My Genealogy Hound

DR. FRANK M. GOULD, the leading and pioneer physician of Greenwich, was born in Norridgewock, Somerset County, Me., May 9, 1835, son of Joshua and Sarah (Martin) Gould. Moriah Gould, his grandfather, was one of the early settlers of Somerset County. He obtained sustenance for himself and family from the then unexhausted resources of nature, dividing his time among farming, hunting, and trapping. He was an industrious man and fairly well-to-do. He lived to the advanced age ninety years. His wife also outlived the allotted span of human life.

Joshua Gould was the only son of his parents. He was born in Norridgewock, and grew to manhood in Somerset County, attaining a better education than the limited resources of the time would seem to warrant, when a boy of nine years, he suffered from a fever, which caused a sore on one of his limbs that contracted the cords, and maimed him for life, making that limb considerably shorter than the other. It may be that his infirmity caused Mr. Gould to devote more time to his books than an active boy would be likely to. However, he was a well-informed man, prominent in public life and a leader in the councils of the Democrats of his district. He as Clerk of the District Court for over forty years, and served for many years as Justice of the Peace. He died at the age of eighty-seven. His wife, who was a native of Pittsfield, Me., had attained her sixty-sixth year when her death occurred. They had a family of thirteen children, twelve of whom reached maturity. Of these Moses M., Charles C., Emmaline, and Fanny are deceased. The others are: Henry A., William D., Aaron M., Frank M., Sarah, Ann, Caroline, and Felicia.

Frank M. Gould, M.D., received his early -education in the schools of Norridgewock. One of his schoolmates was the now famous preacher, Minot J. Savage. When fifteen years of age, he went to Worcester, Mass., to learn the machinist’s trade. There he met with financial disaster by the failure of a firm for which he had worked two years and nine months, leaving his wages unpaid. He was subsequently employed for some years in the locomotive works in Portland, Me., and later worked on stationary engines in Bangor. He next engaged with the Putney Tool Company at Fitchburg, Mass., going from there to Barre, in the same State, and thence to the Springfield Armory, where during the war he was foreman of a department. At that time there was an enormous amount of work done at the armory, the company turning out eleven hundred guns daily for three years. Dr. Gould worked last as a machinist for the Parker Machine Company of Clinton, Mass., manufacturers of the Axminster carpet looms.

During the years that he worked at his trade he won a reputation for expert workmanship. While at Worcester, he distinguished himself by accomplishing the difficult task of making a screw some twenty-five or thirty feet in length. Two lathes were necessary for the work, and its perfect accomplishment required a good mechanical eye and the exercise of fine judgment. Though so successful as a machinist, Dr. Gould had always had a desire to enter the medical profession, and for some time had occupied his leisure in reading and studying medicine. In 1877 he entered the Eclectic Medical College of New York City, and graduated in 1880, with high honors, as valedictorian of his class. In May of the same year he opened an office in Greenwich, and for fifteen years has been in active practice, with his visiting list yearly increasing. The doctor has computed the average distance which he travels annually in visiting his patients to be fourteen thousand miles.

Dr. Gould was married in 1863 to Eliza A. Stone, a native of Dana, Mass., daughter of James H. and Azuba Stone, and sister of J. Madison Stone, the noted portrait painter. Two children were born of this union: James F., who is in the express business in Plymouth, N.H.; and Fanny M., who graduated from Belvidere Seminary, N.J., and is now a teacher in Greenwich.

Politically, Dr. Gould favors the Democratic party. Though very busy in answering the demands of his profession, he has found time to fill various offices. He has served as Overseer of the Poor and Constable, and is now Justice of the Peace. He is a member of Mount Zion Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Barre. Dr. and Mrs. Gould hold liberal views regarding religious differences. They have a pretty home in the village of Greenwich Plains, from which they are rarely absent, as the Doctor has not had a week’s vacation in fifteen years.