Page:One of a thousand.djvu/390

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j/ 1 LILLY, LILLY. Manufacturing Company for some years. Subsequently he studied law in the office of Hon. A. P. Bonney, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar. Mr. Lilley is connected with the Masonic order, being a member of Kilwinning I odge. He was chairman of the board of aldermen, Lowell, in 1879 I member of the state Senate in i88o,and re-elected in 1881, serving in the two years on the committees on the judiciary, probate and chancery, bills in the third reading (chairman), and on the joint special committee on the re- vision of the statutes. He was a member of the executive coun- cil of Governor Robinson in 1884 ; was again a member of the Senate in 1886, serving on the committees on the judiciary, rules (chairman), street railways, the joint spei ial committee on re-districting the State, and the joint special committee on the revision of the judicial system of the Commonwealth. He was appointed special justice of the police court of Lowell, and resigned the position when elected to the Senate in 1 886. Mr. Lilley was nominated for congres- sional honors in 1882 and '84, but being the Democratic nominee in a strongly Republican district, he, of course, suffered defeat. It is to be regretted that the ar- rangement of political districts and the inherited discipline of party lines should debar the State from the intelligent and valuable service of such men as Mr. Lilley. He has evinced, in positions of responsi- bility, an unswerving loyalty to pure and honorable political methods, has displayed a clear comprehension of the true functions of government ; and by his own brave and manly career, has illustrated anew the dig- nity and worth of conscientious and honor- able citizenship. Mr. Lilley is unmarried, and his resi- dence is Lowell. lilly, Alfred Theodore, son of Al- fred and Jerusha (Swift) Lilly, was born at Mansfield, Tolland county, Conn., April 15, [813. He attended the district school of his native town both summer and winter ses- sions, until the age of twelve, and from twelve to seventeen, in the winter only. Upon leaving school he worked for his father until the age of twenty-one, in learn- ing the manufacture of screw-augers and auger-bits. After attaining his majority, he continued with his father for one year as journeyman. At that time, his father failing: in business, he started in the same line on his own account at Mansfield, with- out any capital. But his health failing him, after seventeen years of close application, he became superintendent of the Rixford & Butler Silk Manufacturing Company at Mansfield Centre. With this company he remained one year. His next business en- terprise was to settle in Providence, R. L, as a retail grocer, which business he con- tinued for two years. In the spring of 1853 he removed from Providence to Florence Village, North- ampton, taking sole charge of the Nono- tuck Silk Company, manufacturers of sew- ing silk and machine twist — Hill & Hinck- ALFRED T, LILLY. ley, proprietors. In 1858 this firm was in- corporated as the Nonotuck Silk Company, of which Mr. Lilly became a stockholder, and in 1865 acting treasurer. This office he held until January 1, 1887, when he re- tired from business, owing to a second fail- ure of health. In the state of Connecticut all able- bodied men were formerly required to do military duty from the age of eighteen to forty-five. Alfred T. Lilly was early ap- pointed on the colonel's staff as quarter- master sergeant, and subsequently became drum-major. He is an honorary life mem- ber of Win. L. Baker Post 86, ('.. A. R., to whose treasury he has been a generous