58 BISHOP. BLEAKIli. Natick, and his first business occupation was that of a dealer in coal, and this busi- ness he has continued without change to the present time. On the 8th of July, 1S62, Mr. Bird was married in Framingham, to Elvira A., daughter of George L. and Patience Ann (Langley) Sleeper, who died leaving him two children : Alice and Edith J. Bird. Mr. Bird has been active in social and political life, as well as an enthusiastic business man throughout his career. For three years he was one of the selectmen of Natick, where he at present resides. In 1S76, '77, and '83 he represented the town in the House of Representatives, performing diligent and valuable service on the committees to which he was appointed. BISHOP, Robert Roberts, son of Jonathan P. and Eliza (Harding) Bishop, was born in Medlield, Norfolk county, March 31, 1834. The family moved from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and Mr. Bishop's father was a prominent lawyer in Norfolk county. Mr. Bishop was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, then under the charge of Dr. Samuel H. Taylor. Ill health, however, prevented him from entering college, and subsequently his plans for the future were changed, and he entered the law office of Brooks & Ball, Boston. With this firm, and subsequently with the Hon. Peleg W. Chandler, supplemented by a regular course at Harvard law school, he received his legal education. He was graduated from the law school in the class of 1857, and spent a year in the office of Mr. Chandler, having been admitted to the Suffolk bar soon after graduation. A year later he opened an office in Boston on his own account, and, in 1861, formed a law partnership with Thornton K. Lothrop, under the firm name of Lothrop & Bishop. This partnership was afterwards enlarged by the admission of Arthur Lincoln, as junior partner, and con- tinued until 1S79, when it was dissolved. Mr. Bishop was married in Holliston, December 24, 1857, to Mary H., daughter of Elias and Persis (Daniels) Billiard, of Holliston. Of this union are three chil- dren : Robert R., Jr., Elias B. and Joseph T Bishop. In 1863 Mr. Bishop removed to Newton, his present residence. In 1874 he was a member of the House of Representatives. He declined a re-election. In 1S78 he was a member of the state Senate, and again in 1879, '80, '81 and '82. At the opening of the Senate in 1880, he received a unani- mous election as president, and was re- elected in 1S81 and '82. Mr. Bishop's law practice has been con- cerned largely with important railroad liti- gation. He was for three years engaged in the notable case of the " Berdell Bonds," involving twenty millions of dollars, and in the organization, by the bond-holders, of the New York & New England Rail- road. In 1875 Mr. Bishop was appointed one of the water commissioners for the con- struction of the water-works of the city of Newton. He has served on the Newton school board, and was a delegate to the national Republican convention at Chicago, in 1884. In 1SS2 Mr. Bishop was a candidate for governor, but was defeated by General Benjamin F. Butler. In 1888 he was appointed an associate justice of the supe- rior Court of Massachusetts, which position he still holds. BLEAKIE, ROBERT, son of John and Mary (Maxwell) Bleakie, was born in Hawick, Roxburgshire, Scotland, August 1, 1833. He came to this country in 1847, with his father, who left Scotland under an engagement with the Amesbury Manu- facturing Company, of Amesbury, to start there the making of fancy cassimeres. Even at that early age of fourteen he had acquired a fair knowledge of weaving, having gone all through the training of bobbin-winding and power-loom weaving, and served an apprenticeship as a hand- loom weaver. So he readily went to work under his father, on the power looms at the Amesbury mills, and at this work he remained until 1S52, when, having reached the age of eighteen, and his father giving him his liberty, he left home and found employment at $1.08 per day, at the Elm Street mill in Providence, R. I. He re- mained here until, in 1858, his abilities were recognized by John W. Stitt & Co. of New York, by whom he was engaged to manage their two factories at Franklin, N. J., where he made a great success and was highly appreciated by both employers and em- ployees. In i860 he received and ac- cepted a tempting offer to return to Rhode Island. The civil war breaking out shortly after disturbed this new arrangement, and Mr. Bleakie was for the time being left without employment. Nothing daunted, and having saved a few thousand dollars from his earnings, he hired a cotton-bat- ting mill in Tolland, Conn., had it fitted as a one-set woolen mill, and started in busi-
