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 244 GARGAN. GASTON. LL. B. He read law in the office of Hon. Henry W. Paine. His first business connection was in the dry-goods store of Wilkinson, Stetson & Co., Boston, agents for A. & W. Sprague, and the house of Hoyt, Sprague & Co., having charge of the Boston house when twenty years of age. In 1863 he responded to the call of the government for troops, and was mustered into the United States service, commis- sioned 2d lieutenant, receiving at the expiration of his service an honorable dis- charge. His present occupation is that of coun- selor-at-law in Boston. In 1868, '70 and '76 he was a member of the lower branch of the Legislature, a member of the board of overseers of the poor in 1875, chairman of the board of license commissioners in 1877-78, and a member of the board of police in i.SSo-'Si. At Boston in September, 1868, Mr. Gar- gan was married to Catherine L., daughter of Lawrence and Catherine McGrath. THOMAS J. GARGAN. Mr. Gargan was president of the Chari- table Irish Society in 1873 and '74. He delivered the Fourth of July oration in Boston, in 1885, and also the oration at the centennial of the Charitable Irish Society of Halifax, N. S., in 1886. Mr. Gargan takes an active interest in politics and tariff reform, and has already made for himself an honorable record. His methods are in agreeable contrast to many prevalent in strictly party work, and his intelligent and eloquent advocacy of the vital questions of the hour betoken for him a brilliant future on a plane even higher than that on which he has already acquired so enviable a reputation. GASKILL, Francis Almon, son of Albert and Anna (Comstock) Gaskill, was born in Blackstone, Worcester county, January 3, 1846. His early education was obtained in the common schools of his native town, and his preparation for college was completed in the Woonsocket high school. He was graduated from Brown University, R. I., in the class of 1866. He read law in the office of Ib>n. George F. Verry of Worces- ter, finished his preliminary law studies in the Harvard law school, and was admitted to the bar in Worcester, March 3, 1869. He remained with Mr. Verry in the prac- tice of law until the death of the latter in 1883, since which time he has continued the business on his own account. Mr. Gaskill was married in Providence, R. I., October 20, 1869, to Katharine M., daughter of Anthony and Ann (Dean) Whitaker. She died January 25, 18S9, leaving two children : Mary M. and George A. Gaskill. Mr. Gaskill was a member of the Wor- cester common council, 1875-76, and has been district attorney of the Massachusetts middle district from 1887 to the present time. He was director of the Worcester free public library, 187S to '84, and from 1SS6 to '89, in which latter year he was president of the board. He has been trus- tee of the Worcester Academy from 1876 to date, and of Brown University since 1888 ; director of the Worcester Natural History Society since 1882, and trustee of the People's Savings Bank, Worcester, since 1884, and director of the Slate Mutual Life Assurance Co. since January, 1889. GASTON, WILLIAM, son of Alexander and Kezia (Arnold) Gaston, was born at Killingly, Windham county, Conn., October 3, 1820. Springing from an ancestry combining the characteristics of the French Hugue- nots and the Scotch Presbyterian on his father's side, and the early Pilgrim settler on that of his mother, it is not surprising to find in Mr. Gaston a strong man. His father was a well-known merchant of Con-