Massachusetts Biographies - presented by Genealogy Trails

ANDREW GRAY WEEKS, SR.
ANDREW GRAY WEEKS was eighth in descent from George Weekes, who came to this country from Devonshire, England, in 1635, and was, five years later, admitted freeman at Dorchester. He was a man of unusual culture and quickly made his mark. At various times - notably in 1645, in 1647, and in 1648 he was one of the seven selectmen. He was a surveyor and was frequently called upon to use his special knowledge in laying out roads and boundaries. He was one of the three trustees of the estate of Edward Bullock, who on returning to England made special provision for his wife and children.
George Weekes was a firm advocate of free education and he was among those who conveyed to the town Thompson's Island in Boston Harbor for the benefit of the schools. He owned considerable real estate. It is supposed that his domicile was situated on the corner of Harvard and School Streets. After his death at the very end of 1650, his wife, who was Jane Clapp, married the widower, Jonas Humphrey and died in August, 1668.
George Weekes had four children, three of them born in England. The second son, Ammiel, died in Dorchester in April, 1679, at the age of forty-six. The last twenty-two years of his life he was a freeman and landowner. Like his father, he was a surveyor and for several years he served on the committee for establishing town lines. He was constable in 1673. His wife is supposed to have been Elizabeth Aspinwall and they had ten children. Their third son, Ebenezer, was a tailor by trade and was married to Deliverance Sumner. He had a smaller family and fewer letters in his name, for like the rest of his brothers, he spelt the family name, - which, indeed appears in early records in a dozen different forms, in the way it has since been maintained, as Weeks.
His oldest son, William, emigrated to Maine. After residing for a time on the Island of Chebeague in Casco Bay, he removed in 1744 to the "Neck" in Falmouth and died there in 1749-50, at the age of sixty, leaving considerable land in what is now the city of Portland, which was set off from Falmouth in 1786. His wife was Sarah Tukey, whom he may have met when visiting his parents, for she was of Dorchester. The eldest of their five children, also named William, settled in the place now known as Cumberland and married Rebecca Tuttle. Their youngest son, Nathaniel W., married Rachel (Prince) Sweetzer, who died in 1843, reputed to be ninety-six years old, and lived in Falmouth. Several of their children apparently engaged in seafaring for one died in the West Indies and another, imprisoned by the Spanish authorities, died in Honduras, both of them at the early age of twenty-three. Still another, the third son, died also in the West Indies when only eighteen. Their fourth son, Ezra, was born in 1790, in North Yarmouth, and died at the age of seventy-eight in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was an innkeeper and had a large family, four sons and four daughters.
Andrew Gray Weeks, the fourth child and second son of Ezra Weeks, and his wife, Hannah (Merrill) Weeks, was born June 11, 1823, at Cumberland Centre, Maine. He died at his summer residence, Guilford, Vermont, June 26, 1903. He received his education in the public schools of Portland. Of his own initiative, he went to Boston at the age of sixteen and found employment in the apothecary shop of Frederick Brown where he remained for two years. He then spent ten years in the employment of Smith & Fowle, in that time gaining a very thorough acquaintance with the needs of the trade. In 1851 he formed a co-partnership with Warren B. Potter and engaged in the wholesale manufacture and sale of drugs in Boston. He was a practical and level-headed business man and as he concentrated his energies he ultimately won remarkable success. He was seldom found absent from his post of duty and even after the firm was changed to a corporation, he still remained in full charge of its affairs. He was frequently offered positions of public trust, but he modestly preferred to remain in private life rather than win honor through publicity. Mr. Weeks was a member of the Mayflower Society, being eighth in descent from Elder William Brewster.
He was a member of the Vestry and Warden for seventeen years of Emmanuel Episcopal Church and deeply interested in its welfare, and a director of the Theological Library of Boston. He was also a director of the Equitable Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Providence and of a number of banks and other corporations. He had great confidence in the growth of Boston and he invested his large fortune in the purchase of real estate. The soundness of his judgment was proved by the increase in the value of his holdings. Some of them trebled in value within a few years.
In September, 1847, he married Harriet Pitts Pierce, of Boston, a descendant of Col. Daniel Pierce of Newbury. She was a woman of rare culture and refinement, possessing a trained mind and beautiful soul, brave in trial, diligent in effort. She filled her children with inspiration for better things, for righteousness, education, character. Mr. and Mrs. Weeks had four children : - Harriet Emma, died in infancy; Warren Bailey Potter, born May 3, 1858, married December 8, 1885, Gertrude Carruth Washburn, daughter of Miles Washburn of Boston; Andrew Gray, his father's second son and namesake, born October 2, 1861, succeeded his father in the Weeks & Potter Company. He married October 10, 1883, Alice Standish Taber, of New Bedford; Harriet Pitts, born February 24, 1865, married June 1, 1887, S. Reed Anthony, who was one of the leading bankers of Boston.
Mr. Weeks in early life, found the tasks connected with a farm favorable for his health and useful for discipline. He always retained a love for country life and he possessed a fine residence in Guilford, Vermont. He was fond of reading and always remembered with affectionate gratitude the instruction and precepts of his admirable mother, who was his ideal. The Bible, Scott, Dickens, standard books of biography and history were his favorite reading. He was a Republican in politics and Episcopalian in religious faith. There was no one in the communities where his interests lay, more highly respected and loved. He was regarded as the pattern of a high-minded and noble-hearted merchant.

ANDREW GRAY WEEKS
ANDREW GRAY WEEKS was born on Essex Street, Boston, Massachusetts, October 2, 1861, the son of Andrew Gray Weeks, who was born June 11, 1823, and died June 26, 1903, who married Harriet Pierce; and the grandson of Ezra Weeks, born June 3, 1790, and died March 16, 1868, who married Hannah Merrill, and of Charles Pierce, born June 26, 1795, and died May 22, 1869, who married Harriet Pitts.
The ancestor of the American branch of this Weeks family was George Weekes, who is said to have descended from Robert Le Wrey who was a citizen of England, 1135, and as this name implies was doubtless of Norman extraction. George Weekes was of Devonshire, England, where he married Jane Clapp, sister of Captain Roger Clapp of later New England fame, and had three children, with whom he immigrated to New England in 1635, and settled at Dorchester, where he took an active part in civic affairs, lived an honorable and useful life and left a good estate as an evidence of his industry. His descendants have largely followed in his footsteps and have been men of thrift and of good citizenship.
Andrew Gray Weeks, Junior, was reared in the midst of city life, but he inherited a love for rural objects, notably that of natural history, which found its expressions in mature years. He had the benefit of a mother's religious training in moral and spiritual things, so much needed and important in the formative period of a boy's life. He began his boyhood school life in Miss Beck's School on River Street, Boston, going thence to the Chauncy Hall School where he remained from 1871 to 1879 in which last year he entered Harvard College which he left in 1882, having the degree of A.B. as of 1883 conferred upon him in 1908. Immediately after graduation he entered his father's wholesale drug store as clerk. He had a natural predilection for the study of medicine, but in deference to his father's wishes, it seemed best that he should enter upon and continue the occupation so well established. He was with the Weeks & Potter Company from 1882 to 1901, laterly as Vice President and Treasurer; also Trustee of the Weeks Real Estate Trust, and a director of the Maple Springs Company.
Mr. Weeks has taken time from his business cares to devote to authorship in the production of several small, but valuable works, namely: "Illustrations of Diurnal Lepidoptera Unknown to Science," 117 pages, forty-five colored plates, Boston, 1905; followed by a second volume of thirty-seven pages, twenty-one colored plates, Boston, 1911. "A History of the Class of 1878, Chauncy Hall School," thirty-one pages, Boston, 1901, besides Magazine Articles.
Mr. Weeks is very social in his habits and is a member of many clubs including the Union, Art, Boston, Athletic, Algonquin, Country, New England Kennel, Harvard, Clubs of Boston, Calumet and Harvard Clubs of New York, Travellers' Club of London, Tuna Club of California, the Triton Club of Quebec, besides numerous scientific societies. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Puritan Club for two terms, Associate in Entomology of Harvard University, 1904; also 1911-1914; member of the Council of the Boston Society of Natural History one term, and Secretary of the Chauncy Hall School Class of 1878 for many years.
Mr. Weeks believes in obtaining full value from his spare time which he devotes to fishing, tramps through woodlands, and the careful study of nature generally. On his many rural excursions he has made special study of Diurnal Lepidoptera and has made a collection of 30,000 specimens, a most remarkable instance of persevering endeavor for the benefit of the naturalist, thus furnishing a worthy example which many other men of means and leisure would do well to follow.
Andrew G. Weeks married, October 10, 1883, Alice S., daughter of Edward S. and Emily H. (Allen) Taber, granddaughter of Frederick S. and Mary P. (Howland) Allen, and of Joseph and Deborah (Smith) Taber, a descendant from Phillip Taber who came to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1634. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Weeks : Allen Taber Weeks, born 1884, now Secretary and Treasurer of the Acushnet Process Company, Rosamond Pierce Weeks, born 1887, now Mrs. Edgar C. Rust and Kenneth Weeks, born 1889, a resident of Paris.

WARREN BAILEY POTTER WEEKS
WARREN BAILEY POTTER WEEKS, was born in Boston, May 3, 1858. He is the son of Andrew G. Weeks, a leading wholesale druggist of Boston, and Harriet Pitts (Pierce) Weeks. George Weekes, the first of the family in America, came from England in 1635 to Dorchester, Massachusetts. Warren B. P. Weeks after attending the public schools graduated from St. Marks School, Southborough, Massachusetts, and from Harvard University in class of 1881, with degree of A.B.
In 1882 he began his business life as a clerk in the International Trust Company of Boston, remaining with that corporation until 1887, when he entered the real estate and insurance business, making a specialty of business property in Boston and manufacturing property. The management and care of prominent estates has taken a great deal of his time.
Since 1905 he has served as trustee of the Weeks Real Estate Trust of Boston, also has been a director in the Boston Real Estate Exchange.
In religious belief he is a Unitarian and he is a member of the Arlington Street Church of Boston.
He is also the owner of several cranberry bogs, and a stockholder and treasurer of one of the large cranberry companies.
Mr. Weeks is also fond of yachting, having had for a number of years an auxiliary forty-foot sloop, the Atricilla.
Mr. Weeks is a member of the Union, Algonquin and Harvard Clubs of Boston, the Country Club of Brookline, the Country Club of North Andover, Essex County Club of Manchester, Tihonet Club of Wareham, the Eastern and New York Yacht Clubs, and the Harvard and University Clubs of New York City.
December 8, 1885, he married Gertrude Carruth Washburn, daughter of Miles and Sarah H. (Carruth) Washburn. He has one son, Miles Washburn Weeks, who is an insurance broker associated with O'Brion, Russell & Co., of Boston, and who was married January 20, 1912, to Lois Richards Frost, daughter of George Alpheus Frost of West Newton. A granddaughter, Lois Wheeler Weeks, was born April 13, 1913.

FRED WILLIAMS WELLINGTON
FRED WILLIAMS WELLINGTON was born at Shirley, Massachusetts, May 31, 1851. The son of Timothy W. Wellington and Augusta Tufts (Fiske) Wellington. The Wellington family in this country, trace their descent from Roger Wellington who was one of the early settlers of Watertown, where he was admitted a freeman in 1690. Captain Timothy Wellington, the great-grandfather of Fred W. Wellington, was a member of Captain Parker's Company who, on his way to Lexington was taken prisoner, being the first prisoner taken in Revolutionary War. He was paroled, but stole through the woods and joined his company and fought that day.
Timothy W. Wellington, the father of Fred W., removed to Worcester in 1855, and during the Civil War was active in sustaining the Union Cause, providing a hospital at his own expense for the wounded. Fred W. Wellington inherited from his ancestry a strong military leaning and at an early age became a drummer boy for the old state guard.
He attended the public schools of Worcester, and studied two years in France and Germany. In 1868 he commenced his business life in the First National Bank of Worcester as Bookkeeper, remaining until 1870, when he was in charge for a year of the Coal Yard on Southbridge Street, of T. W. Wellington & Company. The following year he passed in California.
Returning to Worcester in 1872 he became a partner in the T. W. Wellington Company, conducting a wholesale and retail coal business. In 1874 he joined with James S. Rogers and Arthur A. Goodell in establishing the firm of J. S. Rogers & Company, coal merchants. In 1877 the name was changed to A. A. Goodell & Company. In 1878 Fred W. Wellington leased the yards at Canterbury and Hammond Streets and the firm of Fred W. Wellington & Company became a well-known factor in the business life of Worcester. In 1880 he became the owner of the location at Southbridge and Hammond Streets, where he has ever since continued his business.
In 1894 he was one of the organizers and has been President, from that time, of the American Car Sprinkler Company, which was a pioneer in the sprinkling of streets by electric power and whose cars are now a familiar sight on the streets of many of the principal cities of this country.
In 1892 Fred W. Wellington joined the Massachusetts Militia and was elected Second Lieutenant of Battery B, Light Artillery, Unattached First Brigade. In 1883 he was elected First Lieutenant and soon became a recognized authority on military affairs and was very popular with those under his command. In 1884 he was elected Captain and served until 1886. He was appointed Assistant Inspector General on the Staff of Governor Ames, with rank of Colonel, resigning in 1889. Governor Greenhalge re-appointed him to the same place on his staff in 1894 and he was continued by successive annual re-appointment up to 1900, when he was appointed Commissary General by Governor Crane for 1901-2,
and by Governor Bates for 1903-4; in the latter year, at his own request, he was placed on the retired list, with rank of Brigadier General. The Wellington Rifles Company H. Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, was named in honor of General Wellington.
He has been an active member of the Masonic Fraternity, a thirty-second degree Mason, affiliated with several Masonic bodies of Worcester, and in Worcester Commandery of Knights Templar he served as Captain. He has been a zealous worker in the Republican party of whose principles he has been a firm believer. He served on the Republican State Central Committee from 1887 to 1889 and 1893 to 1896, and a member of the Executive Committee from 1887 to 1896.
September 4, 1883, he married Mrs. Lydia A. Goodell, widow of General Arthur A. Goodell of the 36th Massachusetts Regiment. By all who knew him the death of this good and useful man was mourned as a personal loss. The large assembly of prominent people at his funeral to honor the departed shows the high esteem in which he was held.

GEORGE ELLIOT WELLINGTON
GEORGE ELLIOT WELLINGTON was born at Rutland, Massachusetts, January 8, 1853. He died January 14, 1913. He was the son of John A. Wellington and Mercy R. (Francis) Wellington.
On his maternal side he was related, through the Ball family, to George Washington.
His youthful days were passed in his native town. In 1864, at the age of thirteen, on the removal of his parents to Fitchburg, he entered the public schools of that town. On the completion of his school days, he entered the employ of the Fitchburg Lumber Company and learned the Carpenter's trade and occupied positions of responsibility with the Beckwith Lumber Company and the Mial Davis Lumber Company. He was Superintendent for C. A. Priest Lumber Company from 1890-1902, and foreman for Nathaniel Varney from 1905 until 1911. He was an expert workman, thoroughly familiar with every branch of the contracting work and gave considerable attention to planning and architectural- lines.
In 1911 he was elected Instructor of Manual Training Department of the Fitchburg High School, and retained this position during his life.
He was a member of the Fire Department for many years, serving from fireman to his election by the City Government as Assistant Chief and clerk from 1889 to 1894.
He was connected with the Massachusetts Militia in Company ? (Fitchburg Fusileers) of the Sixth Regiment, serving for several years as corporal.
In Oddfellowship he was a prominent member and was a Past Noble Grand of Mount Roulstone Lodge, Past Chief Patriarch of King David Encampment, in which latter organization he was Treasurer for one year, also a member of Canton Hebron, Patriarchs Militant. He was a member of the Fitchburg Board of Trade and Merchants' Association and was greatly interested in the temperance movement.
He was a Republican; a member of the Common Council of the City of Fitchburg in 1898, and a ward officer for many years. He was connected with the First Parish Unitarian Church.
He married July 25, 1883, Eunice H. Goddard, daughter of George and Minerva B. (Perry) Goddard, and a descendant from Edward Goddard, who came from Norfolk City, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1630. Their children are Elliot Goddard Wellington and Ray Nelson Wellington.
Mr. Wellington was a man of great natural energy of character. He was calm and quiet, had great reserve force and yet beneath it all there was an immense power of vital energy. He was tender and affectionate, in his family a loving husband, a devoted father, a genial and reliable friend whom to know was to respect. His life is the example of a self-made man.

ALBERT BATCHELLER WELLS
ALBERT BATCHELLER WELLS was born at Southbridge, Massachusetts, November 19, 1872. He is a descendant of the ancient Lincolnshire family of De Wells and his earliest Pilgrim ancestor, Thomas Wells, came to this country in 1636 from Colchester, England. His great-great-grandfather Wells served in the Revolutionary War and his great-grandfather, according to family tradition, was a captain in the Continental Army. His grandfather, John Ward Wells, died in his seventy-eighth year, about a fortnight before the grandson was born. His father, George W. Wells, who was born April 15, 1846, and who died September 30, 1912, was engaged in manufacturing and had achieved great success as president of the American Optical Company, his special characteristics having been executive ability and skill in organization. His mother was Mary E., the daughter of John and Emily E. (Mason) McGregory, and her influence was very decided in forming his character. On his father's side he was connected with the distinguished Cheney family. He was sent to the Rutgers College Preparatory School and after a year and a half at Rutgers College he removed to Harvard where he spent an equally brief period, not remaining to take his degree. He had been early taught to perform certain home tasks, though these in no way interfered with his school duties, which he has always regarded as the principal formative influences of his life. When he left college it was to enter the establishment of which his father was president and treasurer. Satisfied to commence at the lowest round, he took his place as bench hand in the lens-grinding plant of the American Optical Company, October 1, 1891, just prior to his nineteenth birthday. This experience leads him to declare that "Young America should learn early that to be a success work is necessary and that in no other way can genuine success be attained."
This success has come to him in abundant measure. He has found stimulus and pleasure in meeting with his fellow men.
In religious affiliation he is a Baptist and in politics a life-long Republican.
Although deeply interested in the affairs and problems of his home town, he has never aspired to political office nor connected himself in any way prominently with local partisan politics.
It is particularly significant that in co-operation with his two brothers, Channing M. and J. Cheney Wells, he has led a pioneer movement in the East for conservation and re-forestration. His work has been practically commenced by the planting of over three thousand acres with more than a million pine trees, for the benefit of generations to come. He has also been particularly active in the development of apple culture in Massachusetts, having made a special study of this subject which has already been productive of substantial results and unusually successful.
Mr. Wells' work has always been significantly marked by his progressiveness in large affairs. As treasurer of the American Optical Company he has been instrumental in the rebuilding of their entire plant, having seventeen acres of floor area, within a period of ten years. The present plant for which Mr. Wells is largely responsible, is considered one of the most thoroughly up-to-date and efficient industrial properties in New England and stands in the forefront among the great commercial enterprises of the nation.
Other local enterprises in Southbridge besides the American Optical Company enjoy the benefit of his counsel and influence He is president and a director in the Southbridge National Bank, a director in the Southbridge Water Supply Company, the Central Mills Company and the Peoples' National Bank of Marlboro.
In April, 1900, he was married to Ethel, daughter of a prominent architect, the late Daniel H. and Margaret (Sherman) Burnham, and he has one son, George Burnham Wells. His home is in Southbridge.

JOSEPH CUTLER WHITNEY
The career of Joseph Cutler Whitney of Boston exemplifies certain traits which are of interest and value as factors in the development of American life. To relate the college man to business life without destroying the college spirit or the conditions of business success has seemed difficult and the effort has been very generally discouraged. And yet there has been no more desirable consummation than to bring about in a rational way this union of the academic and the practical.
In the story of the life of Mr. Whitney it appears that he at least was able to win success in the business world without loosing his hold upon the comradeship of his classmates or shutting himself out of the fruitful fields of intellectual refreshment.
That he achieved, lends zest to the story of his life, which began in Boston, December 7, 1856, and was continued within the limits of Greater Boston until his death, July 18, 1911.
If we would trace to the beginnings the characteristics of Mr. Whitney we shall find their sources reaching back through a New England and English ancestry honorable and strong. Fifteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the English family of Whitney settled in Watertown, having come from London. Joined with this family name by marriage were others equally distinguished in the formative period of Massachusetts, such as Pratt and Bordman. His father, Henry Austin Whitney, was born October 6, 1826, and was married to Mary Francis Lawrence. He was a man of business standing in the community, being president of the Suffolk National Bank and president of the Boston and Providence Railroad. But he was more than a business man; he was a lover of books and became a collector, especially of the works of Milton and those pertaining to the great writer. He was also a student of genealogy.
It is but natural, therefore, that the son should have combined the tastes of the scholar and the practical man, and it is found that the training of the best schools did not separate the mind of Joseph Cutler Whitney from real life, but rather so enriched his whole nature that he was enabled to beautify the commonplace with the resources of the furnished mind. He was educated at Dixwell's and Hopkinson's private preparatory schools, and in 1878 graduated from Harvard College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was the secretary of his class, and in 1903 his class presented him with a loving cup in appreciation of his efficient services.
While one of his strongest traits was love of home, he did not neglect the public duties of the citizen. He was the chairman of the Republican Town Committee of Milton, and served as Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, Surveyor of Highways, and Trustee of the Public Library for twenty-three years. He was a member of the Institute, A. D. and Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard College, the Boston Exchange Club, Tennis and Racquet and Country Clubs. For his recreation he turned to the open, and found in practical farming and in golf a keen satisfaction.
In religious faith he was a Unitarian, connected with the historic King's Chapel, where his funeral services were conducted.
He was married, November 9, 1882, to Georgiana, daughter of George and Annie (Upton) Hayward and granddaughter of Charles and Elinor (Dorr) Hayward and of George and Ann (Hussey) Upton and a descendant of William and Margery (Thayer), who came from England to Braintree in 1640. Three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitney: Henry Lawrence, graduate of Harvard, 1910; George Hayward, in Harvard University, and Robert Upton, in Noble and Greenough's Preparatory School (1912).
In the earnest and active life of Mr. Whitney there is disclosed a type of the true American: in self-respect commanding respect; utilizing all his advantages to his own strengthening, that he might the better serve the age in which he lived, his is a life which becomes an inspiration to and an example of American manhood. Speaking of Mr. Whitney, his classmate Mr. Henry Wheeler said:
"He was decided in his opinions, and so honest, frank and fearless in expressing them that his friends and acquaintances never had any doubts where he stood on any question. These qualities, together with his keen personal interest in the welfare of those about him, won for him the love and respect of his associates. He was especially devoted to the members of his college class. He followed their lives with attention, was beloved by them all, and his loss has been deeply felt at the class reunions that have taken place since his death."

ALBERT LAFAYETTE WILBUR
ALBERT LAFAYETTE WILBUR was born May 1, 1847, in the river town of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, the son of George Seaman Wilbur and Lucy Maria ( Checkering) Wilbur. His grandfather, Eliphalet Wilbur, was born in Raynham, Massachusetts, March 20, 1785, and died in 1841, in Keene, New Hampshire. His grandparents on the maternal side were Alvin and Abigail (Sylvester) Chickering. The Chickering ancestors came early from England to this country. The progenitor of the Wilbur family was Samuel Wildbore, as he then spelled the name, who emigrated from England and came to Boston in 1633. His wife, Ann Bradford, daughter of Thomas Bradford, came from Doncaster in Yorkshire, the neighborhood from which Samuel himself came. They settled in Raynham, Massachusetts. Samuel Wildbore was a man of considerable wealth for those days, who built and put in operation the first Iron Foundry established in New England, which proved of great advantage to the settlers in his vicinity. He was made freeman in Boston in 1633 and with his wife Ann, was admitted to the church in December of the same year.
The father of Albert L. Wilbur was born in March, 1818, and died in October, 1878. His occupation was that of a shoemaker. He was noted in his community as a man of honor and industry. His mother was a woman of strong character who exerted an influence for good on her son's life.
Albert L. Wilbur began early to form the commendable habit of reading useful literature and by this means gathered valuable knowledge for future use. He attended the common schools of his town and finished his education at the Randolph High School.
Mr. Wilbur began as an office boy with E. S. Conant in Boston, where he had an opportunity to learn something of business methods, and of the ways of the financial world. Later he became a commercial traveler for the firm of C. W. White & Company of Boston. Success in this venture paved the way in rapid succession for the attainment of higher and more profitable positions.
He is President of Wilbur Theatre Company ; Treasurer Wilbur Shubert Theatrical Company ; President of the Maumee Theatrical Company; Vice-president of the United States Amusement Company; Director of the Brooklyn Majestic Company, Bijou Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, and National Amusement Company. These institutions owe much to his counsel and advice.

HENRY AUGUSTUS WILLIS
HENRY AUGUSTUS WILLIS, for over three score years identified with the banking interests of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was born November 26, 1830.
George Willis, his emigrant ancestor was born in England in 1602 and came to America and settled in New Towne (Cambridge) in 1626.
The Willis family were largely represented among the early settlers of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies.
George Willis was an extensive landholder in Cambridge, Brookline, Billerica and vicinity. His homestead in Cambridge being on the West side of the Common, not far from the site of the old elm tree afterwards known as the Washington Elm, where General George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army. George Willis was a representative to the General Court in 1638 and died in 1690 at the age of eighty-eight.
Roger Willis, son of George Willis, was born in Cambridge in 1640. He was one of the pioneers of Sudbury and settled in the northwest part of the town and west of Willis pond and Willis Hill. His descendants have been very numerous in that locality. Samuel Willis, second child of Roger Willis was born in Sudbury in 1675. He was a farmer and died in Sudbury in 1758.
Joseph Willis, son of Samuel Willis was born in Sudbury in 1712. He served as a soldier in the Colonial forces against the French and Indians in the Second Regiment of Foot. Hopestill Willis, son of Joseph and Thankful Willis, born in Sudbury in 1747, was a soldier of the Revolution, a Minute Man in Captain Nixon's Company which marched from Sudbury to Concord April 19, 1775, and pursued the British retreating from the Old North Bridge. He also served as Lieutenant in Captain Wheeler's Company, Colonel Reed's Regiment, in the Saratoga campaign.
Samuel Willis, youngest son of Hopestill and Olive (Smith) Willis, was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 20, 1792. When a young man he left his native town and learned the business of Woolen Manufacture. In 1822 Samuel Willis removed to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and with Abial J. Towne purchased the brick cotton mill in the then center of the village of Fitchburg, and founded the Fitchburg Woolen Mill.
Samuel Willis was a successful business man and active force in the public affairs of the growing town of Fitchburg. He held several town offices and was Representative to the General Court in 1838, just 200 years after his emigrant ancestor George Willis was Representative from Cambridge. Samuel Willis was an earnest advocate of the introduction of railroads and gave his hearty support to the efforts of Alvah Crocker to connect Fitchburg with Boston, but he did not live to see the realization of his hopes in the opening of the Fitchburg railroad. He died in 1843 at the early age of fifty-one years.
Henry Augustus Willis, son of Samuel and Cynthia Meriam Willis, was at the early age of twelve left without his natural protector, but he had the great advantage of the advice and counsel of an unusually strong and forceful mother, who directed the building up of his intellectual life and of his moral and sterling character. His boyhood home was in the house, standing on land now covered by the Fitchburg Savings Bank Building. He attended the public schools of his native town, supplemented by terms at the Fitchburg Academy and the Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts, where he prepared for active commercial life. After spending a year on a farm for the development of an already strong constitution, in 1852 he entered the Rollstone Bank in Fitchburg as a clerk and commenced a connection of active service with that institution which was to cover a period of fifty-four years.
The history of the Rollstone Bank and Rollstone National Bank, to which Mr. Willis gave so many of the best years of his life, is the record of honorable dealings and good financial management. The bank started business November 24, 1849, in a stone building on the present site of the Rollstone building with Moses Wood as President and Lewis H. Bradford, Cashier. Mr. Bradford resigned in 1856 and was succeeded by William B. Wood who held the office for fifteen months and was succeeded by Henry A. Willis as Cashier.
After a very successful career of sixteen years it completed its first period, by becoming a National Bank on the 8th of March, 1865, with Moses Wood as President and Henry A. Willis as Cashier. Mr. Wood died in 1869 and was succeeded by Alvah Crocker, as President. Mr. Crocker resigned in 1873 and was succeeded by Henry A. Willis. In 1904 a change in the law governing savings banks required the severance of all connection between National Banks, and Savings Banks. Mr. Willis desired to retain the treasurership of the Worcester North Savings Institution. He resigned the presidency of the National Bank in January, 1904, having served actively in that office for thirty-one years. He remained one of the directors, being elected chairman of the board, and retained the office until the liquidation of the National Bank in 1906 and its re-organization as the Fitchburg Safe Deposit and Trust Company - of which Mr. Willis was elected chairman, of the Board of Directors.
The Worcester North Savings Institution of Fitchburg was established June 13, 1868. Henry A. Willis was elected its first treasurer and retained that office until January, 1912, when he resigned to accept the presidency of the institution which office he now holds.
In the Civil War Mr. Willis served in the Fifty-third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, which was largely recruited from Fitchburg and the neighboring towns in August and September, 1862. Mr. Willis was on the relief committee of the town of Fitchburg for the soldiers in 1861 and is the last surviving member of the committee appointed in 1866 to erect the soldiers' monument. After the Civil War, Mr. Willis served in the State Militia on the staff of General R. E. Chamberlain with the rank of Captain.
Mr. Willis was elected a representative to the Legislature in 1866. He has been a Justice of the Peace from 1861 to the present time. In 1873, upon the organization of the City Government of Fitchburg he was elected the first president of the Common Council. In 1874 he was elected City Treasurer and served for seventeen years. In 1891 and for several years he was Vice-president of the Fitchburg Board of Trade.
He is a member of E. V. Sumner, Post 19 Grand Army of the Republic. Member of the Society of Colonial Wars, Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1863 Mr. Willis was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fitchburg Public Library and in 1892 was elected Chairman of the board. The annual report for the Trustees to the City Government for the year ending November 30, 1912, contains the following: -
"'The President of this board this fall completes a half century of continuous service as a trustee of this library. It is a conspicuous service for any man to render, either in single or joint capacities in the community of his residence. Apart from any reference to its value and scope, which would be hard to define, it is less important to note the fact alone, than to refer to it, because of its value as an inspiration to citizens of public spirit, to give disinterested service in such ways as each best may. Mr. Willis has been not only a worker for the library as a trustee and director of its destinies and advancing its many utilities, but he has also been a discriminating benefactor to the institution in ways that have been from time to time duly acknowledged." He has been a generous
contributor to the Art treasures of the library and the prosperity and growth of the library has been very near to his heart.
The Fitchburg and Leominster Street Railway was incorporated in 1886 and Henry A. Willis was elected its first president and served from 1886 to 1909. He was one of the original Board of Trustees of the Burbank Hospital from 1890. In 1912 Mr. Willis who had served continuously as treasurer from the incorporation declined reelection. The records of the board record a rising vote of thanks expressing "the deep appreciation felt by the board of trustees for the long and faithful service rendered by Mr. Willis as treasurer of the hospital, given often to the detriment of his private interests, but always willingly and to the great advantage of the hospital."
Mr. Willis was a charter member of the Fay Club, serving as Vice-president in 1881 and 1882 and as president in 1886. He was one of the organizers of the Fitchburg Historical Society in 1892 and its first President, holding the office for ten years, and has since remained a member of the executive committee. He has shown an active interest at all times in the work of the Society, and his generous liberality in a large measure made possible the fine library building erected by the society in 1911.
In the midst of a life full of activities, Mr. Willis has yet found time for much valuable literary work. He is the author of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion," (1866) and the "History of the 53d Massachusetts Regiment," (1889) and several interesting papers published in the volumes of the Fitchburg Historical Society. "The Early Days of Railroads in Fitchburg" (1892), "The Division of the Worcester County" (1897), "The Birth of Fitchburg; its First Settlers and Their Homes with Map;" (1897). This detailed history of every family living within the town limits at the time of its incorporation in 1764, with the accompanying map, prepared under Mr. Willis' direction showing the exact location of every homestead of the scattered little colony, which started the new town, is a valuable addition to our historical literature and shows a great amount of painstaking study and research. The original map now hanging on the walls of the Fitchburg Historical Society Library is one of the great points of interest to the visitors.
In August, 1868, the Atlantic Monthly contained an interesting article from the pen of Henry A. Willis entitled "A Remarkable Case of Physical Phenomena," detailing certain strange and unexplained occurrences, happening to Fitchburg at that time. He has also contributed many timely and interesting articles on local affairs to the local press. His acquaintance with prominent men has been very extensive and his mind a treasure house of accurate and reliable information of men and events which have come within his observation.
For so many years, one of the financial leaders in a large manufacturing center, his advice and judgment have been much referred to. He has been connected with many enterprises for the development and growth of his native town and has given freely his efforts, influence and financial assistance in diversifying and enlarging its industries. For several years Mr. Willis was treasurer of the Burleigh Rock Drill Company of Fitchburg. The invention of this first successful power drill by Fitchburg enterprise made possible the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel. Hon. George S. Boutwell in his reminiscences says of this invention: - "The downfall of silver has not been due to any legislation in America or Europe, nor to any decree or despotic power in Asia, but to the inventive faculties of one Charles Burleigh of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the inventor of the power drill. It is to him the world is indebted for a new application of force, by which mountains are penetrated and mining in all its forms is carried on at one-fourth of its former cost."
Mr. Willis never married but from the age of twenty-one he has maintained a comfortable home for himself, his widowed mother and other members of the family. Possessed of a competence, he has liberally contributed to public and private charities. Without ostentation he has assisted many a young man ambitious to obtain an education and given a helping hand in many cases known only to himself and the recipient.
He enjoys travel and has crossed the Atlantic five trips abroad for the purpose of study, rest and recreation.
In view of the long business experience of Mr. Willis, the following lines written by him expressly for the readers of this work are worthy of the thoughtful consideration of all young people.
"First, Good habits and regular living with proper companionship; second, reading and study, not only during school hours and college days, but continuous throughout life; third, decide upon your vocation before twenty years of age; fourth, early interest and participation in public affairs; fifth, keep out of speculation and live strictly within your means; devote your entire energies to your legitimate business or profession, and always strive to be the courteous gentleman, intensely loyal to your friends, your home, and your country. Be a manly man."

SAMUEL HOBART WINKLEY
REVEREND SAMUEL HOBART WINKLEY was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, April 5, 1819, and died in Dublin in the same state, August l, 1911.
His father, John (born August 11, 1789; died September 28, 1826), was the son of Francis and Martha (Brown) Winkley. He followed the sea for many years and commanded the privateer "Fox" 1812-1814, and was actively engaged in the war of that period.
His mother, Jane Stevens (Hobart) Winkley (born August 31, 1787; died December 6, 1877), was the daughter of Colonel Samuel Bradstreet and Mary (Hill) Hobart. She was the granddaughter of Samuel Hobart, of Exeter, New Hampshire, a man eminent for his patriotism and statesmanship no less than for his admirable military career.
The American ancestor, Samuel Winkley, of Winkley Hall, Lancashire, England, landed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 9, 1680. He had been a Justice of the Peace in England. His vessel, the sloop "Sarah and Hannah," was impressed in 1707 to convey troops to Port Royal. Captain Winkley was a shipbuilder and merchant. A tract of land, of one hundred acres, in Berwick, Maine, was given to him for gallant conduct in rescuing white prisoners from the Indians at Lake Winnepesaukee.
His son, Captain Francis Winkley, was aid-de-camp to Sir William Pepperell at the capture of Louisburg, June 17, 1745. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Samuel Hobart Winkley was a very active and vigorous boy and became interested in religion as early as when eight years of age. He was also early of a very philanthropic disposition. For a number of years he was faithful to all the means of grace in the church of his fathers, the North Congregational Church in his native town. He earnestly sought by them the experience of conversion, then specially emphasized, and which he was taught to believe was instantaneous or certainly conscious. At a revival, when fourteen years of age, he made up his mind that another form of conversion or religious experience was necessary to him. He decided, therefore, to dedicate himself to the worship and service of God, and presenting himself to the Church, was admitted.
At the age of fifteen he entered upon a business career, to which he expected to devote his life. He came to Boston as a clerk in a retail drygoods store, and afterwards was a salesman in a wholesale house. While in this employ a few years were spent in Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine.
On returning to Boston, he was employed in another store of similar character, until at twenty-one years of age this firm set him up in business for himself in Providence, Rhode Island. He claimed that to this business career he owed very much.
When about nineteen years of age, his theological views greatly changed, and although he did not immediately leave the church of which he was a member, he became greatly interested in Unitarian ideas, and especially in the religious and philanthropic work which this church was carrying on in Boston and other cities for people without church connections or needing friendly aid. This was known as a "Ministry at Large," and it so interested this young business man that he resolved to fit himself for it.
Accordingly, he entered the Harvard Divinity School at Cambridge, from which he was graduated in 1846. He immediately accepted a call to Pitts Street Chapel, Boston, one of the Ministry at Large Chapels under the supervision of the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches in that city, and thenceforward devoted his life with unswerving fidelity to this work. In 1865 he received the honorary degree of A.M. from Harvard University.
After laboring twenty-four years at this Chapel, changes in the neighborhood made it expedient to move to a new locality, and forty thousand dollars was raised by Mr. Winkley for this purpose. This was sufficient, added to the proceeds of the sale of the Pitts Street property, to purchase land and erect the Chapel in Bulfinch Place, to which the work was transferred in January, 1870. Here Mr. Winkley continued as the active minister until 1896, rounding out fifty years of service. He then resigned, and for fifteen years continued to perform as pastor emeritus such services as his strength would allow. Thus his ministry covered sixty-five years.
His message to everyone, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, was the same, the gospel message of Faith and Hope and Love. It was his delight to minister, both as preacher and pastor, but above all as friend, and to lead his people to a happier and a higher life. In this his success was far beyond that of most ministers. Few have been so loved. He was called "Bishop of all souls." Upon a tablet erected in his memory are these words: "Little children came to him as to a father and he taught them. The Spirit of Christ abode in him and was a well-spring of joy. A multitude whom no man can number arise and call him blessed."
His interest in the religious training of the young led him to write many Sunday School Question Books, which had a wide use. He was a member of the Boston School Committee for a number of years in the sixties and seventies. He was a loyal citizen, and a Republican in politics at the time of the Civil War. Governor Andrew advised him not to enlist as he could do more for the cause at home.
He had a keen sense of humor and was full of good cheer. He enjoyed life and found great pleasure in taking long walks and climbing mountains, as well as in riding and driving. His ideal was "to treat self well, to care for others as for other selves, and to sustain right relations to God." This was the higher life. His thought of a practical religion was expressed as follows:
"The man who is a child of God, who is interested in Him, does not forget it behind the counter, in his business, or anywhere else. Jesus would be Jesus no matter what he was doing or where he was. When he was a carpenter, he was one of the best of carpenters you could ask for. When he was with the people he was one of their brethren."
He was a member, and for many years chaplain, of St. John's Lodge of Masons; a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; of the American Unitarian Association and of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union.
He married first, November 3, 1840, Clarinda, daughter of David and Betsey (Richmond) Andrews, and second, August 13, 1849, Martha Wellington, daughter of William and Martha (Wellington) Parker. Seven children were born to him, of whom there remain Frank Hobart Winkley, Martha Parker Suter and Hobart William Winkley.

WILLIAM ELLIS WOOD
WILLIAM ELLIS WOOD was born in what is now Arlington, and was then West Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 27, 1852.
Josiah Wood, 1st, who was born in England in 1629, came to New England in 1650, a stalwart young man, just of age, and full of the nerve and resolution that were needed in conquering the new and rugged country of his adoption. This young man settled in Charlestown, immediately identifying himself with the church that was first organized under the Puritan form, and buying the common's right of the new town. He was one of the early settlers of this new-made foundation, which was only the same age as himself, having been organized, and the Indian name "Mishawun" changed to Charlestown, in 1629. This rugged pioneer gained property, became a landed proprietor, and married Lydia Bacon on October 28, 1657. She became a congenial worker with him in family and church, which she joined June 29, 1662. They had three sons, the eldest of whom, born in the August after his mother's admission to the church, came in the line of this succession. The mother died November 25, 1712, aged seventy-four years, and was buried in Charlestown, where her gravestone still stands.
This son, Josiah Wood, 2nd, was born in Charlestown in July, 1662, grew up in his native town and became an active citizen, - identified with every local interest. The record of this family has been kept with singular accuracy and with close attention to details. This Josiah Wood married on December 13, 1686, Abigail Bacon of Billerica, when she was twenty years of age, - her father having deeded to his son-in-law all his property in real estate, specifying his mansion in Woburn. On his marriage, Mr. Wood moved to his new property and became a citizen of Woburn. There he died, March 9, 1740, his wife following him three years later. To them was born a son, named for his father, Josiah, 3rd, August 31, 1687, who lived in Woburn, married Ruth Peabody of his native town, and there he died, January 4, 1753, his wife having died the year before.
Solomon Wood was their son, born in Woburn, February 23, 1722. He was a manufacturer and a man of substance. He married Martha, daughter of Seth Johnson. Their son, Edward Wood, was born May 10, 1756, at Woburn, and grew up to absorb the spirit of liberty and patriotism. He early enlisted as a private in the Continental army, serving in 1775, 1777 and 1780, and was made a Revolutionary Pensioner in 1820. He married twice, but the son who was in the line of our story was Leonard Wood, born in 1796 of the first wife, who was Ann Skilton, and who was married March 7, 1782.
William Thorning, father of the grandmother of William ?. Wood, Mary (Thorning) Wood, was in the first skirmishes with the British on their retreat from Concord, April 19, 1775; Hezekiah Wyman, of "White Horse" Revolutionary fame, connected with Mr. Wood's mother's line; and his grandfather, Ellis Gray Blake, father of Sophia (Blake) Wood, who was a member of the Boston City Guards many years previous to 1828, and who was connected with the early newspapers of Boston and later with the Boston Journal. Many of the relatives descended from the old family lines of Wood, Blake, Wyman, Thorning and Crosby have filled most honorable positions in political and business life.
Leonard Wood married, September 10, 1823, Mary Thorning, and their oldest son was William Thorning Wood, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Burlington, Massachusetts, June 20, 1824, but was taken to Lexington when very young and was reared and educated in the common school of that town, his parents residing on the Thorning farm. In 1841 he was apprenticed to Abner P. Wyman of West Cambridge, now Arlington, son of Samuel Wyman, who was a manufacturer of tools for the harvesting of ice, and the young man bought Mr. Wyman's business in 1845. With the aid of his younger brother Cyrus, who was for a while his partner, and in spite of fire and other deterrents, built up a large business in his line.
William T. Wood combined with his business both vocal and instrumental music, playing the violin and piano, and rendering musical service in both church and Sunday School. He was long leader of the choir of the Arlington Baptist Church, of which he was both member and acting deacon. He held the office of Clerk of the Baptist Society for many years, and was in both the music and standing committees. He married, October 17, 1850, Sophia Matilda Blake.
William Ellis Wood was their oldest son, and inherited from his parents their religious tendencies and high moral standards, and from his father an intense love for music. Playing the piano and violin at eight years of age under the instruction of his father, he specialized in 1867 for a while on the piano and organ under the best teachers of Boston, -Howard, Tracy and Whitney, -and in harmony and composition with Professor Baker. He was a member of the Handel & Haydn Society, with the tenor voices, from 1868 to 1872. For the chorus of the Boston Peace Jubilees of 1869 and of 1872 he was pianist for the rehearsals of the Arlington Section, Prof. S. P. Prentiss being the local conductor. During his early youth he sang alto and tenor in the Arlington Baptist Church Choir; and in May, 1868, when sixteen years of age, he became organist at the Arlington Orthodox Congregational Church, and was appointed director the following year. He has been organist and director at the First Baptist Church of Arlington since 1868, which position he still holds.
After his father's death in 1871, the young man of nineteen years assumed the business of manufacture with his Uncle Cyrus, and a new era was introduced. The firm struck out, and by correspondence, personal solicitation, and extensive travel through the United States and Canada, established agencies for the sale of ice-tools, and even across the ocean built up a large and profitable trade.
After a partnership with his uncle for twenty-five years (Cyrus Wood died in 1896), the relationship was continued with the letter's son, William B. Wood. In 1905, with a business then employing 100 men, the firm was consolidated with the Hudson, New York, firm of Gifford Brothers, manufacturers of ice-handling machinery. Thus the tools for cutting and the machinery for housing ice were brought together; and to the Arlington, Massachusetts, tool manufactory was added the machinery factory of Hudson, New York, when the new firm of Gifford-Wood Company was established, of which Mr. William E. Wood was made President. In 1911, new and larger buildings were erected at Hudson, New York, for the manufacture of all branches of the business at one location.
Mr. Wood followed his father in earnest work for the Baptist Church and Sunday School, in which he succeeded to the. offices held by his father. He was Superintendent of the Sunday School in 1872 and at later periods, and was made life Deacon of the Church in 1885. His work in public life has been earnest and unselfish. He gave recognized assistance in 1884 and 1885 to the Monument Committee by raising the final $6000 required for the soldiers' monument in his native town of Arlington. He is Trustee of the Pratt School Fund; Trustee of the Eldridge Farmer, Robbins' Library Memorial Fund, and several kindred Funds; and was a member of the School Committee of Arlington, 1882-1888. He was President of the Massachusetts Ice Dealers' Association the year of 1909-10, and belongs to Ice Dealers', Producers' and Manufacturers' Associations in many States. He is also a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He still holds, in the vigor of middle age, the love of all who are brought into contact with him.
Mr. Wood was married, May 7, 1874, to Susan Tileston Freeman, daughter of John Doane and Elizabeth (Brown) Freeman. She was born at North Bridgton, Maine, January 23, 1851; and there have been born to them nine children, seven of whom are living, five of them married, to each of whom children have been born.
The seven living children are as follows: - John Freeman Wood, twin, born 1876, Harvard, 1898, married Louise Jacobus, 1906 ; William Thorning Wood, twin, born 1876, Cambridge Manual Training School, 1896, unmarried; Ellis Gray Wood, born 1877, Massachusetts Institution of Technology, married first Margaret True, 1904, second Ora Blair, 1910; Harold Blake Wood, born 1879, Massachusetts Institution of Technology, married Annabel Parker, 1903; Helen C. Wood, twin, born 1881, Vassar, 1904, married Dunbar F. Carpenter, 1909; Annie W. Wood, twin, born 1881, Vassar, 1904, married James Nowell, 1907 ; Oliver W. Wood, born 1892, Arlington High School, 1912, unmarried.
Throughout his married life, which began when he was twenty-two years of age, he has had the incalculable assistance of a most devoted wife, possessed of unusual qualifications for bestowing upon her children the blessings of judicious direction.

END.