Worcester City (part 58 of 58)

Attorneys. - Among the first men who practiced law in Gardner were C. H. B. Snow, Esq. and C. W. Carter, Esq. Mr. Snow died many years ago, and Mr. Carter is still in the profession at Leominster. The present lawyers are Charles D. Burrage, Thatcher BDunn, Ephraim D. Howe, Edward P. Pierce and James A. Stiles.

Of the 7283 inhabitants in 1885, there were native males, 2650; females, 2630; foreign males, 1067; females, 891; mulatto males, 35; females 10. This population was distributed in 1673 families, who occupied 1148 dwellings.

The public property of the town of Gardner in the year 1888, as reported to the Tax Commissioner of the Commonwealth, Alanson W. Beard, was follows :

C. Webster Bush ; Selectmen, Charles Bancroft, Webster Cowee, G. N. Dyer; Assessors, R. P. Adams, Marcus Whitney, Thomas F. Carney; Overseers of the Poor, Charles Elton, Charles Whitney, Jos. D. Frinney ; Collector of Taxes, Edwin H. Cady ; School Committee, Dr. E. A. Sawyer, Mrs. Clara Howe, J. M. Moore.

Levi Heywood

Prominent among the business-men and inventors of this his native town stands the name of Levi Heywood, a sketch of whose ancestors' lives and inventive genius we here give. In connection with each of the varied industries which have made New England the work-shop of the country, there is in almost every case some single name, that of a pioneer, or especially successful manufacturer, which is at once suggested when the industry is named. In this relation to the chair manufivcture stands the name of Heywood. The various families of this name, widely disseminated through Middlesex and Worcester Counties, are all of them, it is believed, descended from John Heywood, who, prior to 1650, came from England and settled in Concord, Mass. His son, well and widely known as Deacon John Heywood, was a man of large influence both in civil and in ecclesiastical affairs. One of his sons, Phineas, born in Concord in 1707, removed in 1739 to Shrewsbury, Masg. He was selectman, a Representative in the Provincial Congres.s, a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1774-75, and a man of large influence in public affairs. His son Benjamin, born in 1746, was commissioned, in 1776, a captain and paymaster in the army, and served through the war. He was present at the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne. From 1802 to 1811 he was one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and for many years was one of the most eminent citizens of Worcester County. His older brother, Seth, born in Concord in 1738, was carried with his father's family to Shrewsbury, and in 1762 was married to Martha Temple, of that town. He soon after moved to Sterling, and served as lieutenant in the Army of the Revolution, purchasing a farm within the limits of what is now Gardner. He was living there at the time of the incorporation of the town in 1785, and, in connection with John Glazier, was one of the petitioners and chief promoters of that act, and was the first town clerk. His son Benjamin, born in Gardner in 1773, married Mary Whitney. He inherited his father's farm. He was for many years the town treasurer. His children were Levi, Benjamin F., Walter, William, Seth and Charles. He died in 1849, in his seventy-seventh year.

Levi Heywood was born in Gardner, December 10, 1800. His early advantages for education were only those of the common schools of that day, with the afklition of two terms at the academy in New Salem, Mass. He taught school for two terms, in 1820-21- 22. In the spring of the latter year he went to Rochester, N. Y., and was employed for about one year in slone-work by contract. Returning in 1823 to Gardner, he entered into partnership with his brother Benjamin, in the business of a country store. In 182G he commenced, in Gardner, the manufacture of wood-seated chairs. In 1831 he went to Boston, and opened a store for the sale of chairs, in wliich business he continued till 1S36.

He also, in connection with W. R. Games and his brother William, under the firm-name of Heywood & Carnes, started a mill for sawing veneers from mahogany, etc., in Charlestown. This mill was burned in 1835. He then returned to Gardner, and entered into partnership with his brother Walter, who with others had been for some years engaged in the manufacture of chairs on part of the premises now occupied by Heywood Bros. & Co. The veneer-mill in Charlestown was rebuilt, and Mr. Heywood retained his interest in it until 1849. The business of the new firm in Gardner was conducted with success, the manufacturebeingmainly by hand, the only machinery being the ordinary turning-lathes and circular-saws, which were operated by water-power, obtained from the pond now known as Crystal Lake.

In 1841 it occurred to Levi Heywood that machinery specially adapted to the various processes of manufacture might be introduced to advantage. His brother, of a more conservative disposition, hesitated to leave the well-worn paths in which they were achieving reasonable success. This difference of opinion led to a dissolution of the partnership, Levi purchasing his brother's interest. He at once gave his thoughts and labor to the devising and constructing of special machinery, as well as to the introduction of different kinds of wood-working machinery, which were already in use for other purposes, and were also adapted to his purpose. In the successful carryingout of this idea he inaugurated a new era in the chair manufacture, and herein manifested nnich enterprise, together with the fertility of resource, mechanical skill and inventiveness, and the purpose to introduce constantly new and valuable features, both in methods of manufacture and in style of product, which have always characterized him, and have been large elements of his success.

As an instance of his originality in the matter of mechanical devices, it may be said that as early as 1835 he conceived the idea of the band-saw, now universally adopted as one of the most valuable tools in wood-work. The idea was not original with him though, nor really novel, for as early as 1808 Wm. Newberry, of London, England, had conceived the same idea, and made a crude model of a band sawing machine, but did nothing more with it. So thoroughly were its advantages anticipated by Mr. Heywood, that he consulted with B. D. Whitney, of Winchendon, and with Charles Griffiths, of Boston, as to the feasibility of constructing a machine of this kind. Both of these gentlemen, experts in such matters, agreed that with the quality of saw-blades then made, or any known methods of uniting them, so as to make an endless band, the idea could not be successfully carried out. As is well known, M. Perin, of Paris, France, has since that time accomplished what Mr. Heywood so many years before conceived to be both desirable and feasible.

In 1844 he took into partnership General Moses Wood, then of Providence, R. I., and his brother Seth, the style of the firm being Heywood & Wood. This partnership continued till July 1, 1849. At that time General Wood retired from the firm, and Messrs. Calvin Heywood and Henry C. Hill were admitted, the style of the firm being changed to L. Heywood & Co. Mr. Heywood, in addition to his business relations as the head of the firm of Heywood Bros. e*c Co., in 1847 formed a partnership with Hon. W. B. Washburn, of Greenfield, Mass., in the manufacture of chairs and wooden-ware, at Erving, Mass., the style of the firm being Messrs. Washburn & Heywood. At this point it is proper to refer to the inventions of Mr. Heywood, which have been mostly to meet the demands of his own business, and have largely contributed to its success. Among them may be named one for wood chair-seat, one for tilting chair, three for machines for splitting, shaving and otherwise manipulating rattan, and four for machinery for bending wood. Of the merits of his woodbending process it may be proper to introduce the testimony of M. Fr. Thonet, of Vienna, Austria, the head of the largest chair manufacturing firm in the world, employing some five thousand operatives. After visiting the factories of Messrs. Heywood, he wrote : " I must tell you candidly that you have got the best machinery for bending wood that I ever saw, and I will say that I have seen and experimented a great deal in the bending of wood." The Heywood patents have been combined with those of John C. Morris, of Cincinnati, Ohio, on which the patents of Blanchard have, after protracted litigation, been decided to be infringements. The combined patents owned by the Morris & Heywood Wood-Bending Co. it is believed cover the really effective methods for bending wood.

Mr. Heywood represented the tow'n in the convention for revising the Constitution of the Slate in the year 1853, and in the lower branch of the Legislature in 1871. He was a director in the Gardner National Bank, and a trustee of the Gardner Savings Bank from the organization of those institutions ; an attendant of the Congregational Church in Gardner, and a liberal contributor to its support. He was largely interested in educational matters, and made liberal donations of land and otherwise to the town in this direction. He was respected in the highest degree for his personal integrity and excellence of character, and his example wag for good to the large number of his employ(;j, and to ihe community in which he was long regarded as the most influential citizen. He died July 21, 18S2.

Charles Heywood

The subject of this sketch, Mr. Charles Heywood, was the second son of Levi and Martha (Wright) Heywood, and was born during the temporary residence of his parents in Boston, on the 12th day of November, 1831. At an early age, having received a good elementary education in the public schools and at the Fitchburg Academy, he entered the office of E. D. Brigham & Co., commission merchants on Long Wharf, when he was subjected to a thorough training in mercantile affairs, which, in addition to liis native abilities and previous acquirements, admirably fitted him for his subsequent career in life. When nineteen years old he went into the countingroom of the rising establishment of which his father was the founder and head, and in which he himself was to become an important factor in later years. There he applied himself not only to the clerical duties pertaining to his position, but to the study and mastery of the details and practical workings of the great industry with which he was brought in contact, and of the means and agencies by which that industry could be carried forward to larger issues and a grander achievement than had as yet been attained or conceived of as possible for it. He thus became amply qualilied for membership in the firm of Heywood Bros. & Co., to which he was admitted a few years later, and for a responsible place in its multiform activities. For a while he had charge of the Boston department of the establishment, having his re-^idence at Winchester, a few miles out of the city. In 1866 he returned to Gardner, where he was brought into more immediate relation to the processes of manufacture and to the development and growth of the business, and when he assumed a more direct responsibility in the control of the company's affairs. In 1868 he wilhrew from the firm, but returned to it six years later and remained in its active service until compelled to desist by failing health, which resulted in his death June 24, 1882. By his removal from the scene of liis earthly labors, Gardner lost one of its first citizens, and one of the best representatives of its important interests and prosperous fortunes.

It is difficult to justly estimate such a man as Charley Heywood, to set in proper array his many estimable qualities, and to give him that complete and symmetrical portraiture which will reproduce him, as he was, to tlie reader's eye and mind. Only a few hints to this end will be attempted in this delineation. As a man of business, quick to grasp business problems and efficient in executing business demands, he was, by common consent, pre-eminent. Nature seemed to have made him, under the eye of a wise Providence, for business pursuits and achievements, endowing him with a keen, clear insight in that direction and a discriminating, practical judgment which, acting with such spontaneity and precision, was akin to genius, if not genius itself. An eminent citizen of a neighboring town, well qualified to judge in such matters, declared him to be " the ablest financier in the northern part of Worcester County."

But he was more than a business man by far - a man of affairs was he in a large sense, built altera generous pattern, to serve many u:?eg, and to answer numerous ends in life. He was a many-sided man. Of versatile gifts, of wide sympathies, of broad views, of comi)rehenaive purposes and aims, of a liberal spirit, he w.as restricted to one line of effort, to no narrow field of desire or endeavor. Nothing relating to the public good or to the prosperity and welfare of the coranumily was foreign to him or failed to enlist his interest and active support. His ability, his manly character, his disinterested spirit were recognized by his fellow-citizens, who were swift to acknowledge them and ready to honor them by suitable tokens of confidence and appreciative regard. At ditferent periods he held by election and appointment the responsible offices of selectman, School Committee and town treasurer. When in Winchester in 1861 he was chosen Representative to the General Court, and again in 1868 in the district of which Gardner formed a part, though he was a jirononnced Democrat, while the district was decidedly Republican - his wellknown ability, combined with his >ound judgment and fair-mindedness, securing for him the cordial support of many of his political opponents. As a Democrat, he was repeatedly nominated for Congressman and State Senator. At the organization of the Gardner Savings Bank in 1868 lie was elected president, and in 1872 was called to the presidency of the Fir.-t Nalional Bank upon the retirement of Amasa Bancroft, a position which he held till his decease. He took an active part in the long struggle to secure the construction of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad and contributed very largely of his personal effort and pecuniary means to that result, In recognition of his services the corporation made him, for many years, one of its vice-presidents and finally its president. An ardent admirer of the princij)les, ritual and objects of the Masonic order, he was greatly interested and chiefly instruuienlal in the founding of Hope Lodge in Gardner, of which he wai made first IMaster. Devoted to the mystic rites, he was held in high esteem by his associates, and rose by regular gradation to the thirty-second degree in the ascending series of honors conferred under the jurisdiction of the order.

Whatever he deemed a benefit to the community and town received his cordial encouragement and support. His name was identified tor twenty years with almost every public improvejnent that was made.

He was the prime mover in ihe project for establishing a system of water worlcs. He toolj part in tl)e preliminary proceedings relating to the founding of a Public Library. He furnished means wherewith to start a printing-ofTice and a local paper in the place. The lithotype business, which has risen to considerable import;ince and given the town a notoriety in circles which did not know of it before, was inaugurated mainly through his inilnence and by his help. Mr. Heywoodhad great interest in and sympathy for young men, and often aided such as manifested a laudable ambition to make a successful start in a business career and (ill an honorable place in life by his counsel and pecuniary means. He was liberal to benevolent and charitable movements and objects, and the deserving poor and unfortunate were often relieved and cheered by his unostentatious acts of kindne-s and good-will. He was a faithlul friend to the needy and suffering, and will long be held by such in grateful remembrance. A friend also to religion and to religious institutions, he contributed liberally to the activities connected with the First Congregational Church and Society, whose inHuence in the community he deemed most salutary and indispensable. Deeply interested in the erection of the church edifice which now graces the head of the Common, he was made chairman of the building committee, and to his inflnence and efforts its e.xistence was largely due. Not narrow and exclusive, but broad and tolerant in his religious views and sympathies, he respected those who honestly differed from him in opinion, and often, by his contributions, aided other churches than his own in their early struggles to get a foot-hold in the community in order to do some earnest Christian work for God and num. The high regard in which Mr. Heywood was held, not only by the people of his own town, but by the general community, as a businessman, a high-minded citizen and a public benefactor, was abundantly attested at his obsequies, when a vast multitude from all the region round, and from far-away places, gathered in the spacious church he had done s^o much to rear, to express by their presence the sense of los which filled their hearts, and to pay respectful and appropriate honors to his name and memory.

Seth Heywood

Seth Heywood was the youngest of the five sons of Benjamin and Mary (Whitney) Heywood who lived to grow up to maturity, all of whom were intimately connected with the chair-making industry in Gardner and elsewhere, and most of whom gained a creditable reputation for business enterprise and efficiency through their manufactured goods, distributed far and wide in this and other countries of the globe. He was born November 12, 1812, and spent the first twenty years of his life upon his fiither's farm, which then comprised a large portion of the territory now covered by the central village of the town. Having shared the educational advantages which the public schools offered him in his youth, he went to work, before attaining his majority, for his older brothers, then engaged in business under the style of B. FHeywood & Co., and with the enterprise long identified with the family name he has been connected to the present day - first as workman for several years, then as partner in the management from 1845 to 1882, and finally as confidential adviser and friend. He is the only surviving member of the original firm of Heywood Brothers & Co., reorganized and put upon permanent footing in 18(51. Less aggressive and venturesome than his brother Levi, with whom he was so long and so intimately associated, he yet has not only witnessed the growth of the gigantic establishment to which he has been attached from its very inception, but, in his more quiet, unobtrusive way, by his influence and counsel, as well as by his pecuniary means and more active eflbrts, has done his full share, no doubt, to promote its development and wonderful success. Fortunately, when he desired to lay aside the responsibilities pertaining to the management of the still growing business, he had sons trained under his own care to something of his own wi?e and prudent methods, whose ability and efficiency had been thoroughly tested, to whom he could resign the weighty interests he had helped to guard and conserve in the assurance that they would not sufi'er detriment by the change.

Extremely modest and unassuming, Mr. Heywood has not only shrunk from everything that might seem to partake of the spirit of self-seeking or desire for popular favor, but also from taking positions of public trust which he was in every way well qualified to fill, and to which his fellow-citizens would gladly have called him had he consented to yield to their wishes. He has, however, been induced to accept the office of treasurer of the town, a position which he held for several years, discharging its duties with scrupulous fidelity and care. He was sent to the General Court in 18G0, his political opponents confiding in his good judgment, integrity and interest in the public welfare, helping to secure to him whatever honors a seat in the lower branch of the Legislature might be able to confer upon him. He has been officially connected with the management of the National and Savings Banks of Gardner, as director and trustee respectively, from the time they were instituted to the present day, and to his financial ability and conservative spirit is due, in proportionate dfgree, their acknowdedged strength and their good standing in the financial world.

He is also a member of Hope Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and is in good repute as a brother of the mystic tie. Public-spirited and liberallyminded, kind and charitable, he is ready to do his part in all movements and enterprises in which the good of the people at large and the prosperity of the town are involved. He is a Trinitarian Congregationali.st by religious association, though of the more liberal type, and has always been a generous patron of the First Congregational Church and Society. As a man and a citizen he is above reproach and without guile. Of agreeable, though retiring manners, reti cent, but cheerful in disposition and countenance, eminently just in his dealings with all men, of incorruptible probity and honor unstained, no man in the community and town is more sincerely respected than he, and no one is deemed more worthy of trust.

Henry C. Hill

The subject of this sketch, Mr. Henry C. Hill, was the son of Bernard and Sarah More Hill, of Newport, E. I., where he was born November 8, 1821. Of his boyhood and early youth little has been learned. While yet but a lad he was employed in the paint shop of Levi Heywood & Co., at Boston, whence he was transferred in the year 1841, before attaining his majority, to the same department of the same firm in Gardner, where, by his fidelity and skill and manifest devotion to his employers' interests, he soon rose to ihe position of fnreman. Proving an efficient manager and displaying general business capacity, and, moreover, having shown himself to be a man of sterling principle and undoubted honor, he was deemed so i ssential a factor in the development and s.uccessful issue of the important industry with which he was connected, that in 1847 he was admitted as an active member of the firm, with which he remained through its several changes and under its varying names for twenty-one years, retiring with a satisfactory fortune in 1868. After severing bis old business relations he led a more quiet life, attending to, some less onerous but responsible public trusts which he had assumed, answering the calls that naturally came to him in a community whose interests and well-being he desired to foster and promote, enjoying the society of his friends and the hallowed intimacies of his own household until his death, which occurred on the 13th day of February, 1878.

Mr. Hill was a man of generous, noble nature, commending himself not only to his business associates and others with whom he met in a business way by his practical wisdom, financial ability, trustworthy judgment and downright honesty of purpose, but also to the general public by those more general qualities of character which go to make up a complete manhood, and which are calculated to secure the confidence and regard of all classes of people. As a consequence and proof of this, he was called to fill numerous positions of responsibility and trust, the duties of which he discharged with such fidelity and care, with such cheerfulness and courtesy, as to constantly gain to himself new friends or to rivet more closely friendships formed before. For two years he served the town on the Board of Selectmen, and was an influential adviser in regard to many matters of public interest and concern. Upon the retirement of Mr. Charles Heywood from the presidency of the Gardner Savings Bank, in 1876, Mr. Hill was chosen to fill the vacant place, in which he served with highly creditable faithfulness and sagacity until his failing health obliged him to desist. He was for some years director of the First National Bank of Gardner, and to his valuable and highly appreciated services to that institution his associates furnished ample testimony in the resolutions passed by them at the time of his death. Interested in the principles and ritual of the Masonic fraternity, he assisted in the founding of Hope Lodge as one of the charter members, and served as its second Master to the acceptance of his brothers of the craft. He was also a member of the Jerusalem Encampment of Knights Templar of Fitchbnrg, and of the Worcester County Commandery. Politically attached to the principles and policy of the Democratic party, he was repeatedly honored, under its auspices, with the candidacy for Congress in his Representative district and for both houses of the State Legislature.

Interested in public aflairs, he kept himself wellinformed upon what was going on about him to the last. The prosperity and welfare of his adopted town he had much at heart, and contributed liberally to what he deemed conducive thereto. He cultivated literary tastes, and collected in his own home a considerable library of well-selected standard woi'ks, which he found to be a great source of comfort and satisfaction when failing health obliged him to withdraw from more active life. His habits and inclinations were largely domestic. He took great delight in making his home cheerful, pleasant, attractive, happy, and sought his chief enjoyment in the bosom of his family. His kind, thoughtful, constant effort in this direction and behalf fill that home, now that he has left it, with tender, touching, sacred memories.

Mr. Hill was not formally connected with any church, but he held the Christian faith in sincere respect, and honored Christian institutions by his personal influence, encouragement and liberal pecuniary support. He was a regular attendant upon the public religious services of the First Parish of the town, and one of the last acts of his life was to give two thousand dollars to aid in the erection of its present beautiful and commodious house of worship. Unassuming in manner and in spirit, he abhorred shams and pretenses, and delighted in what is substantial and real, whether relating to articles of manufacture or to personal character, and sought to illustrate in himself the genuineness he professed to believe in and admire.

Philander Derby

The second largest chair manufacturing establishment in the town of Gardner is that of which Mr. Philander Derby is the acknowledged head, and to which he, above all others, has imparted life, energy and indeed all the essential elements of its phenomenal success. The career of this man is in many respects a remarkable one, full of interest, full of instruction, full of encouragement to all humble, honest workers in any and every field of human effort and achievement. Its more salient and suggestive features are herein brought to the reader's notice.

Philander Derby was born in the town of Somerset, Windham Co., Vt., June 18, 1816. He was the son of Levi and Sally (Stratton) Derby, of the same place, graudson.of Nathan and of Abigail (Pierce) Derby, of Westminster, and great-grandson of Andrew Derby, one of the early settlers of the last-named town, and for many years clerk of the proprietors, previous to its incorporation. He worked upon the home farm till he was twenty-one years of age, when he left the familiar fields and hills behind him and went forth to seek his fortune. Coming to Massachusetts to visit relatives and friends, and to find, if 2)ossible, some favorable opening for himself, he after a little time made an engagement with Phelps & Spoffbrd, of Sutton, to work in and about their factory, doing such incidental and odd jobs as might be a-signed to him in tte interest of his employers. There he remained two years and then went back to his old home and made an arrangement with his father to take the farm, with a view of settling upon it and devoting himself thereafter to the primitive calling of tijling the soil.. At the e.xpiration of three years, however, he changed his plans, gave up the place and again turned his steps to Massachusetts. He went to Terapleton, entered the chair-shop of Mr. Windsor White, in whose employ he continued two years. Having mastered the trade of making chairs, as he thought, and feeling himself competent to carry on business for himself, he removed to Jamaica, Vt., not far from his native town, and there, in the midst of a lumber region, where material could be easily obt.'iined, he began manufacturing on his own account. Not succeeding to his satisfaction, he sold out his investment and the third time took his way to the old Bay State. Coming to Gardner - the place of all others for the chair business - he made an engagement with Ruge, Collester & Co. as a workman, at the termination of which he was employed by S. K. Pierce, with whom he afterward entered into partnership, which continued but a short time. At its dissolution, Mr. Derby, thrown out of a place, tried two or three kinds of business, but, finding nothing that suited him, seized upon the opportunity offered him to purchase a halfinterest in the chair manufactory owned and managed by Abner White, located at the site now occupied by A. & H. C. Knowlton & Co. Not long afterwaid he bought out his parlner and continued the business by himself for several years, covering the period of great financial depression in 1857 and reaching to the time of the breaking out of the war iu 1861, when the whole land was filled with uncertainty and alarm and all business interests and enterprises were seriously disturbed and imperiled. It was a time of trial to Mr. Derby, just fairly started in the chair manufacture, with the burden of heavy responsibilities resting upon him. But he nerved himself to meet the crisis iu a manly way. By various expedients requiring hard work, sagacity and a resolute will, he succeeded in going through the ordeal without serious harm, meeting his obligations as they matured, saving his business, maintaining his credit and his honor unimpeached and firmly established before the world. Taking a fresh start, he has gone on from that time to the present in a career of exceptional prosperity, as detailed in one of the chapters preceding these sketches.

The success of Mr. Derby is due chiefly to himself rather than to any fortuitous circumstances or outside aid - to his untiring industry, his determined purpose, his unfaltering perseverance, which no discouragements could check, no obstacles deter and no dark forebodings overcome. These native endowments, acting along the lines and according to the conditions of business prosperity, have given him the victory .crowned, him , wiih well-earned and durable honors. It is, however, a matter of simple jusiice to note the fact that he has had in his wife a valuable helper throughout his business caret r. Her faith and courage have reinforced and fortified his energies in some crf''ihis more trying experiences, while in the practical management of his afJaiis her cool judgment and clear-seeing sagacity have often rendered him essential service.

Mr. Derby, though closely confined to the building up and developing bis business interests, has not been disposed to ignore his relations to the general public nor to be indifferent to matters pertaining to the welfare of the community. He has been ready and happy to do his full share in supporting the institutions of society, to contribute to benevolent and charitable objects and to help in any enterprise which he deemed promotive of the good order, real prosperity and enduring welfare of the community. Declining all invitations to public office, he has yet consented to serve for some years as director of the National Bank and as trustee of the Savings Bank in his own town. A man of principle and honor, he shares the confidence and regard of his fellow-citizens ; a friend of temperance, he commends the cause by both precept and and example. A Republican in politics, he is true to his convictions, but holds no one in disesteem for honestly differing from him in relation to matters of public policy. An Orthodox Congregationalist in religion, he is tolerant of all faiths and seeks to honor his Christian profession by a Christian life.

Sylvester K. Pierce

name stands at the head of this biographical sketch. Mr. Pierce was the son of Jonas and Achsah (Hayncs) Pierce, of We.stiiiinster, where he was born April 11, 1820. He was a descendant in the seventli generation of Anthonj' Pierce, who came to lliis conntry from England about the year 1G30, settled in Watertown, Mass., and was made a freeman there September 3, 1034, becoming the common ancestor of a large posterity, whose representatives are scattered all over the United States. When Sylvester K. Pierce was but three years of age his father died, leaving him and several other children to the care and training of a mother who, with limited resources, struggled hard to provide for her dependent ones the means of subsistence, and to fit them for the duties and responsibilities of maturer liie. At tlie age of eleven he was sent to reside with a sister, who had married a farmer of his native town, where it was thought he could be better cared for than at home, and where he remained three years, going thence to spend another year with another sister similarly situated in Ashburnham. At the expiration of that period, when fifteen years old, he came to Gardner and engaged in the service of Elijah Putnam as apprentice to the trade of chairmaking, under an arrangement by the terms of which he was to remain two years, and receive, besides his trade, board and schooling, the sum of $120 in money. After this he was for five years employed as journeyman in Ashby and Ashburnham, when he returned to Gardner and entered upon that career of business and financial prosperity which is sufficiently indicated in its appropriate place in the preceding historical sketch of the town of his adoption. That active and successful career was brought to a sudden termination by his decease January 28, 1888. A man of large frame and of robust constitution, he had enjoyed general good health until, having contracted a violent cold which in its early stages took the form of typhoid pneumonia, he came to his death five days afterward. Like many another successful manufacturer and prominent citizen of Gardner, Mr. Pierce was a good example of a self-made man. Starting out in life from humljle conditions, deprived of a father's protection and guidance when but a child, put to manual labor at an early age, compelled by necessity to forego many of the comforts and delights so acceptable to youth and so desirable at all times, and to endure many privations and hardships, dispossessed of advantages and opportunities so helpful to the development of a self-reliant and well-balanced character, he yet, by his own energy, ambition, industry, sleepless vigilance and unfaltering perseverance in the pursuit of business ends according to business principles and methods, built up from inconsiderable beginnings one of the largest and most substantial manufacturing enterprises of the town in which he lived, and became one of the most active, prominent and influential, as he was one of the most wealthy, of its citizens. 'For a generation he was the leading man in the industrial interests of the community where he resided, and the renewed life and increasing prosperity of the villiige of South Gardner during these later years are largely due to his ellorts and inlliience. The enlargement of his business as the years have gone by called in workmen with their families from abroad, conducing to the material growth of that part of the town, as well as to its social, educational and religious advancement and importance. The immense establishment with wdiich his name is especially identified is the most prominent feature of the neighborhood, while his residence opposite, with its imposing front of fine architectural design and stately proportions generally, arrests the attention of every passer-by. A furniture and carpet store erected by him, and put in operation in 1869, has attracted patronage from a wide circle of surrounding country, and his farming operations, carried on as a sort of pastime or recreation supplementary to the more onerous duties of his regular business, have won the recognilion of connoisseurs in that department of human activity.

Politically Mr. Pierce belonged to the Republican party, but, while loyal to its principles and devoted to its interests, never aspired to leadership in its councils or to any office at its disposal. He hasi however, been called to, and has filled acceptably, important positions in financial enterprises both in his own and other towns, his business sagacity and integrity securing to him the confidence of those having important trusts in charge. He was for many years a director of the Wachusett Bank, Fitchburg, and of the First National Bank, Gardner; also a trustee of the Gardner Savings Bank, and of the People's Savings Bank, Worcester. To him have been assigned, from time to time, important interests in the mnnagenient of town aflairs. He was a member of the First Congregational Church and Society in the town, serving for many years on the board of management connected therewith, and taking an active interest in all matters pertaining to church activity and usefulness. A kind husband, an affectionate and devoted father, an enterprising and honored citizen, his sudden removal from the midst of his earthly labors, while " his eye was not yet dim nor his manly force abated," was a loss to his family and to the community widely felt and deeply lamented.

Edward J. Sawyer, M.D.

Edward Julius Sawyer, son of Rev. Pember and Laura Sawyer, was born in West Haven, Rutland County, Vt., August 3, 1829, and died at Gardner, Mass., May 10, 1883. He received his early education at New London, N. H., and Chester Academy, Vt., where were laid the foundations of that broader and more thorough culture which characterized his maturer life.

lectures at the Medical College in Castleton, in the S-irae Slate, from whicli iustiuition lie grailiiatcd with the honors of a degree in June, 1853. He soon alt, r began the prai.-tice of his profession at Acworlh, N. H.; hut, at the expiration of five years, desiring a larger field and better opportunities, he removed to Gardner, Mass., where he found an opening and a sphere of activity more congenial to his tastes and belter suited to his ability and power of useiulness. Entering into his work here with earnestness and zeal, he soon gained the confidence of the community and secured a good practice, which grew year by year till his decease.

Dr. Sawyer was well qualified for the duties of his profession and fully equipped for every department of service in it. Thorough in his diagnc sis and skillful in his treatment of disease, of deliberate judgment and high character, he was often called upon to act as professional consultant in difficult cases, where he proved himself as acceptable and trustworthy as he did in the more regular duties of a family physician.

In the sick-room he was cheerful, sympathetic and encouraging, his presence and personal influence contributing to the benefit of his patients as well as his prescriptions. There was to him a sacredness in his work which called into exercise all his best powers, and to those committed to his professional care he gave unwearied and conscientious attention.

But Dr. Sawyer commended himself to the confidence and esteem of the general public not only by his professional ability and success, but by his manly qualities, his courteous manners and consistent Christian life. He was a pleasant companion, a faithful friend, a public-spirited, honorable and honored citizen. Well read in the current literature of the times, familiar with passing events, of broad sympathies and generous culture, and withal a ready, entertaining speaker, he was often called upon to address public gatherings ou important occasions, which he was able to do with ease and eloquence and to the edification and delight of his hearers.

Dr. Sawyer was one of the founders of the Worcester North District Medical Society, and for two years its president. He was also a member of the Mjissachusetts Medical Society and of the American Medical Congress. During the war he was appointed examining physician by Governor Andrew, a position which he filled with credit to himself and acceptably to all.

Politically he was a Democrat of the "old school," and as such received the nomination of his party as a candidate for important offices in both the State and National Legislatures. But he was not guilty of "offensive partisanship," and so commanded the respe:t of his political opponents and received a commission of justice of the peace at three different times from a Republican Governor.

high regard by his brethren, and was honored with repeated tokens of their confidence and favor. He was a charter member of II(ii)e Lodge, and ibr many years occupied in it the high and responsible position of Master. He received all the usual degrees of the order attainable in this country, and was well versed in its ritual and mysteries. In recognition of his ability and worth as "a just and upright Mason," he was appointed Deputy Grand Master for the Masonic district in which he resided.

In religion Dr. Sawyer was an Orthodox Congregationalist of the modern type, and a member of the First Church of Gardner ; one who proved the sincerity and intelligence of his Christian profession by the purity and uprightness of his character and life. He served the God he believed in and adored by serving well his fellow-men.

As an indication of the high place which Dr. Sawyer had gained in the esteem of those most intimately associated with him, the testimonials given below are respectfully submitted. The first is from the record of the actiiin taken by his Masonic associates with regard to his death, and the second from remarks made by Dr. J. P. Lynde, of Athol, President of the Worcester North Medical Society, in view of the same event, which were adopted as expressing the sentiments of the members, and ordered to be placed upon the records of their association, as a fitting tribute to his memory :

WiiERFAS, The intimate relntiuns so long held by the deceased with the nieiiiliers uf Hope Lud^c as their Blaster and otherwise render it proper and desirable that they should recurd their appreciation of Ilia many virtues and eminent services for the good of Masonry, whether as Utaster of Hope Lodge, or as District Deputy Grand Master, or in humbler positions, &c. ; therefore,

Ecsoh-ed, That we extend to the family of the deceased our heartfelt sympathy in this their great affliction, and jissure tlieni that his memory will ever be treasured by us as an incentive to noble and right endeavor.

Reaohed, That with profound sorrow and regret we mourn the loss of our brother, consoled ouly by the trust and confidence that what is our loss is his gain. John D. Edueli., Secretary.

As jv physician he was pnidont, intelligent, sUillful and successful. In his intercourse with his patrons ho was kind, courteous, urbane, selfdenying, and was held by thcni in high esteem, and had to a great degree their confidence and love. ... As a citizen and as a man among men, he was respected by his neighbors and all who shared his society. . . . lie had reached the meridian of life and was rapidly growing in usefulness and iulluence. . . . We shall remember his manly form, his dignified presence, his cheerful greetings, liis work and worth among us for twenty-five years past, and we will cherish his memory with alfectionato respect, and sympathize with his family in ttieir bereavement. Charles II. ItlCE, Secretary.

Calvin S. Greenwood was born in Gardner, May 18, 1810, and died there August 25, 1873, having scarcely passed the summit of an active, useful, honorable life. He was the son of Alvin and Mary (Childs) Greenwood, and the grandson of Jonathan Greenwood, one of the early settlers of the town, whose grcat-grandl'atlier was Thonuis Greenwood, a resident of Newton, Mass., in 1667, and probably the first of the name in this country. He shared the meagre educational advantages proffered him in his boyhood and youth, and early in life learned the trade which was then just beginning to present some signs of its future prominence in the community, and of which he was destined to become, in after-years, an efficient promoter and a worthy representative. In 1837 he went into company with Mr. David Wright, and, the two having purchased the privilege now occupied by his sons with its appurtenances, and made the requisite changes and improvements, began the manufacture of chairs under the name of Greenwood & Wright - a firm long and favorably known in the vicinity and among business men. Mr. Greenwood was connected with the industry carried on at this stand, either as co-partner with others or as sole proprietor and manager, until his deatli, a period of thirty-six years, evincing more than usual native business capacity, which was improved by experience, and which crowned his efforts and endeavors with a well-darned and reputable success.

Mr. Greenwood was an earnest, enterprising man, doing with his might what his bands ibundto do, and entering into whatever project secured his confidence and co-operation with unfaltering purpose and persevering zeal. He accomjilished much in the way of advancing the material interests and industrial prosperity of the village of South Gardner, not only by developing and extending the special enterprise with which his name was identified, but by encouraging undertakings outside of his own particular field of activity even to the extent of furnishing at times personal credit and financial support, when those undertakings were entered upon with an honest purpose and were calculated to enhance the common welfare. Indeed, whatever seemed to him conducive to the real prosperity and happines.s of the community, was sure to receive sympathy from him and such substantial aid as he could render it.

But he was not only public-spirited in the general sense indicated, he was in every way large-minded and large-hearted, of generous impulses and disinterested aims, desirous of making the world better and happier by his being in it. He had something of an "enthusiasm for humanity" dwelling and burning in his breast, causing him to be actively interested in moral and social reforms, in philanthropic movements, in charitable objects, - in everything that had in its keeping the permanent good of his fellow-men, which he deemed consonant with the honor and glory of God. He was a decided, outspoken anti-slavery man in the early days of that cause, when to be such was to subject one oftentimes to obloquy, scorn and open denunciation - a brave sjldier he was in the " irrepressible conflict " which was raging ibr twenty years or more before the strife at arms, summoning to service the horrid enginery of war, was inaugurated in the land; and which, while it no doubt hastened the ciisis, also determined its final issue in the victory of Freedom and the Republic over their misguided and murderous foes. And when the outbreak came and treason struck at the nation's life in order that the slave-power might reign perpetual in the nation's councils, he, grasping the meaning of the fight and the mighty interests at stake, took an active and influential part in rousing the patriotic ardor of his fellow-citizens, and in securing that action of the town which proved its loyalty in the time of the country's need, and contributed in due degree to the triumph of the riglit, wherein was included the proclamation of " liberty through all the land to all the inhabitants thereof." Mr. Greenwood was, moreover, a strong and tireless friend of temperance, adopting, as of vital importance in advancing the interests of that cause, the principles of total abstinence demonstrating, the sincerity of his faith by his personal habits in his daily life. Other reforms received the smiles of his approving favor and every good word and work found in him an advocate and helper. To him came the blessing pronounced upon those that consider the poor, and he distributed his benefactions liberally, but quietly, among such according to his means.

He received undoubted assurances of the confidence and appreciative regard of his fellow-townsmen, in that he was repeatedly called to the service of the public in positions requiring sound judgment, impartial justice, unimpeachable integrity and an unselfish regard for the good of the community. He tilled acceptably positions of grave responsibility in the adminstration of town affiiirs and in the financial institutions of which he was an associate member. He also represented the town in the Massachusetts Legislature of 1869. He possessed qualities of mind and character, which, supplemented by a kind spirit, an enthusiastic manner and a pleasing address, gave him wide and salutary influence wherever he was known.

An ardent Republican in his political convictions and associations, he was truly democratic in feeling and according to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Of reverent and devout spirit and of Christian principles and faith, he entered the fellowship of the Evangelical Congregational Church of Gardner, and was earnestly devoted to its interests and prosperity. But he was not dogmatic nor sectarian, but gave a broad interpretation to the teaching of the Gospel, and was happy to recognize and confess the presence and power of the Spirit of God wherever the fruits of that Spirit were found. He was unusually domestic in his habits and tastes, delighting in his home, affectionate and happy in all his relations with those near to him there, to whom he was most dear, and by whom he is held in tender and sacred remembrance. Moreover, he was one of the most genial, approachable and affable of men, always courteous and kind, and withal of cheerful, sunny countenance, making him an agreeable companion as well as a choice friend. To him, as to few

Amasa. Bancroft

The subject of this notice, whose name appears above, was the son of Smyrna and Sarah (Whitney) Bancroft, and grandson of Jonathan and Sarah (Case) Bancroft, who were among the earliest settlers upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Gardner. He was a descendant of Lieut. Thomas Bancroft, who was born in England in 1622, and, coming to New England in his opening manhood, settled in Lynn for a short time, but before the year 1648 was permanently located at Reading, Mass., where he became the common ancestor of a large posterity bearing his own and other names, among whom are those who have attained distinction and high honor, not only in this but in foreign lands.

Amasa Bancroft was born March 16, 1812, on the place situated three-fourths of a mile northwest of the Common, first occupied and improved by his grandfather some years before the incorporation of the town. His boyhood and youth were spent in the manner that was usual with farmers' sons in this section of the country half a century or more ago. In the routine of his daily tasks, and under the responsibilities laid upon him, there were developed in him those habits of industry, prudence and general thriftiness, and that self-reliant spirit, so essential to a strong and reliable character, which, in after-years, served him so well in the various positions and relations in life he was called upon to fill. Arriving at mature age, he did not go out to seek his fortune in larger communities, where there was greater promise of promotion and worldly success, but remained in his native town, content to enter upon whatever career of usefulness might open to him there. The business of chair-m.iking was at that time just becoming established in the community, and beginning to display some indications of what it was destined to be in the future, and he spent three years in learning the trade. This accomplished, he formed a partnership with Frederick Parker, and the two carried on the manufacture for a year in a small shop standing near the present residence of Mr. Henry Lawrence. They then associated with themselves Messrs. Jared Taylor and Joel Baker, forming a company which bore the name of Taylor, Bancroft & Co., and bought the so-called " Pail Factory " property, in the south part of the town, of Sawin & Damon, who had started the making of pails, buckets and kindred wooden-ware by machinery not long before, fur the purpose of continuing the production of the same line of goods. This they did fur four years, or till 1840, when Mr. Bancroft purchased his partners' interest, and went on from that time, as represented heretofore, till his death, which occurred January 25, 1888, when lie is said to have been the oldest pail and tub manufacturer in the United States.

Mr. Bancroft was a man in whom the town of Gardner might take a just and laudable pride. Born within its borders, trained in one of its homes, educated in its schools and churches, aiding in the development of its industrial prosperity, and extending sympathy and support to whatever might promote its intellectual, social, moral and religious interests, he merited, as he received, the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and of all classes of the community. He was repeatedly called to fill places of responsibility and trust, and discharged the duti&s of those positions with conscientious fidelity, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. He was a member of the Board of Selectmen for five years; he was the first president of the First National Bank, an office which he held for seven years ; and he was trustee of the Savings Bank from its establishment in 1865 to the lime of his death.

Endowed by nature with a good mental and moral constitution, Mr. Bancroft made it the foundation of an upright, useful, exemplary life. Among other native gifts, he was the possessor of an unusually mu.sical voice, combined with a quick ear and delicate taste for the concord of sweet sounds. These capabilities, improved by such culture as he could command, made him a favorite in musical circles wherever he was known. With pleasing address, and power of imparting whatever musical knowledge he had acquired, he was for many years an acceptable and efficient teacher of singing-schools in the neighborhood round about, and a respected leader of the choir of the church to which he belonged for forty years. His singing was with power and effect. His early pastor in characterizing it said, " He sang from his own heart into other hearts."

A man of cheerful disposition, humane feelings, tender sympathies and generous impulses, every good work found in Mr. Bancroft a helper, and every phil.anthropic cause a' friend. He was considerate of the men in his employ, of the unfortunate and worthy poor, and his benefactions to such were many, but scrupulously kept from the public eye. He shrank from whatever might seem like notoriety or love of display, and many of his donations to objects he held most dear were not only unknown to the world, but to those nearest to him in life.

In his home he was genial, affectionate, kind and helpful, making life there sunny and glad by his presence. His immediate relatives were very dear to him, and upon them he lavished the wealth of his tender, manly heart. He dispensed a liberal hospitality, and his friends were always met at his door with a warm and earnest welcome.

Mr. Bancroft was a man of strong religious convictions and of deep religious feeling. A Congregationalist of the Evangelical school, he was sincerely devoted to his church, and to the doctrines for which it stood. But with him religion was not simply a form of belief, but also a mode of life. He accepted the Christian faith as the basis and inspiring source of a Christian character, and liis daily walk and conversation before God and men testified to the sincerity of his convictions, to the purity of his motives, and to the exalted quality of his purposes and aims. When he passed away the church lost a conscientious and faithful devotee, his native town a worthy son and citizen, and the world a high-minded, honorable man.

George S. Colbtjen

The student of local history who has carefully followed the pages of these volumes has not failed to be impressed with the record of mechanical devices produced and perfected by the men of Worcester County. To their inventive genius is due the thanks of all our citizens, for they primarily, have produced the whirling wheels of the mill and factory to sing of comfortable homes and good table for the operatives there employed.

The manufacture of chairs, which forms by far the largest part of our industry, has materially changed during the past quarter of a century, and prominent among the names of the men who have by their brain invented and developed machinery for this particular branch of our industry is that of George S. Colburn> the subject of this sketch, who was born in Leominster, May 5, 1820. His father, Simeon Colburn, died when the boy was but three months old, leaving his widow in straitened circumstances, and as soon as the boy was sufficiently large to " do chores " he was bent to live with an uncle in Cambridge, where he remained working for his board two years. Then he went to live with Deacon Joseph Dickenson in Swansea, N. H., with whom he remained until his seventeenth year, working early and late on the rocky farm nine months in the year, attending the district school the other three, and acquiring the branches then taught therein.

A taste for mechanics developed itself early in Mr. Colburn's life, and in boyhood he was wont to arrange and adjust small mechanical devices. At the age of seventeen he apprenticed himself with Mr. James Clark, of Boyalston. to learn the shoe-maker's trade, remaining four years, receiving his board and $2.00 for his labor, out of which he had to clothe himself. At the age of twenty-four he went to work in a furniture shop. Here he was impressed with the lack of machinery for the treament of cane, and began to study and experiment upon machinery for doing this work. He was so successful that he gave his whole attention to the manufacture of this class of machinery and to the manipulation of cane.

In 1857 he went to Wakefield to assist Mr. Cyrus Wakefield in the development of the " Wakefield Rattan Co.," one of the most important industries of that whole section. Here he remained until, his health breaking down, he was obliged to go out of doors and so purchased a small farm, .^fter about a year he recovered, and in 1875 came to Gardner to assist Messrs. Heywood & Co. in the development of that part of their extensive plant relating to the treatment of cane. He remained with them several years, and haviog acquired a competency, he retired from active business, and with his wife, who was Mi.ss Frances R. Sawyer, of Royalston, and whom he married in 1843, he occupies a charming home in the west village , conscious of having performed life's allotted tasks uncomplainingly and faithfully.

Simeon W. A. Stevens, the oldest merchant in Garduer and the postmaster in the South Village for thirty-five years, was the son of Abel and Sally (Spaulding) Stevens of Westford, Mass., where he was born July 27, 1818, and where he lived until he was about eleven years of age. At that time, his father having died, he came to Gardner and worked as office and errand boy for his brother, Abel Stevens, who was then running the South Gardner Hotel. At the expiration of two years he returned to Westford, his mother still residing there, remaining nearly the same length of time employed in helping one of the townspeople about his farm and in supplementing his previous district school education by a few terms' tuition at the widely-known Westford Acadeniy. He then, being fifteen years old, came again to Gardner, went into the chair-shop, learned the trade of making chairs and worked as a journeyman till he was twentyone. His health having become somewhat impaired by continuous in-door employment, he left the shop and engaged in driving team for Mr. Stephen Taylor, by whom he had previously been employed at his trade. He continued in this service two years, going tKen to Leominster and running a team on his own account from that place to Boston. This continued till the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad four years later put an end to that method of transportation. Returning once more to Gardner, he carried on the same business for several years, having David Kendall for a partner a portion of the time, and serving the general public even after the railroad was built through the place, by carting goods to and from the depots at both ends of the line.

On the 1st of January, 1850, Mr. Lewis H. Bradford, who had for some years been engaged in the miscellaneous merchandise traffic in South Gardner, being about to remove to Fitchburg, formed a partnership with Mr. Stevens and William Hogan, to whom he committed the care of the store previously occupied by him. A few years later, Stevens and Hogan bought Mr. Bradford's interest and went on in their own behalf. When the South Gardner Manufacturing Company was formed, they merged their special business in the general undertaking, which aimed to ab- the Christian faith as the basis and inspiring source of a Christian character, and his daily walli and conversation before God and men testified to the sincerity of his convictions, to the purity of his motives, and to the exalted quality of his purposes and aims. When he passed away the church lost a conscientious and faithful devotee, his native town a worthy son and citizen, and the world a high-minded, honorable man.

George S. Colbdrn

The student of local history who has carefully followed the pages of these volumes has not failed to be impressed with the record of mechanical devices produced and perfected by the men of Worcester County. To their inventive genius is due the thanks of all our citizens, for they primarily, have produced the whirling wheels of the mill and factory to sing of comfortable homes and good table for the operatives there employed.

The manufacture of chairs, which forms by far the largest part of our industry, has materially changed during the past quarter of a century, and prominent among the names of the men who have by their brain invented and developed machinery for this particular branch of our industry is that of George S. Colburn» the subject of this sketch, who was born in Leominster, May 5, 1820. His father, Simeon Colburn, died when the boy was but three months old, leaving his widow in straitened circumstances, and as soon as the boy was sufficiently large to " do chores " he was sent to live with an uncle in Cambridge, where he remained working for his board two years. Then he went to live with Deacon Joseph Dickenson in Swansea, N. H., with whom he remained until his seventeenth year, working early and late on the rocky farm nine months in the year, attending the district school the other three, and acquiring the branches then taught therein.

A taste for mechanics developed itself early in Mr. Colburn's life, and in boyhood he was wont to arrange and adjust small mechanical devices. At the age of seventeen he apprenticed himself with Mr. James Clark, of Boyalston. to leara the shoe-maker's trade, remaining four years, receiving his board and $2.00 for his labor, out of which he had to clothe himself. At the age of twenty-four he went to work in a furniture shop. Here he was impressed with the lack of machinery for the treament of cane, and began to study and experiment upon machinery for doing this work. He was so successful that he gave his whole attention to the manufacture of this class of machinery and to the manipulation of cane.

In 1857 he went to Wakefield to a.ssist Mr. Cyrus Wakefield in the development of the " Wakefield Rattan Co.," one of the most important industries of that whole section. Here he remained until, his health breaking down, he was obliged to go out of doors and so purchased a small farm, ^fter about a year he recovered, and in 1875 came to Gardner to assist Messrs. Heywood & Co. in the development of that part of their extensive plant relating to the treatment of cane. He remained with them several years, and having acquired a competency, he retired from active business, and with his wife, who was Miss Frances R. Sawyer, of Royalston, and whom he married in 1843, he occupies a charming home in the west village , conscious of having performed life's allotted tasks uncomplainingly and faithfully.

Simeon W. A. Stevens, the oldest merchant in Gardner and the postmaster in the South Village for thirty-five years, was the son of Abel and Sally (Spaulding) Stevens of Westford, Mass., where he was born July 27, 1818, and where he lived until he was about eleven years of age. At that time, his father having died, he came to Gardner and worked as office and errand boy for his brother, Abel Stevens, who was then running the South Gardner Hotel. At the expiration of two years he returned to Westford, his mother still residing there, remaining nearly the same length of time employed in helping one of the townspeople about his farm and in supplementing his previous district school education by a few terms' tuition at the widely-known Westford Academy. He then, being fifteen years old, came again to Gardner, went into the chair-shop, learned the trade of making chairs and worked as a journeyman till he was twentyone. His health having become somewhat impaired by continuous in-door employment, he left the shop and engaged in driving team for Mr. Stephen Taylor, by whom he had previously been employed at his trade. He continued in this service two years, going tlien to Leominster and running a team on his own account from that place to Boston. This continued till the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad four years later put an end to that method of transportation. Returning once more to Gardner, he carried on the same business for several years, having David Kendall for a partner a portion of the time, and serving the general publiceven after the railroad was built through the place, by carting goods to and from the depots at both ends of the line.

On the 1st of January, 1850, Mr. Lewis H. Bradford, who had for some years been engaged in the miscellaneous merchandise traffic in South Gardner, being about to remove to Fitchburg, formed a partnership with Mr. Stevens and William Hogan, to whom he committed the care of the store previously occupied by him. A few years later, Stevens and Hogan bought Mr. Bradford's interest and went on in their own behalf. When the South Gardner Manufacturing Company was formed, they merged their special business in the general undertaking, which aimed to ab- sorb and control nearly all the industrial activities in that part of the town. While the new experiment was going on and proving its incapacity, Mr. Stevens turned his attention for a while to the manufacture of chairs at the stand now occupied by Wright & Read. But not succeeding to his satisfaction, and the joint stock enterprise failing to meet the expectations of its friends and coming to an end, he, in the readjustment of afi'airs, took the store and its contents, and associating with himself Mr. George Greenwood, went on as before under the name of S. W. A. Stevens & Co. Ten years after, in 1868, Mr. Stevens by purchase became sole proprietor of the establishment. In 187G he received as partner his son Ambrose, and the two have been in company since, the firm-name being S. W. A. Stevens & Son. They do the same kind of miscellaneous business that has always been transacted where they are located, after the manner of an oldfashioned country store.

According to the above review it appears that at the opening of the present year (1889), Mr. Stevens has been in trade at the same stand tor a period of thirty-nine years, with the exception of the brief interval alluded to (and even then he was indirectly connected with it), and has fairly earned the title of tlie veteran merchant of Gardner. By close attention to his business interests and careful management, combined witli his gentlemanly manners and evident disposition to accommodate and please, he has gained for himself a widely-extended patronage, and achieved what may be regarded as an honorable success in life and a good standing among his business associates, and elsewhere. In addition to the personal qualities mentioned, he is characterized by a sense of justice, and a purpose to deal fairly and Iionorably with all men, that are calculated to inspire and secure that confidence and respectful esteem in the community where he has lived for nearly sixty years, which he seems fortunate enough to share to a very high degree. The fiiet that he has held the oflice of postmaster for more than a generation, having been first appointed to the position under the administration of Franklin Pierce in 1854, through all the vicissitudes of political life, and especially through six successive terms of the supremacy of his political opponents, he being an outspoken and well-known Democrat, and without any special effort on the part of himself or his friends, is an enviable testimonial to his kindness, courtesy and readiness to oblige, as well as to the honest, equitable and impartial manner in which he has discharged the duties of the station he has been called upon to fill. His ability, fidelity and trustworthiness in other directions have been recognized by his fellow-citizens and publicly acknowledged, in that they have chosen him selectman at different times, and assessor, and appointed him on committees to which important public interests have been referred. He was one of the first directors of the National Bank in Gardner, and has been a trustee of the Savings BAnk from the beginning. He is a member, and has been for some years the treasurer, of the Baptist Society, to the activities connected with which he has long been a cheerful and liberal contributor. He is also president of the Green Bower Cemetery Association.

The career of such a man as Mr. Stevens is full of lessons of wisdom and practical utility for all classes and conditions of people, and especially for those who, having come to, or are approaching mature years, are soon to enter upon the more active duties and labors of life. It indicates to every aspiring, right-minded youth the direction in which true success lies, and the genera! conditions upon which a good standing in the world, the esteem of those whose esteem is worth having, usefulness, honor and happiness may be gained. It presents an example which furnishes instruction and encouragement for such and is commended to them as worthy of study and emulation.

John Edgell

William Edgell, first of Woburn and afterward of Lexington, a tinman by trade, who married Elizabeth Norman, of Marblehead, about the year 1720 and died before 1734, leaving four sons, was, so far as is known, the common ancestor of the family in New England. The name was probably Edgehill at the outset, as it so appears in some of the earlier records, and, if so, was very likely derived from Edgehill in the mother country, a locality whence the emigrant may have come to these shores, and in which his ancestors may have for a long time resided. The youngest of the sons referred to, also called William, was an early settler in Westminster, where he purchased lands in 1750, on which he soon after located, becoming a prominent man and an infiuential citizen in local and public affairs. Among the children of this second William was a third William, who married Thankful Puffer, of which union John Edgell, the subject of this notice, was born October 15, 1804.

The first years of John Edgell's life were spent upon the farm of his father, but before arriving at his majority he learned the trade of shoemaking, which he followed for a time, going from house to house with his kit of tools, after the fashion of those days, and stopping where his services were required long enough to supply the existing family needs in that particular - a practice fiimiliarly termed "whipping the cat." He subsequently learned to make chairs, and was engaged in that business for many years under different auspices in his own and neighboring towns. An important change occurred in his life when, in 183(5, he removed from Westminster to Gardner, just in season to take advantage of the tide, then beginning to rise, which was to bear the little town of a thousand people on to prosperous fortunes and an undreamed-of success. He resumed there his former calling, pursuing it for some years by himself in a shop attached to his dwelling-house, and attending personally to the transporting and selling of his own goods, and afterward for a time, with the late Charles W. Bush and others for partners, in the oldest of the buildings now composing the large establishment of Philander Derby & Co., some other kinds of work being connected with that of manufacturing chairs.

Long before this, however, he had been running a weekly coach to Worcester, going on Tuesdays and returning on Wednesdays, for the accommodation of travelers, the distribution of Worcester papers to patrons along the route and the transaction of a general carrying and express business in the interest of the public. This was but incidental and subsidiary to his regular vocation. As more rapid means of transit and more frequent intercourse between the towns through which he passed were established, his patronage decline<l and his coach line was eventually given up. But his ex]ierience in this direction opened the way to the more satisfactory employment of his later years. His miscellaneous business at the county-seat brought him into contact with gentlemen representing some of the more important interests located there, with which he afterwards became permanently identified. This was especially the case with reference to the matters of fire insurance, of settling estates and of conveyancing, to each and all of which he has devoted himself as a means of livelihood and of profit for the last thirty or more years. He was the first regular underwriter in Gardner, and for a long time was without a competitor. No one probably in the vicinity did as much conveyancing for a generation as he, and no one in that northwest part of Worcester County has probably taken so many cases to the Probate Court and carried them through satisfactorily as he has done. In actual knowledge upon all these important matters, and in ability to transact business relating to them, he has rarely been equaled, perhaps never excelled. In all these matters, too, and especially in the settlement of estates, - a department in which he has had much to do with people in the humbler walks of life, - there has been such confidence in his knovvle<lge, ability, impartial judgment, conscientious regard for what is just and right, and disposition to make reasonable charges for services rendered, as that the humblest and those least skilled in business of any sort would entrust their monetary affairs, sometimes their all, to him, as to a tried and devoted friend, assured that their interests would be guarded and promoted with scrupulous watchfulness and care.

Aside from the duties devolving upon him in the lines of activity indicated, Mr. Edgell has been called upon by his fellow-citizens to fill almost every office at tlii'ir disposal. To his eff'orts and influence the founding of both the National and Savings Banks in Gardner was largely due. Of the former he has been one of the directors irom the beginning, as he has lieen one of the trustees of the latter, and its president for three years after the decease of Francis Richardson, Esq. He has always been on the investment committeee of the Savings Bank, a position to which he brought qualities fitting him pre-eminently for the efiicient discharge of the responsible duties it required . No man for a generation has been better acquainted with landed i)roperty and every kind of real estate in Gardner and vicinity than he, and the judgment of no one in regard to such property has been more earnestly sought for or more implicitly trusted.

Mr. Edgell is a man of decided opinions ujjon questions of both private virtue and of public ))olicy, and is open and frank in the expression of them. But his recognized kindness of heart, sincerity of purpose and high character generally have prevented personal alienation or distrust on that account. Naturally modest and retiring, he yet shirks no duty when laid upon him and evades no responsibility when once assumed or made known. He has much of the spirit of a reformer, and has given aid and encouragement to the great moral movements of the age. He called himself an Abolitionist when the name was a reproach ; he has been for long years in precept and practice a friend and promoter of the temperance cause, and other needful and important changes in personal and social life he has advocated and maintained. Originally a Whig in politics, his sympathy with the anti-slavery cause inclined him, after a while, to withdraw from the support of that party and to look for the rising of a political movement which .should stand boldly against the usurpations of the slave power, inscribing upon its banner " Liberty " as well as " Independence." He was consequently ready with his sympathy and support for the Free-Soil party in 1848, and even more so for the advent or formation of the Republican party in 18.')6, to the principles, interests and fortunes of which he has ever been warmly and conscientiously attached. Elected to the Lower House of the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1850 and 18r)l by the sufl'rages of his neighbors and friends, he counts it an honor to have belonged to that company of the faithful who, after a hotly-contested struggle extending through twenty-six successive ballotings, at length succeeded in sending that noble son of the good old Commonwealth, Charles Sumner, for the first time to the Senate of the United States, where for more than twenty years he rendered valiant service for his country and for liberty.

Though not of late years connected with any great industry or popular organization which would give him influence in the community, yet few men have exerted greater power for good than he or done more for the prosperity and enduring welfare of the town of his adoption. Withdrawn somewhat from active business and from open participation in public affairs by reason of his advanced age, lie nevertheless still retains in a marked degree the full possession and use of his intellectiuil and moral faculties, and his counsel and guidance are still much sought for and heided in the practical concerns of life.