of his father's shoe factory at an early age and
worked there for many years. He was subse-
quently promoted to a partnership and finally
became the head of tiie firm of Jenkins Lane &
Sons, which for many years was one of the
largest shoe companies in this section.

Mr. Lane during his early life took a promi-
nent part in town affairs and served in various
town offices. He was one of those who were in-
strumental in building tiic Hanover Branch
railroad and served for many years as a mem-
ber of the board of directors. He was also in-
terested for a number of years in the coal and
grain business now carried on under the name
of the Albert Culver Company. For many
years he was president of the Abington Nation-
al Bank and of the Rockland Savings Bank.
He was for forty-three years a member of the
First Congregational Church of his town and
for thirty years was parish treasurer of the so-
ciety. He was a deacon for twenty-one years
and superintendent of the Sunday-school for
about the same length of time.

Mr. Lane died at Hanson, Mass., Jan. 9,
1905, aged seventy-eight years. The funeral
services took place the following Thursday af-
ternoon at the residence of his brother, Alonzo
Lane, on South Union street, Rockland, Mass.
The services were conducted by Rev. Edgar C.
Wheeler, and the body was taken to Abington
for interment in Mount Vernon cemetery.
There were many handsome floral tributes.

On Dec. 22, 1845, Mr. Lane married Sarah
Ann Poole, who was born in Rockland, daugh-
ter of Micah H. and Sally (Hunt) Poole, and
died Jan. 7, 1897, at Longmeadow, Massachu-
setts.

(VIII) Zenas M. Lan?;, son of Jenkins and
Mehetabel Pratt (Jenkins) Lane, was born in
East Abington (now Rockland) Oct. 23, 1828.
He was educated in the public schools of the
town and at Andover Academy, and from an
early age was interested in the shoe manufac-
turing business with his father and brothers,
in what is now the town of Rockland, where
the firm of Jenkins Lane & Sons were the lead-
ing manufacturers. After the death of his
father he was similarly engaged in partnership
with his brother Richmond Jenkins Lane, un-
der the firm name of R. J. & Z. M. Lane, but
this continued for only a short time. Then he
became a partner with his brother Maj. Everett
Lane. In 1889 he withdrew from business and
has since led a retired life. Unassuming and
quiet, but genial and companionable, Mr. Lane
has made many friends of whose good will he is



keenly appreciative. PHs modest disposition,
however, has not prevented him from being a
good citizen or from helping his fellowmen
upon occasion, but he has never gone into any-
thing of a public nature. He is a Republican
in politics.

On Jan. 15, 1851, Mr. Lane married Emeline
Morse, daughter of Moses Morse, of Pawtucket,
R. I. Mrs. Lane died in Rockland Jan. 13,
1904.

(VIII) Aloxzo Lane, son of Hon. Jenkins
and Mehetabel Pratt (Jenkins) Lane, was born
April 12, 1835, in Abington, Mass., and was
educated in the public schools of the town.
When a young man he went into the shoe busi-
ness with his father and brothers under the
firm name of Jenkins Lane & Sons. He was
also for many years engaged in the leather busi-
ness in Boston as a member of the firms of
Lane, Pierce & Co., and A. & E. Lane, but re-
tired from that end of the shoe business many
years ago, and with' his brother, Everett Lane,
engaged in the tannery business at Sand Bank,
Altmar, N. Y. The tanneries w-ere destroyed
by fire a number of years ago and after that
time Mr. Lane withdrew to retired life. He
always took a deep interest in his native town,
and, while he never held office, he was always
ready with a pleasant word of encouragement
and always ready to help the town in any way
in liis power. He erected the large residence
on South Union street which he occupied for
many years. It was for years one of the best
in Rockland.

Mr. Lane married (first) Sept. 19, 1856,
Maria, daughter of Judson Smith, and they had
one child, Myra, who makes her home with her
step-mother and uncles, in Rockland, Mass.
Mr. Lane's second marriage was to Helen E.
Stetson, daughter of the late Martin S. Stet-
son, of Whitman, and they had one son, Jen-
kins Lane, now of San Francisco, Cal. Mr.
Lane died suddenly Sept. 18, 1907, at Long-
meadow, Mass. The body was returned to
Rockland for interment in Mount Vernon ceme-
tery, and the funeral services held from the
home of his brother, Zenas M. Lane, on Union
street, the Sunday afternoon following his
death, the officiating minister being Rev. Fred
Hovey Allen, of New York City, former pastor
of the First Congregational Church at Rock-
land.

(VIII) Ma.t. Eveuett Lane, son of the late
Hon. Jenkins and Mehetabel Pratt (Jenkins)
Lane, was born June 27, 1836, in East Abing-
ton, now Rockland, Mass. After being duly
educated he entered the boot and shoe manufac-
turing establishment of his father, and early



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



663



in the Civil war from the counting room went
to the defense of his country, enlisting Aug.
28, 1868, in Company G, 43d Regiment, Mas-
sachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He entered the
service as private, was chosen captain of the
company, and Oct. 20tli following promoted
to major of the regiment. Although direct
from the office on entering the service he soon
became proficient in military tactics and often
was selected to command the battalion on drill
while at Kewbern, N. C. He took part with
the regiment in the battles of Kinston, White-
hall, Goldsboro and Blount's Creek, in North
Carolina, and while in command of a portion
of the regiment at Springbank, near Golds-
boro, became the target for three successive
shots from a Rebel sharpshooter posted in a dis-
tant tree. A corporal and a private of Com-
pany E were shot at this place, and the body
of the corporal could not be recovered. In
July, 1863, Major Lane was provost marshal
of Harper's Ferry and vicinity, with head-
quarters at Sandy Hook, Md., but by reason of
expiration of his term of service returned home
with his regiment and was mustered out at
Readville, Mass., July 30, 1863. While the
regiment was on the way home to be mustered
out, and while at Baltimore, Md., Major Lane
with a portion of his regiment volunteered dur-
ing the Gettysburg campaign, to go to the front,
and were attached to the 6th Corps, Army of
the Potomac. Major Lane is a member of
Hartsuff Post, No.' 74, G. A. R., of Rockland,
which he joined in 1890, and of the Military
Order of the Loval Legion of the United
States.

After the war Major Lane went to New Or-
leans in the interest of the firm of Jenkins
Lane & Sons, being thus engaged for twelve
years. In 1877 he formed a partnership with
his brother Zenas M., under the firm name of
Z. M. & E. Lane, shoe manufacturers, and they
did business together until 1882, when he be-
came interested with his brother Alonzo in the
leather business. He remained in this line for
twelve years, having a tannery at Sand Bank,
N. Y., and during ten years of this time they
"had a wholesale place in Boston. He is now
living retired, making his home in Rockland.

On June 84, 1857, Major Lane married
Sarah S. Warne, daughter of William M.
Warne, of Washington, New Jersey.

STETSON. (I) Robert Stetson, commonly
called Cornet Robert, because he was cornet of
the first Horse Company raised in Plymouth
Colony in 1658 or 1659, tradition says came
from the County of Kent, England. He set-



tled in Scituate, Mass., in 1634, in which year
he received from the Colony court quite a large
^rant of land, lying on the North river. His
liouse stood ui>on a sloping plain, near the
bank of the river, and an unfailing and valuable
spring, which supplied him and his descend-
ants with water for two hundred and more
years, still marks the spot. Pope in his "Pio-
neers of Massachusetts" calls him a carpenter,
of Duxbury, and has him constable March 7,
1648-43, and a freeman of 1653. He was a
very enterprising man from the time of his
first settlement in the Colony, and was held
in high esteem by his townsmen and by the
Colony in general. In 1656 he built a sawmill
on what was then called "third Herring brook,"
which was burned by the Indians in 1676. He
was a deputy to the General Court seventeen
years between 1654 and 1678. He was chosen
a member of the Council of War in 1661, and
in 1681 he was holding that office. In the war
with Philip and other Indians of different
tribes he was an active officer and rendered
valuable assistance. He made his will Sept.
4, 1708, being aged, which will was probated
March 5, 1702-03, in which he bequeathed to
wife Mary, sons Joseph, Benjamin, Samuel and
Robert. His children baptized at the Second
Church of Scituate were : Joseph, born in June,
1639; Benjamin, born August, 1641; Thomas,
born Dec. 11, 1643; Samuel, born in June,
1646; John, born in April, 1648; Eunice, born
April 28, 1650; Lois, born February, 1652;
and Robert, born Jan. 8!), 1653.

(II) Robert Stetson (8), son of Robert, born
Jan. 89, 1653, married in 1676, Joanna Brooks,
and his house was burned by the Indians in
that same year. He seems to have lived in
what became the town of Pembroke ; the latter
became a separate town in 1712, when Robert
Stetson and his son Isaac were heads of fami-
lies there. Almost all the descendants of these
two heads of families continued to live in Pem-
broke and vicinity; and the familv has been a
noted one, from the fact that its members have
been very extensively engaged in' the iron busi-
ness, and yet rank among the foremost of those
engaged in this business in Plymouth county,
or even in Massachusetts. Robert's children
were: Isaac, Timothy, Resolved, Sarah, who
married Ebenezer Bennett, of Middleboro, and
Nathaniel.

(III) Isaac Stetson, son of Robert (2), mar-
ried and had children: Abisha, born about
1706; Nathaniel, born about 1708; John, born
about 1710; Janet, baptized March 23, 1729,
at the age of seventeen (married Benjamin
Thomas); Peleg, born in 1714; Jerusha, born



664



SOUTHEASTEEN MASSACHUSETTS



about 1718 (married Elisha Palmer) ; Agatha,
born about 1720 (married William Page) ;
Mary, born about 1722 (married Peleg West,
of Kingston).

(IV) Peleg Stetson, son of Isaac, born in
1714, married March 9, 1738, Mercy Ramsdell,
and lived in Abington, where he died in 1806,
aged over ninety years. His children were :
Isaac, born Aug. 23, 1738; Ephraim, born in
July, 1740, who died in April, 1743; Ephraim
(2), born March 28, 1743; Oliver, born in
1745; Levi, born in June, 1747; Betty, born in
April, 1749, who died young; Peleg, born in
April, 1751; Laban, born in August, 1753;
Betty (2), baptized Oct. 19, 1755; Hannah;
and Mercy.

(V) Ephraim Stetson, son of I'eleg, born
March 28, 1743, married Ruth Ford, and their
children were : Ephraim, Barnabas, Lydia
(married Daniel Barstow), Ruth (married
Ward Bates), and Mary (married Amos Ford).

(VI) Barnabas Stetson, son of Ephraim,
born April 27, 1775, married Oct. 10, 1802,
Lucy, daughter of Daniel and Betsej (Tilden)
Barstow, and lived in the town of Hanover,
Mass. Their children were: Amos, Lucy B.,
Martin S., Lydia, Julia Ann (married Samuel
Blake) and Barnabas. The father was a mem-
ber of the firm of B. & E. Stetson, his partner
being his brother, which firm carried on a large
mercantile business, operating stores at what is
now Rockland and Hanover Four Corners. He
was also extensively interested in other branches
of business — farming, brick manufacturing,
etc. He was an active, energetic business man.

(VII) Martin S. Stetson, son of Barnabas,
was born June 1, 1809, in East Abington, Mass.
He acquired his education in the district
schools of his native town and at the Bolton
(Mass.) Academy. At the age of twelve
years he began employment in the store of an
uncle in Hanover, Mass., with whom he con-
tinued several years until the death of a
brother made it necessary for him to return
home to assist his father. He remained at
home until he reached his majority, in the
meantime teaching winter school several terms
in East Abington and Hanover. In 1835, as-
sociated with Samuel Blake, Jr., he engaged in
the manufacture of boots and shoes, the firm
style being Stetson & Blake ; this was one of the
earliest firms so engaged in that vicinity. In
a few years this partnership was dissolved,
when Mr. Stetson carried on the business alone.
In 1840 he opened a store in Mobile, Ala., for
the sale of his product, this establishment being
in the charge of his brother, and through the
efforts of himself and brother, he going South



occasionally, an extensive business was devel-
oped in that section. From that time on until
the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Stetson went
South in the interest of the business there-
yearly, where he passed the greater part of each
year. He maintained a pleasant home at East
Abington, to which he returned each summer
during his long stay in the South, later re-
moving to South Abington, now Whitman, just
prior to the Civil war. As early as 1850 he
had associated with him in business James B.
Studley, of Hanover, to whom latterly the ac-
tive management of the business was entrusted.
Suffice it to say of the Southern end of the
business that the losses to the house incurred
by the war were into the hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars.

Mr. Stetson was extensively known in and
about Mobile, where his reputation as a busi-
ness man and citizen was high. After the close-
of the war he returned to Mobile, where he was
well received and again established himself in
business and again enjoyed the confidence and
esteem of his Southern friends, and as well
again built up an extensive business. This he-
turned the management of over to a son in
1869 and he himself retired from active busi-
ness. From 1861 to 1865 Mr. Stetson had a
branch store in St. Paul, Minnesota. -

Mr. Stetson traveled quite extensively in his
own country. In 1870, on the completion of
the Union Pacific railroad, he joined the first
organized excursion — that of the Boston Board
of Trade — over it to California, Yosemite Val-
ley, etc. At Mobile he was a member of the-
Presbjrterian Church of the city. He was a
director of the Abington National Bank. He-
was a strong temperance man; was president
of the first young men's temperance society or-
ganized in Plymouth county.

Aside from being an able and successful
business man, for which he was admired, he-
had a kindly, generous nature which appealed
to all who knew him and his friends were-
legion. Ever straightforward and honorable in
all of his business and social relations of life,,
he had the copfidence of all who came in contact
with him and who esteemed and respected him
for these virtues. He had an erect, manly'
bearing, and was dignified and commanding in
person.

On Nov. 14, 1836, Mr. Stetson was married
to Eliza A., daughter of John Thomas, of Troy,
N. Y., where her father held the office of
chamberlain. Their children were : John T.,
deceased; Amos Sumner, deceased; Helen E.,
widow of Alonzo Lane; Julia B., deceased;,
and Virginia A., deceased.




^2!l.=^y£^^>^:^^'-^^



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



665



GEORGE HOWARD TALBOT, founder of
the Norton Mills Company, now the Talbot
Wool Combing Company, Inc., and a well-
known and prominent citizen of Norton, is a
descendant of an old established family of Bris-
tol county, ancient and honored in England as
well as America.

In 1035 A. D. Hugh Talebot granted a
charter to Trinite du Mont, Rouen, Normandy,
and 1066 A. D. le Sire Talebot, a Norman
Rnight, went into England with William the
Conqueror and fought under him at Hastings ;
his name is on the roll of Battle Abbey. There
were peers among the English Talbots, and no-
bles, gentlemen, scholars, and men famed in
the wars. In 1442 John Talbot was created
first Earl of Shrewsbury. Among some of the
more distinguished American Talbots may be
mentioned Governor Talbot of Massachusetts,
and Bishop Ethelbert Talbot, of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, Pennsylvania.

Here in New England, in the now Common-
wealth of Massachusetts, appears at Taunton
one Jared or Garratt Talbot, who was there
married April 1, 1664, to Sarah Andrews,
probably daughter of Henry Andrews, of that
town, and their children were: Jared, born
March 20, 1667; Mary, born Dec. 14, 1671;
Samuel, born Feb. 29, 1676; Josiah, born Oct.
12. 1678; and Nathaniel, born Feb. 21, 1681..

Jared Talbot (2), son of Jared and Sarah
(Andrews) Talbot, born March 20, 1667, in
Taunton, married May 4, 1687, Rebecca Hatha-
way. Mr. Talbot seemingly from the records
bore the title of captain. He was one of the
proprietors of the South Purchase, territory
bought from the Indians in 1672. This addi-
tion to Taunton began to be permanently set-
tled just after King Philip's war, 1675-76,
and Capt. Jared Talbot was one of the very
earliest settlers in it, and contemporaneous
with him were Ephraim Hathaway, Edward
Babbitt and Nicholas Stephens, of whom the
first named had eleven children, the other two
nine each. Captain Talbot and hi? wife lost
their first child, a son born March 26, 1688,
who died within a few weeks. They then had
children: Nathan (born April 4, 1690), Jo-
siah, Jacob, John, Elizabeth, Seth, Rebecca,
Ebenezer, and others to the number of four-
teen in all, several of whom died in infancy.

Out of the territory just alluded to — the
South Purchase — came the town of Dighton,
which was incorporated in 1712. In the pre-
liminary work bringing the new town into ex-
istence and in its early history the name of
Capt. Jared Talbot appears frequently, evi-
dencing his activity and prominence in the



community. He was the second town clerk
of Dighton, the first having been Joseph Deane.
Captain Talbot was one of the leading men of
the settlement and one of the fifteen signers
of an agreement made in 1708 with the east
side of the river to build a separate meeting-
house and support their own minister. At that
time Assonet Neck was a part of Taunton,
having been annexed in 1677, and constituted
a part of the lands forfeited by King Philip.
It was purchased from the governmemt and was
annexed to Taunton in 1682, and in 1799 was
set off as Berkley. It became a part of Digh-
ton on the latter's incorporation. May 30, 1712.

From the early period alluded to — from the
very dawn of civilization in Dighton to the
present — the Talbots have been identified with
the history of the town. From Dighton came
the Norton branch of the Talbot family.

Joseph Talbot married Nov. 11, 1742, Ruth
Reed, born Nov. 3, 1727, daughter of George
and Sarah Reed. Their children were: Seth,
born Nov. 20, 1743; John, born July 17, 1745;
Hannah, born March 9, 1747; David, bom
Nov. 19, 1748; Marian, born May 25, 1750;
and Joseph, born in 1752.

Joseph Talbot (2), son of Joseph, married
in 1773 Sarah Luther, and they lived in Digh-
ton, Mass. Their children were : Joseph, born
Dec. 11, 1773, who died young; Rebecca, born
April 30, 1775; Susannah, born April 1, 1777,
who married Jonathan Hathaway, and died
Sept. 20, 1822; John, born May 10, 1779; Si-
mon, born April 15, 1781 ; Mary, born March
15, 1784; Luther, born Dec. 28, 1786; and
William, born Jan. 22, 1789. Joseph Talbot
married for his second wife Annie Hathaway
(intentions of marriage published March 18,
1802), and their children were born as follows:
Sally, May 13, 1803 ; Joseph, Oct. 5, 1809. The
father died April 25, 1821.

Joseph Talbot (3), son of Joseph (2) and
Annie (Hathaway), was born in the town of
Dighton Oct. 5, 1809. Here he grew to man-
hood and engaged in the occupation of farm-
ing in the Broad Cove district of Dighton. He
spent his life there . and died in 1859, being
buried in the Dighton cemetery. He married
in Dighton, Dec. 20, 1835, Mary Luther Pratt,
born Oct. 21, 1811, daughter of Lemuel and
Alma Pratt, and their children were: William
B., who followed the trade of mason, now re-
tired and residing in New Bedford ; James A.,
who resides on the homestead in Dighton;
Charles, who resides in Dighton; George How-
ard, who is mentioned below; Lemuel Pratt;
and Mary Ann, who married Benjamin Sim-
mons, and (second) a Mr. Knight, and resides



666



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



in Pawtucket, R. I. The mother died on the
homestead in 1863, and was buried in the
Dighton cemetery.

George Howard Talbot, son of Joseph (3)
and Mary L. (Pratt), was born March 17,
1846, in Dighton, Mass. He attended the com-
mon schools of his native town and supple-
mented this with a few sessions at a private
school in the nearby town of Somerset, taught
by Henry T. Buffington, a well-known teacher
of that section. His fatlier dying when he was
but twelve and his mother some four years
later, he was early in a manner thrown upon
his own resources, thus becoming self-reliant.
At the age of fifteen he found employment in
the Dighton Tack Works, where he was em-
ployed a few months. He then turned his at-
tention to the farm, hiring to Capt. Frank
Hathaway, who owned a farm in that section.
After a year in agricultural work he again
turned his attention to the factory, this time
engaging with the Dighton Woolen Company,
operated by Timothy Dunlap, and learned the
busmess of sorting wool. With this company,
saving an interval of several months, he con-
tinued until the destruction of the plant by
fire some three years later. During the four
months' interval alluded to above he was in
charge of a wool sorting establishment at Bux-
ton, Maine. Following the destruction of the
Dighton Woolen Mill he continued in the same
line of employment in Stillwater, R. I., and
also at Providence, Rhode Island.

In the autumn of 1867 Mr. Talbot came to
the town of Norton, where he assumed charge
of wool sorting for the concern of Williams &
Co., who were doing a small business in that
line at the Willis mills, on the Rumford river.
A year later the fii'm leased the property,
which stood on the sife^ of the present mill of
Mr. Talbot and was then known ,as the Cen-
tre mills. In 1869 Daniel S. Pratt & Co. of
Boston came into possession of the business of
Williams & Co., and at this time Mr. Talbot
first became an interested party in the con-
cern; this was a one-ninth share. He had had,
however, since June, 1868, entire charge of
the mills. The firm of Pratt & Co. was dis-
solved in January, 1870, and the business was
continued by Mr. F. Q. Story, former partner
of Mr. Pratt and Mr. Talbot, the former own-
ing two thirds and Mr. Talbot one third of
the business.

In February, 1872, Messrs. Story and Talbot
purchased the ground on which the mills are
now located, including all of the improvements
thereon. The business kept increasing as time
passed and it was not long ere it had outgrown



the accommodations, and in the year 1874 they
built a large addition to the plant and greatly
increased the equipment and working facilities.
In 1878, owing to failing health, Mr. Story
sold his interests to Mr. Talbot and from that
time on the latter has continued to be identi-
fied with the business, carrying it on alone un-
til he associated his sons with him. The busi-
ness was incorporated as the Norton Mills
Company, with George H. Talbot as treasurer,
and his son Walter H. as president and son
Francis S. as secretary.

In 1880 Mr. Talbot saw it was expedient to
the growing business to still further enlarge
the plant and he added thereto another three-
story building, and put in new and more mod-
ern machinery, by which was increased the
capacity for more rapid and effective work.
The power is furnished by a waterfall, with
an au.xiliary steam and electric power plant for
use in dry weather. The bxisiness is exclusively
wool washing and job work. Mr. Talbot was
one of the first engaged in the business and
when he commenced in this line here he was
alile, by hard work, to scour five bags of wool
a day, his work being done for the wool mer-
chants of Boston and Providence. At that
time his plant was one of the only two of the
kind in the country. In 1890 the establish -
ment was almost wiped out by fire, but two
years later he rebuilt, with a capacity of
7,000,000 pounds- yearly.

'J'he Norton Mills Company added another
byanch to the business, known as the making
of wool tops, and carding and combing. In
1909 the entire business was incorporated as
the Talbot Wool Combing Company, Inc., of
which Walter H. Talbot is president and