ERLAND FREDERICK FISH
1883-1942
"Write me as one who loved his fellow-men'. . . . And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest."
These lines from Leigh Hunt's immortal poem might well serve as the epitaph of Major General Erland frederick Fish, who was struck and fatally injured by a taxicab on February 18, 1942, and died some hours later at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in his fifty-ninth year. few men had so unselfishly devoted their lives to the public service, and to but few are accorded so many richly deserved honors.
It has been my privilege to be one of his most intimate friends. We were officers of the same Regiment in the last was, and thereafter through the years that followed we were closely associated in many activities and we were near neighbors. I believe that I understood him as well as one man can understand another, and I shall endeavor to paint the portrait of him that I saw and shall always remember.
He was honest and courageous. He had a brilliant mind, his judgement was keen, and he understood human nature. He was of broad vision. Pettiness was foreign to him. He read widely of the best and retained what he had read. Though not one to pass judegment quickly, when, after careful deliberation he had reached a decision which he felt was just, no thought of his own gain or loss could swerve him from his path. He was a true patriot and set a high standard of civic and personal integrity. He would accomplish in his own way with calmness and patience what others might have attmepted by more impetuous and less considered action. He never climbed to power at the expense of his friends. He liked people and they liked him. He was seldom happier than when, surrounded by a group of his war-time companions or political associates in his spacious Brookline home, he would sit at the piano for hours playing the accomplishments to the old songs we all loved.
Long arguments annoyed him and he abhorred personal animosities. Though frequently called upon to speak at formal gatherings, rarely could be persuaded to say more than a few words. He avoided the limelight and he disliked frills or show. To him rank meant nothing but the increased opportunity for service.
Although he attained the highest rank in the military forces of the State, he was never a martinet. During the last war he guided the Battery which he had organized with fairness and efficiency, but with little concern over the textbook pattern. It was interesting to see how the Battery modelled itslef on its "Captain", always doing its job without swank and, seemingly, without effort; not bound by iron discipline but by the best discipline of all, loyalty and the eagerness to do whatever the commanding officer desired, no matter how gruelling the task might be. He preferred to request rather than to order. In this he never varied. He was the same when a Major General commanding a Division as when he was the Captain of a Battery.
He was a devoted husband and father. His wife, Mildred Russell, whom he married in 1911, came of a prominent Cambridge family. Of rare charm and ability, she was an ideal companion and helpmate and a vital influence in his life. Her father, J. Henry Russell, was a banker and trustee, also the president of the Cambridge Electric Light company. Three children, Mary, Frederick and Elizabeth, made up the family. Erland Fish loved his summer home in Wareham, which was always kept open for him. To work in his garden, to watch his birds, or to forget the problems of the moment in a round of golf, each was a source of rest and relaxation. Frequently, I have driven there with him on a Sunday morning in the midst of winter and drifting snow to help him fill the bird boxes so that his feathered visitors might not suffer. His life was complete.
The first American progenitor of the Fish family was Nathaniel #62 Fish, who emigrated to New England from Wedgenock Park, Warwick County, England, settled in Lynn in 1637, and later moved to Sandwich on Cape Cod. In the five succeeding generations, two of the descendants bore the name of Nathaniel, and three that of Simeon. The paternal grandfather of Erland Fish was Frederick Livermore Fish, a prosperous sea captain of Taunton. His father, Frederick Perry Fish, was born in Taunton but lived during his later years in Brookline and died there in 1930. His mother was Clara Perkins Livermore of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who died in 1924. Frederick Perry Fish, A.B., Harvard, 1875, was the greatest patent lawyer of his day. In the course of his long and notable career he was President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Overseer of Harvard University, Chairman of the State Board of Education, President of the Massachusetts Bar Association and of the Alerican Patent Law Association, and Director of banks and corporations.
Erland Frederick Fish, ninth in the line from the first Nathaniel, was born in Cambridge, December 7, 1883, and was educated at Browne & Nichols School, Harvard University, A.B., 1905, A.M., 1906, and Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1908. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1908 and spent the following year in Washington as the private secretary of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the Supreme Court of the United States. This was a highly coveted assignment which was offered annually to an outstanding member of the graduating class of the harvard Law school. He then became associated with Gaston, Snow & Saltonstall and later organized a law firm of his own.
Meanwhile, he had become interested in military affairs and had enlisted in Battery A of the Massachusetts Field Artillery. He rose through the enlisted ranks and when the BAttery was sent to the Mexian border in 1916, he had become a Second Lieutenant. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was directed to recruit and organize a new battery, which eventually became Battery B of the 101st Regiment, F.A., 26th Division. This he successfully accomplished and went overseas as its Captain. He had a distinguished career throughout the war and was promoted to the rank of Major and placed in command of the 1st Battalion of the Regiment. Many anecdotes are told of his bravery and coolness under fire. Once he and a German shell entered on of his gun pits at the same time. Fortunately, the shell had a defective fuse and failed to explode. He was loved and respected by his men and the great turnouts at the Battery reunions in the succeeding years testified to the unity of spirit that he had developed.
When the war was over, continuing in the National Guard after it had been reorganized, he became successively Colonel of his own Regiment, then Brigadier General commanding the 51st Field Artillery Brigade, and finally Major General commanding the 26th division. After his retirement in 1934, he relinquished for the time being his active connection with the military establishment. When, however, at the opening of the present war Governor Saltonstall felt it necessary to form the State Guard of Massachusetts, he called upon General fish to return to military life and to organize and command it. This he was happy to do and he held this important post at the time of his death.
Throughout the years Erland Fish had served his town and State in many capacities. Elected in 1920 by the citizens of his district as their Representative to the General Court of Massachusetts, he later became Senator and then President of the Senate, a position which he held for several years. He performed this difficult task so impartially and with such tact and ability that, though a stalwart Republican, he always retained the admiration and respect of the members of both parties who served with him. He eventually declined renomination to the Senate to devote himself to the other civic duties which had devolved upon him. Among the many important positions which he had held, which demonstrated the esteem of all who knew him, were, Moderator of the Town of Brookline, Chairman of the Brookline Commitee for Civilian Defense, President of the Union Club of Boston, President of the Boston City club, President of the Society of Sons of the Revolution, President of the Home for Aed Men, Trustee of Radcliff College, President of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, and Councilor of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Committees of which he was a member and the list of civic, fraternal, military and social organizations to which he belonged are too numerous to mention. He was a generous giver of his time and money to all good causes.
Major General Erland Frederick Fish sumbolized the New
England Strain and character. He was as nearly typical of the
best in this strain as any man I have known. Of sturdy ancestry,
he himself was sturdy. He reached high places through his own
deserts and through the respect that all men had for him. At the
final services a vast and sorrowing throng from every walk of life
gathered to do him honor, and when the flag-covered casket was
lowered to its last resting place and the strains of "taps" echoed
over the hills, a great and good citizen had left us.
Brookline, Mass
BENJAMIN H> TICKNOR.
Vol.97
p.151 and 161 references to current members in the Annual Reports
p.301 book exists: Fish Genealogy 1600-1914 by S. Fish
(J.J.Little & Ives Co., Publ.) +329p
Vol.98
p.180 in Memoirs:
Harry Fairfield Hamilton of N. Falmouth,MA b.1856 m.1914 Madelaine
Berris Fisher, a des. on her mother's side from Jonathan Fish who settled
in Salem in 1634 whise granddaughter Anna Jackson m. David Hamilton
Vol.99
p.66 Thomas Tupper and Descendants
Samuel Tupper b.Sandwich,MA 4 May 1692 d.18 Aug 1772. He was first
known by the name "Elisha". m(1) Sandwich 15 Aug 1717 Rebecca Ellis
m(2) Sandwich 14 Oct 1726 Hannah Fish
p.278 Harvard Classes of 1726-1730
Fish, Rev. Joseph (1728) of Stonington d.1786
p.290 Thomas Tupper and Descendants
Sarah Tupper, dau. of Silas Tupper, b. 1 Apr 1760 d.Apr 1847 m.
John Fish of Sandwich & moved to Barnard,VT. Had 5 sons and 5 daus.
p.291 Thomas Tupper and Descendants
Peleg Tupper b.1731 d.Waterville,ME m. Sandwich 24 Jan 1765 Deborah
Fish, dau. of Lemuel and Deborah (Bardon) Fish. Moved to ME ~ 1780.
11 children.
p.304 Thomas Tupper and Descendants:
Absolom Tupper b.Salisbury,CT 22 Apr. 1761 d.Ferrisburg, VT 9 Dec 1816.
He m. Ferrisburg about 1782 Polly Fish of Ferrisburg. She was
b. Hardwick, MA 13 Oct 1763, d. Ferrisburg 9 Oct 1854, dau. of Jacob
and Elizabeth Fish. They had 10 children.
Vol.100
p.62 Eligible Non-Members who could be in vacancies in MA soe. of
'The Cincinnati'
Fish, Capt. Adams
Fish, Lt. Ebenezer
Fish, Capt. Thomas
p.80 Book: NEW YORK, PRIVATEERS by Stuyvesant Fish
p.92 William Munroe and Descendants
Joseph Monroe b.1870 m.(1) Ann Aldrich m(2) Ethel Hopkins
dau. of Charles and Lillian (Fish) Hopkins
p.157 Nantucket Supplementary Records
Fish, Asa d.Feb 5, 1822 age 52y in Sandwich
Fish, Hannah, w. Reuben and dau of Philip Coffin d.Apr 5, 1824
age 22y 9 m.
Fish, Simeon d.Nov 4, 1833 age 75y 9m
Fish, _______ ch. Theodore Mar 6, 1825 age 1y 4m
Fish, _______ ch. Nathan Aug 29, 1831 age 2y 1m
p.336 Regiment of St Margaret on Fish St.
p.337 Thomas Snell Jr. b.17 Aug 1809 N. Brookfield d.21 Dec 1893
N. Brookfield, farmer. m(1)1836 Lucretia C. Porter
m(2) 28