History of Worcester, (Worcester County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

George Smiths Blake, naval officer, was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1803. He entered the United States navy at the age of fifteen as midshipman on board the ship of the line Independence. He was next assigned to the schooner Alligator and aided in the capture of a ship from Portugal, returning to the United States as her commander. On March 3, 1827, he was coommissioned lieutenant and served in the West Indian squadron, in the Philadelphia navy yard, and on the coast survey. In 1846 he received a commendatory letter from the secretary of the navy for his wise action during a severe storm off Florida, and the following year became commander. His next promotion was Sept. 4, 1855, when he was made captain. In 1858 he was appointed superintendent of the naval academy at Annapolis, and when the academy was temporarily removed to Newport, in 1861, Secretary Welles requested that Captain Blake remain in charge. When the national stores at Annapolis were in danger of being confiscated by the Confederates, the prompt and wise action of Captain Blake prevented the capture and he remained in command of the naval academy until 1866. He was pro-rooted commodore July 16, 1862, and served as light-house inspector from 1866 to 1869. He died in Longwood, Mass., June 24, 1871.

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

George Bosworth Churchill, educator, was born in Worcester, Mass., Oct. 24, 1866; son of Ezra and Myra (Bosworth) Churchill; grandson of Isaac Churchill, and a descendant of John Churchill, who landed in Plymouth, Mass., in 1648. He was graduated from Amherst college in 1889 and taught Greek, Latin and English in the Worcester, Mass., high school until 1892. He was teacher of English at the Penn charter school, Philadelphia, Pa., 1892-94, and then went abroad to study at the German universities, taking his Ph.D. degree in English at the University of Berlin in 1897. He returned to the United States in August, 1897, and accepted the professorship of English in the Cosmopolitan university, Irvington, N.Y., but exchanged it in January, 1898, for the position of assistant editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine. Here he remained till the following April, when he accepted the chair of logic, rhetoric and public speaking at Amherst college. He was married Aug. 24, 1893, to Mabelle Ellen Whittier of Worcester.

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

Andrew McFarland Davis, author, was born in Worcester, Mass., Dec. 30, 1833; son of John and Eliza (Bancroft) Davis. His father was governor of Massachusetts and U.S. senator, and his mother a sister of George Bancroft, the historian. He was graduated from Harvard S.B. in 1854, was admitted to the bar in 1859 and practised in Worcester for a few years, when he joined his brother Horace in San Francisco, Cal., engaging with him in manufacturing. He was elected a fellow of the American academy of sciences. Harvard conferred upon him the degree of A.M. in 1893. He published: Journey of Moncacht-Ap? (1883); Indian Games (1886); An Historical Study of Law' s System (1887); Provincial Banks, Land and Silver (1895); and contributed several articles to Justin Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America.

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

Manton Marble, journalist, was born in Worcester, Mass., Nov. 16, 1834; son of Joel and Nancy Chapin (Coes) Marble, and a descendant of Deacon Solomon and Jerusha (Greenwood) Marble of Millbury Mass., through Samuel and Freegrace Marble of Marble Ridge, near Andover, Mass., and of Thaddeus and Lucy (Whitney) Chapin. Solomon Marble fought at Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown. Manton Marble was graduated at Albany academy, 1853; University of Rochester, 1855; was assistant editor of the Boston Journal, 1855-56; editor of the Boston Traveler, 1856-57; served on the staff of the Evening Post, 1858-60, and World, New York city, 1860-62, and was editor and proprietor of the World, 1862-76. He sustained the government, but opposed exorbitances of executive power, a federal revenue tax, the substitution of greenbacks for money, negro suffrage and the impeachment of the executive. He wrote the Democratic state platform in 1874, the Democratic national platform in 1876 and most of the platform of 1884. He supported the negotiations leading to the Washington Treaty and to the Geneva arbitration. He was sent to Europe in 1885 by President Cleveland as special envoy to confer with the governments of Great Britain, France and Germany, and reported the opposition of the British ministry to the resumption of free bi-metallic coinage as fatal to hopes for its adoption by the other powers. He gave early publicity in the United States to the writings of Herbert Spencer; was elected a member of the Century association in 1860; was a founder of the Manhattan club, 1865; was made an honorary member of the Cobden club, 1872, and the Round Table, 1878, and was president of the Manhattan club, 1884-89. He is the author of: The Presidential, Counts (1877); Notes on the Outlook on Life; being selections from private MSS. of Alexander Gardiner Mercer, S.T.D. (1899), and articles in the World under his own signature, including: Letters to Abraham Lincoln and A Secret Chapter of Political History (1878).

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