HISTORICAL RECORD.
March 19.—Under this date Mayor Chapman, chairman of the Committee on Invitation for the Centennial Celebration at Portland, Maine, which is to occur on the 4th of July next, issued a circular saying: “The Committee on Invitation of the Centennial Committee desire to have a record prepared of the names of Sons and Daughters of Portland who are residents in other places, to whom invitations to attend the Centennial Anniversary can be sent. For that purpose they request information of such absentees, including those who were born here—those whose parents, or husbands, or wives were natives of our city, and also those not natives who were former residents. Such information can be communicated by letter or otherwise to John T. Hull, Clerk of Committee, at Room No. 18, City Hall.”
March 21.—Fire at Newburyport destroyed two shoe factories and a three-tenement block; another block was nearly destroyed, and other buildings were damaged. Total loss, $75,000.
April 1.—Celebration at Lowell of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city. In the forenoon an historical address was given by C. C. Chase, formerly principal of the High School; in the afternoon Mayor Abbott gave an address, followed by an oration by Hon. F. T. Greenhalge.
April 4.—Fire at Westboro’, Mass., destroyed shoe factories and damaged other buildings, with a total loss of $90,000.
April 7.—The State election in Rhode Island resulted in the election for governor of George Peabody Wetmore for a second term. The prohibitory constitutional amendment was adopted.
April 7.—Quarterly meeting of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Judge Cowley, of Lowell, read a paper on “Judicial Falsification of History.”
Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, D.D., the historiographer, reported that since Jan. 1 there had been fifteen deaths among the members. Memorial sketches of seven deceased members were reported, namely: Nicholas Hoppin, D.D., a resident member, born in Providence R.I., Dec. 3, 1812, died in Cambridge, Mass., March 8, 1886. Ex-president William Smith Clark, resident member, born in Ashfield, Mass., July 31, 1826, died in Amherst, Mass., March 9, 1886. George H. Allan, a resident member, born in Boston, Mass., June 16, 1832, died in Boston, March 15, 1886. William Temple, a resident member, born in Reading, Mass., Sept. 15, 1801, died in Woburn, Mass., March 18, 1886. Archbishop Richard Chenevix French, corresponding member, born in Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 7, 1807, died March 27, 1886. John Bostwick Morean, corresponding member, born in New York City, Oct. 12, 1812, died in same city, March 10, 1886. John Gerrish Webster, life member, born in Portsmouth, N.H., April 8, 1811, died in Boston, Feb. 7, 1886. Francis Minot Weld, life member and benefactor, born in Boston, April 27, 1815, died in Jamaica Plain, Feb. 4, 1886.
April 7.—Terrible disaster to a Fitchburg Railroad train near Bardwell’s Ferry, on the State road. Ten persons were killed and twenty-two injured.
April 13.—Regular meeting of the Bostonian Society. The following life members were admitted: Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Thomas Mack, William Minot, Jr., Jonathan A. Lane, Clarence J. Blake, M.D., Amos A. Lawrence, Nahum Chapin, William Caleb Loring, J. A. Woolson. The essay was by Alexander S. Porter, on “Real Estate Values in Boston During the Present Century.” The highest priced land which the essayist had heard of in Boston is the estate bought by H. D. Parker at the corner of Tremont and School streets, 1,984 square feet, for $200,000, or about $100 per foot. The cheapest he had heard of was that of Harrison Gray Otis, on the west slope of Beacon Hill, he having obtained it by squatter sovereignty. In closing he said that real estate has proved to be a safe investment in Boston, and many wealthy families have gained a large share of their wealth simply by the rise of real-estate values.
April 13.—At an adjourned meeting of the people of Lexington who are interested in the formation of an historical society, an organization was effected by the choice of the following-named officers: president Hon. A. E. Scott; vice-presidents, M. H. Merriam, W. A. Tower, Miss K. Whitman, Miss M. E. Hudson; treasurer, L. A. Saville; recording secretary, A. E. Locke; corresponding secretary, Rev. E. G. Porter; historian, Rev. C. A. Staples; custodian, Dr. R. M. Lawrence.
April 13.—Celebration of the incorporation of the new town of Hopedale. At sunset a salute of eighty-six guns was fired by Battery B, of Worcester, Hopedale being the eighty-sixth town incorporated in Massachusetts during this century. Joy bells were then rung for one hour. Then followed an illumination with fireworks. This town was set off from Milford after a hard struggle in the Legislature.
April 13.—Dedicatory exercises of the new county building in Ellsworth, Me. The Rev. Dr. Tenney opened the exercises by prayer, and Hon. John B. Redman introduced Hon. N. B. Coolidge, chairman of the county commissioners, who presented the buildings to the court and county in appropriate remarks. Mr. Coolidge was followed by C. A. Spofford, president of the Hancock county bar; Chief-Justice Peters, who reviewed the history of the county in an interesting speech; Judge Haskell, of Portland, and Hon. Eugene Hale.
NECROLOGY.
March 21.—Death from apoplexy of Col. B. W. Hoyt, secretary and treasurer of the New Hampshire Club, treasurer of the B. W. Hoyt Shoe Company of Epping, and special commissioner of the Boston & Maine Railroad.
March 23.—Judge Joseph McKean Churchill, of the Central Municipal Court of Boston, died at his home in Milton, aged 64 years. He was graduated from Harvard in 1840, and from the Law School in 1845. He served as captain in the Forty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment during the war. He was appointed to the bench in December, 1870.
April 3.—Death at Philadelphia of Theodore C. Hersey of Portland, Me. He was born in Gorham, Me., in 1812. He early went to Portland, where he formed a partnership with St. John Smith in the West India trade. Mr. Hersey was one of the proprietors of the International line of steamers, and for many years was its president, resigning, on account of ill health, about a year ago. He was one of the founders of the Board of Trade, and its president in 1863-68 and 1873-74, and a charter member of the Merchant’s Exchange.
April 4.—Death of George L. Claflin, a prominent wholesale druggist, of Providence, R.I., aged 63 years. He had been a member of the Common Council and the General Assembly, and took an active part in banking and insurance corporations.
April 5.—Death of Dr. George A. Bethune, of Boston. He was born there, in 1812, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1831. He studied medicine in the Harvard Medical School, and also abroad, and having made eye and ear diseases a specialty, practised until about ten or fifteen years ago, when he retired. He was at one time connected with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
April 6.—Death, at Brunswick, Me., of Hon. William G. Barrows. He was born in Bridgton, Me., January, 1821, and was graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1839. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and settled for practice in his profession at Brunswick, where ever since he had resided. From 1853 to 1855 he edited with marked ability the Brunswick Telegraph. In 1856 he was selected judge of Probate Court for Cumberland County, and reëlected in 1860. In 1863 he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and reappointed in 1870 and 1877, serving three terms of seven years each. At the expiration of the latter term he declined a reappointment, preferring the retirement of private life. He was a member of the Maine Historical Society, and one of its most earnest supporters. He was warmly interested in the establishment of the Brunswick Public Library, and one of its most liberal supporters.
April 7.—Unexpected death of Prof. Thomas Anthony Thatcher, LL.D., professor in Yale College of the Latin Language and Literature. He was born in Hartford, Jan. 11, 1815. He was fitted for Yale at the Hartford Hopkins Grammar School, and entered the college in 1831, graduating four years later. Then he taught in the New Canaan, Conn., Seminary for two years, and then in the Oglethorpe University, Georgia. He became a Latin tutor in Yale in 1838, and four years later was made a professor. In 1843 he went to Germany and studied two years. While there he was offered and accepted a position as tutor to the Crown Prince of Prussia and his royal cousin, Prince Frederick Charles. His “De Officiis” of Cicero and Madvig’s Latin Grammar are widely known.
April 8.—Dan Stone Smalley died at his residence, on Green street, Jamaica Plain, at the age of 75 years. He was for many years teacher of the Eliot Commercial School in Jamaica Plain.
April 9.—Death at Bement, Ill., of Hon. Lewis Bodman, formerly of Williamsburg, Mass., and senator from Hampshire county.
April 10.—Sudden death of Hon. Elbridge Gerry of Portland, Me. He was born in Waterford, Oxford county, Me., Dec. 6, 1815. He received an academical education. After its completion he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in his twenty-fourth year. In the following year he was appointed clerk of the House of Representatives of Maine. At twenty-seven he was chosen state attorney for his native county. At thirty-one he was elected to the State Legislature as a Democratic representative. In 1849 his political career culminated in his election to Congress. He retired from public life in 1851, and settled down to the practice of his profession in Portland. His son is vice-consul at Havre, France.
April 10.—Sudden death at Dallas, Texas, of John T. Ferris, manager of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Co., of Portland, Me. He was a man greatly esteemed in his large circle of acquaintances.
April 12.—Death of Thaddeus Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, Vt. He was born at Brimfield, Mass., Jan. 17, 1796, and went with his father to St. Johnsbury when he was twenty years old. His many inventions in the line of weighing-machines are too familiar to need enumeration. He was the only American who was honored at the Vienna Exhibition by being made a Knight of Imperial Order of Francis Joseph. To his munificent gifts the academy at St. Johnsbury owes its worth.
April 12.—Dr. Abram M. Shew, superintendent of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown, died suddenly at the age of 45. He was appointed assistant physician of the New York Asylum for Insane Convicts at Auburn in 1862; in 1866 he went to Middletown, to superintend the building of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, and had since remained in charge of that institution. He was a native of Watertown, N.Y.