History of Amesbury, (Essex County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Josiah Bartlett, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born at Amesbury, Mass., Nov. 21, 1729. He received an academic education and a thorough course in medicine, and in 1750 began practice in Kingston, N.H. His methods of medical treatment were original, and largely acquired while doctoring himself through a protracted fever. His experience being in direct opposition to the usages of the profession, he departed from the "old school," and his success won him a large practice. He introduced Peruvian bark into use in 1754. In 1765 he became a member of the colonial legislature of New Hampshire and held the office by annual re-election until the revolution. While in the legislature he opposed the royalists, and the governor made an unsuccessful attempt to win him over to his support by appointing him a magistrate and commissioned him a lieutenant-colonel of militia. His zeal in the cause of the colonies was not abated, however, and in 1775 he was deposed from both offices. He was a member of the committee of safety which conducted the affairs of government after the departure of Governor Wentworth from the colony in 1775, and he was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776, being the first to cast a vote for the Declaration of Independence and the second to sign it. He resigned as delegate to Congress shortly after he was appointed general naval agent, and later accompanied General Stark to Bennington, having been charged with the medical supplies of the New Hampshire troops. In 1778-'79 he was again a delegate to Congress, and in November, 1779, resigned his seat to accept the office of chief justice of the court of common pleas of New Hampshire. He became muster-master in 1780; justice of the superior court of the state in 1782; chief justice in 1788, and in the latter year served as a delegate to the convention called to ratify the federal constitution. Though declining an election to the first United States Congress as a senator in 1789 on the plea of age, he accepted the presidency of the state when it was offered him by the legislature in 1790, and after serving for three years, being re-elected by popular vote each year, he became in 1793 the first governor of the state under its new constitution. He received the honorary degree of A.M. and M.D. from Dartmouth college, and was for many years the president of the New Hampshire medical society. He died at Kingston, N.H., May 19, 1795.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Edwin McNeill, reformer, was born in Amesbury, Mass., Aug. 4, 1837; son of John and Abigail Todd (Hickey) McNeill. He attended public and private schools in Massachusetts, worked in a woollen mill, and learned the trade of shoemaker. He was married, Dec. 24, to Adeline J. Trepthern. He was secretary of the Grand Eight-Hour league of Boston, Mass., 1863-64; founder of the New England Labor Reform league in 1865, agent of the Daily Evening Voice, 1865-67; founder of the Workingman's institute and its president, 1867-69; president of the Boston Eight-Hour league, 1869-73; associate founder of the Order of the People in 1870; president of the New England Ten-Hour league, 1874-76; and in 1875 was appointed an officer to enforce the laws regulating the education of children of Massachusetts. He was a delegate to the National Labor convention held at Rochester, N.Y., in 1875; was the author of the declaration of principles used by the Knights of Labor; founder and president of the International Workingmen's union, 1876-79; state secretary of the Sovereigns of Industry in 1875; secretary and treasurer of the Massachusetts district of the Knights of Labor, 1883-86; and president of the order of co-operators in 1885. He organized and became general manager of the Massachusetts Mutual Accident association in 1883. He was a delegate to the American Federation of Labor, 1886-98, and was sent to England as the Fraternal delegate of the Federation in 1895. He was the commissioner for the state on manual training, 1893-94; on taxation, 1897-98, and was an associate founder and director of the Anti-Tenement-House league in 1891. He was associate editor of the Labor Standard, Paterson, N.J., and Fall River, Mass., and editor of the Home Journal, Paterson. N.J., 1880-82; and was proprietor and editor of the Labor Leader, Boston, 1886-87. He is the author of: History of Co-operation in Massachusetts (1876); The Slave of Fortune (a novel, 1881); The Labor Movement, the Problem of a Day (1886); History of the Shoe Makers' Unions (1890); The Eight-Hour Primer (1890); History of Development of the Slice Industry (1896); The Story of a Silver Dollar, a Study of Accidents and Accident Insurance (1950).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Herbert Howland Sargent, soldier, was born in Carlinville, Ill., Sept. 29, 1858; son of Jacob True and Maria Lucretia (Braley) Sargent; grandson of Daniel and Deborah (Foss) Sargent and of Elliott and Lucretia (Bullard) Braley, and the ninth in descent from William Sargent (born in England about 1606; died at Amesbury, Mass., March, 1675). He was graduated from Blackburn university, B.S., 1878, and from the U.S. Military academy, 1883, being promoted 2d lieutenant, 2d U.S. cavalry, June 13, 1883, and served on frontier duty until 1898, except one year, 1886?87, when he was professor of military science at the University of Illinois. He was married, Aug. 11, 1886, to Alice Carey, daughter of Lindsay and Elizabeth (Miller) Applegate of Ashland, Ore. He served at Washington, D.C., May, 1898, in organizing volunteers for the Spanish-American war; was appointed colonel, Fifth Volunteer infantry, May 20, 1898; organized the regiment and arrived at Santiago, Cuba, Aug. 12, and commanded the regiment there under Gen. Leonard Wood until March 20, when he was ordered with his regiment to command the district of Guantanamo. He sailed from Guantanamo to the United States the following May, and was mustered out of service at Camp Meade, Pa., May 31, 1899. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 29th infantry, U.S. volunteers, July 5, 1899; sailed with his regiment for Manila, Philippine Islands, Oct. 5, 1899, arriving Nov. 2; participated in combats with insurgents on the island of Luzon; commanded the attacking forces at the battle of San Mateo, in which General Lawton was killed, Dec. 19, 1899; was honorably discharged from the volunteer service, May 10, 1901, and promoted captain, 2d U.S. cavalry, March 2, 1899. He is the author of: Napoleon Bonaparte's First Campaign (1893), and The Campaign of Marengo (1897). His works on Napoleon's campaigns gave him high standing as an authority on military strategy.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Morse Ordway, chemist, was born in Amesbury, Mass., April 23, 1823; son of Samuel and Sally (Morse) Ordway, and a descendant of James Ordway, a native of Wales, who emigrated from England to America in 1648, and settled in Newbury, Mass., where he married Ann Emery. John served an apprenticeship with a chemist, 1836-39, was graduated at Dartmouth college A.B. 1844, A.M. 1847, and then engaged in the study of medicine. He was manager of chemical works in Lowell, Mass., 1840-47; superintendent of the Roxbury Color and Chemical company at Roxbury, Mass., 1847-51, and 1854-58, and principal of Grand River college, at Edinburg. Mo., 1851-54. He was chemist at the Hughesdale Chemical works, Johnston, R.I., 1858-60; chemist, manager and superintendent of the Manchester Print works, Manchester, N.H., 1860-66; superintendent of the Bayside Alkali works, South Boston, Mass., 1866-74, and chemist to the Hughesdale Chemical works at Johnston, R.I., 1866-69, spending alternate days at the two places. He was professor of industrial chemistry and metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1869-84; chairman of the faculty 1877-82, and performed most of the duties of president there, while continuing his regular work. He was also an instructor of biology in Boston university, 1876-80. He was professor of applied chemistry and director of the manual training department of Tulane university, New Orleans, La., 1884-97, organized and instructed the class in biology, 1886-90, and was an instructor in engineering, 1891-97. He became professor of biology in Newcomb college for women, a branch of Tulane university, on its organization in 1886, and held it from that year. He was elected a member of various scientific societies, and was chairman of the chemical section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1880. His investigations were principally in the direction of original researches in various branches of industrial chemistry for private corporations. In 1882 he visited Europe and investigated the methods of industrial education. He was married, Jan. 26, 1854, to Virginia C., daughter of Milton Moore of Missouri. She died in 1860. He was married secondly in 1864, to Mrs. Charlotte H. Mauross, daughter of Chauncy Royce of Connecticut. After her death in 1874, he was married thirdly to Evelyn M., daughter of John B. Walton of Massachusetts. She was his assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently became professor of chemistry in the H. Sophie Newcomb college, Tulane university, New Orleans, La. He contributed to the American Journal of Science, the Proceedings of the American Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and other scientfic and educational periodicals and is the author of Plantarum Ordinum Indicator (1881).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor