MAWORCES-L Archives

From:
Subject: ALBERT W. TOLMAN, b. Lincoln, MA Dec. 23, 1808 d. Worcester Oct. 21, 1891 bio
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 21:20:54 EDT

History of Worcester and Its People
Volume 4
by Charles Nutt, A.B.
1919, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., NYC

Page 699. & 700.

ALBERT TOMAN, Carriage manufacturer, was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts,
December 23, 1808, baptized in the Concord church, December 25, 1808, died at his
home, Catherine Street, this city, October 21, 1891.

The TOLMAN line of ancestry is: ALBERT (7), ELISHA (6), JOHN (5), JOHN (4),
JOHN (3), JOHN (2), THOMAS (1). TOLMAN was born in England about 1608, and was
an early settler of Dorchester. ELISHA TOLMAN moved to Concord. ALBERT
TOLMAN was descended from many prominent families of Dorchester, including
NICHOLAS CLAPP, JOHN POPE, and LT. RICHARD HALL.
(See p. 160, Vol. 111 Genealogicial and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County,
1907).

The parents of ALBERT TOLMAN moved to Concord when he was quite young and he
attended the public schools there. He was twenty-two years old when he came
here. He engaged in business as a manufacturer of carriages in a building on
Exchange street, in partnership with SAMUEL L. HUNSTABLE, who died a few years
later, and afterward until about 1880, he continued alone, (this is incorrect
- he was in partnership after the death of HUNSTABLE with GEORGE WASHINGTON
RUSSELL of Worcester until RUSSELL bought him out abt. 1880, when the business,
formerly TOLAND & RUSSELL, became G. W. RUSSELL & SONS) building up a large
and flourishing trade ALBERT TOLMAN & COMPANY. The place of business was No. 10
Exchange Street. ALBERT TOLMAN devised the vehicle known as the jinrikisha
in Japan and made the first one in his shop here. The carriage was made for a
missionary, whose wife was an invalid. She had to be carried in a sedan chair
when in China. Rather reluctantly MR. TOLMAN complied with the missionary's
request that he build a vehicle that could be drawn by a man, for he was opposed
to anything that might add to the burden of the slave or the coolie. The
first jinrikisha was shipped to the west coast of Africa, where other
missionaries saw it and realized its value in such countries as China and Japan, where it
was soon afterward introduced and where it eventually came into universal
use. The carriage was made in 1846, and by 1854 the jinrikisha was very popular
in Japan and also in China.

Few men took a more active part than he in the development of Worcester from
a country village to a thriving city. He was one of the last Board of
Selectman of the town; member of the Common Council of the city; member of the School
Committee; representative of the General Court, in which he served on a
committee to revise the statutes and at one session cast the only vote in favor of
receiving a petition of the anti-slavery people. He was one of the charter
members and founders of the Worcester County Mechanics Association and was its
first secretary; one of the founders of Hope Cemetery and a commissioner from
the beginning to the time of his death; trustee of the Home for Aged Women and
also of the home for Aged Men from the time these institutions were organized
until he died. He was one of the original members of the Church of the Unity
and was a deacon for many years and at various times superintendent of the
Sunday school. He was a charter member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity
and at one time vice-president; member of the Worcester Lyceum and the Natural
History Society; one of the founders of the Worcester Free Public Library,
having the enviable distinction of offering the resolution establishing the
instiution while a member of the Common Counvcil, and later serving on the board of
trustees. He was one of the original members of the Book Club (See Book
club) and served as treasurer. he was one of the founders of the Reformatory for
Girls at Lancaster, served on the first board of governors and later as
treasuer.

Active in the anti-slavery movement, he was successful in preventing the
prejudice against negroes from gaining headway in the public schools. Believing
the Mexican War unrighteous, he refused to make wagons and ambulances for the
Government for use in that war. He was treasurer and disbursing agent of a
fund for the relief of widows and families of soldiers during the War for the
Union. He was one of the engineers of the famous Underground Railroad before the
war and his house and barn sheltered many escaping slaves on their way to
Canada. He was one of the founders of the Free Soil party and afterward a
Republican. To the end of his life he maintained his interests in politics. He was
turstee, vice-president and member of the board of investment of the
Worcester County Institution for Savings.

MR. TOLMAN married (first) April 2, 1839, LUSANNA R. HUNSTABLE, widow of his
partner, daughter of GARDNER and LUCY (COOK) WHITING. She was born May 27,
1813, died October 21, 1858. He married (second) August 1, 1861, OLIVE N.
FLAGG, born August 31, 1810, died October 10, 1874.

His children, all by his first wife were:

1) ALBERT HUNSTABLE, b. May 12, 1841, d. Oct. 3, 1841;
2) JAMES ALBERT, b. May 2, 1842, d. July 13, 1857;
3) MARY ELIZABETH, b. March 24, 1844, d. July 22, 1844;
4) MARY LUSANNA, b. Oct. 10, 1847, m. BENJAMIN N. BRADT;
5) EDWARD F. (see biography) B. June 13, 1850, d. 1910 m. EMILY ANN HEYWOOD;
6) SARAH LUCRETIA PIKE, b. Sept. 28, 1852, d. Dec. 26, 1857.

LUSANNA R. TOLMAN was descended from the early settlers of Massachusetts and
Plymouth. Among her ancestors were JAMES WHITON or WHITING, who came from
England to Hingham, Massachusetts before 1647; and FRANCIS COOK, who came in the
"Mayflower" to Plymouth.
===============================

This thread:

• ALBERT W. TOLMAN, b. Lincoln, MA Dec. 23, 1808 d. Worcester Oct. 21, 1891 bio by