Joseph Whitehead (May 20, 1823 – November 18, 1912) was an English-American grocer and politician who served one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Joseph Whitehead | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 13th Essex District | |
| In office 1878–1878 | |
| Preceded by | Francis E. Batchelder |
| Succeeded by | Dudley Bradstreet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 20, 1823 Yorkshire |
| Died | November 18, 1912 (aged 89) Charlton, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Sarah M. Townsend (1849–1867; her death) |
| Occupation | Grocer |
Personal life
editWhitehead was born on May 20, 1823, in Yorkshire.[1] He immigrated to the United States in 1845.[2] He resided in California and Milton, New Hampshire, before moving to Saugus, Massachusetts, in 1847.[2][3] In 1849 he married Sarah M. Townsend, an English-born woman residing in Saugus, Massachusetts. They had 5 children, 4 of whom died during infancy. Sarah Whitehead died on February 28, 1867.[3]
Business career
editAfter moving to Saugus, Whitehead worked as a spinner.[4] In 1858 he purchased Saugus' First Parish Church, moved it three rods north from its original location in the Saugus Center rotary, and opened a grocery store.[5] In 1886 he was an incorporator of the Saugus Water Company, which was created to provide the town with water for home use and extinguishing fires.[6] He also owned an automobile garage near the Saugus Center railroad station.[7]
Politics
editWhitehead served as Saugus' town treasurer for many years and was also an overseer of the poor and bondsman to the defaulting collector.[2][8] In 1877, he defeated fellow Saugonian Augustus B. Davis by fourteen votes to represent the 13th Essex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Whitehead, a member of the Democratic Party, was able to win in a traditionally district that Republican Alexander H. Rice won by 118 votes in that year's gubernatorial election. In a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe, George M. Amerige of Saugus blamed Davis' defeat on Whitehead supporters who spread the false rumor that Davis was an alcoholic in the towns where the candidates were not well known.[9]
Death
editWhitehead died on November 18, 1912, at the Masonic Home in Charlton, Massachusetts, at the age of 89. At the time of his death he was Saugus' oldest resident.[2]
References
edit- ^ Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1878. Boston: Wright & Porter. 1878. p. 593. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Oldest Saugus Man Dead". The Boston Daily Globe. November 19, 1912.
- ^ a b Hayward, Silvanus (1881). History of the Town of Gilsum, New Hampshire From 1752 to 1879. Manchester, NH: John B. Clarke. p. 405. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ Vital Records of Saugus, Massachusetts To the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute. 1907. p. 62. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ Atherton, Horace H. (1915). History of Saugus, Massachusetts. Citizens Committee of the Saugus Board of Trade. p. 30. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Years 1882, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, '88. Wright & Porter: Boston. 1889. p. 882. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ Interstate Automobile Register and Tourists' Guide. Worcester, Massachusetts: F. S. Blanchard & Company. 1905. p. 213. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ "Saugus' Defaulting Collector". The New York Times. November 20, 1888.
- ^ Amerige, G. M. (November 15, 1877). "Unscrupulous Tactics of Some Democrats in the Thirteenth Essex Representative District". The Boston Daily Globe.