Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-14

was the nucleus OF lHe uTS SOOuS tStebo
lishment known as Chamberlin, Barnard
& Co. after Barnard, Sumner & Co., and
now the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam
Company.
There was Calvin Foster, a native of
Worcester, born on the brow of Court
hill, who learned the hardware trade Of
Caleb Newcomb, over 70 years ago, in
the old compound building on the corner
of Main and Front streets, and after
wards set up the same business on his
own account in the old wooden building
which stood on the site of the iron front
building Col Foster erected in 1852 on
the corner of Main and Pearl streets,
where his successors in the hardware
trade, the Duncan & Goodell Co.. are
still located with the City Bank, of
which Col Foster is president, in the
second story.
There was Stephen Sawyer, native
of Berlin, born the same year with Col.
/ Foster, in 1S4S a member of the extern
sive dry gods firm of b. L. Hardon &
Co., the successors of H. B. Clafiin &
Co., and for over so years past manag-
ing partner of the Clark-Sawyer Co.
There was Thomas NJ. Rogers, for
many years of the leather finding firm
of Rogers, Southgate & Co., who has
| had large experience as a member Of the
different branches of the city govern
ment and its commissions and is a
shrewd investor in real estate.
There are Henry T. Nichols of the old
! Western and Boston and Albany rail-
road and Timothy W. Hammond Of the
old Worcester and Nashua, who have
rounded out half century of faithful
| service in their respective capacities,
and the veteran conductor of the Wor-
cester and Nashua, Lyman Brooks, who
was clerk of the old American House
in 1S4S, and began his 40 years railroad
service the following year.
Joseph Mason and John A. Dana were
lawyers here in 1S4S, and both are now
voters here, though Mr.. Mason is tenn
porarily residing with his son, Joseph
P Mason, in Plainield, N. ].
The principal manufacturers so years
ago in Worcester included Albert Cur
It's and Loring Goes, natives of Worces-
ter, then residing where they now live,
and in the same business as they are
Philip l.. Moen in the management of
engaged in today.
Hon, Henry s. Washburn, now in Bos-
ton, was in 1S4S associated with the late
the Quinsigamond iron works, while
lchabod and Charles Wash0urn conduct
ed the Grove street iron works, both
tnese establishments being soon after
ward united under the name of the
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com
pany.
The principal other manufacturers
mere 90 years ago were William B. Fox
senior and junior, and George T. Rice
senior and junior Rice, Fox e. Coz, at
| FoXs mills, Vernon square, and Isaac
Goodwin and George NJ. Rice, manufac-
turers of paper machinery, corner Of
Union and Foster streets. The vener-
| able Peregrine B. Gilbert. now in his
8Sth year, who first came to Worcester
in 1881, worked a while for Goddard &
Rice before going into the firm of Tour
tellottee, Gilbert & Co., on Washington
street the predecessors of the firm of
Thayer Houghton & Co., where the
William Allen & Sons boiler works now
are.
Another of the Oldest surviving voters
| of 1S4S now here, is the venerable build
err Mason H. Morse, now in his 90tn
year, who in his day has erected some of
| the best blocks of buildings in the city
The venerable architect, Elbridge
Boyden, now in his S7th year, is in the
same business as when he came here,
80 years ago.
OF the old voters of 1S4S in Worcester
not now here, mention may be made of
Gill Valentine, now in his S7th year, a
resident of Hammerton, n. j., from
whom the Spy is glad to hear OCCASION
ally as a, correspondent. He was while
here member of the city council and
| held other positions.
| Of the educational and professional
| men here who were voters in 1S4S. the
Oldest is William E. Starr, actuary of the
State Mutual Life Insurance Company,
! who was teacher at the Worcester
classical and English high school, on
Walnut street, with Nelson Wheeler as
! principal. Hon. Eli Thayer, since he be-
came famous in politics as well as in
| literature, was then principal of Wor-
Ecester Academy and afterward estab-
/ lished the Dread Institute. The vener-
able H. G. o. Blake then had a select
private school in Waldo block, on Main
street.
Among the farmers who were voters
50 years ago there were William Goss,
Jr., on Upland street, now 81 years old ;
his father, William Goss, Sr., residing
with him, being also a voter then.
Obadiah 2. Hadwen had then just be-
gun housekeeping on a farm of his own,
| adjoining or nearly adjoining that of
his venerable father, the late Charles
Hadwen, and but few have made bet
ter so years record than he. Then
there is Frederick I. Stowell who oc-
cupled the farm which was his fathers,
at Worthwhile, and William F. Gleason,
who has removed from a portion of the
ancestral estate in Worthwhile to Nelson
place
OF the printers now here who were
voters here in 1S4S, may be mentioned
Benjamin ]. Dodge foreman of the
Hamilton printing office; ]. Lawrence
Estey, who began to learn the trade in
1927 and worked at it until a year or
two ago, when he retired; his brother
Jonathan L. Estey, now a resident Of
Cambridge, being also printer in Wor-
cester so years ago.
b0 f,F1 rtt1 ~, Etn
business here, there are D. H. Eames, in
the clothing trade; Henry C. Fish,
blacksmith, ironworker and machinist,
now located on Union street, where he
then was; the veteran jeweler Simeon
N. Story, who has had over so years
experience in the same trade; EIon G.
Higgins paper hangings, etc, now in
the same business as then; Abraham H.
Newton, then with p. H. Sampson, in
the firm of Sampson & Newton in the
paper hanging trade, on Foster street
Charles H. Fitch, Of the old firm of
Fitch & Otis boot and shoe manufac-
turer; William E. Desper, machinist,
afterward in the water meter business;
Benjamin E. Hutchinson, who succeeded
William Leggett in the harness trade,
in the old Paine building; James A.
Fuller, machinist, at Goddard & Rice's,
with his father, the late James Fuller;
Charles E. Staples, machinist, now at
the Washburn shops. Polytechnic In
stitute
Alfred Chaffin, now a resident here,
was then in company with William r.
Barbour in the firm of Barbour & Chat
fin, dealirs in paints oils and manufac-
turers' supplies, in what is now the
| Franklin Barnard heirs lot, 176 Main
street. William L. Clark, still in active
| life, was then in company with Benia-
min Reed, in the firm of Reed & Clark,
for many years grocers in Waldo's
granite row." near Court Hill. Dexter
| Rice now a foreman in the naintinC