Amherst Massachusetts

Biography of M. Hayward Post, Jr., M. D.

Dr. M. Hayward Post, Jr., who is engaged in medical practice in St. Louis, is a representative of one of the oldest American families, his ancestors having come to the new world on the Mayflower. His grandfather was Rev. Truman Marcellus Post, who is mentioned by a former historian as one of the eminent Missouri preachers of his day. His father was M. Hayward Post, who was a well known physician and a prominent oculist of St. Louis. He served for twenty years as a member of the board of the Missouri School for the Blind and passed away in … Read more

Biography of James Hale Newton

When a man’s manifold activities in the field of banking, building, and general business win for him the title of “Grand Old Man,” his place as leader is firmly established. Thus was James Hale Newton regarded in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was of a long-established New England family, which originated in England. The pioneer ancestor was Richard Newton, who settled in Massachusetts in 1638, and afterward was admitted as freeman of the colony. For many years he lived in Sudbury, then settled in Marlborough, where with eight others he founded the township, and died’ there when nearly a hundred years old, … Read more

Descendants of John Sanford of Taunton, MA

The town of Taunton, which included within its original boundaries the neighboring village of Berkley, has been the home of a branch of the Sanford family for about two hundred years. This Berkley-Taunton branch of the family, in the line of Capt. Joseph Sanford, an active patriot of the Revolution, has been more or less eminent in professional life. Four of the sons of Capt. Joseph Sanford were college graduates and ministers of the gospel; and several of their posterity have followed the learned professions. One of the grandsons of Capt. Joseph was the late Hon. John Elliott Sanford, of Taunton, lawyer, legislator, railroad commissioner, etc., who at the time of his death was characterized by the local paper as Taunton’s “first citizen.”

Biography of Frank Lyman Gold

FRANK LYMAN GOLD-A man of wide and varied activities, each of which he has carried on successfully after he had gained full knowledge of the field of business into which he was entering, the story of Frank Lyman Gold is full of interest. (I) He belongs to a notable old New England family, whose founder was Joseph Gold, born in London, England, who came to America when he was nineteen years old. According to family records, he served for seven years in the Revolutionary War, lived for a time in Northbury, Connecticut, and died in Roxbury, Vermont, in 1829. He … Read more

Biography of Dwight Morris Billings

DWIGHT MORRIS BILLINGS, of Amherst, Massachusetts, treasurer of The Hills Manufacturing Company, producers of hats, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, February 17, 1866. (I) His ancestry in America probably goes back to Richard Billings, who received a grant of six acres of land in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1640. In 1659 he signed a contract with Governor Webster and others to remove to and settle at Hadley. The removal was made in 1661, and he lived in that part of the town which became Hatfield. He died March 3, 1679. He married Margery, surname unknown, who died December 5, 1679. (II) … Read more

Biography of Albion Brainard Allen

For more than three decades a resident of Amherst, Hampshire County, and one of this town’s most active and substantial business men, Mr. Allen’s operations as a builder have contributed very materially not only to the development of his own community, but to that of numerous other New England towns. On his father’s side he is a member of an old family whose name is very frequently met throughout the United States, where it is represented by many distinct and separate families. Its use arises from the Christian name Allen or Alan, which is very ancient and has many variations … Read more

Biography of Herbert Emerson Holden

HERBERT EMERSON HOLDEN, manufacturer of window frames and house finishings in North Amherst, Massachusetts, was born June 29, 1880, in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. The name he bears, Holden, Holdin, Holding, or Houlding, is of ancient and distinguished quality in England. It was a place name doubtless. Coats-of-arms are borne by various branches of the family. Richard Holden, immigrant ancestor of the family in America, was born in England in 1609, and came to this country in the ship “Francis,” sailing from Ipswich, England, April 30, 1634, and settling first at Ipswich, Massachusetts, where he owned land. Justinian, his brother, born in … Read more

Holman Family of Attleboro Massachusetts

Samuel Morey Holman

For something more than two centuries the Holman family of which the Attleboro Holmans are a branch has been identified with the history of this Commonwealth, and for half of that period the Holmans have been people of distinction in the town just named, closely identified with its social, religious, educational and business life. The progenitor of this Massachusetts Holman family, Solomon Holman, with his brother John, is said to have come from the Bermuda Islands to Newburyport, the family tradition being that the Holman family came from Wales to the Bermuda Islands some time between 1670 and 1690; that the two named were seized by a press-gang and brought to this country and escaped from a British ship at Newburyport; that John, the youngest, went to North Carolina and Solomon settled in Newbury. Coffin’s Newbury says Solomon Holman and wife came there about 1693 or 1694.

Biographical Sketch of Charles Kingsley Arter

Arter, Charles Kingsley; attorney-at-law; born, Cleveland, April 24, 1876; son of Frank A. and Delia Kingsley Arter; educated, Amherst College, 13. A., 1898; Harvard Law School, 1901; married, Cleveland, Sept. 23, 1902, Grace Denison; issue, Elizabeth and Calvin Kingsley Arter; member of the well-known law firm of Smith, Taft & Arter; at Amherst won Commencement Debate, one of the highest honors to be gained in college; admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, in 1901; immediately afterwards came to Cleve-land and admitted to practice in the Ohio Courts; firm makes a specialty in corporation and banking law in which I have … Read more

Biography of Melvil Dewey

MELVIL DEWEY AMONG the noted librarians of our country who have shown great efficiency, untiring devotion and unusual progressiveness in their calling, stands in the front rank Melvil Dewey, director of the state library and secretary of the University of the State of New York. Born December 10, 1851, in the rural village of Adams Center, Jefferson county, New York, he is the youngest son of Joel and Eliza Green Dewey. His love of books – a love which has never forsaken him – began as soon as he was able to read. His greatest delight was to be among … Read more

Biography of Judge John W. McElhinney

For the fourth term Judge John W. McElhinney has been called to the bench of the thirteenth circuit court of Missouri having entered upon the duties of this position in 1901. His course has at all times reflected credit and honor upon tile state that has honored him and he is today numbered among the ablest of Missouri’s jurists, for film decisions have at all times been strictly fair and impartial, and moreover have been the expression of a comprehensive knowledge of tile principles of jurisprudence, combined with ability to apply accurately his principles to tile points in litigation. Judge … Read more