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SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 909
after which Mr. Sylvester purchased the business.
He continued to carry it on under the
old name, at times employing twenty workmen.
When the business of manufacturing
shoes was revolutionized by improved machinery
and his work ceased to be profitable
he disposed of his interest therein, in 1883,
and removed to Fall Eiver, where he engaged
in the manufacture of weavers' combs, etc., as
a member of the firm of C. F. Sylvester &
Co., being associated with James F. Davis. Later,
in 1889, he opened a general hardware
and sporting goods establishment on South
Main street, which in time was succeeded by
a lock and gunsmith business. In all his ventures
his ability and devotion to the management
of his affairs brought him success.
Mr. Sylvester in political matters is independent,
not being bound by party ties, but
voting for what he thinks are the best men
and issues. He is a member of no secret societies,
or organizations of any kind.
In 1864 Mr. Sylvester was married (first)
in Provincetown, Mass., to Louise Kilburn,
who died in 1869, the mother of two children:
Abbie Louise, who died at the age of twenty
years; and Frederick Oakes. Mr. Sylvester
was married (second) in 1874 to Georgiana
Davis.
(X) Frederick Oakes Sylvester, son of
Charles 'F. and Louise (Kilburn) Sylvester,
was born Oct. 8, 1869, in Brockton, Mass., and
was thirteen years of age when his parents
moved to Fall River. There he graduated from
the high school 'in 1888, and two years later
graduated from the Massachusetts Normal
Art School, in Boston. In 1891 he became
Director of the Art Department of the H.
Sophie Newcomb College, a part of Tulane
University, New Orleans. In 1893 Mr. Sylvester
was appointed as general instructor in
Art at the St. Louis high and normal schools,
and he is now head of the Art department of
the Central high school at St. Louis. Although
Mr. Sylvester spends a large part of his time
in teaching, he finds time for original creative
work. He has been exhibiting from time
to time and ha? gradually won a position in
the front rank of American landscape painters.
His first official recognition as an artist came
when he was elected to associate membership
in the Society of Western Artists in 1899. A
year later he became an active member, and
then for five years (1901-1906) he filled the
office of secretary and in 1907 occupied the
vice presidential chair. Mr. Sylvester has for
years been retary,
very active in the affairs of the St.
Louis Artists' Guild. In 1903 he became sec-
in 1904 vice president, and at present
he is the official head of that institution. Besides
this general recognition by his fellow artists,
he was awarded a bronze medal at the
World's Fair, in 1904, a silver medal at the
Portland Exhibition and the Fine Arts Building
Prize offered by the Society of Western
Artists in 1907. For the last ten or twelve
years Mr. Sylvester has devoted his talent to
the interpretation of the mystery, poetry and
beauty of "The Father of Waters," and has
become known nationally as "the painter poet
of the Mississippi." Several of his large mural
decorations of the great river are to be found
in important public buildings in St. Louis.
Mr. Sylvester married Florence Gerry, of
Fall River, and they have two children, Dorothy
Louise and Kilburn Gerry.
(IX) George Irving Sylvester, youngest
son of the late Frederick and LuCia (Soule)
Sylvester, was born July 31, 1851, in North
Bridgewater (now Brockton), and in the common
schools of that town acquired his schooling.
After leaving school he became a clerk
and salesman in the extensive lumber yards
of his uncle, the late Oakes Soule, and continued
a trusted employee there for a number
of years. On account of ill health he was
compelled to retire in about 1888, after which
until his death, which occurred at his home in
Brockton July 19, 1892, he was occupied in
looking after his real estate holdings, and as
agent for the Stockbridge Fertilizer Company.
In political views Mr. Sylvester was a Republican,
and in 1886, 1887 and 1888 was a member
of the common council of the city from
Ward Five. He and his family attended the
First Congregational Church, to which he gave
support.
On Dec. 27, 1874, Mr. Sylvester was united
in marriage to Laura Gibbs Fuller, of Plympton,
Mass., daughter of Solomon and Catherine
(Gibbs) Fuller, granddaughter of Ephraim
Fuller, of Plympton, and a descendant
of Samuel Fuller, who came to America in the
"Mayflower" in 1620. To this union have been
born children as follows: Cephas H., born
March 31, 1876, now engaged in the grocery
business in Brockton, married Edna C. Chandler,
of Brockton, and has three children, Irving
Elliott, Bemice Edna and Olive Chandler;
George Arthur, born July 18, 1877, superintendent
of the Nesmith Shoe Company at
Brockton, married Alice K. Snow; Walter
Everett died in infancy; Florence Mae, born
May 18, 1886, married John M. Foye, who
is assistant in the credit department of the
Churchill & Alden Shoe Company, of Brock-