BLEAKIE. BLISS. 59 ness for himself. Fortune smiled upon his enterprise, and men having capital were anxious to co-operate with him in manufacturing. A number of Providence business men united to build a large woolen ROBERT BLEAKIE. mill, now known as the Riverside mill, of which Mr. Bleakie was to have the man- agement, and receive one-third of the profits. Before this was completed, how- ever, he became weary of the amount of red tape involved, and the slow progress made, and being offered the management of the Hyde Park Woolen Company's mill at Hyde Park, he accepted the position, which he retained until 1S73, when that mill was destroyed by fire. For the next two years he was employed as an expert, visiting and inspecting a number of mills in New England, till, in 1875, the founda- tion of the present firm of R. Bleakie & Co. was laid by Robert Bleakie, John S. Bleakie (his brother) and C. F. Allen associating themselves together and taking the Webster mill, Sabattus, Maine, subse- quently adding the Amesbury mills, and finally, in 1S78, purchasing and greatly enlarging the Hyde Park Woolen Com- pany's property. Probably no woolen manufacturing concern occupies a stronger or better position in the market than this company. Mr. Bleakie is emphatically a self-made man, having, without friends or influence other than such as he made for himself, advanced from a bobbin-boy to the envi- able position he now holds among out- most successful manufacturers. His own eventful career has made him an intelligent and earnest advocate of reform in, and reduction of, the present protective tariff, his letters in advocacy thereof, published during the last presiden- tial campaign in the " Boston Herald " and other papers, being yet fresh in the recol- lection of many. Mr. Bleakie's abilities have frequently been recognized by his associates and fel- low-citizens. At the present time he is president of the Hyde Park Savings Bank, also of the Hyde Park Water Company, chairman of the Hyde Park board of select- men, vice-president of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League, and one of the executive officers of the Woolen Goods Association of New York City. Mr. Bleakie was married in Shady I.ea, R. I., December 1, 1S60, to Isabella, daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth (Kidder) Hen- derson, who died December, 1880. Of this union were five children : Mary Eliza- beth, Robert Charles (deceased), Bessie B., William, and Isabella Bleakie (deceased). He was again married October 12, 1S82, at Attleborough, to Mary A., daughter of Abner and Emily L. Wetherell. They have one child : Eugene W. Bleakie. BLISS, William Dwight Porter, son of Rev. Edwin E. Bliss, D. D., and Isa- bella H. (Porter) Bliss, was born in Con- stantinople, Turkey, August 20, 1856. He received his early educational train- ing at home, and in Robert College, Con- stantinople. He subsequently attended Phillips Academy, Andover, one year, then entered Amherst College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1878. He then studied for his chosen profession in Hartford Theological Seminary. He was first settled in charge of the Fourth Congregational church of Denver, Col. Ill health forcing him to resign his pastorate there, he was next called to the Congregational church in South Natick. He then withdrew from the communion of the Congregational church and entered the Episcopal church, being first stationed at Lee. He afterwards became rector of Grace church, South Boston, which posi- tion he still holds. ■ Mr. Bliss was married in London, Eng- land, June 30, 1884, to Mary Pangalo of Constantinople, daughter of John Pangalo
