History of Hallowell, (Kennebec County) Maine United States of America

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Biographies:

Horatio Oliver Ladd, educator, was born in Hallowell, Maine, Aug. 31, 1839; son of Gen. Samual Greenleaf and Caroline (Vinal) Ladd; grandson of Dudley and Bethala (Hutchins) Ladd, and a descendant of Daniel Ladd, who came from London in the Mary and Jane, and was one of the first settlers of Ipswich, Mass., 1634. He was graduated from Bow(loin college in 1859; was principal of an academy at Farmington, Maine, 1859-61, and was graduated from Yale Divinity school in 1863. He was pastor of the Congregational church and professor of rhetoric and oratory at Olivet college, Olivet, Mich., 1868-69; pastor at Romeo, Mich., 1869-73; and principal of the State normal school, Plymouth, N.H., 1873-76. In 1881 he founded the University of New Mexico, at Santa F?, N.M., and was its president until 1889, when the territorial legislature incorporated and endowed the State University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M. He founded the Ramona Indian school and the U.S. Indian school at Santa F?, New Mexico, and was appointed and confirmed by the U.S. senate as supervisor of the census of New Mexico, in 1889, which office he resigned in 1890. He was pastor of the Congregational church, Hopkinton, Mass., 1890-91. In 1891 he took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church, and was rector of Trinity church, Fishkill, N.Y., until 1896, when he accepted the rectorship of Grace church, Jamaica, Long Island, N.Y. He was married, Aug. 6, 1863, to Harriet Vaughan, daughter of John S.C. Abbott, D.D., of Fair Haven, Conn. He is the author of: The Memorial of John S. C. Abbott (1878); The War with Mexico (1881); Ramona Days (1889); The Story of New Mexico (1891); The Fouding of the Episcopal Church in Dutchess County, N.Y. (1895), and many contributions to periodicals.

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

Samual Vaughan Merrick, philanthropist, was born in Hallowell, Maine, May 4, 1801; son of John and Rebecca (Vaughan) Merrick, and grandson of Samuel Vaughan, a London merchant. John Merrick was educated for the Unitarian ministry, came from England in 1798, and settled in Hallowell Maine, where he married and led a life of leisure, and received the honorary degree of A.M. from Bowdoin college in 1807. Samuel Vaughan Merrick attended the public schools of Hallowell, removed to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1816, and entered the employ of his uncle, Samuel Vaughan, a wine merchant. He resigned his position in 1820, and studied mechanical engineering. He engaged in manufacturing improved fire engines under the firm name of Merrick & Agnew, and introduced his steam fire engines into Philadelphia. He was married, Dec. 25, 1823, to Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel Thomas, of Philadelphia. In 1835 he established the Southwark Iron foundry in Philadelphia with Mr. Towne, who retired in 1849, when he took into partnership his eldest son, J. Vaughan Merrick. The firm continued as Merrick & Son, and after 1852 as Merrick & Sons, which title it retained after he retired in 1860. He built the iron lighthouses erected along the Florida reefs, which included some of the largest in the world. His firm also constructed steam hammers, sugar refining apparatus and the machinery of the U.S.S. Mississippi, Princeton, San Jacinto, Wabash and numerous others. The most notable achievement of the firm, however, was the construction of the New Ironsides, the first armor-clad war vessel ever built. He was a member of the city council when the matter of introducing illuminating gas was before that body, and was commissioned to visit Europe in 1834 to examine into and report the method of its manufacture. On his return he superintended the building of the Philadelphia gas-works, which were completed in 1837. He was the first president of the Pennsylvania railroad, 1846-49; of the Sunbury and Erie railroad, 1856-68; and was influential in establiShing the Catawissa railroad on a firm basis. He was a founder and for many years president of the Franklin Institute and of the Union League club, a member of the American Philosophical society, 1833-70, and gave large sums to the sanitary commissions, and to the cause of education in the south. He enerected and endowed the Episcopal hospital and aided in the erection of the Episcopal residence. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 18, 1870.

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

Joseph R. Bodwell, governor of Maine, was born at Methuen, Mass., June 18, 1818. His family were in such straitened circumstances that at the age of eight he began to earn his own living; thus his education was almost wholly self-acquired. He was always scrupulously honest in all his dealings, but was keen, business-like and persevering, and succeeded in acquiring considerable wealth. In 1852 he began the business of quarrying granite in Penobscot Bay, enlarging his works year by year; in 1870 opening quarries in Hallowell, from which he realized large profits. He was elected to the state legislature a number of terms, and in 1886 was chosen governor of Maine by the Republican party. It is said that he gave in charity an average of one hundred dollars per day. He died at Hallowell, Me., Dec. 15, 1887.

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

Henry Theodore Cheever, author, was born in Hallowell, Me., Feb. 6, 1814; son of Nathaniel and Charlotte (Barrell) Cheever. He was graduated from Bowdoin college in 1834, and spent two years in Spain, France, and Louisiana as correspondent of the New York Evangelist. On his return he entered the Bangor Theological seminary and was graduated in 1839. He was correspondent of the New York Evangelist, 1840-42, in the Sandwich and the South Sea Islands, and on returning home was for a year one of its editors and regular contributors. He was pastor at Jewett City, Conn., and Worcester, Mass., 1844-58, and agent and secretary of the church antislavery society, 1859-64. In 1892 Bowdoin college conferred upon him the degree of D.D. His books are principally biography and travel, and include: The Whale and its Captors (1849); The Island World of the Pacific (1851); Memorials of the Life and Trials of Nathaniel Cheever, M.D. (185l); Life in the Sandwich Islands (1851); Autobiography and Memorials of Captain Obadiah Cougar (1851); Short Yarns for Long Voyages (1855); Waymarks in the Moral War with Slavery between the Opening of 1859 and the Close of 1861 (1862); Autobiography and Memoirs of Ichabod Washburn (1878), and Correspondencies of Faith and Views of Madame Guyon (1885). He edited Colton's Ship and Shore in Madeira, Lisbon and the Mediterranean. He died in Worcester, Mass., Feb. 13. 1897.

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