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 STETS( >N. STETSON. 577 the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. i868-'72-'76. In 1865 he was made president of the Lawrence University, of Wisconsin, where he remained till 1S79. Since that time he has been principal of the Wesleyan Acad- emy, Wilbraham. Mr. Steele was married July 1, 1S52, to Susan Jane, daughter of John and Lydia (Snow) Swift, of Provincetown. He has one child living : George Francis Steele, having lost two daughters, Lillian and Harriet. Mr. Steele is a member of the Wiscon- sin Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters; a member and councilor of the American Economic Association ; a member and vice-president of the Connecticut Valley Association and also of the American Insti- tute of Civics ; and a member of the board of visitors to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. (1871). He traveled in Europe in 1873. He is the author of " Outlines of Bible Study " and " Outline Study of Political Economy," and has written largely for reviews, maga- zines and other periodicals. STETSON, George fobes, son of George Fobes and Chloe Murdock (Bon- ney) Stetson, was born in Hanson, Plym- outh county, April 11, 1833. His early education was obtained at the common schools, and by three terms, at- tendance in the Hanover Academy. From early life he devoted his attention to the trade of shoemaking until within two years, when he changed his vocation to farming, in which he is now interested. On the 3d of December, 1861, at Han- son, Mr. Stetson was married to Dorothy Brown, daughter of Hervey and Ruth T. (Reed) Dyer. Their children are : Flor- ence D. and George H. Stetson. In 1861, '62, '79, and 'S3, Mr. Stetson was sent as a representative to the state Legis- lature, and has served upon the school committee for a number of years. For five years from 1862 he was assis- tant United States assessor for the 10th division of the 2d district of Massachu- setts. He still resides at his birthplace, where he is well known and respected by a large circle of friends. STETSON, NAHUM, the son of Abisha and Alice (Allen) Stetson, was born in East Bridgewater, Plymouth county, Au- gust 21, 1807. His early education was received in the district schools of those days, supplemented by two terms in Bridgewater Academy. He taught a country school before he was of age. In 1825 he began work with the Bridge- water Iron Works, at fifty dollars per year. In 1835, on the death of Nathan Lazell, he was elected agent and treasurer of the Bridgewater Iron Company, and in 1841 of the Weymouth Iron Company, both of which offices he held till 1886 ; from 1844 to '46 he was agent and treasurer of the Tre- mont Iron Company, of Wareham, where the first railroad iron was made in New England; from 1846 to '86, agent and treas- urer of the Parker Mills, of Wareham. For several years he was a director, and two years president, of the Taunton Locomo- tive Works. For about twenty years he was a director and president of the Dean Cotton Machine Company, of Taunton. For twenty years from 1854, he was presi- dent of the Providence Iron Company, of Providence, R. I., and was a director of the Bristol County Bank in Taunton, from 1835 to '54, and president one year. He was one of the original directors of the Fall River Railroad, also the Cape Cod R. R. until the union with the Old Colony. Mr. Stetson was married in Hanson, November 13, 1828, to Sarah Wilson, daughter of Rev. George and Sarah Bar- stow. Of this union were four children : George Barstow, Sarah L., Nahum, Jr., and William Butler Stetson. His second mar- riage was with Lucy A. F. Barstow, sister of his first wife, to whom were born two chil- dren: Lucy Ann and Helen Forester Stetson. Mr. Stetson once yielded to the oft-re- peated calls to public duty, and allowed himself to be sent as a representative to the General Court in 1838, '39, and '40. A life-long devotion to his business, however, has not prevented his maintaining a lively interest in the affairs of his native town of Bridgewater, where he has always resided, and where he has so long been an honored and conspicuous citizen. STETSON, THOMAS M., son of Rev. Caleb and Julia Ann (Meriam) Stetson, was born in Medford, Middlesex county, June 15, l8 3°- He was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1849, and from the Dane law school, Harvard University, in 1S52. He began law practice with Hon. Thomas D. Eliot in New Bedford, and was subse- quently connected with Hon. Robert C. Pitman, now associate justice of the supe- rior court. Later on he was associated with Francis B. Greene, Lemuel L. B. Holmes, and Eliot D. Stetson, his son.