been called. He was born January 21, 1798. He remained at home until he was nineteen years of age, doing his part of the work on the farm, attending such schools as were within his reach, and reading eagerly the few books which he could get in that remote rural town. Besides the Bible and the New England Primer, which were in every family, he read, during his boyhood, Robinson Crusoe," " The Story of Blue Beard," " Cinderella," "The Arabian Nights," "The Early Life of Napoleon Bonaparte," " Travels Among the Arabs in Central Africa," "Thaddeusof Warsaw," and parts of " Rollin's Ancient History." In due time he entered Hopkins Academy, in Old Hadley, then under the care of Rev. Daniel Huntington, and of Worthington Smith. Here he was prepared for college. But repeated attacks of illness caused a general failure of health, which at length compelled him to give up the college course.

He began the study of medicine in 1822, in the office of Dr. Seth Washburn, of Greenfield. In the fall of that year he attended lectures in the Medical Department of Harvard University, and continued his studies there and with Drs. Flint and Mather, of Northampton, till August, 1825, when he received the degree of M.D. from Harvard. He began practice immediately in Shrewsbury, where he remained ten years. He met from the first sharp competition, but he deserved success, and won it, not only by his skill, but by the excellence and strength of his character. In 1828 he married Sarah Paine, daughter of Hon. Vashni Hemeuway, of Shrewsbury, whom he survived about four years. In 1835 he came to Worcester, where he lived more than fifty years. He retained for' some time a large part of his business in Shrewsbury, in addition to the new business which he gained in Worcester. Dr. Workman was strongly attached to his profession, and devoted his whole energies to its exacting requirements. He was all his life an earnest and constant student, and kept well abreast of the rapid advances of medical science. He was for several years a contributor to The Boston Mrdical and iSurgica'lJournal. His articles are characterized by careful and accurate description of cases, and show that he possessed a thorough knowledge of his profession. Of quick perception and sound judgment himself, he had a profound contempt for all shams and pretences, and was recognized as an able, progressive and conscieDtious practitioner. He excelled as well in the department of surgery as in that of medicine. Some of his surgical operations, which are remembered by his grateful patients, were remarkably bold and skillful. He had a good share of patronage from the leading families of Worcester, and was frequently called in consultation, not only in the city, but to other places in the State.

He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1831, was elected councilor in 1840, and held this position twenty-four years. He was chairman of the committee of arrangements at the annual meeting of the society held in Worcester in 1851, and delivered the annual address at the meeting in Fitchburg in 1852. He selected for his subject "The Ethics of the Medical Profession," and spoke with abundant illustration of the relations and duties of physicians to each other, to their patients, and to the community. It is a very elaborate address, full of wit, and shows a wide acquaintance with medical writers, as well as a broad view of the relations of the profession to society. It is an earnest plea for manly courtesy and unselfishness in all the dealings of physicians. Dr. Workman was also a member of the American Medical Association, and was frequently a delegate from the State Society at its earlier meetings. In 1831 he joined the Worcester District Medical Society, and for many years took a prominent part in its proceedings, serving on important committees, and occupying at one time or another all its otflces, except that of librarian. He always retained his interest in the society, and two years before his death gave it his medical library. He was also a member of the Worcester Medical Improvement Society.

His horizon was by no means bounded by his profession. He interested himself in all that concerned the city of his adoption, and although he neither desired nor held public office, endeavored to do his whole duty as a citizen, and gave liberally of his time and means to objects of public importance. From 1840 to 1850 he served with Hon. A. D. Foster and Eev. Drs. Sweetser, Hill, and others on the " Board of Overseers of Schools for the Centre District," the latter part of the time as secretary of the board ; and also for several years on the Public School Committee, after Worcester was made a city. He was presideul of the Lyceum Society, and read before it a number of papers on scientific subjects. He was trustee of the Worcester County Institution for savings from 1848 to 1873, and was director in the Peoples' Insurance Company of this city from 1860 till its dissolution after the Boston fire in 1872. In 18G2 he was appointed by Governor Andrew trustee for five years of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, and was reappointed by Governor Bullock in 1867. At the close of his second term he was again appointed, but declined further service. At the time of the seven days' battles, in 1862, Dr. S. H. Howe, in behalf of the Sanitary Commission, telegraphed him to send volunteer surgeons to act with that organization in caring for the wounded. Although then sixty-four years of age, he at once offered his services, and went to Fortress Monroe as surgeon, in charge of a government transport. He was among the earliest members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, was vice-president of the society from 1844 to 1853, and again in 1857, and was a member of its Board of Trustees as long as he could be induced to serve. The trustees say of him in their annual report : " His judgment was always sound and conscientious, he was a rare adviser, and was seldom thrown off" his balance. This society has lost by his death a life-long and consistent friend. Since his death his children have presented the society an admirable portrait of him."

Dr. Workman continued in the practice of medicine, devoting to it his best powers of body and mind, until he was past the age of seventy, when he began to seek relief from its more arduous duties. But he continued for some years longer to give professional advice, and to act in consultation. In the comparative leisure in which he found himself, he carried out a plan, which he had long cherished, to visit Europe. He sailed from New York for Havre in the spring of 1870 with his wife and two daughters, and was absent a little more than six months, going south as far as Naples, and east as far as Vienna. He enjoyed this trip exceedingly, and was accustomed in later years to say that it had added ten years to his life.

In his religious views Dr. Workman was an Orthodox Congregationalist. He became a communicant in the Union Church, under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Smalley, in 1840. Although he was not inclined to make himself conspicuous in the meetings of the church, he was put forward to do a great deal of work on committees by both the church and the parish. He is spoken of, by those who were conversant with him, as a steady friend of the church and its ministers, an attentive and appreciative listener to preaching, and an upright and consistent Christian.

After his retirement from active life he continued his habits of study, devoting much of his time to reading outside of his profession. He kept himself well informed on the live issues of the day, as well as those of history, the study of which was his especial delight. His declining years were passed in the city which had been so long his home, in the companionship of his old friends and neighbors, in the house which he had built almost forty years before. He had a cheerful and beautiful old age, and died October 17, 1885, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. His surviving children, a son and three daughters, were with him at the time of his death.

Hon. Samuel Winslow

in the schoels of that town. On leaving school he was employed in the manufacture of cotton machinery, and in this occupation he displayed great industry and inventive skill. So rapidly did he advance that at the age of twenty he was made foreman in his shop, with over fifty men under his charge. He removed to Worcester in 1855, and on April 1st of that year formed a co-partnership with his brother, Seth C. VVinslow, and started a machine-shop. In the year 1857 they began the manufacture of skates, with which industry he is even now identified. The works were located in the old Merrifleld building, in Cypress Street, and they remained there for twentyone years. At the death of his brother, in 1871, Mr. Winslow assumed the whole control of the business, and continued it alone until the formation of the Samuel Winslow Skate Manufacturing Company, in May, 1886, in which Mr. Winslow retained a majority of the stock, and has since served the corporation as its president and treasurer.

Mr. Winslow began his public career in Newton Upper Falls in the year 1848, as a member of the Prudential Committee for the employment of teachers and the charge of the schools in that village. He was soon after elected clerk of the corporation, which organized the Boston and Woousocket Division of what is now the New York and New England Railroad.

Mr. Winslow was a member of the Ci>ninion Council of the city of Worcester in 18(J-t-G5. He was a Representative from the Tentli Worcester District in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1873-74, and in 1885 served as alderman to fill a vacancy. In 1885 he was elected mayor of the city of Worcester for the ensuing year by a sweeping majority, and has since been elected to the same position for the years 1887, '88 and '89 by very large majorities. His record as mayor has been of the highest order, as is attested by his four successive elections to the position. He was a trustee of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association from 18(i8 to '71, its vice-president from 1884 to '8(), its president in 1880, and declined are-election to the presidency in 1887 on account of his duties as mayor.

In December, 1888, Mr. Winslow was elected a director of the Citizens' National Bank, and at the annual meeting of the corporation in January, 1889, was re-elected a director, and was subsequently elected to the presidency by the Board of Directors. He was also elected a trustee of the People's Savings Bank in January, 1889.

Mr. Winslow is one of the few men of to-day who can trace with pride his continual growth of character in the eyes of h'is fellow-citizens, and who can look back upon a business career which has been one of steady increase from year to year and [prosperous in every sense.

them with a charitable but judicious hand. During his whole life he has been very generous, although his acts of kindness have seldom been known by others than those who have been directly benefited. Before he had even reached the age of man's estate Mr. Winslow began his self-sacrifices by depriving himself of a large share of his income for the sake of educating his brothers, although older than himself. It can be said, in conclusion, that the esteem in which Mr. Winslow is held by his neighbors and fellow-townsmen is due to a life based upon the principles of integrity and industry.

John Milton Earle, born in Leicester April 13, 1794, was the eldest of the nine children. of Pliny and Patience (BufTum) Earle. His father was the pioneer, in America, in the manufacture of machine cards for the carding of cotton by water, or by some other motive-power than that of the human hand ; and an interesting account of his life and work will be found in the history of Leicester in its ap|)ropriate place in these pages. Most of the children of Pliny Earle inherited the strong intellectual traitsof both of their parents, three of the sons devoting themselves to literary or professional labor. John Milton Earle was educated at the academy in his native town. He was for a few years clerk in the store of the Northbridge Cotton-Mill at VVhitinsville, in which his father had an interest; but in 181G he came to Worcester and, with Antheny Chase, (afterwards his brother-in-law,) opened a "country store" on the north corner of Main and Thomas Streets. In 1823 they purchased the Massachiisetls i^j'i/, to the columns of which Mr. Earle had already been a contributor, and of which he was to be, for thirty-five years, the editor and principal manager, and for fifteen years of the time the sole proprietor. Mr. Earle was an editor of the same class with Nathan Hale and William Cullen Bryant. Firm in his honest convictions, he was conscious of the responsibility of his position, and he set forth his views with a clearness of style that commanded the intelligent assent of his large circle of readers. The Spy, in his hands, was not a party " organ," but was always a little in advance of the conservative judgment of a people second for intelligence to none other in the world. In the best days of the Whig party Mr. Earle, although more radical than they upon the question of slavery, labored to secure the election of its candidates. But in 1848, when his neighbor and friend, the late Hon. Charles Allen, returned from the National Convention at Philadelphia, where he had repudiated the nomination of Zachary Taylor for President, as made for the aggrandizement of the slave power, Mr. Earle, hesitating only long enough to consider if the time was ripe for the new movement which Judge Allen was leading, espoused the cause, and now more heartily than ever

Associated with Mr. Earle in the conduct of the Spy, from 18-19-.58, was Mr. Thomas Drew,' himself a strilving character. Mr. Drew, in a letter to the writer of this notice, under date of October 25, 1888, says: "Among the historic cliaracters of Worcester County, Mr. Earle is entitled to a place in the front rank for what he was and for what he diil. There is probably no other man living who appreciates as I do liis sublime feith in the triumph of a righteous cause, and his heroic, self-sacrificing courage in sustaining it. . . . He had a broad-gauge mind, intensely humane sympathies, and as much self-sacrificing spirit as any of the old martyrs who were burned at the stake. In 1848, after the Buffalo Conventitm, of which he was a member, I think tiiat rather tlian recede from the grand position in which he placed the Spy, he would have cheerfully fulfilled all the Scripture requirements of a 'burnt-offering." "

Although Mr. Earle's chief delight was in literary work, he was not a recluse. His keen interest in public affairs led him to accept the unsought calls of his fellow-citizens to hold some of the offices at their disposal. He was a member of the lower branch of the Legislature in 1844, '45, '46, '50, '51 and '52, and State Senator in 1858. During his first term he was able to exert an influence much greater than new members generally acquire. His views in opposition to capital punishment, and the disinclination of politicians to take a decided ground, as he did, on the temperance question, gave him a prominent position. At this session a resolve was introduced, fixing tlie compensation allowed to counties for the support of lunatics not i-ommitted to the State Hospital. The allowance to Suffolk County was to be cut down some two thousand five hundred dollars. The resolve of course met with vigorous opposition from the Boston delegation, who, with the aid of members from other counties which would be similarly affected, succeeded in voting it down. Mr. Earle, convinced that such was to be its fate, voted with the majority and was thus entitled to move a re-consideration. Renewing the contest, he secured the passage of the resolve. The Boston Po.vj, announcing the result, said : " Mr. Earle, of Worcester, did this by pertinacious perseverance." At the same session a bill was introduced relating to life in-iurance. In this Mr. Earle saw a covert hostility to the formation qf a life assurance company in Worcester, as was proposed. The bill had a strong backing, and, after passing the Senate, was carried through its first debateable stage in the House by vote of two to one. In the sulisequent discussion upon its final passage, Mr. Earle was left to

1 Mr. Drew died at Dorchester, November 12, 1888, aged sixty-nine years. For an account of his life, see tlie Boston TTviald and the Worcester newspapers of the time.

oppose it alone. But the force of his argument convinced his hearers, and the bill was rejected by about the same majority that had before voted in its favor. In his later years of service he was especially conspicuous in advocating the secret ballot and in securing the election of Charles Sumner to the United States Senate. He was a member of the Convention of 1853 for the revision of the State Con.stitution. There he advocated the district system of representation in the Legislature and radical changes in the mode of appointment of various officers, taking it from the Governor and giving it to the people.

The recreation of Mr. Earle was found in botany, conchology and horticulture. He was both a theoretical and a practical botanist. His collection of shells, one of the finest in the State, he gave, a short time before his death, to the Worcester Natural History Association. His garden was full of the choicest fruittrees which he tended with careful hand; and lie was a recognized authority on all horticultural matters. He was one of the founders of the Worcester Horticultural Society, and for several years its president.

On a motion of Mr. Earle, offered in a town-meeting, held November 8, 1847, it was voted to petition for a city charter. The charter was granted, and Jlr. Earle was elected a member of the first Board of Aldermen. He was one of the vice-presidents of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and a director in the State Mutual Life Assurance Company from its organization to his dcatli.

In 1859 he was appointed by Gov. Banks, commissioner to examine into and report upon the condition of the Indians and their descendants domiciled in the Commonwealth, for the information of the General Court in regard to their population, their social and political condition, and their educational, religious and municipal organizations. He devoted nearly two years to the task, and in 1861 made an extended report, which is a marvel of conscientious and intelligent investigation, thoroughly performed.

Mr. Earle was commissioned by President Lincoln as postmaster of Worcester, July 16, 1861. He was re-appointed by President Johnson, July 7, 1865. Soon after this date he received a circular endorsing the policy of Mr. Johnson, with a request for his signature. His principles and his conscience alike forbade his signing, and after a second circular had been sent him, which he treated with silence, as he had the first one, his removal from office quickly followed.

Mr. Earle married, June 6, 1821, Sarah, daughter of Tristram and Sarah (Folger) Hussey, of Nantucket. He died at Worcester, February 8, 1874. They had nine children, five of whom survive.

The reader is referred, further, to the volume : " Raljih Earle and his Descendants. Compiled by Pliny Earle (a brother of J. M. Earle], of Northamptcm. Worcester, Mass. : Preas of Charles Haiiiiltoii, 18SS."

Calvin Taft

Calvin Taft was born in Roxbury, Mass., January 29, 1813, his father being Adolphus Taft, of Northbridge, Mass. He entered into a business life at an early age, and when a boy was employed in the store of Peter Faruum, of Farnumsville, Grafton. He afterwards opened a small store in Millbury, Mass., and later returned to Grafton, where he had a store at Leland's Landing, on the old Providence Canal. His natural adaptation to mercantile life was shown by having all this experience before he was twenty-five years of age, for, at that age, in 1838, with the characteristic spirit of enterprise of New England's sturdy, advancing men, he went in search of tields of larger promise. That year found him in the South, at Hawkinsville, (la., where he conducted a store of general merchandise. He took cotton fi'om the planters, in small quantities, in exchange for goods. Coming in this way to acquire ajudgment in the buying and selling of cotton, and getting interested in the trade, he sold his store to devote his entire attention to it, which he did for nearly a quarter of a century. So shrewd had been his management, and so prosperous his labors, that several thousand bales of cotton were in his warehouses when the war broke out, the greater portion of which was lost during the war.

In the spring of 18i!I, nothing daunted, Mr. Taft returned to the North, and for four years was in the cotton trade in New York City. He then removed to Worcester, Mass., where his financial abilities were recognized - as they had been whereever he had been located. He was one of the first directors of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company.

Though he ever after retained his residence in Worcester, yet he had large business interests elsewhere. At Holyoke, Mass., he was identified with the Franklin Paper Company, which was organized in 18G0, being its first president. The capital stock of the company was sixty thousand dollars, and the producing power of the mill three tons per day of envelope and colored flat papers. Three years later, when the Albion Paper Company was organized by Mr. Taft's son-in-law, INIr. James H. Newton, of Holyoke, he became president of the corporation, and was connected with it till the time of his death. His son, Edward C. Taft, is at present the agent and treasurer of this corporation. This mill produces eighteen tons daily of book -paper, engine-sized Hats and cardboards. The capital stock upon organizing was sixty thousand dollars. Mr. Taft's domestic, social and religious life was equally fortunate as w.as his business career. He was three times happily married. His first wife was Susan, daughter of Jonathan Wadsworth and Tabitha Warren Wadsworth, of Farnumsville, Grafton, Mass. The second wife was Eliza Taft, daughter of Zadok and Abigail Bennett Taft, of Uxbridge, Slasa. His third wife, who survives him, is

Cornelia, daughter of Charles Brigham and Susannah Baylies Brigham, of Grafton, Mass. Three children also survive him: Edward C. Taft and Mrs. James H. Newton, of Holyoke, and Miss Jennie A. Taft, of Worcester. Calvin Taft died at Worcester, June 17, 1881, at the age of sixty-eight years, and left, besides, a good name and a large fortune (twenty thousand dollars) in public charities by will. He left a five thousand dollars bequest to Piedmont Church, of Worcester, with which he had long been identified and thi-ough which, in his lifetime, benefactions for the needy had found their way from him. His life was one, not only of usefulness, but of genial, quiet manner and kindly deed, a Massachusetts business man whose memory will be always cherished by his many friends.

Joseph Henry Walker

Mr. Walker was a son of Joseph Walker, a native of Hopkinton, Mass., and Hannah Thayer Chapin, of Milford. (Jn their marriage they took up their residence in Boston, and there the subject of this sketch was born on the 21st of December, 1S29. In February, 1830, the family returned to Hopkinton, and in 1843 removed to Worcester.

Mr. Walker was educated in the district and High Schools of Hopkinton and Worcester, leaving school when sixteen years old. In May, 1852, he was united in marriage with Sarah Ellen, daughter of Jubal Harrington, of Worcester. She died in August, 1859, leaving a daughter, now the wife of the banker Milton Shirk, of Peru, Indiana. His second wife, Hannah M. (Kelley) Spear, of New Hampton, N. H., he married in April, 18<i2. By her he had three children : Joseph, now in Harvard Law School ; George, now in Brown University, and Agnes, the wife of Adams Davenport Claflin, son of ex-Governor ClaHin, of Massachusetts.

Mr. Walker has filled offices of trust and responsibility, some of a political, some of a financial, and others of varied character. At the age of twentythree years he was elected to the Common Council of Worcester, of which body he was president in 18t!9 ; was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1879, '80 and '87, serving on the Retrenchment Committee in 1879 ; was chairman of the Public Service Committee in 1880, and in the latter year was a strong, though unsuccessful, candidate for Speaker. He was chairman of the Committee on Labor in 1887, and second on the Committees on Finance and Expenditure.

He was for several years president of the Worcester Board of Trade, and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Trade and Exports of the National Hide and Leather Association for several years, 'and also vicepresident of the New England Shoe and Leather Association.

lishing in 1881, through Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Beaton, a monograph entitled " Money, Trade and Banking," which attracted a good deal of attention, and received high encomiums from leading bankers and writers on finance.

Mr. Walker was one of the leading boot and shoe manufacturers in the country from 1851 to 1887, at which time he retired from that business. He is still the senior member of the large leather-house of Walker, Oakley & Co., of Chicago, 111., which he established in that city in 1868.

The city of Worcester, together with thirty-two adjacent towns in Worcester County and three in Hampden County, compo.se the Tenth Congressional District of M.tssachusetts ; and from this district Mr. Walker was elected a Representative to Congress on the 6th of November, 1888.

Mr. Walker has great energy and uncommon talent for organizing and administering business aftairs, which have given him success as a manufacturer and a large property. His public spirit and liberality have been shown conspicuously in his relations with Worcester Academy, whose present prosperity is due, in great measure, to his generous gifts and his valuable service as president of the Board of Trustees. He has given liberally also to other good objects, and his counsel and aid have always been at the command of any wisely-conceived undertaking to promote the prosperity of the city or the wellbeing of its people. In public as in private matters he is one of those men who bring things to pass. And though his quickness of perception, independence of character, zeal and activity, his frank and emphatic manner of speech and his impatience sometimes with those less prompt in decision and action have caused him to be regarded as unduly masterful, he has been and is a great and valuable force in the political, municipal, industrial and social life of Worcester.

Mr. Smith is a native of Shirley, Middlesex County, and was born on the 21st of August, 1832. He received an academic education, and while still in early life entered upon that business career which has been on the whole one of very marked success, not that he has been entirely, or in a innch greater degree than others, exempt from the vicissitudes that are incidental to business life, - that life which in all its phases is exposed to the wiles of the deceitful and untrustworthy, the failures of the incompetent and the numberless hidden dangers that interrupt the progress of one who climbs the a.scent of fortune's hill. Now, however, at an age verging on three-score years, he has 'the satisfaction of finding himself in afHuent circumstances, and at the head of a business still flourishing and with bright prospects for the future.

of the industries that has made Worcester what she is. And the growth and development of his business during the series of years that he has been numbered among her citizens is but typical of the growth and development of the city itself. His has been emphatically a business life, undisturbed by aspiration for political distinction or for any of the public positions which have such damaging attractions for so many of us. But he has not been one to shun the common duties of good citizenship, or refuse to bear his full share in the obligations and burdens necessary to perpetuate its blessings. In public affairs, however, he has never been demonstrative, but quietly, by his vote, by his liberal contributions and sound suggestions, has performed his part. Though not an active politician, and never a political ofliceholder or office-seeker, he has yet decided opinions on local as well as national topics, is never averse to expressing them, and, if need be, giving his reasons for their maintenance. As far as party affiliation is concerned, he is a firm adherent of the present Republican party, an uncompromising advocate of their principles and policy.

Though not what is popularly known as an officeholder, he has yet for many years filled places of the highest trust and responsibility in institutions of importance and usefulness, such as that of president of the Mechanics' Savings Bank, director in the Mechanics' National Bank, director in the Central Massachusetts Railroad and trustee for the bond-holders of the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad. He has likewise been postmaster of Smithville for the last twenty-nine years and still holds the office. In these and in some others, where financial skill and trustworthiness are of the first importance, his management and influence have been productive of most beneficial results.

In religious sentiment Mr. Smith ranks as a Unitarian, but is ever willing to accord to those of different views conscientiousness and a faithful regard for truth. He has been twice married, his first union taking place January 1, 1864; and all his children - - three sons and one daughter - are now living.

Mr. Smith is a thinking rather than a wordy or demonstrative man; but his reserve, if such it may be called, is not tinged by moroseness and he is not given to misanthropic croakings. His intercourse in public is frank and confiding, and his social and domestic habits are such as to .secure a large circle of appreciative and sympathetic friends. His residence is among the finest in Worcester, and both within and without artonks ample evidence of refined taste and abundant means - a home where the endearments of domestic life find full fruition.

One of the most prominent business men of Worcester, for the last twenty-five years, has been the individual whose name appears above. He is presivU dent of the notable Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, which will be found spoken of in other connections, in the present work, as one of the largest, if not the very largest, manufacturing concern in the great manufacturing centre, Worcester. Indeed, it is said to be the most extensive wire manufacturing company, under individual ownership and management, in the whole world.

Mr. Moen was born in Wilna. N. Y.. November 13, 1824, and was a son of Augustus R. and Sophie Ann Moen. His initiation into business life was in a hardware store in New York, in which wire from the Washburn mill in Worcester was sold ; and not long after he became acquainted with a daughter of Deacon Ichabod Washburn, the originator and proprietor of the business, and married her in 1846. The next year he settled in AVorcester, and the firm I. Washburn & Moen was formed, the business being wire-drawing and rod-rolling. This was when Mr. Moen was about twenty-three years of age. And the business has continued essentially the same. But in 1868 it began to be carried on under the name of the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Co., the corporation being established by legislative act. The business has steadilv increased till at the present time it has reached gigantic proportions. They now employ some three thousand workmen, and turn out about two hundred and fifty tons daily. They manufacture wire, in great varietv, of copper, steel and iron ; and of all sizes. The matrimonial alliance of Mr. Moen seems to have had most satisfactory results, beyond the circle of home and domestic life, for Deacon Washburn writes in his diary, 1866 : " In 1850 I took as a partner my son-in-law, P. L. Moen. In him I have had a most efficient aid in bringing up the business to its present mammoth size. While he makes no claim to be a practical mechanic, he has, by his exactness, promptitude and aptness for business generally, supplied a deficiency in myself indispensable to success. He has managed with rare ability onr finances, a department of the business for which 1 never had the taste or inclination."

Mr. Moen, though not a college graduate, nor one claiming special advancement in book learning, is yet a man of njuch intelligence and elevated thought, a judicious and active friend of .all approved educational movements and institutions, and one ever ready to further his views by liberal contributions. His services on the School Board have been highly appreciated, and as trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, since 1869, and treasurer of the same for seven years, he has so acquitted himself as to merit and receive the highest approval.

In the more active scenes of political life he has not been much found, though on public questions his views and sentiments have had decided expression and due weight. In 1885 he was chosen a Presidential elector on the Republican ticket, a fact which sufticiently indicates his party affiliation.

In social life he is regarded as a conscientious Christian gentleman, a man of genial disposition, kindly sympathies, and ever ready to give efficient aid to all true moral and benevolent enterprises. In religious sentiment he is of the New England orthodox Congregational stamp, and well known for his broad Christian characteristics.

Mr. Moen has been twice married, his first partner having been a daughter of Deacon Ichabod Washburn, as before stated, and his second Maria S. Grant, of Chelsea, Vt. Three children, by the last marriage, one son and two daughters, are now living.

Warren Wii-Liams

As a type of rugged manhood of the old-time New England quality, in its triple union of moral, mental and physical stamina, Warren Williams would be a marked man in any c(.mimunity.

Decision of character, tact and sagacity are indicated in every line of the strong, earnest face, and when united with his stalwart figure, still erect and supple at nigh iour-score years, the picture is complete of a man born to achieve success in business, and to command the confidence and respect of his associates.

With fewer opportunities, and less ability to turn them to his own advantage, he would still have been a successful man by virtue of his native instincts of thrift and perseverance, habits of industry and temperance in all things.