Plymouth Town (part 37 of 54)

William E. Reals acquired his education in the schools of Middleboro and Rrockton. When fifteen years of age, he commenced to work for his living in the shoe factory of Peleg Leach, of Rrockton, and was employed there for three years in the cutting-room. He was subsequently engaged in the sole-leather room of Martin Wilds, in Calkins's manufactory, and in the grocery store of Thompson & Packard, si.\' months previous to their failure. After this he worked in the shoe store of Joel T. Packard for eight months, and in the same place, after George H. Jameson became the proprietor, for eleven years. Mr. Reals then started in business with William D. Wilder as partner, the firm name being Reals & Wilder. The partnership was dissolved at the end of three years, and Hosea M. Orcutt took Mr. Wilder's place. Under Mr. Reals's able and judicious management their trade has increased from year to year. The present store is twice the size of the original one. They keep fresh and seasonable goods, and deal honestly and courteously with customers. A self-made man in ail respects, Mr. Reals fully merits the esteem generally accorded to him. He has been a resident of this place since October 14, 1865.

Mr. Beals was married January 11, 1880, to Carrie, daughter of Horace Beals, a distant connection. He has two children : Arthur E., fifteen years of age, attending the Brockton High School; and Edgar N., a pupil of the Winthrop School in this city. Mr. Beals votes the Republican ticket, but takes no active part in politics. He was Chaplain of Paul Revere Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Brockton, and is a member of the Patrons of Plusbandry of Brookville. As a member of the Franklin Methodist Episcopal Church he has held every office, except that of class leader, being at present Trustee, Steward, Secretary of the Quarterly Conference, and a teacher in the Sunday-school. At one time he officiated as first superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is Secretary and Treasurer of the Methodist Social Union; a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he has been Director; and a zealous member of the Epworth League, in which he has held various important offices.

who are successful merchants of this town. He was born here, January 31, i860, son of the Hon. Joshua Eddy and Lucy A. (Reed) Crane. His grandfather on the paternal side, also named Joshua Eddy, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

The Hon. Joshua E. Crane was born and reared in Berkeley, Mass. In 1848 he obtained a clerkship in a store at Bridgewater. Within a year or two from that time he started a business of his own at the stand now occupied by his successors, Crane & Burrill. Here he conducted a prosperous business until the month of August, 1888, when he died. His career as a business man was marked by probity and good judgment, and he was elected to a number of offices of trust. He was a Trustee of the Bridgewater Academy, of the Bridgewater Savings Bank, and of the Plymouth County Agricultural Society. He was a stanch Republican, and served the community for a number of years as Town Clerk. He also represented the district in the Lower House of the State legislature and in the State Senate. Mr. Crane was a member of the Congregational church, and a Mason in good standing. His wife, who was born in Weymouth, Mass., in 1825, is a member of an old and highly respected Weymouth family. Quincy Reed, her father, and his brother were pioneer shoe manufacturers of Massachusetts. She now resides in Bridgewater, and is also a member of the Congregational church. She has borne the following children, namely: Joshua ¥-., the City Librarian of Taunton, Mass. ; Charles R., who is in the leather business in Boston, and resides in Bridgewater; Moulton E. ; Annie IL, a music teacher residing in Bridgewater; and Henry L. , the subject of this sketch.

Henry L. Crane was educated in the public schools and at the Bridgewater Academy. He went to work in his father's store when si.xteen years old, and literally "grew up in the business," becoming familiar with all its details. After his father's death he formed a partnership with Henry T. Burrill, and for eight years the firm of Crane & Burrill has taken a leading part in the mercantile life of Bridgewater. Mr. Crane was married in 1884 to Lizzie A. Cole, daughter of Charles H. Cole, of Brockton, Mass. In politics he favors the Republican side. First elected Town Clerk and Treasurer, respectively in 1887 and 1888, he has been re-elected every year since to both offices. An active member of the Masonic brotherhood, he is Past Master of Fellowship Lodge, of Bridgewater, Past High Priest of Harmony Chapter, and a member of Bay State Commandery at Brockton, Mass. He is a member of Pioneer Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bridgewater, having the rank of Noble Grand. Endowed with much natural ability and pleasing social qualities, he is respected as a business man, and esteemed as a member of society.

ILISHA T. HARVILL, Treasurer of the Rockland Welt Company, is one of the old and influential business men of Rockland. He was born in South Weymouth, Mass., December 19, 1841, son of Arterius and Caroline (Thayer) Harvill. Arterius Harvill, who was a native of the State of Maine and a mechanic, died at the age of seventy-five. His wife, a native of Holbrook, Mass., passed away in her fifty-first year. They were the parents of five children, three of whom attained maturity. These were: Augusta, Anna, and the subject of our sketch. Losing his parents when quite young, Elisha T. Harvill was thrown on his own resources at an age when most boys are thinking of nothing but play. He was then bound out to a farmer in East Abington until he was sixteen years old. In that period he attended school only during the three winter months. After leaving the farm he worked in a shoe shop in Rockland. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, he enlisted in Company G, Fortythird Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and later in Company A, Sixtieth Massachusetts Regiment. He served for a year and a half in the North Carolina campaign: and, though he participated in no great battle, he experienced all the hardships of a soldier's life, marching and countermarching on bad roads in all kinds of weather, running the ganntlet of rebel ambuscades, standing fire in skirmishes, and fighting against the lassitude caused by the enervating climate of the South. During a large part of the time he was engaged in guarding property and persons. On his return he engaged once more in the shoe business. Thereafter, solel}' by his own efforts, he acquired a large business and a place among the leading financiers of the county. The Rockland Welt Company is an enterprise of his. Its main business is now managed by others, but as Treasurer Mr. Harvill looks after its financial interests. He retired from business about two years ago, after having manufactured shoes for twenty-three years. As a financier he has many interests, both in Massachusetts and elsewhere. For the past ten years he has been President of the Rockland Savings Bank. He has been a Director of the Rockland National Bank since its organization, about eight years ago. He is President of the Rockland Building Association; and it is known that he is President of a corporation controlling a paper pulp-mill in Maine, a large enterprise employing two hundred men.

On November 12, 1865, Mr. Harvill married Miss Caroline Packard, of Charlestown, Mass., and he has now one child, Esther T. , born October 30, 1873. Politically, he favors the Republican side, and he takes a deep interest in public affairs. I'or some time he has been on the Board of Water Commissioners. He is a member of the Rockland Commercial Club, of which he has filled the

'ETH SPRAGUE, the Postmaster of Hingham Centre, was born here on St. Valentine's Day, 1S37, son of Daniel and Tamar (Stoder) Sprague, of Hingham.

Josiah, his grandfather, was twice married, the second wife having been a sister of the first. Daniel Sprague, Josiah's second child by the second wife, Susan (VVhiton) Sprague, was a tanner and currier for many years in this town, where he was born, lie continued to work at his trade until the time of his death, which happened at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife, Tamar, had ten children, six of whom are living. Three died in early life; and I'ranklin died in August, 1896, at the age of seventy -one years. The surviving children are: Emeline A., Daniel W., Josiah, Seth, Su.san W., and Henry. Emeline married Loring Jacobs, of this town. Josiah has been twice married. His first wife, Adrian (Eincoln) Sprague, had one child, I'red L. His second wife, in maidenhood Sarah Eeavitt, also had one child, Myra. Susan \V. married R. H Carthell, of this town, and they have one child, Susie L. Daniel. The father, Daniel Sprague, was an old-time Whig in politics. Both he and his wife were members of the Unitarian church. She died in August, 1892, at the age of ninety-one.

Seth Sprague, after obtaining his education in the schools of his native town, learned the carriage and house-painting trade, and subsequently followed it until 1882. He was subsequently engaged in the paper-hanging business for six years. In 1888 he was appointed Postmaster, which position he still satisfactorily fills. His political view-point is Republican. He has been a member of Old Colony Lodge, A. E. & A. M., since 1866. On October 5, 1862, Mr. Sprague was united in marriage with Melissa Sprague, daughter of Josiah W. Sprague, of Gardiner, Me. They have had three children ; namely, Charles E., Wallace W., and Marion W. Charles and Wallace died when young.

ORERT H. PACKARD, a well-to-do farmer of Brockton, and a descendant ^ -of one of the earliest families of North Bridgewater, was born April 29, 1832, upon the farm he now owns and occupies, son of Robert and Betsey (Howard) Packard. He is a descendant in the sixth generation of the original settler of the Packard homestead. His grandfather, Robert Packard, who in his turn inherited the property, and carried on farming during the active period of his life, was an active member of the Orthodox church, a Captain of militia, and a prominent man in his day.

Robert Packard (second), Mr. Packard's father, was born in North Bridgewater, and occupied the homestead farm. One of the stirring and successful farmers of his day, and a useful and highly respected citizen, he kept the ancestral estate in an excellent condition. " His wife, Betsey, who was a native of Montello, the northern part of this town, became the mother of four children, of whom the only survivor is Robert H., the subject of this sketch.

Robert H. Packard attended the common schools of North Bridgewater for the usual period. His education was afterward completed at the Loomis Academy. He began life as a farmer at the homestead, where he has always resided. Here he zealously sus- tains the reputation of ills predecessors by keeping his property up to a high standard, thereby making it one of the best and most profitable estates in this locality.

In 1857 Mr. Packard wedded Ellen A. Howard, a daughter of Lewis Howard, of North Bridgewater. Mrs. Packard is now the mother of two children, namely: Walter T., who resides at home; and Lizzie J., who was married in June, 1885, to Harry Dunbar, of West Bridgewater, and now resides in Brockton, close by the homestead. In politics Mr. Packard supports the Republican party, and he is a member of the Orthodox church. He is also a charter member of the West Bridgewater Grange.

of Phineas and Harriet (Carroll) Boyden, was born in South Walpole, Norfolk County, Mass., February 5, 1827. His father was a man of sterling worth, and by trade a blacksmith. His mother was a woman of fine character, and set before her children the ideal of a noble life. Albert was the oldest of a family of three sons and three daughters. I'roni his early boyhood he was required to rise early, and be actively employed until bed-time. He was a leader in the sports of his fellows, and knew the products of all the fields, woods, and streams in the neighborhood of his native village. He attended the district school summer and winter until ten years of age, and in winter until eighteen. At fourteen years of age he decided to be a teacher. Strongly desiring to go to college, but unable to get the funds, he gave his evenings to study, determined to do what he could for himself. He worked on the farm and in his father's blacksmith shop until, at twenty-one years of age, he had mastered the trade, and in the mean time had taught three winters in the town of Foxboro. On reaching his majority he had good health, good habits, his trade, and the assurance of success in teaching.

Having saved some money toward paying his expenses, Mr. Boyden entered the State Normal School at Bridgewater, paying the remainder by serving as janitor. He was graduated from this school in November,

1849, and taught a grammar school in Hingham during the next winter. He received the appointment of assistant teacher in the Bridgewater State Normal School in July,

1850, and held the position three years, under the wise counsel and sympathetic help of the distinguished founder of the school, Nicholas Tillinghast; was principal of the English High School for Boys in Salem three years; sub-master of the Chapman Grammar School, Boston, one year; first assistant again in the Bridgewater Normal School three and onehalf years, under the able tuition of the second principal, Marshall Conant; was appointed principal of the school in August, i860, and received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Amherst College. He was a diligent student, studying under private tutors, and during the time he was assistant in the Normal School he was called upon to teach nearly all the branches of the course, and to make a careful study of the principles and method of teaching. He started in life with the determination to do everthing intrusted to him with the best of his ability, and has never sought a position as teacher.

Mr. Boyden has filled the position of principal of the Bridgewater Normal School with eminent ability and fidelity. Under him the number of students has steadily increased, the course of study has been expanded, the building, grounds, and equipments of the school have been greatly enlarged, and the professional spirit of the school has been greatly developed. In the fall term of i860, when he assumed charge, there were sixty-seven pupils. In the fall term of 1S94 there were two hundred and fifty-three. In i860 the course of study extended through three terms of twenty weeks each. At the present time four courses are in operation: a two years" course, a four years' course, a post-graduate course for college graduates, and special courses for teachers of long experience.

The first six years of its life the school held its sessions in the Town Hall. In 1846 it moved into a new building, the first State Normal School building erected in America. In 1 861 this building was enlarged, increasing its capacity seventy per cent. In 1871 the building was again enlarged by adding a third story. In 1S81 a building for chemical, physical, and industrial laboratories was built. In iSgo these buildings were removed, and a massive brick structure, eighty-six teet in front by one hundred and eighty-seven feet in length, three stories above the basement, was erected. In 1894 this building was extended, increasing its capacity fifty per cent. In 1869 the boarding department of the school became a necessity, and a residence hall was erected, accommodating fifty-two students and the family of the principal. In 1S73 it was enlarged to accommodate one hundred and fortyeight students. In 1891 the laboratory building was converted into a residence hall, accommodating thirty-two students. The present school building, with its equipments, is not surpassed by any normal-school building in the country in its adaptation to its purpose. It will accommodate two hundred and fifty normal students and a practice school of five hundred pupils. The grounds have been increased from one and one-quarter acres to

Mr. Boyden has given his best thought to the study of man, to find the principles of education which determine the method of all true teaching, and, to the application of these principles in co-ordinating the work of the school, to make it a thorough normal training school in all its course. He has sought, with the more than thirty-five hundred pupils who have come under tuition in his school, to set before them a high ideal of what life should be, to awaken the conscience to the responsibilities of the teacher, to give them command of themselves, of the philosophy of teaching, and of the subjects to be used in teaching, and such a knowledge of children that they shall be able to practise wisely the art of teaching.

The school has a national reputation. Its graduates are engaged in all lines of educational work - as teachers in common, high, and normal schools, as superintendents of schools, State agents, and State superintendents. Some have become prominent as lawyers, physicians, clergymen, and in business. Many as wives and mothers exert a strong educational influence. Some are missionaries in distant lands.

As teacher and citizen, Mr. Boyden is held in the highest esteem. He has been President of the Plymouth County Teachers' Association, of the Massachusetts Teachers' Association, of the Massachusetts Schoolmasters' Club, of the New England Normal Council; Vice-President of the American Institute of Instruction; Secretary of the National Council of Education; Trustee of the Bridgewater Savings Bank; clerk of Central Square Congregational Society since 1863; President of the Old Colony Congregational Club; editor of Massac/iiisrtts Tcaclicr; and author of numerous educational addresses.

Mr. Boydcn was married in Newport, Me., November i8, 1851, to Isabella Whitten Clarke, daughter of Thomas and Martha Louisa (Whitten) Clarke. Miss Clarke was a graduate of the Bridgcwatcr Normal school, and a successful teacher. Of this union were three sons: Arthur Clarke J^oyden, A.M., Vice-President Bridgcwatcr Normal School ; Walter Clarke Boyden, who died in infancy; and Wallace Clarke Boyden, A.M., submaster Boston Normal School.

Mr. Boyden has been invited to take charge of normal schools in other States, with larger compensation, but has preferred to remain in Bridgewater that he might carry forward his plans for the development of this school.

/^3)eORGK a. WOOD, proprietor of one \ P I of the best markets in Brockton, was born in Westport, Bristol County, Mass., January 26, 1857, son of Alexander and Bathana B. (Manley) Wood. The Wood family, which is an old one, was connected with that of Captain Miles Standish, "the doughty warrior of Plymouth.'" Mr. Wood is of the third generation of his family born in Westport, that place having been also the birthplace of his grandfather, Captain Nathan, who was a son of William Wood. The Captain devoted much of his life to the pursuit of agriculture. He was one of the prominent citizens of Westport, held several town offices, and commanded a company of State militia. He lived to attain the advanced age of eightynine. Annie Gifford, of Westport, became his wife, and bore him si.\ children - Alexander, Nancy, Clarinda, Amanda, Angel ine, and Nathan W.

as cooper on a whaling-vessel. Attracted by the adventurous life, he learned the principles of navigation, and was subsequently first officer of a vessel for a number of years. At the age of thirty-nine, having followed the sea for twenty years, he retired and settled on a farm at Westport Point, where he died at the age of seventy-three. His wife, who was a daughter of John Manley, of Little Compton, R.I., died at the age of sixty-two. He had seven children, three of whom are living.

George A. Wood attended the common schools of Westport until fifteen years of age. He then took up the business of designing and engraving on, silver, at the same time attending the Taunton Art School. He was with the Taunton Silver Plate Company about five years, at the end of which they went out of business. Then for three years he was in the employ of the Meriilen Britannia Company of Connecticut. His next engagement was as foreman of a room for Steen, Son, & Hall, successors to the Taunton Silver Plate Company, the establishment being in New York City. Having remained five years with them, he, in Sei^tember, 1884, opened a meat market at his present location in Brockton, in partnership with D. V. Hathaway, of Fall River. The firm, which was known as Wood & Hathaway, was dissolved at the end of two years, Mr. Wood purchasing his partner's interest, and since that time he has carried on the business alone. He now employs four clerks, and uses three delivery teams. He has also an interest in the Brockton Building Association.

In November, 1878, Mr. Wood was married to Mary J. Davol, daughter of Albert D. Davol, of Taunton, Mass. They have had four children, namely: Harold A., who attends the Brockton High School, and is a member of the High School Cadets; Bessie May, who died in infancy; Plorence D. , now eight years old; and Mildred B., aged five. In politics Mr. Wood is a Republican. Though taking an active interest in political affairs, he. has not accepted public office, preferring to devote his time to his business. He is a member of Paul Revere Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; of Massoit Lodge, Independent Order of Odd P'ellovvs; of Damocles Lodge, No. 16, Knights of Pythias, of which he was Treasurer for a number of years; of Brockton Division, No. II, Uniform Rank, Brockton Council, Royal Arcanum, of which he is also Trustee; a charter member of the Senate of the Ancient Kssenic Order, and a Trustee of the First l-5oard ; and a charter member of LI Katif Temple, No. 44, Knights of Karassum. While in Taunton he was connected with the Taunton Hook and Ladder Company some three years, and was Sergeant of the Taunton City Guards. When he left the State for New York he severed his connection with the militia. He is now an associate member of Fletcher Webster Post, No. 13, (irand Army of the Republic, of Brockton. Mr. Wood attends the Universalist church, and has for a number of years been a contributor to the Young Men's Christian Association, which has done much for him. His business success is due entirely to his own exertions, as he has never received any outside help.

ILLIAM AUGUSTUS THOMPSON, a prosperous farmer of Brockton, and a representative of an old and highly reputable family of this section, was born in North Bridgewater, now Brockton, December 14, 1824, son of John and Sarah (Jones) Thompson. The family is of Irish origin. Its founder in America was Archibald Thompson, who, with his wife and son, emigrated from the north of Ireland in 1724, and first settled in Abington, this county. A short time later he moved to Bridgewater, and was one of the first settlers in the North Parish. It is claimed that he made the first spinning-wheel constructed in New England. He died in 1776, aged eighty-five. He reared a family of eight children, of whom Thomas, the second born, was William A. Thompson's great-grandfather. In 1754 Thomas Thompson married lilizal^eth Strowbridge, and he died May 28, 18 10, aged eighty-one years. His wife died October 18, 181 1, aged seventynine. Of their eight children. Captain Thomas, the sixth born, was William A. Thompson's grandfather.

Captain Thomas Thompson was born in North Bridgewater, July 4, 1767. He was engaged in farming and the manufacture of spinning-wlieels, and died November 10, 1835, aged sixty-eight years. On August 5, 1792, he wedded Martha Kingman, daughter of Matthew Kingman, and she became the mother of six children; namely, John, Charlotte, Sophronia, Jane S., Martha Kingman, and John (second). The mother died December 28, 1840, aged seventy-five years. John Thompson, Mr. Thompson's father, was born in North Bridgewater, March 16, 1795. He was engaged in tilling the soil during the active period of his life, and died May 25, 1866, aged seventy-one years. His wife, Sarah, whom he married November 18, 1S19, was a daughter of Captain Asa Jones. She died F"ebruary 20, 1853, aged fifty-three years, leaving one son, William A., the subject of this sketch.

William Augustus Thompson received his education in the common schools of North Bridgewater and at a private school in Shrewsbury, Mass. He has followed agricultural pursuits since young manhood, and owns a farm containing seventy acres of excellent tillage land. He works occasionally in his sons' shoe factory, as the opportunity serves: but his time and attention are chiefly devoted to his farm, which he carries on very successfully.

In 1844 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Almira J. Hayward, of Bi-ockton, by whom he became the father of five children. These were : George Hayward, who was born September 27, 1848; Alma, who was born September 26, 1851, and died September 6, 1852; Abby, who was twin sister of Alma, and died June 28, 1852; John Franklin, who was born September 9, 1857; and Sarah Russell, who was born November Q, 1861. Mrs. Thompson died August 27, 1883, aged fiftyeight years and three months. George H. and John F. Thompson, under the firm name of Thompson Brothers, conduct a shoe factory near the family residence. The father is a Republican in politics. His ancestors were noted for ability, thrift, and industry - the characteristics of himself and his sons.

-AMUEL L. BEAL, A.M., an enterprising business man of Brockton, was born in Jefferson township, Switzerland County. Ind., June 24, 1840, son of Lewis W. and Mary (Lester) Beal. After acquiring his elementary education in his native place, he prepared for college at Hillsdale, Mich. Graduating from the Free Baptist College there in 1868, he entered the Congregational Theological .Seminary at Bangor, Me. Here, before he had finished the course, his religious opinions underwent a change, and he completed his theological course at St. Lawrence (Universalist) University at Canton, N. Y., graduating in the class of 1870.

His first pastoral charge was the Universalist church at Westminster, Mass., which was under his direction some two and a half years. His next was the Universalist Church at Provincetown, this State. Here he had sjient two years and a half, when he resigned. Later, complying with a recall, he labored there for six months more. On April 12, 1876, he moved to Brockton, and, about a year after, he became connected with the Universalist Society, which, at that time was ruptured by internal schisms. Mr. Beal took the remnants of the society, founded an independent movement, and for six years was engaged here in active and unceasing labor. During three summers of that time he preached also at South Easton for the Unitarians, and in Avon to a small independent congregation. The severe strain caused his voice to fail him, and his physician advised him to abandon the pulpit. He followed this advice, and was afterward engaged for some time in book canvassing. He then became interested in Spiritualism in Brockton, and about the year 1884 joined the ranks of the Spiritualists. In this new field he became as enthusiastic and energetic as in his former charges. During the past six years he has presided at different Spiritualist camp meetings at Ocean Grove, Harwichport, and has spent much time in the lecture field. Mr. Beal also acts as agent for several property owners, and is the proprietor of a news-stand and a circulating library. In connection with his newspaper business he sells about five hundred papers daily, employing several boys on paper routes.

On March 2y, 1875, ^I''- ^^^^"^1 was united in marriage with Lizzie P., daughter of Albert and Martha Johnson Sweetser, of Provincetown, Mass. The union has been blessed by four children. Their eldest son graduated from the Brockton High School in 1895, and is now studying at Brown University; the eldest daughter graduated from the high school in 1896; and the other children are attending school in this city. Mr. Beal votes the Prohibition ticket. In Westminster and Brockton he has served on the school Committee. He has been Assessor of Brockton since 1 89 1. In the temperance movement he has taken a prominent part, and was nominated by the Prohibition Party for Mayor at one time. He is a member of the Independent Order of Good Templars in this city, and was Chaplain of the Grand Lodge at one time. He was made a Mason at Gardiner, Mass., and took chapter degrees at Provincetown. He has also affiliation with Massasoit Lodge, No. 69, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Brockton.

-OSIAH A. TORRKV, a well-known manufacturer and merchant of Rockland, was born December 31, 1835, son of Josiah and Iilizabeth D. (Estes) Torrey, both natives of Plymouth County. The family is a distinguished one, and of English e.xtraction. Its founder was Captain William Torrey, of Combe, St. Nicholas, County of Somerset, England, who settled in the town of North Weymouth as far back as 1640, and established the family seat, where his descendants have since resided.

Phillip Torrey, the great-grandfather of Josiah A., was a farmer of North Weymouth, in which place he spent most of his life. His son William, the grandfather, who was there born and educated, married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain David Hersey, of Abington.

Josiah Torrey, William's son, also a native of Abington, was born November 29, 1798, and spent all his life in that place. At first a farmer, he subsequently engaged in the manufacture of soap. He married Elizabeth D. Estes, a native of Hanover, Mass., who came of good Italian ancestry, and was a woman of great personal attractions throughout her life. Born thirteen years later than her husband, she survived him thirteen years, and died as he did, at the age of eighty-one, having been the mother of thirteen children. Eight of the children are living; namely, Mary L., Josiah A., Ann E., Hattie R., Clara, William, Ella, and Ruth.

Josiah A. Torrey, the eldest surviving son of his parents, was brought up on a farm of his father's in the town of Rockland. His opportunities for obtaining an education were somewhat limited, as he had to spend much of his time helping on the farm. He attended the district schools each winter during his early boyhood, thereby obtaining a foundation for the knowledge that he afterward acquired. He worked with his father on his farm and in the soap factory until he was twenty-one years old, when he was made a partner in the latter concern. At his father's death he succeeded to the business, and has since been the sole proprietor. The factory is in a flourishing condition, and has proved a most profitable investment. He is also interested in the Rockland National Bank, of which he is a Director, and in the Rockland Savings Bank, of which he is President.

Mr. Torrey married Arabella Grover, of Bethel, Me., and by her becamf^ the father of four children. These were: J. Carlton, who was a civil engineer by profession, and died a victim of overwork; Arthur E., who is a machinist, and resides in Rockland; Harry A., a market gardener of Rockland ; and Lena G. , who resides at home. In his politics Mr. Torrey is a strong Republican, and a stanch upholder of the temperance cause. He was formerly a Selectman, and was Assessor for four years. He is a member of the Congregational church. Both he and his wife regularly

ILLIAIM \'V. CROSS is the senior member of the firm of \V. VV. Cross & Co., tack manufacturers, of Brockton, Mass., one of the leading industrial concerns of this thriving business centre. He was born in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), November 20, 1833, the son of Nathaniel H. and Lucy (Vose) Cross, and is a member of an old New England family.

His paternal grandfather, Captain Nathaniel Cross, came from Exeter, N.H., to the vicinity of Brockton, early in the century. Nathaniel H. Cross, son of Captain Nathaniel, was born in East Bridgewater, October II, 1803. He was an ambitious and enterprising man, and tried more than one way of earning a livelihood, engaging for a while in the manufacture of carriages, and subsequently managing a store and a hotel. Active in public affairs, he was captain of a fire engine company, was a member of the North Bridgewater Board of Selectmen, and was for a time Postmaster of the town. He died at the age of thirty-nine. His wife, a daughter of Elijah and Catherine (Cobb) Vose, of Boston, died May 4, 1896, at the advanced age of eighty-nine.

William W. Cross attended school for a while in his native town, and went at the age of nine to live with an aunt at Westminster, Vt. He there worked on a farm for three years and three months, and then, returning home, found employment in the Boston Water Works at Needham, Mass., receiving si.\ dollars a month. He was employed in the waterworks six months, and was then hired by Z. K. Brett, dry-goods merchant of Wareham, who gave him two hundred dollars a year, board, clothing, and two years' schooling. With steady perseverance he retained this position until twenty-one years and eight months of age, managing to save the greater part of his salary; and he then opened a dry-goods store of his own in Palmer, Mass., which he successfully managed until 1869. On the 23d of March, that year, he came to Brockton (then North Bridgewater), and on April 15 he bought a tack factory on the site of his present building. Starting with nine machines, he gradually increased the amount to one hundred and twenty, and during the past year he has had all these machines in operation, running overtime at the rate of a day and a quarter a week. In the twenty-seven years that he has been in this business he has not expended two hundred dollars to increase the sale of his goods, as his manufactures are of the highest grade only, and speak for themselves; and he is often obliged to run night and day to fill orders. He exports largely to England, Scotland, Russia, and Germany.

Mr. Cross was one of the first to become interested in the Brockton Street Railway when it was projected, buying a goodly amount of its stock. He became President of the company after the expiration of his term as Selectman of the town, having previously declined the office, and such was the benefit of his administration that when he came to sell his stock its value had risen to one hundred and fifty dollars a share.

Mr. Cross was one of the four who conceived and carried out the idea of the City Theatre. He built the theatre, and is now one of its four owners. He has been Vice- President of the Brockton National Bank ever since its incorporation, and on its tenth birthday he gave a dinner to the Board of Directors at Young's Hotel, Boston. He has been a

William W. Cross

Trustee of the Brockton Savings Bank from its lieginning. In 1892 he was elected President of the Board of the Standard Rubber Company, and held the position until January i, 1896; and he has been Vice-President of the Brockton Agricultural Society from the date of its incorporation. He was one of the four original members who started the society, and purchased the twenty acres of land, which constituted the nucleus of its handsome grounds. Additional purchases have been made from time to time, and now the land alone is worth one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The society has laid out over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars for construction, and they find their venture a paying investment, for in four days in 1895 their gross receipts were forty-three thousand dollars. Mr. Cross takes a deep interest in the welfare of this society.

He was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Bartlett, of Wareham, Mass., on January 8, 1855; and two children have blessed their union. The elder, William B., who was born November 15, 1858, became his father's partner in 1878, and he has largely increased the foreign trade of the firm. The younger son, Charles L., was born in July, 1866, and died in November, 1866. William B. Cross is a Director of the Brockton Agricultural Society.

Mr. Cross is a strong Republican, but not an active political worker. When Brockton was known as the town of North Bridgewater, he was Selectman for two years, and Water Commissioner for three years. One of the original Board of Construction of the waterworks, he was actively interested in their completion, and was elected to the Board of Commissioners as a man who understood the affairs, and would look after the town's best interests. He has been a Mason since 1856, when he joined the first lodge at Palmer,

Mass., and he was made a Royal Arch Mason in Springfield, and a Knight Templar in Abington. He attends the Congregational church, contributing liberally to its support. As a self-made man, Mr. Cross has accomplished a remarkable amount of work, with no backward slips in his upward career: and this brief sketch of his progress shows the power for success in tenacity of purpose, aided by the faculty of living within one's means, even though the means are small as his were in his early youth.

HOMAS ARCHIBALD, an esteemed business man of Rockland, was born April 25, 1866, in Nova Scotia, of which Canadian province his parents, Samuel and Susan (Parker) Archibald, also were natives. Samuel Archibald is a manufacturer of fertilizers in his native country, and does a flourishing business.

Thomas, who was one of seven children (five boys and two girls), received a good education in his native country. He was first employed in a shoe store, where he served in the capacity of clerk. After remaining there for some time, he found employment with a large wholesale house as travelling salesman. .Shortly after, his father engaged his services, and finally took him into the firm of which he has since remained a member. C)f late years he has also been in business for himself. Coming to Rockland a few years ago, he started the manufacture of what are now known as the "Black Band Cannon Crackers," which enterprise has been a decided success, and attests to his ingenuity and high business qualities. The goods attract a great amount of attention from dealers, and have a large sale. The business is conducted by Mr. Archibald, under the firm name of Archibald & Co. The other members of the firm reside in Nova Scotia. The machinery they use is of their own construction. One machine, the only one in the world, commences, binds, and completes the manufacture of a cannon cracker.

On July 15, 1889, Mr. Archibald married Helen MacDonald, a native of Nova Scotia. He has two children - Margaret Helen, born July 22, 1890; and Mary Bowers Archibald, born June 10, 1893. Mr. Archibald and wife are members of the Congregational church.

^- the insurance and real estate business, was born in Coventry, Vt., February 19, 1836, a son of James and Rebecca (Miller) Hancock. His branch of the Hancock family has been domesticated in this country since Colonial times. It was founded by Anthony Hancock, who came from England, and settled in Dorchester, Mass., in 1638, with William Sumner. At a later date he removed to Wrentham, Norfolk County, and in that town his second wife bore him a son, Anthony, Jr., in 1686. The latter was married in 1707 to Elizabeth Goddard, of Sherburne, Mass., and had a family of nine children. Of these, the youngest, Benjamin, who was born in Wrentham, June 15, 1728, married Patience Clark, June 19, 1751, and reared seven children.

Benjamin's second child, Asa, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Wrentham, August 30, 1753, and settled on a farm in Surrey, N.H., about the year 1778- 79. Asa Hancock married Abigail Shepardson, of Cumberland, R.I., who bore him nine children, of whom James was the sixth. James Hancock was born in Surrey, N. H., May 25, 1788, and like the majority of the dwellers in that vicinity was a farmer. He was married August 24, 181 i, to Rebecca Miller, of Westminster, Mass., who shared with him the labor and care which were the lot of the hardy farmer in those days. In 18 18 James and his wife moved from Westmoreland, N.H., to Coventry, Vt., taking nine days to m.ake the journey on an ox-sled, much of the way through a wild and unbroken country. l^oth are now deceased. Of their ten children Horace and Portus B. are living. The others were: James S. , Levi, Isaac M., Moses W. , Benjamin, Rebecca, Otis, and Steven B.

Portus B. Hancock was educated in the common schools of Coventry. In 1857, the year of his majority, he went to North Bridgewater, now Brockton, to work for his brother Moses, who was the first man to engage in the express business in that place, and remained with him until 1861. Returning then to Coventry, he was, from that time until 1877, engaged in buying eggs, cattle, and butter from the farmers, and sending to town and city dealers. In the spring of 1878 he started in the produce business in Brockton, and in 1884 he turned his attention to the fire insurance business. From insuring real estate to buying and selling it was but a step, and in 1889 his real estate business had reached large proportions. His first extensive deal was in connection with Cary Hill, now Beacon Hill. All the streets in that locality were built by Mr. Hancock, and he has sold over three hundred house lots there. Some time ago, in Whitman, he purchased Read Corner, with ten houses, some of which he has sold on the instalment plan.

Mr. Hancock was married in i860 to Sarah W. Hayward, daughter of Sumner A. Hayward. Mr. Hayward, who was one of the first insurance men of Brockton, managed a successful business for thirty years. Mr. Han- cock has one child, Sumner H., who was born in Coventry, Vt., in 1876. He graduated at the Brocivton High School, and is now a member of the Cameron Wheel Company, the wellknown bicycle firm of this city. In politics Mr. Portus B. Hancock is a Democrat. He has been in office five years as Milk Inspector. A charter member of Damocles Lodge, No. 16, Knights of Pythias, he was one of the seventyseven who came together in 1886 to form a lodge, and has held the office of Trustee. He is also a member of Pequot Tribe, No. 35, I. O. R.M. ; of Campello Lodge, No. 227, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Essenic Order, the Mayflower Colony of Pilgrim Fathers; and the New England Order of Protection. He attends religious worship at the Unity (Unitarian) Church.

|LLKRY C. DEAN, the active partner of the firm of A. C. Thompson & Co., proprietors of a planing and moulding mill in Brockton, was born January 31, 1863, in Seekonk, Mass., son of David W. and Emily F. (Cushing) Dean. He comes of old New England stock by both father and mother. The Deans belonged in Raynham, Mass., where David W. was born and spent the early part of his life. He was by occupation a farmer, of a quiet, retiring disposition, and his last days were passed on a farm in Seekonk, where he died of exposure at the early age of thirty-one. His wife, also born in Seekonk, is of the third generation of Cushings in that town. She is a typical New England woman, thrifty, independent, and quietly determined. After her husband's death she kept her family of four children together, although at times it was a hard struggle, and would never accept help from outside sources. Her children are all married now, and she is

Ellery C. Dean was six years of age when his father died. For the succeeding three years he lived with his grandmother in Raynham, attending school in that town. His educational advantages were limited, as, being the oldest boy in the family, he was obliged to go to work when quite young. However, the amount of schooling he received was so well supplemented by personal study that he was able to meet his associates on an equal footing. In 1 87 1 he went to North Bridgewater, where, after a little more schooling, at the age of fourteen he entered the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company as messenger boy. He spent three years in this employment, and then engaged in wood working on his own account in a small way, making window screens, doors, etc., by means of small foot-power machinery. He was six months in this business when he attracted the attention of A. C. Thompson, who hired him. In five years he had mastered all the details of the business, at the same time performing other services that were not required of him. In 1892 he became Mr. Thompson's partner, under the firm name of A. C. Thompson & Co., and he now attends to the buying, selling, and the settlement of hlUs. This firmhas the largest trade of the kind in Plymouth County. They now employ three times as many hands as they did before Mr. Dean became connected with the concern, using three carloads of lumber a week, where before hardly one car was required. They spend no money in advertising, having all the orders they can fill, and having no actual competitors outside of Boston, while they buy directly from the producer, thus saving the commission that would otherwise go to middlemen. Mr.

Dean's training in the telegraph business has been invaluable to him, as it inculcated habits of promptness and accuracy. This training, with his mother's teaching, his inherited prudence, and his natural ability, give him unusual strength as a business man.

Mr. Dean was married November 25, 1885, to Lucy W. , daughter of Charles Beals, of Sharon, Mass., and has two children, a boy of ten, and a girl of seven years. He gives no time to politics, preferring to devote his energies to his business. He is a member of Massasoit Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has held all the chairs in the Pequot Tribe of Red Men. Iti religious matters he is liberal, though he fully appreciates the good accomplished by church societies.

Yf7\EUBEN P. GUSHING, a prosperous I S^ business man of the town of Marion, l->^ \^_ V was born in New Bedford, Mass., July I, 1846. He grew up under his parents' care, receiving his education in the public schools of his native town, and serving an apprenticeship at the cooper's trade.

On attaining his majority Mr. Gushing went to Boston, hoping to establish himself in some business there. Locating soon afterward in Charlestown, now included within the limits of Boston, he carried on a profitable provision business until 1887. He then came to Marion, bought a tract of land, and has since been successfully engaged in the culture of fruit, vegetables, and cranberries. He began on a moderate scale, but has now two cranberry bogs in Marion, besides two other lots of land. One of his bogs, covering three and a half acres, is admirably adapted to the raising of cranberries. With characteristic enterprise he also runs a butcher's wagon, with which he has acquired a good patronage- since 1889.

Mr. Gushing was married December 9, 1868, to Miss Lois A. Nickerson, a daughter of John W. and Julia A. Nickerson, of Harwich, Mass. Their only child is a daughter named Grace. During his comparatively brief residence in this town, he has won general respect as a citizen, neighbor, and friend, as well as an assured position among business men. In politics he votes for the best men and measures, being bound by no party ties.

's^OSHUA R. BARTLETT, of Brockton, is widely known as a preacher of the Methodist church, a zealous worker for the cause of Prohibition, and an able and prolific writer. He was born in Templeton, Worcester Gounty, November 17, 1839, son of William and Maria M.' (Partridge) Bartlett, both also natives of the Bay State. William Bartlett, who was born in Ganton, August 23, 1 812, obtained his education in the common schools of that town. He was employed as a butcher for two years in West Bridgewater by Amasa Howard, and in 1849 he and Daniel Nash, forming the firm Nash & Bartlett, established a butchering and market business in Brockton, then North Bridgewater. Their market, which was on the corner of Higli and Main .Streets, was the second started in the place. In 1856 William Bartlett engaged in the ice business, having been its founder in Brockton, and conducted a prosperous trade until 1864. when he sold out to Walter F. Gleaveland, and removed to Templeton, Mass. Having settled on a large farm there, he was extensively engaged in raising general produce for some time. The death of his first wife, Maria, in October, 1875, caused him to dispose of the farm, and he went to live with his son, the subject of this sketch. In P'ebruary, 1878, he contracted a second marriage with a lady from Raymond, N.H., and he spent the rest of his life in that town. Bartlett Street in Brockton is so named in his honor, as he was the first to buy a house lot in that vicinity. He was one of the earliest Free Soilers, and one of the very few in North Bridgewater; and he was an ardent antislavery man. He died June 6, 1893. His first wife, Maria M. Partridge, was a member of an old family of English origin, and her father. Deacon Ezekiel Partridge, was a wellknown and highly respected resident of Templeton, Mass. Both she and her husband were members of the Congregational church. Their children were: Abby M., who died at the age of thirteen; a boy who died in infancy; Charles A., born in North Bridgewater, January 9, 1S52, who now resides in Clinton, Mass., and is Deputy Sheriff of Worcester County; George Morey, born in North Bridgewater, June 16, 1854, a ]3rinter and pui^lisher of law books in St. Louis; and Joshua R., the subject of this sketch.

Joshua R. Bartlett attended the common schools in boyhood and Hunt's Academy at North Bridgewater. After leaving school he tried various occupations before deciding on that he judged himself best fitted to follow. For some time he assisted his father in the ice business. Then he kept books, and he was employed in the chair shops in Templetun. In 1 86 1 he again joined his father, and worked with him for two or three years. He was ne.xt engaged in selling sewing machines. On August 15, 1864, he enlisted in what was afterward Company K, Fourth Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and went to Washington. His company was assigned to the defence of the Capitol, and was stationed at Fort Barnard until discharged at the close of the war in June, 1865. Mr. Bartlett was then employed for two years as book-keeper in a chair manufactory in Templeton. In the ensuing two years he managed an agency for the sale of sewing machines at Albany, N.Y. His next venture was the management of a chair business of his own at Fitzwilliam, N.H. ; but he was not satisfied with the results, and engaged in farming for a year. In May, 1874, he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was pastor at Antrim, N.H., two years, and one year each at Amherst, Raymond, and Epping. He was then transferred from New Hampshire to the jurisdiction of the Vermont Conference, and labored at Williamstown for two years, and at Barre for three years. In the mean time he was editing the Vermont Christian Messenger, published at Montpelier. This was a congenial occupation and one for which he vi'as well fitted. In March, 1884, he purchased the paper, and he published it at Northfield, Vt., until September, 1886.

Early in his career Mr. Bartlett embraced the cause of Prohibition. Since then he has worked for it as a member of the Prohibition State Committees of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. He was .Secretary of the New Hampshire and V^ermont bodies, and is now a member of the Prohibition City Committee of Brockton. The good work he accomplished for the cause of temperance__ attracted the attention of prominent Good Templars, and in the winter of 1885 he was employed by the Grand Lodge of the State of Vermont in organizing and visiting lodges. In July, 1886, determined to give his whole soul to the work, he purchased The Statidard- Benrer, a Prohibition paper published at Concord, N.H., which he afterward named The Protest, and continued its publication imtil January i, 1890. On that date he merged the paper with the Jl'oreester Daily and Weekly Tinies^ which he published at Worcester for two years in behalf of the Prohibition party. In February, 1892, he came to Brockton, and for two years he was connected with the editorial and reportorial departments of the Daily Dcspatcli of this city. In January, 1893, he was made Brockton correspondent for the Boston Herald, and he is still in discharge of his duties in that capacity. He has been connected with the Brockton Daily Times since it was started in February, 1895. He now furnishes it with a daily column, on topics of the times, for its editorial page, and represents it in all City Hall business.

On December 14, 1862, Mr. Bartlett was married to Martha A., daughter of Marcus Southworth, of North Bridgewater He has three children living, namely: Mary E., the wife of Isaac S. Orrill, residing in Worcester; Maria H., the wife of Arthur C. Dyke, of Bridgewater; and Edwin S. , who is studying law in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. While working in the field of literature, Mr. Bartlett has retained his connection with the Methodist Episcopal church, being at present a local elder. He is also a comrade of the Grand Army, belonging to Fletcher Webster Post, No. 13, of Brockton.

Yf^'^'^^J^T COOK, an active member of I Sr^ the large dry-goods liouse of B. E. L»V_^ Jones & Co., of Brockton, Ma.ss., was born in P2ast Lothian, Scotland, October 14, 1857, son of Alexander and Jane (Hunter) Cook, estimable farming people. His greatgrandfather, William Cook, an Englishman, who removed to Scotland, and remained there for the rest of his life, also followed the occupation of farmer. Robert Cook, after receiving a fair education, which was finished at Dollar Academy, acted as pupil teacher. He left home at the age of fourteen to learn the dry-goods business. After serving an apprenticeship of four years with Thomas Menzies & Co., King Street, Stirling, Scotland, where he became familiar with the various departments, including dressmaking and the cashier's work, he remained for one year more as clerk. Then he entered the employ of James Spence & Co., dry-goods merchants of Dundee, and was clerk for this firm some four years. After that he was engaged as buyer of shawls, furs, lace curtains, etc., by Frazier Sons & Co., Buchanan Street, Glasgow. While acting in this capacity he received a flattering offer from Shepard, Norwell & Co., of Boston, Mass., to take charge of their silk and velvet department, they agreeing to pay all his travelling expenses. He accepted, and was three years in the employ of that firm. Resigning his position in 1884, he took charge of the large retail drygoods store of B. E). Jones, of Brockton. Four years later he became Mr. Jones's partner, the firm name being changed to B. E. Jones & Co. When Mr. Cook became connected with this house there were but four clerks employed. Now there are forty, the business having had a phenomenal increase in twelve years. He is a man of unusual executive ability, shrewdness, and foresight, and his wide experience has given him a diversified knowletlge of the dry-goods trade.

Mr. Cook was married in 1881 to Lizzie Rapp. daughter of William Rapp, of Brockton. She died in 1891, leaving three children - William Rapp, Lillian Winnifred, and Lizzie Rapp Cook. He contracted a second marriage with Miss Helene Constance Krauze, a lady of English birth. By his second union he has one child, Robert Alexander Cook. Mr. Cook is a member of Paul Revere Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; and Electric Lodge, No. 69, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an active worker in religious matters, to which he has given his time freely, both in Scotland and in this country. While in Dundee he was assistant superintendent of Free St. Paul's Sunday-school, and was musical director of the Young Men's Christian Association. In Glasgow he was superintendent of Free .St. Peter's Sunday-school; and in Brockton he was superintendent of the F'irst Congregational Sunday-school for about six years, and served for some time as Treasurer of the parish. He is also actively connected with the Young Men's Christian Association here, and was for some time President of the association. At the present time he is an Ehier in the First Presbyterian Church.

ANIEL WEBSTER, "the Defender of the Constitution," although a native of the Granite State, was during the greater part of his career as an advocate, orator, and statesman, a citizen of Massachusetts, and for a number of years a resident of Plymouth County. His ownership of a large landed estate at Green Harbor, his intelligent and progressive methods of agriculture, his lavish outlay for the improvement of his broad acres, his pride in his choice and well-fed stock, his hearty enjoyment of his rural surroundings, fairly entitled him to the distinction of being, far and away, the First P"armer of Marshfield, South Parish.

A brief presentment of him as such, set in a biographical outline, will be singularly in place in these pages. His authorized life in two volumes, by Mr. George T. Curtis; the judicial monograph by Mr. Lodge, in the "American Statesmen Series"; and the private life by Mr. Lanman - sources of information, to which the present writer gratefully acknowledges indebtedness - may be mentioned, together with the works, si.\ volumes, edited by Edward E\erett, as books to be commended to present and future generations as quickeners of American patriotism.

Daniel Webster was born January i8, 1782, in Salisbu7"y, N. H. He was the second son of Ebsnezer and Abigail (Eastman) Webster, and was in truth of good family, coming of honest, intelligent, liberty-loving stock. His father, who was Captain of a company in the Revolution, was a native of Kingston, N.H., and was a son of Ebenezer and Susanna (Bachelder) Webster. Concerning this ancestress, Mr. Webster once wrote: "I believe we are all indebted to my father's mother for a large portion of the little sense and character which belong to us. She was a woman of uncommon strength of understanding." Her son Ebenezer, of Salisbury, removed in 1783 to that part of the town which is now P'ranklin. A farmer in moderate circumstances, he held the rank of Colonel in the State militia, and served as a "side justice," or Judge, in the Court of Common Pleas.

Learning to read at his mother's knee, the Bible his first remembered book, walking the long way to and from the district school, attending Phillips Iilxeter Academy, and later studying under the tuition of the Rev. Samuel Wood, of Boscawen, N.H. - thus passed the boyhood of Daniel WebsLci Lill, at fifteen, he entered Dartmouth, where in due course he was graduated. Studying law in Salisbury and in Boston, earning money in the mean time by teaching, to help his brother Ezekiel to get a college education, he was admitted to the bar in 1805, and began to practise law at Boscawen. Two years later he remo\ed to Portsmouth, N.H., where he rapidly rose to prominence in his profession and in politics, in which he early took an active interest. He was first elected to Congress in the autumn of

1812, and took his seat in the House in the following May, his second term ending March 4, 18 17. He had changed liis residence to Boston in 18 16, and there he de\oted himself to his lucrative law practice until December, 1823, when he again became a member of Congress. He held his place by successive re-elections till he was chosen Senator in [827. From that time on, with but few and short interwils of retirement, he ser\'ed his country either in the Senate or in the Department of State, being, as one has said, "the first lawyer and the first statesman "' in the land.

I'^irst, perhaps, among Mr. Webster's memorable addresses should be named his " Reply to Hayne " in the Senate Chamber, January 26, 27, 1830, which has been pronounced "next to the Constitution the most correct and complete exposition of the true powers and functions of the Federal gox'crnnient " - a speech "replete with eloquence and power, clear in statement, grand in language, irresistible in argument." One of the grandest mementos in Faneuil Hall, Boston, is the painting by Healy, which rejiroduces the scene of that matchless eloquence. The lamented conciliatory - or so intended - address, which fell with fatal effect from his lips on tiie 7th of March, 1850, the reunited country may well afford to forget. There is no questioning the fact, and it cannot be too strongly emphasized, that "Mr. Webster was thoroughly national," with "no taint of sectionalism or narrow local prejudice about him." As a diplomatist he rendered eminent service, entitling him to honorable fame and lasting gratitude. Not to speak of his great forensic efforts and numerous forceful occasional speeches, his i^icentennial Discourse at Plymouth, the two l^unker Hill addresses, and the Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, are recognized triumphs of American oratory. To quote again from the pen of Mr. Lodge, "So long as the union of these States endures, or holds a place in history, will the name of Daniel Webster be honored and remembered, and his stately eloquence find an echo in the hearts of his countrymen."

Mr. Webster married in 1808 Miss Grace Fletcher, who became the mother of five children. Three of these lived to maturity, namely: Colonel Fletcher, who was killed at the second battle of Bull Run in August, 1862; Julia, Mrs. Samuel A. Appleton, who died in April, 1848; and Major Edward, who died in Mexico in January, 1848. Mrs. Appleton left four children - the eldest, a daughter, Caroline, who married in 1871, for her second husband, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, of Baltimore. Mrs. Grace P'letcher Webster died in January, 1828; and in December, 1829, Mr. Webster married Miss Caroline LeRoy, of New York.

In September, 1824, Mr. Webster first saw the place in Marshfield, where he subsequently made his home. In the elm-shaded. Colonial dwelling at Green Harbor, owned and occupied by Captain John Thomas, he and his wife passed several ha]5py days ; and here, for some years following, the Webster family were summer guests. Attracted by the picturesque beauty of the spot, the broad sea view and refreshing breezes, and quite as much possibly by the historic associations of the old Pilgrim haunt, Mr. Webster purchased the estate, embracing one hundred and sixty acres, in the fall of 1831, receiving the deed in April, 1832. Captain Thomas, with his wife, retained his residence, there till his death, in 1837. The homestead he had inherited from his father, Nathaniel Ray Thomas, the noted loyalist - the original, it is said, of Trumbull's poem "McP"ingal" - who died in Nova

Scotia. The greater part of his iMarshfield property was confiscated, John being the only one of his sons who remained a citizen of the United States. Nathaniel Ray Thomas was a lineal descendant of William Thomas, Esq., who came to Plymouth Colony about 1630, and settled at Green Harbor in 1645. His grave is the oldest in the ancient Winslow Burial Ground. (See "Marshfield Memorials," by Miss Thomas.) An ancestor of Nathaniel Ray Thomas on his mother's side was another early colonist known to fame - Simon Ray, of Block Island, who has left a numerous and distinguished posterity.

In addition to the Thomas property, to which he would allow no other name than Green Harbor, Mr. Webster bought the old Winslow place, "Careswell," and other lands, making in all about two thousand acres. His farming was on a grand scale, and was a source of perpetual delight. He is credited with having been the first in the town to use kelp as a fertilizer, setting an example of untold value to the neighboring farmers. His specialty was the raising of fine stock, particularly cattle, hogs, and sheep; also fancy poultry. He set out orchards, and the seeds of forest trees he planted with his own hand. In 1839, having sold his house in Boston, on Summer Street, he removed the furniture, books, and pictures therefrom to Green Harbor, henceforward to be distinctively the Webster home. He owned and carried on Elms harm in Franklin, N.H., a part of which he had inherited from his father.

His delight in the details of farming, and his close oversight, is shown in his familiar letters, abounding in such expressions as these: "The spring, though very cold, has been dry, and the weather, therefore, favorable to field labor. Porter Wright has planted tweh'e or fifteen acres of potatoes in one field.

Another piece of as many acres is receiving corn." The Indian's rule he notes as a good one; "namely, to plant corn when the new leaf of the white oak has got to be as big as a mouse's ear"; and he goes on: "The field where the beets and turnips were last year, twenty acres, is laid down in clover. The ploughed land inside the gate is to rejoice in a crop of millet, and lie put down to grass. Opposite, in the old orchard, two acres of pumpkins are to show the land we live in. I believe you were here last autumn when the hands were putting kelp on part of Fletcher's enclosure. Beets are to have the enjoyment of six acres of that, and a large kind of field peas, sowed in drills, the remainder. . . .

"The cattle have been well taken care of, and look well, the sheep especially. We have lambs, both South-Down and Cheviot, as fine as I have ever seen. . . . The progenitor of all the porkers, now eighteen years old, if not nineteen, still bristles up if you come near his habitation." A thousand bushels of corn, three thousand of turnips, and seven or eight hundred of beets, and barns full of hay are elsewhere mentioned as illustrative of a year's harvest.

His biographer, noting his practice of giving minute directions, even from Washington, of what was to be done on the farms, guiding the men "with the' exactness of an overseer and the experience of a day-laborer," thus comments on the fact that, "although he was, in one sense, a successful farmer, he was never an economical one. " " He never kept regular accounts, or had them kept, and probably there never was a year in which he could have told how much the expensive luxuries of farming had cost him out of his other resources, or what was the balance against either of his farms." His hospitality, it should be remembered, was a large factor in his expenditures.

At the State House in Boston in January, 1840, Mr. Webster gave a familiar talk on the scientific and systematic cultivation of the soil in England, as witnessed by him in his recent journey. A paragraph may here be quoted : -

"Agriculture feeds us, to a great extent it clothes us. Without it we could not have manufactures, and we should not have commerce. These all stand together, but they stand together like pillars in a cluster, the largest in the centre, and that largest is agriculture. Let us remember, too, that we live in a country of small farms and free-hold tenements, a country in which men cultivate with their own hands their own fee-simple acres, deriving not only their subsistence, but also their spirit of independence and manly freedom, from the ground they plough. They are at once its owners, its cultivators, its defenders. And whatever else may be undervalued or overlooked, let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. Man may be civilized in some degree without great progress in manufactures, and with little commerce with his distant neighbors; but without the cultivation of the earth he is, in all countries, a savage. Until he gives up the chase and fi.xes himself in some place, and seeks a living from the earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage begins, the arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization."

Daniel Webster died at his home in Marshfield, October 24, 1852. On the 29th was there conducted the simple funeral services, in accordance with his wish "to be buried without the least show or ostentation, but in a manner respectful to my neighbors, whose kindness has contributed so much to the happiness of me and mine, and for whose prosperity I offer prayers to God,"

/^TkORGE H. WATSON, M.D., of \ f5 I Bridgewater, Mass. , is an able and widely-known physician and surgeon, prominent in social as well as professional life. He is a native of Sedgwick, Me., where he was born August i, 1847, son of Samuel and Diana B. (Harding) Watson. His great-grandfather Watson, who was an Englishman by birth, had at the time of the Revolution resided on this side of the Atlantic long enough to become deeply attached to his adopted country; and when the colonies rebelled against the despotism of the greater power he took up arms in behalf of American independence. Captured by the royal troops he was for some time in durance, and died in captivity on one of the prison-ships in New York Harbor.

Samuel Watson, Dr. Watson's father, who was a native of the Pine Tree State, was a seafaring man, being commander of many a large ship engaged in the foreign trade; and he was also interested in ship-building at Sedgwick, Me., and was the owner of interests in many ships. His wife also was born in Maine. Two of their children entered professional -life; namely, George H., and his sister, Laura -S. Miss Laura S. Watson is the present principal of Abbot Academy for Young Ladies at Andover, Mass., one of the oldest and most renowned female seminaries, as such schools used to be called, in the United States. Miss Watson is gifted with rare intellectual and administrative qualities, and admirably fills her responsible position.

George H. Watson spent his boyhood in Sedgwick, obtaining his primary education in the schools of that town. He attended Hebron Academy at Hebron, Me., and the academy at North Bridgeton, Me., and in 1866 entered Amherst College, graduating in 1870. Pursuing his professional studies at

Albany (N.Y.) Medical School - the medical department of Union College - he received his degree in 1872, and subsequently took a post-graduate course at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, graduating therefrom in 1873. Thoroughly grounded in the best theories and nvethods of his profession, and further qualified and strengthened by the varied experience gained at Bellevue, he began to practise at Halifax, Mass., and was so successful that he remained in that town for a number of years. In 1882 he removed to Bridgewater, and here he has a large and lucrative practice, his visiting list including not only the townspeople, but also many in tlie out-lying district. Dr. Watson is a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society; also of the American Medical Association; and he belongs to Pioneer Lodge, No. 183, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bridgewater.

ELA B. HAYWARD, a respected citizen of Brockton, was born in Stoughton, Mass., April 22, 1821, son of Bela and Lavinia (Drake) Hayward. The family is an old one, and comes of English stock. Its first representative in America was Thomas, who settled in Duxbury, Mass., previous to 1663. His son. Deacon Joseph Hayward, married Alice Brett, and they became the parents of Thomas, who had a son Edmund. Edmund's son Waldo, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, married in 1781 Lucy, daughter of Samuel Bartlett, and was the father of seven children - Ira, Abby, Bela, Zina, Waldo, Ortho, and Lucinda. Bela Hayward, who was born in North Bridgewater, November 16, 1787, learned the trade of gunsmith, and drove a team for Leonard Hodges, of Stoughton. He was also engaged in the mill business with

Mr. Gay for a time. His wife, Lavinia, who was a lady of Stoughton, bore him eight children, of whom Bela is the only one living. The father died in 1832, at the age of fortyfive years.

Bela Hayward attended school in Stoughton until he was eleven years old, when he came to North Bridgewater, now Brockton, to complete his education at Deacon Heman Packard's School. At the age of fourteen he began pegging shoes for his uncle, with whom he lived, earning one hundred dollars in two years. He continued shoemaking, taking out work from various shops until 1870, being employed at one time by Peleg and Lucius Leach. In 1864 he enlisted in Company C, Sixtieth Massachusetts Regiment as a private. He was detailed as bugler, and performed guard duty, first at Baltimore, and then at Indianapolis, where the most of the time was spent. He was discharged in the following November.

In 1 843 Mr. Hayward was united in marriage with Olive Porter, daughter of Caleb Copeland, and has now three children - Olive Augusta, Elmer B. , and Edward B. Olive married Sylvester Churchill, and resides in this city; Elmer B. works in a shoe shop; Edward B. is also married, and a resident of Brockton. The father mo\ed to his present residence in 1854. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party, and he is a member of the P'irst Congregational Church. He belongs to the Fletcher Webster Post, No. 13, Grand Army of the Republic.

eighteen, although reared on a farm, he engaged in seafaring on coasting and fishingvessels. Seven years later he was given the command of a craft, and subsequently continued in his nautical calling until 1873. In 1874 he came to the iManomet Point Life Saving Station, at which he served as a surfman for a decade. He was then appointed Captain of the station, in which capacity he has efificiently served for eleven years. The life-saving crew numbers seven men besides the Captain. These are: George F. Bennison, George A. Manter, George W. Holmes, Aionzo C. Sampson, William L. Bartlett, Warrick H. Cleveland, and Charles Dickson. Among the many wrecked vessels to which Captain Sampson and his men rendered valiant service was the lumber schooner "Wellington," which went ashore in 1878 or 1879. The Captain has resided since 1864 on his present estate in Plymouth, which comprises thirty-five acres of land. On January 17, i860, he married Miss Malancia O. Pierce, who was born in Plymouth in 1838, daughter of Melzar and Polly Pierce. They have had seven children - Melzar B., Lydia A. P., Mattie O., Mary, Emerson F., Thomas M., and George E. The latter died in infancy. In politics Captain Sampson is found in the ranks of the Democratic party. His religious faith brings him into fellowship with the Congregationalist church of I'lymouth.

fOSIAH QUINCY PACKARD, an upto-date farmer of Brockton, was born here, January 6, i860, at the family residence on East Ashland Street, son of Nelson and Martha P. (Ames) Packard. He is a descendant in the direct line of Samuel Packard, who came from Windham, England, in 1638, in the ship "Diligent," and settled in Hingham, Mass. Samuel subsequently removed to West Bridgewater, where he kept a tavern, and officiated as Constable. He married and became the father of twelve children. Zaccheus, the fourth child, married Sarah, daugiiter of John Howard; became the father of nine children; and died on August 3, 1723. His youngest chiki, Abiel, born April 29, 1699, was married on January 11, 1723. to Sarah, daughter of John Ames. Abiel was a captain of militia, and the largest landholder in the North Parish, owning one thousand adjacent acres. He died in 1776, at the age of seventy-six. His wife, who survived him fourteen years, died in Bridgewater in 1790, at the age of eighty-three. They had ten children, of whom Josiah, the eldest, born on October 2, 1723, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Ames, January 12, 1747. Josiah and his wife also had ten chiUlren.

Josiah Packard, Jr., the fourth-born of his parents' children, was the great-grandfather of Josiah Ouincy. He was united in marriage with Rebecca Perkins on October 10, 1782. Captain Luke, born August 21, 1783, who was the eldest of their four children, married January i, 1807, Lucinda, daughter of Samuel Battles. He followed the occu]5ation of farmer, and was also engaged in cutting and carting timber for ship-building. His five children were: Marcus, Nelson, Eliza Dyer, Josiah, and Marietta. Marcus, born September 7, 1808, married Lucinda Bates; Nelson, born December 21, iSio, was the father of Josiah Ouincy, the subject of this sketch: Eliza Dyer, born August 20, 181 3, became Mrs. Charles Bates, of Boston ; Josiah, the fourth child, who was born on March 11, 1816. died unmarried; and Marietta, born December 3, 1 82 I, married Seth Sumner.

cation, engaged in farming. He also tooi< \vor]< from the shoe factories. In politics he was a straight Republican. By his marriage with Martha P., daughter of Theron Ames, of this city, he l^ecame tlie father of six children - Charles Nelson, Eliza Frances, Martha Jane, Luke Elliott, Helen Miriam, and Josiah O. Charles Nelson, born February 25, 1839, served as private in the Tenth Massachusetts Battery, and died in 1876, at the age of fortyseven; Eliza F'rances, born April 20, 1840, married Ansel C. Jenney, of Brockton ; Martha Jane, born October 8, 1845, married George Farwell, of Walthani, and resides here; Luke JCUiott, born June 4, 1854, and Helen M., born November 5, 1856, are also residents of Brockton. The father died in 1 888, at the age of seventy-eight, while the mother, who was born in 1819, is still living, being now seventy-seven years old.

Josiah Ouincy Packard, after completing his education in the Brockton High School, engaged in farming, which he still continues. He also runs a milk farm. In politics he follows in the political wake of his father, affiliating with the Republican party. He has been a member of the Common Council for three years, and is a member of Paul Revere Lodge, A. F". & A. M. His religious preferences have led him into communion with the Porter Congregational church. On Sejitember 3, 1894, he was united in marriage with F^lizabeth S. , daughter of Lucius Howard, of South Easton, Bristol County.

)N. SPENCER LEONARD, President of the Bridgewater Savings Hank, has long been identified with the progress of the town of Bridgewater, serving as Selectman foi' thirty-two years, presiding year after year as moderator of the town meetings, and filling other important positions. Bridgewater has been the home of his family for many generations. He was born here August 18, 1814; and his parents, Spencer, Sr. , and Mary (Wood) Leonard, were both natives of this town.

Solomon Leonard, an F^nglishman, was the first of this branch of the family in America, settling in Du.xbury, Mass., in 1687, and a few years later removing to Bridgewater. Mr. Spencer Leonard's great-grandfather, who was the fourth in descent from Solomon, fought in the Revolutionary War; and his grandfather, also Samuel Leonard, who was a iiati\'e of Bridgewater, served in the Continental army. Samuel Leonard was one of the first to strike for liberty, being a member of the sturdy band of minute men. His son, Spencer Leonard, Sr. , was a soldier in the War of 1812. A well-to-do farmer, he was one of the leading citizens of Bridgewater, and served as Selectman for a number of years. He reared a family of seven children, of whom Spencer is the sole survivor.

Spencer Leonard was reared on the farm in Bridgewater, and received a common -school education. F"or many years in the early jiart of his life he was engaged as a travelling drygoods salesman; and, on retiring from that line of business, he settled on the farm where he has since made his hon;e. He was successfully engaged for a number of years in the wood and lumber business, and when the Bridgewater Savings liank was incorporated he was made a Director. His probity in business and ability in financial affairs won the confidence of the community, and later he was made President of the bank. Mr. Leonard was one of the incorporators of the Plymouth County Co-operative Creamery Company, was its first president, and its superintendent for a number of years; and he has been identified

Mr. Leonard was married in 1840 to Miss Samantha T. Sturtevant, a lady of beautiful character, who, dying December 13, 1892, was sincerely mourned by her family and a large circle of friends. She was the mother of five children, namely: Mary L., wife of Marcellus G. Howard, residing in Florida; Abbie F. , wife of James \V. Leach, of Bridgewater, Mass.; Austin, in Rhode Island; and Cora C. and Spencer, with their father.

A Republican in politics, Mr. Leonard has served the public for more than half a century. In 1846 and 1847 he was a Representative in the State legislature; and dining the Civil War he was United States enrolling officer for the town of Bridgewater. He has held the office of Justice of the Peace for a number of years. After having been a member of the Board of Selectmen for thirty-two years, he was nominated for re-election, but declined to serve any longer ; and he presided so often as moderator of the town meetings that the moderator's chair seemed to belong to him. Always interested in the progress of his native town, with hand and voice he has aided every project for its improvement; and in the long years of his residence here he has fostered many changes for the better. He attends divine service at the New Jerusalem church.

^ANDALL WEBSTER COOK, dealer in general merchandise, grain, and coal, South Avenue, Whitman, Mass., is one of the best -known merchants in this vicinity, having been in trade himself for forty years, succeeding his father, who established this business some sixty years ago. Mr. Cook was born in Whitman, August 29,

1841, a son of Randall and .Sarah T. (Bates) Cook. He is of old Colonial stock, tracing his descent from P'rancis Cook, who was a member of the "Mayflower" band of Pilgrims.

Francis Cook was from the parish of Blyth, adjoining Austerfield, in Nottinghamshire, England, three miles from Scrooby, Yorkshire, the home of Bradford and Brewster. He was born in 1577. A convert to the Separatist doctrine, he joined the congregation, of which John Robinson and William Brewster were the leaders, and with the little company went to Holland. In that country he married Hester, a Walloon woman, who bore him seven children. These children were: John, who accompanied his father to America; Josias ; Jacob; Hester; Mary ; Jane ; and Elizabeth. Francis Cook, with the other Pilgrim Fathers, signed the compact drawn up on the "Mayflower" in Plymouth Harbor, November II, 1620, binding themselves in a "civil body politic " "for our better ordering and preservation; . . . and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we prqmise all due submission and obedience." Francis Cook was one of the strong men in the sturdy settlement, and from 1642 to 1648 was in office as a public servant. He died in 1663. His son John was a volunteer under Captain Prince, serving in 1637 in the Pequot War. He died November 23, 1675, the last of the company who came on the "Mayflower" in 1620. John Cook was married to Sarah Warren, March 28, 1634.

Randall Cook

married Damaris, daughter of Stephen Hopkins. Jacob Cook also was one of the volunteers who fought in the Pequot War in 1637. He died July 7, 1676. The line of descent from him continues through Francis, Robert, and Nathaniel, to Levi, a soldier of the Revolution, who was the paternal grandfather of Randall Webster Cook. Levi Cook was born in Kingston, Mass. He removed to Abington when a young man, and resided in that part of the town now called Whitman until his death. He was a blacksmith by trade. His wife was Sarah Poole, a native of Abington, Mass., and a member of one of the early families. Their son, Randall Cook, was born in Whitman, November 7, 1800. In 1837 he started in business as a grain and flour merchant, and in 1849 he opened a store for the sale of general merchandise, establishing the business which is now under his son's management. He died January 7, 1871. His wife, Sarah T. Bates, was a descendant of one of the old families of the town of Hingham, Mass. She was born in Plainfield, Mass., November 25, iSio, and died February 6, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Randall Cook had a family of seven children, si.\ of whom are living, namely: Sarah J., wife of John G. Taylor, in Abington ; F'idelia H., wife of John A. Allen, in Brockton, Mass. ; Harriet B., Randall Webster, Edward C, and Carrie L, wife of Leonard K. Wood, all in Whitman.

Randall Webster Cook has resided in Whitman since the day of his birth. His education was obtained in the common schools, and he went to work in the store at the age of fifteen. Gifted with a natural aptitude for trade, he gave his best energies to the business, which he has developed to large proportions; and he is now one of the leading merchants of the locality. He is one of the Directors of the First National Bank, a Trustee of the

Mr. Cook and Marcia .Soule, of Kingston, were married in 1870. They have four children - Sarah Wadsworth, Lucy Ethel, Randall Bradford, and I'^rancis Gray. Mrs. Marcia S. Cook, through her mother, is descended from Francis Cook, her husband's Pilgrim forefather; and, among her ancestors in direct line, she numbers also George Soule and William Bradford, of the "Mayflower" company.

In politics Mr. Cook favors the Democratic side. He has been Chairman of the Board of Registrars of Voters continuously for twelve years. A thirty-second degree Riason, he was one of the first in the establishment of the Mystic Shrine; and he is a prominent Knight Templar. His wife is a member of the L'uitarian church, and he is one of the Board of Trustees, taking an active interest in the support of the organization.

- N^ ^ F'"airlee, Vt., August 19, 1846, son of Henry H. and liunice (Emery) Clark. His great-grandfather, John Clark, who was a sea captain, came from England in 1782. His grandfather, William Clark, was a native of Bradford, Essex County, and served his country in the War of 1812. Grandfather Clark married a Miss Chase, who lived in that vicinity; and they had five children, three boys and two girls. The father died when about seventy years of age. Henry H., the second child of William, a native of Bradford, Vt. , born in 1813, was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He owned at one time one hundred and ten acres of land, subsec|uently buying a smaller and better farm. His wife, Eunice, a daughter of Noah limery, of Groton, Vt., had five children - I^lizabeth A., Nicholas A., James, Jennie, and George - all of whom are living. The father died May lo, 18S3, aged sixty-nine years, ten months, and six days. The mother lived to be fifty-seven. Nicholas A. Clark, after acquiring a common-school education in l^radford, was working on his father's farm when the Civil War broke out. On June 2, 1863, he enlisted in Battery L, First \'ermont Heavy Artiller}-. At Fort Slocum he was taken sick with the scarlet fever, and was carried to Fort Lincoln. Here he received his discharge April 13, 1864. After three years, during which he was ujiable to work, he assisted his father on the farm for some time. Then he went to East Corinth, Vt., and w^as employed on Mr. Ladd's farm there for three years, receiving for salary fifty dollars and board the first year, and one hundred and fifty for the ne.xt two years. Mr. Caleb Ladd, of Watertown, Mass., then hired him to work on his farm for twenty dollars a month. He continued there for a year, and sa\'ed two hundred dollars out of the two hundred and forty he earned. Mr. Clark then went to Boston, where a week after he met a Mr. Clifford, of Stoughton, with whom he agreed to learn the junk business for a consideration of fifty cents a day for a month, after which he was to receive two hundred and thirty-five dollars a year. In the second year he received an advance, and during the third year he earned one dollar a da)-. In 1873 he started a junk business in the same town for himself, and carried it on for six years. A copartnership was then formed with his former employer, K. R. Clifford, under the style of Clifford & Clark, which continued five years. Mr. Clark then came to Brockton, and started in the same business. He has been very prosperous since, and now owns a good deal of real estate here.

<Jn July 4, 1S73, he was united in marriage with a daughter of John Fames, of Warren, N.H. They had two children, both of whom are dead. In politics he is a member of the Republican ]iarty ; and he affiliates with Fletcher Webster Post, No. 13, Grand Army of the Republic. Both Mr. Clark and his wife attend the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Clark is a member.

HARLES A. TOWNSEND has been identified with the town of Rockland, Plymouth County, Mass., since 1862, and is now a member of the Board of Selectmen. He was born in North Abington, Mass., June 11, 1837, a son of Flzekiel and Lucinda (Adkins) Townsend.

P>zekiel Townsend, who was born in North Abington, was engaged for some time in the leading industry of this locality, shoemaking, and for years also he followed the pursuit of agriculture. He died at the age of eight)'- four. His wife, a native of the State of Maine, was called to rest in her seventy-third year. This couple reared three children : Edward E., now in Minnesota; Charles A. ; and Rachel A. (deceased).

Charles A. Townsend was reared on a farm, and received but a limited common-school education, as he went to work at the age of fourteen, being first employed in a shoe shop in his native town. In 1S57 he went West, and for five years he was employed in a general store in Lockjiort, 111. It has been said that our early environment makes us what we are; and, though this does not always hold good, it is true in a great many cases. Mr. Townsend's early environment seems to have shaped his life, for after five years' experience in trade he entered a shoe shop again. He was employed in a factory in Milford, Mass., for a

In 1865 he was united in marriage with Miss H. Ellen Shaw, of Rockland. Mr. Townsend is prominent among the Republicans of the town, and has filled a number of offices. He has been on the Board of Water Commissioners for the past si.\ years, and is alst) superintendent of fire alarm. Elected Selectman first in 1880, he served one year, and was re-elected in 1890; and from that time to the present he has been retained in office. He takes a lively interest in town affairs, and is always willing to give time and attention to projects for the improvement of the ])lace. As a member of society, he is prominent and popular. He belongs to Standish Lodge, No. j-j, Independent Order of Odd Eellows; Pilgrim Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Eellows; Hatherly Lodge, No. 699, Knights of Honor; John Cutler Lodge, A. E. & A. M. ; Pilgrim Chapter and Old Colony Commandery, Knights Templars, and Abington Council; also of the Masonic fraternity. While not a jjrofessing church member, he attends worship at the Unitarian church.

'AMUEL C. WHITE, one i;f the Board of .Selectmen of East Bridgewater, Mass., and a prominent citizen of the town, was born here January 31, 1841, a son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Brown) White. His father is still living, and a resident of East Bridgewater. He was born in Abington, Mass., over eighty years ago, son of Thomas, a descendant of an Abington pioneer of that name. The family is supposed to be of Scotch and English origin.

in the War of 1 812. In his earlier years Benjamin White was a shoemaker; but he subsequently engaged in fa'rming, and is now retired from active pursuits. P'our of the children born of his union with Rebecca Brown are living, namely: .Samuel C. ; Harriet J., the wife of Horace Worcester, of East Bridgewater; Mary, wife of Aklen Wilbur, of 15ridgewater ; and Frederick W. , living in East Bridgewater. P'ormerly a Whig, since the formation of the Republican party Benjamin White has been one of its most loyal adherents.

.Samuel C. White obtained his early education in the common schools of East Bridgewater. When about ten years of age, he began working at shoemaking, and continued to engage in that branch of industry up to April, 1894, when, owing to illness, he gave -up the employment, and has not since resumed it. He married Mrs. Mary E. Bonney White, daughter of Lucius Bonney, of East Bridgewater.