History of Stoughton, (Norfolk County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Turner Eddy, educator, was born in Stoughton, Mass., June 9, 1844; son of Henry and Sarah Hayward (Torrey) Eddy; grandson of Thomas Eddy of New Britain, Conn., and of Turner Torrey of Brockton, Mass., and a descendant of Charles Eddy of New Britain, Conn. he was graduated from Yale, A.B. 1867, and Ph.B., 1868. He was instructor in field work in engineering at the Sheffield scientific school, Yale, 1867-68, and instructor in mathematics and Latin in the University of East Tennessee, 1868-69. In 1869 he accepted the position of adjunct professor of mathematics and civil engineering in Cornell university, resigning in 1873 to become associate professor of mathematics in the College of New Jersey. Cornell university conferred upon him the degree of C.E. in 1870, and that of Ph.D. in 1872 for advanced work in mathematics. In 1874 he was appointed to the chair of mathematics, civil engineering and astronomy in the University of Cincinnati, being dean of the academic faculty. 1874-77, and 1884-88. He was vice-president of the American association for the advancement of science for section A in 1884. In 1890 he resigned his chair in the University of Cincinnati to accept the presidency of Rose polytechnic institute, Terre Haute, Ind., which office he held until 1894, when he became professor of engineering and mechanics in the University of Minnesota. He was president of the Society for the promotion of engineering education in 1896. He received the degree of LL. D. from Center college in 1892. He published Analytical Geometry (1874); Researches in Graphical Statics (1878); Thermodynamics (1879); Neue Constructionen aus der Graphischen Statik (1880); Maximum Stresses under Concentrated Loads (1890); and many contributions to scientific journals.

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

Edward Lillie Pierce, publicist and lawyer, was born in Stoughton, Mass., March 29, 1829; son of Col. Jesse and Elizabeth S. (Lillie) Pierce, and brother of Henry Lillie Pierce . He was prepared for college at the academies at Bridgewater and Easton; was graduated from Brown university in 1850; from Harvard Law school in 1852; was admitted to the bar in Boston, 1853, and subsequently practised in Cincinnati, Chicago and again in Boston. He was a member of the Republican national conventions of 1860, 1876, 1880, 1884. At the opening of the civil war he enlisted as a private in the 3d Massachusetts regiment; served at Fort Monroe, and was detailed to organize, educate and render self-supporting the freedmen of the Sea Islands, S.C., in 1862, which enterprise proved so successful that he started companies in other districts to carry on his work. He was collector of internal revenue of Boston, 1863-66; district attorney of Norfolk and Plymouth counties, 1866-70; lecturer at the Massachusetts University Law school for ten years, and secretary of the board of state charities, 1869-74, for which he made reports of the work in Europe and the United Stages. He was member of the state legislature, 1875-76, 1895 and 1896, chairman of the house committee on the judiciary, 1876, and while serving in that capacity devised and carried a comprehensive act limiting municipal indebtedness. He declined the office of assistant treasurer of the United States at Boston in 1878, and was the unsuccessful Republican candidate from the 3d Massachusetts district for representative in the 52nd congress in 1890. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical society, and a personal friend of Charles Sumner and John Bright. He founded the free public library at Milton, Mass., and between 1869 and 1897 traveled extensively in Europe and the East. He was married first, April 19, 1865, to Elizabeth Helen, daughter of the Hon. John Kingsbury of Providence, R.I., and secondly, March 8, 1882, to Maria Louisa Woodhead of Huddersfield, England. He received the degree LL.D. from Brown in 1882, and from Claflin in 1894. He was an advocate of ballot reform and an authority on railroad law, and his articles on these subjects together with his lecture on John Bright, college exercises and political addresses are included in "Enfranchisement and Citizenship" (1896). He compiled a "Genealogy of the Pierce Family" and an "Index of the Special Railroad Laws of Massachusetts" (1874); published a "Sketch of Major John Lillie" a maternal ancestor; edited "Walter's American Law," and is the author of: Effect of Prospective or Extreme Legislation, etc. (1857); Personal Liberty Laws (1861); Negroes at Port Royal (1862); Freedmen of Port Royal, S.C. (Atlantic Monthly, Aug., 1863); Two Systems of Government Proposed for the Rebel States (1867); Laws of Railroads (1881), and Memoirs and Letters of Charles Sumner (4 vols., 1877-93). He died in Paris, France, Sept. 5, 1897.

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

Henry Lillie Pierce, representative, was born in Stoughton, Mass., Aug. 23, 1825; son of Col. Jesse and Elizabeth S. (Lillie) Pierce; grandson of Jesse and Catherine (Smith) Pierce, and of Capt. John Lillie (aide to Major-General Knox in the Revolution), and a descendant of John Pers, who immigrated from Norfolk county, England, and settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1637. He attended a private school conducted by his father at Stoughton, also the academy and the state normal school at Bridgewater, Mass.; removed to Dorchester, Mass., with his parents in 1849; in 1850 entered the chocolate manufactory of Walter Baker & Co., and on the death of Mr. Baker in 1854, took charge of the business. He was active in the organization of the Free-Soil party in Massachusetts in 1848; was a representative in the state legislature, 1860-62 and 1866; was a member of the Boston board of aldermen, 1870-71, mayor of Boston in 1873 and 1878, and a Republican representative from the third Massachusetts district in the 43d and 44th congresses, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Whiting, and serving from December, 1874, to March 4, 1877. In 1884 he helped to organize an independent movement to support Grover Cleveland for president, and thereafter acted with the Democratic party. After numerous bequests to charitable and other public institutions, aggregating $600,000, and including $50,000 each to Harvard university, the Massachusetts General hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Massachusetts Homoeopathic hospital, he transferred his valuable farm adjoining the Blue Hills reservation to the Boston Park commissioners to be added to the park lands of the city, and bequeathed the residue of his estate to be divided among the five beneficiaries first named. He was never married. He died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 17, 1896.

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