William Alexander Gaston (Boston, MA)
William Alexander Gaston (May 1, 1859 – July 17, 1927)
Biography
- Name: William Alexander Gaston
- Birth: May 1, 1859 Massachusetts
- Death: July 17, 1927 Killingly Center, CT
- Buried Jamaica Plain, Suffolk Co., MA
- Father was Governor of Massachusetts
- Harvard classmate of Teddy Roosevelt
Early life and family
William A. Gaston was born May 1, 1859. At the time of his birth, his father, William Gaston, was just about to become Mayor of Roxbury; later he became successively Mayor of Boston, member of the Legislature, then of the State Senate and then Governor of Massachusetts. The boy was born in the family homestead In Linden Park, Roxbury, which adjoined the estate of his mother's father, Laban Smith Beecher. Laban Beecher was a New Haven man, and was said to have been the man who carved the figure-head of the Constitution, a figure of Andrew Jackson, which was sawed off in the night by Sam Dewey, an indignant Whig. This Beecher family came from Kent, England and three generations back had a common ancestry with the family of Lyman Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher. Col. Gaston's father's father was Alexander Gaston, who was born at Voluntown, Connecticut, Aug 2, 1722. He lived at Killingly, Connecticut, when William Gaston, Col Gaston's father, was born. He moved to Roxbury in 1838 and died there in 1856. William Gaston was sixth in line of a Hugenot named Jean Gaston, who moved from France to Scotland during the religious troubles of the 11th century. His son, John, born in Scotland, went to Antrim, Ireland and a grandson, another John, came to Marblehead at some date between 1720 and 1730. He soon went to Connecticut. His son, John, was born in 1750, became justice of the peace and a member of the Connecticut Legislature, leaving a son, Alexander, Col. Gaston's grandfather.
Col. Gaston’s father was Mayor of Boston at the time of the great fire in 1872, and refused to order the blowing up of buildings because he had no warrant in law to do so. When, later, he became the first Democratic Governor of the State after the Civil War, he entered on another delicate position, but left office with the respect of everybody on the Hill. He died at his home on Marlborough Street in 1894.
William Alexander Gaston went first to a private school built originally by his grandfather Beecher for the education of his own children. Later the boy attended the Washington Grammar School in Roxbury and entered Roxbury Latin School in 1870, graduating in 1876. In school he developed a good deal of ability in athletics and enough scholarship to get by creditably. He was chosen captain of the school regiment and was especially known for his loyal friendships and his frank and open enmities. He was in the class of 1880, Harvard, of which Theodore Roosevelt also was a member. Others in that class were Robert Winsor, head of the banking house of Kidder, Peabody & Company, and Robert Bacon, partner In the Morgan banking company. Gaston as a young. man excelled in sparring wrestling, baseball, and running and became the middle weight boxer of Harvard, The story of how he defeated the redoubtable Ramon Guiteras in three, 10-minute rounds, with a future president of the United States for his second, was a Harvard saga. After graduation he studied law and entered the office of his father’s firm having as a partner later a Harvard classmate, Richard Saltonstall. In the reorganization of traction lines and as bank president, he won financial fame. He had large executive ability and by common agreement would have been an excellent governor. To obtain that position, he thrice submitted his cause to the arbitrament of the ballot, but without avail. He did not have the magnetism or personal popularity of Billy Russell. His taciturnity worked against him, but he took high rank as a citizen and as a man.
Col Gaston was married April 9, 1892 to Mary Davidson Lockwood. They had four children, Ruth, William, John, and Hope. The family's residence was at 97 Bay State road, the Summer home in the Fox Island group at North Haven on the coast of Maine, and the country home was the 15,000-acre farm at Barre.
Career highlights
He entered the Harvard Law School after receiving his AB in 1880, was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1883 and straightway went into his father's law office and took up the work of Mr. Whitney, his father's partner, whose health had failed. He later organized the law firm of Gaston, Snow and Saltonstall, later Gaston Snow, Saltonstall and Hunt.
Col. Gaston won a reputation as an excellent jury lawyer before the force of circumstances made him give up court work for office work and corporation business; this work continued until 1896 when the group of street railways that furnished transportation for Boston were in bad trouble. A reorganization was made, and in 1897, the presidency of the newly formed Boston Elevated was offered to Mr. Gaston, who took it, put the road on business basis, reduced fares, raised wages and improved the service. This done, he resigned the presidency of the road on October 1, 1901. He was an overseer of Harvard University for six years. The following year he became candidate for Governor after a spirited contest for the nomination with Charles S. Hamlin. The Republicans nominated John L. Bates and then raised the cry that the contest was between a rich man and a poor lawyer. That year was the year of the coal strike which was settled by President Roosevelt; the Democratic party had been going to pieces ever since the days of William E. Russell, and Col. Gaston was so meticulous about making promises before election which he felt he might be unable to keep, that his election was impossible. He was not a spell-binder. But he did build his party organization to effectiveness which was the sort of job he was doing all his life. In the following year he failed to gain nomination; in 1904 he supported W.L. Douglas, who was said to have offered him the post of Judge Advocate General on his staff, with the rank of brigadier. The appointment was never made. In 1905 he was nominated by the Democrats in the Legislature to succeed Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and in the Presidential campaign of that year he was sent as a delegate to the national convention to support Richard Olney for President. He weathered many a storm in the Democratic State and national committees, and has been active in politics practically all his, adult life. His rank of colonel was the result of having served on the staff of Gov. William E. Russell. His intense activity, however, did not mean he was just a professional politician. He had been a practicing lawyer, a trustee for big estates, a real estate operator, a banker and financier, and president of the Boston Elevated at a time when holding that office really meant building the Elevated system.
Gaston was a founding director of the National Shawmut Bank in 1898. On May 2, 1907, he was elected president of the bank, which by then was the largest in New England. He successfully led the bank through the Panic of 1907 and remained president until 1917 and then served as chairman of the board until 1923. In banking as in politics, he was known as a good trader, prompt to demand all that was just, sure to keep his word.
Col Gaston became interested in farming and set up at Barre a farm that produced and sold its produce. He won a number of championships with his Killingly strain of cows. He was interested in a number of corporations and had interests in Canada. Besides the National Shawmut Bank, he was a director of the Second National Bank of Barre, president of the Boylston Market Association and the Killingly Trust Company, a director of the Windham County National Bank at Danielson, Connecticut, of the Gillette Safety Razor Co., the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Co., and the Rockland National Bank. He was named by Mayor James M. Curley as trustee of the Boston Public Library in 1923. He resigned as a director of the National Shawmut Bank in 1925.
In 1922 and again in 1926, he would again be drafted by his party to run for the U.S. Senate and governorship, respectively, but was unsuccessful in both attempts.
Later life and death
On April 5, 1927, Col. and Mrs. Gaston sailed for Europe on a vacation. Shortly before their return on July 10 he developed symptoms of the disease which ultimately resulted in his death. After returning from the trip, Col. Gaston went to the Phillips House of Massachusetts General Hospital for an examination, which revealed he was suffering from cancer. He came to his Summer home in Barre shortly thereafter. Since then his condition had become more critical and his immediate family was with him constantly.
Early on the morning of July 17, 1927, Col. William A. Gaston, prominent in Democratic politics for many years and equally well known in banking and legal circles, died at his home in Barre following a short illness. At his bedside when he passed away were his wife, two sons, William and John, and his two daughters, Mrs. C.C. Felton and Mrs. John K. Howard of Boston.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, William A. Gaston was involved with the following banks:
- Fidelity Trust Company of Boston: Incorporator 1895
- Second National Bank of Barre, MA (Charter 10165): Director
- Boylston Market Association: President
- Killingly Trust Company, Danielson, CT: President 1914...1921
- Windham County National Bank at Danielson, CT (Charter 1360): Director 1914...1921
- National Rockland Bank of Roxbury, MA (Charter 615): Director
- National Shawmut Bank, Boston, MA (Charter 5155): President 1907-1917, Chairman of the Board 1918-1923
Sources
- William A. Gaston on wikipedia
- William Alexander Gaston on Findagrave.com
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- The Bankers Magazine, Vol. 77, July 1908-Dec. 1908, pp 627-628.
- Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Thu., Feb. 21, 1895.
- The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Mon. July 18, 1927.
- The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, MA, July 23, 1927.