.muii.'im miom

GEORGE F. HOAR

HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS
AND
GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS
OF
WORCESTER COUNTY
MASSACHUSETTS

WITH A HISTORY OF

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY

PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF
ELLERY BICKNELL CRANE
i
Librarian of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and Editor of its Proceedings
Author of "The Rawson Family Memorial," "Crane
Family," two vols., Etc.

"Knowledge of kindred and the genealogies of the ancient families deserveth the highest
praise. Herein consisieth a part of the knowledge of a man's own self. Jt is a great spur to
virtue to look back on the work of our lines." — Lord Bacon.
"There is no heroic poem in the world but is at the bottom the life of a man." — Sir
Walter Scott.

Vol. I

I I^I^U ©TF* ATTEND

NSW YORK CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1907

INTRODUCTORY

WORCESTER COUNTY

The history of Massachusetts— civil, political and military— has been written by
various authors and at various times, each succeeding writer adding a new chapter of
annals, or treating his subject from a different viewpoint. Such history, however, splendid
narrative that it is, is principally concerned with what has been accomplished by the peo
ple in a mass, and takes little note of individuals, except those so pre-eminent as leaders as
to come under the full glare of fame. <
Hence it follows that genealogical and family memoirs are of peculiar importance,
including, as they do, the personal annals of those who make heroes and heroism possible —
those who have marched in the ranks of
progress, bearing the heat and burden of
the day, — portraying the spirit which
actuated them, and holding up their
effort for an example to those who come
afterward. As was written by Marti-
neau, "To have forefathers renowned for
honorable deeds, to belong by nature to
those who have bravely borne their part
in life and refreshed the world with
mighty thoughts and healthy admiration,
is a privilege which it were mean and
self-willed to despise. It is a security
given for us of old, which it were false
hearted not to redeem ; and in virtues
bred of a noble stock, mellowed as they
are by reverence, there is often a grace
and ripeness wanting to self-made and
brand-new excellence. Of like value to
a people are heroic national traditions,
giving them a determined character to
sustain among the tribes of men, making
them familiar with images of great and
strenuous life, and kindling them with faith in glorious possibilities."
The county of Worcester affords a peculiarly interesting field for a study of family
traits, individual character and personal achievements. It is rich in historical associations,
and its soil has been the scene of events of the utmost importance to the entire nation. To
it came a sturdy people, men and women, too, of brawn and brain and conscience, their
hearts fervent in reverence of God and love for religious and political liberty. They came

Prescott Homestead, at Pepperell
The home of Col. William Prescott, second son of Benjamin
Prescott, and the grandfather of William H. Prespott, the distin
guished historian. Col. Prescott was born in Groton, and settled on a
large tract of land previously owned by his father, located in what
was called the "Gore," later included in the town of Pepperell. He
served as a Lieutenant in the expedition sent in 1755, to remove the
French Neutrals from Nova Scotia: and as colonel of the Minute Men
enrolled in and about Groton in 1774. At the battle of Bunker Hill,
June 17, 1775, he occupied the distinguished position of Commander
of the American forces. He died October 13, 1795, aged sixty-nine
years, having been born Februaiy 20, 1726. His widow died October
21, 1821, aged eighty-eight years ; both buried at Pepperell.

IV

INTRODUCTORY

Isaiah Thomas, LL. D.
Founder of " Massachusetts Spy," and Ameri
can Antiquarian Society, born July 30,
1749, died April 4. 1831, in Worcester.

up out of great tribulations. They were of that overflow of Pilgrim1 and Puritan stock
which traversed an unbroken wilderness to make homes where were savages, and to con
quer primeval nature. They builded better than they knew.
" For Good is not a shapely mass of stone,
Hewn by man's hand, and worked by him alone.
It is a seed God suffers him to sow —
Others will reap, and, when the harvests grow,
He giveth increase through all coming years,
And lets men reap in joy, seed that was sown in tears."
Simple and clean in their lives, as were these
early settlers, the homes which they builded were hum
ble, but they were the seat of all the virtues that consti
tute ideal manhood and womanhood. The courage,
fortitude and activity displayed by these hardy pioneers
was most remarkable, and, when the struggle for na
tional independence came, the sons and daughters of
these illustrious sires were not wanting in patriotism
and devotion, freely sacrificing comfort, life and prop
erty, that they might bequeath to the generations that
should follow them a free liberal government "of the
people, by the people, and for the people." They were,
from the beginning, prime movers in every patriotic movement, and in all looking to the '
elevation of humanity. In 1775, in convention assembled, they expressed their abhorrence
of human slavery, and that, whenever opportunity should present, they would use their
influence toward the emancipation of the negro.' From here, their birthplace marched
Captain (later known as Colonel) Timothy Bigelow and Captain Benjamin Flagg  with
their companies of minute-men on that
memorable 19th of April, 1775, and
here, in the city of Worcester, the
Declaration of Independence was first
read in Massachusetts. Here, too, was
the home of General Artemas Ward,
the trusted friend and chief lieutenant
of the great Washington. In Worces
ter was set up, by Isaiah Thomas,
the fir&t printing press in an inland
town in Massachusetts, and the jour
nal which was printed from it was one
which was unparalleled in its influ
ence upon the minds of the common
people in their ready espousal of the
cause of independenccfrom British
TT , , . ... Farnum House, Uxbeidge
tyranny. Here entered upon his lllus-
T T- 1 C *.u ' by M°SeS Farnum in 1766' and stands in the southerly part of the
trious career Levi Lincoln, one of the town ot Uxbridge. uu"»eriy partoitne
giants in those days — a great lawyer, jurist and statesman. Here lived and labored repre
sentatives of the famous Prescott, Curtis, Allen, Washburn and Devons families and here
was born George Bancroft, the historian. Here, too, were heard, at various periods
Webster, Sumner, Lincoln, Henry Wilson and Henry Ward Beecher, and, in the yet later

Worcester Art Museum. Salisbury Street. Worcest

VI

INTRODUCTORY

days, the lamented Senator George F. Hoar, all eloquent proclaimers of liberty and plead
ers for humanity. And, in the Civil war, the grandsons of the men of Bunker Hill fought
at Gettysburg, and on many another glorious field, that the Union might be preserved.
There were not only patriots among the settlers of Worcester county, but men ot
special note in various fields of industry. Perhaps no spot of the same area on this conti
nent has produced so many of superior mechanical genius, or those who have given to the
world mechanisms of such great utility and advantage to
the progress of civilization. , Senator Hoar, in a speech
made before the United States Senate, on January 6,
1903, said; " Within twelve miles of the spot where I
live, was born Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton
gin, who doubled the value of every acre of land in this
country on which cotton can grow. Six miles in another
direction was born Erastus Bigelow, the inventor of the
carpet machine. Six miles in another direction lived
Blanchard, the inventor of the machine for turning irreg
ular forms, perhaps the most important single mechan
ical invention that has been made in the country down
to this time. Eight miles another way was born Whitte-
more, inventor of the card clothing machine. Twelve
miles another way was born and lived Elias Howe, inven
tor of the sewing machine. When the Civil war broke
out, Mr. Howe enlisted as private. When, in its em
barrassment, in the summer of 1861, the government
could not pay its soldiers, this private soldier drew his
check for all the arrears due his regiment of a thousand
then, for some months. * * * All around me there are
homesteads, some bordering my own, owned by invent
ors, foremen and skilled workmen, who have acquired
fortunes in this honorable service, so beneficent to mankind and so honorable to this
country." The founders of the olden time, who laid the foundations for the development of the
present, left not only a splendid posterity on this their own soil, but they gave a pregnant
interpretation to the words of Bishop Berkley : "Westward the course of the empire
takes its way," for from them came an overflow which was destined to continue until it
reached the far-off Pacific — men and women to carry forth and perpetuate that plain, sturdy,
personal character of manhood and womanhood for which the people of Massachusetts
have gained a large degree of renown. Wherever they planted their homes, there the
church and the school house are found as monuments of their personality. Nor is this all,
they prided themselves in thrift, and the reward that comes as the fruit of honest toil and
endeavor; and, wherever placed, have proved a power for ideal citizenship and good gov
ernment, for that righteousness which exalteth a nation.
In each generation and at every stage of progress, the people of Worcester county
have had the service of men of the loftiest character and highest capability — in arms, in the
arts of peace, in statesmanship, in affairs, and in letters. It is to connect the active pro
gressive men of the present generation with their illustrious ancestry, that the present vol
umes were undertaken, in the conviction that

Major-General Artemas Ward
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
October 27, 1774; General iD the Continental
army ; Commander-in-Chief of the Massachu
setts forces. May 19, 1775. Born in Shrews
bury, Massachusetts, November 26. 1727, son
of Nahum and Martha (Howe) Ward. As
Major took part in the campaign of 1755
against the French, near Lake Champlain, at-
taing the rank of colonel. Member of the
Massachusetts Legislature for sixteen years;
Speaker of that body 17?5; Member of Congress
1791-95; died in Shrewsbury October 27, 1800.

INTRODUCTORY

vn

" ft is indeed a blessing when the virtues
Of noble races are hereditary,
And do derive themselves from imitation
Of virtuous ancestors."
The honorable ancestry which belongs to the people of Worcester county is a noble
heritage, and the story of its achievements is a sacred
trust committed to its descendants, upon whom devolves
the perpetuation of their record. History is constantly
making, and that of yesterday and today is as important
in its place as that of the centuries past. Throughout
the country are those who are memorialized in its pages,
through whose sagacity, determination and philanthropy,
states and communities have been benefited in material
ways, and in religious, educational and political affairs—
in all that stands for progress and improvement.
It was the consensus of opinion of leading men in
Worcester county — men well informed and loyal to the
memories of the past, who were consulted with refer
ence to the matter — that the editorial supervision of Mr.
Ellery Bicknell Crane in the preparation of the work,
would insure the best results attainable in these deeply
interesting channels. For fifteen years the President
of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and the present
librarian of that body and the editor of its " Proceed
ings," he has long been deeply interested in the pursuit
of genealogical information in the county of Worcester,
and his wide knowledge and the ample material at his
command in the library of the above mentioned society
have afforded to the local writers upon this work a rich mine of information along the
lines prescribed, and through his instrumentality, also, they have had access to the wealth
of historical and genealogical records
in the archives of the American Anti
quarian Society, through the courtesy
of its librarian, Mr. Edmund M. Bar
ton. Mr. Crane has also contributed
to these pages a historical sketch of
the Worcester Society of Antiquity,
including a brief notice of the Amer
ican Antiquarian Society. The pub
lishers have given all possible care
with reference to the family and per
sonal narratives. If, in any case, one
should be found incomplete or faulty,
the shortcoming is ascribable to the
paucity of data furnished by the sub
scriber, or to be obtained from public
record, many families being without ex
act records in their family line ; while,

Governor Levi Lincoln
Continued in the office of Governor for nine
successive re-elections, until, declining to be a
candidate for re-election, retired from the
office on the induction of his successor, in Jan
uary, 1834. Chosen member of 24th Congress.
Both Harvard and Williams college conferred
upon him the degree of LL. D. He was born
October 25, 1782: died May 28, 1868.

Bancroft House, Worcester
The home of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Here was born George Bancroft, the Historian, October 3, 1800, son of
Rev. Aaron and Lucretia tChandlen Bancroft.

Views of Polytechnic Institute, Worcester

INTRODUCTORY ix
in other cases, various representatives of a family are at disagreement as to names and dates
of some of their forbears. In all cases the sketch has been submitted to the subject or his
representative, and upon him, in case of error, must rest the ultimate responsibility.
It is believed that the present work^will prove a real addition to the mass of litera
ture concerning the families of historic old Worcester county, and that, without it, much
valuable information contained therein would be inaccessible to the general reader, or
irretrievably lost, owing to the passing away of many custodians of family records, and the
consequent disappearance of material in their possession.
THE PUBLISHERS.

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY

Worcester Society of Antiquity

On the third day of May, 1775, was issued
the first copy of the Massachusetts Spy, printed
in Worcester, by Isaiah Thomas, since which
date this town (now city), the heart of the
Commonwealth, has been a prominent news
center. Worcester has also been a great book
publishing center, "The Royal Standard
English Dictionary " (Perry's), the first dict
ionary published in America, was printed here
by Mr. Thomas, as was also the first music
books printed from types, music having been
previously printed from engraved plates.
Various editions of dictionaries, lexicons, Bibles, medical works, law books and standard
works in history and general literature, were printed and kept on sale here. The Koran
was printed here in 1806, a Greek Lexicon in 1808; Plutarch's Lives, in six volumes
(1802); Josephus, in six volumes (1794). A folio edition of the Bible published in 1791,
illustrated with fifty copper-plate engravings, furnishes a fine specimen of the work of
Mr. Thomas. Almanacs, sermons, school books, broadsides and works on nearly every
branch of literature of that period, came from the press (or, rather, presses) of Mr.
Thomas. '
Thus were the people of Worcester early given special opportunity to learn the' use
and value of books, acquiring more or less an honest desire for them, and to appreciate
the benefits of the knowledge to be gained through their use. The addresses and patriotic
' utterances distributed among the people of New England through the circulation of the
Massachusetts Spy, had much to do with stimulating the spirit and feeling of resistance to
the arbitrary measures inaugurated by the government of Great Britain. And, after the
contest was over, and the independence of the United States secured, the influence of the
editor and publisher of that organ was exerted for the establishment of a society that
should bring together and preserve the mementoes of that heroic struggle, and also become
an institution that should take its place among the prominent historical societies in Eng
land, France and other countries of Europe.
With that object in view, the American Antiquarian Society was formed in the year
1812. Its membership included representative men from the various States in the
Union. The printer, and founder of the society, Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., was its first
president. The first home or hall of this Society was a brick building, with a main up
right part two stories in height, and a wing extending out on the north and also one
on the south side. The main or center portion of this building was dedicated on August
24, 1820, and the two wings added about eleven years later. This home, known as
Antiquarian Hall, stood on the easterly side of Summer street, near the corner of Belmont
street,, and was built at the expense of Mr. Thomas, on a lot of land which he owned and
subsequently gave, by will, to the Society. In 1852 it was found necessary to have more
commodious quarters to accommodate the needs of the American Antiquarian Society,

xh WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY
and land was given by Honorable Stephen Salisbury, father of the late Honorable Stephen
Salisbury, as a site for their new building, which now stands at the corner of Highland
street and Main street, next north of the Court House, and is the present home of this
most popular national institution.
In the year 1820, of the eighty-three names on the membership roll, twenty-four
were residents of Massachusetts, ten of whom resided in Worcester, the remainder of the
number were scattered throughout twenty-one other states of the Union. In 1880, thirty-
nine members were residents of Worcester; forty-four from Massachusetts, outside of
Worcester; sixty-two from other states of the Union; and seventeen from foreign countries.
At present the membership in America of this (the American Antiquarian Society) is lim
ited to one hundred and forty. In 1893 there were twenty-six from Worcester; forty-three
from Massachusetts, at large; sixty-two from other states in the Union, and thirty-two
from foreign countries; total membership, one hundred and sixty-three.
Since its organization it has been co n ucting a noble and most .important work. It
came into the field so soon after the birth of our national government that special and
most favorable opportunities have been found for the accumulation of books, pamphlets,
papers and manuscripts treating of historical events, not alone of America, but of various.
other nations — a service to which it was early commissioned. Its sphere of labor was,
and is, world-wide, special attention being given to the subject of Archagology, including
a study of the antiquities of this American continent, and every measure was to be adopted
that should "make the Society appear respectable as a National Institution," and the
American Antiquarian Society has not fallen short of accomplishing its mission, and is
recognized as one of the leading Societies of its class in the world. Its voluminous
library contains a collection of Americana of rare value, while its stock of original manu
scripts may be counted of much more than ordinary interest. But as the population of
Worcester increased, and the good influence of this parent society was felt among the
citizens, there sprang up a desire for another organization, that should give opportunity
for other citizens of Worcester and vicinity to engage in historical study and research, and
also to provide a suitable place for preserving and placing on exhibition relics of the past,
especially those bearing upon the history of the City and County of Worcester, including
their people and institutions, preserving, for he benefit of future generations, such books,
pamphlets and documents of every descript"on as would furnish account of and portray
the habits, life and character of the people that came to reclaim this wilderness and plant
the institutions from whence so many benefits are at present derived, and to foster and
encourage an interest in the history of this special locality.
A number of conferences were held in the printing office of Messrs. Tyler and
Seagrave, then on Main street, opposite the City Hall. At these preliminary meetings
there were present Samuel E. Staples, Franklin P. Rice, John G. Smith, Daniel Seagrave
and Albert Tyler. As a result of these deliberations, notices were issued for a meeting to
be held at the home of Samuel E. Staples, Number 1, Lincoln Place, January 24, 1875.
Besides Mr. Staples, there were present at this meeting John G. Smith, Franklin P. Rice
and Richard O'Flynn. It was here decided to proceed with the formation of a society,
and arrangements were made for drafting a constitution, which was submitted at a meeting
held January 30th, and, after slight changes, was adopted at the third meeting, held Febru
ary 13th. The first regular meeting held under the constitution came on March 2, 1875, at
which time the organization was completed by the election of the following named officers-:
Samuel E. Staples, president; Henry D. Barber, vice-president; Daniel Seagrave, secre-
taiy; Henry F. Stedman, treasurer, and John G. Smith, librarian. For more than two

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY xiii
years meetings were held at the homes of the members, where occasionally a paper was
read on some historical subject. But usually the time was passed in sociability and exam
ining the collection of books and relics in the possession of the member with whom the
meeting was called.
The infant society soon came into favor and was received by the citizens of Wor
cester with open arms, and grew with such rapidity that it became necessary to clothe it
with a charter, that was secured in the month of March, 1877, Honorable Clark Jillson
having been chosen by a vote of the Society, at its annual meeting, held January 2d of that
year, to secure such an act. The names of the charter members were Samuel E. Staples,
Clark Jillson, Ellery B. Crane, Daniel Seagrave, Franklin P. Rice, James A. Smith, Albert
Ai Lovell and Albert Tyler.
The organization of the corporation took place at the meeting held on March 6,
1877, at the home -of Edward I. Cornius, on Wellington street, Worcester, at which time
the following officers were elected: President, Samuel E. Staples; vice-presidents, Clark
Jillson and Ellery B. Crane; treasurer, James A. Smith; clerk, Daniel Seagrave. These
officers constituted the executive committee and Albert A. Lovell, Franklin P. Rice with
Charles R. Johnson, were chosen to serve as the committee on nominations. Thus was
the organization set in motion and started on its errand of usefulness. Good moral char
acter and an interest in the pursuit of historical studies, with the agreement to contribute
five dollars each year, and also pay such other assessments, not exceeding one dollar, levied
at any one time, as the society might elect, was the early test of qualification requisite for
membership. At the annual meeting January 4, 1876, twelve names constituted the mem
bership roll. The next year saw the number increased to thirty names, and at the meet
ing held January 2, 1877, the librarian reported four bound volumes and four pamphlets
as the extent of the Society's library.
The first book given the Society was entitled " Worcester. in the Revolution," pre
sented by the author, Albert A. Lovell, at a meeting held September 12, 1876, at the home
of Ellery B. Crane. There was no special effort put forth for rapidly increasing the mem
bership. Some care was, however, given to securing workers in the cause that would enable
the organization to make a showing sufficient to attract the attention of other persons of
similar desires, and, if possible, secure their co-operation, and it is the belief that in this
direction the efforts advanced were not futile.
In the year 1878 the Society counted sixty-nine names upon its roll, fifty-two of
them classed as active, two as life members and fifteen as honorary members. Among the
latter class were men occupying exalted places as literary men and writers of history, all
of whom, we regret to note, have now passed away, and gone to their eternal reward. At
this writing not one of these fifteen gentlemen is left.
The monthly reports made by members of their additions to their private collections
stimulated the work of collecting, and helped to create interest in all matters of a historical
nature, with the result that, when the time came for forming the Society's Collection, there
was a generous response from those private sources, making it possible to create a com
mendable showing within a comparatively brief period of time. That the handful of books
and pamphlets which by gift had become the property of the Society might receive proper
care, and the secretary have a place for his books and papers, some kind of a repository
was needed for their safe keeping, and the secretary purchased for one dollar and a half
the Society's first book case. For want of a better place it was temporarily set up in the
printing office of Messrs. Tyler and Seagrave.

xiv WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY
But the institution was growing, and June 19, 1877, steps were taken toward secur
ing a room in which to hold business meetings and deposit the Society's treasures, and on
the fourth of September a vote was passed instructing the Treasurer to hire a room in the
Bank Block, Foster street, and the first meeting of the Society was held there in room
Number Six, up one flight of stairs, on Tuesday evening, October 2, 1877, twenty-one
members being present. This was a notable meeting in the life of the young organization.
More than two hundred and forty gifts of books and pamphlets with a few pictures were
presented that evening, many of them being of special value. Honorable Clark Jillson's
contribution included a large folio volume of Cicero's Orations, printed in the year 1472, a
fine specimen of early printing. Four honorary members and three active members were
voted in at that meeting, and Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," was proposed for
honorary membership, and notice of the death of Harvey Dwight Jillson, M. D., of Fitch-
burg, was given, it being the first death within the Society.
For more than thirteen years the designation painted on the door of room Number
Six announced to the visitor or .the passer-by that it was the home of the Worcester Society of
Antiquity, and many pleasant hours were passed within those walls by the little band of
faithful and constant workers who, by common consent, met there not only on the first
Tuesday evening in each month, but on every Tuesday evening, unless absent from the
city or detained by sickness, for all Tuesday evenings were consecrated to the interest
of this Society. Not all who met there then are now within the sound of the human voice.
But their influence and their works abide, and the memories of those pleasant, fascinating,
edifying social gatherings linger in the minds of those living today, who can, perhaps; more
fully appreciate the value of those social conclaves in bringing together and centralizing
the forces out of which this Society has been evolved, and also the words uttered by a mem
ber of that circle who has gone hence, one who in those days was a tower of strength, a
giant among the weaklings, and possibly did more at the critical moment to put this
Society in a condition to stand alone, than any other man. These are his prophetic words:
"Our mission is not one that changes with the seasons. When we become weary with the
labor it imposes and seek other employments, the places we leave will be filled by zealous
laborers from a new generation, but the corner stone laid by our hands will continue to
support the superstructure, though the sound of the builders' hammer may ring through its
arches for centuries to come."
Before the close of the year 1877, members of the Society were greatly encouraged
in their work, as well as in the future prospects of the organization, by the kindly, stimu
lating words received from certain gentlemen prominent in historical and literary circles,
in reply to notices sent them by the secretary, informing them of their having been elected
to honorary membership in the young Society. Among those who responded with special
reference to what had been accomplished, and the future outlook, were Benjamin J. Loss-
ing, Rev. Adin Ballou, Rev. Abijah Marvin, John G. Metcalf, M. D., Holmes Ammidown,
Elihu Burritt, William S. Barton, Esq., Dr. Guilermo Rawson, and Rev. Carlton a!
Staples. Of these, at this writing, not one remains.
During the life of the Society, there has been no step taken that apparently pro
duced more beneficial results, and brought the Society into more popular favox, than print
ing and disseminating its transactions and literature. Thus was attention called to the
valuable work being performed, and the publications of the Society soon found a demand
which to this moment has continued to increase. Among the early tasks assumed was copy
ing and printing the inscriptions upon the tombstones in the ancient cemetery in Worces-

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY xv
ter, known as the Mechanic Street Burial Ground. And, before the summer of 1877
was ended, much had been done in securing inscriptions from burial grounds iri Lancaster,,
Lunenburg, Mendon, Shrewsbury and three of the ancient cemeteries in Worcester, while
some progress had been made in copying those from the burial grounds in Brookfield,
Leicester, Rutland, Southbridge and Sturbridge. This initial effort awakened fresh inter
est throughout the community in the preservation of both public and private records, and,
through persistent exertions of members of this S ociety, and the co-operation of friends,
the early records of Worcester were published, from the earliest date down to the adoption
of the city charter in 1848, including the vital records, all of which have been assembled
within the covers of the Society's publications, and constitute a part of the historical work
accomplished through its members.
At the close of the year, 1879, the librarian, Albert Lovell, reported that the Socie
ty's library contained thirteen hundred and twenty-five bound volumes and four thousand
three hundred and forty-two pamphlets and in the spring of 1881 it became necessary to
add another room to Number Six, the latter being used for meetings, while the second room
was for the accommodation of the rapidly increasing library and a small collection of rel
ics. It was thought, with this addition, ample room had been provided for some time to
come. But in June, 1885, came a substantial increase to the library, of a gift from Mrs.
Charlotte Downes, of a collection of books and pamphlets, once the property of her late
husband, John. Downes, Esq., of Washington, D. C. It was a pleasant surprise, and
caused no slight enthusiasm throughout the membership of the Society, for they fully ap
preciated the value of the gift.
On the thirty-first day of March, 1883, occurred the death of Rev. George Allen. He
had been a frequent visitor at the meetings, and much interested in the work of the
Society. During his lifetime he had accumulated a large library. A short time before his
death, a considerable portion, however, had been sold at public auction in Boston, but
there still remained at the time of his decease about three thousand volumes, and, through
contributions of money from members and, their friends, this collection of books and
pamphlets was added to the Society's library.
The next red-letter day was the observance of the tenth anniversary of the organ
ization. The exercises were held in the Old South meeting-house, 'then standing on the
common on the site of the present City Hall. It was held on the twenty-seventh day of
January, 1885. Rev. Carlton A. Staples delivered the principal address. The proper date
came the twenty-fourth, but as that fell on Saturday, it was decided to celebrate on the
following Tuesday. There was a large attendance at the meeting in the church, after
which there was a banquet served at the Bay State House. Alfred S. Roe was toastmaster,
and it was after midnight when the end came to the good things that were said the're. Not
long after this event, Honorable Stephen Salisbury, one of Worcester's prominent philan
thropists, who had been watching the growth and conduct of this institution, offered to
assist in providing a home for it by contributing a lot of land on which to erect a building,
and also to give a certain sum of money toward a building fund. His offer was accepted
with most grateful acknowledgments, committees were chosen for carrying the work for
ward, and in due time the Society came into possession of a substantial, commodious,
brick building, well adapted to the needs of the Society, and through the exertion of its
members and their friends, chief among them the late Stephen Salisbury, it is the posses
sor of a property valued at fifty thousand dollars, not including its valuable library of
twenty thousand bound volumes, thirty-five thousand pamphlets, and an interesting mus-

vi WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY
eum containing over six thousand relics of Indian, Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil and
Domestic life, many articles of which it would be exceedingly difficult to duplicate, all
debts paid, and eleven thousand dollars of invested funds. Truly a remarkable showing.
The home of this Worcester' Society of Antiquity is located at Number Thirty-nine
Salisbury street, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was dedicated on the afternoon of
November 24, 1891.

WORCESTER COUNTY

HON. GEORGE. FRISBIE HOAR. No more
popular and truly meritorious family name comes
to the mind in writing of the many celebrated family
circles of Worcester county than that to which the
late lamented United States senator, George F. Hoar,
belonged. Others have attained to high eminence
in local, state and national fame, but to recite the
history of their accomplishments is an easier task
than to pick from a vast collection of important
data the facts from which a sketch suitable in
length for a work of this character can be compiled
and do justice to the memory of him for whom it is
written. Senator Hoar was born at Concord, Massa
chusetts, August 29, 1826, and passed irom earthly
scenes September 30, 1904 — seventy-eight eventful,
well spent years.
His ancestors from the early day "Massachusetts
Bay Colony," were men of great courage and activity.
One writer says "They were in advance of the times
in which they lived and were leaders to a higher
and better sphere, both in social and political sense."
The earliest of his male ancestors in this country
was John Hoar, one of three brothers who came
with their sister and mother from Gloucester, Eng
land. The husband and father, Charles Hoar, was
sheriff of Gloucester and died before his family came
to America. His wife, Joanna, died at Braintree,
1661. They had three sons and two daughters.
'The sons were Daniel, who returned to Eng
land in 1653; Leonard, who graduated at Har
vard College, 1650, and was president of that insti
tution from 1672 to 1675, when he died, and John.
(See Hudson's "History of Lexington," page 104,
Genealogical Register.)
(II) John Hoar, son of the first family who
located in New England by this name, was a lawyer,
distinguished for bold, manly independence. He
resided in Scituate, Massachusetts, from 1643 to
1655. It was about 1660 when he settled in Con
cord and died April 2, 1704. His wife Alice died
June S, 1697. Their children included Elizabeth, who
• in December, 1675, married Jonathan Prescott; Mary,
married Benjamin Graves, October 21, 1668; and
Daniel, who married (first) Mary Stratton, (sec
ond) Mary Lee. The Hoar family were among the
early bay colonists and some true conception of their
character may be had by referring^ to a matter of
New England history, wherein it is recorded that
after the Indian massacre at Lancaster at the time of
King Philip's war, John Hoar, at the request of the
colonial authorities, followed the Indian band far
into the wilderness, and after great hardship and the
exercise of great ingenuity, recovered by ransom
Mrs. Rowlandson, a lady captive from Lancaster.
Her account of her ransom is published. The rock
where she was redeemed is situated in _  ,
close by the base of Wachusett Mountain, and has

been marked by the senator with a suitable inscrio-
tion. (Ill) Daniel Hoar, son of John, born about
1655, married, July 19, 1677, Mary Stratton, and
October 16, 1717, Mary Lee. By these marriages the
following children were born: John, October 24,
1678; Leonard, a captain, died April, 1771, aged
eighty-seven years, in Brainfield, where a part of the
descendants now reside— some having taken the name
of Homer; Daniel, 1680, married Sarah Jones;
Jonathan, died at the Castle, October 26, 1702;
Joseph died at sea, 1707; Benjamin; Mary, March
14, 1689, died June 10, 1702; Samuel, April 6,
1691; David, November 14, 1698; Isaac, May 18,
1695 ; Elizabeth, February 22, 1701.
(IV) Daniel Hoar, son of Daniel (3) and great-
grandson of the ancestor, born 1680, married Sarah
Jones, daughter of John and Sarah Jones, December
20, 1705, lived in southeastern part of Concord,
where he died February 8, 1773, aged ninety-three
years. Their children were: John, born January
b, 1707; he was twice married. Jonathan, born
January 6, 1707 (twin brother of John), graduated
at Harvard College, 1740; was an officer in the
provincial service during the war of 1744 to 1763.
In 1755 he went as a major to Fort Edward; the
next year was a lieutenant-colonel in Nova Scotia,
and an aide to Major-General Winslow at Crown
Point. After the peace of 1763 he went to England
and was appointed governor of Newfoundland and
neighboring provinces, but unfortunately died on hia
passage thither, aged fifty-two years. Daniel, en
tered Harvard College, 1730, but did not graduate;
he married Rebecca Brooks, November 2, 1743, and
removed to Westminster, where he died, leaving two
sons and two daughters. Lucy, married John
Brooks. Elizabeth, married a Mr. Whittemore of
West Cambridge. Mary, married Zachariah Whitte
more. _ (V) John Hoar, born January 6, 1707, married
in Lexington, June 13, 1734, Esther Pierce, by
whom he had two children. She died and he married
August 21, 1740, in Watertown, Elizabeth Cooledge!
He died in Lincoln, Massachusetts, May 16, 1786,
and his widow died March 20, 1791. He lived suc
cessively in Lexington, Watertown and again in
Lexington and Lincoln. It is not quite clear when
he first came to Lexington. He was taxed for a per
sonal and realty in 1729, and had a seat assigned him
in the meeting house in 1731, when they reseated
the house. He was a member of the school committee
in 1743. He subsequently filled the offices of con
stable, assessor and selectman. His home was in that
part of Lexington set off to Lincoln in 1754. His
children were: Rebecca, born in Lexington July 1
I73S. married, May 6, 1755, Joseph. Cutler; Esther!
born in Watertown, January 28, 1739, married Ed-

WORCESTER COUNTY

mond Bowman, 1760; John, born in Lexington, July
14, 1741, died young; Samuel, born at Lexington,
August 23, 1743; Elizabeth, born in Lexington,
October 14, 1746; Mary, born in Lexington, October
S, 1750, died young; Sarah, born in Lincoln, June
9, !75S married Nehemiah Abbot; Leonard, born
in Lincoln, June 29, 1758, was twice married; Re
becca, born in Lincoln, October 18, 1761, married
Joseph White, Lancaster; Mary, born June 17, 1764,
married Thomas Wheeler, March 27, 1788; Joseph,
born 'July 30, 1767.
(VI) Samuel Hoar, son of John (5), born in
Lexington, Massachusetts, August 23, 1743, was an
important man in Lincoln ; he frequently represented
his town in the house of representatives, and was
a state senator from Middlesex county, Massachur
setts, from 1813 to 1816. He married Susanna
Pierce, by whom he had ten children — five of each
sex. (VII) Samuel Hoar, eldest son of Samuel (6),
born May 18, 1778, graduated at Harvard College,
1802, received the degree of LL. D., 1838. He taught
school in Virginia two years, and was admitted to
the Massachusetts bar in 1805. He was an eminent
lawyer, contemporary with Choate, Mason and
Daniel Webster. He frequently represented the town
of Lincoln in the Massachusetts legislature, was a
senator from the county of Middlesex from 1813 to
1816, and was elected to congress for the years
1835-37-44. The legislature of Massachusetts sent
him to South Carolina to test the constitutionality
of certain acts authorizing the imprisonment of free
colored persons held as prisoners in that state. By
order of the governor of South Carolina, he was
forcibly ejected from the state and compelled to
leave before fulfilling his mission, but acquitted him
self manfully throughout the entire case. He was a
man of marked character and standing. He died
at Concord, Massachusetts, November 2, 1856. He
married Sarah, youngest daughter of Roger Sher
man, of Connecticut, who was one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence; one of the framers
of the United States Constitution; judge, and later
United States senator, and mayor of New Haven
until his death. The children of Samuel and Sarah
(Sherman) Hoar were: Elizabeth, born July 14,
1814; Ebenezer Rockwood, February 21, 1816; Sarah
Sherman, November 9, 1817; Samuel Johnson, Feb
ruary 4, 1820, died 1821 ; Edward Sherman, Decem
ber 22, 1823, graduate of Harvard College, 1844;
George Frisbie, August 29, 1826.
(VIII) Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, eldest son of
Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, born February
21, 1816, graduated at Harvard College, 1835, and in
1839 began the practice of law in Concord, Massachu
setts, and aside from representing his native county in
the state senate was, in 1849, made judge of the court
of common pleas. In 1859 he was appointed a justice
of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and in Gen
eral U. S. Grant's administration was appointed
attorney general of the United States in March,
1869. In 1871 he was high commissioner of the
Washington treaty, and a member of congress from
Massachusetts from 1873 to 1875.
(VIII) George Frisbie Hoar, son of Samuel and
Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, bom in Concord, Massa
chusetts, August 29, 1826. The scenes of his boy
hood were cast in pleasant places, midst fine influ
ences, all calculated to unfold the germ of the true
life to be enacted. After his common school days at
Concord he entered Harvard College, graduating
in* 1846. He chose the honorable profession of law
for his calling in life, fitting himself in Harvard
Law School and in the law office of Judge Thomas
in Worcester. He was admitted to the bar in 1849
and at once began the practice of his profession in

Worcester, which city has ever since claimed him
as one of her most honored citizens. Among his
legal associates were Hon. Emery Washburn and
later with Hon. Charles Devens and J. Henry Hill,
Esq. Mr. Hoar rapidly rose to a very eminent rank
in his profession. The native genius of his mind,
well disciplined by a thorough educational training,
and augmented by an uncommon energy, he steadily
moved forward and became a recognized leader. In
1869, when he entered congress, after twenty years
at the bar, his legal practice was the largest of any
west of Middlesex county and the most valuable in
a financial point of view.
It was in 1849 when George F. Hoar first en
tered the political arena as the chairman of the Free-
Soil party for Worcester county, where the party
was the best organized of any county in the United
States. When he was twenty-five years of age, in
1851, he was 'elected as a representative to the gen
eral court of Massachusetts. He was the youngest
member in that body, but became the leader of the
constitution in law matters and to him was given
the task of drawing resolutions protesting against
the "compromise measures of the National govern
ment in 1850. He had so far advanced in political
life that he could have succeeded Hon. Charles
Allen in congress, but he would not listen to the call
made by his friends to' enter congress as it would
be to put politics ahead of law — his chosen pro
fession. Had he at that time entered the con
gressional field, he would no doubt have been among
the foremost in civil war and reconstruction periods.
He would not go to congress, but did not refuse to
serve in the state legislature, which was pressed
upon him. In 1857 he was a member of the senate
and chairman of the judiciary committee. In that
body he made a masterly report. He was always
ready to make campaign speeches, and but few ad
vanced more thorough, extended and logical ar
guments. In 1868 Mr. Hoar was elected a representative
in congress (Republican) as the successor of the
late Hon. John D. Baldwin. In this, the forty-first
congress, he was a member of the committee on
education and labor and his chief work was the
preparation and advocacy of the bill for national
education. The bill did not pass in that session,
and Mr. Hoar reported it in the next, and finally in .
the forty-third congress it passed by the house but
failed in the senate. In the same congress he
vindicated General Howard and supported Sumner
in his opposition to General Evarts' scheme of an
nexation of Santo Domingo. As a member of the
election committee in the forty-second congress, he
drew the bill and had much to do along this line.
In the following congress he made his famous
eulogy on Senator Sumner. He was instrumental
in passing the Ead's jetty bill, and thus was opened
up the New Orleans ocean commerce line. But
perhaps of more importance than all was his con
nection with the electorial commission bill, he be
ing associated with General Earfield, Judge Abbott, '
of Massachusetts, and Payne, of Ohio. In 1872
and again in 1874 Mr. Hoar had made known his
desire to retire to private life, but each time felt
his duty was in serving, because his state de
manded it.
In 1876 his resolve to not be a candidate again
tor re-election was announced as final, and the
people elected his successor; but the next Massa
chusetts legislature chose Mr. Hoar to succeed Mr.
Boutwell as United States senator, and he took his
seat March 4, 1877, at the beginning of President
Hayes administration. Here he rapidly rose in the
scale and dignity of a true American diplomat and
statesman. He became chairman of many important

WORCESTER COUNTY

committees, including that of privileges and claims
and on judiciary! He' was author of the bill for
distributing the balance of the Geneva Award; the
Lawell bankruptcy bill; the presidential succession
bill, tenure of office act, bureau of labor statistics
and many others. The most of his time in the
house and United States senate was spent in work
ing for bills, laws and measures of large scope and
wide range, leaving others less competent than him
self to discharge their duties in_ matters of not so
much real importance to the great and growing
nation. In 1883 and 1889, he, was re-elected to his seat
in the senate.' To have been elected by the legislature
so many times by a unanimous vote of its members
was a new record for Massachusetts, and only be
spoke of merit for him of whom this brief memoir is
compiled, giving him a rank along with Charles
Sumner and Daniel Webster, who were in the same
office, and as a cotemporary with Samuel Hoar, his
father. His voice has been heard in the national
halls of legislation for thirty-five years, and he
served as United States senator twenty-seven years
of this period, his service being as long if not longer
than any American of our time.
Mr. Hoar has four times served as the chairman
of the Massachusetts Republican State Convention.
In 1880 he was president of the National Convention
at Chicago, by which General Garfield was made
presidential nominee. In his ¦ deliberations upon
that occasion he proved his masterly fitness as a
leader of great bodies of great men in exciting,
eventful history-making times. In 1898 President
McKinley tendered him the ambassadorship to Lon
don, but on account of his extreme age and desiring
to further serve in the senate, he respectfully de
clined. He enjoyed travel, especially in Europe.
From his first visit to England in i860, he has made
trips as follows: 1860-68-71-92-96-99. He was a
member of the Worcester Fire Society for fifty
years. This society was formed in 1793, and was
limited to a membership of thirty persons; it has
come to be a social and historical body of much
interest. In 1903 Senator Hoar wrote and had published
what is known by its title, "Autobiography of Sev
enty Years." It is a neat and well written detailed
account of his own life. It embraces two volumes,
and is dedicated to his wife and children — "a record
of a life which they made happy," he says in its
dedication. One paragraph in his introduction of
this work reads: "The lesson I have learned in
life, which is impressed more deeply as I grow old,
is the lesson of Good Will and Good Hope. I be
lieve that to-day is better than yesterday and that
tomorrow will be better than to-day. I believe that
in spite of so many errors and wrongs and even
crimes, my countrymen of all classes desire what
is good and not what is evil."
While much of his time for more than one-third
of a century has been in Washington, yet has Wor
cester felt the touch of his influence and life. He
was the prime mover in establishing a free public
library in this city. He materially aided in placing
the Polytechnic Institute on solid foundation. He
was a great friend and help to Clark University.
He was trustee of the Leicester Academy and first
president of St. Wulstan Society, at Worcester. He
also was instrumental in founding the Worcester
Art Society and Worcester Club. He was an hon
orary member of the Worcester Mechanics' Asso
ciation. He was the oldest member at the time of
his decease of any save two of the American Anti
quarian Society, and was an honorary member of
the Worcester Society of Antiquity, as well as
active in the Massachusetts Historical Society. He

was chairman of the public preservation committee
of Massachusetts, and helped to mark permanently
the old revolutionary landmarks by proper stones,
tablets, etc. He bought the old house in which
had lived General Rufus Putnam, at Rutland, and
made it a permanently preserved historic relic of
revolutionary times.
That the effect of his noble impulses and the
care and consideration he always gave to the help
less and oppressed be not lost sight of, it should here
be given as an illustration of this marked trait of
his character, what relates to the early abolition
days, when he, a young lawyer practicing in Wor
cester, helped to defend a person from mob violence.
It was the case wherein a slave "kidnapper" during
the "fifties" was arrested and tried in Worcester,
but finally allowed to depart, with the promise of
never returning. Many colored people here and
many more radical abolitionists felt justice had not
been meted out to him, and had it not been for
young George F. Hoar and his associates he would
have been violently mobbed. While Mr. Hoar was
a life long friend and helper of the colored race,
he did not believe in the theory of mob law. He
ever took deep interest in the freedmen of the south
and gave liberally toward their educational insti
tutions, believing, as he did, that education would
sooner or later solve the race problem.
One more recent act of his great kindness was
seen in securing the discharge of two small Assyrian
girls, who accompanied their mother to this country
from Assyria in 1901 to be with the head of the
family who had been here several years and de
clared his intention of becoming a citizen in Wor
cester. Before landing at Boston harbor the officers
discovered that one of the little girls was afflicted
with a disorder of the eye known as trachoma and
considered incurable in adults and contagious. They
under the law, were ordered not to' land on our
shores and to return at once to their native coun
try. The family was poor, the father a hard work
ing citizen of Worcester, and the mother was to be
thus ruthlessly torn from the two idols of her heart.
The various officials tried in vain to evade the ex
isting law, but were thwarted. The steamer which
was to take the little girls back was to sail the
next day, but through the interposition of Senator
Hoar, whose son Rockwood made the facts known
to him, finally through a touching telegram to
President Roosevelt, secured a peremptory order of
release of the children, and they were brought to
Worcester, cared for and soon cured. When the
kindhearted president visited Worcester, a few
months later, he wished to see them and they met
him at Senator Hoar's residence, where all parties
were pathetically touched by the scene. It is small
deeds that introduce to us great characters and
tender hearts, such as was that of both Senator
Hoar and President Roosevelt. Soon thereafter
Senator- Hoar had the law so amended that such a
proposed hardship could not again exist in this
country through "red tape."
While he of whom we write' had- his political
enemies — and within his own party — perhaps no
other man has been iri public life so many years and
made so few enemies, and even those who opposed
his position were at all times personally his friends.
In the part he took in opposing the action of the
present Republican administration policy regarding
the Philippine Island questions — one where he crossed
swords politically with many of our brainiest
statesmen — all, even President McKinley. himself,
knew of and respected his manly independent stand
as against popular opinion. McKinley was of a
different opinion regarding a vexed question, but
personally was one of Senator Hoar's warmest

WORCESTER COUNTY

friends. In Mr. Hoar's Autobiography, he says :
"It has been my ill fortune to differ with my party
many times." One such occasion was when he
bluntly said to McKinley, "you cannot maintain a
Despotism in Asia and a Republic in America."
The man with no opposers has accomplished little
and has made but few friends, but he who in the
pride and spirit of his manhood advocates the right,
as he sees the right, and not from policy, is sure
to accomplish what is demanded of a well rounded
character, whether in politics, social or private life.
Senator Hoar was broad-minded, scholarly and
patriotic in all he said and sought to accomplish.
Of his domestic relations it may be stated that
in 1853 he married Mary Louisa Spurr, daughter
of Samuel D. Spurr, who conducted a dry goods
house in Worcester, kept in a large two-story brick
block on the north corner of Main and Central
streets. Near it stood a large two-story frame
house, which was the residence of Mr. Spurr. Mrs.
Hoar at her death left two children, a daughter
Mary, and a son Rockwood, who graduated from
Harvard College in 1876, and was elected district
attorney for Worcester county in 1899, serving until
January 1, 1905. In the autumn of 1904 he was
elected to a seat in congress as the nominee of the
Republican party for his district. For his second
wife Senator Hoar married Ruth Ann, daughter of
the late Henry W. Miller, of Worcester. She died
about a year in advance of her husband. Finally
the end came and he who had been styled "the
grand old man" was claimed by the death mes
senger and the spirit took its flight at his home in
Worcester, September 30, 1904. He was a firm
believer in the Unitarian faith, and was identi
fied with that church many years; His funeral was
attended by one of the largest concourse of people
ever seen in the commonwealth on such a sad oc
casion. His remains now repose in Sleepy Hollow
cemetery, at the place of his birth.
ROCKWOOD HOAR, late congressman from
the third congressional district, was the only son
of the late Senator George F. Hoar. While the best
wishes of the friends of the honored sire always fol
lowed the son, while the ability and character of the
father seemed to be in large measure inherited by the
son, Mr. Hoar won his own spurs. He gained his
election because he had evinced the capacity essential
to represent this district in congress, because he was
one of the most accomplished lawyers in his native
city, because his record as district attorney deserved
endorsement and commendation. He demonstrated
an unprecedented popularity when a candidate for
office. His vote for district attorney showed increas
ing strength at the polls every time he ran. His
friends took an unqualified pride in his career.
Rockwood Hoar was born in Worcester, August
24, 1855, and always lived there. He fitted for col
lege in the 'Worcester public schools. He graduated
at Harvard College in the class of 1876 and entered
the law school. He received the degree of LL. B.
in 1878 and A. M. in 1879. He was admitted to the
bar in 1879 and immediately began to practice in
the law office of his father, which was then shared
by Colonel A. George Bullock, president of the State
Mutual Life Insurance Company, at present, and the
Hon. Thomas L. Nelson, late justice of the United
States district court. In 1884 he was appointed
assistant district attorney for the middle district of
Massachusetts, a district which includes the city
and county of Worcester. He was assistant while
Colonel W. S. B. Hopkins was district attorney until
1888. In 1899 he was elected district attorney of
the middle district and served until January, 1905.
He was thus closely identified with the administra

tion of justice in this county for twenty years. He
had an excellent general practice, but his reputation
as a lawyer and public official depended chiefly on
his record in the district attorney's office as assistant
and as chief. It would be difficult to find anywhere
a man who had shown more sympathy for the un
fortunate, combined with absolute faithfulness to
his duty as prosecuting officer. No district at
torney of Worcester county showed more discriminat
ing judgment in performing his office. His ideal
seemed to be, not the one of securing convictions at
any cost, but to see justice done and the spirit of the
law executed in good faith.
The detective officers of the district have a high
reputation for intelligence and thoroughness in the
, performance of their duties. By a careful and sys
tematic preparation and supervision of important
criminal cases, Mr. Hoar was able to thoroughly
master the questions at issue and to ascertain in
advance what disposition should be made of them.
He rarely lost cases in which he went to trial. The
counsel for defendants soon learned that his recom
mendations to the court were carefully considered
by the presiding judge and that they could obtain
the best results for their clients by submitting to
his careful and sympathetic judgment and to his
recognition and frank endorsement of all that could
fairly be said in favor of the defendant. The first
trial in Massachusetts upon an indictment for mur^
der in the second degree was conducted by him and
the indictment sustained by the supreme judicial
court. The murder trials conducted by him were
held without the expensive relays of stenographers,
which had so largely increased the expense of these
trials in earlier days. His cases were promptly
and vigorously presented.
Shortly after he was elected district attorney he
became convinced that the probation system was in
line with modern ' methods and a means of making
the -law more efficient. In 1900 he secured the ap
pointment of Colonel James M. Drennan as proba
tion officer for the superior court. Under this
system about one hundred cases annually are taken
on probation by Colonel Drennan. That means
about a third of the cases presented to the court
that would eventually come to trial. This policy
gives the first offender a chance to reform and avoid
a criminal career. The harsh and indiscriminate
treatment of criminals has been found to defeat the
very purpose of criminal law, and manufacture and
harden criminals rather than to teach them a lesson.
First offenders in all the more serious crimes, as
for instances boys who have committed theft, burg
lary or embezzlement, have been put in the care of
the probation officer. Of the four hundred and
twenty-five cases put on probation during Mr. Hoar's
term as district attorney, only a very few have
proved to be second offenders. The probation system
is not only humane and reasonable, but it is a Chris
tian and philosophical way to teach men who have
erred to keep straight, to demonstrate that the law
ot our times is not provided as .an instrument of
vengeance, but merely to protect society, and to
correct the criminal himself. What The Worcester
Spy said of Mr. Hoar when he was elected dis
trict attorney is very fitting at the close of his service
as he enters upon a new career in the public service:
In all his official acts, Mr. Hoar has been scrupu
lously painstaking, no matter what degree of im
portance was attached to them and his tenure of the
office of assistant district attorney was characterized
by a measure of success that augurs well for a satis-
as chief" dmmlstratl0n of the department with him
t,„cI?euheld many °^her Positions of honor and
trust. He was a member of the common council in

6mJ <5-xrr£-^AttLsi^

WORCESTER COUNTY

Worcester from 1887 to 1891, inclusive, being presi
dent the last-named year. These were important
years in the municipal history of Worcester, and
Mr. Hoar was always useful and energetic. He was
a private in the Massachusetts Concord Artillery
Company, Company C, Fifth Regiment, Massachu
setts Volunteer Militia, from 1875 to 1878. He was ap
pointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Oliver
Ames and served from 1887 to 1890 with the rank
of colonel. He was appointed judge advocate gen
eral on the staff of Governor Roger Wolcott in 1897
and served four years, acting as president of the
military board of officers, having charge of the
equipment of the Massachusetts troops in the war
of 1898 with Spain. He had the rank of brigadier-
general. He was known by all the prominent men
of the state, and well liked by his associates in
office. He was a director of the Worcester Trust
Qpmpany. He was formerly a director of the Wash-
bum & Moen Manufacturing Company before it
was absorbed by the American Steel & Wire Co.
He was a trustee of Clark University. He was
for twenty years a trustee of the Worcester Insane
Hospital, having in charge also the Worcester In
sane Asylum, both institutions being a part of the
state system for the care and cure of the insane.
He received his appointments from successive gov
ernors. He always took great personal interest in
the development and conduct of these hospitals.
He was a member of the Grafton Country Club,
Tatnuck Country Club and the Worcester Club, but
too busy to take advantage of his privileges often.
His recreations were golfing, driving and hunt
ing. He was a lover of good horses. He
took an occasional hunting trip in New Hamp
shire, but he followed in a general way the
old fashioned devotion to his home and
his office more closely than most of his professional
brethren. He was a member of the parish committee
of the • Church of the Unity, of which his mother
was a charter member, and which his father attended
from the time of his coming to Worcester till his
death. He was one of the most prominent laymen
in the Unitarian church in the state, and an active
and enthusiastic participant in all concerning the
welfare of the Church of the Unity. Mr. Hoar
occupied the modest house at Washington which his
father purchased about a year before he died.
He would have been an interesting figure among
the new congressmen, partly because of the prom
inence of his father, partly because of his having
redeemed the third congressional district by a sub
stantial majority. His was a district where a Democrat
was elected to congress for three successive terms
and in a year when a Democratic governor was
elected in Massachusetts (1904), he was elected to
congress, the vote of his district standing: Rock
wood Hoar, Republican, 17,796; John B. Ratigan,
Democrat, 10,617; John W. Brown, Socialist, 733.
Incidentally it may be noted that never before in
the history of the government has a father in the '
senate been followed upon his death by a son in the
house of representatives. His grandfather, Samuel
Hoar, his uncle, Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, and
Judge Hoar, son of Sherman Hoar, were prominent
Massachusetts congressmen.
He married, June 1, 1893, Christine Rice, daugh
ter of William E. Rice, of Worcester, Massachusetts.
(See Sketch of Rice Family and William E. Rice.)
Mrs. Hoar is well fitted for her social duties at
Washington by training and personal attractiveness.
At the recent visit of President Roosevelt to Wor
cester he was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Hoar, at
their charming home at 16 Hammond street. Their
children are : Frances Helen, born November 24,
1895; Louisa Ruth, born August 22, 1898.

At the close of the last session of congress he came
home greatly fatigued and almost immediately started
on a European trip in search of rest, accompanied by
members of his immediate family, and although the
trip proved restful, the severe strain to which he
had been subjected, had laid the foundations for a
disease of the brain which finally terminated his
life. Soon after reaching Worcester on his return
from Europe, he placed himself under the care of
his family physician, and all that was possible for
human hands to do, was done to save his life, but
he passed away on Thursday evening, November 1,
1906, at his home, No. 34 Oak avenue, Worcester,
in the same house in which his father died.
SALISBURY FAMILY. The earliest rec
ord of the Salisbury family goes back into the
history of Great Britain, and it is very likely that
the family had ancestors in Wales. From family
records and those of Suffolk county, Massachusetts,
it is clear that John Salisbury, who came to Boston
between 1630 and 1640, was the founder of the
family in America. But little can be learned of his
history either on this side or beyond the seas. It
is certain that he was a Boston taxpayer in Suffolk
county, Massachusetts, in 1689; that he was among
"The- List of Inhabitants in Boston," 1695 ; and that
he died in 1702.
(I) John Salisbury, earliest known at Boston,
married first, Annabel  , and (second)
Bridget Williams, from whom were children, includ
ing Nicholas and James (twins), born August 20,
1694; Nicholas was baptized in the Second Church
of Boston, John was styled in the Suffolk county
probate records as "late of Boston, a marriner,"
generally understood in those early days to mean a
sea captain.
(II) Nicholas Salisbury, son of John and
Bridget (Williams) Salisbury (1), born August 20,
1694, was a mere boy at the time of his father's
death. Little of positive record can be had of the
career of Nicholas, who was described as a "Mer
chant" in the Boston records, but that he grew to
manhood and married Martha Saunders, and to
them were born Elizabeth, Sarah and Stephen. The
date of the marriage of Nicholas and Martha was
October 1, 1724, and tradition says "he fell in love
with her at first sight, at the Old South Church in
Boston." Her father was Josiah Saunders, who in
the records was described as "Marriner" (sea cap
tain). Martha's mother was Rebekah Eldridge,
whose brother John left a legacy of eight thousand
pounds sterling to "My Sister and all her daughters
and their children in New England." In the will of
Nicholas Salisbury, April 4, 1748, he is called "shop
keeper." He gave three hundred pounds sterling
to his son Stephen, and the balance of his estate left
at the time of his wife's decease. He also gave "My be
loved brother Benjamin" one hundred pounds ster
ling or its equivalent. Viewed in the light of what
was the true fact, and what transpired in later years
in connection with the Salisburys' standing and
worth as men of means and integrity of character,
the following copied from the proceedings of the
selectmen of Boston, at a meeting held July 9, 171 1,
is amusing: "Ordered that Nicholas Salisbury, who
belongs to Charlestown and came lately to our Tov\fn
to dwell, be notified to appear before the Selectmen
with security or depart out of our Town." In ex
planation of this it should be stated that it was then
the law and custom in New England to require se
curity of all newcomers, this being for a twofold
purpose; first, to insure the town against people
who might be paupers or liable to be a financial
burden ; and second, to make sure of the religious and
political loyalty of the newcomer before admitting

WORCESTER COUNTY

him as a citizen who should have their protection,
and who should walk and live in harmony with
them. (Ill) Stephen Salisbury came to* Worcester in
1767 to establish a branch house for Samuel and
Stephen Salisbury, of Boston, his partner being an
elder brother. He was born in Boston, September
25, 1746, the son of Nicholas and Martha (Saun
ders) Salisbury. The above firm were importers of
hardware and kindred goods from England and the
West Indies. Worcester proved a favorable centre
for a large country trade, then numbering about one
thousand people.. The Salisburys imported their
own merchandise, and hence could afford to sell
almost as cheaply in Worcester as in Boston. When
Mr. Salisbury first moved to Worcester, political
affairs were engaging the attention of the people,
and the trouble with the mother country was be
coming more and more serious. Here controversies
had become more acute than in most places, for here
lived numbers of obstinate Tories, as well as many
who were fearless defenders of the colonial rights.
Mr. Salisbury early took his stand with the patriots.
He accepted no office, but his name frequently ap
pears in- town records as being on committees to
prepare resolutions against some act of tyranny. He
bought a large farm to the northward of the city,
and his place of business was at Lincoln Square. To
the east of the front door of his "mansion" was
the counting-room and salesroom. Until well ad
vanced in life his mother presided over his house
hold. January 31, 1797, after his mother's death, he
married Elizabeth Tuckerman, daughter of Edward
and Elizabeth Tuckerman, of Boston. By this mar
riage one son was born— Stephen, March 8, 1798. A
daughter, Elizabeth T., was born in 1800, died in
1803, and a son, Edward Tucke'rman, born in 1803,
died in 1809. Mr. Salisbury died May 11, 1829,
eighty-four years of age. "His figure was slight and
very graceful, and it is said that his face was very
handsome, and he retained a complexion of youth
ful freshness until the end of his life." His pastor
and friend, Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, described him
as a "just man." He was an original member of
the famous Worcester Fire Society, organized Jan
uary -21, 1793, and continued an associate until July
6, 1801. A part of the above facts have been gleaned
from writings of his contemporaries, each and all
plainly verifying all that is here claimed as to the
sterling qualities jf his manly character.
(IV) Stephen Salisbury was born at Lincoln
Square, in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts,
March 8, 1798, at the old Salisbury mansion, erected
by his father Stephen, who came from Boston to
Worcester in 1767 and built the above residence in
1770, in which he dwelt for the remainder of his
days. Stephen Salisbury obtained his primary
education at the Old Centre district school
prepared for college at the Leicester Acad
emy, and graduated with honors from Harvard Uni
versity in the class of 1817, celebrated for what its
members accomplished after they went forth to
the actual work of their lives. Among them were
Hon. George Bancroft, Hon. Caleb Cushing, Pro
fessor Alva Woods and George B. Emerson He
studied law under Hon. Samuel M. Burnside and
was admitted to practice at the Massachusetts bar,
but owing to his extensive local interests never en
tered actively into the practice of the legal pro
fession, though a well read and highly capable at
torney. His own business interests kept his time
fully occupied, but his legal schooling was of lasting
benefit to him in after life. While he never sought
office, he yielded to the calls of his fellow-citizens,
and served in various prominent positions, all of
which he filled with a most thorough completeness.

Among the places of trust thus accepted by him
were those of selectman, 1839; representative in the
general court of Massachusetts, 1838-39; senator,
1846-47, and alderman during the first year Wor
cester was an organized city, 1848. In i860 and
again in 1872 he was elected presidential elector
from his state. As early as 1840 the records show
he was an active member of the American Anti
quarian Society, a member of its council from Octo
ber, 1853, and president in 1854, continuing as such
for more than thirty years. He was the third presi
dent of the Worcester Free Public Library, and
served from 1864 to 1865, and again from 1868 to
1872, inclusive. He generously contributed toward
the reading rooms connected with this library. He
was also a member. of the Massachusetts Historical
Society. The degree of Doctor of Laws was con
ferred on him by Harvard. University in 1875. He
was overseer of the University for two full terms
from 1871 to 1883. He was also a conspicuous figure
in the history of the Worcester Free Institute, now
the Polytechnic Institute; was its first president, an
office which he held until his death in 1884; he gave
,the valuable land on which the buildings stand,
and contributed liberally to the support of the in
stitution. In reviewing his many responsible financial
trusts it is found that from 1845, when Hon. Daniel
Waldo died, for more than thirty-nine years he '
served as president of the Worcester Bank, and was
for fifty-two years one of the directors, being first
elected in 1832. He also held the office of president
of the Worcester County Institution for Savings for
a quarter bf a century, resigning in 1871. He was
made a director of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad
at the date of its organization in 1845, and was its
president from 1850 to 1851. At Lincoln Square he
built the factory long known as "Court Mills," for
the manufacture of farm implements, and when
the site was needed for other purposes he built for
the Ames Plow Company (which had succeeded to
the business of the earlier partnership), a large fac
tory on Prescott street. He built the first wire-mill
on Grove street, and enlarged the works to adapt
them to the expanding business, finally selling the
site to the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com
pany. He built other large factories on Union
street. While busy with a multitude of cares, he neg
lected not the weightier matters. He was identified
as a member of the Second Parish Unitarian Church,
m which he ever took a deep interest. In all of his
relations he was every inch a man, honored and
trusted by a wide circle of friends throughout the
commonwealth. Whether he be viewed from a social,
religious, civic, or financial point of view, he always
showed a full, well rounded character— a genuine
type of American citizenship. His personal manner
was genial, courteous and obliging to a marked de
gree. His own interests were always gauged by the
best interests of his friends and neighbors. He was
a well-read gentleman, deeply versed in historical
and antiquarian lore, art and literature, in which he
took great delight, with the added years of his
busy, eventful life.
_ During his latter years he accomplished much
tor the substantial improvement of the northern por
tion of his home city, aiding very materially in
building up a great manufacturing centre. He built
the spacious business block on Lincoln Square, and
m 1837 his residence on Highland street. His
fathers ancient "mansion" in which he was born,
presents at this writing about the same homelike
appearance that it did a century ago, when it was
occupied by a trustworthy loyal revolutionary

¦! , ¦

-yyyyym

WORCESTER COUNTY

Of his domestic relations it may be said that no
more affectionate husband or loving parent ever
graced a Massachusetts home and fireside. His
first wife, to whom he was married November 7,
1833, was Rebekah Scott Dean, of Charlestown, New
Hampshire, who died July 24, 1843, leaving as their
only child, Stephen Salisbury, Jr. He next married
-Nancy Hoard, widow of Captain George Lincoln,
who died September 4, 1852. In 1855 he married
Mary Grosvenor, widow of Hon. Edward D. Bangs,
former secretary of state for Massachusetts ; she
died September 25, 1864. He died August 24, 1884,
in his eighty-seventh year. In the language of one
who had long known him, "He was a considerate
gentleman of the old school type, a model of which
this generation has none too many imitators." At
his funeral the Rev. Andrew P. Peabo'dy, DD.,
LL. D., used for his text, "We all do fade as a
leaf." With his demise a generous property passed'
to his only child, Stephen Salisbury, Jr., a consid
erable portion of this property being composed of
farm lands lying in close proximity to the business
portion of the city of Worcester. The son, with
wise business discretion, erected many dwellings,
factories and business blocks thereon, thereby con
tributing greatly to the growth and prosperity of the
city, and a proportionate increase in valuation to
the estate.
(V) Hon. Stephen Salisbury is one whose name
is familiar to every citizen of Worcester, who has
any knowledge of the city and its principal institu
tions. His local pride has been evidenced by his
many generous acts' for the public welfare, and it
is justly to be said that scarcely any undertaking
of magnitude has been attempted during recent years
without his co-operation, directly or indirectly.
The only son of Stephen and Rebekah Scott
(Dean) Salisbury, he was born March 31, 1835, in
Worcester, in one of the brick houses near the end
of Main street, opposite the court house. He began
his education in an infant school taught by Mrs.
Levi Heywood, on Main street. When six years old
he passed the winter of 1841-42 with his parents in
Savannah, Georgia. In the latter year he attended
the private school of Mrs. Jonathan Wood, at the
corner of Main and School streets, Worcester,
Massachusetts, and for a short time in 1844 was a
pupil in Miss Bradford's school in Boston. In
1845 he was a student in the grammar school under
Warren Lazell, later kept by C. B. Metcalf, until
1848, when he entered the Worcester High School,
then in charge of Nelson Wheeler. He matriculated
in Harvard College in 1852 and graduated there
from in 1856 after completing the four years'
course. After his graduation he went to Berlin and
became a student in the Frederick William Uni
versity. During the spring of 1857 he attended
lectures at the Ecole de Droit, in Paris. He spent
the summer and autumn with his classmates Rice
and Kinnicutt in England, Scotland and Ireland,
and late in the year visited Turkey, Asia Minor- and
Greece, including a month's tour on horseback, ac
companied by a guide. This trip gave him much
interesting and valuable information concerning the
country and customs of Greece. Afterward he re
sumed his studies at Berlin, then re-visiting Paris,
and set out with his father's family upon a tour
covering portions of Italy, England, Scotland, Ire
land and Wales. In December, 1858, after an ab
sence of more than two years, he returned to Wor
cester, and took up bookkeeping' for a time as a
special study. He subsequently entered the law
office of Dewey and Williams as a student of law,
and in 1859 entered Harvard Law School. Two
years later he received the degree of Bachelor of
Laws, and was admitted to the bar in Worcester in

October, 1861. During the following winter months
he visited David Casares, a college classmate, in
Yucatan, where he made a study of the Maya In
dians' ruins and monuments. In 1885 he traveled
through the same country and other portions of
Mexico and Cuba, re-examining some of the ruins
which he had seen on his former visit. In 1888 he
again visited Europe, his tour including France,
Belgium, Holland and Spain. In Spain, especially,
he found much to interest him, as also in portions
of Portugal. He was also an extensive traveler in
his own country, and with his taste for the study of
history and natural history became possessed of a
large fund of useful knowledge, a review of which
he has given to American societies of historical
investigation. Mr. Salisbury early entered into the responsi
bilities of business life. In 1863 he became a
trustee of the State Mutual Life Assurance Com
pany of Worcester. In 1865 he was chosen a director
of the. Worcester National Bank, and after the death
of his father (in -1884) succeeded him in the presi
dency. In 1877 he became a trustee and member
of the board of investment of the Worcester County
Institution for Savings, of which his .father had
been president; and in 1882 he succeeded the late
Governor Alexander H. Bullock as its president.
He was also a director of the old Worcester &
Nashua and. of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Rail
roads. He also gave much attention to public affairs,
In. 1864, 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the
common council of Worcester, and president of the
board during his last term. In 1889 he was made
one of the commissioners of the sinking funds of
the city, and served in that capacity to the time of
his death, November 16, 1905. As a Republican he
represented the first Worcester district in the state
senate in 1893, 1894 and 1895, serving as chairman
of the committees on education, banks and banking,
and the committee on the treasury. In all these
various positions he displayed the qualities of the
well equipped man of affairs, and discharged every
trust with scrupulous fidelity.
Mr. Salisbury was conspicuously active and use
ful in his relation to many educational, historical
and charitable institutions, devoting to them not
only his service, but liberally of his means. He
was a prominent member of the Worcester Lyceum
and Natural History Association, vice president of
the Worcester Agricultural Society, a director of
the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, a trustee
of Clark University from its founding in 1887 until
his death, and was at one time its treasurer. He was
also a trustee of Leicester Academy, and for ten
years served as treasurer of the Music Hall Asso
ciation, as well as one of its directors. He was
a trustee of the City Hospital at its incorporation
in 1872, and' secretary for eighteen years ; trustee of
the Memorial Hospital, and secretary for ten years,
and vice president of St. Vincent Hospital. He was
also a trustee of Rural Cemetery, and secretary
of Hope Cemetery. ' Mr. Salisbury became a mem
ber of the American Antiquarian Society in 1863,
a member of its council in 1874, vice-president in
1884, and in 1887 was elected president, a position
which he occupied to the time of his death, and by
his will this society received about two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars and his library. In 1884 he
was elected a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, and president in 1895, to which institution
he recently gave three hundred thousand dollars.
He was a member of the faculty of the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology connected with Harvard
University; a member of the Massachusetts His
torical Society, to which institution by his will he
gave five thousand dollars; a member of the Wor-

8

WORCESTER COUNTY

cester County Horticultural Society, and formerly
its president; the American Geographical Society;
the New England Historic Genealogical Society; the
Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica
and the Conservatorio Yucateco. In all of these he
ever maintained a deep and intelligent interest. His
writings include important papers on the people of
Yucatan and their arts, which he contributed to ' the
American Antiquarian Society. He also translated
several valuable papers from the German of Dr.
Valentine on the same and kindred subjects. In
1888 he prepared and read an exhaustive paper on
"Early Books and Libraries." Mr. Salisbury was
an accomplished linguist, and enjoyed a good speak
ing knowledge of the Spanish and other languages.
Mr. Salisbury's public spirit was shown not only
by his interest in municipal and state affairs, but
his more tangible works show him to have had
at heart the beauty and convenience of the city.
Among his public benefactions may be further men
tioned a building for the City Hospital, a laboratory
and electrical station for the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute; eighteen acres of land bordering on
Salisbury Pond given to the city in 1887, and by
him named Institute Park; a lot of land to the
Worcester Society of Antiquity and contributions
to their building fund, and by will another lot of
land and five thousand dollars. In 1896 he gave
land for the Worcester Art Museum, and con
tributed with other citizens funds for the erection
of a museum building and for the endowment • of
the corporation, and by his will made that institu
tion his residuary legatee. In 1899 he gave land
for a building for the Worcester Woman's Club,
which has been recently erected. In 1900 Mr. Salis
bury built on the summit of Bancroft Hill, one of
the most prominent elevations in Worcester, a gate
way of rough stone, known as Bancroft Tower,
which affords an excellent opportunity for observa
tion. This has been opened to the public, together
with the grounds surrounding it.
It is unusual in any family for one generation to
succeed another during so long a period of time as
that between John Salisbury in 1640 and his repre
sentative of the present day, without degeneration in
some instance. Of the Salisbury family it is to be
said that from the emigrant ancestor down the name
has been a synonym for industry, integrity, public-
spirit, and civic duties ably and faithfully performed.
Each bearer of the name, in his own generation, has
shown the faculty of making his work bear fruits
beneficial to the general welfare of his fellow-citi
zens, and in no instance has he hesitated to devote
himself, intellect and means to these ends.
The late Mr. Salisbury never married. The
value of his estate at the time of his decease, which
at this writing has not been settled, has been by
estimate fixed at from three to four millions of
dollars. WASHBURN FAMILY. This name is derived
from two simple words — wash, which imples a swift
current of a stream, and burne (or" bourne), signi
fying a brook or small stream. It has been said of
this family, whose origin is in England, carrying a
coat-of-arms, that the posterity of John Washburn,
who was the first emigrant to locate in New Eng
land in 1632, "will seldom find occasion to blush
upon looking back upon the past lives of those
from whom they have descended. Fortunate indeed,
may the generations now in being, esteem themselves,
if they can be sure to bequeath to their posterity
an equal source of felicitation."
In this illustrious family have been found some
of our nation's greatest characters, in public and
private life, including great lawyers, statesmen and

military men in all of the American wars. Maine,
Vermont, Massachusetts and Wisconsin have each
had governors from this Washburn family, and
three brothers served as congressmen from three
states at the same time, and all with much ability.
Authors and college graduates may be found to a
score or more, who have left their impress upon the
world. As manufacturers, they have excelled, and
wherever wire goods and wire fencing are known,
there is found the name Washburn as being pioneers
in this line.
(I) John Washburn, the original immigrant,
who settled at Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1632,
married Margery  — , and by her was born
a son named John, of Bridgewater, who married in
1645 Eliza Mitchell. His father was secretary of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he, with his two
.sons, John and Philip, were able to bear arms in
1643. The immigrant and his son John were among
the original fifty-four persons who became proprie
tors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1645. They
bought the lands of the old Sachem Massasoit, for
seven coats of one and a half yards each, nine
hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose
skins, ten and a half yards of cotton cloth. The
transfer was signed by Miles Standish, Samuel Nash
and Constant Southworth.
(II) John Washburn was born in England,
1621, and his brother Philip at the same place in
1624. He died unmarried. John (II) and his wife
Eliza Mitchell had these children : John, married
Rebecca Lepham; Thomas, married (first) Abigail
Leonard and (second) Deliverance Packard; Jo
seph, married Hannah Latham; Samuel, married
Deborah Packard; Jonathan, married Mary
Vaughan; Benjamin, died on the Phipps expedition
to Canada; Mary, married Samuel Kingsley; Eliza
beth, married (first) James Howard and (second)
Edward Sealy; Jane, married William Orcutt;
James, married Mary Bowden; Sarah, married John
Ames. (Ill) Samuel Washburn, son of John (2), called
"Sergeant," was born in 1651 at Duxbury, Massa
chusetts. He married Deborah Packard, by whom he
had six children, including Israel.
(IV) Israel Washburn, born at Bridgewater,
1684, married Waitstill Sumner in 1708, and had four
children — one named Israel.
(V) Israel Washburn, who settled at Rayn-
ham, was born August 11, 1718, and married Leah
Fobes. He was committeeman of "Inspection and
Safety" and captain of a train band, 1774, and served
a short time in the revolutionary war. His son
was Israel.
(VI) Israel Wahburn, son of Israel Washburn
(5), was born in 1775, and married a Miss King in
1783. He served in the revolution and was at the
Lexington alarm. He served in the general court
and was a member of the constitutional convention.
He talked but little and made but one speech in
public life. Fie died at Raynham, 1841. Of his
ten children Israel (VII) was one.
(VII) Israel Washburn, son of Israel (6), was
bom at Raynham, Massachusetts, November 18,
1784, died at Livermore, Maine, September 1, 1876.
He went to Maine in 1806 and taught school for a
time and then engaged in ship and boat building. He
removed to Livermore in 1809 and bought a farm,
store and goods, and continued in trade until 1829.
this farm was later and is still known as the "Nor-
f ¦ i_He rePresented his "district of Maine" be
fore it had been set off from Massachusetts, which
was m 1820 He served in 1815, 1816, 1818 and
1819 Toward the end of his life he was afflicted by
blindness and his friends used to read the news to
him, of which he never tired. He was great in

WORCESTER COUNTY

cheerfulness, rivaled Lincoln in story-telling and
could remember events well. It is said he could
name all congressmen and give the district to which
they belonged, when he himself had three sons in
congress. His noble son, Hon. Elihu B., of Illinois fame,
wrote from Paris, when Minister to France, as
follows : i
"This is the eighty-sixth birthday of my father.
All hail to the glorious, great hearted, great headed,
noble old man ! In truth, the noblest Roman of them
all. How intelligent, how kind, how genial, how
hospitable, how true !"
This same worthy son had carved on his father's
monument at death, "He was a kind father and an
honest man." Passers by. to-day, may see this in
the cemetery overlooking 'the family place, "The
Norlands." (VIII) Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, the only mem
ber who still clung to the final "e" on his name,
was the son of Israel (7), born at Livermore,
Maine, September 23, 1816, and died at Chicago,
Illinois, October 22, 1887, aged seventy-one years.
In his early manhood, he taught school for ten dol
lars per month and "boarded round." In 1836 he
entered Kents Hill Seminary, and in 1839 the Cam
bridge Law School'. In 1840 he moved to Illinois,
practicing law at Galena. In 1852 he was elected to a
seat in congress, continuing sixteen years, and upon
retirement was known as the "Watch Dog of the
U. S. Treasury" and also as "Father of the House."
He swore into office Schuyler Colfax and James G.
Blaine as speakers. To him and William Seward
alone did Abraham Lincoln confide the secret of
the running of his train from Philadelphia to Wash
ington, March, 1861, when Washburne had the tele
graph wires cut, fearing trouble would ensue en route.
Both Seward and Washburne agreed to meet him
at the depot in Washington, but Washburne was the
only friend who did in fact meet him. He was a
constituent and admirer of General Grant, who
owed to him promotion to high office. In 1869 Grant
offered him a place in his cabinet as secretary of
state, which he soon resigned and accepted the
office of Minister to France, and was there during
the trying days of the siege and commune, coinci
dent with the Franco-Prussian war. He remained
there nearly nine years, and longer than any prede
cessor. During the Andrew Johnson impeachment
trial, he was chairman of the house committee.
'He married in 1845, Adele Gratiot, granddaugh
ter of Stephen Hemstead, of Connecticut, a soldier
of the revolutionary war. She died March, 1887,
aged sixty, her husband only surviving her until
October 22. Their son, Gratiot Washburne-, was
graduated from the Highland Military Academy of
Worcester and from the Naval Academy at New
port, Rhode Island. He was secretary of the United
States legation under his father in France, and was
one of four .upon whom the French government be
stowed the Cross of Legion of Honor for services
performed during the siege of Paris. He was
secretary of the American Exposition at London in
1886, and died suddenly in Kentucky.
(VIII) Governor Israel Washburn, son of Israel
(7), was born at Livermore, Maine, June 6, 1813. He'
was admitted to the bar in 1823. He was in the
legislature in 1842 and congressman from Maine
in the thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth,
thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth United States congresses
He was first a Whig and later a Republican. He
was elected governor of Maine in i860, and Lin
coln made him collector of the port of Portland
in 1863. He was a literary man and also lectured
much. He married (first) Mary M'. Webster and
(second) Robina Naper Brown, of Boston, in 1876.

He died May 12, 1883, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His son Israel was an officer in the Sixteenth
Maine Regiment during the civil war period.
(VIII) General C. C. Washburn, ex-Governor
of Wisconsin, was fully named Cadwallader Colden
Washburn. He was the son of Israel, born at
Livermore, Maine, 1818. He was a land surveyar,
went to Illinois in 1839, and settled at Mineral
Point, Wisconsin. He practiced law, and in 1859
moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was elected to
congress, serving from 1856 to 1862. He was dele
gate to the peace convention in 1861, and raised a
cavalry regiment the same year and was made
colonel. During 1862 he was promoted to brigadier-
general and then to major-general, and was at
Vicksburg with Grant and under General Banks in
Louisiana. In 1867 he was elected to a seat in con
gress from Wisconsin, serving until 1871, when he
was chosen governor of Wisconsin.
(VII) Governor Emory Washburn, of Massa
chusetts, descended from the original immigrant
thus : 1. John and Margery ; 2. John and Eliza
beth Mitchell ; 3. Joseph and Hannah Latham ; 4.
Joseph and Hannah Johnson; 5. Seth and Mary
Harrod ; 6. Joseph and Ruth Davis ; 7. Governor
Emory, who was born in Leicester, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, 1800, and graduated at
Williams College, 1817. In 1826 and 1827 we find
him- in the general court of Massachusetts, and in
1841 and 1842, state senator, in 1844 judge of the
court of common pleas, from which bench he re
signed in 1847, and in 1853 he became governor of
the state he had so faithfully served. He was made
a professor in law at Harvard College in 1856, con
tinuing until March 18, 1877, when death claimed
him. He was a noted author of many law works,
genealogy and general historical books and papers,
including the excellent "History bf Leicester," his
native place. He married M'arianna C. Giles, who
bore him three children.
(V) John Washburn, son of John (4), was born
in 1699, married Abigail Johnson, and had these
children: John, born 1730, married Lydia Prince;
Abigail, born 1732; Mary, born 1734; Mercy, born
1736; Seth, born 1738, married (first) Faer How
ard, (second) Ann Fullerton, (third) Deborah
Churchill; Phillip; Thankful, born 1742.
(VI) Seth Washburn, born 1738, married as
above three wives and his children were : Fear, borii
1766; Perris; Abigail; Seth born 1769, married Sarah
Adams ; Ichabod ; Anna (by second wife) ; Ephraim
(by third wife).
(VII) Captain Ichabod Washburn, son of Seth
(6), was born about 1771, and in 1793 married
Sylvia Bradford, whose ancestors came in the "May
flower," through the following line : Governor Will
iam Bradford, who came on that ship, had a son,
William, whose son, Samuel, had a son, Gamaliel,
whose son, Gamaliel, Jr., had a son named Peabody,
whose daughter, Sylvia, was the wife of Captain
Ichabod Washburn, who was a sea captain and lost
his life while off the coast at Portland, Maine,
helping to care for his brother seamen who were
sick with yellow fever. He died at twenty-eight
years of age, leaving three children : Ichabod
(VIII) and Charles (twins), who subsequently
came to Worcester, and a daughter Pamelia.
(VIII) Ichabod Washburn, the founder of the
great wire industry in Worcester, which is now a
prominent factor in the American Steel and Wire
Company, son of Ichabod and Sylvia (Bradford)
Washburn, was born August 11, 1798, at Kingston,
Massachusetts. His father died when he was but
an infant, and his mother was left to support her
self and little ones by working at her loom and
spinning wheel. When nine years of age Ichabod

IO

WORCESTER COUNTY

Washburn went to live with a harness maker in
Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he did chores and
learned to stitch harness, attending school during
the winter terms. After five years' experience at
Duxbury, he returned to Kingston and worked for
a time in a small cotton factory. At the age of
sixteen years he. was employed as an apprentice to
learn the blacksmith's trade with Jonathan and
David Trask, of Leicester. After a service of
two years the firm dissolved partnership, and young
¦ Washburn found employment with Nathan Muzzey
at the same trade, engaging to work for two years,
to receive fifty dollars for his services, be allowed
twelve weeks schooling and furnished with board
and clothing. Mr. Muzzey at the end of a year left
Leicester for the adjoining town of Auburn, Wash
burn accompanying him, continuing until his twen
tieth birthday. In the winter of 1817 and 1818 he
went to Millbury to work as journeyman, but within
a few weeks the news came that a position as clerk
in Mr. Warren's grocery store in Portland, Maine,
was awaiting him, his sister having become in the
meantime Mrs. Warren. A brief trial at clerking
in his brother-in-law's store convinced him that he
was better adapted to mechanical than mercantile
pursuits, and he returned to Millbury and began
making ploughs on his own account. He had no
funds, but, though a stranger, came to Worcester
and presented his case to Mr. Daniel Waldo, a man
of means, who> heard his story and upon his own
note gave him money with which to operate. This
was his start financially. In 1819 he worked in an
armory making ramrods, and in the autumn of that
year came to Worcester.
In 1820 he engaged in business with William H.
Howard, manufacturing woolen machinery and lead
pipe, and soon thereafter purchased Mr. Howard's
interest in the bu'siness. In 1822 he took as a part
ner Benjamin Goddard, and with the increase of
business they employed thirty workmen. They made
the first condenser and long-roll spinning-jack that
was made in the county. During the winter of 1830.
and 1831, while on School street, he experimented
in the manufacture of wooden screws. Later he
and Goddard sold their business and moved to
Northville, where the manufacture of wire and
wooden screws began, the wire being made by Wash
burn & Goddard and the screws by C. Reed & Com
pany, associates. They also made card-"wire. Some
in 1836-37 the screw business was removed to Prov
idence, and finally n?rged into the "American Screw
Company." In January, 1835, he dissolved with
Goddard at Northville, and continued the wire busi
ness iri a building erected for him by Stephen Salis
bury, on Mill brook, which furnished the power for
driving the crude and experimental machinery then
in use. This building was forty by eighty feet, three
stories high. In 1835 his twin brother, Charles, came
from Harrison, Maine, where he had been, practic
ing law, and formed a partnership with his brother,
which terminated in January, 1838, but soon after
1 the substitution of the "wire-block" by Ichabod Wash
burn, which revolutionized the industry, the busi
ness ¦ began rapidly to multiply, and in 1842 they
again associated themselves as partners, the firm
name being I. & C. Washburn.
In 1847 the two Washburns put in a rolling mill
of their own at Quinsigamond, and soon the firm of
Washburn, Moen & Company was formed. The
same, however, was dissolved in 1849, the business
going to Henry S. Washburn, a member of the firm.
The firm of I. & C. Washburn that same year was
dissolved and a division of the plant made, Charles
taking the part at Quinsigamond. April 1, 1850,
Philip L. Moen became a partner of Ichabod Wash
burn, the style of the firm being I. Washburn and

Company. Ichabod Washburn spent ' much time in
experimenting in the tempering of wire that it might
be put to various uses, and at the suggestion of Mr.
Chickering, of Boston, he produced samples of
piano string wire, an article which hitherto had been
brought from England. That branch of the busi
ness has been conducted with success up to the
present time, as well as other musical instrument
wires. In July, 1859, Ichabod Washburn employed
one hundred and twenty men and made three tons
of wire per day. In 1863 he and his partner built
a cotton-mill, which they operated about ten years,
producing sufficient yarn to cover four tons of temp
ered crinoline wire per day. January, 1865, Ichabod
Washburn and Mr. Moen changed the firm name
to "I. Washburn and Moen Iron Works" — capital
stock, five hundred thousand dollars. In 1868 it be
came the Washburn-Moen Manufacturing Company,
with one ^million dollars capital. In 1889 the plant
was operated by three thousand workmen. A few
years since the whole business was merged into the
' American Steel & Wire Company.
Ichabod Washburn married (first) Ann G.
Brown, October 6, 1823, She was the daughter of
Mrs. David Brown, with whom he boarded in
Worcester. One son was born to them, December
1, 1824, but survived only a few ' days. Two daugh
ters were born to them: Eliza Ann, born June 4,
1826, married Philip L. Moen, and died at the age
of twenty-six years; and Lucy Pamelia, born March
8,, 1832, who* died when twenty-two years old. The
mother and little granddaughter soon passed from
earth, leaving Mr. Washburn alone in the world.
He founded the Worcester Memorial Hospital to
the fond memory of his two daughters. For his
second companion he. married Elizabeth B. Cheever.
Of his political standing, let it be recorded that
he was a strong anti-slavery advocate and gave of
his means abundantly, and urged by a petition to
President Lincoln the emancipation of the colored
race. After he formation of the Republican party,
he ever voted and worked and paid for the princi
ples it advocates. He believed that capital and
labor should alike be busy and ever put to produc
ing for the world. He was state senator in i860
and performed his part faithfully and well.
He was a life-long Christian and did very much
to aid the church. He was one of the first four
deacons of the Union Church, and assisted materi
ally in building that church. He was treasurer of
the Church Anti-Slavery Society. in 1859. From his
own funds, he erected the Mission Chapel on Sum
ner street, Worcester. Space in this volume pre
cludes the enumeration of but few of the benevo
lent causes and benevolent industries to which he
gave most lavishly, believing as he did that money
was made to use and to use for mankind. He was
a systematic giver and in proportion to his income.
He felt it a duty to donate, and like Peabody, his
business Multiplied on his hand by liberal giving to
worthy causes, hence he headed all subscription pa
pers with. a Christianlike pleasure. From him came
twenty-five thousand dollars to further on the build
ing of the Mechanics' Hall, so appreciated today and
for the past decades used for great audiences, re-
' ligious and political. He also was one of the origi
nal promoters of the "Bay State House." He de
spised intoxicating drinks and tobacco, giving time
and wealth for their suppression. When he built
his first lumber house, he would not ask men to
help raise" it, if they asked to have liquor, as was
customary, but preferred to pay cash to men who
would do it without intoxicants, furnishing instead
lemonade and "small beer." Among his benefactions
should not be forgotten the large amounts he gave
toward the erection and support of educational and

-% f-iy Ad 'fi.y "-'"

G^^A^, J?~?huyL<L~~

WORCESTER COUNTY

ii

religious institutions : Home for the Aged (eighty-
five thousand dollars) ; Memorial Hospital, the
Freedmen's Cause, the Home and Foreign Missions,
Orphans' Home, etc., scattered from Maine to
Georgia. But even the lives of the truly great and
good must cease. Seized by a stroke of paralysis in
February, 1868, he lingered on until death came
December of the same year. His last words were
spoken to a brother, "It is all right," and thus Wor
cester and the world lost one of her noblest sons,
a self-made, wealthy, devoted Christian.
(VIII) Hon. Charles Washburn, twin brother
of Ichabod Washburn, was born in Kingston, Massa
chusetts, August 11, 1798. He selected as his voca
tion the profession of a lawyer, and after receiving
the advantages of a common school education en
tered Brown University, from which institution he was
graduated with the class of 1820. He was admitted to
the bar, and in 1823 was practicing his profession in
Otisfield, Maine. The following year he removed
to Harrison, same state, where he continued to labor
in his chosen profession, gaining special distinc
tion as a lawyer. During the years 1830 and 1833
he served his district in the Maine legislature. In
1835 he came to Worcester, Massachusetts, to join
his brother Ichabod in the wire industry, and in 1842
the firm of I. & C. Washburn was formed and two
years later the rolling-mill at Quinsigamond was
built. In 1849, through a dissolution of the firm and
a division of the property, the plant at Quinsigamond
came into the hands of Charles Washburn, who was
actively engaged in conducting this branch of the
wire business, which he continued until the year
1868, when the Washburn and Moen Manufactur
ing Company was formed, this industry becoming
a part of the great business plant. As early as 1849
Mr. Washburn served as a member of the school
committee; in 1849 and 185O he was chosen a mem
ber of the common council, having been president
of the same for three years; in 185 1 was a member
of the Massachusetts legislature, and in 1854 served
in the board of aldermen. Mr. Washburn retained
an interest in the firm of the Washburn & Moen
Manufacturing Company, and was a member of the
board of directors up to the time of his death,
October 27, 1875.
Mr. Washburn married Zibeah Cary Blake, daugh
ter of Grenfill Blake, of Otisfield, Maine, November
30, 1826; she died August 12, 1845. Their children
were: Charles F. (IX), born August 23, 1827;
Grenfill B., May 16, 1829; Lucia B., October 29,
1730; Grenfill H., April 20, 1833; George I., May 26,
1835; Henry B., November 10, 1837; Maurice B.,
July 25, 1839; Zibeah C, April 15, 1844; Maurice,
August 9, 1845. Charles Washburn married for his
second wife Anna F. Brown, February 2, 1847.
There were three children of this marriage — a son
John, and two daughters, Ellen and Anna.
(IX) Charles Francis Washburn, son of Hon.
Charles Washburn, having acquired an excellent-
education in the schools of Worcester and Leicester
Academy, from which he graduated, was prevented
by illness from attending college, but he added to
his academical knowledge a liberal store of general
information from his personal reading and observa
tion. After an extended trip to Europe he entered
his father's rolling mills, and from the beginning
gave evidence of that mechanical skill and business
sagacity that characterized him in his later career.
He mastered every detail of the industry, working
in all departments, and gaining perfect mastery of
them. In 1857 he was admitted to partnership with
his father under the firm name of Charles Wash
burn & Son. The business expanded rapidly as new
methods made possible new products, and the
Quinsigamond plant was finally incorporated, in

1869, with that on Grove street as the Washburn &
Moen Manufacturing Company, and grew to oper
ate a capital of $1,000,000, and gave direct employ
ment to some four thousand people. Originally re
stricted to the manufacture of wire for card teeth
and other similar purposes, the factories began the
making of telegraph wire as soon as the Morse in
vention had demonstrated its practicability, and in
1850 was begun the making of piano wire, in which
the product of the Washburn mills soon superseded
the English make in the markets of the United
States. The company met every necessity as it
arose where wire could be used»— wire for hoop
skirts between i860 and 1870, and after that the
great demand for all varieties of barbed wire for
fencing. During the last ten years it has produced
vast quantities of iron and steel cables and ropes,
spiral springs, etc., and, following the introduction
of electric energy for heating, light and power,
thousands of tons of wire annually for these pur
poses. The yearly output of steel is about 40,000
tons, and of all products about 100,000 tons. In
1891 the company "also established works at Wau-
kegan, Illinois, with wire capacity nearly equal to
that of the parent establishment.
In the capacity of secretary, director and vice-
president of the corporation, Mr. Washburn con
tinually took a leading part in the administration of
its business, and to his perseverence and sagacity
was largely due the great advancements which were
made from time to time in the development of its
usefulness and importance, a signal attestation of
this fact being found in his securing to his company
the conrol of the barbed wire patents.
Deeply absorbed in his business Mr. Washburn
held aloof from public concerns, except in one in
stance where he served the city as a member of the
common- council. He was deeply interested, how
ever, in benevolent and philanthropic works, and
rendered zealous and useful service to two of the
most notable and praiseworthy institutons of his
city, acting as vice-president of the governing board
of the Memorial Hospital, founded by his uncle,
Ichabod Washburn, and as president of the Home
for Aged Women. Of a sincere, christian tempera
ment, he was a communicant of All Saints' Protest
ant Episcopal Church. He was a warm advocate of
free-soil principles in his early days; was an original
member of the Republican party, and affiliated with
it earnestly and effectually during the remainder of
his life. He was a man of culture and refinement,
delighting in healthful and ennobling literature, and
devoted his leisure hours to his home and library.
He died July 20, 1893, leaving behind him to his
family and the community the fragrant memories
which cling to a noble and useful life in those broad
ways where such an unselfish man can make his
every act a .benediction upon the thousands who
surround him.
Mr. Washburn married, October 10, 1855, Mary,
the eldest daughter of James M. Whiton, of Boston,
Massachusetts. Eight children were born to them,
all sons except one, and all excepting dne son sur
vived their honored parent. The children were :
Charles G., born January 28, 1857; James M., died
in infancy, December 27, 1858; Philip, born August
2, 1861, died October 6, 1898; Miriam, born July 12,
1864; Robert M., born January 4, 1868; Henry B.,
born December 2, 1869; Reginald, born October 13,
1871 ; Arthur, born May 27, 1877. Reginald Wash
burn married, August 26, 1903, Dorcas, daughter of
Hon. Edward S. Beadford, of Springfield, Massa
chusetts. Philip Washburn married, June 5, 1883,
Miriam Phillips, youngest daughter of Rev. R. S.
Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, New York. He had
five daughters, two of whom died in infancy.

12

WORCESTER COUNTY

(X) Robert Morris Washburn, soil of Charles
Francis and Mary Elizabeth Washburn, was born in
Worcester, January 4, 1868. He was educated in the
public schools, and was graduated at the Worcester
high school in 1886. He received the degree of A.
B. from Harvard University in 1890. He then
studied law for one year in the office of Rice, King
& Rice. He was then admitted a member of the
second-year class at the Harvard law school, where
he remained for one year, and in November, 1892,
was admitted to the Worcester county bar. He is
a practicing lawyer at 314 Main street, Worcester.
He is unmarried, living at the homestead estate, 42
Elm street. He is a member of the Republican city
committee, 1906, and a vice-president of the Repub
lican club of Massachusetts, and a member of the
Republican Club of Worcester. He is also a mem
ber of the Worcester Club, and Quinsigamond Boat
Club. (X) Hon. Charles Grenfill Washburn, son of
Charles Francis and Mary E. (Whiton) Washburn,
was born in Worcester, January 28, 1857. He began
his education in the public schools of his native city,
was graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic In
stitute in 1875, and from Harvard University in
1880. He subsequently took up the study of law
and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1886. He
has been constantly identified with the manufactur
ing interests of the city. In 1880 he established the
business now conducted by the Wire Goods Com
pany, with which he is still connected. In 1882 he
became treasurer and manager of the Worcester
Barbed Fence Company, which was subsequently
absorbed by the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing
Company, and from 1884 to 1891 was a member of
the last named corporation, and during a part of
that period served in the capacity of director and
executive officer.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Washburn was a
member of the Massachusetts house of representa
tives in 1897-98, in which body he served the first
year on the committee on mercantile affairs, and
the second year as chairman of the committee on
taxation. On the expiration of his term in the lower
branch he was elected to the state senate from the
first district of Worcester, serving two terms — 1899
and 1900. In 1902 he was a member of the com
mittee to1 revise the corporation laws of Massachu
setts. He was a delegate to the Republican national
convention in Chicago, and the Massachusetts mem
ber of the committee appointed to notify Theodore
Roosevelt of his nomination. He was elected No-
nember 6, 1906, to the sixtieth congress from the
Third Massachusetts District. He is a trus
tee and president of the Worcester Poly
technic Institute. He married, April 25, 1889,
Caroline Vinton Slater, daughter of Horatio
N. Slater, of Webster. Their children were : Eliza
beth, born 1892, died in infancy; Slater, born August
5, 1896; Charles Francis, born May 10, 1898, died
December 19, 1902; Philip, born October 4, 1899;
Esther Vinton, born August 10, 1902.
Mrs. Washburn is a great-granddaughter of
Samuel Slater, founder of the town of Webster,
and a manufacturer of much importance in his day.
He was a native of Derbyshire, England, and
when fourteen years of age was apprenticed to
Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright, the cele
brated pioneer in cotton manufacture. The offer
of a premium for the introduction of the Ark
wright machinery into the United States, brought
him to America at the close of his apprenticeship.
He arrived in New York about December I, 1790,
and established at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a
manufactory for cotton yarn. In 1812, in partner
ship with Bela Tiffany, of South Brimfield, Massa

chusetts, under the firm name of . Slater & Tiffany,
he began the erection at Webster, Massachusetts, of
mills for the manufacture of cotton yarn. During
the war of 1812 the firm also engaged in the manu
facture of broadcloth. In 1816 Mr. Slater purchased
the interest of his partner, and afterwards associ
ated with himself Edward Howard, a practical
cloth maker. In 1829 Howard sold his interest to
Samuel Slater and his sons— George B. and Hora
tio N. Slater — who conducted business under the
firm name of Samuel Slater & Sons. From 1835,
the year of the death of the senior Slater, the sons
conducted the business until 1843, when occurred
the death of George B. Slater and Horatio N.
Slater succeeded to the sole management, in which
he continued until his death, in 1888, when his
nephew and namesake, the father of Mrs. Charles
G. Washburn, became the owner and manager. The
business after the death of H. N. Slater, Jr., was
incorporated as S. Slater & Sons. Samuel Slater,
the emigrant, was twice married. First, October 2,
1791, to Hannah, daughter of Oziel Wilkinson. She
died about 1812, and about 1817 he married Esther,
daughter of Robert Parkinson, of Philadelphia. His
first wife bore him nine children, of whom the sev
enth was Horatio Nelson Slater.
(VII) Hon. William Barrett Washburn, son of
Asa and Phebe (Whitney) Washburn, and grandson
of Colonel Elijah Washburn and Captain Phineas
Whitney, was born in Winchenden, January 31,
1820. He fitted for college at the Westminster and
Hancock Academies, and was graduated from Yale
College in 1844. He clerked three years and then
engaged in the manufacture of doors, chairs and
wooden-ware at Erving. In 1857 he moved to
Greenfield, where he lived at the time of his death,
October 5, 1887. He was a member of the house of
representatives in 1850 and of the senate in 1854.
He was a member of congress from 1863 to January
1, 1872, when he resigned to be inaugurated gov
ernor of Massachusetts. April 17, 1874, he resigned
as governor to fill the unexpired term of Hon.
Charles Sumner in the United States senate, hold
ing the office until March 4, 1875. For many years
he was president of the Greenfield Bank and one
of the trustees of Yale College and an overseer of
Amherst College. He married, September 6, 1847,
Hannah Sweetster by whom were born two sons
and four daughters.
(IX) General Francis Washburn, son of John
M. Washburn, was born July, 1838, at Lancaster, his
parents having the April previous removed from
Boston. From the academy of his native town, at
the age of sixteen years, he went to serve a regu
lar term in the Lawrence Machine Company's shop.'
He next went to the Scientific School of Mining
and Engineering at Freiburg, Saxony. When in
1860-1861 the civil war cloud- darkened our fair
national sky, he wrote, "I must hasten my return.
If the war comes, I shall sail at once." In Decem
ber, 1861, he was given a commission in the army,
which he used as soon as he waited to see his
father pass from earth. He was mustered in as sec
ond lieutenant in the First Massachusetts Cavalry,
the history of which is well known in the war de
partment. He became captain, lieutenant-colonel,
and m February, 1865, commissioned as colonel,
which he held at the time of his death. He was
mortally wounded in the brilliant engagement at
High Bridge, Virginia, April 6, 1865. His bravery
was noted by the then Lieutenant-General Grant,
at whose request he was commissioned brigadier-
general. Here men fought hand to hand, an un
common occurence. He fell from saber stroke and
pistol shot He was brought home to the house
of his brother, Hon. John D. Washburn, where he

QAMlMnvu\

WORCESTER COUNTY

13

shortly gave up his young life, being but twenty-
six years of age. He was called the "White Knight
of Modern Cavalry."
(IX) Hon. John D. Washburn, born in Boston,
March 27, 1833, was the eldest son of John Mar
shall and Harriet (Kimball) Washburn. His par
ents removed to Lancaster when he was five years
old and there his youth was spent amid those beauti
ful surroundings. In 1853 he was graduated from
Harvard College, entering the law, first studying
with Hon. Emory Washburn and Hon. George F.
Hoar in 1854, finally receiving a diploma from the
Harvard School in 1856. He practised in Worcester
with Hon. H. C. Rice. He made for himself a place
of importance among insurance circles, as legal
adviser. Later he succeeded Hon. Alexander H.
Bullock as general agent and attorney of the in
surance companies in 1866. Through this associa
tion he became connected with Governor Bullock
as chief of the staff from 1866 to 1869, receiving a
colonel's commission. From 1871 to 1881 he was
trustee of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, and from
1875 to 1885 filled a similar place in the School for
Feeble Minded. He was a member of the house
of representatives from 1876 to 1879, and a senator
from Worcester in 1884. From 1866 to 1880 he was
a director of the Citizens' National Bank. He was
also a member of the board of investment for the
Worcester County Institution for_ Savings ; also
trustee and treasurer of the Memorial Hospital. In
1883 he became president of the Merchants' and
Farmers' Insurance Company. For many years he
was the councilor and secretary of the American
Antiquarian Society. During the latter years of his
life he was appointed as minister to represent this
country in Switzerland.
He married in i860 Mary F. Putnam. Their
daughter Edith, in 1884, married Richard Ward
Greene, of Worcester. He died April 4, 1903, leav
ing a record in itself, a royal legacy to any com
munity. He was one of nature's own noblemen.
Even to the most humble of his constituents, he
would grant a personal favor and special attention.
It is believed that exposure to the hot sun, while
visiting in Paris, affected his head and that from
this was traced his lingering illness and final death.
(VIII) William Ansel Washburn, deputy
sheriff of Worcester, was born in Paxton, Massa
chusetts, August 14, 1837. He was the son of John
and Nancy (Bemis) Washburn. His grandfather
was Francis Washburn, born in Brockton, 1769, died
1844; the great-grandfather being Jacob Washburn,
born in the same place.
John . Washburn, William Ansel Washburn's
father, was born in Leicester, November 14, 1800,
and died in 1867. He was a shoemaker and black
smith and drove the stage many years between Bos
ton and Worcester. He married Nancy Bemis in
1831. Their children were Delia, William A. and
Alice (twins), and Julia.
William Ansel was reared to farm life and then
learned the trade of shoemaker with his father.
When eighteen he left home and came to Worcester,
securing employment in the Hospital for the Insane
for four years. Then he clerked for a time, but soon
began as a nail-maker in the factory of Prouty &
Allen. He was finally appointed a patrolman on the
police force in 1865, and two years later was made
assistant-marshal, holding the same from 1873 to
1880; again in 1883, and from 1886 to 1893. In
1893, he, by appointment, was made deputy sheriff
and deputy jailer. Like many another modern man,
he is closely identified with civic societies, including
the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. He is a
Knight Ternplar. Politically he affiliates with the
Republican party. In his religious belief he ad

heres to that of the Universalist faith. November
29, i860, he married Emily Delano, of Provincetown,
Massachusetts. (VII) Hon. Peter Thatcher Washburn, once
governor of Vermont, was born in Lynn, Massa
chusetts, September 7, 1814, and died at Wood
stock, Vermont, February 7, 1870. He was the son
of Reuben and Hannah Washburn. The father was
born in Leicester, Massachusetts, December 30,
1781. When Mr. Washburn was but three years of
age his father removed to Cavendish, Vermont. He
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1835, and began
law practice in 1838 at Ludlow, Vermont. He be
came one of the most marked political figures in
the state. For eight years, from 1844 to 1852, he
held the office of supreme court reporter. In 1853-54,
he was in the legislature, and when the rebellion
broke out he raised troops and entered the service as
lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment from Ver
mont, being stationed at Fortress Monroe. He only
remained in the service about three months, and in
1861 was appointed inspector-general of Vermont.
September, 1869, he was elected governor of Ver
mont. He was active with his pen, and in 1844
published a "Digest of Vermont Reports" and many
other works of value.
BARTON FAMILY. Hon. Ira Moore Barton was
a gentleman of unusual qualities as a scholar, jurist
and judge. He was born in Oxford, Massachu
setts, October 25, 1796, and was of the fifth genera
tion from Samuel Barton, of Salem, Massachu
setts, 1693, and of Sutton, 1718. After preparation
by a private tutor and at Leicester Academy, he
entered Brown University and was graduated from
that institution in 1819. He began the study of
law with Samuel W. Bridgham, of Providence, con
tinuing his legal education with Sumner Barstow,
of Sutton, and Hon. Levi Lincoln, of Worcester,
from whose office he entered the Harvard Law
School, graduating in 1822. He immediately estab
lished an office in Oxford, where his recognized
ability and skill as a legal adviser and advocate
soon brought him a large practice.
For three years (1830-31-32) he represented the
town of Oxford in the state legislature, and in
1833-34 represented the county of Worcester in
the state senate, serving for a time as commissioner
for the revision of the statutes. He removed to
Worcester in 1834, and two years later was ap
pointed by Governor Edward Everett judge of pro
bate for the county of Worcester. As the duties of
the office did not require his entire time, he continued
his practice in other courts. In 1844 he resigned as
judge of probate to devote his entire time to his
growing practice. In 1840 he was chosen presi
dential elector, and in 1846 represented the town
of Worcester in the house of representatives in
the state legislature. He rendered efficient service
in behalf of his constituents and the state, exerting
himself earnestly in favor of an act to extend the
equity and jurisdiction of our highest court. In 1844
Judge Barton took as law partner Peter C. Bacon,
also - of Oxford, and two years later William Sum
ner Barton, eldest son of the judge, was taken
into the firm.
In 1849 Judge Barton went to Europe, where he
passed nearly two years, enjoying a much needed
rest. On his return he resumed his practice in the
firm. He was a member of the American Anti
quarian Society, and one of its councillors. He died
July 18, 1867, and the librarian of that institution,
Samuel F. Haven, LL. D., in his council report
of October of that year says of Judge Barton —
"In every station,_ public or private, he was dis
tinguished for ability, sterling integrity, and earnest

14

WORCESTER COUNTY

devotion to the fullest performance of every duty."
He was an accomplished lawyer, an upright magis
trate, an enlightened patriotic citizen. His widow
died in Worcester, November 24, 1883, aged eighty-
three years. Their children were : William Sumner,
born September 30, 1824, died July 13, 1899 ; Hannah
Maria, born April 21, 1826, died December
13, 1906; Artemas Bullard, born August 12,
1828, died June 21, 1831 ; Charles Henry, born
April 10, 1830, died February 16, 1885; Artemas
Bullard, born December 5, 1831, died April 17,
1837; Lucy Ann, born July 24, 1834, died Septem
ber 25, 1905; Francis Augustus, born October 24,
1836, died January 29, 1898; Edmund Mills, born
September 27, 1838; George Edward, born July
30, 1841, died May 29, 1878.
Wiiliam Sumner Barton, eldest son of Judge
Barton, was born in Oxford, September 30,
1824, and came when ten years of age with
his parents to Worcester. He attended the
common schools and also the Worcester _ Acad
emy, was graduated from Brown University
in 1844, and later received the degree of A. M.
After studying law in the office of his father and
law partner, Peter C. Bacon, and attending the Har
vard Law School, he was admitted to the bar in
1846, and became a partner in his father's firm,
the style of the firm being Barton, Bacon & Barton.
In June, 1854, he accepted a position in the Bank
of Commerce, Boston, where he remained until
January, 1872, when he was elected treasurer and
collector of taxes for the city of Worcester. From
1876 until his death he was treasurer of the sinking
funds, and also from 1872 treasurer of all the trust
funds of the city. Mr. Barton was a genial, court
eous gentleman, prompt and accurate, thoroughly
competent to discharge the duties of his office — ;an
ideal public official. He inaugurated^ a new and
modern system of arranging and keeping accounts,
which greatly facilitated and simplified the work of
the department. He was fond of historical study
and research, and among the articles from his pen
are, "Sketch of the Bullard Family," "Sketch of the
Life of the Duchess of Orleans and her Sons, the
Comte de Paris, and the . Due de Chartres," and
"Epitaphs from the Cemetery on Worcester Com
mon, with occasional notes, references and an in
dex." After a faithful, honorable service as city

BULLARD HOUSE, WEST SUTTON
The Bullard house was built by Ebenezer Waters in 1767, who sold
it to Mr. Hunt, of whom Dr. Artemas Bullard' purchased it about the
year 1805. Here Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher was born, courted and
married. In the parlor at the left as you enter the house, in which
Mr. and Mrs. Beecher were married, is a painting of Boston Common,
on the panel over the fire place, and in the chamber overhead is a
painting of the Boston Tea Party, in a panel over the fireplace there-

treasurer for twenty-seven years, he died July 13,
1899. He married April 4, 1849, Anne Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Samuel and Mary Gould (Ellery) Jennison, of
Worcester. He married for his second wife, No
vember 22, 1870, Katharine Almy, daughter of Will
iam and Jane Byron Ellery, of New York city.
His widow and five children survive him; three
daughters by the first marriage, and a son and
daughter by the second.
Edmund Mills Barton was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, September 27, 1838, the son of the
late Hon. Ira Moore Barton and his wife, Maria
Waters (Bullard) Barton. She was born January
25, 1800, in the town of Northbridge, daughter of
Artemas Bullard, M. D., and his wife Lucy, eldest
daughter of Deacon Jesse and Anna Mason White,
of Northbridge. Dr. Bullard was a successful prac*-
titioner, who acquired an extensive practice, and
as a citizen was greatly respected and beloved. He
was appointed by Governor Strong surgeon of the
local infantry regiment, and was in 1814 elected
a fellow of the council of the Massachusetts Medi
cal Society. Mr. Barton's great-grandfather, Asa
Bullard, of Holliston, Massachusetts, answered the
Lexington Alarm, serving in Captain Stapels Cham
berlain's company, Colonel Samuel Bullard's regi
ment. Mr. Barton's boyhood days were chiefly spent
in Worcester. After passing through the various
graded schools, he took a course at the Valentine
school in Northborough. The opening scenes of
the civil war found him at home, assisting" in the
care of his invalid father. In May, 1863, he went to
the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, visit
ing hospitals on the way, and laboring in the field
hospitals after the battle of Chancellorsville. He
then visited the headquarters of General John A.
Dix, at Fortress Monroe, and accompanied him
upon his expedition to Bottom's Bridge, near Rich
mond. The battle of Gettysburg called him to that
field for hospital work, and there he was commis
sioned field relief agent of the United States sani
tary commission, under the authority of the secre
tary of war, and was assigned to the Fifth Army
Corps of the Army of the Potomac. This position
he held at the front until the end of the war and
the final review at Washington. (See Marvin's
"Worcester in the war of the Rebellion"
for further details.)
After Mr. Barton's return from the war,
July 1, 1865, he spent a few months in travel
, and on April 1, 1866, became assistant
librarian of the American Antiquarian So
ciety, Worcester. Upon the death of the
eminent librarian, Dr. Samuel Foster
Haven, he was unanimously elected on
April 24, 1883, to succeed him in the im
portant office. It was a most fitting recog
nition of the services of a zealous, pains
taking efficient officer, who has at all times
given the best at his command to further
the good service of that remarkably well
equippefi institution. For Mr. Barton's
literary productions, reference is made to
Fords partial bibliography of published
works of members of the American His
torical Association, of which Mr. Barton is
an original life member of the American
Library Association, of which he was for
some years a councillor ; life member of the
American Antiquarian Society; life mem
ber of the Massachusetts Library Club, and
at one time a vice-president ; member of
the Worcester High School Association,
and its president in 1894; also a member

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WORCESTER COUNTY

15

of various historical, military, and benevolent so
cieties and church clubs.
He married, September 6, 1871, Abigail Twycross
Blake, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Paine Blake,
and they have one daughter and three sons : Lydia
Maud, born August 2, 1872; Edmund Blake, born
October 30, 1874; Frederick MacDonald, born June
19, 1880; and Harold Bullard, born December 21,
1885. WOODCOCK FAMILY. We find from "His
torical Collections" that the first settlement in Attle-
borough was commenced by a John Woodcock and
his sons, about 1669. He built a public house on
the Bay road, and laid out about three hundred
acres of land for his farm. He took up in several
.parts of the town six hundred acres, some on his
own shares, and the rest on rights that he pur
chased. His house was occupied for a garrison,
and was licensed in 1670. Woodcock was a man
of some consequence in those days, his name often
appearing in town offices and on committees. In
1691 he was chosen deputy to the general court
from Rehoboth, and at several other times. He
was shrewd, hardy and brave, a strong and im
placable enemy to the Indians. He died in 1701,
at an advanced age. After his death seven bullet
holes were counted in his body. He had two wives:
Sarah, died May 10, 1676; and Joanna, who sur
vived him. His children were: 1. John, married
Sarah Smith, 1673. 2. Israel. 3. Nathaniel. 4.
Jonathan. 5. Thomas ; and three daughters.
In August, 1894, the following item appeared in
the Boston Journal: "The. grave of Nathaniel Wood
cock, who was killed by the Indians, ' and who was
the first white settler in Attleborough, has prob
ably been located. The discovery promises to be
of much historical importance. A few days ago,
while workmen were grading at the 'Old North
Burying Ground,' a grave-stone was ploughed up.
At present all that can 'be traced without acids
is, Tn Memory of N  W  -, died March, 1665.' "
Nathaniel Woodcock is known to have been killed
by Indians in March, 1665.
Nathan Woodcock, the great-grandfather of our
subject proper, Theodore E., was married in Easton,
Massachusetts, September 26, 1765, to Elizabeth
Stone. John Woodcock, their son, was born in Easton,
Massachusetts, October 14, 1775, and died in Leices
ter in 1814. He was educated in the coriimon schools
of his neighborhood, and was a man of keen in
tellect, shrewd and practical, with a warmhearted
nature. He was endowed with the gift' of inventive
genius, and in 1809 he received United States Let
ters Patent for a machine, still much in use, for
splitting leather, and which at that time was of
great value. He is mentioned by Governor Wash
burn in his "History of Leicester," as a very "in
genious mechanic," for whose valuable invention
the town owes a debt of gratitude which ought not
to be forgotten. He lived but fourteen years after
coming to Leicester, falling a victim to consump
tion, but in those years he had built up, in con
nection with his partner, a valuable business, known
as the manufacture of card clothing, which in the
hands of descendants and their associates, continued
many years. He married, in Easton, December 15,
1796, Ruth Mehurin, of Easton, Massachusetts, and
was at the time of marriage of Rutland, Massachu
setts. He left three sons and two daughters, whose
lives were all passed in Leicester, "usefully and
honorably:" Hannah, married Benjamin Conklin,
1826, Ruth, married Dwight Bisco, Esq., January 8,
1826. John, Josephus, Lucius.
John Woodcock, son of John (4), was born in

Rutland, Massachusetts, July 23, 1800, and died in
Leicester, August 26, 1880. He obtained a common
school education, and true to the best traditions of
New England life, as well as to the education he
had received, he entered early, at the age of seven
teen upon a course of business industry. He took
service with James and John A. Smith, who were
his father's successors in business. In 1825 he be
came, with Hiram Knight, Esq., partner in the same
firm, later known as Woodcock & Knight, and in
1848 Theodore E. Woodcock and Dexter Knight,
sons of seniors, came to the firm under the name
of Woodcock, Knight & Company. He retired from
business in 1867. During his life, he gave a good
share of his time to the public service, was a select
man, and in other town offices, and in the legislature
two years. . He was always a stanch Republican;
was a director of the Leicester Bank from 1836
to the- time of his death, a period of forty-four
years, and a trustee of the Savings Bank from its
beginning. He was for ten years chairman of the
directors of the Public Library of the town in which
he took a warm' interest, and to which he made
many donations of valuable books. He was known
as a man of intelligence, and of sound, practical
judgment, of a memory remarkably exact both of
persons and events.
Mr. Woodcock was married, in 1823, to Anna
Jenkins, born in Cambridge, New York, daughter
of Joshua and Remember Bowen Jenkins, who were
both, stanch Quakers. Reared in this faith, the
daughter Anna retained the gentle, loving nature
so characteristic of the Society of Friends, ever
ready to lend a helping hand to the sick and un
fortunate ; of affable and pleasing manner, her many
fine qualities endeared her to a large circle of friends.
Three children, were the result of this marriage:
Theodore Earle; Ann Eliza, married Dr. William
H. Brown, of Bangor, Maine, in 1851, and died in
1889; Ruth Mehurin, married William W. Cald
well,. Esq., pf Newburyport, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 21, 1848. Mrs. Woodcock died in 1856. Mr.
Woodcock married (second) in 1858, .Ellen L.
Burnett, of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, a lady
of culture, who cared for him most tenderly in
his declining years,, and still survives him. His
home was always the happy resort of children and
grandchildren; his spirit ever affectionate and gen
erous. Theodore Earle Woodcock, son of John (5),
was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, February 19,
1825. He obtained his education in' the schools of
his native town and in Leicester Academy. He com
menced at an early age working in his father's
caid factory, learning the business, and in 1848 was
admitted as a partner in the card clothing manu
facturing with his father,' the firm known for many
years as Woodcock, Knight & Company, Mr. Wood
cock retiring in 1881, the company dissolving by
mutual consent, having had a high reputation in
one form or another, since 1802, when the business
was established by Winthrop Earle and John Wood
cock, grandfather of Theodore E., the subject
proper of this sketch.
Mr. Woodcock was chosen director of the Leices
ter Bank in 1869, serving until 1904, when the bank
went into liquidation; is second vice-president of
the Leicester Savings Bank; also a member of the
finance committee; he has served as selectman in
his town, and was a director of the Public Library
for many years._ Mr. Woodcock is a man of quiet
tastes, home-loving and fond of reading. Although
residing in Worcester, he is still loyal to his native
town, Leicester, and retains his legal residence there,
and is also a regular attendant at the John Nelson
Memorial Church of that place.

WORCESTER COUNTY

In 1850 he was married to Miss Ellen Caldwell,
daughter of John Caldwell, Esq., of Newburyport,
Massachusetts, a most estimable lady of pleasing
manner, but who was unfortunately an invalid for
several years, and died in 1873. By this union, three
children were born, viz. : Anna Ruth ; Ellen Orne,
died in 1873, aged seventeen years; John, died in
infancy. Anna Ruth married, April 28, 1875, George
Richardson, of the firm of Clark, Sawyer Co., of
Worcester. They have two children, and reside in
Worcester, Massachusetts.
HON. THOMAS H. DODGE. Among the
noted and praiseworthy types of manhood whose
career has brightened and blessed his fellowmen,
none rises to a more truly noble and lofty attitude
than an honored son of the "Green Mountain"
state, of whom the subjoined notice and genealogi
cal sketch is written. With such an abundance of
real facts from which to draw, one scarcely knows
which to select for record use and which to leave
unemployed. The subject of which we write is
Thomas H. Dodge, who has been an active,
brainy, never-stand-still character, whose career,
now well nigh spent by the coming-on of old age,
will for generations yet to come be kindly remem
bered for the work he had so intelligently wrought
out with his own brains and willing 'hands. While
some men achieve great names by military fame;
some by statesmanlike lives; others by money-mak
ing traits alone, this gentleman has made for, the
world a true pattern for any young man who wishes
to improve his time and make good use of the op
portunities with which he finds himself environed,
upon his advent into the world. In this man. one
finds a study, which to fully comprehend needs to
be re-enforced by a knowledge of his noble an
cestry — noble not in a sense of handed-down
"royalty," but of that sturdy self-making, self-deny
ing, painstaking sort of which most truly great men
are produced.
Concerning the genealogy of Mr. Dodge, let it
be said that he is of English origin, and what people
have been felt more for their intellect and virtues
than the Anglo-Saxon race? The Dodges have
a history known somewhat of as far back as
1306 A. D., when members of ihe family held lands
in Stockport, England. But as the object of this
volume is to begin with the American ancestry,
as a rule, and trace the descendants to the present
time, such facts as might be had concerning the
English family will not be attempted to be repro
duced herein.
In the course of researches for this family his
tory only two main branches have been found, one
descended from William, or Richard, of Beverly,
Massachusetts, and the other from Tristram Dodge,
who settled on Block Island, Rhode Island, in 1660.
April 25, 1629, there sailed from Gravesend, on the
Thames, two boats — one the "Talbot," a vessel of
three hundred tons, and the "Lion's Whelp," a
neat ship of one hundred and twenty tons. They
reached Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, May 8. The
journal kept by Reverend Francis Higginson, of
the "Talbot," has been preserved and gives clue
to the origin of all American Dodges. That record
says that the "Lion's Whelp" had forty planters
from Dorchester, many mariners, eight pieces of
ordnance, provisions, and four goats. Both vessels
sailed from Yarmouth, May 11, 1629, and arrived
at Salem, June 29, the same year.
William Dodge settled in that location now called
Beverly, but in early times known as Bass-River-
Side, being separated from Salem by the bay. Tra
dition states he was tall, with black hair, and a
dark complexion. He became a freeman April 17,

1637, and received a grant of land containing sixty
acres in September that year. William Dodge came
to Salem nine years earlier than Richard, hence he
has been called the "father of American Dodges."
The records, however, show the descendants of
Richard outnumber his, probably on account of the
fact that the former had but two sons, while Richard
had five.
Richard Dodge, brother of William (1), was
received as an inhabitant in October, 1638, and was
granted ten acres by the town of Salem. He was
admitted into the church at Salem, May 5, 1644.
In 1671 he helped to establish the First Church at
Beverly. Richard died in June, 1671, leaving a will
by which it appears that he left a brother Michael;
the will of Richard, in connection with the will
of his father, John Dodge, renders the origin of
Salem Dodges quite clear. Records in the register's*
office of Essex county also show that William. Dodge, ¦
senior, had a nephew William Dodge (Coker Will
iam or William Coker), son of Michael, to whom
by a deed dated May 12, 1685, he gave sixteen
acres of land where now stands the Beverly reser
voir. On the same date he also imposed a duty
upon his son Captain William Dodge, of Beverly,
to "pay my brother," "if he came to New England
and dwell in this town of Beverly, five pounds per
annum, so long as he shall dwell here" — referring
to his brother in England — doubtless Michael
Sprague, then his only brother, Richard having died
in 1671.
The Dodges for at least four generations rarely
engaged at anything besides farming. They wanted
to possess and improve the soil. They were hard
workers and seldom irreligious ; rarely office seek
ers, and were a temperate set of people. With the
expansion of population they pushed forth for new
homes, to subdue other lands, and have been found
on the wild frontiers, through the northern states,
and today count their descendants by the hundreds
if not thousands all the way from ' New England
to the -waters of the Pacific. Men of note and
national fame may be found here and there from
out their ranks of workers. They are found among
the philanthropic, military, literary, clergy, medical,
legal and college professorships and callings— ever
ready to do and to dare.
To come now direct to the line of genealogy in
this country it may be said, first, that John Dodge
(1) and wife Margery, of Somersetshire, England,
had these children: 1. William, came to America,
l62g; died between 1685 and 1692. He was prob
ably born about 1604. 2. Richard, appeared in
Sa]em. 1637; died June, 1671 ; probably born 1602.
3; Michael, lived and died in Somerset county, Eng
land, and had five children. 4. Mary, died in Eng
land and had one son — John.
(II) William Dodge, eldest son of John (1),
bom about 1604, came to Salem, Massachusetts, in
1629. A tradition was handed down by Col. Robert
Dodge to his son Francis, of Georgetown D. C,
that farmer William" came to America when about
twenty-one years of age, to see how he liked it,
and returned to England, telling his father that he
had determined to settle in America, and asked
him for some present. His father said, "get mar
ried and I will give it." William is said to have
had two refusals,, but finally succeeded, married,
n? Vif ^ preS el£'-,!?is !?ther ^ve him a pair
of bulls. "Farmer William," as he was styled, be
came a prominent factor in his new home in the
New World, He was elected to many local offices
™,s ,e.d. ln co"rts as juryman, helped construct
f°^S' hnTdge% ^relies, and was an extensive
farmer. In 1685 heboid his real estate, conveying
the homestead to his son Captain William His

Tzz^JhZ 7§W^,

WORCESTER COUNTY

i7

children were: 1. Capt. William, born September,
1640; died 1720. 2. Hannah, boi-n'1642; married
Samuel Porter, who died 1660; married Thomas
Woodberry. Josiah Dodge, killed in the Narragan
sett war in 1675, may have been another son.
(II) Richard Dodge, son of John Dodge (1),
the English ancestor, and a brother to William above
named, married in England, and had a son John,
who died there. His wife was baptized as Edith.
It is quite certain that Richard and wife joined the
New England colony in 1638, and as the King
at that time was not allowing emigration, it is
possible that he left England without royal sanc
tion. He settled in "Dodge Row," North Beverly,
where he built a house that was occupied and kept
in the family for more than two hundred years.
He and his wife Edith were members of the Wen
ham Church, but the most of his time and talent
seems to have been spent in farm improvements,
not paying any special attention to church work.
His wife outlived him seven years, dying June
27, 1678, at the age of seventy-five years. Their
children were: John, Mary, Sarah, Richard, Samuel,
Edward, Joseph.
(Ill) Joseph Dodge, son of Richard (2), born
in Beverly, 1651, died August 10, 1716; married
Sarah Eaton, of Reading, 1671. He was a farmer
in Beverly, near his father, on Dodge Row. He
was one of the executors of his father's estate, re
ceiving a liberal joint share with his brother Ed
ward. The children born to Joseph and his wife
were: Abigail, Joseph, Noah, Prudence, Abigail,
Jonah, Sarah, Elisha, Charity, Nathaniel.
(IV) Elisha Dodge, son of Joseph (3), born
January, 1687, died January 17, 1755. With his
brother Jonah he shared his father's real estate
holdings. In his will he gave his wife Mary two
cows, four sheep and other property, and to his
son Elisha all real and personal estate. He left
to his wife a negro woman, Bathsheba, who was
to belong to his daughters Lois and Mary on the
death of their mother. His realty was appraised
at 380. pounds, and personal at 114 pounds. He
married Mary Kimball, of Wenham, October, 1709,-
and the children born to them were : Jerusha, Lois,
Elisha, Mary, Elisha.
(V) Elisha Dodge, son of Elisha (4), born in
Beverly, May 17, 1723, died after 1777, in New
Boston, married, first, to Eleanor Dodge; sec
ondly, to Sarah Foster, of Wenham, 1748, who died
August, 1768; and in 1769 he married Mrs. Deborah
Lovett. He lived in Beverly until 1777, when he
moved his family to New Boston, New Hampshire,
where he died. His children were: Sarah, Jerusha,
Elisha, Noah, Malachi, Abigail, Ella, Enoch,
Mehitable, Mary.
(VI) Enoch Douglas, son of Elisha (5), born
May, . 1762, in Beverly, died December 27, 1834,
in Eden, Vermont; married, December 18, 1787,
Jael Cochran, bom in New Boston, New Hamp
shire, 1768, died at Eden, Vermont, April 6, 1844.
They moved to New Boston in 1788. Their chil
dren were : I. Malachi Foster, horn New Boston,
New Hampshire, August 20, 1789. 2. Elizabeth,
born March 28, 1792, died February 22, 1793. 3.
Betsey, born January 17, 1794, died July 22, 1802.
4. Enoch, born December, 1795, died Crete, Illinois,
March 4, 1873. 5. Elisha, born -February 18, 1798,
died July, 1802.. 6. Jane, born January 25, 1800,
died February, 1844; married Daniel Cornish. 7.
. Nathaniel C, born , May, 1802, lived at Jefferson-
ville, Vermont. 8. Joseph, born March 31, 1804,
died June; 1864. 9. Mary, born June 24, 1806, died
1880. 10. Hiram, born June 25, 1808, died May 13,
1859. 11. John, born December, 1810, died March,
1814.

(VII) Malachi F. Dodge, son of Enoch (6),
born August 20, 1789, in New Boston, New Hamp
shire, died October 13, 1865, in Nashua, New Hamp
shire. , He married Jane Hutchins, January 9, 1812,
at Belvidere, Vermont. They first resided in Bel-
videre and next in Lowell, Vermont, whence they
removed in 1837 to Nashua, New Hampshire. Their
children were : 1. Priscilla D., born May 1813, died
August 12, 1864; married William H. Huntley. 2.
Malachi F., born January 8, 1815. 3. Elisha
C, born September 27, 1816, died February,
1825. 4. Sarah Jane, born July 6, 1818, mar
ried, November 18, 1845, Frederick Plummer
Bixb'y; both deceased. 5. Daniel Darling, born June
28, 1820, married Miss Wyman; both deceased. 6.
Thomas Hutchins, born September 27, 1823, mar
ried Eliza Daniels. 7. Abbie R., born June, 1825,
married Rodney M. Rollins; both deceased. 8.
Elisha E., born November 17, 1827, married Martha
E. Fernald; both deceased. 9. Mary Harding, born
November 20, 1829, married Mason Boyd; he is
deceased; she resides in New Hampshire. 10. Eme
line A., born July, 1832, died October 26, 1865.
(VIII) Malachi F. Dodge, Jr., son of Malachi
F. (7), born January 8, 1815, at Eden, Vermont,
married, May, 1838, Charlotte A. Ober, of Hopkin-
ton, New Hampshire', first, and after her death he
married Hannah P. Edwards. Both are now de
ceased. They resided at Manchester, New Hamp
shire, and had following children: 1. Infant son, died
in 1841. 2. Edward O., born February, 1844; mar
ried Ellen L. Dearborn, deceased. 3. Thomas F.,
born October, 1846. 4. Willy H., born November,
1851, deceased. 5. James E., born March, 1854,
resides in Manchester, New Hampshire, and al
though a Republican in politics has been city auditor
for many years under the administration , of both
parties. 6. Frank E., born September, 1863, deceased.
(VIII) Having brought down from the English
ancestor, the line of descendants to which our chief
subjects belonged, it should here be stated that
he of whom we write, Hon. Thomas H. Dodge (8),
was born September 27, 1823, in the town of Eden,
Lamoille county, Vermont. He is the fourth son
of Malachi F. Dodge (7), and wife Jane Hutchins.
Thomas H. had the early advantages of good dis
trict schools, as his father was a well-to-do farmer.
The family later moved to the town of Lowell,.
Vermont, residing on a farm until he was about four
teen years of age, when his eldest brother secured
a good position with a manufacturing 'concern at
Nashua, New Hampshire, and the family removed
there. Here he applied himself to his school duties,
and became a great admirer of Judge Edmund
Parker, who was his Sabbath school superintendent.
The Dodge family there were members of the Olive
St. Congregational Church. Through the influence
of Judge Parker, young Dodge resolved on becom
ing a lawyer and manufacturer. ,He proposed to his
parents to bear his own expenses and thus showing
what he could accomplish, agreeing to pay to his
father a sum for the remainder of his time, as he
had not yet reached his majority. He decided on
learning the cotton manufacturing business, hence
commenced at the bottom as a roll carrier, giving
him a chance to understand all about the raw
product and its preparation for spinning.. All this
time he was reading books on this subject. After
earning sufficient money in the factory he entered
Gymnasium Institute, at Pembroke, New Hamp
shire, where he rapidly advanced, and at the com
mencement delivered his first oration, "The Canadian
Patriot's Address before his Execution." Learned
state lawyers and jurists were present and he made
a great impression upon all. One judge made the
remark, "That lad has a bright and eventful future

i8

WORCESTER COUNTY

before him." And true it was. But little did they
dream that within a third of a century this lad
would stand so high as a manufacturer and 'in
ventor, as well at the forefront as an advocate and
jurist in a special branch of law. He returned to
the cotton mills, and in 1850 published his famous
review of the "Rise, Progress and Importance of
Cotton Manufactures of the United States." He was
a close student in many branches of natural phil
osophy and chemistry. He was a born inventor,
and knew to succeed he must needs be fully posted,
hence his extra training along all mechanical lines
occupied his time for years. Among his numerous
inventions was his printing press, patented to him
by the United States Patent Office, November 18,
1851. From the use of this and other inventions he
received a large income at a time in his career
of research and activities when most needed to send
him up higher. Now having the funds — the product
of his own brains — he decided to fit himself for
law, and in 1851 he entered the office of Hon. George
Y. Sawyer and Col. A. F. Stevens, of Nashua, New
Hampshire. Having given three years close study,
he was admitted to the bar at Manchester, New
Hampshire. In 1854 he opened an office at Nashua.
He was then thirty-one years of age. Aside from
his own position as a lawyer he had gained prom
inence as a manufacturer and inventor of no small
skill. By reason of these things, Hon. Charles
Mason, then United States Commissioner of
Patents, was attracted toward this rising genius,
and tendered him the position in the examining
corps of the United States Patent Office. He was
first assistant, but soon his peculiar ability and fit
ness caused him to be made an examiner-in-chief.
As long as Commissioner Mason was at the head
of the Patent Office, the advice and opinion of
Mr. Dodge Were constantly sought after. He was
finally admitted to practice in the United States
supreme court, and had very many large patent
cases, some involving millions of dollars, in which
he was eminently successful. His clients came from
one ocean to the other, and from the forests of
Maine to the cotton belt of the far away South
land. In the forepart of 1864, Mr. Dodge took
up a residence in Worcester. He had an office
and was a third owner of the Union Mowing
Machine Company, at Worcester, which plant em
ployed many men and made goods for all parts
of the country. In 1881, while still in an extensive
law practice, he in connection with Charles G.
Washburn, organized the Barbed Fence Company,
of Worcester, of which Mr. Dodge was president.
This was but the commencement of what has become
an immense barbed wire industry. In 1883 the long
years of brain work caused a serious break in his
usual good health, and he was compelled to retire
from the active routine of business cares to which
he had subjected himself for so many years.
In a work such as this, it is impossible to give
space sufficient to give at length, even an outline,
bf all of interest connected with this man's career,
but in closing this sketch, a brief review of some
/of the more important acts in both his private
and public life will be noted. He started out in
life with a high aim. He worked his own way
through school. He invented several cotton cloth-
making appliances by -which hundreds of dollars
were saved each month by each cotton mill. He in
vented a printing press in the fifties, which principle
carried out has given the world its great continuous
roll printing presses. He improved the manner
of making mowing machines, whereby over a million
men's work is saved each haying season. He dis
covered the safety valve defect and has taught the

world much about the cause of steam boiler ex
plosions. He was a chief examiner and chairman
of the board of appeals in the United States Patent
Office, being appointed by Judge Holt, chairman,
who succeeded Judge Mason as Commissioner of
Patents. The latter office Mr. Dodge resigned in
the fall of 1858. Some idea of the esteern in which
Mr. Dodge's services were held may be gained from
the fact that the venerable editor-in-chief of the
National Intelligencer of Washington said that no
other public officer had ever received such a genuine
and high tribute as that which Commissioner Holt
bestowed upon Mr. Dodge, which was as follows:
United States Patent Office
November 3, 1858.
Sir: — I have received with emotions of unmingled sorrow your
letter of yesterday resigning the office of examiner, the duties of
which you have for years discharged with such distinguished
honor to yourself, and advantage to the public interest. It would
have been to tne a soui'ce of high gratification could I have enjoy
ed for the future that zealous support which you have so kindly
afforded me in the past. While, however, I feel that your retire
ment will be a severe loss to the service, as it will be a personal
affliction to myself, I cannot be insensible to the weight of the
considerations which have determined you to seek another and
more attractive field of labor, , I shall ever recall with the liveliest
satisfaction the pleasant social and official relations which have
marked our intercourse, and in accepting your resignation I beg
to offer to you my heartfelt thanks, alike for your personal friend
ship and for the high, loyal and most effective co-operation, which
in the midst of circumstances of difficulty and embarrassment you
have constantly extended to me in the adminstration of this office.
In whichever of the varied paths of life it may be your fortune to
tread, be assured that you will bear with you my warmest wishes
for your success and happiness. Most sincerely your friend,' J. Holt.
Mr. Thomas H. Dodge.
He was instrumental in bringing about a change ¦
in the United States Postal Department at Wash
ington, by which letters not called for, if containing
a return card, would -find their way back to the
writer, without the long, expensive routine of going
through the Dead Letter office. He has been an
eminently successful patent attorney, handling in
tricate cases, wherein many millions of money have*
been at stake. He has been connected with vast
mower and barb wire manufacturing industries at
' Worcester. He has given "Dodge Park" to the
city— a gift royal in and of itself. He has, together
with his truly estimable wife, been a faithful church
and Sabbath school worker. They have donated
large sums of money from time to time toward the
building of church edifices in Worcester and other
places, including Trinity Methodist Episcopal
Church, and Union and Piedmont Congregational
Churches. He has given to the Odd Fellows of
Massachusetts the charming grounds upon which
stands the State Odd Fellows' Home in Worcester,
and then gave beautiful grounds adjacent known
as Dodge Park. These were unselfish gifts, because
he is not a member of this great order. He wrote
a twenty page genealogy of one branch of the Dodge
family in 1880. He was true and loyal to the Union
cause in the dark and trying days of the civil war.
He lived in Washington, D. C, and has home was
ever open to those disposed to care for the sick
and wounded soldiers. Both he and his truly good
companion gave of their means and distributed
delicacies of food, both in and outside the regular
hospitals. At no time did this far-seeing man ever
doubt the final triumph which came to the Union
cause. Not able himself to enter the army, he
furnished a substitute at a cost of one thousand
dollars— a young French Canadian, who served with
great credit, and rose to the rank of a commissioned
officer. Mr. Dodge was married June 29, 1843, to Eliza
Daniels, of Brookline, New Hampshire; and to her
he attributes much of his success in life as she

WORCESTER COUNTY

19

has ever cheered and encouraged his undertakings.
The deep interest they have both taken in church
work and the support of the same, with their in
terest in the Natural History Camp and the Summer
schools for boys and girls, give the readers to know
the tendencies of their minds. May 18, 1905, Mr.
and Mrs. Dodge each donated five hundred dollars
to the cause.
Mr. Dodge is a man of distinguished presence,
dignified, yet genial. His has been a life of great
usefulness. He is noted for liberality of mind and
kind hospitality. The warm place he holds in the
affections of the people, in a community in which
he has done so much good work, and spent so large
a portion of his useful and honorable life, is the best
evidence of his work as a citizen whom all Massa
chusetts may well be proud to own.
AUGUSTUS GEORGE BULLOCK. Richard
Bullock, (I) the emigrant ancestor of A. George
Bullock, of Worcester, settled in Rehoboth, Mass.,
in' 1643. He was a man of some prominence in the
town. Among other positions he held was that of
town clerk in 1659. He married (first), August 4,
1647, Elizabeth Ingraham, probably daughter of
Richard Ingraham, a settler of Rehoboth ; he married
(second) Elizabeth Billington, September 21, 1660.
His children were : Samuel, born August 19, 1648 ;
Elizabeth, October 9, 1650; Mary, February 16,
-1652 ; Mehitable, April 4, 1655 ; Abigail, August
29, 1657; Hopestill, December 26, 1659; Israel, July
15, 1661 ; Mercy, March 13, 1662, died March 19,
1663 ; John, May 19, 1664 ; Richard, March IS, 1666-7.
(it) Samuel Bullock, son of Richard (1) and
Elizabeth (Ingraham) Bullock, was born at Reho
both, Massachusetts, August 19, 1648. He was a
farmer and lived at Rehoboth. His name appears
in the list of proprietors of Rehoboth in 1689. He
was a contributor to the fund raised for de
fence in King Philip's war in 1675. He married
(first) Mary Thurber, November 12, 1673. He mar
ried (second) Thankful Rouse, May 26, 1675. Their
children were: Mary, born' October 4, 1674; Eben
ezer, February 22, 1676 ; Thankful, June 26, 1681 ;
Samuel, November 7, 1683; Israel, April 9, 1687;
Daniel, 1689; Richard, July 1, 1692; Seth, September
26, 1693.
(Ill) Ebenezer Bullock, son of Samuel Bullock
(2), was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, February
22, 1676. He ' married Sarah Moulton, March 29,
1698. They resided at Rehoboth. Their children
were: Mary, born June 6, 1699; Mehitable, April
1, 1701 ; Samuel, November 17, 1703 ; Hugh, April
1, 1706; Aaron, 1707; Squier, March 4, 1709; Mir
iam, September 30, 171 1 ; Thankful, May 23, 1714;
Katherine, died December, 1707; James, August 21,
1716. (IV) Hugh Bullock, son of Ebenezer Bullock
(3), was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, April
1, 1706. He married (first) Antra Cole, 1733; (sec
ond) Mehitable  . He resided at
Rehoboth. His children were : James, born Decem
ber 17, 1734; Alethea, March 12, 1736; Ebenezer,
June 30, 1739 ; Sarah, August 17, 1741 ; Moulton,
November 5, 1743; Prudence, May 6, 1746; Hugh,
August 12, 1751; Barnet (records give Barnard),
June 20, 1773.
(V) Hugh Bullock, son of Hugh Bullock (4)
and Anna Cole, was born August 12, 1751, at
Rehoboth, Massachusetts. His brother Moulton re
moved to Royalston, Massachusetts, before the rev
olution and settled there. Moulton's farm was
owned in 1865 by Jason Fisher. Hugh went to
Royalston during the revolution. Hugh Bullock's
farm was north of his brother's. After his sons

were grown up and engaged in other business he
built a house on the common, west of his son Bar-
net's house. This house was occupied in '1865 by C.
H. Newton. Hugh died in this house in 1837, at the
age of eighty-five. His wife, Rebecca (Davis)- Bul
lock, died 1809, aged fifty years. Hugh Bullock
was one of the company that started for Saratoga
to repel the invasion of Burgoyne. He was in
Captain Peter Woodbury's company, Colonel Job
Cushing's regiment, which reinforced General Stark
at Bennington, Vermont The children of Hugh'
Bullock (5) were: Rufus, born September 23,
1779; Calvin; Moulton, born 1787, died 1865; Bar-
net, born 1798, died 1884; Candace, was living in
Royalston 1865.
Christopher, Ebenezer, Nathan, and David Bul
lock also settled in Royalston about this time. The
history of Royalston states that they were cousins
of Hugh and Deacon Moulton Bullock. They were
all stalwart men. David being the tallest man in
town. Their stay in town was short. When they
had their places well cleared and were in the full
vigor of manhood they went westward, following the
tide of settlers from the Atlantic states inland after
the revolution.
(VI) Rufus Bullock, son of Hugh Bullock (5),
was born at Royalston, Massachusetts, September
23i !779- He was perhaps the most distinguished
man who' spent his life in the town of Royalston.
He died there January 10, 1858. With small means
he laid the foundation of a good education and be
came an acceptable school teacher before he was
of age. He taught school several winters and
worked out at farming in the summers. He was
clerk in the country store, 'and finally opened a store
on. his own account on the common. The business
prospered and he led the life of a country merchant
the remainder of his days, accumulating a fortune
for his day and enjoying to a remarkable degree
the respect and confidence of the people of the
vicinity. Mr. Bullock made it a rule to expand
his business as his means increased, never going
beyond but always using fully what he had. He al
ways gave every detail of his varied business in
terests his personal supervision. He began to manu
facture at his mill in South Royalston, which was
very -successful. He always conducted a farm and
took time to work in the fields himself, notwith
standing the demands of his store and factory. He
seemed to find recreation in the variety of his
interests. Mr. Bullock often served the town in public of
fice. He was town clerk in 1812 and 1813. He was
selectman in 1811-12-13. He represented Royalston
and his district for five years in the general court.
He was in the state senate 1831-32. He was dele
gate to the constitutional conventions in 1820 and
1852, and was once chosen a presidential elector.
He left $5,000 in his will fo the Congregational
church, in which he always took a profound inter
est; he gave $2,500 to the Baptist Society; $2,500
to the Second Congregational Church at South Roy
alston; $5,000 to the town of Royalston for schools.
A significant proviso of the last named bequest
was that the town must keep the cemetery in re
pair or forfeit the money. The condition of the
old graveyards of Massachusetts at times has been
a reproach to civilization in this state. Mr. Bul
lock's bequest will doubtless save the graves of Roy
alston from desecration and neglect. Mr. Bullock
was a trustee of Amherst College and presented
the telescope for the observatory.
He married, May 4, 1808, Sarah Davis, of Rindge,
New Hampshire. The history of Royalston says
of her: "She still survives (1865) and lives among

20

WORCESTER COUNTY

us, the same industrious and cheerful matron of the
olden type, whose wisdom and energy helped to
build the house; and' who is still spared to enjoy
it, when builded, and still to attract the children
and the children's children to the ancient home
stead." Of Mr. Bullock it says: "Fie was a pa
triot of the early type — a gentleman of the olden
school — a friend to be trusted, a man whose prin
ciples bore the test of intimate acquaintance and in
spection, and whose influence, unobtrusive but po
tent, has been eminently useful." Their children
were : Maria Louisa, born October 14, 1809 ; Emily,
born September 10, 181 1, married W. D. Ripley,
died May 1, 1904; Rebecca, born April 28, 1814,
married Nelson Wheeler; Alexander Hamilton, born
March 2, 1816, died January 17, 1882; Charles
Augustus, born 1818, died August 25, 1882; Rufus
Henry, born January 9, 1821.
(VII) Alexander Hamilton Bullock, son of
Rufus Bullock (6), was born at Royalston, Massa
chusetts, March 2, 1816. He entered Amherst Col
lege in 1832, was a diligent student and on his
graduation, in 1836, delivered the salutatory ora
tion at commencement. In the catalogue of his
contemporaries at college are found the names of
Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher,
Bishop Huntington and other famous men. After
graduating he taught school for a short time at
Princeton, N. J., and then partly at the wish of his
father and partly on account of his own inclination
entered the Harvard Law School. After leaving
the law school he spent a year in the' office of the
well known lawyer, Emory -Washburn, of Worcester,
where he gained a good knowledge of the details of
legal practice, and in 1841 was admitted to the bar.
Senator Hoar said of Mr. Bullock: "He disliked
personal controversy. While he possessed talents
which would have rendered him a brilliant and per
suasive advocate, the rough contests of the court
house could never have been congenial to him. He
was associated with Judge Thomas as junior coun
sel in one important capital trial, in which he is said
to have made an eloquent opening argument. He
had a considerable clientage for a young man, to
whom he was a safe and trustworthy adviser. But
he soon established a large business, as agent of im
portant insurance companies and withdrew himself
altogether from the practice of law."
From early manhood Mr. Bullock took a decided
interest in politics. The prominence bf his father
in political circles may have increased a natural
taste for public life. He was particularly well versed
in constitutional law and that fact, together with
the well defined convictions he held, gave him in
debate and in administration great advantages. He
was originally a Whig. Step by step he advanced
to the highest position in the commonwealth. He
was a member of the house of representatives for
eight years, first in 1845, last in 1865: In 1862-
63-64-65, during the civil war, all legislative
positions were of extraordinary importance and in
volved great responsibility. He was exceedingly
popular among his colleagues. He was a state sena
tor in 1849, judge of the Worcester county court
of insolvency for two years — 1856-8, having served
as commissioner of insolvency since 1853. He was
mayor of Worcester in 1859. The greatest event
of his public career was his service as governor of
the commonwealth in 1866-67-68. At his first elec
tion he received nearly 50,000 votes more than his
opponent. Governor Bullock had many opportuni
ties to serve in high positions in the national gov
ernment. Among other places that he declined was
the mission to England offered him by President
Hayes. In financial, humane and all reforriiatory move

ments Governor Bullock was active and efficient.
He was president of the State Mutual Life Assur
ance Company, and of the Worcester County In
stitution of Savings; director of the Worcester
National Bank; chairman of the finance commit
tee of the trustees of Amherst College, and a life
member of the New England Historic-Genealogical
Society. While editor and publisher of the Daily
Aegis (now The Gazette) he displayed marked
ability as a writer and newspaper man. He re
ceived the honorary degree of LL. D. from Amherst
and Harvard Colleges. He was a great friend of
learning, interested in all educational institutions.
In 1869 he visited Europe with his family. Upon
his return the following year he was received with
a public demonstration to welcome him home and
give evidence of the respect and love of his towns
men. Governor Bullock was an orator of great
power. A volume of his addresses was published.
Senator Hoar, who made a special study of orators,
said of Gevernor Bullock's speeches : "Above all,
he possessed, beyond any of his living contemporar
ies, that rare gift of eloquence which always has
been and always will be a passport to the favor of
the people where speech, is free." His eulogy of
President Lincoln in Worcester in 1865 was one
of many notable public addresses that he delivered.
He delivered the commemorative oration at the
centennial of the incorporation of his native town
of Royalston.
Governor Bullock married, 1844, Elvira Hazard,
daughter of Colonel A. G. Hazard, of Enfield,
Connecticut, founder of the Hazard Gunpowder
Manufacturing Company. Their children -were:
Augustus George, born at Enfield, Connecticut; Isa
bel, married Nelson S. Baftlett, of Boston; Fanny,
married Dr. William H. Workman, of Worcester.
(VIII) A. George Bullock, son of the late Alex
ander H. (7) and Elvira (Hazard) Bullock, was born
June 2, 1847, at Enfield, Connecticut. His life has
been spent from infancy, however, in the city of
Worcester. He attended the Highland: Military
Academy and graduated there in 1862. After two
years of preparation under Professor E. G. Cutler
he entered -college in 1864. Professor Cutler, his
tutor, was afterward professor of English literature
at Harvard. In 1868 Mr. Bullock graduated at
Harvard College. Soon afterward he began the
study of law in the offices of the late Judge Thomas
L. Nelson and the late Senator George F. Hoar.
He was admitted to the bar and entered upon the
practice of his profession. His career as a lawyer
closed with his election to the presidency of the
great insurance company, although a legal train
ing is perhaps most essential in the education of
the executive head of such a corporation. Certainly
Mr. Bullocks legal experience increased his effi
ciency and augumented his success in developing
the business of the State Mutual Company. His
predecessor m the presidency was Philip L. Moen,
who completed the year to which Mr. Bullock's
father, Alexander H. Bullock, had been elected in
January, 1882, his death two weeks later making a
vacancy. In the following year A. George Bullock
was elected. New methods were introduced and the
Company grew amazingly. This company began its
.business in Worcester in 1845: Its first first presi
dent, John Davis, its third president, Alexander H.
tiullock, and its vice-president, Emory Washburn,
were at various times elected governor of the com
monwealth. The second president of the company,
Isaac Davis, was almost as prominent in public af
fairs as his uncle ttho preceded him. He was
president ^ twenty-nine- years. A 'vice president and
one of the organizers was John Milton Earle, who
was editor of The Spy for so many years In

/2^^ , /&< (/lin^tj^^-^^

-tnti-'-ijii A.J{B.'.yiic

WORCESTER COUNTY

21

recent years, under the 'present management, the
business of the company has increased phenomenally.
The company has among its assets one of the at
tractive office buildings of Boston and the most val
uable office building by far in Worcester, contain
ing two hundred and one offices.
Mr. _ Bullock's other interests are extensive. He
is president of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad
Company; vice-president of the Worcester Con
solidated Street Railroad Company; president of
the Worcester Railways and Investment Company;
trustee and member of the board of investment of
the Worcester County Institution, for Savings; di
rector of the Providence & Worcester Railroad
Company; director df the Boston & Albany Rail
road Company; director of the Worcester Gaslight
Company; director of the Worcester National Bank;
director of the Worcester Trust Company; director
of the Railways anl Lighting Company of Boston;
director of the State Street Trust Company of Bos
ton; director of the American Loan and Trust
Company of Boston. He was a commissioner
at large to the Columbian exposition at Chi
cago in 1893, appointed by the president of
the United States. He has been chairman of
the directors of the Public Library. He was
formerly trustee of the State Lunatic Hos
pital at Worcester. He is a member of the Ameri
can Antiquarian Society and of The Worcester
Society of Antiquity. He is a member of the Tat-
nuck Country Club, Commonwealth Club, Worcester
Club, Harvard Club of New York, University Club
of New York, Somerset Club of Boston and of the
Union Club of Boston. He attends the First Uni
tarian church. He is a Republican. He resides in
a handsome brownstone house at 48 Elm street,
built by Governor Bullock. By a singular coin
cidence the former residence of Governor Lincoln
is directly across Elm street. Mr. Bullock has a
beautiful country home near Mt. Wachusett, in the
town of Princeton.
He married Mary Chandler, daughter of Dr.
George and Josephine (Rose) Chandler, of Wor
cester, October 4, 1871. Their children, all of whom
were born in Worcester, were: Chandler, born
August 24, 1872; Alexander Hamilton, November
7, 1875; Augustus George, Jr., April 20, 1880, died
April 29, 1880; Rockwood Hoar, August 21, 1881.
(IX) Chandler Bullock married, October, 1900,
Mabel Richardson, daughter of George Richardson,
of Worcester. Their children are: Margaret, born
in Worcester, December 22, 1901 ; Josephine Rose,
born June 21, 1904. He is a lawyer practicing in
Worcester. (IX) Alexander Hamilton Bullock' married
Florence Armsby, widow of  McClellan,
June, 1902. His wife has a daughter Beulah
by her first marriage. He is a lawyer practicing in
Worcester. (IX) Rockwood Hoar Bullock married Eliza
beth Bliss Dewey, daughter of Francis H. Dewey,
of Worcester, June 8, 1905.
Barnet Bullock was the fifth generation from
Richard Bullock, the emigrant ancestor. He was
born in the west part of Royalston, June 9, 1798, •
and during his active life followed the business of
a merchant in that town. He held for a long time
the commission of justice of the peace, doing most
of the public business in that line in the town for
many years, besides filling various responsible town
offices. He, was town clerk from 1837 to 1847;
selectman, 1840, 1844 and 1845, and representative
to the general court in 1843 and 1844. One of the
oldest and most prominent citizens of Royalston,
he died September 1, 1884, being the last survivor
of the four sons of Hugh Bullock, who came from

Rehoboth and settled in Royalston during the revolu
tion. He married, November 27, 1828, Lucy New
ton, daughter of Nathan Brigham Newton. Their
children were Calvin, born September 21, 1829, died
March 5, 1870; Brigham Newton, born April 6,
1831, died February 20, 1906; Barnet Ellis, born
March 22, 1833; Lucy Lee, born May 25, 1835, died
September 18, 1882; Elizabeth Candace, born Octo
ber 16, 1838, died March 24, 1843; Charles Stuart,
born January 20, 1841-; James Frederick, born July
21, 1842, died May 28, 1870; Mary Elizabeth, born
December 18, 1847, died March 21, 1869.
Brigham Newton Bullock was the second son of
Barnet Bullock, and was born in Royalston, April 6,
1831. He spent his early life in his native town,
where he attended the common schools. February
24, 1847, at the age of sixteen,' he started out in
life by entering the employment of Joseph Esta
brook, who kept a country store and the postoffice.
He remained with Mr. Estabrook until the fall
of 1851, when for a short time he attended the
fall term of the high school, kept by Crandall Bros.
On October 20 of the same year he left Royals
ton and the high school to enter the passenger de
partment of ,the office of the Vermont & Massa
chusetts Railroad in Fitchburg, where he remained
until January, 1874. He then went to Boston, where
he was cashier of the Boston, Hartford & Erie
Railroad from March, 1874, until August, 1874.
From there he went to the Home Savings Bank,
Boston, August 6, 1874, as treasurer, and remained
until February 27, 1882. when he returned to Fitch
burg and entered the Fitchburg National Bank as
cashier, holding that office until he was made presi
dent in 1888, and as an active working president he
served the bank for the remainder of his life. Under
his administration its affairs were conducted with
great success, and its resources largely increased.
His acknowledged ability as a financier led the
trustees of the Fitchburg Savings Bank to secure
his services as treasurer, when a vacancy occurred
in that office in July, 1894, and he remained treas
urer, to their great satisfaction, until the law
separating national and savings banks went into
effect in 1904, when he was chosen chairman of the
board of investment, and in that capacity was able
to give to the bank the benefit of his valuable over
sight and experience while he lived. In addition
to the responsibilities of the conduct of these two
large financial institutions, to which he gave most
of his time and attention, he served as a director
in the Fitchburg Railroad Company, in the Fitch
burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in the Grant
Yarn Company, and in the Simonds Manufacturing
Company of Fitchburg. He was. a member of the
First (Unitarian) Parish.
Mr. Bullock was not only a successful financier,
but a man of sterling character, and to all the re
sponsibilities which he assumed he honestly and
faithfully devoted himself. His "word was as good
as his bond." He would have nothing superficial.
The whole structure of every institution which he
managed must be thoroughly sound and strong from
its very foundation; and so he left them. Not only
was he a strong, practical man of business, firm in
his convictions, and just in all his dealings, but he
also had a heart sensitive to all needs of humanity
and the beautiful in art and nature. He was a
devoted husband and father, and a faithful friend
and a genial companion to all who enjoyed his
intimate acquaintance. He always retained his af
fection for his native town of Royalston, and spent
a portion of each summer in that beautiful hill
town of Massachusetts. He was of the best product
of the New England country town.
Brigham N. Bullock married, November 13, 1888,

22

WORCESTER COUNTY

Flora Belle Ripley, of Fitchburg. She survives her
husband, who died in Boston, February 20, 1906.
Their only child is Richard Bullock, born May 3,
1892. THE GREEN FAMILY. (I) Thomas Green
was the ancestor of the Green family of' Worcester,
to which belong Samuel Swett Green, librarian of
the Free Public Library; Martin Green, a civil
engineer and contractor; and James Green, a lawyer,
of Worcester; Oliver Bourne Green, a civil engineer
and contractor, of Chicago; Dr. John Green and
Dr. John Green, Jr., both oculists, of St. Louis;
the late Andrew Haswell Green, "Father of Greater
New York;" and many others, both of the sur
name of Green and of other surnames.
Thomas Green was born in England in about
the year 1600, according to a deposition which he
made August 16, 1662. A Thomas Green, who prob
ably was his son, came over to Massachusetts, at
the age of fifteen, in the "Planter," which sailed
from England April 2, 1635. The same name and
age appear also in the "Hopewell," which sailed
the next day, and are believed to represent the same
Thomas Green, Jr. Preceding the list of passen
gers in the "Planter," is a certificate which states
that Thomas Green came from St. Albans, Hertford
shire. It seems likely that Thomas Green, senior,
came to New England at the same time, or a
little earlier, and settled at Lynn and Ipswich. He
was living at Lady Moody's farm at Lynn about
1646. The Green "Genealogical Sketch," which was
published before some of these facts were dis
covered in the records, states that he probably
removed from Ipswich to -Maiden in 1649 or 1650.
He was certainly in Maiden, October 28, 1651, when
his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Elizabeth signed
a petition to the general court. He had a farm of
, sixty-three acres in the northern part of Maiden.
He was one of the leading citizens, serving re
peatedly on the grand jury, and in 1658 as a select
man of Maiden.
When the "Genealogical Sketch of the Descend
ants of Thomas Green (e) of Maiden, Mass., by
Samuel S. Green of Providence, R. I.," was written,
there were "reasons for supposing that Thomas
Green, senior, came from Leicestershire, but no
proofs of the fact." If the suggestion that Thomas
Green who came over in the' "Planter" was his
son, is well grounded, the home of the family would
seem to have been at St. Albans.
The first wife of Thomas Green, senior, Eliza
beth, whom he married in England, was the mother
of all his children. She died August 22, 1658. He
married secondly, Frances Cook, September 5. 1659.
She was born in 1608, married first to Isaac Wheeler,
secondly to Richard Cook, who died October 14,
1658. She had children by the first two husbands;
none by the third,' Thomas Green. Thomas Green
(I) died December 19, 1667. His will, dated No
vember 12, 1667, was proved January 15, 1667-8.
In it he mentions five sons, five daughters and his
wife. The homestead was situate in that part of
Maiden which is now included in Melrose and
Wakefield. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth
Green were :
1. Elizabeth, born about 1628.
2. Thomas, born in 1620 (if it is true, as the
ship-records say, that he was fifteen years old
when he sailed [in 1635,] : but ages in these lists of
emigrants are not to be relied on). He married
Rebecca Hills, 1653. [See his sketch later, "Thomas
3- John, born in England about 1632, according
to the Genealogy; married to Sarah Wheeler, De

cember 18, 1660. (Church records give birth of
John, son of Thomas, Sr., January 25, 1658).
4. Mary, born in England about 1633; married
before 1656 to Capt. John Waite, who was select
man seven years, and representative to the general
court, 1666 to 1684.
5. William, born about 1635; married first to
Elizabeth Wheeler; married secondly to Isabel
(Farmer) Blood.
6. Henry, born 1638; married January 11, 1671-2.
7. Samuel, born March, 1645; married first,
1666, to Mary Cook; secondly, to Susanna  .
8. Hannah, born 1647; married November 5,
1666, to Joseph Richardson, of Woburn, Mass. She
died May 20, 1721.
9. Martha, born 1650.
10. Dorcas, born in Maiden, May 1, 1653; mar
ried January 11, 1671-2, to James Barrett of Maiden,
who was born April 6, 1644. She died 1682; he died
1694. (II) Thomas Green, son of Thomas Green (1),
was born in England 1620, — if the record of the list
of passengers of the ship "Planter" which sailed
April 2, 1635, or the "Hopewell," which sailed the
next day, is correct. He claimed to be fifteen years
old then. He married in 1653, or before,. Rebecca
Hills,' daughter of Joseph Hills, of Maiden, plater
of Newbury, Massachusetts. (See sketch Joseph
Hills family in this work.) Rebecca's mother was
Rose Dunster, a sister of Rev. Henry Dunster, first
president of Harvard College. Thomas Green (2)
settled in Maiden. He was a farmer, was admitted
a freeman, May 31, 1670, and died February 13,
1671-2. His will was dated the same day, and
proved April 2, 1672. His widow, Rebecca, died
June 6, 1674. The inventory of her estate was
filed March 4, 1674-5, by her son-in-law, Thomas
Newell. The children of Thomas and Rebecca
Green were:
1. Rebecca, born 1654; married to Thomas
Newell, of Lynn, ,1674.
2. Thomas, born February, 1655-6; died April
15, 1674.
3. Hannah, born October 16, 1658; died March
25, 1659-
4. Hannah, born February 24, 1659-60; married
August 26, 1677, to John Vinton, of Maiden, and
later of Woburn, Massachusetts.
5. Samuel, born October- 5, 1670; married to
Elizabeth Upham, about 1692.
(Ill) Captain Samuel Green, the only son of
Thomas (2) and Rebecca Hills Green who came.
to full age, was born October 5, 1670. He was one
of the principal men in Leicester or Strawberry
Hill, where he settled in 1717. The town was
granted February 10, 1713-14, and Capt. Samuel
Green was on the committee with Col. William Dud
ley of Roxbury and others to settle it. He owned
three lots of forty acres each, and two vof thirty each,
in the town of Leicester, and was highly respected
and very influential. The vicinity of his old home
stead, now a village, is called after him, Green
ville. He built a house, grist mill and saw mill.
At the first town meeting of which there is any
record, he was elected moderator, first selectman
and grand juror, and he held like offices in the town
of Leicester the remainder of his life. Governor
Washburn, in his history, calls him a prominent man,
and he is honored as one of the pioneers'. He also
owned land in Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was
always called Captain, a rank he won at Maiden,
and he was' the first captain of the Leicester com-
oany of militia. Capt. Samuel Green married Eliza
beth, daughter of Lieut. Phinehas Upham, of Wor
cester, a son of Deacon John Upham, who had ar-

WORCESTER COUNTY

23

rived^ from England, September 2, 1635, settled at
Weymouth, Massachusetts, moved to Maiden about
1650, and was one of the original proprietors of
Quinsigamond. His son Phinehas Upham settled
in Worcester in April, 1675. After the Indians had
destroyed the first white settlements at Mendon,
Brookfield and Worcester, Lieut. Upham fought
bravely in the battle of Narraganset Fort, Decem
ber 19, 1675, where he was mortally wounded. Capt.
Samuel Green died January 2, 1735-6. His will was
made at Maiden just before he came to Leicester
to settle, April 18, 1717, and it was proved Febru
ary 5, 173576. His wife died at Leicester, prob
ably in 1761. Their children were :
1. Elizabeth, born April 4, 1693, married to
Thomas Richardson of Maiden.
2. Rebecca, born April 4, 1695, married to Samuel
Baldwin. (According to Maiden records the first
two were twins, born April 4, 1695).
3. Ruth, married to Joshua Nichols.
4. Thomas, born 1699, married to Martha Lynde
in Maiden, January 13, 1725-6'.
5. Lydia, married to her cousin, Abiathar Vin
ton of Maiden, April 30, 1723. He resided in Brain
tree a year or two after his marriage, then settled
in Leicester, where he lived until his death in 1740.
His widow Lydia married secondly, January 15,
1746, Samuel Stower, of Leicester, a native of
Maiden. 6. Bathsheba, married to Elisha Nevins.
7. Abigail, married to Henry King,
8. Any (Anna?), married to Ebenezer Lamb.
(IV) Dr. Thomas Green, son of Capt. Samuel
Green (3), was born in Maiden in 1699. He mar
ried, January 13, 1725-6, Martha Lynde, daughter
of Capt. John Lynde by his third wife, Judith Worth,
widow of Joses Bucknam of Maiden. Martha Lynde
was born July 6, 1700. Before Capt. Samuel Green
removed his family to Leicester, in 1717, he and his
son Thomas had driven some cattle from Maiden to
the site of their new home, preparatory to moving
the family. Thomas was left at Leicester in charge
of the cattle, while his father returned to Maiden.
While there alone the boy was attacked with fever
and became very ill. In his weak state he lay in
a sort of cave made by an overhanging rock on a
little stream, and secured food by milking a cow
which he induced to come to him frequently by
tying her calf to a tree near the cave. At length
two of his former neighbors at Maiden, who had
come on horseback to look after their cattle, found
him, but refused to take him home. They notified
his father, however, who went at once to his relief, -
and got him home on horseback after a painful
journey of four days.
Thomas Green's attention was early turned to
the studv of medicine. His impluse in this direction
is said - to have come from two English ship-sur
geons — it is even said they were pardoned buc
caneers, — who lived in his father's house at Leicester,
taught young Thomas with interest and lent him
medical books. He grew to be friendly with the
Indians and learned from them the curative proper
ties 'of native herbs. As the settlement grew his
medical practice extended over a wider field and
even into Rhode Island and Connecticut. Many
young meh came • to him for instruction in medi
cine; he is said to have taught one hundred and
twenty-three medical students. The veTy slight facts
which have come down to us about Dr. Thomas
Green's study and practice of medicine show him
to have been the most prominent practitioner of the
country doctors of his time; but these facts are
especially interesting because he was the first of
a long line of famous physicians and surgeons. His

son, grandson and great-grandson, each named John
Green, were each of them the most distinguished
physician in Worcester county; while Dr. John
Green of St. Louis, the descendant of Thomas in the
next generation, is now the foremost eye-surgeon
in the Mississippi Valley; and his son Dr. John
Green, Jr., also of St. Louis, is already a prominent
and successful practitioner in the same specialty
of medicine. Five generations of Dr. John Greens
go back to Dr. Thomas Green as their progenitor
and their forerunner in the noble art of improving
the health of man.
Dr. Thomas Green (4) joined the First Baptist
Church at Boston, November 7, 1731. But in 1735
he was dismissed from that church to take part
in forming another church at Sutton, the parent-
church of his denomination in Worcester county,
and the fourth Baptist church " in the Province of
Massachusetts Bay. On September 28, 1737, he and
Benjamin Marsh were ordained as pastors of this
Sutton church. One year later to a day, the Leices
ter families of the congregation erected a church of
their own at Greenville (in Leicester),' the eighth
Baptist church in Massachusetts, and Dr. Thomas
Green, who was a charter member of both the Sutton
and the Leicester church, was chosen the first pastor
of the new church, and he remained its pastor for
almost thirty-five years. In a historical discourse
delivered at the Greenville church in 1888, on the
150th anniversary of its foundation, the Rev. Hiram
C. Estes, D. D., its pastor, says of the church-
building, "that Dr. Green was the principal pro
prietor of the house; that its grounds were given
by him, and its frame was raised and covered at his
expense." "While he was preaching on Sunday,"
said Hon. Andrew H. Green on the same anni
versary, "at his home across the way the pot was
kept boiling to supply the needed sustenance to the
little flock which came from all directions to attend
upon his ministrations." During his ministry in
Leicester, he baptized more than a thousand per
sons. In "Rippon's Register" he is spoken of as
"eminent for his useful labors in the gospel min
istry." His preaching was not confined to his
own parish ; he was widely known as Elder Green.
In 1756, Rev. Isaac Backus, the Baptist Annalist in
New England, held a meeting with Mr. Green's
church, and made the following entry in his diary:
"I can but admire how the Doctor (Thomas Green)
is able to get along as he does, having a great deal
of farming business to manage, multitudes of sick
to care for, several opportunities to instruct in the
art of physic, and a church to care for and watch
over; yet in the midst of all he seems to keep re
ligion uppermost — to hold his mind bent upon divine
things — and to be very bold in Christian conver
sation with all sorts of people." Dr. Estes said,
in his discourse above quoted, that "Dr. Green lived
three lives and did the work of three men in
one. He was a man of business, active, energetic
and successful. * * * He was also a noted phy
sician; * * * and was a preacher of the gospel
quite as eminent in this as in his other spheres of
life." Dr. Green's homestead was next beyond the
river from the Baptist Church on the road to
Charlton, where his grandson, Samuel Green, -after
wards kept a tavern. He died August 19, 1773, at
the age of seventy-four years. His wife Martha
died June 20, 1780. They were buried in the church
yard at Greenville, but their remains were removed
to the Rural Cemetery in Worcester, by Dr. John
Green (7), a descendant, where the graves are suit
ably marked. The children of Thomas and Martha
Green were :

24

WORCESTER COUNTY

i. Samuel, born in Leicester 1726; married to
Zerviah Dana; married secondly to Widow Fish.
2. Martha, born at Leicester April 23, 1727,
married about 1753 to Robert 'Craig (born Decem
ber 10, 1726; he died October 13, 1805) ; she died
September 17, ,1801 ; Craig studied medicine under
Dr. Thomas Green, but returned to the manufacture
of spinning wheels instead of practicing; they had
nine children.
3. Isaac, married to Sarah Howe.
4. Thomas L, born 1733, married to Hannah
Fox; married secondly to Anna Hovey.
5. John, born in Leicester August 14, 1736, mar
ried to Mary Osgood, and secondly to Mary
Ruggles. 6. Solomon, married to Elizabeth Page.
7. Elizabeth, married first, to Daniel Hovey;
married secondly, January 16, 1776, to Rev. Benja
min Foster (Yale 1774; Brown DD. 1792), who
succeeded Rev. Thomas Green as pastor of the
Baptist church at Leicester; removed to Newport,
Rhode Island, thence to Gold Street Church, New
•York city, where he died of yellow fever in 1798.
"Dr. Thomas Green," says Samuel S. Green in
his biography of the late Andrew H. Green, "bought
the homestead in Worcester which forms the nucleus
of the extensive and beautifully situated estate on
Green Hill, lately owned by Andrew H. Green.
This is one of the finest gentlemen's places in that
neighborhood, contains over five hundred acres of
field and forest and water, and has lately become a
part of the park system of the City of Worcester.
The deed was given by Thomas Adams to Thomas
Green of Leicester, dated May 28, 1754, in con
sideration of 330 pounds." His son John appears
to have married and gone to Green Hill to live,
about the year 1757, when he came of age. The
tradition of the family is that Thomas located his
son on this hill remote from Worcester village that
he might be protected by distance from the tempta
tions of the town. At Dr. Thomas Green's death,
August 19, 1773, his entire estate passing through
the probate office was appraised at 4,495 pounds)
equivalent very nearly to $22,477; an estate said
to have been larger than any that had been entered
at the probate office in Worcester previous to his
death. ' *
(V) Dr. John Green, fifth child of Dr. and
Rev. Thomas Green (4), was born in Leicester,
Massachusetts, August 14, 1736. He married first,
Mary Osgood, of Worcester, apparently just as he
came of age; in 1757. She was born August 31,
1740, and died September 5, 1761. He married
secondly, apparently in 1762, Mary Ruggles, daugh
ter of Brig. Gen. Timothy Ruggles, of Sandwich,
afterwards of Hardwick, Massachusetts. Mary was
born in Sandwich, on Cape Cod, in 1740, and died
in Worcester, June .16, 1814, aged seventy^ four
years. Dr. John Green studied medicine with his father,
in company with many other students. On coming
of age, he moved to Worcester and built his house
upon the eminence at the north end of Worcester
which came to be known as Green Hill. Here he
lived for his whole life. He was very successful
from the first. He adopted the practice of watch
ing over his patients like a nurse, day and night,
if required. He became even more famous as a phy
sician and surgeon than his distinguished father.
His son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-
grandson, all of the same name and title of Dr.
John Green, have also attained unusual eminence
in the same profession. No better evidence of in
herited aptitude and skill in medicine and surgery
could be shown. Dr. John Green instructed many

students, as his father had ' done. At first he. had
his office at the house on Green Hill, but later in
a small wooden structure on Main street, on the
original site of the Five Cent Savings Bank build
ing. At that time there were but seven houses |On
Main street between the Common and Lincoln
Square. William Lincoln, in his "History of Wor
cester," writing in 1836, says: "Tradition bears
ample though very general testimony to his worth.
Fortunate adaptation of natural _ capacity to pro
fessional pursuits gave an extensive circuit of em
ployment and high reputation. Habits of accurate
observation, the action of vigorous intellect, and
the results of experience, seem to have supplied
the place of that learning deriving its acquirements
from the deductions of others through the medium
of books. Enjoying great esteem for skill and fidel
ity, hospitality and benevolence secured personal re
gard." Dr. Samuel B. Woodward writes of Dr.
Green: "An earnest patriot, he was in 1773 a mem
ber (and the only medical member) of the American
Political Society, which was formed 'on account
of the grievous burdens of the times,' and did so
much to bring about that change of public senti
ment which expelled the adherents of the Crown.
He took a prominent part in all the Revolutionary
proceedings, and in 1777 was sent as representative
to the general court. In 1778 and 1779 he was
town treasurer and in 1780 one of the selectmen,
the only physician who ever held that office" in
Worcester. ,
The father of Dr. Green's second wife, Gen.
Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, was a distinguished
lawyer, judge, statesman and soldier. He was op
posed, however, to the Revolution, and is called by
historians "Massachusetts' great loyalist." Hon.
Andrew H. Green of New York, a descendant, had
a biography of Gen. Ruggles published.
Dr. John Green died in Worcester, October 29,
1799, at the age of sixty-three. All his children were
born on Green Hill, Worcester; the first three be
ing the children of Mary Osgood, Thomas's first
wife, and the last ten being the children of Mary
Ruggles, his second wife:
1. John, born April 1, 1758; died September 20, .
1761. 2. Mary, born November 27, 1759; died Febru-
rary 15, 1759-60.
3. Thomas, born January 3, 1761 ; married
October 8, 1782, to Salome Barstow of Sutton.
4. John, born March 18, 1763, married to Nancy
Barber of Worcester. [See sketch of his life
'later.] 5. Timothy, born January 9, 1765; married to
Mary Martin of Providence, Rhode Island.
6. Samuel, born May 10, 1767; married to
Widow Tillinghast; married secondly, to 
Waring. _ 7- Elijah Dix, born July 4, 1769; never mar
ried; be was a graduate of Brown, 1792; practiced
medicine at Charleston, South Carolina; died Sep
tember 21, I795<
8. Mary, born April 30, 1772; never married;
she died at the house of her brother, Samuel," in
Columbia, South Carolina, September 24, 1824.
9- Elizabeth, born July 31, 1774; unmarried;
she died at Green Hill, February 3, 1854, aged
eighty ; lived chiefly with her brother Timothy, in
New York city.
10 William Elijah, born January 31, 1777. [See
his sketch, later.] '
. 11. Meltiah, born July 28, 1779; died unmar
ried, December, 1809, of yellow fever, at St. Bar
tholomew, West Indies ; was a resident of Jamaica.
12. .Bourne, born December 15, 1781 ; died un-

WORCESTER COUNTY

25

married, August, 1806, at sea; was engaged in
commerce. 13. Isaac, born September 4, 1784; died Sep
tember 9, 1807, while a member of the Sophomore
class of Columbia College, New York.
(VI) Dr. John Green, son of Dr. John Green
(5) and Mary (Ruggles) Green, was born at Wor
cester, on Green Hill, March 18, 1763. He studied
medicine with his father and began to practice at
the age of eighteen. He inherited the skill and
ability of his father and grandfather. Particularly
skilled in surgery, his services were in constant de
mand, "while daily could be seen," says Charles
Tappan, "Dr. Green and his half-dozen students
mounted on horesback and galloping through the
streets as if some one or , more were in peril."
He lived at first in the little wooden office-building
of his father on Main street. Later he built a house
just south of it. He was, we are told by the "Gen
ealogy," "of industrious habits, patient, persever
ing; in his manners, urbane and obliging; in his
judgments, discriminating, and always reliable; a
man of great powers of observation; he had an ex
tensive practice in Worcester and the surrounding
region. He combined with accurate practice as a
physician, rare skill as a surgeon." Hon. Oliver
Fiske, his biographer, said of him: "From his
childhood the natural bias of his- mind led him
to that profession which through life was the sole
object of his ardent pursuit. To be distinguished
as a physician was not his chief incentive. To
assuage the sufferings of humanity by his skill
was the higher motive of his benevolent mind.
Every duty was performed with delicacy and tender
ness. With these propensities, aided by a strong,
inquisitive and discriminating mind, he attained to
a pre-eminent rank among the physicians and sur
geons of our country." He was tall, strong and
attractive in person. He died August 11, 1808, at
the age of forty-five years, having practiced, how
ever, for twenty-seven years, for the last nine of
which he was practically the only physician in the
town. The Worcester Spy reported that "To his
funeral came the largest concourse of people from
this and neighboring towns ever known to be col
lected here on a sirhilar occasion." "It has been the
high privilege of few of our community to enjoy
so much confidence and respect, to be so loved while
living and so mourned when dead."
He married Nancy Barber, granddaughter of
Robert Barber of Northville, who was among the
Presbyterians who fled from the religious perse
cutions in his native land and sought refuge in Ire
land, whence he came to America, and made the
Barber estate near Barber's Crossing, in North
ville, -Massachusetts. The children were :
1. John, born April 19, 1784; married to Dolly
Curtis of Worcester. They had no children. [See
sketch of his life later.]
2. Eunice, born April 29, 1786; married to
Leonard Burbank, (Brown, 1807). They had four
children : 1. John Green, graduated at West Point,
first in his class. He served in the Seminole and
Mexican wars, and was killed in»the battle of Molino
del Rey. where he had voluntered upon a forlorn
hope. He was never married, but was engaged to
Anna M., daughter of Gen. Belknap, of the Regular
Army, a contemporary of Gen. Scott. 2. Ann Eliza
beth, married to Joseph Gardner, of Fitchburg.
They had one child, Elizabeth, who lived and died
in Fitchburg unmarrieti. Ann Elizabeth is now
dead. 3. George G., married to Lydia O. Whiting,
of Worcester. No child was born to them, but they
adopted one under the name of Caroline Amelia
Burbank. George and Lydia are dead. 4. James Leon

ard, married to Persis S. Wood, of Grafton. They
had one child only, Emma Jourdan. James L. is
now dead. Emma J. married Frank Richard
Macullar, of Worcester, son of Addison Macullar.
They had one child, Margaret Burbank, now living.
Frank R. Macullar is now dead.
3. Mary, born March 14, 1788; died unmarried,
September 16, 181 7.
. 4. Nancy, born August 28, 1790; married to
Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood of Worcester, (Dart
mouth, 1812). [See the sketch of the Heywood
Family, later.]
5. Samuel, born March 21, 1792; died August
24, 1796.
6. Sarah, born August 22, 1794; died August
23, 1796.
7. Samuel B., born April 11, 1797; died July
20, 1822.
8. Frederick William, born January 19, 1800;
he settled in Columbia, South Carolina; married
Sarah Briggs of Columbia; they had thirteen chil
dren and are both dead.
9. James, born December 23, 1802; he married
Elizabeth Swett of Dedham. [See his sketch, later,
"James Green (VII)."]
10. Meltiah Bourne, born July 16, 1806; he
married Mary Stone Ward. [See his sketch, later,
"M. B. Green (VII)."]
11. Elizabeth R., born September 26, 1808; she
married Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood, who had also
married her sister Nancy. [See Heywood Family
sketch.] (VI) William Elijah Green, son of Dr. John
and Mary (Ruggles) Green, (5), was born on Green
Hill, January 31, 1777, and died there July 27, 1865,
aged eighty-eight years. He was graduated at
Brown University in 1798. He succeeded his father
in the ownership of the homestead on Green Hill,
comprising then two hundred acres. He studied
law under Judge Edward Bangs, with whom and
with whose son, Edward D. Bangs, he was as
sociated in practice for some years afterwards. He
was an original member of the First Baptist Society
of Worcester, but late in life became identified
with the Universalists. He will be remembered for
the earnest work he did for temperance and the
Public schools of Worcester. He was for many
years captain of the Worcester Light Infantry, and
was a volunteer in the War of 1812. He was one
of the foremost promoters of the Blackstone Canal,
and never lost an opportunity to help advance the
interests of his native town. It has been said of
him that he was a man of great geniality and cheer
fulness ; affable to men of all conditions, highly
respected and very popular. In his later years, Wil
liam E. Green withdrew from the practice of the
law and spent his time in the development of his
estate on Green Hill. While this estate has -been
brought to its present perfection by his sons, An
drew H. Green and Martin Green — the latter one
of whom resided there for thirty-two years,— Green
Hill has been for one hundred and fifty years an
attractive spot, a gentleman's estate, suggesting the
old English homes rather than the farms of New
England. The original house, to which Andrew
H. Green added a fine modern structure by cutting
the old house in two and putting a new section be
tween the front and rear, is approached by Green
Lane, an old county road. It had a museum of
family heirlooms and relics. In itself it is one of
the choicest inheritances of the early settlers of
Worcester. What is called the Green Hill Book
originated Seotember 15, 1861, when the ten chil
dren of William E. Green, the old "Squire," met
together for the first time since their childhood,

26

WORCESTER COUNTY

and this meeting proved also the last gathering of
the family as a whole. At that time Oliver B.
Green came from Chicago; John P. Green was at
home on a visit from Copiapo, Chili, where he lived
forty years; Mary R., Lucy M. and Andrew H.
came from New York; and Martin from Peshtigo,
Wisconsin. Some interesting portrait groups of the
family were taken and are preserved in the Green
Hill Book, a large folio record book, in which an
account of this reunion was entered, and in which
records of interest to the family, including notices
of visits, have since been kept. It is illustrated
with photographs of several generations of the
family;' has clippings from newspapers containing
obituaries and other family items.
Mr. Green died July 27, 1865, in the same room
at Green Hill in which he was born, — at the age
of eighty-eight years. He was married four times;
first to Abigail Nelson, daughter of Josiah Nelson,
of Milford, who .bore him one child, William Nel
son Green; secondly, to Lucy Merriam, daughter
of Deacon Joseph Merriam of Grafton, who bore
him one child, Lucy Merriam Green ; thirdly, to
Julia Plimpton, daughter bf Oliver Plimpton, Esq.,
of that part of Sturbridge now known as Souths
bridge, Massachusetts. She had nine children; and
fourthly, to Elizabeth D. Collins, a widow. From
this marriage there was no child. The children of
William E. Green were:
1. William Nelson, born at Milford, Massa
chusetts, February 23, 1804; died December 6, 1870.
He was judge of the police court of Worcester.
[See his sketch, later.]
2. Lucy Merriam, born at Grafton, November
12, 1810. She was for a great many years the joint
owner with her sister, Mary Ruggles Green, of a
young ladies' school at No. 1 Fifth avenue, New
York city, which they made famous ; unmarried ;
her brother, Andrew H. Green, a bachelor, lived
with these two sisters and helped them conduct their
business affairs ; she died May 8, 1893, ' at Worcester.
3. Mary Ruggles, born in Worcester, June 29,
i8i4;_she married Carl W. Knudsen, who was born
in Denmark, 1818, and died in South Norwalk,
Connecticut, February 27, 1894. She was a teacher
and joint proprietor with her sister, Lucy M., of
the young ladies' school at No. 1 Fifth avenue, New
York city._ She died March 17, 1894.
4. Julia Elizabeth, born in Worcester, February
2, 1816; she lived at home with her parents; was a
teacher ; never married, and died August 5, 1880.
5. Lydia Plimpton, born at Worcester, August
4, 1817; died August 27, 1818.
6. John Plimpton, born in Worcester, January
19, 1819; he became a physician, practiced in New
York and lived in China and South America. He
died  .
7. Andrew Haswell, born in Worcester, October
6, 1820; a prominent lawyer in New York city,
associated in practice with Hon. Samuel J. Tilden;
president of the Board of Education; commissioner
of Central Park, and comptroller of New York city.
[See a sketch of his life, later, — "A. H. Green
(VII) ."1
8. Samuel Fiske, born in Worcester, October
10, 1822 ; a physician and missionary in Ceylon.
9. Lydia Plimpton, born at Worcester, March
18, 1824; she lived at the old home on Green Hill,
and died there September 7, 1869.
10. Oliver Bourne, born at Worcester, January
1, 1826: he married August 28, 1855, Louisa Pome-
roy of Stanstead, Canada ; a prominent civil engineer
at Chicago. Illinois. \See a sketch of his life, later,
— "O. B. Green (VII)."]
11. Martin, born at Worcester, April 24, 1828;

for many years a civil engineer engaged in import
ant work; now resident at Worcester. [See a sketch
of his life, later,— "Martin Green (VII)."]
(VII) Dr. John Green, son of Dr. John Green
(6), was born in Worcester, April 19, 1784. He was
graduated at Brown University in 1804, and began
to practice medicine in Worcester in 1807, a year
before , the death of his father and eight years
after that of his grandfather, Dr. John Green of
Revolutionary fame. He seems destined to be re
membered longer than either, for he will be known
to future generations as the founder of the Free
Public Library of Worcester. Having early decided
to devote a liberal portion of his fortune to the
founding of such an institution, he was engaged
for many years in collecting books, which in 1859
he presented ta the city, adding continually to the
number afterward, and leaving in his will funds of
$35,000 for the library, with a provision for further
accumulation. The funds amounted, November 30,
1905, to $61,403.
He studied medicine with his father, succeeded
to his father's practice at his death, and for half
a century was the acknowledged leader of his pro
fession in this section of the state. He was a good
student, gentle and sympathetic with his patients,
especially with women and children, but quite in
flexible when it seemed to him necessary; very
cautious and also very daring ; but his most valuable
professional quality was the keenest possible obser
vation. Although this third Dr. John Green is likely
to be best known hereafter as the founder of
Worcester's Public Library, contemporary physicians
and his own patients generally believed him to be
the greatest physician and surgeon of the three
who, under the name of Dr. John Green, had cared
for this community for ninety-eight years. He was
the last Dr. Green of the four in this con
tinuous family line who had served this neighbor
hood medically for over one hundred and thirty-
five years without a break. He was given the de
gree of M. D. by Harvard College in 1815, and in
1826 by his Alma Mater, Brown University. He
was treasurer of the District Medical Society three
years, vice-president five years, and president seven;
vice-president of the American Medical Society in
1854: the first president of the Worcester County
Horticultural Society; a councillor of the Massa
chusetts Medical Society and of the American Anti
quarian Society. He was an early and constant
patron and supporter of the Worcester Natural
History Society. On account of age and failing
health, he retired from practice about 1855. He
died in his eighty-second year, at Worcester, Oc
tober 17, 1865. He married Dolly Curtis, daughter
of David Curtis, of Worcester, and aunt of the late
George William Curtis, the distinguished author and
orator. They had no children.
(VII) James Green, son of Dr. John Green
(6), was born in Worcester, December 23, 1802,
less than six years before the death of his father,
who died at the early age of forty-five years, and
left a family of nine children surviving him. The
oldest son, John (7), had already received his col
legiate and medical education, and had started in
1826 by his Alma Mater, Brown University. He
practice: but James had to go to work at the age
of twelve, after very little schooling. This
calamity made him very eager afterwards to give
his own children the besf education he could.
He lived all his life in Worcester, and married,
May 1, 183s, Elizabeth Swett, daughter of Samuel
Swett of Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts, a
merchant engaged in foreign trade. They lived at

WORCESTER COUNTY

27

12 Harvard street, in Worcester, for about twenty-
eight years just preceding his death on June 10,
1874. All their children were born in Worcester.
The widow Elizabeth continued to live in the same
house until she died, May 7, 1901, leaving her three
sons surviving. Their children were:
1. James, born February 15, 1834; died Febru
ary 17, 1834.
2. John, born April 2, 1835; graduated at Har
vard College, 1855; M. D., Harvard; an eminent
ophthalmologist and leader of his profession in St.
Louis, Missouri. [See sketch of his life later, —
"Dr. John Green (VIII)."]
3. Samuel Swett, born February 20, 1837;
A. B., Harvard, 1858; Harvard Divinity School,
1864; Harvard A. M., 1870. [See a sketch of his
life later,— "Samuel S. Green, VIII."]
4. Elizabeth Sprague, born .April 19, 1839 ; she
died at St. Louis at the home of her brother John,
January 9, 1870.
5. James, born March 2, #841 ; Harvard A. B.,
1862; LL. B., 1864; A. M., 1865. [See sketch of
his life, later,— "James Green, VIII."]
(VII) Meltiah Bourne Green, son of Dr. John
Green (6), was born in Worcester, July 16, 1806.
He married Mary Stone Ward, daughter of Artemas
Ward of Worcester' Massachusetts. He lived in
Worcester, and died there May 24, 1888. His wife
died at Worcester, January 7, 1896. Their children
were: 1. Meltiah, born August 27, 1838; died August
29, 1838.
¦2. Mary Caroline, born December 13, 1839;
died August 13, 1840.
3. Meltiah Bourne, born January 3. 1843;
A. B. Trinity, 1865 ; LL. B. Harvard, 1867. He died
at Geneva, Switzerland, December 27, 1877.
(VII) William Nelson Green, son of William
E. Green (6), was born in Milford, Massachusetts,
where his father lived and practiced law for a time,
February 23, 1804. He was educated in the public-
schools of Worcester. He studied law in the office
of Samuel ~M. Burnside in Worcester, and was ad
mitted to practice in 1827. From 1833 to 1836 he was
the editor of the National Aegis, a Worcester news
paper, distinguished more for the excellence of its
editing and the greatness of some of its editors
after they left the paper, than for any degree of
financial success attained. Somebody has said that
half the lawyers in Worcester in the early days
served their time as editor of the Aegis. He was
for a time a school teacher. He will be remembered
best for his high-minded and efficient service as the
first judge of the city court. When Worcester was
incorporated as a city in 1848, the new charter es
tablished a police court, of which he became the
justice. Judge Green was undoubtedly the best
qualified among the justices of the peace who had
hitherto administered the criminal law in the town
of Worcester. He was not only the first but the
last and only judge of the Worcester police court.
When, after a faithful service of twenty years,
Judge Green retired, the municipal court was es
tablished and the police court abolished to meet
new needs of the city. Judge Green loved nature
and was very fond of hunting. He died December
6. 1870, »two years after retiring from the judgeship.
He married, February 23, 1839. Sarah Munroe ¦
(Ball) Staples, who was born in Northboro and
was a widow when he married her. They had five
children, born in Worcester:
1. William Nelson, (8), born January 10, 1843.
He enlisted in the 25th Massachusetts Regiment, and
was promoted for gallantry in the battle of Roanoke
to be second lieutenant in the I02d New York Regi

ment. He was in the battle of Cedar Mountain and
was a prisoner in Libby Prison. He received special
mention for brave conduct in the battle of Chancel-
lorsville, and a commission as lieutenant-colonel in
the 173d New York Regiment. He was shot at
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, during a battle, and died
May 13, 1864, from the wound.
2. Timothy Ruggles, born June 22, 1844. He
lived many years in New York with his uncle An
drew H. Green, and after his uncle's death returned
to Worcester, where he now resides.
(VII) Andrew Haswell Green, son of William E.
Green (6) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
October 6, 1820. The best account of the life and
achievements of "the Father of Greater New York"
is that written by his cousin and friend, Samuel
Swett Green, librarian of the Free Public Library
of Worcester, and read at the semi-annual meeting
of the American Antiquarian Society, April 27, 1904.
From that account the writer of this sketch has
drawn most of the facts and in many cases has
quoted freely from it.
At the age of fifteen Mr. Green left school. His
early education was obtained at the old Thomas
street school at the corner of Summer street. He
went to work in New York city, whither he jour
neyed by stage and steamboat. He was employed
first at the munificent salary of fifty dollars a year
in the store of Hinsdale & Atkins as errand boy.
His next position was clerk in the store of Lee,
Savage & Co., wholesale cloth merchants and im
porters, where he steadily advanced until he had
reached nearly the head position when the firm
failed. After a severe illness and return to Green
Hill for some months during convalescence and re
cuperation, he entered the employ of Wood, Johns
ton & Barritt, linen importers, Exchange Place,
New York. Then he went to the house of Simeon
Draper. At the age of twenty-one he went to
Trinidad, where he spent a year on the sugar plan
tation of Mr. Burnley, a friend of the family. While
there he became interested in the cultivation of
sugar cane, the manufacture of sugar and molasses
and tried without success to introduce some im
provement in the methods and processes in use.
He gave up the attempt, returned to New York and
entered the law office of a relative, John W. Mit
chell. He began the -practice of law in the office
of Samuel J. Tilden, "whose political principles he
shared," to quote his own words, "and with whom
he sustained confidential and trusted relations
throughout life."
He was elected trustee of the schools in the
fourth ward of New York, and afterward school
commissioner and member of the board of educa
tion. He was made president of the board, which
consisted of forty four members, in 1855. Two
years later he was appointed a commissioner of
Central Park and became treasurer of the board of
commissioners, president and executive officer of
the board, and for ten years comptroller of the
park. He had complete supervision of the engineers,
landscape architects, gardeners, and the whole force
of laborers amounting at times to three thousand
men. The office of comptroller of the park was
created especially for Mr. Green. It happened that
in the first years of the park ' there was constant
friction between the commissioners and the Tweed
ring, then being formed, and the commissioners
were quite willing to leave the work to anyone who
would attend to it. So Mr. Green was made both
president and treasurer. As the park was developed
and grew in popularity some member of the board
intimated that it was not right for one man to hold
both offices, and Mr. Green was elected treasurer,

28

WORCESTER COUNTY

to which the salary, which the legislature had
authorized the commissioners to pay either to the
president or treasurer, was to be paid. But Mr.
Green promptly declined to serve in the salaried
position, whereupon another member was elected
treasurer and he was elected president without sal
ary. _ The new treasurer failed to give satisfaction
and in a few months the office of comptroller of
parks was created and Mr. Green elected to fill the
position. The nominal president of the board had
the_ duty of presiding at meetings, but all the exe
cutive and administrative work devolved on the
comptroller, who was likewise the treasurer. He
served in this very important and honorable posi
tion for ten years, when the Tweed charter of
1870 removed the members of the board from office
and turned Central Park over to a department of
the city government appointed by A. Oakey Hall,
mayor. Although Mr. Green was appointed a mem
ber of the new board the conditions were such that
he resigned in 1872.
Chancellor MacCracken, of New York Univer
sity, in speaking of Mr. Green, said that "by his
care for Central Park he was led to care for related
enterprises, such as the Museum of Art, the Museum
of Science and the Zoological Garden." He was
constantly alive to the work of beautifying the
city, whether, by individual effort or as a member
of one or another organization. A recent address
declared that his thoughtfulness was woven into
the structure and visible aspect of New York. Here
we see it in a reserved acre of greensward; there
in the curve of a graceful line, like the beautiful
span of Washington Bridge, and somewhere else
in a sweet sounding name, like Morningside. "Mr.
Green had a rare combination of qualities," said
Samuel Swett Green, , "to fit him- to do the great
work which he did in laying out and developing
Central Park. He had an eye for the picturesque
and beautiful, and a fondness and aptitude for the
kind of practical service needed. He had too a
passion for having everything done thoroughly."
Mr. Green was naturally appointed a mem
ber of the original board of commissioners on
the Niagara reservation, and held the position until
his death, being president most of the time. An
island formerly known as Bath Island has been
named for Mr. Green. Several years ago the state
of New York established a commission with the
title "Trustees of Scenic and Historical Places and
Objects in the State of New York." The name has
twice been_ changed and is now American Scenic
and Historic Preservation Society. Mr. Green was
the founder and enthusiastic president of this so
ciety from its organization until his death.
' _ In 1865 the legislature imposed upon the com
missioners of Central ' Park the duty of laying out
that portion of the island lying north of One Hun
dred and Fifty-fifth street. It was while he was
directing the work of laying out Central Park and
Upper New York that Mr. ' Green first called at
tention in a serious and deliberate manner to the
desirability of the union of the towns and cities
now popularly known as the Greater New York.
The first result of Mr. Green's recommendation of
the consolidation was the annexation in 1873 of
Morrisiania, West Farms and Kingsbridge. Mr.
Green presented to the legislature of New York in
1800 a notable brief, advocating consolidation. A
referendum in 1894 resulted in a favorable vote in
all the four counties concerned. The commission to
draft the charter was appointed by the state, June
9, 1896. with Mr. Green as chairman. The charter
as drafted became a law November 4, 1897. The
new city was established January 1, 1898, and May

22, 1898, Mr. Green appeared before the legislature
by invitation to receive congratulations for his work
in forming the Greater New York. A thoughtful
address was given by him. A medal was struck
off as a memorial and presented to Mr. Green Oc
tober 6, 1898, and by general consent also he has
come to be known as "The Father of Greater New
York." Mr. Green's connection with the New York
library system is interesting history. He was one
of the executors of the will of his law partner,
the late Samuel J. Tilden, and was one of the origi
nal trustees, three in number, appointed in the will
to add to their number and establish a great free
library in New York. Mr. Green's efforts resulted
in saving much of the property for the libraries
when all was involved in contests and litigations.
It was his scheme to bring about the union of some
of the great libraries in New York, and he quietly
secured the legislation necessary with the final re
sult of consolidating the Astor, Lenox and Tilden
foundations in the formation of the New York
Public Library, which, Mr. S. S. Green says,
"through the assiduous and valuable labors of its
well known and accomplished librarian, Dr. John
S. Billings, by means of subsequent consolidations
and aided by a munificent gift from Mr. Andrew
Carnegie and by city appropriations, bids fair to
become one of the most important institutions in
New York."
Mr. Green first became prominent in the whole
country of which New York is the metropolis, by
his work in the office of comptroller in behalf . of
good government during the exposure of the frauds
of the Tweed ring. This office he held for
five years, till in 1876, he became executor of
the will of William B. Ogden, the railroad
king of New York and Chicago. Had Mr. Tilden
been declared president of the United States, Mr.
Green would undoubtedly have been in the cabinet.
He was one of the original trustees of the New York
and Brooklyn Bridge. In 1890 the legislature ap
pointed him a commissioner to locate and approve
the plan of the great railroad bridge across the
Hudson river which is to join Manhattan Island
with therest of the country. He was elected to the
constitutional convention in 1894.
He was a member of the New York Historical
Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographi
cal Society and many other societies devoted to
geography, history, the fine arts, science and philan
thropy. He became a member of the American
Antiquarian Society in October, 1889, and left that
society $5,000 in his will. He also bequeathed $5,000
to Clark University in Worcester, and $1,000 to
the Isabella Heimath, a home for aged women in
New York. In politics he was a Democrat, although
he was not in agreement with the majority- of his
party in his position on the tariff. He was a Pro
tectionist. He was killed November 13, 1903, by
a crazy man just as he was entering his home in
New York. He never married, but lived in his own '
home, Park avenue, New York.
He was the owner of the old homestead on Green
Hill, where he made large purchases of land de
stined it seems to benefit the city of Worcester,
where he was born, as greatly as his servica in the
•Park Board of New York benefited the city of his
adoption. He enlarged the old house by cutting
it in two, moving back the rear portion and building
between the front and back of the old building a
fine mansion, thus securing in the middle of the
house large and higher rooms on the lower floor
and suits of apartments for himself, his brothers
and sisters upstairs. Later a spacious porch and

WORCESTER COUNTY

29

veranda were added in front. His deep affection
for his family and reverence for .his ancestors were '
frequently shown. '"He always carried his brothers
and sisters and their children and grandchildren in
his heart," writes Mr. S. S. Green, "and no one of
them ever suffered for the lack of a home or the
comforts of life. Mr. Green placed a mural bronze
tablet in the interior of the church at Greenville
in remembrance of its first pastor (his ancestor),
Thomas Green. Had I given him encouragement to
believe that it was fitting to single out one from
the thousands bf young men who did service in the
civil war for especial and lavish commemoration
he would, I am sure, have engaged St. Gaudens,
or another sculptor as distinguished, to have made
a statue of his nephew, William Nelson Green, Jr.,
to be placed in an appropriate position in Worcester."
It should be said of Mr. Green, as of his brothers
to whom reference is made elsewhere, that they
were descended from the Bournes of the Cape, from
Governor Dudley, of the Massachusetts Bay colony,
and from Rev. John Woodbridge, a brother of
Benjamin Woodbridge, whose name, stands , first
on the roll of graduates of Harvard College. He
was also descended from the three Tillies and John
Howland, passengers on the "Mayflower."
His character has been described by the New
York Tribune, which said of him at the time he
was appointed deputy comptroller : "Incorruptible,
inaccessible to partisan or personal considerations,
immovable by threats or bribes, and honest by the
very constitution of his own nature" and as fitted
for the office by "long experience in public affairs,
strict sense of accountability and thorough methods
of doing business." Hon. Seth Low, mayor of
New York at the time of Mr. Green's death, said bf
him : "It may truthfully be said that to no one
man who has labored in and for the city during the
last fifty years is the city under greater and more
lasting obligations than to Andrew H. Green. The
city itself, in some of its most beautiful and endur
ing features, is the monument of his love; and the
city may well cherish his honored name with the
undying gratitude that is due to a citizen who has
made it both a greater and better city than it was."
(VII) John Plimpton Green, son of William E.
Green (6), was born in Worcester, January 19, 1819.
He studied medicine in New York and practiced
there for a time. He removed to Whampoa, China,
thence to Copaipo in Chile, South America, where
he spent most of his mature years, practicing medi
cine. He died January 6, 1892, at Green Hill.
(VII) Samuel Fisk Green, son of William E.
Green (6), was born at Green Hill, Worcester,
October 10, 1822; died there May 28, 1884. He
studied medicine and practiced for a time, but when
a young man went to Batticotta in the Island bf
Ceylon as a missionary physician for the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He
spent almost a quarter of a century in ministering
personally to the wants of both the bodies and
souls of the Tamil population of the Island. After
his return to Green Hill, he continued to translate
medical treatises into the Tamd language until his
death. Besides practicing medicine in Ceylon he
established there a medical school, and his pupils
were very numerous. He is given the credit of
creating the medical literature of the Tamil language.
He married, May 22, 1862, Margaret Phelps Wil
liams. Since his death his family has been occupy
ing the mansion at Green Hill. His children were:
Julia E., born January I, 1864; Lucy Maria, Febru
ary 26, 1865 ; Mary Ruggles, September 22, 1867 ;
Nathan Williams, March 13, 1871.
(VII) Oliver Bourne Green, son of William E.
Green (6), was born January 1, 1826. He and his

brother, Martin Green, of Worcester are the only
survivors among the eleven children of Squire
Green. His early education was received in the
school house at the corner of Thomas and Sum
mer streets. For a few winters he taught school,
but the building of steam railroads attracted him
and he obtained a position as rodman on trench
survey for the New York & Erie Railroad, and for
a few weeks assisted in the preliminary surveys.
What he himself calls his first position, however,
was on the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, where,
begining as rodman, he learned the art and science
of civil engineering in the way it was then taught,
by experience. He next went to the Hudson River
Railroad and took part in the survey of what has
since become one of the greatest railroads in the
country. He was particularly strong in field work
and he obtained more than his share of that part
of the engineering. After the Hudson River job,
he became resident engineer in charge of part of
the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
He was stationed in West Virginia in the section
containing the Welling tunnel, one of the longest
on the road. It is about thirty miles from the
Ohio line. He stayed there two years and a half
until the road was completed and in operation. He
was occupied for a time in the survey for the
Cincinnati, Lebanon & Xenia Railroad, only part of
which was built at the time. He accepted the dif
ficult task of engineer of a division on the Missis
sippi Central Railroad, of which his brother, Mar
tin Green, was later the chief engineer. He spent
the years 1853-54-55 in 'the south. In 1857 he was
engaged in the dredging and contracting business
with his brother, Martin Green, and later for over
thirty years on his own account. He did much of
the construction along the Lake front, more than
any other contractor. He had many city contracts
for breakwaters and in the park system of Chicago.
He built a mile of the Lake Shore drive. One of
his best known jobs was done in 1877 for the
Sturgeon Bay Canal Company. He constructed the
canal which connects Green Bay with Lake Michi
gan and saved all the lumber vessels that enter
Green Bay at least two hundred miles on their round
trip. Since 1867 Mr. Green has lived at 403 LaSalle
avenue, Chicago. His house was burned there in
the "great fire," but he rebuilt later. He continued
in active business until 1898, when he turned his
business over to his son, Andrew Hugh Green.
Mr. Green is a member of the Western Society of
Civil Engineers and is one of the oldest members.
He is a member of the New England Congregational
Church of Chicago. He is a Democrat in politics
with a belief in the Republican principle of pro-
¦ tection that made him what he calls an 'Eclectic.
He married, August 28,_ 1855, and in 1905 cele
brated his golden wedding in the mansion on Green
Hill. _ It was a notable event socially, from the
gathering of the relatives and several old school
mates and other friends who had not met for years.
His wife, Louise Pomeroy, was the daughter of
Hazen and Lois Pomeroy. She was born in Stan-
stead, Canada, and he met her while making the
survey of the Mississippi Central Railroad. She
was a school teacher there. Their children are:
Mary Pemeroy, bom April 26, 1857, lives with her
parents. Olivia, born December 10, 1859, married
Wyllis W. Baird, and they have two children:
Warner Green Baird, a student in Cornell; Kathar
rine L. Baird. Andrew Hugh, born November 26,
/ 1869, graduated at Harvard University in 1892, and
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1896.
He took over his father's business, with which he
was thoroughly familiar, and having introduced

3Q

WORCESTER COUNTY

some of the newest methods and latest machinery,
sold it in 1901 to advantage, and has been travel
ing since then.
(VII) Martin Green, son of William E. Green
(6), was born in Worcester, April 24, 1828. The
room in which he was born in the homestead at
Green Hill is the same in which his father was
born and died, and in which his ten brothers and
sisters were born. He received his schooling in
the old school at the corner of Summer and Thomas
streets, when Warren Lazell was the teacher of
the English department and Charles Thurber of the
Latin department. He took a course at Little Blue
Seminary at Farmington, Maine. His father in
tended to have him go to college, but he was at
tracted to the profession in which his brother Oliver
was making good progress, and he started his
career as civil engineer as chainman in the survey
for the Hudson River Railroad, where his brother
was also employed. He was promoted rapidly and
became a proficient civil engineer. When the sur
vey was completed to Greenbush, he returned to the
old home at Green Hill, but went to work for the
Worcester & Nashua Railroad Company. When the
work was done on the Nashua road he accepted
a position with the Pennsylvania Coal Company
Railroad. He was occupied here for three years
in surveying and building gravity railroads in Lu
zerne county, Pennsylvania. When the work was
done he was offered the superintendency of the
road. He returned to Worcester but was called
to take the position of division engineer on the
New York & Harlem Railroad. He was in charge
of the construction of the line from Millerton to
Copake. When the work was done he was selected
as chief engineer for the Lebanon Springs Railroad
Company. This road was to run from Chatham,
New York, to Bennington, Vermont, through a
rough and hilly country and presented some dif
ficult engineering problems. The work was left
unfinished on account of the financial troubles of
the railroads involved in the great frauds of Robert
Schuyler, who had been president of sixteen rail
road companies.
Mr.* Green was then appointed chief engineer of
the Mississippi Central Railroad, which had been
begun all along the two hundred and sixty-seven
miles of its length, and was left by his predecessor
in the greatest disorder and confusion. Some sec
tions he found built a one-fourth mile out of the
proper course, so that it taxed his resources to build
curves and schemes to save the work already done.
He found the engineering force grossly incompetent.
When he left this railroad was substantially com
plete, but so anxious were the planters, who were
directors of the road, and the president to keep him
that they offered him what was at that time a very
large salary, $20,000 a year, to remain. And after
he had actually left, they sent a delegation to New
York to see him, and another to Chicago to try to
persuade him to come back. No stronger testimony
to the value of his work as a railroad engineer need
be cited. To his natural gift for this kind of work
he added great physical strength and vigor, and he
gave all his energy to the performance of the work,
whatever it might be, that he had in hand. The
Mississippi Central is now a part of the Illinois
Central Railroad. As first constructed by Mr. Green
it ran from the junction .with the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad, six miles north of the Ten
nessee line to Canton and Jackson, Mississippi. It
was a very important railroad in the southern in
terests. He had the honor to run the first loco
motive ever run in the state of Mississippi.
Although Mr. Green received offers of positions
as chief engineer from three other railroads, he

persisted in his purpose when leaving Mississippi
< and went to Chicago, where he was employed first
to study the question of a tunnel under the Chicago
river, to gather statistics and make plans. He pro
ceeded with the work of building the Chicago tun
nel and remained with the work until the coffer
dams were built. He then went into business on
his own account as contractor and dredger. At
that time one of the prime necessities of commer
cial Chicago was the widening and deepening of
Chicago river and the construction of proper
wharves for shipping. He had the contracts for the
dredging of the river from the lake to the old Rush
street bridge. He took out the old government
light houses and government barracks and the old
fort. The river was made about five times .its
original width. He also improved the north branch
of the river as far as Ward's rolling mill, and the
south branch for about twelve miles. He was in
Chicago in its first great period of development,
and of that work he took a large and im
portant part. In 1867 he sold his Chicago
business and went to Peshtigo, Wisconsin,
for the Peshtigo Lumber Company, in which
William B. Ogden was interested, with .whom
Mr. Green was associated during much of his active
business life. This company owned one hundred
and seventy-six thousand acres of lumber land. As
manager of this vast property he had to erect saw
mills and grist mills and build two large ships for
the lumber trade. He was in Peshtigo three years.
He built the ship canal at Benton Harbor, Michi
gan. This canal gave steamships access to Benton
in the heart of the peach country. He owned a line
of boats and when the work was completed liis
line took during the season forty thousand baskets
to Chicago every night. Besides his steamship line
he built and owned saw and grist mills at Benton
Harbor. Before the great fire in Chicago he returned and
was interested with his brother in the contracting
business. The fire caused him to over-work and
break down. On May 23, 1872, by advice of his
physician, he returned to Green Hill, Worcester,
Massachusetts, to rest and recuperate. The life in
Worcester attracted him and he remained here,
developing the Green Hill estate to its present state.
He removed, November 13, 1905, to No. 974
Pleasant street, where he has since lived. Mr.
Green has never cared to join secret societies and
clubs. He is a member of Central Congregational
church, Worcester. He served three years on the
Worcester park board and for about three years on
the board of trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum
at Westboro; Massachusetts.
He married, December 25, 1859, Mary Frances
Stewart, of the New York Stewart family. She
was born in New York city, December 25, 1821,
and died at 4 Melville street, Worcester, April 20,
1905. Their children are: William Ogden, born in
Chicago, September 26, i860; Samuel Martin, born
at Benton Harbor, Michigan, April 13, 1864.
(VIII) John Green, of St. Louis, Missouri, son
of James Green (7), was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, April 2, 1835. He was fitted for col
lege at the Worcester Classical and English high
school; entered Harvard College, 185 1 ; was grad
uated, A. B., 1855; S. B., 1856; A. M., 1859; M. D„
1866. He studied medicine at Cambridge, Massa
chusetts, under, the direction of Profs. Morrill and
Jeffries Wyman ; also at the Massachusetts Medical
College in Boston; and from 1858 to i860 in Lon
don, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. He was admitted
a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, on
examination in 1858. He was elected a member
of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1856,

WORCESTER COUNTY

3i

and member of the council, as curator of Com
parative Anatomy, in 1857; in the latter year he
accompanied Prof. Jeffries Wyman on a scientific
expedition to Surinam (Dutch Guiana). He began
the practice of medicine in Boston in 1861. He
was a member of the Boston Medical Association ;
the Suffolk District Medical Society, of which he
was elected secretary in 1865 ; and of the Boston
Society for Medical Observation. He was appointed
a delegate to the American Medical Association,
from Boston, in 1864 and 1865. He held successively
the positions of attending physician and attending
surgeon at the central office of the Boston Dis
pensary. During 1862 he was in the medical service
of the Western Sanitary Commission and of the
United States Sanitary Commission, and was for
several months acting assistant surgeon in the
Army of the Tennessee.
In 1865 he went again to Europe for the pur
pose of continuing studies in ophthalmology, in Lon
don, Paris, and Utrecht. In 1866 he removed to
St. Louis, Missouri, where Me has since resided
and practiced his profession. He is a member of
the American Ophthalmological Society, elected
1866; one of the original members of the American
Otological Society, founded 1868; and a member
of the International Ophthalmological Congress
since 1872. He was a member by special appoint
ment of the International Medical Congress held in
Philadelphia in 1876, and was secretary of the sec
tion of Ophthalmology. In 1867 he was appointed
lecturer on Ophthalmology in the St. Louis Summer
School of Medicine; in 1868, professor of Ophthal
mology and Otology in the St. Louis College of
Physicians and Surgeons, which - position he held
during the two years of existence of that institution ;
in 1871 lecturer on Ophthalmology in the St. Louis
Medical College; in 1872 ophthalmic surgeon to
the St. Louis Eye and Ear Infirmary, and consulting
ophthalmic surgeon to the St. Louis City Hospital;
and, in 1874 ophthalmic surgeon to St. Luke's Hospi
tal. In 1886 he was elected professor of Ophthal
mology in the St. Louis Medical College (later the
Medical Department of Washington University, St.
Louis, Missouri). He is president of the St. Louis
Ophthalmological Society. He is a member of the
St. Louis Academy of Science, of which he was
president in 1895 ; member of the board of trustees
of the Missouri Botanical Garden (Shaw's Garden),
since 1895 ; member of the Missouri Historical So
ciety; member of the American Antiquarian So
ciety; member (and first vice-president) of the
St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute
of America; etc. He has contributed scientific
papers to leading medical journals, to the "Trans
actions of the American Ophthalmological Society,"
"Transactions of the American Otological Society,"
"Proceedings of the International Ophthalmological
Congress" (London, 1872, and New York, 1876),
"Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences," etc.
The honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon
him by Washington University in 1905, and by the
University of Missouri in 1906. He is a charter
member of the University Club of St. Louis ; mem
ber of the St. Louis Club, the (discontinued) Ger-
mania Club, the Liederkranz Club; of the Round
Table Club; and member (president from 1890 to
1906, now honorary president) of the Harvard Club
of St. Louis. He is also a member of the Society of
the Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of
Colonial Wars.
Dr. Green married, October 23, 1868, Harriet
Louisa Jones, daughter of George Washington and
Caroline (Partridge) Jones, of Templeton, Massa
chusetts ; of this marriage two children, John (born
at Templeton, Massachusetts, August 2, 1873), and

Elizabeth (born in St. Louis, December 3, 1878),
are living in St. Louis. His home is at 2670 Wash
ington avenue, St. Louis, Missouri.
(VIII) Samuel Swett Green, was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, February 20, 1837. He is a
son of the late James Green (7), and a nephew of
Dr. John Green (7), the principal founder of the
Free Public Library, of Worcester.
His descent from Thomas Green (I), who came
to this country early in the seventeenth century,
has been described already, and an account of his-
ancestors in the line of the Greens has been given
above. Mr. Green's mother was the late Elizabeth
Green, daughter of Samuel Swett, of Boston and
Dedham. Through her mother, a daughter of Dr.
John Sprague, of Boston, she and the subject of this
sketch are descended from an even earlier resident
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony than Thomas
Green, namely, Ralph Sprague, who came to Charles
town in 1629, from Upway, Devonshire, England.
Through his great-great-grandfather, Gen. Timothy
Ruggles, of Hardwick, Mr. Green is also descended
from Rev. John Woodbridge, one of the earliest
settlers of Newbury, and from Mr. Woodbridge's
wife's father, Thomas Dudley, the second governor
of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Rev. John
Woodbridge was the brother of Rev. Dr. Benjamin
Woodbridge, whose name stands first on the list of
graduates of Harvard College. Through the same
ancestor, Mr. Green is descended from John Tilley,
his wife and his daughter, Elizabeth, wife of John
Howland. These four ancestors came to this coun
try in the "Mayflower."
The first school attended by Samuel S. Green
was that of Mrs. Levi Heywood. Her school was
discontinued, however, before long, and he was
sent for several years to another infant school, kept
by the late Mrs. Sarah B. Wood, afterward a resi
dent of Chicago, the wife of Jonathan, Wood.
From that private school he passed, upon
examination, into the public grammar school
on Thomas street, which, during his studies
there was under the charge of Mr. Caleb
B. Metcalf. Going next to the high school, he grad
uated from that institution in 1854, and immediately
entered Harvard College. Among his classmates
there, were two other graduates of the Worcester
high school, namely, Eugene Frederick Bliss, who
has been for most of his life, since graduation, a
citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the late Lieut.
Thomas Jefferson Spurr, who was mortally wounded
at the battle of Antietam. Mr. Green graduated from
Harvard College in 1858. In the early part of the
summer of 1859 he sailed from Boston for Smyrna
as a passenger in the barque "Race Horse," and be
fore returning home, in the same vessel, visited
Constantinople. _ Remaining two years in Worcester
on account of ill-health, he resumed his studies at
Harvard University in the autumn of 1861, and
graduated from the divinity school connected with
that institution in 1864. He visited Europe again in
1877, 1902, i9t>3, 1904 and 1906, and added in 1905
to extensive travels previously made in this coun
try, a visit to Alaska. During the civil war, and
while in the divinity school, Mr. Green was drafted
for service in the army, but was debarred from
entering it by delicate health. He took the degree
of Master of Arts at Harvard University in 1870,
and June 28, _ 1877, was chosen an honorary mem
ber of the Phi Beta Kappa society by the chapter of
the order connected with the same university.
In 1864 Mr. Green became bookkeeper in the
Mechanics National Bank of Worcester, and in the
course of a few months, teller in the Worcester
National Bank. The latter position he field for
several years. He was offered the position of cashier

32

WORCESTER COUNTY

of the Citizens National Bank, to succeed the late
Mr. John C. Ripley, but declined it; as he also
declined, at about the same time, a place in the Wor
cester County Institution for Savings.
Mr. Green became a director of the Free Pub
lic Library, January I, 1867, and~ four -years later,
January 15, 1871, librarian of the same institution.
The latter position he still holds, having been elected
for the thirty-sixth year of service January 2, 1906.
The library has grown rapidly in size and use under
¦his care. It contained, December 1, 1905, 153,176
volumes. The use of its books in the year ending
with that date was 366,935. A feature in that use
is the remarkably large proportion of books that
are employed for study and purposes of reference.
Mr. Green is regarded as- an authority among
librarians in respect to matters relating to the use
of libraries as popular educational institutions, and
in respect to the establishment of close relations
between libraries and schools. He was a pioneer in
the work of bringing about inter-library loans and
in a large use of photographs and engravings m
supplementing the value of books. He has for a
few years past set the example of having, in a library,
talks about books on specified subjects, and is now
conducting some interesting experiments in bring
ing the users of the circulating department and the
children's room under the influence of the ' best
works of art.
Mr. Green was one of the founders of the Amer
ican Library Association, and is a life fellow of
the society. He was for several years the chair
man of the finance committee of that body and- its
vice-president for 1887-9 and 1892-3. In 1891 Mr.
Green was chosen president of the association, and
presided at the annual meeting held that year in
San Francisco. He was in 1896 the first president
of the council. He is an original Fellow of the
Library Institute, founded in 1905; an organization
supposed to be composed of a limited number of the
most distinguished librarians of the country. Mr.
Green was a delegate of the American Library As
sociation to the International Congress of Librarians
held in London in October, 1877, was a member of
the council of that body, and took an active part
in the discussions carried on in 'its meetings. Be
fore the close of the Congress, the Library Associa
tion of the United Kingdom was formed. Mr. Green
was chosen' an honorary member of that association,
in July, 1878. He presided for a -day over the
World's Congress of Librarians held in Chicago
in 1903, and at a meeting of the American Library
Association held at Chicago University the same
year. _ Mr. Green was a vice-president of the In
ternational Congress of Librarians held in Lon
don in 1897. In 1890 he was appointed by the gov
ernor of Massachusetts an original member of the
Free Public Library Commission of the Common
wealth, and was reappointed in 1894, 1899 and 1904.
Mr. Green was one of the founders and the original
first vice-president of the Massachusetts Library
Club. He was for many years a member of the com
mittee of the overseers of Harvard University to
make an annual examination of the library of the
university, occupied a similar position in connection
with the Boston Public Library for a single year,
and began, in 1887, to deliver annual courses of
lectures as lecturer on "Public libraries as popular
educational institutions'' to the students of the
Xho°' °f L'brary Economy connected with Colum
bia College, New York city. He has also lectured
at the Library School since it became an institu
tion of the state of New York, and was chosen a
member of a committee to examine the school in
both places.

As librarian of the Free Public Library, Mr.
Green has gained for himself and his library a wide
reputation. In "The Worcester of 1898" it is said
of him that "his purpose has been from the first
to make the Public Library an instrument for popu
lar education and a practical power in the com
munity. To this end he has written and spoken
much during the past twenty years, and his efforts
and advice have influenced, in no slight degree,
library methods and administration throughout the
United States. The library methods of Worcester
have been studied in the Department of the Seine,
in which the city of Paris is situated. Mr. Green's
advice has been sought by the Educational De
partment of the English government. The Free
Public Library of Worcester has recently been de
scribed at great length by a German scholar as an
example worthy, to be followed in that country,
in advocating the introduction of popular libraries,
such as we have in the United States, into Germany."
There is a picture of the interior of the children's
room of the Free Public Library in a recent Danish
pamphlet written by Andr. Sen. Sternberg, of the
Free Public Library Commission of Denmark. Mr.
Green was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Historical
Society of Great Britain, May 8, 1879, and on April
28, 1880, a member of the American Antiquarian
Society. Since October 22, 1883, he has been a
member of the council of the latter organization.
He was also elected a member of the American
Historical Association immediately after its forma
tion. He was an early member of the Colonial
Society of Massachusetts and of the American or
ganization known as the Descendants of Colonial
Governors. Mr. Green is a life member of the
New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and
was for several years a member of the Archaeologi
cal Institute of America, and of the committee on
the School for Classical Studies at Rome. He is a
corresponding member of the National Geographi
cal Society and of the Historical Society of Wis
consin. Heis a member of the Bunker Hill Monu
ment Association, and was for several years a fel
low of the American Geographical Society, and a
member of the American Social Science Associa
tion. He has been a manager of the Sons of the
Revolution, and was a charter member and the first
lieutenant-governor of the Society of Colonial Wars
in Massachusetts, presiding at its first general court
and the dinner which followed it. Mr. Green is a
member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants,
and of the Old Planters Society. He has been a
member of the University Club, Boston, from its
organization, and was an original member of the
Worcester Club, the St. Wulstan Society, and the
Worcester Economic Club. He is also a member
of the old organization, the Worcester Association
for Mutual Aid in Detecting Thieves. October 12,
1882, Mr. Green was chosen a member of the board
of trustees of Leicester Academy, to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Rev. Edward H. Hall,
°" his removal from Worcester to Cambridge. In
1886 he assisted in the formation of the Worcester
High School Association, and was chosen its first
president, and re-elected to the same position in
1887. In the summer of 1886 he was chosen presi
dent of the Worcester Indian Association and held
the office for two' years.
Mr. Green has been president of the Worcester
Art Society. He was a member of a committee of
three asked by the late Mr. Salisbury to consult
with him about arrangements for starting the Wor
cester Art Museum and to help him in the choice
ot the list of corporators. When the Museum was
organized, he was offered a position as trustee, but

WORCKSTKR COUNTY

33

declined to accept it, Mr, Green has been, from
the beginning of tho organization, secretary ol' the
Art Commission of the St. W'ulstan Society, lie
lias hoen treasurer of the Worcester Public School
Art League since its establishment in 1805. He has
boon very influential in promoting interest in the
tine arts tn Worcester by means of exhibitions which
ho started in the Public Library building, and by
the installation iu the library of a large collection
of the best photographs of the old and more modern
masterpieces iu painting aud sculpture.
Mr, Green was also, at two different times and
for several years, treasurer of the Worcester Natural
History Society, and has been for many years a
trustee of tho Worcester County Institution for
Savings. In nx\i Mr, Green was made second vice-
president of the Worcester Harvard Club (which
not long before he had helped to form) ; and in
u>v|. tirst vice president. For several years be has
been a member of the corporation for the adminis
tration of the Home for Aged Men. Mr. Green
formerly wrote constantly for the Library Journal,
sending an article to the tirst number, aud has
made many contributions to the proceedings of the
American Antiquarian Society. Ho has also written
papers for the .-(MirriViw Journal 0/' Sochi Science,
the SunJay Kct'ifw of London and other periodicals.
Two books by him were published by the late Fred
erick l.eypoldt, of New York, namely, "Library
Aids" and "Libraries and Schools." Both were
printed in 1883, The former work, in a less com
plete form, had been previously issued by the United
States Bureau of Kducation as a circular of in
formation, At the request of the secretary of the
Board of Kducation of Massachusetts, Mr. Green
wrote an appendix to his forty-eighth annual re
port ou "Public Libraries and Schools." The essay-
was afterwards printed as a separate pamphlet. A
paper by him on "The use of pictures iu the public
libraries of Massachusetts" was printed as an ap
pendix to the eighth report of the Free Public
1 ibrary Commission of Massachusetts. Mr, Green
has made many addresses and read a number of
papers on library and other subjects. Among the
earliest of these are "Personal Relations Between
Librarians ami Readers," a paper which was pre
sented to a meeting of librarians who came together
in Philadelphia iu October. 1876. and formed the
American I ibrary Association (.of this paper two
editions have been printed and exhausted') . It was
made the subject of editorials in several Boston and
New York newspapers, and the plans of conducting
a library, described iu it, were regarded at the
time of its appearance as novel and admirable:
"Sensational Kiel ion in Public Libraries," a paper
read July T. )8~o, at one of the of the sessions of the
meetings of the American Library Association, held
in Boston th.\t year (.this paper was also printed in
pamphlet form and widely distributed") : "The Re
lations of the Public Library to the Public Schools,"
a paper read before the American Social Science
Association, at Saratog-a. in September. t85V> (this
address was printed in the form of a pamphlet, and
has been widely read and very influential in awaken
ing an interest in work similar to that described
in it. in America and abroad"* ; papers and an
address on subjects similar to the one last men
tioned, trad or delivered at meetings of the Ameri
can 1 ibrarv Association in Cincinnati and Buffalo,
at Round Island, one of the Thousand Isles in the
St. I -awrenoo river, iu San Francisco, and at a
meeting of the Library Section of the National Edu
cational Association, at a meeting in Washington.
Other important papers bv Mr. Green oil questions
in library economy are "The Library in its relation
' 3

to persons engaged in industrial pursuits;" "Open
ing Libraries on Sundays;" "The duties of trustees
and their relations to librarians;'' "Address as Presi
dent of the American Library Association;" "Inter-
library loans in reference work;" "Adaptation of
libraries to constituencies," printed in vol. I of the
report of tho United States Commissioner of Educa
tion for i8tu-,i; "How to encourage the foundation
of libraries in small towns;" aud three closely con
nected papers entitled "Discrimination regarding
'open shelves' in lihraiios,'' "What classes of per
sons, if any. should ba\e access to the shelves in
large libraries" aud "Lead us not into temptation."
Addresses have been printed in pamphlet form that
were made at the opening of library buildings in
Newark, New Jersey, Riudge, New Hampshire,
North Brooklicld and Oxford, Massachusetts. *
Mr. Green made remarks at the library
school in Albany and in two or three Massa
chusetts towns favoring the purchase of books
for grown-up immigrants in the languages to
wliich they have been accustomed. He
wrote "A History of the Public Libraries of Wor
cester" for the "Worcester of 1808," and earlier for
Uurd's "History of Worcester County." He was
chairman of a committee to supervise the portion of
that history relating to the town and city of Wor
cester. The first account of the methods introduced
by Mr. Green in the conduct of the Free Public
Library in Worcester, which was printed in pamphlet
form, was presented as an appendix to his annual
report as librarian for the year 1874-5. copies of
which were sent to the Kxpositiou iu Philadelphia
iu 1870. It was afterwards reprinted at the request
of the directors of the Free Public Library for dis
tribution. In tbe fourth report of the Free Public
Library Commission of Massachusetts. Mr. Green
wrote on "Libraries and Schools," in the fifth report,
on "Loaning reference books to small libraries, in
the seventh report, "On the use of libraries by chil
dren" and, as stated above, in the eighth report.
"tin the use of pictures in libraries." He also wrote
portions of the reports of the Free Public Library
of Worcester, while a director, and has written nearly
the whole of the reports (.excepting the presidents*
reports) while librarian. He wrote sketches of the
lives of such librarians as William Frederick Poole
and John Fiske for the American Antiquarian So
ciety's proceedings. The more elaborate historical
papers which have been prepared by Mr. Green are:
"Gleanings from the Sources of the History of the
Second Parish. Worcester, Massachusetts," read at
a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society,
held in Boston, April j>, 188^. and "The Use of the
Voluntary System in the Maintenance of Ministers
in the Colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts
Bay during the earlier years of their existence." an
essay which formed the historical portion of the re
port of the Council of the American Antiquarian
Society, which Mr. Green presented to that society
at its meeting in Boston. April ."8, t88o. Roth of
these papers have been printed in a form separate
from the proceedings of the society for which they
were written. The latter was highly praised by the
distinguished student of early ecclesiastical history
in Massachusetts, the late Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn
Dexter. Other interesting and valuable historical
papers by Mr. Green are "Bathsheba Spoouer."
"The Scotch-Irish in America." "The Craigie
House," and "Some Roman Remains in Britian."

The .tddrvss of wdwmt at th* actuation in 1904 o-fth«
building of Clark I'niwsitr library was printed in th« "Pub
lications" of the UtMtfiy.

34

WORCESTER COUNTY

He has also written for the American Antiquarian
Society, and the Colonial Society, elaborate sketches
of the lives of Pliny Earle Chase, George Bancroft,
Edward Griffin Porter, Andrew Haswell Green and
Benjamin Franklin Stevens. Mr. Green was invited
by the late Justin Winsor to write a chapter in his
"Narrative and Critical History pf the United
States," but had to decline the invitation for lack
of time and strength.
(VIII) James Green, a counsellor-at-law in the
City of Worcester, was born March 2, 1841, at Wor
cester, Massachusetts. His parents were James (7)
and Elizabeth (Swett) Green. He studied in the
Worcester public schools, and graduated at Harvard
College in 1862. The college course held pretty
strictly then to the classics, mathematics and phil
osophy, and he was particularly interested in Greek
and history and English composition. In the social
life of the college, he was a member of the Institute
of 1770, the Hasty Pudding Club, the Ha.idee Boat
Club, etc. His college rank was . sufficient to give
him a "Detur" (a prize for the work of the fresh
man year), and parts at the junior and senior ex
hibitions. At the time, of his graduation, in the
summer of 1862, the civil war was going .on, and the
fortunes of the Northern .side were discouraging.
He tried to enter the army, against the medical advice
of his uncle, who had always cared for him pro
fessionally, and he actually signed the enlistment
roll ; but his company was not filled in time to be
accepted. He had entered the law office of Hon.
Dwight Foster, at Worcester, before commence
ment, and in the spring of 1863 he entered the
Harvard Law School, and was a proctor in the
college, and he received his Harvard degrees of
LL. B. in 1864, and A. M. in 1865. He passed the
¦ .year 1864-5 in law offices in New York city, es
pecially in the office of Miller, Peet & Nichols, and
¦was admitted to the New York bar on examination
in 1865. Most of the year 1865-6, he was traveling
"in the western states, and in the iatter year he was
ladmitted to the Worcester bar. He has been in
•practice in Worcester ever since. In January, 1872,
he went to Europe on account of threatened ill
health, and spent two years . and a half in traveling
on the continent, and largely in Italy, studying the
languages wherever he went, and also architecture,
painting and _ sculpture and modern history. He
traveled also in Greece, and journeyed as far as to
Constantinople and Smyrna. Upon his father's
death, on June 10, 1874,, he returned at once to
Worcester. Since that time he has busied himself
a good deal in the care of real estate as well as
at the law. In 1877-8 he traveled another year in
Trance and Spain and England.
On June 2, 1881, he married Miss Mary A. Mes-
• singer, of Worcester, daughter of David Sewell and
Harriet (Sawyer) Messinger, and they have- lived ¦
¦ever since at 61 Elm street, Worcester. . They have
had two children, Mary Sprague and Thomas. Sam^
uel Green, who both attended the public schools of
Worcester, and are now living. After graduating
at the Classical High School, the daughter at
tended Miss Baldwin's school at Bryn Mawr, and
the son entered Harvard College in 1905.
James Green's tastes have always been in the
direction of literary study, and he has interested
Tnmself a good deal in modern languages and modern
history ; but his life has been too much occupied with
the details of business, and handicapped by a defect
ive eyesight and a too sensitive constitution, to allow
him to follow out his tastes freely. He became
very much interested in the late war between the
British and the Boers in South Africa; and, feeling
that the British cause was grossly misrepresented

in the United States, he wrote a lecture on this
subject which he delivered before the Society of
Antiquity in Worcester and afterwards issued as a
pamphlet. The ground that he covered had been
very little touched by other pamphleteers ; for he
tried to show, in contradiction of what was often
said in American papers, that the British were fight
ing for the very same principles for which the
American colonists fought a century before; and
that the Boers, in their anger at the British policy
of emancipating the blacks, were as illiberal and
false toward the British colonists in South Africa
as King George's ministers had been toward our
ancestors in America. This pamphlet was circu
lated widely in the United States, and was de
clared by many thoughtful critics to be one of the
very best short statements of the subject that had
been printed. Upon the unsolicited recommenda- '
tion of a high official at Washington, to the Imperial
South African Association in London, to reprint
this pamphlet and circulate it freely in all English-
speaking countries, it was republished by the asso
ciation for free distribution, , and the distinguished
Quaker philanthropist, John Bellows, of Gloucester,
England, reprinted the book for the association at
his own expense. Mr. Green- has also printed va
rious other pamphlets and biographical notices from
time to time, in his own name and anonymously,
and among them an address to his college class
mates at an anniversary dinner-; a notice of a new
edition of Aristotle's Musical Problems that had
been brought out by certain Dutch scholars; and a
tribute to the memory of his associate and friend
at the bar, Hon. David Manning, etc. Mr. Green
was an early, member of the St. Botolph Club, and
the _ Massachusetts Reform Club, of Boston, and of
various local organizations, including the Worcester
Club, the Shakespeare Club, the Gesang Verein
Frohsinn, the Twentieth Century Club; and the
Economic Club, all of Worcester; and also of clubs
for reading and conversation in French and Ger
man. He was brought up in the historic First Uni- ,
tarian Church of Worcester, to which he still be
longs. The earlier pages of these Memoirs show
his descent from four of the Pilgrims of the "May
flower," and from Thpmas Dudley, second governor,
and other early Puritans of Massachusetts Bay;
and his connection with Henry Dunster, first presi
dent, and Benjamin Woodbridge, first-named grad
uate, of Harvard- College.
(IX) John Green, Jr., of St., - Louis, Missouri,
was born August 2, 1873, at Templeton, Massa
chusetts, the son of Dr. John Green (8), and Harriet
L. (Jones) Green. He was fitted for college in
St. Louis, and also with Mr. Charles W. Stone in
Boston, and entered Harvard College in September,
1891, from which he was graduated A. B. in June,
1894. He entered the Medical Department of Wash
ington University (St. Louis) in October, ' 1895,
and was graduated M. D, in April, 1898, receiving
the Gill prize in Diseases of Children. He entered
the St. Louis City Hospital on competitive examin
ation, and served as junior assistant from June to
December, 1898. Since November, 1899, he has
been engaged in the practice of ophthalmology in
the city of St. Louis. He is a member of the St.
Louis Medical Society, the Medical Society of City
Hospital Alumni, the Missouri State Medical Asso
ciation, the American Medical Association, the St.
Louis Medical Library Association and the American
Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology.
He has been secretary, vice-president and president
of the Medical Society of City Hospital Alumni.
He is also a member o.f the Society of the Sons of
the Revolution and the Civic League of St. Louis.

^^r^^stos^^^t-^^^^

WORCESTER COUNTY

35

Dr. Green has published the following pamphlets :
"The General Practitioner and Ophthalmology,"
"Treatment of Ophthalmia Neonatorum," "Double
Optic Neuritis occurring during Lactation," "Ocular
Examination as an aid to the early diagnosis of
Multiple Sclerosis, with report of a Case" (with
Dr. S.' I. Schwab), "Juvenile Glaucoma Simplex
associated with Myasthenia Gastrica et Intestinalis,"
"A case of Cerebro-spinal Rhinorrhoea with Retinal
Changes" (with Dr. S. I. Schwab), "Treatment
of Certain External Diseases of the Eyes by the
X-ray," "Ocular Signs and Complications of
Diseases of the Accessory Sinuses of the Nose,"
"Report on Progress in Ophthalmology for the years
1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906," and "The Control of
Municipal Medical Institutions, with special refer
ence to the City of St. Louis," etc. He is editor
of the Department of Ophthalmology of The Inter
state Medical Journal, visiting ophthalmic surgeon
to the Jewish Hospital Dispensary of St. Louis, and
consulting ophthalmic surgeon to the St. Louis
Female Hospital.
He married, October 29, 1902, Miss Lucretia
Hall Sturgeon, of St. Louis, Missouri. Their chil
dren are: Helen Celeste, born November 23, 1903,
and Harmon, born July 3, 1905. His office address
in 1906 is 225 Vanol building, corner of Vandeventer
avenue and Olive street, St. Louis, Missouri.
(VIII) William Ogden Green, son of Martin
Green (7), was born in Chicago, Illinois, September
26, i860. He was educated at the Worcester Poly
technic Institute. He went to work first in an
electric light factory at New Britain, Connecticut;
then for the Merrick Thread Company, Holyoke,
Massachusetts. From there he went as a manager
for a silk mill at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He put
it into first class condition and left it highly pros
perous to take charge of the Peshtigo Lumber Com
pany in Wisconsin, for which his father was man
ager years before. Andrew H. Green, as trustee
of the estate of the late William B. Ogden, repre
sented the owners, but Mrs. "Ogden herself made
frequent visits to the property and paid Mr. Green
high compliments on the reformation he ._ brought
about and the improvement effected. By his advice
the property was sold and he wound up its compli
cated affairs in a manner so pleasing to the directors
that they made him a present of $10,000 at their
last meeting as a .testimonial of their satisfaction.
He is a member of the American Society of Me
chanical Engineers. He is now a member of the
firm of Ogden, Sheldon & Company, one of the
most important real estate broker firms in Chicago.
He married, October 20, 1891, Josephine Poole
Giles, at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Their children,
all of whom were born in Chicago, are: William
Stewart born November 7, 1893; Andrew Haswell,
born May 10, 1896; Lucretia Poole, born June 19,
1899. (VIII) Samuel Martin Green, son of Martin
Green (7), was born at Benton Harbor, Michigan,
April 13, 1864. He was graduated at the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. His first position was with
Frederick E. Reed, the manufacturer of machinery,
Worcester, Massachusetts, for whom he designed
and draughted various tools. He also designed the
interlocking switches on the railrciad viaduct m Wor
cester. He next went to Buffalo to work for Noyes
& Company, millers. When his brother, William
Ogden Green, left the Merrick Thread Company,
where he was the engineer in charge of the plant,
the management desired him to remain, but took
the younger brother in his place on his recommenda
tion. Although young and inexperienced Samuel
Green made good. He successfully completed the

big mill, one hundred and twenty-five by five hun
dred feet. He remained with the Merrick Thread
Company until the trust was formed, when he was
chosen engineer-in-chief for the new management,
the American Thread Company. He has charge of
all the changes and new construction of the com
pany. At the present time, at Ilion, New York,
he is reconstructing and building a two million dollar
plant, and the old mills are all receiving modern
equipment of machinery and power. He has recently
constructed at Waukegan, Illinois, a large factory
for the United States Envelope Company. His chief
office is at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and his residence
is at Springfield, Massachusetts. He is at present
rebuilding the cartridge factory at Bridgeport, Con
necticut. He is a member of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers.
He married, at Holyoke, June 18, 1890, Ida Mc-
Kown, of that city. Their children are : Mildred,
born September 27, 1895, in Holyoke; Lydia, born
June 2, 1902, in Holyoke.
HENRY F. HARRIS. From the best obtain
able evidence, which includes recorded data, it is
certain that the Harris family, as represented in
Worcester, Massachusetts, is descended* from
Thomas Harris, who came with his brother William
and Roger Williams in the ship "Lion" from Bristol,
England, to Lynn, Massachusetts, as early as 1630.
The line of descent is traced as follows :
(I) Thomas Harris married Elizabeth  ,
and they were the parents of Thomas, Mary and
Martha. As a friend and follower of Roger Will
iams he was imprisoned and otherwise illtreated in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1658.
(Il) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas the emi
grant, married Elnactrau Tew, and they were the
parents of eight children.
(Ill) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas (2), was
born in 1665 and died in 1741. He married Phoebe
Brown, and they were the parents of eight chil
dren. (IV) Charles Harris, son of Thomas (3) and
Phoebe (Brown) Harris, was born in 1709. He
married Mary Hopkins, March 19, 1748, at North
Scituate, Rhode Island, and they were the parents
of ten children.
(V) Gideon Harris, son of Charles (4), and Mary
' (Hopkins) Harris, married Rhoda Smith, widow
of his brother Henry, and of this marriage seven
children were born.
(VI) Henry Harris, son of Gideon (5) and
Rhoda (Smith) Harris, was born August 2, 1787.
He married Bernice Randall, and (second) Waty
Smith. Of his second marriage were born the fol
lowing children : 1. Alsaide. 2. Linus Monroe. 3.
Gideon. 4. Mary Smith. 5. Charles Morris, see
forward. 6. Thomas Henry. 7. Otis Braddock.
8. Whipple Burlingame. Gideon and Otis B. passed
away prior to 1889; Mary _S., widow of Alfred
Whiting, died in Worcester in the spring of 1904;
Thomas H. resides at Canada Mills, Holden, Massa
chusetts ; Whipple B. resides in Three Rivers, Pal
mer, Massachusetts. The father of this family died
at the age of thirty years, leaving his family with
out means. His wife was a remarkable type of true
New England womanhood, possessing a strong mind
and noble character, and gave to her children an
excellent rearing.
(VII) Charles Morris Harris, fifth child and
third son of Henry (6) and Waty (Smith) Harris,
was born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 3,
1822. Through his mother he was a grandson of
Captain Jonathan Smith, of Revolutionary fame,
who, tradition says, stood fully six feet in height,

36

WORCESTER COUNTY

and commanded a company each of whom was of
that or greater stature. Mr. Harris was also a de
scendant of that John Smith, of Dorchester, who was
banished for his divers dangerous opinions, and who
removed from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to
Rhode Island at the request of Roger Williams, who
wanted him as a miller, and he was ever afterward
known as "Smith the miller."
Shortly after his birth, the parents of Charles
Morris Harris removed to Scituate, Rhode Island,
where he was reared. Until he was thirteen years
old he attended the common schools for eight weeks
in summer and a like term in winter, and_ later at
tended two short winter terms, completing his school
ing when he was fifteen years old. From the age
of six to fourteen years his time out of school was
given to labor in the Richmond cotton mills, twelve
to fourteen hours daily, at the pitiful wage of one
cent an hour. One dollar and a quarte- a week was
the highest wages he received until ht was almost
of age, when he was paid six dollars and frfty cents
a week. During this period he had gone from the
Richmond mills to the Sprague mills at Smithfield,
Rhode Island, thence to the Blackstone mills at
Mendon, Washington, and to W°°nsocket, Rhode
Island, ' and was thoroughly and practically con
versant with every detail of the cotton milling in
dustry, capable of conducting every process from
the handling of the raw material to the final finish
ing of the product.
In the spring of 1842, when he was twenty-two
years old, he engaged in thread manufacturing on '
his own account, in partnership with David S.
Wilder. In the autumn of the same year they re
moved to West Boylston and purchased a small
mill at Central Village, where they began the manu
facture of satinet warps. They also leased a mill
at Lovellville, in the Town of Holden, which they
also operated in connection wifh that at Central
Village. In 1845 he became associated in a business
partnership with his brothers, Linus M. and Gideon,
and a brother-in-law, Alfred Whiting, who had
bought the Holt mill, at what was then called Holt's
Village, but later Harrisville. Under the firm name
of L. M. Harris & Co. they engaged in the manu
facture of cotton cloth, and built up a thriving
business. The factory was destroyed by fire about
1851, but rebuilding was begun within thirty days
after the disaster, and in less than a year the new
factory was in successful operation and with in
creased capacity. In 1857 Mr. Harris bought an
interest in a cotton mill at Poquonnock, Connecti
cut. His beginning was inauspicious. The first
year he lost six thousand dollars, but he only re
doubled his effort, and with such success that two
years later he had made good his loss and was
worth twelve thousand dollars more in addition.
Early in i860 he sold his Connecticut interests and
bought an interest in a factory at Savage, Howard
county, Maryland, where he remained nearly two
years. In the fall of 1861 he returned to the factory
of L. M. Harris & Co., remaining until 1863. In
that year he and his brother, Linus M. Harris,
bought one-half of the stock of the West Boylston
Manufacturing Company at Oakdale. This was then,
as it is to-day, one of the most important manufac
turing institutions in the state. In 1814 it received
from the commonwealth of Massachusetts a special'
charter under which it was authorized to manu
facture "cotton and woolen clothes and fine wire."
On coming into this corporation Mr. Harris became
general manager and treasurer, and he served as
such with. such conspicuous ability for a period of
twenty-six years, ending with his death, April 24,
1889, in Boston.

Mr. Harris ' married Miss Emily Dean, oh
Thanksgiving Day, 1848. She was born in Sterling,
Massachusetts, November 9, 1823, and at the time
of her marriage was residing in West Boylston;
She was a direct descendant of Thomas Dudley,
second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
To Mr. and Mrsr Harris were born three children :
1. Henry Francis, of whom further. 2. Charles
Morris, Jr., for several years prior to his father's
death superintendent of the West Boylston Manfg.
Co. mills; he died November 10, 1892, aged
forty-one years, leaving a widow, two sons and
three daughters. 3. Emily Armilla, died March
11, 1892, aged thirty-five , years; she was twice
married; by her first husband, Lyman P.
Goodell, she had one son, Roscoe Harris
Goodell, now banker in Chicago and married to
Helen Peabody, daughter of Frederick F. Peabody,
of Evanston, Illinois ; by her second husband, Alonzo
R. Wells, she had a son, Ray Dean Wells. Mrs.
Harris, the mother of these children, died August
6, 1892. (VIII) Henry Francis Harris, eldest child of
Charles Morris (7) and Emily Dean Harris, was
born in Harrisville, West Boylston, Massachusetts,
August 19, 1849. He fitted for college in the Green
Mountain- Institute at South Woodstock, Vermont,
in Worcester Academy and Lancaster Academy, at
tending the latter institution two years. In 1867
he entered Tufts College, from which he was grad
uated in 1871 at the head of his class. He then
entered the Harvard Law School, and after a six
months' course further prosecuted his legal studies
for about a year in the office of Hon. Hartley Will
iams, of Worcester. He subsequently entered the
Boston University Law School, from which he was
graduated in the first class from that institution in
1873. He was for some time following in the
office of John A. Loring, of Boston, and was ad
mitted to the bar in that city in December, 1873.
January 1 of the following year he entered upon
a professional practice at Worcester. Aside from
attending to the demands of a constantly increasing
legal practice, he has been prominently interested in
the manufacture of cotton goods, succeeding his
father in 1889 as treasurer of the West Boylston
Manufacturing Company, whose valuable plant, hav
ing been purchased by the Metropolitan Water Com
mission was relocated at Easthampton Massachu
setts, and doubled in size and capacity. He has
served as such until the present time. He was also
president of the L. M. Harris Manufacturing Com
pany. Mr. Harris is a member of the board of
directors of the Worcester Trust Company, the Wor
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and is solic
itor for that corporation. He was a director of the
First National Insurance Company; is a mem
ber of the board of trustees of the Worcester City
Hospital; and was a member of the school board,
serving on various important committees of that
body. Mr. Harris is a public-spirited gentleman,
and among the various organizations with which he
is conspicuously associated is that of Free Masons.
He is a man of sound judgment, a safe counsellor
in matters public and private, and enjoys the confi
dence and respect of the community where he
resides. May 17, 1883, Mr. Harris married Emma Frances
Dearborn, daughter of William F. and Mary J.
(Hurd) Dearborn, of Worcester. She is a lady of
culture and an accomplished musician. She gradu
ated from the Worcester High School in 1878, and
subsequently studied vocal music under Madam
Capianna. Possessor of a sweet and cultivated
voice, she was for many years a member of the

y^^€^>Cyy^/

WORCESTER COUNTY

37

choir of the Universalist church, and its director
during much of that time.
Mr. and Mrs. Harris have two living children:
Rachel, born December ii, 1887; and Dorothy, born
March 22, 1890. They lost an infant son by death.
DEWEY FAMILY. From among the various
branches of the Dewey family have come many dis
tinguished celebrities, including the eminent Judge
Francis H. Dewey, and the famous Admiral George
Dewey, who attained fame at Manila Bay, in the
Spanish-American war. The family is of royal de
scent, with coat-of-arms going back many genera
tions in England. In America all trace to the com
mon ancestor,
(I) Thomas Dewey, who came to the Massa
chusetts Bay Colony from Sandwich, Kent, Eng
land, with Rev. John Warham and his little band
of one hundred and forty passengers, who formed a
church before leaving England, and sailed in the
"Mary and John," and became the first setders at
Dorchester, Massachusetts, arriving at Nantucket,
May 30, 1630, a month earlier than the Winthrop
colony. On June 6, the following Sunday after they
arrived, services of gratitude and praise were held
under the open sky. After being a pioneer in that
section, the church and the above emigrants mostly
removed to Windsor, Connecticut. Thomas Dewey
married the widow of Joseph Clark and had five
children: 1. Thomas, born 1640. 2. Josiah, born
1641; he was the Dewey from whom descended Ad
miral George Dewey. 3. Ann, born 1643. 4. Israel,
born 1645. 5. Jedediah, born 1647.
(II) Jedediah Dewey, son of Thomas, the emi
grant, born 1647, and died 1721.
(Ill) James Dewe3', fifth son of Jedediah, born
1692, and died 1756.
(IV) Daniel Dewey, son of Stephen, had a son
Daniel, who became judge.
(VI) Judge Daniel Dewey, son of Daniel, was
born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and moved to
Williamstown. He was a distinguished man of his
day, was a lawyer of note, and for many years a
judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and
was also a member of congress.
(VII) Judge Charles Augustus Dewey, son of
Judge Daniel Dewey, was born March 13, 1793, in
Williamstown, Massachusetts, died in 1866. He
became a lawyer, was elected district attorney, and
was appointed judge of the supreme court of Massa
chusetts, in which important position he served for
the long period of thirty years. He married first,
Frances Aurelia, daughter of Hon. Samuel and
Martha (Hunt) Henshaw, of Northampton, Massa
chusetts. She died at Williamstown July 20, 1821.
He married second, July 28, 1824, Caroline Hannah
Clinton, daughter of General James and Mary (Lit
tle) Clinton, of Newburg, New York, and a sister
of Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York. Among
the eight children born to Judge Dewey, Sr., were
Francis H., Charles A., Mary Clinton, wife of
Judge H. B. Staples, of Worcester, and Maria
Noble, of Worcester.
(VIII) Francis Henshaw, oldest son of Judge
Charles Augustus and Frances A. (Henshaw)
Dewey, was born in Williamstown, July 12, 1821.
His career in public and professional life was so
brilliant that the outline of it must be here preserved
as an important part of the family history. His
mother died when he was an infant, but he was
tenderly cared for by his stepmother, Caroline H.
Clinton, who married his father when he was three
years old. Francis H. Dewey graduated from Will
iams College in 1840, at the early age of nineteen
years, studied law at Yale and Harvard, and was

admitted to the bar at Worcester in 1S43. He soon
became the partner of Hon. Emory Washburn, who
was made justice of the common pleas bench the
following year, and from that time the legal business
of the office was thrown upon Mr. Dewey, who had
a very large practice. For more than twenty years
he was recognized as the leader of the bar in Wor
cester county. While not elegant in diction he was
possessed of what all termed "common sense," and
dealt practically and energetically with whatever
matters were entrusted to him. He was very suc
cessful in the conduct of cases before juries. He
was appointed to the bench of the supreme court
in February, 1869, and resigned in 1881.
Judge Dewey came to Worcester when the in
habitants numbered only eight thousand, and he
lived to see this number multiplied ten times over.
He was active in all public offices, church matters
and charitable enterprises. He seemed born for
diplomacy, and was the embodiment of tact and
skill, combining with these qualities the abilities of
the thoroughly equipped and entirely practical man
of affairs. He was a leading spirit in the organiza
tion of various railroad companies and manufac
turing and financial corporations, and was an of
ficial in and counsel for many of the same. Up to
the time of his death he was president of the Nor
wich & Worcester Railroad, president of the Me
chanics' Saving Bank, a director in the Mechanics'
National Bank, and a director and one of the
heaviest stockholders in the Washburn &: Moen Man
ufacturing Company, attending to a great amount of
its legal business. He was deeply interested in edu
cational and the higher moral concerns of the com
munity. He was a trustee of his alma mater, Will
iams College, from 1869 to the time of his death,
a period of eighteen years. He was also until his
death president of the board of trustees of the Wor
cester Public Library, president of the board of
trustees of the Old Men's Home, a. trustee of the
Washburn Memorial Hospital, president of the
Rural Cemetery Corporation, president of the Wor
cester County Horticultural Society, and a trustee
of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was
inclined to business more than office holding, but
at the request of friends in his party he served in
the two branches of the city government, and two
terms in the state senate. He died in the full vigor
of his manhood, December 16, 1887, while devoting
his strength to the many public interests with
which he was connected.
Judge Dewey married, November 2, 1846, Frances
Amelia Clarke, only daughter of John and Prudence
(Graves) Clarke, of Northampton, Massachusetts.
Her father was the founder of Clarke Institution
for Deaf Mutes. Judge Dewey married (second)
April 26, 1853, Sarah Barker Tufts, only daughter
of Hon. George A. and Azuba Boyden (Fales)
Tufts; she was born January 31, 1825, at Dudley,
Massachusetts, and is now (April, 1905) living in
Worcester. By his first marriage Judge Dewey had
a daughter, Fannie, born September 17, 1849, died
the following day. His children by his second wife
were: 1. Fanny Clarke, born February I, 1854, died
July 28, same year. 2. Caroline Clinton, born Decem
ber 18, 1854; died December, 1878; married, 1877,
Charles L. Nichols, and had Caroline Dewey. 3.
Francis Henshaw, to be further mentioned. 4. John
Clarke, born May 19, 1857, who is a lawyer. He
married his second cousin, Sarah B. Dewey, and
their children are John Clarke, Jr., and Daniel. 5.
George Tufts, born September 12, 1858, who is a
lawyer; he married' Mary L. Nichols, and their chil
dren are Mary- Linwood, George Tufts, Jr., and
Charles Nichols. 6. Sarah Frances, born September

3«

WORCESTER COUNTY

15, i860; died; married Oliver Hurd Everett, and
. their children were Caroline Dewey and Francis
Dewey. 7. Charles Augustus, born and died April,
1863. (IX) Francis Henshaw Dewey, son of Hon.
Francis H. and Sarah B. (Tufts) Dewey, was born
March 23, 1856, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He
was reared in his native city and there attended the
private schools, after which he spent two years at a
primary school and four years at St. Mark's School
in Southborough, preparatory for college. In 1872
he entered Williams College, graduating therefrom
four years later among the six highest of his class. .
He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
where membership is based on scholarship. In 1879
he received the degree of Master of Arts from his
alma mater. After reading law in the office of
Messrs. Staples and Goulding, of Worcester, he en
tered Harvard Law School, from which he gradu
ated in 1878 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
In February, 1879, he was admitted to the bar, and
has since been actively engaged in practice, and his
prominence in his profession is attested by his
election in 1897 to the vice-presidency of the Wor
cester County Bar Association. In 1880 he became
solicitor for the Worcester Mechanics' Savings
Bank and the Mechanics' National Bank, and on the
death of his honored father, in 1887, he succeeded
him as a trustee and director in these institutions,
respectively. In April, 1888, he was elected presi
dent of the Mechanics, National Bank, which office
he still holds. One of his most important trusts is
the presidency of the Worcester Consolidated Street
Railway Company, to which he was elected in May,
1898, having been a director since 1893, and under
his supervision and management a system of about
forty miles of track confined principally to the city
of Worcester has been extended to one hundred and
sixty miles, and connects eighteen cities and towns,
together with - frequent service, carrying nearly
thirty millions of passengers in a year. For many
years he has been a director in the Norwich & Wor
cester Railroad Company, the Worcester Gas Light
Company, the Worcester Traction Company, the
Worcester Theatre Association, of which he is also
treasurer; he is president and treasurer of the Bay
State House, and a director in many business cor
porations. He is a trustee of the Worcester Rail
ways and Investment Company. He has also had
charge of the settlement of many large estates in
the capacity of trustee and executor, and possesses
unusual business qualifications.
Mr. Dewey has ever taken a deep interest in edu
cational and charitable work, and is actively
identified with many of the most important
institutions in these lines. He is a trustee
and vice-president of Clark University, and of
Clark College, and has long been viqe-presi-
dent of the Art Museum, and a member of
the American Antiquarian Society. He is a di
rector of the Associated Charities, chairman of the
Commission of City Hospital Funds, and a trustee
of the Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the
Board of Trade, of which he was for several years
a director; vice-president of the Massachusetts
Street Railway Association; and a member of the
¦Worcester Fire Society and many social organiza
tions. For many years he has been prominent in
the First Unitarian Parish, and has been superin
tendent of the Sunday school and chairman of the
parish committee. He is a stanch Republican in
politics. December 12, 1878, Mr. Dewey married Miss
Lizzie Davis, daughter of the late Harrison Bliss,
and of this union were born two children: Eliza

beth Bliss Dewey, July 19, 1883; and Francis Hen
shaw Dewey, May 19, 1887.
EDWIN BROWN. John Brown (1), or
Browne, the progenitor of Edwin Brown, of Wor
cester, was associated with the Pilgrims at Plymouth.
While he was travelling in his youth he became ac
quainted with Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the
Pilgrims, and through him met many of his people
in the same way that Governor Winslow and Cap
tain Miles Standish came to join the Pilgrims. He
did not come in the "Mayflower," however. It was
not until March, 1629, that he reached New Eng
land. He landed at Salem. Two years earlier, how
ever, March 19, 1627, the council for New 'England
approved a patent for trade soil and planting on
which a Royal charter was obtained March 4, 1628,
to certain patentees and their associates, among
whom were John Browne, John Saltonstall, and
others who became well known in the colonies. He
was elected to Governor John Endicott's council,
April 3, 1629, with Francis Higginson, Samuel Skel-
ton, Francis Bright, Samuel Browne, Thomas
Graves and Samuel Sharp. He went from Salem
to Plymouth and later to Taunton with his son,
James. In 1643 John Brown and his sons, John and
James, were residents of Taunton, but next year
they settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. There
John Browne, Sr!, and John Brown, Jr., stayed
and were among the first settlers, but James Browne
being a Baptist was forced to leave town in 1663
and with others of his sect founded the town of
Swansey, Massachusetts. The designation Mr.
given him in the records always shows that he was
counted among the gentry. His sons and grandsons
were leaders in civic, judicial and military affairs.
John Brown was appointed one of the townsmen
(an office) in Rehoboth, March 16, 1645, and again
in 1650-51. He served the town on important com
missions. He was on the prudential committee. He
was for seventeen years from 1636 to 1653 one of
the governor's assistants or magistrates. In 1638
the following were the governor's assistants : Will
iam Bradford, Edward Winslow, Captain Miles
Standish, John Alden, John Jenny and John Browne.
He was one of the commissioners of the United
Colonies of New England (which foreshadowed the
later confederation) from 1644 to 1655. In the gov
ernor's court June 4, 1652, he won a notable suit
for damages for defamation against Samuel New
man, the judgment being for one hundred pounds
and costs. Mr. Browne waived the judgment, how
ever, and let Newman off on payment of the costs.
Mr. Browne was a friend of Massasoit, and the
proof of their friendship was shown when the life
of his son James was spared by King Philip, son of
Massasoit, when he came on' a mission from the gov
ernor to the Indians. Colonel Church in his
narrative says: "that the Indians would have killed
Mr. Browne, who with Mr. Samuel Gorton and two
other men bore the letter, but Philip prevented
them, saying that his father had charged him to
show kindness to Mr. Browne." It is said in his
honor that he was the first magistrate to raise his
voice against the coercive support of the ministry,
taking the stand that all church support should be
voluntary and backed his precepts by liberal ex
ample. He was a man of abilities, intellect, piety
and patriotism, and was buried with civic and mili
tary honors in 1662. His wife Dorothy died in
]P74- His eldest son died the same year as he
(1062). His other son, James, was afterwards in
the magistracy. His grandson, John Browne, be
came useful and eminent. In 1685 John Browne
was one of the first associate justices of the court

WORCESTER COUNTY

39

of common pleas in the county of Bristol. In
1699, during the administration of Lord Bellamont,
he was again appointed a justice. John Browne,
Sr., was born in 1595 and died April 10, 1662. His
wife died at Swansey, Massachusetts, January
27, 1673. The children of John Browne (I)
were: Ensign John, Jr., born in England,
died last of March, 1662; (settled in Reho
both and had these children: John, born last Fri
day in September, 1650; Lydia, August 5 or 6, 1656;
Annah, January 29, 1657; Joseph, April 9, 1658;
Nathaniel, June 9, 1661 ; Major James, of Swansey,
born in England 1623, died 1710; Mary, born in
England, married, July 6, 1636, Captain Thomas
Willett, of Plymouth, the first English mayor of
New York city, who was twice elected to that of
fice. William, resided in Salem, not- mentioned in
will and not proved to be son of John Browne (I).
(II) Major James Brown, son of John Browne
(1), born in England in 1623, was in Taunton in
1643 with his father, the assistant, and went with
him to Swansea, Massachusetts. He was said to be
a Baptist and preacher. He was chosen an assist
ant in 1665. He married Lydia Howland, daughter
of John Howland, who came over in the "May
flower," and all his descendants are likewise de
scended from Mayflower ancestry. He died October
29, 1710, aged eighty-seven years. Their children
were: James, born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts,
May 4, 1655, died at Barrington, Rhode Island,
1725; Dorothy, born at Swansey, Massachusetts,
August 29, 1666, married  Kent; Jabez,
born July 9, 1668, at Swansey, Massachusetts.
(Ill) James Brown, son of Major James Brown
(2), born at Rehoboth, May 4, 1655 (or May 21),
died April 15, 1718, aged fifty-nine years, (probably
should be sixty-two) ; married Margaret Denison,
June 5, 1678. She died May 5, 1741, aged eighty-
four years. He was a sergeant in the militia. All
his children were born in Swansey. They were, as
recorded : Lydia, born January 23, 1678-9, died Feb.
ruary 1, 1678-9; Mary, September 11, 1680; Mar
garet (given by Savage), June 28, 1682; Lydia, July
28, 1684; James, September 7, 1685; Mary, July 5,
1687; Peleg, February 28, 1688; William, June 2,
1690; Dorothy, May 7, 1694.
(IV) William Brown, son of James Brown (3),
was born June 2, 1690. He married (first) Eliza
beth  , about 1710. She died April 27, 1725,
aged twenty-seven years. He married (second)
Rebecca Follett, October 27, 1725. He died Feb
ruary 26, 1731-2. He settled at Rehoboth, where all
his children are recorded except William. As the
records clearly show that the son is William, Jr., he
must be the eldest son of William, there being no
other William at Rehoboth or Swansey at the time.
The children of William Brown were: Will
iam, born about 1710; Consider, September 8, 1711;
Amos, May 28, 1714; Elizabeth, June 14, 1716;
Bethiah, July 8, 1718; Jerusha, August 27, 1720;
Ezra, August 18, 1722; Rebecca, April 17, 1725;
Noah, August 7, 1726; Isaac, August 24, 1728; Ann,
March 13, 1729, died October 27, 1731 ; Ann, Jan
uary 8, 1731-2.
(V) William Brown, son of William Brown (4),
was born about 1710 at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He
married at Rehoboth, Ruth Walker, October 10,
1728. The births of their eleven children are ali
recorded at Rehoboth. He was commissioned a
cavalry officer. Ruth Walker was born December 2,
1710, and died March 6, 1790. She was descended
from Widow Walker, one of the original settlers
of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Widow Walker was
born about 1620. Her son, Philip Walker, married
in 1654 Jane  , and died in 1679, leaving sons,
Samuel, and Philip Walker.

Samuel Walker, son of Philip Walker (2), was
born 1655, died 1712. He served in King Philip's
war under Major Bradford. He married Martha
Ide (born 1654, died 1700), daughter of Nicholas
Ide, who also served in King Philip's war under
Major Bradford. His son, Samuel Walker (4),
was born in 1682 and died in 1712. He married
Ruth Bliss, who was born 1687. Their daughter,
Ruth Walker (born December 2, 1710, died March
6, 1790), married William Brown, Jr., as already
stated October 10, 1728. William Brown, Jr., settled
at Rehoboth. Their children were: Ruth, born Sep
tember 10, 1729; Lucy, October 26, 1731 ; -Sarah,
November 6, 1733; William, November 22, 1735;
Sarah, December 4, 1737; Samuel, March 25, 1740;
Molly, April 18, 1742; John, July 10, 1745.; Deb
orah, August 29, 1747; Chloe, October 1, 1749;
Huldah, December 4, 1751.
(VI) Lieutenant Samuel Brown, son of William
Brqwn, Jr. (5), was born at Rehoboth, Massachu
setts, March 25, 1740. He married (first) Esther
Bucklin, January 5, 1764. She died about 1777. He
married (second) Polly Luther, of Warren, August
Z3> !778. She died in 1782.' He married (third)
Huldah Hunt, January 16, 1783.
The children of Samuel Brown (6) were: Sam
uel, born March 2, 1765, married Polly Brown,
March 11, 1801; Josiah, October 18, 1767; Lucy,
October 20, 1770; Esther, October 16 1772; Mollie
(probably a twin of ' preceding) , October 16, 1772
(1774 on records, obviously an error) ; Theophilus,
April 9, 1774; Abigail, February 12, 1780; Eliza
beth, October 22, 1781; Luther, July 21, 1782; Jo
seph, March 2, 1787; Ira» January 15, 1791; Peter
Hunt, January 13, 1793.
(VII) Samuel Brown, son of Samuel Brown
(6), born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, March 2,
1765, died in 1820. He married Ada Hardy, died
1847, daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Walker)
Healy, of Seekonk. Betsey Walker was born in
1753 and died in 1839, daughter of Nathaniel Walker,
of North Providence (born 1703, died 1783), who
married,' 1727, Anna Sweeting (born 1707, died
1772). Nathaniel Walker was son of Philip Walker
(born 1661, died 1739), who married Sarah Bowen
daughter of William Bowen (born 1671, died 1739).
This Philip Walker was son of Philip and grand
son of Widow Walker, already mentioned in this
sketch. Samuel Brown settled at Rehoboth. Chil
dren of Samuel and Ada (Healy) Brown: 1. Will
iam, born August 19, 1797, married Louisa Glad
ding, of Providence. 2. Mary (on Rehoboth records)
born March 17, 1801. 3. Albert, born (date given
in Rehoboth records) March 20, 1804. 4. Elizabeth
Walker, (record from her grandson, Appleton L.
Clark) born September, 1813, died November, 1891,
married, Appleton Purdy Lesure (born May 13,
1814, died August 4, 1865). 5. Abby, married A. R.
Marsh, resided in Boston (birth not recorded at
Rehoboth). 6. Theophilus, born September 12, 181 1,
married Sarah Ann Knowlton.
(VIII) Albert Brown, son of Samuel Brown
(7), born at Seekonk, Massachusetts, March 20,
1804, married, 1828, Mary Blair Eaton. (See Eaton
Family, also Rice Family). Mary Blair Eaton was
a descendant of Adonijah Rice, the first white child
born in Worcester. Albert Brown learned the
tailor's trade and located first in Providence. He
came to Worcester about 1825 and opened an "Em
porium of Fashion" as he called his shop, on Main
street, opposite Central street. He took into part-'
nership his brother William Brown, and under the
firm name of W. & A. Brown they were the first mer
chant tailors located in Worcester. At the death of Al
bert Brown, September 29, 1854, the surviving part
ner took his brother Theophilus Brown into the

40

WORCESTER COUNTY

firm, and at present the firm is conducted by W. T.
Brown, son of Theophilus. Albert Brown was a
well known citizen of Worcester. He represented
his ward in the common council. He went to
England with the Peace Commission, and his de
scendants treasure a Bible given to him by Richard
Cobden, with whom he formed an acquaintance
there. He was to some extent an owner of shipping.
He was a member of the Mutual Fire Society of
Worcester. Children of Albert and Mary Blair
('Eaton) Brown: I. Albert Samuel, born Worces-'
ter, February 22, 1829, of whom later; 2. Henry
William, born Worcester June 21, 1831 ; married
Harriet B. Rathbone. 3. James Stewart, born Jan
uary 12, 1834, of whom later. 4. Mary Eaton, born
April 15, 1835, died April 29, 1843. 5. James Stew
art, born September 12, 1837; married first, Fanny
Emma Childs of Worcester; married (second) Eliza
beth Johonnot; is treasurer of the Worcester Five
Cents Savings Bank; veteran of the civil war;
prominent in business and financial circles in Wor
cester. 6. Sarah Dean, born in Worcester, Feb
ruary 13, 1840, married George Wilson Ryerson, of
New York. 7. Emily, born January 24, 1842, married
John Stanton Baldwin, formerly editor and pub
lisher of Worcester Daily Spy. (See sketch Bald
win Family). 8. Edwin, born in Worcester, March
24, 1844, married, June 12, 1872, Mariana Mifflin
Earle, daughter of Timothy K. and Nancy
(Hacker) Earle of Worcester. 9. Charles Eaton,
born January 23, 1847. 10. Mary Louisa, born June
1, 1849; married Stephen C. Earle, the well known
architect of Worcester. 11. Ada, born September
29, 1852, died February 3, 1869.
('IX) Albert Samuel Brown, son of Albert
Brown (8),. was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
February 22, 1829. He attended the public schools
of his native town until he was sixteen years old,
when he entered a wholesale woolen house in Bos
ton. After a short time he took a position in Colla-
more's crockery store in Boston. He finally re
turned to Worcester to enter business with his
father in the store and tailor shop. In 1853 he made
a trip to Europe, partly for business and partly for
pleasure. When he returned home he worked for
a time in a Worcester crockery store. In i860 he
bought out J. P. Hale's crockery store and began
business on his own account. The store was lo
cated at 181 Main street. He added wall
paper to his line of goods and later moved to 284
Main street. In 1880 he sold his store to E. G.
Higgins, the wall paper dealer, whose business grew
to be the largest of its kind in New England, Mr.
Brown retired from active business life after selling
his store. He loved travel and spent two years in
Europe. He made his home in Worcester until his
death, September 14, 1900.
Mr. Brown stood well as a citizen and business
man. He was highly esteemed for his manly char
acter and many good qualities. He was a member
of the First Unitarian Church and later of the
Church of the Unity and was a teacher in the Sun
day school. In politics he was a Republican. He
served the city in the common council. He was a
member of no secret orders or military organi
zations. He married, November 28, i860, Ellen M. Morse,
daughter of Mason H. and Maria (Bigelow)
Morse, of Worcester. Mason H. Morse was a car
penter and builder. He served on the building com
mittee when the Church of the Unity to which he
belonged erected the present edifice on Elm street.
Ellen M. Morse, as well as Mr. -Brown, was a de
scendant of the first white child born in Worcester
She was born March 22, 1837. - Maria Bigelow was

the daughter of Lewis and Sophia Bigelow, and
was born in Worcester, April 1, 1815, and married
May 24, 1836. (See sketch of Bigelow family). Mr.
and Mrs. Brown had no children. Mrs. Brown re
sides at her home in Worcester, 21 Elm street.
(IX) Henry William Brown, son of Albert
Brown (8)', born in Worcester, June 21, 1831, died
February 21, 1900, at Daytona, Florida, where he
was spending the winter. He married Harriet B.
Rathbone, of Providence, Rhode Island. He grad
uated from Harvard College in 1852, and from
Harvard Divinity School in 1857. He preferred
teaching to the ministry, and from 1875 to 1896,
a period of twenty-one years, was an instructor in
the State Normal School of Worcester. His serv
ices in the school are best told by quoting the words
of Principal E. Harlow Russell.
" Coming to the school 50 soon after its beginning, he had
much to do with shaping its policy and in establishing the depart
ment which he maintained with so much efficiency and distinction.
A graduate of Harvard College and later of the Harvard Divinity
School, in his early years he was a clergyman, but left that pro
fession for the more congenial one of teaching. He may certain
ly be said to have given the best years of his life to the service of
the Worcester school. He was always thoroughly in sympathy
with the laims" and purposes of its administration, loyal to its princ
ipal, appreciative of its excellencies, and considerate to a marked '
degree of its defects. With his fellow teachers his relations were
most friendly. They felt the strength that he brought to the
faculty, and always regarded him with affectionate admiration,
While not an ambitious man, as tbe word is ordinarily used, his
standard of excellence was high, and he gave to his professional
work the best that was in him. He was a ripe scholar, with a
thorough command of the classical languages and literatures, but
he never ceased to be a diligent student, with a genuine taste for
knowledge of all sorts, in the lines of science as well as of litera ¦
ture. His most conspicuous ssrvice to the cause of education
was probably his translation from the German of Prof. Preyer's
famous books, 'The Mind of the Child,' and Mental Develop
ment in the Child.' Mr. Brown's intimate acquaintance with
German, acquired during two periods of residence in Germany,
together with his command of a clear, idiomatic English style,
render these translations of the highest authority and value. The
work was published by D. Appleton & Co.. New York, in their
International Education Series, and the translation received the
highest commendation from the editor of the series, Dr. William
T. Harris, United. States Commissioner of Education,
" Mr. Brown was a man of unusual refinement, of lofty ideals
and of warm affections. Tb ese qualities, combined with his ample
intellectual equipment, made him a teacher of rare breadth and
power. The graduates of this school will bear unanimous testi
mony to the quality and permanence of the influence he exerted
upon growing minds, an influence appreciated by them more and
more with the lapse of time. Although his standard was high, his
dealings with individual pupils were always felt to be just and
humane, and in his classes there was no tyranny and no friction.
It may be truly said that among the hundreds of young people
who have come under his instruction here, there was not one who
did not feel toward him not only profound respect but warm-
esteem. And his attachment to the graduates was shown by his
manifest pleasure in meeting them on their visits to the school
and his genial speeches to them at their annual reunions. The
graduates have a permanent memorial of him which they greatly
prize in the shape of a reunion song composed for them by him
some years ago, and which is sung yearly to the tune of " Fair
Harvard " at their annual gatherings. When Mr. Brown was in
Worcester last autumn he was invited by a committee of graduates
to sit for his portrait for the graduates' room of the school This
he did, and the result, a large photograph by Notman, of Boston,
proved a most satisfactory likeness and is now of priceless value.
To the large body of graduates who for a score of years have en-
loyed Mr. Brown's instructions, as well as to the circle of his
more intimate friends, the news of his death will come with a
sense of personal loss."
He had one son, Conway Rathbone, who died
while a student and undergraduate at Harvard", at
the age of twenty-three years.
(IX) J. Stewart Brown, son of Albert Brown (8),
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, September 12,
1837. He was educated in the public and high
schools of Worcester, and began the active duties
of hfe by entering the employ of Henry W. Miller,
proprietor of a hardware store, with whom he re-
mamed_ several years ; later he established a house-
furmshing business of his own which he continued
until the breaking out of the civil war. At that
time he was sergeant of the old Worcester Light
Infantry, .and was made sergeant of his company in

WORCESTER COUNTY

4i

the famous Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, • which
was mustered out August 2, 1861, and which was
attacked which marching through the streets of
Baltimore to Washington, District of Columbia. In
the fall of 1861 he went- to the front with a com
mittee of relief, with between eleven and twelve
hundred dollars' contributed for the Worcester sol
diers. In November, 1862, he was commissioned
adjutant of the Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts
Infantry, participated in the battles of Kinston,
Whitehall and Goldsboro, North Carolina, and was
mustered out July 2, 1863. Later he entered the
commissary department with the Ninth Army Corps
and remained until the close of the war, receiving his
honorable discharge April 16, 1865. Upon his return
to civil life Mr. Brown again entered the employ of
Mr. Miller, remaining two years. He then engaged
in business on his own account, manufacturing braid
and shoe laces, and after conducting the same for
four years disposed of the business in order to
accept the office of water registrar of the city of
Worcester, which he filled to the satisfaction of the
various administrations, and to the people of the
city, until his resignation in 1883, when he ac
cepted the treasurership of the Worcester Five
Cents Savings Bank, to which he had been elected.
For nearly twenty-five years he has been the ex
ecutive head of this large and prosperous savings
institution, which, judged from every standard, is
one of the most successful of its kind in the city.
It has shown a wonderful growth in the total de
posits and investments. He is a director of the- Mer
chants' and Farmers' Fire Insurance Company, of
Worcester, rendering faithful service in that capacity.
Upon the organization of George H. Ward Post,
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, he was ap
pointed the first adjutant, and he has been a constant
and earnest worker for the best interests and welfare
of the post ever since. He has also been an officer
of his regimental association since its organization.
In the war play, "The Drummer Boy of Shilo'h,"
which has been given for many years annually in
the Worcester theatre, he took, for a number of
years, the part of Frank Rutledge, and his achieve
ments in this part will never be forgotten by his
comrades and those who attended the performances.
The excellence of the cast originally had much to
do with the perennial popularity of this grand old
war play in Worcester. The Grand Army of the
Republic has netted a considerable income every year
from the week's performances of the "The Drum
mer Boy," as it is commonly called. Mr. Brown is
a member of the Unitarian church. In politics he
is a Republican..
He married (first), September 26, 1872, E. Fan
nie Quids, born at Hartford, Connecticut, April 29,
1845, died in Worcester, Massachusetts, May 13,
1894, daughter of Gardner and Fannie (Goulding)
Childs, of Worcester. The children of this union
were: Albert, born November 2, 1877, educated at
the Worcester public and high schools, and a grad
uate of the American Academy of the Stage, which
he attended for three years; he has made a very
promising start in his first professional engagement
on the stage. Helen Elizabeth, born in Worcester,
July 21, 1886, attended the Worcester public schools,
and was a graduate of the class of 1904 of Prospect
hill school, at Greenfield, Massachusetts. He mar
ried (second), June 11, 1896, Harriet E. , Johonnot,
born September 3, 1848, at Boston, Massachusetts,
daughter of Ambrose E. and Elizabeth (Gaffield)
Johonnot, of Boston.
(IX) Edwin Brown, son of Albert Brown (8),
was born in Worcester, March 24, 1844. He at
tended the Worcester public schools, leaving the
high school in i860 to accept a position in the City

Bank, afterwards the City National Bank, absorbed
in 1903 by the Worcester Trust Company. At the
age of eighteen he enlisted in Company C, Fifty-
first Regiment, and served in the campaigns in
North Carolina and Maryland. He returned to
Worcester with his regiment in 1863, and became
book-keeper at the City Bank, but after two years
was called to the Worcester National Bank, where
he became teller, remaining in that position for one
year, when he was called back to the City National
Bank as teller and assistant cashier. He continued
there until 1871, when he went into business with
his father-in-law, Timothy K. Earle, becoming a
member of the firm of T. K. Earle & Co., whose
factory for the manufacture of machine card cloth
ing for cotton and woolen mills was located on
Grafton street, Worcester. In 1880 a- stock com
pany was formed under the name of the T. K.
Earle Manufacturing Company, with Mr. Brown as
treasurer and manager. Mr. Earle died in 1881, and
Mr. Brown continued the business for the com
pany until 1890. At that time there was a con
solidation of the various card clothing factories of
the country under the name of the American Card
Clothing Company. Mr. Brown was treasurer of
the' new corporation, and he held that position until
1905, when the company was liquidated.
Mr. Brown is a vice-president of the Worcester
Five Cents Savings Bank. He was one of the
founders of the Quinsigamond Boat Club in 1857,
and in his younger days was the stroke oar of the
crack crew of that club, which formerly held the
championship of the lake, and which rowed on the
Hudson river at Troy, New York, October 9, 1867,
in the first national amateur regatta in the United
States. Mr. Brown has always taken an interest
in healthful athletics and sports. He was a charter
member of the Worcester Club, and is a member
of the old Worcester Fire Society, a veteran mem
ber of George H. Ward Post, 10, G. A. R. ; a life
member of the Worcester County Mechanics Asso
ciation; a member of the Worcester Natural History
Society; the Worcester Society of Antiquity; the
Tatnuck Country Club, and was formerly a member
of the Commonwealth Club; the Grafton Country
Club; and the Worcester County Musical Associ
ation. He is a Republican. He belongs to the First
Unitarian Church.
He married, June 12, 1872, Mariana Mifflin Earle,
daughter of Timothy 'K. and Nancy (Hacker) Earle.
Their children are : 1. Earle, born in Worcester,
August 15, 1873; graduated Harvard University
1895 ; was in business two years ; went to Spanish-
American war in the First Rhode Island Regiment;
then went to Harvard Law School; is practicing
law in Worcester, 314 Main /street. 2. Edwin
Hacker, born Worcester, July 29, 1875 ; graduated
Harvard University 1896, and at Worcester Poly
technic Institute 1898; is a mechanical engineer
with the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company
of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is now (1905) at
Nome, Alaska, on his fourth trip as engineer for
gold mining companies. 3. Caspar Mifflin, born in
Worcester, October . 13, 1878 ; graduated at Harvard
University 1900; with Graton & Knight Manufac
turing Company of Worcester, and has had charge
of their exhibits at St. Louis, Missouri, and Port
land (Oregon) Expositions; while in college he
was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, presi
dent of the Varsity Banjo Club, and was on his
class crews and football teams. 4. Lloyd Thornton,
born August 20, 1880; graduated at Harvard Uni
versity 1903 ; now in Harvard Medical School ; was
president of the Varsity Mandolin Club, and a mem
ber of the Hasty Pudding and other clubs while in
college.

42

WORCESTER COUNTY

(IX) Charles Eaton Brown, son of Albert Brown
(8), was born in Worcester, January 23, 1847. He
graduated from the Worcester High School in
1863, and from the United States Naval Academy
at Annapolis in 1867. He was one of the officers of
the U. S. navy who were with the first embassy
ever received at the court of the Tycoon of Japan,
and, when Minister De Long was received, the
Americans were entertained with barbaric splendor.
The Tycoon had some selected executions of crim
inals, and even some crucifixions to entertain and
honor his guests. The U. S. gunboat "Oneida," of
which he was an officer, was sunk in the harbor of
Yokohama, January 23, 1870, by the British steam
ship "Bombay," and one hundred and twenty of
ficers and men lost their lives. The body of Ensign
Brown was "recovered and brought home to> Wor
cester for interment. He was unmarried.
¦THE SPRAGUE FAMILY, descended from
good old English stock, have an honorable history
covering a period of nearly three hundred years
in America. The late Hosea Sprague published in
1828 a genalogy of the Spragues in Hingham to the
fourth generation. He lived at Hingham, Massa
chusetts, and his personal knowledge of the family
aided him in making a compilation of the records,
and from it we glean many points invaluable in this
connection. Edward Sprague, of England, was a resident of
Upway, county of Dorset, where he died in 1614.
He was a fuller by trade. He married Christiana
(family name not given in the record) by whom he had
six children: Ralph, Alice, 'Edward, Richard, Chris
topher, William. Ralph, Richard and William ar
rived at Naumkeag (Salem) in 1628, coming over in
the interest of the Massachusetts Bay Company, who
decreed that "none but honest and godly men should
go over to settle." In "Prince's Chronology" we
read: "Among those who arrived at Naumkeag are
Ralph Sprague, with his brothers Richard and
William, who with three or four more were by
Governor Endicott employed to explore and- take
possession of the country westward. They traveled
through the woods to Charlestown, on a neck of
land called Mishawum, between Mystic and Charles
rivers, full of Indians named Aberginians, with
whom they made peace." Hon. Edward Everett in
his address commemorative of the bi-centennial of the
arrival of Winthrop at Charlestown, said: "Ralph,
Richard and William Sprague are the founders of
the settlement in this place, and were persons of
substance and enterprise, excellent citizens, generous
public benefactors, and the head of a very large and
respectable family of descendants."
Ralph Sprague was about twenty-five years of
age when he came to this country. He had four
sons, John, Richard, Samuel and Phineas, and a
daughter Mary, who married Daniel Edmands
on September 28, 1630. John and Richard were
born in England. Ralph was one of a jury
impaneled which seems to have been the first jury
in Massachusetts. Ralph Sprague was a lieutenant
in the train band. In 1631 Captain Richard Sprague
commanded a company of the train band, and on
Friday of each week exercised his command at a
convenient place near the Indian wigwams. Feb
ruary 10, 1634, the famous order creating a board
of selectmen was passed; Richard and William
Sprague signed the order. Richard Sprague left
no posterity. His sword which is named in his
brother William's will was preserved in one of the
old Sprague houses in Hingham in 1828.
(I) William Sprague, son of Edward, of Eng
land, was born in England. He married, 1635,
Millesaint, daughter of Anthony Eames. She died

February 8, 1696. He remained in Charlestown until
1636. His wife was admitted into the church in
Charlestown in 1635, and the eldest son was bap
tized there May, 1636. He came to Hingham in
the same year in a boat which landed on the east
side of the cove, on a tract afterward granted to
him by the town, and became one of the first plant
ers, the name Bare Cove having been changed to
Hingham, September 2, 1635. William Sprague's
house lot was said to be the pleasantest in Hing
ham. Many parcels of land were granted to him
from 1636 to 1647. These gifts show the esteem
in which he was held by his fellow townsmen. Jan
uary 30, 1645, he was one of seven men -chosen in
town meeting to order the prudential affairs of the
town. In 1662 he was disbursing officer for the
town, and also constable and fence viewer, etc. Feb
ruary 21, 1673, he deeded to his son Anthony cer
tain lands for six and thirty pounds of lawful
money of New England, and nine pounds in mer
chantable corn. He died October 26, 1675. The
children of William and Millesaint Sprague were :
1. Anthony, born September 2, 1635, married Eliza
beth Bartlett, daughter of Robert Bartlett, of
Plymouth. He was a large landowner of Hing
ham. His house was burned by Indians, April
19, 1676. He died September 3, 1719. 2. John,
baptized April, 1638, married Elizabeth Holbrook,
December 13, 1666. Sprague Island was given to
him by his father. He died in Mendon, 1690. 3.
Samuel, baptized May 24, 1640. He removed to
Marshfield, Massachusetts, where he became secre
tary of the colony and register of deeds before
1692. He was the great-grandfather of Hon. Seth
Sprague, of Duxbury. 4. Elizabeth, baptized May
2, 1641. 5. Jonathan, baptized March 20, 1642, died
July 4, 1647. 6. Perses, baptized November 12, 1643,
married John Doggett. 7. Joanna, baptized Decem
ber, 1644, married Caleb Church, December 16,
1667. 8. Jonathan, born May 28, 1648, moved to
Providence, Rhode Island. 9. William, born May
7, 1650, married Deborah Lane, daughter of Andrew
Lane, December 13, 1674. At a later date he re
moved to Providence, Rhode Island. 10. Mary, bap
tized May 25, 1652, married Thomas King. 11. Han
nah, baptized February 26, 1655, .died March 31,
1658. (II) Jonathan Sprague, born in Hingham, May
28, 1648; son of William (1), married Mehitabel,
daughter of William and Elizabeth Holbrook, and
in 1672 removed to Mendon, Massachusetts. In
1675, his father died and left to him sixty acres of land
in Providence, Rhode Island, where he settled be
fore 1680. He aided in surveying the eastern line
of the colony. His was a strong, manly character.
He was a member of the house of deputies for
sixteen years between 1695 and 1714; speaker of the
house, 1703; and member of the town council eight
years from 1705 to 1712; clerk of the assembly in
1707. In 1703, with two others, he was appointed
to draw up the methods and proceedings of the
court n of common pleas. The "Annals of Provi
dence says he was a decidedly religious man, pro
fessed the Baptist faith, and preached as an ex-
je£v He died in 1741. The children of Jonathan
and Mehitabel Sprague were: 1. Jonathan, a resi
dent of Providence and Smithfield, Rhode Island,
married Bethiah Mann, November 28, 1699. She
was born March 12, 1683, and died April 6, 1712.
For his second wife he married Hannah Hawkins,
widow of Stephen Hawkins. He died April 22,
1764. 2. William, born February 2, 1691, was a resi
dent of Providence, and also of Smithfield, Rhode
Island. Smithfield was set off from Providence and
organized as a town in 1730. He died in Smith-
field, 1708. He bore the rank of captain in the

%$$tG^etfiu^

WORCESTER COUNTY

43

second militia regiment of Providence in 1732. The
"History of Woonsocket, Rhode Island," says : "For
upwards of a century the Spragues were prominent
actors in the religious and political history of old
Smithfield." He deeded much land to one cause
and another, and large tracts to his children. 3.
Patience, married William Jenks, and they had ten
children. 4. Joanna, married John Teft, who died
in 1762. She died in 1757. They had eleven chil
dren. 5. Mary, married Daniel Brown, and they
had six children. 6. A daughter whose name is
unknown, married Ebenezer Cook.
(Ill) Captain William Sprague, son of Jon
athan (2), born 1691, married September 16, 1714,
Ales Browne, who was born May 31, 1691.' Their
children were: 1. Nehemiah, born January 5, 1717,
married, 1738, Mary Brown. 2. Ales, born October
2, 1720. 3. Sarah, born February 10, 1722, married
William Sly. 4. Samuel, born September 12, 1724.
5. Jetter, born September 19, 1726. 6. Joshua, born
July 3, 1729, married Abigail Wilber.
(IV) Nehemiah Sprague, son of Captain Will
iam Sprague (3), married April 16, 1738, Mary
Brown, and had Elias, born in Smithfield, Rhode
Island, June 16, 1744; Nehemiah, born January 20,
1750, who died there in June, 1796. These brothers
were farmers, and members of the Society of
Friends. (V) Elias Sprague, son of Nehemiah (4), was
born in Smithfield, Rhode Jsland, June 16, 1744, and
died in Douglass, Massachusetts, February 15, 1799.
He married Mercy, daughter of Joseph Bassett,
August 5, 1764; she was sister of Alice, who became
the wife of Nehemiah (5). Elias moved to Doug
lass, Massachusetts, not later than 1788, at which
date he deeded his homestead in Smithfield, Rhode
Island, for three hundred and ninety pounds silver
money. The children born to Elias and Mercy
Sprague' were: I. Jonathan, born December 9,
1765. 2. Theodate, born January 4, 1768. 3. Amy,
born October 6, 1769. 4. Benjamin, born April 10,
I77L S- Lavinia, born August 12, 1773. 6. Stephen,
born November 18, 1775, married Olive Seagrave.
7. Preserved, born October 17, 1777, married Joanna
Trask 8. Thankful, born October 19, 1779. 9.
William, born June 3, 1782. 10. Alice, born August
29, 1784. 11. Elias, born  . 12. Lucina,
born  . 13. Unnamed.
(VI) Jonathan Sprague, son of Elias Sprague
(5), born at Smithfield, Rhode Island, December 9,
1765, was twice married. His first wife was Pa
tience, daughter of Robert Pixley (or Pidgeley), of
New Grafton, Massachusetts. She was born in
1765. They were married in Smithfield by Peleg
Arnold, justice of the peace, August 12, 1785. Their
children were: 1. Sarah, born in Smithfield, Rhode
Island, December 3, 1785. 2. Nehemiah, born
in Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 17, 1787.
3. Mercy, born in Douglas, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 17, 1789. 4. Federal Constitution, born
in Douglas, Massachusetts, October 16, 1790.
5. Amy, born in Douglas, October 14, 1792.
6. Daniel, born in Douglas, August 4, 1794. 7.
Preserved, born in Douglas, April 4, 1796, died in
childhood. 8. Lee, born in Douglas, February 7,
1798. 9. Patience, born in Douglas, March 1, 1800.
10. Jonathan, Jr., born in Douglas, October 6, 1801.
The father, Jonathan Sprague, died in Thompson,
Connecticut, October 29, 1815. Patience, his wife,
died December 14, 1801. They were buried in the
Friends' burying-ground at South Douglas, Massa
chusetts. Jonathan Sprague married (second)
Kezia, daughter of Daniel and Kezia Torrey, of
Sutton, Massachusetts. She was born there April
19, 1770, and died in Douglas, Massachusetts, May

10, 1844. Their children were: Almira, Philinda,
Elias and Emeline. In all, Jonathan Sprague had
ninety-seven grandchildren.
(VII) Lee Sprague, son of Jonathan (6), and
Patience Sprague, was born in Douglas, Massa
chusetts, February 7, 1798. He married (first)
Olive How Williams, May 21, 1821, who was born
in Pomfret, Connecticut, November 27, 1803. She
died in Ware, Massachusetts, November 11, 1822.
The second wife of Lee Sprague was Lucia Snow,
born April 28, 1805, daughter of Deacon Eli Snow
and Alice Alden, she being in the sixth generation
from John Alden of the "Mayflower." The father
of Lucia Snow was in the fifth generation from
Nicholas Snow, who came to Plymouth in the ship
"Ann," in 1623, and married Constance Hopkins,
a "Mayflower" pilgrim. Lucia Snow was married
in Ware, Massachusetts, to Lee Sprague, September
8, 1824, and died in Worcester, Massachusetts,
December 4, 1864. Lee Sprague married for his
third, wife Mary A. Bradley, born in 1808, married
May 8, 1866, deceased. The children of Lee and
Lucia Sprague were: 1. Olive Williams, born in
Ware, Massachusetts, June 12, 1825; died in East
Douglas, Massachusetts, December 23, 1840. 2.
Augustus B. R., born in Ware, Massachusetts, March
7, 1827. 3. Caroline Florella, born in Ware, Massa
chusetts, July 1, 1829; died in 'East Jaffrey, New
Hampshire, August 7, 1863. 4. Francis Henry, born
in Ware, Massachusetts, June 3, 1833; died April
I3» 1834. 5. William Wirt, born in Ware, Massa
chusetts, February 8, 1835; died August 20, 1837, in
East Douglas. 6. William Lee, born in East Doug
las, Massachusetts, November 9, 1839; died Jan
uary 23, 1841.
Lee Sprague, the father of these children, died
in Worcester, Massachusetts, September 9, 1877.
(VIII) Caroline Florella Sprague, daughter of
Lee and Lucia Sprague, born in Ware, Massa
chusetts, July 1, 1829, died in East Jaffrey, New
Hampshire, August 7, 1863. She married Rev.
Franklin D. Austin, at Worcester, Massachusetts,
January, 1853. Their children were: 1. Frank Lee,
born in Tolland, Massachusetts, March 16, 1855;
became a civil engineer, a graduate of Worcester,
Polytechnic Institute, 1877; died in April, 1897. 2.
Flora Lucia, born in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire,
December 27, 1857; graduated at Mt. Holyoke,
Massachusetts; died in St. Paul, Minnesota, January
5, 1900. 3. Caroline Sprague, born in East Jaffrey,
New Hampshire, July 29, 1863; graduated at
Smith's College, Massachusetts.
GENERAL AUGUSTUS BROWN REED
SPRAGUE was born in Ware, Massachusetts,
March 7, 1827, son of Lee and Lucia (Snow)
Sprague. He is a lineal descendant in the seventh
generation from William Sprague, who came from
England in 1628 with Endicott in the interest of
the Massachusetts Bay Company to prepare for a
new colony. His maternal grandmother, Alice Al
den, was a descendant in the fifth generation from
John Alden, and his grandfather, Eli Snow, in the
same generation, from Constance Hopkins, another
"Mayflower" pilgrim.
General Sprague obtained his education in public
and private schools in Ware and East Douglas, and
was fitting for college when home circumstantes
compelled a change of plan, and in 1842 he came
to Worcester. At first a clerk, he soon engaged ih
mercantile business for himself, and was so occupied
from 1846 to 1861, when at the outbreak of the re
bellion he gave his services to his country. He was
well prepared for the emergency, being already a
well drilled soldier. He had joined the Worcester

44

WORCESTER COUNTY

Guards at the age of seventeen, and had served as
private, non-commissioned and commissioned officer,
as adjutant of the Eighth Regiment, and major and
inspector on the staff of the commander of the
Fifth Brigade, Third Division, Massachusetts Vol
unteer Militia, which latter position he was holding
at the time of the attack upon Fort Sumter. Under
the call of President Lincoln for the first seventy-
five thousand men, Major Sprague was unanimously
elected to the captaincy of the Worcester City
Guards, designated as Company A, Third Rifle Bat
talion, commanded by Major Charles Devens, Jr.
This body left for the seat of war April 20, 1861.
Early in July Major Devens was called to the com
mand of the Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Vol
unteers, and Captain Sprague, by virtue of seniority,
commanded the battalion until its muster-out on
August 3d, its term of service having expired. Upon
his return home he at once identified himself with
the organization of the Twenty-fifth Regiment,
Massachusetts Volunteers, in which he was com
missioned lieutenant-colonel. On his solicitation' sev
eral who had served with him in the Third Battalion
were commissioned in this regiment, among them
being Major McCafferty, Adjutant Harkness, and
Captains Pickett, Moulton, O'Neil and Atwood. Be
fore the regiment left its rendezvous for the front
Colonel Sprague was presented with a magnificent
sword and belt by the members of his old company.
Later his Worcester friends presented him with a
valuable horse and equipments, Hon. Alexander H.
Bullock making the presentation address on behalf
of the donors. Colonel Sprague served with his
regiment until November n, 1862, taking part in
all the skirmishes and battles in which it participated,
including the famous "Burnside Expedition," and
he was officially commended by his superior officer
"for bravery and efficiency in the battles of Roanoke
Island and Newberne." He was promoted, on the
date whieh marked his separation from the Twenty-
fifth Regiment, to the colonelcy of the Fifty-first
Massachusetts Regiment. By special request of Major
General John G. Foster, the department commander,
Colonel Sprague was ordered with his new regiment
back to Nqrth Carolina, where he participated in the
'battles of Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro. The
names of these engagements were subsequently by
order of Major General Foster inscribed upon the
regimental colors which had been presented by the
ladies of Worcester.
When General Lee led the Confederat army on
the campaign which found its disastrous ending at
historic Gettysburg, Colonel Sprague's regiment,
with others, was ordered from Newberne to rein
force General John A. Dix at White House, on the
Pamunky river, after which it returned to Fortress
Monroe for transportation to Massachusetts, its term
of service having expired. Learning, however, that
the rebel army was yet north of the Potomac river,
Colonel Sprague telegraphed to Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War, an offer of his regiment for fur
ther service. This patriotic proffer was gladly ac
cepted, and the regiment was ordered to Baltimore,
and thence to the Army of the Potomac at Williams-
port, Maryland, and only left the field when Lee's
army was well out of reach on its retreat into Vir
ginia. The return of the Fifty-first Regiment to
Worcester was a notable event in the history of the
city, glad hearts, and the sorrowful ones as well,
joining in the glad welcome to the returning heroes,
and making a day long to be remembered. July 27
the regiment was mustered out of service.
Colonel Sprague, however, was not to remain
long inactive. Soon after the disbandment of his
regiment he was requested by Governor John A

Andrew to recruit and command the Fifty-seventh
Regiment, but illness in his family constrained him
to decline. Later he again offered his service to his
state, and as there were then no new regiments being
raised, he was offered by Governor Andrew a com
mission as lieutenant-colonel in either one of two
regiments then in the field — the Fourth Cavalry and
the Second Heavy Artillery. His warm personal
regard and soldierly admiration for a young man
well remembered in Worcester county, Francis
Washburn, who had made a brilliant record as a
captain in the First Massachusetts Cavalry Regi
ment and was well deserving of promotion, moved
him to decline the first of 'these offers in favor of
his friend, and he accepted the latter. He was com
missioned February 1, 1864, and at once joined his
regiment, with which he served in some of the
most momentous campaigns which marked that stir
ring period. He commanded his regiment in its
field service in southern Virginia and North Caro
lina, and formed a part of General Schofield's col
umn in its march to open up communication at
Goldsboro, North Carolina, with the army of Major
General William T. Sherman, which, -having come
thus far from Savannah after its "March to the
Sea," was now moving against the confederate
General Joseph E. Johnston. These operations,
combined with those of General Ulysses S. Grant
against the rebel army under Lee, worked the down
fall of the Confederacy, and soon afterward the
regiment was sent to the mouth of Cape Fear river
to dismantle Fort Fisher and repair Fort Caswell,
and later assembled at Galloupe Island, in Boston
Harbor, where it was discharged from service Sep
tember 20, 1865, previous to which he was commis
sioned colonel of the regiment. He was brevetted
brigadier-general to date from March 13, 1865, "for
gallant and meritorious services during tlie war."
His entire service covered the long period of three
years and nine months, and ever received the
warmest commendation of his superior officers.
Returning to civil life, General Sprague was soon
called to important civil service, which marked the
beginning of a period of more than a quarter of
a century of public life. In February, 1867, he was
appointed collector of internal revenue of the Eighth
Massachusetts District. On the death of Hon. J.
S. C. Knowlton, sheriff of the county of Worcester,
General Sprague was appointed his successor, in
July, 1871, and he acquitted himself with such con
spicuous ability that he was elected to the posi
tion at the next election, and successively re-elected
until his tenure of office was extended to six terms
of three years each, continuing until January, 1890.
Soon after entering upon his duties the Worcester
prison was greatly enlarged, and after its comple
tion General Sprague gave to all the details of prison
management his close personal attention, entering
upon a work which was justly regarded as a public
benefit, and a pronounced advance in the improve
ment of modern prisons. He revised the entire
system of accounts keeping, and introduced innova
tions which at once conduced to the comfort of the
prisoners and awoke in them a sense of gratitude
to him and respect for themselves which found ad
ditional fruits in improved morale and more effi
cient discipline. In both prisons .under his con
trol (at Fitchburg as well as at Worcester) he
did away with the shaving of heads and the wear
ing of parti-colored garments, believing them to be
unnecessary indignities imposed upon short-term
prisoners. Food of better quality, in greater variety,
and prepared under the best hygienic methods, was
provided, and at less cost than that of an inferior
quality. Better clothing and bedding were provided,

WORCESTER COUNTY

45

and the library was largely increased with carefully
selected books. General Sprague's efforts, many of
them innovations, were so highly appreciated by the
commissioners of prisons that they gave warm ex
pressions to their commendation in their annual re
ports, pronouncing the Worcester county prisons
the model prisons of the commonwealth. Addi
tional appreciation was expressed by Governor Long,
who urged General Sprague to accept the appoint
ment of warden of the state prison, but he was so
interested in his work in the Worcester county
prison that he declined.
General Sprague has also rendered useful service
in both branches of the municipal government. In
December, 1895, he was elected mayor of Worcester,
and was re-elected the following year, his term of
office being thus extended to January, 1898. His ad
ministration was particularly distinguished as the
one during which was erected the new city hall, a
building of notable beauty and utility, and from
the beginning of the work until it was practically
completed, he was an ex-officio member of the
building commission, and gave his oversight to the
work of construction. At the present time General
Sprague is president of the Worcester Electric
Light Company, and of the Worcester Mechanics
Savings Bank. General Sprague maintains a deep
interest in the various military bodies with which
he is connected, - and in which he is most widely
and favorably known. A. B. R. Sprague Post No.
24, G. A. R., of Grafton, was named in his honor.
In 1868 he was commander of the Massachusetts
Department of that order, and in 1873-74 was quar
termaster-general on the staff of the national com
mander, General Charles Devens. He is a charter
member of the Massachusetts Commandery, Mili
tary Order of the Loyal Legion. of the United States,
and in 1868 was its junior viceTCommander. He
aided in the formation of the Fifty-first Massachu
setts Regiment Association, of which he has been
for many years president. In 1889 that body pre
sented to him a beautiful and valuable diamond
studded Grand Army badge, and in 1903 it paid him
the high compliment of causing his war-time por
trait to be painted and presented to the Worcester
County Mechanics Association, which placed it upon
the wall of their hall. He is also a member of the
Society of Mayflower descendants, of the Masonic
fraternity, and of numerous other social and bene
ficial organizations.
General Sprague married, December 23, 1846,
Elizabeth Janes, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Shep-
ard Rice, who was born January 25, 1826, and died
February 20, 1889. Their children, all born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, were: Samuel Augustus, born
June 17, 1847, died May 12, 1848. William Augustus,
born May n, 1850, died April . 9, 1857. Josephine
Elizabeth, born December 19, 1851, married, Octo
ber 16, 1872, .Edward H. Knowlton, and died in
Worcester, December 7, 1879. She left one son,
Howard Sprague Knowlton, born March 4, 1878.
He was graduated at the Worcester Polytechnic In
stitute, class of 1898, and married, October 17, 1901,
Alice Frances Conant. Carrie Lee, born April 17,
1858, died August 28, 1877. Fred Foster, born Oc
tober 24, 1864, married, April 12, 1892, Adahne
Estelle Sprague. He died July 16, 1906. Gen
eral Sprague married (second), October 23,
1890, Mary Jennie, daughter of William C.
and Martha Kimball Barbour, of Worcester.
She was. born September 24, 1857, and was
at the time of her marriage assistant librarian of
the Free Public Library of Worcester. Their only
child, Alice Alden, was born September 11, 1893.

WILLIAM ELLIS RICE, son of William and
Emeline (Draper) Rice, was born at Ware, Massa
chusetts, August 6, 1833.
He is from colonial stock, being in the seventh
line from his first American ancestor, Deacon Ed
mund Rice, who, born in 1594, came from Berk-
hamstead, Hertfordshire, England, and settled _ in
Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638. His genealogical
descent is through Thomas, born 1611 ; Ephraim,
born 1655; John, born 1704; Peter, born 1755; Will
iam, born 1803. His grandfather, Peter Rice, born
at Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 25, 1755, moved
to Spencer, Massachusetts, and married Olive,
daughter of Major Asa Baldwin, of Spencer, an
officer in the revolutionary army. Peter Rice was a
soldier in the revolutionary war, a member of Cap
tain Seth Washburn's company that marched from
Leicester, and was one of those actually in the fight
at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. William, son of
Peter, and the youngest of thirteen children, all
born at Spencer, was the father of William Ellis.
He died at Worcester, November 18, 1882.
On the maternal side his grandfather, Hon.
James Draper, born at Spencer, February 26, 1778,
was the sixth of that name in direct descent from
James Draper, who, born 1618, .came from Halifax,
Yorkshire, England, and settled in Roxbury, Massa
chusetts. He was born in Spencer and died there
in 1868, in his ninety-first year, having served his
native town in many Capacities, such as town clerk,
chairman board of selectmen, town treasurer, over
seer of the poor, town agent, etc. He was also a
county commissioner, a member of the general court
for thirteen years, a senator, a magistrate for over
fifty years, and the author of Draper's "History of
Spencer," published in 1841.
His mother, the eldest daughter of James and
Lucy (Watson) Draper, of Spencer, was a woman
of unusual dignity of character, intelligent, kind-
hearted and sympathetic. She died in 1854. The
parents pf Mr. Rice were residing at his birth in
Ware, where his father with his father's eldest
brother were proprietors of, the general store of the
town; some years later his parents took up their
residence in Worcester.
The subject of this sketch was given such edu
cation as was considered necessary to fit for com
mercial business, including a year or so at the high
school and ^bout the same time at Leicester Acad
emy. In 1852, at the age of eighteen he obtained
the position of clerk and book-keeper in the counting
room of Ichabod Washburn & Co., in Worcester,
at that time the principal drawers and finishers of
the finer grades of iron wire in this country. . He
remained with this firm about seven years, acquir
ing a general knowledge of business and of the
manufacture of wire, and then relinquished his posi
tion and engaged in similar business in a smaller
way on his own account, in partnership with Mr.
Dorrance S. Goddard, . under the firm name, of Wil
liam E. Rice' & Co. Business was started in leased
premises in Connecticut, and shortly after moved to
Holyoke, Massachusetts, where a large modern plant
was erected by them, and the venture made success
ful and prosperous.
In 1865, at the solicitation of Mr. Ichabod Wash
burn, whose confidence and favor Mr. Rice pos
sessed, this business was joined with Mr. Wash
burn's larger business, then incorporated under the
title of I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works. Con
currently Mr. Rice became a stockholder, director
and executive officer in this corporation. From this
merger Mr. Rice's influence and activity in the
further development in Worcester of its greatest

46

WORCESTER COUNTY

industry, the manufacture of wire, began. He was
in hearty accord with Mr. Washburn in . the belief
that the business could be greatly expanded with
beneficial results. Closely following this connection,
a plant in the village of Quinsigamond was pur
chased and a company incorporated under the title
of the Quinsigamond Iron and Wire Works, for the
manufacture of wire-rods and wire, with Mr. Rice
as its treasurer and general manager. This com
pany was very successful in business, and was
merged with the I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works,
under the corporate title of Washburn & Moen
Manufacturing Company, in 1868. This merger
marked an epoch ,in the enlargement of the wire
industry in Worcester, and was the occasion of the
purchase of the manufacturing site on Grove street,
at that time occupied in part, under lease, by the
I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works, and the erection,
under a comprehensive plan, of substantial mill
buildings and power plants and the installation of
the continuous rod-rolling system for producing
rods of small gauge and in longer lengths than was
at the time practiced in this country. This practice
was introduced from 'England, ' where it was re-
reported upon by Mr. Rice during his visit to the
manufacturing districts there in 1867. This system,
modified and greatly improved by Worcester engi
neers, has been a potent factor in promoting the
growth of the wire industry in Worcester. Mr.
Rice, who was a director in the corporation and its
treasurer, was influential and active in, the expan
sion, as well as in the general conduct of _ the busi
ness which has resulted in adding so noticeably to
the population and to the property of Worcester.
In 1870 Mr. Rice visited the iron manufacturing
districts of Sweden, and arranged for the manufac
ture of special bars for the continuous rolling sys
tem, acquiring for his company the distinction in
Sweden of being the first consumer in this country
to import rolled iron direct from Swedish manufac
turers. In 1877 Mr. Rice organized the Worcester
Wire Company, for the general manufacture" of wire,
with a plant at South ,Worcester. This also, be
came an exceedingly successful company. In 1899
Mr. Rice, as president of the Worcester Wire Com
pany, which office he took in 1877, and of the Wash
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company, which office
he took in 1891, was instrumental, in behalf of the
stockholders, in effecting a sale and transfer of all
the shares of the above mentioned corporations, and
in merging the business affairs of both in the Amer
ican Steel & Wire Co. The successful conclusion
of this important negotiation permitted the much de
sired withdrawal of Mr. Rice from the business
affairs upon which his attention had so long been
concentrated, and his general relinquishment of
business pursuits. Mr. Rice has filled numerous
fiduciary positions of importance, and been con
nected in matters of consequence with many cor
porate and other organizations.
Mr. Rice married, January 11, 1866, Frances
Helen, daughter of Thomas L. and Margaret (Bart
lett) Randlett, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who
died May 3, 1879. December 15, 1881, ,he married
Lucy Draper, daughter of Moores M. and Sophia
A. (Draper) White, of the city of New York. He
has two children: Christine, the wife of Hon. Rock
wood Hoar, M. C; and Albert White, A. M., Har
vard, 1905, now a student in the Harvard Law
School. WHITNEY FAMILY. John Whitney, the emi
grant ancester of George C. Whitney and the late
Edward Whitney, of Worcester, settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was born about

1589. His wife, Elinor, was born about 1599. With
seven children they embarked at Ipswich, England,.
in April, 1635. They have a very large posterity in
America. Another John Whitney settled in Con
necticut and founded an equally large family.
John Whitney bought the sixteen acres home-
stall of John Strickland at what is now Waltham,
in Watertown then, situated on what is now Bel
mont and East Common streets. Strickland went
to Wethersfield, Connecticut, to live. John Whit
ney was admitted a freeman March 3, 1635-6. He
was a constable in 1641 and a selectman from 1638
to 1655 inclusive. He was town clerk in. 1655.
His wife Elinor died May 11, 1659, said to be fifty-
four years old, though other records would make
her about sixty. He married (second), September
29, 1669, Judah Clement. He died June 1, 1673,
said to be seventy-four years old. The ancestry of
John Whitney is given with the Whitney Family
elsewhere in this work.
The children of John and Elinor Whitney were:
Mary, baptized in England, May 23, 1619, died
young; John, baptized in England, 1620; Richard,
baptized in England, 1626, married Martha Coldam;
Nathaniel, baptized in England, 1627; Thomas, bap
tized in England, 1629, married Mary Kedall (Ket-
tell) ; .Jonathan, baptiz'ed in England, 1634, married
Lydia Jones ; Joshua, baptized in England, July 5,
1635, married Lydia  ¦-; Mary  ; and Abi
gail Tarbell ; Caleb, born in Watertown, July 12,
1640; Benjamin, born in Watertown, June 6, 1643,
married Jane  and Mary Poor.
(II) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (1)
was born in England in 1620. ¦ He settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts. He married, 1642, Ruth Rey
nolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, of Wethers
field, Watertown and Boston. John Whitney lived
on a three acre lot on the east side of Lexington
street on land granted to E. How, next the home-
stall of the Phillips (q, v.) Family. Whitney was
admitted a freeman May 26, 1647, at the age of
twenty-three He was selectman from 1673 to 1680
inclusive He was a soldier in 1673, and was in
King Philip's war. He died October 12, 1692.
The children of John and Ruth (Reynolds)
Whitney were: John, born September 12, 1643,
married Elizabeth Harris; Ruth, born April 15,
1645, married, June 20, 1664, John Shattuck, son of
the emigrant William Shattuck; John was drowned
while crossing the Charlestown Ferry, September
14, 1675 ; he was in the Squakeag fight September
4, 1675, and was on his way to Boston to report the
disaster to his company; Nathaniel, born February
1, 1646, married Sarah Hagar; Samuel, born July
26, 1648, married Mary Bemis ; Mary, born April 29,
1650, died unmarried after 1693; Joseph, born Janu
ary 15, 1651, married Martha Beach; Sarah, born
March 17, 1653, married, October 18, 1681, Daniel
Harrington; she died June 8, 1720; he married
(second), October 25, 1720, Elizabeth Bridge, widow
of Captain Benjamin Garfield; Elizabeth, born June
0. 1656, married, December 19, 1678, Daniel Warren;
Hannah; Benjamin, born June 28, 1660, married
Abigail Hagar and Elizabeth  .
(Ill) Benjamin Whitney, son of John Whitney
(2), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, June
28, 1660. He married, March 30, 1687, Abigail
Hagar, daughter of William and Mary (Bemis)
Hagar. He married (second) Elizabeth  — . He
died in 1736. His children were: Abigail, born
in Watertown, March 3, 1688, married, March 18,
I7I7- Richard Sawtel; Benjamin, baptized July 10,
1698, married Rebecca  ; Ruth, baptized July
10, 1698, married, July 7, 1715, John Bond, bap
tized November 23, 1690, removed to Worcester

EDWARD WHITNEY

WORCESTER COUNTY

47

before 1752; John, born June 15, 1694, married
(first) Susan  , (second) Bethia Cutter and
(third) Mrs. Beriah (Bemis) (Child) Pierce;
David, born June 16, 1697; Daniel, born July 17,
1700, married Dorothy Tainter.
(IV) Ensign David Whitney, son of Benjamin
Whitney (3), was born in Watertown, Massachus
etts, June 16, 1697. He married, 1720, Rebecca
Fillebrown, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
November 6, 1695, and died 1749. He was one of
the proprietors of land at Paris, Maine, in 1736.
He died in 1745. He resided in Watertown and
Waltham, Massachusetts. Their children were :
Rebecca, born November 2, 1721, married, July 18,
1845, Thomas Stowell ; David, September 25, 1723,
married Mary Merriam ; Anna, August 8, 1725, mar
ried, June 4, 1752, Samuel Merriam; Nathan, born
March 12, 1726; Ruth, February 23, 1728, died April
23, 1757; Josiah, November 22, 1730, married Sarah
Lawrence; Jonas, June 25, 1733, married Sarah
Whittemore,; Jonathan, February io, 1735, died April
9, I757- (V) Nathan Whitney, son of David Whitney
(4), was born March 12, 1726-7. Pie married
Tabitha Merriam. He settled in Westminster,
Massachusetts. He bought of Benjamin Brown,
December 26, 1750, a lot of ninety acres of land
in the southern part of the town; part of this land
is still owned by his descendants and used as the
summer home of George C. Whitney and the family
of Edward Whitney; of Worcester. He also bought
of Thomas Merriam, his father-in-law, the south
east ends of the adjoining lots, 83 and 84, on which
he built his first temporary house. His framed house'
which was built later forms the older part of the
present structure on the old homestead. He brought
his bride to Westminster in 1752 or 1753. His
struggle with the soil and misfortune almost dis
couraged him. In the epidemic of 1756 both their
children were taken. Again in 1764 their four chil
dren died of the epidemic. Out of nine children
only three lived to maturity.
Nathan Whitney was a . persevering and enter
prising man, and at length he prospered. He be
came one of the leading men of- the town, and had
an- honorable military record. He was corporal in
Captain Daniel Hoar's company in 1759- From 1771
to 1776 he held a commission from George III as
captain. He sided with the colonists against the
king, resigned his commission and took what part
his age and health permitted in the revolution. In
1776 he was in charge of the Hessian prisoners
from the British army, stationed at his old home
stead in ' Westminster. He died August 10, 1803,
aged seventy-six. His wife Tabitha died December
26, 1822, . aged ninety years. Mr. Whitney was one
of the largest property holders on the Westminster
tax list of 1798.
The children of Nathan and Tabitha (Merriam)
Whitney were: Tabitha, born June 29, 1753;
Nathan, May 16, 1755, died August 28, 1756;
Tabitha, July 6, 1757, died January 27, 1764 ; Nathan,
April 9, 1760, died July 2, 1764; Jonathan, May 14,
1761, died June 21, 1764; Ruth, April 17, 1763, died
July 7, 1764; Nathan, July 1, 1765; David, August
10, 1767; John, October 13, 1769.
(VI) John Whitney, son of Captain Nathan
Whitney (5), was born in Westminster, Massa
chusetts. He married Elizabeth Stearns, daughter
of Josiah and Abigail (Emerson) Stearns, December
31, 1793- He settled on the first lot bought by his
father, No. 90, and built the house now in use as
a summer home by the Whitney family of Wor
cester. He died at the early age of thirty-two years,
June. 25, 1802. His widow married James Walker,

who died without issue. She married (third) Luke
Warren, of Hibbardston, by whom she had four
children. She died October 30, 1838, aged sixty-
eight years. The children of John and Elizabeth
(Stearns) Whitney were : John, born January 15,
I79S> died February 22, 1796; John, February 20,
1797; Betsy, May 3, 1799, married April 30, 1829,
Thomas Merriam, and resided at Westminster; had
three children; died July 15, 1888.
(VII) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (6),
was born in Westminster, Massachusetts. He suc
ceeded to his father's estate and lived upon it all
his life. He married Lydia Allen, daughter of
Deacon Ephraim Allen, of Hubbardston (published
September 30), 1821. They had a family of eight
children, all of whom were of excellent character
and reputation. He was greatly interested in the
education of his children, fitted up a school room in
his house, and maintained a private school, the ad
vantages of which were shared by many children
besides his own. He became a Baptist in middle
life and joined the church. Later he was chosen
deacon. In 1843-4 typhoid fever struck down all
the members of the household. The father, mother
and one child died. The date of his death was
March 15, 1844, aged forty-seven; of his wife De
cember 19, 1843, aged forty-one.
Their children were: J. Emerson, born Septem
ber 13, 1822, married twice, resided at Grafton,
Massachusetts; Sumner A., June 27, 1824, married
, Lura Clarke, had three children ; he died August
29, 1861 ; Ephraim, July 6, 1826, died June 20, 1850;
Mary, October 23, 1829, married Charles M. Tinley,
had three daughters ; she died February 25, 1859 ;
Harriet, May 29, 1832, married twice, resided in
Worcester and Minnesota; had two children; Ed
ward, August 12, 1834; Francis S., March 25, 1840,
died January 16, 1844; George Clarkson, September
19, 1842.
(VIII) Edward Whitney, son of John Whitney
(7), was born on the old Whitney homestead in
Westminster, Massachusetts, August 12, 1834. He
obtained his elementary education in the public
schools of his native town. In 1852, at the age of
eighteen, he went to New York to strike out in
business for himself. There he remained for four
years, holding a position of trust in the Metropoli
tan Bank. In 1856 he came to Worcester, joining
his elder brother, Sumner A. Whitney, in the station
ery business which was carried on in the Butman
block for a few years. His brother died in 1861
and he continued the business alone. He removed
soon after to the Bowen block at the corner of Main
and Mechanic streets, where he remained for about
twenty years. Early in the eighties he removed to
the present location of the business at 112 Front
street. Shortly before his death Mr. Whitney ad
mitted to partnership his two sons, Edward Cutting
Whitney and Harry Sumner Whitney, and they
have succeeded to the business which is carried on
under the same name. The firm does a large whole
sale trade in paper and stationery, blank books,
manila paper and paper bags, all over New England.
Mr. Whitney occupied a high position in the business
community. His sterling character was the founda
tion of the great business success of his business.
During the last few years of his life he turned
his business cares over to his sons and spent some
time in foreign travel, visiting various sections of
America, Europe and the Holy Land, in which he
took especial interest. He was an active and efficient
worker in church and Sunday school. When he
first came to Worcester he joined the Union Con
gregational Church and was superintendent of its
Sunday school for more than ten years. He was

48

WORCESTER COUNTY

also deacon for many years. About 1892 he trans
ferred his membership to the Plymouth Congre
gational Church. He was president of the Wor
cester Young Men's Christian Association for two
years. He was for several years chairman of the
executive committee of the Young Men's Christian
Association of Massachusetts. He was president of
the Worcester Congregational Club for two years.
He was a trustee of the Home for Aged Men. Few
men have done more for the religious interests of
the city than Mr. Whitney. He never cared for
politics to any extent and never considered public
office. It has been said of him that he was "inter
ested in whatever was conducive to human wel
fare, and he did much to promote the better life
of his adopted city and to lift the world to a. higher
level." Mr. Whitney died February 5, 1897. He
married, November 26, 1857, Susan Louise Cutting,
born August 29, 1838, died January I, 1880. He
married (second), October 27, 1886, Emma Louise
Rice, who survives him; she is the daughter of
William Rice. The children of Edward and Susan
Louise (Cutting) Whitney were: Lillie Marie,
born in Worcester, June 19, 1867, died August 24,
1868; Edward Cutting, born July 19, 1869; Harry
Sumner, born June 1, 1873, married Alice Wright
Gibson, of Germantown, Philadelphia, daughter of
Alfred C. Gibson, of Germantown, they have one
daughter, Louise, born March 30, 1905.
GROUT FAMILY. Of English descent, we find.
the first representative in this country to be Captain
John Grout (I), of Watertown and Sudbury,
Massachusetts. He came from England with his
gun in his hand and first settled at Watertown.
His date of settlement was about 1640, and in 1662
he was granted leave to practice as a "Chirurgeon."
A few years later it is found that he moved to Sud
bury, where for thirty years he served as selectman.
He acquired the title of Captain, and was given
charge of defending the .settlements at Sudbury.
May 14, 1648, he testified that, about 1642, Tacomus,
an Indian Sagamore, or chief man among the In
dians at Chapnacunco, "came to Boston with his sons
and received sundry gifts and favors from Governor
John Winthrop. In return he proposed to give
Winthrop some land up in his country (Nipmug).
John Grout, with- others, went to take possession
of the land. His eldest son kneeled down on the
ground, and Tacomus made his mark to the deed
on his son's back ; then the father signed it on his
father's back, and so one, with all the other sons,
the same way, thus abandoning all right of- succes
sion to the land. John Grout was recognized as a
man of great courage and much wisdom. For
forty years he was in charge of the train bands, or
militia of Sudbury. He was twice married. His
second wife was Sarah Busby, widow of Captain
Thomas Cakebread. By his first wife Mary he had
children : John, born 1641 ; Sarah, 1643 ; Joseph,
1649; Abigail, 1655; Jonathan, 1658; Mary, 1661 ;
Susannah, 1664; and Elizabeth.
(II) Jonathan Grout, born 1658, married Abi
gail Dix, sister of John Dix, grandfather of Dr.
Elijah, of Worcester and Dixmont, Maine. Their
children: 1. Jonathan, born February 9, 1702. 2.
Josiah, born 1703. 3. John, born 1704. 4. Abigail,
born 1708. 5. Sarah, born 1711. 6. Patience, born
in 1714. 7. Peter, born 1715.
(Ill) Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan (2),
born February 9, 1702, married Hannah Hurd, June
6, 1743, and purchased the farm referred to and re
moved from Sudbury to Worcester with his wife
and one child in 1744. He died 1748, leaving his
widow with three children : 1. Jonathan, born June

2, 1744. 2. Silence, born November 8, 1745, mar
ried Josiah Gates, February 20, 1771. 3. Priscilla,
born August 13, 1747.
(IV) Captain Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan
(3), born June 2, 1744, when sixteen years of age
returned to Worcester, assuming charge of his
father's estate, left him by his father. He rendered
valuable service during the revolutionary war. He
married, March 2, 1769, Anna Harrington, who died
August 25, 1827. He died October 17, 1828, leav
ing children: I. Jonathan, born February 14, 1772.
2. Anna, born September 16, 1774. 3. Francis, born
October 30, 1777. 4. Hannah, born May 7, 1781;
(V) Captain Francis Grout, second son of Cap
tain Jonathan Grout (4), born October 30, 1777,
remained on the old homestead and became a farmer.
True to the loyalty of the Grout family, in early
life he enrolled in the Massachusetts militia, April
20, 1804, became sergeant of a company in First
Regiment; March, 1809, was made ensign, and a
year later lieutenant, and promoted to, captain in
181 1. He married Aumah Davis, of Templeton,
and their children were: Julia Aumah, Sarah,
Jonathan Davis. Captain Francis Grout died in
Worcester, October 31, 1864, aged eighty-seven
years. His youngest child and only son was:
(VI) Jonathan Davis Grout, who succeeded to
the old homestead, and married Adeline S. Wash
burn, 1850, and died, leaving two sons : 1. Francis,
born 1851. 2. Charles Henry, born 1854. The latter
became a popular music teacher of Worcester, where
he still resides. Francis W. inherited the home farm.
He was selected a member of the city government,
serving as Alderman in 1891-92-93-94.
Jonathan Grout ("Master"), son of Jonathan
(4), born 1772, after gaining the advantages of the
Worcester schools, entered Leicester Academy and
there fitted himself for a teacher. Success as a
teacher gave him the title far and near of "Master"
Grout. He mastered the book-binding trade as well,
and became an extensive dealer in books and sta
tionery in Millbury. He also became a noted author
of school text-books, including "The Pupil's Guide
to Practical Arithmetic," published in 1802, the first
work on mathematics published in this country.
His books had a wide sale, as his work was a great
improvement over the old hard-written "lessons"
and rules on mathematics, which, together with his
book, are now among the antiquarian relics of the
Worcester Society of Antiquity. It is said of him
that "he was a Puritan through and through, except
their faults." He married Sally De Wolfe, of
Lyme, Connecticut, and had children: I. Edwin,
born August 4, 1812. 2. Jonathan, born September
24, 1815. 3. Sarah Ann, born February 13, 1820.
(VI) Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan (5),
born September 24, 1815, became a popular book
seller and owned Grout's block, coming to Wor
cester from his native town, Millbury, in 1841. He
first started in a small way. After twelve years
of remarkable business success, in 1852 he sold his
business to John Keith. Other changes occurred in
the business, he having it again, but in 1876 it was
sold to Putnam & Davis. Mr. Grout built several
fine business houses in Worcester and was a well-
to-do man. He died April 4, 1882. His grandfather
settled in 1744 upon the Grout estate on Vernon
street, Worcester, which has remained in one branch
of the family ever since. The subject of 'this notice
was the fifth of the same name (Jonathan) in direct
line of succession from the progenitor in this coun
try, Captain John Grout of Watertown, 1640. Jona
than Jr. was interested in the making of copying
presses, perforated paper, etc., and indirectly through
pecuniary investment in the enterprise of Dr. Rus-

¦ . ; ¦.¦

. y. . . -y. ,

WORCESTER COUNTY

49

sell L. Hawes, who invented- the machines for and
produced the first envelopes in the world, which
were put upon the market by Mr. Grout. He was
a man of great business tact, energy and sagacity,
quick to decide and act. His capacity for taking
in large transactions was wonderful. It was ih
i860 that he went in company with L. H. Bigelow
and built another business block. He found time
from out all his business concernsto devote some
happy hours in the cultivating of his finer instincts.
He loved art and good pure literature. He loved
nature and was an admirer of birds, trees and
flowers in their state of freedom. Also, in horticul
ture and floriculture he took great delight. He was
a Whig and Republican in politics, but no office
seeker. He married Mary J.. Smith, by, whom he
had children: 1. Charles Edwin, died in infancy.
2. Ellen Manderville, married' George H. Gould,
D. D., who died May 8, 1899, and she then married
Rev. William S. Smith. 3. John William, born
July 25, 1843. 4. Mary Elizabeth,, married Hjiram
R. Adams.
(VII) Lieutenant John W. Grout, only son of
Jonathan Grout (6), born July 25, 1843, was barely
old enough to claim a man's standing when he fell
a voluntary sacrifice on the altar of his country,
in the civil war period. He was fine and manly in
his features, and with elastic vigor, and the "crim
son glow of health" he seemed every inch a soldier.
His was a rare combination of qualities. He was an
accomplished pianist, was also proficient in mathe
matics, and had an art for drawing, to which he
added some knowledge of the French language and
of ancient classics. In early youth he exhibited
signs of military genius. A treasured specimen is
a whittled dagger with a Union shield on it, now
doubly prized. He entered the military department
of Caleb B. Metcalf's Highland school at Worcester
and became an expert in tactics. This peculiarly
fitted him, when the Rebellion opened up, for active,
useful service. Upon the organization of the Fif
teenth Massachusetts Regiment he was welcomed
to Company D as its second lieutenant, and he
drilled the company, until it went to the front. True
to his retiring nature he chose some secluded spot
in which to drill his men.
The story of Leesburg (Balls Bluff), October
21, 1861, is familiar to many, and is a matter of war
department record, but we wish here to make men
tion of the fact enacted by him of whom we write.
The Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment was in the
thickest of the fight and suffered great loss. Lieu
tenant Grout was found adequate to his duties. His
coolness and self-possession astonished all of his
men. In the terrific showers of leaden hail, Provi
dence shielded him from harm. Upon the' foe, who
would bayonet a wounded soldier, he executed sum
mary wrath. Every blow of his own sword told
in hand-to-hand contest. He declared he would
never surrender alive.' Compelled to retreat, his
coolness was still maintained. Driven to the bank"
of the river, he still forgot himself, in the service
being rendered to make good the escape of his
command.. With inadequate means for transporta
tion he crossed the stream with the wounded men
and returned; again the frail boat was filled to its
capacity and he remained upon the shore, but he
had risked too much for his own safety. The re
mainder were now reduced to- the last extremity,
and when the young lieutenant went up to his
superior, with the calm but heroic enquiry, "Is
there anything more I can do?". the reply of Colonel
Devens was, "Nothing but take care of yourself."
And when the Colonel' cried to his brave men, "I
shall never surrender !" and with benediction, "God

be with you all," gave the final order,'' Every man
for himself," Lieutenant Grout had done his duty,
and nobly justified the highest expectations of his
admirers. _ After waiting for the first faint glimpse
of the rising moon, he threw his incumbrances be
yond recovery, and with a few companions plunged
into the stream, but before he could reach the oppo
site shore, the fatal ball of the barbarous assassin
left him only time and strength to exclaim "Tell
Company D that I should have escaped, but I am
shot." He was lost in the dark rolling waters of
the Potomac, but after some time the river yielded
up the treasure, and under the flag of his heroic
love he was borne from the paternal mansion "to
the house appointed for all living." We are indebted
'for the facts here given to a memorial written by
Rev. E. Cutler, soon after the gallant soldier was
killed, and it is a priceless gem among the family
possessions, and they have thus had it inserted in
this volume to further perpetuate the pathetic story
of one who gave up his young life to save his com
rades — and his country as well.
This sketch of the Grout family would be in
complete without a few lines to place upon record
some of the accomplishments of a sister of this
deceased hero, Lieutenant John William Grout.
Ellen Mandeville Grout was born in the town of
Princeton, Massachusetts, at the foot of Mount
Wachusett, in the year 1840. Her father soon re
moved from Princeton, and while prosecuting suc
cessful business enterprises in Worcester, the daugh
ter attended the graded schools there, and also
attended the Oread Collegiate Institute, that famous
school founded by Hon. Eli Thayer, for the educa
tion of girls. In October, 1862, she was married
to Rev. George H. Gould, who two years later was
settled as pastor over the old Center Church in
Hartford, Connecticut. About the year 1870 Dr.
Gould returned to Worcester, Massachusetts, and
for several years was pastor of Piedmont Church.
He was a very popular and gifted preacher and dis
tinguished for his brilliant oratory. He died May
8, 1899, and his widow married for her second hus
band the Rev. . William S. Smith, of Auburndale.
Mrs. Smith is greatly interested in the subject of
conchology, and is the possessor of a large and valu
able collection of shells, many of them rare and
very beautiful. She has given much time to the
study of conchology, and has lectured in Boston,
Worcester and other places on that subject; illus
trating her addresses with selections from her stock
of beautiful shells, also with fine water-color de
signs. She presents her subject not so much in a
scientific as in a popular way, quoting from litera
ture, history and geology. She has published a
volume of Dr. Gould's sermons, which is entitled :
"In what Life Consists, and Other Sermons," and
has written articles for the papers and magazines.
Mrs. Smith has traveled extensively in this country
and in Europe.
WELLINGTON EVARTS PARKHURST.
The family of which Wellington E. Parkhurst, who
was born January 19, 1835, in Framingham, Massa
chusetts, is a member, is of ancient English origin
the name appearing as early as A. D. iooo. The
signification of the name is seen in its construction
' Park" meaning a public ground, and "Hurst" a
grove or wood. The history of the Isle of Wight
mentions a royal park called "Parkhurst Forest"
Two centuries ago a colony of Parkhursts migrated
from Parkhurst, on that island, to Surrey countv
m England, from which branch of the family the
Americans of this name are supposed to have de
scended. Bishop Parkhurst, of Norwich, England
who died in 1574, is supposed to have been the

5°

WORCESTER COUNTY

grandfather of the great-grandfather of George
Parkhurst, the first settler in America.
The descent of the American families from the
George, mentioned above, was as follows : I.
George, living in Watertown, Massachusetts, in
1643. II. George, Jr., born in 1618, lived in Water-
town. III. John, born in 1644, also resided in
Watertown. IV. John, Jr., deacon, born in 1671,
lived in Weston. V. Josiah, born in 1706, also re
sided in Weston. VI. Josiah, Jr., born in 1736, first
settled in Weston, and in 1762 removed to Fram-
ingham, building a house near "Cutler Mills," later
a part of the town of Ashland. VII. Ephraim, born
in Framingham. January 16, 1765, a farmer, died at
the homestead, January 20, 1850. VIII. Charles F.
W., of whom later. IX. Wellington Evarts, of
whom later.
Charles F. W. Parkhurst (father) was born
March 5, 1808, in Framingham, Massachusetts, a
son of Ephraim Parkhurst, a farmer, also the teacher
of district schools far twenty-one successive win
ters. Charles F. W. was educated in the town
schools and at Framingham Academy. In 1853 he
removed to Clinton, Massachusetts, and for twenty-
one years was paymaster of the Clinton Wire-Cloth
Company, also for a part of the time served as clerk
at Parker's Machine Works. He served as first
town clerk of Ashland, Massachusetts, also several
years as a member of the school committee, a justice
of the peace, chorister of the village choir, and
teacher in penmanship. During his residence in
Clinton, he also served as a member of the school
committee board, a portion of which time he acted
as chairman. He was a member of the Congrega
tional church, and served several years as deacon.
Originally he was an Abolitionist in politics, but
later became a Republican. On November 8, 1832,
Mr. Parkhurst married Mary Goodale, born in
Marlboro. Massachusetts, November 18, 1807, and
prior to her marriage was a school teacher. Mr.
Parkhurst died February 9, 1878; his wife passed
awav March 15, 1887.
Wellington Evarts Parkhurst attended the public
schools and Framingham Academy. In May, 1853,
at the age of eighteen, he went to Clinton, taking
a position in the office of the Bigelow Carpet Com
pany. Later he was paymaster at the Lancaster
Quilt Company's mill, and afterwards assistant
treasurer of the Clinton Savings Bank. He held
the office of town clerk six years, and for fifteen
years was a member of the school board; he also
has filled the office of town treasurer, library direc
tor and assessor, and for four years was the super
intendent of the Congregational Sunday school. He
represented the Worcester thirteenth district four
years in the legislature, in the sessions of 1890-01-
92 and '93, serving as house chairman of the joint
committee on education, of public charitable insti
tutions, also as house chairman of the state legis
lative delegation to the Chicago World's Fair, visit
ing in the "Massachusetts House," June 17, 1893.
For a time during the civil war, Mr. Parkhurst
filled the position of city editor of the Worcester
Daily Spy, and was subsequently promoted to take
the chief editorial chair, but declined on account of
ill health. In 1865 he assumed the editorial manage
ment of the Clinton Wcekly_ Courant. which posi
tion he still fills, after a continuous service of about
forty-one years. In 1893 he also became the editor
of the Clinton Daily Item, having served to the
present date, a period of about thirteen yejurs. On
the occasion of a vacancy on the board of trustees
of the State Sanitarium for Consumptives, at Rut
land, Massachusetts, Governor Wolcott, in 1897, ap
pointed him to the position, which he still holds

by a reappointment in. 1902. At the semi-centennial
of the incorporation of the town of Clinton, in 1900,
he officiated as chairman of the reception committee,
and as chairman on the occasion of the public exer
cises in the town hall. In 1904 he was elected by
the Republican convention of the fourth Massa
chusetts district a delegate to the national conven
tion held in Chicago. Mr. Parkhurst is a member
of the Masonic Order, lodge, chapter and command-
ery. A member of the Odd Fellows Order. A
member of the Massachusetts Press Association, of
which he was one of the original members. A
member of Pomona and Lancaster Granges. A
member of Clinton Historical Society, of which he
was one of the organizers and for ten years the
treasurer. A member of the Clinton board of trade.
On September 13, 1866, Mr. Parkhurst married
Miss Hattie F. Fairbank, of West Boylston, who
died December 13, 1885. On August 9, 1887, Mr.
Parkhurst married Miss Georgiana B. Warren, a
daughter of George and Pamelia (Eames) Warren,
of Framingham, Massachusetts. Mr. Parkhurst has
one sister, Miss Helen Adelaide, for many years
a teacher of music and of day schools, also two
brothers : Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D. D., for
the past twenty-five years pastor of the Madison
Square Presbyterian Church of New York city;
and Professor Howard E. Parkhurst, organist at
the same church, also a teacher of music, a resident
of Englewood, New Jersey.
GENERAL JOSIAH PICKETT. The record
of Worcester is no exception to that of other cities
in this great Republic, but the reader has only to
glance at the long roll of names of patriotic men
who, during those trying days of the civil war, re
sponded to the call of President Lincoln and went
forth from this city to strengthen the hands of the
government and help to preserve the Union, to
in some measure appreciate the service her citizen
soldiery rendered the country from the spring of
1861 to the close of the war. Among those names
representing that honored list appears that of Gen
eral Josiah Pickett, who was born at Beverly, Massa
chusetts, November 21, 1822, and after attending
the common schools of his native town was appren
ticed to learn a mechanical trade, which he in rea
sonable time acquired and in the prosecution of
which for a number of years he found remunera
tive employment. The prevailing gold excitement
induced him in 1852 to make a trip to California,
via the Lake Nicaragua route, where after a so
journ of nearly three years, and in the meantime
a satisfactory trial at mining, he returned to Massa
chusetts, and in the early spring of 1855 found a
home in the city of Worcester.
His military experience began in July, 1840, as
a member of Company F, Sixth Infantry Massa
chusetts Volunteer Militia, and within three years
was advanced to a lieutenancy. Soon after his
arrival in Worcester he became a member of the
city guards, and in 1859 was elected a lieutenant of
the company. When the call for troops came in
April, 1861, he was among the first to offer his
services and to encourage others to do likewise, and
as first lieutenant he left Worcester April 20, with
his company, then assigned to the Third Battalion
of Rifles, Major Charles Devens, Jr., commanding.
The battalion reported at Annapolis, then proceeded
to Fort McHenry, Maryland, where Lieutenant
Pickett rendered valuable service during a three
months' campaign. Returning to Worcester in Au
gust, he became actively interested in organizing
the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, receiving
a commission as captain in September. This regi-

c^^^^^

WORCESTER COUNTY

ment left Worcester, October 29, 1861, and was as
signed to General Burnside's forces for service in
North Carolina, sailing from Annapolis, Maryland,
January 9, 1862, and after a perilous experience at
sea reached the scene of the battle of Roanoke Is
land in season to receive their baptismal fire on that
eighth day of February, Captain Pickett- being
among the first to effect a landing, and was highly
commended for gallantry in this engagement.
The battle and capture of Newberne followed,
on March 14, and on the 20th he was promoted
to be major, in which capacity he commanded the
regiment during the Tarboro and Goldsboro expe
dition, and, upon the resignation of Colonel Upton,
on October 29, received a commission as colonel
of the regiment. Colonel Pickett gave abundant
evidence of his courage and capability as an officer
and soldier. He brought his regiment to a high
standard of discipline, rendering conspicuous ser
vice in all the subsequent battles and military opera
tions in North Carolina, commanding also, with
signal ability, the forces and defences at Plymouth,
and of the sub-military district of the Pamlico, at
Washington, North Carolina, receiving honorable
mention for such services upon his departure for
Virginia to rejoin his regiment in December, 1863.
Early in 1864 the Twenty-fifth Regiment was
assigned to Heckman's brigade of the Eighteenth
Army Corps, for service in the Army of the James,
and, with his brave and loyal veterans in a new
field of operations, Colonel Pickett won further dis
tinction in the severe engagements that followed,
notably his gallant repulse of the charging Con
federate lines at the battle of Arrowfield Church,
May 9. Again, in the battle of Drury's Bluff, May
16, at the critical moment in the fight, the intrepid
and decisive action of Colonel Pickett saved the
Union right from irretrievable disaster. In this in
stance the First Brigade was being severely pressed
by the enemy. General Heckman, Colonel Lee, with
Captain Belger and a portion of his battery had
fallen into* the hands of the enemy and were prison
ers. The brigade was in a most critical and serious
plight, when the command fell to Colonel Pickett,
whose self possession served him at this moment
as it had on former occasions. He quickly rallied
what was left of the brigade, formed a new line of
battle, and succeeded in holding the enemy in check,
thereby protecting the base of supplies at Bermuda
Hundred from possible capture.
June 3, 1864, at the battle of Cold Harbor, Vir
ginia, in a most heroic charge upon the enemy's
works, the Twenty-fifth losing two hundred and
nineteen out of three hundred and two men taken
into action, Colonel Pickett was severely wounded
while leading his brave men through that "Valley
of death," and not since the famous charge of the
brigade at Balaklava, immortalized in story and in
song, has greater heroism been displayed. So says
the Confederate General Bowles in his official re
port of the battle. For his distinguished gallantry
upon this and ¦ previous occasions during the war,
he received a commission as brevet brigadier-gen
eral to date from June 3, 1864, the recommendation
for this commission being signed by Brevet-Major-
General George J. Stannard, and endorsed by Major
General A. E. Burnside, Major General John G.
Foster, U. S. A., and Brevet Brigadier General A.
B. R. Sprague, U. S. V Disabled from further
active service in consequence of his wound, and
deeply regretting his inability to continue with his
brave comrades until the final victory, he reluctantly
retired after a service of nearly four years, on Janu
ary 10, 1865. having won the respect and confidence
not only of his entire command, but that of his

superior officers as well. It is not the purpose of
this sketch to present to the reader incidents as
sociated with all of the various engagements during .
the civil war in which General Pickett took part,
but merely to mention those in which his conduct
as a soldier and military tactician called for the
special commendation from his associates in arms
and from others knowing the facts and competent
to pass judgment upon his patriotic and praise
worthy service.
After returning to his home in Worcester, and
suffering severely for nearly a year from the wound
in his hip, the ball Vas finally extracted, and in
October, 1865, General Pickett accepted a position
in the Boston Custom House! Within a year
(namely, in September, 1866) he received the ap
pointment as postmaster of Worcester, a compli
ment most satisfactory to her citizens. With his
characteristic promptness and foresight for the ac
commodation of the public, he sought new and more
commodious quarters,, and the postoffice was re
moved from the old Exchange building to Pearl
street, and for twenty years he was the efficient
and progressive postmaster of Worcester. All re
forms that seemed to him necessary for the best
interests of the service he adopted, and the capacity
of the office grew with public demand, and the
present efficient postmaster of Worcester (Mr.
Hunt) was educated from a boy of sixteen in the
Worcester postoffice while it was under the man
agement of the subject of this sketch. In fact] it
may be said that other valuable assistants in that
department were also early brought under the same
care and training, and still continue in service. In
1889 he was appointed by Governor Ames a mem
ber of the State Armory Commission. This choice
was made by the governor at a time when it was
proposed to erect at the expense of the state of
Massachusetts a number of buildings to be used as
headnuarters for the militia of the state, and the
stately structures, with their convenient appoint
ments, that may be seen in Worcester, Boston, Fall
River, Lowell, Springfield and other cities within
the state, attest the good judgment and wisdom of
that commission of which General Pickett is still
(1905) a member, and for the service on which
board he possesses special Qualifications. To the
military associations that originated through ser
vice performed in behalf of the country. General
Pickett has given most cordial support. While no
attempt is made to mention the list it was noted
that he is a charter member of the Massachusetts
Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal
Lesion ; a member of the Grand Army of the Re
public; president of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts
Veteran Regiment Association : and has been treas
urer of Post 10, Relief Fund from its organiza
tion. In 1894 Hon. Henry A. Marsh, mayor of
Worcester, selected him to serve as a member of
the License Commission, and in the discharge of
the perplexing duties devolving upon that board
his integrity has never been questioned.
Since the day of General Josiah Pickett's retire-
¦ ment from the army, the citizens of Worcester have
sought to do him honor in various ways. It was
the accepted belief that no street parade of any
considerable magnitude, either ,of civic or military
nature, could be handled in the streets of Worcester
without General Pickett as chief marshal in com
mand, and it is but fair to say that from the mili
tary procession Julv 4, 1865, when the war regi
ments returned and were received by the citizens
of Worcester, together with the many subsequent
military and civic processions, under his direction
as chief marshal, including the ceremony of laying

3-

WORCESTER COUNTY

the corner stone of the new city hall. September 12,
1896, there was no confusion in the line, all moving
on time with promptness and military precision.
But the latest, perhaps the most deserving and
lasting compliment paid thig quiet, thoughtful, mod
est, loyal citizen and. soldier, was the placing of his
portrait upon the walls of Mechanical Hall, that
famous forum of Worcester, the walls of which
have echoed and re-echoed daring the past half
century as works of patriotism fell from the lips
of Andrews, Philips, Sumner, Bullock, Devens.
Hoar, and others. And upon those walls may be
seen, as companion pictures, portraits of Washing
ton, Lincoln, Garfield, Andrews, General Ward,
Sergeant Tom Plunkett and many others. The pre
sentation speech was made October 30, 1902, by
General A. B. R. Sprague. a comrade thoroughly
familiar with the military life of General Pickett,
and the portrait was received by ex-Alderman Ed
ward M. Woodward, president of the Worcester
County Mechanics Association. Both addresses were
of high order, - and in eloquent language expressed
the high estimation in which the subject " of this
sketch is held by both his comrades and fellow citi
zens — the man who, from the impulse of the hour,
performed his duty as he saw it. without thought
of reward, and on account of such service was
promoted from lieutenant to a brevet-brigadier-
general is certainly worry of respect and special
mention. The ancestral line of General Pickett has
been traced to Nicholas Pickett, who was born about
1640, and an inhabitant of Marblehead, Massa
chusetts, as early as 1670, then a young man about
twenty-one years of age. He married a daughter
of John Xorthey. Of his connection with other
families of the same name, or from whence he came
to Massachusetts, the records are silent. It is be
lieved that by occupation he was a mariner. He
was living in 1692. He had children : Henry, born
about 1676; Nicholas, born about 167S. died 1825;
John, born about 1680, died May. 1763; Dorothy,
born about 16S2. married Thomas Stevens.
(II) John Pickett, born about 1680. died May.
1763. was a fisherman, and later a shoreman, resi
dence Marblehead. February 16, 1737. he bought
for 250 pounds a tract of land near the southerly
end of the town, of Peter Levally. He married.
January 17. 1704, Elizabeth Kelley* a daughter of
John and Grace Kelley. Elizabeth died 1720. July
22, 1737, he bought the mansion house once the
homestead of his deceased father-in-law, John Kel
ley. John Pickett married (second), October 31.
1721. Elizabeth Savory. By his will dated April
1. 1763. we learn that he was owner of the schooner
calledthe Pelican, and one-half of the sloop called
the Lizard in which his son John carried on the
coasting business. The will also mentions a silver
tankard. Children were: John, baptized February
27, 1708-9: Grace, baptized July . 17. 1709, died
young: William, baptized July 27, 1712. died Decem
ber. 1761; Joseph, baptized October 16. 1714, died
April 11. 1775: Elizabeth, baptized July 27, 1717,
died young; Thomas, baptized July 17, 1719-20, died
about 1753: Sylvester, baptized March 25. 1722. died
young; Elizabeth, baptized May 17, 1724, married
Thomas Swan. Jr., living 1763; Nicholas, baptized
November 6, 1726, died before 1762.
(Ill) Thomas Pickett was a mariner, and was
lost at sea about 1753. He married Sarah, daughter
of Richard Trevett, Jr.. and wife whose maiden
name was Elizabeth Ingalls. She died i&>v Her
great-grandfather. Henry Trevett. is reported as the
earliest resident of Marblehead bearing that family
name. Their children : Sarah, baptized August 23
17-X died young: Sarah, bantized Julv 2. 1749, died
unmarried: Thomas, born June 27. 17 ;o died July

10, 1819; Elizabeth, baptized Tuhr I, 1753, died prior
to 1763. (IY> Thomas Pickett, bom June .27, 1750, He
removed to Beverly about 177s where he died July
10, 1819. He was by occupation a saihnaker and
married Miriam, daughter of Samuel and Mary
Striker; April 18, 1775. She died in Beverly, August
23. 1839. March 8. 1788, he purchased a house and
lot of William Abbott, and other real estate trans
actions were recorded in his name later. Then-
children were all bom in Beverly, but baptized in
the old Second Church in Marblehead, the parents
taking them over the river in a small boat, there
being no bridge ever which to cross the harbor at
that time. Their children were: Thomas, born
December 10, 1775. died July 4. 1817: Miriam, born
May 22. 1777. "died October 17, 181S; married Moses
Howard. Martha Trevett, born January 25, 1779,
died February 14. 1811 ; married Nehemiah Roundr;
Richard, born November 8, 17S0, died December
2-j. 1S04: John, bom July 29, 17S2. died Jnne 13,
1800: Sarah, born June 22. 1784, died Februaiy 24,
SO9: Samuel Striker, born March 8. 1786, died
November 24. 1854: Margaret, born May 31, 178S,
was the second wife of Nehemiah Roundy; Charles,
torn April 15. 1790, died August S. 181a: Hannah,
bom July 9, 1752. died December 5, 1S1S. married
Amos Stickney: Josiah, born February 19, 179;,
died February n. iSco; Polly, bom March 6. 1797!
( V) Josiah Pickett bora in Beverly, February
IO- 1795- died February 11. i860: married. Febmarv
10. ig.22. Mary, daughter of John and Mary (Batch-
elder) Creesy. She was born September 12. 1799,
and died in 1879. He served in the United States
navy-, war of 1S12. was taken prisoner aad confined
in Dartmoor prison. England. After returning
home was for some years a seafaring man, but
finally adopted his former occupation — that of sail-
making. Children: Josiah, bora November 21,
1S22: John William, bom December 3a 1824. shoe
maker: married Susan H. Tucker: Charles, bora
December 12. 1S26. was a mason in Salem, and re
dded in Beverly: Man. Howard, bora Februaiy ?.
iSao. died September 25. 1833; Sarah Frances, bora
December 25, 1830, married Dewing Southwick:
Mary Elizabeth, bom November 13. 18^2. married
Samuel Bell: Martha, bom November 26, 1834,
married James H. Kendall; George Augustus, born
September 10, 1836. married Agnes G. Manser;
Hepzibah Ann, born June 28, 1843. married (first)
A-tx Woodbury; (second) Charles Friend.
(VI) Josiah Pickett, bom in Beverly, Novem
ber 21. 1S22. at the age of thirteen Tears left his
home to carve out his own success in life He mar
ried, December 2. 1847, Elizabeth, dangfater of Jacob
\r u Bnrnham- horn March 4. 1S27. Since
March, 1S55. the family home has been in Worcester,
Massachusetts. (See sketch). Their children:
brank Lewis born January 25. 1849, died Novem
ber 9. 1852 ; \\ Ilham A., bom October 12. iS^7
The foregoing closes the ancestral record of this
branch of the Pickett family to date of July 1905.
There was a John Pickett, who landed at Salem,
with Governor Endicott's company fn 162S. who
removed to New London, Connecticut, and subse
quently married Ruth, daughter of Jonathan
Brewster, and granddaughter of Elder William
Brewster, of Mayflower celebrity. Their descen
dants are still living in that section of the state.
ihe family name also appears among the earliest
legislative official and historical records of Virginia
and North Carolina, and among the consoicnous
descendants of more recent date is the Confederate
general. George E. Pickett, of Gettysburg fame, in
tne civil war. Descendants of these eariv settlers
are iound m many of the southern states. "

WOUl/KSTKR COUNTY

53

Dogged (i), the immigrant
Sedley Doggct, ol' Clinton,

WII.I.IAM SF.DLEY DOGGETT. Thomas
ancestor ol William
Massachusetts, was
Intra in England in 1607. His name is spelled also
Dogged, Doged and Daggetl and many of his de-
seeiulants have adopted (he latter form of the name.
lie sailed for New England in May, 1737, from
Yarmouth in the "Mary Ann." William Goose,
master, lie was registered as servant to Thomas
Oliver of Norwich, England, for some unRnown
reason, perhaiis for lnek of funds. Many of the
emigrants who came here to better their fortune!*
worked out their passage after coming, lie settled
tirst al Concord, Massachusetts, removed to Marsh
field, then 10 Weymouth, lie was planter and town
ollieer, both al Weymouth and Marshfield. In the
latter town he was selectman, lie was fined six
pence for being an hour late at town meetings May
18, and August 13, 1057. lie took the oath of
fidelity in 1(157. "is farm at Marshfield that he
occupied in 1050 was adjoining that of Peregrine
While, famous as the first child of English par
ents hum in New England. The cellar of his house
is believed to he in Ihe field hack of the house now
or lately owned by Asa Sherman, of Marshfield.
lie was a constable in 1(1(10, on the grand jury May
_'K, Kititt, aud his name is constantly on Ihe records
in various public services and as holding minor
offices for many years,
He died al" Marshfield, August 18, Kit)-'. His
first wife died al Concord, August 23, 1(142. lie
married (second') Elizabeth l'"ry, widow of William
fry, of Weymouth, and daughter of Jonas and
Frances Humphrey, of Dorchester. She was prob
ably horn iu Kngiand and died 1(152, at Weymouth.
lie married, at Marshfield, August 17, 1O54, Joane
Chillingsworth, widow of Thomas Chillingsworth,
of Marshfield. She was horn in Kngiand, died
September 4, KiX.|, at Marshfield, His children:
John, horn at Concord, 1(142, see forward: Hannah,
born at Weymouth, 104(1, married — ¦  Hlancher;
Sarah, horn 1(150, married  Sherman; Samuel,
horn iosj; Rebecca, horn July 20, 1055. married
— -- Wilder.
(Ill John 1 logged, son of Thomas Dogged (t),
was horn iu Concord in 1(142 ami died at Marsh-
lield, 1718. lie resided at Marshfield most of his
life, but in KK12 was at Hingham, where he lived
for n time, His father gave him half the home
faun, April 20, 1(172, aud he settled at Marshfield,
where he was admitted townsman May 13, 1(173,
He was constable in- 1(182 and highway surveyor in
1(184, He bought some adjoining land of Justus
Karnes, April 1, 1080, for ten pounds, and one of
the witnesses was Peregrine While. John Doggett
and bis brother Samuel hired the tints 011 the South
river of the town, probably to cut the salt hay.
lie was admitted a freeman iu June, 1080. lie was
on the grand jury, May 18, 1(101, aud highway sur
veyor 1 Op J, lie held the office of tithingman and other
places of responsibility and trust in the town, lie
was admitted lo the church, May 30, 1(107, and was
ou ihe jury at Plymouth as late as December 13,
1 708. He married (first), at Hingham, 1073, Persis
Sprague. daughter of William and Milieeut (Kauies)
Sprague, of lliugham. She was horn there Novem
ber 12, 104,!, and died at Marshfield, K184. He mar
ried (second), at Marshfield, September 3, 1001,
Mehitable Truant, daughter of Maurice and Jane
Truant, of Duxbury. He married (third), at New
bury, June jj, 1C107, Rebecca lirown, widow of
Isaac lirown, of Newbury, daughter of  Pailey.
She was horn U140 and died at Newbury, August
35. 17,". Children of John and Persis Doggett

were: John, born at Marshfield, June 28, 1(174, died
March 1, 1(17.8-79; Thomas, born .1676, see forward;
John( born February 20, 1074, probably died un
married. Children of John and Mehitable were:
Isaac, born June 7, 1(192, died September 21, 1602;
Hannah, born December 28, 1(19,1.
(Ill) Thomas Doggett, son of John Doggett
(2), was born at Marshfield, Massachusetts, 1676,
and died there January 5, 173(1-37. lie gave his
son Thomas part of the homestead, February 27,
1701. lie was a juror at Plymouth, May 10, 1708,
field driver, March 2r, 1708-69, on the grand jury,
January 10, 1710, highway surveyor, hogreevc, elc.
He was a fanner and prominent iu town affairs.
lie married (first), at Marshfield, January 18,
1698-09, by Rev. Edward Thompson, Experience
Ford, daughter of William Ford, of Marshfield.
She was horn 1676 and died there October 25,
1728. He married (second), Sarah rhillips. He
died January 5, 17,10-17, and is buried in Cedar
Grove cemetery, alongside the grave of his first
wife. Both graves are marked with stones. His
second wife married, at Pembroke, September 7,
*7J7> Joseph Ford, of that town. The will of Thomas
Doggelt was dated April 19, 1736. The children:
William, born October 30, 1099, died February id,
1(199-1700; John, born 1702; Persis, born 17-14;
Thomas, born 170(1. see forward; Sarah, born 1709,
died unmarried, September 30, 1745; Experience,
horn 1714, died at Lebanon, Connecticut, 1730.
(IV) Thomas Doggett, son of Thomas Doggett
(,D, was horn at Marshfield, Massachusetts, 1706,
ami died at Middlelioroug'h, Massachusetts, August
11, 1788. He married, at Marshfield, December ii,
1728, by Rev. Joseph Gardner, Joanna Fuller, a
descendant of Samuel Fuller, of the "Mayflower."
So all their descendants are eligible to the May-
Mower Society. Thomas was a yeoman of Marsh
field and Middlelioroug'h. He was executor of
his father's estate and was part owner of the sloop
"Middlelioroug'h" in 17,12. lie sold the homestead,
March 0, 1741, at Marshfield, and bought at
Marlboro, May 7. 1741, settling there before Sep
tember 7. His will was dated August 30, 1785,
and proved October (1, 1788. Their children, all
born at Marshfield, were: John, horn 1729; Thomas,
horn 173T, died young; Mark, born 17,?,?, died young;
Jabez, horn March 3, 1734: Seth, born February 15,
1730: Simeon, horn January 4, 1738, see forward;
Experience, horn May 1, 1740,. baptized April 23,
1741, died at Middlehorough, 1830: Joanna, horn
March id, 1742.
(Y) Simeon Dogged, son of Thomas Doggett
(4), was horn at Marshfield, January 4, 1738, aud
died at Middlehorough, M,ay (1, 1823, He and his
brother Jabez served in the French and Indian
war under Captain Benjamin Pratt, being at Oneida
Station, New York, September 28, 1758. He was a
carpenter by trade, as well as a farmer. In tbe
revolution he did not think it right for the colonies
lo rebel, and as a consequence he was forbidden by
the town authorities to leave his farm. He and n
neighbor, who was suffering from the same cause,
used to meet daily to talk it over, each remaining
religiously on his own farm. He was a stanch
Episcopalian in religion. He built his house on
the highway from Taunton to Plymouth in the town
of Middleboro, and it was occupied^ for many gen
erations by his descendants. He married, February
j8, i-tx-i, Abigail Pratt, daughter of David Pratt,
who was a native of North Carolina, The chil
dren: Thomas, born at Middleboro, April 14, 1761 ;
Elkanah, born October 27, 1762; Simeon, born
March 6, 17(15, see forward: Abigail, born March
4- i7/\v

54

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VI) Rev. Simeon Doggett, son of Simeon Dog
gett (5), was born in Middelboro, Massachusetts,
March 6, 1765, and died at Raynham, Massachu
setts, March 20, 1852. His early associations were
those of an orderly, industrious and pious Puritan
home. His mother was a native of North Caro
lina and had brought with her from her southern
birthplace the prepossessions of an Episcopal train
ing, and she took care to indoctrinate the mind of
her son with the tenets of the English church.
The sterner influences of Calvinism in his home
were softened by the grace of the Armenian liturgy,
and while a heretical bias was thus given to the
faith of the child an attachment to the English
ritual was fostered which no length of years, no
change of opinions, no constant use of other methods
could weaken. His father, though not rich, was in
easy circumstances and able to prepare and send
his son to college. Simeon entered Brown Uni
versity, where he was graduated in 1788 at the
age of twenty-three. He taught school for a year
at Charlton, Massachusetts. His mind was directed
to theology, and after being refused admission to
one Congregational church, he was admitted by
Rev. Dr. Hitchcock's church at Providence and he
began to study. He lived six months in a planter's
family in Virginia. In 1790 he went to live in the
family of the celebrated Dr. West, of Dartmouth,
and studied divinity under this eccentric but able
teacher. He became a tutor in Boston University
in 1791 and held the position five years. In May,
1792, he _ was licensed to preach by the Rhode Island
Convention of Congregational ministers and began
immediately to supply pulpits and preach at every
opportunity. One of his early sermons was printed,
and it was one of the first published in the United
States which openly defended Unitarian views.
In 1796 Bristol Academy in Taunton was
formally opened with Mr. Doggett as first pre
ceptor, and his address was another milestone in
theological emancipation in New England. He ac
cepted a call to settle at Mendon, Massachusetts,
and was ordained January 17, 1813. He resigned his
position at the academy, but remained on the board
of trustees. The Mendon church was large, in
fluential and supposedly orthodox, yet it called him,
knowing his Unitarian views, unanimously and did
not rescind the call when he required a change of
the church creed before he became minister. After
a notable pastorate he was dismissed January 4,.
1830, at his own request, and settled at Raynham,
where he wished to spend his declining years. His
means placed him above the fear of want; he had
a good library and at Raynham leisure to enjoy
it. He visited the southern states in 1834-35, and
preached the sermon at the dedication of the Uni
tarian church at Savannah. He retired from the
ministry at Raynham in 1845. His eighty-seventh
birthday was celebrated by his townsmen and friends.
very elaborately and pleasantly. He died March 20,
1852. He and his wife made a joint will.
He married, October 29, 1797, Nancy Fobes,
^^ ?-f Rev' Perez Fobes> LL- D-> a"d Prudence
(.Wales) Fobes. She was born at Raynham, Massa
chusetts, September 8, 1769. and died there Decem
ber 14, 1854- Their children: John Locke, born
at Taunton, September 9, 1798; Samuel Wales born
at 1 aunton, July 9, 1800 ; Simeon, born at Taunton
November 11, 1802, died in Georgia, July 21, 1826
Prudence Wales, born at Raynham, September 30,
1804, died at Raynham, December 27, 1854; Perez
fobes, born at Taunton. Massachusetts, June 2,
1806, see forward ; Theophilus Pipon, born at Taun
ton, January 20, 1810; Abigail, born at Taunton,

November 8, 1812; William Paley, born June 29,
1814, died at Raynham, November 25, 1836.
(VII) Dr. Perez Fobes Doggett, son of Simeon
Doggett (6), was born in Taunton, Massachusetts,
June 2, 1806, and died at Wareham, Massachusetts,
January 28, 1875. Ih early life he lived on the farm
and his education was obtained largely through
his father's excellent library. He spent two years
in Florida, working for his brother in mercantile
business. He decided at length that he would study
medicine and began in the ofiice of Dr. Usher Par
sons, a distinguished physician at Providence. He
attended the Jefferson Medical School at Phila
delphia for three years, and was graduated at the
age of twenty-five years. He began immediately to
practice in Wareham, Massachusetts, and was fortun
ate from the outset in winning the confidence of his
patients. He had a good practice. "For forty-four
years he went in and out among his friends, neigh
bors and patrons in his own and surrounding towns,
meeting with the success which a man may com
mand who is well equipped for his business." He
died suddenly, falling in the street just after making.
a professional call in apparently full possession of
his physical and mental health. He was sixty-nine
years old.
"Dr. Doggett was not a brilliant man and in some
directions he was as simple-minded as a child, but
it is believed that few men bring to the study and
practice of their profession more of those peculiar
and varied mental and physical qualifications which
help to make up the true physician and surgeon."
"Timid and slow in some departments of life,
in everything relating to his profession he was always
alert, quick to see, prompt to act. Proving him
self the well trained, patient, conscientious physician,
whose judgment was not often at fault, he also
demonstrated by delicate operations skillfully per
formed that a brilliant surgeon was only con
cealed by his narrow field and lack of opportunity."
He married, November 26, 1832,. at Wareham,
Lucy Maria Fearing, daughter of William and Eliza
beth (Nye) Fearing. She was born at Wareham,
August 27, 1807, and died there October 2, 1885.
Their children, all born at Wareham, were : Charles
Seymour, born March 9, 1836, resides Brookline,
Massachusetts; William Sedley, born November 9,
1837, see forward : Anna Maria, born November 5,
1839, married in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 25, 1858, by Rev. Nathan P. Philbrook, to Walter
Danforth Burbank, son of Samuel Burbank; she
died March 16, 1870; he was born in Sandwich,
1834, and resided at Wareham; died 1893.
(VIII) William Sedley Doggett, son of Perez
Fobes Doggett, MD. (7), was born at Ware
ham, Massachusetts, November 9, 1837. He was
educated in the public schools of his native town.
He chose a mercantile career and began as clerk
in a Boston dry goods establishment, in which he
was employed five years. He then went to Glaston
bury, Connecticut, was associated with his brother
in the manufacture of woolen goods and remained
in that business for some years. He left there to
conduct a general store at Warren, New Hamp- .
shire, where he remained eight years, doing a modest
but prosperous business. He removed to Clinton,
Massachusetts, and engaged in the dry goods busi
ness. After a long, honorable and very success
ful career there, for a period of twenty years, he
retired in 1897. Mr. Doggett has taken an interest
in the affairs of Clinton and has invested largely
in real estate there. He built one of the finest
business buildings in the town, known as the Dog
gett Block. He is a Republican and has been stead-

WORCESTER COUNTY

55

fast in his support of the principles of his party.
He has never cared for public office. He is a
member of Clinton Lodge of Odd Fellows, and
has been its treasurer for many years.
Mr, Doggett married, at Auburn; New York,
June 21, 1866, Frances Pomeroy Willson, who was
born at Auburn, July 5, 1842, the daughter of
Harvey and Fanny (Pomeroy) Willson. Her father
was a merchant at Auburn. Their children are :
Lucy Fearing, born at Auburn, August 7, 1867,
married Ernest Silberburg and they have four chil
dren; Anna Frances, born at Warren, New Hamp
shire, May 3, 1871, married Edward Page and they
have one child; Amy Willson, born at Clinton, Au
gust 31, 1884.
MOEN FAMILY. The Moen family, for more
than a half century prominently identified with the
manufacturing interests of the city of Worcester,
and whose members have borne a most useful part
in promoting the development of its various in
stitutions, financial, educational and religious, is
of French origin.
Louis Moen and his wife, Madeleine D'Arquienne,
came from France- about 1808, and settled in the
village of Wilna, Jefferson county, New York. A
son of Louis Moen by a former marriage remained
in France, and his descendants still reside in Paris.
Augustus Rene Moen, son of Louis and
Madeleine (D'Arquienne) Moen, was born in Paris,
France, September 1, 1799, and was nine years
old when he accompanied his parents to the United
States. He was educated in Wilna, New York.
About the year 1830, having made the acquaintance
of S. H. Collins, the famous ax manufacturer of
Collinsville, Connecticut, Mr. Moen removed to that
place to accept a position as his business agent,
or salesman. He subsequently conducted a hardware
business on his own account in the city of New
York, with residence in Brooklyn, Long Island. He
afterward made his home in Stamford, Connecticut,
where he died, August 24, 1867, after enjoying the
entire confidence and esteem of a wide circle of
friends. ' He was married, in Utica, New York,
October 7, 1823, to Sophie Anne Le Clanche, who
was also born in Paris, France, August 30, 1803,
daughter of Nicholas and Maria (Pint) Le Clanche,
the latter born in Treves, a city of Rhenish Prussia.
Sophie Anne Moen survived her husband nearly
a score of years, dying January 30, 1887. Their
children were :
1. Philip Louis, see forward.
2. Mathilda Louisa, born July 11, 1826, in Wilna,
New York; married Lewis R. Hurlbutt, April 11,
1854, and died January 25, 1881.
3. Augustus M., born May 22, 1830, died in
infancy. 4. Cornelia Ann, born October 3, 1832, in Col
linsville, Connecticut; married, November 21, 1855,
William W. Rice, Esq., of Worcester, Massachusetts,
afterward mayor of that city and member of con
gress from that district. She died June 16, 1862.
5. Henry A. R., born September 30, 1838, in
Brooklyn, New York; married Mary Biddle, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died in London,
England, November 10, 1887.
6. Edward A., born May 31, 1841, in Brooklyn,
New York; married Mary Sophia Cram, of Port
land. Maine, and died, 1903.
Philip . Louis Moen, eldest child of Augustus
Rene and Sophie Anne (Le Clanche) Moen, was
born in Wilna, New York, November 13, 1824. He
began his studies in the town of his birth, and
later in turn attended schools in Carthage, New
York, Collinsville, Connecticut, and Brooklyn, New

York. His studies in the later city were prepara
tory to a course in Columbia College, New York,
but an eye ailment necessitated his discontinuance,
and he turned his attention to commercial affairs.
setting himself to learn the details of the hard
ware trade, the occupation of his father. While
thus occupied he made the acquaintance of Ichabod
Washburn, of Worcester, Massachusetts, whose
manufacturing interests required an occasional visit
to the city of New York, where he marketed a por
tion of the product of his mills. In the year 1846
the anniversary of the American Board of Foreign
Missions was held in Brooklyn, and as delegate
to that assembly the elder Mr. Washburn, accom
panied by his daughter, was assigned for the ses
sion to the home of Augustus R. Moen, where a
friendly acquaintance was formed which later re
sulted in young Philip Moen coming to Worcester
to claim the daughter as his bride.
Philip L. Moen was first associated with his
father-in-law, Ichabod Washburn, at his Grove street
works, and later with Messrs. Henry S. and Charles
Washburn in the rolling mill at Quinsigamond vil
lage. This firm was dissolved January 12, 1849,
and April 1, 1850, Mr. Moen became a partner with
his father-in-law in the wire-drawing industry, where
he filled a much needed place, assuming the finan
cial conduct of the business, while Mr. Washburn
directed the mechanical operations. Under the new.
firm the business prospered and increased in volume
and from that modest beginning grew until many
acres were covered with the great structures from
which went out thousand's of tons of wire to assist
in the forwarding of civilization throughout the
world. Mr. Moen had the satisfaction of living to
enjoy the fruits of his energy and financial ability,
coupled with the technical knowledge of such an
expert mechanic as Ichabod Washburn. At the death
of Mr. Washburn, in 1868, Mr. Moen succeeded
to the presidency of the corporation, a position which
he retained up to the time of his decease.
The same characteristics which made Mr. Moen
so successful in the world of business would also
have rendered him a most valuable public official,
but the demands of his life occupation were too
pressing for many interludes. In 1854 and 1855
he was a member of the city school committee, and
in 1885, as a presidential elector from the Tenth
District, he cast an unsuccessful ballot for James
G. Blaine. Mr. Moen was always a Republican in
politics, and ever ready to assist in advancing the
principles of his party. In his religious affiliations
he was a member of the Union Congregational
Church, and for many years one of its deacons.
There was nothing relating to the good of human
ity that did not receive his hearty and generous sup
port. He "was a zealous advocate and liberal sup
porter of the Young Men's Christian Association,
was president of its board of trustees, and as a
life member he was the second largest contributor
toward the construction of the elegant home of
the Association now standing in Elm street, in«the
city of Worcester. As an earnest advocate of
higher education he lent his efforts in behalf of the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and was one of
its trustees from its founding until his death, a
portion of the time serving as treasurer of the
corporation. He was a director of the Central
National Bank, president of the board of trustees of
the Memorial Hospital, director of the State Mutual
Life Insurance Company, trustee of the People's Sav
ings Bank, trustee of the Home for Aged Women,
director of the Free Public Library, president of
the Worcester County Mechanics Association, and
a member of the Worcester Agricultural Society.

56

WORCESTER COUNTY

Mr. Moen was a man of commanding presence,
genial, courteous, conscientious, with frank, open
manners, bearing all the marks of a gentleman of
the old school. His loss from the social as well
as the business world was deeply felt throughout the
city, county, and even far beyond their bounds,
wherever he was known. He died at his home in
Lincoln street, Worcester, April 23, 1891.
Mr. Moen married (first) November 17, 1846,
Eliza Ann, daughter of Ichabod and Ann G.
(Brown) Washburn. Their only child, Annie Eliza,
died in her third year, March 21, 1854. The mother
died January 25, 1853, in her twenty-seventh year.
Mr. Moen married (second) March 26, 1856, Maria
Sloan Grant, of. Chelsea, Vermont, a lineal de
scendant of Mathew Grant, one of the first settlers
of Windsor, Connecticut. Their children were:
Philip Washburn, of whom further; Sophie, who
resides in Boston; Cornelia, died in infancy; Alice,
married Arthur Edward Childs, whose home ' is in
Boston. Philip Washburn Moen, eldest child of Philip
L. and Maria Sloan (Grant) Moen, was born in
Worcester, Massachusetts, April 28, 1857. After
receiving his early educational training at home, he
accompanied his parents during a European tour,
and on their return, after a final year in the high
school, he entered Yale University, where he took
the academic course, graduating with honors in
1878. After his graduation he studied for two
years in Sweden, after which he spent a year in
travel on the continent. He then returned home
and entered upon his business career, in May, 1881,
joining the firm of Washburn & Moen, becoming
first a director, later the treasurer, and in 1888 added
to the latter duties those of general manager, re
maining in that twofold position until 1899, when the
American Steel and Wire Trust Company pur
chased the business and plant, Mr. Moen being re
tained as one of the vice-presidents. As an executive
officer he was ready and decisive, with thorough
knowledge of the great industry, which was de
veloped to larger proportions under his manage
ment. Four years after the property was acquired
by the American Steel and Wire Trust Company he
relinquished connection with it, to busy himself
with his personal affairs. He held positions as a
director of the Worcester Trust . Company, the 'Wor
cester Consolidated Street Railway Company, the
People's Savings Bank, the Worcester Electric Light
Company, and trustee of the Massachusetts Lighting
Company and the Boston and Worcester Electric
Company. He was vice-president of the Massa
chusetts Home. Market Club, and a member of the
Boston ' University and Union Clubs, also of the
University and Yale Clubs of New York' city. Al
though a Republican in politics, he seldom accepted
public trusts, but was a liberal contributor to all
legitimate expenses of the party, and might have
held the office of mayor of the city of Worcester
had he been willing to accept a nomination. He was
from boyhood a member of the Union Congrega
tional Church, of which' he became a trustee and
chairman of the building committee. The Memorial
Chapel, now a part of the church property was a
tribute from him, with his mother and sisters, to
the memory of his father, Philip L. Moen, who was
for many years identified with all its interests To
he Young Men's Christian Association of Worces
ter he lent his personal aid, and followed his father
as chairman of its board of trustees
Mr. Moen was married, in Edinburg, Scotland,
June 5, 1890 to Margaret Brown, daughter of
Thomas and Elizabeth (Leishman) Struther's of

that city, her father being a retired manufacturer.
These parents are now deceased. After his retire
ment from business Mr. Moen took special delight
in amplifying and beautifying his summer home
in the hill-town of Shrewsbury. To this attractive
country seat was given the^name of Ard-na-Qachan,
suggested- perhaps from his associations with Scot
tish life and localities. Here he erected upon a
most sightly outlook a charming residence, where,
surrounded by the broad acres of a beautiful farm,
he passed more than' half his time in superintending
the cultivation of fields and the growing of choice
varieties of fancy domestic animals, in which he took
special interest, and which he delighted in exhibit
ing to the many friends who visited him. At the
New England Fair, in connection with the Worcester
Agricultural Society, in September, 1904, as a mem
ber of the committee of arrangements and the re
ception committee, and also as a department super- •
intendent, he was constant and untiring in his ef
forts to make the occasion a triumphant success.
Immediately after the close of the fair, although
greatly fatigued, he went on business to Toronto,
Ontario, returning home September ntji, and on
the night of the following day. (September 12th)
was stricken with apoplexy and passed away. His
death was deeply felt by the citizens of Worcester.
That such a generous-hearted broad-minded, public-
spirited man, with high aspirations, guided as he
was by a noble purpose, should be so suddenly re
moved from his place of usefulness, brought a sharp
pang of regret to the community, ' and called forth
the most profound sympathy.
COES FAMILY. John Coes (1) was born in
1748, probably in Scotland.- There is evidence that
he came from a family of Scotch that lived near
the southern boundary, and some of the same name
are living in Glasgow now. The name is distinct
from the family of Coe in this country, at any rate.
During the Revolution several soldiers by the name
appear on the Massachusetts rolls. The name was
apparently spelled Coas and Coose at times, and in
correctly. Samuel Coes, of 'Marblehead, was a
soldier in the Revolution. Joshua Coes, of Bridge-
water (spelled Coesse) and William Coas, of Cape
Ann, were soldiers also. It is possible that William
Coes (or Coose), of East Greenwich, Rhode Island,
was a relative of the Worcester settler.
John Coes settled in Worcester before the Revo
lution. He was a farmer. His seven children were
born here, and so far as is known all of the Coes
in this country are descended from him and his
wife Rebecca. He died in Worcester, June 24,'
1827, aged seventy-nine years. His children were:
1. Daniel,- born December 19, 1776. 2. Simeon, born
July 9, 1781, died March 3, 1833. He married Sabra,
and their children were: William, married Lucy H.
Green, April 30, 1835 ; Simeon Sibley, born May 22,
1811, died September 22, 1847; John Green, born
July 24, 1814; Levi Charles, born July 15, 1819, mar
ried Charlotte McFarland, November 1, 1846; Mary
Augustus, born January 22, 1823, died July 8, 1838.
3. William, born February 19, 1786, died April 17,
1829. He married Jemima Chapin, September 14,
1809. Their children were: Nancy Chapin, born
September 10, 1810; Leonard Chapin, born July 7,
1812; William Seth, born August 9, 1814; Rebecca
Salome, born December 24, 1816, school teacher at
Worcester; married James E. Budlong, of Provi
dence, December 15, 1843; William Seth Leonard,
born May 29. 1820: Luther Draper, born October
13, 1822. 4. Sally, born January 23, 1787, married
John Pratt, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, December

WORCESTER COUNTY

57

29, 181 1. 5. Mary, born November 28, 1791, died
September 12, 1831, 6, Levi, bom October 28, 1793,
married Kezia. 7. Elijah, born May 19, 1795.
(II) Daniel Coes, son of John Coes (1), was
born and brought up on his father's farm in what
is novv ealled New Worcester, December 10, 1770,
and died January 2(1, 1838. lie married, October
26, 1808, Roxana, or Roxlany (as the records have
it) Gates, (See Gates Family Sketch). Their chil
dren were: 1. Sally, born February 22, 1810, died
February 16, 1832; Loring, born April 22, 1812;
Albert, born September 29, 1813, died February 13,
1837; Amy Gales (name originally was Horatio
Gates) born January jj, 1810,
(III) Aury Gates Coes, sou of Daniel Coes (2),
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 22,
181(1, and died December 2, 1S75. He married Nancy
Maynard, who was born in 1815, aud died December
1, 1842. He married Ann S. Cutting, May 29, 1845.
He married (third) a Miss Gibson. He married
(.fourth) a Miss Winch. His children were: John
Henry, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 25, 1840; Frederick Lewis; Anna Rebecca,
born March 25, 1847; Mary, bursar of Radcliffe
College, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Stella, died in
Dresden, Bavaria, and hody was lost at sea. The
business career of the late Aury ti. Coes is given
with that of Coring Coes herewith.
Loring Coes, third in line from John, the founder,
is (he son of Daniel Coes, and was born iu Worces
ter, Massachusetts, April 22, 1812. He has been
for many years the nestor of Worcester manufac
turers, tho most wonderful instance of mental and
physical capacity in the history of Worcester, if
not of tho country. At the date of writing he is the
active head of the business that he established in
183(1, and ai the age of ninety-four years is as alert
and active as the majority of men are at sixty,
Mr. Coos spent his boyhood on his father's farm
in Now Worcester, where ho was horn. He at
tended (ho district school in the winter months, but
his education has boon attained largely outside the
schoolroom. He is a self-educated, as well as a
self -made man. At the age of fourteen years he
was apprenticed to Anson Braman, of Worcester, a
carpenter, to learn his trade, and served with him
three years. He then worked for Mr, Salmon
Putnam until lie was of age. Afterwards he worked
for various manufacturers of Worcester, construct
ing the wooden parts of woolen machinery then in
use. He had a contract with Henry Colliding and
employed six or eight men. Among others whom
lie and his brother worked for was the firm of
Kunhall & Fuller, makers of woolen machinery,
and in 1830 they bought tho business, forming the
co-partnership of 1., &- A. G. Coos. Originally this
business was carried on at (he mill privilege owned
by tho Coes interests for so many years, but in 1835,
just before ihe Coos took possession, it had been
removed to Court mills, \vhero 1„ oc A. G. Coos
continued in business until October, 1830, when
the Court mills wore destroyed by fire.
This disaster impaired their capital so much
that they wore unable to continue the business, and
they went to Springfield to work for Laurin Trask
as pattern makers in his foundry. While there
they invented a now and very convenient form of
wrench. There were at that time two styles of
wrenches in common use. one an English patent,
the other known as the Merrisk or Springfield
wrench. Roth hands had to bo used to adjust either
of these kinds of wrenches The Coes wrench could
be adjusted by the same hand using it, leaving the
oilier band of the workman free. In order to
obtain a patent on the device they relumed lo

Worcester and sold the patterns of their spinning
machinery, that had been saved from the tire, to
Samuel Davis, a manufacturer of woolen machin
ery. With this money they secured a patent, is
sued to Loring Coes, April 10, 1841.
The firm of L. & A. G. Coes proceeded to manu
facture wrenches under the patent. They were as
sisted by the late Henry Miller, a hardware dealer
and prominent citizen of Worcester. He fitted up
a shop in the northwest end of Court mill with
the necessary machinery and tools, of which he
retained the ownership, and he sold for the firm
all of the wrenches they made. Early in 1843 the
firm had paid for its plant, was employing three
machinists, and had a contract with Calvin Foster
& Co. to handle their product. The next winter
L & A. ti. Coes moved to the shop of Albert
Curtis in New Worcester.
At the close of their contract with C. Foster
& Co.. April 1, 1848, they entered into a contract
with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason to handle their
product for the next live years. They bought for
?5>SO° the old woolen mill at New Worcester, in
which they bad worked in their youth. With the
mill they got two houses and four acres of land,
besides the water privilege. The famous Captain
Daniel Gookin was its first owner, and from him
the great-grandfather Of loring and Aury G. Coes
purchased it, and built a saw mill at tbe upper
privilege, where there had been previously a beaver
dam. When they moved lo New Worcester they
were employing from twelve to fifteen men, and
making from five hundred to six hundred wrenches
;i month. They repaired and raised the mill, and
put in new machinery and a new water wheel. Their
contract with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason expired
April I. 1853. and after that L. & A. G. Coes sold
their own goods. They had made many improve
ments in tlie wrenches, and in the special ma
chines used iu constructing them.
On July 21, 1853. with Levi Hardy, the firm
purchased from Moses Conant his shop, machinery
and business, that of the manufacture of shear
blades and knives for hay cutting machines. The
co-partnership continued until May 2. 1804. after
which the business was conducted by Ihe firm of
V.. & A. G. Coes, who bought the interests^ of Levi
Hardy. Tn 1805 a dam was built half a mile above
their mill privilege to form a reservoir, and next
year a new shop was built at the reservoir, and de
voted exclusively to the manufacture of shear blades.
hay cutting knives, and similar goods. In 18(17 a
new dam was built a hundred rods below the
reservoir. The two brothers dissolved the part
nership and divided the business. Loring Coos had
tho upper privilege with the knife business : Aury
G. Coes having the lower one with the wrench
business. At that time the annual product had in
creased to ten thousand wrenches or more.
In 1871 Loring Coes began to manufacture
wrenches also, the patents having expired. He
erected tho building at Coes Square for the pur
pose. At the outlet of the upper pond Loring Coes
carried on an extensive business in the manu
facture of dio stock for cutting solo leather and
other purposes, as well as many kinds of blades.
Aury G. Coes formed the firm of A. G. Coos
S: Co. in partnership with his two sons, and con
tinued to carry on the very prosperous wrench busi
ness until his death in 1875. The sons continued
under the same firm name until April t. t888. when
the two Coos firms- wore consolidated under the
name of Coos Wrench Co. The officers were:
Frosident. Loring Coos : treasurer. John H. Coes,
and secretary, Frederick L. Coes. Tlie factory was

58

WORCESTER COUNTY

then turning out about fifteen hundred wrenches
a day. An important patent was issued to Loring
Coes in 1880, on the "Knife Handle" or scaled and
riveted handle, also his invention, replacing the
old round handle made of a single block. This
model was very successful and was one of the
causes that united the wrench business of the Coes
family in one concern, as it is to-day. Improve
ments and inventions have followed, and improved
models were adopted in 1895 and again in 1901
and 1903. A little more than a month before his
ninetieth birthday, Loring Coes bought out the in
terests of his partners, John H. and Frederick L.
Coes, sons of his former partner, Aury G. Coes,
and assumed the sole ownership of the wrench busi
ness. In June, 1902, he. consolidated with it the
corporation of Loring Coes & Co., Incorporated,
making the "capital stock of the Coes Wrench Co.
$150,000. The knife business is conducted as part
of the corporation under the name of Loring Coes
& Co., Incorporated, Department.
The knife business of the Coes family is hardly
less famous than the wrench business. It has a
reputation of producing steel goods of unsurpassed
quality and merit. Mr. Coes has always followed
as his maxim in business : "Make the best only, —
Quality first, Price afterwards" and his reputation
is literally world-wide. There is not a country in
the world where the Coes Wrench is not in use.
Even in the Levant there is a demand for this
indispensable tool. Mr. Coes not? only attends to
his business in person, daily, but continues to make
improvements and secure patents. The business
has never been more prosperous than at present.,
In 1903 a new factory was completed, fifty by
one hundred and fifty feet, with an ell fifty by fifty
feet, and with new machinery and equipment the
product of the company was doubled. The capacity
of the knife shop within a few years has also been
increased one hundred and fifty per cent. At the
present time the Coes factories produce three hun
dred dozens of wrenches daily, about three thousand
six hundred, and four and one-half tons of wrenches
are completed every day the shop runs. The pay
roll includes one hundred and ninety hands, mostly
machinists and mechanics of skill and experience.
The Coes wrench shop is the largest wrench shop in
the world.
Mr. Coes was representative in the general
court in 1864 and 1865. He has served the city in
both branches of the council, and was for more than
thirty years a director of the City National Bank.
He is a director of the Worcester Electric Light
Company. For some years he has been the oldest
living manufacturer engaged in the hardware trade.
He is fond of fishing, and has for many years made
a fishing trip to Maine during the season.
The present officers of the corporation are:
President, Loring Coes; vice-president and clerk,
Frank Loring Coes; treasurer, Loring Coes;
directors, Fred W. Blackmer and Frederick Searle.
Mr. Blackmer is counsel for Mr. Coes. (See sketch
elsewhere in this work). Mr. Searle is a native of
St. Austel, Cornwall, England, and for fifteen years
has been superintendent of the works. He is also
the master mechanic. He worked in the copper
mines in Vermont and machine shops in Fitch
burg, Massachusetts, before coming to Worcester
Loring Coes married Harriet Newell Read!
daughter of Russell Read, of Attleboro, Massachu
setts January 14, 1835. She died in 1902. Their
children were : 1. Francis Russell, born June 9, 1837.
It r-r, S^-e^ born °ct°ber 1, 1839, married
Melvin O. Whittier, who was born in Mercer, Maine,
May 13, 1834, and came to work at the Coes shop

at the age of seventeen, worked up until he was
superintendent of the manufacturing department in
1865, and became partner of Loring Coes, his father-
in-law, when L. & A. G. Coes dissolved. Mr.
Whittier sold out to Mr. Coes in 1887 and re
turned to Maine to live, where he died in 1905.
His daughter, Mabel Ella Whittier, married George
Churchill, and they have a daughter, Hildegarde
Churchill. 3. Anna Read, born November 12, 1842,
died May 13, 1845. 4. Chester E. B., lives with
his father, never in business.
(IV) Frank Loring Russell Coes, son of Loring
Coes (3), was born June 9, 1837, in Worcester,
Massachusetts. He received his early education
in the school of his native town. Later he at
tended Leicester Academy and Middleboro Academy.
Early in life he showed an inclination for the mili
tary, and at the age of nineteen was a lieutenant
in the city guards. When the civil war broke out
he took an early opportunity to enlist in the Twenty-
fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, _ and served with
honor until nearly the close of the war, when by
reason of disability he was compelled to return
home. (For his business relations with the Coes
firm and his father's business, see the sketch of
Loring Coes preceding).
He married in 1867, Persis J. Putnam, daughter
of Salmon Putnam. (See Putnam Family Sketch.)
The death of Mr. Coes in 1871, at the early age
of thirty-four, was doubtless hastened, if not
directly due to exposure in the army. He left
one child, Frank Loring, born August 30, 1872.
(V) Frank Loring Coes, son of Frank Loring
Russell Coes (4), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, August 30, 1872. He attended, the Wor
cester public and high schools, and took a course
at Worcester Academy. He also attended a private
school at Northboro, Massachusetts. At the age of
seventeen he went into the shops of the Coes
Wrench Co. to learn the business. He worked in
every department and learned .Jhe trade thoroughly.
He was placed in charge of the' knife factory in
1892. When Loring Coes bought out his partneis
in 1902, he was put in charge of the main office. He
is a member of the Commonwealth Club, the Wor
cester Golf Club, and the Hardware Club of New
York. In politics he is a Republican. On July n,
1891, he married Cora Braman, daughter of Charles
Braman, of Providence, Rhode Island. Her mother
was Priscilla Braman, nee Wright, born in North
boro, Massachusetts. The children of Frank Loring
Coes are: Loring, born September 17, 1892; Russell
Read, born August 26, 1894.
EDWARD A. GOODNOW. In 1632, twelve
years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth
Rock, three Goodnow brothers sailed from Eng
land to join the enterprise beyond the stormy At
lantic. They shared the hardships of those who
laid the foundations of the Commonwealth of Massa-
chusets. Among the three brothers who came to
these shores was Thomas, who settled at Sudbury.
('II) Thomas Goodnow, son of the English
branch, married Jane  , and had a son
named Samuel.
(Ill) Samuel Goodnow, son of Thomas (2), .
born February 28, 1646, married Mary  •
by whom a son Samuel was born.
(IV) Samuel Goodnow, son of Samuel (3),
born November 30, 1675, died about 1720, married
Sarah Brigham, and they had a son Thomas.
(V) Thomas Goodnow, son of Samuel (4),
born March 18, 1709, married Persia Rice, of Marl
boro, April 17, 1734, and they had a son Edward.
(VI) Edward Goodnow, son of Edward (5),

,-;.€>* w

A

GOODNOW MEMORIAL LIBRARY, PRINCETON
(Given by E. A. Goodnow, of Worcester )

6o

WORCESTER COUNTY

born October 30, 1742; married Lois Rice, and they
had a son Edward.
Edward (6) removed from Sudbury to Prince
ton, Massachusetts, and in 1786 built the old Good
now homestead, still standing and owned by his
grandson, William B. Goodnow, the brother of our
subject proper.
(VII) Edward Goodnow, son of Edward (6),
born December 1776, married Rebecca Beaman. He
inherited his father's estate. Rebecca Beaman took
her turn with other girls in going to Worcester,
thirteen miles, to get the mail. She went on horse
back and the trail was through the woods, her only
guide being the "blazed" trees. To Edward and
Rebecca Goodnow were born six sons and two
daughters ; all were born in Princeton, and with
one exception grew to manhood and womanhood.
These children were: Erastus D., Edward A.,
Jonas B., Franklin, William B., Harriet E„ Louis
R. and Abel. The father died in 1852, and the
mother in 1870, both in Princeton.
(VIII) Edward Augustus Goodnow,, son of
Edward and Rebecca (Beaman) Goodnqw, was born
at the old homestead, Princeton, July 16, 1810. Al
though the New England boy of his time had much
hard work to perform, yet the people believed in the
value of a good education. To this lot he of whom
we write was no exception to that rule. His boy
hood days were spent for the most part on his
father's farm. After attending the district school
he attended three terms at Hadley Academy. With
this schooling he went forth to meet and to do bat
tle with the practical side of life's career. In 1823,
when he was thirteen years old, his parents opened
an inn at their homestead, on the Connecticut and
Boston road. So well was the house kept that it
soon became famous. Teamsters and stock men were
only too glad to reach its homelike rooms and sit
around its bountiful tables. This inn was kept
open twenty-seven years. Young Edward mingled
with the travelers and merchants who stopped there
and here he first acquired his taste for mercantile
pursuits. When twenty years of his life had passed,
he left the scenes of farm life and began clerking
1 in the store of his older brother, Erasmus Good
now, in Princeton. It was soon discovered that he
had sought and found the calling for which he was
especially adapted. So well did he succeed in his
new role that at the end of two years service, he
was admitted as a partner in the business. Quick
to observe the trend and fashion of the times, this
firm soon improved their golden opportunities and
commenced the manufacture of palm-leaf hats, in
connection with the general merchandise business,
the junior partner performing much of the outside
work. His early farm life fitted him well to care
for such matters, including the teaming for the
firm. For several seasons he might have been seen
rising at two o'clock in the morning and driving
to Boston, a distance of forty-five miles. There he
would sell such commodities as his load from
his country home was made up of, and re
load with goods and supplies bought in exchange,
to be used in the general store at home. Much of
the time consumed by such long and frequent trips
was made while others slept. But it was a good
schoolmaster to him. Antagonism is the law of de
velopment, and hence these early hardships proved
but stepping stones to a marked and prosperous
career. Like many other sensible and thoughtful young
business men, Mr. Goodnow sought out a loving
wife, in the person of Harriet Bagg, of Princeton.
After five years of married life the angel of death
called her from his side. Subsequently he married

her sister, Augusta, by whom one son was born,
Henry Bagg Goodnow, who died in infancy. Af
fliction again settled down on the household of Mr.
Goodnow and death claimed the second companion.
Later he married Catherine B. Goodnow, who jour
neyed with him for a quarter of a century and who
was an active member of th'e Congregational church
for about twenty-five years, when she passed from
earthly scenes.
In 1836, after four years of partnership, the
business was expanded by admitting another member
to the firm, with the view of manufacturing shoes.
The new firm relations existed eleven years, when
Mr. Goodnow realized that the domain of Prince
ton was limited as a trade center for the carrying out
of his plans, so, after having been in trade in his
native town fifteen years in all, he went to Shel
burne Falls in 1847, where he formed a partnership
with the great cutlery establishment of Lamson,
Goodnow & Company, but soon finding the damp
air of Deerfield Valley did not agree with him, he
removed to Eaton, central New York, remained
there for a time, and finally returned to New Eng
land and located at Worcester, in 1852, when the
city had but 18,000 people. Being familiar with the
shoe business Mr. Goodnow opened a retail shoe
store, which he pursued for four years, and then
changed to the wholesale trade in the same line of
goods. To him belongs the honor of opening the
first jobbing house in Worcester. Success crowned
his efforts, and sales ran from one hundred thous
and to four hundred thousand dollars per annum.
Integrity in his business methods was the key lo
his success. After a successful business of fourteen
year in Worcester, Mr. Goodnow retired from active
mercantile life.
Concerning the political belief of Mr, Goodnow
it should be said that he was one of the stanch
Abolitionists, when it meant something to advocate
such a cause. He was one of eight persons to
adopt the principles of the Free-soil party, and sub
scribe to the principles, "We inscribe on our banner,
'Free soil, free speech, and free men' and* under it
we will fight on, fight ever, until triumphant vic
tory shall reward our exertions." When gun number
one sounded the alarm from Fort Sumter in 1861, he
was not surprised. More than a dozen clerks from
, his own place of business, one after another, marched
to the battlefield; all were aided by him, and one
of the brave number was under full pay by him
during the entire time of his military service, and
his business place open for him upon his return
from the Southland, when victory was for the Union.
When Governor Andrew proposed to raise a col
ored regiment and equip it for the field, he gave
five hundred dollars for its expenses, heading the
subscription paper for that amount When the
war cloud was darkest and the finance's ,of the coun
try were in peril, he subscribed liberally for the
first bond issued. He thoughtfully erected mar
ble tablets to the memory of fifteen 'high school
students who gave their young lives on the altar
of their native land. As an object lesson to the
youth of the city, he placed a bust of General
Grant in the high school. Among other benefac
tions was a life sized oil portrait of President Gar
field, to be hung in the hall of the Mechanics' As
sociation. The following resolution was passed by
the Association :
Itesolvai. That the Worcester County Mechanics" Association
hereby tenders a noie of thanks to Mr. Edward A, Goodnow for
his public-spirited liberality in presenting to the association a
full-length portrait of James A, Garfield, late president of the
United States. Attest: William A. Smith, Clerk,

WORCESTER COUNTY

61

A few years later he presented the same asso
ciation with a portrait of Henry Wilson.
Mr. Goodnow was never an office seeker, but did
hold the position of trustee of the State Reform
School, under appointment of Governor Andrew and
by re-appointment by Governor Bullock, serving in
all seven years. Upon retirement from business,
he spent two years in leisure, but that was enough
to convince him that man is happiest when employed,
so he accepted the position of president of the First
National Bank, tendered by a unanimous vote. Here
Mr. Goodnow was not a figure-head, but the real
head. All the >paper passed through his hands. He
took some risks that more timid men would not
have dared to take. He secured large deposits by
a liberal attitude toward patrons of the bank. When
he took the office, the bank stock was quoted at
one hundred and ten; but under his good manage
ment, the par value was doubled. So much was
his business sagacity appreciated by the stock-hold
ers, that a set of complimentary resolutions
were passed, thanking him and giving him
the credit for building up a great banking
business — second to none in the Commonwealth.
While Mr. Goodnow was a busy man of
affairs, he found pleasure in spending much of
his means in way of magnificent gifts of a philan-
thopic and truly charitable nature. He gave not to
be seen of men, but where good could be accom
plished — where the condition of his fellow men
could be bettered. The list of such generous acts
is indeed too lengthy to insert in a work of this
character -but a few will here be noticed briefly.
Beginning with his native town, Princeton, he gave
a library building known as the "Goodnow Me
morial Building," which consists of a library, read
ing-room, two school rooms, with desks for forty
scholars each, together with an endowment of five
thousand dollars. This is indeed a magnificent
memorial, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever."
To educational institutions, he has ever been more
than generous. Among such instances may be named
the Female Seminary at Mount Holyoke, in way of
scholarship, parks and other matters, all amounting
to twenty-five thousand dollars. He gave to the
Iowa College at Grinnell ten thousand dollars to re
place buildings destroyed by a terrible cyclone. Sub-
sequendy he gave five thousand dollars for the
erection of a cottage named the Mary Grinnell Mears,
in honor of the wife of Rev. D. O. Mears, D. D. To"
the Wellesley College and the Moody School at
Northfield he gave each five thousand dollars. His
anti-slavery sentiments were expressed by the gift of
five thousand dollars to Washburn College in
Kansas', to found a John Brown professorship.. The
colored race has not been overlooked by the phil
anthropist, for he has repeatedly been a contributor
toward the erection of buildings for the colored
school at Hampton, Virginia, also at Oberlin, Ohio;
Berea College, Kentucky, and Lincoln College, Penn
sylvania. Not content with the donating of his
wealth on this side of the seas, he was the first man
to erect a building on the continent of Africa for the
education of women. Thus he commenced the
laudable work of Christianity and civilization among
the female portion of "Darkest Africa." This is
in connection with the Huguenot Seminary, Wel
lington, Cape of Good Hope, Africa. The building
known as Goodnow Hall was constructed after Mr.
Goodnow's plans, and then shipped to Africa ready
to be erected. The expense was over fifteen thous
and dollars.
. In connection with his church benefactions it
should be here recorded that he was long associ
ated with the Plymouth Congregational Church of

Worcester, to which he was a very generous do-
nator as the years and decades rolled by. Among
these benefactions must not be forgotten the superb
chime of bells which each week sounds from the
belfry of this church edifice. The same was given
in memory of his late wife, Catherine B. Goodnow;
also, as a memorial of his only son, Henry B.
Goodnow, who died in infancy, he gave an organ to
this church, the total expense being ten thousand
dollars. In 1887 he gave five thousand dollars to
ward the Catherine B. Goodnow Fund of the Young
Women's Christian Association of Worcester. To
ward the completion of this magnificent building he
gave not less than thirty thousand dollars.
Although having lived four score and three years,
until recently he of whom we write saw with un-
dimmed eye, and was exceptionally robust for one
so far advanced on the journey of life. He was a
constant attendant at the church of his choice. In
deed, the life of Mr. Goodnow was one of marked
success, and of such noble characters the world has
none too many. He died February I, 1906, after an
illness of only two days, and a large concourse of
sorrowing friends followed him to his last resting
place. SAMUEL R. HEYWOOD. In sketching the
useful and eventful career of Samuel R. Heywood,
founder of one of the most enterprising and suc
cessful manufacturing establishments of the city of
Worcester, it is to be noted that his influence has
touched almost every branch of trade and public
interest in his commurfity within the period of more
than a half century. He has not only been one of
the principal factors in making Worcester an im
portant manufacturing center, but a leader in the
promotion of various other enterprises — financial,
commercial, transportation, etc. He has rendered
valuable service to the public in various official sta
tions, and has liberally aided with his influence,
personal effort 'and means, all that goes to make up
the higher life of the community — the churches,
schools of all degree, and those beneficent insti
tutions which minister to the needs of the suffering
and afflicted. In all the relations of life he has so
acquitted himself as to receive sincere recognition
as an idfal citizen.
Mr. Heywood was born at Princeton, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, November 24, 1821, and was
reared upon a farm, where he developed attributes
of a model manhood — a splendid physique, which
enabled him to- carry into his octogenarian years
the ambitions and abilities which in ordinary men
wane in the sixties ; and those habits of industry and
persistency which were to form the foundations of
a career of unusual usefulness and success. As a
lad he attended the ordinary country schools, and
was for two terms a student in the Westminster
Academy, defraying his expenses with the earnings
from his own labors. When about twenty years old
he entered upon a business life as an employe of E.
D. and E. A. Goodnow, of Princeton, manufacturers
of boots and shoes, and proprietors of an extensive
' general store. In August, 1848, he located in Hub-
bardstown, as senior member of the firm of Hey
wood & Warren, general merchants, bringing to
the business a small amount of capital of his own
earning, and a character which afforded him all the
credit he desired. In the course of three years
he purchased the interest of his partner, and car
ried on the business until January, 1855. This ex
perience marks the end of his preparation for the
larger enterprises upon which he was now to enter.
He had not only acquired considerable means, but
he had developed his business abilities to such a de-

WORCESTER COUNTY

gree as to justify him in seeking a wider field for
.his effort, and he decided to remove to Worcester.
Here he became a partner of one of his first em
ployers, E. A. Goodnow, under the style of Good
now & Heywood, in the wholesale and retail boot
and shoe trade. This partnership was dissolved in
the following year, Mr. Heywood taking the retail
trade, in which he continued until -1864. He at once
engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, ex
tending his operations from time to time, constantly
, reaching out into larger and more distant markets,
and introducing new goods as experience demons
trated their worth and acceptability. The Heywood
boot soon came to be known as the best product
in its line, from what was for many years the lead
ing city in the country in this class of manufacture.
Later, as a more cultivated taste warranted the
making of a lighter and more dressy style of foot
wear, he turned his attention to the manufacture of
that style of goods. At whatever stage, his house
maintained its high reputation by its use of only
the very best obtainable materials, the most finished
workmanship, and strictly honorable business deal
ings. To the present time the product of the Hey
wood factory is the standard in men's high-grade
foot wear, stylish, perfect fitting and durable, made
in all the leading styles and shapes, and in sizes
and widths to fit any foot. Aside from the great
and constantly increasing demand for the Heywood
goods from every part of the United States, for
fifteen years past they have been extensively sold
in Canada, England, Honolulu, Havana, Buenos
Ayres, Cape Town, and other' foreign markets. The
constant development of this industry necessitated
various enlargements of the factory, and changes
in the managerial force. In 1879 Mr. Heywood
erected the Wachusett building on Winter street,
which was then one of the largest and best equipped
boot and shoe factories in the country. This estab
lishment, after repeated enlargements, now occu
pies a frontage of one hundred and forty feet on
Winter street, eighty-five feet on Harding street,
and a wing ninety-one feet in depth at the east end,
near Grafton street, all the principal buildings be
ing five stories in height. The plant is equipped
with the latest and most improved machinery, and
is a model one in every respect. At ^whatever
stage of the development of this gigantic enterprise,
Mr. Heywood has given to it his close personal atten
tion, maintaining a close oversight of every detail —
the selection of material, the operation of the ma
chinery at every step of manufacture, besides keep
ing a close touch with the market, its conditions and
possibilities, and introducing innovations in style
of goods, seeking new outlets for his product; and,
in short, ever _ maintaining for his house a position
of leadership which was unquestioned throughout
the country. As they came of proper age, Mr. Hey
wood introduced his sons to the business, as will
appear in connection with their respective names.
In 1884 the Heywood Boot and > Shoe Company
was incorporated, with Mr. Heywood as president,
a position which he has occupied to the present
time, abating nothing of his deep personal interest,
and exercising general managerial powers.
While thus busied with the building-up and con
duct of a great establishment which would seem
ingly tax the abilities of any one man, Mr. Heywood
has given his aid to various enterprises having a large
place in the business life of the city. In 1865 he
became a director in the Central National Bank of
Worcester, serving as such until February, 1903,
when that institution was absorbed by the Worcester
Trust Company. In 1864 he was also a charter mem
ber of the People's Saving Bank, and a member

of its board of trustees and finance committee from
that time until July, 1884, when he became presi
dent, in which position he still continues. He has
also for many years been a director in the Cotton
and Woolen Mutual Insurance Company of Boston.
In all these various positions he has displayed the
same high ability and conscientiousness which have
characterized him in his personal concerns. He has,
besides, rendered inestimable service to the com
munity and commonwealth in various important po
sitions where he labored with rare sagacity and un
failing devotion to the interests committed to his
keeping. He was' a member of the common council
in 1859, and of the board of aldermen for two
years following. In 1873 and 1874 he was again
elected to the common council, and iu the latter
year" was president of that body. In 1875 he repre
sented the city of Worcester in the Massachusetts
house of representatives, and was re-elected for the
two succeeding years, serving on the railroad com
mittee each year. He was an ardent admirer of
that splendid old-school statesman (and his intimate
personal friend) Hon. George F. Hoar, was an early
and efficient advocate of his election to the United
States senate for his first term, and as a member
of the legislature was largely instrumental in ef
fecting a result which gave to the country the serv
ices of one of its grandest men. A man of strong
convictions and unflinching moral courage, Mr.
Heywood has never allowed considerations of per
sonal popularity or expediency to govern his con
duct as a citizen. He was an original "Free Soil-
er," and cast his first vote for James G. Birney for
president, and labored in his behalf as zealously as
though defeat were not foreordained. Mr. Hey
wood aided in the organization of the Republican
party in 1856, and was ever a vigorous upholder of
its principles. In his political conduct he only re
garded legitimate and honorable ends to the good
of the nation and community, regardless of all per
sonal considerations. That he held office from time
to time was in no instance due to his self-seeking,
but to the estimation in which he was held in the
community as a man well equipped, in heart and
brain, for the service of his fellows. His well known
interest in education and his broad humanitarian-
ism led to his being called to connection with the
system of state charities of the commonwealth. In
1877 he was appointed by the governor a trustee of
'the State Reform School at Westboro, and he was
one of the seven trustees retained by that executive
out of the entire number (twenty-one) when in
1879 the state schools at Monson, Lancaster and
Westboro were by act of the legislature consolidated
under one management. He held this position until
1888, giving to its duties much thought and labor,
marked with a genuine feeling of sympathy for
unfortunate youths, and a spirit of genuine helpful
ness toward them. He has always been among the
foremost in the establishment and maintenance' of
the ennobling institutions of this city, and one of
his most highly appreciated acts was the creation
of the much needed library at the Memorial Hos
pital. His example and precept have ever" been
recognized as a power for practical temperance.
Without pretension to oratorical powers, he possesses
the faculty of impressing his hearers through his
evident sincerity. A Congregationalist in religion,
he was formerly with the Salem Street Church,
and with Plymouth Church from its organization.
He was prominent in its creation, active in all per
taining to its interests, especially in connection
with the erection of its edifice and the extinguish
ment of its building debt. His personal benefactions
are ever liberal, being freely bestowed for legiti-

//^al^aju /O /faa-eht^^

WORCESTER COUNTY

^3

mate religious, moral and charitable work abroad as
well as at home. His personal character is best
discerned by considering the relations which have
ever subsisted between himself and his hundreds
of employees, who recognize in him a apprecia
tive personal friend as well as a just and kind em
ployer. A half century of uninterrupted business
life is a record made by but few men of large affairs,
yet today, thanks to his native vigor of mind and
body, pure life and equable disposition, he maintains
an active interest in the great business with which
his name will ever be associated, and in all the varied
community interests which have engaged his atten
tion during his entire career. ,
In June, 1856, Mr. Heywood married Harriet
Butler Milliken, daughter of Z. T. and Anna B.
Milliken, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, natives of
Franklin county, Maine. Of this marriage were born
five children, three of whom were sons, two coming
to maturity, one passing away in infancy and one still
remains to share with his father the duties and
responsibilities of his large concerns. The children
were: 1. George Ezra, born January 26, 1859, died the
following month.
2. Frank Everett Heywood, born April 20,
i860. He was most promising from his
youth. When seventeen he graduated from the
Worcester Classical High School, and was then for
a year a student at Easthampton. He entered Harv
ard University, where he was not only a close
student, displaying a special interest in chemistry,
but was prominent in athletic sports. He graduated
with the class of 1882, and the same year was ad
mitted to partnership with his father as a' member
of the firm of S. R. Heywood & Company. At the
incorporation of the Heywood Boot and Shoe Com
pany in 1884 he became vice-president and treasurer,
and served in that twofold capacity until his death,
October 25, 1899. He was also a director in' the
Citizens' National Bank of Worcester. He was
a man of excellent business ability, and: admirable
personal character — qualities which marked him as,
in the course of events, the fit successor of his hon
ored father in the headship of the Heywood Com
pany. He died universally mourned, and it was
noted by a local chronicler that seldom had the
city seen evidence of such sincere and general grief
as that 'which followed him to/ his untimely grave.
December 18, 1884, he married Harriet .Dodd Jen
nings, born December 4, 1864, daughter of Horace
N: and Maria (Dodd) Jennings, of East Orange,
New Jersey. His widow resides ini Worcester, with
her children : Chester Dodd, bom October 12, 1887 ;
Philip Butler, born March 24, 1889; Florence Blair,
born May 18, 1893 ; Richard, born May 8, 1897.
3. Caroline Louise Heywood, born September 13,
1862, died September 16, 1866.
4. Henrietta Butler Heywood, born May 15, 1865,
died November 25, 1868.
Albert Samuel Heywood, only surviving son of
Samuel R. Heywood, was born May 31, 1867. He
was fitted for college in Worcester High school and
Worcester Academy. He was graduated from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the class
of 1892. He became connected with the General
Electric Company of New York, and was winning
distinction in the world of electrical science when
occurred the death of his brother, Frank Everett
Heywood, and this untoward event made it desira
ble that he should abandon a calling in which he
was deeply interested in order to share the burdens
of the father. He accordingly resigned his posi
tion January 1, 1900, and became vice-president
'and treasurer of the Heywood Company, the po

sitions which had been rendered vacant by the death
of his brother. Taking up his new duties methodic
ally and with cheerful alacrity, he has proven him
self an earnest and devoted man of affairs, and a
worthy . companion as well as son to his honored
parent. September 28, 1899, he married Laura
Chester Foute, of Atlanta, . Georgia, who was born
"1 £&1.rsvlllS Geol'gia> October jo, '1873, daughter
of William Edward and Eliza (Houston) Roberts
Foute. Their children are: Edward Foute Hey
wood, born July 17, 1900; Harriet Butler Heywood,
born August 16, 1901 ; Dorothy Heywood, born
October 5, 1902.
OBADIAH BROWN HAD WEN, who enjoys
national reputation as a scientific horticulturist and
pomologist, is a native of Rhode Island, born in
Providence, August 2, 1824, son of Charles and
Amy Sherman (Brownell) Hadwen. He comes of
sturdy English ancestry, descending from John
Hadwen, of Rochdale, England, who was a settler
in Newport, Rhode Island, in early colonial days
His great-aunt was the wife of Obadiah Brown,
who was prominent as a pioneer in the. cotton-spin-
ni"S industry in America. Charles Hadwen, father ¦
of Obadiah B. Hadwen, was a resident of Provi
dence, Rhode Island, where he was a leading manu
facturer and merchant. In 1835 he retired from
these occupations and removed to Worcester, Massa
chusetts, and purchased and located upon the Wing
Kelley, farm, near Tatnuck.
Obadiah Brown Hadwen attended in turn the
Friends' Schools in Providence, Rhode Island, the
Clinton Grove Institute in Ware, New Hampshire,
where he was a student for four winters' terms
and the Worcester (Massachusetts). Manual Labor
School, where he remained for one term. The prin
cipal preparation for his peculiarly useful life work,
however, was obtained upon the parental farm near
Tatnuck, where he developed those tastes and capa
bilities which marked his career. In 1844, the year
before attaining his majority, he came into posses
sion of a portion of the home farm which he has
since occupied for the long period of sixty-two years
For forty years of this time he followed market
gardening, and a, nursery and dairy business. Mean
time he greatly enhanced the value of the property
by the erection of new buildings. But his principal
delight was practical and scientific agriculture and
horticulture, and in these lines his deep knowledge
and sound judgment found general acknowledgment.
He adorned his grounds with trees of his own
planting, m great profusion, of the most beautiful
specimens of their kind, many which were unknown
in that region until introduced by him, and which
have attracted the admiring attention of horticult
urists from every part of the United States. Amid
the changes incident to the great expansion of a
thriving industrial city, the rural surroundings of
his farm have been almost entirely obliterated, but
his immediate home and the grounds pertaining to '
it have been preserved intact— a veritable rus in urbe
.Mr. Hadwen's accomplishments as a horticult
urist found early , recognition, and for more than
half a century he has been known as the leading ex
ponent of those interests which he has labored so
earnestly and usefully to promote. He early be
came connected with the famous Massachusetts
Agricultural Club, organized April 4, 1840, and was
for many years its president and is now a most act
ive member and He was long vice-president of the
Worcester County Agricultural Society, of which
he is yet a trustee. His unusual abilities also found
legislative recognition, and he Was for many years
a trustee of the Agricultural College at Amherst

64

WORCESTER COUNTY

where, under his direction in the capacity of chair
man of the board, many important additions and
salutary innovations were made. He became a mem
ber' of the Worcester County Horticultural Society
in 1847, serving that body as trustee, vice-president
and president, and he was re-elected to the ¦ latter
office in 1895, after a period of twenty years from
his first incumbency, and has since been re-elected no
less than twelve times. He has also long been
a prominent ' member of the Massachusetts Horti
cultural Society and the American Pomological So
ciety. In 1867 he was made one of the commis
sioners in charge of the public parks of Worcester,
and the great value of his services in that capacity
is evidenced by his continuous reappointment. For
several years he was chairman of the parks commis
sion, and he still holds membership in that board.
This brief epitomization of his life work sets him
forth among the most valuable members of the
community — one who, in love of nature, delightedly
holds communion with her visible forms, and brings
her refining and uplifting influences to bear upon
all about him, conveying the lesson that contentment
and peace and most real happiness comes to him
who nestles closest to nature's heart. And so it is
not strange that in religion he adheres to the tenets
of the Society of Friends. He was originally a
Whig in politics, and his abhorrence of human slav
ery led him to identify himself with the Repub
lican party on its organization, and he cast his vote
for its first presidential candidate, General (then
Captain) John C. Fremont. An ardent Unionist and
an appreciative admirer of Abraham Lincoln, he
was a firm upholder of that great statesman in his
struggle for the vindication of the national author
ity and the re-establishment of the Union. His
natural tastes and habits of mind forbade him tak
ing an active part in political affairs, but he suf
fered himself on one occasion to be elected to the
common Council of Worcester, and was a valued and
efficient member of that body in 1868-69.
Mr. Hadwen married, December 25, 1845, Har
riet Page, of Westminster, Vermont, a descendant
of an honored revolutionary family of that state.
Three children were born of this marriage. A son,
William E. Hadwen, is deceased; and another,
Charles Hadwen, is a prominent produce merchant
in Chicago, Illinois. A daughter, Amy, is the wife
of John H. Coes, of the Coes Wrench Company of
Worcester, Massachusetts.
CHANDLER FAMILY. William Chandler (1),
the immigrant ancestor of one of the. foremost
families of Worcester county, to which John Greene
Chandler, of Lancaster, belonged, was born in Eng
land and settled early in Roxbury, Massachusetts
He was there in 1637 and was one of the proprietors.
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640. His
homestead consisted of twenty-two acres. The fol
lowing, from the Roxbury records, gives a con-
¦ temporary opinion of him : "He lived a very re
ligious, and godly life among us and fell into a con
sumption to which he had a long time been in
clined; he lay near a year sick in all which time
his faith, patience and holiness and contentation
so shined that Christ was much glorified in him. He
was a man of Weake parts but Excellent faith and
holiness; he was a Very thankful man, & much
magnified God's goodness. He was poor but God
prepared the hearts of his people to him that he
never wanted that which was (at least in his esteem)
Very plentiful and Comfortable to him. he died
about in the yeare 1641 & left a sweet memory be
hind him." Rev. John Eliot wrote: "A Christian,
Godly brother." He was buried January 19, 1641-2.

His widow Annis married (second), July 21,
1643, John Dane, of Barkhamstead and Bishop's
Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, and Ipswich and
Roxbury, in New England. Dane died at Roxbury
and was buried September 14, 1658. . She married
(third), at Roxbury, August 9, 1660, John Par-
menter, of Sudbury, a prominent man there, select
man 1641.
The children of William Chandler were: 1.
Hannah, born about 1629 in England, married, De
cember 12, 1646, George Abbot; (second), 1690,
Rev. Thomas Dane. 2. Thomas, born about 1630,
married Hannah Brewer. 3. William, born in Eng
land, married (first), August 5 or 18, 1658, Mary
Dane, of Ipswich; married (second), October 8,
1679, Bridget Henchman, widow of James Richard
son. 4. John, born February 16, 1658, married
Elizabeth Douglas. 5. Sarah, born at Roxbury,
married (first), November 4, 1659, William Cleaves;
(second)  Wilson; (third), October 11, 1688,
Ephraim Stevens; (fourth)  Allen.
(II) Deacon John Chandler, son of William
Chandler (1), was born about 1635. He married,
February 16, 1658, Elizabeth Douglas, of ' Wood
stock, Connecticut. She died in New London, Con
necticut, July 23, 1705. She was born in England
about 1610, the daughter of William, and Anna
(Mattle) Douglas. He and his wife were ad
mitted to .the church May 28, 1665. He was active
in the settlement of Woodstock and served on im
portant committees. He had first choice of a home
lot and he took one situated on the brook on the
highway at the north end. He was selectman of
Woodstock in 1693, 1694, and also moderator in
1694. He was on the committee to build a meeting
house on Plaine hill, nearly in front of the Bowen
Mansion. He was one of six who bought the
Moshamoquet Purchase of James Fitch, of Norwich.
Deacon Chandler . died April 5, 1703, aged sixty-
eight years. By his side in the graveyard at Wood
stock are buried a number of his descendants. His
will was dated June 1, 1702.
The children of Deacon John and Elizabeth
Chandler, all born in Roxbury, before their removal
to Woodstock, were: 1. John, born March 4, 1659,
died young, and his gravestone bears the earliest
date of death of any of the family in America as
recorded by gravestones. 2. Elizabeth, born Feb
ruary 20, 1661, married, November 18, 1680) Robert
Mason, of Roxbury. 3. John, born April 16, 1665.
4. Joseph, born April 3, 1667, died in Roxbury, Sep
tember 29, 1668. 5. Hannah, born September 18,
1669, married, July 7, 1685, Moses Draper, of Rox
bury. 6. Mehitable, born August 24, 1673, baptized
June, 1673; married, June 25, 1695, John Coit, of
New London. 7. Sarah, born November 19, 1676,
died July 3, 1711; married (first), June 9, 1697,
William Coit, of New London; (second), Septem
ber 2, 1708, John Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island. 8.
Joseph, born June 4, 1683, married, June 29, 1708,
Susannah Perrin, of Roxbury.
(Ill) Hon. John Chandler, son of Deacon John
Chandler (2), was born at Roxbury, Massachu
setts, April 16, 1665: He married, November 10,
1692, "Mary Raymond, of Woodstock, who was born
March 12, 1671-2, the fifth child of Deacon John
Raymond, who married, December 10, 1652, Eliza
beth Smith, daughter of Nehemiah Smith. Deacon
Joshua Raymond was the eldest son of Richard and
Judith Raymond, of Salem. Mrs. Chandler died
April 8, 171 1, aged thirty-nine years, and is buried
on Plain hill, Woodstock. There is an interesting
tradition in the family of Mrs. Joshua Raymond
and Captain Kidd, whom she had entertained at her
house for some time. It is said but not universally-

WORCESTER COUNTY

65

believed that when the blithesome pirate left her
hospitable roof he filled her apron full of gold,
jewelry and costly plunder. Mr. Chandler married
(second), November 14, 1717, Esther Butman,
widow of Palgrave Alcock.
John Chandler was town clerk of Woodstock
in 1690, 1691, 1692 and 1694, and selectman in
1693 and 1694. He resided several years at New
London, where four of his children were born.
In 1698 he had a tavern license there. He returned
to Woodstock to live and was surveyor of the town
in 1703, deputy to the general court in 171 1, Wood
stock then being in Massachusetts. When the county
of Worcester was established he was appointed judge
of probate. He held the first probate court in
the meeting house of -Worcester July 13, 1731. He
also held the court of common pleas and general
sessions August 10, following. The county was
organized April 2, 1731. Judge Chandler's son John
was appointed clerk of the courts. Judge Chandler
held his position as judge of these two tribunals
until his death. One of his sons, John, Jr., suc
ceeded him on the bench, while another, Thomas
Chandler, became a judge in Vermont, where he
had settled. Judge Chandler was for forty years
a commissioner of the peace and was seven years
in his Majesty's council. He died at Woodstock,
August 10, 1743, in his seventy-ninth year.
The children of John and Mary Chandler, born
at Woodstock or New London, were: John, born
at New London, October 18, 1693, of whom later;
Joshua, born February 9, 1695-6, married Elizabeth
Cutler; William, born November 3, 1698, married
Jemima Bradbury; Mary, born April 30, 1700, mar
ried John McCoy ; Elizabeth, born May 13, 1702,
married Joseph Frizzell ; Samuel, born January 5,
1703-4, married Dorothy Church; Sarah, born Octo
ber 11, 1705, died March 7, 1721-2; Mehitable, born
at Woodstock, August 10, 1707, married, 1747,
Thomas Buckminster, of Brookfield; Thomas, born
July 23, 1709, married Elizabeth Eliot; Hannah, born
March 27, 1711, died May 23, 1711.
(IV) John Chandler, son of John Chandler (3),
was born at New London, Connecticut, October 18,
1693. He married, October 23, 1716, Hannah
Gardiner, on the Isle of Wight, off Long Island.
She was born December n, 1699, and died January
5. r738-9, in Worcester, and was buried on the
Worcester common. Her grave with the others
has been covered from sight, and the stones cov
ered, for some inscrutable reason. She was de
scended from' Lion Gardiner, who came over in
1635 and married Mary Williams, daughter of
Dericke Williams and Hachim Bastians Williams;
he bought the Isle of Wight, better known, perhaps,
as Gardiner's Island (east of Long Island). His son,
David Gardiner, married Mary  ; his grandson,
John Gardiner, son of David, married Mary King
and three other wives, and was the father of Han
nah Gardiner, who married Judge Chandler. Ac
cording to the Chandler Genealogy Gardiner's
Island was entailed. The attempts to entail estates
in Massachusetts failed in every case. The old
English law of primogeniture was broken down
effectually. John Chandler married (second) Sarah
Clark, widow of Hon. Nathaniel Paine, of Bristol,
Rhode Island.
He was a surveyor by profession and was ap-'
pointed to plot Pomfret, Connecticut, and later he
surveyed the line agreed upon between Massachu
setts and Connecticut. June, 1714. He was coroner
for Suffolk county before the county of Worces
ter was established. He removed to Worcester when
the county was formed, and was moderator of the
town meeting in 1733. He represented Woodstock

in the general court and also Worcester in 1732-35-
38-39-52-53. He was a selectman of the town of
Worcester in i733-34-35-37-39-4<>-42-43 to 1753 in
clusive; town treasurer 1741 to 1752 inclusive; first
clerk of the county courts 1731 to 1754 inclusive;
sheriff from 1751 to 1754 inclusive (while Mr.
Chandler was sheriff Timothy Paine was associate
clerk with him) ; register of probate from the or
ganization of the county until 1754 ; register of deeds
until 1762. In May, 1754, he was appointed judge
succeeding his father, and in May, 1757, he was
made chief judge with three associates. He was
one of the delegates of the American colonies who
met at Albany, New York, delegates of the Five
Nations of Indians, and were partly successful in
making allies of them. An interesting character in
Judge Chandler's family was a colored slave "Aunt
Sylvia," who lived to be one hundred and seven
years old.
Of Judge Chandler the historian of Worcester,
Lincoln, wrote : "On the decease of his father he
succeeded to the higher office of judge, colonel
¦ and councillor. His talents were brilliant and showy,
rather than solid and profound. With manners
highly popular he possessed a cheerful and gay dis
position, ^indulging in jest and hilarity and he
exercised liberal hospitality. While Judge of Pro
bate he kept open table for the widows and orphans
who were brought to his tribunal by the concerns
of business." He was made a member of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1734,
and was elected commander in 1737. He died Au
gust 10, 1762, and is buried on the Worcester
common. The children of Hon. John and Hannah Chand
ler were: Mary, born at New London, September
9, 1717, married, February 7, 1736-7, Benjamin
Greene; Esther, born May 23, 1719, married, May
9, 1745, Rev. Thomas Clapp; John, of whom later;
Gardner, born at Woodstock, September 18, 1723,
married Hannah ' Greene ; married (second), August
.2, 1767, Arine Leonard; Sarah, born January 11,
1725, married, 1749, Timothy Paine; Hannah, born
February 1, 1727-8, married, May 17, 1750, Samuel
Williams; Lucretia, born July 18, 1728, married,
September 1, 1761, John Murray, of Rutland; Eliza
beth, born January 5, 1732-3, married, September
20, 1751, Hon. James Putnam; Katherine, born
March 28, 1735, married Levi Willard; a son, born
and died January 5, 1737-8.
(V) Hon. John Chandler, son of Hon. John
Chandler (4), was born at Woodstock, Connectcut,
February 26, 1 720-1. He married Dorothy Paine,
of Worcester, March 5, 1740. She was the daugh
ter of Colonel Nathaniel Paine, of Bristol, Rhode
Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts. Colonel
Paine's wife, her mother, was Sarah Clark, daughter
of Timothy .Clark, of Boston. Colonel Paine re
moved to Worcester in 1738 and had land near
Lincoln street. Mrs. Dorothy Paine died October
5, 1745- He married (second), June 11, 1746, Mary
Church, daughter of Charles Church, of Bristol,
Rhode Island, sheriff, who died December 31, 1746)
aged sixty-four years. Her sister. Dorothy Church!
married Samuel Chandler. Their father, Colonel
Charles Church, was son of Colonel Benjamin
Church, born in Duxbury, 1639, and wife Alice,
the daughter of Constant Southworth, of Plymouth!
(See sketch of Southworth family).
John Chandler resided on the east side of Main
street near the present site of Clark's block, formerly
the site of Mower's Tavern and of the United
States Hotel. He followed in the footsteps of his
father and grandfather, both prominent servants of
the Crown. He was town treasurer from 1753 to

66

WORCESTER COUNTY

1760, inclusive; town clerk from 1764 to 1768, in
clusive; county treasurer from 1762 to 1775, in
clusive; sheriff from 1751 to 1762; judge of probate
from 1762 to 1774. Colonel Chandler marched to
the relief of Fort William Henry, August, 1757-
John Adams, who was then living in Worcester,
afterwards president of the United States, wrote:
"At the time Fort William Henry was besieged
Colonel Chandler had occasion to send expresses
often and while keeping school in Worcester I of
fered my services and was sent to the Governor of
Rhode Island."
He -inherited the traits of character as well as
the offices of his father and grandfather. He was
cheerful and. .engaging in manner, hospitable as a
citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, indus
trious and enterprising as a merchant. To a
chivalrous sense of loyalty to the British govern
ment he sacrificed during the revolution property
valued at over 36,000 pound's. In his own schedule
presented to the British government after he had
left his country, he reduced these figures which
were probably 'about right, to 17,000 pounds, includ-'
ing 6,000 for loss of income from his offices. So
just and moderate was this compensation ascer
tained to be, at a time when extravagant claims were
presented by others, that his claims were allowed
in full and he was called in England "The Honest
Refugee." His portrait is to be seen at the foot
of the stairs in the front hall of the American
Antiquarian Hall at. Worcester. Colonel Chandler
had a pew in Old South Church.
After the revolution broke out and Colonel
Chandler left Worcester to affiliate with the Tories
and British, he never returned. His estate was con
fiscated and he was named with his brother-in-law,
Hon. James Putnam, and others of his family on
the list of six who were banished and forbidden
to return under penalty of death. Two of his sons,
Rufus and William, were among the proscribed, and
his nephew, Dr. William Paine. The son, William
Chandler, and Dr. Paine, were permitted later to.
return home, and Dr. Paine regained the confi
dence and esteem of the community. Col. Chand
ler died in London, September 26, 1800, and was
buried at Islington. His son Rufus was buried
in the same grave. The spot is marked by a
simple stone suitably inscribed.
The children of John and Dorothy Chandler
were : Jqhn, born March 3, 1742, of whom later ;
Gardner, born December 1, 1743, died December
16, 1743; Clark, born December 1, 1743; Dorothy,
born September, 1745, married, December 26, 1767,
Samuel Ward, of Lancaster. The children of John
and Mary Chandler were: Rufus, born May 18, 1747,
married, November 18, 1770, Eleanor Putnam;
Gardiner, born January 27, 1749, married in 1772,
Elizabeth Ruggles; Nathaniel, born November 6,
1750; William, born December 7, 1752; Charles,
born January 22, 1755, married, November 18, 1796,
Sally Mower; Samuel, born February 25, 1757;
Sarah, born December 14, 1758, married, Septem
ber 14, 1780, William Seaver, Jr.; Benjamin, born
August 15, 1761, died December 16, 1775; Francis,
born July 28, 1763, died December 16, 1775; the
two latter were drowned together in the mill pond
in South Worcester; Lucretia, born June 9, 1765,
married, October 24, 1786, Rev. Aaron Bancroft;
Thomas, born January 11, 1768, married, Septem
ber 25, 1802, Eliza Davis, widow of William Denny ;
Elizabeth, born February 20, 1770, married, Decem
ber 2, 1786, Ebenezer, Putnam, of St. John, New
Brunswick, where the family lived after the ex
patriation. (VI) John Chandler, son of Colonel John Chand

ler (5), was born in Worcester, March 3, 1742, the
eldest child; married, April 4, 1766, Lydia Ward,
who was born in 1732 and died July 30, 1794, aged
sixty-two years. She was descended from Deacon
William Ward, who came over with his second wife
Elizabeth, from Yorkshire, and settled in Sudbury,
dying in Marlboro, formerly part of Sudbury, aged ,
eighty-seven years. His son, William Ward, born
in Sudbury in 1640, married Hannah Johnson,
daughter of Solomon Johnson, widow of Gershom
Amee. His son, Colonel Nahum Ward, of Shrews
bury, was born 1684, and married Martha How,
daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Kerby) How.
They were the parents of Nahum Ward, Jr., of
Shrewsbury, who married Lydia Stearns; was a
merchant, died when about twenty-five years old,
leaving two daughters, one of whom Lydia, mar
ried a Mr. Chandlee.
John Chandler was an enterprising merchant of
Petersham, Massachusetts. His home was about a
mile from the center and is still remembered for
the deer park in which he indulged. His deer es
caped finally from the enclosure and he lost them
all. He was successful in business. He com
mitted suicide during a fit of despondency and
melancholy, to which he was subject, in 1794, aged
fifty-two years.
The children of John and Lydia Chandler were:
John, born July 23, 1667, married, June 5, 1800,
Elizabeth Greene ; Lydia, born August 28, 1768, mar
ried Joseph Head; Clark, born April 19, 1770, mar
ried, July 14, 1791, Nancy Lyon ; Nathaniel, born
February 3, 1772, died August 19, 1772; Nathaniel,
of whom later.
(VII) Nathaniel Chandler, youngest child of
John Chandler (6), was born in Petersham, Massa
chusetts, October 6, 1673 ; married, August 17, 1802,
Dolly Greene, of Lancaster. She was born in Staf
ford, Connecticut, February 25, 1783, died July 30,
1869, the tenth child of John Greene, son of Na
thaniel, who was born in Surinam, South America,
December 10, 1736. John's wife was Azubah Ward,
born at Woodstock, Connecticut, November 11, 1737,
daughter of Major Daniel Ward by his wife Mary,
daughter of Nathaniel Stone, and widow of Henry
Coggin. Major Daniel Ward was a son of Obadiah
and Hannah (Harrington) Ward, grandson of
Richard Ward and wife Mary, daughter of John and
Elizabeth Moore, and great-grandson of the Sud
bury immigrant, 1639, William Moore. (See Moore
family sketch).
Nathaniel Chandler graduated from Harvard
College in 1792. He settled in Petersham and man
aged the Petersham branch of the business of John
Chandler & Brothers. Afterwards he removed to
Lancaster to assume the estate of his uncle-in-Iaw
there, Samuel Ward, Esq. He was representative
to the general court in 1807. Although troubled
with an affliction that kept him under the care of
Dr.. George Chandler and Dr. S. B. Woodward
during the last years of his life, Dr. Chandler wrote
of him:_ "He was of medium height and size, his
complexion light and features regular and marked.
He retained his intelligence, shrewdness, wit and dry
humor, his dignity of person and character, his
marked courtesy and gentlemanly bearing to the
last." He died in Worcester, June 4, 1852, aged
seventy-eight years.
The children of Nathaniel and Dolly Chandler
were: Samuel Ward, born Julv 12, 1803, married,
November .18, 1830, Eliza Fales Richmond ; Catherine
Amory, born April 18, 1805, married, May 7, 1833,
Theophilus Parsons, Esq. ; Charles, born September
7. 1807. married, March 25, 1834. Sarah Whitney;
John Greene, of whom later; Mary Greene, born

WORCESTER COUNTY

67

May 23, 1818, married, February 25, 1862, Dr.
John Ware, son of Rev. Henry Ware, of Harvard
College. (See sketch of Charles E. Ware and
family of Fitchburg. George Frederick, born
March 12, 1822, married, April 22, 1847, Susan Buss.
(.VIII) John- Greene Chandler, fourth child of
Nathaniel Chandler (7), was born in Petersham,
Massachusetts, December 18, 1815. He was brought
up on the farm in Lancaster and attended school
there. Having a natural aptitude for drawing he
learned the art of wood engraving, and became
one of the most proficient artists in this line of his
day. After residing in various places Mr. Chandler
returned to Lancaster in 1869 and spent the re
mainder of his life there. In religion he was an
earnest Unitarian.
He married, June 5, 1850, Sarah Ann Guild, who
was born October 26, 1817, the daughter of Samuel
•Guild, president of the People's Bank of Roxbury.
Her father was born in Walpole, March 18, 1777,
and died January 12, 1862; ..married, 1806, Sarah
Means, daughter of James Means, Jr. Her grand
father. Nathaniel Guild, married, 1733, Mary Boy-
den, of Wrentham ; he was the son of Samuel and
Sarah (Hartshorn) Guild; the grandson of Samuel
and Mary (Woodcock) Guild. Mary Woodcock
was the daughter of Samuel and Ann Woodcock.
Th'e immigrant ancestors were John and Elizabeth
(Crook) Guild, of Dedham. The children of John
Greene and Sarah Ann Chandler were: Alice
Greene, born July 18, 1851, who resides in Lan
caster; Miss Chandler has been connected with the
Lancaster town library since 1872. For eighteen
years she was librarian and is now advisory librarian
and trustee. Fanny Guild, born July 10, 1857, died
July, 1901.
CHARLES FRAZER, a prominent business man
of ' Worcester county, was born in Glasgow, Scot
land, April 7, 1838, the son of the, late Charles
and Margaret (Bruce) Frazer, both natives of Scot
land. Charles. Frazer obtained his education in the
common schools of his native place, and in 1849
emigrated to this country with his parents, landing
at New York, proceeding to South Hadley Falls,
Massachusetts. His father was an expert mill hand,
and was engaged in the mill business at Hadley
Falls, where he died in August, 1850, after which
the family removed to Clinton and Charles was there
employed in the Lancaster mills. He also was em
ployed with his father in the mill at Hadley Falls.
He later learned the trade of a bricklayer, being
thus engaged for some time. Subsequently he
formed a partnership with Mr. Fairbanks, and
conducted a contracting and building business with
considerable success. In 1879 Mr. Frazer engaged
in the coal business in Clinton, Massachusetts, which
he has since conducted with the most flattering suc
cess. During the war of the rebellion Mr. Frazer
enlisted, in 1861, in Company C, Fifteenth Massa
chusetts Infantry. .He participated in the various
engagements that made that company famous, and
distinguished himself for his bravery and fearless
ness on the field of action. He entered the service
as a private and was mustered out a lieutenant.
Mr. Frazer's political affiliations are with the
Republican party, and he has served as assessor and
road commissioner for his party. He is a member
of the Masonic order and a member of the com-
mandery. He is an enthusiastic member of the
G. A. R., Clinton Post, a member of the Odd Fel
lows, and is also treasurer of the Sterling Worsted
Mills. Mr. Frazer is pre-eminently a self-made man,
and enjoys the confidence and respect of the entire

community. In matters of religion he and his
family attend the Unitarian church.
On September 6, 1858, Mr. Frazer was united
in marriage to Mary Barr, a daughter of Robert
Barr, of Jamestown, Scotland, and their children
were : Charles R., married Bertha Eager, and they
have two children : Robert B. and Bertha A. Etta
M„ married James Charnock, and two children were
born to them : Sydney T. and Harold Irving. Fred
erick E., married Helen Smith and has three chil
dren : Etta F., Helen and Jeannette B. Charles R.,
died June 8, 1906.
EZRA GREEN. James Green (1), immigrant
ancestor of the late Ezra Green, of Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, was born in England about 1620.
He came to Charlestown, in New England, before
1647, and was admitted a freeman there May 26,
1647. He removed to Maiden, the Mystic side, in
1647, and was one of the petitioners for a division
of the town in 1648. He was interested in church
affairs, and he appears prominent in various church
matters. He married Elizabeth  . Their house
lot was on land bought of Richard Harrington in
1656 and remaining in the possession of his family
until 1765. It was situated on Green hill and the
house is still preserved on what is now Appleton
street. James Green served on a committee to lay
out a highway in June, 1671. He was a citizen of
influence in Maiden. He died there March 29,
1687, aged seventy-seven years. His will was dated
September 2, 1682, and probated May 5, 1687. It
mentions his wife and two sons mentioned below,
viz. : John, "of the Hill," died 1709, of whom later ;
James, resided in Maiden.
(II) John Green, "of the Hill," as he was called
from his place of residence to distinguish him from
the other • John Greens, of Maiden, was son of
James Green (I), and born perhaps in England
about 1645. He was a mariner in 1673. He was ad
mitted a freeman in 1683 and died March 22, 1709.
He married Mary  . It is obviously difficult
to distinguish him from the others of the name
in some instances. The children of John and Mary
were : Mary, born December, 1668 ; Samuel, only
son, of whom later; Elizabeth; Hannah. All were
born in Maiden.
(Ill) Samuel Green, only son of John Green
(2), was born in 1679. He settled at Maiden and
became a prominent citizen. He was deputy to the
general court in 1742 and selectman in 1743. He
bought the dwelling and five acres of land of Rev.
David Parsons after he had removed to Leicester.
He ranked high socially as he was called "Mr." on
various records. He died February 21, 1761, aged
eighty-two years. His will dated January 30, 1752,
was proved March 23, 1761. His wife, Martha
Green, daughter of Samuel Green, died May 29,
1754, aged seventy-two years. He married about
1700. His wife was granddaughter of Thomas
Green (I), of Maiden, so that the children of Sam
uel Green are descended from both the immigrant
Greens of Maiden.
(I) Thomas Green, the grandfather of Mrs.
Samuel Green, was born in England, 1606, and came
to this country in 1635 or 1636. He was probably
in Ipswich until 1649 or 1650, and then settled in
Maiden, Massachusetts. He was selectman in 1658.
He died December 19. 1667, and his will is dated
November 12, 1667. He married (first) Elizabeth
 . and (second) Frances Cook, widow of
Richard Cook, and previously widow of Isaac
Walker. (See further facts in sketch of the Green
Family of Leicester and Worcester.) Ex-Mayor
Green, of New York, was a descendant.

68

WORCESTER COUNTY

The children of Thomas aud Elizabeth Green
we-e: Elizabedi, born in England, about 1628;
Thomas, born in England, about 1620 (See Popes
Pioneers of Massachusetts I . married Rebecca Hills ;
John born about 1632, married Sarah V\*heeler;
Mary, born about 1633, married Captain John
Waite: William, born 1635, married Elizabeth
Wheeler, and (second) Isabel (Farmer) Blood;
Henry, born 1638, married Esdier  ; Samuel,
of whom later; Hannah, born 1647, married Joseph
Richardson; Mardia, born 1650; Dorcas, born May
1, 1053, married James- Barrett.
(11) Samuel Green, fadier of Martha, who mar
ried Samuel Green (III), was die son of Thomas
Green (I), mentioned above. He was born March
1645; married. 1666, Mary Cook, sister of Frances
Cook, whose third husband was Thomas Green (I).
Mary died November 24. 1715- and Samuel (II),
married (second) Susanna  , who survived
him. Samuel Green (II) lived in Maiden and was
known as Samuel, Sr. He bought, October, 1670, of
his brother William half of his father's farm and
occupied the old mansion house. He bought the
other half June 13, 16S4. He died October 31,
1724, aged seventy-nine years, seven months. His
will was dated January 3, 1721. The children of
Samuel (II) and Mary Green were: Samuel, born
January. 1667-8, married Mary Wheeler; Thomas,
born 1669, married Hannah Vinton; John, born
April 1, 1672; William, born August, 1674, married
Elizabeth Farmer; Mary, born about 1677, married
her cousin, John Green; Jonathan, born February
2, 1679-80 married Lydia Buchmann; Martha, of
whom later: David, born 1685, married Martin
Pratt; Elizabeth, born November 16, 1687, married
David Gould; Isaac, born May 20, 1690, married
Mary Pratt
The children of Samuel Green (son of John
(II)) and his wife Martha Green, daughter of
Samuel Green (son of Thomas (I) Green) were:
James, born November 22. 1702, selectman of
Maiden. 1751 ; Martha, born January 18, 1703-4,
married John Sweetser, October 2, 1722 ; John,
born August II, 1707, resided in Carlisle; Timothy,
born October io, 1709, removed to Lancaster; Ezra,
of whom later; Mary, born December 28, 1717;
Sarah, born April 24, 1721 ; Samuel, born April 14.
1724. (IV) Ezra Green, fifth child of Samuel Green
(3), was born in Maiden, Massachusetts, February
31, 1714-5. He was deacon of the Maiden Church,
and very prominent in town affairs. He was select
man in 1753-57-63-68; deputy to the general court
1760-61-62 ; town clerk and for many years justice
of the peace and magistrate. He died April 28, 1768,
aged fifty-four years.
He married (first) Sarah Hutchinson, Febru
ary 12, 1740. She died July 7, 1741, aged twenty-
six years, without issue. He married (second)
Eunice Burrill. daughter of Hon. Eben Burrill, ol
Lynn. She died October 2. 1760. He married
(third). April 29, 1762, Mary (Green) Vinton.
daughter of Isaac Green, and widow of Benoni Vin
ton. The children of Deacon Ezra and Eunice Green
were: Dr. Ezra, born June 17, 1746. graduate of
Harvard, 1765, surgeon in the revolution; settled
at Dover, New- Hampshire, and died there July 25.
1847, aged one hundred years, twenty-eight days;
Bernard, of whom later. The children of Deacon
Ezra and Mary were: Mary, born March 22. 1763;
Aaron, born January 22. 1765.
(V) Bernard Green, second child of Ezra Green
(il. was born in Maiden, Massachusetts. January
14 or 15. C52. He was one of the most distinguished

and influential men of his day in die town. He
was in tlie battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill and
White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey.
He was a corporal in Captain Blaney Shirley's com
pany at Lexington. He was first sergeant in Cap
tain John Walton's company, Colonel Brooks's regi
ment, in 1776, and was at White Plains, Trenton
and Princeton battles. He was lieutenant in Colonel
Thatcher's regiment of Middlesex militia in 1778,
and later was captain of the Maiden company. After
the revolution he was deputy to the general court,
and for thirty years justice of the peace and magis
trate. Much of the early history and especially the
oral traditions were preserved owing to his interest
in them. He is described as a man of towering
frame and colossal mind. His son was the orator
at the two hundredth anniversay celebration of the
foundation of the town of Maiden. He died at
Maiden, July 15, 1834 aged eighty-two years.
He married (second) Lois Diman, daughter of
Rev. James Diman, minister of the East Church at
Salem, Massachusetts, June 7, 1789, and she died
February 22, 1839, aged eighty-one years. The
children of Bernard Green were: Bernard, born
December 30, 1783; Mary Anne, born August 5,
1791. died young; Eunice Burrill, born October 21,
1792; Ezra, of whom later; Mary Orne, born Au
gust 22, 1796; James Dimon, born October 8, 1798,
graduate of Harvard 1817, pastor Third Church,
Cambridge, mayor of Cambridge, 1653; orator at the
Maiden bi-centemiial.
(VI) Ezra Green, fourth child of Bernard Green.
(5), was born at Maiden, Massachusetts, February
XI, J795- He was educated there in the public schools
and at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire.
He thought he preferred to follow the sea to study
ing at the academy and without permission of the
constituted authorities he shipped before the mast
and brought his school days abruptly to an end.
Upon his return home he worked on the farm until
1858, succeeding his father on the homestead at Mai
den. He was a Whig in politics and a Unitarian in
religion. He was interested in public affairs and
wrote several books of travel. He was a man of
sturdy character, broad views and unusual general
intelligence. He removed from Maiden to Lancaster
in 1858, and died there in 1862. He had a handsome
home in Lancaster, in which his widow has since
resided. She is a bright and interesting woman
notwithstanding her great age. She was born in
1819, tbe daughter of Ralph and Abigail (Childs)
Richardson, of Vermont.
Bernard Green married Elmina Richardson,
1842. Their children were : Bernard Richardson,
born December 28, 1843, married Julia Lincoln, and
they have four children ; Elmina Minerva, born
August 2&, 1845, married H. T. Harwood, and they
have eight children; Sarah Elizabeth, born April 1,
1847. married Charles Wilder, and they have one
child; James D., born December 25, 1848, married
Elizabeth Damon; George Ezra, born September 17,
1850, died young: Abby F., unmarried; Marion,
unmarried. They were born in Maiden. Two others
died young.
JAMES LOGAN. The Logan family, repre
sented by James Logan, a prominent Massachu
setts manufacturer, of Worcester, originated in
Ayrshire, Scotland. The genealogy of James Logan-
is traced as follows from the middle of the eighteenth
century. (I) David Logan, of Brouchallmuir, in the
parish of Dunlop, in Ayrshire, Scotland, married
Elizabeth Muir.
(II) James Logan, son of David and Eliza-

^Z^^^ytAyt^^y^ \~4rz2 .

WORCESTER COUNTY

69

beth (Muir) Logan, was born in the village named
above, July 18, 1778, and died March 26, i860, aged
eighty-one years, eight months and eight days. He
married, December 25, 1801, Margaret, daughter of
Archibald and Janet (Gibson) Thompson, of Cor-
bert, parish of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, Scotland ;
she was born in November, 1782, died August 28,
1825. Their' children were: Janet, -born November
3, 1802, died August 23, 1855; married John Alli
son; David, September 1, 1805, died July 23, 1818;
Elizabeth, July 31, 1807, died\ September 30, 1824;
Mary, March 30, 1809, died February 27, 1829; mar
ried Alexander Reid; Margaret Thompson, June 15,
181 1, died October 27, 1812; Archibald Thompson',
July 22, 1813, died January 4, 1886; Margaret
Thompson, August 2, 1816, died December 2, 1835 ;
David (see forward) ; Agnes Logan, July 24, 1822,
married William Robb.
(Ill) David Logan, e'ighth child and third son
of James and Margaret (Thompson) Logan, was
born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland, De
cember 5, 1818. He married Mary Kennedy, born
in Paisley, Scotland, January 25, 1816. With their
children, two sons and two daughters, they sailed
in 1852 from Greenpck, Scotland, in the ship "Isa
bella," and arrived in the United States after a
voyage of seven weeks. David Logan first settled
in Connecticut, whence he soon removed to Wor
cester, Massachusetts. He found employment with
the Norwich & Worcester Railroad, serving as watch
man for several years, and subsequently located
on a farm in Cherry Valley, near Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He died in Cherry Valley, Massachusetts,
March 20, 1893. His wife died in Cherry Valley,
Massachusetts, September 20, 1888. Of his children,
four were born in Scotland, and two in Worcester,
Massachusetts. David, born August 16, 1840, in
Paisley, Scotland, died in Brewster, New York,
October 10, 1902; Margaret, August 2, 1848, in Pais
ley, Scotland, died at North Woodstock, Connecti
cut, February 2, 1902'; Annie Kennedy, born Sep
tember 7, 1850, in Paisley, Scotland, became the
wife of Lendall Houghton ; James, see forward ;
Oscar Alva, born January 24, 1854, in Worcester,
Massachusetts ; John Kennedy, born December 14,
1855. in Worcester, Massachusetts.
(IV) James Logan, -fourth child and second
son of David and Mary (Kennedy) Logan, was
horn in Glasgow, Scotland, May 6, 1852, and was
a babe three months old when his parents came to
the United States. His life was one of arduous
labor from his very boyhood, and his education
was in greater part eked out at spare times. As
was the custom then in both Great Britain and the
United States, boys became bread winners as soon
as they were large enough, and at the age of ten
years young Logan found employment in the Park
hurst Woolen Mill at Valley Falls, a village near
Worcester, Massachusetts. Labor began at five in
the morning, the operatives working for two and
a half hours before breakfast, the entire mill day
being extended to fourteen hours. The machinery
was clumsy, even when working at its best the pace
was slow, and there were frequent stoppages on ac
count of breakdowns and want of water, that being
before the day of steam engines. These delays were
of great advantage to the young workman. He
had attended school some little before, and he now
devoted his hours of enforced relief from work to
further improving his mind. The teacher at the
Valley Falls school was Mary E. D. King, a noble
woman whose entire life was given to school work
in Worcester, and whose memory is revered by
hundreds of men and women as the friend of their
youth, the faithful guide who inspired them to

apply themselves to study, and to fit themselves
for the active duties of life. Upon young Logan
she left a strong impress, and he ever regarded hei-
with peculiar affection and gratitude. She induced
a half-dozen mill lads to come to the school to recite
in the odd hours when the mill was shut down,
for want of water power, and at noon hour, when
the work was more continuous, she heard them
recite their lessons. Of this company young Logan
alone persisted in continuing his studies and recitar-
tions, and the fact is significant . as showing his
determination to procure an education which should
enable him to enter upon a larger career than that
of a mere laborer. When about eleven an accident
indirectly further advanced him on the highway to
success. His arm was caught, in a machine and
was broken in three places, being almost torn off
at the wrist, and leaving a frightful scar for life.
While his arm had lost some of its power and use
fulness, he was not incapacitated, and he resumed
mill work. At fifteen he was taken ill, and on his
recovery, after a period of six months, was able
to perform only light mill labor, and the fact that
his left arm was weak turned his mind toward
bookkeeping. In his sixteenth year he entered B. G.
Howe's Business College, which then occupied
quarters in the building where the Park theatre
now stands, and while attending that school assisted
for a short time as billing clerk in the office of
S.' R. Heywood & Co., the veteran shoe manu
facturer. The next year after completing his com
mercial course, he took temporary employment with
the First National Fire Insurance Company, then
in the building now occupied by Green's drug store,
at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets ; he soon
obtained a position as bookkeeper with A. Y. Thomp
son & Co., dry goods dealers, in the Flagg block,
on Main street. Here he remained for about two
years, receiving $150 for his first year's work, and
sleeping on the counter, as was the custom in those
days, in order to serve as a watchman over the
store. His course now was one of gradual but sub
stantial advancement. After leaving Mr. Thompson
he returned to the woolen mill of G. N. and J. A.
Smith, Cherry Valley (now operated by their
nephew, Channing Smith), in which he had pre
viously worked as a mill boy, and in which he now
served for about two years in the capacity of book
keeper. In 1873 he became bookkeeper for Sanford
& Company, book sellers and stationers, at the corner
of Main and Maple streets, one of the two book
stores then in the city, and now conducted by the
Sanford-Putnam Company. Finding that his office
duties did not require all his time, he volunteered
to sell goods in the store in addition to his office
duties and developed unusual ability as a salesman.
In 1878 he received an offer from David Whitcomb,
of G. Henry Whitcomb & Company, envelope manu
facturers (established since 1864, to enter their
employ. The salary was considerably less than he
had been receiving, but he ,saw an opportunity for
a more extended field of usefulness, and he accepted.
Mr. Logan soon gained an accurate practical knowl
edge of all the processes of manufacture, the
marketing of the product, and the details of the
business, gaining the entire confidence of his em
ployers. His services as a salesman were of
particular advantage,, and he contributed in marked
degree to the extension of the business.
In December. 1882, Mr. Logan associated with
himself George H. Lowe, of Boston, under the name
of the Logan & Lowe Envelope Company. A fac
tory was established in the Stevens block, on South-
bridge street, Leader machines were installed, and
the business was inaugurated most promisingly. In

.70

WORCESTER COUNTY

July, 1883, Mr. Logan received a flattering offer to
return to the Whitcomb Company, and the farm ot
Logan & Lowe Envelope Company, was dissolved,
Mr Lowe returning to Boston to become a partner in
the wholesale paper house of Carter, Rice & Com
pany. Mr. Logan's stay was short, and in January,
1884, he with Henry D. Swift, D. Wheeler Swift, and
John S. Brigham (all formerly connected with the'
Whitcomb Company) formed the Logan, Swift &
Brigham Envelope Company, for the manufacture
of envelopes. A factory was established at 16 Union
street, and operations were begun with Leader and
Reay machines, which were soon superseded by a
new equipment designed by the Swifts, who were
the mechanical experts of the enterprise, and who
were the inventors of all the envelope folding ma
chinery in the Whitcomb Company. With the ad
vantage of the more rapid production made possible
by improved machinery, and Mr. Logan's splendid
ability for marketing the goods, the success of the
firm was phenominal, and it was of world-wide
fame as the most extensive, most completely equipped
and most profitable of any in its line in the United
States. In 1898 the business was consolidated with
that of the Whitcomb Company, the Hill Envelope
Company and seven other large envelope manu
facturing firms, under the corporate title of the
United States Envelope Company, with Mr. Logan
as first vice-president and general manager, positions
which he has occupied to the present time. To the
complex duties thus devolved upon him, with new
prcfblems and new conditions continually arising, he
has brought tireless energy and abilities of the
highest order, his grasp extending from the initial
process through .all the stages of manufacture, the
continual improvement of the , equipment, and the
great responsibilities connected with the marketing
of the immense product of the factories. . At the
present time nearly two thousand operatives are
constantly employed. Much of the success attend
ing the practical work of the establishment is due
to D. Wheeler Swift, the chief mechanical engineer,
Of the original Logan, Swift & Brigham Company,
Mr. Brigham died February 19, 1897, and Henry
D. Swift has retired from business.
Mr. Logan occupies much of his time in the
general offices in Springfield, Massachusetts, and
makes his home in Salisbury street, Worcester,
where he occupies a handsome residence. He has
always taken a deep and active interest in com
munity affairs. He was formerly a trustee of the
Worcester County Institute for Savings; served for
several years as president of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association ; was a director of the board
of trade; was a member of the grade crossing com
mission of 1898, and would at that time probably
have been elected to the mayoralty, had he been
willing to accept a nomination, but having agreed to
accept the office of general manager of the Con
solidating Envelope Company, did not feel he would
be able to give to the service of the city the time
which he believed a mayor ought to give. He has
ever been particularly interested in the educational
andTJenevolent institutions of the city. He has long
been a trustee "of the Worcester Polytechnic In
stitute; is a trustee of the Bancroft Scholarship,
charged with the use of a fund by George Ban
croft, the historian, in aiding Worcester young peo
ple to a collegiate education; and is a trustee of the
Worcester City Hospital, in which he takes an active
and efficient interest. He was one of the chief
promoters and has always been among the principal
supporters of the Young Men's Christian Associa
tion in Worcester, which he has served in the
capacity of president, and is at the present time one

of the trustees, and it is largely through his effort
that this beneficent institution has been preserved
from, financial embarrassment. He is also a mem
ber of the state executive committee of the Young
Men's Christian Association, of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island. He is a member of the Central
Congregational Church and of its board of deacons.
He is an active member of the Congregational Club,
of which he has been president; and of the Wor
cester Society of Antiquity. He is a member of
various Masonic bodies — Montacute Lodge, Eureka
Royal Arch Chapter, and Hiram Council. He is
one of the thirty members of the Civic Federation
of New England, representing the manufacturers of
the state of Massachusetts in that body. Mr. Logan
gave to the town of Leicester a park adjoining the
cemetery at Cherry Valley (where he began his life
as a school and mill boy) known as Towtaid Park,
the Indian name for that locality. He is one of the
lecturers upon business topics at Dartmouth College
in the Tuck School of Administration and Finance,
and in 1904 received the degree of Master of Arts
from that institution.
James Logan married, in 1879, Annie D., daugh
ter of Levi Johnson, of Worcester, who for many
years was proprietor of the jewelry store in the
Bay State House at the corner of Main and Ex
change streets. Mr. Johnson is now (1905) living
in Worcester at his home, 12 John street, ' having
retired from business several years ago. He was
born in 1819. The children of James and Annie D.
Logan are : Oscar Johnson, born September 23,
1880, died August 28. 1881 : Donald Brigham, No
vember 8, 1881, graduated from Dartmouth College
in 1904, taking the degree of Bachelor of Laws;
after spending another year in the Tuck School of
Administration and Finance he received in 1905
the degree of Master of Commercial Science; Alice,
born August 29, 1887; Ruth, born April 20, 1889.
CHACE FAMILY. Bartholomew Chace (1),
one of the first settlers of Rhode Island, was proba-
blv the immigrant ancestor of Mrs. Maria A.
(Chace) Haskell, of Clinton, Massachusetts. The
Chace family of Rhode Island has been distin
guished for ability and worth. Most of the des
cendants spell the name Chace in distinction from
the numerous descendants of Aquila Chase and his
brother, Thomas Chase, of northern Massachusetts
and of New Hampshire.
(II) Joseph Chace, perhaps a grandson of the
immigrant, Bartholomew Chace, was born about
1680. He settled in Warwick, Rhode Island. His
wife Abigail died there November 25, 1730. Their
children born in Warwick, were : Gideon, born De
cember 22, 1712; Ebenezer, January 17, 1715; Paul
May 22, 1716; Mome, July 23, 1718; Arbra, July I,
I72p; Joseph, January 13, 1723, died young; Abigail,
January 13, 1723 (twin), died young; Mary, June
18, 1726; David. The children of Joseph and Mary
Chace, born at North Kingston, Rhode Island,
were: Joseph, William, settled in Bellingham, Massa-_
chusetts, and had Isabel, born May 12, 1758, mar-'
ried Seth Hayward; Joseph, born August 16, 1764,
and others.
(Ill) Joseph Chace, Jr., son of Joseph Chace
(2), was born at North Kingston, Rhode Island,
February 16, about 1740. Among the children of
Joseph was Charles, born in Rhode Island about
1765- Joseph appears to have been a soldier in the
revolution from Bellingham, and his brother Wil
liam settled there permanently.
(IV) Charles Chace, son of Joseph Chace, Jr.
(3), was born in Rhode Island about 1762. He
was at Cumberland, Rhode Island, November 5,

WORCESTER COUNTY

7i

1786, when he married Abigail Ide, daughter of
Timothy Ide, of a well known old family. He
lived there a few years, then was at Bellingham,
where his father lived at one time and where his
uncle made his home. He married (second), also
at Cumberland, Rhode Island, December 28, 1794,
Ruth Jencke, of Wrentham. Charles and his wife's
brother, William Jencke, of Wrentham, bought the
Tucker house and farm on what is now known as
Chace street in the spring of 1798 of Major Merrick
Rice. As Major Rice was one of the lawyers of
Lancaster and as the property had come into his
hands from Benjamin Houghton and Josiah Cool-
idge, who had it two years before from Thomas
Tucker, it is probable that the estate had passed
from the hands of the Tucker family on account
of the hard times at the close of the eighteenth
century. The house, like that of William Gould
on the Mill road and that of Elias Sawyer at what
is now Lancaster Mills, had been begun,, but through
lack of funds had never been finished. It remained
for Mr. Chace to complete it, a large square New '
England mansion, still standing on the original site
between Chace street and the Nashua river. The farm
contained about one hundred and fifty acres, or
some thirty-five more than in the old Tucker place.
The price paid- was two housand dollars. In 1802
Mr. Jenks (as the name is now spelled) released
his part in the ownership to Mr. Chace.
Mr. Chace was not only a farmer but also a
tanner, currier and shoemaker. He bought di
rectly from the neighboring farmers whenever they
slaughtered cattle and tanned the hides in vats to
the north and south of his house. Some two years
after he bought a skin he had it ready for use as
leather. His currying and shoemaking were done
in a shop one story high, eighteen by thirty feet,
six rods or so west of the house. The sides of
leather were hung on the sides of this building to
dry. On one side of the shop the drying and
dressing were done, on the other the boots and
shoes were made by Mr. Chace and his hands and
apprentices. He had simple tools and all the work
was by hand. His two eldest sons probably learned
the whole business of their father, but in later life
Alanson confined his activity to shoemaking while
the other son Charles became a tanner. Mr. Chace's
home life is thus described in the Clinton history:
"The family life was that of the ideal New Eng
land home, as it existed in the early part of the
century (nineteenth). There was great earnest
ness of religious belief, but no austerity. Mr.
Chace belonged to the Rhode Island family of
Chaces and brought with him from his old home
the Baptist belief. Although the members of the
family attended public worship at the old church
at Lancaster Center, still they clung to their own
form of faith and gathered their neighors to wor
ship with them, and thus became the originators
of the Baptist organization in the town. When
John Burdett settled in Clinton, they found in him
an equally devoted worker. Something of the beau
tiful home life of the family can be surmised from
this extract from a letter written by the youngest
son to his mother on his thirty-sixth birthday.
"This day reminds me anew of the untold, unpaid,
and unpayable debt of gratitude which every son is
under to a good mother, and for which the only
return he can make is to show her that he is not
insensible of it. Frequently when not otherwise
occupied, does my mind wander back to the days
of my early childhood, when it was so sweet to
pillow my head upon my • mother's knee, when her
lap was my home, the safe refuge to which I
flew from every childish grief and trouble. And

there are moments when my spirit, worn and soiled
by the cares of life, has lost its freshness and its
hope, in which I would fain be that little boy over
again and nestle in my mother's bosom and find
it as secure a retreat from the trials of manhood
as I did then from the trials of infanpy."
Mr. Chace died in 1852, aged ninety years. In
his will, which was proved in 1852, he mentioned
his nephew, Timothy Ide Crowninshield, and his
four surviving children: Alanison, Charles, Jr.,
George Ide and Diana. The children of Charles
and Abigail (Ide) Chace were 1. Titmothy Ide,
born March 6, 1787, at Cumberland, Rhode Island,
died Sptember 12, 1789. 2. Sally, born November 7,
1789, married ¦  • Crowninshield. The children of
Charles and Ruth (Jenks) Chace: 3. Alanson, see
forward. 4. Charles, Jr., built the old part of the
house at No. 1 Green street; he was a tanner;
settled at Stillriver (Harvard) and became deacon
of the church there in August, 1819, and served
for more than seventy years. 5. William J., died
young. 6. George Ide, who gained a world-wide
reputation, prepared for college at Lancaster Acad
emy, graduated as valedictorian of his class at
Brown University in 1830; he was for a year prin
cipal of a classical school at Waterville, Maine,
then returned to Brown in 1831, as tutor in mathe
matics, in 1833 became adjunct professor of mathe
matics and applied philosophy, in 1836 professor of
chemistry, geology and physiology, and filled that
chair for thirty-one years; was well known as a
public lecturer, traveled in Canada, Nova Scotia
and Central America, as well as the western por
tion of his own country in his capacity as mining
expert; in 1867 he was acting president of the Uni
versity; resigned as professor in 1872 and traveled
abroad; returned to Providence and during the re
mainder of his life devoted himself to the inter
ests of his city and state, chiefly as the chairman
of the Rhode Island State Board of Charities and
Correction; a volume of his essays published in
1886, reveals his scholarship and ability. Presi
dent Andrews said of him after his death, April
29, 1885 : "Professor Chace had the keenest analyti
cal power of any thinker whom I ever heard dis
course * * * and he joined with this a hardly
less remarkable faculty for generalization." 7.
Diana. 8. Amia Ann.
(V) Alanson Chace, son of Charles Chace (4),
was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, October
22, 1795. He came to South Lancaster, now Clin
ton, with his father when he was very young and
was educated there in the common schools. He
learned the trades of tanner and shoemaker of his
father. In 1818 he and his brother, Charles Chace,
Jr., probably with the aid of their father, bought
of Seth Grout one acre of land and of James
Pitts one acre of land and one twentieth of the water
power at the dam now controlled by the Lancaster
Mills; they erected a small tannery between the
spot where the present machine shop stands and the
river. He settled on the homestead at Clinton and
as his father was old took charge of the farm and
of the shoe making; about 1828 he sold his house,
shop and water rights to James Pitts. He served
the district as member of the Lancaster school com
mittee; as one of five representing Clinfonville in
the division of property when the town of Clinton
was incorporated, and was a selectman in the new
town of Clinton. He was one of the organizers
and most devoted supporters of the Baptist church
in Clinton. He built the Chace mansion formerly on
Prescott street, now removed to Cedar street. He
was, in fact, one of the most honored and trusted
as well as among the most public-spirited men of

72

WORCESTER COUNTY

the town of Clinton in its early days. He died
February 13, 1875, at Clinton. He married Maria
Harris and they had two children : Charles H.,
born February 19, 1826, see forward. Maria A.,
married W. H. Haskell, see forward.
(VI) Charles H. Chace, son of Alanson Chace
(5), was born February 19, 1826, died January g,
1904. He succeeded his father in possession of the
old homestead. He took contracts for cellars and
excavating in the early fifties. In 1858 he went into
business with his brother-in-law, W. H. Haskell.
In 1861 he continued to run the grocery business
and erected an addition to the store building which
he occupied at that time on Mechanic street. He
is a Baptist in religion. He had been selectman of
the town. He married, April 11, 1850, Caroline M.
Ball, of Boylston, now deceased. They left three
living children: A. Alanson, Addie Eliza and
Emma Chace.
(VI) Maria A. Chace, daughter of Alanson
Chace (5), was born at Clinton, Massachusetts,
February 1, 1833. She married, October 20, 1855,
William H. Haskell, who was born in Rochester,
Massachusetts, October 20, 1824 the son of Seth
and Unice (Hammond) Haskell, a native of Mat-
tapoisett, Massachusetts. He spent his boyhood and
early manhood in Rochester, acquired his education
there in the public schools and academy. He en
tered the general store kept by his father and sub
sequently managed a store at North Abington, Massa
chusetts. About 1850 he went to Clinton to work
for his brother, David Haskell, who was seven
years older than he, and who had already a store on
Mechanic street on the lot afterward occupied by
the C. H. Chace building. He soon became a part
ner and the business was conducted under the firm
name of Haskell Brothers. The elder brother
David was the victim of a dreadful accident, Sep
tember 5, 1854. He was returning some "burning
fluid" to a barrel when it took fire from a lantern,
exploded, and the cellar of the store was filled with
flame. He died from his injuries the next day.
The home of David Haskell was on Water street
in the brick house built by Asahel Harris. For
more than three years William H. Haskell con
tinued the business alone, but in August, 1858, he
advertised groceries and dry goods at the old stand
in partnership with D. W. Kilburn. In the same
year Charles H. Chace succeeded Mr. Kilburn in
the firm. In August, 1861, the firm was dissolved
and the business divided, Mr. Haskell keeping the
dry goods and Mr. Chace the grocery. Mr. Has
kell finally sold his business to Mr. Chace. He had
a store for a short time at the rear of his resi
dence on Chestnut street. During the closing
years of the civil war he was in the grocery busi
ness in the basement of Burdett & Fiske's block
on the corner of Union and High streets. In 1868
he erected the block at the corner of Union and
Walnut streets, where he continued in the grocery
business until his death, December 2, 1878. He
was a leading member of the Congregational church
of Clinton, and his wife is still active in the church.
He was a worthy citizen and highly respected.
The children of William H. and Maria A.
(Chace) Haskell were: 1. Harriet M., born June
29, 1858, married Clarence H. Bowers, D. D. S., of
Clinton, and the have three children— George
F. H, Alice D., and Caroline A. 2. Alice C,
born June 23, 1861, died in childhood. 3. Elnathan,
born December 14, 1863, died young. 4. Minnie
Eliza, born October 28, 1865, died in infancy. 5.
William Dayid, born July 9, 1867, died July 17,
1887. 6. Mary Agnes, born February 22 1873,
died in infancy.

WILLIAM H. BLOOD. Richard Blood (1),
the immigrant ancestor of William H. Blood, of
Lancaster, Massachusetts, was one of several broth
ers who came to New England among the early
settlers. Some of them owned land in Ruddington,
Nottinghamshire, England, and it is thought they
all hailed from that neighborhood.
James Blood, whom good authority calls brother
of Richard, was a yeoman and sergeant at Concord;
proprietor of the town and was admitted a free
man June 2, 164.1. He was one of the commis
sioners to lay out the Hough grant of four hun
dred acres in 1650; commissioner to end small causes
at Chelmsford in 1660. He deposed March 30,
1660, that he was about fifty-five years old; he
died September 17, 1683, and his will makes no
mention of Richard or his other brothers. His wife
Ellen died August 1, 1674.
John Blood settled in Lynn and he was living
there in 1647, but removed to- Concord where James
Blood was living; his brother, Robert Blood, ad
ministered his estate by appointment dated Septem
ber 27, 1692.
Robert Blood, probably younger than John and
James, was a yeoman and planter at Lynn before
1647. He and John Blood, his brother, sold a
moiety of one tenement and half an ox gang in
Ruddington, mentioned above, to William Crafts,
of Lynn. He married, April 8, 1653, Elizabeth Wil
lard, daughter of Major Simon Willard; he died
October 22, 1701.
These four immigrants are ancestors of all of
the name, or nearly all. Richard Blood, Robert
Blood, Joseph Blood and James Blood were among
the original proprietors of Groton, Massachusetts.
Richard and Robert were petitioners for the plan
tation. Richard Blood was on the first board of se
lectmen and served for several years afterward.
He was town clerk in 1668 and for years was the
largest taxpayer. He is called the chief among the
original proprietors. He died December 7, 1783; at
Groton. He married Isabel  . Their children
were : Mary, died April 19, 1662 ; James, of whom
later; Nathaniel, of Groton, married, June 13, 1670,
Hannah Parker, daughter of James Parker; Eliza
beth, married Thomas Tarbell; Joseph, probably
the proprietor mentioned above.
(II) James Blood, son of Richard Blood (1),
was born perhaps in England before his parents
came over, about 1640. He was a prominent citi
zen of Groton, where he was killed by the Indians
September 13, 1692. He' married, September 7,
1669, Elizabeth Longley, daughter of William Long-
ley. She died before 1687. He married (second)
Abigail  . The children of James and Eliza
beth Blood were: Richard, born May 29, 1670, died
July 8, 1670; Mary, born September 1, 1672; Eliza
beth, born April 27, 1675 ; Hannah, died January 6, ¦
1675. The children of James and Abigail Blood
were : James, Jr., born August 12, 1687 ; John, born
March 16, 1689, of whom later; Martha, born Oc
tober 20, 1692.
(Ill) John Blood, sixth child of James Blood
(2), was born in Groton, Massachusetts, March 16,
1689, and died August 23, 1758, in his seventieth
year. He settled also in Groton. He married there,
July 13, 1712, Joanna Nutting, of one of the old
families. Their children, all born at Groton, were:
John, born February 18, 1713-4; Elizabeth, born
March 19, 1715-6; David, born September 28, 1718;
Lydia, born September 28, 1720; William, born
December 9, 1722; Moses, born November 25, 1724;
Hannah, born July 7, 1727; Oliver, born July 9,
1729; Caleb, born November 23, 1734, of whom later.

WORCESTER COUNTY

73

(IV) Caleb Blood, youngest child, of John
Blood (3), was born November 23, 1734, at Groton,
Massachusetts, and died there December 9, 1S04,
aged seventy years. His grave is marked by a stone
in the old graveyard, lie was a soldier in the
revolution, in Captain Longley's company, Colonel
Asa Whitcomb's regiment in 1775, aud also helped
with funds contributed to carry on the war.
lie married, November 1, 1753, Hannah Holden,
daughter of John and Sarah (Davis) Holden. lie
married (second), March 3, 1774, Elizabeth Farus-
worth, who died September 1, 1773. She was
a daughter of Isaac ami Anna (Green) Farns-
worth. The children of Caleb and Hannah Blood
were: Caleb, Jr., born at Groton, October 24, 1755,
served all through the revolution and it is dillieult
to distinguish his record from that of his father of
the same name; Hannah, born September 23, 1757:
John, born September 0, 1759; David (twin), born
July 8, 1702; Samuel (twin), born July 8, 1702.
The children of Caleb and Elizabeth Blood were:
Timothy, born March 8, 1775, died January 13,
1777; Thomas, born August 31, 1776, of whom later;
Timothy, born September 8, .1778; Elizabeth, born
August 25, 1780; Levi, born September 14, 1782,
died September 29, 1782; Sally, born August 31,
1783; Luther, born October 1, 1785; Nanev, born
Mav, 1787.
(V) Thomas Blood, son of Caleb Blood (4),
was born August 31, 1770, at Groton, Massachusetts,
and died there October 13. 1835, aged fifty-nine
years. The following inscription is copied from his
gravestone :
"Canst thou by faith survey with joy
The change before it comes?
And say 'let death this house destroy,
1 have a Heavenly home.'"
Thomas Blood was brought up in Groton and
educated there in the common schools, lie was
well-read, a student of public questions and an in
fluential CTtu'ou of his native nlaee. He was cap
tain of the militia company. He was a prosperous
farmer of this city.
He married Sarah Fitch. Their .children were:
Roxy, Millie, Betsy, Alfred, Mary, Nancy. Thomas
F. Gilman.
(VI) Thomas F. Blood; son of Tbomas Blood
(S)> was born in Groton, Massachusetts. January
10, 1814, and died at Lancaster. January 23, 1884,
aged seventy years, according to his gravestone. Ho
succeeded to the homestead of his father at Gro
ton and resided on it until 1845. when he removed
to Lancaster, where be built a sdhstaiitial house on
the farm now owned by bis son, William 11. Blood.
In politics be was a Whig and he took a lively in
terest in public affairs, lie was an active mem
ber of tho Congregational church.
lie married, January 30, 1840, Caroline E. Parker,
daughter of Charles Parker, of Groton. Their
-children were: Charles Edwin, born at Groton,
April 2, 184J. served in civil war for two years iu
Company H, Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment;
William" Henry, born September 21, 1843, of whom
later : Angelo P., born December 20, 1845 ; Caro
line E, born October 25, 1847: Ellen F., born Nov
ember 27, 1840: Lucius M. born February 24.
1850. tVIB William Henry Blood, sou of Thomas
F, Blood (6), was born in Groton, Massachusetts,
September 2r, 1843. Tie removed to Lancaster with
his parents when he was but two years old and
has lived there ever since. His education was ac
quired in ihe public and high schools of Lancaster,

and he followed in the footsteps of his ancestors,
working on the homestead of his father at Lan
caster. When he was twenty-three he purchased his
present farm of twenty-seven acres and later added
many acres to his farm. lie is one of the most suc
cessful general farmers in his locality. For a num
ber of years he was connected with the Lancaster
Creamery, whioh produced a large quantity of ex
cellent butter, lie has an extensive dairy depart
ment on his farm, lie has acquired a competence
from his farm and is counted among the most sub
stantial citizens of the town. In politics he is a
Republican and has frequently been chosen lo posi
tions of trust and responsibility. He was tax col
lector iu 18(18-00-70, was road coiinnissioner four
years, superintendent of streets fifteen years, was
on the board of water commissioners for seven
years, was on the hoard of selectmen from 1S79
until 1808. He is on the parish aud church com
mittees of the Lancaster Congregational Church, and
he and his family are active in church work.
Mr. Blood married May 31, 1811(1, Mary E. Priest,
daughter of Levi Priest, of Harvard, Massachu
setts. She was born February. 1845. Her mother
was F.li/a (HartwelD Priest, of Groton. The chil
dren of William 11. and Mary E. Blood are: Alice
M„ born May 18, 1807. married Sereno Goodnow.
who is an assistant on the Thayer estate, and
they have three children : Ellen. Edith, Grace Good
now : George H., horn July 26. 1800. is engaged in
the oil business; married Florence McCloud, and
they have three children: Mabel, Ada, George Blood;
Arthur W.. horn April 7, 1872, married Sadie Israel;
resides in Lancaster; their children are: Walter R.,
and Harold William Blood: Frankie. died in in
fancy: Walter, died young ; .Nellie E„ born Sep
tember 22. 1884; Horace, died young; Edgar Nelson,
born October 1, 1900.
MANNING FAMILY. William Manning (1),
the founder of his family in America, came to the
colony of Massachusetts Bay at au early date. He
came (from best evidence) from Essex county, Eng
land. The first nine or ten weeks — he said himself — ¦
be lived at Roxbury. Massachusetts, after landing
here. He then removed to Cambridge, where docu
ments were first signed by him. the date not later
than about 1034- possibly several years before. He
was on the list of landholders in February, 1635.
An old church record says: "Payd our brother
Manninge for a bellrope." This was dated 1048,
when he was engaged in "A business laudable and
commendable." He had doubtless been a merchant
in England. In 1038 he bought "foure acres of
Swamp (Yield of planteing grounde: Charles Towne
Fast." His son William was a journeyman in
Middlesex county, 1052. William Manning (t) was
a freeman (.church member and voter) 1640. His
wife Susannah died 1650. and later he removed to
Boston and there united with the church in twit.
Susannah was his second wife: of the first nothing
is known. His third wife was Elizabeth, who out
lived him. He died in 1005 or 1006. He was prob
ably born in 1502. It is not quite clear, but from
the best present obtainable evidence it seems that
bis children were : William, born about 1614, in
Eugland. and Hannah.
(II) William Manning, son of the first to lo
cate on American soil, horn about 1614, in England,
came in or before 1034 to the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, and lived in Cambridge the remainder of
his days. He purchased lands and engaged iu busi
ness as a merchant. Ho also owned a warehouse,
boatbouse, on a canal to which boats had free
access, and constructed with his own hands a wharf

74

WORCESTER COUNTY

by his boathouse. He was elected highway surveyor
1651; -also a "gauger" of casks and constable,
1652-53. In 1652, 1666, 1670 he was selectman; also
for the years 1672-75-81-83— a total of fifteen years.
He was a member of the grand jury in 1686, 1688.
As a selectman he was on a committee to inspect
into the families "that there be no bye drinking or
any misdemeanor whereby sin is committed, and
persons from their houses unseasonably." His wife
was Dorothy, and their children were : Hannah,
Samuel, Sarah, John, Mary, all born and baptized
in the church. In 1668 he was sent to England, to
procure another minister, and in 1671 Rev. Urian
Oakes was received and ordained through their
visit abroad. Oakes remained pastor until his
death, and was also president of Harvard College.
In 1670 Mr. Manning was appointed "to catechise
the youth" of his town. The most important act
of his life was in connection with Harvard College,
he having been selected, with Deacon John Cooper,
to replace the old college building with a new one,
and to receive and disburse funds for that purpose.
This was in 1672, and his work extended until
1684. This college was then nearer the people's
hearts than any institution since. It was established
by the general court (legislature) sixteen years after
the landing of the "Mayflower." It was the pride
and hope of the people who cast their fortunes in
the New World. In 1639 it received the name of
Harvard College. William Manning (2) had much
to do with the starting of this great educational
school. The bodies of William and Dorothy Man
ning were buried in the cemetery of Harvard Square,
and the headstones, still well preserved, show that
he died March 14, 1690, and his wife July 26,
1692. He died full of years and honors — a merchant,
selectman, and held many other offices, aside from
being a rebuilder of Harvard College. Their chil
dren were: 1. Hannah, born 1642. 2. Samuel, born
1644. 3. Sarah, born 1645. 4. Abigail, born 1647.
.5. John, born 1649. 6. Mary, born 1651. 7. Timothy,
born 1653. ' -
(III) Samuel Manning, son of William (2) and
Dorothy, born. 1644, was reared in his native town
and educated in the midst of the good school sur
roundings of Cambridge. His handsome penmanship
and easy style of composition showed him much
superior to his associates. When eighteen years of
age he and other associates were summoned before
the court and reproved for firing off their guns at
night to cause an alarm. They belonged to a
militia company, and the real object of the alarm
was to give the impression that Indians had attacked
the town, but even the court was not disposed to
look too sternly upon the boyinsh prank. He mar
ried at about that date (1666) and removed to
Billerica, twenty miles distant. He was in the
true sense a pioneer. When he settled only forty-
six years had elapsed since the "Mayflower" landed
on the "stern and rock-bound coast." The Indians
were still strong on all sides— friendly one day and
hostile the next. King Philip's war was in 1675,
and twice his new home was assailed by savages.
While they lived beyond the Concord river they
wefe greatly exposed to danger, conflagration and
death. In 1696 his new house became a "garrison."
He was made a corporal in 1682, sergeant in 1684,
and ensign in 1699. He followed farm life and
endured great hardship to subdue his lands. In
1668 he was surveyor of highways, sealer of weights
and measures, 1675-1700; constable, 1677; trial
juryman, 1679; assessor, 1694, 1698, 1702; tithing
man, 1679-82-97, 1704-9; town clerk seven years;
selectman eighteen years; and representative, 1695-
97- The town records are full of commissions to

him. At various times between 1677 and 1700 he
was connected with repairing "the great bridge"'
over the Concord river. He followed surveying a
quarter of a century. In 1692 he was paid fourteen
shillings for writing fourteen pages in the "town.
book." In 1693 he superintended the erection of a.
meeting house. In 1670 he was made a freeman of
the colony. He was a large real estate holder. His-
will was made February 21, 1710. The children by
his two wives are as follows : By Elizabeth.:
Samuel, born 1695, and John. By Abiel: Tim
othy, born 1673; Hannah, William, Mary, Sarah,
Dorothy, Isaac, Ephraim, Elizabeth, Timothy,.
Eliphalet, Abiel.
(IV) William Manning, son of Samuel (3), born.
June 27, 1677, at Billerica, where he always resided.
He inherited the old homestead. He was one of
nineteen men out of one hundred and fifty who were
dignified by the title of "Mr." and one of ten who
occupied the best or "fore seat below," as it was
termed in church pews. He was prominent in the
militia, being an ensign in 1723. He married Eliza
beth French, born 1679, died 1736, when he married.
Mary Shed. Ensign Manning died 1764. His chil
dren were : Elizabeth, born 1701 ; Esther, born
1703; Mary, 1705; William, 1707; Jacob, 1710;
Sarah, 171 1 ; Rachel, 1714; Martha, 1718; Hannah,
1719. (V) Jacob Manning, son of William Manning
(4), born March 27, 1710, at Billerica, Massachu
setts, always resided in his native place. He received
a portion of his father's farm by deed, or gift. His-
rate to the church in 1755 was 7 shillings, 11 pence.
He was a journeyman in the second session of court,
and surveyor in 1741-48-54; also a constable. He died
1762. He married Martha Beard, and had the fol
lowing named children: I. Jacob, born 1739. 2.
Mary, born 1741. 3. Isaac, born 1743. .4. Jesse, born
1745. 5. Thomas, born 1747. 6. David, born 1749.
7. Martha, born 1750. 8. David, born 1753. 9.
Esther, born 1756.
(VI) Jesse Manning, son of Jacob (5), born at
Billerica, Massachusetts, August 18, 1845, was a sol
dier of the Revolution, and marched on the Lexing
ton Alarm, April 19, 1775, in Col. Green's regi
ment. He was a farmer. After his father died he
bought a portion of the old homestead. December
2, 1766, he was married to Anne Carleton ; she died
in 1779, and he married Elizabeth Abbott of And
over, Massachusetts. For his third companion he
married (1802) Abigail Baldwin, who died in 1825..
Jesse Manning died in the autumn of 1825. His chil
dren were: 1. Mercy, horn 1768. 2. David, born
1751. 3. Elizabeth, born 1773. 4. Jesse, born 1776.
5. Julia, born 1778.
(VII) Jesse Manning, son of Jesse (6), born
at Billerica, Massachusetts, July 12, 1776. He re
sided first in his native place and then removed to
Sutton, New Hampshire, and later to Paxton,
Massachusetts, where his latter days were spent. In
New Hampshire he was engaged in the lumber busi
ness and had a mill in connection therewith. At
Paxton he was a carpenter. He married Mary Kil-
bridge at Tewksbury in 1796. He died at Paxton
July 28, 1852, having married for his second
wife Mary Durah (or Durren). His children
bv his first wife were: 1. Jesse, born 1797. 2.
Nancy, born 1800. The children by Mary Durah
were: 1. Elizabeth, born 1810. 2. David, born 1812-
3. Mary Jane, born 1814. 4. Elmira, born 1816. 5-
Samuel Stilltnan, born 1818, at Lexington.
(VIII) David Manning, son of Jesse (7), born
at Sutton, New Hampshire, April 14, 1812; lived at
Paxton, Leicester and Worcester, Massachusetts;
he died at the last named place April 15, 1890. He

DAVID MANNING

¦ ' -f

WORCESTER COUNTY

75

married Lucy B. Grosvenor, who died in 1896. Their
children were : 1. Bethia, married Joseph A. Titus.
2. George G. 3. Theodore. 4. David. 5. Charles
W. 6. Joseph Avery. 7. Frederick. During the
rebellion he was a member of the Freedom Club,
a loyal organization, and was one of three of its
business committee.
(IX) Joseph Avery Manning, son of David and
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born February 19,
1851, at Worcester. He married Ella Amsden, and
their children were : 1. Joseph Nelson, born June
30, 1879. 2.* Frances G., born April 21, 1883. 3. Ed
ward Avery, born September 14, 1894.
(IX) Charles Walter Manning, son of David
and Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born August
2, 1848; married Eva W. Parker and had: 1., Wal
ter Webster, born May 24, 1875. 2. Frank Gros
venor, born January 1, 1877; died May 6, 1879. 3.
Earl G., born January 9, 1881.
(IX) George G. Manning, son of David and
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born October 20,
1842; married Ellen Moore, and had one son Roger,
born February 21, 1879.
(IX) Theodore Manning, son of David and
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born in Paxton,
Massachusetts, October, 1844, became a member of
the Manning Shoe and Rubber Company, and for
more than forty years resided at Worcester. When
twenty years of age he came to Worcester, in
1856. He completed his education in the public
schools and acquired his good business training
with E. A. Goodnow, wholesale boot and shoe
dealer, after which he became a member of the S.
R. Heywood & Company, as a shoe manufacturer.
In 1870 he associated himself with his brother
George G. and B. W. Childs. The latter withdrew
from the concern and the two brothers continued
until 1896, when he was transferred to Boston, be
ing consolidated with that of J. A. Manning, thus
forming the Manning Shoe and Rubber Company.
Our subject's health failed and on April 28, 1898,
he passed from earthly scenes. He married Caro
line E. Woods, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, and
left eight children : Frederick, Charles S., Grace
W., Florence, David R., Robert H, Harold G., and.
Clarence W. Charles S. resides in Ohio, the others
at Newton. He was a regular attendant of the
Plymouth church from the time of its formation.
He had a wide circle of personal friends.
(IX) Hon. David Manning, son of David and
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, was born August
29, 1846. The first ten years of his life was spent
in Leicester, to which place his parents had moved
from Paxton, Massachusetts, when he was an in
fant. After 1856 Worcester was his home. He was
proud of his ancestry, tracing family ties back to
Samuel Adams. David, the father of our subject,
was one of six children ; all of with the exception of
Joseph Manning, member of the shoe jobbing firm
of Boston, known as Manning Brothers, are dead.
The others were : George C, Theodore Walter and
Mrs. Joseph A. Titus.
Mr. Manning was educated in the public schools,
graduating in 1865 from the Worcester high school,
where he was awarded prizes for efficiency in dif
ferent branches. In the autumn of 1865 he entered
Yale College, from which he graduated in high rank
in 1869. He then entered Harvard Law School,
but failing health compelled him to leave the con
finement of college life, but he entered the law office
of Col.' Joseph A. Titus, his brother-in-law, and
H. O. Smith. In 1872 he was admitted to the prac
tice of his chosen profession. Soon after he ac
cepted a position in the law office of Rice & Black
mer, where he gained wide experience in bank

ruptcy proceedings. In 1880 he left this firm, and
associated himself for a time with Burton W. Potter,
but soon opened an office of his own. He was re
garded by his fellow associates at the bar as among
the most prominent in the county. Taking much in
terest in public affairs he was elected as a representa
tive from Ward No. 7 in 1887 and in 1899, the record
time, and there became prominent through his serv
ice on the judiciary committee. In 1900 he was
elected to the state senate, serving two years. Prior
to having served in the legislature he was an asso
ciate justice of the Central district court from 1881
to 1887, when he resigned. He was a member of
the state central committee in 1888, 1897, 1898, and
was frequently urged to become a candidate for
mayor of Worcester, but declined the honor. He
aspired to be a congressman in 1902, but was -de
feated in nomination by Rufus B. Dodge. Mr. Man
ning, who died Thursday, January 5, 1905, was a
great lover of home life. A devoted husband and
father, he spent all possible time at his own home
circle, finding supreme happiness in the quiet of the
sacred precincts of his own affairs. He was not
a secret society man, and did not believe in some
respects in secret organizations, but was in sympathy
with the great principles of the benevolent features
of such institutions. He was an honored member of
the Commonwealth and Tatnuck Clubs. He was an
active member and supporter of Unity Church, be
ing the chairman of the pastoral committee. The
year 1878 marked a new era in Mr. Manning's life,
in his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander
Bigelow and wife, born January 16, 1849. Mrs.
Manning and one son, Alexander Bigelow Manning,
survive him. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and
Mrs. Manning toured abroad, returning in the
autumn of that year. One of his most intimate
associates, Charles R. Johnson, remarked upon hear
ing of his sudden death from apoplexy : "I shall never
meet a better man. He stood for honesty, integrity and
reliability and the highest sense of honor. He was
indeed the most high-minded man I ever met." He
disliked to take a case that he did not believe in,
but when his heart was in the case he was .an an
tagonist to be legally feared. He would fight a case
to the bitter end if he believed he was right, his
client's cause in such instance becoming his own.
He was well read in philosophy as well as law, and
was made up of the most sterling qualities. He
was laid to rest in Hope Cemetery. As an exponent
of law, a radical temperance advocate, a conscien
tious citizen, a loving home companion and an in
dulgent father, no better, truer type of manhood
ever graced the city of Worcester.
PERLEY PIERCE COMEY, M. D. David
Comey (1) was the emigrant ancestor of Dr. Perley
Pierce Comey, of Worcester. He was in Woburn
as early as 1663 and was doubtless the first of the
name in this country. Family tradition says that
he was born in Scotland. His son John married the
daughter of a Scotchman, and the district in which
he lived in Concord later was known as Scotland.
The name is spelled Comee by part of the descend
ants. In the earlier days it was spelled in various
ways, Corny, Come, Comi, Comay and Coomy.
About 1664 David Comey removed from Woburn,
where he first settled, and made his home in Con
cord, Massachusetts, and there he lived the re
mainder of his days. He was killed while a soldier
in King Philip's war in the Sudbury fight, described
elsewhere in this work, April 21, 1676. There is a
pathetic petition on file in the archives of the general
court wherein the widow recites her woes after the
loss of her husband. He was a young man, born

76

WORCESTER COUNTY

about 1640, and when he was killed the widow had
six small children including a baby six weeks old
and four children of the first marriage to care for.
The estate amounted to only eighty-seven pounds,
fifty of which was represented by the house and
land and the rest by clothing and furniture. She
had to give away the children. In the petition she
prayed that Captain Timothy Wheeler be named
guardian for the purpose. The records fail to tell
us how the orphans of the soldier fared later.
David Comey married (first) Elizabeth, who
died at Concord, May 4, 1671, leaving four chil
dren. He married (second) Esther  . His
widow married (second), November 7, 1682, Sam
uel Parry. The children of David and Elizabeth
Comey were : Elizabeth, married, March 29, 1691,
John Kendall, born 1646, died 1732, of Woburn,
where she died December, 1701 . (See Kendall
Sketch) ; Mary, born January 30, 1663, married,
May 24, 1688, Joshua Kibby, of Sherburn.and died
July 9, 1712 ; he died 1731 ; John, of whom later ;
David, born November 14, 1666, died before 1676;
Sarah. The children of David and Esther Comey
were two daughters, one of whom was Esther, born
February 14, 1676.
(II) -John Comey, third child of David Comey
(1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, October
18, 1665. He was a farmer. He removed from
Concord to Cambridge Farms, as Lexington was
then called, in 1689. He died in Lexington, 1729,
aged sixty-four years. The date 1723 given in the
Cambridge history is incorrect.
He married, June 21, 1688, Martha Munroe, who
was born November 2, 1667, the eldest daughter of
William Munroe, a Scotch soldier sent over a pris
oner of war by Cromwell. (See Sketch of Munroe
Family). Their first four children were baptized
February 26, 1699. Their children were : John, born
at Concord, April 8, 1687, died young probably;
Hannah, died unmarried May 26, 1720; Martha,
died July 9, 1713; David, of whom later; Eliza
beth, born January 29, 1701, at Lexington; Abigail,
baptized October 26, 1707, married, January 4, 1728,
Jonas . Pierce, and died at Westminster, Massa
chusetts. (Ill) David Comey, fourth child of John Comey
(2), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, January
11, 1696. If family tradition is correct he died in
1800 at the age of one hundred and four years. In
1729 he was called a yeoman. In 1736 he was an
inn-holder. He married (first) Ruhama Brown, daughter of
Joseph and Ruhamah Brown. She was born in
Watertown, July 15, 1701, died June 3, 1730. He
married (second) Sarah  . There were five
or six children by the first marriage, who died
young. Only two of the children of David and
Ruhamah (Brown) Comey survived, viz. : John,
baptized September 28, 1725; Joseph, baptized
August 4, 1728. The children of David and Sarah
Comey were: Benjamin, born November 15, 1733;
Sarah, September 11, 1735; Mary, April 11, 1738;
Ezekiel, April 27, 1740; Ruhama, April 15, 1742;
David, April 21, 1744; Jonathan, April 4, 1746.
(IV) Jonathan Comey, youngest child of David
Comey (3), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts,
April 4, 1746. When he was a young boy he went
to Foxboro, where some of his elder brothers set
tled, and while still a young man removed to Hollis
ton, Massachusetts, where he lived with Samuel
Messinger. After he married he went to live in the
west part of Hopkinton on the west side of White
hall Pond. At the Lexington Alarm April 19,
1775. ne turned out with the minute men. He served
in the revolution in Captain John Holmes' company,

Colonel Samuel Bullard's regiment. His name was
spelled Jno. Commey on the rolls.
He married Elizabeth Wells about 1768. Their
children were : Parmelia, married Nathaniel Cham
berlain, of Holliston, and settled in Wardsboro, Ver
mont; Royal, of whom later; Betsey, married Joshua
Mellen, and resided in Westboro, Massachusetts;
their only son was Judge Edward Mellen, of Wor
cester; they had, four daughters; Polly (Mary),
married Jonathan Fairbanks, and lived in Holden;
Nellipee, married John Wheelock, of Vermont; she
died at the birth of her son John, who was brought
up by  Adams; Hannah, married Abner
Prentiss, of Hopkinton.
(V) RoyaLl Comey, second child of Jonathan
Comey. (4), was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts,
January 29, 1772. He died in Hopkinton, October,
1853, aged eighty years. He was a well-to-do
farmer. He always lived in. his native town of
Hopkinton. His place was on the east side of
Whitehall pond, and he also ¦ ov^ned a large tract
on the western side and also an island in the pond,
now known as Come/s island.
He married Polly Andrews, of Millford, who
died August 29, 1873, aged eighty-eight years, eight
months, eight days. Tlie children of Royal and
Polly (Andrews) Comey were: Hiram, born July
18, 1806, married, 1832, Emily Gibbs; Elbert, August,
1806, married twice and had seven children.; El
bridge Gerry, of whom later; Dexter, February 21,
1814, died in Westboro, November 8, 1892; Martha
Ann, August 19, 1817, married William B. Wales, of
Hopkinton, who died April 13, 1845, leaving one
child, Mary Ann; Mary, July 12, 1823, died July,
1844. (VI) Elbridge Gerry Comey, third child of
Royal Comey (5), and father of Dr. Perley P.
Comey (VII), was born in Hopkinton, Massachu
setts, November 11, 1811. He married Abigail J.
Pierce. He was a farmer. He settled first in Hol
liston, but in i860 returned to his native town, Hop-'
kinton, Massachusetts, to live. He was a man of
sterling character and exemplary life. He died in
Hopkinton,  , 1868. They had children : Amanda
Ann, born December 20, 1832, died November 10,
1856; educated at Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary;
Aratus, born October 27, 1837; Henry Newton, born
March 4, 1840; Manlius, born March 18, 1843;
Mary Abby, born November 28, 1845, married, July
15, 1868, George S. Gibson, of Hopkinton, Massa
chusetts, has five children, resides in Clinton, Massa
chusetts ; and Periey P., of whom later.
(VII) Dr. Perley Pierce Comey, youngest son
of Elbridge Gerry Comey (6), was born in Hollis
ton, Massachusetts, January 14, 1852. He removed
to Hopkinton with the' family when eight years old.
He spent his boyhood and youth helping his father
on the farm when he was not attending the district
schools of Holliston and Hopkinton. In 1868, after
his father died, he was sent to the Oread high
school in Worcester, a classical school connected
with the Oread Institute at that time. He after
ward learned the business of a druggist and phar
macist in Worcester. He began to study medicine
in the office of Dr. A. P. Richardson, of Boston.
He graduated from the Harvard Medical School in
1878. In the following August he began to practice
his profession in Clinton, Massachusetts. Almost
from the start he received liberal patronage and so'on
had a very extensive practice, not only in Clinton
but in all the adjoining towns. Ever ready \o sym
pathize and advise the afflicted and suffering, he be
came popular wherever he was known. He was not
only a successful physician and skillful surgeon, but
his tact arid excellent judgment were quickly rec-

*7J-

TTiSliBiuisPubTishing Co.

WORCESTER COUNTY

77

ognized by his patients. He removed to the larger
field of Worcester about 1897, though still retain
ing much of his county practice. Lie resides at
63 Lincoln street, and his office is at 61 Lincoln
street. Dr. Comey stands high in the estimation of
his fellow practitioners in Worcester, and in hos
pital and private practice has been singularly for
tunate in recent years. He is a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society. He is a prominent
Free Mason and Odd Fellow.
He married, in 1873, Marion L. Jones, daughter
of John O. Jones, of Boston, and granddaughter of
the late Colonel James Estabrook, of Worcester,
with whom she lived. They have three children,
viz. : 1. Effie M, born in Clinton, a graduate of
Smith College, married D. E. Manson, of Brookline,
Massachusetts, manager of the Westinghouse Elec
tric Company of Boston ; they have two children :
Marian and John T. ; Gertrude J., born in Clin
ton, a graduate of Smith College, resides at home;
Clifton J., born in Clinton, a graduate of Worcester
Academy, class of 1905, now (1906) a student iu
Boston. OLIVER WILLIS RUGG. John Rugg was the
emigrant ancestor of Oliver Willis Rugg and Arthur
P. Rugg, of Worcester, and probably of all the
families of that surname in this vicinity. He came
to this country about 1650 and settled at Water-
'town, but soon removed and -was one of the first
settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Rugg is an
ancient family in Norfolk county, England, and
Lord Braybrooke says that two men of this branch
of the family were aldermen of Norwich. One re-
.port states that John Rugg was born in Sowerby,
Halifax parish, England, March 11, 1632. John
Rugg was in Lancaster in 1652. He married first,
in 1654, Martha Prescott, and (second), Hannah
Prescott, both daughters of Jonathan and Mary
(Platts) Prescott. He was very active in town
affairs. He was admitted a freeman in 1669. His
wife Martha died May 4, 1660, after having had
two children, both of whom died young. John
Rugg died at Lancaster in 1696. His widow was
killed by the Indians at Lancaster, September 22,
1697. His children were: 1.  died January
18, 1655-6. 2. John, born January 17, 1655-6, died
January 29, 1655-6. 3. John, born •June 4, 1662,
died 1712 ; had : i. John. ii. Samuel, settled at
Hadley. iii. Nathaniel, iv. David, v. Jonathan.
vi. Benjamin. vii. Mary. viii. Abigail. 4. Mary,
born July 11, 1664. 5. Thomas, born September 15,
1666, resided at Lexington, Massachusetts; married
Elizabeth  , and had: i. Thomas, born
December 6, 1691. ii. William, born November 19,
1693. iii. Elizabeth, born January 20, 1695. iv.
Hannah, born April 26, 1697. v. Abigail, born
March 13, 1699. vi. Sarah, born February 12, 1702.
vii. Mary, born May 30, 1703. viii. Ruth, born Sep
tember, 1706. ix. Tabitha, born September 10, 1708.
x. Milicent, born November 11, 1710. xi. Martha,
born November 10, 1713. 6. Joseph, born Decem
ber 15, 1668. (Joseph, his wife and three children
and his mother Hannah were murdered by the In
dians at their home in Lancaster, September 22,
1697. The others killed at that time were: Rev.
Mr. Whiting, Daniel Hudson, his wife and two
daughters ; Ephraim Roper, wife and daughter ; John
Skait and wife ; Jonathan Fairbank, Widow
Wheeler, Mary Glazier, and a son of each of Eph
raim Roper, John Skait and Joseph Rugg. Most
of these families were in South Lancaster. Peace
had already been declared between Great Britain
and France when this attack was made.) 7. Hannah,
born January 2, 1671, married John Bell, 1690. 8.

Rebecca, born May- 16, 1673, married Nathaniel
Hudson. 9. Daniel, born November 15, 1678. 10.
Jonathan, born February 10, 1681, settled in Marl
borough, Massachusetts, married Sarah, daughter of
John Newton; removed to Framingham, Massa
chusetts; married (second) Hannah Singletary;
married (third) Elizabeth  , who was living
when he died, December 25, 1753.
(II) Daniel Rugg, son of John Rugg (1), lived
in that part of Lancaster that is now Sterling. He
was born September 15, 1678, at Concord, while the
family, was away from Lancaster. He died at Sterl
ing, June 23, 1758. He was constable in 1718, and
always prominent in church affairs at South Lan
caster or Sterling. He lived near the Sawyers,
Fairbanks, Samuel Prescott, John Harris and Rev.
Andrew Gardner. They served together in the same
garrison by order of the general court at Mr. Gard
ner's house, on the west side of the Nashua river.
Daniel Rugg saw much service during the Indian
troubles. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Reu
ben Priest, of Sterling, March 10, 1730. He died
June 23, 1758. His wife died December 3, 1754.
He joined the church March 3, 1716-17; she joined
April 1, 1716-17. .Both had been members of the
Lancaster church. Daniel Rugg signed the cove
nant in 1708 at Lancaster. Children of Daniel and
Elizabeth Rugg: I. Captain . Daniel. 2. Reuben,
Born at Sterling, married Lydia Ross. 3. Amos,
born December 17, 1716, baptized January 20, 1717.
4. Nathan, born April 13, 1718. 5. Isaac, baptized
April 3, 1720. 6. Sarah, baptized July 21, 1728.
7. Mary (full communion), May 6, 1733.
(Ill) Amos Rugg, son of Daniel Rugg (2),
was born at Sterling, December 17, 1716 ; married De
cember 29, 1741, Mary Burpee, and settled in Sterl
ing. He was a farmer. Children of Amos and
Mary (Burpee) Rugg: I. Amos, born January 6,
1744-45, died September 11, 1746. 2. Amos, (2d),
born March 1747, married Sarah Willard 1769, in
tentions recorded February 8, 1769. 3. Mary, born
May 7, 1750. 4. Stephen, born October 30, 1751,
died October 19, 1756. 5. Solomon, born March 17,
1754, died November 5, 1756. 6. Phebe, born June
5, 1756. 7. Olive, born April 6, 1760. 8. Pamelia,
born April 12, 1762. 9. Hannah, born June 22-, 1764.
10. Luther, born April 12, 1770.
(IV) Luther Rugg, son of Amos Rugg (3),
was born at Sterling, then the western part of Lan- f
caster, April 12, 1770, and died in Sterling October
20, 1863. He was prominent in town affairs, an
active and useful citizen. He was elected a member
of the committee on laying out roads in 1817; as
assessor six years, 1818-27; served on the school
committee five years, 1818-25 ; on board of over
seers of poor 1820 and 1821 ; on board of officers
to preserve order in public worship, in 1820, 1824,
1826 and 1827 ; elected field driver 1825 and 1832,
and member of committee on gift of the Jacob
Conant farm to the town in 1839. He married
Tune 22, 1800, Ruth Jewett, daughter of Amos
Jewett, who was born in Lancaster, March, 1747,
died at Lancaster, April 15, 1781, married, October,
1768, Sarah Willard. Amos Jewett was a soldier
in the Continental army during the revolutionary
war in the campaign about Boston. Ruth was born
January 16, 1776, and died September 20, 1864.
Their children : 1. Harriet, born March 30, 1801,
died August 23, 1892 ; married Spencer Wilder. 2.
Mason, born September 16, 1802, died September 7,
1804. 3. Luther Warren, born August 24, 1804,
died December 14, 1859. 4. Amos Willard, born
February 23, 1806, died June 2, 1866. 5. Ruth Eliza,
born February 13, 1808. died April 19, 1836, married
Charles Powers. 6. John Abbot, horn June 19,

78

WORCESTER COUNTY

1810, died June 25, 1814. 7- Adolpha, born December
15, 1812, died September 24, 1861, married William
Crowell 1850. 8. Augustus Kendall, born February
17, 1815, died August 7, 1843. 9. Prentice Mason,
born July 22, 1817, died February 25, 1885.
(V) Prentice Mason Rugg, son of Luther Rugg
(4), born at Sterling, July 22, 1817, died in Boston,
February 25, 1885. He carried on a farm at Sterl
ing, and taught school in the winter for many years
in Lancaster and Sterling. For twenty-one winters
in succession he taught school, and later four years
more. He was frequently honored by his fellow
citizens. He served as assessor nineteen years, from
1855 to 1881, as member of school committee, nine
years from 1847 to i860 as moderator of town meet
ings; eight years from 1869 to 1879 as selectman;
as juryman eight terms from 1868 to 1882; as high
way surveyor four years from 1843 to 1869; as trus
tee of the Conant fund three years from 1868 to
1870, .and other various committees. He married,
June 15, 1847, Cynthia Ross. She was born in
Bakersfield, Vermont, December 17, 1825, daughter
of Willis and Mary (Taylor) Ross. Both of her
parents were born in Sterling and removed to
Bakersfield. The children of Prentice Mason and
Cynthia (Ross) Rugg were: 1. John Mason, born
June 6, 1848, died in Sterling, August 28, 1866; was
educated in common schools of Sterling and was
fitted for college in the Lancaster Academy under
W. A. Kilburn, principal. He taught the South
Lancaster grammar' school during the winter term
of 1865 and 1866. 2. Oliver Willis, born March
24, 1850. 3. Carrie Hannah, born February 7, 1852,
married Herbert R. Sylvester, who was born in
Newton,' Massachusetts, and is principal of. the Claf-
lin School of Newton. Carrie Hannah was edu
cated in the public schools and at the State Normal
School at Salem, class of 1873. She taught school
at Lancaster and Sterling, Wellesley arid Newton.
They reside at Newtonville. 4. Arthur Prentice,
born August 20, 1862, married Florence Belcher,
of Worcester ; has had four children. 5. Mary
Taylor, born September 4, 1864, died September 1,
1866. (VI) Oliver Willis Rugg, son of Prentice
Masou Rugg (5), was born at Sterling, March 24,
1850. His early days were spent on the farm in that
town. He attended the district schools of Sterling,
and later spent two terms at the Lancaster Academy
under W. A. Kilburn, principal. He taught the
Chocksett district school during the winter term
¦of 1868-69, and later substituted in Sterling for his
sister Carrie H, so that she might accept a better
position which had been offered her after she had
heeii engaged at Sterling. He entered the Wor
cester Polytechnic Institute in September, 1869,
graduating in 1872, in the second class graduated
from that Institute. Among his classmates were
Parkman T. Denny, of Leicester, A. W. Woods, of
Worcester ; George H. Scott of the Morgan Spring
Company of Worcester; Solon Davis and Jonathan
Moore, of Holden ; Herbert S. Rice, of Barre ; S.
C. Heald, Jr., of Jamica Plains; and M'. B. Smith,
of Lowell. During the vacation of 1871 he worked
with William A. Smith, engineer in charge of the
water supply for the city of Fitchburg. In Septem
ber, 1872, he went to work for George Raymond,
who was engineer in charge of the preliminary sur
veys for the introduction of water into the town of
Leominster, also into the city of Springfield; en
gineer for the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad
Company, and engineer for the Fitchburg Railroad
Company. While in his employ Mr. Rugg made
estimates for the Leominster water supply, surveys
and estimates for the Springfield water supply, and

did much of the engineering for the Vermont &
Massachusetts Railroad Company, and some for the
Fitchburg Railroad Company. Mr. Raymond was
elected city engineer of Fitchburg the first year it
was incorporated as a . city, and he gave into the
hands of Mr. Rugg the engineering for the street
department of that city. After leaving Mr. Ray
mond, Mr. Rugg worked for a time on his own
account at Clinton and other places. It was at this
time that he substituted in the school at Sterling
for his sisteri He was elected a member of the
school committee • about this time and served for
many terms. In 1878 he formed a partnership with
his classmate, A. W. Woods, as civil engineers and
surveyors, and they opened an office at 44 Front
street, Worcester. Three years later they moved
to the Rogers Block, at the corner of Pleasant and
Main streets, and still later to th£ J. H. Walker
building at the corner of Barton Court and Main
street. This firm had all the work of the Wash
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company until they
established an office of their own. They also had
the work of George Crompton for many years.
The firm made a preliminary survey to. Marlboro
for H. H. Bigelow, who planned to extend the line
he had built to the Lake. They also made an ac
curate survey and very artistic plan of Lake Quin
sigamond for Mr. Bigelow. They did the prelimi
nary surveying for the Grafton, Upton & Milford
Railroad, and carried out the construction of a part '
of that road. Mr. Rugg, for the firm, made the
plans and superintended the construction of the
first electric railroad in Worcester, the Worcester,
Leicester & Spencer Electric Street Railway. The
firm were the engineers for the Worcester & Mill
bury Electric Street Railway Company. In 1893
they made preliminary surveys for electric railways
from Worcester to Southbridge, Webster, North- ,
bridge, via the Blackstone Valley, and to Marlboro. '
This was done by order of the late Samuel Winslow,
who was then president and one of the promoters
of the Worcester, Leicester and Spencer Electric
Railway. None of these roads, however, were built
under these franchises. Mr. Rugg and his partner
dissolved in 1894, and Mr. Rugg opened his office
in the Day building, on Main street. After that
building was destroyed by fire in March, 1897, he
moved to his present office, Room 824, State Mutual
Building. He has been occupied much of the time
with street railway work, although his office has
had a large variety of work for individuals and
corporations in Worcester county. He engineered
the relocation of the Worcester, Leicester & Spencer
Electric Street Railway to conform to the state
highway, made preliminary surveys for an electric
railway from Pen Yan to Branchport, in the state
of New York, on which he was afterward the con
structing engineer, was constructing engineer for
the Worcester & Clinton Street Railway Company,
relocated and constructed a part of the Worcester
& Webster Street Railway, was constructing en
gineer for the Worcester & Southbridge Street Rail
way Company, made preliminary surveys for an
electric railway from Washington Junction to Cas-
tine, in the state of Maine, a distance of about forty
, miles ; this road, however, has never been built. He
has also made preliminary surveys, plans and esti
mates for a railroad to connect at Millbury with
the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, and
run to Singletary Lake, a railroad from Fiskdale
to Palmer, an extension of the Southbridge & Stur-
bridge Street Railway, and one from Whitinsville
to Providence, an extension of the Blackstone Valley
Street Railway, but these likewise were never. built.
He has in the past few years done practically all of

uumj r/u\

It

The Li'mu- PMtshmq.Co.

WORCESTER COUNTY

79

the engineering for the Worcester Consolidated
Street Railway Company. Plans and estimates have
been prepared for the . abolition of grade crossings
in the towns of Webster and Winchendon under
his supervision. Mr. Rugg is a member of Athefs-
tan Lodge, A. F. and A. M. ; of Hiram Council, of
Worcester Chapter, of the Worcester County Com-
mandery, Knights Templar, and he has taken all
the degrees to and including the thirty-second in
the Scottish Rite. He is Republican in politics and
a member of the Board of Trade.
He married, May 14, 1902, Maud Edith Thresher,
daughter of Harrison O. and Mary Lizzie (Hinck
ley) Thresher, of Hardwick, Massachusetts. Their
children are. I. Oliver Willis, Jr., born October 28,
1903. 2. Alma Beatrice, born April 6, 1905, both
born at Worcester.
ARTHUR PRENTICE RUGG, (6), son of
Prentice M. Rugg (5), was born at Sterling, Massa
chusetts, August 20, 1862. (For ancestery see sketch
of his brother, O. Willis Rugg.)
Arthur P. Rugg passed his youthful days at
home in his native town, where he attended the
district schools, and later prepared for college at
Lancaster high school, from which institution he
was graduated in 1879. He entered Amherst Col
lege, was graduated cum laude in 1883, and im
mediately began the study of law, entering the
Boston University Law School. In 1886 he received
his degree of Bachelor of Laws magna cum laude,
was admitted to the bar the same year, and was
selected to serve as class orator at the commence
ment exercises. Worcester having been chosen as
the central field for his work, he entered into a law
partnership with John R. Thayer, recently repre
sentative in congress from the third ^Massachusetts
district. The firm of Thayer & Rugg in 1886 had
their offices in the Walker building, but the present
spacious offices of the firm are to be found on the
eighth floor of the State Mutual building, where
they located shortly after the completion of the
building. Mr. Rugg's professional career has been very act
ive and successful. He has won many notable victories
for his firm, having few equals as a trial lawyer
and no superior in the preparation of cases. He
has confined himself to no special line of practice,
and though not generally known as . a criminal
lawyer has had an extended experience in the crim
inal courts, having in 1893 and 1894 served as as
sistant district attorney pro tempore, and in April,
1895, was appointed assistant, district attorney by
Herbert Parker. He was chosen city solicitor, July
5, 1897, to succeed William S. B. Hopkins, and has
been annually re-elected since that year, a fact
which testifies to his sterling integrity and quali
fications for office. This is one of the most im
portant positions of the kind in the state, and his
excellent service rendered in behalf of the public
during his term of office has won for him the com
plete confidence of the citizens and taxpayers of
the city. He was admitted to practice in the supreme
court of the United States, November 28, 1904, for
the purpose of arguing writs of error in the famous
cases of the City of Worcester vs. the Worcester
Consolidated 'Street Railway in relation to condi
tions in location for tracks. He has devoted him
self exclusively to the work of his profession, avoid
ing political office and other interests that he felt
would conflict with the requirements of his chosen
vocation. His services as counsel for various towns
in the county when involved in litigation have been
-often sought. He is counsel for many corporate
Shterests, and has a large clientage among all classes.

In recent years he has been called upon to serve
on many important commissions to abolish grade
crossings and to determine apportionments in the
Metropolitan district. Mr. Rugg had a brief service
in the common council of Worcester, representing
his ward in 1894-95, and during his second year
was president of the board. He has been a trustee
of the Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank since
1897, and was a director of the First National
Bank from 1900 to .1903, when the bank went into
voluntary liquidation. He is a member of Athels-
tan Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons;
Hiram Council; Worcester Chapter; Worcester
County Commandery, Knights Templar. He is a
member of the Worcester Club, Commonwealth
Club, American Bar Association, Appalachian Club
of Boston, American Forestry Association, Wor
cester Board of Trade, Worcester County Horti
cultural Society, Worcester County Agricultural
Society, and the Worcester Society of Antiquity. He
is president of the Amherst College Alumni Associa
tion {1906), a trustee of the School of Expression,
Boston, an active member of the Church of the
Unity (Unitarian), of Worcester, a member of the
parish committee, and a Republican in politics.
Mr. Rugg has met with uncommon success in
the prosecution of his chosen profession because
of the elements of success within him. He is
studious, thoughtful, quick to comprehend, has in
store a generous fund of practical knowledge, and
is a gentleman and a man of honor. Aside from
his extensive yet rapidly increasing legal practice,
he has found time to respond to invitations to de
liver various addresses, among which might be
named a memorial address at Sterling, Massa
chusetts, on the death of the late President McKin
ley; and "Colonial Farm Life in Colonial New
England," delivered before the Worcester Society
of Antiquity. He has also delivered Memorial Day
addresses before various Grand Army Posts, also
on other 'public occasions, some of which may be
found in print. He has also been called upon to
act on various commissions and boards of arbitra
tions when questions of law were involved.
As these pages were undergoing revision, Mr.
Rugg was paid the high compliment of having been
selected by Governor Guild to fill the vacancy oc
casioned by the resignation of Hon. John Lathrop,
and was accordingly commissioned associate justice
of the supreme court, and took his seat on the bench,
in the court house at Worcester, on October 1, 1906.
Mr. Rugg married, in Worcester, Massachusetts,
April 10, 1889, Florence May Belcher, daughter of
Charles and Esther (Jewett) Belcher, of Worcester.
Their children are: Charles Belcher, born Janu
ary 20, 1890; Arthur Prentice, Jr., born August 22,
1893;. Esther Cynthia, born September 5, 1896; Don
ald Sterling, born August 18, 1898, died February
22, 1899.
ANDREW J. BANCROFT. Lieutenant Thomas
Bancroft (1), son of John and Jane Bancroft, was
born in 'England in 1622. ' He was the immigrant
ancestor of Andrew J. Bancroft, of Lancaster,
Massachusetts. His father also came over but died
in Lynn in 1637. His mother, Jane Bancroft, had
land assigned to her in Lynn where the family first
settled in New England. She was living in Lynn
in 1638.
Thomas Bancroft was living in Dedham, Massa
chusetts, in 1647, and was admitted to townsman
in 1648. He removed in 1652 or • 1653, when his
name first appears on the church records of .Read
ing, Massachusetts, but . there is no proof that he
ever lived within ' the limits of that town, but he

8o

WORCESTER COUNTY

certainly lived in that vicinity the- remainder of
his days. He hired a five hundred acre farm of
Samuel Bennett in what is now Saugus, an adja
cent town, and the Reading church was the nearest
to his home, so he belonged to that parish. The
town lines in that neighborhood seem to have, been
indefinite. He was not a proprietor of the town
of Reading, but his son Thomas lived in Reading
and became a very prominent citizen there.
The home of Lieutenant Thomas Bancroft was
just south of the Straits, a narrow roadway through
the rocky hills leading from Reading to Saugus.
It is still known as the Bancroft place. The sur
vey of the line between Lynn and Charlestown
made about 1670 mentions the "house that was En
sign Bancroft's." About that time he bought seventy
acres of land at Lynnfield, three miles from Reading
church, which was still the nearest to his ' home.
In 1678 the deed of the adjoining Holyoke farm
recites "that it had been for some time in posses
sion and improvement of Thomas Bancroft and a
half acre with building thereon was reserved and
deeded to Bancroft."
Lieutenant Bancroft died in Lynn, August 19,
1691. The inventory of his estate was filed Novem
ber 24, 1691, by his son Ebenezer. It shows that
he owned land at Reading and Lynn, etc. An
agreement for a division of the property was made
by the widow, Elizabeth, sons Thomas, John and
Ebenezer; Joseph Brown, husband of the daughter
Elizabeth, and Sarah Bancroft, the youngest daugh
ter. The widow died May 1, 171 1.
He married (first) Alice Bacon, daughter of
Michael Bacon, of Dedham, Massachusetts, March
31, 1647-8. She died March 29, 1648. He married
(second) Elizabeth Metcalf, daughter of Michale
and Sarah Metcalf. She was admitted to the church
December 14, 1651, at Dedham, and November 22,
1669, at Reading, by letter from Dedham. The
only child of Lieutenant Thomas and Alice was :
Thomas, born 1648, of whom later. The" children
of Thomas and Elizabeth were : Elizabeth, born
and died 1650; John, born February 3, 1651-2, mar
ried Elizabeth Bacon; Elizabeth, born at Reading,
December 7, 1653, married Joseph Brown; Sarah,
born 1660, died 1061 ; Raham, born 1662, died 1683 ;
Sarah, born 1665, married John Woodward;' Eben
ezer, born 1667, married Abigail Eaton and resided
at Lynnfield ; Mary, born 1670. '
(II) Thomas Bancroft, son of Lieutenant
Thomas Bancroft (1), was born in Dedham, Massa
chusetts, in 1648 or 1649. He settled in Reading,
Massachusetts, and became one of the most promi
nent citizens there. He was an officer in King
Philip's war, selectman for several years. He re
sided in the western part of Reading where the
old Bancroft homestead is to be seen at present.
His was the fourth house built in the west parish;
it was near what is now called the Abraham Temple
place. He married in 1673, Sarah Poole, daughter of
Jonathan and Judith Poole. Their children were :
Thomas, of whom later;' Jonathan, born and died
1675; Sarah, born 1676, married Abraham Bryant;
Mebitable, born 1678, married  Parker; Jona
than, born 1681, married Sarah  , died in 1702 :
Raham, born 1684; Judith, born 1688, married
 Parker; Samuel, born 1691, died 1692;
Samuel born 1693; Elizabeth, born 1696, married
I7I3- (III) Captain Thomas Bancroft, son of Thomas
Bancroft (2), was born in Reading, Massachusetts,
1673. He also settled in Reading. He married
Mary Webster. Their children were: Thomas,
born in Reading about 1705; Benjamin, of whom

later; Jonathan, married Mary Pierpont; Joshua,
married Mary Lamson, resided in Reading and
Worcester. (IV) Captain Benjamin Bancroft, son of Cap
tain Thomas Bancroft (3), was born in Reading,
Massachusetts, 1701 or 1702, died at Groton, July
21, 1787. He settled first in the adjoining town of
Charlestown and later at Groton, Massachusetts.
He joined the church at Charlestown, November
3, 1728. He bought his house there in 1723 of John
Allum. He was a tanner by trade. He was cap
tain of militia and probably served in the colonial
wars. He married Anna Lawrence, .daughter of
John Lawrence, of Lexington, and a descendant of
John Lawrence, of Watertown. (See Lawrence
pedigree with A. B. Lawrence sketch, Fitchburg,
in this' work.) The children of Captain Ben
jamin and Anna Bancroft were: Benjamin, Jr.,
of whom later; Edmund, born at Charles
town, Massachusetts, November 23, 1726, set
tled at Pepperell, formerly part of Groton; was
treasurer, deputy to the general court, and captain;
Anna, born December 20, 1728, at Groton, died
November, 1806; Mary, born April 4, 1731, died
December 1, 1732-; Joseph, born September 5, 1733,
died November 24, 1737; Mary, born February 6,
1735, died November 25, 1737; Joseph, born August
1, 1738, died November 2, 1745 ; Sarah, born Novem
ber 2, 1740, died November 2, 1745 ; Jonathan, born
January 27, 1743, died October 26, 1745.
(V) Deacon Benjamin Bancroft, son of Captain
Benjamin Bancroft (4), was born in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, September 29, 1724, and died at
Groton, October 27, 1804, aged eighty years. He
followed his father's trade, a tanner, and like his
father became captain of the militia company. In
the revolution his son Benjamin was a soldier. He
seems to have served also at Rutland, guarding
British prisoners in Captain Nathaniel Harrington's
company, Colonel Abijah Stearns's regiment, in
1778. He was treasurer of the town and deacon
of the church at Groton.
He married, October 18, 1749, Alice Tarbell, of
Groton. She died November 29, 1781. Their chil
dren were: Benjamin, Jr., born August 7, 1750,
at Charlestown or Groton; Abel, born at Groton,
May 28, 1752; Thaddeus, born April 12, 1754; Wil
liam, born May 2, 1756, lieutenant in the revolution;
married, 1782, Agnes Edes; Joseph, born July 3,
1760; Samuel, of whom later; Sarah, born July 29,
1767; John, born January 28, 1771.
(VI) Samuel Bancroft, son of Deacon Benja
min Bancroft (5), was born at Groton, Massa
chusetts, July 6, 1764. Pie settled in Groton. He
married, May 7, 1789, Anigail Child. He was edu
cated in the common schools and learned the trade
of stone mason, which he followed all his life. He
was also a farmer. His children were: Isaac, born
November 6, 1789; Tarbell, May 19, 1792; Edmund,
May 23, 1794; Abigail, October 23, 1796; Stowell,
April 11, 1799;. George W., August 11, 1801; Eliza,
July 14, 1803.
CVII) Stowell Bancroft, son of Samuel Ban
croft (6), was born in Groton, Massachusetts, April
11. 1799. He was educated in the district schools
and learned the trade of his father, a stone mason,
and followed it as a business during his active life.
In politics he was an active Whig for many years.
He resided in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and in
Mount Vernon, New Hampshire. He married
(first) Mary Heywood, December 3, 1822 ; she died
January 3, 1825. She was born February 7, 1796,
daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Perkins) Trow.
He married (second) Martha D. Trow, July 3,
1825; she died December 15, 1876. He died March

WORCESTER COUNTY

81

14, 1883. Of his children one was by the first mar
riage and five by the second. The child of Stowell
and Mary was: Mary Elizabeth, born December
17, 1824, The children of Stowell and Martha Ban
croft were: Emily Heywood, born July 19, 1826,
died December 29, 1875; Andrew Jackson, born
April 28, 1829; Sabrina Francis, born August 28,
1831 ; William Henry Child, born August 10, 1833 ;
Charles Bainbridge, born September 4, 1838, died
June 2, 1903.
(VIII) Andrew J. Bancroft, son of Stowell
Bancroft (7), and Martha Dodge (Trow)
Bancroft, was born in Dunstable, Massachu
setts, April 28, 1829. He removed to New
Hampshire with his parents when he was a
young boy and attended the district schools
there. He settled in Mount Vernon, New Hamp
shire, where ho engaged in the business of lumber
ing and fanning, achieving more than ordinary
success. In 1856 he removed to Lancaster, Massa
chusetts, and settled there on a farm. For the past
few years Mr. Bancroft has led a retired life. In
politics Mr. Bancroft is a Republican, lie has
taken a leading part in town affairs in Lancaster
and for over thirty years has been on the board of
assessors. He has also served the town as road
commissioner, overseer of the poor and selectman.
He is an active attendant of the Congregational
church and one of its most liberal supporters. Mr.
Bancroft inherits the executive ability and strength .
of character that have made the Bancrofts for
many generations leaders and men of prominence.
He has given to his fellow citizens the utmost satis
faction in the various positions of trust and respon
sibility that he has filled.
He married, October, 1856, Mary A. Clough,
daughter of James and Sarah (Sargent) Clough, of
Orange, New- Hampshire. Their children are: Ed
win E, born September to, 1858, married Josephine
Given, and they have three children; William L,
born February 20. 1802. married Agnes White, and
they have had two children ; George A., born July
i, "1865, married Edith R. Worcester; Charles G.,
born December 3, 1867, married Blanche Hight,
and they have two children; Martha S., born
November 2, 1871.
WHITNEY FAMILY. John Whitney (1), the
immigrant ancestor of Anna Henshaw Whitney, of
Lancaster, Massachusetts, was born in England in
1659. He settled early in Watertown, Massachusetts,
where he was living in June. 1635. He married in
England, Elinor  . who was born in 1599
and died at Watertown, May 11, 1659. He married
(second) in Watertown, September 29. 1659, Judith
Clement, who died before him. He .died June 1,
1673. (Something of his ancestry and more of his
early history will be found under the sketch of the
Whitney family of Worcester, Massachusetts, in
this work.)
The children of John and Elinor Whitney were:
Mary, baptized in England, May 2^. 1619, died
young; John, of whom later; Richard, born in Eng
land, 1626, married Martha Coldam ; Nathaniel,
born in England, 1627; Thomas, born in England,
1629, married Mary Kettell: Jonathan, born in Eng
land, 1634, married Lydia Jones; Joshua, born in
Watertown, July 5, 1635, married Lydia  ;
(second) Mary —  ; (third) Abigail Tarbell;
Caleb, born at Watertown, July 12, 1640, buried
July 12, 1640; Benjamin, born at Watertown, July
6, 1643, married Jane  and (second) Mary Poor.
(II) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (1),
was born in England, 1620. He settled in Water-
town. He married Ruth Reynolds, daughter of
6

Robert Reynolds, of Watertown, Weathersfield and
Boston. John Whitney's estate was administered
by his widow and sons, John and Benjamin. The
inventory dated October 26, 1692, included eighteen
parcels of land amounting to two hundred and ten
acres. His will was dated February 27, 1685; it
was not proved. His homestall was a three-acre
lot on the east side of Lexington street on land
granted first to E. How, bought by him in 1643, the
lot next south of the homestead of the Phillips
family and probably the same lot occupied by his
grandson, Bradshaw Whitney. He was a soldier
in King Philip's war under Captain Hugh Mason.
He died October 12, 1692.
The children of John and Ruth Whitney were :
John, born September 17, 1643, married Elizabeth
•Hinds; Ruth, born April 15, 1645, married, June
20, 16(14, John Shattuck, who was in the Squakeag
fight September 4, 1675, and was drowned soon
afterward at Charlestown Ferry; Nathaniel, born
February 1, 1(14(1, married Sarah Hagar; Samuel,
born July 2(1, 1(148, married Mary Bemis; Mary,
born April 20, 1650; Joseph, born January 15, 1651,
married Martha Beach: Sarah, born March 17,
1053. married, October 18, 1681, Daniel Harrington:
Elizabeth, born June 9, 1656, married, December
10. 1678, Daniel Warren; Hannah; Benjamin, born
June 28, 1660, married Abigail Hagar.
(Ill) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (2),
was born in Watertown, September 17, 1643, mar
ried in 1669, Elizabeth Harris, who was born No
vember 9, 1644, daughter of Robert Harris. She
owned the covenant in the Roxbury church March
30, 1671. He was admitted a freeman in May, 1684.
He was a member of the Second Church of Rox
bury, November 2, 1712, and doubtless had be
longed to the First Church there. His house lot,
containing nine acres, was situated on Pond street,
in that part of Roxbury called Jamaica Plain. He
was a soldier in King Philip's war in 1676, and
owned the covenant in the church at Roxbury in
February, 1684. He was a tailor by trade. His
will is dated September, 1718, and was proved
March 13. 1726-7. He died March 4, 1726. The
children of John and Elizabeth Whitney were: Dan
iel, born December 3, 1681, married Susanna Curtis;
Timothy, born April 16, 167S, married Margaret
Bacon ; Elizabeth, born September 9, 1670 ; Ruth,
born at Roxbury. baptized August 31. 1674, mar
ried, April 22. 1701, Joseph Adams, resided in
Brookline; Sarah, baptized August 2, 1684, died
July 4, 1689; John, born April 1, 1672. died young*
(IV) Daniel Whitney, eldest son of John Whit
ney (3), was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
December 3, 1681. He lived at Roxbury. He mar
ried, June 2t, 1704, Susanna Curtis. Their children
were : John, born May 23, 1705, inherited land of
his grandfather Whitney at Woodstock, Connecti
cut, then in Massachusetts; Elizabeth, born Febru
ary 4, 1706: Susanna, born February 21, 1708; Dan
iel, born March 26. 1711 ; Anna, born April 30, 1713;
Elijah, of whom later ; Ruth, born December S>
1718; Elisha, born October 5, 1722; Esther, born
July 11, 1726. married, March 8, 1745, John White.
(V) Elijah Whitney, son of Daniel Whitney
(4). was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, January
15, 1715. He married Hannah  . They set
tled in Warwick, Massachusetts, where in 1776 he
served on the committee of safety and correspon
dence. Their children, born at Roxbury, were:
Elijah, born September 23. 1744; Elisha, born Oc
tober 6, 1747, of whom later; John, born November
20. 1740. married May Payson; Hannah, born June
1.1. 1756. baptized at Roxbury same year; Daniel,
married Sarah Gay.

82

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VI) Elisha Whitney, son of Elijah Whitney
(5), was born at Roxbury, October 6, 1747, He
married in Newton, Massachusetts, June 4, 1769,
Abigail Dana, He was a lieutenant in the revolu
tion. His picture painted by Stuart is owned by
his grandson, Benjamin D. Whitney. He resided
at West Roxbury, Massachusetts. The children
of Lieutenant Elisha and Abigail Whitney were:
Experience, born February, 1776, died September
17, 1777; Abigail, born April 10, 1778, married,
November 17, 1799, Joseph Stayer, of Boston;
Elisha, bom February 4, 1780, married Sarah Heath;
Asa, of whom later; Pedy, born July 20, 1784, mar
ried in Roxbury, 1801, Colonel Joseph Dudley, who
was born October 16, 1780; he owned and occupied
the old Dudley homestead in Roxbury ; he was a
farmer strict in principles, generous with his for
tune; he gave a site for a townhouse in Roxbury;
William, born June 17, 1788, died unmarried;
Elizabeth, born March 3, 1793, died unmarried.
(VII) Asa Whitney, son of Elisha Whitney (6),
was born in Boston, May 18, 1782. He married at
Pomfret, Connecticut, December 31, 1803, Mary
Hammond, who was born December 7, 1787, and
died 1845. He died March 4, 1826. He resided at
Pomfret, Roxbury, Cambridge and Boston.
The children of Asa and Mary Whitney were:
1. Benjamin Duick, born November 6, 1807, mar
ried (first) Elizabeth Williams and (second) Char
lotte. Genella. 2. Daniel H,, born October 7,- 1809,
died October 6, 1817. 3. Sarah Hammond, born
May 23, 1812, died June 23, 1817. 4. Mary, born
March 5, 1815, married Professor Cornelius C. Fel-
ton, of Harvard University, who was born in West
Newbury, Massachusetts November 6, 1807, and
died in Chester, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1862.
He graduated from Harvard in 1827, taught school
two years at Geneseo, New York, was appointed
Latin tutor at Harvard in 1829, became Greek tutor
in 1830, college professor of Greek in 1832, and in
1834 was chosen Eliot professor of Greek literature.
He was for many years regent of the college; in
i860 he was elected president and continued 111 the
office until his death. He was a member of the
Massachusetts Board of Education and one of the
regents of the Smithsonian Institute, He was one
of the most profound and enthusiastic classical
scholars in the country. He edited and translated
a number of important works. He wrote "Greece.
Ancient and Modern,"— and other important books.
5. Emily, born September 27, 18J7, married Dr.
Joseph Sargent, of Worcester. (See sketch of Dr,
Sargent and his family in this work.) 6. Asa Ii.,
of whom later. 7. Sarah, born July 13, 1822, mar
ried Frederick W. Gale, of Worcester; both lost on
the steamer "Arctic," September 27, 1854. 8. Cath
erine Dean, born December 17, 1824, married, May,
1849, Dr, Henry Sargent. (See Sargent family of
Worcester and Leicester.)
(VIII) Asa Hammond Whitney, son of Asa
Whitney (7), was born in Boston, June 17, 1819.
He married. October 3, 1842, Laura Leffingwell
Henshaw, who was born June 23, 1820, at Warren,
Ohio, and died April 20, 1886, He prepared for
college in Boston schools and was graduated at
Harvard College in 1838. After leaving college he
made a voyage to the Mediterranean for his health
and subsequently went to Rio Janiero as super
cargo. On his return he1 became the junior part
ner of the firm of Henshaw & Whitney, wholesale
druggists, Boston. He resided in Cambridge; later
he became interested in railroad business and re
moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he managed the
financial affairs of the Seaboard & Roanoke Rail
road Company, as its treasurer. He was a man of

great energy and earnestness, of character. He re
sided late in life at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where
he died October 7, 1858,
The children of Asa Hammond and Laura Lef
fingwell Whitney were: 1, Laura L,, born June
15, 1843, died January 24, 1870, 2. Anna Henshaw,
of whom later. 3. Richard Sullivan, born June 19,
1846, died August 23, 1847. 4, Catherine Dean,
born June 17, 1849, married Robert George Lawton,
of Hudson, New York, on the English frigate
"Narcissus," off Havana, Cuba, May 31, 1871, He
was born August 12, 1839, and died December 2,
1904;' was a resident of Havana; member of the
banking firm of Lawton Brothers. Their children
were: Robert Henshaw Lawton, bom in Havana,
April 3, 1872, died at Lancaster, Massachusetts,
December 10, 1881 ; Sydney Allen Lawton, born at
Lancaster, November 2, 1873, graduate of Harvard
University, 1895, now with the firm of Wrenn
Brothers, brokers, New York city; married, Tune
29, 1901, Harriet Sheldon Lawton, of Hudson, New
York, and they reside at Rye, New York, and have
two children — Sarah, born October 19, 1902, and
Katharine, born October 14. 1904; Ethel Whitney
Lawton, born at Lancaster, October 4, 1875, married
Chester Parker, of South Lancaster, Massachusetts,
at New York city, October 5, 1899; resides in Lan
caster and they have had three children— Chester
Parker, Jr., born September 29, 1900; Felton Parker,
born January 14, 1902, died March 21, 1902; and.
Lydia Parker, born November 4, 1903; Richard
Henshaw Lawton, born in Lancaster, March 23,
1888, resides in Rye, New York. 4. Hammond
Moore, born at Norfolk, Virginia, June 28, 1851,
resides in Brookline, Massachusetts; married at
Boston, November 13, 1879, Catherine Howard
Reed, and their children are— Catherine, born at
Longwood, Massachusetts, September 28, 1881, mar
ried, September 30, 1903, Theodore W, Little, at
Cohasset, Massachusetts; they reside in Brookline;
Margaret, born at Longwood, Massachusetts, De
cember 28, 1886, resides at Longwood. 5. Emily
Stark, born at Norfolk, Virginia, July io, 1854,
resides at Lancaster.
(IX) Anna Henshaw Whitney, daughter of Asa
Hammond Whitney (8), was born in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, November 30, 1844. She attended
school there and in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1855
she was sent to a boarding school at Kcene, New
Hampshire with her elder sister, Laura L. Whitney.
I" 1858 they entered Lasell Seminary at Auburn
dale, Massachusetts, graduating in i860. During
the next two years she was a teacher in Lasell
Seminary and in the year following she taught for
a year 111 a private school in Worcester, In Febru
ary, 1864, she accepted a position as teacher in the
academy at Lancaster, which shortly became the
Lancaster high school, With the exception of one
year, 1880-1, spent abroad, she continued to teach
there. until 1888.
Miss Whitney has served several three-year
terms on the school committee of Lancaster, and
is at present secretary of the board, She is also
secretary of the board of trustees of the Public
Library. Since giving up her work as teacher in the public
schools she has taught drawing and painting to
private pupils and in the public schools at times.
Miss Whitney has an attractive home at Lancaster
and pursues agriculture at her farm, "Few Acres,"
as one of her avocations. For many years she
kept kennels of St. Bernards and pug dog9 for
pleasure and profit, and has officiated as judge of
these and various other breeds at the leading bench
shows in the United Slates and Canada, beginning

WORCESTER COUNTY

83

soon after her return from Europe and continuing
to the present time,
EZRA BURTON. The Burton family from
which Ezra Burton, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, is
descended, settled in Essex county, The progenitor
was probably Boniface Burton, of Salem, who died
June 13, 1669, at the age of one hundred and thir
teen years. He was one of the first settlers, being
made a freeman May 6, 1635. He removed to Read
ing, Massachusetts, in 1644. His wife was Frances.
The Burtons settled in New Hampshire where Mah-
lon Burton, grandfather of Ezra Burton, was born.
He is remembered as a man of fine physique and
a public speaker of some distinction. He lived at
Wilton, New Hampshire, where many of the de
scendants of the old Burton family are to be found
today. In this section of southern New Hampshire
the family has lived for five or more generations.
Some of them went to Vermont after the revolu
tion when a new state was carved out of the wil
derness by the sons of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. Among the children of Mahlon Burton
was a son named for him, Mahlon Burton, Jr.
Nahum Burton spent his youth on his father's
farm. He attended school at Wilton and became a
farmer. He too went to Vermont and settled at
Weston, where he lived and died. He was a Whig
and like most of the pioneers extremely patriotic.
He married (first) Charlotte Pettingill. After her
death he married her sister, Lucinda Pettingill.
Their father was in the revolutionary war at the
battle of Bunker Hill, and' died in Weston, New
Hampshire, May 16, 1859. She was born in New
Hampshire. She was a woman of exceptional beauty
of character. Among her children was a son, Ezra,
who was born at Weston, March 6, 1827.
Ezra Burton lived the typical life of a Vermont
farmer's son in the early part of the nineteenth cen
tury. He remembers the introduction of the steam
railroads and the gradual extinction of the stage
coach and other former methods of transportation.
He saw the industrial birth of the new era in
America. He attended such schools as were within
his reach at his Vermont home. There were eight
children and each in turn had to do his share in
helping run the farm. The pioneers who went to
Vermont saw their children and grandchildren drift
away. In this family Ezra was the fourth son to
leave the old homestead and start life in Boston.
The brothers were in the trucking business and at
first he worked for them. At length he went into
the business of brush making with one of his broth
ers, and he followed this business until he retired.
For thirty years he was salesman of the firm and
spent much of his time travelling in the United
States. He began when there were few railroads,
when the stage covered more ground than the
steam cars. He was successful in building up a
large business, and the firm established a reputation
second to none for their product. He moved to
Lancaster. Massachusetts, in 1868, and since then
occupied the residence in which he now resides. He
still retains an interest in the brush factory, although
he retired from active business in 1895. He is a
Republican in politics. He attends the Unitarian
church ut Lancaster.
He married, April 7, 1863, Sarah Elizabeth
Brace, daughter of Thomas Brace, of Salem, Massa
chusetts. Thomas Brace was a sea captain of a ves
sel in trade with China. Their children were:
Linda, died young; Edward O.; Maude E., married
David Hinckley; Ruth O.
SUMNER FAMILY. From the best obtainable
evidence it is believed that Roger Sumner, of Bi

cester, Oxford county, England, died December,
1608, and buried in St. Edbury churchyard, was the
progenitor of the Sumner family in America, at
least the New England and especially the Worcester
county branches. He married Joan Franklin, No
vember 2, 1601, and by this union one son was born,
William (1), who became the American ancestor.
William was baptized at Bicester church, Oxford
county, England, January 2, 1602, and in 1625 mar
ried Mary West, and by her had two sons, born in
England : Roger, baptized August, 1632, and George,
baptized March, 1633. The family then emigrated
to New England, settling at Dorchester, Massachu
setts, about 1635, and from this family, it is be
lieved, have sprung all the New England Sumners,
including Governor Increase, Gen. W. H. Sum
ner, and our great statesman, Hon. Charles Sumner,
of congressional fame.
(II) William Sumner, son of William (1) and
Mary, was probably born in Massachusetts. He
married Elizabeth Clement, daughter of Augustine
Clement, of Dorchester. He was a mariner.
'(II) Roger Sumner, born in England, son of
William (1), married the daughter of Thomas
Joslin, an early settler at Hingham. Roger was
admitted to the church at Dorchester, 1656, but
moved to Lancaster and there remained until that
town was > destroyed by the Indians, when he moved
to Milton, Massachusetts, where he was deacon of
the first church. His children were : Abigail, Sam
uel and Ebenezer. Another son, William, was the
father of Seth Sumner, and he tlie father of Job
Sumner, who had a son Job, born at Milton, Janu
ary 20, 1776, and changed his name to Charles
Pinckney. The last named was high sheriff of Suf
folk county, Massachusetts, and married Relief
Jacobs, by whom he had children, including Hon.
Charles Sumner, born at Boston, January 6, 181 1,
who became the great and eloquent American anti-
slavery statesman, and who was brutally assaulted
in his seat in congress by Brooks, a pro-slavery
member. (II) George Sunnier, son of William (1), was
born in England, February 14, 1634; made a free
man, 1637; married Mary Baker. He lived on
Brush hill, Milton, and was deacon of the church
there. His children were. Mary, George, Samuel,
William, Ebenezer, Edward, Joseph, Benjamin.
(Ill) George Sumner, son of George (2) and
Mary (Baker) Sumner, married Ann Tucker, of
Roxbury. Their children were: Samuel, born No
vember 13, 1695, died February 8, 1782; George;
Ann; Mary; William; Susanna; Elizabeth; Josiah;
Abigail. (IV) Samuel Sumner, son of George (3), and
Ann (Tucker) Sumner married Elizabeth Griffin,
daughter of Joseph Griffin, of Roxbury. They set
tled at Pomfret. Elizabeth was born February 2,
1700, and died November 13, 1772. She was esteemed
a woman of exemplary piety. Their children were:
Ann; Samuel; Elizabeth; George; Joseph, bom
January 19, 1740, died December 9, 1824; Sarah.
(V) Joseph Sumner, son of Samuel (4), and
Elizabeth (Griffin) Sumner, was born July 19, 1740,
at Pomfret, Connecticut. He became a member of
Yale CoBege, and from that institution received high
honors. He early devoted his life to the ministry,-
and in June, 1762, when twenty-three years of age,
commenced preaching. During all the trials and
conflicts of his life he was noted for cheerfulness,
and other social graces. Not, easily provided, he
knew what was due to his character and he secured
respect from all. Soon after he commenced preach
ing, says Aaron Bancroft, D. D. (father of the his
torian', George Bancroft) in a tribute-sermon on Mr.
Sumner : "In the contest between the parent cottn-

84

WORCESTER COUNTY

try and the American provinces; he proved himself
an efficient patriot, and during the Revolutionary
struggle he suffered the inconveniences and priva
tions to which men of his profession were exposed
from the state of public affairs, and all these trials
he bore with patience and equanimity. His consti
tution was vigorous ; through all his life he was
blessed with good health. During the period of
sixty-two years he was never absent from the stated
communion of his church, and till bodily infirmity
rendered him unable to officiate, the public exer
cises of the Sabbath in this place were suspended
only seven times, on account of his indisposition, or
his journeyings. His method of preaching was
evangelistic; he dwelt not on controversy, but, well
instructed in the essential truths, of revelation, kept
back nothing profitable to his people. An advocate
for Christian liberty, and supporting the Protestant
principles of the sufficiency of Scripture as the rule
of faith and practice, he endeavored to secure the
harmony of the church by inspiring Christian breth
ren with unity of spirit, and binding them together
in the bond of peace." As an illustration of his
broad, liberal views, it is related that at a meeting
of the Worcester Association of Ministers, as was
usual, Dr. Bancroft applied for admission to mem
bership. Opposition was made by some of the
members, and the Subject was put over to the next
meeting, and at that time a majority appeared
against. Dr. Bancroft's admission. On this result,
Dr. Sumner of Shrewsbury, and Mr. Avery of
Holden, arose and declared that they would not
belong to a body which passed so illiberal a vote
as that rejecting Dr. Bancroft, and that the Asso
ciation might meet when and where they would,
but they would no longer be considered members
of it. In consequence of this withdrawal the Asso
ciation was broken up. Dr. Sumner, of whom this
memoir is written, married Lucy Williams, of Pom
fret, Connecticut, Jupe 8, 1763. Their children were :
Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Joanna, Lucy, Elizabeth
Dorothy, Erastus.
(V) Increase Sumner, governer of Massachu
setts, son of Increase (4), was born in Norfolk
county, Massachusetts November 27, 1746. The first
rudiments of his education were taught him by
Judge William Cushing, of the supreme judicial
court, who was preceptor of the public grammar
school in Roxbury in 1752. His father believed that
the life of an honest, hard-working farmer was the
best for his son, but afterward many importuned
him to educate his son and namesake to fill higher
places of public trust. All obstacles having been
surmounted, he entered college in 1763 and grad
uated 1767. He spent the next two years in teach
ing at Roxbury. He studied law under barrister
Samuel Quincy, and was admitted to the bar in
1770, opening his office at Roxbury, in the house in
which his mother continued to reside until her death.
In 1776, a period of great difficulty, Mr. Sumner
was chosen a member of the general court, serving
until 1780, and was 'then elected senator from Suf
folk county, Massachusetts.
It was September 30, 1779, when he formed a
connection of much importance in every well-
rounded man's career, by his marriage with Eliza
beth Hyslop, of Boston, a lady of rare intelligence,
and remarkable for her amiable disposition. During
the same- year he was chosen a member of the con
vention for forming a state constitution. In June,
1782, he was chosen a member of congress by the
Massachusetts legislature, in place of Timothy Dan-
ielson, who resigned ; but Sumner never took his seat
in that body. August of the same year he was made
associate justice of the supreme judicial court. In

1797 he was elected governor, and was re-elected,
and his able, firm and patriotic administration won
for him a lasting place in the great heart of the
commonwealth. In 1799 he was made governor by
an almost unanimous vote. Out of three hundred
and ninety-three towns in the state, including the
"District of Maine," one hundred and eighty were
unanimous for Sumner. But at the commencement
of the political year he was bedridden, and June 7,
1799, in his fifty-third year, his career ended. "No
death,' says one biographical writer of that day,
"except Washington's (which took place six months
later) was ever more deeply deplored in Massachu
setts." Personally, it should here be added of Gov
ernor Sumner, that he was a devoted son, a loving
and attentive husband, a kind and affectionate
father and friend. The purity of his morals was
never once questioned. He was a practical farmer
and enjoyed the cultivation of the soil. He was a
lover and owner of fine horses. In horticulture, he
found great delight, and with his own hands grafted
his whole orchard. In early life he made a public
profession of Christianity, becoming a member of
the Congregational Society and church. The only
child of Governor Increase Sumner and his wife
Elizabeth Hyslop was William Hyslop, born July
4, 1780. (VI) William Hyslop, only son of Governor
Increase Sumner (5), was born, "on the night of
July 4, 1780." He graduated from Harvard College,
1799; was aide-de-camp to Governors Strong and
Brooks, to the former 1810-16, and to the latter
1816-48, when he was appointed adjutant-general by
Governor Brooks. He held that position under
Brooks, Eustis, Lincoln and Davis, till 1834, when
he resigned. For eleven years from 1808 he was
one of the representatives of Boston. September 10,
1814, he was appointed by Governor Strong executive
agent to repair to "the District of Maine (then in
vaded by the enemy) and promptly provide every
practicable means for defense of that part of the
state." In December, 1814, he was appointed by the
Board of War to borrow money of the banks and pay
off the troops which had been called out in Maine.
In 1816 he was agent with Hon. James Lloyd to
present the Massachusetts militia claim to the United
States government for its services. In November,
1826, he was appointed by the secretary of war, a
member of the board of army and militia officers of
which Major General Scott was president, to re
port a plan for the organization of the militia and
a system of cavalry tactics. He first married Mary
Ann Perry, October 4, 1826. She was the widow
of Raymond H. Perry, brother of Commodore O. H.
Perry. Mr. Sumner died July 14, 1834.
(VI) Samuel Sumner, son of Joseph (5), and
Lucy (Williams) Sumner, was born at Shrewsbury,
September 24, 1765. He was graduated at Dart
mouth College, 1776, and appointed English pre
ceptor of the Leicester Academy, July, 1788. After
leaving Leicester he studied theology with his
father, and was ordained over the church and society
at Southboro, June, 1791. In 1797 he was dismissed
by letter to St. Albans, Vermont. He next moved
to Bakersfield, Vermont, and became pastor. The
peculiar circumstances under which he was ordained
are thus given: "The region of the country about
Bakersfield was, in the beginning of the last cen
tury, an almost unbroken wilderness. Indeed, it is
said Mr. Sumner's first approach to its wild do
main was by a path designated by blazed trees. As
the place was so difficult to cross, Dr. Sumner ar
ranged that the ceremonies of installation should be
held in his own church in Shrewsbury, where they
were performed after the approved orthodox man-

.;-

WORCESTER COUNTY

85

ner, the only peculiarity- being the absence of the
minister installed." He afterward removed to Troy,
Vermont, where he died at the home of his son, in
1837, aged seventy-two years. He is said to have
often expressed himself, that in selecting the pulpit
for his sphere of duty, he mistook his calling.
(VI) Sarah Sumner, eldest daughter of Joseph
(5), and Lucy (Williams) Sumner, married William
Jennison, of Worcester, in 1788.
(VI) Joanna Sumner, second daughter of Jo
seph (5) and Lucy Sumner, married, September 6,
1806, Edward Sumner, of Roxbury. He was a
cousin of Governor Increase Sumner.
(VI) Lucy Sumner, third daughter of Joseph
(5) and Lucy Sumner, born at Shrewsbury, Decem
ber 2, 1771, married Joseph Wheeler, of Worcester,
January 13, 1793. In 1803 they moved to Dixfield,
Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, and known as
"the District of Maine." Dixfield was then known
as "Township No. 1, on Androscoggon River, Dis
trict of Maine," and letters were so addressed to Mr.
Wheeler. (VI) Erastus Sumner, youngest child of Joseph
(5) and Lucy (Williams) Sumner, born February
10, ,1783, married Lavinia Boyd, of Marlboro, July
12, 1805. Their children were : L. Caroline, born
January 7, 1807. 2. Lucy, born August 14, 1809.
3. Lydia Ann, born November 8, 1814. 5. Jane
Augusta, born November 18, 1817. 6. George, born
March 22, 1819; died September 19, 1821. 7. Cath
erine Whipple, born July 8, 1822. 8. George, born
July 25, 1824; died 1893.
(VII) George Sumner, son of Erastus (6) and
Lavinia (Boyd) Sumner, was born July 25, 1824,
and died 1893. He was the grandson of Rev. Dr.
Joseph Sumner. His first entrance into mercantile
life was at the age of fifteen years, in the store of
Bigelow & Goodnow, in the "Old Tavern House,"
in Shrewsbury. After two years of training there he
came to Worcester as a clerk for Henry H. Cham
berlain, founder of the house of Barnard, Sumner
& Putnam Co. His ability rapidly advanced him until
he was made a partner in the growing business and
continued at its head throughout his life, and his son
Edward P. is still an active partner in the concern.
Before his marriage he made his home with Allen
Rice, and was thrown into the company of men who
have left footprints on the business and social ways
of Worcester, including the "Sixteen Associates," a
society of social and literary character. He was an
active member of the Worcester City Guards, as well
as of the old State Guards in time of the civil war.
In the financial circles of the city his judgment was
often appealed to. He became a director in the Wor
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and vice-
president of the Five Cents Savings Bank. He was
a regular attendant of the Church of Unity. He had
no taste for political preferment, but had deep con
cern for the business welfare of the city. He was
a liberal contributor to the Library and Museums of
the Worcester Society of Antiquity. In 1888 he
published a work entitled "Memorials of the Rev.
Joseph Sumner, D. D., Minister of Shrewsbury,
1762-1824." The man who could say "George Sum
ner is my friend" had a friend indeed. He was a
lover of the beautiful in both art and nature, but
no painter himself.
One of the rules of the society of "Associates,"
all being single men at the time, was "He who mar
ries first shall provide a supper for the Club." Mr.
Sumner married,' in 1854, Sarah E. Richardson,
daughter of Charles and Mary Richardson, of Maiv
Chester, New Hampshire, and he carried' out the
obligation taken under the above named* blob riile,
in a royal manner. To Mr. and Mrs. George Sum

ner were born: 1. George R., born May 30, 1861;
married Louisa Ford, of Portland, Maine ; had one
child, George Sumner. 2. Mary Locke, born Feb
ruary 5, 1863; married William D. Sewall, of Bath,
Maine; had four children — Arthur, Margaret,
Dorothy and Sumner. 3. Edward Prentiss, born Jan
uary 18, 1866; married Pertha Perry, of Worcester;
had two children, Catherine and Frances. 4. Caro
line Allen, born April 12, 1867; married Albert G.
Liscomb, of Worcester.
REV. GEORGE MURILLO BARTOL. John
Bartol (1), who lived and died in Crewkerne, Som
ersetshire, England, was the father of the immigrant
ancestor of the -Bartol family of America, to which
Rev. George Murillo Bartol, of Lancaster, belongs.
He was a glover by trade. He married at Crew
kerne, March 17, 1598, Agnes Williams. Among
their children was John Bartol, of whom later. John
Bartol, Sr., died at Crewkerne and was buried there
February 20, 1639-40.
(II) John Bartol, son of John Bartol (f), was
born at Crewkerne, and baptized there April 26,
1601. He married Parn.ell  . His father died
probably soon after he left England and he inherited
the estate in England, which Thomas Letchford, a
Boston attorney, conveyed to Henry Hazzard, of
Bristol, England, mariner, consisting of house and
garden at Crewkerne, July 25, 1641. He was plaintiff
in a civil suit in 1640 and again in 1644. He lived at
Salem a short time before settling in Marblehead.
He was selectman of the latter town in 1649-56-57-
58-64. He was called a planter in the records, but
was probably also a mariner. He was found drowned
and the inquest was held October 1, 1664. His estate
was administered in the Essex county court, Novem
ber 29, 1664. Many of his descendants have lived
in Marblehead. The children of John and Parnell
Bartol were : William, born 1629 (aged thirty-two in
1662, another record) ; John, Jr., born 1631, aged
forty-two in 1673. Mary, born at Marblehead, Feb
ruary 1, 1642. Probably others died young.
(Ill) William Bartol, -son of John Bartol (2),
was born in England in 1629. He died in 1690, leav
ing five sons and three daughters.
(IV) Robert Bartol, son of William Bartol (3),
was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, about
1660, married, March 16, 1681, Sarah Beckett. He
died in 1708. They had four children.
(V) William Bartol, son of Robert Bartol (4),
was born in Marblehead in 1691. He married, May
4, 1718, Mary Felt. (One of this name was born at
Casco Bay, October 12, 1687.) They had four
children. (VI) George Bartol, youngest son of William
Bartol (5), was born in 1721, died at Freeport,
Maine, in 1788. He settled there and his children
were born there and his grandchildren to the num
ber of thirty-one. He died there and was buried
with his wife and children in the old burying ground
on the hill that overlooks the town and Casco Bay.
He died January 21, 1788. Mrs. Hannah Bartol died
April 4, 1784, aged sixty-five years. He married
(second) Hannah Allen, at Falmouth (now Maine),
April 17, 1746. Their children were: William, born
1747, died 1843; married Elizabeth Grant, who was
born in 1749 and died 1833 ; George, of whom
later; John, baptized July 21, 1734, married Mary
Carter; Samuel, born 1753, died 1786; married Mary
Soule. The children of the first marriage were :
Mary, baptized May 25, 1746, married —  Wins
low; Deborah, baptized May 29, 1743, died young;
Deborah, ' baptized June 10, 1756.
(VII) John Bartol, son of George Bartol (6),
was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, July, 1734.

86

WORCESTER COUNTY

He bought a place of his father containing fifty acres
at Havaseeket. He married Mary Carter. Their
children were: John, born 1779, died 1805; Daniel,
born 1781, married Mary Lowe; Solomon, born
1782; Desire, born 1784, died 1806; Jacob, born
1786, died 1804; Dorcas, born 1788; Ephraim, born
1 791; Reuben, born 1793, married  Chase,
and had Reuben and Joseph; Ammi, born 1795;
Miriam, born 1797, died 1809; Alfred, born 1801,
married  Coffin and had Ansyl, Melinda,
George, John and Martha; George, born 1803.
(VII) William Bartol, another son of George
Bartol (6), was born 1747, and died 1843. He mar
ried Elizabeth Grant, who was born in 1749 and died
in 1833. Their children were: David, of whom
.later; Hannah; Elizabeth, married  Trott;
Susan, married  Trott; Sarah; Esther, mar-
.ried  Douglass; Samuel, married Sarah
Weston, and had Samuel and Sarah Trott; Lucretia,
•married  Denison; Jane, married 
. Stetson. (VII) George Bartol, son of George Bartol (6)
and brother of the two preceding, was born about
1750 and died 1796. He married, January 12, 1775,
Jane Soule, daughter of Barnabas Soule, of Free-
port. She was born 1756 and died January 24, 1833.
Her second husband was Captain James Bacon. Her
.ancester, George Soule, came over on the "May
flower" on the first voyage. He married about 1623
Mary Beckett, who came to Plymouth in 1621. They
settled at Duxbury and had eight children. Their
:son, John Soule, born 1632, died 1707, married
Hester Dewsbury, born 1638, died 1738, and they
had nine children. Their fifth son, Moses Soule,
died in 1751, leaving nine children. The third son
of Moses was Barnabas Soule, born 1705, died 1780;
married Jane Bradbury. She was born 1718, and
Jane who married George Bartol (VII) was one of
her nine children.
The children of George and Jane (Soule) Bartol
¦were: Solomon, born 1775, died September 23,
1781 ; Barnabas, born 1777, of whom later ; George,
of whom later, ancestor- of Rev. George Bartol ;
Jane, born 1781, married  Fields; Phebe,
born 1784, died 1876; married (first)  Veazie;
(second)  Soule; Sarah, born 1787, mar-
tried :  Latchfield; Patience, born 1789, died

1871 ; married

Lufkin; Samuel, born 1791,

,died 1817; married Mary Chandler; Elizabeth, born
1793, married  Staples; Polly, born 1796-8.
(VIII) David Bartol, son of William Bartol
(7), was born 1781 and died 1849. His children
were: Sarah, married  Trott; Benjamin,
born 1810, married  Blanchard; George,
born 1812, married Betty Mitchell; William, born
1814, died 1842; Jane, born 1816, married 
Merrill;' Elizabeth, born 1821, died 1840; Mary,
born 1824.
(VIII) George Bartol, son of George Bartol
(7), was born August 8, 1779, and died April 6,
1855. He is the father of Rev. George M. Bartol
and also the late Rev. Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol. Like
his father, he was a merchant. He kept the leading
general store at Freeport, Maine, for many years.
He married Ann Given, March 27, 1809. Her
father was a soldier in the revolution. The children
of George and Ann Bartol were : Samuel Veazie,
born December 29, 1809, died February, 1810 ;
Horace Veazie, born April 23, 181 1, died January
6, 1881; Cyrus A. (Rev. Dr.), born April 30, 1813,
married, February 7, 1838, Elizabeth Howard, died
December 16, 1900, leaving one child, Elizabeth
Howard, born January 14, 1842 ; Samuel Lewis, born
July 23, 1817, died September, 1818; George Mu-

rillo, of whom later; Mary, born December 12,
1822, died June 21, 1902.
(IX) Rev. George Murillo Bartol, son of George
Bartol (8), was born in Freeport, Maine, September
18, 1820. He attended the public schools of Port
land, where the family lived during his youth. He
prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter,
New Hampshire. He was graduated in regular
course from Brown University, Providence, in 1842.
He studied for the ministry in the Harvard Divinity
School at Cambridge, from which he was grad
uated in 1845. He began immediately to preach.
He occupied the pulpit of the First Unitarian Church
of Chicago for several months. He preached for
some time in various other towns.
His first accepted call was to Lancaster to the
pastorate that for nigh sixty years he filled with
ability and success. Under date of June 19, 1847,
he wrote in reply to the call of the Society at Lan
caster : "I have given to the proposal of the Uni
tarian Society in Lancaster, by you, their committee,
my most serious consideration. I beg that you will
not deem me wanting in a proper sensibility to this
mark of confidence and esteem on the part of those
you represent. I return my warmest thanks for ithe
invitation and for the flattering terms with which
it was accompanied. I am happy to accept it and
hereby- very respectfully do so. With fervent
prayers that the grace of our Lord 'Jesus Christ, and
the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy
Spirit may be with you all, I remain, my brethren, in
the truth and affection of the Gospel, ever your
friend and servant."
The committee in charge consisted of John M.
Washburn, Ezra Sawyer and Luke Bigelow. Twenty
churches were represented at the ordination, August
4, 1847. The council met in - Lancaster House and
organized with Rev. Joseph Allen, of Northboro,
moderator and Rev. T. P. "Allen, of Sterling, scribe.
When the certificates as to Mr. Bartol's education
and Christian standing were read, Rev. Edward
Everett Hale, then pastor of the Church of the Unity
at Worcester, made the formal motion "that we are
satisfied with the above testimonials and that we are
ready to proceed with the ordination." Among the
clergymen who took part that day Dr. Hale and
Mr. Bartol alone survive. The sermon was preached
by Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol, brother of the candidate.
The Scriptures were read by Dr. Hale. The others
who took part in the service were : Rev. Joseph
Allen, Rev. C. T. Thayer, of Beverly; Rev. Alonzo
Hill, of Worcester; Rev. Mr. Frothingham, of
Salem. Mr. Bartol came to what his friend Rev. Mr.
Marvin called a "wealthy and respectable" congre
gation and the passing years have surely enhanced
both those qualities. The history of the First Church
of Christ of Lancaster dates to 1653 when the min
istry of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson began. His pas
torate was terminated by the destruction of the
town by the Indians in King Philip's war, 1675.
Rev. John Whiting, who was minister from 1690
to 1697, met his death at the hands of hostile In
dians, and his successor, who was pastor from 1701
to 1704, met a similar fate. Rev. John Prentice be
gan to preach in 1705 and died in 1748, the year
he was succeeded by Rev. Timothy Harrington,
whose ministry continued until 1793. Rev. Nathaniel
Thayer was his colleague about two years and his
successor as minister. His remarkable record as
minister, lasting until the summer of 1840, is told
in a sketch of his life elsewhere in this work. The
next pastor and predecessor of Mr. Bartol was

WORCESTER COUNTY

87

Rev. Edmund H. Sears, who was installed December
23, 1840, but was -obliged to resign ' on account of
ill health, and his work in the parish ended April
1, 1847. The present church edifice was erected in 1816.
The architect was Charles Bulfinch, who is known
the world over as the designer of the Massachusetts
State House and of the Capitol at Washington. Rev.
A. P. Marvin, who was for some years the orthodox
minister at Lancaster, wrote of Mr. Bartol many years
ago : "The present pastor, living in times of change,
has seen, with rare exceptions, every pulpit, of every
denomination, in the region round, occupied by suc
cessive ministers, whose power for usefulness has
been, in many cases, weakened by the fickleness of
the people. The record is honorable to the church,
and to the parish and the town with which it has
been connected, during nearly seven generations of
men. The church was in connection with the town
as a parish from 1653 till the Second Parish was
formed, when the church and the First Precinct
were united. When Sterling became a town, Lan
caster resumed its parochial functions, which con
tinued till near the close of the ministry of Dr.
Thayer." At the close of twenty-five years, August 4,
1872, the anniversary of his pastorate, a reception
was given Mr. Bartol and his wife in the town
hall and was largely attended not only by his own
parishioners but by all his townspeople and many
from neighboring towns and the distance. Among
the speakers were Rev. A. P. Marvin, the pastor of
the Evangelical Church; Rev. E. H. Sears, the
predecessor of Mr. Bartol ; the venerable Rev. B.
Whittemore and Mr. Bartol himself. An even more
elaborate celebration of his fortieth anniversary was
held August 4, 1887. When Mr. Bartol completed
his fiftieth year he was given such an ovation and
greeting by the people of his parish, town and of
the whole denomination as few men ever live to
- receive. As Dr. Hale said, and Dr. Hale was one of
the central figures of the celebration because he
himself was one of the ministers in charge of Mr.
Bartol's ordination fifty years before, "there were
more hydrangeas in the church today than there
were in the whole state of Massachusetts fifty years
ago." Mr. and Mrs. Bartol were given a most de
lightful and hearty reception in the Thayer Memorial
Chapel after the more formal services in the church.
Dr. Edward A. Horton was one of the speakers.
Among the gifts lavished upon the good minister
that day were a silver loving cup from past and
present members of the Worcester Ministerial Asso
ciation, of which he was a veteran member, and a
magnificent silver service, suitably engraved, from
his parish. A poem for the occasion was written
by Mrs. Julia A. Carney, of Galesburg, Illinois. On
this occasion the Springfield Republican said : "While
extremely liberal in his religious views, Dr. Bartol's
singularly cordial and sincere nature has won the
loving regard of the ministers of all other denomina
tions. The old Unitarian Church designed by
Charles Bulfinch is one of the landmarks of Wor
cester county. People of all denominations filled it
in Dr. Bartol's honor."
Of Mr. Bartol's service to the public Mr. Henry
S. Nourse, the historian, said : "His power for good
has not been limited by parish confines, nor re
stricted to the stated religious teachings of his order.
The clergy in Lancaster had ever been held the
proper supervisors of the schools, and upon his com
ing Mr. Bartol was at once placed in the school
board and ¦ was annually re-chosen, until, having
given faithful service, usually as chairman of the

board, during twenty-one years, he felt constrained
to ask relief from this onerous duty.
"From the establishment of the public library, he
has always stood at the head of the town's commit
tee, entrusted with its management, and in its incep
tion and increase, his refined taste, rare knowledge
of books and sound literary judgment have been
invaluable. With talent and scholarship that in
vited him to a much wider field of service, he has
clung lovingly to his quiet country parish, making
it the centre of his efforts and aspirations. He is
an enthusiastic lover of nature in all her moods, a
discriminating admirer of beauty in art, earnest in
his soul convictions, although averse to sectarian con
troversy — and so tender of heart as to seem char
itable to all human weakness, save that he is intol
erant of intolerance."
It was Mr. Bartol who expressed the unanimous
sentiments of the people of Lancaster by the follow
ing resolution adopted at a legal town meeting May
20, 1865 : "Whereas, on the fifteenth day di April,
1865, Abraham Lincoln, the venerated and beloved
president of the United States, was by an assassin,
suddenly assaulted and slain, the blow by which he
fell being aimed not only at his life, but through
him at the life of the nation.
"Resolved, that in recording our tribute to the
memory of the late president with profound sorrow
for his loss, we do all beyond all party pre-posses-
sions, own and bless in him an unselfishness in dis
position and singleness of purpose, a gentleness,
humanity and benevolence under great provocation,
with an honesty of intention, an ardent patriotism, a
fidelity to duty, and a growing mastery of the cir
cumstances of his position, which enabled him with
the blessing of God, to fulfill and bring to a success
ful completion, a work almost unprecedented for dif
ficulty; that in his removal at the moment in which
his labors were being crowned with the triumph of
national authority and the evident approach of the
blessings of peace, we see the completion of a career
which the nation will ever look back to with thank
fulness, and hold in tender and affectionate remem
brance." One of the most interesting homes in a town
where all the homes are interesting and some re
markable for artistic and beautiful features, is the
low, quaint, rambling structure in which Mr. Bartol
lives. It stands back modestly from the highway,
shielded by trees and shrubbery, with ample
grounds where the flowers seem to delight in adding
to the decorations of a fascinating place. Inside the
house there are treasures of art and literature, birds
and flowers.
Mr. Bartol is a Republican in politics. He
belongs to few organizations outside the church.
He has been since graduation a member of the
scholars' fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa. He re
ceived the degree of D. D. from his alma mater
(Brown University) in 1892.
He married, June, 1856, Elizabeth Washburn, the
daughter of John M. Washburn, of Lancaster. Their
children are: George, born May 16, 1857, married,
January 12, 1898, Nellie Holt, and they have two
children: Eleanor, born October 31, 1901, Elizabeth,
born November 7, 1902; Anna, born May 5, 1859,
died at Manchester, Massachusetts, August, 1880;
Elizabeth Washburn, born April 10, 1861, married,
July 29, 1884, Harold Parker, and they have three
children — Bartol Parker, born June 7, 1885, Eliza
beth Parker, born September, 1886, Cornelia Conway
Parker, born May 21, 1894. (See sketch of Parker
family of Lancaster.) Dr. John Washburn, born
January 10, 1864, graduate of Harvard College,

88

WORCESTER COUNTY

1887, married, October 2, 1900, Charlotte Hemenway
Cabot, and they have three children: Janet, born
July 13, 1902, Dorothy, born December 15, 1903,
Ann, born December 21, 1905 ; Mary Washburn,
born August 2, 1867, resides at home with her par
ents; Dr. Edward Francis Washburn, born in Man
chester, September 5, 1874, graduate of Harvard,
1896. CHARLES AUGUSTUS CHASE. William
Chase (1), from whom Charles Augustus Chase, of
Worcester, is directly descended, came from Eng
land with Winthrop in 1630. The surname Chase
is undoubtedly derived from the French Chasser
(to hunt). The ancestral seat in England was at
Chesham in Rockinghamshire, through which runs
a rapidly flowing brook or river, the Chess.
Thomas Chase and Aquila Chase, who settled
at Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1639, were broth
ers, and were perhaps cousins of William Chase, the
first comer. The record of Rev. John Eliot, the
Indian Apostle, of "such as adjoyned themselves to
this church," the First Church of Roxbury, has this
entry: "William Chase, he came with the first com
pany, bringing with him his wife Mary and his son
William." The maiden name of his wife is not
known. The son William was about seven years
old at the time of migration. The father applied
for admission as a freeman, . October 19, 1630. He
was a town officer at Roxbury. He served against
the Narragansetts in 1645. He removed to Yar
mouth, Massachusetts, in 1638, and died there. His
will, dated May 4, 1659, states that he was aged.
It was proved May 13, 1659, hence his death occurred
in May of that year. He bequeathed to his wife
Mary and two sons, Benjamin and William (see N.
E. .Hist. Reg. V. 388). His daughter Mary was
buried at Barnstable, Massachusetts, October 28,
1652. The early records of the town of Yarmouth
were destroyed by fire, so that it is impossible to
give the dates of birth and death of all the children.
(II) William Chase, son of William Chase (1),
was born in England about 1623, if he was seven
at the time of the migration. He removed with his
father's family to Yarmouth in 1638. He died there
in 1685. It is impossible to give the name of his
wife or the dates of birth of his children; it is
known, however, that he. had eight children, of
whom William was the eldest.
(Ill) William Chase, eldest son of William Chase
.(2), was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He mar
ried for his first wife Hannah Sherman, of the stock
to which Roger Sherman and General W. T. Sher
man belonged. His second wife was Priscilla Perry.
By the first marriage he had five children, of whom
the third was Isaac.
(IV) Isaac Chase, third child of William Chase
(3), married (first), February 10, 1704, Elizabeth
filethen, of Salem, by whom he had five children ;
married (second) Mary Fowler, by whom he had
seven. (V) Isaac Chase, third son of Isaac Chase (4),
married, November 13, 1729, Amy Anthony; mar
ried (second) Elizabeth  , who survived
him. Isaac and Amy Chase, had eight children, of
whom the eldest was Anthony Chase.
(VI) Anthony Chase, son of Isaac Chase (5), was
born, at Swanzey, Massachustts, February 21, 1832;
married (first) Katherine, daughter of Timothy and
Bridget Sewell, and lived at Mendon, Massachusetts.
He died May 3, 1817, leaving a widow, Mary Chase.
Anthony and Katherine Chase- had eight children,
of whom the .seventh- was Israel.
(VII) Israel CHase, son of Anthony Chase (6);
was born September 13, 1760; married, February 1,

1787, (Caroline) Matilda Butterworth, daughter of
Noah and Dorcas Butterworth, of Smithfield,
Rhode Island. They lived in Mendon, Paxton and
Worcester and had six children, of whom Anthony
was the third.
(VIII) Anthony Chase, third son of Israel
Chase (7), was born at Paxton, Massachusetts, June
16, 1791; married (first), June 2, 1819, Lydia Earle,
daughter of Pliny and Patience Earle, of Leicester.
(See Ralph Earle and his descendants, p. 215.)
Married (second), April 19, 1854, Hannah Greene,
daughter of Daniel and Phebe Greene, of East
Greenwich, Rhode Island. In early youth Mr. Chase
lost his father, and in 1816 entered into mercantile
business in Worcester with John Milton Earle, his
future brother-in-law, and became one of the owners
of the Massachusetts Spy, continuing as such from
1823 to 1835. In 1829 he was agent for the Wor
cester & Providence Boating Company, formed to
operate the newly opened Blackstone canal, and was
soon afterward appointed collector of the canal reve
nue. In March, 1831, he was- elected county treas
urer and held the office for thirty-four years. In
1832 Mr. Chase was chosen secretary of the Wor
cester Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in 1852
was its president, an office which he held until his
death, August 4, 1879. He was one of the founders
and the first secretary of the Worcester Lyceum, in
1829, and shaped the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association in its infancy, drawing up its constitu
tion and by-laws with his own hand in 1841; was one
of the corporators of the Central Bank of Wor
cester on 1828; was for many years treasurer of the
Worcester Agricultural Society ; and for a long
period director in the Citizens' Bank of Worcester;
was trustee and vice-president of the Worcester
County Institution for Savings.
Mr. Chase took great interest iff the public
schools, often serving on the school committee, and
was an alderman in the early days of the city, but^
frequently declined public offices on account of the~
confining nature of his regular vocation. He gave
his three sons an education at Harvard College. He
was a member of the Society of Friends, holding the
office of elder in that body. Most of the children
of his ancestor, William Chase (II), joined the So
ciety of Friends, and their descendants in great
measure have been members of that religious body.
Some of the family in Rhode Island and southeast
ern Massachusetts began about a 'century ago to
write the name Chace, but Chase is the accepted
spelling. He died August 4, 1879, aged eighty-
eight years.
Lydia Earle was descended from Ralph Earle, of
whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this work. The
children of Anthony and Lydia (Earle) Chase, all
born in Worcester, were : Pliny Earle, born August
18, 1820; Lucy, December 1, 1822; Thomas, June
16, 1827 ; Eliza ' Earle, October 8, 1829 ; Charles
Augustus, see forward; Sarah E., May 29, 1836.
The children of Anthony and Hannah (Greene)
Chase were : Emily G., married Joseph Russel Mar
ble (see sketch of George Russell Marble of Web
ster) ; Frederick Anthony died young.
(IX) Charles Augustus Chase, fifth child of
Anthony Chase (8), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, September 9, 1833, iu a house on Salisbury
street, where the armory now stands. His educa
tion began with th'e infant school, in a small build
ing that stood at the northerly end of Summer
street. He graduated from the Thomas street gram
mar school in 1845 into the "Classical and English
High School" where he remained five years, taking
a post-graduate course in mathematics. 'While' in
the high school he printed a juvenile paper, "The

WORCESTER COUNTY

89

Humble Bee." In 1851 he entered Harvard College
and was graduated from that institution in 1856,
receiving the degree of A. M. in 1858. He joined
the staff of the Boston Daily Advertiser in 1855,
and filled the position of reporting the various de
partments and of office editor for seven years. In
1862 he made a five months' tour of Europe and
upon his return again took up his residence in
Worcester, and in the autumn of 1864 was elected
treasurer of Worcester county, succeeding his father,
who had held the office for a third of a century.
He was re-elected and served altogether eleven
years as treasurer. In 1875 was elected on an inde
pendent ticket as register of deeds, serving in 1876
— centennial year — was soon afterward elected sec
retary of the board of trade, and in 1879 was treas
urer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Com
pany. Mr. Chase has for more than twenty-five years
been one of the pricipal officers of the largest sav
ings bank in Massachusetts outsidg of Boston, hav
ing been elected November 10, 1879, treasurer of the
Worcester County Institution of Savings, and suc
ceeding Hon. Stephen Salisbury in 1904 as its presi
dent. This savings bank was incorporated Febru
ary 8, 1828. Samuel Jennison, the cashier of the
Worcester Bank, was the first treasurer, and until
recently the president of the Worcester Bank, has
also been president of the Worcester County Insti
tution for Savings. The interests of the two banks
were mutual. The second treasurer of the Insti
tution was Charles A. Hamilton, whom Mr. Chase
succeeded. At the time Mr. Chase became presi
dent of the bank, the deposits amounted to about
$20,000,000. In 1905 the bank bought the lot at
the corner of Main and Foster streets, and began
to build its own home, a handsome and artistic
structure. It should be stated also that these two
institutions, the Worcester Bank and the Worcester
County Institution for Savings were the pioneer
banking institutions of Worcester county. Mr.
Chase was a director of the Citizens National Bank
from 1880 to 1889; has been a director of the Wor
cester National Bank since January, 1888; of the
(Worcester) Merchants and Farmers Fire Insur
ance Company since 1883, and was vice-president of
the Worcester Art Society. Mr. Chase was secre
tary of the Worcester Lyceum Association from
1863 to 1866, vice-president 1862-8, on the lecture
committee from 1866 to 1880, and was a director
of the Free Public Library of Worcester from 1866
to 1874. He has been for several years treasurer
of the Memorial Hospital and recording secretary
of the American Antiquarian Society, and is a
member of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society; the Colonial Society of Massachusetts ; the
Bunker Hill Monument Association and the Wor
cester Society of Antiquity. He is also vice-presi
dent of the Home for Aged Men ; president of the
North End Street Railway Company, and presi
dent of the Worcester Harvard Club.
Mr. Chase has written many papers and pamphlets
relating to the history of Worcester. In 1879 Mr.
Chase wrote under contract with C. F. Jewett &
Company, of Boston, a history of Worcester for
their history of Worcester county, in which much
valuable matter, the result of original research was
preserved. For the "History of Worcester County,"
published by J. W. Lewis & Company, in 1889, Mr.
Chase contributed a chapter on the newspaper -press.
He also prepared an historical sketch of' the Wor
cester Bank,- which was published in book form
to celebrate the, centennial of that institution in
1904. He married in April, 1863, Mary Theresa Clark,

of Boston, and they had two children: Mary Alice,
married Thomas Hovey Gage, Jr., of Worcester;
and Maud Eliza, who lives with her father.
HENRY SALEM PRATT. The subject of the
following sketch is of one of Worcester's up-to-date
business factors. His financial success has been re
markable and the element entering into his life and
general business career are indeed possessed by many
another man, but rarely applied and managed to
the success he has wrought out by them.
Mr. Pratt, the eldest son of Salem and Sally
(Hobbs) Pratt, was born November 18, 1836, at
Charlton, Massachusetts. By referring to his family '
genealogy it is learned that his grandfather, Cap
tain Joseph Pratt, was an officer in the war of 1812.
Captain Pratt's grandfather was a full blooded
Indian of Maine, traces of whose noble blood run
down through the generations, giving courage and
honor to the descendants. Mr. Pratt traces his
genealogy through his mother, Sally Hobbs, whose
mother was an Adams, to the famous Adams family,
from which President John Adams and President
John Quincy Adams were descended, and through
them the ancestry has been traced back to the
Emperor Charlemagne. This noble strain has never
died out, and Sally Hobbs embodied the noblest
qualities of womanhood, and was a supporter and
guiding influence to their children as long as she
lived. She has recently died at the age of eighty-
seven, July 8, 1904.
When Henry S. Pratt was quite young his par
ents removed to Charlton, where he remained and
attended the schools of his neighborhood until he
was sixteen years of age, working a part of the ¦
time with his father at bottoming boots and shoes.
In 1853 we find him coming to Worcester and at
first he worked in a shoe store for his board, but
such a character could not long remain at the bot
tom of life's ladder. After two years clerking in
a dry goods store, he, in 1855, became salesman in
the clothing store of A. P. Ware. The years roll
by and we find him a partner in the concern. In
1866 there was a branch house formed, under style
of Ware & Pratt, which today have one of the most
complete clothing stores in the commonwealth. In
1857 they commenced to manufacture clothing for
the retail trade and it has come to be among the
most extensive in the state. William W. Johnson
became a partner after Mr. Ware's retirement in
1870, also Edward T. Wardwell, and January 1,
1888, a stock company was organized with Mr. John
son as president, Mr. Pratt as treasurer and Charles
E. Black as clerk. The firm of Ware & Pratt
conducted business until January 1, 1869, when it
was changed to Ware, Pratt & Co., and remained
so until January 1, 1888, when it was changed to a
stock company.
Aside from his interests in this good business
firm, he became interested in numerous financial
institutions. In 1887 he became a director in the
Citizens' National Bank and in 1891 its vice-presi
dent. Upon the decease of Hon. Samuel Winslow,
the president, in the autumn of 1894,. Mr. Pratt was
chosen to fill the vacancy, and he served to the
satisfaction of the stockholders until the bank was
merged with the Worcester Trust Company. He
is also connected with .the Mechanics Savings Bank
of Worcester, and- is -one of its trustees. He bought
the Hillcroft farm, where he has erected a charm
ing residence. The view is among the most romantic
of any within the varied and extensive as well as
historic environments of - Worcester city. He also
built- the "Chadwick, Block," on Main street, the
same deriving the name from the maternal side of

90

WORCESTER COUNTY

Mr. Pratt's wife's people. It should here be added
that this block stands on the exact spot where Mr.
Pratt commenced his career by working for his
board until some better opening presented itself to
him. Like every other good American citizen, Mr.
Pratt appreciates the right of suffrage, and believ
ing the Republican party comes the nearest to main
taining a good form of government he casts his
vote with it. While he is a strong party man, yet
he prefers others to hold the public offices, while
he labors in other fields and remains a law-abiding
citizen of the best type. In religious belief he is
-a Unitarian and attends the First Church.
His friends are legion. He has belonged to
various societies, including the Hancock and Com
monwealth Clubs, where he was a popular and high
ly esteemed member. He is the active manager of
the Ware-Pratt Company. Not unlike other well
rounded characters, Mr. Pratt established for him
self a home influence by marrying Melora Fletcher,
December 24, 1857, and to her he acknowledges
much of the happiness of his life. The career of
such a man should be a model for the rising young
men of Worcester, who may be sons of parents
unable to start them in business. Mr. Pratt com
menced unaided, and by virtue of industry and
economy steadily made his way to the front rank
in the business circle of Worcester men. He is
kind, genial, . temperate and progressive, all essen
tial elements in a ^successful life.
WILLIAM H. HOBBS. Josiah Hobbs (1), the
pioneer ancestor of William H. Hobbs and Horace
, Hobbs of Worcester, is also the progenitor of prac
tically all the families in New England of this sur
name. He was born in England, in 1649, and came
to America in the "Arabella," Richard Sprague,
master, leaving Gravesend, May 27, 1671, arriving
in Boston in July. For the next eighteen years
he was a resident of Boston. In 1690 he removed fo
Lexington, Massachusetts, then the west precinct
of Cambridge, and there he lived during the re
mainder of his life, except for two years spent in
Woburn, in the western part, now Burlington,
Massachusetts. In 1691 he was a subscriber to the
building fund of the first meeting house in Lexing
ton. In .1692-3 he was among the contributors to
the support of Rev. Mr. Esterbrook, the first minister
there. He and his wife, Tabitha, were baptized in
August, 1699. In September of the same year their
children: Josiah, Tabitha and Mary Hobbs were
baptized; in October, 1700, Matthew and Susan
Hobbs were baptized ; January 8, 1710, Ebenezer was
baptized, and April 13, 1712, Tabitha. Of his seven
children none had families, according to the records,
except Josiah. Josiah Hobbs (father) died May
30, 1741, aged ninety-two years. He married in
1683. (II) Josiah Hobbs, son of Josiah Hobbs (1),
was born in Boston in 1684, and moved to Lexing
ton with his parents in 1690. He resided there
until 1705, when he was twenty-one ; he then re
turned to Boston and settled there. In 1708 he
married Esther Davenport, of Dorchester, and re
sided on a farm at the north end of Boston. Ac
cording to his own statements he used to drive
cows to pasture from the North End to Muddy
river, now' Brookline, and to Roxbury, now a part
of Boston. He told his grandchildren that he had
hoed corn on Cornhill, Boston. He and his wife
joined Rev. Cotton Mather's church (the New
North) and their children were christened there.
He purchased a farm at Weston, of a man named
Cheney, and removed there. He joined the Weston

church and was a very devot man, of strict Puritan
views. He died February 27, 1779, aged ninety-
four. His wife died November 29, 1778, aged
eighty-eight years. Children of Josiah Hobbs and
his wife, Esther Davenport Hobbs : 1. Ebenezer, born
in Boston, 1709, married Eunice Garfield, of Lan
caster, 1734, died of injuries received October 19,.
1762. 2. Josiah (twin), born at Governor's Island,
in Boston Harbor, 1721, married Mary Hunting
ton, of Weston; she died 1804; was a soldier in the.
revolution and deacon of the church; he died 1802,
aged eighty-one years. 3. John (twin), born on
Governor's Island, 1721, married Beulah Warren,
of Weston; was a deacon and soldier in the revo
lution; was present at the taking of Burgoyne; he
and his twin brother bought farms in Brookfield,
then called Podunk; he died from a cold taken
while he was in the service in 1777, leaving a large
family of children, from some of whom are de
scended many of the Hobbs families of Worcester,
and other towns of. the county. 4. Esther, born in
Boston, October 22, 1722, married  Gibbs,
settled in Framingham, Massachusetts. 5. Sarah,
born May 10, 1724, married  Stone, of Wes
ton, settled in Vermont and had son, Joseph. 6.
Dorcas, born 1726, married  Parks, settled
in Lincoln, Massachusetts. 7. Hannah, born Janu
ary 25, 1729, married Jeremiah Wetmore, of Wes
ton, settled in Middleton, Connecticut, ancestors of
the well known Wetmore family of Boston. 8.
Nathan, born in Weston in 1731, married Elizabeth
Fiske, and had ten children.
(Ill) Ebenezer Hobbs, son of Josiah Hobbs (2),
was born in Boston, 1709, married Eunice Garfield.
of Lincoln, 1734. He died of injuries received
October 19, 1762. His widow died October 4, 1776,
aged sixty-eight years. Children were: Isaac, born
I73S, married Mary Sanderson, of Waltham, 1757,
had several children who died in infancy; he died
September 30, 1813; Ebenezer, born 1736, died
October 28, 1756, unmarried; Elisha, born 1843,
married Lois Hastings, of Waltham, 1764; Susan
nah, died young; Hepsibath, died young; Mathew,
born 1745, married Lydia Wesson, of Lincoln, in
1760; she died in 1782, aged thirty-five years; he
married (second) Lucy Holmes, of Boston, who
died 1812; he was a soldier in the revolution; was
at Lexington April 19, 1775, and followed the re
treating British as far as West Cambridge, where
he was relieved and returned to Concord; served
under Captain Jonathan Fiske; was captain of his
company in 1780; Elizabeth, born 1748, married
Phineas Gregory, who settled in Princeton in 1767;
Samuel, born 1751, married Lucy Monroe, of Lex
ington, who died in 1812, aged sixty years; he was
one of the party who threw the tea overboard in
Boston Harbor; settled in Sturbridge, died May
1823; Esther, 1753, married Captain Bowker, of
Sudbury, removed to western New York.
(IV) Elisha Hobbs, son of Ebenezer Hobbs (3),
was born in 1743. He married Lois Hastings, of
Waltham, in 1764. He settled in Princeton before
the revolutionary war and spent the remainder of
his days there.. He was deacon of the church. His-
wife died September 22, 1807, aged sixty-four years.
He. died December 16, 1816, aged seventy-four years.
Children were: Lois, born May 10, 1765, married,
*7&3, John Mirick, of Princeton, where she died
1843; Elisha, January 29, 1768; Micah, November
22, 1770, died October 29, 1775; Jonas, August 31,
1772, went to Vermont earty; Susanna, May 20,
1774; Micah, September 29, 1776, died at Hope,
Maine,. February 2, 1842, aged sixty-six years, had
two sons. Josiah and Henry; John, July 21, I779»
married Betsey Bailey, of Sterling; William, Au-

WORCESTER COUNTY

oi

gust 30, 1781, married Nancy Gill, of Princeton, bad
three sons; William, born 1800, resided in Wor
cester, and Elisha lived on (he homestead iu Prince
ton; Moses, October 24, 1783, married Mercy Gill,
of Princeton, was killed in Hubbardstou at tho rais
ing of a barn, 1823,
(V) John Hobbs, son of Elisha llobbs of
Princeton (4), was born in Princeton. Massachu
setts,. July 21, 1770. lie married Betsey Bailey, of
Sterling, Their children were: Betsey, born March
10, 1800; John, June 17, 1801, resided in YonUers,
New York; Micah, February jj, 1804, married a
daughter of Moses Hobbs and resided in Prince
ton; George, May 10, 1H00, resided in Worcester;
Henry, November 4, 1808, died 1840; Susan, June
J, 1811; Isaac, June 13, 1813. removed to Hope,
Maine; Samuel, January 20, 1810, at Princeton;
Builcv, October 8, 1818, resided in Yonkers, New
York. (VI) George Hobbs, major-general, son of John
Hobbs (5), was born in Princeton, Massachusetts,
May 16, 180(1. He died in Worcester, November 3,
187J. He married Calista Beaman, i8jq. He sot-
tied in Sterling, where ho kept a hotel in the days
when the country tavern was at the height of its
prosperity. He also managed an extensive stage
business there. General llobbs removed to Worces
ter in 1838 and kept the Eagle Hotel, at the corner
of Main and Thomas streets. Ho is still remem
bered by the older citizens of Worcester as a manu
facturer of brick. He had kilns on Lincoln street,
and continued to manufacture bricks until his health
failed, a few years before his death. He invested
in real estate and built many brick buildings in
various parts of tho city. Ho left a valuable estate.
He was one of the few Worcester men who attained
the rank of major-general : he became commander
of the City Guards in 1840, and ho rose through
the various ranks in tho state militia to that posi
tion. He resigned in 1850, but always retained an
interest iu tho military affairs of the state. He
had two sons, prominent officers in Worcester regi
ments iu the civil war. Ho was highly respected
as n eitiren as well as a soldier. For several years
he was chief of tbe Worcester fire department. He
served the city of Worcester in 1801-03-04 as alder
man. Ho was an assessor for several years. Dur
ing the last years of his life "he was in feeble health,
for a year was confined to tho house.
The ll'orccstcr Gascltc said of him at the time
of his death: "He was deeply interested in the
military branch of the public service, and the spirit
and efficiency of the militia in his time wore largely
duo to his influence and example. * * * In all
positions of public trust ho was faithful and
energetic' Children of George and Calista (Beaman)
Hobbs; Ann, born 1830. at Sterling, married George
S, Howe; she resides at present in The Aurora.
Worcester; Horace. September j, 1831, at Sterling;
Martha, at Sterling, 1834; Catherine or Kate Rust.
born 18^36; George Webster, March jj. 1830, at
Worcester; William Harrison, April jS, 1841, at
Worcester, (VII) Horace Hobbs, son of General George
Hobbs (6), was born in Sterling, Massachusetts,
September a, 1831. He attended the Worcester
public schools. He learned the profession of civil
engineering and surveying and followed it for about
seven years. He was a strong anti-slavery man,
and when Eli Thayer organized the movement for
Free Kansas Mr, Hobbs was one of the first to enlist
as a pioneer. When he reached Kansas he found
the feeling at fever heat. In fact he participated in
the first practical and effective resistance against

slavery. He was in a cavalry company in the town
of Uiwrenco at the time of tbe. Border Ruffian In
vasion from Missouri, and he remained in Kansas
until hostilities eoasod. Ho was there thirteen
months. He worked at brick making, with his
father, for about five years in all. When the civil
war broke out he enlisted early. In 1863 ho was
commissioned captain of Company 11, Fifty-first
Regiment, Captain llobbs lived for a time in Auburn, a
town adjoining Worcester, lie was town treasurer
there for five years. He was deacon of the Con
gregational church for a number of years, treasurer,
and also superintendent of the Sunday school. All
his life he lias been known as an earnest and con
sistent supporter of the temperance movement in
its various forms. In politics he has always been
a Republican, and has been satisfied with the straight
ticket. He has never voted for a Democrat. Since
187(1 he has been examiner of titles at the Wor
cester county registry of deeds. His careful, pains
taking work there is known to members of the bar
all over the state. He and his brother have made
a specialty of searching titles, and have won a high
reputation for excellent work. He is a member of
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R., and of
the Loyal Legion. He is also a member of the Con
gregational Club and the board of trade.
He married (first) Mary. P. Parker. He married
(second) Maria K. Knowles, daughter of Elisha
and Eunice (Huntington) Knowles, of Auburn. The
children of Horace and Mary P. (Parker) Hobbs:
Horace B„ died at the age of eighteen months:
Cora Louise, a clerk in the office of the register of
deeds: William H„ attended the Worcester high
school, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Insti
tute, then took a course at Harvard University, at
Johns Hopkins, and at Heidelberg University, Ger
many (where lie studied ajjain in 1905) ; for some
years professor of geology m Wisconsin State Uni
versity at Madison, Wisconsin; he married Sarah
Kimball, has one child, Winnifred B„ born 1900.
Children of Horace and Maria K. (Knowles) Hobbs:
Howard K, was in the Second regiment at the battle
of Santiago, is sergeant of the Worcester Light In
fantry and treasurer of the company; also treasurer
of Willie Grout Camp, Sons of Veterans ; treasurer
of the Sunday .school; graduate of Worcester high
school ; associated with his father and uncle as
examiner of titles at the court house. Alice M.,
graduate of Wheaton Seminary.
I.YI1) George Webster Hobbs. son of General
George Hobbs ((0, was born in Worcester, March
22, 1830. He was educated in tlie public schools of
his native citv and at Norwich University, Vermont.
He studied law with Colonel E. B. Stoddard, He
was admitted to the bar and commenced to practice
in i860, at Uxhridge. He was a lieutenant in the
Worcester Light infantry. For many years he. was
one of the most prominent and influential citizens
of Uxhridge. Ho was interested in historical sub
jects and wrote extensively. He married Chloe E.
Taft. daughter of David Taft. of Uxbridge.
(Vll) William Harrison Hobbs, youngest son
of General George Hobbs (6), was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, April 28, 1841. in the hotel at
the corner of Main and Thomas streets, which at
that time was kept by his father. He first attended
school in the old school house on Main street; then
in the Thomas street school in the various grades.
He also attended the Worcester Academy, the
Highland Military Academy and the Worcester
high school. In 1855 he joined the Worcester Light
Infantry, and was with his company in the famous
inarch througli Baltimore at the beginning of the

92

WORCESTER COUNTY

civil war, April 19, 1861. This company was part
of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. He was one of
those detailed by Captain Harrison W. Pratt to
notify the members of the company to be at the
armory for active service. He still has the written
order, viz. :
"Private W. H. Hobbs : You are hereby ordered
to warn, and give immediate verbal notice, to the
non-commissioned officers and privates of the com
pany under my command, and whose names are
specified in roll annexed, to appear at their armory
at four o'clock in the forenoon of Wednesday, the
seventeenth day of April, current, uniformed and
equipped as the law directs for military duty and
active service. Harrison W. Pratt,
"Commanding Company B, Third Battalion In
fantry." He was mustered out of service, with the rank
of corporal, at the expiration of his enlistment.
After his. return from the service Mr. Hobbs went
into the business of ^rick-making with his father, and
continued until the' death of his father in 1872. fn
the following year he went to Haverhill and started
in the brick business, but on account of the financial
troubles and hard times of that period, he sold -out
in 1874. He returned to Worcester and entered
the real estate and conveyancing business. He had
an office in the building on the present site of the
Chadwick until 1883, when he went into the registry
of deeds, working with his brother Horace in ex
amining titles. He has continued in this business
ever since. At present he is the head of the Hobbs
Title Company, and his associates are Samuel H.
Longley and Howard K. Hobbs, his nephew. Mr.
Hobbs is well known, especially among the law
yers of the county,, and is highly esteemed. He is
regarded as one of the leading experts in real estate
matters in Worcester county. He is a Republican
in politics, but not an active one. He belongs to
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R., and has
been a member of the auditing committee for the
past three years ; a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, Quinsigamond Lodge, No. 48, and
trustee of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows'
Mutual Benefit Association for several years, also a
member of the Veteran Independent Order of Odd
Fellows' Association, having been an Odd Fellow
for twenty-five years. Mr. Hobbs married,
November 26, 1865, Martha Lydia Holt, daughter
of 'Lucius K. and Rebecca (Miles) Holt. They
have two children, both living: Charles H., resides
at New Orleans, educated at Worcester Academy;
Katharine, lives with her parents, 146 Main street,
Worcester. (I) Nicholas Holt,, the pioneer ancester of Mrs.
William H. Hobbs, was born in England, in 1602.
He came from Romsey, England, in the ship
"James," William Cooper, master, sailing April 6,
and landing in Boston June 3, 1635. Be was one of
the first settlers at Newbury and Andover, Massa
chusetts. At Newbury he was husbandman, pro
prietor and town officer. He made a long journey
with others to take the, freeman's oath May 17,
1637, and vote against Sir Harry Vane. He was a
tanner as well as a farmer. He removed to And-
6ver in 1644. He 'sold his Newbury land Novem
ber 14, 1652. He is called a plate-turner (wood
worker.) in some records. He married (first) Eliza
beth  . She died at Andover, November 9,-1656.
He married (second), June 20, 1658, ¦ Hannah
(Bradstreet) Rolfe, widow of Daniel Rolfe and
daughter of Humphrey Bradstreet.- She died June

20, 1665. He married (third) Mrs. Martha Preston,
widow of Roger Preston, May 21, 1666. She died
March 21, 1703, aged eighty years. He died Jan
uary 30, 1685, aged eighty-three years. Children of
Nicholas and Elizabeth Holt: Hannah, born in
England, married Robert Gray; Elizabeth, born at
Newbury, March 30, 1636; Mary, born at Newbury,
October 6, 1638; Samuel, October 6, 1641; Henry,
born 1644, of whom later; Nicholas, 1647; James,
1651 ; Priscilla, June 20, 1653. Children of Nicho
las and Hannah Holt were : Rebecca, born Nov
ember 14, 1662; John, January 14, 1663-4.
(II) Henry Holt, fifth child of Nicholas Holt
(1), was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, 1644.
He married, February 24, 1669, Sarah Ballard,
daughter of William Ballard. She died at Andover,
-November 25, 1733. He died January 17, 1719,
aged seventy-five years. They joined the church
June 3, 1716. He was prominent in town affairs.
In 1686 he owned a mill on Ladle brook. Children
were: Elizabeth, born in Andover, Massachusetts,
December 29, 1670 ; Oliver, January 14, 1671 ; Henry,
January 24, 1673; James, see forward; George,
March 17, 1677; Sarah, August 17, 1678; Josiah,
December 13, 1679; Dinah, May 23, 1681; Paul,
February 7, 1684; William, February 3, 1687;
Zerviah, March 24, 1689; Keturah, December 15,
1690; Humphrey) September 22, 1693; .Benjamin,
July 8, 1696.
(Ill) James Holt, fourth child of Henry Holt
(2), born in Andover, Massachusetts, September 3,
1675, married, Mav 24; I7°S> Susannah Preston. She
died February 20, 1741-2. He died November 25,
I75I, aged seventy-six. Their, children : Abigail,
born in Andover, Massachusetts, March 20, 1705,
died 1716; James, 1707; Zerviah, 1712; Barzillai,
see forward; Abigail, died February 20, 1756.
(IV) Barzillai Holt, fourth child of James
Holt (3), born in Andover, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 25, 1715, married (first) August 27, 1738, Eliza
beth Goss; married (second), February 22, 1759,
Lois Allena, and settled in Marlboro, Massachu
setts, in the part later set off as Shrewsbury. Be
was one of the first settlers in West Boylston,
about 1720. He died at Boylston in 1774, aged
fifty-eight years. Children of Barzillai and Eliza
beth (Goss) Holt: Abel, see forward; Barzillai,
May 12, 1745; James, June 6, 1746; Elizabeth,
August 29, 1753; Silas, born in Marlboro; Levi,
May 6, 1760; Abiel, May 11, 1763;- Jotham, Jan
uary 10, 1765.
(V) Abel Holt, eldest child of Barzillai Holt
(4), born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, June 14,
1740, married, October 21, 1765, or February 27,
1766, Eunice Keyes, daughter of Henry Keyes, of
Shrewsbury, born April 19, 1745, died October 21,
1840, aged ninety-five years and six months. He
died February 18, 1815, aged seventy-five years. He
was a soldier in the revolution. Children were:
Lois, born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, May 11,
1767, married William Drury, of Holden; Amasa,
born in Boylston, April 24, 1772, married, 1798,
Nabby Nourse, of Berlin ; Asa, born in Boylston,
June 26, 1776; Abel, June 26, 1776, married Hannah
Wright; Jonas, October 22, 1779; Eunice, October
21, 1782; Henry Keyes, July 2, 1788, married, No
vember 16, 1813, Lydia Fairbanks, see forward;
Tyler, September 21, 1791, married, October I, 1812,
Arethusa Fairbanks; she died. August 16, 1837... He
died November 8, 1866, at West Boylston.
. (VI) Henry Keyes Holt, seventh child of Abel
Holt (5), born in Boylston,. Massachusetts,; July
2, 1788, married, November 16, 1813, Lydia. Fair
banks; a descendant of Jonathan Fairbanks, of rDed--
harii,\i-in the following line : Lydiai (VI.),, Sethu:(Y)>

WORCESTER COUNTY

93

Jonathan (IV), Jabez (III), Jonas (,11), Jon
athan (I). He died September 8, 1828, from in
juries received in a fall. His widow married (sec
ond), September 25, 1844, Nathaniel Davenport.
Children of Henry Keyes and Lydia (Fairbanks)
Holt: Henry Fairbanks, born in South Berwick,
Maine, November _>6, 1816, married, December 22,
1841, Martha Levina Wood, daughter of Merritt
Wood; Lucius Keyes, sec forward.
(VII) Lucius Keyes Holt, youngest child of
Henry Keyes Holt (6), born in Sterling, Massachu
setts, married, October io, 1843, Rebecca Frost, of
Marlboro, Massachusetts. They resided in Lan
caster, Massachusetts. Children were : Martha
Lydia, born in Shirley, Massachusetts, November
-'4, 1845, see forward ; Henry Keyes, born in Lan
caster, March 5, 1850, died August 4, 1857, drowned
at Holyoke, Massachusetts; Frank E., born in
Holyoke, December 17, 1856, married Nellie Hast
ings ; resides at Bayonne, New J ersey ; superintend
ent of the Singer Sewing Machine Company fact
ory at Elizabeth, New Jersey; they have one child,
Olive, born 1893; Lucius M'., born in Lancaster,
July 13, 1859, deceased.
(VIII) Martha Lydia Holt, eldest child of Lu
cius Keyes Hplt (.7), born at Shirley, Massachu
setts, November 24, 1845. In early life she lived
with her parents and went to school in Clinton,
Massachusetts. During tho civil war the family
lived at Easthampton. She attended Williston
Seminary and Worcester Academy. She is a mem
ber of the Fairbanks Association and as indicated
above is descended in the same line as Vice-Presi
dent Fairbanks, who is her cousin. She married
William Harrison Hobbs. (.Sec sketch above.)
ARTHUR LANE S AFFORD. Thomas Saf-
ford (1), the immigrant ancestor of Arthur Lane
Safford, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, was born in
England and settled in New England at Ipswich
before 1641. He was on the list of proprietors of
the town April 6, 1O41, and was admitted a freeman
December 19, 1648. lie bought a farm at Ipswich,
thirty-two acres, of Henry Kingsbury, February 8,
1648, He was a subscriber to Denison's allowance
in 1640 and had a share and a half in Plum Island.
He died in February, 1666-7. His will was dated
February 20, 1666-7, and proved March 26, 1667.
He gave his farm to his son Joseph on condition
of his care of the father and mother and paying
certain amounts to daughters Elizabeth, Mary and
Abigail, He married Elizabeth  , who died March 4,
167, at Ipswich. Their children were : Joseph,
born 1631 or 1632, (ho deposed March 29, 1692,
that he was about fifty-nine or sixty years old,)
was admitted a freeman 1682; married, March 6,
1660, Mary Baker ; John, of whom later ; Elizabeth,
Mary, Abigail. (One of the daughters married
 Kilum.)
(II) John Safford, son of Thomas Safford (1),
was born about 1633, probably in England. He set
tled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He had a share of
Plum Island. He gave land to his son Thomas for
the maintenance . of his wife and daughter by deed
dated September 5, 1698. The children of John
and Sarah Safford were: John, Jr., of whom later;
Sarah, born July 14, 1664, died July 21, 1712; Mar
garet, February 28, 1665-6; Rebecca, August 30,
1667; Mercy or Marv, born February 26, 1669-70;
Elizabeth, February 27, 1670-1 ; Thomas, October
16, 1672, married, October 7, 1698, Eleanor Shats-
well or Setchwcll, widow of Richard Setchwell and
daughter of Daniel Cheney; married (second) at
Rowley, June 29, 17^5, Sarah Scott; their son Jo

seph was a pioneer at Hardwick, where many of his
descendants live; Joseph, March 12, 1674-5.
(.Ill) John Safford, Jr., son of John Safford
(2), was born about 1660. He took the oath of
allegiance in 1683 at Ipswich. He was administra
tor of the estate of his father-in-law, Thomas New
man, March 5, 1691. He married, September 15,
1685, Hannah Newman, daughter of Thomas New
man. Ho married (second), June 28, 1702, Abigail
Martin, lie resided at Ipswich. The children of
John, Jr, and Hannah Safford were : John. Jr.,
born February 28, 1687-8; Hannah, September 24,
1691 ; Sarah, December 25, 1694 ; Mary, March 5,
1697; Elizabeth, January 24, 1700. The children of
John, Jr. and Abigail Safford were: Mary, April
•M, 1703; Joseph, January 18, 1705; Gideon, March
24, 1709, of whom later.
(.IV) Gideon Safford, son of John Safford, Jr.,
(3), was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, March 24,
1709. Ho lived in Ipswich. He married there,
January 13, 1731-J, Elizabeth Hill. Their children
were: Mary, born September 1, 1732; Thomas,
October 15, 1735, of whom later; Elizabeth, Sep
tember 17, 1737; Thankful, October 15, 1739; Amy,
January 25, 1742; Lucy, April 3, 1744; Samuel, Jan
uary .», 1748; Pagy, May 10 1750; Anne, July 12,
1752; Gideon, Jr., November 4, 1754.
(V) Thomas Safford, son of Gideon Safford
(4), was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, October
I5>.I73S- He was a soldier in the French and
Indian war and was in Captain Jonathan Brown's
company at Lake George in 1758. During the
revolution he was living at or near Watertown, and
he enlisted July 2, 1778, with others to serve as
guards over the powder magazine for six months.
He continued to serve on this duty until August
2, 1779. He was called "corporal" in some of the
records. He married at Watertown, July 31, 1764,
Sarah Kettell, of Medford, his residence being given
as Dedham. Plis wife joined the Dedham church,
March 23, 1766. The only record of birth of chil
dren born to Thomas and Sarah is found in Ded
ham records : Thomas, baptized at Dedham,
August 24, 1766, by Rev. Mr. Townsend.
(VI) Thomas Safford, Jr., son of Thomas
Safford (5), of Dedham and Watertown, was bap
tized at Dedham, August 24, 1766. He lived at
Dedham, Watertown and Concord. He learned the
trade of baker. He removed from Concord to
Lancaster in 1795. He bought of Joseph Willington
Page of Lancaster for one thousand and ninety
pounds his estate in Lancaster, including land .011
the Berlin road, land known as the Rugg Intervale,
formerly of Isaac Rugg's estate, and land on the
Harvard road by deed dated April 22, 1795. This
deed gives his residence as Concord, but he must
have removed immediately afterward, as his son
Thomas was baptized at Lancaster, September b,
I79S- He married (first) Elizabeth Stetson, who died
at Lancaster, March 11, 1818, aged forty-nine years.
He married (second), 1819, Anna Brigham. Eliza
beth Stetson was the daughter of Ebenezer Stetson,
who married in Watertown, July 1, 1765, Lucy Rug
gles. Ebenezer Stetson died in 1809 and the chil
dren of Thomas and Elizabeth (Stetson) Safford
were named among his heirs, Thomas Safford be
ing appointed guardian of the minor children, Sep
tember 26, 1809. The second wife was of Marl
boro, Massachusetts. The children of Thomas and
Elizabeth Safford, all except George, born or bap
tized in Lancaster, were : George, of whom later ;
Thomas, haptized September 6, 1795 ; Catherine, bap
tized April 23, 1797, died July 4, 1798; Joseph Collis,
baptized December 6, 1798; Francis Augustus, bap-

94

WORCESTER COUNTY

tized August 3, 1800, died August 3, 1801 ; Caro
line, born May 30, 1802, died August 31, 1803;
Catherine, born December 9, 1804, died February
14, 1807; Henry, born March 1, 1807; Susan Palmer,
born February 19, 1809; Adeline, born January 13,
181 1, • Elizabeth, (guardian appointed at her father's
death). (VII) George Safford, eldest son of Thomas
Safford (6), was born about 1794, probably in Con
cord, Massachusetts. He was brought up in Lan
caster and attended school there. He was a farmer.
He married Mary (Polly) Stevenson, July 8, 1816,
daughter of Martin Stevenson, of Lancaster. She
died February 19, 1831, aged thirty-six years. He
was guardian of their children who were heirs of
their grandfather Stevenson, who owned forty acres
on George Hill. The children of George and Polly
Safford were : Charles, born September 14, 1817,
of whom later; George Fosdick, born March 19,
1819, had children: George and Helen Shortly;
Roby Ruel, born December 12, 182 1 ; Augustus, born
January 9, 1825 ; Henry, of Fitchburg ; Mary E.
George Safford married again and had Fred, whose
children are George Safford and Lizzie Snyder of
Troy, New York. George Safford married a third
wife. (VIII) Charles Safford, son of George Safford
(7), was born in Lancaster, September 14, 1817.
He resided in Lancaster, where he carried on the
business of cabinet making, painting, etc. He was
for many years the town undertaker. He died in
1879, aged sixty-nine years. He married, May 16,
1843, Julia A. D. Carter, than aged twenty-four
years. Their children were : A daughter, died
young; Charles Ethan, born October 17, 1845, mar
ried twice; one son, Clarence, was killed in the
destruction of the Maine at Havana; Sarah Julia,
February 16, 1847, died June 22, 1847 ; Ellen Frances,
June 1, 1848, married Frank Havard, of Bolton ;
they have two sons and two daughters ; Frank, a
painter by'trade, died unmarried at Lancaster ; Henry,
a painter by trade, married Carrie Divoll; has had
five children, two of whom are living; Arthur
Lane, of whom later; William P., is in the em
ploy of his brother in the general store at Lan
caster; married Lillian Wilder, daughter of Wil
liam G. Wilder, of Clinton; they have one daughter
Mabel. (IX) Arthur Lane Safford, son of Charles
Safford (8), was born at Lancaster, Massachu
setts, August 15, 1856. He attended the public and
high schools of his native town. At the age of
sixteen he began to work in the general store at
Lancaster. The store changed hands several times,
but he remained in the employ of the various pro
prietors until December, 1879, when in partner
ship with Benjamin Kingsbury Gallup he became
proprietor of the store himself. - The firm name was
Gallup & Safford and they had an excellent busi
ness. In 1891 Mr. Safford bought out his partner
and since then has conducted the business alone.
He has a high grade general store, groceries, dry
goods, hardware, agricultural implements and the
usual stock of the large country store. He also
deals in grain, flour, etc. His former partner is
now manager for the Swift concern of a branch at
Trenton, New Jersey.
In politics Mr. Safford is a Republican. He was
for seven years town treasurer and tax collector,
but declined to serve after his partner withdrew
from the business. He is at present trustee of the
town's charity funds, held under various bequests,
for the benefit of the poor of the town. He is a
Free Mason, member of Trinity Lodge of Clin

ton. He is a member of the Lancaster Lodge of
Odd Fellows.
He married Marian Adams Fuller; daughter of
Edward M. Fuller, brother of Eben S. Fuller, of
Clinton. (See sketch of Fuller family in this work.)
Their children were : Edith Marie, born June, 1891 ;
Edward, May 6, 1895.
ELI JONES WHITTEMORE. The genealogy
of the Whittemore family to which Eli Jones Whitte-
more, of Worcester, belongs, has been traced back
in England to the twelfth century. Mr. Whitte
more has the result of the researches of D. J.
Whittemore, chief engineer of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & St. Paul Railroad, which were carried on
for a number of years in England at considerable
expense and infinite pains to secure accuracy. A
vast amount of information that he collected should
be edited. A brief abstract only can be used here.
It will serve to. correct some of the errors in the
Whittemore and Whitmore genealogies. The name
is commonly spelled Whitmore in England, while
some descendants of the original stock spell their
name Wetmore.
(I) The Whitmores of Staffordshire, England,
were originally termed de Boterel. The name of
the father of William de Boterel (1100-1135) and
his brother, Peter de Botrel, is unknown. William
had a son William (1158-1163).
(II) Peter de Botrel, of Staffordshire, had a
son Radulph or Ralph.
(Ill) Ralph de Botrel (1152-1171) married twice.
His son William by the first wife married Avisa de
Whitmore (1179). William (IV) (1174) had a son
Reginald (V) (1204-16), who had a son Robert
(VI) . (1238), who had a. son Robert (VII) (1260).
This is not the American line. That descends from
the second wife, by her son Ralph de Botrel and
not by Rad Fitz Wetmore (1220-40), an illegitimate
son. Rad had a son Will le Burgvyllon (1242-54).
(IV) Ralph de Botrel had a son, Sir John.
(V) Sir John de Whitmore married Agnes
(1252-76) and had at least three sons: John, Lord
of Whitmore, founder of what the genealogists call
the Caunton line; William, married Alice Fenners,
had son Philip (VII), founded what is called the
Claverly branch; Ralph (VI).
. (VI) John Whitmore, son of Sir John Whit
more, married Margerie (1270-1301).
(VII) Richard of Whitmore married Susannah
Draycote, daughter of Sir Philip Draycote, of
Painesley, knight, and had: Jane, married John
Blunt; Mary, married John Gifford; Beatrix, mar
ried John Chetwind; Christina, married Richard
Fleetwood ; Philip.
(VIII) Philip Whitmore, married Thomasine,
daughter of Richard Oliver (?), and had a son,
Richard Whitmore.
(IX) Richard Whitmore, son of Philip Whit
more (8),. married (first) a daughter of Sir Ralph
Bagot; married (second) daughter of Richard
Devereux; married (third) a daughter of Simon
Harcourt, probably of Ellenhall, Staffordshire, and
by his third wife had son Nicholas.
(X) Nicholas Whitmore, son of Richard Whit
more (9), married Annie Aston, daughter of Thomas
Aston, of Tixall, Staffordshire, and had: Mary,
married William Lusone; Anthony.
(XI) Anthony Whitmore, son of Nicholas Whit
more (10), married Christina Vaux, daughter and
heir of Nicholas Vaux, and had: Joan, William.
(XII) William Whitmore, son of Anthony Whit
more (11), had a son John.
(XIII) John Whitmore, of Caunton, second son

WORCESTER COUNTY

95

of William Whitmore (12), in the reign of Benry
VI, married Alice Blyton, daughter and heir of
Robert Blyton, of Caunton, county Notts; married
(second) Catherine Compton, daughter and heir
of Robert Compton, of Bawton (Visitation of York
1563), and had: William; Robert, who was the
heir. (XIV) Robert Whitmore, son of John Whit
more (13), of Caunton, married Catherine Claye,
daughter of George Claye, of Finningly, county
Notts (Visitation of Yorkshire), and had son Will
iam, the heir, who married a daughter of John Rid
ley. William of Rotterham died in 1568. Robert
Whitmore married (second) Alice Atwoode, of
Harlington, Bedfordshire. He died at Caunton in
1540. By this marriage the children were: Richard,
died without issue, 1559; John, living in 1545;
Charles, died 1-568; Thomas, living in 1559, probably
died about 1603; Edmund, living in 1559; Rowland,
living, in 1591 ; James, Randall, and three daugh
ters. 'Thomas Whitmore, Sr., of Hitchin, was the
son of Edmund or Rowland, sons of Robert. Hitchin
is the parish where the emigrant Thomas Whitmore
was born, and he was the son of another Thomas
Whitmore, as will be seen later.
(XV) Charles Whitmore, son of Robert Whit
more (14), died in 1568. Be lived at Tuxforth,
county Notts. His children were: William, died
1582 in county Notts; John, supposed to have lived
in Staffordshire and died 1571 ; Robert, died 1608 ;
Richard, died 1578; James, died 1614; Thomas,
the elder, died 1649; Roger, of Hitchin; Christo
pher, of county Beds, died 1640; four daughters,
and a posthumous child supposed to be George.
Three of the sons spelled the name Whittamore,
three spelled it Watmore and one Whitmore, the
spelling that has prevailed in England.
(XVI) Thomas Whitmore, son of Charles Whit
more (15), lived at Hitchin, county of Hertford,
England. He married Mary  . His two sons
emigrated to New England ; Thomas to Maiden,
Massachusetts, and John to Stamford, Connecticut.
Thomas, of Maiden, is the ancestor of most of the
American Whittemores. John Whitmore, of Stam
ford, had a daughter Elizabeth and son John
Whittemore, who was of age in 1649, lived at Stam
ford and Middletown, Connecticut.
(XVI) Roger Whitmore, son of Charles Whit
more (15), and brother of Thomas Whitmore, of
Hitchin, was the father of Nicholas Whitmore;
Nicholas was the father of two sons also who
emigrated to New England; Francis Whitmore to
Boston and Thomas Whitmore to Middletown,
Connecticut. From these are descended the Amer
ican Whitmores. Their father was a first cousin
of the Maiden emigrant, Thomas Whittemore.
(XVII) Thomas Whittemore, son of Thomas
Whittemore (16), was born at Hitchin, Hertford
shire, England. He came to New England prior
to 1640, for at that time he was in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, on the' Mystic side, which. later was
the town of Maiden, and signed a petition with
neighbors for better privileges in 1640. He bought
land there of Mr. John Cotton in 1645. This lot
adjoined his home lot and is now in the city of
Everett, Massachusetts. It remained in ,the Whitte
more family until May 1, 1845, over two hundred
years after he bought it. The site of the first dwell
ing house is known.
He married (second) Sarah Deardes, April 14,
1623, in England. She was buried November 17,
1628. He married (third) Hannah  , who ac
cording to her deposition in 1662, was born in 1612.
She married (second) Benjamin Butterfield, June
3, 1663, at Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Thomas

Whittemore died at Maiden, May 25, 1661. His will
was proved June 25, 1661. Children of Thomas
Whittemore were: Sarah, baptized April 14, 1616;
Mary, baptized May 12, 1624; Thomas, baptized
October 6, 1626, lived in England; Daniel, baptized
July 31, 1633, married Mary Mellins, daughter of
Richard Mellins, of Charlestown, March 7, 1662 ;
John, baptized April 27, .buried 29, 1635 ; Nathaniel,
baptized May 1, 1636, married Mary Knower, left
no male descendants; John, baptized February n,
1638-9, at Hitchin, England, as were also all the
preceding; settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had
fifteen children and has many descendants ; Eliza
beth; Benjamin, married Elizabeth Bucknam, who
died July 18, 1726; he died July 16, 1726; Thomas
(one of the few cases where there are two sons
of exactly the same name living at the same time.
The elder Thomas Whittemore was in England and
never came over) married Elizabeth Peiree, of
Woburn, November 9, 1666, and had son Thomas,
born August 14, 1667; Samuel, married Bannah
 , removed to Dover, New Bampshire, thence
to Somerville, Massachusetts, and died September
15, 1726; both he and his wife buried at Cambridge,
Massachusetts ; Peletiah ; Abraham, served in the
army in King Philip's war in 1676, died January
14, 1690-1.
(XVIII) Daniel Whittemore, son of Thomas
Whittemore (17), was born in Hitchin, Bedford
shire, England, and baptized there July 31, 1633.
Be married Mary Mellins, daughter of Richard
Mellins, of Charlestown, March 7,. 1662. Richard
removed from Charlestown to Weymouth, where
he was admitted a freeman . September 7, 1639. Be
inherited the homestead from his father and settled
on it. Be bequeathed the homestead to his sons
Daniel and John, the latter being the father of
John Whittemore, of Leicester. The will was non-
cupative and was not proved till nearly two years
after his death. Bis widow Mary was the ad
ministrator. Children of Daniel Whittemore were :
Daniel, born April 27, 1663, resided in Charlestown
and Maiden, died September 21, 1756, aged ninety-
four ; left the homestead to his son Daniel ; John,
February 12, 1664-5, died 1730; Thomas, March 5,
1667; Mary, February 15, 1668-9; Nathaniel, Feb
ruary 7, 1670; Peletiah, 1680; James.
(XIX) John Whittemore, son of Daniel Whitte
more (18), married Ruth Bassett. She and her
sister, Lydia Bassett, who married his brother Daniel
Whittemore, were daughters of Joseph Bassett, son
of the emigrant, William Bassett, who came over
in the "Fortune" in 1621, lived at Duxbury, Massa
chusetts, in 1637, was deputy to the general court
in 1640-41-42-43-44; Bassett joined Governor Brad
ford and others in the purchase of Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, and removed to Bridgewater, where
he died in 1667. John Whittemore died in 1730.
Bis wife Ruth was appointed administratrix April
3, 1730. His whole estate was appraised at five
hundred and three pounds. Children of John and
Ruth Whittemore were: John, born September 12,
1694, settled in Leicester; Jeremiah (q.'v.); Benja-
. min, married Sarah Kendall, 1723 ; Patience, mar
ried Timothy Lamson ; David, born April 6, 1706,
married Alice Kendall, of Bedford, Massachusetts,
March 11, 1730-31, resided at -Boston; Deborah,
born March 1, 1707-8; Peletiah, born October 30,
1710. resided at Dunstable.
(XX) Jeremiah Whittemore, son of John
Whittemore (19), was born in Maiden, Massachu
setts, 1695. He married in Boston, March 15, 1722,
Patience Reed, seventh daughter of Israel and Mary
(Kendall) Reed, of Woburn, Massachusetts. She
was born December 3, 1699. She was received in

96

WORCESTER COUNTY

the Weston Church from the church in Chelsea,
February 26, 1726-7, and died in Weston, October
24, 1745, aged forty-seven years, ten months, twenty-
one days. They were then living in Weston. He
married (second), May 10, 1746, Abigail Wooley,
of Concord. He died in Concord, Massachusetts,
March 31, 1783, aged eighty-eight years. His chil
dren were by the first wife.
Children of Jeremiah and Patience (Kendall)
Reed were: Jeremiah, born in Concord, August 16,
1723, of whom later; Isaac, born in Weston, Massa
chusetts, November 15, 1726, married, May 9, 1751,
Ruth Bullard, who died October 10, 1764; he mar
ried (second) (published July 6), 1765/ Elizabeth
Graves, of Sudbury, Massachusetts ; he had seven
children; Patience, born January 20, 1729-30, mar
ried, May 28, 1754, John Flagg; Israel, born July
10, 1732, married, May 1, 1755, Abigail Brown, had
seven children; Asa, born August 7, 1736, died
April 12, 1746.
(XXI) Jeremiah Whittemore, son of Jeremiah
Whittemore (20), was born in Concord, Massachu
setts, August 16, 1723, and died at Spencer, Massa
chusetts, May 14, 1803, aged seventy-eight years.
He went from Weston to settle in Spencer in- 1760.
Some of his children were born before he moved,
some afterward. He married Mary Carter. Their
children were : Amos, died 1751 ; Asa, born Novem
ber 10, 1749, married Lucy Muzzey, March 2, 1765,
removed from Spencer to the south part of Leicester,
Massachusetts, died 1821, she died 1822; (Otis
Whittemore now or lately living in Leicester is a
grandson, as is also Eber Whittemore. Their father
was Amos. Mrs. H. D. Edwards, daughter of Asa's
son Charles, is now or was lately living in Leices
ter, Massachusetts) ; Reuben, born April 29, 1754;
Mary, born in Weston, married Nathan Wright,
October 26, 1779; Tamar, born June 18, 1756, mar
ried Robert Watson; Sybil, born January 17, 1758,
married Reuben Underwood, February 1, 1779;
Aaron, born in Spencer, March 1, 1762, married
Sally  ; Esther, born in Spencer, December 28,
1764. died unmarried; Jeremiah, born in Spencer,
February 21, 1766, married, February 21, 1792, Polly
Washburn, of Paxton ; Sarah, born in Spencer,
March 16, 1768, married Ebenezer Kingsbury.
(XXII) Reuben Whittemore, son of Jeremiah
Whittemore (21), born April 29, 1754, at Weston,
Massachusetts, died at Spencer, April 19, 1832. He
married Abigail Watson, March 2, 1794. Be set
tled at Spencer, Massachusetts. Their children
were : Betsey, born at Spencer, June 15, 1780, mar
ried James Browning; Amos, born at Spencer, Sep
tember 7, 1782, resided in Hartford, Connecticut,
married Sally (Barnard) Hotchkiss, July 18, 1813;
he died July 3, 1854; she died August 13, 1853;
had six children; Thankful, born February 6, 1785,
died August 22, 1838; Daniel, born at Spencer,
April 28, 1787, married Fanny Prouty, daughter of
Joshua Prouty, March 4, 1815; he died October
5, 1872, aged eighty-five; she died November 21,
1843, aged fifty- four; Roswell, born October 3,
1789; Rhuben, born in Spencer, February 5, 1795,
married Salome Clark, November 30, 1819, born
September 5, 1795, died January 22, 1869; he died
January 17, 1861, had eight children; Oliver, born
February 11, 1797, of whom later; Caroline, born
December 14, 1798, married Samuel M. Bobhs;
William, born July 7, 1801, died April 4, 1841,
unmarried : Abigail, born in Spencer, November 20,
1803, married Augustus Rider, of Spencer, had one
son, Alfred.
(XXIII) Oliver Whittemore, son of Reuben
Whittemore (22), was born in Spencer, Massachu
setts, February 11, 1797, died March 29, 1830. He

married Lydia Jones, June 26, 1823. He was a
farmer. His children were : Eli Jones, born April
30, 1824; Harriet Susannah, born March 8, 1826,
married, April 19, 1853, Phineas Jones, of Spencer,
Massachusetts, removed later to Newark, New Jer
sey, where he was in partnership in the wheel
wright business with Eli J. Whittemore; she died
March 6, 1866; had one son, Frederick Augustus,
born August 21, 1868; Oliver Augustus, born March
2, 1828, married in Denver, Colorado,  , no
children. (XXIV) Eli Jones Whittemore, son of Oliver
Whittemore (23), was born April 30, 1824, in Spen
cer, Massachusetts. He -was educated in the dis
trict schools of his native town and at Leicester
Academy, at Leicester, Massachusetts. His father
died when he was only six years old. _ He worked
on a farm until he was sixteen, when he entered the
wheelwright shop of S. G. Reed at Spencer. He
became a partner of Mr. Reed some years after
ward and succeeded him in the business there. Mr.
Whittemore manufactured carriages and wagons and
developed a substantial business in which he ac
quired a competence. In 1866 he removed to
Newark, New Jersey, where he entered partner
ship with Phineas Jones, who married his sister,
Harriet L. Whittemore. The firm name was Phineas
Jones & Company and they did a general wheel
wright business and manufactured carriages and
wagons. The firm still does a prosperous business
there. Mr. Whittemore sold his interests to Mr.
Jones, his partner, in 1874 and retired. The present
owner of the business is Henry P. Jones, son of
Phineas, the. original partner with Mr. Whittemore.
Mr. Whittemore returned to Worcester county
when he retired from business and settled in Wor
cester. . In 1877 he moved to the handsome hQuse
on Main street, which he now occupies. While
in Spencer he served four years as postmaster under
President Lincoln, as assessor for two years and
selectman for three years. He is one of the ap
praisers of the Mechanics' Savings Bank of Wor
cester. In politics he is a Republican. He was
formerly a member of the Worcester County Me
chanics' Association and the Agricultural Society.
He married (first), April 13, 1858, Maria I.
Pope, at Spencer, Massachusetts. She died in 1862
at Spencer. He married (second) Elizabeth M.
Bamblett, of Manchester, New Bamp'shire, at that
city, May 3, 1866. She died February 19, 1901.
He had two children by the second marriage,
namely: Eric Hamblett, born July 30, 1867; Emma
Lizzie, February 23, 1869, resides with her father
in Worcester. (XXV) Eric Bamblett Whittemore, son of Eli
Jones Whittemore (24), was born in Newark, New
Jersey, July 30, 1867. Be married Jennie Black,
of Medford, Massachusetts. Be was educated in
the Worcester schools, graduating from the Wor
cester high school. He is engaged in the manu
facture of paper boxes in Fitchburg, a business
which he started and built up himself. His chil
dren are : Elizabeth Hamblett, born October 7, 1897 ;
Ruth Bailey, July 2, 1905.
DR. KENDALL EMERSON. The Emerson
Family, whiGh has been prominent in New England
since the first settlement, originated in England
and numbers among its members many distinguished
and able men. The first to use the name Emerson
in England was Johannes Emeryson, of Brancepeth
parish, Durham county, England, who was born
before 1300. From him the various branches of the
English family are descended, though the line can
not be traced perfectly. The coat of arms was borne

WORCESTER COUNTY

97

by the American branches of the family as well as
the English,
(I) Thomas Emmerson, the first English an
cestor to whom the pedigree of Dr. Emerson, of
Worcester, can be traced definitely, was born some
time before 1540 in England.. He was a resident
of Great Dunmow, county Essex, where his three
children are registered. He was probably son of
Ralf of Foxton, who received arms in 1535. His
children were : Robert, baptized at Great Dunmow,
October 25, 1561 ; Joan, baptized 1562; John, bap
tized 1565.
(II) Robert Emerson, son of the preceding
Thomas Emerson ( 1 ) , was born in Great Dunmow
and baptized there October 25, 1561. He may be
identical with Robert Emerson, of Bishop's Stort
ford, who married there NdVember 24, 1578, Susan
Crabb, who was buried there November 20, 1626,
aged seventy years. Robert was buried at Bishop's
Stortford, January 6, 1620. His children were :
Alice, baptized at Bishop's Stortford, November 22,
1579; Margaret, baptized February 21, 1581-2;
Thomas, see forward; Anne; Robert, baptized April
12, 1596; John.
(Ill) Thomas Emerson, son of the preceding
Robert Emerson (2), was baptized at Bishop's Stort
ford, July 26, 1584. In the church warden's book
of St. Michael's he is recorded as a collector for
the poor in 1636. He married Elizabeth Brewster,
July 1, 161 1, at Bishop's Stortford, and the
genealogist of the English Emersons suggests that
she was the daughter of the postmaster of Scrooby
and the elder of the colony at Plymouth. The chil
dren of Thomas Emerson, as recorded in the bap
tismal registry of St. Michael's church at Bishop's
Stortford, Herts, were: Robert, baptized May 24,
1612; Benjamin, baptized October 2, 1614; Ralfe,
baptized October 19, 1615. killed by falling tree
June, 1626; James, baptized February 16, 1617; Jo
seph, baptized Juno 25, 1620, settled in Mendon,
Massachusetts ; Elizabeth, baptized June 14, 1623 ;
John, baptized February 26, 1625, settled in Glouces
ter, Massachusetts ; Thomas, see forward ; Nathaniel,
baptized July 18, 1630, settled Ipswich, Massachu
setts; Susan, baptized March 17, 1632, may have
died on the voyage.
(IV) Thomas Emerson, son of the preceding
Thomas Emerson (3), was the emigrant ancestor
of Dr. Emerson. He died in Ipswich, Massachu
setts, May 1, 1666. His wife Elizabeth was named
executrix of his will 1653. She survived him. They
settled in Ipswich. They came according to family
tradition in the ship "Elizabeth Ann" in 1635. He
had a grant of land there in 1638. The children of
Thomas Emerson were: Elizabeth, married John
Fuller; Thomas, died 1653, before his father; Jo
seph, see forward; John, 1625, died December 2,
1700; James, resided in England; Nathaniel, 1629;
Sarah, died August 12, 1640.
(V) Joseph Emerson, third child of Thomas
Emerson (4), the emigrant, was born in England,
about ^620-1, and died at Concord, Massachusetts,
January 3, 1680. Through his son Joseph he was
the ancestor of that most illustrious American,
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph Waldo (9) ; Wil
liam (8) ; Joseph (7) ; Edward (6) ; Joseph (5) ;
He married, 1646, Elizabeth Woodmansey, daugh
ter of Robert and Margaret Woodmansey, school
master of Boston. They resided at Ipswich, Massa
chusetts, York, Maine and Milton, Massachusetts.
Joseph Emerson was a Puritan minister, said to have
been educated in England. He may have studied
at Harvard. He was at Tpswich as early as 1638.
He was admitted freeman there December 19, 1648.
He preached at York, Maine, the same year. In
7

1653 he was a resident of Wells and took the free
man's oath there July 4, 1653. He signed a petition
to Cromwell while of Wells, asking the Protector
to confirm the jurisdiction of Massachusetts over
the inhabitants of Wells. About 1664 he left Wells,
where he seemed to have a turbulent lot of parish
ioners and where the church, after he left, had to
disband. About 1664 he became minister at Milton,
Massachusetts. December 1, 1669, he settled in
Mendon, Massachusetts, where he remained until
tho jtown was destroyed by the Indians, when he
retired to Concord, where he died. He married
(second), December 7, 1665, Elizabeth Bulkeley,
daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkeley, of Concord,
Massachusetts, granddaughter of Rev. Peter Bulke
ley, first minister of Concord. She was born in
1638 and died September 4, 1693, having married
Captain John Brown, of Reading, Massachusetts.
The children of Rev. Joseph Emerson were: (by
the first wife) Joseph, Mary ; (by second wife the
following:) Lucian, born October 2. 1667, married,
May -15, 1683, Thomas Damon, of Reading (see
Damon family) ; Edward, April 26, 1670, married
Rebecca Waldo ; Peter, see forward ; Ebenezer ;
Daniel, married, May 19, 1709, Jane Armitage.
(VI) Peter Emerson, son of Rev. Joseph Emer
son (5), was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, 1673
and died 1749. He married, November 11, 1696,
Anna Brown, who was born in Reading, 1678, daugh
ter of Captain John and Anna (Fiske) Brown, of
Reading. Captain John Brown had married Peter's
mother. They resided in the first parish of Read
ing, now South Reading, on the farm inherited
from Captain Brown. Peter Emerson was a
fanner. The children of Peter and Anna (Brown)
Emerson were : Anna, born July 6, 1697, died Au
gust 11, 1697; Elizabeth, February 20, 1699; Anna,.
March 9, 1701, resided in Hollis, New Hampshire;
Brown, April 16, 1704; Lucy, 1706; Sarah, Novem
ber 8, 1708; Jane, March 11, 1711, resided at Hollis;
Mary, December 20, 1713, resided at Salisbury,.
Massachusetts ; Rev. Daniel, May 20, 1716 (see
forward), resided in Bollis; Catherine, December
2, 1718. (VII) Rev. Daniel Emerson, ninth child of Peter
Emerson (6), was born at Reading, Massachusetts,
May 20, 1 7 16, died at Hollis, New Hampshire, Sep
tember 30, 1801. He married, November 7, 1744,
Hannah Emerson, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary
(Moody) Emerson, of Maiden, Massachusetts. She
was born at Maiden, December 3, 1722, died at
Hollis, February 28, 1812, They resided at Hollis..
Mr. Emerson was graduated at Harvard College,
1739, and immediately prepared himself for the work
of the ministry. In 1741 he was called to be the
first minister of Hollis, New Hampshire, then the
west precinct of Dunstable, Massachusetts. He con
tinued minister until November 27, 1793, when Rev.
Eli Smith, who married his granddaughter, was
elected as his colleague. In 1755, during the old
French war, he was chaplain to the famous rangers
of which Robert Rogers and John Stark were the
officers. He was considered the ranking officer
because of his family arms, bearing three lions.
He kept a journal during his service and it has
been preserved. He was chaplain again in 1758
in Colonel Hart's regiment. One of his letters to
his wife, dated at Crown Point in 1755, was brought
to Hollis by his dog, which he had trained for the
purpose. He taught school and fitted his students
for college. He gave the land on which the meet
ing house was built. He was one of the ablest advo
cates of the "New Light" doctrine, and for many
years was the leading and most influential minister
in his section of the country. Professor Churchill

98

WORCESTER COUNTY

said of him : "He was a kind of Congregational
Bishop in his region." His dwelling house, built
and occupied while he- was minister in Bollis, is in
good repair and habitable.. The children of Rev.
Daniel and Bannah (Emerson) Emerson were :
Bannah, born September 30, 1745 ; Daniel, Decem
ber 15, 1746 (see forward) ; Mary, September 19,
1748; Peter, November 9, 1749; Lucy, October 29,
1751; Mary, November 14, 1753; Elizabeth, May 5,
1755; Ebenezer, August 14, 1757; Joseph, Septem
ber 28, 1759 (H. C. 1779) ; Ralph, March 4, 1761 ;
Rebecca, July 5, 1762; Samuel, September 6, 1764;
William, December 11, 1765.
(VIII) Daniel Emerson, second child of Rev.
Daniel Emerson (7), was born at Hollis, New
Hampshire, December 15, 1746, died there October
4, 1820. He married, November 17, 1768, Ama
Fletcher, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Under
wood) Eletcher. She was born April 7, 1746, died
November 22, 1797. They resided at Hollis. He
was a leading citizen, the wealthiest taxpayer and
deacon of the church. He was one of the eighteen
proprietors of New Ipswich, New Hampshire,
preached there occasionally and had his tax re
funded for that reason. He was one of the thirty-
two proprietors of the New Ipswich Academy in
1787, and was a trustee from the time of its in
corporation in 1789 until his death. In the revolu
tionary war Captain Emerson was active. As a min
ute man he marched at the head of his company
for Ticonderoga in 1776, reaching the Connecticut
river. He started a second time and reached
Cavendish, Vermont. He was captain of the first
company ih Colonel Nichol's regiment and of the
fifth company in Colonel Mooney's regiment. He
served in the Rhode Island campaign in 1778-9.
He was a member of the governor's council in 1787,
and representative to the legislature nineteen
terms, 1 780-1812. He was coroner and high sheriff
of Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, town clerk
of Hollis, 1780-81, selectman twelve years, and town
treasurer 1774-79 and 1798 and 1799. Mrs. Emer
son inherited besides the Fletcher blood that of
Adams and Underwood, founders of Chelmsford,
Massachusetts. Her father settled in Dunstable
when it was a wilderness, and lived there fifty
years a prominent and respected .citizen. Family
gatherings were held twice yearly until their chil
dren and grandchildren . numbered above sixty in
the Fletcher homestead at Dunstable. The chil
dren of Daniel. and Ama (Fletcher) Emerson were:
Ama, born August 20, 1769, died August 4, i860,
married Rev. Eli Smith; Daniel, see forward;
Hannah, December 7, 1773; Joseph, 'October 13,
1777; Ralph, August 18, 1787; Samuel, November
9, 1791; William, November 9, 1791 (twin of pre
ceding). Daniel Emerson married (second) Han
nah Mosier, widow, who survived him and died
August 20, 183 1.
(IX) Daniel Emerson,, second child of Daniel
Emerson (8), was born at Hollis, New Hampshire,
July 15, 1771, died at Dartmouth, Massachusetts,
November 16, 1808 He married, December 3,
1797, Esther Frothingham, , a daughter of Major
Benjamin Frothingham. She was born in Charles
town, Massachusetts, 1770, died in Hollis, New
Hampshire, March 14,. 1849. They resided at
Charlestown, in Maryland, in Virginia, , in New
Hampshire and at Dartmouth. Mr. Emerson was
graduated at Harvard, 1794. He was a student
at law with Samuel Dexter. He was a merchant
in Charlestown, in Maryland, in Virginia and Hollis,
New Bampshire. Be sold out to his partner,
Bixby, who did not pay the firm's debts as agreed,
and he ruined himself in paying them. He was

ordained in 1806 and settled as minister at South
Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where he remained un
til his death. His widow returned to Hollis and
for many years kept the village store, driving to
Boston at regular intervals in her own chaise to
make purchases. She thus supported and educated
her large family. The children of Daniel and
Esther (Frothingham) Emerson were: Daniel, born
August 8, 1798; Elizabeth, July 29, 1800, died Octo
ber 4, 1870, married, August 26, 1823, William S.
Bradbury, resided at Westminster, Massachusetts;
Edward, October 1, 1802, died April 21, 1851, mar
ried, November 13, 1844, Hannah Pierce; resided
at Hollis and at Allegan, Michigan; Charles, April
9, 1805, died July 6, 1805 ; Benjamin Frothingham,
see forward; Joseph, September 4, 1808, died July
21, 1885, married (first; Sarah H. Davis, (second)
October 16, ^$58, Martha A. Boward, resided at
Andover\ (X) Benj,amin Frothingham Emerson, fifth
child of Daniel Emerson (9), was born at Hollis,
New Hampshire, July 3, 1806, died at Nashua,
New Hampshire, September 6, 1884. Mr. Emerson
entered Dartmouth College in 1826 and studied
two years ; he was graduated from Union College
in 1830. He attended the law school at Cambridge
the next year, then taught school in the west. He
practiced law in Nashua from 1836 to 1873, and
was intrusted with the settlement of many of the
largest estates of that region. He married, Novem
ber 29, 1842, Elizabeth Kendall, daughter of Nathan
and Elizabeth (Thompson) Kendall. She was
born at Bedford, New Hampshire, October 7, 1812,
died at Nashua, September 26, 1870. They resided
a Nashua. He married (second), October 9, 1872,
Caroline Carlton (Frye) Rankin, widow of James'
Henry Rankin, and daughter of Samuel and Mary
(Boyt) Frye, of Danville, Vermont, where she
was born February 8, 1817. She died March 1,
1886. The children of Benjamin Frothingham and
Elizabeth (Kendall) Emerson were: Benjamin
Kendall, see forward; Charles Edward, born Octo
ber n, 1846, graduate of the Chandler Scientific
School at Hanover, New Hampshire, 1870, a civil
engineer of Nashua, New Hampshire.
(XI). Professor Benjamin Kendall Emerson,
eldest child of Benjamin Frothingham Emerson
(10), was born at Nashua, New Hampshire, Decem
ber 20, 1843. He married, April 2, 1873, Mary An
nette Hopkins, a daughter of Erastus and Charlotte
Freylinghuysen (Allen) Hopkins. She was born at
Northampton, Massachusetts, April 2, 1848, died at
Amherst, Massachusetts, July 31, 1897. They resided
at Amherst. Mr. Emerson was graduated valedictor
ian of the class of 1865 of Amherst College. He
studied at Gottingen and took his Ph. D. there in
1869. He was assistant in the^ German geological
survey in 1869 and made geological studies ,in Swit
zerland, Saxony, Bohemia and Norway. He became
professor of geology and zoology at Amherst College
in 1870. He is the author of the genealogy, The
Emerson Family, an excellent work. He is a mem
ber of the German Geological Society, the Ap
palachian Club, the American Philosophical So
ciety, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the Society of Naturalists of Eastern United. States,
the National Geographic Society. He was vice-
president in 1896 of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, vice-president in 1897
of the Geological Congress at St. Petersburg, first
vice-president in 1898 of the Geological Society of
America, assistant geologist of the United States
Geological Survey since 1887 and is now geologist
(1905). He is the author of monograph xxvii,
United States Geological Survey, entitled: Geology

WORCESTER COUNTY

99

of Old Hampshire county or Franklin, Hampshire
and Hampden counties, in Massachusetts. He wrote
bulletin No. 126, United States Geological Survey,
entitled: A Mineral Lexicon of Franklin, Hamp
shire and Hampden counties, in Massachusetts. He
wrote the United States Geological Survey bulletin,
entitled: The Geology of Southwestern Berkshire,
and also the United States geological survey folios,
which contain geological maps and descriptions of
Eastern Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden
and Worcester counties in Massachusetts. He has
written many articles for the scientific journals.
Mrs. Emerson's father was the Hon. and Rev.
Erastus Hopkins, of an ancestry noted in the New
England ministry. Her great-great-grandmother
was Esther Edwards, sister of Rev. Jonathan Ed
wards. Her grandfather on her mother's side was
Rey. William Allen, D. D., president of the
ephemeral Dartmouth University and later of
Bowdoin College. She was also descended from
"Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College.
from Rev. Thomas Allen, of Pittsfield, the re
nowned "fighting parson" of the American revolu
tion, and also in the eighth generation from Wil
liam Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth
colony. Of her the Springfield Republican, August
6, 1897, said:
"The college circle at Amherst feels itself sadly
stricken by the recent unlocked for death of Mrs.
Annette Hopkins Emerson, wife of Professor B. K.
Emerson. Her life seemed so abounding in health
and joyousness that her friends cannot realize that
it is ended. It was Mrs. Emerson's rare and happy
fortune to radiate sunlight in the world through
her bright and fervent personality. None who came
within the range of its influence failed to feel its
cheering effect Nor was its characteristic merely
negative loveliness. There was a fire, a sparkle,
an intellectual stimulus in Mrs. Emerson's pres
ence and conversation that were fairly exhilirating.
So clever and charming and genuine a woman did
not fail to receive recognition as a leader in the
social life of Northampton, which became her home
after marriage. Though her attention was largely
occupied in her later years by the absorbing do
mestic interests which belong to the rearing of a
large family, she kept well in touch with the pro
gress of the intellectual world. She had a decided
literary interest and could herself write brightly
and forcefully when occasion offered. She had
hoped to go with her husband to the congress of
geologists at St Petersburg this summer, and had
planned to describe her experiences and impres
sions in letters to the Republican and other jour
nals; but she was obliged to forego this great
pleasure. It is hard to submit to the termination
of a life so strong, so rich, so healthful ; but solace
and inspiration come with the thought of its ac
complishment, its wholesome and helpful influence."
The children of Professor Benjamin Kendall and
Mary Annette (Hopkins) Emerson were: Char
lotte Freylinghuysen, horn January 3, 1874, graduate
of Smith College; (Benjamin) Kendall, see for
ward; Edward Hopkins, bom September 18, 1877,
graduate of Amherst, 1899: Annette Hopkins, born
September 3. 1879; Malleville Wheelock, born
August 28, 1887; Caroline Dwight, born March 14.
1891. (XII) Dr. Benjamin Kendall Emerson or
Kendall Emerson, as he is known, having dropped
his first name, son of Professor Benjamin Kendall
Emerson (11), was born in Northampton, Massa
chusetts, June 27, 1875. He attended the public
schools of Amherst in early life. He entered Am
herst College in 1893 and graduated in 1897. He

is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of Amherst.
He was graduated from Harvard Medical School
in 1901, and after some hospital practice settled in
Worcester and began the practice of his profession,
in which he has made good progress and has ac
quired an excellent practice. Be married, October
!, I9°3, Josephine Devereux Sewall, born in Water-
town, New York, October 14, 1875. She is a grad
uate of Smith College, 1897. They have one child,
Sewall, born at Worcester, October 13, 1904. They
reside at 72 West street, Worcester. Dr. Emerson's
office is on Pearl street.
HENRY H. STOWE. John Stowe or Stow (r),
was the progenitor in New England of Henry H.
Stowe, of Lancaster, Massachusetts. He came with
his wife Elizabeth and six children in one of Win
throp' s companies and settled in Roxbury, Massachu
setts. He arrived May 7, 1634. The children were
Thomas, Elizabeth. John, Nathaniel, Samuel and
Thankful. Be was admitted a freeman September
3, 1634. Be was a proprietor of the colony and a
delegate to the general court in 1639. He was
elected in 1638 a member of the Ancient and Honor
able Artillery Company.
He married Elizabeth Biggs, daughter of Mrs.
Rachel Biggs, who came to Dorchester in 1635
with her daughter,  Foster. The Foster and
Stowe children received valuable legacies from their
uncles, John and Smalhope Biggs, of Cranbrook and
Maidstone, Kent county, England. His wife, Eliza
beth, a very godly woman, was buried August 24,
1636. All his children were probably born in Eng
land. They were: Thomas, resided at Concord,
Massachusetts, and Middletown, Connecticut. Eliza
beth, married Henry Archer. John. Samuel, born
about 1620, graduated from Harvard College in
1645, the second class to graduate, the year 1644
having no graduates. (The Harvard quinquennial
catalogue states that he had the A. M. degree. There
had been but thirteen graduates before he had his
degree. There were seven graduates in 1645.) He
was a clergyman at Middletown, Connecticut He
died in 1704. Nathaniel, resided at Ipswich, was
born according to a deposition he took there in
1622. Thankful, married John Pierpoint, of Rox
bury, Massachusetts.
(H) Thomas Stowe, son of John Stowe (1),
was born in England, probably Lincoln or Middle
sex county, where the families of Stowe were numer
ous about 1610. He was in Concord, Massachusetts,
before 1640, and had a family of at least three
children, Samuel, Thomas and Nathaniel. He and
his brother Nathaniel owned -six hundred acres of
land between Fairhaven Pond and the Sudbury Line.
Thomas Stowe sold his rights in 1660 to Thomas
Gobble and David Dam, he having moved to Con
necticut He probably left Concord about 1650 and
moved to Middletown, then part of Hartford, Con
necticut The town of Stow, Massachusetts, was
near Marlboro and Sudbury where this land of
the Stowe brothers was located, but the Stowe
family seems to have had no part in establishing
the town. It was incorporated in May, 1683, but
the history shows no Stowe active as a pioneer. In
fact the whole family seems to have been in Con
necticut about this time, and the Stowes do not
appear as of the town of Stow until much later.
Still the town was probably named in some way
for a member of the family or by a friend of
the Stowes.
The children of Thomas Stowe were: Samuel
who became the progenitor of the Marlboro and
Stow families after his return to Massachusetts;

IOO

WORCESTER COUNTY

Nathaniel: Thomas, bom 105a settled in Middle-
:o\vn, Connecticut
till) Samuel Stowe, son of Thomas Stowe (,2).
was born in Concord, Massachusetts, before his
father went to Middletown, Connecticut, probably
about 1648. He was a soldier in King Philip's war.
Immediately afterward he became interested in the
new settlement at Marlboro. His name is on a
petition for the plantation in 1077 and he was prob
ably there some months before, perhaps directly
after peace was established and the settlers in towns
like Sudbury and Marlboro were able to work
their plantations once more. In 16S4 he bought
of Waban and James Atchnit, two Indians of Natick.
Massachusetts, for six pounds in money and six
pounds in com — twenty acres of land in Marl
boro. He was also one of the proprietors of the
Ockoocangansett plantation purchased by the In
dians. He was prominent as a proprietor and citizen
of the new town.
His children were: Samuel, born May 2, 1080,
married, December 19. 1704, Sarah Snow; Thomas,
born December 27. 10S2. married. January 20, 1713,
Hannah Johnson: Mary, born July 18, 1085. married,
June 13. 1700. Jonathan Morse: Thankful, born
October IS. 10S7. married. March 20. 1710, Samuel
Stevens; Rachel, bom February 21. 1690, married.
December 14. 1715, Luke Rice; John, born March
30, 1696. married. April 25. 1722, Elizabeth Brig
ham. All three sons left large families of children
and have numerous descendants in Marlboro and
central Massachusetts.
(TV) Thomas . Stowe. son of Samuel Stowe (3).
was born probably at Marlboro (.where it was
recorded), December 27. 17S2. He married, Jan
uary 20, 1713, Hannah Johnson, daughter of Will
iam and Hannah Johnson. She died June 15, 1780.
He died August 28. 1765. His will proved October
8, 1765, mentions his sons Benjamin, Thomas, Sam
uel, Stephen and David and Experience Newton,
deceased; also son Josiah who is required to pro
vide for tbe support of his mother, Hannah.
Their children were : Comfort, born July 16, 1716,
died 1716; Thomas, born September 8. 1717. died
1717; Benjamin, bom August 25, 1718; David, born
October 14, 1719, died young: Thomas, born October
15, 1720, married, June 3. 1752. Elizabeth Newton;
Charles, born December 31, 1721, died young; Sam- *
uel, born December 26, 1723, married, April 28,
1748. Rebecca Howe: Stephen, born December 15,
1724, married. May 23, 1753, Abigail Smith; Josiah.
born December 8. 1725. died young; Hannah, born
December 9, 1720, died young; Experience, born
February 24, 1 72S, married  Newton ; David,
born April 29, 1729; Josiah, born July 5, 1730. mar
ried, 1760, Ruth Howe; Hannah, bom September
S. 1731; Sabella, born September 4, 1732, died 1752;
Silas, born October 20, 1734. All the sixteen chil
dren seem to have been by one wife, an unusual fam
ily even for those prolific days. She was evidently
over ninety, the mother, when she died,
(V) Stephen Stowe, son of Thomas Stowe (4),
was born at Marlboro, Massachusetts, December 15,
1724. He married. May 23, 1753. Abigail Smith.
Two of their children were born at Marlboro. They
removed to Stow, Massachusetts, probably about
1758, where for several generations their descendants
lived. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war.
Their children were: Lydia, born in Marlboro,
March 24, 1754: Silas, born in Marlboro, April 26,
. 1756 ; Ichabod. bom about 1758 (and others prob
ably) on the old homestead in Stow, Massachusetts.
(YD Ichabod Stowe. son of Stephen Stowe (5),
was horn in Stow, Massachusetts. 1759. He married
Ruth Whitney, November 20. 1781. He was a soldier

in the revolutionary war. He settled in Stow and
conducted the old fa mi. He had a son Moses and
other children, namely: Ichabod, Abraham, Levi,
Luke. (.VII) Moses Stowe, son of Ichabod Stowe (6),
was bom on the old Stowe homestead at Stow,
Massachusetts, in 1803. He died in Lancaster,
Massachusetts, in 1S83. He attended the schools in
Stow. He went to work first on the old farm, but
later decided to leant the wheelwright's trade. He
followed this business all his active life. He set
tled in Lancaster where he spent his last years. In
politics he was originally an "old line Whig" and
was deeply interested in his party, for which he
worked earnestly and faithfully. He married Eliza
W. Jones, January 1. 1839. They had two children:
Franklin, born October 16, 1S20, died September
23. i8<~: and Henry H„ bom March .29, 1841.
(VIII) Henry H. Stowe, son of Moses S;o\ve
t;), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts) March
20, 1841. He was educated there in the public .
schools and then for a time worked at the wheel
wright's trade with his father. He succeeded to
his father's business and conducted it successfully.
Ho was able to retire a few years ago and enjoy
life quietly and comfortably at his pleasant home in
Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mr. Siowe has always
taken an interest in political affairs and at times
has been an active worker in the Republican party.
Ho has boon overseer of the poor of Lancaster
for several years. He belongs to tbe local branch
of the Rod Men and is active m the order. He is an
active member of the Lancaster Unitarian church.
As a conservative but successful man in his own
business, as a man of high personal character, of
simple manly virtues he has the respect and con
fidence of his neighbors. He married in 1803, Lydia
A. Robbins, of Ashby, Massachusetts. Their chil
dren are: Mabel G„ bom at Lancaster, Massachu
setts, December, 1873, resides at home; Cora R„
horn at Lancaster, August JO, 1877, stenographer
for Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, 141
Milk street, Boston, Massachusetts.
JOHN HENRY COES. a retired business man
of Worcester. Massachusetts, formerly serving in
the capacity of treasurer of the Coes Wrench Com
pany, one of the loading industrial enterprises of
thai city, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts,
September 25, 1840, a son of Aury Gates and Nancy
(.Maynard) Coes, grandson of Daniel and Roxana
>>r Roxalana (Gates) Coes. and great-grandson of
John Coes, who settled in Worcester, Massachusetts,
prior to the revolutionary war. So far as is known
all the Coos in this country are descended from
this John Coes and his wife Rebecca. John Cries
died in Worcester, June 24. 1827, aged seventy-
nine years.
Daniel Coes (grandfather) was born on his
father's farm in Massachusetts, in that part of Wor
cester formerly known as New Worcester, Decem
ber 10, 177(1, was roared thereon, and died January
26. 1838. He married, October a6\ 1808, Roxana
(Roxalanv or Roxalana) Gates, and their children
were : Sally, born February 22, 1810, died February
ui, 1S32: Loring, born April 22, 1812; Albert, born
September 20, 1S13. died February 13. 1837; Aury
Gates, born January 22, 1816. The Gates family is
mentioned at length hereinafter.
Amy Gates Coes (father) was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, January 22, i8t6, and died
December 2, 1875. Among the firms for which he
worked during his early Jifo was that of Kimball &
Fuller, makers of woolen machinery, and in 1836
Aury Gates and his brother Loring" purchased the

WORCESTER COUNTY

IOI

business, forming the copartnership of L. & A. G.
Coes. Aury Gates Coes also took an active part
in politics, wielding a potent influence in behalf of
the principles of the Republican party. During
the years 1870-71 he served in the house of repre
sentatives, and was a member of several important
committees. He was an active and leading member
of the Union Congregational Church in Worcester,
Massachusetts. He married Nancy Maynard, born
1815, died December 1, 1842, who bore him one
child, John Benry, mentioned at length hereinafter.
He married (second) May 29, 1845, Anna S. Cutting,
who bore him two children: Anna Rebecca, born
March 25, 1847; and Frederick Lewis, born Janu
ary 9, 1849. He married (third) Mrs. Lucy Gib
son, nee Wyman, a widow, born in Fitchburg, who
bore him two daughters: Estella, born September 25,
1858. died in Dresden, January 3, 1883, unmarried;
and Mary, born March 24, 1861 ; she is a graduate
of Radcliffe College, class of 1887, and received
the degree of Master of Arts from the same institu
tion in 1897. She was assistant to the secretary of
the college from 1888 to 1894, and from the latter
year to the present time (1905) has served in the
capacity of secretary. Mr. Coes married (fourth)
Abigail Winch, no issue.
John Henry Coes, whose name appears at the
head of this sketch, received his elementary educa
tion in the public schools of Worcester, to which
city his parents removed from Springfield during
his early lifetime. The knowledge thus acquired
was supplemented by attendance at Leicester Acad
emy and Wiibraham Academy. He began the prac
tical duties of life by entering the ofiice of the
firm of L. & A. G. Coes, manufacturers of wrenches,
his father and uncle comprising the company, and
there mastered every detail of the business. When
the partnership between Loring and Aury Gates Coes
was dissolved in 1869, the latter formed the firm
of A. G. Coes & Company, admitting his son John
Henry to partnership, and continued the manu
facture of wrenches in Worcester. This connec
tion continued until the death of the senior mem
ber of the firm, December 2, 1875, after which the
business was carried on under the same firm name
by John H. Coes and his brother, Frederick L.
Coes. Iri 1888 the firm of A. G. Coes & Co. and
that of Loring Coes & Co. were incorporated under
the laws of Massachusetts with a capitalization of
$100,000, as the Coes Wrench Company, and its of
ficers were : Loring Coes, president : John H. Coes,
treasurer; Frederick L. Coes, clerk. In 1902 the
two brothers — John H. and Frederick L. — sold their
stock and interest in the company to their uncle,
Loring Coes, and retired from the business.
John H. Coes is a director of the Worcester
Trust Company and member of its executive com
mittee, also vice-president and a member of the
finance committee of the Mechanics Savings Bank,
of Worcester, and the duties of these two respon
sible positions occupy the greater portion of Mr.
Coes' business hours. He holds membership in the
Commonwealth Club, Worcester Club, Tatnuck
Country Club, Massachusetts Agricultural Club of
Boston, and the Sons of the Revolution, being
eligible to membership in the latter named through
Simon Gates, the fifth in line of descent on the
maternal side. Mr. Coes was at one time quite
active in Masonic circles. He is a member of
Montacute Lodge, Worcester Royal Arch Chapter,
Hiram Council, and Worcester County Commandery,
Knights Templar. Mr. Coes married, February 5,
1874, Amie Brownell Hadwen, born in Worcester
Massachusetts, November 4, 1846, daughter of
Obadiah B. Hadwen (see sketch). They have one

child, Mary Maynard Coes, born March 14, 1876.
The family reside at No. 1058 Main street, Wor
cester. *
GATES FAMILY. Stephen Gates was an emi
grant ancestor of John H. Coes, of Worcester. For
biographical sketch and children of Stephen Gates,
see elsewhere in this work. This line is traced
through his son Simon.
(II) Simon Gates, son of Stephen Gates (1),
was born in 1645, died April 21, 1693, at Brockton,
Massachusetts. He married Margaret  , of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. They resided in Cam
bridge, Lancaster and Brookline, Massachusetts. He
inherited his father's estate at Cambridge. The chil
dren of Simon and Margaret Gates were: 1. Abigail,
born August 14, 1671, died 1771, aged one hundred
years, at Brighton, Massachusetts; married (first)
Nathaniel Sparhawk, Jr., who died November 8,
1734; married (second), 1735, Josiah Mayo, of Rox
bury, Massachusetts. 2. Simon, born September 1,
167^. died January 2, 1675-76. 3. Simon, born Jan
uary 5, 1675-76, died March 10, 1735, aged sixty
years; married, May 29, 1710, Sarah Wood, daugh
ter of John and Lydia Wood, of Marlboro, Massa
chusetts; they settled in Marlboro, where she died
in 1751. 4. George, born April 6, 1678, died May
23, 1679. 5. Amos, born 1681, died 1754; married,
May 19, 1703, Hannah Oldham, daughter of Samuel
and Bannah (Dana) Oldham, whose birth occurred
October 10, 1681. 6. Jonathan, born June 22, 1683,
died February 7, 1755-56, at Worcester, Massachu
setts ; married Persis Shepard, daughter of John
. and Persis (Pierce) Shepard, of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, and granddaughter of Thomas and
Bannah (Ensign) Shepard, of Maiden, Massachu
setts. She was born 1691, died July 12, 1776. 7.
Samuel, born August n, 1685, said to have settled
somewhere in Connecticut, but no descendants
known. 8. Margaret, born August 13, 1689, married
James How or John How.
(Ill) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (2),
was born January 5, 1675-76, died March 10, 1735,
aged sixty years ; married, May 29, 1710, Sarah
Wood, daughter of John and Lydia Wood, of Marl
boro, Massachusetts. They settled in Marlboro,
where she died in 1751. The children of Simon
and Sarah (Wood) Gates were : 1. Simon, born
December 11, 1710, died April n, 1777, aged sixty-
six years; married, 1749, Sarah How, who died
September 30, 1800, aged seventy-five years. 2.
Sarah, born October 15, 1712, died at Hubbardston,
Massachusetts; married. February 3, 1736, Ephraim
Church, of Rutland, Massachusetts. 3. Susannah,
born December 19, 1714, died at Hubbardston; mar
ried Captain John Phelps, of Rutland, Massachu
setts. 4. Stephen, born August 20, 1718, died October
5. 1773, aged fifty-five years, at Rutland; married,
February 4, 1742-43, Damaris Bow, born August
12, 1725, at Marlboro, Massachusetts, died Decem
ber 3, 1809, aged eighty-three years, at Rutland,
Massachusetts, whence they removed in 1749. 5.
Solomon, born May 14, 1721, died March 2,
1761, aged forty years, at Worcester; married,
November 10, 1748, Mary Clark, and resided at
Worcester. 6. Samuel, born February 28, 1722, mar
ried Caroline Bow; he was a soldier in the revolu
tion. 7. Silas, born February 3, 1727, died August
25, 1793, aged sixty-six years, at Marlboro; mar
ried, May 9, 1754, Elizabeth Bragg, who died March
20, 1806, aged seventy-four years. 8. John, born
January 27, 1729.
(IV) Simon Gates, son of Simon, Gates .(3),
was born December 11, 1710, died April 11, 1777;
married, 1749, Sarah Bow, who died' September 30,

102

WORCESTER COUNTY

1800, aged seventy-five years. They resided in
Worcester, Massachusetts. The children of Simon
and Sarah (How) Gates were: 1. Rebecca, born
in Worcester, 1752. died October 13. 1834; married,
May 5, 1778. David Richards, who died January 20,
1829, aged seventy-eight years. 2. Simon, Jr., born
at Worcester, 1752, died February 2, 1&49: married
Sarah Edgerton, daughter of S. N. Edgerton; she
died August ig, 1843, aged eighty-five years. 3.
Asa. born in Worcester, January 20, 1757. died No
vember 21. 1S35: married, February 15. 17S6, Fanny
Field 4. Sarah, born in Worcester, April 2. 1761,
died November 21, 1819; married, May 15. 1783,
John Sargent who died February 7. 1820. 5. John,
bom 1764, died May so, 17S6. 6. Mary, born 1768,
died December 24, 1809; married William Moore.
7. Katherine, born April 22. 1772, married Phineas
Jones; he died March 22. 1S14. aged sixty-six years.
8. Levi, born May 21, 1776. died October 6, 1837,
buried at Ashland, Ohio; married, 1791. Chloe Sum
ner, daughter oi Josiah Sumner, born 1769, died
October 4, 1828. They resided at Charlton. Massa
chusetts, and thence went to Shoreham, Vermont
(Y) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (4), was
born January 6, 1756, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
He died February 2. 1849, aged ninety-three years,
at Worcester. He married Sarah, daughter of S.
N. Edgerton, and her death occurred August 10,
1&43. aged eighty-five years. He responded to the
Lexington call to arms in 1775. entered Captain
Hubbard's company before Boston, and served in
the batde of Bunker Hill. He also served in Cap
tain Stone's company in the battle of Bennington,
campaign of 1777, also in Captain Cushing's com
pany in the fall of 1777. He was a revolutionary war
pensioner. Mr. Gates was a very domestic man,
and was never away from home but two or three
nights in his life except while in the service. He
died in the same room in the same house in which
he was born. The children of Simon and Sarah
(.Edgerton) Gates were: I. Olive, born August
28. 1784, married  Hayward, of Mercer, Maine.
2. Roxalany. born May 10. 1786; see forward. 3.
John, born June 10, 1789. married Letitia Burr. 4.
Levi, born May 7. 1790. died at Claquato, Lewis
county, Washington; married Hannah Paine, of
Worcester, February 20, 1820. 5. Mary, born Octo
ber 10 or 11, 1792. married Erastus Tucker, Octo
ber 5. 1S19. 6. Sarah, born September 9, 1794. 7.
David R.. born March 31, 1799, died at Worcester;
married (first) Eliza Fessenden, February 11, 1824;
married (second) Sarah N. Britton, bom Novem
ber 24. 1809. at Spencer, Massachusetts, died Febru
ary 8. 1893. 8. Horatio, born September 4, 1801,
died 1852: married Fidelia A. Hall, 1825; married
(second) Hannah Head, born 1790, died 1893/
(VI) Roxalany or Roxalana Gates, daughter of
Simon Gates (5), was born May 10, 1786, at Wor
cester. Massachusetts. She married, October 26,
1808. Daniel Coes, aforementioned in this narrative
as the grandfather of John H. Coes, and their chil
dren were: 1. Sally, born February 22, 1810. 2.
Loring, bom April 22. 1812; see Coes Family. 3.
Albert, born September 29, 1813. 4. Aury Gates,
bom January 22. 1826, aforementioned as the father
of John H Coes.
PAUL BEAGARY MORGAN. Miles Morgan
(1). the emigrant ancestor of Charles H. Morgan,
of Worcester, and his son. Paul Beagary Morgan,
was born orobably in 1615 in LlandorfF, Glamorgan
county. Wales, and removed to Bristol, England,
a few years before he emigrated to America. He
came to Boston in April, 1636, with two brothers.
The eldest, James, settled in New London, Connecti

cut; John went to Virginia and Miles joined the
colonists and became one of the founders of Spring
field, Massachusetts. These colonists were organized
at Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of Boston.
John Morgan is the ancestor of General David Mor
gan, of "ranger" fame in the revolution, and of
famous members of this family in the southern
states. James Morgan, of Connecticut, also has
many prominent men among his descendants.
Miles Morgan drew land for his home lot on
the south" side of Ferry Lane. At present the site of
the original Morgan dwelling house is occupied by
the repair shop of the Connecticut River Railroad
Having prepared his first home. Miles Morgan mar
ried, about 1643. Prudence Gilbert The following
quaint story of his courtship and marriage is taken
from the Moigan Genealogy: ""On his passage from
England he formed an acquaintance with a young
woman who belonged to a family which on their
arrival settled in Beverly, Massachusetts. To her
he determined to prefer his suit This he did by
letter in which he proposed to her to become his
wife and the sharer of his dubious fortunes in the
wilderness. To this frank proposition she with
equal frankness (for coquetry it seems was not then
the fashion) wrote him an explicit answer and
avowed her willingness to comply with his wishes.
Her suitor it appears was resolved to prosecute the
affair like a man of business. On receiving an
answer so favorable to his inclinations, he imme
diately engaged two of his friends and an Indian
to attend him in his matrimonial expedition and de
parted with all convenient speed' taking with them
an old horse for thcpurpose of conveying the house
hold stuff of the intended bride to her future habi
tation and their muskets with which they might put
to flight the 'armies of the aliens' who might per
chance molest them in their pilgrimage to and from
the land of the people of the east Prosperity at
tended the journey and the hymeneal torch was
kindled on bis arrival. The matrimonial contract
having been satisfied in due form the old pack
horse received his destined burden, the bridegroom
and his companions shouldered their muskets and
thus escorted the bride to Springfield, who walked
with them on foot the whole distance from Beverly
' to that place, viz., 130 miles."
In 1675, during King Philip's war, the Morgan
House was attacked by the Indians, but so bravely
was it defended by Miles Moigan and his sons that
the Indians retired after an unsuccessful siege.
Peletiah Morgan, one of these sons, was killed in
this war in the following year at what is now
Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Among other prominent descendants of Miles
and Prudence Morgan are J. Pferpont Moigan and
his late father, Junius S. Morgan, the bankers. The
line of descent is Miles (I), Nathaniel (II), Joseph
(III), Captain Joseph (IV), Joseph (V), Junius
Spencer (VI), J. Pierpont (Vn) Morgan. The
Worcester family traces its descent from David,
son of Miles (H).
The genealogy of the Morgan family has recently
been traced by George T. Clark, Antiquary, from
remote Welsh ancestors. He gives sixteen genera
tions of Morgan ancestors of Miles Morgan, of
Springfield. It is so seldom that English and Amer
ican genealogies can be so successfully united that
American Morgans may well take some satisfaction
in their Welsh ancestry.
(I) Cadivor-Fawr, married El en. daughter and
heir to Llwch Llawen and had:
(II) Bleddri, third son, witnessed a Berkerolles
grant of Bassaileg to Glastonbury and was probably
a land owner in those parts. He bore "Argent, 3

WORCESTER COUNTY

103

bulls' heads cabossed sable." The ordinary coat
of the Morgans has long been "Or, a griffin segreant
sable," but some branches have used Cadivor and
others Bleddri, Morgans of Pencoyd bore "Argent,
a lion rampant gardant sable between two cantons ;
the dexter, 'Or, a griffin segreant sable ;' the sinister,
'Bleddri.' " The Llantarnam Morgans bore the grif
fin on a field argent. The descendants of Ivor
Howel used Bleddri, but inserted a chevron between
the Bulls' heads. The Lewises of St. Pierre used
the Cadivor lion, and the Griffin for a crest. Bleddri
is said to have married Clydwen, daughter of Grif
fith ap Cydrich ap Gwaethfoed-fawr, and had
(III). Ivor, who married Nest, daughter of Cara-
doc ap Modoc ap Idnerth ap Cadwgan ap Elystan
Gloddrydd, and had
(IV) Llewelyn, who married Lleici, daughter of
Griffith ap Beli, and had
(V) Ivor, who married Tanglwst, daughter of
Homel Sais ap Arglwydd Rhys. They had
(VI) Llewelyn Lleia, married Susan, daughter
of Howel ap Howel Sais, a first cousin. They had
(VII) Ivor, father of '
(VIII) Llewelyn ap Ivor of Tredegar, Lord of
St. Clear, married Angharad, daughter of Sir Mor
gan ap Meredith, from the' Welsh lords of Caerleon,
ap Griffith ap Meredith ap Rhys, who bore "Argent,
a lion rampant sable." Sir Morgan died 1332, when
Angharad was aged thirty-two years. They had: 1.
Morgan. 2. Ivor Hael, whence Morgan of Gwern-y-
Cleppa. 3. Philip, whence Lewis of St. Pierre.
(IX) Morgan, of Tredegar and St. Clear, mar
ried Maud, daughter of Rhun ap Grono ap Llwarch,
Lord of Cibwr. He died before 1384. Issue :
Llewelyn ; Philip, whence Morgan of Langstone ;
John, father of Gwenllian, married David Goch ap
David; Christian, married Jevan ap Jenkin Kemeys;
Ann, married David Gwilim David, of Rhiwperra;
Margaret, married Traherne ap Meyric of Merthyr ;
A daughter married Thomas ap Gwillim of
Carnllwyd; Elenor, married Grono ap Howel
Bennet. (X) Llewelyn ap Morgan of Tredegar and St.
Clear, living 1387, married Jenet, daughter and heir
of David-vychan ap David of Rhydodyn, 1384-87.
Issue: Jevan; Christy, married Madoc ap Jevan of
Gelligaer;  , married Roger ap Adam of St.
Mellon's;  , married Madoc of Bassalleg;
 , married Thomas Llewelyn; Ann, married
John ap Jenkin;  , married  , of Raglan;
 , married  Builth.
(XI) Jevan Morgan, 1415-48, married Denise
or Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas ap Llewelyn-
vychan of Llan gattog-on-Usk. Issue: John, David,
1442-48; Jenkin, 1454.
(XII) Sir John Morgan, Knight of the Sepul
chre, 1448, Stewart of Gwentlloog, married Jenet,
daughter and co-heir of John ap David Mathew
of Llandaff. Issue : Morgan ; Thomas, whence
Morgan of Machen and Tredegar; John, whence
a branch ; Lewis, 1491 ; William Morgan, coroner,
1501, father of John of Newport, died 1541, father
of William, 1541-1559; Philip, 1491; Elizabeth, mar
ried John Fiennes, Lord Clinton and Say ; ¦ Jane,
married William David Powel; Mary, married
Thomas Llewelyn-vychan of Rhiwperra; Isabella,
married James Kemeys of Began, died 1591.
(XIII) Thomas Morgan, second son of' Sir John
Morgan, was of Machen ; esquire of the body to
Henry VII; living 1538; married Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Roger Vaughan, of Porthaml. Issue: Row
land Reynold, whence Morgan of Llanvedw; John,
whence Morgan of Bassalleg; Edmond, whence
Morgan of Penllwyn-Sarth ; Margaret, married
(first) John Kemeys, (second) William Edmunds;

Barbara, married Sir Henry Seymour; Maud, mar
ried John ap Rosser; Jane, married (first) William
Gunter, (second) Richard ap Jenkins, (third) Will
iam Vaughan, of Magor; Constance, married Will
iam Jones, of Treowen; Mary, married (first) Ed
ward Williams, (second) Richard Herbert; Eliza
beth married Edward James.
(XIV) Rowland Morgan, of Machen, 1517-77.
married Blanch, daughter of John Thomas, of
Llanarth. Settlement, November 11, 1517; sheriff,
1557. Issue: Thomas; Henry, whence Morgan of
St. Mellon's; Catherine, married (first) Thomas
Mathew, (second) Miles Morgan, (third) Henry
Jones ; Ann, married Philip Morgan, . of Gwern-y-
Cleppa ; Mary, married Thomas Lewis, • of
Rhiwperra; Elizabeth, married Edward Kemeys, of
Cefn Mably.
(XV) Thomas Morgan, of Machen and Trede
gar and of the Middle Temple, 1567-77; sheriff,
1581; M. P. for county in 1589; will, 1603; mar
ried Elizabeth Bodenham, daughter Roger Boden-
ham. Issue: Sir William; Edward, 1586, married
Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Richard Thomas,
of Bertholley; Sir John, died before 1610, married
Florence Morgan, daughter and eventual heir of
William Morgan of the Friars. They had William
Morgan of the Friars, 1663, mayor of Newport,,
1667, father of 'Lewis Morgan, died about 1690,,
father of Lewis died 1729, who sold to the Friars.
He was father of Blanch and Catherine. David
Morgan, whence a branch; Blanch, married Edward
Lewis, of Van ; settlement . 1585 ; Catherine, married
William Herbert, of Coldbrook; Elizabeth, married
William Jones, of Abergavenny; Jane, married
Rowland Morgan, of Bassalleg; Elizabeth, married
William Blethyn, of Dynham; Ann; Margaret, mar
ried Henry Williams, of Mathern.
(XVI) , Sir William Morgan, of Tredegar,
knighted 1633 ; M. P. for the county 1623-25 ; will
made 1650, proved 1653, sheriff 1612 ; aged ninety-
three at death ; he received Charles I, at Tredegar
July 16 and 17, 1645 ; married (first) Elizabeth
Winter, daughter of Sir William Winter, of Lidney,
(second) Bridget Morgan, daughter of Anthony
Morgan, of Beyford, county Northampton, widow
of Anthony Morgan, of Llanvihangel Crucorney.
Issue by first wife : Thomas ; Edward, of Kilfengan,
will dated April 4, 1660, proved February, 1661 ;
married Elizabeth James, daughter and heir of
Charles James, of Llandewi Rhydderch, had Eliza
beth, daughter and heir, married Henry Chambre
of Court Morgan. William, whence Morgan of
Rhymny. Rowland of Risca, will dated December
19, 1660, proved February, 1661 ; married Honora
 and had Colonel William Morgan;' buried
at Bassalleg, October 27, 1679. John of the Temple
in 1652; coel. Mary, married George Lewis, of St.
Pierre. Blanch, married John Carne, of Ewenny.
Frances, married Charles Williams, of Llangibby.
Mary, single, will 1687. Elizabeth married William
Morgan, of Dderw; she died 1638, he died 1649.
By Sir William's second wife: Sir Anthony of
Kilfengan, s. p. His widow was alive in 1673.
Mary, married Peter Farmer, of London, who died
1691. They had. Margaret, daughter and heir, mar
ried John More, who sold Kilfengan in 1707.
. (XVII) Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of Sir Wil
liam of Tredegar (16), married William Morgan,
merchant of Diveru; went to Bristol, England, in
1616. Elizabeth died 1638, William died 1648; both
buried in Bristol (See Great Orphan Book and
Book of Wills of Bristol). Issue: MILES MOR
GAN, born 1616, named perhaps after Miles Mor
gan, captain British army, who perished with Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, half brother of Sir Walter^

104

WORCESTER COUNTY

Raleigh, who sailed 1576 under a patent "to oc
cupy any heathen lands not actually possessed of
any Christian prince or people." The only other
Miles I find (than Capt. Miles supra) is Miles
Morgan or Morgan Miles, son of William Miles
of Cabalva. (XVIII) Miles Morgan was next to Col. Pyn-
chon the most important and useful of the Spring
field Colony. He was made second in command,
though he was the youngest of the company. Be
was the only pioneer in fact who was less than
twenty-one years of age when admitted. Be was
a brave and intrepid Indian fighter in the frequent
conflicts on the frontier. Be was a wise counsellor
and a sturdy tiller of the soil. In civil life Col.
Pynchon was the grocer and Morgan was the
butcher. A handsome monument was erected at
Springfield in 1879 in testimony of the services of
Miles Morgan in settling the town, governing _ the
colony, fighting the Indians in 1675 when Spring
field was sacked and burned and many of the little
colony killed.
Miles Morgan married Prudence Gilbert 1636.
Issue: 1. Mary, born December 14, 1644. 2- Jona
than, born September 16, 1646. 3. David, born July
23, 1648. 4. Peletiah, born May 17, 1650; killed
by the Indians 1675 ; died unmarried. 5. Isaac,
born March 12, 1652. 6. Lydia, born February 8,
1654. 7. Hannah, born February 11, 1656. 8. Mercy,
born May 18, 1658. Prudence Gilbert Morgan died
November 14, 1660. Miles married February 15, .
1669 (2) Elizabeth Bliss. By her he had issue:
1, Nathaniel, born June 14, 1671. Miles Morgan
died May 28, 1699, aged eighty-four years.
(XIX) David Morgan, son of Miles Morgan
(18), was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, July
23, 1648. He married Mary Clark - of Springfield,
January 16, 1672. They lived at Springfield. He
died May 30, 1731. Issue: 1. Peletiah, born March,
1676. , 2. David, born February 18, 1679. 3- John,
born. October 7, 1682. 4. Jonathan, born September
13, 1685. 5. Mary, born December 24, 1686. 6.
Benjamin, born May 2, 1695; married Mary Graves,
June 4, 1718. Issue: 1. Benjamin, born November
26, 1719. 2. Stephen, born May 4, 1722. 3. Aaron,
born November 7, 1724. 4. Mary, born August 4,
1727. (XX) Deacon David Morgan, son of David
Morgan (19), was born in Springfield, Massachu
setts, February 18, 1679. He married Deborah Col-
ton, daughter of Ephraim Colton, 1703. ' He died
September 11, 1760. See Colton family annexed.
David Morgan and his son Joseph were among the
original proprietors of Brimfield, Massachusetts,
drawing respectively grants number 46 and 25 in
the distribution of land to the first settlers in 1732
and the family went to Brimfield about that time.
Descendants of David are still living in the town.
He was town clerk in 1731.
The standing of Deacon Morgan's family is
shown by the report of the seating committee Sep
tember 12, 1757, when the widow of Mr. Morgan
is given a post of honor in the first pew with such
wed known men as John Sherman, Esq., Captain
Leonard Hoar, Mr. Nathan Collins and their wives.
The daughters of Deacon David Morgan married
into the Hoar and Sherman families. His children
were: 1. David. 2. Joseph, born August 19, 1705.
3. Mary, born 1706, married Leonard Hoar, Jr.,
May 6. 1736. 4. Elizabeth, married Phineas Sher
man. December 12, 1738. 5. Jonathan, born 1740.
6. Deborah, married Nathaniel Collins. 1763. 7.
Mercv. born 1744, died 1745. 8. Isaac, born 1747.
(XXI) Sergeant Joseph Morgan, son of Deacon
David Morgan (20), was born at Springfield, Au

gust 19, 1705, and died January 28, 1798. He was
a sergeant, in the troops sent from New England,
at the second seige of Louisburg in 1758, and al
though seventy years of age he responded to the
call April 19, 1775, and went to Lexington, under
Capt. Sherman and Col. Pynchon. He married
Margaret Cooley, December 25, 1729. She died
July 17, 1754. He married (second) Rachel Dada,
August 11, 1759. She died March 27, 1810. He was
a cabinet maker by trade and his son Joseph con
tinued the business after his 4eath.
Their children were: 1. Margaret, born April
20, .1730, married John Mighell, February 2, 1749.
2. Joseph, Jr., born April 17, 1733. 3. Mary, born
February 28, 1735, died 1736. 4- Mary, born June
IS, 1737, married Capt. Ebenezer Bitchcock, May
7, 1761. 5. Benjamin, born July 24, 1739. 6. Mir
iam, born May 7, 1742. 8. David, born January 25,
1745. 8. Keziah, born January 26, 1747, married
Benjamin Cady, December 31, 1767. 9. Aaron, born
March 16, 1749. 10. Elijah, born May 31, 1758.
11. Enoch, born August 3, 1763.
(XXII) Sergeant Aaron Morgan, son of Sergt.
Joseph (21), and Margaret Morgan, was born at
Brimfield, Massachusetts, March 16, 1749, and died
there August 30, 1825. He responded to the Lex-
ingten Alarm April 19, 1775, in Capt. Thompson's
company, Col. Danielson's regiment. He was in
Gates Army in the north 1777 in Capt. Capen's
company, Col. Woodbridge's regiment. He had
other service also to his credit. . He was a promi
nent man in Brimfield town affairs. He was moder
ator in 1807, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815; he
was town clerk from 1784 to 1797; selectman in
1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, ' 1803, 1804; assessor
1775, 1776, 1780, 1781, 1783, 1785, to 1793, 1795, 1796,
1798 to 1804 inclusive. He married Abigail Sher
man, November 26, 1772. She died October 23,
1828. See Sherman family annexed. Their chil
dren were: 1. Lucy, born January 20, 1774, mar
ried James Moore, December 19, 1793. 2. Justin,
born March 8, 1777. 3. Aaron, Jr., born December
6, 1779. 4. Calvin, born May 27, 1782. 5. Thomas
born April 7, 1788, married Orra Morgan, October
27, 1816. 6. Sally, born June 30, 1790, married
Harris Sherman, April 28, 1814.
(XXIII) Calvin Morgan, son of Sergt. Aaron
Morgan, was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, May
27, 1782, and died June 13, 1832. He married Polly
Forbush of Grafton, Massachusetts, March 10, 1803,
she died January 12, 1868.
Their children were : 1. Hiram, born August 1,
1803, died June 29, 1866. 2. Dexter, born June 2,
1805, died March 17, 1818. 3. Margaret F., born
September 23, 1806, married G. W. Dinsmore, Sep
tember 23, 1829. 4. Calvin, Jr., born April 4,
1808, married Susannah P. Lane, died October 31,
1835. 5. Mary Ann, born December 28, 1809, mar
ried Joseph B. Parker, October 15, 1833. 6. Abi
gail T., born June 13, 1811, married Beman S. Jack
son, May 29, 1859. 7. Enoch Melvin,, born June 2,
1813, died December 9,- 1813. 8. Sarah B., born
March 26, 1815, married Luther Bigelow, June 11,
1835, died September 17, 1840. 9. Malvina F., born
April 12, 1817, married Andrew J. Copp, July 2,
1839. died June 27, 1841. 10. Francis Dexter, born
April 24, 1819, married Elizabeth Phelps, November
25, 1841, died 1846. 11. Harriet N., born September
28, 1821. 12. Cordelia, born October 20, 1825, died
February 14, 1842.
(XXIV) Hiram Morgan, son of Calvin Mor
gan (23), was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts,
August 1, 1803, died June 29, 1866. He married
Clarissa Lucina Rich, daughter of Dr. Noah Rich.
Hiram was a mechanic skillful in wood turning.

WORCESTER COUNTY

105

Children were as follows : 1'. Charles Hill, born
January 8, 1831. 2. Francis Henry, born September
23, 1833. 3. Hiram Dexter, born July 27, 1836,
died in infancy. 4. Cyrus Rich, born July 4, 1838,
married Adelaide Fisher. 5. Harriet Eaton, born
March 27, 1845, died in infancy.
(XXV) Charles Hill Morgan, son of Biram
Morgan (24), was born at Rochester, New York,
January 8, 1831. His parents moved to Clinton,
Massachusetts, when he was an infant. He at
tended the Clinton schools and Lancaster Academy.-
At the age of fifteen he began to learn the machin
ist's trade in his uncle's shop. He developed a love
for mechanical drawing and acquired a thorough
knowledge of mechanics as well as much technical
skill. In 1852 when he was twenty-one years of
age he had acquired sufficient knowledge of chem
istry to take charge of the dye house of the Clinton
Mills. ' Mr. Morgan was for a time draughtsman
for the Lawrence Machine Company and for Eras
tus B. Bigelow. He went to Philadelphia in i860
and for a short time was associated in business there
with his brother. Returning to Worcester in 1864
he accepted the position of general superintendent
of the wire mills of Washburn & Moen, where he
remained for twenty-three years, during eleven of
which he was a director of the corporation. While
with the Washburn & Moen Co. he designed the
•first hydraulic elevator introduced in New England.
He made seven trips to Europe to visit the steel
and wire mills of England, Belgium, Germany,
France and Sweden. He studied the new patents,
read the trade journals and kept his mill well to
the front in the development of new methods and
machines. An advance step in the wire business
was an improvement of the continuous rolling mill
designed and constructed in Manchester, England,
in accordance with the designs of George Bedson.
This continuous rolling was a great improvement
in methods, but production was limited by the im
perfections of the ordinary hand reel. Mr. Mor
gan's first, improvement was a reel operated by
steam power; the second was the invention and
construction of a continuous train of rolls having
only horizontal axles. Experience has shown that
this mill consisting of a series of horizontal rolls
with intermediate twistings or turning guides be
tween the rolls, giving the metal one quarter of a
turn in its passage from one pair of rolls to the
next, was far superior to a mill with alternate hori
zontal and vertical rolls. Nine years after the build
ing of the Bedson mill another mill from new de
signs furnished by Mr. Morgan was built on the
Belgian and continuous plan and was known as
the Combination mill. In 1886 Mr. Morgan patented
automatic reels with vertically moving platform.
Mr. Morgan became consulting engineer for the
American Wire Company of Cleveland in 1887 and
introduced new and valuable inventions. In 1889
he_ completed and put in operation at Dollar Bay,
Michigan, a large copper mill for the Tamarack
mine, one of the mines producing the famous lake
copper. _ Mr. Morgan began the manufacture of rolling
mill machinery, etc., in 1888 and three years later
incorporated the business under the name of The
Morgan Construction Co. The capital stock of
the company is $100,000. Mr. Morgan is president
and his son, Paul B. Morgan, treasurer. The exe
cutive office and the mill is at 11 to 21 Lincoln
street, Worcester. Branch offices are located in
New York city and Brussels, Belgium. The com
pany manufactures rolling mill machinery for steel
billets, merchant shapes, rods, cotton ties and barrel
hoops; also wire drawing and hydraulic machinery.

A specialty of the company is the equipment of en
tire plants from boilers to special devices made to
order complete. Business has developed steadily
and a large export trade has been built up. The
company has valuable patents for machinery used
in modern mills.
Chas. B. Morgan is also the president and owner
to a large extent of the Morgan Spring Company
which was incorporated in 1881. It is capitalized
at $700,000. The business developed to its present
proportions by steady but rapid growth. Mr. Mor
gan began the manufacture of springs at the Mor- -
gan mills on Lincoln street. In 1896 the extensive
plant at Barber's Crossing was constructed and has
been enlarged to allow for the increase in business.
This location is ideal for the purposes of the com
pany. The works are at the junction of the Fitch
burg and Nashua Railroads, making shipping facili
ties admirable. In 1905 the Morgan Spring Com
pany purchased an extensive plant at Struthers,
Ohio, where rod rolling and wire making machinery
has been installed. The company manufactures
wire rods, the best grade of oil-tempered steel
wire, also spiral and flat springs of all kinds, many
special designs being made for agricultural and
other ' machinery. There are departments for wire
drawing, tempering and spring making.
Mr. Morgan's connection with the Washburn
Shops of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute gives
him a high place among the benefactors of that
institution. In March, 1886, Ichabod Washburn
made his gift to establish the machine shop and
working mechanical department of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. The idea of Mr. Washburn
was unique. Mr. Morgan more than any other man
deserves credit for the successful development of
the plan made by the founder. The shop is at the
same time a laboratory and trade school for the
Institute and a business concern self-supporting.
Mr. Washburn recommended Mr. Morgan as a suit
able trustee knowing his great mechanical skill
and large experience. Mr. Washburn died before
the shop was completed. Mr. Morgan was elected
a trustee of the Institute, March 27, 1886, and at
the request of the dying founder of the institution
Mr. Morgan took charge of the construction and
equipment of the shops. Mr. Morgan at the re
quest of Mr. Washburn selected the first superin
tendent. Milton P. Higgins, a graduate of the
Chandler Scientific School at Hanover, New Hamp
shire. From the first, Mr. Morgan co-operated with
Mr. Higgins to set a high standard of efficiency.
The success of the experiment in technical educa
tion has made the Worcester Polytechnic Institute
famous and its shops are the model for the whole
country. Mr. Washburn's idea as worked out by
Mr. Morgan, Mr. Higgins and their associates has
been a new triumph in American industrial educa
tion and progress.
Mr. Morgan has been an active member of the
Plymouth Congregational Church and was one of the
its founders and deacons; he has been director of
the Y. M. C. A. and member of the Congregational
Club of Worcester. He was a director of the First
National Bank.
He married in 1852, Harriet C. Plympton, of
Shrewsbury. In 1862 his wife died. He married
second. August 4, 1863. Rebecca A. Beagary, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His. children were: 1. C. Henry Morgan, born
February 1, 1854, married Jessie Bradbury, resides
in Worcester. 2. Hiram Plympton, born  ¦
— , 1862, died in infancy. 3. Harriet L., born June
9. 1864, married Dr. Winthrop D. Mitchell, of East
Orange, New Jersey. (They have one child, Beat-

io6

WORCESTER COUNTY

rice Mitchell, born June 6, 1891.) 4. Charlotte, born
July 10, 1866, married Frederick M. McFadden of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5. Paul Beagary, born
May 7, 1869, married June 15, 1893, Lessie Louise
Maynard. 6. Ralph Landers, born September 5,
1872, married Alice Sawyer.
(XXVI) Francis Henry Morgan, son of Hiram
(24), was born September 23, 1833, and died June
19, 1899. He married Ellen A. Wright who died,
and he married second Caroline Augusta Smith,
October 1, 1868. He resided in Worcester, being
*from the time of the founding of Morgan Spring
Company to the date of his death, the treasurer
and general manager of that company. His chil
dren are: Harry Wallis, born September 26, 1869,
died August 13, 1870. 2. Mary Colchester, born
June 28, 1874. 3. Charles Francis, born June 23,
1877. 4. Ray, born August 6, 1883, died November
28, 1888.
(XXVII) Paul Beagary Morgan, son of Charles
Hill Morgan (25), and Rebecca A. (Beagary) Mor
gan, was born in Worcester, May 7, 1869. He at
tended the Worcester schools leaving the high
school after three years to enter Worcester Acad
emy. He graduated from the Academy in 1887 and
from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1890. He
completed his education abroad with a year in
Sweden studying the iron industry, taking a special
course in metallurgy and chemistry in the Royal
School of Mines at Stockholm. He had practical
experience in the celebrated Munkfors Works of
Uddeholm Company. Upon his return he went
into business with his father and has had in recent
years a large share in the management and respon
sibility for the business established by his father.
He is treasurer of the Morgan Spring Company
and of the Morgan Construction Company, and presi
dent of the Heald Machine Company.
He has wcm a reputation among business men
for his integrity, prudence and common sense. He
was in 1904 elected a director of the Worcester
National Bank. He is a trustee of the People's
Savings Bank and of Memorial Hospital. He has
accepted the honor and trying duties of the presi
dency of the Worcester County Musical Associa
tion. This organization gives the annual Musical
Festival for which fhe name of Worcester is cele
brated in the musical world.
Mr. Morgan is a member of the Plymouth Con
gregational Church, of the Worcester Y. M. , C. A.,
and of the Congregational Club. He is an ex-presi
dent . of the Alumni Association of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, vice-president of the Alumni
of Worcester Academy. He is interested in public
affairs, a Republican, an honorary member of George
H. Ward Post, G. A. R., and a member of the Sons
of the American Revolution. He is a member of
the Worcester Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club,
the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcester Automo
bile Club, the Youngstown (Ohio) Club and the
Engineers Club (New York).
He married Lessie Louise Maynard, daughter
of William and Mary (Adams) Maynard, June 15,
1893, at Worcester, Massachusetts. , His wife is a
descendant of the Maynard family of Marlboro,
for which the town of Maynard, Massachusetts, is
named. Their children are: I. Philip Maynard,
born April 13, 1896. 2. Charles Hill, 2d, born Sep
tember 19, 1902. 3. Paul Beagary, Jr., born June
11, 1904. 4. Vincent, born February 2, 1906.
(I) John Maynard, the emigrant ancestor of
Mrs. Paul B. Morgan of Worcester, was one of
the petitioners for the grant of Marlborough, Massa
chusetts. He was in Sudbury in 1638 and was one
of the forty-seven who shared in the division of

Sudbury meadows in 1639. He was selectman of
Sudbury. He removed to Marlborough soon after
the grant in 1657. He married Mary Gates, He
died December 22, 171 1. His children were: 1.
Elizabeth, born May 26, 1649, died young; 2. Han
nah, born September 30, 1653; 3. Mary, born August
3, 1656; 4. John, born January 7, 1661, married
Lydia Ward; 5. Elizabeth, born April 2, 1664; 6.
Simon, born June 15, 1666, married Hannah 
7. David, born December 21, 1669, married Hannah
¦  ; 8. Zachariah, born October 27, 1672; 9.
Sarah, born May 15, 1680, married June 9, 1705,
Joseph Johnson; 10. Lydia, born August 29, 1682,
married April 7, 1703, Thomas Haggate; 11. Joseph,
born August 27, 1685, married Elizabeth Prue and
had Benjamin, born May 7, 1721.
(II) Simon Maynard, son of John Maynard
(1), was born in Marlborough, June 15, 1666, mar
ried Hannah  . He died January 19,. 1748.
She died April 5, 1748. Their children were: 1.
Hannah, born June 9, 1694, married April 21, 1714,
Joseph Crosby; 2. Simon, born March 4, 1696, mar
ried November 18, 1718, Sarah Church; 3. Eliza
beth, born September 26, 1698, married 1723, Robert
Horn; 4. Tabitha, born February 2, 1701, died April
7,. 1724; 5. Elisha, born March 20, 1703; 6. Eunice,
born November 17, '1705, married Nathaniel Falk-
ner; 7. Ephraim, born October 17, 1707, married
Sarah  and Mary Balcom; 8. Benjamin,
born December I, 1709, died 171 1.
(Ill) Ephraim Maynard, son of Simon May
nard (2), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts,
October 17, 1707. He married first Sarah 
who died May 24, 1742; second January 3, 1743,
Mary Balcom. Their children were: 1. Tabitha,
born July 21, 1738, died May 24, 1742; 2. Ephraim,
born March 7, 1740, died May io, 1742 ; Sarah, born
November 6, 1743 ; 4. Ephraim, born August ' 29,
1745, married September 14, 1773, Eunice Jewell;
5. Simon, born June 5, 1748, married Silence Priest ;
6. Joseph, born December 31, 1750, married Novem
ber 14, 1777, Lovina Barnes; 7. Benjamin, born
March 10, 1753; 8. Eunice, born February 7, 1757-
(IV) Simon Maynard, son of Ephraim May
nard (3), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts.
June 5, 1748. He married Silence Priest. He died
November 15, 1818. Their children were: 1. Isaac,
born December 3, 1779, married 1803, Lydia Howe;.
2. Hannah, born December 28, 1782, married Janu
ary 31, 1802, Peace Peters; 3. John Priest, born
June 2, 1791, married 1812, Betsey Weeks, daughter
of John Weeks.
(V) Isaac Maynard, son of Simon Maynard
(4), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, De
cember 7, 1779, married in 1803, Lydia Howe, daugh
ter of Artemas Howe. She married second. Isaac's-
children were : 1. Amory, born February 28, 1804,
married Mary Priest, daughter Benjamin Priest;
2. Lydia, born November 16, 1805, married Joel
Wilkins. (VI) Amory Maynard, son of Isaac Maynard
(5), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 28, 1804. He married Mary Priest, daughter
of Benjamin Priest of Marlboro. Among their chil
dren was William.
(VII) William Maynard, son of Amory (6),.
Maynard, was born May 6, 1833, at Marlboro. He
married Mary Adams. Their children were: I.-
Lessie Louise, born June 23, 1868.
(VIII) Lessie Louise Maynard, daughter of
William Maynard (7), was born June 23, 1868.
She married Paul Beagary Morgan (27). See
Morgan sketch.
(XXVIII) Ralph Landers Morgan, son of
Charles H. Morgan (25), was born at Worcester,!

/fe^i^^U^?

WORCESTER COUNTY

107

Massachusetts, September 5, 1872. He married,
October 12, 1897, Alice Sawyer, daughter of Wil
liam H. Sawyer, the lumber merchant of Worcester.
He was educated at Worcester Academy and W.
P. I. After leaving school he was associated with
the firm of Flint, Eddy & Co., of New York. He
was president of the Morgan Motor Company, the
business of which has been discontinued. He was
for a year manager of the automobile department
of the American Bicycle Co., at Toledo, Ohio. At
present he is a consulting engineer, and is interested
in a number of local and foreign enterprises.' He
is a member of Plymouth Church, Worcester, Quin
sigamond Boat Club and Engineers Club of New
York. (XXIX) Charles Francis Morgan, son of Fran
cis Henry Morgan (26), was born June 23, 1877.
He married Edith Jeanette Norcross (daughter of
Orlando W. Norcross), October 5, 1904. He is
active in the management of Morgan Spring Com
pany, holding the office of assistant treasurer and
clerk of the corporation. He is a member of the
Winter Club.
THE COLTON FAMILY from which Paul B.
Morgan is descended, originally came from Sutton
Coldfield, Warwick county, England. George Col
ton, the emigrant, settled at ' Springfield, Massachu
setts, before 1644. Removed from Hartford. He
did important service in King Philip's war. He was
representative to the General Court in 1669, 1671
and 1677. By his- wife Deborah Gardner, of Hart
ford, Connecticut, he had Isaac Colton, born Novem
ber 21, 1646, died September 3, 1670.
(II) Isaac Colton, son of George (1), was born
November 21, 1646, married Mary Cooper, daughter
of Thomas Cooper, June 30", 1670. She was born
November 15, 1651. She married second Edward
Stebbins, October 18, 1701 ; she died August 29,
1742. (Ill) Deborah Colton, daughter of Isaac Col
ton (2), married Deacon David Morgan, of
Springfield. COOLEY FAMILY. (I) Benjamin Cooley of
Springfield, a proprietor in 1645, was born in Eng
land about 1615, married Sarah  . He died
August 17, 1684. She died August 23, 1684.
(II) Daniel Cooley, son of Benjamin Cooley
(1), was born at Springfield, May 2, 1651, died
February 9, 1727, married Elizabeth Wolcott, daugh
ter of Simon Wolcott, Deoember 8, 1680. See Wol
cott sketch.
(Ill) Benjamin Cooley, son of Daniel Cooley
(2), was born October 28, 1681, married January
31, 1701, Margaret Bliss, daughter of Samuel Bliss,
Jr.. and wife, Sarah Benjamin. They removed to
Brimfield, Massachusetts.
(IV) Margaret Cooley, daughter of Benjamin
Cooley (3), .was born January 30, 1710, married
Joseph Morgan.
THE SHERMAN FAMILY. (I) Edmund
Sherman, the emigrant, came from Dedham, Essex
county, England, and settled at Watertown, Massa
chusetts, about 1632. He married Judith Angin,
1611. (II) Rev. John Sherman, son of Edmund Sher
man (1), was baptized January 14, 1614, married
Abigail  .
(Ill) James Sherman, son of Rev. John Sher
man (2), was born 1645, died March 3, 1718, mar
ried May 13, 1680, Mary Walker.
(IV) Capt. and Dr. John Sherman, son of
James Sherman (3), was born about 1683, died
March 9, 1772, married Abigail Stone, who was
born February 13. 1680.
(V) Thomas Sherman, son of Capt. John Sher

man (IV), was born September 6, 1722, died No
vember 22, 1803, married Anna , Blodgett, Septem
ber 12, 1751. She died December 10, 1808. He was
in the revolution.
(VI) Abigail Sherman, daughter of Thomas
Sherman (V), was born January 11, 1752, married
Aaron Morgan, November 26, 1772. See Morgan
sketch BLODGETT FAMILY. (I) Thomas Blod
gett, came from England in 1635, and settled at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, married Susanna  .
(II) Samuel Blodgett, son of Thomas Blodgett
(1), was born 1633, died July 3, 1687, married about
December 13, 1655, Ruth Ingleden.
(Ill) Thomas Blodgett,- son of Samuel Blod
gett (2), was born 1660, removed to Lexington,
Massachusetts, about 1699, married Rebecca Tidd,
November 11, 1684.
(IV) Joseph Blodgett, son of Thomas Blodgett
(3), was born September 17, 1696, married Sarah
Stone, who was born at Lexington, November 7,
' 1700. She died May 6, 1755 ; married second Sarah
Ingersoll, June 29, 1738.
(V) Anna Blodgett, daughter of Joseph Blod
gett (4), was born April 10, 1824, married Thomas
Sherman. See Sherman sketch.
THE TIDD FAMILY. (I) John Tidd em
barked May 12, 1637, at Yarmouth, England, aged
nineteen years, married Margaret, who died 1651.
He died April 24, 1657.
(II) John Tidd, Jr., son of John Tidd (1),
was born in England, married April 14, 1650, Re
bekah Wood.
(Ill) Rebekah Tidd, daughter of John Tidd (2),
was born  , married Thomas Blodgett, No
vember 11, 1685.
THE STONE FAMILY. (I) Gregory Stone
was born in England, 1590, married there 1618,
Mary Ganda.
(II) Deacon John Stone, son of Gregory Stone
(1), was born August 31, 1644, died 1719, married
Mary Ward, who was born about 1647. She died
June 10, 1703.
(Ill) Abigail Stone, daughter of Deacon John
Stone (2), was born February 13, 1680, married
Dr. John Sherman of Springfield, Massachusetts.
WARD FAMILY. (I) William Ward of Sud
bury, was representative to General Court in 1644
and several other years. He was chairman of the
selectmen. He served in King Philip's war. He
died at Marlborough, August 10, 1687; married
Elizabeth  .
(II) Mary, daughter of William Ward (1),
married Daniel Stone. See Stone sketch.
WOLCOTT FAMILY. (I) Henry Wolcott
was born in 1577, died 165^5. He was the son of
John Wolcott, of Tolland, Somersetshire, England,
married January 19, 1606, Elizabeth, daughter of
Thomas Saunders,' of Tolland.
(II) Simon Wolcott, son of Henry Wolcott (1),
was born September 11. _ 1624, married second
Martha Pitkin, sister of William (parents of Roger
the governor). She married second Daniel Clark,
died October 13, 1719.
(Ill) Elizabeth Wolcott, daughter of Simon (2)
and Martha, married December 8, 1680, Daniel
Cooley. See Cooley sketch.
HON. WALTER H. BLODGET, the present
mayor of Worcester, comes from a New ¦ York
family. The grandfather, Jesse Blodget, was the
first male settler in what is now known as Den
mark, New York. Be was born in 1764 and died
in 1848. Be was a man of great energy and known
as one of the leading factors of that town for many

io8

WORCESTER COUNTY

years. By occupation he was a farmer. He mar
ried and the lady of his choice was the first woman
to settle in Denmark, New York. They were the
parents of several children, including among the
number Harrison, the father of Walter H. Blodget.
Barrison Blodget was the first male child born in
Denmark. He was born in 1801 and died in 1899.
He was educated in the common schools of his
day and worked in spare hours, assisting his father,
as best he could. He finally chose law for a pro
fession and soon became one of the foremost at
torneys of the state. He was active in local and
state politics, being a staunch Democrat. He be
came a member of the general assembly and was in
strumental in the passage of several important bills.
He was later appointed as associate judge of Lewis
county, New York, filling the position with credit.
He married Diantha Dewey, of Leyden, New York,
born October, 1806, and died in 1890. By this
union the following children were born : Philander,
Irene L. Charles D., Francis A., Florence C, and
Walter B.
Walter H. Blodget was "born at the old home-
place erected by his grandfather, in Denmark, New
York, November 2, 1850. He was educated in the
common schools and in the Ives Seminary and then
attended a business college in New York state, where
he fitted himself for the activities of a business
career. On finishing his- education, he entered a
small store in his home town, where he clerked for
a time and later became agent for a warehouse on
the Black river canal. After following this for
a time he decided to go into business for himself
and opened up a small store at Lowville, New York,
in which he dealt in butter, cheese and produce
generally. Success attended him from the start.
He remained there until 1881, when he came to
Worcester and engaged in the produce business.
He associated with- him A. C. Boshart and chose as
a location the Warren block; at present (1906) is
located at 65 to 77 Park street, under the name of
Blodget & Boshart. Later on Mr. Boshart retired
from the firm, selling to Mr. Blodget. It was in
1898 that the firm of W. H. Blodget & Co. was
formed and incorporated, with Mr. Blodgett as
president and his son, Walter H, Jr., as vice-presi
dent. The firm also opened a large place of busi
ness at Boston. Their annual sales are immense.
In 1904 they were more than one million dollars.
Soon after arriving in Worcester, Mr. Blodget
became identified with many business associations
here and in Boston. Be became a member of the
local board of trade, of which' he was president two
years, 1902-03. He served on the railroad committee
of this body, of which he became chairman, and
in all their offices proved himself equal to the
emergencies which came up for speedy action and
final solution. He is a member of the Fruit and
Produce Exchange of Boston. "He is one of the
regular speakers of the Farmers' Institute and is
registered as such in Washington, and vice-presi
dent of the Massachusetts state board of trade.
He also is vice-president of the advisory board of
the Philadelphia Museum. Politically he differs
from his forefathers and has ever been a progres
sive Republican, and he fully believes in the great
principles of that political party. Be was elected
to the office of mayor of Worcester in 1903, and
re-elected in 1904, proving a highly satisfactory
V,n-i ' ever S"arding the interests of all the people.
While absorbed in actual business affairs and of
ficial duties, he forgets not to care for the higher
and more sacred trusts of life. Be is active in
church work and was one of the organizers of the
Adams Square Church and has served at the super

intendent of the Sabbath school from the first. He
is a person of rare judgment. As a speaker, he
has no little notoriety. As a toast-master at ban
quets and public gatherings, he has a remarkable
tact. His benevolent spirit is manifested toward the
unfortunate poor and suffering within his com
munity. In December, 1873, Mr. Blodget was united in
marriage to Miss Lotta J. Boshard, daughter of
Garrett Boshard, of New York. She died in 1882.
By this union one son was born — Walter H, Jr.,
born in New York in 1882. Be was educated in
the schools of the Empire state and Worcester,
Massachusetts, and is now vice-president of his
father's company. In 1883 Mr. Blodget, Sr., mar
ried Miss Mary F. Spaulding, daughter of M. W.
and Verrila (Arsbury) Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding
was a merchant and county clerk of Canton, New
York. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding had nine children.
Mr. and Mrs. Blodget are the parents of four chil
dren as follows: Bertha, born April 20, 1889;
Chester, born May 27, 1892; Anna D., born July
24, 1894; Jesse M, born October 16, 1900. Mr.
Blodget still retains the old homestead at Denmark,
New York, which is used as the summer, home for
his family. Be also has considerable property in
terests in Worcester county.
DICKINSON FAMILY. 'Eleven centuries ago
a soldier of fortune made his appearance at the
court of Balfdan Builbein, King of Norway. His
name was Ivar.- He had been a shepherd and had
been captured by the Northmen and carried to sea.
He drifted into a life of adventure. He became a
favorite at the Norwegian Court. The King made
him general of his army and in 725 gave him his
daughter Eurithea in marriage. He was called
Prince of Uplands. When the King died the son
of Ivar became heir to the throne and during his
minority Ivar was regent. This son, Eystein,
reigned until 755. He was succeeded by his son,
Harold Harfager. Rollo, a Prince of this line,
overran Normandy in 910. His sixth and youngest
son, Walter, received the castle and town of Caen
as an inheritance. His great-grandson, Walter de
Caen, accompanied William, the Norman, to Eng
land at the time of the Conquest. To this noble
man the line of Dickinsons descended from the first
American pioneer, Nathaniel, may be traced.
Nathaniel is the fifteenth in line, as follows:
(I) Walter de Caenm, later Walter de Kenson,
taking the name from his manor in Yorkshire.
(II) Johnne Dykonson, freeholder of Kingston
unon Hull, Yorkshire, married, 1260, Margaret Lam
bert, died 1316.
(Ill) William Dykenson, freeholder as above.
died 1330.
(IV) Hugh Dykensonne, freeholder as above,
died 1376.
(V) Anthoyne Dickensonne, freeholder as above,
married, 1376, Catheryne De La Pole; he died
1396. (VI) Richard Dickers'on, freeholder as above,
married, 1300, Margaret Cooper, died 1441.
(VII) Thomas Dickinson, freeholder as above,
married. 1470, Margaret Lambert; alderman first
ward Bull 1443-4; mayor 1444-5; died 1475.
(VIII) Hugh Dickinson, freeholder as above,
married, 1451, Agnes Swillington; removed 1475
to Kenson Manor, Yorkshire; died 1509.
(IX) William Dickinson, freeholder of Kenson
Manor, married. 1475, Isabel Langton; died 154°-
(X) John Dickinson, settled in Leeds, York
shire, married in 1499, Elizabeth Danby; alderman
1525-54: died in 1554,

WORCESTER COUNTY

109

(XI) William Dickinson, settled Briridley Hall,
Staffordshire, married in 1520, Rachel Kinge: died
1580. (XII) Richard Dickinson, of Bradley Hall, mar
ried, 1540, Elizabeth Bagnall; died 1605.
(XIII) Thomas Dickinson, clerk in the Ports
mouth nary yard, 1567 to 1587, removed to Cam
bridge 1587; married. 1567, Judith Carey; died 1590.
(XIV) William Dickinson, settled in Ely. Cam
bridge, married, 1594, Sarah Stacey, of Ely; died
1628. (XV) Nathaniel Dickinson, son of William
Dickinson (14), was born in Ely, Cambridge, in
1600. He married, January, 1630. at East Beirgolat,
Suffolk. Anna Gull, widow of William Gull. They
came to Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1636 or 1037.
He was one of the leaders in the colony. He was
town clerk in 1645, representative to the general
court in 1646 and 1647. He removed to Hadley,
Massachusetts, in 1659, and was admitted a free
man there in 16S1. He was chosen deacon of the
church and first recorder of the town. He was
selectman, assessor and town magistrate. He was
a member of the Hampshire Troop and on the first
board of trustees ot Hopkins Academy. He re
sided a few years at Hatfield. He died at Hadley,
June 16, 16761. He married (first) in England;
(second) Anne  . when he went to Hadley.
The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Gull)
Dickinson were: John, born 163a killed in King
Philip's -war: Joseph, 1632. killed by Indians, 1675;
Thomas. 1634 : Anna or Hannah, 1636. married John
Clary and Enos Kingsley. of Northampton : Samuel,
see forward: Obadiah, April 15, 1641; Nathaniel.
August. 1643: Nehemiah, about 1644: Hezekiah,
Febnmry, 1645-6 : Azariah. October 4. 1648, killed in
swamp fight. August 25. 1675.
(XVI) Samuel Dickinson, fifth child of Nathan
iel Dickinson 1 15 I . was born in Hatfield, Massa
chusetts. July, 1638. He was admitted a freeman
in 1690, and served in the war in 1675-6. He died
November 30, 171 1. aged seventy-three. He mar
ried, January 4. 1668. Martha Bridgeman, daughter
of James Bridgeman, of Springfield and Northamp
ton, Massachusetts. She was bora November 2.
1649. and died July l6v 1711, aged sixty-one years.
Them children were: Samuel, born Angust_i~>
1669:  . December 12. 1671 : Nathaniel, t-eb-
ruary 10. 1672: Sarah. November 5. 1675; Azariah,
February 2. 1681 ; Ebenezer. see forward; Aim,
December 17. 1683: Joseph. August 3. 1686: Han
nah. Aoril 4. 1689.
( XVII » Ebenezer Dickinson. sixth child of
Samuel Dickinson (16). was born in Hatfield, Feb
ruary 2. 1681. He settled there. He married, June
27. 1706. Hannah Fiary. He died March lev 173©-
Their children were : Editha, born August 2^. 1707 :
Elizabeth, August 2. 1709: Nathan, see forward:
Hannah. February 17. 1715: Reuben, August 2.
171": Samuel (twin;. October 14. 1718: Mary
(twin). October 14. 1718. died unmarried. 1754 -.
Ebenezer. January 5. 1724-
(XYTEO Nathan Dickinson, third child of
Ebenezer Dickinson (X'. was born in Hatfield.
May 3. 1 712. He removed from Hatfield to Am
herst, Massachusetts, an adjoining town, in 1742.
and died there August 7- 1796. aged eighty-fear.
He married (first) Thankful Warner; ("second)
Joonnex Leonard, of Springfield; (third) Judith
Hosmer. His children were: Nathan, see for
ward: Ebenezer, January 3. 1741; Irene, July 13,
1743. died March 28. 1834. aged ninety; Enos,
March 28. 1746: Azariah. March 6. 1752: EHfan.
October 14. 1753: She'ah. September an, 1755.
soldier in revolution, died April 30, 1777 : Thankful,

March 15. 175S: L^is. baptized August 5, 1759;
Asa. baptized May 10, 1761 ; Levi: Joanna, baptized
April 6, 1760. The following children were by the
second wife : Stephen, baptized July 6, 1770; Judith,
married Daniel Heath.
1 XIX > Nathan Dickinson, eldest child of Nathan
Dickinson tiSi. was bom in Hatfield. Massachu
setts. October 19, 1835. He was a soldier in the
revolution. He served in Lieutenant Noah Dickin
son's company in 1775 --¦- ™ Captain Reuben Dick
inson's company in 1777-78. He resided in Am
herst. Massachusetts, where he died at the age of
ninety. August 3. 1825. He married 1 first 1 . Janu
ary 15. 1761. Esther Fowler, who 'lied March 15.
1803. aged sixty-three. He married ( second 1 . March
10. 1S04. Jerusha Blodgett, widow, who died October
[7. i8i8. Children of Nathan and Esther (Fowler)
Dickinson, all born in Amherst, were: Timothy,
born 1761: Perez, March 26. 1763: Ezekiel, May 25.
[765: Esther. May 3. 1767: Esther. December 14.
1768: Irene, December 30. 1770: Samuel Fowler, see
forward: Anna. April 15. 1780.
(XX) Samuel Fowler Dickinson, seventh son rt
Nathan Dickinson (,19), was bora in Amherst,
Ma-sachusett-. October o, 1775. He received his
early education in that town . He fitted him-
selr for college and entered Dartmouth, from
which he was graduated in 1795. Upon com
pleting his college course he returned to his
father's home in Amherst and entered the law-
office of Judge Simeon Strong, where he studied
until he was admitted to the bar. He became
one of the ablest lawyers in western Massachusetts.
He was a natural leader of men and quite naturally
became prominent in politics. He served his district
in the general court in the house and senate for
twelve years. He was town clerk of Amherst for
many years. His pnbiic career was brilliant and he
became well known throughout the state. He was
an influential Whig leader. Perhaps his greatest
public service was the part he took as founder of
Amherst Academy and Amherst Cc liege. F:r the
college he sacrificed his property, his time and his
professional opportunities, and he was held in the
highest regard by the friends and ahmmi of ihat
institution and his memory is cherished there for
his generous and distii^uished. service to the col
lege. He was for many years the college treasurer.
He was prominent in the church as well as the state.
At the age of twenty-one he was elected deacon of
the Congregational church, to which he belonged,
and he was a church officer all his active life. In
1833 he removed from his old home in Am
herst to Cumberland. Ohio, where he maintained his
prominence as a citizen. He practiced law there, but
became interested in Lane Seminary and acted as
its steward. Later he fiBed the office of steward for
the Western Reserve University He exercised his
benevolence here repeatedly in helping deserving boy;
through college. His memory is cherished at West
ern Reserve University with the same affectionate
regard and honor as at Amherst. He helped both
institutions in the trying days Oil their early Kfe.
He died at Hudson. Ohio. April 23. 1838.
He married. March 21. 1802. Lucretia Gunrx. bom
October 3. 1775. of Montague. Massachusetts. Then-
children were: i. Edward, born January I. 1S05.
graduate of Yale College. 1833; married. May 6.
1828. Emily Norcross. daughter of Joel Norcross.
of Mouse n. Massachusetts ; he was representative
and senator in the general court of Massachusetts.
—ember 71" the governor's council, coegressman; he
died in Boston. 2. William, see forward. 3. Lu
cretia. bom December 16. 1806. married Rev. Asa
Bollard, of Cambridge. Massachusetts, where she

no

WORCESTER COUNTY

died. 4. Mary, born February 10, 1809, died in New
York city March 31, 1852; married Mark H. New
man, of New York. 5. Samuel Fowler, Jr., born
August 16, 181 1, died in Richmond, Virginia; his
.home was at Macon, Georgia ; . he married in the
south. 6. Catherine, born February 17, 1814, died in
New York city; married Artematus Sweetser, son
of Joseph Sweetser, of New York. 7. Timothy, born
March 11, 1816, died in Griffin, Georgia; married
January 10, 183S, Hannah Dickinson, daughter of
Ezekiel Dickinson. 8. Frederick, born August 13,
1818 (or August 31, 1819, Hadley History), gradu
ate of Amherst College, 1837; died in Billerica,
Massachusetts ; married, February 17, 1846, Mary
Richardson, of Billerica, leaving three sons. 9.
Elizabeth, born May 29, 1823, died in Worcester;
married Augustus N. Currier, and had three chil
dren. (XXI) William Dickinson, second chjld of Sam
uel Fowler Dickinson (20), was born in Amherst,
Massachusetts, September 7, 1804. He attended the
Amherst district schools and Amherst Academy until
fifteen years of age. His education was shaped to
fit him for a business career. He went to work first
as a clerk in a dry goods store in Boston, where he
remained several years and learned the essentials of
business. He came to Worcester and worked in
the grocery store of Mr. Butman in the old Brinley
block on the corner of Main and Elm streets. After
some time in this business he started in business
for himself in the manufacture of paper at Hard
wick, Massachusetts. After a few years he sold out'
his mill and returned to Worcester, in 1836, and was
elected cashier of the Central National Bank, then
the Central Bank, and since. 1903 part of the Worces
ter Trust Company. He filled the position of cashier
with signal ability, and after fourteen years in that
office resigned to become the treasurer of the State
Mutual Life Assurance Company. He was well
fitted for the great trust and responsibility of this
position. It proved congenial to him and he re
mained in it for nearly forty years. He held a promi
nent position in the financial life of Worcester for
many years. He was treasurer also of the Merchants'
and Farmers' Insurance Company for about forty
years. He was a director in the Quinsigamond
Bank, later the Quinsigamond National Bank.
merged in 1905 with the Worcester Trust Company.
He was also director in the Providence & Worcester
Railroad, now leased by the New York, New Ha
ven & Hartford Railroad Company.
In 1863 Mr. Dickinson began the manufacture of
paper making machinery, with others, and was inter
ested in this business for eight years. He subse
quently manufactured felt, a business in which his
son, Samuel F. Dickinson, was interested with him.
The factory was in a large block which he built on
Foster street. '
Mr. Dickinson was a man of unusual business
ability. He took advantage of his opportunities and
made a large fortune for his day. He invested
largely in real estate. He was the owner of the
Dickinson Block and many other valuable parcels
of real estate in the city and county.- He was always
interested in public affairs, especially in municipal
matters. He was originally a member of the Whig
party, but like a large majority of that party turned
to the Republican party when the Whig party was
dissolved. He was never a strong partisan, however.
He served the city for several years in the common
council and in the board of aldermen. He was nomi
nated for mayor against Charles B. Pratt, the Demo
cratic nominee, but failed of election. He was a
member of the school board for three years. He
was the donor of the bell on the Walnut street high

school and also of the fountains in front of the
school buildings. He was a director of the. Free
Public Library and member of the Worcester So
ciety of Antiquity. Although not a college graduate
he was always, like his father, a liberal supporter
of colleges and institutions of learning and pro
foundly interested in the public schools and educa
tional matters. He was appointed by Governor
Benjamin F. Butler, of whom Mr. Dickinson was a
warm admirer, on the board of trustees of the State
Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. He was an attend
ant at Union Congregational Church.
Mr. Dickinson married (first) October 31, 1831,
at Andover, Massachusetts, Eliza Hawley, of And
over, Massachusetts. He married (second) October
26, 1852, Mary Louisa Whittier, of Andover, daugh
ter bf Noah and Hannah (Hawley) Whittier, of
Andover. Mr. Whittier was a department superin
tendent of railroad bridges and road bed. He was
captain of the Andover militia company. The only
child of William and Eliza (Hawley) Dickinson
was William Hawley, born in Hardwick, October
22, '1832, deceased; married Ellen Bike, of New
York city. Children of William and Mary Louisa
(Whittier) Dickinson were: Helen Whittier, born
in Worcester, March 5, 1855, married Thomas L.
Shields, of Sewickley, Pennsylvania; they have two
children: William Dickinson, a student in Cornell
University, and Mary Whittier; Samuel Fowler,
born in Worcester, March 14, 1857, married Nellie
Goodnow, of Worcester; George Stuart, born in
Worcester, October 22, 1863, married Mabel Mar
shall, daughter of Frank Marshall, of Worcester; he
is a graduate of Yale University.
GILBERT JONES RUGG, for many years
prominently identified with the manufacturing inter
ests of the city of Worcester, and' who has served
the community usefully in various responsible posi
tions of a public nature, is a descendant of one of
the first settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts. The
immigrant ancestor and founder of his family in
America was John Rugg, who came from Somerby,
England, landing March 11, 1632. His wife was the
ill-fated Hannah Prescott, who was cruelly killed
by the Indians, September 11, 1696. She was a
daughter of John Prescott, the first settler at Lan
caster, Massachusetts. To John and Hannah (Pres
cott) Rugg were born eleven children, all of whom
settled in Lancaster and became the ancestors of
various branches of the Prescott family, now widely
dispersed throughout the United States. John Rugg
died in Lancaster, November 24, 1655. Descended
from him was Abel Rugg, who died February 14,
1843, aged ninety-two years, and whose wife,. Cath
erine Frost, died November 2, 1843, the same year
with her husband, at the age of eighty-six years.
They were the parents of Ahel Warner Rugg, born
March 17, 1797. He married Hannah Jones, and
they were the parents of eight children.
Gilbert Jones Rugg, son of Abel Warner and
Hannah (Jones) Rugg, was born in Lancaster,
Massachusetts, March 27, 1836. He was reared upon
the parental farm, and was early habituated to in
dustry, frugality and perseverance — traits which
were the strongest characteristics of the sturdy
people of that day. He received a practical educa
tion in the neighborhood schools, common and pri
vate, his school studies concluding with his seven
teenth year, when he went to Worcester to pro
cure employment and learn a trade, purposes which
he pursued with all the ardor of youth and the wise
judgment of mature years, not only laboring indus
triously to master his chosen calling, but at the same
time improving his mind through carefully chosen

WORCESTER COUNTY

in

books and intercourse with persons of broad
knowledge and wide experience. At the early age of
seventeen he became an apprentice in the machine
sHops of Willard Williams & Co., with whom he
remained after the expiration of his term of service,
eight years in all, and only leaving his employers to
accept the foremanship of the Ball & Williams man
ufactory of planers and other wood-working ma
chinery, a position for which he was eminently
¦qualified. With well established reputation for skill
as a mechanic and business qualifications of a high
order, in 1864, he entered into partnership with Luke
B. Witherby and Seneca Merrill Richardson for the
manufacture of wood-working machinery, and cre
ated an establishment which for a third of a cen
tury has been one of the conspicuous industrial insti
tutions of the city of Worcester. For thirty years
the business was conducted under the firm name of
Witherby, Rugg & Richardson. After the death of
his partners Mr. Rugg procured (in 1901) the in
corporation of the business under the title of the
Witherby, Rugg & Richardson Company, thus per
petuating the names of those with whom he had
been most pleasantly associated during a long and
peculiarly useful period. Mr. Rugg became president
of the corporation, and continued to act in .that
capacity until March 1, 1903, when he made a sale
of his stock to the Hobbs Manufacturing Company.
While giving close attention to the affairs of the
•company before referred to — watching with pains
taking care the practical operations of the works as
well as the office affairs, and keeping constantly in
touch with the manufacturing world with constantly
developing business as a result — Mr. Rugg at the
same time gave careful and intelligent interests to
ftiany concerns of a public nature, and contributive
to the advantage of the community at large. As
vice-president of the Worcester Five Cents Savings
Bank and a member of its investing committee he
rendered service of a peculiarly useful nature. In
1871 he was elected a member of the Worcester
board of aldermen, for a term of two years ;
was made a member of the common council of
1875-76; and again was elected to the board of
aldermen in 1885. In the latter period he rendered
exceptionally meritorious service on the city high
way committee, and in all his official conduct ac
quitted himself most usefully and with conscientious
devotion to the trusts committed to him. At the
election in November, 1904, he was elected a repre
sentative to the general court, and in that body
served efficiently upon the street railway committee.
Aside from official relations he has always borne
a full share in all movements contributing to the
interests of the city, whether in material, moral or
educational lines. He is affiliated wiith various
Masonic bodies — Morning Star Lodge, A. F. and
A. M.; Eureka' Chapter, R. A. M. ; Hiram Council,
R. and S. M. ; and Worcester Commanderv. K. T.
Mr. Rugg married Miss Susan M. Earle, who
died in 1896. He married (second) Celia A. Will
iams, widow of Beman A. Lovell, of Worcester.
His children were by his first marriage; 1. Florence
E, Rugg, born April 24, 1865, married Robert A.
Mason, of Worcester. 2. Clara Emily Rugg, born
August 10, 1871, died in 1896; married Charles A.
Rogers, and they had one child, Hazel R. 3.
Alice Gertrude Rugg, born November 24, 1873, mar
ried Irvin W. Howard, of a prominent Worcester
family. Mr. Rugg resides at 809 Main street, Wor
cester, where has been his home- since 1871, when
he first occupied it.
ELISHA DEWEY BUFFINGTON. Thomas
Buffington (1), said to be from Scotland, came to

America soon after 1650 probably, and settled at
Salem, where he married Sarah Southwick, Decem
ber 30, 1671. As he married the daughter of a
Quaker and the granddaughter of one, it is likely
that he led a very quiet life at Salem on his farm.
He was not in public life or in military companies,
and seems to have escaped persecution and publicity
as well. His wife, Sarah Southwick, was daugh
ter of John and Sarah Southwick. Her mother
was the widow of Samuel Tidd. The father of John
Southwick was Laivrence Southwick, of Salem.
Lawrence Southwick was a glassman, proprietor of
Salem. He was admitted a freeman September 6,
1639. His wife Cassandra was received in the
church at Salem 1639, and Elizabeth Southwick
September 1, 1650. They were Quakers. His will,
dated August 10, i659> at the house of Nathaniel
Sylvester, at Shelter Island, proved in Essex court,
November 29, 1660, mentions sons Daniel Southwick
and John Burnell; daughters, Provided Southwick
and Mary, wife of Henry Traske; Deborah and
Josiah Southwick ; Ann Potter ; Henry Traske's chil
dren — Mary, Sarah and Hannah; Samuel (born
February 19, 1858), and Sarah, children of John
Southwick, son deceased probably before 1659.
Besides Thomas Buffington there was a John
Buffington in Salem about the same time that
Thomas first appears in the records. There seems
to be no record of any descendants, nor of his re
lationship to Thomas. The name is more commonly
spelled by the descendants of Thomas Buffington
without the "g," but Mr. Buffington of Worcester
preferred this spelling. The name was found some
times in the records spelled Bovington. The Com
moners' Record recently published showed Thomas
Buffington, Sr., a landowner 1702 and as late as
1723, when, if living he must have been seventy-five
and perhaps older. Savage gives three children, but
it is probable that the third is a child of his son's.
(See Abigail, born July 25, 1695, under Thomas
Buffington (2). Thomas and Benjamin are un
questionably his sons. Joseph Buffington, whose
son Joseph married at Swansea in 1734, was prob
ably another son. Children of Thomas and- Sarah
(Southwick) Buffington: 1. Thomas, born in Salem
March 1, 1672 ; married Hannah Ross there, and had
a family in Salem, is probably the ancestor of the
Salem branch of the family, many of whom were
interested in the shipping business in Salem. His
children were: Abigail, born in Salem July 25,
1695 (Savage makes her daughter of Thomas, Sr.) ;
Hannah, born in Salem May 11, 1701, married
Eleazer Pope, who died August 2, 1734, leaving son
Stephen and others; James (?), perhaps father of
Captain Zadock Buffington, prominent in Salem
many years, incorporator of Acqueduct, 1798; Mary
(?), baptized an adult in Salem, March 31, 1728.
2. Benjamin, see forward. 3- Joseph (?), had son
Joseph who married at Swansea, Abigail, son of
Samuel and Martha Shearman, December 11, 1734.
James Buffington, who with his wife Elizabeth
joined the Congregational church at Salem, was
probably the James, son of Thomas Buffington (2)
mentioned above. His children: Betty, Mary, Han
nah and James, all baptized when their parents
were by Rev. Benjamin Prescott, at the church
now of South Danvers, July 27, 1740. They prob
ably had been Quakers until then.
(II) Benjamin Buffington, son of Thomas Buf
fington (1), born July 24, 1675, at Salem; married
Hannah  . They were Quakers, and the
records indicate that he removed soon after mar
riage about 1700 to Swansea, where the Quakers and
Baptists persecuted elsewhere lived peaceably side
by side. The family tradition states that some fifty

112

WORCESTER COUNTY

families from Salem went to Swansea and bought
titles to their lands from the Indians, as was their
custom, in addition to getting the grant from the
government. Benjamin Buffington had a deed,
which is now in possession of the family, and shows
he bought three hundred acres of land of 
Marcy, who was the only one of the settlers not a
Quaker. The homestead has been in the possession
of the Buffington family about two hundred years.
"The Buffingtons have all been Quakers down to
E. D. Buffington of Worcester,." writes a member
of the family, "and he was a thorough Quaker in
principle, although a few years before his death he
joined the Unitarian church, to which his wife
belonged." The family records indicate that Ben
jamin Buffington, the settler at Swansea, had seven
children. From the records of Salem, Savage's Dic
tionary, and the more recently published Vital
Records of Rhode Island, in which the records of
the. Friends' church at Swansea are given, partial
records of six have been discovered. The records
of William Buffington, the son from whom Elisha
D. Buffington is descended, are preserved in his old
homestead at Swansea, and have been copied for use
here. Children of Benjamin and Hannah : I. Ben
jamin, born Salem, May 9, 1699, probably died
young (Savage mentions two others' not named,
presumably born in Salem. 2. Benjamin, born April
9, 1701, died June 9, 1760, at Swansea, Massachu
setts, married Isabel, daughter of Joseph and Sarah
Chase (given in another Rhode Island record as
daughter of Eben and Mary Chase) ; she was born
July 6, 1705, at Swansea, and died June 6, 1791 ;
both buried in the Friends' yard at Swansea; their
children: Benjamin, Moses, Stephen, Elizabeth,
Hannah. 3. William, see forward. 4. Esther, born
in Swansea probably, married Stephen Chase (or
Chace), son of Joseph and Sarah, November 11,
1728. 5. Hannah, married Silas Chase, December
20, 1733. 6. Jonathan, married Sarah, daughter of
James and Martha Luther, April 12, 1735.
(Ill) William Buffington, son of Benjamin Buf
fington (2), born probably in Swansea, Massachu
setts, possibly Salem, fifth day of week, October 9,
1703; married Susanna, daughter of Samuel and
Sarah Chase, all of Swansea, July 25, 1726. Susanna
was born fifth day of week, April 7, 1704. They had
nine children born at Swansea : 1. William, born
December 20, 1726, third day of week; married
Phebe, daughter of James and Martha Luther, Feb
ruary 5, 1746-7.' 2. Elizabeth, born February 9, 1729,
first day of week, married Ezekiel Chase. 3.
Susanna, born June 9, 1731, fourth day of week,
married William Luther, June 16, 1748. 4. Sarah,
born May 1, 1735, fifth day. 5. Phebe, born May.
29> !739. first day. 6. Samuel, see forward. 7.
Hannah, born March 5, 1741, seventh day. 8.
Martha, born September 22, 1744, first day of
week. 9. Benjamin, born September 7, 1747, second
day of week; married Hannah  ; had son
William, married Mary Lawton, March 11, 1770.
(IV) Samuel Buffington, son of William Buf
fington (3), born Swansea, Massachusetts, July 26,
1740; married   , born March 13,
l739, died February 2, 1809. They settled on the
homestead at Swansea. Their children : 1. Elisha,
see forward. 2. Samuel, born about November,
1770; died February 16, 1816, aged forty-five years,
four months. 3. Susanna, born October 23, 1773,
died July 30, 1827, aged fifty-three years, nine months
and seven days. 4. Elizabeth, born 1775, died April
7, 1807. (V) Elisha Buffington, son of Samuel Buffing
ton (4), born Swansea, June 8, 1767, died April 17,
1858, aged ninety years, ten months and eleven days ;

married Sara Chase, born July 19, 1762, daughter of
John Chase, who died March 27, 1786, aged sixty-
five years, three months, and whose wife died May
19, 1805, aged seventy-eight years, three months. Sara
died December 13, 1841, aged seventy-nine years,
five months. Peace Chase, her sister, died Novem- '
ber 27, 1788, aged thirty-nine years, six months.
Jonathan Chase, her brother, died July 25, 1824,
about seventy-eight years old. Martha, her sister,
died March 15, 1826, aged seventy-two years, twelve
days. Children of Elisha and Sara (Chase) Buf
fington : 1. Susanna, born March 13, 1794, died
April 8, 1818. 2. Martha, born October 27, 1795,
married Peleg Gardner; she died April 19, 1842.
3. John, born April 16, 1798, died June 28, 1816, in
Havana, Cuba. 4. Frances, born December 10, 1800.
5. Phebe, born January 7, 1803. 6. Samuel, see for
ward. (VI) Samuel Buffington, son of Elisha Buf
fington (5), was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, on
the old homestead there October 3, 1806. He was a
man of influence and a Quaker. He carried on the
farm. He married Eliza Ann Mason, born June 7,
1810, died 1881. He died October 26, 1871. Their
children were: John H., born August 13, 1829;
Sarah E., born February 3, 1834, died July 30, 1835;
Elisha Dewey, born in Swansea, November 4, 1836;
Samuel L., born October 7, 1839, lives on the old
homestead, married Augusta Wood, and their chil
dren are : Mabel, Raymond W-. Julia S. Durand,
Elisha L., Elizabeth, Paul, Carl, all living on the old
homestead; Frank Benton, born January g, 1842,
died April 14, 1855.
(VII) Elisha Dewey Buffington, son of Samuel
(6), was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 4, 1836. He was brought up on the old Buf-«
fington homestead which has been in the family
from the time of King Philip, of whom it was bought.
Elisha Buffington when a boy attended school at
Warren, Rhode Island, in the winter, and worked
on his father's farm in the summer. At the age of
eighteen, in 1854, he went to California, by way of
the Isthmus. He stayed in California, but a short
time, and then returned by way of Lake Nicaragua.
For a short time he taught school in Lansing, Michi
gan. Afterward he walked from Michigan to
Pike's Peak and back. Although the party had a
wagon and perhaps some horses, there were always
too many sick to admit of the well ones riding. He
returned to Massachusetts and entered a druggist's
shop in Fall River, where he learned the business,
which he found congenial, and in which he was to
achieve success. He started for himself in Wor
cester in 1862, buying the drug store of William H.
Goulding, where Buffington's store is at present.
Very soon after he started, he added the manu
facture of homoeopathic remedies, and later the
wholesale department, which soon became the most
important part of the business. When the Day build
ing was burned the store was located in the Flagg
building, the next block, but was removed to the
new Day building as soon as it was completed. Soon
afterward the business was incorporated as the Buf
fington Pharmacy Company, by whom it has been
carried on since his death. The original officers of
the company were Mr. Buffington and some of his
clerks in the store.
Mr. Buffington was always an enthusiastic sports
man and traveler. In 1893 he was appointed a mem
ber of the Massachusetts State Fish and Game Com
mission, and was very active in propagating and
preserving fish and game, not only in Worcester
county but throughout the state. He was a member
of the Oquosic Angling Club, composed of enthu
siastic and regular anglers in the Rangeley Lakes.

WORCESTER COUNTY

"3

He was practically the founder of the hatchery of
the Fish Commission at Wilkinsville, and' had an
earnest desire to have Lake Quinsigamond properly
stocked with fish. He was serving his third term
on the Fish and Game Commission at the time
of his death. He had a taste for travel and means
to gratify it, made many trips abroad, and brought
hpme many artistic and interesting souvenirs, of his
travels. His house is filled with treasures that he
collected when abroad. He was a liberal contributor
to the Worcester Art Museum Corporation, of
which he was a member : and was a member of the
Society of Antiquity, the Home Market Club of
Boston, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcester
Club, and the Commonwealth Club. He was a
director of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust
Company. He attended the First Unitarian Church.
In politics he was a stanch Republican. His grand
father on his mother's side was Squire Mason, who
was a member of Governor Lincoln's staff when it
contained but three members. Mr. Buffington died
November 19, 1900, after a short illness at his home,
33 Chestnut street. He married, November 4, 1867,
Charlotte Eaton Walker, daughter of Benjamin and
Charlotte (Eaton) Walker. Her father was born in
Greenfield, Massachusetts, but lived most of his life
in Worcester. Her mother belonged to the Eaton
family, one of the best of the old Worcester fam
ilies; her grandfather was Nathaniel Eaton. Mr.
Buffington had no children.
There could be no better and more appreciative
tribute to the character of Mr. Buffington than that
sent to the editor of the Worcester Spy by Colonel
E. B. Stoddard, one of his dearest friends, who
has himself passed away since then. It was pub
lished November 20, 1900, as follows :
"He belonged distinctly to that class of men,
who, without early advantages of education, have
by their own native intelligence and energy made
their way to recognized positions of prominence and
influence in the community. Mr. Buffington began
at the bottom of the ladder, so far as worldly ad
vantages are concerned, but was not destined to stay
there. ' He was gifted with rare common sense and
quick insight, and easily took in the essential con
ditions of any situation. Success was no accident
with him. He saw the path to it, and followed it
with the necessary self-denial and persistence to
accomplish his object. Whether in the accumula
tion of property or the keeping of it by judicious
investment, his judgment was always of the sound
est. But though he thus acquired a large compe
tence, he was by no means a mere money getter.
He knew not only how to get it, but how to spend
it. He always looked upon money as a means, not
as an end. He had a large range of interests, and
was constantly engaged in making investigations into
many subjects. His knowledge of nature, of plants
and animals especially, was wide and accurate. Per
haps no man in this community had a better com
mand of everything relating to game, not only
the haunts and habits, but the game laws and usages
and the best method of propagation and protection.
He had also a genuine interest in art, not merely
of American and European art and artists, but
various forms of art in the East, where he traveled
extensively and observed intelligently. His large
collection contains not only pictures of unusual
merit and high value, but also tapestries, ceramics
and other objects of rare excellence. His taste in
this direction was fully shared and greatly assisted
by his accomplished wife. Even in his recreations,
as whist and chess, he was not content with any
superficial practice of the game, but always wanted
to go to the bottom of it and find its underlying
8

mathematical principles. Above all, Mr. Buffington
was a steadfast friend and genial companion, and
it is his cheerful, loyal and affectionate disposition
that will be longest remembered by those who knew
him best."
THEODORE P. BROWN. James Brown (1)
was the emigrant ancestor of Theodore P. Brown,
of Worcester, Massachusetts, the manufacturer of
the Simplex Piano Player. He was born in Scot
land about 1720-30. There is a tradition in the
family that he was wealthy, having with him a chest
of gold. Owing to a storm or shipwreck the gold
was lost. Besides the gold it is said he had twenty
fine linen shirts that were also lost on the journey
over. He was a tailor by trade. He married Han
nah Blanchard, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, and
their descendants have been numerous in the vicinity.
Dunstable is now Nashua, New Hampshire. The
Blanchards were among the pioneers there. Thomas
Blanchard, her emigrant ancestor, came to America
from the vicinity of Andover, England, in the ship
"Jonathan," in 1639. He settled first at Braintree.
His son George was with him. He bought of Rev.
John Wilson, February 12, 1650-1, house and land in
the south part of Maiden, Massachusetts. (Pope
says he came from Penton, Hants, England.) He
married first in England. His wife died there. He
married (second) Agenes (Bent) Barnes, widow, a
sister of John Bent. She died on the passage over.
He married (third) Mary  . He died May
21, 1654. His will is dated May 16, and was proved
June 20, 1654. He made bequests to his wife Mary ;
to children George, Thomas, Samuel, Nathaniel; to
grandson Joseph, and to the church at Maiden. He
provided that Benjamin Thompson should be fitted
for the University (Harvard) if his parents con
sent. Benjamin was son of Deacon John Blanchard.
Benjamin does not appear in the list of Harvard
graduates, however. His estate was administered
by his widow, appointed June 3, 1656.
(II) Deacon John Blanchard, son of Thomas
Blanchard, the emigrant, was one of the pioneers
at Dunstable, Massachusetts, now Nashua, New
Hampshire. He was admitted a freeman in 1649.
He was one of the founders of the Dunstable Church
in 1685. Children were : Joseph ; Thomas ; Hannah,
born January 6, . 1659; Benjamin; James; Sarah;
Mary; Nathaniel.
(Ill) Thomas Blanchard, son of Deacon John
Blanchard, and grandson of Thomas Blanchard, the
emigrant, was born about 1670 and must have been
a young child when his father went to Dunstable.
He married Tabitha  . She died November
29, 1696. He married (second) Ruth Adams, of
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, October 4, 1698. He
died March 9, 1727. In the possession of Mrs..
Charles E. Wheelock, 8 Cottage street, Worcester,.
is a deed from Thomas to his son Thomas, dated
1721, of land in Dunstable. Children of Thomas
and Tabitha Blanchard were : Abigail, born May 5,
1694; John, May 20, 1696. Children of Thomas and
Ruth (Adams) Blanchard were : Thomas (see for
ward) ; William, born 1701 ; Ruth, April 1, 1703.
(IV) Thomas Blanchard, son of Thomas Blanch
ard, and grandson of Deacon John Blanchard, of
Dunstable, was born August 12, 1699. He served
in the Indian wars and was taken prisoner in Sep
tember, 1724. He was a prominent man in Dunstable,
and held various town offices. Mrs. Wheelock has
the original tax warrant for the year 1738, for the
old town of Dunstable, issued to Thomas Blanchard
as collector of taxes. It shows the results of his
work. It contains a full list of the taxpayers of
the town. Joseph Blanchard, son of Captain Jo-

H4

WORCESTER COUNTY

seph Blanchard, who was uncle of Thomas Blanch
ard, heads the list.
Hannah Blanchard, born about 1740, daughter of
Thomas, married James Brown, the emigrant. He
died in 1778. A copy of his will, dated October 10,
1778, is owned by Mrs. Wheelock. It is a certified
copy made soon after the will was proved in the
Nashua court. It should be noted that James Brown,
of Dunstable, was a lieutenant in the battle of
Bunker Hill, according to the history of Dunstable,
and no other James Brown of the right age and de
scription is to be found.
The children of James and Hannah (Blanchard)
Brown were: John; James, settled in Waterford,
Ohio, (Mrs. Wheelock has a letter written by him
in which he mentions the death of his first wife iu
1798 and his second marriage) ; Phebe ; Hannah ;
Isaac; Daniel; Samuel; Aaron, (see forward). The
will indicates that all but Samuel and Aaron were
of age, as it specifies that the others receive their
bequests, and the two youngest receive theirs when
they become of age.
(II) Aaron Brown, son of James Brown '(1)1
was born in Dunstable or Nashua, New Hampshire,
November 17, 1773. He was a soldier in the war
of 1812. He married, September 5, 1797, Hannah
Proctor, daughter of Reuben Proctor, of Merrimac,
New Hampshire. She was born July 13, 1778. He
lived in Nashua and died April 24, 1844, in Canton,
Maine, where he removed about 1815. He was a
charter member of the Livermore Falls, Maine,
Lodge of Free Masons and was a prominent man in
the order. The children of Aaron and Hannah
(Proctor) Brown were: James (see forward);
Nancy, born at Dunstable, December 28, 1799, mar
ried Rev.  ¦ Bartlett; Larned Small, born in
Dunstable, March 18, 1801 ; John, (see forward) ;
Reuben Proctor, born in Wilton, Maine, January 28,
1805; Jefferson, born in Wilton, Maine, September
22, 1806; Arthur, born in Wilton, Maine, October 15,
1807 ; Rebecca Proctor, born in "Wilton, February 5,
1810; Abigail Bigelow, born at Jay, Maine, March
29, 1812; Susannah Carpenter, born in Jay, Maine,
July 16, 1815 ; Hiram, born February 9, 1817, at Jay,
now Canton, Maine; Orin, born October 20, 1818,
at Jay, now Canton, died in Texas; Belinda Bartlett,
born in Canton, Maine, July 1, 1821.
(Ill) James Brown, son of Aaron Brown (2),
born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, or Nashua, New
Hampshire, August 5, 1798; died April 8, 1881, at
Grafton, Maine. Married (first) Mary Thompson,
July 4, 1824. She died April 19, 1833; married
(second) Ruth Stewart, October 28, 1838; she died
February 4, 1901. The children of James and Mary
(Thompson) Brown were: James Monroe, (see
forward) ; Arthur, born September 24, 1827, died
October 15, 1857; Ira Bisbee, born April 5, 1829,
died March 12, 1831 ; Ira Bisbee, born June 10, 1831,
died July 19, 1831 ; William Thompson, born January
16, 1833, married Esther H. Swan, June 10, 1859; he
died April 28, 1861. The children of James and
Ruth (Swan) Brown were: Mary, (see forward) ;
George Miller, born August 16, 1844, married Ella
M. Briggs, March, 1864; Euthalius Irving, born
November 14, 1848, married Freda W. Small.
(Ill) John Brown, son of 'Aaron Brown (2),
born in Wilton, Maine, December 29, 1802; he mar
ried Huldah Gardner. When he was a young boy
the family removed to Livermore, Maine. He was a
house carpenter and farmer. His children were:
John Quincy, married Lucia Littlefield, resides at
Portland; Joanna Allen, married Seth L. Davis, a
farmer at Errol, New Hampshire; Hannibal Gard
ner, married Mary Parlin, resides at West Parish,
Maine; Aaron, (see forward); Bartlett Jackson,

married;. resides in Hyde Park, Massachusetts; has
been in the same house for thirty-five years; Maria
Eunice, dressmaker, Tremont street, Boston; Orin
Hutchinson, born 1838; married; was a soldier in
the civil war, prisoner in Libby for months, and
carne home and died at his brother Hannibal's, at
Patten, Maine; was in a cavalry regiment.
(IV) Aaron Brown, son of John Brown (3),
born in Livermore, Maine, July 29, 1832; died in
Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1903. He married Ella
M. Ratcliffe, born March 26, 1829. He was a cab
inet maker by trade. He became an architect and
followed his profession in Boston and various towns
in Maine and New Hampshire. He was a than of
great mechanical skill and his son Theodore evi
dently inherits some of his inventive genius from his
father. The children of Aaron and Ellen M. (Rat
cliffe) Brown were: Arabella, died in infancy;
Wendell Phillips; Theodore Parker, born at Maiden,
Massachusetts, October 2, i860.
(IV) James Monroe Brown, son of James
Brown (3), born November 15, 1825; died Septem
ber 11, 1895; married Eunice E. Frost, November
15, 1849. They were the parents of Mrs. Charles
E. Wheelock, of Worcester, Massachusetts.
(IV) Mary T. Brown, daughter of James
Brown (3), born August 22, 1839; married George
H. Otis, October 10, 1863. Their children are :
Frances Lillian, married Fred Decker, of Burling
ton, New Hampshire; Arthur Monroe; Jennie M.,
married Harvey C. Philbrook, of Bethel, Maine;
Will Howe.
(V) Theodore Parker Brown, son of Aaron
Brown (4), was born in Maiden, Massachusetts,
October 2, i860. When he was two years old the
family moved to Sterling, Massachusetts. When he
was five years old the family moved again to Lis
bon, New Hampshire, where he attended the public
schools. He came to Worcester with his parents at
the age of thirteen. He began work in the shoe
factory of Hon. Joseph H. -Walker, and remained
with him for nine years. He is known by the gen
eral public, and all over the world among dealers in
musical instruments, as the inventor and manufac
turer of the Simplex Piano Player. He began to
manufacture this instrument at 9 May street, Wor
cester, when piano players were a novelty, and
looked upon by the people generally as toys. He
developed and perfected the instrument until it
ranks first among the piano players in the opinion
of competent judges. It has won prizes at the Ex
positions. It has been a verv popular instrument.
The general recognition of the value of piano play
ers, and the very promising future for the business,
has made the Simplex Player an article of which the
citizens of Worcester take a peculiar pride on ac
count of its production here. The success of Mr.
Brown in the business world has been very gratify
ing to his friends.. He is especially popular in the
Masonic bodies to which he belongs. He is a mem
ber of Montauck Lodge; of Lawrence Chapter; of
Hiram Council and the Worcester County Com
mandery, Knights Templar; the Consistory, thirty-
second degree; the Commonwealth Club, of which
he is president, and to the Tatnuck Country Club.
He is a Republican in politics and was a member
of the city council, Worcester, in 1892, and president
of that body in 1893.
He married, January 13, 1881, Alice J. Daniels,
born April 26, 1863, daughter of Horace and Ann
M. (Inman) Daniels, of Paxton, Massachusetts. She
was educated in the public schools of Paxton and
at the Friends' school, Providence, Rhode Island.
The children of Theodore Parker and Alice J.
(Daniels) Brown were: Barbara, born May 5, 1884,

WORCESTER COUNTY

111

graduate of Worcester high school and is taking a
four years' course at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston; Marjorie, died young; Dorothy, died
young. ELDRED FAMILY. The late Frederick Augustus
Eldred, of Worcester, traced his descent from Je-
hosaphat Eldred, who came from England in 1731.
He bought of Isaac Green land at North Falmouth,
it being the fourteenth and fifteenth lots of the allot
ment, and is spoken of in history as a yeoman. His
son, Lemuel Eldred, born November 5, 1751, in Fal
mouth, died July 24, 1842, in the ninety-first year
of his age.
William Eldred, son of Lemuel Eldred, was born
Sepember 25, 1780, in Falmouth (Quisset), and re
ceived his education in the schools of that town.
He was a farmer, and it was from his farm that the
first shipment of Cape Cod cranberries was ob
tained. He was also a salt manufacturer, having on
his land salt works where he evaporated sea-water.
During the war of 1812 he served in the militia as
a member of Colonel Dimmick's regiment, and par
ticipated in the defense of Falmouth. The British
sailed into the harbor, and under cover of night
fried to land- in their smaller boats, but were re
pulsed by Captain Eldred's "company, who were con
cealed behind the sand hills along the beach. The
British finally sailed to North Falmouth, where
they burned much shipping. Captain Eldred and
others of the townspeople were joint owners of
some of these vessels, and appealed to congress for
reimbursement under the French spoliation act, but
Captain Eldred, losing his claim papers, abandoned
the case and never received his share of the in
demnity. In politics he was first a Whig and later
a Republican. He was a member of the Congrega
tional church, in which he held various offices, and
to the work of which he was sincerely and earnestly
devoted. Mr. Eldred was twice married. His first
wife was Miss Fessenden, and their children were:
1. Cornelius, born in Falmouth, as were all the
others. 2. Edwin, married Elizabeth Knowlton, of
Williamstown, Massachusetts, and had several chil
dren, among them Lucian, recently died in Wor
cester. 3. Lorenzo, married, 1845, Mercy F. Grew,
of Falmouth. 4. William Henry, lost at sea. 5.
Frederick Augustus (see forward) ; 6. Patience, mar
ried William Eldred, of another branch of the family,
and had children : Edwin, married Hannah Lovell,
of Worcester; William Henry, married Harriet Mc-
Farland, of Worcester, and has two children; Ar
thur Warren, a dentist in Worcester, and preceptor
at the Harvard Dental College of Boston; Marion
Frederica, wife of Charles Minckler, of Worcester,
and mother of two children — Ralph Eldred and
Glen Canon. 7. Elizabeth, married Robert Tobey,
of Sandwich, Massachusetts. . 8. Susan, wife of
Stephen Davis, of Falmouth ; their children : De
borah, Patience, Salome, Alom Hyde, John William,
and Robert Franklin. 9. Hannah, wife of Benjamin
Franklin Hatch. The mother of these children died,
and Mr. Eldred married, when seventy years of
age, Miss Worthington, of Boston. By this mar
riage there were no children. When about sixty
years old Mr. Eldred's mind became unsettled and
did not recover its tone for ten years, after which
his reason was undisturbed for the remainder of
his life, his death occurring Nove'mber 26, 1859, on
the homestead where he had been born and had
always lived.
Frederick Augustus Eldred, son of William
Eldred, was born in Falmouth (Quisset), and was
educated in the common schools of his native town.
When- about eighteen years old he went to New

Bedford, where he served an apprenticeship of three
years to a carriage-maker. Later he entered into
partnership with Lyman Drury, of Worcester, in
the manufacture of refrigerators, and after carry
ing on the business for several years sold his in
terest to Mr. Drury. Not long after he purchased
the hat store of Mr. Barker, on Main street, and
conducted the business for a number of years. In
1861 or '62 he associated with himself N. S. Lis-
comb, under the firm name of Eldred & Liscomb.
The connection remained unbroken until the close
of Mr. Eldred's life, after which .Mr. Liscomb con
tinued the business until a few years ago, when he
also died. Mr. Eldred was a good citizen, but al
ways avoided public life. He was a Republican in
politics, and an earnest member of the Congrega
tional church, twice serving as superintendent of the
Sunday school.
Mr. Eldred married, October 2, 1848, Mary A.,
daughter of Albert Gallitan and Mary Cunningham
(Stott) Liscomb, of Fair Haven, Massachusetts,
and sister of N. S. Liscomb, mentioned above. Mr.
Liscomb, the father, was a ropemaker of Fair Ha
ven, and during the gold era went to California,
taking with him his small stock of machinery. He
there worked very successfully at his trade for three
years, at the end bf which time he returned to Fair
Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Eldred had no children. The
death of Mr. Eldred, which occurred in 1872, de
prived the community of a good man and a worthy
citizen. HON. THEODORE C. BATES. The ancestors
of Clement Bates, who was the first to come to
the United States of America, are traceable for five
(5) generations before the Pilgrims came to New
England. Thomas Bates, of Lydd, parish of All Hallows,
county of Kent, England, who died in 1485, had a
son, 'John Bates, who died at Lydd, England, in
1522, leaving a son, Andrew Bates, who died at
Lydd, England, in 1533, leaving a son, James Bates,
who died at Lydd, England, in 1614, whose three
sons Clement, Edward and James embarked at Lon
don, England, for New England, April 6, 1635, in
the ship "Elizabeth," William Stagg, master.
Edward Bates settled at Weymouth, Massachu
setts, James at Dorchester, Massachusetts, and
Clement in Cohasset, Massachusetts. Clement
Bates brought with him in 1635 — he then being forty
years of age — his wife Anna, also aged forty, and
his five children, as follows : James, aged fourteen ;
Clement, aged twelve; Rachel, aged eight; Joseph,
aged five; Benjamin, aged two; and two servants;
and there was born to them in Massachusetts a son
Samuel, March 24, 1639. On September 18, 1635,
Clement Bates received a grant of five acres of land
on Town street — now called South street, Cohasset,
which land has been in the possession of the
original grantee and his descendants for two and a
half centuries.
Joseph Bates, born in England, 1630, married
in Hingham, Massachusetts, January. 9, 1657, Esther
Hilliard; was selectman in 1671 and later. He died
April 30, 1706. She died June 3, 1709. They had
nine children, all born in Hingham, Massachusetts :
Joseph, September 28, 1660; Esther, August 29,
1603; Caleb, March 30,. 1666; Hannah, October 31,
1668 ; Joshua, . August 14, 1671 ; Bathsheba, January
26, 1674; Clement, September 22, 1676; Ellenor,
August 25, 1679; Abigail, October 16, 1780.
(Ill) Joseph Bates, son of Joseph (2), born
September 28, 1660, married Mary, daughter of
Samuel and Martha Lincoln. He died November 3,
1714. She died March, 1752, aged ninety years.

1 16

WORCESTER COUNTY

They had six children: Mary, Joseph, Jonathan,
Rachel, Susanna and Hester.
(IV) Joseph Bates, son of Joseph (3), born in
Hingham, Massachusetts, March 6, 1687, married
Deborah, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Gill)
Clap. He died in 1750. He was a deacon in the
church. They had five children, all born in Hing
ham, Massachusetts: Joseph, May 6, 1714; Deborah,
April 2, 1716; Samuel, March 25, 1718; Jonathan,
March 27, 1720; Mary, April 10, 1723.
(V) Samuel Bates, son of Joseph (4), born
March 25, 1718,, in 1737 married Mercy Beal. He
died, aged seventy:one, in 1789. They had twelve
children, all born in Hingham: Mordecai, June 29,
1738; Hannah, March 11, 1740; Joseph, June 11,
1742; Samuel, November 15, I744J Mercy, February
15, 1747.; Adna, November 14, 1749; Mary, 1752;
Mary, February 15, 1755; Susanna, March 11, 1756;
Jonathan, May 5, 1757; Mary, April 30, 1760;
Thomas, January 12, 1763.
(VI) Samuel Bates, son of Samuel (5), born
November 15, 1744, married Martha, daughter of
Jonathan and Priscilla (Lincoln) Beal, who died in
1905. He died November 3, 1801, was drowned off
Cohassett Rocks. They had nine children, all born
at Cohassett, Massachusetts: Deborah, December 9,
1765; Eliza, January 20, 1767; Obadiah, August 20,
1769; Bela, May 10, 1772; Laban, April 3, 1774;
Sarah, January 26, 1777 : Newcomb, April 17, 1779 ; .
Samuel, January 1, 1783; Sybil, February 1, 1786.
' (VII) Obadiah Bates, son of Samuel (6), born
August 20, 1769, was a private in Captain Peter
Lothrop's company of (Cohassett) Massachusetts
militia in the war of 1812 ; he married Hannah Beal,.
of Cohassett. He died October 20, 1831, aged sixty-
two years. She died November 11, 1841, aged
seventy years. They had six children, all born at
Cohassett: Elijah, April 25, 1796; Martha, December
25, 1797; Hannah Loring, August 10, 1799; Mary,
May 5, 1802; Ann Beal, December 12, 1803; Joseph,
April 12, 1805.
Theodore C. Bates, youngest son of Elijah and
Sarah Fletcher Bates, 'is third in descent from
Obadiah, Bates, who was a private in Captain Peter
Lothrop's company, (Cohassett) Massachusetts
militia, in the war of 1812.
He is third in descent from Ensign Ebenezer
Beal, Jr., who was ensign of Captain Thomas
Jones' fourth company of Hingham militia in
Colonel Josiah Quincy's regiment, January 21, 1762.
He is fourth from Captain Ebenezer Beal, Sr.,
of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was captain of the
Hingham company in Colonel Benjamin's company
in the Third Suffolk regiment, which marched to the
relief of Fort William, August 15, 1757.
He is fifth from Lazarus Beal, of Hingham,
Massachusetts, who was a representative to the
Masaschusetts Bay Colony or general court in 1719
and 1720.
He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant Jeremiah
Beal, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was an en
sign of the Hingham Foot Company, May 11, 1681,
and a lieutenant, March 30, 1683, and a representa
tive to the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general
court in 1691, 1692 and 1701.
He is seventh in descent from Lieutenant John
Beal, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a dep
uty in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general
court from 1649 to 1659.
He is sixth from Captain Thomas Andrews, who
was captain of the Hingham company in 1690.
He is seventh in descent from Joseph Andrews,
who was a deputy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
or general court from 1636 to 1638.
He is sixth from Samuel Clapp, son of Thomas

Clapp, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a
deputy from Scituate to Plymouth from 1680 to
1686, from 1690 to 1691, from 1692 to 1696, from
1699 to-1703, 1705 to 1709 and 1714 and 1715, making
twenty years.
,He is seventh from Thomas Clapp, who was a
deputy to Plymouth court in 1649.
He is eighth in descent from Edmund Hobart,
of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a deputy in
the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general court in
1639, 1640 and 1642.
He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant James
Lewis, of Barnstable, Massachusetts, who was lieu
tenant of the ' militia company in Barnstable
(1678). He is fifth in descent from Lieutenant Benjamin
Loring, of Hull, who was ensign of the militia in
Hull from 1713 to 1715. He was a deacon in the
church. He held many town offices — town treasurer
1709, town clerk, 1717.
He is third in descent from Major Daniel
Fletcher, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was born
in Concord, Massachusetts, October 18, 1718.
He is second in descent from Captain Jonathan
Fletcher, who was born in Acton, Massachusetts,
January 21, 1757.
He is fourth in descent from Lieutenant Jonathan'
Hartwell, of Littleton, Massachusetts (1692-1778).
He is fifth in descent from John Hartwell, of
Concord, Massachusetts, who was a soldier in Cap
tain Thomas Wheeler's company at the Indian am
buscade and siege of Brookfield, August, 1675, in
King Philip's war.
He is sixth in descent from William Hartwell,
of Concord, Massachusetts, who was a corporal of
Concord company and quartermaster of Captain
Thomas Wheeler's company, October 15, 1673.
He is fifth in descent from Cornet Samuel
Fletcher, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was bugler
in Concord company, and in Captain Thomas
Wheeler's company in 1675, and was with Captain
Thomas Wheeler's company at the Indian attack in
Brookfield, Massachusetts.
He is fifth in descent from Ensign Thomas
Wheeler, Jr., of Concord, Massachusetts, son of
Captain Thomas Wheeler, and ensign of the , Con
cord company, which was commanded by his father,
Captain Thomas Wheeler, in King Philip's war at
Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1675. At the time of
this battle or Indian ambuscade and siege, Captain
Thomas Wheeler was severely wounded and his
horse killed, whereupon Ensign Wheeler, his son,
placed his father on his own horse, and took his
father out of danger, and in doing so was twice
severely wounded in the attempt to rescue his father
from the perilous position and pursuit by the In
dians, during the retreat of the ambuscade, in which
so many of Captain .Thomas Wheeler's men were
killed and wounded; he kept close beside his father
until he caught a horse, whose rider had been killed
by the Indians ; he then, with Captain Thomas
Wheeler, and the few soldiers who were escaping
and being closely pursued by the Indians, was by the
aid of two friendly Indians, brought back by a cir-
' cuitous route, unknown to the soldiers, to the forti
fied house at Brookfield, arriving there just before
the several hundred savages came and laid siege
to the fortified house so fiercely and destroyed and
burnt the houses of the town.
He is sixth in descent from Captain Thomas
Wheeler, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was in
command of the Colonial soldiers and the inhabi
tants when attacked by the Indians at Brookfield,
when the town was destroyed and so many of its
inhabitants killed in 1675. The narrative of Captain

WORCESTER COUNTY

117

Thomas Wheeler regarding the attack on Brook
field by the Indians in August, 1675, is one of the
most interesting of official records of the state
archives of 'the hardships endured by the early set
tlers of Massachusetts and in King Philip's war.
He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant Simon
Davis, of Concord, .Massachusetts, who served under
Captain Thomas Wheeler at the Brookfield ambus
cade and siege August, 1675, in King Philip's war,
and who, after Captain Wheeler's wounds became so
serious, was one of those who was by Captain
Wheeler placed in command of the soldiers at
Brookfield in the fortified house.
There were five ancestors of Theodore C. Bates
with Captain Thomas Wheeler at the ambuscade by
the Indians and the siege of the fortified house, or
fort, at Brookfield, Massachusetts, August 5, 1675,
namely :
Captain Thomas Wheeler, Ensign Thomas
Wheeler, Jr., Lieutenant Simon Davis, Cornet Sam
uel Fletcher, John Hartwell.
(VIII) Elijah Bates, son of Obadiah Bates (7),
born April 25, 1796, married Sarah Fletcher, young
est daughter of Jonathan and Lucretia Emerson
Fletcher. Sarah Fletcjier was born in Boston, Mas
sachusetts, May 3, 1799, and died in Worcester, Mas
sachusetts, September 28, 1890. Jonathan Fletcher,
her father, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 21, 1758, and died in Boston, January 16, 1807.
Lucretia Emerson, wife of Captain Jonathan
Fletcher, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, August
4, 1764. She married Jonathan Fletcher, May 20,
1782. Lucretia Emerson Fletcher died in Thomaston,
Maine, July 7, 1800. They had four children:
Francis, Susan, Lucretia, and Sarah.
Elijah Bates was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts,
April 25, 1796, died in North Brookfield, Massa
chusetts, September 6, 1863. He was a furniture
manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts, where he
gave seven years to learn his trade. He moved with
his wife and only child to North Brookfield, Mas
sachusetts, in 1820. Then Brookfield was the largest
town between Boston and Springfield, on the Con
necticut river. He was the first of his name in the
town. For many years, in addition to manufacturing
furniture, he did an extensive business manufac
turing large wooden boxes for shipping boots and
shoes, for several large boot and shoe manufacturers
in North Brookfield and the adjoining towns. He
was a successful business man and although he was
unfortunate in meeting several heavy losses by fire,
having no insurance on. his property destroyed, no
man ever lost a dollar by dealing with him. He held
many different town offices, having been selectman
and assessor for many years. He took a deep in
terest iii the old "Liberty Party" and the Anti-Slav
ery agitation; and when the war of the rebellion
came, he encouraged his sons to offer their services
for the Union cause, and one of them, Thomas,
was the first person to enlist from North Brookfield.
THE FLETCHER FAMILY. "The Fletchers
are supposed to be of Norman descent, and to have
come over with William the Conquerer, as there
was a family of their name in the Southern part
of Normandy," so says Bentham in his "Baronetage
of England." The family name of Fletcher has
always been an honorable one in England, and there
are three Fletchers holding Baronetcies, and many
others have high offices in the army and navy, and
also in civil life.
The first of that name known to have come to
this country was Robert Fletcher, who was born in
Oxford, England, in 1592, as shown by the records
of his death found in the town records of Concord,

Massachusetts. He settled in Concord, Massachu
setts, in 1630, being thirty-eight years of age when
he came to America. He brought with him his
wife and two sons, named Luke and William, and
a daughter named Carey, also a brother William,
who afterward settled in Middletown,' Connecticut.
Robert Fletcher was a wealthy and influential man.
He died in Concord, Massachusetts, April 3,' 1677,
aged eighty-five years. He had five children : Luke,
William, Carey, Samuel and Francis.
Francis Fletcher, the fifth child of Robert
Fletcher, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in
1636, and married, August I, 1656, Elizabeth, daugh
ter of George and Catharine Wheeler. He re
mained with his father in Concord, and became,
like his two older brothers who settled in the
adjoining towns, a great land owner. He was re
ported "in full communion with ye Church" in
Concord in 1677, and was admitted a freeman the
same year. His wife Elizabeth died June 14, 1704.
They had eight children, viz :- Samuel, Joseph, Eliza
beth, John, Sarah, Hezekiah, Hannah and Benja
min. Samuel Fletcher, oldest' son of Francis Fletcher,
was born August 6, 1657, and married Elizabeth '
Wheeler, April 15, 1682. He was a selectman of
Concord many years, and town clerk from 1705
to 1713. He died October 23, 1744, and his wife
lived but three days after his death. They had
eleven children, all born in Concord, Massachusetts,
viz: Samuel (who died young), Joseph, Elizabeth,
Sarah, John, Hannah, Ruth, Rebecca, Samuel, Ben
jamin and Timothy.
Joseph Fletcher, second son of Samuel Fletcher,
was bom in Concord, Massachusetts, March 26,
1686. He married fQr his first wife, Elizabeth
Carter, December 20, 1704, and married, as his
second wife, Hepzibah Jones, July n, 1711. He
was made a deacon of the church in Acton, Massa
chusetts, in 1738, and was a member of the com
mittee to apportion the land to be set off from Con
cord as "Concord Village" in 1723, afterwards
called Acton in 1736. He died September 11, 1746.
He lived on the site where his grandfather, Robert
Fletcher, first settled. By his first wife he had
three children : Lucy, Abigail and Lydia. By his
second wife he had five children : Lucy, Elizabeth,
Daniel, Charles, Elijah and Ruth.
Daniel Fletcher, fifth child and first son of Dea
con Joseph Fletcher, was born in Concord, Massa
chusetts, October 18, 1718. He was a lieutenant in
Captain David Melvin's company from March to
September, 1747, and was stationed at Northfield.
He was captain of a company in 1755 in His Ma
jesty's service, coming from Acton, Massachusetts,
and served from September 10 to December 30,
1755, fifteen weeks and six days, as signed by
Daniel Fletcher, Boston, Massachusetts, March 4,
1756! (See Vol. 94, p. 70, on Muster Roll of the
Company in State Archives at Boston, Mass.)
In Vol. 95, p. 320, "The Alarm List," whereof
Samuel Davies was captain, Daniel Fletcher's name
appears also as captain. This list included those ,
who were held in reserve, such as clergymen, dea
cons in the church, etc., 1757. Again, in the Massa- .
chusetts Archives, Vol. 136, ¦ p. 504, is an account
for billetting soldiers on their return from Lake
George in 1758. On March 133, 1758, Daniel
Fletcher enlisted in Colonel Ebenezer Nichols' regi
ment in the Canada Expedition, in which expedi
tion he was wounded and taken prisoner. He en
listed at that time from March 13 to November
28. 1758- as appears in Vol. 06, pp. 416 and 418,
upon a Muster Roll of a Company of Foot in His
Majesty's service in the French war, under the

n8

WORCESTER COUNTY

command of Captain Daniel Fletcher, in a regi
ment raised by the Province of Massachusetts Bay
for the reduction of Canada, under Colonel Eben
ezer Nichols. In Vol. 98, pp. 157 and 158, upon
the Muster Roll of a Company in His Majesty's
service, under the command of Captain Daniel
Fletcher, it appears that he rendered service in the
capacity of captain from November 2, 1759, to Au
gust 1, 1760. In Vol. 98, p. 452, upon a Muster Roll
of Officers and Men in Captain Daniel Fletcher's
company, in Colonel Frye's regiment, in the service
of the Province of Nova Scotia, he served as cap
tain from January 1, 1760, to the time of their dis
charge, August 1, of the same year. In 1768, Cap
tain Daniel Fletcher was a member of the Honour
able House of Representatives of His Majesty's
Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England,
begun and held at Boston, county of Suffolk, on
Wednesday, the 25th day of May, Anno Domini,
1768. (See the Journal of Massachusetts Bay, May,
1768, to April, 1770, No. 16, p. 4, Captain Daniel ,
Fletcher acting member.) In 1772 Captain Daniel
Fletcher was appointed on a committee of public
affairs. On June 26, 1776, under Field Officers of
the Regiment raising for Quebec, New York and
Ticonderoga, John Cummings, Esq. was elected
brigadier-general of the forces destined to Canada.
(See Vol. 26, p. 277.) On June 5, of the same year,
James Brickett, Esq., was elected in the room of
John Cummings, who declined to be colonel of the
regiment to be raised in Middlesex county. Jonathan
Reed, colonel, Benjamin Brown, lieutenant-colonel,
Daniel Fletcher, major. (See Brooks' Militia Of
ficers, 6-months Men, Continental Balances, Vol. 28,
p. 28, red mark, and p. 72.) (See also Vol. 26, p.
277, Roll and Abstract of the^File, and Staff Officers
as proposed in the Spring of 1776, Col. Reed's Regi
ment, in the Northern Army in the Service of the
United States of America; Jonathan Reed to be
Colonel, from Littleton, Mass.; Benjamin -Brown
to be Lieutenant-Colonel, from Reading, Mass. ;
Daniel Fletcher to be Major, from Littleton, Mass. ;
William Emerson to be Chaplain, from Concord,
Mass.; John Porter to be Adjutant, from Littleton,
Mass. : Edmund Monroe to be Quartermaster, from
Lexington, Mass. ; David Taylor to be Sergeant,
from Charlestown, Mass. ; Ezekiel Brown to be Ser
geant's Mate, from Concord, Mass.) At the same
time, his son, Jonathan Fletcher, was in the revolu
tionary war as a private in Captain Samuel Reed's
company of Minute Men, in Colonel William Pres
ent's regiment, as is demonstrated by the fact
that the name of Jonathan Fletcher is on file of the
Revolutionary Rolls of Massachusetts among the
names "For the Muster Roll of Captain Samuel
Reed's Company of Minute Men, in Colonel Wil
liam Prescott's Regiment, who, on and after the
19th day of April last (1775), did march in eon-
sequence of the Alarm on that .day ;" dated at "Lit
tleton, February 19, 1776." (See Vol. 56 Coat Rolls.)
He served as a Minute Man at the Lexington Alarm
six days, from April 19 to 24, 1775.
Major Daniel Fletcher was elected by the Massa
chusetts assembly, June 26, 1776, or after the revo
lutionary war had commenced, as a major in the
Third battalion, destined to Canada. (See Vol. 26,
p. 277, Revolutionary Rolls at State House.)
Major Daniel Fletcher died in Acton, Massa
chusetts, December 15, 1776, in the fifty-ninth year
of his age, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery
at Acton, about one mile east from the center of
the town.
Major Daniel Fletcher, first son of Deacon
Joseph Fletcher, was born in Concord, Massachu-
sets, October 18, 1718. He married Sarah Hart

well, of Westford, Massachusetts, the intention of
marriage having been entered November 12, 1741.
They had nine children, all born in Acton, Massa
chusetts: Daniel, Charles (who died young), Peter,
Sarah, Ruth, Joseph, Charles, Jonathan and Betsey.
Jonathan Fletcher, eighth child and sixth son of
Major Daniel and Sarah Hartwell Fletcher, was
born in Acton, Massachusetts, January 21, 1757.
Major Daniel Fletcher, father of Captain Jonathan
Fletcher, was connected with the Revolutionary war
very early in the struggle, of which fact there is
abundant evidence. Jonathan Fletcher enlisted April
24, 1775, in Captain Abijah Wyman's company,
Colonel William Prescott's regiment, as from Lit
tleton, although his father, Major Daniel Fletcher,
was a citizen of Acton. (See Vol. 16, p. 76, Massa
chusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) He was in the battle
of Bunker Hill', in which battle Colonel. Prescott's
regiment suffered such severe loss of life. He
served eight months or more in the revolutionary
army at the siege of Boston under General Wash
ington. (See Vol. 56, Coat Rolls, p. 66, October 3,
1775, also Vol: 16, p. 76.) Vol. 57 contains Jona
than Fletcher's autograph. Under figure seven of
indexes of that volume, in Captain Abijah Wyman's
company, is the receipt of Jbnathan Fletcher for
supplies, dated November 14, 1775. On January
15; 1776, his name appears on the roll of Captain
David Wheeler's company, in Colonel Nixon's regi
ment, as a fifer from Acton, Massachusetts. (See
Vol. 24, p. 72, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.)
In 1777 he was a, private in Captain George Minot's
company. Colonel Samuel Bullard's regiment. (See
Vol. 21, p. 79, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.)
Jonathan Fletcher is recorded as a lieutenant, Feb
ruary 27, 1778, and was on the pay roll of Captain
Jacob Haskin's company, Colonel John Jacob's regi
ment. (See Vol. 2, p. 83, Massachusetts Revolu
tionary Rolls.) How much before that time he was
commissioned as a lieutenant, we are' unable to find
by the records. From the pay rolls, it is th6ught
it must have been nearly or quite a year. He served
five months and twenty days from February 27,
1778, as a lieutenant in this company. (See Vol.
2, p. 83, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) (Vol.
46, p. 162, shows Lieutenant Jonathan Fletcher's ac
counts from December 1, 1778 to January 1, 1779.)
He was in continuous service as a lieutenant, until
we find that he had been commissioned as captain
in the Ninth Company of the Seventh Regiment, on
July 27, 1780. (See Vol. 28, p. 66, Massachusetts
Revolutionary Rolls.)
On November 1, 1781, the town of Fitchburg
was required to pay certain soldiers who had not
been paid for service, among them was Captain
Jonathan Fletcher, who received from the selectmen
of Fitchburg, one hundred and five pounds and mile
age for seventy-five miles to each of his men, by
order of the general court. The soldiers constitut
ing his company came from the towns of Lexing
ton, Acton, Westmirister and Fitchburg. (See Vol.
33, P-. 535, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) He
remained as Captain until the close of the war, so
that from the time he was commissioned as lieu
tenant, made him in continuous service as lieuten
ant or captain nearly or quite six years, and as pri
vate or officer from the very commencement of the,
revolutionary war, April 19, 1775 (being then but
eighteen years of age), in the battle of Lexington
to its final termination in 1783. Captain Jonathan
Fletcher had a very elegant sword presented to him
bv the soldiers of his company at the close of the
war, which sword was destroyed at the time the
Bates family residence at North Brookfield was
burned in 1844. There was also destroyed at that

WORCESTER .COUNTY

ng

time a large family Bible, prepared by Captain Jona
than Fletcher, and containing a perfect and full
record of the Fletcher family, extending back
through many generations and branches.
Captain Jonathan Fletcher was a warm personal
friend of Paul Revere and also of General Henry
Knox. After the close of the war General Knox
became a very large owner of real estate in St.
George's, Maine, and went there to live in 1795,
afterwards removing to Thomaston, Maine, where
he died on October 25, 1806. Captain Jonathan
Fletcher accompanied General Knox to Maine and
remained there, near or with him, for several years,
until the death of his wife, Lucretia Emerson
, Fletcher, who died in Thomaston, July 7, 1800.
Captain Jonathan Fletcher went to Boston, Massa
chusetts, and died there January 16, 1807, and was
buried in Copp's Hill burial grounds, near the Old
North Church, with Masonic honors. He was a
member of Saint Andrew's Lodge, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, of Boston, Massachusetts.
Thus it is clearly shown that both Major Daniel
Fletcher and his son, Captain Jonathan Fletcher,
were very patriotic soldiers in the colonial and revo
lutionary wars, especially is this true of Jonathan,
who at the early age of sixteen years entered the ser
vice as a private in the minute men of 1775, and
who merited and received several promotions, and
remained in the revolutionary army until the close
of the war, during six years of which he served as
a commissioned officer, the first three being as a
lieutenant, the last three as a captain.
Captain Jonathan Fletcher, son of Major Daniel
and Sarah Hartwell Fletcher, was born in Acton,
Massachusetts, January 21, 1757. He was married
on May 20, 1782, in Acton, to Lucretia Emerson.
She was born in Acton, August 4, 1764, and died in
Thomaston, Maine, July 7, 1800. Captain Jonathan
Fletcher died in Boston, Massachusetts, January 16,
1807. Sarah Fletcher, fourth and youngest daughter
of Captain Jonathan and Lucretia Emerson Fletcher,
was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 3, 1799. She
was married on August 2, 1818, in Boston, Massa
chusetts, to Elijah Bates, born in Cohasset, Massa
chusetts, April- 25, 1796. They were married by
the Rev. John Murray, of Boston. Elijah Bates
died in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, September
6, 1863. Sarah Fletcher died in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, September 28, 1890.
BERRY FAMILY. Joseph Berry (1), ancestor
of Russell Woodward Berry, late of Worcester,
Massachusetts, was born before 1700. While the
record of his birth has not been found, it is believed
that he came from a Boston family. Ambrose Berry
and wife Hannah were living in Boston from 1686
and probably earlier, and in 1697 and probably later.
They had a son Joseph, born July 11, 1693; died July
24. 1693, and there are reasons for believing that
Joseph Berry (1), may be a son born after they
left Boston. Ambrose Berry was at Saco, Maine,
in 1636, perhaps the father of Ambrose Berry, of
Boston, and died May 3, 1661.
Other members of the Berry family, of Boston,
were Thomas and Grace Berry, who had a son John,
born March 3, 1664, and a daughter Grace born
June 1, 1669. Thaddeus and Hannah Berry had:
1. Elizabeth, born December 2, 1665 ; married Joseph
Townsend. 2. Samuel, June 20, 1667. 3. Han
nah, August 12, 1668. 4. Thomas, September
20, 1670. Thomas and Margaret Berry, of
Boston, had Margaret, June 26, 1692, and Thomas,
March 19, 1694. Oliver and Gartright Berry, of

Boston, had Sarah, born January 28, 1678; Abigail,
May 10, 1688 ; Oliver, February 26, 1693 ; John, Feb
ruary 4, 1696. To some of these families it seems
certain that Joseph Berry belonged, and it is believed
that all of them were related closely.
Joseph Berry settled in Framingham, Massa
chusetts, and married there Thankful Shears, Jan
uary 27, 1719-20. She was the daughter of John
Shears, of Framingham.
John Shears (3), son of Samuel Shears (2), was
born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, 1666, and went
to Framingham, Massachusetts, to settle. His farm
was on Doeskin Hill where he was living in 1693.
He was a town officer in 1724. He married, April
9, 1688, Alice Mitchleson, of Cambridge, Massa
chusetts. Their children were : 1. Thomas, born
January 9, 1/08. 2. Thankful, married January 17,
I719-20, Joseph Berry, before mentioned.
Samuel Shears (2), son of Jeremiah Shears (1),
was born in 1627, in England, and probably came to
Dedham, Massachusetts, with his father. He mar
ried Mary  and settled in Wrentham, which
was originally part of Dedham, Massachusetts. He
died in 1691, aged sixty-four years. His wife died
April 26, 1704. Their children were : 1. Mary, born
1664. 2. John, 1666-; before mentioned. 3. Mehitable,
February 1, 1668. 4. Solomon, February 20, 1669;
died at the age of nineteen years. 5. Grace, Febru
ary 29, 1672. 6. Judith, July 17, 1675.
Jeremiah Shears (1), was an emigrant and pio
neer of Dedham, Massachusetts. He was probably
from Yorkshire in England. He married (probably
for his second wife) Susanna Green, widow of Nich
olas Green. He died in 1664. It is presumed that he
was the father of the preceding, though little is
known of him.
Joseph Berry married (second) Hepzibah Ben
jamin. He owned the farm later owned by Ezekiel
Howe, whose father bought it of Berry. His widow
administered his estate in 1757. Children of Joseph
and Thankful (Shears) Berry were: 1. Alice, born
1721 ; baptised June 18, 1721, at Framingham. 2.
Abijah, baptised July 14, 1723; died young. 3.
Shears, (see forward). 4. Thomas, March 16,
1726-7; was in Sudbury 1760. 5. Benjamin, April
!4, !733» settled in Framingham; fought in the
Concord fight, April 19, 1775; died at Oakham,
Massachusetts, March 1, 1800. 6. Thankful, Octo
ber 14, 1735; married General John Nixon, Febru
ary 7, 1754, one of the most prominent officers of
Central Massachusetts in the revolution; his fam
ily came from New York and the South. 7. Mary,
May 29, 1737; married Amos Parmenter. 8. Abijah,
December 5, 1738; died, unmarried, at Marlboro
about 1810. 9. Lydia, April 5, 1739; married Joel
Newton, June 3, 1862, in Southboro. (One 'of the
two latter dates of birth is obviously erroneous, but
is according to record. — Ed.)
(II) Shears Berry, third child of Joseph Berry
(1), the preceding, born in Framingham, Massa
chusetts, December 25, 1725; married June 15, 1750,
Esther Woodward, of Holden. He settled in the
West Wing of Rutland about the time of his mar
riage, and his children were born there. In 1766
he bought a farm of Samuel Gordon at Oakham,
and removed to that town. He and his .son Joseph
were associated in the ownership of considerable
land in the vicinity. He was a soldier in the revo
lution. He was in Captain Barnabas Shears' com
pany in 1776, and in the Continental army, in Colo
nel Converse's regiment, in 1777. He enlisted for
three years in 1777 in Captain Wheeler's company,
Colonel Nixon's' regiment. He was also a private in
Captain Abel Holden's company, same regiment, and

120

WORCESTER COUNTY

was at Peekskill in 1779, in Captain Timothy Paige's
company, Colonel John Rand's regiment, and in 1780
was at West Point with his company.
After the revolution it seems that Shears and
Joseph Berry left Oakham and settled in Salem,
New York, as stated in a deed dated March 24, 1788,
and recorded in 1797, in which land in Oakham is
deeded to them by John Powers, of Oakham. They
also bought land in common from George Caswell,
February 4, 1789, when they were both living in
Oakham. About 1797 the family moved to Ver
mont, where Shears probably died. Some of them
located at Guildhall, Vermont. Children of Shears
or Sheers (as the records have it) Berry were : 1.
Eunice, born in Rutland, June 22, 1751. 2. Joseph,
born in Rutland, December 29, 1752^ 3. EpHraim,
born in Rutland, November 25, 1754. 4. Esther,
born in Rutland, December 5, 1757; married Elias
Marsh, August I, 1776. 5. Lydia, born at Rutland,
September 9, 1760; married at Oakham (intentions
August 23) 1789. 6. John, born at Oakham, April
4, 1772. .7. Woodward (see forward). 8. Benjamin,
baptised August 17, 1777, at Rutland.
(Ill) Captain Woodward Berry, seventh child
of Shears Berry (2), born in Oakham, September
2, 1774; baptised October 1, 1775. He married
Nancy. The family removed to Vermont and
resided at Guildhall, where most of the children were
born. He was captain in the militia and served, it
is said, in the war of 1812.
Joseph Berry, brother of Captain Woodward
Berry, was also a very prominent man, a lawyer, in
1799 one of the seven founders of the Guildhall
Church; chief judge of the court in 1822; in the
governor's council in 1819-20-21-22-23-24; state's
attorney in 181 1-12-15-16-17- 18-21-23-24; representa
tive to the state legislature of Vermont in 1816; re
moved to Newbury, Vermont, thence to Iowa, where
he died; his wife was Sarah. Perhaps Woodward
Berry went West also. The date of his death and
place are not known. His wife returned with the
family to her old home in Oakham, Massachusetts,
about 1830. She lived to an advanced age and died
in the eighties, in Worcester, at the home of her
son Russell Woodward Berry, Chatham street.
Children of Captain Woodward and Nancy Berry
were: 1. Joseph Austin, born in Oakham, July 7,
1807; died young (probably the Joseph who died
January 7, 1839, at Oakham, though his age is given
wrongly as twenty-two instead of thirty-two). 2.
Sarah, born in Vermont, 181 1; died December 28,
1839, at Oakham. 3. Sophronia, born in Vermont
about 1812; died October 19, 1842; married Captain
Russell Ripley, December 13, 1832, at Oakham.
Captain Ripley was the son of Lieutenant Zenas and
Sarah Ripley, and was born at Oakham, February
22, 1804. 4. Russell Woodward, (see forward). 5.
Deacon Zebina E., (see forward). 6. Isaac; settled
in Vermont ; married Emily Copeland and had two
children : Hortense, who married James W. Rand,
of Weymouth, Massachusetts, and had children;
Nancy, who married David G. Tapley, of Worcester,
and they have two children : Walter, married, liv
ing in Washington, District of Columbia, and Ella,
married  Robinson, and resides with her
parents at no Austin street.
(IV) Russell Woodward Barry (Berry), son
of Captain Woodward Berry, born in Guildhall,
Vermont, died in Worcester- in 1891. He went
to school in Vermont. When a young boy he re
turned with his mother to Oakham, Massachusetts,
but soon afterward came to Worcester to learn his
trade. He had little . schooling, but having a taste
for books, managed to acquire a good education.
He learned the carpenter's trade and followed it all

his life in Worcester. He built his own house at
42 Chatham street, where his widow now resides.
During his active life he worked for the leading con
tractors and helped construct many of the important
buildings that rank among the landmarks of Wor
cester. Mr. Berry was a good citizen, modest, quiet and
domestic in his tastes, belonging to no secret orders.
He was for many years a member of the Worcester
County Mechanics Association. In poltics he was a
Republican, but never cared for public office. He
attended the Congregational church. He married
October 5, 1843, Harriet Gage, daughter of Eben and
Sally (Stone) Gage, of Leicester, Massachusetts.
Eben Gage was a farmer. He lived for a time also
at Orford, New Hampshire. He was colonel of a
regiment of New Hampshire militia. No children
were born to Russell Woodward Berry.
(IV) Deacon Zebina E. Berry, son of Captain
Woodward Berry (3), was born in Guildhall, Ver
mont. He was educated there and worked on
the farm of his father there until 1831, when he re
turned with the family to Massachusetts, and went
to work in Worcester. He was then twenty-five
years of age. He was employed first by Carter &
Tobey, builders, and helped to build the first part
of the old Lunatic Asylum on Summer street, and
worked on other large structures built at that time.
He retained the spelling, Berry, while his brother
Russell preferred Barry. At the time of his death
he was one of the oldest and best known carpenters
and builders in Worcester. He died in 1889, at the
home of his daughter Mrs. Alonzo W. Cole, 12 May-
wood street. He was very active in church work.
Soon after coming to Worcester he joined the First
Baptist Church, and was one of forty baptized No
vember, 1831, in Fox's Pond near Green street, and
in 1836 he was elected deacon. He served until
1848. In his later years he was a member of the
South Baptist Church because of his residence in
that section of the city.
He married (first) November 3, 1836, Lucretia
H. Culver, daughter of Joshua and Susan (Teed)
Culver, of Somers, New York; married (second)
a sister of his first wife, Susan Augusta Culver,
September 4, 1849. Children of Deacon Zebina E.
and Lucretia H. (Culver) Berry were: 1. Susan
Augusta, September 16, 1838; deceased. 2. Sarah
Louisa, July 22, 1840; deceased. 3. Ella Lucretia,
(see forward). 4. Susan Culver, January 9, 1846;
married Charles Amidon, of Worcester.
(V) Ella Lucretia Berry, third child of Deacon
Zebina E. Berry (4), born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, March 6, 1843; married August 6, 1867,
Alonzo W. Cole, a native of Orleans, Massachusetts.
They reside on Maywood street, Worcester. They
have one child, Arthur Williams Cole, born Feb
ruary 17, 1875; married January 23, 1903, Emma
Louise Taylor, daughter of Robert C. Taylor,
formerly of Webster, Massachusetts. (See sketch
of Alonzo W. Cole and the Cole Family in this
work.) THE KNOWLES FAMILY, as represented in
Worcester county, is from Eastham, (the Nauset
of the aborigines), Barnstable county, that portion
of Massachusetts known as Cape Cod, where for
more than a hundred and fifty years the ancestors
of L. J. and F. B. Knowles lived, and were known
as exemplary, wise and industrious farmers.
Richard Knowles who had lived in Plymouth and
there married Ruth Bower, August 15, 1639, was at
Eastham as early as 1653, according to Freeman,
the trustworthy historian of Cape Cod. (Vol. II,
P- 393, noted.) At least three of his children were

WORCESTER COUNTY

121

born in the former town : Mercy, married Ephraim
Doane, February 5, 1668; John; Samuel, born Sep
tember 17, 1651. It would appear that Mehitable,
born in 1655, and Barbara, born September 28, 1656,
were born in Eastham. Samuel married, Decem
ber, 1679, Mercy Freeman, and Barbara, June 13,
1677, married Thomas Mayo. The complete
genealogy of the Knowles family would reveal mar
riages with all the names early represented in East
ham, so that it was nearly or remotely related with
all the dwellers in that township.
John Knowles, son of Richard, married, Decem
ber 28, 1670, Apphia, daughter of Edward Bangs,
one of the first comers and a very important man in
the community. Apphia and her twin sister Mercy,
born October 15, 1651, were married on the same
day, the latter to Stephen Herrick. John Knowles
was one of nineteen men Eastham furnished for the
King Philip war, and was one of the slain, as ap
pears in the action of the colony government in pro
viding for his widow. Freeman (vol. I, p. 280) says,
"and provision was especially fhade for Apphia,
widow of John Knowles, of Eastham, lately slain in
the service." From a note at the foot of p. 366,
vol. II, the conclusion is drawn that he was killed
near Taunton, June 3d, 1675 (i. e. 3d day, 4th
month, O. S.). John and Apphia Knowles had
three children : Edward, November 7, 1671 ; John,
July 10, 1673; Deborah, March 2, 1675. When the
father died no one of his children was old enough to
appreciate their deprivation. Edward, older son,
married (first) Ann Ridley, and (second) the widow
Sarah Mayo, and was the father of six children.
He was known in town annals as Deacon Knowles,
arid died November 16, 1740. The widow of John
Knowles later married Joseph Atwood, and the ap
pearance of a Bangs Atwood in a later generation
of the Atwoods would indicate that she bore chil
dren by her second husband. The son John, of the
third generation in the Knowles family, married
Mary  , of whom no record is found. In an
old burial burial ground of Eastham, near the
shores of the town cove, the bodies of the brothers
are buried. Quite likely many more of the family
lie there also, but if so their memorials long ago
disappeared. Side by side are two ancient slates,
each having the winged skull, that of the wife with
the traditional crossed bones, and inscriptions as
follows : "Here Lyes Buried the Body of Mrs. Mary
Knowles, wife of Colnl John Knowles. Died
Nov. ye 7th, 1745, in the 73d Year of Her age;"
"Here lies buried the body of Colnl John Knowles
who departed this life Nov. 3d, 1757, in the 85th
Year of His Age." When he bore the title of
captain, John Knowles was a member of general
court. Very likely his military appellations came
from 1 service in the militia. Colonel John and Mary
Knowles had: Joshua, born 1696; John, 1698; Seth,
1706; Paul, 1702; James, 1704; Jesse, 1707; Mary,
1709. Joshua, eldest child of Colonel John and Mary
Knowles, apparently followed the vocaton of his
father, farming, with possibly an occasional venture
at fishing. The metes and boundaries of the town
assignments of land to the successive generations
of the family indicate nearness to the center of the
town of Eastham, and the burial of their dead in
the cemeteries near that part bears out the sup
position. Joshua Knowles was married to Sarah
Paine, March 13, 1717-18, by Nathaniel Freeman,
Esq. She was born April 14, 1699, daughter of John
and Bennet Paine, another of the oldest families
in the township, one that later gave a signer of the
Declaration . of Independence to the country. The
wife died July 12, 1772, and the husband, May 27,

1786. Their children were : Jesse, born April 13,
1723; Rebecca, May 23, 1726; Sarah, March 10,
1727-28; Joshua, April 27, 1730; Josiah, May 24,
I73SJ Simeon, August n, 1737; Susanah, March 9,
1740.. Simeon, youngest son of Joshua and Sarah
Knowles, appears as follows in the Eastham records :
"August - 12, 1758, then entered the intentions of
Simeon Knowles and Eunis Mayo boath of Eastham
to proseed in marriage, Recorded Thomas Knowles,
town elk." The foregoing is nearest the date of
marriage thus far found. The wife was a repre
sentative of another long placed Eastham family,
the prime ancestor, John Mayo, having been the
first minister in the town. From Simeon comes
whatever claims his descendants have on revolution
ary memories from the name of Knowles. The state
rolls have under his name the following entry:
"Simeon Knowles, Private, Captain Israel Higgins
Co., Major Zenas Winslow's Regiment, Sept. 9 to
Sept. 13, 1778, 4 days, on an alarm at Falmouth."
Roll endorsed, "on alarm att Bedford." It is pos
sible that Simeon died in Eastham, before the mov
ing of the family to Hardwick ; certainly Paige, his
torian of the latter town, makes no mention of his
death. His wife died in Hardwick, April 5, 1819,
aged seventy-nine years. The eldest and possibly
all the children were born in Eastham; Simeon,
August 17, 1766; Elisha, about 1769, died August
14, 1859; Phebe, died, unmarried, April 7,
1824, and others. The family had remained in
Eastham or in adjoining towns for considerably
more than one hundred years, but now comes the
migratory spirit. It is said that the disposition of
people from the Cape to seek better homes in
northern Worcester county arose from the locating
there of the Rev. Timothy Ruggles, father of his
more famous son, who was a loyalist in the revo
lution. Having lived and preached in towns near
Barnstable county, he drew upon some of his ac
quaintances for recruits to the settlements in the
northwest. Simeon, eldest child of Simeon and Eunis (Mayo)
Knowles, married Priscilla Doane, their marriage
intentions having been published November 10, 1787,
in Eastham. The Doanes were also among the long
established dwellers in the town. Their children
were : Bangs, born in Eastham, March 9, 1789, died
September 17, 1806; -Simeon, born 'Eastham, June
22, 1791 ; Leonard, Edward, Harriet and perhaps
others. From the above facts it would seem rea
sonable that the second Simeon was the real migrant,
and that his mother and brethren accompanied him.
He died August 22, 1823, while his widow sur
vived until February 5, 1839, dying at the age of
seventy-five years.
Simeon, second child of Simeon and Priscilla
(Doane) Knowles, was the first of the family in
nearly two centuries to marry outside the Old
Colony. He married, March 14, 1814, Lucetta New
ton, of Hardwick, daughter of Silas and Naomi
(Washburn) Newton. The Newton lineage of
Lucetta, born January 2, 1792, began in Sudbury in
the person of Richard, whose son, Moses of Marl
boro, transmitted the name to Josiah, and he to
Timothy, a farmer, who lived on the road from
Hardwick to Barre. All of these men were promi
nent in their day and generation. Timothy, born
February 28, 1728, married Sarah Merrick, was a
soldier in the French and Indian war, and died July
10, 181 1. His son, Silas, born February n, 1766,
was a Hardwick farmer and the father of Simeon's
wife, Lucetta. The latter died in Warren, August
23, 1868, aged seventy-six years. Simeon Knowles
died in Warren, April 9, i860. The children of

122

WORCESTER COUNTY

Simeon and Lucetta (Newton) Knowles were:
Laura Loraine, born October io, 1816, married
Rufus Washburn, Jr., of Johnstown, New York,
February 21, 1837; Lucius James, born July 2, 1819;
Harriet Evaline, July 24, 1821, married Loriii Brown,
Fitchburg, October 1, 1844; Francis Bangs, Novem
ber 29, 1823. The family resided about three miles
northerly from the common in Hardwick.
Francis B., youngest child of Simeon and Lu
cetta (Newton) Knowles, was twice married, (first),
December 23, 1845, to Ann Eliza Poole, of Glovers-
ville, New York. The children by this marriage
were : Eliza Evaline, ' born January 5, 1848, in
Gloversville, married September 2, 1873, C. Henry
Hutchins, of Worcester, long identified with the
Knowles Loom Works and now president of the cor
poration. Their children are: Arthur Knowles
and Helen Mabel. Mrs. Hutchins died February 13,
1898, and Frank Poole, born February 1, 1853, in
Gloversville, married, October 2, 1879, Alice J.,
daughter of George C. and Eleanor J. (Doane) Bige
low, of . Worcester ; their children are : George
Francis, Marion and Lillian. The mother died
February 24, 1865, soon after the removal to War
ren. Mr. Knowles's second marriage, April 23,
1867, was to Hester A., daughter of John Reynolds
and Fanny (Wightman) Greene, of Worcester.
Their children are : Mabel, married June 15, 1893,
Dr. Homer Gage, of Worcester. They have one
child, Homer Gage, Jr. Frances, married April 23,
1900, George Eddy Warren, of Boston, a business
man. Lucius James, married, April 6, 1904, Laura,
daughter of John R. McGinley, of Pittsburg, Penn
sylvania. Their son, Lucius James, Jr., was born
in London, England. Both sons of Francis B.
Knowles are directly connected with the great busi
ness established by father and uncle. The names
of "Frank" and "Lucius" are still heard in the
works and, from the names in the latest generations,
the famous appellations bid fair to obtain for years
to come. Mrs. Knowles comes of an old Rhode Island fam
ily, descended from John Greene, surgeon, of Gill-
ingham, England, who came to America in 1635
and settled in Warwick, Rhode Island, where
through successive generations the family resided.
The line from the first John Greene included Peter,
Peter, Elisha, Elisha, Stephen, William, who mar
ried Abigail Reynolds, thus becoming the father of
John Reynolds Greene, the father of Mrs. Knowles.
He was for many years a Worcester merchant, and
a warden of All Saints' Church. He was born in
Warwick, Rhode Island, December 22, 181 1, and died
April 1, 1873. Well educated, he was highly suc
cessful in business, and deeply interested in church
work. His children were : Byron W., Hester A.,
Stephen E., Mary, Fannie and Abbie.
So blended were the lives of the brothers L. J.
and F. B. Knowles, it were much easier to write of
them together than separately. Their characteristics-
supplemented each other perfectly, and never did
men better exmplify the scriptural words, "Behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity." There were only two sons
in the family of Simeon Knowles, and they ap
peared to have little affiliation for the life so long
pursued by their ancestors, for we see them, in due
order, leaving the hills of Hardwick determined to
win their way by other means than those employed
by the fathers. To the younger brother had been
given the rather unusual name, for those days, of
Francis with another, still more uncommon, but re
calling an uncle, Eastham born, who had died in his
early manhood. As a Christian name, Bangs sug-
gester a long line of ancestral facts and no doubt

the father, Simeon, in thus naming his boy had in
mind a tribute to the "Cape Cod Folks," whose
memory to him was especially dear. However, as
the years went by and the boy advanced to man
hood his double name was seldom used in its en
tirety. Indeed among his immediate friends he was,
more often known as "Frank," while for signature
purposes the initials, F. B., were found to be all
he had time to write.
After securing whatever of educational aid the
common schools of Hardwick could afford, with
some higher attainments at Leicester Academy, he
early essayed the role of schoolmaster himself, in
this capacity serving in Dana, and possibly in other
nearby towns. While still four years away from
his majority he was permitted to leave the farm and
to undertake the task of shifting for himself. His
older sister Laura had married in Johnstown, New
York, and it is possible that this fact accounts for
her brother's presence, when nineteen years old, as
a teacher in the neighboring village of Gloversville.
He had not 'assumed the profession as a lifelong
occupation, but rather a makeshift till some better
way appeared. The place where he thus found him
self was noted then, as it is now, for its manufacture
. of kid and buckskin gloves and mittens, leading in
this particular all other places in the country. What
more natural than that this enterprising, resource
ful New England boy should speedily see a chance
for himself to better his condition, by forsaking the
schoolroom for the mart of trade. At any rate
ere long he became a salesman for one of the great
glove making companies of the town and, going upon
the road, he speedily familiarized himself with a
large part of the eastern portion of the country.
April 1, 1845, he entered upon the making of gloves
himself, continuing in this occupation till he em
barked in the clothing business, and this was his
vocation when in 1883 came the call from his brother
to come back to Massachusetts.
He, therefore, came to Warren, Worcester coun
ty, to bear a hand in the development of the inven
tions which were taking shape in the fertile brain
of Lucius J., and from that time onward his interests
were largely in this part of the Commonwealth.
Though L. J. Knowles was conducting a great busi
ness in his making of steam pumps in his Warren
factory, he was not satisfied,' but desired rather to
enter upon the manufacture of looms, upon whose
improvement his mind had been dwelling. Accord
ingly the advent of the younger brother followed
and with expected pleasing results. We are told
that the first loom was constructed in the pump
works of Warren, but the advantages of Worcester
soon became so obvious that in 1866 the loom works
were transferred to this city and first established
in Allen court, the name of F. B. Knowles appearing
in a Worcester directory for the first time in 1867.
The older brother continued his residence in War
ren. Though constantly growing, the business remained
in Allen court until 1879, when it took a move to
the southward and expanded into the so-called
Junction shops.' Progress, however, - knows no
boundaries, and the capacity of this location was
- soon overtaxed. In 1890, having been erected near
the Boston & Albany Railroad on the corner of
Grand and Tainter streets, the most extensive plant
of its kind in the country, the business was re
moved for the third time into quarters seemingly
ample for years of development, yet in 1892, before
the blight of the Wilson Bill had struck the nation,
enlarged area was again in urgent demand. During
all these years of growth and prosperity, the younger
of the Knowles Brothers was constantly at his post,

(^JfttJUaMy^

WORCESTER COUNTY

123

an invaluable factor in all the many features of the
vast enterprise. Of the older brother, it is said that
he never sold a machine, gave little heed to the
purely business details of the enterprise, but busied
himself with the endless possibilities in the mechan
ism of loom making. On the contrary, F. B. had no
mechanical tastes nor talent, could not drive a nail,
but the pushing of the manufactured articles into
public sight and favor was his delight. The financial
side of the work he could and did handle marvel-
ously well, till at his death he could truthfully say,
had he cared to do so, that the Knowles Loom
Works were the most extensive in the country, if
not in the world.
The limitations of human strength and energy
speedily appear in the strenuous life which the
ardent Americans lead and, long before the Knowles
Brothers had reached the age at which their fathers
were still doing long and arduous days' work on
their respective farms, these princes of mechanical
industry found it necessary to abate somewhat the
intensity of their labors, but they did not begin
early enough. Both of them were wont to seek rest
and recuperation during the winter months in vari
ous ways. Florida, long the fabled possessor of the
fountain of youth, had been a resort for Francis
B., and he was with his brother "when, in the spring
of 1884, the latter passed away at the Riggs House,
in Washington, a victim of that specially character
istic ailment of Americans, another name for over
work, "Heart Failure," a fate that a few years later
was to fall to the lot of F. B. himself, whose physi
cal breaking down began with his arduous labors at
the Centennial Exposition in 1876 through his de
termination to make the Knowles loom succeed.
The loom became a wonderful success, but at what
a cost. Recognizing the advisableness of a yearly respite,
Mr. Knowles had several years before interested him
self in Florida investments and had become the
owner of extensive areas there. In Winter Park,
he was the principal owner of the Seminole Hotel,
and was the president of the development company,
and here a large part of the year, at any rate during
the cold weather, but he was wont to remain. It was
at the end of his annual stay that, in the spring of
1890, with his family he started homeward. For six
weeks, by slow stages, they were working north
ward, that he might the better adapt himself to the
climate. The month of May found them in Wash
ington and, while friends were expecting their early
return, there came to his older son the startling dis
patch that the father had suddenly died of angina
pectoris. The news thus sent came from Post
master General John Wanamaker, a personal friend
of many years standing. There followed the sad
completion of the homeward journey, the services at
Piedmont Church, of which he had been so long a
pillar, and the final resting place in beautiful Rural
cemetery. The smile which ever lighted the face of Francis
B. Knowles was an excellent index of his nature,
and perhaps this very look had much to do with
the success that attended him. "The world shall
be better for my having passed through it" is said
to have been a sentiment close to whose truth he
he tried to live. How well he succeeded a grateful
community has repeatedly borne testimony. From
friends, acquaintances, and employees there came
one common statement, that he merited all the suc
cess that he achieved, that he was a faithful friend,
the kindest of employers and in every way the best
of citizens.
In these hurrying days, it is a sad fact that the
most 'admirably equipped men cannot afford the

time for political preferment. The degree to which
machinery and enterprises are speeded, demands
every bit of strength that a man possesses and
ever the call is for more. Though a lifelong Re
publican in his political affiliations and a liberal
supporter of campaign expenses, Mr. Knowles never
saw the day in his Worcester life that he could give
to serving his fellow citizens in any official capac
ity. Had he been able to accept there can be no
doubt as to the positions in which he would have
shone through the suffrages of those who knew so
well his sterling worth. Whatever diversion he
took from business was found in religious lines.
For years he conducted Sunday school institutes
through Worcester county, and in the labors of the
Young Men's Christian Association he was inde
fatigable. With so long a lineage, including so many
names of sterling worth, there need be no surprise
that Mr. Knowles was a devoted member of the
Congregational church. His advent to Worcester
was in the days when that denomination was be
ginning its career of expansion. He was here early
enough to give hearty aid and comfort to the propo
sition to establish Plymouth Church, but that was
located somewhat distant from the 'part of the city
in which his interests chiefly lay, hence he was
ready to help forward the new Piedmont venture
and here was his church home for the remainder
of his days. He was an early Sunday school sup
erintendent here and one of the most beloved
deacons from the beginning. Still he was not at
all confined in his giving, and when Pilgrim Church
was taking shape, along with his sister-in-law, Mrs.
Helen C. Knowles, he gave the site for the edifice
and was in addition a liberal giver to the enterprise
all the way along. He was*a generous donor to
wards every good cause, and Knowles Hall, an
edifice in the plant of Rollins College at Winter Park,
Florida, attests his interests in the educational de
velopment of the new south. To the same insti
tution he gave a further sum of money for the
endowment of scholarships. No good cause ever
appealed to him in vain. He was the third largest
giver toward the edifice of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association and had long been a life member.
The last check drawn by him was for $5,000 in be
half of the Young Women's Christian Association
of Worcester. His home life was an ideal one. There he sur
rounded himself with all that wealth and culture
could provide, and the same was a favorite resort
for those who delighted in art and literature. Mrs.
Knowles, having traveled extensively at home and
abroad, is an excellent judge of art and, with ample
means at her command, has made a collection of
paintings larger than that afforded by some public
galleries. The only regret that one can have in
contemplating so admirable a career is that to the
successful manufacturer, the faithful friend, good
citizen and Christian gentleman there had not been
granted greater length of days for the enjoyment of
the fruitage of wise planting and judicious culture.
For more than twenty-five years the name of
Lucius J. Knowles, of Worcester, was, a synonym
for the business enterprise and integrity. His name
with that of his brother, though only the initials
were usually employed, became known as far as the
necessity of looms extended, and that means the
limits of the civilized world. From a long line of
industrious Cape Cod farmers, he and the other
children of Simeon Knowles were the first to en
joy the luxury of double names, but the easily pro
nounced combination, Lucius James, was quite too
long for his busy life and it was generally abbrevi-

124

WORCESTER COUNTY

ated, especially when written, to the first letters only.
The student of genealogy niay find interest in the
fact that his Christian appellations do not appear in
the long line of ancestral names. Evidently Simeon,
the third, intended to begin a new series. Hardwick,
as an agricultural town, though a great improvement
on Eastham, so long the home of the Knowles
family, did not present attractions sufficient to hold
the older son of Simeon and Lucetta. Evidently,
like so many New Hampshire people, he thought
his native town a good one to emigrate from. It
is easy to fancy his boyhood on the country farm,
getting what he could out of the district school,
meanwhile dreaming dreams of the great outside
world in which he early determined to play a con
spicuous part.
One of his early schoolmasters was his maternal
uncle, John C. Newton, for many years a resident
of Worcester, and thereafter he was privileged to
add several terms at Leicester Academy, then one
of the best secondary schools in the Commonwealth.
In a word, though by no means liberally educated,
he was well equipped for the work on which he
was about to enter. Before he was twenty-one years
old, we find him in Shrewsbury, a clerk in the
store of W. W. 'Pratt. In 1838, when only nineteen
years of age, he formed a partnership with his
Uncle Newton, his former teacher, and together
they conducted a general store in the same village.
On the retirement of his uncle in 1841, he took in
as partner, his first employer, W. W. Pratt, and
so continued till 1844. During these days, the young
merchant has married and, in a small way, pros
pered, but he is very far from the goal which in
vision attracts him. In these days the public be
gins to hear of the "accomplishments of Daguerre,
the Frenchman, in his experiments with light on
sensitized silver, and L. J. Knowles is the very 'first
man in Worcester to undertake a realization of this
wonderful discovery. His studio was on Main street,
near the old location of the Quinsigamond Bank,
or just north of Central street. It is possible to
find in the city today several specimens of his early
work. Indeed, the very first exposure made for pay
is still a cherished possession of the subject. But
photography did not satisfy and he next engaged
in spooling cotton thread in New Worcester. In
1847 he is making cotton warp in the town of
Spencer and two years later in Warren. There he
busied himself with both cotton and woolen mills
and engaged in the manufacture of the steam pump
which he had invented. This was eminently suc
cessful and its development would have satisfied any
ordinary man, but he had not yet reached the voca
tion which' he deemed specially his own. Ali suc
cessful men have pet schemes or plans, some of
which, if they are persistent, they realize. During
all these years Mr. Knowles, who was a mechanic
by nature, had fancied improvement in looms for
the making of fabrics. His first invention in this
line was in 1856. By the aid of one wood workman
and two machinists, the first loom was set up in
the pump works. An inspection of the inventions
made by this Hardwick farmer's son, with a realiza
tion of the .consideration each one involved, leads
us to wonder where he found any leisure for di
version. We are told that when in Shrewsbury
he made improvements in organs and other reed
instruments, and that here he began his studies in
the "safety steam boiler feed regulator." As early as
1840, he was working on appliances . for the applica
tion of electricity as a motor, anticipating in this re
spect the invention of later years, for he made several
engines to be thus propelled. Apparently there was
very little time when he was not devising some

way of improving an old machine or of making an
entirely now one. In fine, more than one hundred
inventions issued by him stand to his credit in the
Washington patent office.
Of the calling of his younger brother in 1863,
mention has been made in the sketch of the latter's
life, and of the development of the loom manufact
ure, the second greatest industry in Worcester, the
sto,ry is briefly told in that chapter. , Were it de
sirable to extend the story in any way it would be
only to note the character of the workmen that the
loom works demand. Skilled mechanics are ever
the boast of New England' and few enterprises ever
drew together a greater number of men, every one
of whom was able to successfully conduct great
enterprises of his own. An inspection of the intel
ligent faces seen in the great shops on Grand and
Tainter streets can not but impress the beholder
with the nobility of labor. The overalled, dusty
workmen are members of the city government,
leaders in the political parties of the state, deacons
and Sunday school superintendents in their re
spective churches and, in nearly all cases, among
•the most respected men in the community.
While a resident of Warren, Mr. Knowles en
joyed the distinction of representing the district to
which his town belonged in the general court in
1862, and again in 1865, thus having the privilege
of assisting in upholding the hands of John A.
Andrew in the trying days of the civil war. In
1869, his senatorial district sent him as its choice
to Boston as one of the forty senators for that
term. That he was painstaking, faithful public ser
vant need not be affirmed. He was one of the
most public-spirited citizens in Warren and his de
parture was considered a great loss to the township,
but the demands of his investment in Worcester
were too strong to be resisted. However, he left
in the town so long his abode and so loyal to him,
substantial tokens of his reward, for in his will he
devised the sum of $5,000 as a fund for the support
and maintenance of the free public library of that
town, also the sum of one thousand dollars for the
perpetual care of his lot in the cemetery, where
rest the remains of his parents and those of his
brother's wife.
As a resident of Worcester, the directory for
1871 has his name for the first time and thence for
thirteen years he was an embodiment of zeal and
energy for every good cause and work in the city's
development. Not alone was he devoted to the
improvement and advancement of the industry with
which his name was linked, but also the best in
terests of the city were his. In 1873 he held a seat
in the common council and gladly would his fellow
citizens have kept him there longer had his time
and other duites permitted. The dominance of
business robs the public of the very best services
which might otherwise be employed. He was a
director in the Central National Bank and in the
State Mutual Life Insurance Company, was presi
dent of the People's Savings Bank and of the
Board of Trade and was a prominent figure in the
management of other financial interprises of a public
or semi-public character. It was a pleasant recog
nition of his life-long labors, intellectually as well
as physically, that Williams College in 1869 gave
him the honorary degree of A. M. Many a wearer
of such honors, secured in regular course, never
merited them half so much as this self-taught me
chanic and manufacturer of Worcester. The col
lege was honored in his acceptance of the proffered
recognition. When a young man in Shrewsbury, Mr. Knowles
married, May 13, 1841, Eliza Ann Adams, of that

WORCESTER COUNTY

125

town, and for more than twenty years she was his
faithful companion as he strove for success. She
died at the age of fifty-six years, February 17, 1873.
Some time afterwards he was married to Mrs.
Helen C. Hayward, of Boston, , daughter of Alex
ander and Cornelia (Goodnow) Strong. Possessed
of similar tastes, theirs was a singularly happy life
during the remainder of his eartl|ly work. The col
lection of paintings which they niade and with which
they adorned their beautiful Main street residence
was one of the largest and best in Central Massa
chusetts. Mrs. Knowles, who did not long survive
her husband, dying November 5. 1884, when fifty-
one years old, signalized her devotion by leaving
th esum of $25,000 for the furtherance of art study
in Worcester. The income of this sum, at present in
the care of the St. Wulstan's Society, is the prime
source for the maintenance of the Art Museum, one
of Worcesters most cherished institutions.
While usually enjoying a high degree of health,
Mr. Knowles was conscious of serious impairment
of the same through his excessive labors in the
care of his wife during a visit made by them to
Europe some two years before his death. Realiz
ing somewhat the limitations of energy and strength,
he had begun to abate the incessant strain to which
he had so long subjected himself. It was with this
thought in mind that with his wife he had visited
Fortress Monroe in the winter of 1884, and coming
northward had met in Washington his brother and
wife. Here at the Riggs House he was taken vio
lently ill with the same ailment which carried off
Charles Sumner and so many other hard workers,
viz. : angina pectoris, and after a brief period of
agony died February 25. His body was brought
home for interment and with that of his brother
sleeps in Rural cemetery.
From the day that he found himself possessed
of anything to give, Lucius J. Knowles was a gen
erous giver. To his church, to public measures,
to everything that seemed good and needy he was
charitable. The Lord, loving a cheerful giver, must
have had an unusual liking for the Knowles Broth
ers. He was long a mainstay in Union Church and
for many a year one of its cherished deacons.
While a Congregationalist in his first allegiance,
few churches ever went to him for aid without get
ting it. Though he has passed on to another world
several thousands of his estate went towards the
building of the beautiful edifice of the Young Men's
Christian Association, of which he was a life mem
ber. While his home was in the southern part of
the city, on Main street, and he had a just and proper
liking for his vicinage, he was not cribbed nor con
fined by narrow boundaries. In everything _ his
progress was on the very broadest lines possible.
Worcester's most prosperous days have been seen
under the developing care and assistance of such
men as the brothers' Knowles, men whose interests
and affections were here not spread over a section
so extended that little thickness was possible. Con
stant, determined, honest, progressive, would that
Worcester had more of their kind and character.
ALONZO WILLIAMS COLE. In the Cole
family to which Alonzo Williams Cole, of Wor
cester, belongs, the tradition of three emigrant
brothers is confirmed by sufficient proof. John, Job
and Daniel Cole came to New England in the em
ploy of William Collier, a London merchant, in 1633.
John Cole died in Plymouth, in 1637, and in his will
mentioned Master Collier's men in describing his
brothers to whom he made bequests.
(I) Daniel Cole, .the youngest of the trio, first
appears on the records April 6, 1640, when he owned

fifty acres of upland granted then. He was re
ported as able to bear arms at Yarmouth in 1643,
and was made a freeman June, 1645, at Yarmouth.
He was one of the jury that tried Alice Bishop
for infanticide in 1648. He was a tailor by trade.
He sold land at Marshfield June 8, 1649. He re
moved to Eastham in 1652. He was a deputy to the
general court in 1654-57-61-67-89. He was constable
in 1664 and selectman in 1668-70-71-72-81.
He died December 21, 1694, aged eighty years.
His wife Ruth died December 15, 1694, aged sixty-
six years. Administration was granted to his son
Israel, on Daniel Cole's estate, January 15, 1695,
and later an agreement was signed by all the heirs,
as given in the following list of his children : 1.
John, see forward. 2. Timothy, born September 4,
1646. 3. Hepsebah, April 16, 1649; married Daniel
Doane. 4. Ruth, April 15, 1651 ; married John
Young. 5. Israel, January 8, 1653. 6. James,
November 3, 1655. 7. Mary, March 10, 1658; mar
ried Joshua Hopkins. 8. William, September ' 15,
1663. 9. Daniel. 10. Esther or Hester; married
Medad Atwood.
(II) John Cole, eldest child of Daniel Cole (1),
was born in Yarmouth, July 16, 1644. He moved
to Eastham with his parents and lived there during
most of his active life. He married Ruth Snow,
daughter of Nicholas Snow, December 12, 1666.
He was at Groton in 1672, but returned to East
ham when the settlers had to abandon their homes
in 1675-76, in King Philip's war. He was living in
Eastham again in 1695. His wife died June 27,
1717. He died June 6, 1725. Their children, most
of whom were born hi Eastham were: 1. Ruth,
born March 11, 1668; married William Twining.
William (2), William (1). 2. John (see forward).
3. Hepsibah, June 20, 1672. 4. Hannah, March 27,
1675; died June 11, 1677. 5. Joseph, June 11, 1677.
6. Mary, October 27, 1679. 7. Sarah, June 10, 1682.
(Ill) John Cole, second child of John Cole (2),
born in Eastham, Massachusetts, March 6, 1670;
married Mary  , who died February 17, 1731-2.
He died December 13, 1746. Their children were:
1. Jonathan, born October 4, 1694. 2. John, Octo
ber 14, 1696. 3. Mary, August 25, 1698. 4. James,
October 23, 1700. 5.  , January 21, 1703. 6.
Joshua, March 20, 1705. 7. Moses, July 22, 1707.
8. Phebe, October 29, 1709. 9. Thankful, October
20, 1712; died young. 10. Joseph, (see forward).
11. Thankful, October 19, 1716..
(IV) Joseph Cole, tenth child of John Cole
(3), was born in Eastham, Massachusetts, October
13, 1714. He died in the south parish of Eastham
in 1800. The records oi his children are not at
hand and that of Jesse, presumed to be his son, is not
recorded. "" (V) Jesse Cole, believed to be the son of Jo
seph Cole (4), born in Eastham, Massachusetts,
February 4, 1755; married January, 1772, Bethia
Young, of Eastham, of one of the pioneer families
there. She was born September 21, 1752. Jesse
Cole was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain
Solomon Higgins' company of Eastham, enlisted
July 12, 1775, and served six month's, four days in
defence of the seacoast. He died in the south
parish of Eastham in 1803.
The record of his children is not complete.
Among them were : 1. Jesse, Jr., who died in 1800.
2. Elisha, (see forward).
(VI) Elisha Cole, the grandfather of Alonzo!
Williams Cole, of Worcester, Massachusetts, born
in Orleans, Massachusetts, June 4, 1784; died there
April 6, 1865. He was educated in the common
schools of Orleans, and at an early age studied
navigation and followed the sea. For many years

126

WORCESTER COUNTY

he -s-£s a sea captain, but finally abandoned this
occupation and bough: large tracts ot land in .and
near Orleans, where he conducted a tarm and salt
works. He raise-i sheep and cattle and was one
ot the leading men of his day in the town. He
continued to run his farm np to the rime oi his
death. He was a selectman in i;>2J> and repre
sentative ::- the general court 1833. He was a
Universalist in religion and a Republican, in his
later years, in politics. He was greatly interested
in public questions and his one great desire in his
last years was that he might live until Richmond
was tafc-pn His wish was gratified.
He married January 5. 1804, Keziah Doane,
daughter of Azariah and Polly Doane, and de
scendant of the emigrant, John Doane (1), through
Daniel Doane (2) ; Joseph Doane (3) ; Joshua
Doane CD, father of Azariah Doane (5). She died
at Orleans, September 20, i860. Children were: I.
Jesse, bora September 30, 1804; died March 16,
iSc6. 2. Bethiai.. December 4, 1806; died October
io. 180S. 3. Meriel, December .23. 1808. 4. Alonzo
isee forwards. 5. Dorinda, January 19, 1814. 6.
Keziah Deane. Juiv 1. 1817. 7. Elisha, June 12,
1820. 8. Mary Doane. July 16, 1822. 9. Sally, April
8. 182s 10. Mart, November 12, 1826: died July
21. 1849. n. Benjamin. Februarv 10, 1830.
(XTI) Alonzo Cole, fourth child of Elisha Cole
(6), was born at Orleans, Massachusetts, March 4,
1812. He received a common school education in
the schools of his native town. He shipped before
the teas: when very young and followed the sea
for many years. He was captain of various ves
sels. He was part owner oi his last vessel a
barque, the Clara C. BelL TTi«: wife wished to ac
company him on one of his voyages, and against
the wishes of her parents and friends she went
with him on a voyage south, taking with her their
only child. Alonzo Williams. While in pert at
Charleston, South Carolina, she was stricken *rith
yellow fever and died. He determined to hunt the
body of his wife in Orleans. He succeeded in evad
ing the quarantine officers until he reached Boston,
where some of the crew informed the authorities
and he was fined for evading the quarantine laws.
But he succeeded finally in getting the body buried
in the old graveyard in Orleans after much diffi
culty. It cost him fully a thousand dollars to .carry
out his purpose.
Mr. Cole was a Universalist in religion and a
Republican in politics. He was a Free Mason.
He married August 20, 1839, Melissa Smith, daugh
ter of William and Abigail (Doane) Smith, of Or
leans. William Smith was also a sea captain. Then-
only child was Alonzo Williams Cole (see forward).
(YIH) Alonzo Williams Cole, only child of
Alonzo Cole (.7), was born in Orleans, Massachu
setts. March 13. 1844. He attended the common
schools at Orleans until seventeen when he went
to East Sornerville. Massachusetts, and lived with
his aunt while attending the Somerville high school.
He returned to Orleans, but after a short time re
moved to Worcester where he lived with another
aunt. Mrs. A. E_ Peck, for about three years, and
worked in the art store of his uncle, at first Then
he decided to learn the trade of machinist and en
tered the Loom works of George Crompton for that
purpose. After a year and a half he went to work
for L. W. Pond as a machinist He was working
there during the war. He left the shop to enlist
July 12. 1864, in Company E, Forty-second Massa
chusetts _Intantry. The company was on guard duty
in the city of Washington and vicinity. They were
stationed at Great Falls. Maryland. He was mus
tered out November 11, 1864.

Upon his return home, he went to work again
for L. W. Pond and became a journeyman machinist
in about a year and ajiali. He accepted a position
at Piedmont, West Virginia, as mechanic for ihe
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, but after a year there
his health obliged him to give np the work. He
became foreman for Richardson & Merriam, and
sater for Mclver Bros- who succeeded the fonner
firm. He remained in a responsible relation to this
firm for twenty-five years. He worked for Marcus
Mason & Co.. makers of plantation machinery, and
the Stowe Shoe Machinery Company for three
years. He has been for several years tool-maker
for the A. Burlingame Company, manufacturers of
engines. He ranks wel] among the expert mechanics
and skilled machinists :: a city that has few rivals
in this respect Mr. Cole is a man of retiring dis
position, greatly attached to his home and busi
ness interests. He is highly respected in the church
and community that knows him. He" is an attire
member and one of the trustees of the Trobridge
Memorial Methodist Church. In politics he is j
Republican. He married Ellen Lucre tis Bercy. August 6,
1807. at Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the
daughter of Zebina and Lucretia H. (Culver)
Berry, of Worcester. They have one child: Arthur
Williams Cole, born in Worcester, February 17. iSvf.
married January 23. 1903, Fmma Locrise Taylor,
daughter of Robert C Taylor, formerly of Webster,
Massachusetts. He was educated in die Worcester
schools ; graduate of the high school, also the Wor
cester Polytechnic Institute; is at present professor
in the State Univei-ii* of Maine, near Bangor.
CYRENUS ALDRICH. George Aldrich (I)
was the emigrant ancestor of Cyrenus Aldrich, of
Worcester, Massachusetts. He came in 1631 from
Derbyshire. England, to America, and settled first
in Dorchester in New England In 1640 he was
in Braintree, and in 1663 he was among die first
seven to arrive in the town of Mendon. He mar
ried in England. September 3, 1629. Katherine Seald
Site was born in 1610 according to a deposition made
in 1670. He died March I, 1683. His will was
dated at Mendon, November 2. 1682. and was proved
April 26. 1683. The children of George and Kath
erine Aldrich were: AheL Joseph, Mary. Miriam.
Experience, John. Sarah, married a Mr. Bartlett;
Peter. Mercy, married a Mr. Randall: Jacob, see
forward: Martha, married a Mr. Dunbar.
(II) Jacob Aldrich. son of George Aldrich (r),
was bom February 28. 1652. He married, Novem-
1 er 3. IC75. Huldah Thayer. He died February 22,
1695. Their children were: Jacob, Abel. Sefh, Hul
dah. Rachel, Sarah, David, see forward; Peter,
John. Moses. Mercy, and RacheL
(ID) David Aldrich, seventh child of Jacob
Aldrich (21. was born in Mendon. Massachusetts.
May 3, 1683- He married (first) Hannah Capron.
who died February 20. 1732. He married (second)
Mehitable  . The' children of David and
Hannah (Capron) Aldrich were: David, Edward
Elizabeth. Jonathan. Peter. Jonathan. Margaret
Abner, Levi, see forward: and Ichabod. David
Aldrich died March i^. 1771.
(IV) Levi Aldrich, r.inth child of David Aldrich
(3). was born in Mendon. Massachusetts, December
10. 1729 He married. February 7. 1745. Abigail
Hunt He died December 22. 1705. Their chil
dren were: Rufus. Nathan. Levi, Nathaniel. Amasa.
see forward: Chloe. Phineas. Abigail, Luther, Cal
vin, and David
(V) Amasa Aldrich. fifth child of Levi Aldrich
(4), was born in Mendon, Massachusetts. June 13.

WORCESTER COUNTY

127

1760. He married, November 1, 1780, Urana Paine.
She was born September 17, 1763, and died February
11, 1843. He died December 2, 1813. His widow mar
ried (second) Gen. Philemon Whitcomb, of Swan-
zey, New Hampshire. Amasa Aldrich went from
Mendon to Swanzey after the revolution. The chil
dren of Amasa and Urana (Paine) Aldrich were:
Marmaduke, born August 13, 1781; Mary, May 27,
1783 ; Urana, March 3, 1785 ; Phineas, May 20, 1787 ;
Amasa, March 18, 1789; Paine, see forward; Rufus,
January 20, 1793, died 1798; Otis, July 6, 1795, died
1798; David, September 6, 1797; Anna, August 31,
1799 ; Paul Fisher, December 26, 1801 ; Jacob, March
3, 1804, died 1804; John Langdon, March 27, 1805;
Jethro, May 14, 1807, died 1807; William, Octo
ber 20, 1808.
(VI) Paine Aldrich, sixth child of Amasa
Aldrich (5), was born in Swanzey, New Hampshire,
January 4, 1791. . He married (first), February 18,
1813, Sarah (Sally) Hammond, daughter of Joseph
Hammond. She was born June 17, 1793. Paine
Aldrich was brought up in his native town and
attended the schools there. After his marriage he
removed to Richmond, New Hampshire, where he
bought the Cook Mills at North Richmond and
repaired and built them over. While there he
invented the turntable for railroads, and in 1830
he came to Worcester to manufacture turntables.
During the early period of railroad building in the
United States and in fact from the thirties until the
time of his death Mr. Aldrich had a large demand
for his contrivance for turning around locomotives,
cheaply and quickly. He built his shop first where
the Aldrich House stands near Aldrich Place. He
associated with him in the business his son Cyrenus
Aldrich. He invested largely in Worcester real
estate. He bought pasture land in the vicinity of
Pleasant street and on both sides of High street
between Pleasant and Chatham streets. He built
brick houses on the street opposite his works. For
a time he lived in a house on the site of the
present Hotel Newton. Later ne built a fine house
on the present site of Hotel Adams. He owned
large tracts of land on Chatham, Clinton and Irving
streets, arid in that section of the city which be
came very valuable as the period of rapid growth
which made the town a city came in the forties, and
they became in time some of the most valuable resi
dential property in the city. He died August, 1871,
and the business ceased to exist soon afterward.
Another patent iron turntable took the place of the
Aldrich design, but at that time there was practically
no railroad in the country that did not have the
Aldrich turntable in use. They were built in Wor
cester and shipped in sections to all parts of the
country and exported to foreign lands. Mr. Aldrich
acquired large wealth for his day and invested it
wisely. Mr. Aldrich was modest and retiring in dispo
sition, notwithstanding his material successes and
his position in the business world, and was highly
esteemed and respected in the community. During
• his last years he was in feeble health and was con
fined to his bed for a year before he died. He
attended the First Universalist Church and later the
Salem Square Congregational Church while Rev.
M.r._ Richardson was pastor. In politics he was a
Whig, later a Republican, but never active in party
affairs and never sought office. He was a member
of no secret societies. He was a member of the
Worcester County Mechanics Association. He mar
ried (second) Sophia Capron, widow, who survived
him._ The children of Paine and Sarah (Hammond)
Aldrich were : Harriet, see forward ; Cyrenus, see
forward.

(VII) Harriet Aldrich, daughter of Paine
Aldrich (6), was born in Swanzey, New Hampshire.
She married Erastus Metcalf, of Rindge, New
Hampshire, and they afterwards lived in Fitzwilliam,
New Hampshire, where she died June 2, 1865. The
children of Erastus and Harriet (Aldrich) Met
calf were : 1. Elizabeth, born November 13, 1835,
married Benoni Fullam, son of Judge Fullam, of
Ludlow, Vermont. 2. Sarah Jane, born February 9,
1838, married James F. Kettell, of Worcester, and had
four children : Jennie Maria, born October 2, 1863,
married George F. Hutchins, of Worcester, and had
one child, Richard, born April 28, 1881 ; Henry James
Kettell, born April 19, 1869, married Mary Good
win, of Worcester, and had two children : James,
born August 23, 1898, and Katherine Kettell, born
July 25, 1905. John Frederick Kettell, born No
vember 29, 1865, deceased; Frank Kettell, born
January 26, 1873, married Maud Barnes; no chil
dren. 3. Melissa Metcalf, born February 8, 1840,
married George W. Davis, of Hudson, Massachu
setts, and had two children : George Fred Davis,
unmarried; Fannie Melissa Davis, married Ralph
Joslyn, of Hudson, Massachusetts, and has three
children : Ralph Davis Joslyn ; Mary Joslyn, and
James Metcalf Joslyn. 4. Hammond Cyrenus Met
calf, born January 9, 1842, unmarried. 5. Helen
Sophia Metcalf, born February 21, 1846, married
Henry F. Smith, of Woburn, Massachusetts, and
had three children : Henry, Caroline and Ralph.
(VII) Cyrenus Aldrich, only son of Paine
Aldrich (6), was born in Swanzey, New Hamp
shire, September 24, 1815. He attended the schools
of that town. He was raised on the old farm in
the same town with "Joshua Whitcomb," and worked
with his father on the homestead, in the mill and
in the turntable business. The firm of Paine Aldrich
& Son was formed when Cyrenus was still a young
man. The junior member of the firm superintended
the construction of the turntables and set them up
for the railroads. They were made in Worcester
and shipped in sections. As his father's health be
gan to fail in the sixties he gradually assumed
charge of the entire business. At the close of the
civil war his father retired from business on ac
count of his health and he also discontinued the
business. The last three turntables were made and
set up in New Brunswick, for European and North
American Railroad.
Mr. Aldrich retired from active business and gave
his time to his investments, and property. He at
tended the old Pleasant Street Baptist Church which
stood where the present Lothrop's Opera House
stands. He was a quiet and unassuming, amiable
and democratic in his disposition. He devoted all
his time to his business and his home. He was a
Republican after the party was organized. He
was a member of the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association and of the old Worcester Light In
fantry, and later of the Veteran Association. He
married, February 25, 1845, Sarah Patch, daughter
of William W. and. Sarah (Willard) Patch, of
Worcester. William Patch was a prosperous farmer.
He was the son of Joseph and Hannah (Flagg)
Patch, of Worcester, and was born January 1', 1794.
(See sketch of Hartshorn Family for his ancestry.)
Both Willard and Patch families date from the
early settlement of New England.
The .children of Cyrenus and Sarah (Patch)
Aldrich were : 1. Eldora Metella, born September 16,
1846; is living at the homestead, 22 High street,
Worcester, unmarried; 2. William Paine, born De
cember 18, 1848, married Charlotte Gibb, of New
York city, October 16. 1876, and had four chil
dren: Grace Eldora Aldrich, born November 9,

128

WORCESTER COUNTY

1877, married William Sumner Radway, of Rich
mond, Virginia, and they have two children, .Albert
Beverly Radway, born July 12, 1902, and Charles
Aldrich Radway, born December 4, 1903. William
Paine Aldrich, Jr., born July 26, 1879, unmarried;
Sarah Alice Aldrich, born September 26, 1881, died
April, 1883; Edith Marion Aldrich, born July 24,
1885, unmarried. William Paine is the proprietor
of a large cloth printing business, plant located at
Passaic, New Jersey, and an office in New York
city; also a bleaching and dyeing plant at Dela-
wanna, New Jersey. 3. Frank Edgar, born May
20, 1854; was associated with his brother in the
cloth printing business in New York city; died
December 2, 1903; married Louise M. Love, of
Providence, Rhode Island, and had one child, Roger
Cyrenus Aldrich, born February 13, 1879, who mar
ried May Locke, of Brooklyn, but now living at
Reading, Pennsylvania. They have two children:
Roger Williams, born October 12, 1902, and Harold
Locke, born November 12, 1905. Cyrenus Aldrich
died January 12, 1889.
GEORGE FARNUM HEWETT. William
Hewett (I), great-grandfather of George F. Hewett,
of Worcester, is believed to be a descendant of
Thomas Hewett, who was a proprietor of Hing
ham, Massachusetts, 1647, settled in Uxbridge among
tlie pioneers of that town, bought land in Sutton,
February 25, 1779, and other parcels later, . and
resided in Sutton the latter part of his life. He
bought land in, Ward (now Auburn) in 1803 of
Eliphalet and Tamar Holman, and his sons Daniel
and William Hewett lived there several years. He
married Patience  . Their children were : 1.
William, Jr., see forward. 2. Daniel. 3. Phinehas.
4. Alanson. 5. Henry. 6. A daughter, married a
Cummings, and had Sabrina and Abel Cummings.
7. Hammond Jewett. 8. Patience, married 
Blackman. 9. Rhoda, married Hammond. 10. Eli,
residuary legatee.
(II) William Hewett, son of William Hewett
(1), born in Sutton, now Northbridge, Massachu
setts, August 1, 1778, died at Grafton, Vermont,
1850; married, in Uxbridge, January 14, 1802,
Lurany Leonard Paine, born in Uxbridge, January
1, 1777, died at Northbridge, February 29, 1806.
He married (second) Nabby (or Abigail), daugh
ter of Francis and Sally Holman, of Millbury, be
fore December 15, 1808. He had one son, Elbridge,
by the first marriage; see forward. His other chil
dren were : Lurania, born in Sutton, March 13,
1809, recorded in Auburn ; Sally, born in North-
bridge (recorded in Auburn), June 11, 1811; Fran
cis Holman, born in Auburn, May 29, 1814,
(III) Elbridge Hewett, son of William Hewett,
Jr. (2), born in Sutton,- now Northbridge, Massa
chusetts, August 11, 1804, died in Worcester, March
17, 1877; married in Grafton, February 20, 1827,
Nancy Wadsworth. He resided in Grafton, where
he owned a farm. About, the time of his marriage
he removed to Worcester and opened a store at the
corner of Central and Summer streets. He kept
a general store including West India goods, and
later added a lumber yard on Central street, near
the Blackstone canal, which was then in full opera
tion. He dealt extensively in lumber and wood
in the adjoining towns. He owned the last canal
boat which ran on the Blackstone canal. His son,
George F. Hewett, has an interesting oil 'painting
showing the location of the store and vicinity sev
enty-five years ago, before the railroads had begun
to alter the map of Worcester. The great industries
of Worcester started in the very neighborhood of
this store, and many of them have outgrown the

locality. The brick factories and mills in this neigh
borhood are among the oldest landmarks of the
city. Mr. Hewett had the contract with mercliants
to water the streets of Worcester when conditions
warranted it. He had a farm at Northville, in
Worcester. About i860 he removed his store frqin
Central street to the corner of Glue and Hanover
streets, where later his son erected a brick block.
Children of Elbridge and Nancy (Wadsworth)
Hewett: 1. Andrew Fuller, died unmarried. 2,
Mary L., married John Wheeler, resided in Graf
ton, where she now lives, a widow ; he was a shoe
manufacturer. 3. Caroline, died in Grafton, un
married. 4. George Farnum, see forward.
(IV) George Farnum Hewett, son of Elbridge
Hewett (3), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
July 5, 1836. He was educated in Worcester in the
public schools, the high school and Worcester Acad
emy, where he studied several terms. He worked
for a time in his father's store, but in 1854 decided
to follow the advice of Horace Greeley ; went west
and found employment on the Cleveland & Toledo
Railroad, now the Michigan Southern, beginning as
a brakeman, and was promoted to various posi
tions during the six years he remained with the
company. About 1857, when seriHng as station
agent at a new railroad junction first called Clay
Junction, he had the privilege of naming the town
that sprang up there. He culled it Millbury, and it
has since grown into a thriving town of considerable
importance. It is about eight miles from Toledo,
Ohio. Mr. Hewett built a saw mill there. In the
fall of 1859 Mr. Hewett left the railroad business
and returned to Worcester. He was associated with
his father for a time, but in i860 started in business
for himself, laying the foundation for the extensive
interests of which he has since been _ the head.
He began with a shop on Front street, in the rear
of a store in the Front Street Theatre building.
Three years later he took the store now occupied
by Hall & Lyon, druggists, and extended his busi
ness to the wholesale and retail liquor trade. He
removed a few years later to a large store on the
corner of Foster and Waldo streets, near the pres
ent location. In 1899 the business was removed to
the present location at 41, 43 and 45 Waldo street,
to a building especially erected for Mr. Hewett by
the heirs of Dwight Foster. It has a frontage of
one hundred feet on Waldo street and a depth of,
one hundred and twenty-five feet extending through
to Commercial street, having a height of four stories
in front and five at the rear. The building and
plant was constructed from plans designed specially
to handle the business to the best advantage. The
product of the George F. Hewett Company bottling
works is the largest of any in New England, and
the plant and equipment is the largest and best.
The George F. Hewett Company deals in ales, lager
and porter, bottled at the shop, also in the leading
brands of bourbon and rye whiskies, imported wines
and cordials, and Continental gin. The business of
bottling gives employment to a hundred men, Al
ready the spacious quarters are overtaxed, and an ,
addition is being built. The business was incor
porated in 1891 as the George F. Hewett Company,
with a capital of $50,000, George F, Hewett presi
dent and treasurer.
, _ Mr. Hewett has not allowed business to engross
his time completely. He is one of the best known
Free Masons of Worcester, having taken all the,
degrees in the Scottish Rite, and having held the
chairs in all the degrees. He is a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge, Hiram Council, St. Andrews!
Chapter, the Boston Commandery, Knights Temp'
lar, and was at the head of the Worcester Lodge of

ft

y^

Qf ffcy£4rcjf

WORCESTER COUNTY

129

Perfection for five years. He holds the rank of
captain in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company of Boston, and having been over twenty-
five years a member is on the veteran list. He
was one of the charter members of the Worcester
Continentals. He is a member of the Worcester
elks, the Royal Arcanum and the Red Men. In
politics he has always been a Democrat, except
from 1896 to 1900 when he voted against Bryanism
and free silver. He was in the board of aldermen
one year and the common council for eight years.
He represented Ward 3 in the council and Ward
7 in the board of aldermen, served on the finance
committee, and was deeply interested in the City
Hospital, of which he was a trustee. Mr. Hewett
married, 1858, at Painesville, Ohio, Maria L. Knox,
whose mother married (second) Elbridge Hewett,
at Stafford Springs, Connecticut. They have had
one child : Mabel E., born September, i860, married
Charles F. Bigelow, of Worcester, lately deceased,.
and had one daughter, Helen Bigelow, now living
in Worcester with her mother at her home, 69
Cedar street. Mr. Hewett resides at the Standish
Hotel, 767 Main street, Worcester.
WADSWORTH FAMILY. Christopher Wads
worth (I), one of the early settlers of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, was an emigrant ancestor of George
Farnum Hewett, of Worcester, through his mother's
line. Christopher Wadsworth is believed to have
been the son of Thomas Wadsworth, from the
records in a Bible he brought with him and which
is now owned by the Cowles family in Hartford,
* Connecticut. He was born in England, and is be
lieved to have come in the same ship with William
Wadsworth, who may have been his brother. Will
iam' came in the ship "Lion," which sailed Sunday,
September 16, 1632, with one hundred and twenty-
three passengers, of which fifty were children. After
a twelve weeks voyage the ship touched at Cape
Ann, and five days later landed in Boston. William
settled in Cambridge, and in 1636 removed to Hart
ford. Christopher lived and died at Duxbury. He
was a prominent citizen in a town where such
prominent men as Miles Standish, Elder Brewster
and John Alden lived. He married Grace Cole.
He was the first constable, then an office of more
importance relatively than the sheriff is now ; was
deputy to general court, selectman and highway
surveyor at various times. The first record men
tioning his name at Duxbury is under date of 1633.
In 1638 he drew land in Holly Swamp, and the site
of his house is west of Captain's Hill, near the
new road to Kingston; his lands .ran clear to the
bay, on what was formerly known as Morton's
Hole. The homestead remained in the family until
1855 when it was sold. The will of Christopher,
dated July 31, 1677, was filed September, 1678. Of
his four children, Joseph and John lived and died
in Duxbury ; Captain Samuel removed to Milton, and
was killed by the Indians in the fight at Sudbury,
1676. The children were: 1. Mary, married 
Andrews. 2. John, born 1638, died 1700, married
Abigail Andrews, 1667; she died 1723; he lived on
the old homestead of Christopher; was deacon of
the church at Duxbury many years ; had eleven
children. 3. Joseph, born 1636, died 1689, married
Abigail Wait, 1655 ; second wife was Mary ; six
children. 4. Samuel, - probably the eldest son.
(II) Captain Samuel Wadsworth, son of Christo
pher Wadsworth (1), probably born 1630, lived at
Bridgewater, then Duxbury plantation, where he was
a taxpayer in 1655 to 1665. About 1655 he married
Abigail Lundall, of Duxbury. He occupied the land
at Bridgewater owned by his father, and had a
9

sixty-fourth interest in the township. His son
Timothy succeeded his grandfather as owner in 1686.
Captain Samuel and his brother Joseph Wads
worth owned land at Bridgewater longer than any
others of the early settlers after they moved away
from the town. Captain Samuel bought a beautiful
tract of land in Dorchester in what is now Milton,
about 1660. The farm was between the Blue Hills,
Milton, and Boston. Some of this property is now
or was recently owned by descendants, having been
in the family ever since the first settlement. Cap
tain Samuel was a man of means and influence,
active in church and state. His descendants of the
name of Wadsworth are more numerous than those
of any of his brothers. He had six sons. He was
a soldier in King Philip's war, in command of the
Milton company. In April, 1676, he was ordered to
Marlboro with fifty men to strengthen the garrison
in that town. On the way thither his command
passed through Sudbury, where the Indians were
in hiding. After Captain Wadsworth reached Marl
boro he learned that the Indians had attacked the
settlement at Sudbury and burned the houses on
east side of the Sudbury river. The Watertown
soldiers under .Captain Hugh Mason checked the
enemy, but Wadsworth hurried to his relief without
waiting for his men to rest, though they had
marched all day and all night before. Captain
Brocklebank went with the company and some of
the Marlborp garrison. Captain Wadsworth and his
men were ambushed by about five hundred Indians,
with the usual war-whoops and savage attack. After
a desperate struggle for five hours Wadsworth had
lost five men; the Indians had lost more than a
hundred. But as night approached the Indians set
fire to the dry grass, the smoke blinding the
colonists, and they were obliged to abandon their
sheltered position and were literally cut to pieces.
Captain Wadsworth, covered with wounds, it is
said, was one of the last to fall. Thirty men, in
cluding Captain Brocklebank, Captain Wadsworth
and two other officers were slain, and were buried
in one grave. The twenty who escaped found refuge
in a mill that had been fortified, and were rescued
by Captain Prentice and Captain Crowell. Five or
six were taken prisoners and tortured to death by
fire. The date of this fight was April, 1676, some
authorities giving the 18th, others the 21st. Captain
Wadsworth is described as "that resolute, stout
hearted soldier, one worthy to live in our history
under the name of a good man." The first monu
ment to him and his comrades in arms buried on
the battle field at Sudbury was erected by his son,
President Wadsworth, of Harvard College. On No
vember 27, 1852, a monument built by the joint
action of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and
the town of Sudbury was dedicated. At that time
the twenty-nine bodies were all found, the marks of
the wounds showing in some cases after a lapse of
nearly two hundred years. Children of Captain
Samuel Wadsworth: 1. Christopher, born 1661, died
1687 (his grave is marked by the oldest stone in
the graveyard at Milton). 2. Ebenezer, see forward.
3. Timothy, born 1662. 4. Joseph, born 1667. 5'.
Benjamin, born 1670. 6. Abigail, born 1672, mar
ried A. Boardman. 7. John, born 1674, died 1734
(III) Ebenezer Wadsworth, son of Captain Sam
uel Wadsworth (2), was among the early settlers
of Milton, Massachusetts, where he was born 1660
died 1717. He married Mary  , and their chil
dren were : 1. Mary, born 1684, married  Simp
son. 2. Samuel, born 1685; was lieutenant in Mil
ton company; died 1754; married Ann Withington
3. Recompense, see forward. 4. George, born 1698'

130

WORCESTER COUNTY

in Milton, died 1778; married Hannah Pitcher; was
farmer and miller at Stoughton, Massachusetts;
ensign in Captain Goffe's company in French war ;
had seven children.
(IV) Recompense Wadsworth, son of Ebenezer
Wadsworth (3), born at Milton, 1688, died 1729!
married Sarah Morey; their children: 1. Sarah,
born 1715. died 1728. 2. Mary, born 1718, married
Jeremiah Tucker, 3. David, see forward. 4. Jona
than, born 1722, at Roxbury, removed from Milton
about 1755, died' 1798 (gored to death by a bull) ;
married, 1742, Rebecca Davenport, of Milton, born
in Roxbury, 1723; ten children.
(V) David Wadsworth, son of Recompense
Wadsworth (4), born in Milton, 1720, died Decem
ber 5, 1749, in Grafton, Massachusetts, where he re
moved and settled ; married Hannah Paul ; their
children : I. David, see forward. 2. Ebenezer, born
August 20, 1745, in Milton, married Lucy  and
Patience Swift. 3. Samuel, born September 28,
1747, at Grafton, died 1842; married Margery Hutch
inson ; seven children. 4. Sarah, married Joseph
Merriam. (VI) David Wadsworth, son of David Wads
worth (5), born at Grafton, 1741, died 1821; married
Elizabeth Whipple, born 1744, died October 31, 1827;
their children : 1. Susannah, born at Grafton, Sep
tember 13, 1765, married Peter Farnum. 2. David,
born July 5, 1767; scythe manufacturer at Harre,
Massachusetts ; married Virtue Willard. 3. Jona
than, see forward. 4. John, born July 18, 1771,
settled at Barre; died 1833; married Lois Warren;
twelve children. 5. Jacob, born August 24, 1773,
died April 11, 1774. 6. Samuel, born June 18, 1775,
died 1812 ; married Elizabeth Barnes. 7. Ebenezer,
born June 24, 1777, died August 5, 1777. 8. Moses,
born October 30, 1778; married Elizabeth Tisdale,
and removed to Walpole, Massachusetts. 9. Paul,
born February 9, 1781, died December 16, 1783. 10.
Joseph, born March 29, 1784; scythe manufacturer
at Auburn, New York; married Anna Barnes, died
1854- (VII) Jonathan Wadsworlh, son of David
Wadsworth (6), born at Grafton, in the section now
called Farnumsville, May 23, 1769, died 1850. He
married, in Grafton, 1790, Tabitha, born in Grafton,
May 8, 1772, died in 1853, daughter of Captain Jo
seph Warren. (See Warren Family.) Children
of Jonathan and Tabitha (Warren) Wadsworth : 1.
Mary, born November 19, 1790, married James Mar
tin ; died June 15, 1833. 2. Sally, born August 24,
1794, married Paul Farnum ; died April 9, 1829,
Boston. 3. Nancy, see forward. 4. David, born
1800, died young. 5. David, born October 20, 1803,
South Boston ; married, December 8, 1825, Caroline
Metcalf ; nine children. 6. Eliza Ann, born June 9,
1806, married Zephaniah Frost. 7. Lucina, born
May 5, 1808, married Adolphus Fowler, 1829, 8.
Susan, born June 3, 1810, married Calvin Taft, 1834;
died October 23, 1837. 9- Jonathan, born October
30, i8t6, died June 3, 1833.
(VIII) Nancy Wadsworth, daughter of Jonathan
Wadsworth (7), born March it, 1798, died Decem
ber 29, 1839; married Elbridge Hewett.
WARREN FAMILY. John Warren (I), was
an emigrant ancestor of George Farnum Hewett, of
Worcester, through his mother's mother's line. John
Warren came to America in 1630 at the age of forty-
five. He was born in England, therefore, in 1585.
He settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he
was made freeman May 18, 1631. In 1635 he and
Abraham Browne were appointed to lay out high
ways and see that they were repaired. His home-
stall of twelve acres, drawn 1642, was bounded by

the homestalls of William Hammond, John Biscoe
and Isaac Sterne, and he had seven other lots,
amounting in all to one hundred and seventy-six
acres. He sympathized with the Quakers, and was
at odds with the Puritan church. In October, 1651,
he and Thomas Arnold were fined for an offense
against the laws concerning baptism. He was warned
March 14, 1658-9, for not attending church, and later
fined for neglecting to go to church fourteen Sab
baths, at the rate of twenty shillings each. May
27. 1661, his house was searched for Quakers, His
neighbor Hammond was also suspected of harbor
ing the persecuted Quakers. His wife Margaret died
November 6, 1662, He died December 13, 1667,
aged eighty-two. His will, dated November 30,
1667, was proved December 17, 1667. His children,
all born in England, were: 1. John, see forward.
2. Mary, born in England; married, October 30,
1642, John Bigelow, 3. Daniel, born 1628, took the
. oath of fidelity, 1652. 4. Elizabeth, married about
1 054, James Knapp.
(II) Captain John Warren, son of John Warren
(1), was born in England, 1622. He took a prom
inent _ part in town affairs at Watertown; was select
man in 1676 during the war. His will is dated Janu
ary 12, 1702-3, and proved February 22 same year.
He married, July 11, 1667, Michal, widow of Richard
Bloys and daughter of Robert Jennison. She died
July 14, 1713. Their children: r. Margaret, born
May 6, 1668, died unmarried, 1703. 2. Sarah, born
January 25, 1670-1, 3. Elizabeth, born July 8, 1673;
married October 18, 1705, Daniel Harrington, 4,
Mary, born May 25, 1075; married December 30,
1698, Joseph Peiree. 5, Jolin, born May 21, 1678,
6. Grace, born May t->, 1679-80; died unmarried,
January, 1703. 7. Samuel, born January 23, 1683';
married Lydia Cutting; be died November 13, 1759;
she died July 15, 1766.
(Ill) John Warren, son of Captain John War
ren (2), settled in Weston. He married first, Abigail
Hastings, died July T9, 1710; second, May 14, 1711,
Lydia Fiske, His estate was administered by his
wife Lydia, appointed July 29, 1726. She married
(second) in Watertown, June 17, 1730, Benjamin
Harrington. Children of John and Abigail (Hast
ings) Warren were: 1. John, born April 3, 1701; a
blacksmith at Marlboro. 2. Sarah, born September
20, 1702; married, October 29, 1725, Samuel Har
rington. 3. Samuel, sec forward. 4. Thomas, bom
March 11, 1705-6; married, 1727, Lydia Mixer. 5,
David, born June 22, 1708; married, June 22, 1733,
Martha Coolidge "Jr." 6. Lydia, born 1712. 7. Ben
jamin, born April 4, 1715. 8. David, born January
5, 1716-7. 9- Abigail, born October 28, 1719. 10.
Lucy, born October 26, 1721. it. William, bom
October 21, 1723, died 1739. 12. John, baptized
i7-'S- (IV) Captain Samuel Warren, son of John War
ren (3), born March t8, 1703-4, died January 26,
1775, Captain Samuel Warren came to Grafton,
from Weston in 1730. He was one of the original
members of the church there. His daughter Sarah
was the first white child born in the town of Graf
ton. His house was .1 log cabin at first nearly
opposite Chapin's Lane. He was captain of a com
pany that marched to the relief of Fort William
Henry, March 25, 1757. He married, at Weston,
Massachusetts, August 26, 1728, Tabitha, born 1702,
died April 21, 1765, daughter of Joseph and Sarah
(Waite) Stone. Their children: 1. .Samuel, born
April 20, 1730; married, May 29, 1754, Eunice Cor
bet, of Mendon. 2. Sarah, born December 24, 1731 ;
married Phineas Leland. 3. "Rebecca, born April 16,
1733. 4, Abigail, born April 29, 1735. 5. John, bom

WORCESTER COUNTY

J3i

August 8, 1736; died September 8, 1755. 6. Tabitha,
born August 6, 1738, died September 7, 1754. 7.
William, born May 29, 1740, removed to Conway.
8. David, born March 24,. 1742; married Prudence
Whipple. 9. Joseph, see forward. 10, Martha, born
May 31, 1747-
(V) Captain Joseph Warren, son of Captain
Samuel (4), born April 22, 1745, died July 19,
1808; married, March .28, 1765, Lois' Lyon, born
1746, died February 7, 1816, In February, 1763, he
was a private in Captain Ebenezer Cox's regiment
in His Majesty's service. He was sergeant in Cap
tain Luke Drury's company. He responded to the
Lexington call. In April, 1776, he was made
second lieutenant in Captain Nathaniel Sher
man's company, Colonel John Goulding's regiment.
He marched August I, 1777, with his company to
the relief of Bennington. Children of Captain Jo
seph Warren: 1. Samuel, born December 7, 1765,
married  Stow, and (second) Widow Crow-
inshield; removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut. 2.
John, born November 28, 1767; married Polly
Chapin and Susannah Grout. 3. Sally, born No
vember 30, 1769; married Gardner Brown, of Sut
ton, November, 1791. 4. Tabitha, see forward. 5.
Lois, born June 14, 1779; married, November . 12,
1797. John Wadsworth. 6. Phila, born February
21, _ 1783 ; married, March 12, 1801, Nathaniel
Whipple. 7. Delphia, born November 3, 1786, died
1869, unmarried.
(VI) Tabitha Warren, daughter of Captain Jo
seph Warren (5), married Jonathan Wadsworth,
She was the mother of Mrs. Elbridge Hewett,
mother of George F. Hewett. (See Wadsworth
Family and George F. Hewett.) -
PAINE FAMILY. Stephen Paine (1), from
whom so many of the families of the name in Amer
ica traces their descents, was an emigrant ancester of
George Farnum Hewett, of Worcester through his
father's mother, Mrs. William Hewett. The sub
stance of the following account of the family is
taken from a sketch written some years ago by
Nathaniel Paine, vice-president of the Worcester
Trust Company, who also wrote the history of the
Paine family in Worcester.
Stephen Paine was descended from a family of
Great Ellingham, a parish in the Hundred of
Shropham, near Hingham, Norfolk county, Eng
land. He was a miller by trade". He came to New
England with a large party from Hingham and vi
cinity in 1638, in the ship "Diligent," John Martin,
master, with a- family consisting of his wife, three
sons and four servants. There are records subse
quently of only two sons, however. One died early
•or returned to England. Paine settled at Hingham,
in Plymouth Colony, where he had land grants.
He was admitted a freeman in 1639, and elected a
deputy to general court 1641. In 1641-2 he and
four others obtained leave of general court to set
tle Seekonk, and he removed to that place, which was
afterward called Rehoboth, in 1643-4. There he
became prominent, holding many offices of honor and
trust; was made a townsman, an office of some im
portance, 1644 ; in '1645 he was again sent to the gen
eral court and continued to represent Seekonk, until
1660, also held various town offices until 1671. He
became a founder of the town of Attleboro, Massa
chusetts in 1661, he and his sons Stephen and
Nathaniel being among those who bought Attle
boro of the Indians. They also owned the tract
which includes the present town of Swansea, Massa
chusetts, and Barrington, Rhode Island.
• Stephen Paine died in August, 1679, outliving
both his sons. His first wife died January 20,

1660. He married (second) Alice, widow of Wil
liam Parker of Plymouth and Taunton, Massachu
setts. She died December 5, 1682. His children
Nathaniel and Stephen both born in England.
(II) Stephen Paine, son of Stephen Paine (1),
born 1629, in Norfolk county, England, was nine
years old when he came to New England with his
folks. He settled with them at Hingham, and re
moved with them to Rehoboth in 1643-4. He be
came a prominent citizen there, taking the oath of
fidelity in 1657. He was a tanner by trade. He
was active in town affairs and held a number of
offices. He may have resided a few years at Swan
sea, where he and his father owned land. He
was active in King Philip's war under Major Wil
liam Bradford, as a soldier and also as a contribu
tor to the war fund. He died at Rehoboth, Jan
uary 1677-8. His wife Anne married (second) #
Thomas Metcalf, of Rehoboth. Children of Stephen
and Ann Paine : 1. Stephen, born September 29,
1651; married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer
Williams, of Taunton; married (second) Mary
Brintnall, August 12, 1707; was deputy to general
court 1694 and 1703. 2. Rebecca, born October 20,
1656; married, December 24, 1673, Peter Hunt, Jr.;
married (second) Samuel Peck, November 21, 1677.
3. John, born April 3, 1658, resided at Swansea,
1683 ; surveyor of highways there 1686 ; married
Elizabeth Belcher and had large family. 4. Mary,
born May 11, 1660, married October 29, 1678-9,
lEnoch Hunt, of R'eboboth. 5. Samuel, born, at
Rehoboth, May 12, 1662, married Anne Peck, of
Rehoboth, December 16, 1685 ; married (second)
Mrs. Abigail Fussell of Woonsocket; removed 1708
from Rehoboth to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. 6.
Elizabeth, born August 27, 1664, married February
10, 1685, Jacob Pepper. 7. Sarah, born October 12,
1666; died April 17, 171 1; married, November 23,
1688, Daniel Alden. 8. Nathaniel, born Sep
tember 20, 1667 ; married May 1, 1694, Dorothy
Chaffee. (Ill) Samuel Paine, son of Stephen Paine (2),
born at Rehoboth, August 12, 1662; married, Decem
ber 16, 1685, Anne Peck, born December 22, 1667,
at Rehoboth, daughter of Deacon Samuel and Sarah
(Hunt) Peck. Sarah' Hunt was daughter of Peter
Hunt, Sr., and granddaughter of Enoch Hunt, the
emigrant. Joseph Peck, grandfather of Anne, came
over in the "Diligent" with Stephen Paine from old
Hingham, Norfolk county, England, with his family
and servants. Anne (Peck) Paine died February
26, 1703, soon after the birth of Daniel, her last
child. Samuel married second (intentions January
18, 1708-9), Abigail, daughter of  Bartholomew,
widow of Joseph Frizzell. She was admitted in full
communion in the church May 5, 1728, died January
s3> I752> aged seventy-nine. Samuel died May 11,
r73S- The graves of Samuel and his wives are
marked by stones in the old graveyard at East
Providence, Rhode Island. Children of ' Samuel :
1. Samuel, born September 13, 1686, removed to
Pomfret, Connecticut, 1705-6; married Ruth,
daughter of Abraham and Sarah Perrin; she was
born March 30, 1688, probably at Rehoboth ; both
admitted to church at Pomfret, September, 1719;
was on petition for town charter; held office; wife
died June 5, 1725 ; he died February 15, 1725. 2.
Anne, born September 15, 1688 ;. married, March 13,
1717, Peter Hunt, his second wife. 3. Seth, born
August 20, 1690; married Mary Morris, removed
to Connecticut. 4. Judith, born February 18, 1695,
married January 5, 1719, Ichabod Peck, of Reho
both, brother of Ensign Daniel Peck; nine chil
dren. 5. Noah, born May 28, 1696; married Jan-

13^

WORCESTER COUNTY

uary 13, 1732, Mehitable Storrs, born March 30,
1709. 6. Daniel, born February 22, 1702-3. 7.
Rebecca, born 1710; married, July 4, 1744. Deliver
ance Cleveland, of Canterbury, Connecticut, where
she died 1784. 8. Ebenezer, see forward.
(IV) Ebenezer Pamej son of Samuel Paine
(3), was born 171 1. His mother was a grand
daughter of John Grosvernor, of Roxbury, who
died September 27, 1691. (The only gravestone
in tlie Roxbury, Massachusetts graveyard bearing
a coat-of-arms is that of John Grosvenfir.) He was
a tanner and town constable; had property in
Pomfret, where his children went in 1700 with his
widow. She died 1738, aged eighty-seven. Eben
ezer Paine settled in Woodstock, Connecticut. He
owned the covenant in 1740; served on several im
portant church committees for the town; admitted
.freeman .1749; served as constable. He died March
29, 1789, aged seventy-eight years; his wife died
May 23, 1758. Their children: 1. Mary, born at
West Woodstock, Connecticut (where all the chil
dren were born), September 23, 1737, married May
2, 1769, Moses Perrin, of Woodstock (the records
tell us that she died of the bite of a skunk). 2.
Ebenezer, Jr., born December 16, 1739; married,
1766, Esther, born May 2, 1743, daughter of Samuei
Child and Keziah Hutchins of Killingly, Connecti
cut; mason; removed from Woodstock to Hartland,
Vermont, where he died April 9, 1795; wife died
March 6, 1839, aged ninety-six. 3. Leicester, see
forward. 4. Asa, born September, 1744; married a
daughter of Samuel and Keziah Child; settled in
Pomfret, Vermont; four sons. 5. Stephen, ;born
September 17, 1749; married, May 19, 1795, Martha,
daughter of Dr. Parker Morse, of Woodstock, Con
necticut; held many offices of honor and trust; in
1788 was member Connecticut state convention to
ratify federal consitution and voted no ; represented
Woodstock in legislature and was generally called
Deputy Paine; died June, 1820; his wife died
January 5, 1825. 6. Hannah, born December 23,
1753- (V) Leicester Paine, son of Ebenezer Paine
(4), born at West Woodstock, Connecticut, May
11, 1742; removed to Uxbridge, Massachusetts,
about 1780; married Elizabeth, daughter of David
Draper, who built the house generally known as
the Draper House, at Uxbridge. He died July 7,
1821, aged seventy-nine; she died November 6,
1830, aged eighty. Children of Leicester Paine : 1. Lu
rana Leonard, see forward. 2. Mary Grosvenor,
born November 19, 1781, Woodstock, died un
married, 1832. 3. David Draper, born July 26, 1788;
married October 23, 1822, Jemima French, of Ux
bridge, born 1800, died April 23, 1859; joiner by
trade, also school teacher; prominent man, select
man, assessor, deacon Baptist church; died Novem
ber 18, 1854 ; eight children.
(VI) Lurana Leonard Paine, daughter of
Leicester Paine (5), born Woodstock, Connecticut,
January 1, 1777; married, January 14, 1802, at Ux
bridge, Massachusetts, William Hewett, Jr. He was
born August 1, 1770, at Gloucester, Rhode Island.
His father was William Hewett, of Sutton, Massa
chusetts. Lurana died at Sutton, February 29,
1807. Her children, all born at Northbridge, Massa
chusetts, formerly Sutton: 1. Elias P. Hewett, bom
1802, died 1803. 2. .Elbridge Hewett, born August
11, 1804, married, February 20, 1828, Nancy Wads
worth, of Grafton, Massachusetts, who died 1869;
he died March 17, 1777 at Worcester, Massachu
setts. Children: 1. Andrew Fuller Hewett, born
August 29, 1829. 2. Mary Lurana, born July 16,
1831 ; married John Wheeler, of Grafton, who died

1881. 3. Caroline Hewett, born January 16, 1833;
teacher in public schools of Worcester, Massachu
setts, many years. 4. George Farnum, born July 5,
1836, married Maria L. Knox.
THAYER FAMILY. The original American
ancestor of one branch of the Thayer family in
New England was Thomas Thayer, who settled
in Braintree, Massachusetts, coming from Thorn-
bury, England. He married Margery Wheeler,
who died December 11, 1672. He died April, 1672.
Thomas (1) was a shoemaker, as shown by his will
made September 13, 1665. The children of Thomas
and Margery were : Thomas, Jr., Ferdinando and
Shadrach. (II) Ferdinando Thayer, son of Thomas
Thayer (1), married Huldah Hay ward, of Brain
tree, and settled at Mendon about 1668 where he
reared his large family, and died there March 28,
1713, and his wife Huldah, 1690. He had been at
Mendon before the King Philip war and his name ap
pears in the minutes of the first town meeting, June,
1667, as selectman. Among the -lands set off and sur
veyed for him was one tract in January, 1674, and
then after the Indians burned the town, it seems he
went, back again and re-located and took lands, in
cluding a forty acre house-lot, May 26, 1686, They
had twelve children, about half of them born in
Braintree and the latter ones at Mendon. Their
names were — Sarah, Huldah, Jonathan, David, died
1674, Naomi, Thomas, Samuel, Isaac, Josiah,
Ebenezer, Benjamin and David.
(Ill) Benjamin Thayer, son of Ferdinando
Thayer (2), born in Mendon, December 20, 1712,
married (first) Sarah Haywood; (second) Hannah
Haywood. Youngest child was Aaron, born No
vember 11, 1715.
(IV) Aaron Thayer, son of Benjamin Thayer
(3), married Jemima Cook, in 1738, and they had
thirteen children, including one named Benjamin.
(V) Benjamin Thayer, born April 16, 1744, son
of Aaron Thayer (4), married Sarah Bosworth,
of Bellingham, July 9, 1767, and they had seven
children, including one named Caleb.
(VI) Caleb Thayer, son of Benjamin Thayer
(5), born January 31, 1770, married Elizabeth
Thayer, April 7, 1791, and they had five children in
cluding Caleb.
(VII) Caleb Thayer, son of Caleb Thayer
(6), born January 5, 1803, married Hannah Gas-
kill, May 20, 1827, and they had : Adin, born Decem
ber 5, 1828; Elias Ellis, born April 21, 1832, died
1840; Elizabeth, born June 11, 1836,
(VIII) Judge Adin Thayer, son of Caleb
Thayer (7), was born December 5, 1828. His was
but a limited educational opportunity. He at
tended the common district schools and later the
Worcester Academy. Thinking he might follow
teaching for a profession, he took a thorough course
of training at the Westfield Normal school. He
had not long tested/his fitness and liking for steady
school room life, when he decided that' the best
channel for his success would be that of the legal
profession, so he began the study of law with Henry
Chapin, whom he finally succeeded on the bench.
It was in 1854 that. Mr. Thayer commenced his
legal practice at Worcester. His judgment being
of the soundest type, marked by the plain, practical,
common sense, he soon rose to a man of more than
ordinary importance in Massachusetts. While he
was an eminent lawyer, his most brilliant work was
in the arena of politics, and within this field he was-
pre-eminent. Early allied with the Free Soil party,
he was eager and earnest in opposition to the en-

WORCESTER COUNTY

133

croachments of the slave power, and despised the
proceedings under the Fugitive Slave Law, as it
affected his own native state. His relatives were in
timate with Hon. Charles Sumner and John An
drew. He was unselfish and consistent in his de
votion to the principles which he believed should
actuate and predominate in his state and nation.
While he might have appreciated high office, he never
sulked or faltered because another was chosen to
hold such honorable places. He became an invalu
able adviser among the early day leaders within the
Republican party. In the truest, best sense he was
a strong partisan. Believing as he did in justice
to all men, he threw himself into the canvass spir
ited like a brave warrior, determined thai the cause
should not fail by reason of any neglect upon his
part. He was a great political organizer and the
campaigns he directed were complete in every de
tail. He seldom appeared as a speaker, but when
he did his arguments were logical and convincing.
He held but few offices. Under- President Lincoln
he was internal revenue collector and re-appointed
by General Grant. Two years he served as state
senator. In 1878, as chairman of the state com
mittee of the Republican party, he rendered great
service. The bench was vacated by the death of
Judge Chapin in 1878, and Mr. Thayer was ap
pointed to succeed him in probate court, and faith
fully discharged his duty for ten years. In his
death in 1888 Massachusetts lost a stanch defender.
(IX) Charles Martin Thayer, only child of
Judge Adin and Caroline W. (Kendrick) Thayer,
was born in Worcester, December 4, 1866. He was
educated in the public schools and Harvard Uni
versity, graduating from -the latter institution in
1889. He then entered Harvard Law School, grad
uating therefrom in 1892, studied law in the office
of Hopkins & Bacon, was admitted to the bar in
Suffolk county in 1891, and took up his practice
in the city of Worcester. He is a member of the
Worcester County Bar Association. He is a director
of the Worcester Trust Company at the present
time (1905), the Peoples Savings Bank, Crompton
& Knowles Loom Works, and the Merchants and
Farmers Insurance Company. He is the trustee of
several large estates. He was chairman of the
school committee for a period of three years. He
is the Worcester county attorney for the Boston &
Maine Railroad. He is a Republican in politics.
(VIII) Frederick Thayer, son of Caleb and
Hannah (Gaskill) Thayer (7), and the brother of
the eminent judge and jurist, of Massachusetts,
Hon. Adin Thayer, was born in Blackstone, Massa
chusetts. He completed his school studies at the
academies at Wilbraham and Greenwich. He then
engaged in teaching for a season and then
embarked in trade, a member of the Wor
cester firm of Thayer & Taft. He soon be
came manager of the Worcester Company of
Capitalists, who purchased the mill and power
privilege at Blackstone, formerly owned by
A. T. Stewart, of New York. Mr. Thayer
became one of the largest dealers in shoddy and
satinet in New England. While- at Blackstone he
represented his district in the general court, two
terms — 1879-80. For his first wife he married
Adelia h. Greene, related to General Nathaniel
Greene, of revolutionary fame. His second wife
was a sister of his former companion — Carrie D.
Greene. (Ill) Isaac Thayer, son of Ferdinando and Hul
dah Thayer (2), married (first) Mercy Ward, (sec
ond) Mary — , and had eleven children born to him.
(IV) Joseph Thayer, son of Isaac Thayer (3),
married (first) Sarah Balcome, and (second)

Rachel Richardson. To Joseph were born twelve
children, including John, the fifth child.
(V) John Thayer, son of Joseph Thayer (4),
married Dasa Richardson, in 1776, and they were
the parents of six children, including one named
John, Jr.
(VI) John Thayer, Jr., son of John Thayer (5),
born in 1787, married Ruth Mowry, in 1810, and had
three children — Mowry Richardson, Charles Dexter
and Aurilla.
(VII) Mowry Richardson Thayer, eldest son
of John Thayer (6), was born April 27, 1811. Like
most farmer boys at that time he received only
an ordinary common school education, He devoted
his life to farming and cutting and marketing wood
and timber. He was also widely known as a
trader, mostly in cattle and horses, and was an
excellent judge of both. He held many town offices,
and was by nature highly endowed with practical
common sense. Had he received a college education
he would probably have taken high rank among the
prominent men of the state. His natural attain-
. ments were N of a high order, and his opinions and
judgment were much sought by his fellow towns
people. May 1, 1838, he married Harriet Morse,
and to them were born three children : Chester
M., Lucy A., and John Randolph. The last named
is referred to in a following narrative.
(VIII) Hon. John Randolph Thayer, ex^con-
gressman, was born in- Douglas, Massachusetts,
March 9, 1845, son of Mowry Richardson and Har
riet (Morse) Thayer (7), and grandson of John
and Ruth (Mowry) Thayer. Of this line of the
Thayer family for three generations down to him
self, he was the first to choose a professional life.
He was left an orphan at the age of fifteen, to
which time his school days were passed in his native
town. At the age of sixteen he became a student
at Nichols Academy in Dudley, where he fitted for
college. In 1865 he entered Yale College, at New
Haven, Connecticut, and graduated four years later
with far above average standing in his class. While
at college he took much interest in athletics, and
rowed in his class crew. He belonged to various
college societies, and was quite a favorite among the
students. Immediately after his graduation Mr. Thayer
came to Worcester and at once began the study
of law With the law Judge Henry Chapin, and in
187 1 was admitted to the bar. During his early
practice he was associated first with Judge Hartley
Williams, later with W. A. Williams and afterward
formed a partnership with Charles S. Chapin, the
firm being styled Thayer & Chapin. In 1885 he
formed a partnership with Arthur P. Rugg, which
co-partnership has continued under the name of
Thayer & Rugg. to the' present time. From the be
ginning of his professional life Mr. Thayer has
enjoyed a. lucrative practice, and has tried many im
portant cases, including six capital cases. _ Some
lawyers succeed best before juries but ¦ fail when
addressing their argument to the Judge alone; but'
not so with him of whom we write, for before the
highest 'courts, where strictly legal questions are
involved, he has achieved signal success. A logical
reasoner and well read in law, he commands the
attention and respect of the justices of the highest
courts. Of late years his special practice has been
in civil cases.
Not unlike other fellow attorneys, he early took
a deep interest in political affairs. He has been in
great demand as a campaign speaker for the
last thirty years and more, and, gifted by nature
as an interesting and impressive orator, ever
holds the closest attention of his audiences.

134

WORCESTER COUNTY

As an indication of the admiration in which
he is held for his manliness of character,
it need only be remarked that, whenever, he has been
a candidate for public position, his majorities have
been much larger than his party vote would have
promised. If one trait be stronger than another in
his well-balanced make-up, it is his earnest belief
in the civil equality of all men, and their everyday
rights, whether as laborer or capitalist. His friend
ship when once made becomes part of his life, and
unfailing as it is strong. His is a true friend
ship, a genuine fraternal regard not often found
among the politicians of modern times.
For four years Mr. Thayer served as a member
of the common council in the city of Worcester,
and the same number of years on the board of alder
men. For two terms (1880-81) he was a repre
sentative in the general court,, serving on the
judiciary committee, one of the most important in
that body. His work was effective among the leaders
of the house in both sessions. The people set a
high value upon his services, and in 1890 and 1891
he was elected to the state senate, although the sena
torial district was naturally Republican by more
than two thousand plurality. He ranked among
the most active and influential leaders of the senate
during both terms of his service. Another evidence
of his strong hold upon the regard of his fellow
townsmen is afforded in the fact that notwithstand
ing his city is strongly of another political belief
than that which he advocates, when he was nom
inated for mayor of Worcester he received the larg
est vote ever given up to that time to a Demo
cratic candidate for that position. When he was put
forward as the candidate of his party for a seat in
congress, in 1892, against Hon. J. H. Walker, he
wanted only seven hundred and eighty-four votes
of being elected, while at the same election the
Democratic candidate for president ran three thou
sand behind the Republican nominee in that con
gressional district. His party friends ' felt such en
couragement that they believed his election to con
gress could be accomplished, and in 1898 he became
a candidate against Mr. Walker, who had held his
seat for ten years, and this time Mr. Thayer was
elected by a plurality of one hundred and sixty-seven
votes, while the Democratic candidate for governor
ran more than eight thousand votes behind the Re
publican candidate in the' district.
His conduct while representing his' district in
congress was not only above reproach, but he ac
quitted himself so. 'capably and with such integrity
as to win' the admiration of both political parties':
Elected as he was from a Republican district, he
never shirked the labors and responsibilities of look
ing after the best interests of the district at large
and of the entire people, and made many personal
friends even among his political opponents. His
courtesy was extended in behalf . of every constit
uent, regardless of his political affiliations. In brief,
the important ' district which he had the honor to
represent in congress enjoyed the services of a clean,
honorable, progressive, painstaking and capable ad
vocate during the six years he occupied his seat,
he being re-elected twice, the last time with a ma
jority of nearly' eight hundred, which was five
times the majority he received at his first election.
He voluntarily retired at the expiration of his third
term, though strongly urged by leading representa
tives of both political parties to accept another nom
ination. He was succeeded by Hon. Rockwood Hoar,
son of the late lamented Senator George F. Hoar.
Mr. Thayer is recognized as one of the most force
ful Democratic leaders in Massachusetts, and while

he takes much pride in tracing his Democracy
through three generations, he is one of the most
independent thinker's and actors in public life at the
present time.
Mr. Thayer possesses a strong and magnetic
personality, and with it great will power, but con
trolled by a most kindly tempered disposition, en
abling him to make and retain the constant, friend
ship of a wide circle of his fellow-men. While his
brain is ever active, and his mental powers find
constant exercise, he is wise in that he takes occa
sion to turn from his multiplied duties and care
for his physical manhood by interesting himself in
various sports and amusements. For twelve years
he was president of the Worcester Sportsmen's Club;
which comprises in its membership about one hun
dred and eighty sportsmen who give their atten
tion principally to fox hunting. It cannot be af
firmed that he is a society man, for aside from his
college fraternities he has never connected himself
with any of the many civic, military or secret or
ganizations of his day.
Mr. Thayer is happy in the possession of a most
1 interesting family. He married, January 30, 1872,
Charlotte D. Holmes, daughter of Pitt and Diana
(Perrin) Holmes. Their six children are: Henry
Holmes, born November 25, 1873; John Mowry,
January 4, 1875; Charlotte Diana, May 8, 1879;
Marguerite Elizabeth, February ,2, 1881 ; Mary Per
rin, February 7, 1885; Edward Carrington, Octo
ber 2, 1893.
(Ill) Benjamin Thayer, spn of Ferdinando (2),
by wife Hannah Haywood, had among other chil
dren, (IV) Aaron Thayer, who married Jemima Cook,
in 1738. Their son
(V) Benjamin Thayer, born April 16, 1744, mar
ried first Sarah Bosworth, in 1767, and second Ruth
Alden, in 1793.
(VI) Cushman Thayer, son of Benjamin Thayer
(5), married Miranda Pond in 1818, by whom sev
eral children were born.
(VII) Hon. Eli Thayer, son of Cushman Thayer
(6), born in Mendon, Massachusetts, June 11, 1819.
He is sixth in descent from John Alden, who came
in the "Mayflower," through Ruth, daughter of Rev.
Noah Alden, of Bellingham, who married his grand
father, Benjamin Thayer.
Eli obtained his "early education in the old
fashioned common schools of Mendon and 1 at
Bellingham high school. Later he attended the
academy at Amherst and' the Manual Labor- school,
now the Worcester Academy. In 1835-6 he taught
a school in Douglas, and. the; next four years clerked
in his father's store in Millville. In 1840 he en
tered the Manual Labor, school to fit for Brown
University, and entered as a student there in the
autumn of that year. In 1842 he taught school at
Hopkinton, Rhode Island. In September, 1844, he
took charge of the boys' high school at Providence,
receiving $600 for the balance of that year. It had
been an unruly school, but he became complete
master of every pupil. He graduated from Brown
University in 1845, second in his class. He _ im
mediately came to Worcester to accept a position
in the Academy and soon became its principal. The
same year he bought land on what was styled Goat
Hill, at $150 per acre, and began the erection of
the building called the Oread, which was com
pleted in 1852. Here he established the famous
school for young women, which he conducted with
much success; until he entered upon his well-known
work as congressman. He served in the legislature
in 1853-54, when he introduced a bill to incorporate

WORCESTER COUNTY

135

the Bank of Mutual Redemption. It was in 1854
that Mr. Thayer accomplished the great and his
toric act of his life, in originating the plan which
saved Kansas and other territories to freedom and
settled the destiny of the nation; for had the
southern leaders then secured this territory for
slavery, it would have held it long years and no
rebellion would haye followed and the slave would
not have been free, at least for many decades. It
was at a meeting to protest against the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise, held in the old city hall
at Worcester, March n, 1854, that Mr. Thayer an
nounced his celebrated "Plan of Freedom." He at
once secured an act to incorporate the Massachu
setts Emigrant Aid Company, and prior to the re
peal of the Missouri Compromise, ' he hired a hall
in Boston and began speaking day and night, to
further his course of sending emigration to Kansas,
but it was difficult to arouse enthusiasm, and make
up the first Kansas Colony. He traveled much, ad
dressed many thousands of people, but soon after
the departure of the first colony in 1854, there was
no trouble, and the south soon awoke to the fact
that it had a power to contend with. The border
war in Kansas began and the powers at Washington
abandoned the fight at the close of 1856.
In the fall of 1856 Mr. Thayer was elected to a
seat in congress from the Worcester district, and
at once took a leading place in national matters.
He was ever a great advocate of colonization of the
colored men, whom he divided to be set off- in Cen
tral America, or other localities, thus freeing our
own republic of the curse entailed upon us by the
slave trade. His speeches on "Suicide of Slavery"
and on the admission of Oregon, brought great
fame to him. In i860, after a most exciting can
vass, he failed of re-election by a narrow majority.
The south end of Worcester owes much to him
for the matter of developing its domain, for manu
facturing purposes. It was nearly fifty years ago
that he was instrumental in the erection of the
large shops called the Adriatic mills. He laid out
streets and improved several tracts in that neigh
borhood. He was the author of "The Kansas
Crusade," a graphic, valuable historic work. He
also wrote much for newspapers and magazines,
concerning the great times which tired men's
souls. (V) Benjamin Thayer and wife Sarah Bos-
worth. Their seventh child
(VI) Benjamin Thayer, married Rachel Wales,
1802; settled in Mendon, Massachusetts'. Their
eighth child
(VII) Davis Thayer, born October 13, 1817,
in Mendon, married, April 15, 1845, Sarah, daugh
ter of Jonathan and Sarah Grout. Mrs. Thayer
was born February 13, 1820. They had one son and
two daughters. Mr. Thayer died in Worcester,
April 13, 1895.
(VIII) Charles Davis Thayer, son of Davis
Thayer and grandson of Benjamin Thayer,' was
born in Worcester, July 7, 1850, his father being
buried on his fiftieth wedding anniversary day. For
many years he was the private gardener for Colonel
Isaac Davis, mayor of Worcester. For a quarter of
a century he conducted a market garden. In 1869 he
sold out and settled on Pleasant street, continuing
his agricultural pursuits for pleasure. April 15,
1845, he married Sarah A. Grout. Three children
were born of this union, one of whom, Idella Grout,
died May 2, 1870, aged about seven years. The
others were : Charles D. and Anna E.
Charles Davis Thayer was educated at Wor
cester, graduating from Highland University Mili

tary Academy, July 9, 1869, where for two years
he had been an officer in the corps. He drilled and
was an honorary member of the Worcester Light
Infantry. He clerked for his uncle, Jonathan
Grout, bookseller, a short time, and when nine
teen years old engaged in his present business,
agriculture, horticulture and florist. He began
without capital, indeed had to borrow a thousand
dollars, paying more than seven per cent interest.
He at once began his greenhouse work. For a short
time he employed his father, a man of experience,
to assist him. Today his greenhouse is among the
most extensive of any in the great commonwealth.
From time to time he had added to his real estate,
including a part of the Greendale estate; also the
"Liberty Farm" of seventy acres, known as the
Abby Kelly Foster property. The latter he con
verted into a dairy farm, selling milk to city cus
tomers. His possessions are now wide and valua
ble. He is a member of the Worcester County Agri
cultural Society and Horticultural Society ; the Wor
cester Grange, of which he has been chaplain. He
has also been commander of Cavalry, Commandery
H. and I. Order, Knights of Malta; and first lieu
tenant of Company A of the Worcester Continentals.
Politically he uniformly supports the principles of
the Republican party.
Mr. Thayer married, December 9, 1874, Nellie
Wyman, who was born in Newburyport, Massa
chusetts, but reared in Worcester. Her father was
a thriving flour merchant in Worcester. He was a
noted Abolitionist in his younger days and later
a strong Republican. He died June, 1895, aged
seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer are the
parents of seven children, of whom two died young.
Willie, second-born, died when he was seven years
old, and Leon in infancy. The others were : Al
fred D., Joseph F., Mary W., Charles D., Jr. and
Sarah G.
(V) Benjamin Thayer and second wife, Ruth
Alden, had four children, one of them,
(VI) Alden Thayer, born December 27, 1796,
brother of Cushman, married Silance McNama,
April 6, 1821. Their son,
(VII) Alden Thayer, born February 3, 1826,
married Martha C. Knowles, in 1850.
Alden Thayer, Jr., son of Alden Thayer, Sr.,
was born February 3, 1826, at Mendon, Massa
chusetts, where he spent his boyhood days, com
pleting his education at Worcester Baptist School,
taking the civil engineering course. On leaving
school he found employment as surveyor's assistant
in making surveys for the Boston & Worcester Rail
way. He gave this up and clerked in his father's
store in Worcester; he having recently removed
from his farm at Mendon and engaged in business.
in 1850 he bought a business of. his own, which
increased, and he sought better and more spacious
cfuarters from time to'' time, and finally became a
leader among Worcester merchants. When his son
became of age he was admitted as a partner. The
entire business was sold in 1884, when Alden
Thayer retired to a beautiful home at Tatnuck and
there ¦ spent the remainder of his days. He was
ever known as a man of correct habits and con
scientious and one who made few mistakes. Being
a foremost Baptist, he aided in building up the
Dewey Street Church. He died in 1889. Martha C.
Knowles became his wife in 1850. Their children
were : Ida, Walter L., George A., Charles Austin,
Sarah Maud, Isadore Grace, and Lucius.
George Alden Thayer, son of Alden and Martha
C. (Knowles) Thayer, was born in Worcester,
March 11, 1856. His father was a merchant at old

136

WORCESTER COUNTY

Boylston, but later came to Worcester and en
gaged in trade. He died in 1889 at Tatnuck, pos
sessed of the esteem of all who knew him. George
Alden passed his youtli in Worcester, attending the
public schools. He then spent seven years as book
keeper for a pork-packing house, and three years
more at Swift & Company's branch at Ithaca, New
York, as resident manager. We next find him as
sociated with his father at Worcester, who then con
ducted the largest grocery in the city. This busi
ness was sold in 1884, when George Alden en
gaged in tlie meat and provision business, con
ducting the same until 1890, when his real estate
interests demanded his whole\ time and he sold out.
In, 1884 he married Eliza A. Rice, by whom were
born : Ida May, Ralph T., Helen and Carl A.
Mr. Thayer died February 13, 1893. Of a genial,
warm-hearted nature, he easily made friends, and
had the happy trait of keeping them his admirers.
When very young he united with the Baptist church
and was ever a devout Christian. Like his father
he was a great Bible student,
RODNEY HAYWARD DAVIS. Dolor Davis
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Rodney Hayward
Davis, of Worcester, was one of the prominent
pioneers in both colonies. His posterity is very
numerous and among them have been some very dis
tinguished men, namely: Hon. John Davis, governor
and United States senator, and Hon. John D. Long,
governor, congressman, and secretary of the navy.
He married, in County Kent, England, March 29,
1624 Margery Willard, daughter of Richard Willard,
of Horsemonden, County Kent, yeoman. She was
baptized at Horsemonden, November 7, 1602, and
died before 1667. Dolor Davis, accompanied by his
wife, three children, and Simon Willard, his wife's
brother, came from England to New England and
settled prior to August 4, 1634, in Cambridge, Massa
chusetts. Simon Willard was one of the founders
of Concord; he was captain of. foot in 1646, major
in 1654, and at his death in 1673 "the colony lost
one of its most distinguished members." Dolor
Davis was a carpenter- and master builder. He re-
received first grant of land in Cambridge, June 4.
1635, and others later. He removed to Duxbury,
August 5, 1638-39, was admitted a freem'an, and was
granted land there in 1640. He was a resident of
Barnstable in 1643, and was admitted a freeman
there, June 2, 1646. He was honored in Barnstable
with various public offices, including those of high
way surveyor and constable. He and his wife were
dismissed from the Duxbury to the Barnstable
church, August 27, 1648. In 1656 he left Plymouth
colony and returned to Massachusetts Bay, and pur
chased in Concord one hundred and fifty acres with
a house thereon. In 1666, however, he returned to
Barnstable and died there, in June, 1673. His will
was made September 13, 1672, and proved July 2,
1673. It mentions sons Simon and Samuel as al
ready having their portions ; eldest son John ; son-
in-law Lewis and Mary his wife ; and daughter Ruth
Hall. Children of Dolor and Margery (Willard) Davis
were: John, born in England about 1626, to whom
was bequeathed the Concord homestead; Mary, born
in England about 1631'; Elizabeth; Lieutenant Simon,
see forward; Samuel, settled in Concord and
Bedford, Ruth, born in Barnstable, March 24,
1645. (II) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Dolor and
Margery (Willard) Davis, was born in America,
and died in Concord, June 14, 1713, aged seventy-
seven years. His will was proved July 3, 1713. His

homestead was near his father's house on a farm
given him by his father. He was one of Captain
Thomas Wheeler's troopers in the expedition of
1675 to the Nipniuck country, and he took command
when the captain was wounded. He received his
commission as lieutenant, July 2, 1689. He was
admitted a freeman, March 21, 1699. He was deputy
to the general court in 1689-90-92^1705. He married,
December 12, 1660, Mary Blood, daughter of James
and Eleanor Blood, born at Concord, July 12, 1640.
Their children were: Dr. Simon, see forward; Mary,
born October 3, 1663, married Deliverance Wheeler,
of Stow; Sarah, March 11 or 15, 1666, married
Thomas Wheeler; James, January 19, 1668: Eleanor,
October 22, 1672; Ebenezer, June 1, 1676; Hannah,
April 1, 1679, married Samuel Blood.
(Ill) Dr. Simon Davis, eldest son of Lieutenant
Simon and Mary (Blood). Davis, was born in Con
cord, Massachusetts, October 12, 1661. He settled
in Concord and was one of the distinguished phy
sicians of his day. The children of Dr. Simon Davis
were: Dr. John, see forward; Simon, born Sep
tember 7, 1692, married, June 1, 1719, Hannah
Bacon; Henry, February 23, 1694; Elizabeth, March
28, 1695, died November 15, 1706; Mary, Novem
ber 8, 1701 ; Samuel, March 6, 1703, see forward;
Eleanor, March 4, 1705-06; Peter, September 25,
1707, probably removed to Rutland.
(IV) Dr. John Davis, eldest son of Dr. Simon
Davis, lived in Concord and Acton. He was born
in Concord, Massachusetts, November 19, 1689, and
died November 16, 1762. He married, December
17. 1713; Abigail Dudley, and their children were:
John, born July 15, 1714, died young; Ezekiel, see
forward; Micah, February 15, 1720; Isaac, October
24, 1723; Abigail, March 22, 1720-27; Samuel, April
23. 1730, resided at Acton; John, June 1, 1735, of
Acton'. Dr. John Davis was the grandfather of ,
Captain Isaac Davis, who was killed in the Con
cord fight. In order to show the relationship with
the Worcester family the line will be continued.
(V) Ezekial Davis, or as the old records almost
invariably give the name down to the last century
(1800) Davies, son of Dr. John and Abigail (Dud
ley) Davis, was born in Concord, Massachusetts,
June 8, 1717. He settled in Acton. He married his
third cousin, Mary Gibson, daughter of Abraham
Gibson (4), granddaughter of Deacon Timothy Gib
son (3), great-granddaughter of John Gibson, Jr.
(2), and great-great-granddaughter of John Gibson
(1). The children of Ezekial and Mary (Gibson)
Davis were : Isaac, see forward ; Mary, born Novem
ber 21, 1746; Sarah, married Stephen Hosmer,
brother of Abner Hosmer, who was killed in the
Concord fight ; Ruth, February 19, 1751 ; Sergeant
Ezekial, born in Acton, June 8, 1753, was in his
brother's company in the fight at Concord ; Josiah, '
Tune 14, 1755, was a revolutionary soldier in Captain
Israel Heald's company, Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regi
ment; Rebecca, September 11, 1757; Lois, April 7,
1760; Abraham, February 10, 1764; Olive, October
29, T765.
(VI) Captain Isaac Davis, eldest son of Ezekial
and Mary (Gibson) Davis, was born at Acton,
Massachusetts, February 23, 1744-45, and was killed
at the fight at North Bridge (Concord), April 19,
1775, at the head of his company, the first officer
killed in the revolution, He joined the church,
February 10, 1765. His old homestead is or was
lately owned by Charles Wheeler. It is located about
eighty rods southwest of the present site of Deacon
W. W. Davis's house. Two fine old elms that were
planted by Captain Davis still mark the location,
on the opposite side of the road from where the

WORCESTER, COUNTY

137

house stood, in which the Acton company gathered
to go to Lexington, and in which the funeral of the
three victims, was held. Captain Davis, the man who
headed the first column .against the King's troops
in the revolutionary war, was early on the ground
with thirty-eight Acton minute men, and in the
hesitancy of older officers to attack the British regu
lars drew his sword and said : "I am not afraid ;
I haven't a man that's afraid to go." He led two
companies from Concord, two from Bedford, and
one from Lincoln besides his own. They advanced
to the bridge to the tune of "The White Cockade."
He was the first to fall. The other two victims of
the fight were friends, neighbors and relatives. Abner
Hosmer, son of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer, was
twenty-two^ years .old, and engaged to be married.
Sarah Davis married his brother, Stephen Hosmer.
James _ Hayward, son of Deacon Samuel Hay ward,
was killed after the battle, near Fiske Hill, on the
road from Concord to Lexington. He . lived eight
hours after he was shot. A monument was erected
by the town and state jointly in 185 1 to the memory
of Captain Davis and his two soldiers, Hosmer and
Hayward, and their remains were placed under the
memorial. Captain Davis married, October 24, 1764,
Hannah Brown, born in 1746.
(Ill) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Samuel
Davis (2), grandson of Dolor Davis (1), was the
progenitor of many of the Rutland and Holden
Davis families.
(IV) Samuel Davis, sixth child of Dr. Simon
Davis (3), was born in Concord, Massachusetts,
March 6, 1703, died in Acton, July 4, 1800. He re
moved to Acton when a young man and was already
there when the town was incorporated in 1735. His
homestead was on the Stow and Carlisle road, in
1735. He married Sarah  , who died in Acton,
April 13, 1801, and thgir children were: Elijah,
see forward; David, settled in Acton; Rev. Nathan,
see forward ; a son, lived in Boston ; Sarah, born Oc
tober, 1741 in Acton; probably others. Rev. Nathan
Davis, third child was born in Cambridge, Massachu
setts, November 30, 1737. He graduated from Harvard
College, 1759, and became minister at Dracut, No
vember 20, 1765. He was dismissed at his own re
quest in 1785 and removed to Boston. He was
chaplain at Ft. Independence, also review officer.
He died March 4, 1803, aged sixty-five years. In
the Harvard catalogue his name is spelled Davies.
He received the degree of Master of Arts.
(V) Elijah Davis, son of Samuel (4) and Sarah
Davis, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, May 21,
I753» died May 7, 1832, aged seventy-nine years.
He was a private in Captain Israel Heald's com
pany, Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regiment, and was
on guard duty at Cambridge in 1776. Later in the
year he was in Captain John Minot's company,
Colonel Dike's regiment, at Dorchester. He mar
ried Elizabeth Hayward, a relative of James Hay
ward, who gave his life in the fight at Concord,
and they settled in Acton, in which town all their
¦children were born. The names of their children
were as follows : Betsey, lived in Townsend ; Sam
uel, died young; Mary, died young; Sarah, died
young; Elijah, died in Worcester, March 24, 1844,
aged forty-seven years ; Sarah, married Benjamin
Peabodv, of Dracut; Samuel, see forward; Nathan,
lived in Townsend, Massachusetts.
(VI) Samuel Davis, seventh child of Elijah (5)
and Elizabeth (Hayward) Davis, was born in Acton,
Massachusetts, December 18, 1806, died in Worcester,
Massachusetts, -November 1, 1892. He learned the
•carpenter trade in Acton. After serving his ap
prenticeship he worked in Lowell, Massachusetts,

and Saco, Maine. He came to Worcester, Massa
chusetts, 1828, and entered the employ of Wash
burn & Goddard, making woolen machinery on School
street. He afterwards bought out Washburn &
Goddard, and conducted the business himself for a
number of years. Afterwards he sold this busi
ness to Henry Goulding, and then entered the firm
of Nourse, Mason & Company, agricultural manu
facturers, at Court Mills, which is now the Ames
Plow Company. He held a number of public offices.
In 1847 he was town surveyor; was one of the last
three selectmen before Worcester was- made a city;
was a member of the house of representatives in
1848, and an alderman of the city under Mayor
Richardson. He was interested in the early develop
ment of real estate in Worcester, being instrumental
in making State street, Harvard street, Exchange
street, Oak avenue and other streets in the thickly
settled parts of Worcester.
He declared his intentions of marriage, December
3, 1829, and married, December 30, 1829, in Mill
bury, Massachusetts, Selina E. Stockwell, born in
Sutton, Massachusetts, February 24, 1809, died in
Worcester, Massachusetts, January 22, 1889, daugh
ter of John and Elizabeth (Walker) Stockwell, of
Sutton. Their children were: Rodney Hayward,
born April 2, 1831, died October 2, 1852; he was
drowned at sea between San Francisco and China ;
he was an officer in the clipper ship "Shooting Star;"
Frances Emily, born February 25, 1833, died Au
gust 26, 1833; Samuel Everard, see forward; Selina
Elizabeth, born November 23, 1841, died October 13,
1884. (VII) Samuel Everard Davis, third child of Sam
uel (6) and Selina E. (Stockwell) Davis, was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, November 20, 1838,
died in Worcester, July 14, 1893. As a boy he at
tended the Sumner and Thomas street schools in
Worcester. After leaving these schools he went to
Berlin Academy, and from there to Norwich Uni
versity, Vermont. He spent two years in France,
and upon his return to Worcester, Massachusetts,
entered the employ of Nourse, Mason & Company,
agricultural manufacturers, at Court Mills. He later
went to Boston with the Frank Holbrook Company,
dealers in agricultural implements, where he re
mained until he moved back to Worcester in 1878.
With Dorrance S. Goddard and Charles S. Hall he
bought forty acres of land on Belmont street, near
Eastern avenue, which they developed for build
ing purposes. He was interested in this work at
the time of his death.
He married, at Dorchester, Massachusetts (Bos
ton), June 16, 1864, Hannah Caroline Robinson, born
in Dorchester, January 29, 1836, a graduate of the
Dorchester high school, 1855.'
Hannah Caroline (Robinson) Davis traces her
ancestry to James Robinson (1), who came from
England about 1660 and settled in Dorchester, Massa
chusetts. _ He married Mary Alcock. From them the
line is traced to John Robinson' (2), who- married
Ruth Burt. John Robinson, Jr. (3), who married
Susannah Williams. James Robinson (4) a soldier
in the revolution in Captain Ebenezer Wellington's
company of Dorchester, married Sarah Breck.
Stephen Robinson (5), who married Hannah With-
ington. Stephen Augustus Robinson (6), who mar
ried Mary Capen, of Canton, Massachusetts, and
they were the parents of Hannah Caroline, afore
mentioned as the wife of Samuel E. Davis. Children
of Samuel Everard and Hannah Caroline (Robin
son) Davis, all born in Dorchester, Massachusetts,
are as follows : Rodney Hayward. born September
15, 1867, chief draughtsman for the Webb Granite

1 38

WORCESTER COUNTY

and Construction Company; Caroline Eliza, born
August 23, 1868, was a music teacher by profession ;
married, June 27, 1904, John M. Kendall, and re
sides at No. in. Beacon street (see Kendall fam
ily sketch in this work) ; George Robinson, born
March 20, 1870, married, November 19, 1895, Helen
Aileen Kennedy; he is a clerk at Logan, Swift &
Brigham's branch of the United States _ Envelope
Company, Grove street, Worcester; Cornelia Vinson,
born July 26, 1872, graduate of the Worcester high
school, Worcester State Normal school, a teacher in
the Ash street public school; she resides with" her
mother; Charles Stephen, born January 10, 1876,
died August 8, 1877. Mrs. Davis, the mother of
these children, who survives her husband, resides
at No. 11 Orne street, Worcester.
FRANKLIN BAKER WHITE. Thomas White
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Franklin Baker
White, of Worcester, was in Weymouth, Mas
sachusetts, and a proprietor there as early as
1643. He probably came from England in 1635.
He was admitted a freeman, of Weymouth,
March 3, . 1636. He represented the town in
the general court in 1636-37-57-70. He was
born in 1599 according to an affidavit he made in
1659. He died August, 1679. His will was dated
July 5, and proved August 28, 1679. He bequeathed
.to sons, Joseph, Samuel, Thomas, Ebenezer and
daughter, Hannah; grandchildren Lydia, Mary and
Ebenezer White and Hannah Baxter; pastor Sam
uel Torrey and Elder Edward Bate. Children of
Thomas White were: 1. Joseph, (see forward). 2.
Samuel; married Mary Dyer. 3. Thomas. 4. Han
nah; married June 24, 1660, John Baxter. 5.
Ebenezer. (II) Joseph White, eldest child of Thomas
White (1), was born about 1635, perhaps in Eng
land. He married Lydia Rogers. She died March
8, 1727, at Mendon, Massachusetts. He is the
founder of an important branch of the White family
in Worcester county. He was an early settler in
Mendon, with others of his friends and 'relatives,
and was a leading man there. He had ten children,
some of whom were born in Mendon, others in
towns where the family took refuge during the In
dian war. The children of Joseph and Lydia
(Rogers) White were : 1. Joseph, born December
16, 1662; removed to Mendon with the family when
a year old. 2. Samuel, February 14, 1667. 3. Eben
ezer. 4. Experience; married Ephraim Miller. 5.
Hannah; married Samuel Warfield, July 22, 1701.
6. Thomas, (see forward). 7. Ann; married, Trask.
8. Joseph. 9. Lydia; married  Cook. 10.
Mary, married  Hill.
(Ill) Thomas White, sixth child, of Joseph
White' (2), was born in Mendon probably about
1665. He married Mehitable  , who died
September 27, 1704. Captain Thomas White, who
was a very prominent man in Mendon, in church,
town and militia, died March 23, 1706, in the prime
of life. Their children, all born in Mendon, were :
1. Mehitable, born January 20, 1688-9; married Ben
jamin Darling. 2. Thomas, (see forward). 3.
Thankful, August 3, 1693. 4. Joseph, August 28,
1695 ; married Abigail Skinner, of Oxford, April
15, 1718. 5. John, March 12, 1698: 6. Samuel, Sep
tember 21, 1700. 7. Ebenezer, February 4, 1703-4;
died August 27, 1726.
(IV) Thomas White, son of Thomas (3), born
in Mendon, Massachusetts, April 15, 1691 ; married
Deborah  . There were descendants of the
Plymouth family of White in the same region, and
there may have been some relationship to account

for the fact that the eldest son of Thomas White'
was named Peregrine. Children, all born in Men
don, Massachusetts, were: 1. Peregrine, September
11, 1711. 2. Seth, September 22, 1712. 3. Lydia,
January .16, 1715-6. 4. Hopestill, July 15, 1717. 5.
Samuel, May 17, 1719. 6. Deborah, February 16,
1722. 7. Josiah, (see forward).
(V) Josiah White, youngest child of Thomas
White (4),' born in Mendon, Massachusetts, April
29, 1723; married (first) January 2, 1746, Hannah
Gardner; he married (second), November 28, 1751,
Lucy Whipple. He settled in Sutton, where he was
called Josiah, Jr., to distinguish him from a rela
tive of the same name some ten years older. All
his children were born in Sutton, but it is thought
that late in life he removed to Dudley where his-
son lived.
Children of Josiah and Hannah (Gardner)
White were: I. Hannah, born July 20, 1747. 2.
Beatrice, March 6, 1749. Children of Josiah and
Lucy (Whipple) White were : 3. Ebenezer, (see
forward). 4. Abel, April 23, 1754. 5. Jeptha, De
cember 26, 1755. 6. Josiah, March 9, 1758. 7. Elias,
December 13, 1759. 8. Noah, November 6, 1761.
9. Lucy, April 16, 1764. 10. Job, March 6, 1766.
(VI) Ebenezer White, third child of Josiah
White (5), was born in Sutton, September 25,
1752. He was the great-grandfather of Franklin B..
White. He was brought up on the far^n in Sutton-
and went to school there. When he attained his.
majority he went to Dudley, where he married in
1773) and where his children were born, except per
haps the two youngest. He left Dudley in 1788,
and soon afterward bought a farm and settled in
Charlton, Massachusetts. He was a man of con
siderable means, as the administration of his estate
in 1827 discloses, he was very active in town af
fairs in Dudley. He was fence-viewer in 1776-87.
He was tithingman in 1777-82. He was highway
surveyor in 1781-84. He was on the school com
mittee in 1787-88. He was also active in Charlton.
(There was another Ebenezer White in Charlton
who must not be confused with this one in search
ing records. He was called Junior, and his wife was
Christian). Ebenezer White (6) married, December
16, 1773, Lydia Davis, daughter of Ebenezer and
Lydia (Dana) Davis. She was born in Oxford,
May 5, 1754. Children of Ebenezer and Lydia
(Davis) White were: 1. Lydia, born September 7,
1774; married October 30, 1792, Abraham Mcln-
tire, of Charlton, and moved to New York state..
2. Sylvanus, (see forward). 3. Zilpha, April 9,
1779; married Aaron Dresser (intentions recorded
February 29), 1804. 4. Dorcas, January 28, i78i_;
married Willrad Albee (intentions recorded April
6), 1801. 5. Betty, November 15, 1783; died No
vember 5, 181 1 ; unmarried. 6. Tammy, May 16,
1785; married Ebenezer Baker (intentions recorded
March 7), 1806. 7. Althusa, born about 1790; mar
ried Lemuel Waldron, of Dudley, (intentions re
corded December 3), 1815. 8. Polly; married Asa
Davis, * of Charlton, September 7, 1817. 9. Eben
ezer, jr., born 1794; married, March 24, 1822, Sylvia
Partridge, daughter' of Benjamin and Milcah Part
ridge, of Charlton. Their children were : 1. Horace
D., born 1822. 2. Moses P., April' 11, 1826. 3-
Betsey Ann, January 17, 1828. 4. Mary Ann, No
vember 28, 1832; died January 6, 1838. 5. Amelia,
December 22, 1836; died January 6, 1837. 6. Sylvia
Jane, March .19, 1838; died December 28, 1854. 7-
Harriet Eliza, October 22, 1840; married Albert
Marcy. (VII) Sylvanus White, second child of Eben
ezer White (6), grandfather of Franklin B. White,

WORCESTER COUNTY

139

born in Charlton, Massachusetts, October 9, 177O;
died there May 8, 1854, He was brought up there
and learned the trade of cooper, which lie followed
for many years. He lived, with his father until
about twenty-five, when he began farming on his
own account as well as carrying' 011 the cooper's
trade during the seasons. He was a man of sturdy
character and strong principles. He was deemed a
man of sound judgment, well-read and of sterling
honesty. He was one of the most prosperous and
substantial men of the town.
He married Lucy Baker, born March 5, 178: ;
died January 13, 1859. She was the daug'hter of
Joseph Capen Baker, of Charlton. The marriage
intentions were recorded March 2, 1801. Children
of Sylvanus and Lucy (Baker) White were: 1.
Ziba, born August 13, 1802; married Eloisc Davis,
of Dudley. 2. Hosea, (see forward). 3. Sylvia,
November 7, 1807; died January 7, 1833; married
Altnon Piatt. 4. Harvey, May 18, 1810, 5. Harriet.
November 18, 1812; married April 12, 1835, Francis
W. Winn, of Sutton, Massachusetts. O. Julia Ami,
April 20, .1816; died December 20, 1849, unmarried.
7. Clarissa Jane, July 21, 1819; died June 22, 18O2;
married Elijah Hanson. 8. Chandler, December 25,
1822. 9. Mary; Lucy, April 18, 1826; died August
,i') 1>vi57- married  Gulliver.
(Vllt) Hosea White, second child of Sylvanus
White (7), was born in Charlton, Massachusetts,
May 30, 1804. He received his early education in
that town, working at the same time with his father
on the homestead. When about twenty-two years
of age, he started to learn the trade of wool dyer,
but owing to a disabled arm he had to change his
occupation. He became a spinner and worked at that
trade for about eight years in the mill at Globe
Village in Southbridge, Massachusetts. He worked
also at Merino Village iu Webster for a time. He
was overseer of a spinning' room in an Uxbridge
mill. He finally returned to the home of his youth
aud bought a farm. He sold it to good advantage
and later bought another, remaining a farmer the
rest of his days. He died May 23, 1888.
lie was a member of the Universalist church
and an active worker. He was a strong advocate
of temperance. He was a leader in the Sons of
Temperance organization which was very active
fifty years ago. He took part iu various temperance
movements. In his early days he was a Whig, later
a Republican in politics. He married Lucina Ham
mond, who was born in West Wardsboro, Vermont,
September 24, 181 1. She died September, 1840, in
Southbridge. He married (second) Elmira Stone,
daughter of John Stone, a farmer, of Charlton.
Children of Hosea and Lucina (Hammond) White
were: 1. Franklin Baker, (see forward). 2. Al
fred, deceased. Children of Hosea and Elmira
(Stone) White were: 3. Henry Wilson. 4. Cynthia.
(IX) Franklin Baker White, eldest son of Hosea
White (8), was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, No
vember 3, 1837. He received his earliest education in
the district schools of his native town, soon remov
ing with his parents to Southbridge, where he again
attended school, afterward attending Wilbraham
Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. When he
finished school he began work at shoemaking" aud
farming, like a large percentage of the men of me
chanical ability in eastern Massachusetts at that
time. He came to Worcester in t863, and worked
for the Bay State Shoe and Leather Company on
High street five years. In 1808 he entered the em
ploy of D. & C. P. Stevens, dealers in doors, sash
and blinds, as bookkeeper. (See sketch of Stevens
Family for history of this business. ) In January,
187.', Mr. White was admitted as an equal partner

in the firm, and was manager and bookkeeper until
1888, when Daniel Stevens, the senior partner, died.
lie then bought out the other interests in the busi
ness, and bus continued as sole proprietor since
then. The business continues, however, under the
old linn name of D. & C. P. Stevens. Under Mr.
White's ownership the business has continued to
grow and develop. This house has a large business
throughout New England. The location at 24
Southbridge street has been tlie same for many
years, dating from the building of the block,
Mr. White has been prominent in church and
public affairs. He is a member of the Churcli of
the Unity (Unitarian) and has been on the parish
committee for many years. He is interested in music
and lias served on the music committee of this
church several years. "In politics he is a Republican.
lie was a representative to the general court from
Ward Six in 1800-91. He was on the Worcester
school board in 1875-70-77-78. He is president of the
board of directors of the Worcester Protective Union
Grocery Company, one of the most successful co
operative companies in the stale, maintaining the
best grocery store in the city for a long period of
years. He is a member of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association, and has served as trustee
for three years, lie is a Free Mason, a member of
Montacute Lodge, since May 25, 1868,
He married Emma Cornelia Stevens, June 15.
1870. She is the daughter of Daniel and Hannah
Jane (Adams) Stevens, of Worcester. Her father
was senior partner of the firm of D. & C. P. Stevens,
now owned by Mr. White. (See Stevens Family
sketch.) Their children are: Florence Emma, born
December 6, 1872; Josephine L., born May 14, 1877.
HAMMOND FAMILY. Thomas Hammond
(1), immigrant ancestor of Franklin B. White, was
one of the early settlers of Newton, Massachusetts.
He was the son of William and Mary Hammond,
of Melford, England, and grandson of John and
Agnes Hammond, of Lavenham, England. He was
baptized at Melford, county of Suffolk, England,
with his twin brother, John Hammond, September
2, 1603. He was first cousin of William Hammond,
who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1036.
Thomas Hammond married in Lavenham, Eng
land, November 12, 1623, Elizabeth Cason, who was
born in Great Whelhetham, a few miles north of
Lavenham, before 1604, the daughter of Robert and
Prudence (Hammond) Cason. She was a grand
daughter ,of Robert and Elizabeth Hammond, of
Great Whelhetham. Thomas Hammond was one
of tlie first settlers of Hingham, Massachusetts, lie
had land granted to him there in 1036. and was ad
mitted a freeman March 9, 1830-7. He served on
the grand jury in 1037. His two younger children
were baptized in Hingham ; the elder children were
born in England. With several other Hingham
pioneers Hammond removed to a locality near the
boundary line of what are now Newton and Brook
line, Massachusetts. Five of them settled in the
vicinity. Hammond's homestead in Newton was
near the pond, afterwards known as Hammond's
Pond. Hammond became one of the wealthiest men
of his day. He died in 1675, leaving an unsigned
will, which was admitted to probate. His estate
according to the inventory amounted to nearly
eleven hundred and forty pounds.
An interesting relic of Elizabeth (Cason) Ham
mond is a silver coin, in the possession of George
W. Hammond, of Yarmoutbville, Maine, in 1002,
which ahe herself was allowed to coin when visit
ing the Mint in England, when a young girl. (See
Jackson's history of Newton, page 299 ").

140

WORCESTER COUNTY

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cason)
Hammond were: I. Thomas, (see forward). 2.
Elizabeth, born about 1633-4. 3- Sarah, baptized
September 13, 1640. 4. Nathaniel, baptized March
12, 1643. I
(II) Thomas Hammond, eldest child of Thomas
Hammond (1), born in England about 1630, died in
Newton, Massachusetts, October 20, 1678, of small
pox. He married, December 17, 1662, Elizabeth
Stedman, (probably a sister of Nathaniel Stedman
who married his sister, Sarah Hammond.) She
died in Newton in 1715. Thomas Hammond culti
vated the farm he inherited from his father in
Newton. His estate was administered by his widow;
it amounted to four hundred and sixty-eight pounds.
Their children were: 1. Elizabeth, born Nov. 3,
1664. 2. Thomas, born December 16, 1666. 3. Isaac
(twin) and 4. Sarah (twin), born December 20,
1668. 5. Nathaniel, February 3, 1671 ; probably
died young. 6. John, April 30, 1674. 7. Eleazer,'
(see forward).
(Ill) Eleazer Hammond, son of Thomas Ham
mond (2), born in Newton, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 13, 1677; died there in 1760; married April 29,
1703, Hannah Harrington, who was born August 9,
1682; died in 1775, the daughter of John and Han
nah (Winter) Harrington, of Watertown, Massa
chusetts. He was selectman of Newton in 1741.
His will was dated May 1, 1760, and mentions his
children and others. His widow's will was dated
April 4, 1764. Their- children were: 1. Hannah,
born 1704; married Bartholomew Green. 2. Eleazer,
October 1, 1705; died young. 3. Elizabeth, January
12, 1707. 4. Eleazer, May 26, 171 1; settled in Con
necticut. 5. Abigail, January 31, 1712-3. 6. Patience,
September 8, 1717; married Eleazer Chamberlain.
7. Ephraim, (see forward.) 8. Susanna, 1722. 9.
Lydia, February 5, 1726; married John Hammond.
(IV) Ephraim Hammond, seventh child of
Eleazer Hammond (3), born in Newton, Massachu
setts, March 15, 1719-20 ; married, 1741, Martha Steel.
Their children were : 1. Hannah, born August 8, 1742.
2. Martha, December 9, 1743. 3. Ephraim, December
31, 1745. 4. Thankful, 1747. 5. Samuel, February
2, 1748. 6. Hannah, September 20, 1749. 7. Ed
ward, September 20> 1752. 8. Catherine. 9. Henry,
July 27, 1757. 10. Patience, married, 1778, Nathaniel
Parker. 11. Elizabeth. 12. Jemima.
(V) Samuel Hammond, fifth child of Ephraim
Hammond, (4), born in Newton, Massachusetts,
February 2, 1748; died at Wardsboro, Vermont,
January 4, 1742; married (first), 1770, Mary Rogers,
daughter of John Rogers. She was born January
28, 1752. He was one of the party of patriots who
threw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor. He was
a private in Captain Bopestill Hall's company,
Colonel Lemuel Robinson's regiment, January 31,
1776. He was then living in Roxbury, according to
the roll. He was also in Captain Amariah Fuller's
company, Colonel William Mcintosh's regiment, in
1778, stationed at Roxbury. After the revolution he
removed to Wardsboro, Vermont, where he was one
of the first settlers. The family erected mills at
what is now West Wardsboro, then called Ham
mond's Mills.
Children of Samuel and Mary (Rogers) Ham
mond were : 1. Samuel, born May 25, 1772. 2.
Mary. 3. Peter, April 9, 1776. 4. Joel, July 13,
1778- 5- Jemima, 1780. 6. Artemas, April 3, 1782.
7. Nathaniel, August 14, 1784. Peter Hammond
(7), son of Samuel, lived to be one hundred and
two years of age. When his parents went to Wards
boro, Vermont, in 1791, he was seventeen .years
old. He was left with his grandparents in Newton
for a time, and his mother returned for him on

horseback, a distance of one hundred and twenty-
five miles, and the boy walked back with her. In
later years he owned the Hammond Mills and was
by far the most prominent and influential man in
the town; was justice, of the peace and postmaster
for nearly twenty-five years. He cast his first vote
for John Adams, and lived to be a Republican dur
ing and after the civil war. He removed to Geneseo,
Illinois, with his son in 1856, and for several years
prior to his death had made his home with his
daughter, Mrs. Martha H. Taylor. He died the
very day he was one hundred and two years old,
and was taken to Wardsboro to be buried. Stewart
Lodge of Free Masons in Geneseo presented him
with a gold-headed cane when he was one hundred
years old. He was made a Mason in 1799. He had
seven children.
(VI) Joel Hammond, son of Samuel Hammond
(5), was born in Newton, Massachusetts, July 13,
1778. (See page 708, Vol. 2, of Hammond Genealogy,
for facts given before. For the following records,
which are not in the genealogy, we are indebted to
the town clerk of Wardsboro, (1906) D.- C. Dex
ter). Joel married (first), Hannah Moon (Moore?)
and had seven children; he married (second), Sena
Higgins and had one daughter, Elmira. He is said
to have removed late in life to Oneonta, New York.
His children were: I. Beri; married Benjamin
Converse and had one daughter and two sons, Asa
and Henry Converse; the daughter married Syl
vester Johnson and lived in West Dover, Vermont,
where their children are now living ( 1906) ; Asa
Converse is dead; Henry resides in Maiden. 2.
Lucina, born September 24, 181 1. 3. Lovina; prob
ably died young. 4. William, June 20, 1816; died
in Boston, September 23, 1897; married Mary Isabel
Mason, who died February 24, 1889, daughter of
Ephraim Balker and Mary T. (Spearr) Mason.
Their children were: William Henry, born May 29,
1850; married Ella Maria Curtis; Grace, February
12, 1853; Albert Ballard, December 31, 1855; Mary
Alice. 5. Joel. 6. Artemas, resided in Boston in
1868; his daughter Josephine married a Guild (?).
7. George; married Louisa Higgins and settled in
Wards'boro. Their children were: Lovina, who
married Rodney Watson, and live West; Flora,
married Leroy Webster and lives in West Jamaica. .
Vermont; Zella, died unmarried; Herbert, a school
teacher in the West. 8. Elmira, married 
Shepardson, and resides in Warwick, Massachu
setts. (The genealogy gives also : 9. Elmore, a son,
born June 6, (probably 1810 instead of 181 1) died
at Candor, Tioga county, New York, married, 1834,
Caroline Cooke, who was born March 20, 1816,
daughter of Samuel and Diadama (Green) Cook,
of Tioga county, New York. He was a farmer at
Oneonta, where his father died, and at Candor. His
children were: 1. Rebecca, born October 12, 1838.
2. Mary, November, 1840. 3. Eliza, November, 1842.
4. Seth G., March 18, 1845. 5. Lois D., April 2,
1847; died July 7, 1899. 6. A. DeWitt,. November
5, 1850. 7. Frances L., March 12, 1852 ; died August,
1895. 8. Emma, July 5, 1857. 9. Edmund, September
23, i860. 10. Polly (sic) born at Wardsboro ; married
Joseph Guile of Orwell, Vermont, and died at Mount
Holly, Vermont. Their children were: George;
Andrew, shoemaker at Sandy Hill, New York;
DeWitt G-; Asenath, married  Richmond, of
Orwell, Vermont; Orange S.
(VII) Lucina Hammond, daughter of Joel
Hammond (6), born in West Wardsboro, Vermont,
September 24, 1811; married Hosea White, father
of Franklin B. White, of Worcester. (See sketch of
this White family.)

WORCESTER COUNTY

141

DR. JOHN MERRICK BEMIS. Joseph Bemis
(1) was the immigrant ancestor of Dr. John Mer
rick Bemis, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Not all
of the Bemis families of America can be traced to
him, but most of them have been. He was born
in England in 1619, and came to Watertown, Massa
chusetts, as early as 1640, when he was about twenty-
one. He died in Watertown, August 7, 1684. There
is some evidence to show that he married in England
before emigrating here, and that his wife Sarah
came over with him. Their first child, however, was
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1642, and
they may have been married in Watertown or, as
the birth is on the Boston records, in Boston, Massa
chusetts. It is known that Joseph Bemis was the
son of John Bemis, who was born in Dedham, Es
sex county, England, as early as 1550. The will of
John Bemis was proved June 28, 1604. His chil
dren were : Isaac, Luke, Mary, James, Susan, Jo
seph, and Abraham. Joseph and his sister Mary
came together to Watertown. Perhaps others of the
family also came. Mary married William Hagar
March 20, 1644-45; died December, 1695. Her hus
band died January 10, 1683-4. They had ten chil
dren and have a host of descendants.
Joseph Bemis was a quiet, hard-working man, a
blacksmith and farmer. He served the town of
Watertown as "haward," collector of taxes, member
of the school committee, constable and selectman.
He was on the board of selectmen in 1648-73-75.
There was an amusing case before the magistrate '
where he was fined for having "one disorderly
hog." Truly New England has always taxed her
ingenuity to invent crime ! On another occasion
he was fined three pounds for cutting trees on the
common land without the formal permission of the
constituted authorities. Most of the fine was re
mitted. As his biographer says, otherwise than this
he was apparently a good and law-abiding citizen.
He was fairly well-to-do, leaving an estate valued
at over two hundred pounds. His will was made
the day of his death, August 7, 1684, and proved
October 7, 1684. The widow administered the estate.
She died 1712, and the estate was divided among the
heirs November 18, 1712, except those parts al
ready given to the eldest son Joseph, and daughter
Martha. The children of Joseph Bemis were : 1.
Sarah, born January 15, 1642-3 ; married at Water-
town, October 2, 1694, John Bigelow, born in Eng
land, 1617 ; died in Watertown July 14, 1703 ; black
smith ; freeman in 1652 ; selectman in 1665-70-71 ;
married, before, Mary Warren (this was the first
marriage recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts),
who died October 19, 1691, Sarah being, it is said,
his third wife. 2. Mary, born September 10, 1644;
died before 1730; married February 16, 1683-4, Sam
uel Whitney, son of John, Jr.; and Ruth (Reynolds)
Whitney, of Watertown, born in Watertown, July
23, 1648; died there 1730. John Whitney was born
in England 1624, and died in Watertown October 12,
1692. Samuel Whitney was a soldier from Groton
or Watertown in King Philip's war. He had a
large family of children and has many descendants.
3. Joseph, Jr., (twin) born October 28, 1647. 4.
Ephraim (twin), born October 28, 1647, died a few
days later; buried November 4, 1647. 5. Martha,
born March 24, 1649; died unmarried; was admitted
to the church February 25, 1697-8. 6. Joseph, Jr.,
2d., born December 12, 1651 ; died at Westminster,
Massachusetts, August 7, . 1684. 7. Rebecca; born
April 17, 1654; married (first) at Watertown, April
11, 1684, John White, born at Watertown,,. February
25, 1648-9; died there (killed by a bull) May 30,
1684; the son of Anthony White, who was born in
England 1607; died at Watertown, March 28, 1686,

and who embarked from Ipswich, England, for
New England, April, 1634, with his wife, Grace
(Hall) White; married (second) at Watertown,
April 1, 1686, Thomas Harrington, born at Water-
town, April 20, 1665; died there March 29, 1712;'
the son of George and Susannah Harrington, of
Watertown, leaving by this second marriage a large
family of children. 8. Ephraim, 2d., born August
25, 1656; was living 1738, at Windham, Connecticut.
9. John, (see forward).
(II) John Bemis, son of Joseph Bemis (1), born
at Watertown, Massachusetts, August, 1659; died
there October 24, 1732; married (first) at Water-
town, 1680, Mary Harrington, daughter of George
and Susannah Harrington, born January 12, 1663-4;
died at Watertown September 8, 1716; married (sec
ond) January 1, 1716-7, Mrs. Sarah (Holland) Phil
lips, widow of Jonathan Phillips and daughter of
Nathaniel Holland. Her mother was Sarah
(Hosier) Holland, second wife of Nathaniel. Sarah
(Holland) Bemis was born at Watertown, Novem
ber 30, 1662; died there prior to 1726; married
(third) at Watertown, May 30, 1726, Mrs. Judith
(Jennison) Barnard, born at Watertown, August
13, 1667; died there. She was the daughter of En
sign Samuel and Judith (Macomber) Jennison, and
widow of James Barnard, who was born at Water-
town, January 14, ,1666-7; died there January 23,
1726. Ensign Jennison was born at Watertown
1645 J died there October, 1701. His wife, Judith
Macomber, died at Watertown, March 1, 1722-3.
John Bemis sold, April 26, 1701, for fifty-six
pounds, a half of the quarter of Alcock's farm of
nine hundred acres in Marlboro. With his son-in-
law, Daniel Child, he bought, April 6, 1702, of
Nathaniel Saltonstall (Fellow of Harvard College)
one hundred and sixty acres of land in Watertown,
Lot No. 30, origanally granted to Sir Richard Salton
stall. Here the home of John Bemis was established
and the property remained in the Bemis family for
some generations.
John Bemis was a farmer. He was corporal in
the militia company. He served the town of Water-
town as tithing-mari, as a member of the school
board, as highway surveyor, as selectman, and on
important special committees. He was one of the
leading citizens of his time. Children were : Beriah,
born June 23, 1681; died at Watertown about 1768;
married (first) at Watertown, February 10, 1701-2,
Daniel Child, baptized June 5, 1687. After the sec
ond marriage of his mother, he died in Watertown,
January 29, 1723-4; son of John Child, (born 1636;
died October 15, 1676) and Mary (Warren) Child,
(born November 29, 1651 ; died May 12, 1734) ; mar
ried (second) August 12, 1736, Joseph Pierce, born
at Watertown, October 2, 1669; died at Weston,
March 13, 1753, son of Joseph and Martha Pierce,
of Watertown; married (third) John Whiting, born
at Watertown, June 15, 1694; died at Westford,
Massachusetts, 1776, son of Benjamin Whiting,
(born at Watertown, June 28, 1660; died there
1736), and Abigail (Hagar) Whiting, daughter of
William and Mary (Bemis") Hagar; Beriah had
many children and has many descendants ; she is
buried in the old graveyard at Watertown. 2.
Susanna, born December 24, 1082 ; died November
15. I7°3; married at Watertown, November 2, 1702,
John Hastings; (died prior to 1747), son of John
Hastings, (born March 1, 1653-4; died March 28,
1718), and Abigail (Hammond) Hastings, (born
June 21, 1659; died April 7, 1718) ; had no children.
3. Joseph, born November 17, 1684; died 1738. 4.
John, born October 6, 1686. 5. Mary, born Septem
ber 24, 1688; married at Watertown, October 26,
1708, Isaac Stearns, born December 31, 1674; died

142

WORCESTER COUNTY

1737; son of Samuel Stearns of Watertown. (born
April 24, 1638; died August 3, 1683), and Hannah
(Manning) Stearns, (born June 21, 1642; died Feb
ruary 26, 1723-4) ; had large family of children and
has many descendants. 6. Samuel, born 1690, died
at Spencer, Massachusetts, August, 1776, founder of
the well known Spencer branch of the Bemis family.
7. Lydia, born 1692; married April 10, 1716, Jon
athan Fiske, baptized at Watertown, December 8,
1680, son of John Fiske, (born at Watertown, No
vember 20, 1655; died at Watertown 1709-18), and
Abigail (Parks) Fiske, (born at Watertown, March
3, 1758-9) ; left a large family of children and other
descendants. 8. Hannah, born October 9, 1694;
died October, 1700. 9. Isaac, born 1696. 10. Jona
than, born April 30, 1699; probably died young. 11.
Jonathan, 2d., born November 17, 1701. 12. Abra
ham, born November 26, 1703. 13. Susanna, 2d.,
(twin) born December 3, 1705 ; died November 25,
1785; married July 2, 1731, John Viles (Vilas), of
Waltham, Massachusetts; who died at Waltham,
February 4, 1774; had many children. 14. Hannah,
(twin) born December 3, 1705; married (first)
April 11, 1724, John Flagg, born September 21,
1700; killed accidentally March 14, 1733-4, son of
John Flagg, (born November 6, 1677; died prior to
1755), and Anna Flagg, (died prior to 1712) ; mar
ried (second) July 23, 1734, Captain John Brown,
born April 19, 1705; died at Weston, Massachu
setts, 1804, son of Captain Abraham Brown (born
August 26, 1671 ; died November 27, 1729), aiid
Mary (Hyde) Brown, (born June 21, 1673; died
November 29, 1723). Hannah Bemis was his sec
ond wife. Captain Brown was selectman of Water-
town, 1744-45-46-47-48-52, representative to the gen
eral court' in 1748. He was an innholder, and a
man of uncommon energy and enterprise. He re
moved to Weston in 1761, lived at Newton 1770 to
1778 and returned to Weston 1779. They had a
large family of children.
(Ill) John Bemis, son of John Bemis (2), born
October 6, 1686, at Watertown, Massachusetts ; mar
red (first) May 8, 1710, Hannah Warren, born Jan
uary 25, 1690-91 ; died prior to 1713, daughter of
Daniel Warren, (born October .6, 1653), and Eliza
beth (Whitney) Warren (born June 9, 1756), mar
ried (second) April 2, 1713, Anna Livermore, born
1690, daughter of Samuel Livermore, (born about
1640; died 1690), and Anna (Bridge) Livermore,
(born 1646; died August 28, 1727). After John
Bemis died his widow married (second) December
5, 1769, Josiah Smith. Tohn Bemis was a constable
in Watertown 1730; selectman in 1735. His children
were: 1. John, born February 11, 1711. 2. Anna,
born April 29, 1714; died at Waltham, Massachu
setts, a widow, January 9, 1793 ; married (first)
February 26, 1734', Samuel Fiske, born January 4,
1709; died March 29, 1761 ; son of William Fiske,
(born February 23, 1663-4; died 1742), and Hannah
(Smith) Fiske, (born December 27, 1672; died
December 7, 1728) ; married (second) April 26,
1763, Hopestill Bent, of East Sudbury, Massachu
setts, and had a large family of children by each
husband. 3. . Josiah, born February 29, 1715-6. 4.
Abraham, born December 27, 1717. 5. Grace, born
November 5, 1719; married and had many children
6. Lydia, born April 5, 1721 ; married Jonas Dix,
born May 21, 1721 ; died August 30, 1783. He was
captain in the militia ; civil magistrate for the trial
of small causes ; selectman for twenty-one years ;
assessor eighteen years ; representative to fhe general
court from 1764 to 1783, inclusive. He was the son
of John Dix and Martha (Lawrence) Dix. They
had many children and have many descendants. 7.
Abijah, born March 16, 1722; died at Paxton June

19, 1790. 8. Elisha, born March 20, 1725. 9. Eliza
beth, born March 23, 1727-8. 10. Nathaniel, born
May 6, 1730. 11. Susanna, born April 3, 1732; mar
ried November 15, 1753, Elisha Garfield, son of
Lieutenant Thomas Garfield, of Weston, and Mercy
(Bigelow) Garfield, and had many children. 12.
Phinehas, born March 24, 1734.
(IV) Abijah Bemis, son of John Bemis (3),
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, March 16, 1722-
23 ; died at Paxton, Massachusetts, June 19, 1790 ;
was the founder of what is generally known as
the Paxton branch of the Bemis family. He went
from Weston, Massachusetts, to Paxton about 1751 ;
married January 29, 1751, Dinah Hagar, of Wal
tham, born in 1728, baptized May 5, 1728; died
January 19, 1792, at Paxton, daughter of William
Hagar, of Waltham, and Mary (Flagg) Hagar, born
December 7, 1690. Dinah Hagar was a direct de
scendant of Mary Bemis, sister of Joseph Bemis, the
immigrant. She was descended through her mother
from John Livermore, the ancestor of all of that
name in this country. All his children were prob
ably born at Paxton. The children were: 1. Abijah,
born 1753, died December 6, 1829. 2. Daniel. 3.
Dinah; married July 15, 1788, David Cutting, of
Brookfield. 4. Beulah, married November 11, 1784,
John Pike, born November 10, 1762, son of John
and Mehitable Pike, of Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
John and Beulah Pike moved to Marshfield, Ver-
vmont, in i8c6. They had seven children. 5. Lydia,
married January 25, 1788, Francis Pike. 6. John
(see forward). 7. Ruth, married at Spencer, April
7, 1785, John Pike, of Paxton. 8. Alpheus.
(V) John Bemis, son of Abijah Bemis (4),
born at Paxton, Massachusetts, 1767; died at Brook
field, Massachusetts, August 8, 1852; married (first)
July 1, 1793, Grizel Livermore; married (second)
July 5, 1796, Mary Flagg; married (third) Jemima
Adams, born at Brookfield, 1779, died there March
27, 1861, daughter of Eleazer Adams. He had one
child by his first wife, three by the second, and the
rest by the third wife. His children were: 1.
Celicia, born September 4, 1794; died at Brookfield,
January 23, 1876 ; married, at Warren, Michael Walsh.
2. Samuel Flagg (see forward). 3. Catherine, born
1797; died at Warren, Massachusetts, March 3,
1878; married, at Sturbridge, April 2, 1822, Charles
Goodell. 4. Mary, died young. 5. Mary, died at
Sturbridge, July 19, 185 1; married Thomas Kellogg.
6. John, born September 24, 1803, died at Brook
field, April 7, 1871; married at Brookfield, Mary
Newton. 7. David Adams, born March 16, 1805;
died at -Warren, Massachusetts, April 30, 1886. 8.
Charles, born at Spencer, Massachusetts, March 9,
1807 ; died at Warren, December 18, 1891 ; married at
Warren. Lucinda Reed. 9. Eleazer Adams born
at Spencer, September 30, 1810; died at Brookfield,
June, 1886; married at Brookfield, Sarah Harwood-
10. Addison, born at Spencer, Massachusetts, March
17, 1812, died March 7, 1895. 11. Eliza A., born
at Paxton 1817; died at Sherburne, Vermont,
March 7, 1895 ; married (first) at Brookfield, Jan
uary 1, 1837, Hiram Gleason; married (second) at
Brookfield, April, 1851, Lyman H. Hodgman. 12.
Sophronia, born 1818; married at Brookfield, Austin
Woodward; died at Brimfield, Massachusetts, May
30, 1901. 13. Waldo, (twin) born at Brookfield,
October 13, 1820; died there November 24, 1856. 14-
William, (twin) born October 13, 1820; married
(first) ' at Stafford, Connecticut, September 9, 1848,
Frances A. Daniels; died at Oxford, Massachusetts,
March, 1905. 15. Austin F., born at Sherburne, Ver
mont, November, 1863.
(VI) Samuel Flagg Bemis, son of John Bemis
(5), born March 1, 1795; died at Brookfield, Massa-

y&t

-^^<

1^

WORCESTER COUNTY

H3

chusetts, November 10, 1869; married Betsey Barrett,
of Charlton, Massachusetts, born November 28,
1796; died at Brookfield, April 15, 1842, daughter of
Philip and Elizabeth (Barrett) Bigelow, of Charl
ton. Their children were 1. Merrick, see for
ward. 2. Freeland, born December 9, 1821 ; died
January, 1880; married at Enfield, Massachusetts,
Mary A. Underwood. 3. Fitz Henry, born No
vember 9, 1823. 4. Ann Elizabeth, born November
15, 1826; married at Brookfield, Massachusetts,
May 30, 185 1, Eli Truxton, born at Sturbridge,
March 27, 1821 ; died there January 3, 1897, son of
Benjamin Brooks (born at Warren, Massachusetts,
February 7, 1769; died at Sturbridge 1852), and
Esther (Fink) Brooks (born at Wellington, Con
necticut, 1780; died at Sturbridge 1863) ; had several
children. 5. Samuel Flagg, Jr., born November 15,
1828, at Sturbridge; married Hannah Blodgett. 6.
Maria Louisa, born October 3, 183 1 ; died 1863 ; mar
ried at Sturbridge, Henry C. Storrs. 7. Francis
Emily, born June 21, 1832, at Sturbridge, Massachu
setts; married March 13, 1855, Marvin Clark, born
at Southbridge, Massachusetts, February 3, 1816, son
of Marvin Clark, of Woodstock, and Nancy (Car
penter) Clark, of Ashford, Connecticut ; had five
children. 8. Daniel Webster, born in Charlton,
Massachusetts, April 21, 1835; married (second)
Maria T. Woods.
(VII) Dr. Merrick Bemis, son of Samuel
Flagg Bemis (6), born at Sturbridge, Massachu
setts, May 4, 1820; died October 3, 1904. He was
one of the most eminent physicians that ever re
sided in Worcester. He practiced his profession
for fifty-six years. Almost to the day of his death
he retained his faculties and health. It was often
said of him during the last score of years that he
practiced, that he was one of the most active aged
men of Worcester, carrying on a business that
would tax the energies of a man of fifty. Through
his entire period of practice Dr. Bemis "confined
his study and attention to his specialty, nervous and
mental diseases, and he was for many years recog
nized as one of the leading alienists of the country.
The wide range of knowledge and experience in
cases of insanity, coming under his observation and
care during his long connection with large insti
tutions for the insane, gave him an advantage over
most of the • specialists in this line of study. He
was called often as an expert in consultation, and
by the courts. His record of twenty-five years of
continuous service in the State Insane Asylum, at
Worcester; was in itself a remarkable record, and
evidence of his ability and powers of endurance.
His parents moved from Sturbridge to Charlton
when he was quite young. He was brought up on a
farm, getting what educational advantages the district
schools of his day afforded. He sought a higher edu
cation and worked his way through Dudley Acad
emy. He walked each way every week from his
home to the academy, a distance of twelve miles.
He taught school in winter to pay his way in the
academy. He went to Amherst Academy for two
years with the expectation of going to Amherst
College. A long and severe illness caused him to
abandon his pla«ns for a college education, and for
several years he taught school in Brookfield, Massa
chusetts. He began to study medicine when he was
twenty-two. years old, and entered the office of
Dr. Winslow Lewis as a student, but continued
to pay his way by teaching school in the winters.
He attended medical lectures at Pittsfield, Massa
chusetts, Medical College, where he received
the first, half of his medical education. He then.
changed to Castleton Medical College, of Ver
mont, where, in 1848, he received his degree of

M. D. He came to Worcester November 14,
1848, to take the place, temporarily, of one of the
physicians in the lunatic asylum, and soon after
ward received an appointment as assistant phy
sician to Dr. George Chandler, the superintendent.
When, eight years later, in 1855, Superintendent
Chandler resigned, the attention of the trustees
was at once turned to Dr. Bemis as the most cap
able man for the position, and he was elected to the
office. Being given a leave of absence for the pur
pose of travel and study in Europe, he made an
extended tour, lasting eight months. He returned
to Worcester in the summer of 1857, and took
charge. He began immediately to put into opera
tion the reforms and new methods he had learned.
For seventeen years he filled the position of super
intendent to the satisfaction of the state authori
ties, and developed the institution until it stood
&mong the foremost American hospitals for the in
sane. Radical changes in the methods of treating
insanity were made during his administration. One
of the innovations due to Dr. Bemis was the em
ployment of competent female physicians in luna
tic asylums. It' is difficult to understand now how
these institutions got along without women physi
cians. The custom has now become general. One
of his last and most important duties in the state
institution was the establishment of the hospital at
Bloomingdale, the land for which was bought dur
ing the last years of his superintendency of the
Summer street institution. He submitted plans for
the buildings and again visited Europe in 1868, to
inspect hospitals for the insane and study the treat
ment of lunatics. The Massachusetts institution
was kept in the front rank of progress. The ex
ample set by this Commonwealth has been ex
ceedingly useful and beneficent, because it has
been followed in other states, and by private insti
tutions generally in this country.
Dr. Bemis resigned his position in 1872 to estab
lish a private hospital for the care and treatment
of patients afflicted with the various forms of mental
and nervous diseases. He located the hospital on
Salisbury street,- Worcester. The main building is
the mansion built in 1857, by Rev. Nathaniel Bent,
for a young ladies seminary. This property, which
includes ten acres of land, is very favorably located
for its purpose. The hospital is known as Herbert
Hall. The large, handsome mansion is cheerful,
airy and well furnished. There are spacious veran
das surrounding the buildings. The view from the
hall is_ one of the most picturesque in a country
abounding in fine scenery. There are attractive
walks under' the stately old shade trees in the spa
cious grounds, and altogether it is an ideal place
for an invalid and convalescent. It has been suc
cessfully conducted ever since its foundation, first
by Dr. Merrick Bemis, then by him and his son Dr.
John M. Bemis, and since the founder's death by
his son alone. No mention of Dr. Bemis's profes
sional career would be complete without referring
to his prominence as a specialist in psychiatry.
He was frequently consulted both by medical breth
ren and by the courts in difficult cases of insanity
or alleged insanity. He wrote many monographs
upon hospital work among the insane and on the
general subject of insanity. He was a man of
large heart and generous impulses. He gave freely.
to charities. Few have equalled him in proportion
to his means in the number of gifts judiciously
distributed among a variety of worthy objects. His
patriotic service during the civil war deserves
special mention. When in 1861 the president's proc
lamation, calling for a force of 75,000 men to take
the field immediately, was made Dr. Bemis earn-

144

WORCESTER COUNTY

estly desired to enter the service. He was unable
to pass the physical examination, however, but
he gave freely of his means to support the Union
cause. He organized and equipped a company
and sent it to the front. He took an active in
terest in their welfare while they were in the field,
and contributed freely to the support of the fami
lies of the boys in that company while the war
continued. It was due largely to his efforts that the
public subscription to purchase the organ for Me
chanics' Hall was successful. In 1864 the organ,
which cost $9,000, was dedicated, and it has proved
to be one of the finest instruments of its kind. It
has been one of the factors in making the Musical
Festivals there so successful, from a musical point
of view.
Dr. Bemis collected one of the most valuable
and interesting private libraries in the state. Much
of the library is, of course, devoted to medical
works, and some of the volumes are very old and
rare. He found some time to devote to public af
fairs and was a member of the Worcester board of
aldermen in 1861-62-63,, serving at the same time
on the school board. This was a particularly im
portant period during the early and darker years
of the civil war. He' was a director of the Me
chanics' National Bank; a member of the Worcester
Horticultural Society, the Worcester Society of
Antiquity, the Natural History Society, of which
he was president till his death, the Massachusetts
and Worcester District Medical Societies, the
American Medical Association, the New England
Psychological Society and the American Medico-
psychological Association. He was connected with
various Masonic bodies. He was a. member of the
Church of the Unity, and a life member of the
American Unitarian Association. He was for about
fifteen years one of the state trustees of the Bald
winville Hosptal Cottages for Children, in the man
agement and development of which he had taken
a leading part, and was president of the corporation
at the time of his death. He was the first Americap
physician to take a stand for the division of hos
pital buildings for the insane into separate cot
tages or pavilions. He married January 1, 1856,
Caroline A. Gilmore, whose father was for thirty
years a successful practitioner at Brookfield, Massa
chusetts. In his office, in fact, Dr. Bemis received
his first lessons in medicine, and was started on
his professional career while a school teacher at
Brookfield. They had one child: John Merrick,
(see forward).
(VIII) Dr. John Merrick Bemis, son bf Dr.
Merrick Bemis (7), born at Worcester, Massachu
setts, February 14, i860. The life work of Dr.
Bemis has been so completely merged and identified
with that of his father for the past twenty years,
at Herbert Hall, that what has been said as to the
attainments of the father as a physician and special
ist applies equally well to the son. He was edu
cated from the start as a specialist, and had un
usual opportunities for practice and hospital study.
He attended the Worcester schools. Before gradu
ating he left the high school to prepare for col
lege at Phillips Andover Academy, but was obliged,
by poor health at that time, to leave the academy,
and he studied at home for three years under pri
vate tutors. He attended medical lectures at the
Harvard Medical College in Boston and at the
Burlington University (Vermont) Medical Depart
ment, where he received his diploma in 1893. He
had been an active assistant to his father at Her
bert Hall for some years; before and after grad
uation he returned to the hospital where he has
been actively engaged in the management and treat

ment of patients ever since. He has continued his
studies with the intention of keeping up the times.
He has studied at Harvard and Clark universities
from time to time and written papers for various
learned societies. His specialty, of course', has been
mental diseases. Herbert Hall, of which he is now,
since his father's death, owner and manager, is the
only private hospital in the state devoted to insane
patients exclusively, except the McLean Hospital,
which is in a class by itself. Herbert Hall is char
tered by the state and under the state supervision.
It ranks high among the institutions of its kind.
Dr. Bemis has devoted his time almost exclusively
to the hospital. He is trustee of the Baldwinville
Hospital Cottages for Children. He is on the edu
cation committee of the Highland Military Academy,
of Worcester; a member of the Massachusetts Med
ical Society, the Worcester Medical Society, the
American Psychological Society and the New Eng
land Psychological Society. In religion he is an
Episcopalian. He married June 25, 1887, Fannie
Bishop Brown, of Andover, Massachusetts, daugh
ter of John Brown, for many years druggist at
Andover, Massachusetts. He was born at New
buryport in 1809; died at Andover in 1886. Her
mother was Emily Fiske, daughter of Eben Fiske,
born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 24, 1819, re
sided many years at New Orleans, Louisiana.
She is living (1905), remarkably active and well
for her years. She is related to the Willards, cele
brated as clockmakers in the colonial days. Chil
dren of Dr. Bemis are: 1. Annie Merrick, born
October 1, 1888. 2. Caroline Gilmore, born May
25, 1891.
Daniel Webster Bemis, son of Samuel Flagg
Bemis, and brother of Dr. Merrick Bemis, late of
Worcester, was born in Charlton, Massachusetts,
April 21, 1835. He obtained his early education
in the public schools of Brookfield, Massachusetts.
After leaving school he entered the employ of the
Hospital for the Insane on Summer street, Wor
cester, of which Dr. Merrick Bemis was the super
intendent. He was appointed steward and filled
this position for twenty years. For seven years he
was also treasurer of the hospital. In the early
seventies he bought a farm in Shrewsbury, and hav
ing resigned his position at the hospital devoted
his attention to farming since then. With a natural
aptitude for agriculture and horticulture, Mr. Bemis
has lived quietly and enjoyably upon his farm in
the picturesque old town of Shrewsbury. He has
an excellent farm well stocked and well conducted.
Mr. Bemis represented Worcester in the gen
eral court in his younger days and assisted in the
passage of the bill to locate, the Hospital for the
Insane at Bloomingdale in Worcester. The site
has proved an ideal place for an institution of
this kind, which has grown very rapidly and for
which there is ample opportunity for growth. Mr.
Bemis was prominent in Masonic circles when a citi
zen of Worceser. He has taken the Blue Lodge, the
Royal Arch chapter, the council and the com
mandery degrees in the York Rite degrees. He
was elected to take the Scottish Rite degrees also
in Worcester. He has been high priest of the
chapter and held all the elective offices in that body.
Since living in Shrewsbury, Mr. Bemis has served
the town for twenty years on the school commit
tee. He is deeply interested in educational mat
ters, has taken an active part in town affairs, and
served three years on the board of assessors and has
been a selectman. He is an active member of the
Congregational church and Sunday school, and has
for a number 'of years been a deacon. He is a Re
publican in politics. No citizen in Shrewsbury is

WORCESTER COUNTY

H5

more highly esteemed than Mr. Bemis. In every
walk of life he has taken his part modestly and
capably. As a friend, neighbor and citizen he is
popular. In private life and public office alike his
integrity and common sense have been appreciated.
Mr. Bemis married (first) Jennie Learned, of
Underhill, Verrnont. She lived only about a year.
He married (second) Maria T. Wood, daughter of
Joel Fay Wood,' of Grafton. Their children are:
1. Agnes T., graduate of the Worcester high
school, and State Normal school, teacher in the Cas-
tine Normal school and elsewhere, and for some time
superintendent of the domestic department at Mt.
Holyoke College. 2. Leigh Jannette, a graduate of Mt.
Holyoke College, 1894, married Rev. Frank B. Doane,
an Amherst graduate of Amherst College and of the
New Haven Divinity School, now pastor of the Con
gregational church at Cheney, Washington. 3. Mabel
G, a graduate of the high school, married Ned
Wesley Parker, foreman for John L. Parker & Co.,
ferule manufacturers, 70 School street, Worcester;
they reside with Mr. Bemis in Shrewsbury.
PARKER FAMILY. Thomas Parker (1), was
the itnmigrant ancestor of Edmund L. Parker and
Ned Wesley Parker, of Worcester. He belonged
to an old English family of which something has
been written for this work. He was about thirty
years of age when he embarked from London,
England, March 11, 1635, on the ship "Susan and
Ellen." He settled at Lynn where he was a pro
prietor in 1638. He was admitted a freeman there
May 17, 1637. He may have about 1635, married
his wife Amy there. He removed to Reading be
tween 1638 and 1640, and was founder and deacon
of the church there. He died in Reading, August,
12, 1683. His wife Amy died in Reading, January
15, 1690. His will was dated August 3, 1683, and
proved December 18, of that year. He bequeathed
to wife Amy; to sons John, Thomas, Nathaniel and
Hananiah; daughters Mary and Martha; grand
children Samuel and Sarah Parker; to John, "a
great Bible that Boniface Burton gave me." Children
were: 1. Thomas, born in Lynn, 1636; died July
17, 1699; married Deborah  . 2. Lt. Hana
niah, born about 1638; died at Reading, March 10,
^1724; married (first) Elizabeth Browne of Read
ing, September 30, 1663; married (second) Mary
(Bursham) Bright, December 12, 1700. 3. Sergeant
John, born in Reading, 1640; died 1698. 4. Joseph,
born 1642; died 1644. 5. Joseph, born 1645; died
1646. 6. Mary, born December 12, 1647; died 1705;
married Samuel Dodge. ' 7. Martha, bom March 14,
1649. 8. Nathaniel (see forward). 9. Sarah, born
September 30, 1653 ; died October 26, 1656. 10. Jona
than, born May 18, 1656; died at Reading, June 10,
1680. 11. Sarah, born May 23, 1658. 12. Deborah,
(given by Pope).
(II) Nathaniel Parker, eighth child of Thomas
Parker (1), born at Reading, Massachusetts, May
16, 1651; died there 1737; married Bethiah Polly,
of Roxbury, Massachusetts, September 24, 1677,
daughter of John and Bethiah (Gowdrey) Polly,
baptized 1659. He was ensign of the Reading Com
pany. Children were: I. Bethiah, born 1678; died
young. 2. Nathaniel, born 1679; married Elizabeth,
1702. 3. Stephen, born 1684; died young. 4. Bethiah,
born 1685; died 1715; married Ebenezer Emerson
1707. 5. Susannah, born 1687; married Joseph Un
derwood, 1707. 6. Ebenezer, born 1689; married
Mercy Damon 1714. 7. Stephen, born 1692; mar
ried Elizabeth Batchelder, 1713. 8. Caleb, born
1694. 9- Timothy, born 1696. 10. Obadiah, born 1698.
11. Abigail, born 1699. 12. Amy, born 1701 ; died
young. 13. Amy, born 1702; married Stephen
10

Richardson, of Billerica, 1728. 14. Phineas (see
forward). (Ill) Phineas Parker, youngest and fourteenth
child of Nathaniel Parker (2), born at Reading,
Massachusetts, September 27, 1704; died at Pep
perell, August 28, 1787; married Martha  , who
died at Pepperell, January 31, 1793, aged eighty-
three years. Their children were: 1. Edmund, (see
forward). 2. Martha, born February 5, 1735; mar
ried Captain Jonas Richardson, July 27, 1756. 3.
Elizabeth, born June 18, 1737; married  Nagle.
4. Phineas (Captain), born July 9, 1739. 5. Lydia,
born February 17, 1742; died at Pepperell, August
31, 1822; married Reuben Shattuck, of Pepperell,
November 25, 1773. 6. Abijah, born 1745; died at
Pepperell, December 4, 1811; married January 21,
1772, Sarah Lawrence. 7. John, January 8, 1748. 8.
Mary, May 4, 1751 ; died November 12. 1752, at
Reading; all the foregoing were born at Reading,
Massachusetts. (IV) Edmund Parker, eldest child of Phineas
Parker (3), born in Reading, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 7, 1731 ; died in Pepperell, Massachusetts,
August 13, 1813; married (first) Lydia Varnum,
in Pepperell, July 22, 1755. She died August 4,
1756; married (second) in Pepperell, April 13, 1757,
Elizabeth Sheple, widow of James Green, Jr., of
Groton, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Boyden)
Sheple, Jr., of Groton, born there May 22, 1730;
died at Pepperell, November 21, 1812, aged eighty-
two years.
There was one child born to Edmund and Lydia
(Varnum) Parker : 1. Lydia, born in Pepperell,
July 30, 1756, and probably died at Pepperell, Feb
ruary 10, 1774. Children of Edmund and Elizabeth
(Sheple) (Green) Parker were: 2. Edmund, born,
in Townsend, May 23, 1761 ; died at Norridgewock,.
Maine, November 18, 1838; married Mary Shepley,
of Pepperell, March 11, 1783. 3 Asa, born at Pep
perell, December 29, 1763; married Sibbel White, of
Pepperell, December 6, 1792. 4. Jonas, (see for
ward). 5. James, born in Pepperell, April 19, 1769;
died at Brookline, New Hampshire, January 14,
1826; married Sally Boynton, of Pepperell, Octo
ber 11,- 1792. 6. John, born in Pepperell, October
3, 1774; married Sally Tarbell, of Pepperell, Octo
ber 3, 1797. 6. Elizabeth, born at Pepperell, Jan
uary 26, 1778; married David Shed, Jr., of Pep
perell, December 27, 1797.
Elizabeth Sheple or Shepley was the daughter of
John Shepley, Jr., (born April 1, 1703; married
February 16, 1725-6, Elizabeth Boyden) and grand
daughter of John Shepley (born probably at Wen
ham, died September 4, 1736; resided at Groton),
and wife Lydia; probably great-granddaughter of;
John or Nathaniel Shepley, sons of the emigrant-
John Shepley, Shipley or Shapleigh, was born in
England about 1587, and settled before or in 1636
in Salem; removed to Wenham, Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Boyden, before mentioned, was born
March 10, 1707, the daughter of Jonathan and Eliza
beth Boyden, and descendant of Thomas Boyden,
the immigrant, who settled in Watertown.
(V) Jonas Parker, fourth child of Edmund
Parker (4), born in Pepperell, July 16, 1766; died
at Pepperell, December 7, 1849; married (first)-
Ruth Farmer, in Pepperell, December 18, 1788,
daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Fessenden)
Farmer, of Lexington, Massachusetts, born in Lex
ington, August 15, 1765; died at Pepperell, Feb
ruary 5, 1828; married (second) Mrs. Mehitable
S. Frost, widow of Lemuel Parker, of Pepperell,
January 18, 1829.
Nathaniel Farmer, father of Ruth, born Jan
uary 29, 1725; died September 3, 1778; son of John

146

WORCESTER COUNTY

Farmer (born September 18, 1703), and Hannah
Woods, of Groton. John Farmer, Jr., was the son
of John Farmer (born August 19, 1671 ; died Sep
tember 9, 1736), of Billerica and his wife, Abigail
Shed (born 1679; died at Tewksbury, Massachu
setts, March 20, 1754, aged seventy-five), daughter
of Daniel Shed. John Farmer was the son of Ed
ward Farmer, the emigrant, who came to New Eng
land between 1660 and 1670, born in England 1640;
died May 27, 1727, and his wife, Mary, born 1642-3;
died at Billerica, March, 1719, about seventy-eight
years of age.
Hannah Fessenden, mother of Ruth Farmer, born
in Lexington, Massachusetts, August 9, 1736; died
December 20, 1782; married May 28, 1755; daughter
of Thomas Fessenden, Jr., (born December 9, 1709;
died July 22, 1768), of Lexington and his wife,
Hannah Prentice, married June 19, 1735, of Cam
bridge, Massachusetts.
Thomas Fessenden was the son of Thomas Fes
senden (born August 12, 1684; died March 6, 1738),
of Lexington, and his first of three wives, Abigail
Poulter, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Poul-
ter (she was born September 5, 1692; died April
25> I7I9J married 1708). Thomas Fessenden was
the son of Nicholas Fessenden (the emigrant, born
in England 1650; died February 24, 1719), of Cam
bridge, and Margaret Cheney, born 1755 ; died De
cember 10, 1717.
Nathaniel Farmer, father of Ruth (Farmer)
Parker, was a member of Captain Parker's company
and was in the battle on Lexington common
April 19, 1775. He received a severe wound that
morning; the bullet struck his right arm and frac
tured the bone, so that he was disabled for a long
time. The general court granted him fifteen pounds,
fifteen shillings for loss of labor and expense of
surgical attendance.
The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Fes
senden) Farmer were: 1. John, born July 18,
1757; married Lucy Read, March 27, 1783. 2.
Hannah, January 28, 1760; married Jacob Kilburn,
of Lancaster. 3. Isaac, October 8, 1762, died young.
4. Ruth, before mentioned. 5. Abigail, Novem
ber 1, 1768. 6. Sally, December 19, 1771 ; married
Samuel Pierce, of Groton. 7. Rebeckah, December
!9> I771- 8. Thomas Shattuck, September 10, 1775;
9. Isaac, December 31, 1779.
(VI) John Parker, fourth child of Jonas Parker
(5), was born at Pepperell, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 18, 1795. He spent his younger days at Pep
perell and Lancaster, but during most of his act
ive years he was engaged in the shipping business
at Cohasset, in partnership, with Laban Souther
under the firm name of Souther & Parker. He
was an officer in the Lancaster company in the
war of 1812 and was on duty in Boston. He
was a member of the Cohasset Unitarian church.
He was for many years a neighbor and personal
friend of Daniel Webster. He died March 26,
1868, at Cohasset. He married November 15, 1822,
Mary Oakes Lawrence, then only fifteen years of
age, born May 1, 1807, at Cohasset, daughter of
Deacon Thaddeus and Joa Lawrence. They lived at
Pepperell for a time after they were married, and the
first four children were born there, the others at
Cohasset. Children were: 1. Caroline Willard, born Octo
ber 2, 1823. 2. Mary Elizabeth, March 3, 1826;
, died young. 3. Harriet Maria, March 13, 1828. 4.
John Loring, see forward. 5. Louisa Frances, August
22, 1832. 6. James Henry, December 3, 1834. 7.
Mary Elizabeth, October 21, 1837. 8. George Odion,
February 9, 1840. 9. Sophronia Lawrence, February
18, 1842. 10. Charles Oakes, October 18, 1844. 11.

Edmund Lawrence (see forward). 12. Frank Lewis,
Juiy 11, 1849. Of these two, John L. and Edmund
L. lived in Worcester.
(VII) John Loring Parker, fourth child of
John Parker (6), born at Pepperell, Massachusetts,
August 11, 1830; removed when very young to
Cohasset, where he attended the common schools,
and was graduated from the high school in 1848.
He went to Pepperell after leaving school and served
an apprenticeship in the machine shop of Blake &
Co., manufacturers of paper machinery. Later he
married Marrinda C. Blake, the daughter of the
senior partner of the firm, Henry Blake. He
worked as journeyman and foreman and- finally
became superintendent of the factory. During - the
civil war he secured a contract for the manufacture
of swords, and as partner of the firm of Roby &
Company carried on this business in a shop at West
Chelmsford. His partners were Christopher Roby
and Charles Blake. At the close of the war he ac
cepted a position as superintendent of the shoe
factory of Gevernor Baldwin, at Detroit, Michigan.
He returned to Worcester to take the position of
superintendent of the loom works of L. J. Knowles
& Brother, and set up the first Knowles loom made in
Worcester in 1866. He went into business for
himself a few years later, manufacturing ferules,
etc., at 209 Union street. He bought the business
of White & Emerson, manufactures of iron and
steel pressed goods, and carried on the business un
til his death. At first 'the business was located 011
Foster street. In 1879 it was moved to the pres
ent location on School street in order to get larger
quarters. At first George S. Barton was a silent
partner in the firm of John L. Parker & Co. In
1876 the interests of Mr. Barton were purchased by
Edmund L. Parker, brother of the senior partner
and the business was continued under the same
name. The firm was prosperous and after the death
of the senior partner the business continued under
the original name. In recent years some fifty hands
were employed, and goods made' for the foreign as
well as the home trade. All the products of this
shop were patented and made for the consumers.
The company makes parts for manufacturers of
agricultural machinery, cotton machinery, cutlery,
shoe last manufacturers and a large variety of con
cerns using pressed metal. For a time Mr. Parker
was interested in the manufacture of cutlery at
Natick, Massachusetts, in partnership with Joel
Allen and his brother James H. Parker.
He was a Free Mason ; was a member of the Coral
Street Methodist Church and was superintendent
of the Sunday school. He died December 20, 1887.
Children were : 1. Herbert Lawrence, (see for
ward). 2. Nellie Gertrude, married Elmer W.
Lewis, of Boston; he is with Kidder, Peabody &
Co., bankers ; they have two children, Arthur G. and
Thelma. 3. Harry Strickland; married Edith Gross;
he is a graduate of the Peekskill, New York, Mili
tary Academy, and one of the confidential men of
F. S. Bowser & Co., of Boston ' and Indianapolis.
4. Ned Wesley, (see forward).
(VIII) Herbert Lawrence Parker, son of John
Lorins: Parker (7), born in Worcester, was edu
cated in the public schools of Worcester and at the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After graduation
he went to Mexico as the general agent of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company.
He lived at Juarez, Mexico, for a year, and in the
city of Mexico for two years and a half, he then
went* to San Francisco. In 1896 he bought a con
trolling: interest, and has since been the president
and manager of the Emerson Electric Manufactur-

CLyyUjT

WORCESTER COUNTY

i47

ing Company of St. Louis. The business of this
concern has been very prosperous under his owner
ship. He married Emily King. Their children are :
King; Herbert; Katherine; Elizabeth.
(VIII) New Wesley Parker, son of John Loring
Parker (7), was born in Worcester May 22, 1870.
When he was two years old his parents removed
to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, where he began his
education in the common schools. He graduated
from the high school at the age of eighteen and
entered the business which his father established
in Worcester. In 1888, shortly after his father's
death, he removed with the ,rest of the family to
Cohasset, and while living there he took a course .
in the business college of Bryant & Stratton in
Boston. In 1889 he returned to Worcester and en
tered the manufactory of John L. Parker &
Co., in which his father had been the senior part
ner and which his uncle, Edmund L. Parker, the
junior partner. He learned the business thoroughly,
and for nearly twenty years was superintendent
of the manufacturing end of it. Since 1905, when
the business was incorporated as the John L. Parker
Company, under the laws of Massachusetts, he has
been a director. The other officers of the company
are: President, Frank R. Jones; secretary, John
M. Kendall; director, Sanford C. Kendall. Mr.
Parker lives in Shrewsbury where he has a hand
some residence. He is a Methodist in religion, al
though he attends the Shrewsbury Congregational
church. In politics he is a Republican. He is
active in town affairs and is chief of the local fire
department. He was formerly a member of the
Shrewsbury Grange, Patrons of Husbantry, and was
a charter member of the Hancock Club of Worcester.
He married June 4, 1892, Mabelle G. Bemis, daugh
ter of Daniel W. Bemis, a sketch of whom will be
found elsewhere in this work. (See the Bemis
Family under sketch of Dr. J. M. Bemis.) Her
mother was Maria (Wood) Bemis. Cliildren are:
Winifred Agnes, born December 30, 1895 ; Lawrence
Bemis, born August 19, 1901.
(VII) Edmund Lawrence Parker, son of John
Parker (6), born at Cohasset, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 8, 1847; died August 17, 1906. He received
his education at the Cohasset schools, and at Wil-
braham Academy. Was a graduate of high school in
1865. After leaving school he became a clerk in
the Second National Bank, of Boston. In 1870 he
became a member of the firm of Caverly, Parker &
Young, of Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1876 he came
to Worcester and became a partner with his brother
in the firm of John L. Parker & Co., in the manu
facture of pressed metal goods. After the death of
his brother he carried on the business under the
same name until 1905, when the business was in
corporated and he retired. The business was very
prosperous, and Mr. Parker was one of the best
known manufacturers of the city. He built a hand
some residence at 15 Massachusetts avenue in 1905,
and_ there enjoyed a well earned rest from active
business. He enjoyed travel and had been abroad
many times. He was a Republican and prominent
in city affairs. He served four years in the com
mon council from 1887 to 1890, inclusive, and was
an alderman in 1891-92. He was a diligent and
•effective worker for the welfare of the city, and was
counted among the best men that have served in the
city council in recent years. Plis common-sense and
good judgment won the respect and confidence of
his associates. He was always an active and con
sistent advocate of temperance reform. As a candi
date it has been noted that he received the highest
number of votes on the ticket, and he would have

been kept in the city council longer had . he not
declined to be Te-elected. His name was frequently
urgeu as Republican candidate for mayor. -He was
in every sense a self-made man. He was one of the
organizers of the Hancock club of Worcester; was
a member of the Worcester board of trade and a
director in- the Eastern Bridge Construction Com
pany, of Worcester; the Equity Corporation Bank,
of Worcester; the Fidelity Mercantile Agency Com
pany, of Worcester; the West Side Land Company,
of Worcester; the Worcester Real Estate Company,
of Worcester; the Toadvine Lumber Company, of
Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was a well
known Free Mason; a member of Athelstan Lodge,
Eureka Chapter and the Worcester County Com
mandery, Knights Templar. He was a member of'
St. John's Episcopal Church and for fifteen years was
warden. He married October 6, 1869, Eva Sarah Jones,
daughter of William and Rachel Jones, of Lynn,
Massachusetts. Their only child is Dr. Ernest L.
Parker, born February 13, 1878; graduated from
Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, in
1898, and from the Harvard Medical school in 1903,
alter which he took a post graduate course at the
medical school. He then received a two-year ap
pointment in the Boston city hospital, from which
he graduated and served five months on its executive
board. He was elected on the staff of the Wor
cester city hospital in 1905, at the time he began
to practice his profession in Worcester. His office
is at n Elm street. He married, October 8, 1906,
Sally Leeds Bufford, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS STONE. Dea
con Simon Stone (1), the immigrant ancester of
Hon. Christopher Columbus Stone, of Clinton,
Massachusetts, with his younger brother, Gregory
Stone, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this
work, were early settlers at Watertown, Massa
chusetts, and are progenitors of most of the old
New England families of this surname. Simon
Stone, husbandman, aged fifty years, with his wife
Joan, aged thirty-eight years, and children, Frances,
aged sixteen ; Ann, aged eleven ; Simon, aged four ;
Marie, aged three and John, aged five weeks, sailed
in the ship "Increase," April 15, 1635, from Ipswich,
Robert Lea, master. He was admitted a freeman
May 25, 1636. He was selectman for seven years
between 1637 and 1656, and was deacon of the
church. He died at Watertown, September 22, 1665. His
will was proved October 3, 1665, by his brother,
Gregory Stone, and Stephen Day. He bequeathed
lo sons Simon and John; daughters Frances and
Mary j Johanna and Nathaniel Green, children of
Frances and her husband Thomas Greene; kinsmen
John and Daniel Warner (Warren?) and Thomas
Wells. His wife died and he married (second),
1654, Sarah Lumpkin, widow of Richard Lumpkin,
of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who came from Boxtead,
Essex county, England. Her will was dated March
25, 1663, and proved October 6, following. Deacon
Stone was eighty years old at the time of his
death and fifty years old when he emigrated. Hence
his birth year was 1585. Children of Simon and
Joan (or Jane) Stone were: Frances, born in Eng
land, 1619, married Thomas Green and had chil
dren, Joanna and Nathaniel; Ann, born in England,
1624; Simon, Jr., born in England, 1631, see forward;
Marie, born in England, 1632, died unmarried June
25, 1691; John, born in England, baptized August
15. 1635, at Watertown; Elizabeth, born April 5
1639- (II) Simon Stone, Jr., son of Deacon Simon

1 48

WORCESTER COUNTY

Stone (1), was born in England iu 1631 and came
to America with his parents and their family in
1635. He settled in •Watertown, where he was a dis
tinguished citizen. He was often elected town clerk,
indicating that he was a man of some education,
and selectman, indicating that he was a man of
some force of character and of property; He was
deputy to the general court in 1678-79-80-81-82-83-
84-86-89-90, and during those years was one of the
foremost men of the town. He .died February 27,
1707-08, aged seventy-seven years.
He married Mary Whipple, who died June 2,
1720, aged eighty-six years. Their children: Simon,
Jr., born August 18, 1656, see forward ; John, July 23,
1658; Matthew, February 6, 1659-60, of Lancaster,
1693 of Sudbury and in 1697 was deacon of the Sud
bury church; married Mary  ; Nathaniel, Feb
ruary 22, 1661-62, died February 24, same year;
Ebenezer, February 27, 1662, admitted freeman
March 26, 1690; Mary, January 6, 1664-65;
Nathaniel, 1667, graduate of Harvard, ' 1690, died
I7S5) aged eighty-eight years, minister at Harwich;
Elizabeth, October 9, 1670, admitted to full com
munion in church February 13, 1697-98, married,
November 6, 1706, John Maddock, of Boston ; David,
October 19, 1672, admitted to church December 12,
1697, married, December 12, 1710, Mary Rice; he
died October 7, 1750, aged seventy-eight years, blind
for fifty-six years ; infant, born* and died August,
1674; Susannah, November 6, 1675, married, June,
1697, Edward Goddard; Jonathan, December 26,
1677, died January 7, 1754.
(Ill) Deacon Simon Stone, son of Simon Stone
(2), was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, Au
gust 18 or 19, 1656. He died December 19, 1741,
a\ Groton. He and his brother John settled in Gro
ton, Massachusetts. John had- a son John, Jr., born
September 23, 1699, and son James, born January
23, 1701, and probably Joseph, all three of whom set
tled in Groton and had families there.
Dr. Green says of Simon Stone : "This has been
a common name for nearly two centuries and the
families bearing it- have lived in the south part of
the town. Deacon Simon Stone was an original
proprietor, owning an ;eighteen-acre right. He was
the eldest of the children of Deacon Simon and
Mary (Whipple) Stone, of Watertown. Perhaps
he was the person referred to by Mather's (Mag
nalia (VII 74), who was severely wounded by the
Indians July 4, 1690, at Exeter." The story of the
wounds as told in the Magnalia seem incredible.
He was wounded by bullets in nine places and left
for dead. When the Indians came to strip his body
they struck him with a hatchet twice to cut off his
head, but the British soldiers were heard coming
and he was left unscalped. When his fellow-soldiers
found him he was not dead, so they placed him in
a canoe and took him to a safe place, where he
finally recovered fully. Simon was often chosen
town officer' and on important committees of the
church, and served as deacon for many years. He
was often selectman. The epitaph oh Deacon Stone's
gravestone is : "Here lies the body of Deacon Simon
Stone who departed this life December 19, A. D.
1 741, aged eighty-five years, three months and eleven
days. Died 1741." He married Sarah  and all
their children were born at Groton, except the first
two, Simon and John. , Their children : John, born
1690; Simon, Jr.; about 1692; Susanna, October 23,
1694; Isaac, May 4, 1697, see forward; Benjamin,
August 12, 1706; Hannah, died September 27, 1723;
Lydia. died September 30, 1723.
(IV) Simon Stone, Jr., son of Simon Stone
(3), was born in Watertown, probably in 1692, and
removed when an infant with his parents to Groton,

Massachusetts, where he lived all the remainder of
his days, although his section of the town was set
off as Harvard, and he was a prominent citizen
of the new town. He was the leader in the move
ment to have Harvard set of, and the general
court recognized him as the first citizen of the town
by ordering him to summon the first town meeting,
June 30, 1732. He was at that meeting elected
moderator and a member of the first board of
selectman. He served the new town in many of
fices and on many committees. He was on the com
mittee to build the meeting house in 1729 and to
invite the minister to settle — Rev. John Seccomb.
He was one of the first deacons of the church with
. Joseph Fairbanks, Jonathan Whitney and Joseph
Haskell. He died in 1746, leaving an estate valued
at 508 pounds. The history of Harvard calls him
"the foremost citizen.'' In the long list of his chat
tels, the history notes some showing the character
of household goods at that time, viz. : Silver cup,
an oval table — unwonted luxuries in those days —
also a loom and tackling, a lanthorn, a looking glass,
wheels and cards, flax-combs, sheep shears, warming
pan, skillets, a fire slice, trammels, keelers, a razor,
two swarms of bees, a pigeon net and a cyder mill.
He married Sarah  . All their children are re
corded at Groton until 1732 and the two youngest
are recorded at Harvard, probably all born on the
old homestead, located in what is now Harvard,
formerly Groton. Children: Simon, Jr., born Sep
tember 10, 1714, settled at Harvard, married Eunice;
 ; Ephraim, January 2, 1715-16; Oliver, Janu
ary 20, 1719-20; Sarah, January 27, 1721-22; Isaac,
February 17, 1723-24, see forward; Hannah, April
18, 1726; Elias, April 2, 1728; Amos, September 9,
1729; Solomon, September 3, 1732; Micah, April 10,
1735- (V) Isaac Stone, son of Simon Stone (4), was
born at Groton, Massachusetts, February 17, 1723-24.
The farm on which he lived was set off" in the
territory of the new town of Harvard, where he
was brought up. He was assigned a seat in the
Harvard church in 1750. He was a soldier in the
French and Indian war, corporal in Captain Israel
Taylor's -company, Colonel Oliver Wilder's regi
ment in 1757, and in Judah Clark's company in
?75S- He or his son Isaac served in the revolution
in Captain Joseph Whitcomb's company of Lan
caster, Captain James Reed's company in Colonel-
Timothy Ruggles's regiment. He resided at Boyls
ton for many years, but died at Lancaster, Sep
tember 14, 1816, aged ninety-three years. He mar
ried (first) Keziah Pierce, April 16, 1744, at Har
vard. He married (second), May 3, 1765, at Boyls
ton, Massachusetts, by Rev. Mr. Morse, Rachel
Fiske, of Shrewsbury. She died at Boylston, July
12, 1824, aged ninety years. After the death of his
first wife he removed to Shrewsbury. Children of
Isaac and Keziah Stone were: Ephraim, born at
Harvard, January 22, 1745-46; Isaac, January 26,
1746-47; resided at Boylston, married Abigail
Moore; Sarah Moore, 1808, and Abigail Green,
1824; Dinah, August 3, 1749; Daniel, July 10, 1754;
Jacob, July 25, 1756, died young; infant born and
died December. 16, 1758; Keziah, April 6, 1760;
Sarah, March 30, 1762; Abigail, February 19, 1765.
Children of Isaac and Rachel Stone, all born at
Shrewsbury, were: Esther, May .30, 1766; Eliza
beth, October 21, 1767; Jacob, August 25, 1770, see
forward; Annis, March 4, 1772, married 
Robinson. (VI) Jacob Stone, son of Isaac Stone (5), was
born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, August 25, 1770.
He settled in the north district of Shrewsbury,
Boylston, and at Lancaster, where, the births of his

WORCESTER COUNTY

149

children are recorded, though all may not have
been born there. About 1796 Jacob Stone purchased
of Ephraim Bennett three hundred acres of land
along the old country road from Lancaster to Wor
cester. He was a carpenter by trade and for many
years was the leading builder in that section. He
employed a large force of carpenters at times. He
did the carpenter work of the brick church in Lan
caster in 1816. Both he and his sons were very
skillful in framing and raising houses. He built
a large two-story house for himself before his first
marriage and he lived in it more than forty years,
but late in life he met with reverses and had to
give up the place to creditors. He then moved to
the Fitch place in Sterling, where he died July 8,
1847. ' He married (first), September 23, 1793, Martha
Barnes. She died March 23, 1795. He married
(second) Anna Barnes, of Boylston, May 11, 1796,
and she died at Lancaster, April 12, 18 — . Jacob
married (third), April 14, 1819, Isabelle Bennett,
daughter of Asa Bennett, of Lancaster. The chil
dren of Jacob and Martha Stone were : Twins, died
in infancy. The children of Jacob and Anna Stone
were: Joseph, born February 19, 1797; James, Au
gust 29, 1799, see forward; Martha, June 29, 1801 ;
Jacob, March 6, 1803, died October 9, 1830; Anna,
February 9, 1805, died September 30, 1842; Achsah,
April 18. t8o6, died October 21, 1843 ; Abel, April
6, 1808, died June 11, 1856; Betsy, March 11, 1810,
died September 30, 1813 ; Captain Oliver, January
16, 1812, father of Louis L. Stone; Betzy. March 3,
1814, died December 23, 1853; Tamar, born Decem
ber 30, 1815, died May 19, 1836; Maria, born March
23, 1818, died September 11, 1845. The children
of Jacob and Isabelle Stone were : one child which
died in infancy. •
(VII) James Stone, son of Jacob Stone (6),
was born in Lancaster, August 29, 1799. He lived
all his life at Lancaster. He was a carpenter and
farmer. He held the office of prudential agent, whose
duty it was to hire the district school teachers, in
1839. He married, February 15, 1827, Eliza Burditt.
Their children: Christopher Columbus, born No
vember 27, 1829, see forward; Ellen Eliza, Febru
ary 15, 1827, Eliza Burditt. Their children:
see forward. Ellen Eliza, February 19, 1836; Har
riet Elizabeth (twin) January 23, 1839 ; Caroline
Louisa (twin), January 23, 1839; infants died Octo
ber 11, 1842, and in 1846.
(VIII) Christopher Columbus Stone, son of
James Stone (7), was born in Lancaster in that
part of "the town set off as Clinton, November 27,
1829. He attended the district schools of Clinton-
ville and took a course at the Lancaster Academy. .
He learned the carpenter trade, which his father and
grandfather had followed successfully, and for twenty
years was a carpenter and builder in Clinton. Then
he decided to study law. He had all his life been
a student and had obtained a liberal education
from private reading and study. He studied law
in the office of Hon. C. G. Stevens,, a lawyer of
high repute and attainments, who practiced in Wor
cester and Clinton. He did not apply for admis
sion to the bar, as he received the appointment of
trial justice at Clinton in 1871 and 'remained in this
position until the formation of the second district
court of eastern Worcester when he was appointed
associate justice, but on retirement of the pre
siding judge, Mr. Stevens, became his successor
and has ever since filled this 'position with rare
judgment and ability.
In his, younger days Mr. Stone was active in
the militia and when the civil war broke out he
was major of the Ninth Regiment, to which the

Light Guard of Clinton belonged. He was one of
the directors of a drill club organized August 11,
1861, that did good work for the cause. Through
out the war he was active in support of the gov:
ernment and in recruiting soldiers. Judge Stone
became active in the temperance movement in its
early days. In 1850, when the order of the Sons
of Temperance was flourishing, he was among the
worthy patriarchs. He is a member of Clinton
Lodge of Odd Fellows, the order of Red Men and
the Free Masons. He has attained the Knight
Templar degree in Masonry. He is president of
the First National Bank of Clinton, member of the
board of investment of Clinton Savings Bank, and
a, leader in financial circles. He is, vice-president of
the Hospital Association and vice-president of the
Clinton Historical Society. Judge Stone has con
ducted for a long time the iron foundry in Clinton
in which his sons and son-in-law are now inter
ested. In politics Judge Stone has been
for many years one of the leading Republicans of
that section.
He married (first), September 30, 1854, Elizabeth
A. Whitcomb, of Stow, Massachusetts. She died
April 2, 1870. He married (second), December 25,
1880, Anna Hunt, who died June 17, 1887. He mar
ried (third), February 13, 1890, Mary L. Holman.
Children of Christopher C. and Elizabeth A. Stone
were : Elsie, born July 16, 1855, died October 2,
1871; Henrietta L, born June 6, 1857; Anna C, born
January 31, 1859; James A., born February 2, 1861*
died February 5, 1861 ; Jerome E., born February
22, 1862; George C, born March 31, 1864; Walter
A., born December 28, 1867.
(IX) George Stone, son of Hon. Christopher C.
Stone (8), was born . in Clinton, Massachusetts,
March 31, 1864. He was educated in the public
and high schools of his native town, graduating in
1880. He learned the trade of machinist in the shop
of the J. B. Parker Company. After he became a
journeyman he went to work in his father's foun
dry in Clinton, became a member and officer of the
company, and at present has exclusive charge of the
machine shop connected with the foundry. In poli
tics Mr. Stone is a Republican. He is a member
of the Clinton Council, Royal Arcanum, the order
of Red Men and Odd Fellows. He attends the
Unitarian church. Mr. Stone ranks high among
the younger manufacturers of the town. He mar
ried, September, 1900, Henrietta Johnstone, of Clin
ton, daughter of Charles Johnstone. Their chilT
dren are : Walter C, born in Clinton, 1892 ; Charles
Clifford, born in Clinton, 1898.
(IX) Walter A. Stone, son of Hon. Christo
pher C. Stone (8), was born in Clinton, Massa
chusetts, December 28, 1867. He was educated in
the Clinton schools and graduated from the High
school in 1884. He became associated with his
father in the foundry and machine shop. Later he
worked in the Locomotive Works at Providence,
Rhode Island, and became superintendent. He was
superintendent of large foundries at New Bedford
and Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1896 he returned
to Clinton and took charge of the foundry which
his father owned there, in association with his
brother and Gerton A. Beam, his brother-in-law,
who took charge of the machine shop. The firm
have built up a large and growing business. Mr.
Stone is a skillful mechanic as well as a capable busi
ness man. In politics he is an active Republican
especially during campaigns. He is a member of the
Order of Odd Fellows and of the Order of Red Men.
He attends the Episcopal church. He married,
July 31, 1902, Helena Oakley daughter of Samuel
and Elizabeth (Boyd) Oakley, natives of England.

i5o

WORCESTER COUNTY

They have one child, Margery A., born -at Clinton,
Massachusetts. ARTHUR C. HAWKINS, Colonel Nathaniel
Hawkins (i), the immigrant ancestor of Arthur C.
Hawkins, of Lancaster, was born in England and
came to this country during the French and Indian
war with the British army, in which he was an of
ficer. He came with the troops in 1761 and took
part in the first battle of Quebec. For his valor and
intrepidity on the field of action he was awarded a
medal suitably inscribed.
He settled first in America at South Kingston,
Rhode Island, but during the American revolution
settled in Charlgstown, Massachusetts, in April,
1779. He was living in Charlestown in- 1789 with'
children : Nathaniel, Christopher, Sarah and Sam
uel. Mitty Flagg was also a member of his family.
In 1783 he bought a lot of land in Charlestown of
Thomas Robbins. He bought and sold land at
Charlestown often afterward. He died at Charles
town, October 3, 1817, aged sixty-nine years. That
would make his birth year 1748, and he must, have
been very young to have served in the army at
Quebec. Possibly there is an error in the record of
his age, at death. His estate was administered by
P. Tufts, Jr., appointed November .13, 1817.
He married Sarah Kent, who died April 17, 1785,
aged thirty-two years. Her gravestone is to be seen
at Charlestown. He married (second), February
t2, 1788, Rebecca Kent, who died February 23,
1827, aged eighty years, according to her grave
stone. The children of Colonel Nathaniel and Sarah
Hawkins, born probably in South Kingston, Rhode
Island, or vicinity were: 1. Nathaniel, Jr., settled
in Richmond, Virginia, where he was living at the
'time of his father's death; he deeded land in which
he had rights at Charlestown. 2. Christopher, mar
ried Eunice  , and had children — Christopher,
Catherine, Hannah, Eunice, Sarah K., Rebecca K.
Christopher, Nathaniel and Sarah joined in selling
land- formerly of their father, Nathaniel Hawkins.
3. Guy Carlton, of whom later. 4. Samuel, settled
in Henrico, Virginia, where he was living at the
time of his father's death, signed deed with Guy
Carlton in 1819. 5. Elizabeth, married Robert
Long, Jr. 6. Sarah K., married Henry Adams.
(II) Guy Carlton Hawkins, son of Colonel
Nathaniel Hawkins (1), was born probably in South
Kingston, Rhode Island, about 1785. He joined with
his brother, Samuel Hawkins, in a deed to Sarah"
R. Hawkins, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, the
house on Cambridge avenue with ten acres of land,
1819. He was a farmer and settled in Charlestown.
He married Eliza Miller, of that town. Among their
children was Nathaniel C, of whom later.
(Ill) Nathaniel C. Hawkins, son of Guy Carl
ton Hawkins (2),' was born in Charlestown, Massa
chusetts, now Boston, September 9,. 1827. He was
educated there in the common schools. He engaged
in business in Boston for many years, and when he
retired removed to- Lancaster, Massachusetts, where
he bought a farm and has since lived. In politics
Mr. Hawkins is a Democrat. He was selectman
of the town of Somerville, where he lived in his
younger days.
He married, 1849, Amelia Magoun, daughter of
John C. Magoun. She died in 1887. Their children
were: Ida A.; Eleanor C, died young; Edward C. ;
Arthur C, of whom later; Annie E., Guy C, died
young; Everett M.; Alice M., died young; Frank
W., who is a banker at Seattle, Washington.
(IV) Arthur Calvin Hawkins, son of Nathaniel
C. Hawkins (3), was born at Somerville, Massa
chusetts, where his parents were then living, No

vember 28, 1855. He was only four years old when
the family removed to Lancaster. He attended the
public schools, and when a young man engaged in
the poultry business, which he has followed for
thirty years. He is the proprietor of one of the
largest and most prosperous poultry farms in the
state of Massachusetts. He is especially prominent
among the poultry men of the country. He is a
member of the National Poultry Association,. of the
New England Plymouth Rock Association, of the
American Buff Plymouth Rock Association, of- the
New England White Wyandotte Association, and is
a director of the American Poultry Association. At
the "Riverview" stock farm in Lancaster, Mr. Haw
kins breeds for the market many fancy trotting and
carriage horses.
Mr. Hawkins is a Unitarian in religion and a
member of the parish committee of the Lancaster
Unitarian church. In politics he is a Republican.
He is a member of the board of water commission
ers of the town of Lancaster. He commands the
respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. He is
earnest, industrious and successful in his business.
He married, 1881, Minnie M. Brockway, daugh
ter of Henry and Mary (Martin)- Brockway, of
Lawrence, Massachusetts. Their children are :
Mary Louise, Helen M., Evelyn A., Nathaniel
Carlton. CAPTAIN EDWARD WILLIAM WHEELER.,
Obadiah Wheeler (1), pioneer settler of Concord,
Massachusetts, was the emigrant ancestor of Captain
Edward William Wheeler, of Worcester, Massachu
setts. Obadiah Wheeler was born in England, 1608.
He came to New England and settled in Concord
as early as 1638. He was made a freeman June 2,
1641. He owned land in the centre of the town
and lived for a time near the eastern end of the
burying ground. He also had land, in Meadow
Brook. His wife Susannah died in 1649. He died
in Concord, October 29, 1671. Of their nine chil
dren the first was born in England and the remainder
in Concord; the youngest was killed by the Indians
in Sudbury, Massachusetts. His will is dated Octo
ber 6, 1671, bequeathing to his six children: Joshua,
Obadiah, Samuel, John, Josiah and Susannah. Ad
ministration was granted December 19, 1671, to
his kinsman, Thomas Wheeler, and John, son of
the deceased.
The children of Obadiah Wheeler were: Joshua,
born in England, married Elizabeth  ; John, born
January 29, 1640, died young ; Ruth, April 23, 1642 ;
a son, November 25, 1643, died November 29,
1643; Samuel, February 22, 1644-5, married Mary
Perry; John, 1647; Susannah, March 16, 1649, mar
ried  Shipley; Obadiah, 1651-2; Josiah, died
April 21, 1676, killed by the Indians at Sudbury.
(II) Obadiah Wheeler, son of Obadiah Wheeler
(1) and second wife, was born in 1651-2 in Concord,
Massachusetts. He was a farmer and lived in Con
cord, where all his children were born. He mar
ried Elizabeth White, the daughter of Resolved
White. Her father was son of William and Susanna
(Fuller) White, who came over in the "Mayflower."
Their son, Peregrine White, was the first child
of the Pilgrims born in New England. Peregrine
was born in the ship "Mayflower" while at anchor
in Cape Cod Harbor, November 20, 1620. William
White was the son of Bishop John White and
brought with him on the "Mayflower" the cele
brated Breeches Bible. He died during the first
winter at Plymouth, February 21, 1621-2, and his
widow married Governor Edward Winslow, May 12,
1621. So the two boys, Resolved, who was five years
old when his father died, and Peregrine, who was

/^Z-fd?. &cU^c^cUld-LuhJyiJu4/

WORCESTER COUNTY

151

an infant, were raised in the family of Governor
Winslow. Resolved White, born at Leyden, Holland, 1615,
died between rt>90 and 1694. He settled at Scituate
but later removed to Salem, and married his sec
ond wife there August 5, 1674. She was Abigail Lord,
widow of William Lord. His first wife was Judith
Vassall, born 1619-20, died April 13, 1670, daugh
ter of William Vassall, one of the assistants of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, settled at Scituate and
Marshfield, finally removing to the Barbadoes. His
wife was Ann King, born in England, 1593, and
she had six children. The children of Resolved
White were : William, born April 10, 1642, at Marsh
field; John, March 11, 1644, at Scituate; Samuel,
March 13, 1646; Resolved, born at Scituate; Anna,
June 2, 1649, at Scituate ; Elizabeth, June 4, 1652 ;
Josiah, born at Scituate, baptized October 14, 1654;
Susannah, born at Scituate, baptized November 9,
1656. Obadiah Wheeler settled on his father's farm
in the southwesterly part of Concord until 1715,
when he disposed of his lands and no trace has yet
been found of his whereabouts after that. His fam
ily consisted of eight sons and one daughter, all
of whom were married and settled in adjoining
towns, most of them in what was then Lancaster.
Numerous descendants are still found in Bolton and
Berlin. Two of them, however, Obadiah and Jo
seph, received from their father his farm lands
in equal shares and probably retained possession of
them for a time. Samuel Wheeler, his son, married
Joanna Walcott, and .settled in Carlisle; Uriah
Wheeler went to Sudbury and married Abigail Rice.
His descendants have been numerous.
The children of Obadiah and Eliabeth (White)
Wheeler were: Obadiah, born September 21, 1673,
married Hannah Fletcher, daughter of Moses
Fletcher; Josiah, October 22, 1675, died at Lan
caster, December 8, 1738, married Martha  ,
born 1679, died May 21, 1748; married (sec
ond) Captain Peter Joslin, of Lancaster; Uriah,
April 13, 1678, died December 9, 1750; married,
December 29, 1704, Abigail Rice, of Sudbury, where
they settled ; she died June 10, 1754 ; ' Samuel
Wheeler, January 23, 1680-81, married Joanna Wal
cott, settled in Carlisle; Jonathan, July 28, 1683,
died about 1747 ; married Mary  , settled in Lan
caster and left many descendants; Elizabeth, Feb
ruary 7, 1685-6; Joseph, March 7, 1690-91; Benja
min, September 29, 1693, died 1759, at New Marl
boro; married Hannah  , born 1698, had five
children; Joshua, April 9, 1696, died Aprii 11, 1778;
married about 1720 Annah  , who died October
26, 1761, had four children.
(Ill) Joseph Wheeler, son of Obadiah Wheeler
(2), was born at Concord, Massachusetts, March
7, 1690-91, died February 29, 1780, in Lancaster,
Massachusetts. He married, March 2, 1726-7 (first)
Abigail Butterfield. daughter of Jonathan and Ruth
(Wright) Butterfield, of -Menotomy (Arlington).
She was born May 11, 1702, died October 2, 1764.
Jonathan Butterfield was son of Benjamin Butter
field, who was in Woburn as early as 1638. He
was also in Charlestown, where he was admitted
a freeman May 10. 1643. He removed from Wo
burn to Chelmsford. He died March 2, 1688. His
will dated May 8, 1677, proved at Boston, June 7,
1688. mentions wife and children. He married Han
nah Whittemore for his second wife. The wife of
Jonathan Butterfield (II) was Ruth Wright, who
is descended from Deacon John Wright, one of the
first settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts, and she
died 1754.

Joseph Wheeler settled on the old homestead in
Concord until he followed several of his brothers to
Lancaster, and in 1742 purchased a farm of sixty
acres on Chestnut Hill about two miles south of
the present town of Lancaster. He sold this farm
in 1753 and next year bought another at a place
now known as Pratt's Crossing in Lancaster. A
mill pond and grist mill were included in the pur
chase and the mill dam and the farm house are
still standing or were recently. He bought other
parcels of land. His last residence was on George
Hill in Lancaster, where he died in 1780. His wife
Abigail died in 1764. Two years later he married
Sarah Allen, daughter of Ebenezer Allen, of Lan
caster. He was eighty-eight when he made his will
and ninety when he died. His son Joseph was his
executor. The children of Joseph and Abigail Wheeler
were: Phebe, born January 11, 1727-8, married,
March 3, 1746, Jotham Wilder, of Lancaster, born
in 1710, had six children; Wilder was a descendant
of Thomas Wilder, of Shiplake, Berkshire, Eng
land; Reuben, December 3, 1729, died July 29, 1763,
of small pox while in the military service of George
III in Ireland, was unmarried ; Rachel, September
x5> 1731, died May 15, 1790, in Lancaster, unmar
ried; Joseph, March 13, 1735; Abigail, March 13,
1737- died October 25, 1817; married (first), July
23> 17581 Louis Conqueret, mariner, had one child
Mary; married (second) Joseph Rogers, of Lan
caster. (IV) Joseph Wheeler, son of Joseph Wheeler
(3), was born March 13, 1735, died February 10,
1793, in Worcester. He married (first), January 8,
1761, Mary Greenleaf, daughter of Dr. Daniel and
Silence (Nichols) (Marsh) Greenleaf, of Bolton.
Dr. Daniel Greenleaf was born in Cambridge, No
vember 2, 1702, and died 1795. He was a descendant
of Edmund Greenleaf, born in the parish of Brix-
ham, Devonshire, near Torbay, England, about 1600,
came to America in 1635 with his family and settled
in Newbury, Massachusetts. He was a dyer by
trade, was admitted a freeman March 13, 1638-9,
kept a tavern 1639, magistrate-commissioner to end
small causes in 1642, captain of the militia company.
His will was made December 22, 1668, and proved
April 12. 1671. Silence Nichols was born in Hing
ham, July 4, 1702, died in Bolton, May 13, 1761, .
She was the daughter of Israel and Mary (Sumner)
Nichols and widow of David Marsh. Mary Sumner
was a descendant in the third generation from
William Sumner; Senator Charles Sumner was
descended in the same line, the seventh generation.
Joseph Wheeler was under the care of his grand
mother after he was three years of age. He went to
school at the age of fifteen to prepare for college
and entered Harvard at the age of eighteen. He ,
graduatd in the class of 1757 and studied divinity
with Rev. Mr. Woodward, of Weston. He taught
school in the town of Weston. _ In 1759 he was ap
probated to preach and "ordained to the pastoral
care qf the Church of Christ in Harvard" Decem
ber 12, 1759. Two years later he married Mary
Greenleaf. Her father Dr. Daniel and her grand
father Dr. Daniel were both physicians. The latter
became a minister of the Gospel. Dr. Daniel Green
leaf, Jr., was at first at Hingham, where he married
and afterward removed to Bolton, Massachusetts.
in which town he practiced, living to the age of
ninety-three years. His second wife was Dolly,
widow of Josiah Richardson. His children num
bered ten, of whom Mary was the ninth. She was
eighteen and a half years old when she married and
had ten children when she died at the age of forty-

1=52

WORCESTER COUNTY

one. Dr. Greenleafs grandfather was Captain
Stephen, distinguished in the Indian wars, deputy
to general court, a prominent citizen.
Rev. Joseph Wheeler erected a house in Harvard
soon after his settlement there. This house is well
preserved and is now (or was recently 1 occupied by
William H. Savage. He left the ministry July 28,
1768, but continued to reside in Harvard and was
prominent in all the affairs of the town. He was an
ardent patriot and was elected to various positions
of trust and honor. He was a member of the local
committee of safety and correspondence and attended
the convention of committees at Worcester, August
9, 1774. He was a member of the provincial con
gress held at Salem, October 7, 1774. and at Water-
town, July 19, 1775. In these assemblies he served
at the head of important committees. He represented
Harvard in the session of the general court held
at Watertown, July 10, 1775. At the Lexington
alarm he marched as a private in Captain Joseph
Fairbanks' company, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regi
ment. He spent several weeks at Washington's
headquarters and tradition says that he was chap
lain to Washington. Another tradition is that he
assisted in laying out the fortifications at Bunker
Hill. There is no proof of this except a cane and
cannon ball treasured in the family as mementoes.
The cannon ball was fired at a group of men on the
slope of the hill from a British man of war in the
harbor. It cut a sucker from the appletree under
which the group was standing and it lodged in the
earth near by. Mr. Wheeler secured both ball and
stick from which he made a cane.
Mr. Wheeler was appointed register of probate
for Worcester county in 1775, but continued to re
side at Harvard until 1781, when he purchased an
acres and a half of land on Main street, Worcester,
nearly opposite the present site of the court house,
and erected there a house which report says that
he brought from Harvard. Not long afterward he
built the house long known as the Wheeler mansion.
This estate remained in the family a hundred years.
He held various offices in Worcester and continued
in the office of register until his death in 1793.
His wife died in 1783 and the following year he
married Mrs. Margaret Jennison, widow of Cap
tain Israel Jennison, of Worcester. She was the
thirteenth child of Antoine and Man- Sigourne,
French Huguenots, and her maiden name was Mar-
guerita Olivier. She was born at Annapolis, Nova
Scotia, and was married in 1746 to Joseph Coolidge.
a distinguished merchant of Boston, by whom she
had seven children, one of whom, Margaret, became
the wife of Jacob Sweetser, of Lancaster. Mr.
Coolidge died in 1771, and she married in 1775
Captain Israel Jennison. She survived her third
husband, died at the age of ninety and was buried
in the tomb of her son, Joseph Coolidge, in King's
Chapel burying ground, Boston.
The estate of Rev. Joseph Wheeler in Worcester,
on which he resided, contiguous to those of Joseph
Lynde and Judge Edward Bangs, extended, east
ward several hundred feet equally with the others.
These grounds were well cultivated and stocked
with choice fruits and flowering shrubs. This
unique garden is described by a relative as follows:
'Tn the rear of these mansions were extensive gard
ens of equal size; across the lower part flowed a
purling stream and rare fruits and choice flowers,
fountains and tlie more common embellishments
were the result of the industry, taste and skill of
the younger branches of the families. Near the
centre of each garden was an arbor covered with
vines and furnished with seats and also a closet, a
deposit for such books and luxuries as might by

chance find their way there. Or. as another descrip
tion has it "liberally stocked with all the edibles and
delicacies that a company of merry young people
would enjoy on a moonlight evening. They entertained
each other with music and similar enjoyments that
made the occasions life-long memories of vanished
joys."' The children of Rev. Joseph and Mary (Green
leaf) Wheeler were: 1. Elizabeth, born December
31. 1761. died July 18, 17S2. unmarried. 2. Man-.
born April 7, 1863. died at Kingston, Jamaica, of
yellow fever, May 4 1799; married, March 24.
1790, Ezra Waldo Weld, son of Rev. Ezra and Anna
(Weld) Weld, of Braintree. 3. Theophilus, born
December 22, 1764, died at Worcester, August 14.
1S40; married Elizabeth Lynde, daughter of Joseph
and Mary (Lemmon) Lynde, of Worcester, who
came to Worcester from Charlestown after it was
destroyed by the Britisn. Theophilus Wheeler was
register of probate at Worcester forty-three years,
town clerk five years, treasurer two years, overseer
of schools, overseer of house of correction, director
of the Worcester Bank eighteen years, sened as
soldier against the Sahy insurgents. 4. Joseph, born
August 27. 1766, died at Dixfield, Maine, January
21, 1S52; married, January 13. 1793, Lucy Sumner,
daughter of Rev. Joseph and Lucy (Williams)
Sumner, of Shrewsbury. Rev. Joseph Sumner was
a descendant of George Sumner, born in England,
February 14, 1634, later settled at Milton, Massachu
setts. 5. Daniel Greenleaf, born March 14, 1768,
died December 10, 1847; married, September 23,
1799, Elizabeth Dupee Sweetser, daughter of Jacob
and Margaret (Coolidge) " Sweetser, of Lancaster;
she died December 15, 1800. He married (second),
November 14. 1802, Elizabeth Grosvenor, daughter
of Rev. Ebenezer and Elizabeth Grosvenor; she
died. August 18, 1803. He married (third), 1805,
Nancy Qapp, daughter of William and Priscilla
tOtis) Clapp, of Scituate. 6. John, born May 17.
1770, died at Dover, New Hampshire, April 3. 1840;
married (first), March 12. 1793, Rebecca Harris.
daughter of Captain William and Rebecca (Mason)
Harris, and sister of Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris.
of Dorchester; she was of Maiden, born April 17.
1770, died January 28, 1804. John was an apothecary.
postmaster twenty-six years, representative to the
general court, associate justice court of common
pleas, founder of the Cocheco Manufacturing Co.,
first president of the Strafford Bank. 7. Moses,
born April 4, 1772, died at Boston, March 27, 1838;
married (first), November 8, 1807, Elizabeth Porter.
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lamb) Porter, of
Maiden. 8. Clarissa, born February 1, 1774, died at
Medford. May 26. 1844. unmarried. 9. Abigail, born
February 29, 1776, died at Andover, Massa
chusetts, February 21, 1846; married, Octo
ber, 1799, Rev. Leonard Woods, son of
Samuel and Abigail Whitney (Underwood)
Woods. He was born at Princeton. June 19. 1774-
died at Andover, August 24. 1854. He married
(second) Lucia J., widow of Dr. Ansel G. Ives, of
New York (H. C. 1796) : professor in Andover
Theological Seminary thirty-eight years. 10. Levi,
born October 22, 1779, died at Worcester, March
8. 17S1. 11. Sophia, born at Worcester, January 20,
17S2. died at Danvers, October 8, 1831; married,
May 17, 1807, Rev. Samuel Walker, of Danvers,
born at Haverhill, January 27. 1779. died at Danvers,
July 7. 1826 (D. C. 1802 ). pastor of Danvers Church
from 1805 till his death.
(V) Joseph 'Ulieeler, son of Joseph Wheeler
(4), was born in Harvard, Massachusetts, August
27. 1766, died at Dixfield, Maine. January 21. 1852.
He married, January 13. 1793, Lucy Sumner, daugh-

WORCESTER COUNTY

153

ter of Rev. Joseph and Lucy (Williams) Sumner,
of Shrewsbury. She was born December 24, 1771,
died April 10, 1863.
Rev. Joseph Sumner was a descendant of William
Sumner, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who was
born at Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, and bap
tized January 27, 1604-5, son of Roger and -Joan
(Franklin) Sumn,er. He married Mary West, Octo
ber 22, 1625, was admitted freeman May 17, 1637,
was deputy to the general court, town officer, commis
sioner to try small causes. His son George, through
whom descent is traced, was born in England, Feb
ruary 14, 1634, settled at . Milton, Massachusetts.
Rev. Joseph was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth
(Griffin) Sumner.
The children of Joseph and Lucy (Sumner)
Wheeler were. Lucy Williams, born at Worcester,
September 14-, 1793, died 1881, at Rumford, Maine;
married David Kimball, had twelve children;
Dorothy Sumner, born in Worcester, September 5,
I79S. died in Worcester, 1865; married (first) Ben
jamin Doyen, (second) Elisha Hayden; Sarah Dan-
ielson, born at Princeton, June 19, 1798, died in
Dixfield, Maine, April 12, 1843, unmarried ; Eunice
Russell, born at Princeton, February 17, 1801, died
in Dixfield, Maine, 1886; married Daniel Sumner
Libby, born January 17, 1837; Joseph Sumner, born
at Dixfield, Maine, May 9, 1803, died 1870; married
Phebe Cole Gleason, had nine children; Erastus
Williams, born at Dixfield, Maine, June 17, 1805,
died in Worcester, January 17, 1893; married, Octo
ber 5, 1842, Sarah Pollard, daughter of Stephen and
Betsey (Hastings) Pollard, of Berlin; Elizabeth
Sumner, born at Dixfield, Maine, February 22, 1809,
died at Worcester, July 12, 1879; married, January
29, 1850, Edwin Conant, of Worcester, son of Jacob
Conant, of Sterling. His first wife was Maria E.
Estabrook, daughter of Joseph Estabrook, of Royal-
ton, married 1832.
(VI) Erastus Williams Wheeler, son of Joseph
Wheeler (5), was born at Dixfield, Maine, June
17, 1805, died in Worcester, January 17, 1893; mar-
Tied, October 5, 1842, Sarah Pollard, daughter of
Stephen and Betsey (Hastings) Pollard, of Berlin.
Their children were : Joseph Pollard, born July 28,
1843 ; Henry Theophilus, June 25, 184S, died in Flor
ence, Alabama, October 16, 1864, in a Rebel prison;
Edwin Wallace, November 13, 1848, married, April,
1872, Clara A. Black, daughter of Edward B. and
Matilda A. (Freeman) Black, of Salem, Nova
Scotia ; William Jennison, September 13, 1851,
married, February 14, 1877, Ida Stratton, daughter
of Samuel and Isabelle (Brimhall) Stratton, has one
child, Lotta Belle, born January 1, 1883.
(VII) Edwin Wallace Wheeler, son of Erastus
William Wheeler (6), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, November 13, 1848. He is a farmer in Wor
cester, a member of the Worcester Grange, Patrons
Husbandry. He inherited his father's farm on Forest
street. He married, April 4, 1872, Clara A. Black,
daughter of Edward B. and Matilda A. (Freeman)
Black, of Salem, Nova Scotia. Their children are:
Edward William, born May 1, 1873; Henry Clif
ford, April 19, 1875; Sarah Matilda, May 9, 1877,
died January 22, 1892; Alice Abbie, June 10,
1888; Wallace Sumner, April- 30, 1893.
(VIII) Edward William Wheeler, son of Ed
win Wallace Wheeler (7), was born May 1, 1873.
He was educated in the Worcester public schools
and at Highland Military Academy at Worcester.
His father expected him to assist on the farm but
Tie thoroughly disliked farming and left home. He
went to work for Fuller & Delano, architects, in
Worcester, and found the business to his tastes.
He studied architecture and remained with Fuller

& Delano for five years. He was with the Webb
Granite and Construction Company for six months.
He went into business with Albert E. Scoville in
the contracting and building business. The firm
name is Scoville & Wheeler. They have offices in
the Knowles building, 518 Main street. They have
had a large variety of contracts and have been suc
cessful. It is one of the most promising firm of
builders in Worcester.
Some of the work of the firm is as follows : The
Howe Memorial Library in Shrewsbury; the
women's and men's wards and the adminis
tration building in the State Colony for the
Insane at Gardner, Massachusetts; two mod
ern school houses at Gardner; the postoffice
building at Gardner, owned by the Hey
wood estate; buildings and additions to the plant
of Heywood Biros. & Wakefield Co. at Gardner,
Massachusetts; residence of John S. Gould, Germain
street, Worcester; residences in Worcester for Fred
A. Mann, Lenox street, for Samuel D. Spurr, Dean
street, Mrs. W. J. Wheeler, nee Stratton, Forest
street, for her daughter, Mrs. Lotta Tracey; resi
dences of L. E. Carlton, president of the Heywood
Bros. & Wakefield Co., at Gardner, costing twenty
thousand dollars; residence for E. L. Thompson, the
chair manufacturer of Baldwinville; and a number
of handsome residences and stables in Westboro
and Gardner.
Captain Wheeler is best known perhaps for his
excellent record in the militia. But for his energy
and persistent work to maintain the standard of
efficiency at a critical time, this organization in which
the citizens of Worcester take great pride and which
has maintained a long and honorable record, would
have been disbanded. He enlisted January 21, 1891,
and has been in the militia ever since. He was made
a corporal September 9, 1892, and was promoted to
sergeant January 18, 1894, having charge of one of
the gatling guns then in the possession of Battery
B, to which he belonged. When the guns were
transferred to another branch of the service he be
came a guidon corporal. He was again appointed
sergeant June 1, 1895, and first sergeant June 4,
1902. , His promotion to second lieutenant came
March 18, 1903. Just a year later, May 19, 1904, he
received his commission as captain of the battery in
which he had been for thirteen years of continuous
service. The title of his command in full is Battery
B, First Battalion, Light Artillery, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia. The celebration of the thirty-
fifth anniversary of the battery was observed Octo
ber 18, 1904. There was a parade, a banquet in the
drill shed and a drill at the Fair Grounds. The
speeches of Congressman Thayer, Mayor Blodgett,
Representative Mark N. Skerrett, General Robert
H. Chamberlain, Captain E. G. Barrett, Rev. Dr.
Willard Scott, President W. H. Brody and General
F. W. Wellington showed the esteem in which the
organization is held and the credit due the com
manding officer while lieutenant in maintaining the
efficiency of the battery. The inspection of the bat
tery April 12, 1905, was a source of satisfaction to
the officers and men, who were complimented on
their work.
Captain Wheeler is a prominent Free Mason,
being a member of Athelstan Lodge, . Eureka Royal
Arch Chapter and the Worcester County Command
ery, Knights Templar. He is equally active in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member
of Quinsigamond Lodge, and Mt. Vernon Encamp
ment, also of the Patriarchs Militant, Grand Canton,
of Worcester. He is assistant adjutant general with
the rank of major on the staff of Brigade Com
mander Daniel Harrington. He is a member of the

154

WORCESTER COUNTY

Commonwealth Club, the Tatassit Canoe Club, Wor
cester County Mechanics' Association, Worcester
County Agricultural Society, Worcester Grange,
Patrons of Husbandry.
BLACK FAMILY. William Black (i) was the
emigrant ancestor of the mother of Edward W.
Wheeler, of Worcester. William Black was born
in Paisley, Scotland, in 1727. Hip father was a
public officer and possessed an independent fortune.
His leisure was largely employed in the chase and
he kept a good pack of hounds, and until William,
his son, was of age, he made hunting his chief
amusement. His first occupation was in the posi
tion of traveling salesman for a large manufacturing
establishment. In one of his business trips he met
an English lady in Huddersfield, England, whom he
subsequently married. Her name was Elizabeth
Stocks. He engaged in the business of linen and
woolen drapery.
By the chance misspelling of the name Stokes
for Stocks in the will of her brother, Thomas Stocks,
a fortune of twenty thousand pounds intended for
her went to a maiden lady named Elizabeth Stokes,
a relative of Mrs. Black. Mrs. Black received only
fifteen hundred pounds from the estate. Mrs.
Black was a woman of fashion in her day, and
when she came to Nova Scotia with her husband
she brought her scarlet riding habit and the cap
she used to wear in the. hunts ; also dresses of em
broidered white satin and other rich garments for
which she found little use in the life of a pioneer.
William Black was attracted by the movement to
settle Nova Scotia after the expulsion of the French
from Arcadia. There were rich agricultural dis
tricts untenanted since 1755. In 1758 Governor Law
rence, of Nova Scotia, had given invitations to the
inhabitants of New England to settle these lands.
Liberal terms were given and freedom of conscience
and worship .was guaranteed by a proclamation.
Various religious sects were persecuted by the Puri
tans in Massachusetts and there were vexatious re
strictions in religious worship in New York, Vir
ginia and other colonies. A small Baptist church
emigrated en masse from Massachusetts to Sack-
ville, then Nova Scotia, now New Brunswick, in
1763. Michael Franklin, then lieutenant governor of
Nova Scotia, engaged several families to emigrate
from Yorkshire, England, to Nova Scotia, in 1772
and others in 1773 and 1774. }/Lr. Black went to
Halifax in 1774 to see the country. He concluded
to try the new country and purchased an estate at
Amherst, a part of which is occupied or was recently
occupied by his descendants. He returned to his
home in England in the fall and in the following
April chartered a vessel in which he brought his
wife, four sons and a daughter. A nurse girl who
came with the family later married a son of one of
the settlers. Mrs. Black was injured while embark
ing at Hull and this accident probably hastened her
death a year later. -When Mr. Black made his home
in America Halifax had been settled about twenty-
five years and had a population of three thousand.
There were twelve thousand souls in the whole
province at that time. Most of these settlers were
Methodists and William Black, his wife, four sons
and daughter joined that church in 1779. One son,
William Black, became a Methodist preacher, an
other, John Black, a local preacher in the Methodist
church. Thomas S. Black, another. son, joined the
Baptist church later. Mr. Black was justice of the
peace for Cumberland and in 1779 was appointed
judge of the common pleas. He was one of three
trustees of the court house grounds for the county.
Many of the New England settlers in Nova

Scotia were in sympathy with the revolution in
the other colonies in 1775, and in 1776, by the in
fluence of disaffected persoijs in the county and
vicinity, the garrison at Fort Cumberland' was be
sieged by a force from Machias. They disarmed
those who were loyal to the British government and
forbade them to stir off their farms under penalty
of imprisonment or death. The British forces-
finally appeared in such large numbers that Nova
Scotia revolutionists were subdued.
The names of the children of William and Eliza
beth (Stocks) Black who came from England with
their parents were : John, William, Richard, Thomas
Stocks and Sarah. He married soon after his wife's-
death Elizabeth Abber, by whom he had seven chil
dren. After his second marriage he purchased a
large estate in Dorchester, New Brunswick, where
he spent the latter part of his life with his son
Joseph. He died in 1820 at the advanced age of
ninety-three years. His wife died some years before.
At the age of eighty-eight he was strong and active-
and rode thirty miles on horseback to pay a visit
to his son's in Amherst. Some of his descendants
are or recently were living on the old place at
Dorchester. The children of William Black (I) were: 1. John,
married Barbara Donkin, and settled at River
Philip; was a Methodist local preacher, justice of
the peace,, had six sons and five daughters. 2. Will
iam, born in # Huddersfield, England, in 1760, and
removed with his father's family to Cumberland in
!775> became a Methodist preacher and converted*.
many to that faith in his itinerant preaching ; he was
called Bishop Black and the Father of Methodism
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as he was the
pioneer itinerant of Methodism in the three lower
provinces, where Methodism has been very strong
in later years. He preached for seven years and
a half before he was ordained. In 1789 among the
first to be ordained in America he was ordained at
a conference in ' Philadelphia, and was soon after
ward appointed to succeed Dr. Coke as superin
tendent of the Methodist organization in Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Rev.
William Black married Mary Gay, daughter of
Martin Gay, of Westmoreland, and had five children.
His wife died in 1827, aged seventy-three. He mar
ried (second), in 1828, Mrs. Calkins, widow of
Elisha Calkins, of Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He died
1834, aged seventy-four years. 3. Richard, born in
England, 1762, was thirteen when he arrived with
the family at Amherst, Cumberland. 4. Thomas
Stocks, born in England, came to America with his
father, married Mary Freeze, whose father also
came from England; settled at Amherst on a farm
of five hundred and forty acres which has since
been owned by him and his descendants and greatly
improved. In 1806 he left the Methodist church to
join the Baptist and was later elected deacon, an
office he held until his death in 1850, aged eighty-
four years ; his wife died 1842, aged sixty-six years ;
had seven sons and five daughters. 5.. Sarah, born
in England, married John Chapman, who also came
from England with his father, settled at Dorchester
on what is now very valuable farm land, was justice
of the peace at Dorchester; had six children. 6.
Elizabeth, married Joshua Freeman, who* settled on
a farm in the centre of Amherst; about 1816 he sold
the farm and removed to Hamilton, now Ontario,
taking his large family with him; they had twelve
children. 7. Mary, born in Nova Scotia, married
John Weldon. whose father was one of the first
emigrants from England to Dorchester, removing
thence from Hillsboro, New Brunswick; was a
farmer had five children. 8. Nancy, born in Nova

WORCESTER COUNTY

'3D

Scotia, married Cyprian Killam, of Nova Scotia,
whose parents came from England, settled in Dor
chester on a farm; had seven sons and four daugh
ters. 9. Jane, married John Fawcett, of Sackville,
New Brunswick, where they settled and engaged in
farming; had five children. 10. James, married
Elizabeth Etter, of Halifax, settled on a portion of
the farm of his father at Dorchester; had nine
children. 11. Joseph A., inherited a portion
of his father's farm just above the bend in
the Memramcook river and overlooking fhe
river to its mouth; married Margaret Ryan,
had eight children. 12. George Mason, set
tled on part of .his father's estate at Dorchester,
where he followed his trade of cabinet and carriage
maker; married (first) Emily Freeman, daughter
of Samuel Freeman, of Amherst; married (second)
Sarah Smith, daughter of Gideon Smith, of Mem
ramcook; had five children by the first wife and
fourteen by the second.
(II) Richard Black, son of William Black (1),
was born in England in 1762 and was thirteen years
of age when he arrived with his father at Am
herst, Cumberland. He first settled at River Philip,
where he bought five hundred acres of land from
Roger Robinson and remained for several years,
moving later to Amherst to settle on the farm that
his father bought on his first visit to Cumberland
in 1774. Here he lived the remainder of his life.
His youngest son inherited the homestead and his
grandsons also owned it. The family still owns
the farm or did recently. About 1804 Richard
Black, his brother, and Thomas S. and Samuel
Hoisted bought a large tract of land at Amherst.
Richard was an earnest Methodist and late in life,
when his hearing failed, sat in the pulpit with the
preacher in order to hear. He married Sally Chap
man, who also came from Yorkshire in England.
They had eleven children besides two who died
young and all were particularly strong and well
built. The smallest of the seven boys was when
grown six feet tall and weighed one hundred and
eighty-five pounds. Richard Black died in 1834,
aged seventy-two years. His first wife died in
1820, aged fifty-three years. He married (second)
Elizabeth Smith, of Parrsboro, and she died in
1861, aged eighty-four years.
The children of Richard Black were: 1. Will
iam, married Mary Bent, daughter of John Bent,
of Amherst; settled on a farm in what is now
called Salem, then called Sugarwood Hill, had six
children; he died 1829, aged forty-six years. 2.
Thomas, settled on a new farm in Salem and by
persevering industry turned the woodland into fruit
ful fields and left a valuable property to his sons,
died in 1838, aged fifty-three years; married Phebe
Purdy, of Westchester, then called Cobequid Moun
tains; his widow married (second) Daniel Mac-
Nutt. Thomas had twelve children. 3. Maria, mar
ried Thomas Gray, who came from England and
taught school in the provinces for several years;
had five children. 4. Richard, Jr., married Arathusa
Oxley, daughter of George Oxley, of Wallace, set
tled near River Philip on a farm that his brother
Joseph left when he went to Prince Edward Island,
and he improved it until it became a valuable prop
erty ; he died 1873, aged seventy-five years ; she
died 1871, aged seventy-three years; had nine chil
dren. 5. Joseph, the third son, married Sarah Can-
field, of Wallace, lived several years near River
Philip and moved thence to Prince Edward Island
where for many years he was high sheriff of Prince
county; had nine children. 6. Sarah, the second
daughter, married Joshua Heustis, of Wallace,
where they settled; he was justice of the peace and

for several years was custos of the county and post
master at Wallace; had six children. 7. Asher, the
fifth son, owned and resided on part of his father's
farm, a portion of which his grandfather bought
before removing his family to this country; was
justice of the peace, a very ingenious and useful
citizen. Married Eleanor Archibald, of Truro,
daughter of James Archibald, Esq., and had eight
children; he died in 1863, aged sixty-three; his
wife died in 1876, aged seventy-three years. 8. John
Chapman, sixth son, married Tabitha Pugsley, of
Maccan, settled in Amherst and cleared a farm
where he lived until 1861, when his wife died aged
fifty-six and his son-in-law took the farm; he had
three children. 9. Ann, married Charles Carter, of
Onslow, who settled at Amherst and was a car
penter; he had three children; he died 1831, aged
thirty-four years ; his widow married (second)
James Mageney, and she had six children by the
second marriage; she died in 1880, aged seventy-
five years. 10. George, youngest son, married Jane
Coates, of Amherst, who owned and lived upon part
of the old homestead — a portion of which his grand
father owned and occupied first after he came to
America; had nine children. 11. Mary G., married
Elisha Gourley, a native of Colchester county, but
lived for some years at Amherst, where after his
marriage he built a house lately occupied by Peter
Etter and lived in it several years ; he removed
later to his native county, and settled at Truro;
they had six children and many descendants.
(Ill) William Black, -son of Richard Black (2),
was born in Amherst, 1783, died 1829. He married
Mary Bent, daughter of John Bent, of Amherst.They
settled upon a farm in what is now called Salem, then
called Sugarwood Hill from the rock maples with
which it was originally covered. They had one
daughter and five sons. Their children were : 1.
Maria, married William Sharp, son of Matthew
Sharp, of Maccan, settled in ¦ Amherst and have
three daughters ; he died 1848, aged thirty-seven
years. Their children are : Mary Jane Sharp, mar
ried Robert C. Sharp, of Amherst, where they lived
and had four children ; Selina Sharp, married
Joseph Cove, and resided in Amherst until 1881,
when they removed to Boston ; had eight children ;
Emma Sharp, youngest daughter, married William
Cove, a physician who lived and practiced at Spring
Hill, had several children, only two of whom grew
up. 2. Edward of whom later. 3. Luther, married
Jane Gibson, of Shinimicas, Cumberland, where they
purchased a farm and lived ; had seven children.
4. Ezra, married Mary Ann Carter, daughter of
James Carter, of Amherst, owned and occupied
half of his father's homestead in Salem; had five
children. 5. Daniel, married Jane Embree, of
Salem; lived at Leicester, Cumberland,, and had five
children, four of whom died young of diphtheria.
6. Rufus, the youngest son, when a young man went
to Canaan, Queens county, New Brunswick, where
he married Jane Price; they had seven children.
(IV) Edward Black, son of William Black (3),
was born in Salem,. Nova Scotia, married
Matilda Freeman, daughter of William Freeman, of
Amherst. They owned and lived on half
of his father's homestead at Salem. They had five
sons and six daughters. Their children were: Sarah,
married Hazen Goodwin, lived at Point de Bute,
New Brunswick, and had one child who died young ;
Clifford, died in 1869, aged twenty-four years;
Bessie, married Joseph Black, of Amherst; they
have three daughters, Clara Maud, Jane and Sarah ;
another died young; they live on a portion of the
first farm of William Black, bought in 1774; Clara
A., of whom later; Alice, married Arthur Walker,

i56

WORCESTER COUNTY

resides at Cambridge, Vermont; J. Avard, Margaret,
Fred, Wajter, Amelia, Cyrus.
(V) Clara A. Black, daughter of Edward Black
(4), was born at Salem, Nova Scotia, October 12,
1850; married Edwin W. Wheeler, of Worcester,
April 4, 1872. (See Wheeler family sketch under
Captain Edward W. Wheeler.)
THE FREEMAN FAMILY. William Freeman
(1), who came from England about 1765 and settled
in Nova Scotia, was an emigrant ancestor of Cap
tain ^E. W. Wheeler, of Worcester. His posterity
is very numerous throughout the Dominion and
particularly at the head of the Bay of Fundy. He
was probably in Nova Scotia before the main body
of 'English or those families allied with the Blacks
from Yorkshire. He married Jerusha Yeomans
about the time of their arrival in America. They
had five sons and nine daughters, of whom one son
died in infancy, and the others were : Sarah, Will
iam and Jerusha (twins), Samuel, Joshua, Eliza
beth, Dorothy, Martha, Philip, Hannah, Ann, Char
lotte, Rebecca. The daughter Sarah married 
Weatherhead, and had nineteen children.
(II) Wiiliam Freeman, son of William Free
man, ' married Desire Newcomb, of Horton. They
had one son and seven daughters. Mrs. Freeman
died in 1811. He married (second) Sarah Dimock,
sister of Rev. Joseph Dimock, and had three sons
and three daughters. The two youngest sons, Jo
seph and G. William Freeman, inherited the farm
and lived there. George William Freeman was an
inventor. Their children were : Rufus, a merchant,
died when a young man, built part of the Lamy
Hotel; Pamelia, Olivia, Mary, Charlotte, Eunice,
Margaret, Desire, Jane," Daniel, Joseph, Matilda,
George William, Elizabeth.
(Ill) Matilda Freeman, daughter of William
Freeman (2), married Edward Black (3), and they
were the parents of Mrs. Edwin W. Wheeler, of
Worcester, mother of Captain Edward W. Wheeler.
CHAPMAN FAMILY. William Chapman, an
early settler in Nova Scotia, was an ancestor of
Captain E. W. Wheeler, of Worcester, Massachu
setts. He came from England and settled at Point
de Bute. His children were : William, married a
daughter of Charles Dixon and settled at Ft. Law
rence; Thomas, settled at Ft. Lawrence; John, mar
ried Sarah Black; Henry, married  Seaman,
of Wallace ; Mary, married. George Taylor, of Mem-
ramcook, now Rockland; Sally, married Richard
Black, ancestor of Captain Wheeler through his
mother's family; Nancy, married (first) Thomas
Robinson, (second) James Roberts; Jane, married
John Smith, who came from England when a young
man and lived at Ft. Lawrence, had nine athletic
sons, and one daughter who married Israel Embree.
THOMAS HARLOW REED. William Reed
(1), of Woburn, was the emigrant ancestor of
Thomas Harlow Reed, of Worcester, Massachu
setts. He was born in England in 1587. He came
to New England at the age of forty-eight in the
ship "Defence" in July, 1635, bringing with him his
wife Mabel, aged thirty, and three children : George,
aged six, Ralph, aged five, and Justus, aged eighteen
months. He settled first in Boston where he was
admitted a freeman September 2, 1635. He lived
also at Dorchester and Scituate, Massachusetts. He
was a constable in the latter town in 1644. While
living there his wife rode on horseback to Dor
chester with an infant in her arms to have the child
baptized in the church to which Reed belonged. In
1648 they were living in Muddy River (Brookline),
Massachusets. He finally settled in Woburn, Massa
chusetts, in 1648, on land bought of Nicholas Davis

July 7, 1648. It is said that the cellar hole where
his house was located in Woburn can be discerned
in what has been called in late years the Baldwin
pasture on the road to Kendall's mills.
He married Mabel Kendall in England. They
returned to England after their children were grown
up and he died there at Newcastle on Tyne, in
1656, aged sixty-nine years. ' His will was probated
in London, England, October 31, 1656, and letters of
administration were granted by the Protector, Oliver
Cromwell, himself, to the widow. She returned to
New England and married (second) November 21,
1660, Harry Summers, Sr., of Woburn. She died
at the home of her son, George Reed, June 5, 1690,
at the age of eighty-five.
The children of William Reed were: George,
see forward; Ralph, Justus, Michael, Israel, Abigail,
married Francis Wyman; Bethia, married, 1657;
Sarah, married Samuel Walker, Jr., 1662; Rebecca,
married Ensign Joseph Winn, 1664.
(II) George Reed, son of .William Reed (1),
was born in England in 1629. He was a child of six
years when he was brought to New England by his
parents. He settled after his marriage in Woburn,
Massachsetts, where the committee, November 9,
1653, laid out for him a six-acre home lot in place
of one previously granted to him. He was admitted
a freeman there in 1684. He married, October 4,
1652, Elizabeth Jennison, daughter of Robert Jenni
son, of Watertown. She died February 26, 1664-5.
He married (second), November 9, 1665, Hannah
Rockwell, of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He died
February 21, 1705-6, aged sixty-seven years.
The children of George and Elizabeth (Jennison)
Reed were born in Woburn, viz. : Elizabeth, born
July 29, 1653; twin sons, born and died November
14, 1654; Samuel, born April 29,-1656; Abigail, June
27, 1658; George, September 14, 1660; William, see
forward; Sarah, February 12, 1664-5. The children
of George and Hannah (Rockwell) Reed were:
Hannah, February 18, 1669-70; John, March 18,
1672; Mary, June 15, 1674; Timothy, October 20,
1678; Thomas, July 15, 1682.
(Ill) William Reed, seventh child of George
Reed (2), was born in Woburn, Massachusetts,
September 22, 1662. He married Abigail Kendall,
May 24, 1686, by whom was introduced a singular
characteristic of the Kendall family of Woburn, an
inherited tendency to an extra number of fingers
and toes. William Reed was a prominent man in
the town and colony. He was captain of the Lex
ington militia company, and is the progenitor of
the Lexington Reed family. Captain Reed was a
justice of the peace and magistrate there for many
years. He was a selectman and represented the
town repeatedly in the general court. , He was one
of the original members of the Lexington church.
The historian of Lexington goes out of his way to
remark of the descendants of Captain Reed that
"no family of early settlers has sustained its stand
ing through all the periods of town history better
than the Reed family." His homestead was in the
northwest part of the town, near Bedford street.
He acquired a large estate and was able to leave a
valuable farm to each of his sons. Some of this
land is still held in the family. At one time his
home was in the most populous part of the village.
He died May 12, 1718, aged fifty-six. His wife
died October 12, 1734. Their children, all born in
Lexington, Massachusetts, were: Abigail, born May
29, 1687; William, see forward; Mary, April 8,
1695; Benjamin, October 22, 1699; Joshua, June 20,
1702; Hepsibah, December 10, 1705.
(IV) William Reed, second child of William
Reed (3), was born July 18, 1693, at Lexington,

WORCESTER COUNTY

157

Massachusetts. He married, about 1719, Sarah
Poulter, daughter of John Poulter. Like his father
he became an active and efficient citizen of Lexing
ton. He was justice of the peace and magistrate
for many years and became widely known as Squire
Reed. He was prominent in the church as well as
the town. He was selectman eleven years and a rep
resentative to the general court for the extraordinary
period of seventeen years. He was popular as well
as influential. He was captain of the militia com
pany of the town and during the French war was in
the service with part of his company, in 1755. His
homestead was the house lately occupied by
Christopher Reed on Bedford street, Lexington. He
died there February 11, 1778, aged eighty-hve years.
His wife died November 25, 1769. Their children,
' all born in Lexington, were : William, born Jan
uary 1, 1720; Samuel, see forward; Sarah, June 3,
1725; Mary, March 10, 1728; Oliver, March 25,
1730; John, May 28, 1731; Hammon, April 28,
1734; Eliot, April 28, 1737; Hannah, October 21,
1740; Nathan, November 9, 1743.
(V) Samuel Reed, second child of William
Reed (4), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts,
May 4, 1722. He settled in Burlington, Massachu
setts, and became a prominent man there and was
for many years deacon of the church. He married
Eunice Stone, of Lexington. She was born July 2,
1724, and died April 25, . 1809. He died April 28,
1809. The children of Samuel and Eunice (Stone)
Reed were born in Burlington, Massachusetts, viz. :
Samuel, born August 6, 1744, died February 23,
1798; Micah, see forward; Moses, born May 31,
1749, married, April 23, 1770, Sarah Whittemore,
of Lexington, where he settled and became promi
nent; Frances, May 3, J751 ; Eunice, November 17,
1753. died February 19, 1754; Abigail, born August
13. 1757, died April 16, 1795; Lucy, October 12,
1759, died November 21, 1801 ; Sarah, December
31, 1762; Mary, August n, 1767.
(VI) Micah Reed, second child of Samuel
Reed (5), was born in Burlington, Massachusetts,
September 28, 1746. About 1780 he removed to
Hardwick, Massachusetts, and later to New Brain
tree. He married Elizabeth Paige, daughter of John
Paige, of Bedford, Massachusetts. She was born
August 2, 1748, and died March 21, 1838, aged ninety
years. He died March 1, 1804, at New Braihtree,
Massachusetts. He was in the third Woburn com
pany in the revolution under Captain Timothy Winn
in 1775, and Captain Eleazer Brooks in 1777,- His
death was caused by a fall from a scaffolding on
which he was working. The children of Micah and
Elizabeth (Paige) Reed, born in Hardwick and
New Braintree, were : Micah, see forward ; Eliza
beth, born January 2, 1777, died October 17, 1778;
Elizabeth, February 25, I779J Samuel, June 11,
1783; died at Burlington, Vermont, May 5, 1846;
Eunice, January 13, 1787, married James Barr, of
New Braintree, and (•second) Perley Granger.
(VII) Colonel Micah Reed, eldest son of Micah
Reed (6), was born October 17, 1773. in Burlington,
probably. He came to Hardwick when a young boy
with his parents. He spent most of his active life,
however, in the neighboring town of New Brain
tree, where he died August 3, 1825. His home
stead was in that part of New Braintree known as
Ditch Meadow, and he kept a tavern as well as a
farm. He was prominent in the military affairs of
the state for a long period, and was colonel of a
Worcester county regiment. He was a man of large
influence and high standing.
He married Deborah Thurston, daughter of Sam
uel Thurston, of Hardwick. She was born Septem
ber 23, 1778, and died June 30, 1828. He died

August 3, 1823. Their children, all born in New
Braintree, were : 1. Arminiley, born September 22,
1798, never married. 2. Rebecca Paige, July 6,' 1801,
died January 5, 1848. 3. Abel Wheeler, January 5,
1805, died 1874; married Elizabeth Scovil, of East
Haddam, Connecticut, and had a daughter Nellie,
deceased. 4. Micah Thurston, see torward. 5.
Samuel Gardner, May 21, 1809, died 1884; married
thrice; (first) Fannie Louise lilton, of West Boyls
ton, and had: Sarah Elizabeth, died young; Charles
Gardner, born April 22, 1835, died December 21,
1899; married (.first) Lucella P. Ware, of Wor
cester, and had two children : Charles Arthur, who
died young, and Frank Theodore; married (second)
Elizabeth P. Fielding, of Worcester, and had one
child, Karl Beagary Reed, unmarried; married
(third) Hannah W. Whitcomb; Henry Wheeler,
born March 11, 1843, married Annie l_indsay, of
Greensboro, North Carolina, and have four chil
dren: Fannie Louise, who married Herbert D. Bart
lett, of Worcester, and has one child, Herbert Davis
Bartlett, Jr., living in Seattle, Washington; Samuel
Gardner, Robert Lindsay,1 Elizabeth Begeary, of
Seattle; Mary Frances, born May 13, 1845, married
George Henry Taft, of Worcester, and has three
children : Arthur Reed Taft, born January 28, 1877,
died June 2, 1904; Maria Elizabeth Taft, born in
Paris, France, May 9, 1881;. Philip Newell Taft,
born October 19, 1884. Abbie Jane, born January
31, 1850, married William Northam Taft, of Worces
ter, and has two children: Elizabeth Northam Taft,
born December 15, 1882, died November 6, 1903;
Donald Reed Taft, born November 7, 1886. The
only child of Samuel Gardner Reed and his second
wife, Cleora Eager Harlow, of Shrewsbury, was :
Rev. George Harlow, of Concord, Massachusetts,
who married Virginia W. Dean, of Taunton, Massa
chusetts, and has one child, Margaret Dean. The
only child of Samuel Gardner and Eliza Bowman
(Currier) Reed (the third wife) was: Arthur Cur
rier, deceased. 6. Hammond, born August 7', 181 1.
7. Sumner, born March 29, 1813, married Jane Hen
shaw, of Charlton, Massachusetts. 8. Rebecca, born
December 2, 1815, married James B. Bardwell, of
New Braintree, Massachusetts, and has three chil
dren : Everett J. Bardwell, Frederick Bardwell, de
ceased; Alice R. Bardwell, deceased. 9. Dwight,
born August 25, 1817, married Susan Vaughn, of
East Brookfield, Massachusetts, and had two chil
dren: Susan Ella, married Dr. C. P. Lawton, of
Webster, Massachusetts, and has one child, lieuten
ant Dwight Lawton, of the United States army;
Mary Emma, unmarried.
(VIII) Micah Thurston Reed, fourth child of
Colonel Micah Reed (7), was born in New Brain
tree, Massachusetts, May 21, 1807. He received his
early education in the schools of his native town-
He worked with his father on the homestead until
he was about sixteen. Then he learned the trade
of mason and plasterer. He removed from his
father's home at New Braintree to North Brook
field about 1834 and followed his trade there. Dur
ing all the active years of his life until about 1875
he was in business connected with his trade of mason.
He was for a time interested with his son in a tin-
shop and stove store, which the son managed. He
retired from active business in 1875 and died at his
home in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, January
11, 1885. He was a devout member of the First
Congregational Church of North Brookfield, took a
great interest in all its affairs, and served the church
on several important building committees. He was
a stanch Republican, but never cared for public
office. He served in the militia in his younger days
and was active in his company at New Braintree

i58

WORCESTER COUNTY

for several years. He was in Captain John Bar
nard's company.
He married, September 16, 1834, Abigail Har
low, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She was a
daughter of Thomas and Thankful (Bannister)
Harlow, of Shrewsbury. He was a farmer and
deacon of the Congregational church there. Their
•only child was Thomas Harlow Reed, see forward.
(IX) Thomas Harlow Reed, only child of
Micah Thurston Reed (8), was born in North
Brookfield, Massachusetts, September 14, 1835. He
attended the public schools of his native town.
When seventeen years of age he and his father
purchased the stove store and tin shop of C. J.
Boyntota, of North Brookfield. Mr. Reed carried
on the business, his father being a silent partner,
but after ten years, in 1863, the store was burned.
He sold what was saved from the fire and came to
Worcester, where he bought the stove store of
Mordacai Carey on Main street, nearly opposite Elm
.street, where he carried on his business until the
building was torn down, when he removed to No. 2
Pleasant street, where he continued in business for
some ten years. Since then he has worked for S.
R. Leland & Co and for John W. Green, the
plumber, at Lincoln square, where he is at present
the bookkeeper. Mr. Reed is a member of Union
Congregational . Church, which he served three years
as. treasurer. In politics he is a Republican. He is
a member of Morning Star Lodge, A. F. and A. M.,
of Worcester. He married Mary Frances Whiting, June 11,
1862. She was the daughter of Louis and Fannie
(Parks) Whiting, of North Brookfield. Her father
was a shoemaker, employed in the Bacheller shop
in that town and later a farmer. He died August,
1881. The children of Thomas Harlow and Mary
Frances (Whiting) Reed' are : 1. Neliie Frances,
born October 21, 1865, married, July 16, 1896, Rev.
Henry Walker, of Boulder, Colorado, and has three
children : Helen Frances Walker, born May 27,
1897; Florence Hammersley Walker, born August
13, 1899; Margaret Walker, born November 6, 1902.
2. Florence Harlow Reed, born November 22, 1868,
living in Boulder, Colorado. 3. Lewis Thurston,
born September 5, 1870, pastor First Congregational
Church, Canandaigua, New York, married Isabelle
Dwight, October 25, 1899. 4. Fannie Whit
ing, born December 4, 1879, lives with parents ;
graduate of the high school, teacher in the public
schools of Amherst, Massachusetts. Mr. Reed lives
at No. 134 Elm street, Worcester.
GEORGE MASON FOSKETT, M. D., son of
Samuel Waters Foskett, was born October 26, 1856.
He attended the public' schools of Charlton and
Webster, and prepared for college at the Nichols
Academy in Dudley, and entered Amherst College,
from which he graduated with the degree of Bach
elor of Arts in 1878, and in 1881 he received from
the same institution the degree of Master of Arts.
After leaving college he taught school in Webster
from 1878 to 1880, and at the same time studied
medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. F. D.
Brown, of that town. He graduated from the
tnedicai department of the University of Vermont
in 1882, and shortly after located in North Dana,
where he practiced his profession for eight years.
After two years spent in post graduate studies in
New York hospitals he came to Worcester, where
he has since resided, having established a large and
lucrative practice. He maintains his office and resi
dence at No. 491 Pleasant street. He is a member
of the Worcester District Medical Society, the
Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Acad

emy of Medicine, and the American Medical Asso
ciation. He is a member of Trinity Methodist
Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican.
he has attained high rank in the Masonic order, and
affiliated with Athelstan Lodge, December 7, 1892.
He received the royal arch degree in Eureka Chap
ter, Royal Arch Masons, April, 1894; the cryptic
degrees in Hiram Council, Royal Scottish Masons,
May 24, 1894; was knighted in Worcester County
Commandery, Knights Templar, August 15, 1895,
and has taken the fourteenth, sixteenth and eigftt-
eenth degrees of Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite Masonry. He is a member of Alepo Temple,
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston. In Odd
Fellowship he is a member of Anchoria Lodge, No.
142; of Mount Vernon Encampment, No. 53, and
of Worcester Canton, No. 3. he is also a member *
of Regulus Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of the
Hancock Social Club, of Worcester.
Dr. Foskett married (first) at North Dana, June
5, 1B85, Harriet Ella Linsey, who was there born
August 28, 1851, daughter of Silas Foster and Maria
(Hale) Lmsey. She died November 28, 1898. Dr.
Epskett married (second), November 28, 1903, Miss
Carrie Gilmore, daughter of Henry E. and Sarah E.
Gilmore, of Worcester.
CYRUS G. WOOD. Among the men who have '
made their mark in the business life of Worcester
county we find the name of Cyrus Grout Wood. He
was born November 16, 1819, in the town of Ux
bridge, Massachusetts, where several generations
of his ancestry had spent their lives, leaving be
hind them the indelible impress of their industry,
frugality and uprightness. He was the son of
Reuben and Sally Grout Wood.
His father, who died in 1857, was an industrious
farmer, and young Cyrus passed his early life at
work upon the farm and in the mill, for Uxbridge
was not only an agricultural town but a manufactur
ing town as well. His. early education was ac
quired in attending the .schools of his native village.
On attaining his majority he took the little sum
of money that by patient toil and strict economy
he had saved, and after adding to it one hundred
dollars borrowed money, started in the sale of
boots, shoes and dry goods, following the style of
the usual country store, later adding a line of furni
ture, being the first person in the town to embark
in that branch of trade. His business grew under
his management and proved quite successful. Byt
still it did not fully satisfy his ambition, and with
Charles C. Capron as a partner, he began the making
of shoddy, and dealing in woolen waste, etc. After
a trial of three years Mr. Wood retired from the
firm, leasing a mill in the southern part of the
town, and continued in the same line of business.
As time went'. on and success attended his efforts,
he added other mills, even as far away as the state
of Rhode Island. In the year 1876 Mr. Wood pur
chased the mill at Quinapoxet, in the town of Hol
den, he having had an interest there for two or
more years previous to that date, the mill being
operated by Wood & Ward. This same year he also
purchased the Lovell Woolen Company's mill in
Holden, and for many years operated both mills,
combining them as one plant. About two hundred
hands were employed and over one hundred and
twenty-five thousand yards of satinet was manu
factured each month at this plant. In February,
1882, a postoffice was established at Quinapoxet, with
Cyrus Grout Wood as postmaster..
Thus from a small beginning we have followed
the career of the subject of this sketch onward and
upward. That he experienced trials and met with

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fxymmmmyyyy mmyyyymyyy. mmmm^0my

QUAKER MEETING HOUSE
Uxbri lKe Built 1770. It stands in the South part of the town, and cost of building
was f 206-8-1 . It was located ' ' near Moses Farnums' ' at the junction
of the roads from Millville and Ironstone, to Uxbridge Center.

WORCESTER COUNTY

159

-many obstacles that seemed to stand across his
pathway, there can be no doubt, but by strict fidelity
to business, genuine courage, perseverance and nat
ural ability, he overcame them all and at last found
.himself with a comfortable fortune. Although Mr.
Wood was never prominent in politics he was chosen
to represent his native town in the legislature in
1854. He was an all round citizen, thoughtful,
broadminded, public-spirited and more than an or
dinary reader. Naturally of a quiet disposition, not
a leader except in business, tliere he was at home,
and he put his mind and strength into it. He must
have approved machinery, and his personal atten
tion was given to every detail in running his plant.
Of the welfare of his employees he was ever thought
ful. From experience he knew that by fair and
honorable treatment he would gain sympathy and
co-operation. In all his dealings with them he ap
plied the principle of doing unto others as you
would be done by, and that war the spirit in which
he conducted all his business, and as a neighbor
and friend his greeting and friendship was of the
real old fashioned New England type, genuine in
¦every particular. Labor strikes at his mills were
unheard of.
In the spring of 1880 Mr. Wood changed his
residence from Uxbridge to Worcester, locating at
No. 21 Harvard street, in order to shorten the dis
tance between the home and his factory in Holden,
and also to gain the advantages of Worcester schools
for the younger members of his family. We have
•called attention to the fidelity with which Mr. Wood
applied himself to business that no branch of it
might suffer from neglect, yet he found much time
to devote to his family, the associations of which
he fully appreciated and of which he was very
fond. He also enjoyed the society of men of broad
and high aims. In religion he was a Unitarian, and
with his family attended the Churcli of the Unity,
where almost from their immediate arrival in Wor
cester they took a prominent part in helping forward
the work -of the parish. He was a charter member
¦of the Uxbridge Lodge of Odd Fellows, one of the
directors of the Citizens' National Bank of Worces
ter, and a member of the Board of Trade, also of the
Worcester Society of Antiquity, "being very much
interested in historical studies, especially the annals
of his native town, and when that society passed
their field-day at Uxbridge in 1894, no speaker
present was more entertaining than Mr. Wood as
he recited his early business experiences when a
young man in that town. He always deemed it a
special pleasure when privileged to visit the home
of his boyhood, and once he took his Quinapoxet
•employees to Uxbridge, where he entertained them
throughout the day, pointing out the scenes of his
early life and relating to them how step by step he
felt his way along amid trials and disappointments,
until at last by patient honest toil he had reached
the point of success.
Mr. Wood was twice married; first to Lucetta,
daughter of Joseph Day, of Uxbridge, who was a
manufacturer and much respected citizen of that
place. She died in 1854, and he married (second),
in 1858, Mary U. F, daughter of Jonathan F.
and Chloe (Holbrook) Southwick. The Southwicks
were Quakers, and among the first Quakers of
Salem, Massachusetts, and whom Whittier immortal
ized in his poem "Cassandra Southwick."
Mr. Southwick was a son of Royal and Phoebe
(Farnum) Southwick of Uxbridge, and in the sixth
generation from Lawrence and Cassandra South
wick, who came from Lancashire, England, and
settled in Salem. By occupation he was a tanner
and currier, a trade which he learned of his father.

Being a prosperous business man, he became a large
owner of real estate, including the Ironstone factory
property. The old mill having been consumed by
fire, he built a new one, and sold the property to
Messrs. Fairbanks ahd Messenger. He also owned
the mill below on the same stream, which he sold to
J. C. Keith & Co. He was a public-spirited citi
zen, giving special attention to educational matters,
in his native town, where he was recognized as one
of the substantial and representative men of the
place. He was much interested in temperance
movements. He married, November 14, 1822, Chloe
Holbrook, a most estimable person, a kind and af
fectionate mother to their six children, including
Mary Urania Farnum Southwick, born May 31,
1833. The children of Cyrus G. Wood and Mary
U. F. Southwick were : 1. John Franklin, married
Mary Leonard, resides at Quinapoxet. He and his
brother are continuing the -business left by their
father. Their children are: 1. Marion, born October
17, 1897. 2. Ernest Henry, a graduate of Harvard
University; married Adelaide Wyman, and resides
at No. 69 West street, Worcester. Their children are ;
Cyrus W, born January 31, 1900; Austen, born May
25> I9°3; Daniel, born September 7, 1904; a daugh
ter, born October 27, 1905. 3. Gertrude S. 4. Sarah
Louise. Mr. Wood died at his home in Worcester,
March 3, 1898.
The ancestry of this branch of the Wood family
we trace as follows :
(I) Thomas Wood, married Ann Hunt, of
Ipswich, April 7, 1654, settled in Rowley, Massachu
setts, where he died and was buried, September 12,
1667. She died December 29, 1714. Their children
were : Mary, John, Thomas, Ann, Ruth, Josiah,
Elizabeth, Samuel, Elithrop, Solomon, Ebenezer and
James. (II) Solomon, born May 17, 1669, married Mary
Haseltine, October 15, 1690. She died February 20,
1749. He died January 13, 1752. For a time their
home was in Bradford, Massachusetts, where many
if not all of their children were born, after whicli
they removed to that part of Mendon now Uxbridge.
Their children were : David, Dorcas, Joshua, Mary,
Solomon, James, Ezekiel, Obediah, Daniel and
Betsey. (See sketch Pliny W. Wood ancestry.)
(Ill) Obediah, born May 28, 1709, married
Esther Hayward, and settled in Uxbridge. Their
children were : 1. Warfield, born and died 1733-4-
2. Eliza, born August 4, 1735. 3. Obediah, May 9,
1737. 4. Sarah, August 18, 1739. 5. Esther, August
11, 1741. 6. Solomon, May 25, 1744. 7. David,
August 11, 1748. Both the youngest sons, Solomon
and David were soldiers in tlie revolutionary war.
(IV) David, born August 11, 1748, served in the
American army and was with Ethan Allen when he
demanded the surrender of Ticonderoga. He mar
ried Molly Farnum, and lived in a house he built
near his father's home in Uxbridge. Their children
were : 1. Phebe, born January 8, 1769. 2. Chloe,
1770. 3. Farnum and 4. Keith (twins), born De
cember 22, 1772. ?. Oliver, March 19, 1775. 6.
Howard C, born January 3, 1777. 7. Polly, Jan
uary 27, 1779. 8» Eunice, January 4, 1781. 9. Amos,
December 23, 1783. 10. Sally, March 15, 1785,
drowned. 11. Nancy, February 6, 1787. 12. Sally-
born March 29, 1789, married (first) Cyrus Grout.
who died, and she then married (second) Reuben
Wood. 13. Dorinda, born March 6, 1791. 14.
David, born November 6, 1792. 15. Clarissa, born
December 27, 1797.
KENDALL FAMILY. Prominent among the
early representatives of the Kendall family in Eng
land was John Kendall, sheriff of Nottingham, who

i6o

WORCESTER COUNTY

was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, fight
ing in the army .of Richard III. Francis Kendall,
of a much later generation, was banished to the
Barbadoes in the year 1687 by Bloody Judge Jef
freys, for participating in the Monmouth rebellion.
He is believed to have been a near relative of
Francis Kendall, the emigrant ancestor, who came
to America before 1640.
Francis Kendall was the pioneer ancestor of
Sanford C. Kendall,' Charles D. Kendall, Frederick
H Kendall and John M. Kendall, of Worcester,
Massachusetts, and also of other Kendall families
in Worcester county. In fact, he is believed to be
the common ancestor of all families iu America bear
ing this surname. In December, 1658, he deposed
that his age was about thirty-eight years. On April
2 1662, he deposed that his age was about forty-
eight years. Possibly the date of his birth was
between the two dates indicated by these state
ments, say 1618. He came from England before
1640. With thirty-one others he signed the town
orders of Woburn, December 18, 1640. He had been
living in Charlestown,' of which Woburn was then a
part, and where he was a taxpayer in 1645. He had
a brother, Thomas Kendall, living in Reading. Massa
chusetts, where he was a proprietor, in 1644. Thomas
Kendall had ten daughters, and while he doubtless
has a large posterity, none are named Kendall in
direct line. The father of Thomas and Francis
is believed by some writers to be John Kendall.
Francis Kendall married, December 24, 1644,
Mary Tidd, daughter of John Tidd. . In the record
he is called Francis Kendall, alias Miles. There
are several explanations of this record. It was
common with emigrants to America to take assumed
names to avoid vexatious laws, and there is a tra
dition that Kendall left England against the wishes
of his family, using the name of Miles until he was
settled in this country. His brother Thomas seems
not to have used any other name. Francis Kendall
was admitted a freeman May 10, 1648. Sewall says
of him: "He was a gentleman of great respecta
bility and influence in the place of his residence."
He served the town at different times for eighteen
years on the board of selectmen, and on important
committees, such as those for distributing grants
to the pioneers, and on building the meeting house.
He was tithingman in 1676. He was not entirely
in accord with the Puritan church, and was fined
for some infraction of church rules about infant
baptism, or attendance at communion, or attending
meetings of the Anabaptists. He was a miller by
trade, and owned a corn mill, which he left to his
sons, Samuel and John. Samuel was the ancestor
of the Worcester families. John Kendall's grand
son, Amos, also has descendants in Worcester
county. This corn mill, at Woburn, has been in
the possession of the family down to the present
time. The mill now, or lately, on the Kendall
place, is one built by Samuel Kendall soon after
1700, and is some distance from the location of the
first mill.
He died, in 1708, at the age of eighty-eight, ac
cording to the record, corroborating the affidavit
of 1658. His wife Mary died in 1705. His will
was dated May 9, 1706. His sons, Thomas and
John, were the executors. Children of Francis and
Mary (Tidd) Kendall: John, born July 2, 1646;
Thomas, January 10, 1648-9; Mary, January 20,
1650-1, married Israel Reed, about 1669; Elizabeth,
January 15,' 1652-3, married (first) Ephraim Win-
ship ; (second) James Pierce ; Hannah, January 26,
1654-5, married William Green, Jr., as his second
wife ; Rebecca, March 2, 1657, married Joshua
Eaton, December, 1706; Samuel, March 8, 1659;

Jacob, January 25, 1660-1 ; Abigail, April 6, 1666,
married William Reed, May 24, 1686.
(II) Samuel Kendall, son of Francis Kendall
(2), born in Woburn, Massachusetts, March 8,
1659-60; married, November 13, 1683, Rebekah,
daughter of Isaac Mixer. She died October 25,
1691. He married (second), March 30, 1692, Mary
Locke, daughter of William Locke. He removed to
Lancaster, probably in 1742, as he was taxed in
Woburn January 28, 1741-2, but not the following
years. He was constable and collector in Woburn in
1726-27. He was a carpenter by trade. His will
was dated December 6, 1742, and proved 1749. He
died in 1749 at the age of ninety years. Children of
Samuel and Rebecca (Mixer) Kendall : Samuel,
born August 13, 1684, married Prudence  ¦¦ — ,
about 1710; Isaac, September 1686, married, Octo
ber 9, 1706^ Hannah Walker, settled in Ashford,
Connecticut; Joshua, March 14, 1689, married, May
23, 1710, Susanna "Harrington, settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts, and Ashford, Connecticut; Re
becca, July 6, 1691, died November 25, 1691. Chil
dren of Samuel and Mary (Locke) Kendall werei
Mary,- February 3, 1693, died August 14, 1727,' un
married; Rebecca, January 26, 1694-5, died July 26,
1791, married Samuel Russell; Abigail, March 31,
1697, married William Nichols, of Reading, January
14, 1720; Ebenezer, May 16, 1700, married Hannah
Thompson about 1731 ; Ruth, April 23, 1703, married
Raham Bancroft; Tabitha, born January 22, 1706-7,
married Nathan Richards, July 3, 1729, died Novem
ber 25, 1739.
(Ill) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall
(2), born August .13, 1684, at Woburn, Massachu
setts. He settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts, where
he died in 1743. His will mentions his wife Pru
dence and three children. Children of Samuel and
Prudence were: Samuel, born September 4, 1711;
Rebecca, August 27, 1714; Stephen, March 10, 1717.
(IV) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall
(3), was born in Lancaster (?), Massachusetts,
September 4, 171 1. He married Phebe Brintain;
September 23, 1736. They settled in what is now
Sterling, possibly on the homestead of his
father, as Samuel and wife, Phebe, joined
the Chocksett (Sterling) church soon after
the father's death February 3, 1744-5. Chock-
sett became the towit of Sterling in 1781.
The church was organized in the December pre
ceding (1744).
Samuel Kendall was in the expedition to Canada,
in 1759, under Colonel Oliver Wilder, of Lancaster,
as was also his brother, Stephen Kendall. Chil
dren of Samuel and Phebe (Brintain) Kendall, bap
tized in the Chocksett church by the pastor, Rev.
Mr. Mellen : Samuel, baptized February 17, 17^45 ;
Rebecca, February 17, 1745; Abigail, July 20, 1746;
Caleb, May 15, 1748, probably died young; Bar
tholomew, February 18, 1749; Caleb, March 24,
1750; Bartholomew, February 28, 1753; William,
October 13, 1754; Phebe, July 3, 1757; Lucy, Feb-*
ruary 10, 1760; Lucinda, November 14, 1762.
(V) Caleb Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall (4).
born in Sterling, then Chocksett, Massachusetts, a
part of Lancaster, and baptized March 24, 1750;
married (first), December 8, 1773, Priscilla Towns-
end, daughter of Joshua townsend, in Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts. He resided in Shrewsbury several
years, and then removed to Ashburnham, where his
cousin Amos, son of Francis and grandson of John
Kendall, (brother of his great-grandfather Samuel
Kendall) was living. He went there some time be
fore 1787. While living at Ashburnham he married
(second) at Lancaster, April 15, 1788, Lucy (Bald
win) Kendall, widow of Thomas Kendall, of Lan-

WORCESTER COUNTY

161

caster. In 1792 he removed to Winchendon, Massa
chusetts, but his son Samuel, born in 1792, was bap
tized in Boylston, and the records show that Caleb
settled in Boylston in that year, also. Boylston was
the north district of Shrewsbury, so he merely re
turned to his old home. Caleb Kendall was a sol
dier in the revolution. He was in Captain John
Maynard's company and Colonel Job Cushing's regi
ment, which marched August 21, 1777, to Hadley,
on the Bennington Alarm. He was also in Captain
Inglesby's company, Colonel Cushing's regiment, in
the Rhode Island campaign. He was also in Cap
tain Ezra Beaman's company in Shrewsbury June
6, 1777. He was a housewright. He bought his
home in Shrewsbury of Jotham Flagg, and from
time to time other lots. The first deed is dated
January 7, 1773. He died 1807. The eleven chil
dren signed the partition deeds September 2, 1807.
Lucy, widow of Caleb Kendall, died at Boylston,
November 22, 1745, aged eighty-five. Children of
Caleb and Priscilla (Townsend) (sketch in Boyls
ton centennial gives her name Savory, 'but the town
records in several places give it Townsend) Ken
dall : Priscilla, born January 20, 1777, at Shrewsbury,
married Thaniel Cutting; Caleb, at Shrewsbury,
January 25, 1779, (Holden records say January 27)
settled in Holden, Massachusetts, married, June
24, 1803, Dolly Sawyer; Zippora; Joshua, 2d., mar
ried Patty Sawyer; died in Boylston 1813. Children
of Caleb and Lucy (Baldwin) Kendall : Lucy, bap
tized June 14, 1789, probably born in Ashburnham,
married Joseph Sawyer; David, born March 12,
1791, baptized at Boylston, May 29, 1791; Samuel,
born October n, 1792, in Winchendon and recorded
there, baptized at Boylston; Hannah, married
Phineas Moore; Elmira or Myra, married Jotham
Howe; Emily or Emilia, married Jonas Hastings
(court papers indicate that she is older than Myra) ;
William, married Susan Hartshorn.
(VI) David Kendall, son of Caleb Kendall (5),
was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. His father
removed to Boylston when he was about a year old,
and he resided there most of his life. It has been
said of him that "to him manual labor seemed more
like a pastime than a task." He married Polly
Wellington, April 2, 1812. His wife was also known
as Molly. (See John Kendall.) Children of David
and Molly (Wellington) Kendall : Elizabeth Temple,
born March 19, 1814, married, September 8, 1844,
Rev. A. Stowell; Sanford M. (name was originally
Joshua and was altered by general court), March 6,
1816; Horace, June 21, 1821, died April 27, 1827;
Mary, July 18, 1823, died August 13, 1824; Mary,
July 9, 1825, married Fisk B. Temple, March 8,
1848; Horace, August 28, 1827; John, November 6,
' 1829; Lyman P., February 9, 1832; Sophia Brooks,
April 27, 1834, died May 9, 1834; Olive S., May 4,
1836, died August 11, 1839. David Kendall married
(second) at Greenfield, Massachusetts.
(VII) Elizabeth Temple Kendall, daughter of
David Kendall (6), born in Boylston, Massachu
setts, March 19, 1814; married, September 8, 1844,
Rev. A. Stowell, of Erving, Massachusetts. Theiij
children are: Mary E., born March 28, 1847, died
February 9, 1893, unmarried; was a teacher in
Bridgewater School for the Blind to the time of
her death; S. Louise, born July 10, 1853, married
Clinton J. Smith, of Keene, New Hampshire, and
they have two children: Ralph and Alice.
(VII) Horace Kendall, son of David Kendall
(6), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, August
28, 1827. He married, April 4, 1854, Sarah A.
Maynard, of Boylston, Massachusetts. He married
(second) Fanny Buck, of Worcester, January 1,
I874. She died August 22, 1881. He married

(third) Hattie S. Hagan, who survives him. He
removed to Worcester with his family in 1871, and
engaged in the furniture business. He was a well
known auctioneer, and prominent merchant in Wor
cester for thirty years. His store was in the Mechanics
building. Children of Horace and Sarah A. (May
nard) Kendall: Charles D., November 10, 1854,
married Kate E. Lindsay, of Grafton, Massachu
setts; Sanford Clayton, born in Boylston, October
6, 1856, married Jennie Bruce, December 24, 1877.
The only child of Horace and Fanny (Buck) Ken
dall was : Frederick H., born January 20, 1875.
(VIII) Charles David Kendall, son of Horace
Kendall (7), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts,
November 10, 1854. He attended the district schools
of Boylston. In 1871, when his -father moved to
Worcester, he went to work in the store. Iri 1880
he went to Grafton to work. In 1888 he returned
to Worcester and entered the furniture business,
again with his father. After his father's death the
three sons were in partnership for a time. San
ford C. Kendall, in 1903, bought the interests of
Charles D. and Frederick H. Kendall, and has since
carried on the business under the firm name of
Kendall Furniture Company. Charles D. and Fred
erick H. bought an interest in the Warren Leather
Goods Company, of Worcester, in July, 1903. The
business of this concern is the manufacture of suit
cases and traveling bags of every description, and
various fancy goods of leather. The company has a
large factory at 80 Austin street, employing about
two hundred hands. The company was incorporated
in 1902 with a capital of thirty thousand dollars.
The business was formerly that of J. J. Warren.
The present officers of the corporation are : Presi
dent, Thomas 'T. Hickey, of Shrewsbury; vice-
president, Charles D. Kendall; secretary, W. H.
Hayden; treasurer, Frederick H. Kendall.
Mr. Kendall is a Congregationalist. In politics
he is a Republican. He married Kate Elizabeth
Lindsay, of Grafton, June 26, 1884. She was born
January 16, i860, daughter of Ira and Mary (Esta
brook) Lindsay. Her mother was born January 18,
1830, at Princeton, and married, June 11, 1857, Ira
Lindsay, at Princeton. Children of Ira and Mary
(Estabrook) Lindsay: Ellen F., born May 6, 1858;
Kate E., January 16, i860, married, June 26, 1884,
Charles David Kendall ; Joseph J., September 21,
1864, married, October 8, 1883.
The children of Charles David and Kate Eliza
beth (Lindsay) Kendall : Horace Clayton, born in
Grafton, Massachusetts, September 26, 1885; grad-
' uate of English high school, Worcester, in 1904; is
in Worcester Polytechnic Institute, class of 1907;.
Herbert Lindsay, born in Worcester, June 22,
1889; Charles Donald, born in Worcester, August
14, 1899. Mr. Kendall resides at 5 Barnard road,
Worcester. (VIII) Sanford Clayton Kendall, son of Horace
Kendall (7), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts,
October 6, 1856. He received a common school edu
cation in his native town. With his parents he re
moved to Worcester in 1871, and went to work
in his father's store. He was associated with his
father in the furniture and auctioneer business until
his death in 1899. The store at 319 Main street is
well known to Worcester people, especially to lovers
of antiques and colonial furniture. During the last
years of his father's life he was manager of the
business. After the death of the father, the three
sons became partners in the Kendall Furniture Com- •
pany. In 1902 Mr. Kendall became the sole owner.
His two brothers withdrew to enter the Warren
Leather Goods Company. Since then Mr. Kendall
has conducted the business at the old stand. He has

1 62

WORCESTER COUNTY

been prominent in city affairs. He is a Republican.
He was elected to the common council from ward
two in 1895, and served until he was elected an
alderman. In the council he served on the commit
tees on charities, street lighting, military affairs and
the joint special committee on central workshop. In
the board of aldermen he was chairman of the
committees on charities, and lighting streets, and
member of the committees on fire department and
ordinances, and of the aldermanic committees on
elections and returns. He married, December 24,
1877, Jennie Bruce. They have one child, Clayton.
(VIII) Frederick H. Kendall, son of Horace
Kendall (7), was born in Worcester, January 20,
1875. He was educated in the Worcester public
schools and at . Cushing Academy, Ashburnham,
where' he graduated in 1894 iu about a year. He
went into the furniture business with his father,
and later he became a partner with his two brothers,
after their father's death, in the Kendall Furniture
Company. He sold his interest in the business in
February, 1902, and in the following July bought
an interest and became the treasurer of the Warren
Leather Goods Company, which was formed to take
over the business of the J. J. Warren Company.
His brother, Charles D. Kendall, also entered the
Warren Leather Goods Company, and is the vice-
president. Mr. Kendall is treasurer of the con
cern. He is an attendant of the Congregational
church, a member of the Lakeside Boat Club, and
a Republican in politics. He married, December 7,
1900, Fanny E. Chambers, daughter of Calvin M.
and Frances (Keyes) Chambers, of Redwing, Min
nesota. They have a daughter : Eleanor, born
April 17, 1904. Mr. Kendall resides at 730 Pleasant
street. (VII) John Kendall, son of David Kendall
(6), was born in, Boylston, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 6, 1829. He began his schooling in Boylston,
but did not continue long, for at the age of twelve
.years he became highly incensed at what he felt
was an unprincipled act on the part of the teacher
toward a pupil. So he broke away from the yoke of
school life and hired out at farming to Squire
Aaron White, of Boylston, who was at that time,
it is said, the richest farmer in the county. He re
mained with the Squire until 1847, when he be
came clerk in the country store at Boylston, kept
by a Mr. Hathaway, for whom he worked a year.
In 1848 he came to Worcester and began to learn
the fur business with J. H.. Knight, where he re
mained until 1862, when Mr. Knight died. He and
William H. McClennen formed a partnership and
bought the business. The business was conducted
under the firm name of Kendall & McClennen un
til 1875, when Mr. McClennen sold his interest to
his partner, and Mr. Kendall continued alone.
The store at that time was at 163 Main street.
Their stock -included hats, caps and men's furnish
ings as well as furs. In 1888 Mr. Kendall took into
partnership David Boyden, who continueed with
him until he died in 1895 ; he then admitted his son,
John M. Kendall, to partnership. The .firm was in
business until 1897, when he retired from active
life. He was a prosperous and successful mer
chant and knew the fur business in every branch.
His favorite sport was fishing and he was known all
over the county among the disciples of Izaac Walton.
He died July 14,1903. He was a member of the
Old South Congregational Church, and a Republican
in politics. He was a member of the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association. He belonged to no
secret societies. He married, August 10, 1852,
Mary T. Knight, daughter of Erastus and Theo-
damia (Cushman) Knight, of Chesterfield, Massa

chusetts. Her father was a farmer in Chesterfield.
Children of John and Mary (Knight) Kendall
were : Olive Cushman, born in Worcester, July
16, 1862 (1855 in Genealogy), is. living in Worcester;
John Melvin (see forward).
(VIII) John Melvin Kendall, son of John
Kendall (7), born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
March 5, 1866, received his early education in the
public schools of this native city, where he passed
through the grammar schools and graduated from
the Classical high school in 1883. He entered Am
herst College in the fall in the class of 1887, but
after a year he returned home at the desire of his
father and entered the store. He became his father's
partner in 1895 and remained in the business until
1897, when his father and the firm retired from bus
iness. He then entered the employ of the Den-
holm & McKay Company as expert buyer of furs
and manager of the fur department. He continued
in this position eight years. In 1905 he withdrew
to become the treasurer of the John L. Parker
Company, manufacturers of sheet metal goods, hav
ing become a part owner of the business. He is
a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and has
been treasurer, vestryman and superintendent of
the Sunday school.
He has taken an active part in Republican poli
tics, frequently serving his party as delegate to the
county and state conventions. He served the city
in the common council for four years, 1902-3-4-5.
He has been a trustee of the City Hospital since
1903, and is one of the overseers of the poor.
He is a member of Regulus Lodge, Knights of
Pythias, No. 71, of Worcester, and of the Hancock
Club. Mr. Kendall is a' musician of distinction
and has written several successful operas. He "is
a clever writer and is regarded as an authority in
baseball matters. In years past he has written
much for The Spy on dramatic and sporting sub
jects. He is an earnest, capable business man, and
stands high, in the estimation of the entire com
munity in which he has lived all his life. He mar
ried, June 27, 1904, Caroline Eliza Davis, daughter
of Samuel E. and Hannah E. (Robinson) Davis,
of Boston. She was born August 23, 1868. Her
father was a woolen manufacturer. (See sketch of
Samuel E. Davis.)
DR. JEREMIAH FISKE. The family of Fiske
flourished for centuries in England in the county
of Suffolk. As early as the reign of King John in
1208 we find the name of Daniel Fisc, of Laxfield,
appended to a document issued by the king con
firming a grant of land in Digneveton Park, made
by the Duke of Loraine tb the men of Laxfield, May
1, 1208. There was the seat of the family for a
long period. The ancient coat of arms is : Checquey,
argent and gules upon a pale,- sable, three mullets,
pierced, or.
(I) Lord Symond Fiske, to whom the English
and American line is traced, was the progenitor of
Dr. Jeremiah Fiske, of Clinton, Massachusetts.^ It
lis believed that he was grandson of Daniel Fiske,
the first mentioned in the records of the locality;
he was Lord of the manor of Stadhaugh, parish of
Laxfield, county of Suffolk, England, from 1399 to
1422. He married (first) Susannah Smyth and (sec
ond) Katherine  . His will was dated December
22, 1463, and was probated at Norwich, February
26, 1463-4. He bequeathed "his soul to God, the
Virgin Mary and all the Saints in Heaven." He
named each of his sons, William, Jeffrey, John and
Edmund, and daughter, Margaret Dowsing. His
wife Katherine, son John and Nichols Nolock were
the executors. He died February, 1464. The chil-

j0oJ^iy\y^LO^. ~/' /O^fi^.

WORCESTER COUNTY

163

dren : William, married Joanne Lynne ; Jeffrey, mar
ried Margaret  ; John; Edmund, married Mar
gery  ; Margaret, married Dowsing or Dowling.
(II) William Fiske, son of Lord Symond Fiske
(1), was born at Stadhaugh, county Suffolk, Eng
land, and died 1504. He married Joan Lynne, of
Norfolk. Her will was dated July 15, 1504, proved
February 28, 1505. It mentions her sons John,
Augustine, Simon, son's wife Anne, daughters
Margery and Margaret. Sir John Fiske and her sons
John Fiske and son Simon were executors. The
children: Thomas, married Anne  ; William,
married Joan  ; Augustine, married Joan  ;
Simon, see forward; Robert, married Joan  ;
John, Margery, Margaret. ^
(III) Simon Fiske, son of William Fiske (2),
was born in Laxfield. He married Elizabeth  ,
who died at Halesworth, June, 1558. They resided
at Laxfield. His will was dated July 10, 1536, and
proved July 13, 1538. He was buried in the chancel
at the end of the church of All Saints, Laxfield,
next his father and other members of his family.
He died June, 1538. The children: Simon, see for
ward; William; Robert, married Alice  ; Joan,
married  Iverton; Jeffrey; Gelyne, married 
Warner ; Agnes, Thomas, Elizabeth, John.
(IV) Simon Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (3),
was born in Laxfield, England. His will was dated
January 25, 1505. The children : Robert, see forward ;
John, married Thomasin Pinchard; George, married
Anne  ; Nicholas, married Joan Crispe; Jeffrey,
Jeremy, William, Richard, married Agnes Crispe;
Joan, Gelyne, Agnes.
(V) Robert Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (4), was
born in England, 1525. He married Mrs. Sybil
(Gould) Barber. For some time he was of the
parish of St. James, South Elmham, England. Sybil
was in great danger of religious persecution at the
time her sister Isabella was confined for her religious
opinions in Castle Norwich. The children : William,
born 1566, see forward; Jeffrey, married Sarah
Cooke ; Thomas, married Margery  ; Eleazer, died
at Metfield; Elizabeth, married Robert Barnard.
(VI) William Fiske, son of Robert Fiske (5),
was born at Laxfield, England, 1566. He married
Anna Anstyle, daughter of Walter Anstyle, of Tib-
benham, Long Row, Norfolk. He married (second)
Alice  . He lived in St. James parish, South
Elmham. He and his father had to' leave the coun
try on account of their Puritan ideas. His will
was dated November 25, 1616, and proved May 17,
1623. His children: John, born at South Elmham,
married Anne Lantersee; Nathaniel, born at South
Elmham, see forward; Eleazer, born at South Elm
ham, settled in Norwich; Eunice, unmarried; Han
nah, married William Candler, and their son Rev.
Mathias Candler, was author of the celebrated
Candler manuscript ih the British Museum; Hester,
married John C. Chalke, of Rednall; Mary, married
Anthony Fisher, ancestor of the Fisher emigrants
at Dedham, Massachusetts. (See sketch of Fisher
families in this work).
(VII) Nathaniel Fiske, son of William Fiske
(6), was born in England. He was named in the
wills of his father, his uncle Eleazer, and cousin
Eleazer, of Weybred, England. He married Mrs.
Alice (Henel) Leman. The children: Nathaniel, see
forward; Sarah, married Robert Rogers.
(VIII) Nathaniel Fiske, son of Nathaniel Fiske
(7), was born at Weybred, Suffolk county, England.
He married Dorothy Symonds, of Wendham, daugh
ter of John Symonds. The children: John, born
i6ig, married Sarah Wyeth; Nathan, see forward;
Esther, born in England; Martha, married Martin
Underwood, weaver, settled in Watertown, Massa
chusetts, died November 17, 1672.

(IX) Nathan Fiske, son of Nathaniel Fiske (8),
was born in, England, 1615, and died June 21, 1676.
He settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, as early
as 1642, and was admitted a freeman May 10, 1643.
He bought land there September 10, 1643. He was
a selectman in 1673. His homestall was on the north
side of the road to Sudbury, granted first to R.
Frake. His will was dated June 19, 1676, and he
died two days later. He mentioned his five children
as named below. Children : Nathan, boi'n October 17,
1642, see forward; John, born August 25, 1647;
David, born April 29, 1650, married Elizabeth Reed;
Nathaniel, born July 12, 1653, married Mrs. Mary
(Warren) Child; Sarah, born 1656, married, Sep
tember 3, 1673, Abraham Gale, son of Richard Gale,
the immigrant, of Watertown.
(X) Lieutenant Nathan Fiske, son of Nathan
Fiske (9), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts,
October 17, 1642. He married Elizabeth Fry, who
died May 15, 1696. He bought two hundred and
twenty acres of land in Weston, October 1, 1673, of
Thomas Underwood and wife Magdalen for ten
pounds. He was selectman in 1684-88-91. His widow
Elizabeth was appointed administratrix December
10, 1694. His estate was divided November 23, 1696.
He died October n, 1694. The children: Nathan,
born February 9, 1665, died December 9, 1668; Eliza
beth, born January 19, 1667, married, January 16,
!693, James Ball, weaver, born March 7, 1670, died
February 22, 1729 ; Martha, born January 12, 1670,
married, March 13, 1694, Edward Park, born April
8. 1661, son of Thomas and grandson of Richard,
of Cambridge; Nathan, see forward; Susanna, born
April 7, 1674, died at Shrewsbury, April 28, 1752,
unmarried; Abigail, born February 18, 1675, mar
ried, August 15, 1695, John Mixer, son of Isaac
Mixer, Jr. ; William, born December 5, 1677, died
1677; William, born November 10, 1678, married
Eunice Jennings; Anna, died July 13, 1683.
(XI) Deacon Nathan Fiske, son of Nathan Fiske
(10), was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 3, 1672, married, October 14, 1696, Sarah
Coolidge, who was born about 1678, daughter of
Ensign John Coolidge, of Watertown. She died
November 27, 1723, and he married (second). May
22, 1729, Mrs. Hannah (Coolidge) Smith, who was
born December 7, 1671, and died October 4, 1750,
the daughter of Simon Coolidge and widow of Daniel
Smith, Jr. Nathan Fiske was deputy to the general
court 1727-28-29-32, selectman 1711-14-17-19-20-22-
23-24-26-27, treasurer 1720-22-23, town clerk 1724-28-
39. He was elected deacon as early as 1717. The will
of his wife Hannah was dated September 12, and
proved October 22, 1750; it mentions various rela
tives in the Coolidge family. Deacon Nathan died
January 26, 1 741. The children: Sarah, born 1697,
died November, 1713; Elizabeth, died aged seven
years; Nathan, born February 25, 1701, married
Anne Warren and Mary Fiske, of Sudbury; Josiah,
born October 10, 1704, see forward; Henry, born
January 24, 1706, married Mary Stone ; Daniel, born
August 19, 1709, married Deliverance Brown and
Jemima Shaw; Samuel, born February 16, 1711,
married Lydia Bond; Grace, born May 9, 1714, mar
ried, September 25, 1733, Benjamin Goddard, of
Shrewsbury; she died at Hopkinton, October 28,
1803, aged ninety years ; Hannah, born May 19, 1719,
married, February 15, 1743, William Smith, Jr., of
Weston, born May 23, 1721 ; she died September 2,
1813. aged ninety-four years. _
(XII) Deacon Josiah Fiske, son of Deacon
Nathan Fiske (n). was born at Watertown, Octo
ber 10, 1704, married Sarah Lawrence, born June
20, 1708, daughter of John and Anne (Tarbell)
Lawrence, of Lexington, died 1798. He was. select
man 1749-50, assessor 1743-44-48. He was dismissed

164

WORCESTER COUNTY

to the Groton church May 13, 1753, and settled
in Pepperell, where the births of his children (born
in Waltham) were recorded. He was deacon of
the church and leading citizen in that part of Groton
set off later as- Pepperell. He was town clerk of
Groton and first town clerk of Pepperell, hold
ing that office twenty years. .His will was dated
September 1, 1778, and proved January 23, 1779- He
died October, 27, 1778. Children : David, born Janu
ary 28, 1727, died October 28, 1729; Sarah, born Au
gust 7, 1729, died May 1, 1731 ; David, born Decem
ber 16, 1731, died February 1, 1766; killed by an
apple thrown from the church window at the ordina
tion service at Lunenburg; Josiah, born February
12, 1733, see forward; Sarah, born October 7, 1736,
married, April 14, 1756, Simon Gilson; Amos, born
May 10, 1739, married Mary Whitney; Daniel, born
May 18, 1742, married Elizabeth Varnum; Anna,
born February 16, 1744. died February 12, 1745;
Anna, born December 16, 1747, married, March 3,
1768, 'Dr. Ephraim Lawrence, a physician of Pep
perell, Pennsylvania; she died June 12, 1774; Abel,
born May 28, 1752, married Anna Spaulding and
(second) Sarah Putnam.
(XIII) Josiah Fiske, son of Josiah Fiske (12),
was' born at Waltham, February 12, 1733, married
Sarah Colburn, of Dracut, born 1737, died 1825.
His estate was administered by his widow Sarah,
appointed April 11, 1767. He had a good education
and taught school for several ¦ years. He was only
thirty-three years old when he died "beloved by
all." His widow married (second) Levi Blood, of
Groton, who died April 14, 1766. His children:
Josiah, born September 3, 1755, see forward; David,
born 1756; Sarah, born about 1760; Phinehas, born
January 29, 1765, died young; Submit, (posthumous)
born 1767.
(XIV) Josiah Fiske, son of Josiah Fiske (13),
was born at Pepperell, September 3, 1755, married
there November 25, 1779, Mary Caldwell, of Cam
bridge, who was born April 20, 1755, died December
25, 1834. He was a soldier in the revolution, joined
the company of Captain Dow, of Hollis, New Hamp
shire. He took part in the battle of Bunker Hill
and was afterward a fifer in the army at Saratoga.
At Bunker Hill he took a register from the pocket
of a British officer. This article and his old fife
are treasured, as keepsakes, by his descendants. In
1782' he moved from Pepperell to Temple, New
Hampshire, and settled on the Searles farm. In
1787 he purchased the Lieutenant Jonathan Marshall
farm, immediately north of the other place. His son
Jeremiah afterward occupied the place. Josiah was
highly esteemed. He was very pious and never was
known to omit family worship from the time of his
marriage to that of his death, May 29, 1832. His
widow died December 25, 1834. Children: Josiah,
born Nevember 14, 1781, married Betsey Kimball;
Sarah, born April 19, 1784, and died August 27,
1784; Polly, born October 12, 1785, married William
Patterson, who died at Franccstown, New Hamp
shire, May 13, 1832 ; she died at Nashua, New Hamp
shire, January 6, 1854; Sally, born February 25, 1788,
married, 1809, Earl Boynton, resided at New Ipswich,
born April 20, 1788, died August 26, 1881, and had
ten children; Jeremiah, born August 17, 1790, see
forward: Artemas, born September 11, 1792, married
Lucy Jones; David, born May 12, 1795, died July
i°, 1795 ; David, born January 12, 1797, married Milly
Sheldon, lived in Oxford, New York; Seth H., born
September 20, 1800, married (first) Lydia Putnam
in Marblehead, November 1, 1827, (second) Hannah
Miles, in Oxford, New York, 1833, and (third) Mrs.
Fanny Pollock, December 1, 1870.

(XV) Jeremiah Fiske, son of Josiah Fiske (14);
was born in Temple, New Hampshire, August 17,
1790. He married Sarah Heald, born 1798, died
March 23, 1858, daughter of James Heald, born in
Temple, November 28, 1777, and Sarah Walker, and
granddaughter of Deacon Peter Heald and Rebecca
Russell, of Townsend. He married (second) Mrs.
Cemina Monroe, who died November, 1895. Jeremiah
Fiske was , one of the most successful farmers of
the county. He settled on the homestead. After
retiring from business he traveled extensively. He
was the largest real estate owner in Temple, and
among his holdings was what was formerly Cum
mings Hill, upon which large bonfires are built every
year as they can be seen at a great distance, and a
large tract called Fiske Hill. He died October 9,
1882. He was a Republican in politics. He was in
terested in the family genealogy and well posted
in it. His -children were well educated and at one
time six of them were public school teachers. The
children: James, born March 16, 1816, died 1878,
unmarried. Sarah Ann, born January 20, 1817, mar
ried, December 1, 1842, Captain Charles Walton, re
sided at New Ipswich; she died in Temple, 1885.
Lois, born March 21, 1819, died July 29, 1836. Josiah,
born November 6, 1820, died December 11, 1904;
married, March 5, 1848, Rebecca Flint, who died
December 16, 1852; married (second) Mary Wood,
May 12, 1865. Charlotte, born July 9, 1822, mar
ried, May 14, 1846, Dr. Thomas Palmer, an expert
dental surgeon of Fitchburg. Jeremiah, born Feb
ruary 10, 1824, see forward. Alvah, born November
4, 1825, died January 31, 1854, at Indianapolis. Mar
tin H., born May 10, 1827, graduate of Dartmouth,
1853 1 principal of seminary at Paris, Tennessee ;
elected in 1854 president Paducah College, Ken
tucky, married Henrietta F. Breed, born September
27, 1827, died January 29, 1901, at Old Fiske home
stead, Temple, New Hampshire. Emily, born May
8, 1829, died at Abington, Massachusetts, July 29,
1002 ; married June 2, 1856, Daniel Lamson, of East
Weymouth; killed in the battle of Fredericksburg,
December, 1862. Rebecca Davis, born February 20,
1831, married, March, 1865, Thomas Fessendon and'
she and her son, a Presbyterian minister, the Rev.
Alvah Grant Fessendon, reside at Los Angeles.
Charles F., born December 2, 1832, married Emma
Bailey; she died at Milford, December 2, 1894; he
is practicing his profession of dentistry at Milford,
New Hampshire.
(XVI) Dr. Jeremiah Fiske, son of Jeremiah
Fiske (15), was born at Temple, New Hampshire,.
February 10, 1824. His maternal great-grandfather
was the first settler in Temple, New Hampshire, and
his son, Peter Heald, the first male child born in
the town. He attended the public schools, the Apple-
ton Academy of New Ipswich, and the Hancock
Academy. He worked on his father's farm until
he was of age. On account of an injury which un
fitted him for farm labor, he left home and found
employment in Boston in a market. Afterward he-
began the study of dentistry with his brother-in-law,.
Dr. Thomas Palmer, at Fitchburg. In 1849 he went
to Clintonville, then a part of the town of Lan
caster, then without a dentist, and began to prac
tice his profession there. As the town grew rapidly
his practice grew large, and for a period of fifty
years he was the leading dentist of the vicinity. The
town of Clinton was formed and grew to the pro
portions of a city in that period. His first office was-
in the Ford block, which block he owned for sev
eral years in company with the late Dr. G. W. Bur-
dett, in a front room over what is now Sargent's-
jewelry store. After a few years he moved into a.

WORCESTER COUNTY

i6S

larger front room in the same building, over what is
now Hubberd's dry goods store, and this room
is still used as a dentist's office, being occupied by Dr.
Harris. During his practice eight of our prominent
dentists were pupils in his offi.se. During the civil
war he was in partnership for a time with Dr. D. B.
Ingalls. Dr. Fiske formerly took much interest in the Con
gregational parisli, assisting materially in the build
ing of two additions to the old church, also in build
ing the parsonage. He was on the building com
mittee. He was one of ten who contributed the
fund for the clock on the old church. His family
are all members of the Congregational church, and
his daughter has been the leading contralto in the
choir for the-past seven years. In politics Dr. Fiske
is a prohibitionist and was the first to cast a vote
for the Prohibition ticket in the town of Clinton.
Like ^ most of his party, he voted for President
McKinley, but has otherwise always been a stead
fast third party man. Before the civil war he was
an anti-slavery man and not a few runaway slaves
received assistance from him. He entertained and
kept over night an escaped follower of Captain John
Brown when there was a thousand dollar reward of
fered for his arrest. It was very interesting to hear
this man tell of his many narrow escapes. He and
five others, including two sons of John Brown, passed
through Clinton on their way north and a reward of
a thousand dollars had been offered for the capture
of each of them. Dr. Fiske has always taken much
interest in the Lancaster Lodge of Odd Fellows, of
which he is a member. He is also a member of the
Grand Lodge and Encampment and the Grand As
sembly of the Rebekahs. In 1850 Dr. Fiske was a
member of a division of the Sons of Temperance,
one of the most active temperance societies that
ever existed in Clinton,, consisting of one hundred
and twenty members, all men, including many of the
leading men of the town. The society was a terror
to the illicit rum seller, and did excellent work for
many years. Dr. Fiske had in his keeping a beauti
ful silk banner presented to this society by the
ladies of Clinton which he presented to the His
torical Society to adorn the walls of a room in the
new Historical building. The donor of this beauti
ful building was a member of this once famous
division of the Sons of Temperance.
Dr. Fiske has seen many changes during the
fifty-seven years he has lived in Clinton. He is now
one of the oldest persons in the town. The popu
lation' has grown from twenty-five hundred to thir
teen thousand. Only two persons are now living
on High street who lived there when he came to
town. When he built his house with the eleven
gables in 1857 there were only three dwelling houses
in the neighborhood. In front of his house, where
Dr. Otis's house, the town house, the Unitarian
Church and Central Park are now, was then a swamp.
Most of the land east of Chestnut street and north of
Church street was then covered with a forest. His
house is now half surrounded with public buildings.
On grounds of Dr. Fiske stands an English wal
nut tree, which is probably the only one in Worcester
county. It was first planted in Salem by the daugh
ters of General Miller, and was brought from Temple.
New Hampshire, and planted where it now is by
Dr. Fiske. It is about fifty feet high and over a
foot in diameter, and bears nuts every year of a
superior quality.
He married, February 17, 1853. Caroline Eliza
beth Bailey, of Greenfield, New Hampshire. She
was born February 19, 1830, daughter of Leonard
and Betsey (Hardy) Bailey, of Greenfield. Their
children: Ella Athelia, born December 15, 1853, who

for more than a score of years has conducted suc
cessfully a' private school in Clinton; for several
years she has conducted her father's business as col
lector of rents and care of real estate, under a
power of attorney ; she is a member of the Runaway
Brook Golf Club. Carrie Novella, born July 5, i860,
an artist of more than ordinary note, has won many
prizes for her work; married, October 28, 1891,
Willard Forrest Hallett ; they reside at 804 Lafayette
street, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
DADMUN FAMILY. Samuel Dadmun (1),
the immigrant ancestor of William Slocomb Dad
mun, of Worcester, and probably of all of this
surname in this section of the country, \yas said to
be of Scotch birth and family. He was born about
1690, and the first record found in which his name
is mentioned is that of his marriage at Framing
ham, Massachusetts, May 27, 1714, to Martha Jen
nings, daughter of Stephen Jennings. Her father
came to Framingham in 1690, married at Sudbury,
January 11, 1685, Hannah Stanhope; he died Sep
tember 3, 1701, and Hannah, his widow, bought,
January 6, 1702-03, of James Brewer and Caleb
Johnson part of the Appleton farm lying between
Lake Cochituate and Cochituate brook where her
descendants lived until after the revolution. The
place is known as the Luther Eaton place. Martha
(Jennings) Dadmun and her children were living
there with her mother in 1718. Samuel probably
died in 1717 or 1718. Their children were : Samuel,
see forward, and a daughter who married 
Wadsworth. The name is spelled also Deadman and
Dedman. (II) Samuel Dadmun, son of Samuel Dadmun
(1), was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, about
1 715. He settled in Framingham near Stone's
Mills and died in 1794. In 1761 he bought of
Hezekiah Stone fifty acres on Square Meadow
brook, afterwards called also Dadmun brook, and
this farm has been known since then as the Dadmun
place. He was sergeant in a company of militia
under the command of Captain Henry Emmes in
the French and Indian war, 1757. He married
Lois Pratt, born June 7, 1726, died 1808, daughter
of Daniel Pratt (IV), granddaughter of Thomas
Pratt (III), of Watertown and Framingham, great-
graddaughter of Thomas Pratt (II), of Sudbury,
son of Thomas Pratt (I), the immigrant. Children
of Samuel and Lois Pratt were: Nathan, born
March 7, 1742, died young; Daniel, March 27,
1744; Nathan, see forward; Timothy, baptized
March 25, 1750; Martha, born in Framingham, bap
tized March 25, 1752, died unmarried July 26, 1833;
Elijah, baptized October 19, 1755; Samuel, mar
ried, October, 1757, Dorcas Stone, of Framingham,
settled in Princeton and died 1821 in Templeton;
Jonathan; Lois, baptized May 20, 1764, married
Isaac How, of Framingham; Susannah, bo^n Feb
ruary 5, 1769, married Ezra Belcher.
(IH) Nathan Dadmun, son of Samuel Dad
mun (2), was born at Framingham, Massachusetts,
June 16, 1747. He lived on the Lemuel Jones farm,
in that part of Framingham now Ashland. He
died February 16, 1827. He was a soldier in the
revolution, a minute man of Captain Simon Edgell's
company on the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775.
His brother Elijah also marched to Concord and
Lexington. Nathan also served later under Cap
tain Edgell, in 1776, marching to Ticonderoga. He
was a corporal and his company was in Colonel
Samuel Brewer's regiment. He married Hannah
Sanger, daughter of David Sanger. She died Nov
ember 19, 1821. Their children were : Joseph,
born May 14, 1774; Jeduthan, December 23, 1775,

1 66

WORCESTER COUNTY

see forward; Eleanor, March 18, 1777, married Elias
Grout; Sarah, January 10, 1779, married Eli Eames,
of Holliston; Hannah, January 11, 1781, married
William Clark; Bathsheba, December 26, 1782, mar
ried, July 14, 1807, Jacob Prescott of Westford,
Massachusetts; Nathan, March 29, 1785, married
Barrodell Jackson; Mary, March 31, 1787, married
John Clark.
(IV) Jeduthan Dadmun, son of Nathan Dad
mun (3), was born in that part of Framingham
now Ashland, December 23, 1775. Most of the
family lived in that locality. He bought in 1804
a house and seven acres of land north of his father's
farm, and he also was a farmer. He died February
14, 1825. He married, December 18, 1801, Lois
Jones, daughter of Nathaniel Alden Jones, grand
daughter of Anthony Jones, who resided in Hop
kinton, but was of Framingham in 1796. Nathaniel
Alden Jones married Lois Chapin in 1770 and lived
in the Parson Swift house in Framingham. His
father was Colonel John Jones. Anthony Jones
married Elizabeth Alden, daughter of Nathaniel
Alden, a lineal descendant of John Alden, who came
over in the "Mayflower." Hence all the Dadmuns
of Worcester, descended as noted below, are eligible
for the Mayflower Society. Colonel John Jones re
moved to Framingham from Boston in 1715, was
a cordwainer by trade, justice of the peace, town
officer, owned slaves — James, Tom and Bacchus.
He married, May 12, 1713, Elizabeth Simpson,
daughter of Samuel Simpson. Lois (Jones) Dad
mun died April 14, 1822. Children of Jeduthan
and Lois Dadmun were: Louisa, born June 18,
1802, married Abijah Claflin; John Jones, Octo
ber 23, 1804; Henry J., January 10, 1807, married,
February 22, 1832, Esther G. Allard, settled in
Ashland and died there November 13, 1879; Han
nah J., May 8, 1809; Elizabeth S., November 25,
1811, married Bradford Belknap; Sarah, July 5,
1814; Jeduthan, October 13, 1816, see forward;
Lucy A. P., July 21, i8i9; Izanna E., December 23,
1821. *
(V) Jeduthan Dadmun, Jr., son of Jeduthan
Dadmun (4), was born at Ashland, Massachusetts,
October 13, 1816. He was brought up on his father's
farm until he was ten, when he was apprenticed
to learn the trade of shoemaker in Hopkinton. He
had the usual common school education, of that
period. When he came of age he went to Wor
cester and obtained a position- in a general store,
where he worked for several years. He left Wor
cester to take a position in Holliston at his trade
of shoemaker for the custom trade. After five
or six years he removed to Lunenburg and worked
two years there at his trade. About 1855 he was
appointed agent of a union grocery store at Grafton,
and he remained in charge of this concern for the
stockholders until 1863, when the store was de
stroyed- by- fire. He then went into business for
himself as a grocer in Grafton, remaining for a
year or two. He then started a grocery store in
Springfield, Massachusetts, in company with Henry
E. Putnam, under the firm name of Dadmun &
Putnam, located on State street. From there he
went to Boston and worked at his trade of shoe
maker for a number of years. His last years were
spent in Worcester, where he made his home with
his son, William S. Dadmun, and died September
21, 1884. In religion Mr. Dadmun was a Unitar
ian and in politics a Republican. He married,
September 29, 1839, Lucy Davis, born at Rutland,
Massachusetts, September 24, 181 1, daughter of
Isaac and Betsey (Rice) Davis, of Rutland. She
died January 14, 1878. Her father Isaac was a
blacksmith and farmer. The children of Jeduthan

and Lucy (Davis) Dadmun were: 1. George Ly
man, born July, 29, 1840, at Holden, died at East
Winthrop, Maine, April 4, 1842. 2. Frances, born
August 21, 1842 at Worcester, died September 18,
1843. 3. Frank Jones, born January 3, 1844, at Wor
cester, died September 4, 1898; married (first)
October 9, 1867, Mary E. Dudley, of Sutton, born
January 22, 1847, died January 13, 1878, and they
have one child, Mary Florence, born July 31, 1868,
who married William E. Hartwell, of Providence,
Rhode Island. Frank Jones married (second)
October 14, 1880, Mary E. Chase, of Sutton, born
November 17, 1853, died June 24, 1906, and they have
one child, Frank Abram, born born May 3, 1882.
4. Hiram Davis, born February 5, 1846, at Wor
cester, died April 10, 1902; married January 14,
1867, Emily F. Gardner, of Worcester, and they
have one child, Harry Lincoln, who married Anna
Howe, of Worcester. 5. William Slocomb, born at
Holliston, August 20, 1848, married December 31,
1868, Lydia P. Lathrop, resides in Worcester.
6. Lucy Ellen, born at Holliston, February 9, 1850.
7. Georgianna Frances, born April 4, 1852, married
February 24, 1875, Arthur J. Marble, of Worcester,
and they have one child, Georgie Alice, who mar
ried (first) Anson Blenus and (second) J. William
Patstone. Isaac Davis, father of Mrs. Jeduthan Dadmun,
mentioned above, was born November 16, 1779,
probably at Rutland, where many of his family
lived, all descendants of Dolor Davis (see sketch
of Davis family elsewhere in this work). He was
of Rutland when he married, May 8, 1803, Betsey
Rice, born November 25, 1781, daughter of John
and Lydia Rice. Her father, John Rice was born
November 7, 1745, son of Captain Edward Rice
and descendant of the immigrant, Edmund Rice,
of Sudbury, Massachusetts. • (See sketch of various
Rice families). Betsey (Rice) Davis died at Rut
land, December 10, 1824, aged forty-three years,
fifteen days. Isaac Davis was a blacksmith by trade,
a farmer and handy at various other trades. He
bought land in Rutland with John Rice, Jr., his
brother-in-law, November, 1808, and April, 1809.
He bought land of Benjamin Rice in Rutland,
June 22, 1809. He bought, November 10, 1805, of
Silas and Lydia Merrill, in Rutland, a tract of three-
fourths of a mile. He sold land to Taylor Esta
brook, November 2, 1808. He was master of Thomp
son Lodge of Free Masons, Rutland. He died
March 26, 1833, aged fifty-three years, five months
and ten days. His will dated April 19, 1832, was
disapproved May 1, 1833, and his son Lyman was
appointed administrator May 27, 1833. Rufus Put
nam was the guardian of his children after the
death of their grandmother, Lydia Rice, in 1825,
until he resigned April 8, 1836.
The children were: Mary, born September 25,
1803, died at Worcester August 11, 1852; John, born
August 27, 1805, died at West Rutland, aged sixty-
seven years, seven months and thirteen days; Eliza,
born August 1, 1807, died July 11, 1836; Lyman,
born November 28, 1809, died June 29, 1834;
Lucy, born September 24, 181 1, died Jan
uary 14, 1878; married Jeduthan! Dadmun,
who died September 21, 1884, mentioned above;
Hiram, born August 27, 1813, died December 20,
1814; Hiram, born January 4, 1815, died November
6, 1846; James, born September 8, 1817, died April
9, i860 ; Sarah, born June 8, 1818, died February 10,
1905 ; Charles, born February 22, 1820, killed in civil
war; George, born September 12, 1823, killed in
civil war.
(VI) William Slocomb Dadmun, son of Jedu
than (5), was born at Holliston, Massachusetts,

^/t^^r^csf //^^^e^

WORCESTER COUNTY

167

August 20, .1848. At the age of five years he moved
with his parents to Lunenburg, where they lived
for some time, removing thence to Grafton, where
he received his education in the common schools.
He left the high school before graduating and re
moved with his father 'to Springfield, where for
several months he worked in his father's grocery
store. He worked a year in the dry goods store
of L. J. Holt, and then went to Worcester, Massa
chusetts, to work in the store of Simeon Clapp later
Clapp & Haven, and later died and Mr. C. Haven
bought the store and Mr. Dadmun remained with
the new proprietor for six years. He left this con
cern to start in business for himself. In partnership
with James H. Howland, he was the senior mem
ber of the firm of Dadmun & Howland, dealers in
shoes, etc. At the end of two years Mr. Dadmun's
brother Frank J. Dadmun, bought the interests of
Mr. Howland and the name of the firm for two
years was Dadmun Brothers. Then the firm was
dissolved and William S. Dadmun entered the em
ploy of J. O. Bemis, shoe dealer, Worcester. Twenty
months later he started in the shoe business again,
under his own name, at 349 Main street. After
two years Henry E. Putnam was admitted a part
ner and the firm name became Dadmun & Putnam.
Charles H. Heywood represented Mr. Putnam's' in
terests in the business. When the business was
moved to the basement of the old city hall, Mr.
Heywood was admitted as a partner and the firm
name became Dadmun, Heywood & Company. When
the city hall was torn down, after the new building
was erected, the firm removed to its present loca
tion, 520 Main street. In the meantime the Put
nam interests had been acquired by the other part
ners and the firm name changed to Dadmun & Hey
wood. The present store is very prosperous arid
gives evidence of constant growth. It is one of the
most spacious and best appointed in the city.
Mr. Dadmun attends the First Universalist .
church. He is a Republican in politics. He is one
of the most prominent Free Masons of the city.
He was made a Master Mason in Athelstan Lodge,
June 1, 1870, received his Royal Arch degree in
Eureka Chapter, April 9, 1872, received the Cryptic
degree in Hiram Council, June 12, 1873, received his
Templar degree in Worcester County Commandery,
September 4, 1874, and has been the recorder with
out interruption since ,1876, a period of thirty years.
He is a member of the Scottish Rite bodies up to
the Eighteenth degree, and trustee of Masonic fra
ternity. He is a member of Aletheia Grotto, Mystic
Order of Veiled Prophets; and the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association, of which he was
a trustee for three years. He is a director of the
Home Co-operative Bank.
He married, December 31, 1868, Lydia Lathrop,
of Worcester. She was born April I, 1845, daugh
ter of Samuel and Julia Ann ("Wheelock) Lathrop.
Their children are: Alice Gertrude, born Decem
ber 9, 1869, died November 29, 1871 ; Wilton Wells,
born December 27, 1872, married Alice W. Gifford,
of Worcester, and they have one child — Chester
Gifford, born September 5, 1897; Walter Robbins,
born August 23, 1878.
WARREN FAMILY. Peter Warren (1), the
immigrant ancestor of Waterman G. Warren and
his family, of Holden, Massachusetts, was proba
bly born in England. No connection can be estab
lished between him and John Warren, of Water-
town, who came over in 1630, and he was cer
tainly not son of John Warren as one writer states.
Neither can any relationship be shown between
Peter and Abraham Warren, who settled in Salem

in 1635; with Arthur Warren, who settled in Wey
mouth before 1637; with Richard Warren, who came
on the "Mayflower" in 1620. There were other
early settlers of the name, and the Warren families
were numerous at an early date. The name is an
cient and distinguished also in England, where all
these early immigrants were born. In fact the family
dates back to a Baron of the name who came over
with William the Conqueror, and fought in the bat
tle of Hastings in 1066. He was high in the con
fidence of the king and was one of two guardians
left in charge of England when William returned
to Normandy for a visit. William, the Earl of
Warren, held the fief of Warrenne and many sur
names were adopted from the locality, so that per
haps not all of the family are descended from the
Earl. The place of birth of Peter Warren is un
known and his English ancestry untraced. He
was born in 1628, and bought land in Boston, March
8, 1659, of Thomas Atkinson. He was a seafar
ing man. The nature of his business prevented
him from figuring much in public records or hold
ing publice office.
He married (first) Sarah Tucker, of Dorchester,
daughter of Robert Tucker, August 1, 1660. He
married (second) Hannah  and (third) Esther
Woodward. Children of Peter and Sarah Warren
were : John, born September 8, 1661 ; Joseph,
February 19, 1663, father of Joseph who was the
father of General Joseph Warren, of Bunker Hill
fame; Benjamin, July 25, 1665; Elizabeth, Janu
ary 4, 1667; Robert, December 14, 1670; Ebenezer,
February 1, 1672-73, see forward; Peter, born and
died 1675; Peter, April 20, 1676. Children of Peter
and Hannah Warren were : Hannah, May 19, 1680 ;
Mary, November 25, 1683; Robert, December 27,
1864. (II) Ebenezer Warren, son of Peter Warren
(1), was born in Boston, February 11, 1672. He
settled in that part of Dorchester, now Milton,
Massachusetts, a section now of Boston. He mar
ried, June 2, 1697, Mary Ryder, of Milton. Their
children, all born at Milton, were: Mary, born
June 9, 1700; Ebenezer, March 30 1702, see forward;
Elizabeth, June I, 1704; Jonathan, March 9, 1706;
Hannah, August 11, 1708. Their are no further
records of children at Milton and none ai the chil
dren settled in Milton.
(Ill) Ebenezer , Warren, Jr., son of Ebenezer
Warren (2), was born at Milton, Massachusetts,
formerly Dorchester, and now Boston, March 30,
1702. He settled in Medford and removed thence
to Leicester in 1744, when he bought the tannery
now or lately owned by Edward Warren. _ He paid
one hundred and twelve pounds, ten shillings. Be
sides the tannery he bought with it a house, bark-
house, mill-house, beam-house and land. The house
was a primitive affair and he built a good house in
1780. The homestead descended to his son Elijah
whose son Henry Elijah took down the old house
in i860. Ebenezer died in Leicester in 1800. He
married Lydia Harrington, of Brookfield. She died
1795. Their children were: 1. Lydia, born Novem
ber 24, 1746, died August 7, 1748. 2. Ebenezer, born
December 27, 1748, died February 13, 1753. 3. Jona
than, born November 27, 1750, see forward. 4.
Lydia, born December 6, 1752, married, March 31,
1774, Abner Dunbar, born April 9, 1753, whose son
Ebenezer was born March 29, 1777, and died. Octo
ber 28, 1877, over one hundred years old, the grand
father of John D. Clark, Malcolm G. Clark and Mrs.
F. A. Blake, of Rochdale. (See Clark sketch). 5.
Ebenezer, born June 9, 1754- 6. Esther, married,
1782, Daniel Newhall, of Brookfield; resided at Al-
stead, New Hampshire, and had children — John,

1 68

WORCESTER COUNTY

Sally and others. 7. Hannah, married, 1781, Levi
Chilson; resided in Leicester and had children —
Lydia, Warren, Edward, Humes, Ebenezer, Samuel,
Basineth. 8. Elijah, horn 1758. 9. Sally, married,
1786, Thaddeus Upham, of Watertown, and they
had — Lewis (or Lois), Otis, Mary, Sally Upham.
(IV) Jonathan Warren, son of Ebenezer War
ren (3), was born at Leicester, Massachusetts, No
vember 27, 1750. He married (first), January 3,
1775, Martha Bemia, of Spencer, Massachusetts. In
1796 his wife fell in a faint into the fireplace, con
taining a large bed of burning tanbark, and was
fatally burned. He married (second) Lucy How,
who died June 11, 1831. He resided where Horace
Warren lately lived, and a portion of his house is
part of the present structure. In 1797 he bought a
half interest in the old tanyard with his brother
Elijah. He died January 26, 1827.
The children of Jonathan and Martha Warren
were: Sally, born August 13, 1775, married John
Beers; Joshua, July 25, 1777, settled in Vermont;
Samuel, July 31, 1779, see forward; Jonathan, De
cember 2, 1782; Polly, June 16, 1785, died 1800;
Persis, March 5, 1788, married, April 1, 1818, Aaron
Sibley; died June 24, 1819, having one child, War
ren Sibley, born February 19, 1819, resided at Au
burn; Amasa, born November 16, 1790; Jesse Smith,
March 18, 1794. Children of Jonathan and Lucy
Warren were : Eliza, born' February 16, 1799, mar
ried — — Parker; Sarah,' March n, 1801, married
 Curtis.
(V) Samuel Warren, son of Jonathan Warren
(4), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, September
10, 1779. He was a tanner by trade. He settled in
Auburn, Massachusetts, a town adjoining Leicester
and Worcester, and became a prominent citizen
there. He was a very active and zealous Baptist in
religion. He was baptized in 1810, joined the church
in 1814. He and his father-in-law erected the meet
ing house on their farm, then a church was organized
at Auburn and a pastor settled. Samuel Warren
was deacon of the church at the time of his death,
September 10, 1832. He married, 1806, Sally Gould
ing, daughter of Captain Jonah Goulding. Their
children, all born at Auburn, were : Waterman Gould
ing, born May 16, 1807, see forward ; Elbridge Gerry,
March 27, ,1810; Jonah Goulding, September 11, 1812;
Samuel, October 31, 1816; John, November 27, 1819;
Sarah Jane, April 10, 1825, died March 26, 1843;
George, December 9, 1831.
Captain Jonah Goulding was born November
25, 1753, son of Colonel John Goulding, who re
sided in the northeast part of Grafton and was a
tanner by trade. Late in life he was excessively
corpulent. He was a soldier in the revolution from
Grafton, under Captain Luke Drury and General
Ward in 1775. He was conspicuous in "Shays Re
bellion" after the revolution and commanded a
company under Shays ; led his men to Worcester
and helped prevent Judge Artemas Ward from open
ing court. He was imprisoned after the collapse
of the rebellion "forty days and forty nights," ac
cording to his own account of it, and was, of course,
in serious danger of hanging. But the participants
in the rebellion escaped with light punishments, the
grievous conditions making leniency the wisest
course. Captain Goulding was an honored and re
spected citizen; returned to the militia and served
faithfully, rising to the rank of colonel in com
mand of his regiment. Colonel John Goulding mar
ried (first), February 22, 1753, Lucy Brooks, born
September 30, 1733. Colonel Jonah Goulding mar
ried (first). April, 1777, Grace Knowlton, daughter
of Jonah Knowlton. He married (second) Widow
Sarah Leland.

(VI) Waterman Goulding Warren, son of Dea
con Samuel Warren (5), was born on the Warren
homestead in that part of the town of Ward (now
Auburn) known as West Auburn, May 16, 1807.
He was the eldest of six sons. The opportunities
for schooling in his day were very limited. He
attended the old district school for a few weeks
during the winter term. In summer he worked on
his father's farm and in the tannery. He learned
the trade of tanner. He was twenty-five years old
when his father died iri 1832, and he inherited the
tannery which Jonah Goulding bought of Nathaniel
Southworth when he moved from Grafton to Au
burn. Mr. Warren conducted the tanning business
with varying success until 1839, when he removed to
Holden and entered partnership with his brother
Samuel in the tannery which John P. Maynard built
about 1825, at Eagleville, then called Brick City,
in the year 1840. The partnership was dissolved in
the spring of 1850, when Waterman G. Warren
bought the Edward Richardson tannery. This tan
nery with seventeen acres of land was sold by
John Watson to Heman Richardson, December 23,
1789, for one hundred and twenty pounds sterling.
It is located a half mile from Holden Centre. The
exact date of the building of the tanyard is un
known. The old tannery was enlarged and greatly
improved, and the business successfully conducted
by Mr. Warren alone and later in partnership with
his son Samuel, for a quarter of a century.
In 1874, while continuing the business at the old
stand in partnership with his eldest son Samuel, Mr.
Warren formed a new firm with hjs son Berthier
as partner, under the name of B. Warren & Co., and
this firm commenced business in the brick tannery
near Holden Centre built by Berthier Warren. This
new tannery, in its character and equipment, its
facilities for producing the kind of leather which is
its specialty, card leather, probably is unsurpassed
by any in the state. In 1882 the two firms became
one; Samuel Warren, Berthier Warren and H. W.
Warren all became partners with their father under
the firm name of W. G. Warren & Sons, and a
prosperous business was conducted by this firm until
the death of the senior partner and father, August
7. 1886, at the age of seventy-nine years. During
these years there had been a steady growth of busi
ness from the tanning of about fifteen hundred sides
of leather in 1845 to twenty thousand in 1886. After
Mr. Warren's death the business was continued by
his three sons under the firm name of W. G. War
ren's Sons.
One who knew Mr. Warren well has written:
"He was a devoted husband and father, kind-hearted
and charitable. A man of good common sense, sound
judgment and strictest integrity, and enjoyed the
fullest confidence of all in his business and other
relations. He had marked peculiarities and his strong
personality impressed itself upon all with whom he
came in contact. He was the relentless foe of the
liquor traffic. The cause of. temperance and all the
moral reforms of his day received from him a liberal
and hearty support. In his early life, in the palmy
days of slavery, he was an Abolitionist, a follower
of Gerritt Smith, Garrison and Phillips. He boldly
proclaimed his sentiments in favor of liberty for the
oppressed, when such action meant hardship, scorn
and persecution (such was the unpopularity of the
abolition movement even in New England). After
the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law, he was
zealous and active in all movements in behalf of the
fugitive, and made his home on a place of refuge for
the bondmen, a station on the Underground Rail
road to freedom — thus earning the honor due to
those who have the courage of their convictions, and

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The Lends Publishing Co.

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WORCESTER COUNTY

169

the daring of their duty." In his later years he was
a stanch Republican, He and his wife were both
attendant and active and liberal supporters of the
Baptist church of Holden.
He married, April 22, 1830, Mary Eddy, born
February 7, 1806, daughter of Samuel and Sarah
(Hart) Eddy, of Auburn. Her father was a farmer.
They celebrated their golden wedding in 1880, Mrs
Warren died September 3, 1887. The children of
Waterman Goulding and Mary (Eddy) Warren
wore: 1. Ann Eliza, born February 13, 1831, mar-
1 ried Rev. Lester Williams, of Holden, who was
born at West Springfield, Massachusetts, July 24,
1823, now deceased ; she resides in Holden ; their
only child was Waterman Lester Williams, born
August 10, 1867, graduate of Amherst College, 1891.
¦2. Susan Ellen, born at Auburn, Massachusetts, May
27, 1833, resides at Holden, unmarried. 3. Samuel,
born at Auburn, October 15, 1834, see forward. 4,
Berthier, born October 22, 1836, married Eunice
Boyden, of Holden, see forward. -5. Henry Water
man, born March 18, 1838, see forward.
(VII) Samuel Warren, son of Waterman Gould
ing Warren (6), was born at Auburn, Massachusetts,
October 15, 1834. He was five years old when
the family removed to Holden. He attended the
public schools of Holden, various private schools,
Worcester Academy and graduated in 1858 from the
State Normal school' at Westfield, Massachusetts.
He then became associated with his father in the
tanning business, and in 1867 was taken in partner
ship under the firm name of W. G. Warren & Son.
At the end of ten years the tannery was sold to
Michael McLoughlin, a former employee of the
firm, who died not long after starting in business.
Tho plant was bought back by the Warrens from
McLoughlin's widow. When the business was sold
to McLoughlin in 1881, the two firms of which
Waterman G. Warren was the head became one and
all three sons were members under the name of
W, G. Warren & Sons. Since the death of their
father the throe sons have been in business under
the firm name of W. G. Warren's Sons and have
been very successful. Mr. Samuel Warren, tlie head
of the firm, has done his full share to maintain the
high standing of the firm and develop its business.
Berthier Warren died in February, 1905, and his
share was purchased by the surviving members of
the firm, which continues under the same name. Of
late much of the leather produced in the Warren
tannery has been made for Howard Brothers of
Worcester for the manufacture of card clothing, etc.
The hides used in the tannery came principally from
Ohio and the west. After his father's death Samuel
bought out the other heirs in 1888 and became the
owner of the homestead.
He attends the Congregational church of Holden.
He has been active in the Republican party organiza
tion, serving frequently as delegate to tlie Republi
can state convention and other nominating conven
tions. He was on the Holden school committee from
1862 to 1865 and from 1883 to 1886. He was as
sessor of the town of Holden in 1868-69-87-88. He
was a representative to the general court in 1867,
and selectman in 1872-73. He has held many other
positions of trust and honor. He is a member of
the Holden Farmers' and Mechanics' Club. Mr.
Warren assisted materially in getting the new electric
railroad built from Worcester to Holden and has
considerable stock in the company. In business and
town affairs for many years Mr. Warren has been a
leader: his judgment has been trusted and his busi
ness ability widely recognized. Ho stands high in
the estimation of bis townsmen.
He married, May 13, 1869, Marion Elizabeth

Lakin, born June 27, 1845, at Paxton, daughter of
George Shipley and Nancy (Hubbard) Lakin. Her
father was a manufacturer of boots arid shoes _ at
Paxton and was prominent in town affairs, holding
many town offices at various times; he died in 1875
and his wife died in 1883. Mrs. Warren was the only
surviving child. Mrs. Warren was elected a member
of the Holden school committee in 1887, one of the
first women holding this office in Massachusetts,
and she has served with great credit to herself and
to the distinct advantage of the public schools of
the town. The children of Samuel and Marion E.
Warren were : Herbert Lakin, born August 24, 1870,
graduate of Amberst College, 1895; Arthur Kirke,
bom December 13, 1871 ; George Waterman, born
December 3, 1882.
(VII) Berthier Warren, son of Waterman Gould
ing Warren (6), was born at Auburn, Massachu
setts, October 22. 1836. He removed to Holden with
the family in 1840 and attended the public schools
there. Later he was a student at Wilbraham Acad
emy, the Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Massa
chusetts, and the Claverack (New York) Academy.
Just after the close of the civil war, in 1866, he
and his brother Henry purchased a cotton plantation
in Leake county, Mississippi, and he lived there for
nine years. In 1874 he returned to Holden, went
into the tannery business, built the brick tannery and
commenced business with his father as a partner
under the name of B. Warren & Co., and later took
in his brothers, under the firm name of B. & H. W.
Warren & Co. Later the two Warren firms were
consolidated and the new plant, built by Berthiei
Warren was used by the new firm of W. G. Warren
& Sons. The chief product of the tannery has been
card leather for card clothing. Mr. Berthier War
ren was an active and important factor in the busi
ness until his death. He was a man of unusual abil
ity and good judgment, successful in business and
devoted to the interests of his firm, yet never a
slave of bis material interests. He died at his home,
744 Main street, Worcester, February 15, 1905.
He was liberal in his religious views. In politics
he was a Republican. While he was in Mississippi
he served on the board of registration one year,
and was clerk of the chancery court three years.
He was interested in town affairs, but never cared
for public office. He was a charter member of the
Worcester Driving Club, which for several years
furnished the main racing events in Worcester. He
was a member of the Worcester Agricultural So
ciety, and was a member of the Commonwealth
Club. In Holden he organized the Young Men's
Club, and he had a strong and wholesome influ
ence on the young men of that town.
Mr. Warren married, September 4, 1871, Eunice
Chace Boyden, born Juno 18, 1841, daughter of
Comfort and Silence (Dryden) Boyden, of Holden.
Her father was a carpenter and millwright. Chil
dren of Berthier and Eunice Chace (Boyden) War
ren were: 1. Mary Silence, born January 24, 1875,
married, October 12, 1897, Dr. Walter Herbert Rich
ardson, and they have one son, Berthier Warren
Richardson, born August 20, 1900. 2. Henry Lester,
born April 9, 18S0. died April 15, 1881.
(VII) Henry Waterman Warren, son of Water
man Goulding Warren (6), was born in Auburn,
Massachusetts, March iS, 1838. He obtained his
education in the public schools of Holden, at the
Worcester Academy, the State .Normal school at
Westfield. Williston Seminary at Easthampton,
Massachusetts, where he prepared for college, and
at Yale, whore he \vas graduated in tlie class of
1S05, having an oration appointment at the junior
examination and at commencement. He taught

170

WORCESTER COUNTY

school six months at Nashville, Tennessee. In
1866, with his brother Berthier Warren, he went
to Leake county, Mississippi, and engaged in busi
ness as a cotton planter. He remained there ten
years and was active in public affairs during the
trying and difficult period of reconstruction. He
was appointed judge of probate of Leake county in
1867 by General Adelbert Ames, acting governor
of the state. He was elected a member of the con
stitutional convention of the state, although the
whites outnumbered the negroes two to one in that
county. He was elected to the legislature in 1870
and 1871, and was speaker of the house of repre
sentatives of the state of Mississippi in 1871. He
was the chief clerk of the legislature for four years
afterward. He was appointed by Gevernor Powers
levee commissioner, whose duty it was to collect
and disburse the funds for the payment of the old
levee debt and to dispose of the tax lands held
by the state for that purpose. He was a delegate
to the Republican National Convention held at Chi
cago in 1868, when General Grant was first nomi
nated, and also to the national convention at Cin
cinnati in 1876, when General Rutherford B. Hayes
was nominated.
He returned to Holden in 1876 and has since
then been actively interested in the tannery busi
ness. At present he and his elder brother Samuel
are the only surviving partners of the well known
firm of- W. G. Warren's Sons, tanners. Mr. Warren
has shared in the prosperity of the Warren busi
ness for the past thirty years and is one of the
prominent men of the state in his line. He has been
distinguished in public affairs as well as in business.
In politics he has been active in the Republican
party, a delegate to the various congressional con
ventions and other nominating conventions of the
Republican party. He has been constantly called
to positions of trust and honor in the town and
state. He represented his district in the general
court in 1882 and 1885, and served on important
committees. He was on the board of overseers of
the poor in 1890, has been town treasurer for nine
years, was selectman in 1878-79-80-85-1902-03-04,
and for several years was chairman of the board,
has been water commissioner two years, and super
vised the installation of the Holden water works.
Mr. Warren is an active attendant of the Baptist
church in Holden and has been on the prudential
committee. He has been president of the Holden
Village Improvement Society for many years. He
is a member of the famous old Skull and Bones
Society at Yale, and of the Holden Farmers' and
Mechanics' Club. In 1905 he was elected president
of the Worcester & Holden Street Railway Com
pany, of which he has been a director from the
organization of the company.
He married, November 8, 1877, Dora Louise
Howe, born October 23, 1847, daughter of Deacon
William and Mary Ann (Jefferson) Howe, of
Holden, and granddaughter of Thomas Howe, son
of Jotham and Dorothy Howe. Mrs. Warren's
father engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods
in partnership with Theron E. Hall at the village
now known. as Jeffersonville, in Holden, and later
with M. V. B. Jefferson, as Howe & Jefferson,
which was the name of the firm for twenty-six
years. Mr. Howe was deacon of the Baptist church,
of which he was a member over sixty years; He
was for eleven years selectman of the town of
Holden, and in 1887 was representative to the gen
eral court. (See sketch of Howe family.) Children
of Henry Waterman and Dora Louise Warren are :
William Howe, born September 28, 1879, resides at
home with his parents; Blanche Louise, born July

11, 1881, married April 3, 1906, Rev. Alfred Edward
Alton, of Rome, New York; Helen Goulding, born
November 7, 1883; Waterman Goulding, born No
vember 16, 1890.
INGRAHAM FAMILY. Genealogists begin
the record of the Ingraham family with Randolph,.
the son of Ingel'ram or Ing'ram, who was sheriff
of Nottingham and Derby in the reign of Henry II
(1133-1189), as were his sons, Robert and William.
Robert Ingram, Knight, whose arms are painted
at Temple Newsam (or Newsham), England, was
of such eminence in the reign of Henry III, that
the Prior and Convent of Lenton granted to him a
yearly rent out of their lands, in Sheynton and
Nottingham, in recognition of his military services
in their defense. Temple Newsam, an immense
estate, six miles in length and four in width, sit
uated about four and a half miles, east of Leeds,
England, now called the "Ingram Estate," was first
a settlement of Knights Templar in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. After their dispersion, it was
granted by Edward III to Sir John Darcy, and
descended to Lord Thomas Darcy, who was be
headed by Henry VIII. The estate was then for
feited to the Crown. It was afterward granted by
the same monarch (1554) to Mathew, Earl of Len
nox, and here was born his .son, Henry Darnley,
who later became the husband of Mary, Queen of
Scoto. The estate descended to their son, James 1
of England, and from him to his kinsman, Esme
Stuart, Duke of Lennox,' from whom it passed to
Sir Arthur Ingram, the first of the Lords Viscount
Irwin, one of the conditions being that the room
in which Lord Darnley was born should remain
unaltered. This room is still called the "King's
Chamber." Sir Arthur, who is supposed to have been born
about 1570, was celebrated for his valor as a
cavalier. He was a near relative of Wentworth,
the celebrated Earl of Stafford. He was twice
married first to Eleanor, daughter of Sir Henry
Slingsby, of the "Red House." Second to Lady
Katherine, daughter of Thomas, Lord Viscount
Fairfax, of Gilling. Sir Arthur died in 1655. His
sons were : Henry and Arthur. (The portraits of
Sir Arthur in cavalier costume, of the First Vis
count Irwin in full armor, and of Henry, the second
Viscount Irwin in half armor, all nearly full length,
¦ were in the collection of the Bishop of California,
William Ingraham Kip, DD. LL. D, who died in
1894). Henry, the eldest son of Sir Arthur Ingram,
born between 1595 and 1600, was, at the time of the
Restoration, six years after the death of his father,
created a Peer of Scotland by Charles II, with the
title of Viscount Irwin, by letters patent, dated
May 23, 1661, as a recompense to the family for
their loyalty. He married Anne, daughter of Mon
tacute, Earl of Manchester, a leader in parliament.
The male branch in England, as descended from
Sir Henry, the second Viscount Irwin, became ex
tinct with Charles Ingram, ninth Viscount Irwin,
who died in 1778. (Burke's Extinct Peerage). His
daughter, the Marchioness of Hertford, and Lady
William Gordon, successively inherited Temple
Newsam, and from them it passed to their sister,
Mrs. Hugo Maynell, whose son took the name of
Ingram, and his descendants are the present owners
of the family ^state.
Arthur Ingram, of Barrowby, second son of Sir
Arthur, was born between 1595 and 1600. He mar
ried a daughter of Sir John Mallory about 1615;
and genealogists agree that from him is descended
the Ingraham family in the United States.

WORCESTER COUNTY

171

Edward Ingraham, the first of the name to come
to America, was born in 1617. At the age of
eighteen years, in July, 1635, he sailed in the ship
"Blessing," and settled in Salem, Massachusetts,
where he was a proprietor as early as 1638. His oc
cupation was farming.
Richard Ingram, as he apparently preferred to
spell his name, came to America between 1638 and
1642. He settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where
in 1645 he was a proprietor. Some years later he
removed to Northampton, Massachusetts, where in
1668, late in life, he married (probably not his first
marriage) Joan Rockwell Baker, daughter of Wil
liam Rockwell, and widow of Jeffrey Baker, of
Windsor, Connecticut. He contributed a sum at the
time of the general subscription for the support
of Harvard College, in 1672-3. He died in August,
1683, and his widow died September 16, 1683, both
at Northampton, Massachusetts.
Jared Ingraham, who settled first at Boston, also
went to Rehoboth, where Richard lived, and had
several children born in Swansea, near Rehoboth,
between 1665 and 1671. He left descendants in that
vicinity. Since genealogists agree that the Ingraham fam
ily in America are descended from Arthur Ingram,
of Barrowby, the second son of Sir Arthur Ingram,
it is quite probable that Edward Ingraham, who
came to America in 1635, and Richard Ingram,
who came between 1638 and 1642, were brothers,
and were sons of Arthur of Barrowby. Also that
Jared Ingram, of Boston, Rehoboth and Swansea,
and John Ingram, of Boston and Hadley, were sons
of Richard, as indicated by the fact that they spelled
the name Ingram, and were located at various times
near Richard.
(I) John Ingram, presumably a son of Richard
Ingram, mentioned above, and the pioneer ancestor
of Edward Payson Ingraham, was born in 'England
about 1642. He came to New England when a
young man, and settled first in Boston, Massachu
setts. He removed to Hadley, Massachusetts, with
two others in 1661, and was admitted a freeman
in 1863. He was a member of Joseph Kellogg's
company of Hadley, under Captain William Turner,
and was engaged in the fight at Turner's Falls,
during King Philip's war, May 19, 1676. He died
June 22, 1722.
He married, in 1664, Elizabeth Gardner, daughter
of Samuel and Elizabeth Gardner, of Hadley, Massa
chusetts. She died November 29, 1684. Their
children were : John, born June 29, 1665 ; Jadiah,
August 16, 1668; Samuel, October 8, 1670; Eben
ezer, February 3, 1673; Nathaniel, of whom later;
Jonathan, 1676; Elizabeth, May 1, 1679; Abigail,
January 12, 1683.
(II) Nathaniel Ingram, fifth son and child of
John (1), and Elizabeth (Gardner) Ingram, was
born at Hadley, Massachusetts, October 8, 1674. He
and his son Nathaniel had a grant of land at South
Hadley, which the Ingraham family retained and oc
cupied one hundred and seventy-five years. This
land was sold in the spring of 1904.
Nathaniel Ingram married, October 20, 1696,
Esther Smith, born March 31, 1674, daughter of
Chileab and Hannah (Hitchcock) Smith, of Hadley
Massachusetts. Their children were: Esther, born
July 23, 1697; Elizabeth, April 6, 1699; Abigail,
August 24, 1700; Mercy, April 15, 1702; Ebenezer,
November 18, 1703 ; Nathaniel, of whom later ; Han
nah, April 14, 1711; Jonathan, June 5, 1713; Sarah,
October 2. 1717.
(Ill) Nathaniel Ingram, second son and sixth
child of Nathaniel (2) and Esther (Smith) Ingram,

was born at Hadley, Massachusetts, May 18, 1708.
The original house built by him at South Hadley
stands today as the ell to the house that his son
Nathaniel built in the year 1800.
He married, November 11, 1742, Martha Kellogg,
born May 21, 1720, daughter of Joseph and Abigail
(Smith) Kellogg, of Hadley. The children were:
Nathaniel, of whom later ; Sarah, born September
18, 1745; Martha, November 23, 1747.
(IV) Nathaniel Ingram, eldest child of Nathaniel
(3) and Martha (Kellogg) Ingram, was born at
South Hadley, Massachusetts, August 23, 1743. He
was a prominent and prosperous citizen of his na
tive town. He was a farmer, and built the house
mentioned above on the old Ingram place. He was
one of the two largest growers of grain in that
vicinity.. He was a minute-man, a private in the
company of Captain Noah Goodwin, which marched
on the alarm at Lexington April 19, 1775. He was
also in Lieutenant Martin White's company, Colonel
Ruggles Woodbridge's regiment, in the northern de
partment, under General Gates, and marched on the
alarm at Bennington, August 17, 1777.
He married] December 12, 1769, Hannah Warren,
born August 25, 1745, died July 8, 1838, daughter
of Daniel and Martha (Coolidge) Warren, of Marl
boro, Massachusetts. She was a direct descendant of
Richard Warren, the twelfth signer of the compact
in the "Mayflower." The children of Nathaniel and
Hannah (Warren) Ingram were: Esther; born
April 19, 1770; Hannah, February 16, 1772, died
March 15, 1797; Ebenezer, November 3, 1774, died
February 19, 1844; Martha, February 2, 1777, died
October 21, 1869; Nathaniel, of whom later; Esther
(second), April 19, 1781 ; Abigail, July 2, 1784;
Artemas, March n, 1787, died 1830; Alpheus, Octo
ber 31, 1789, died June 24, 1862; Warren, October 31,
1792, died May 2, 1839.
(V) Nathaniel Ingram, second son and fifth child
of Nathaniel (4) and Hannah (Warren) Ingram,
was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, March 26,
1779, and died September 19, 1817. He was a pros
perous farmer and held various town offices in South
Hadley. He married, March 5, 1807, Ruth B. Burnett,
born June 27, 1787, died April 14, 1838, daughter
of Jonathan and Mehitable (Dickinson) Burnett, of
South Hadley. Their children were: Mary, born
November 13, 1808, died September 15, 1885; she
married, June 7, 1834, Lucius Horton Cowles, who
was born December 11, 1796, and died April' 3, 1869;
Dexter, of whom later; Lewis Burnett, May 13,
1813, died September 2, 1846; married, October 28,
1834, Sophia U. Graves, who was born February 24,
1813, and died May 19, 1850; Nathaniel, May 10,
1815, a physician of Pelham, Massachusetts, died
January 11, 1840; Ruth, August 2, 1817, died July
7, 1889; married Emery Tilton, who was born
April 24, 1817, and died January 1, 1880.
(VI) Dexter Ingraham, second child and eldest
son of Nathaniel (5) and Ruth B. (Burnett) In
gram, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts,
April 29, 1810, and died June 9, 1892. His educa
tion was acquired in the common schools _ of that
town. He was but seven years old when his father
died. He learned the trade of carpentering, and
followed this for a number of years. He also taught
singing schools in various places in the Connecticut
valley, and was choir director of the old First Church
at South Hadley for twenty-seven years. Most of
his active years, however, were spent in farming in
South Hadley. In religious belief he was a Con-
gregationalist, and in politics, first a Free Soil Ad
vocate and later a Republican. He was the first

172

WORCESTER COUNTY

Republican representative to the general court from
South Hadley, was a selectman, and assessor for a
number of years.
He married (first), April 30, 1834, Lucina Ball,
who was born January 31, 1810, daughter of Abraham
and Martha (Field) Ball, of Amherst, Massachu
setts. Abraham Ball was a farmer, born September
14, 1783, died April 16, 1837. Martha (Field)
Ball was born October 6, 1785, died March 3, 1857.
Dexter Ingraham married (second), December 25,
1869, Elizabeth M. Butts, of South Hadley, who was
born April 30, 1818, and died April 22, 1895. The
children of Dexter and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham
were : Emery Dexter, of whom later ; Albert Welling
ton, of whom later; Nathaniel Hoyt, of whom later;
William Field, of whom later; Mary Lucina, of
whom later; Edward Payson, born March 8, 1852,
died September 16, 1853.
(VII) Emery Dexter Ingraham, eldest child of
Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham, was born
at South Hadley, Massachusetts, February 6, 1835.
His education was received in the public schools of
the town. He very early displayed marked musical
ability, and commenced the study, of music under
the able tuition of his father. While still a youth
he played in the orchestras and bands of the vicinity.
At the age of seventeen he was instructor and di
rector of several military bauds. As very little music
was published in those days, the repertoire of bands
was almost wholly manuscript. It was therefore very
necessary that the director should have a thorough
knowledge of instrumentation, harmony and composi
tion. Previous to the spring of 1859 he moved to
Haydenville, Massachusetts, where he assumed the
leadership of the band. He soon went to Bath,
Maine, where he accepted a position as bookkeeper
for a firm of ship builders, and took charge of the
Bath band. He enlisted August 22, 1861, as the
regimental bandmaster of the Seventh Maine Regi
ment. This regiment was at Baltimore for eight
weeks, going thence to Kalaramo Heights, and from
there to winter quarters at Lewinsville, Virginia,
where it remained until March, 1862. At that time
this band together with many others was disbanded.
He was discharged in August, 1862, and came to
Boston. He enlisted in the navy at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, August 13, 1864, receiving his dis
charge August 26, 1865. He then joined the cele
brated P. S. Gilmore Band of Boston, in which he
had played for a time before enlisting in the navy.
He enlisted in the navy for the second time in April,
1867, and served until March 31, 1868, after which he
was again affiliated with the Gilmore Band until
1870, when he became leader of the National Band
at Taunton, Massachusetts. He retained this posi
tion for two years. He served various engagements
with the Gilmore Band while he was still in the
navy, while at Taunton, and from 1872 to 1874, when
he came to Worcester to take the leadership of the
National Band, his brother Albert having retired.
Two years later he was made leader and manager
of the organization now known as "Battery B Band"
of Worcester, Massachusetts. At that time Colonel
Fred W. Wellington was in command of the battery.
Few military bands have maintained so high a
standard of excellence as this organization, and its
engagements have extended throughout New Eng
land, the Middle States, and Canada. Mr. Ingra
ham attends the Piedmont Congregational Church.
He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of
the Republic.
He married, June 26, 1856, Martha Jane Preston,
who was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts Sep
tember 14, 1835, daughter of Joel and Mabel (Smith)

Preston, of South Hadley. Joel was born Decem
ber 23, 1801, and died September 19, 1883. He was
a farmer. Mabel (Smith) Preston was born April
1, 1806, and died October 17, 1869. The children
of Emery Dexter and Martha Jane (Preston) Ingra
ham are: Louis Albert, of whom later; Edward
Payson, of whom later.
(VIII) Louis Albert Ingraham, eldest child of
Emery Dexter (7) and Martha Jane (Preston) In
graham, was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts,
June 23, 1857, died September 16, 1906. When about
six years of age he removed with his parents to
Boston, receiving his education in the public schools
of that city and in Taunton. He began the study
of the piano and cornet while still attending school,
and became proficient as a cornetist. Coming to
Worcester in 1874, he went to work in the tuning'
department of the Taylor & Farley Organ Com
pany, having previously served an apprenticeship with
his uncle, N. H. Ingraham, in New Haven, Con
necticut. He entered into an engagement with the
Vocalion Organ Company, about 1887, and retained
this position up to his decease. He was connected
with several musical organizations, and was a prom
inent member of the Battery B Band and orchastra,
which he joined in 1880.
He married (first) Mary E. Sampson, of Wor
cester. They had one child, Charlena Louise, born'
March 25, 1880, died April 11, 1888. He married
(second) Alice Clapp, of Worcester. They had one
child, Nina D., born March 10, 1883, died Septem
ber 7, 1897.
(VIII) Edward Payson Ingraham, second and
youngest child of Emery Dexter (7) and Martha
Jane (Preston) Ingraham, was born in Haydenville,
Massachusetts, April 27, 1859. At the age of four
years he removed with his parents to Boston. He
was educated in the public schools of Boston and
Taunton. He came to Worcester in 1874 and be
gan his business career as clerk iri the Central Na
tional Bank. He was steadily advanced until 1878,
when he resigned his position on account of illness.
For a time after this he continued the study of music,
in which he had been interested since his child
hood, and for the next few years he made the
playing and teaching of the piano and violoncello
his profession. In 1883 he entered the fire insurance
business, associating himself with Edwin G. Field,
of Worcester, under the firm name of Field & Ingra
ham. In 1885 he retired from the firm, having bought
an interest in the fire insurance agency of Loren
C. Parks, and in 1888 he acquired Mr. Parks' in
terest and afterward conducted the business in his
own name. He was elected secretary of the Wor
cester Board of Underwriters in 1889, which posi
tion he held in connection with his insurance busi
ness. In 1895 he sold his insurance business to
Alexander C. Munroe, of Worcester, and thereafter
devoted his entire attention to the interests of the
Worcester Board of Underwriters until January 1,
1903, when he resigned his position to enter into
partnership with Mr. Munroe, the firm name being
A. C. Munroe & Ingraham. The agency is one of
the largest and best known in Worcester county. Mr.
Ingraham is a director of the Home Co-Operative
Bank and the Thule Music Hall Association. Mr.
Ingraham is a Republican, and a member of the
Piedmont Congregational Church and parish. He
is also a member of the following organizations:
The Congregational Club, Commonwealth Club, and
the Worcester County Mechanics Association.
He married, June 23, 1884, Rose Eva Field, born
in Sunderland, Massachusetts, August 25, 1858,
daughter of Edwin Graves and Nancy S. (Clark)
Field, of Worcester. Edwin Graves Field was born

WORCESTER COUNTY

173

in Leverett, Massachusetts, March 24, 1823, died
August 22, 1899; Nancy S. Clark Field was jborn
in Sunderland, Massachusetts, November 5, 1822,
died May 14, 1885. The children of Edward Pay-
son and Rose Eva (Field) Ingraham were : Wini
fred Rose, born March 17, 1889, a student in the
Worcester high school; Richard Edward, born Feb
ruary 27, 1902, died March 22, 1903; Roger Emory,
born May 6, 1904, died February 25, 1905.
(VII) Albert Wellington Ingraham, second child
and son of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingra
ham, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, No
vember 22, 1838. He was educated in the common
schools of the town until the age of nineteen years,
when he went to Hazardville, Connecticut, to take
charge of the brass band at that place. He re
mained there until the spring of i860, when he went
to Newburyport. Massachusetts, to take the leader
ship of the band there and to teach music. He en
listed in August, 1861, as musician in the band,
Seventh Maine Infantry, under the leadership of his
brother, Emery D. Ingraham. After the band was
discharged from the service, in the spring of 1862,
he returned to his old home at South Hadley. He
went to Newbern, North Carolina, in 1863, in charge
of the Forty-fourth Regiment Band, returning home
with the regiment in June. He went to Worcester
in 1867 to tune organs for the Taylor & Farley Organ
Company, then located on Herman street, and was
connected with this company for twenty years. He
was also the leader of the National Brass Band from
the time he came to Worcester until 1874, when he
resigned and was succeeded by his brother. In 1886 he
entered the employ of the Vocalion Organ Company,
Summer street, under Bailey Hamilton, the English
inventor of the vocalion, and remained after the busi
ness was bought by Mason & Risch, in 1889, until
1894, when he accepted a position with the Taber
Organ Company as head tuner, which position he
held for eight years. When the Taber business was
sold he returned to the Vocalion Organ Company,
where he has since been employed. He was formerly
the director of the Worcester Orchestral Union, and
a member of the Schumann Club. He attends the
Piedmont Congregational Church and is a Repub
lican. He is a member of George H. Ward Post,
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic.
He' married (first). November 29, i860, Sarah
Louisa Preston, born May 9, 1840, died March 19,
1874. daughter of Gardner and Amanda (Smith)
Preston, of South Hadley. Gardner Preston was
born March 31, 1798, and died January 24, 1876.
He was a farmer, and was selectman and assessor
of the town of South Hadley. Amanda (Smith)
Preston was born January 7, 1805, and died Sep
tember 24, 1878. Mr. Ingraham married (second),
January 4, 1882, Caroline Lucinda Nutting, con
nected for many years with Worcester church choirs.
She was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, April 18,
1850, and was the daughter of Calvin Ward and
Mary (Poland) Nutting, of North Brookfield. Mr.
Nutting was born July 11, 1817, died September 7,
1896: he was a farmer and shoemaker, and as "Dea
con Nutting" was well known for fifty years. Mrs.
Nutting was born April 20, 1822, and died January
18. J906. The only child of Albert Wellington and
Sarah Louise (Preston) Ingraham is Nellie Louise,
born December 10, 1863. She is a pianist of note.
Was a pupil of G. Arthur Adams, B. J. Lang and
Edward Mac Dowell.
(VII) Nathaniel Hoyt Ingraham. third son and
child of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham,
was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, June 4,
1841. He received his education in the common
schools of that place, finishing at the age of nine

teen in the high school. He then went to New
York city and took charge of a dormitory in the New
York Juvenile Asylum, a position which he held
until January 1, 1862, when he returned to South
Hadley. In the following August he enlisted in Com
pany F, Forty-fourth Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteers, under Colonel Francis E. Lee, and was
attached with his regiment to the Eighteenth Army
Corps. He went to Newbern, North Carolina, where
he was in the service for nine months. He was in
engagements at Goldsboro, Whitehall, Plymouth and
Little Washington, and was mustered out June 18,
1863. Upon his return to Boston he found em
ployment in the organ factory of Mason and Hamlin,
and learned the trade of "tuner." After three and
a half years with this Boston firm he came to Wor
cester to work for the Taylor & Farley Organ Com
pany, where he remained for two and a half years. He
went to New Haven in 1868 to work for the New
Haven Organ Company, and remained with that com
pany six years. He finally returned to Worcester and
entered into partnership with William B. laber to
manufacture organs under the name of the Wor
cester Organ Company, later the Taber Organ Com
pany. The product of this firm is known all over the
country, their chapel and parlor organs rariking
among the best. The Taber Organ Company was
established in 1872 as the Worcester Organ Com
pany. Shortly afterward Mr. Taber bought the busi
ness and Mr. Ingraham became his partner. The
Taber Organ Company was organized in 1877, and
for many years Mr. Ingraham was president and
AVilliam N. Taber was treasurer. Mr. Ingraham re
sides at No. 4 Woodbine street, and since the organ
business was sold a few years ago, has managed
a -manufacturing company on Keese street. He has
been connected with many musical organizations,
and was a member of the old Worcester Orchestral
Union and the Schumann Club. He is a member
of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of
the Republic. He attends a Congregational church
and in politics is a Republican.
He married, September 15, 1868, Martha A. Put
nam, born June 21, 1849, daughter of Ephraim and
Harriet (Speare) Putnam, of Boston. Mr. Putnam
was for many years a stage carpenter at the Boston
Theatre. The children of Nathaniel Hoyt and Mar
tha A. (Putnam) Ingraham are: Rena May, born
August 2, 1869, married George J. Legasey, of Wor
cester; he is station agent at Lincoln Square, and
they have one child, Ruth Geraldine; William Field,
of whom later; Blanche Nathalie, born October 31,
1873, married Frank Robbins; Myrtie Dexter, born
October 29, 1879; Nathaniel, bom July 26, 1888,
died July 29, 1888.
(VIII) William Field Ingraham, second child
and eldest son of Nathaniel Hoyt (7) and Martha
A. (Putnam) Ingraham, was born in New Haven,
Connecticut, November 6. 1870. He removed to Wor
cester, Massachusetts, with his parents, in 1874. His
education was acquired in the public schools of Wor
cester, and after graduating from the high school
he began his business- career as clerk for a firm
conducting a fire insurance business. Later he was
appointed a special agent for the Phoenix Assurance
Company of England for the state of New Jersey, and
he resides in New York city. He married, January
25, 1898, Maud N. Hayford, of Worcester, Massa
chusetts. (VII) William Field Ingraham. fourth son and
child of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham,
was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, August
26. 1843. He was educated in the common and
high schools of that town. Early in life he began
the study of music, and soon displayed unusual

174

WORCESTER COUNTY

musical talent. He became proficient in playing the
piana, violoncello and organ and gave in'struction on
those instruments. When he was but fourteen years
of age he was the organist of the Old First Con-
gregationalist Church of South Hadley. This posi
tion he resigned when he enlisted in the spring of
1861 in Company ,F, Fourty-fourth Massachusetts
Volunteers. While still in the service he died in
the hospital at Newbern, North Carolina, after a
brief illness, January 24, 1863. He was unmarried.
In a family of exceptional musical ability, he is
pronounced by general consent to have been the most
gifted of all.
(VII) Mary Lucina Ingraham, fifth child and
only daughter of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball)
Ingraham, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts,
November 16, 1845. She received her education in
the public schools of South Hadley, and at the age
of seventeen years began the study of music. She
was a pupil of Madame Anna Bishop, of New York
city, and later of Madame Rudersdorff, of Boston.
She was the leading soprano in various churches in
Boston, Worcester, Norwich and New Haven; has
now retired from active work and is living in Wor
cester, Massachusetts.
She married (first), May 18, 1875, George Arthur
Adams, born November 13, 1848, died October 28,
1889. He was a gifted musician and a noted organ
ist; was the son of Hon. Charles Adams, Junior,
and his wife, Eliza Cummings, of North Brook
field, Massachusetts. She married (second), Octo
ber 3, 1893, Charles W. Delvey, of Worcester, born
January 13, 1848, died April 29, 1903. The chil
dren of George A. and Mary Lucina (Ingraham)
Adams were: Arthur Ingraham Adams, born No
vember 26, 1883, died June 29, 1905 ; Mabel Cum
mings Adams, born May 9, 1886, died March 8,
1888. JOHN WILSON BISHOP, of Worcester,
Massachusetts, whose name has been identified for
thirty years with some of the largest building opera
tions in the United States and Canada, was born in
Prince Edward's Island, May 29, 1846. His father
was William Bishop, a ship carpenter, who migrated
from Plymouth, England, in 1819, and was for
many years employed in the dockyards at St. John's,
cultivating also a small farm at White Sands in the
south of the island. He married, March 27, 1838,
Sarah Hooper, daughter of William Hooper, who
was also of English birth. They had nine children:
Rachael, born February 12, 1839, married, June 30,
1861, W. M. White, resides at Attleboro, Massachu
setts ; Elizabeth, born December 8, 1840, died in in
fancy; Elizabeth, born July 14,. 1842, died 1857;
Anne, born June 1, 1844, married Jonathan Davison,
resides at Lonsdale, Rhode Island ; John Wilson, born
May 29, 1846 ; Sarah, born May 5, 1843, unmarried,
resides at Lonsdale, Rhode Island; William, born
August 17, 1850, resides at Lonsdale, Rhode Island;
Maria, born July 20, 1852, married Daniel Andrews,
resides at East Providence, Rhode Island; Nathaniel
Smart, born November 29, 1854, married Annie
Tucker, of Smithfield, Rhode Island, resides at
Providence. In 1857 the family removed to Lonsdale, a mill
village in Rhode Island, where, following the custom
of the times, John was put to work in the cotton
mills. Here he worked until his fourteenth year
when he left the mill to learn the carpenter's trade.
He was first with Ezra Bliss, of Pawtucket, with
whom he spent two years. Later he went to Provi
dence and worked a year for John and Charles Hull,
contractors of that city. During this time his op
portunities for schooling were very slight ; altogether

he had not more than a year's regular instruction.
But with the same tireless energy and perseverance
which in later years characterized all his great opera
tions he applied himself evenings and during every
spare moment to laying the foundations for that
remarkable fund of practical knowledge • and in
formation which was to win for him a place among
the most successful organizers and projectors of his
generation. Mastering his trade Mr. Bishop began to look
about him for a more promising field and in 1867
decided to make Worcester his home. There his
first emoloyer was H. W. Eddy, whose shop was on
Norwich street. Later he worked for George and
Amos Bigelow, for William Sibley and for Thomas
G. Learned and George S. Clough, both while they
were partners and for each afterwards. In 'the fall
of 1874 Mr. Bishop went into business for himself.
His shop was on Central street, and here he took
his first contract, which was to build brick stables
for Harrington Brothers on Central street. Next
he built a residence for Thomas Eaton on Boynton
street and one for C. S. Goddard and W. B. Fay
on Irving street. The business was successful from
the start, and in 1879 he entered into partnership
with^ George H. Cutting under the firm name of
Cutting & Bishop. For fourteen years this firm stood
among the foremost in Massachusetts in the extent
of its operations. In May, 1893, the partnership
was dissolved and Mr. Bishop continued in busi
ness alone under the name of J. W. Bishop & Co.
In 1899 the business had assumed proportions which
' induced Mr. Bishop to incorporate it the better to
handle the wide territory over which he was now
operating, and under the corporate name of the'j.
W. Bishop Co. the business has since been conducted
with offices in Worcester, Providence, Boston arid
New York.
The rapid growth of great business enterprises
in America during the past fifty years has become
so common as to be accepted as a matter of course.
But it is_ a mistake to overlook the fundamental
truths_ which govern success, and the career of John
W. Bishop contains a valuable lesson as Illustrating
that individual effort and individual worth must,
after all, remain its true basis. A business such as
he is the head of today can never owe its upbuild
ing to anything but the personal factor. What it is
he made it. He worked hard and he worked late,
and he never ceased to learn and apply. He learned
from his triumphs and he learned from his defeats,
and his lessons became a part of his capital for the
future. In like manner he capitalized his rare judg
ment of men, his foresight, his faculty of quick and
unerring decision ; all his own ability and the abilities
of those he gathered around him he made a working
force of and _ directed it steadily at the objective
point. Thus, in one word, the secret of his business
is effectiveness, and the secret of its effectiveness
is its organization, and here his powers are at their
highest. Whenever he undertakers a great building
project he first organizes it in every department and
detail until the whole becomes an engine with its
potentiality centered under his hand. He reduces
every detail to a science and then studies it in its
relation to every other detail, and thus mastering
them all comes to know and understand the whole
as a man knows and understands the five fingers of
his hand and how to use them.
Although he has devoted thirty years to busi
ness and has reached the age of sixty success has
not abated Mr. Bishop's efforts nor has its rewards
spoiled his energy. He gives to his business today
the same constant care and attention as in the early
years when he was struggling for recognition. Then

> f f

WORCESTER COUNTY

i75

the siicooss of his first undertaking, though amount
ing lo hut a few thousand dollars, meant the good
or bad beginnings of his reputation, and il is only
too natural that the young contractor should have
exerted himself to the utmost; but today with a
business running' annually into the millions ho is as
jealous of the maintenance of that reputation as
lie was thirty years ago of its building up, and
lo that end the successful man of sixty feels him
self as much bound by his business and his obliga
tions to his clients as he was as a struggling be
ginner. A recognized expert in matters of con
struction Mr. Bishop's opinion and judgment are
naturally widely sought, and many of the best known
architects and engineers in the country are glad to
supplement their technical knowledge with his wide
and practical experience, and in the exercise of this
high responsibility, as in all his dealings, Mr. Bishop's
opinions have never been known to be influenced by
private motives.
While Mr. Bishop's opportunities to become in
terested in various enterprises have naturally been
numerous during the many years of his active busi
ness life, it has been his rule to confine his activ
ities almost wholly to his own business or to indus
tries closely connected thereto, lie has organized
at different times a number of subsidiary companies
to engage in the manufacture of products used in his
own business, and these have been without excep
tion highly successful. He is treasurer of The
Clason Architectural Metal Works, president of
the Rhode Island Brownsionc Works and of the
Rhode Island Machine Co,, Providence enterprises,
and is also interested in a number of Worcester's
leading industries, though not actively. He is well
known among Masons and Odd Fellows, belonging
to Athelslau Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and to Eureka
Chapter, R. A. M. He is a member of Worcester
Lodge, 1. O. O. P.. and of W'aelmsett Encampment.
lie is a member of Ihe Worcester County Mechanics'
Association and also of the Worcester Board of
Trade. He and his family attend the Pilgrim
Congregational Church.
Mr. Bishop married, January 4, 1870, Sarah A.
Foster, daughter of Thomas R. and Sarah Jane
(Fales) Foster, of Holden, Massachusetts. Their
children are: Mina, born January 24, 1871, died
in infancy; William Thomas, January 25, 187J;
Frederick Herbert, November 10. 1874, died in in
fancy; Florence Jane, August 24, 1875; Marion
Edith, August 16, 1S77, married, March 4, 1807,
Thomas H. Coo, of Worcester, they have three chil
dren, Dorothy, John Bishop and Thomas Hamilton;
John Warren, January 14, 1880; Sarah Adelaide,
July 6, 1881 ; Alice Maria, July 7, 1884. died in in
fancy: Nathaniel Smart, January 31, 1880, died
April 13, 1904. Mr. Bishop and his family reside
at uu Main street. William T. and John'W., Jr.,
are assoeiated with their father in business, Wil
liam T. being vice-president of the company, lie is
likewise prominent in Masonic circles being a mem
ber of Aihelstan Lodge, A. F. aud A. M„ Worcester
Chapter, R. A. M. and Hiram Council, R. and S.
M. Florence J. has taught in the public schools
at Providence, Rhode Island, but is now residing
with her parents.
Tbe J, W. Bishop Co.'s offices and mill are
located at 107 and 109 Foster street. Here all the
wood and ornamental iron work is gotten out,
while the structural iron and stone work is g-otten
out at the Providence plants. The Providence of
fice is located at 417 Butler Exchange and is in
charge of O. D. Purington. The Boston office is in
the Essex building at 683 Atlantic avenue, and is in
charge of Heywood S. French. The New York

office is at 353 Fifth avenue, and is in charge of
Robert F, Brown. Tho present officers of the com
pany are: J. W. Bishop, president; William T.
Bishop, tirst vice-president; 11. S. French, second
vice-president; Herbert N. Loach, treasurer, and
Robert F. Brown, secretary.
The monuments to John \V. Bishop's long and
successful career as a builder are numerous and
enduring. The costly palaces of Newport and
Lenox, the great government, slate and municipal
buildings throughout the country which he has
erected, will represent to the next generation both
his genius and its reward; but as enduring will be
tlie story of his rise from humble beginnings to a
foremost place in the business world, a story whioh
will worthily add to a record of achievement in
which the history of industrial progress in America
is peculiarly rich, and the lesson of it will remain
an incentive and an influence for good so long as
pluck, ability and success are recognized and ad
mired by the youth and manhood of America.
FALES FAMILY. James Fales (1), was the
emigrant ancestor of Mrs. John W. Bishop, daughter
of Thomas R. and Sarah J. (Fales) Foster. James
Fales, or Vales as the name was often spelled,
came from England to Dedham, Massachusetts, in
tlie year 1650. There in 1654, he married Ann
Brock. They had seven children, three sons and
four daughters. Their sons were: James, born
July 4, 1050, settled at Walpole, married Dorothy
Fisher and has many descendants tliere ; John, Octo
ber 0, 1O58. married Eunity Hawes, settled at
Wrentham, where his descendants still live; Eben
ezer, February 1, 1001, settled ou the old homestead
at Dedham. (II) Nehemiah Fales, son of Ebenezer Fales
(1), was born at Dedham in 1695. He married
Mary Carew, of Dedham, January 31, 1720. Their
recorded children are : Nehemiah, died November
9, 1720; Nehemiah, born November 8, 1724.
(1111 Nehemiah Fales, son of Nehemiah (..:">,
born November 8, 1724, married Susanna Searlos.
at Dedham, June 27, 1745. Their children were:
Lomotil, born August 10, 1747; Nehemiah, February
1. 1749, married Sarah Whiting, October 10, 177^ ;
Ebenezer, died April 20, 1761. an infant.
(IV) Lemuel Fales, son of Nehemiah Fales
I '1, settled at Holden, Massachusetts, about 1786 and
died there February 14, 1820. His wife Elizabeth
died February 4, 1838. Their children were: Sarah,
born in Dedham. June 16, 1775 ; Eleanor, born in
Dedham. December 16, 1777. married Joel John-
sou, of Pelliam. Massachusetts, February 7, 1808:
Betsey, born in Dedham, June 4, 1779, married David
Kimball, at Holden, Massachusetts, December 26,
1804; Ambrose, born in Dedham, December -'8.
1780, married Amy Newell, March 8, 1804; Hannah,
born in Dedham, September 7, 1782 : Lemuel, born
in Dedham, March n, 1785. settled in Alburg. Ver
mont; Anna, born in Holden. April 14, 1787. mar
ried Hugh Johnson, of Henderson, New York.
December 5, 1S15 ; Samuel Damon, born in Holden,
June 15, 1780: David, bom in Holden, May 17,
1791 ; John, born in Holden, May 28 1703 : Leonard,
horn in Holden, March 16, 1708. married Sarah
Gray, April 17, 1S34, settled iu Holden, died Feb
ruary 21, 1830.
^V) Ambrose Fales, son of Lemeul Fales (4),
married Amy Newell and bad six children : Sarah
jane, born at Holden : Leonard, married Sally Gray ;
Ira, married Adaline King, settled at Monson.
Massachusetts; Mary married Porter Tower, re
moved to Minnesota, died there ; Susan, died young :
Sarah Jane, bom November 18, 1827, married

176

WORCESTER COUNTY

Thomas R. Foster, December 24, 1845; they were
the parents of Mrs. John W. (Foster) Bishop.
Lemuel Fales, of Dedham, Massachusetts, was a
private in Captain Joseph Guild's company of min
ute men in Colonel Greaton's regiment, which as
sembled on the Lexington alarm April, 1775. He
was also in Captain George Gould's company, Col
onel Paul Sargent's regiment, August I, 1775. He
was in Captain Joseph Lewis' company, Colonel
William Mcintosh's regiment in 1776. He was a
corporal in Captain Timothy Stow's company, Col
onel Ephraim Wheelock's regiment at Ticonderoga,
1776. He was in Captain Robert Smith's company
Lieutenant- Colonel Symmes' regiment in 1778.
FOSTER FAMILY. Hon. Samuel Foster, who
was born in England in 1619 and settled in Ded
ham, Massachusetts, was the progenitor of the Fos-
ted family to which Mrs. John W. Bishop belongs.
He married in Dedham, Massachusetts,' May 30,
1647. Esther Kemp, daughter of Edward Kemp, of
Wenham. She died April 16, 1702. He removed
to Wenham in 1650, and afterwards to Chelmsford,
which town he represented in the general court in
1679. While in Wenham he was a member of the
Rev. John Fiske's church there. He was one of the
petitioners for the incorporation of the new town
on the west side of the Concord river, afterwards
called Chelmsford, and when the church was organ
ized there he was chosen its first deacon. The
Foster homestead was on the lower edge of the
northeast corner of Robbins Hill not far from the
center of the village, now or lately the home of
George A. Parkhurst, the town clerk. He also
had other grants of land. In 1666 he was styled
lieutenant. In that year he was appointed with
two others to lay out land and to view fences. He
and his son Samuel and his grandson Samuel pur
chased of Jonathan Tyng in 1675 his interest in five
hundred acres of land in Wamesit on the Concord
and Merrimac rivers, twenty acres of which they
gave to encourage the erection of Hale's mill. In
1675, in King Philip's war, the whites in reprisal
butchered the old men left at home by the Indians.
Deacon Foster opposed this act and sought to have
it punished, but without success. He died July 10,
1702, aged eighty-three.
The children of Samuel and Esther (Kemp)
Foster were : Hannah, born 1649, married, June 18,
1705, Benjamin Barrett, of Chelmsford; Samuel, 1650,
married Sarah Keyes; Eli, 1653, married Judith
Keyes; Edward, April 30, 1657; Esther, Novem
ber 1, 1659, married, July 1, 1681, Abraham Foster,
of Andover, Massachusetts ; Andrew April 30, 1662,
died December 20, 1671 ; Abraham, October 27, 1664,
died December 7, 1671 ; Nathaniel, October 14, 1667,
married Frances Lovejoy; John, September 28, 1671,
died December 13, 1671.
(II) Samuel Foster, son of Samuel Foster (1),
was born at Wenham in 1650. He married, May 28,
1678, Sarah Keyes, daughter of Solomon Keyes.
She was born in 1657 and died in 1738. He died
July 21, 1730. Their children were : Anna, born
December 3, 1684; Joseph, November 14, 1686, died
January 29, 1689; Edward, January 29, 1689, mar
ried Remembrance Fletcher ; Moses, October 4, 1692 ;
Sarah, August 14, 1694; Andrew, March 28, 1695,
married Mary Blodgett; Jean, October 28, 1696,
married, April 8, 1717, John Senter, one of the pro
prietors of the Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry,
New York; she died there in 1765; Samuel, died
December 17, 1698; Samuel, died February 18, 1718;
Joseph, married Thankful Walker; Elizabeth,
spinster, made Robert Foster, son of her brother
Joseph, her heir, November 11, 1734.

(Ill) Joseph Foster, son of Samuel Foster (2),
married Thankful Walker. She was born October
11, 1698, died January 8, 1750. He died May 4,
1741. Their children were : Robert, born January
4, 1735, died April 14, 1737; Leonard (twin), July
12, 1738, married Esther Blodgett; Robert (twin),
July 12, 1738, married Mary Emery; Benoni, January
23, 1733, died young; Sampson, March 16, 1736,
died young; Abigail, July 6, 1741, married October
17, 1761, Charles Barron.
(IV) Robert Foster, son of Samuel Foster (3),
was born at Chelmsford, July 12, 1735. He married,
November 8, 1764, Mary Emery, born May 1, 1740,
died June 21, 1787. He died September 16, 1784.
Their children were: Thankful, born March 9, 1764;
Joseph, March, 1766, married Mary Adams ; Jacob,
May 1, 1768, died September 8, 1791 ; Noah, Novem
ber 3, 1778; Samuel Emery, March 19, 1781, mar
ried Mary Byam.
(V) Joseph Foster, son of Robert Foster (4),
was born at Chelmsford, March 4, 1766. He mar
ried there August 22, 1789, Mary Adams. Their
children were : Moses, born February 14, 1790;
Mary, May 9, 1792; Adams, May 6, 1794; Sarah,
May 3, 1796; Franklin, November 6, 1798; Rufus,
January 31, 1801 ; Almira, September 13, 1803; Calvin,
December 6, 1805.
(VI) "Rufus Foster, son of Joseph Foster (5),
was born at Chelmsford, January 31, 1801. He mar
ried Nancy Torrey, daughter of Abner and Sarah
(Hobart) Torrey and granddaughter of Abner and
Lydia Beal Torrey^ of Weymouth. Her great-grand
father, Jonathan Torrey, was born October 29, 171 1,
at Weymouth, died April 9, 1784. Abner Torrey,
Sr., was a corporal in the French and Indian wars.
Abner Torrey, Jr., was a private in Captain Edward
Cobb's company, Colonel Edward Mitchell's regi
ment in 1775. Rufus Foster and his wife went to
Alabama to live and their three children were born
there. After his death his wife married John S.
Haven (June, 1828), and had two children; Ann
Maria and Elmira. She married the third time in
1839 PI. B. Brewster. She was born in 1800 and
died in 1843. The children of Rufus Foster were:
Rufus, Sarah and Thomas R.
(VII) Thomas R. Foster, son of Rufus Foster
(6), was born in Mobile, Alabama, May 16, 1822.
He returned to the north and married there Sarah
Jane Fales, of Holden, Massachusetts. Their chil
dren were: Sarah Ann, born September 18, 1849;
Elmira Jane, September 9, 1857, died 1869.
(VIII) Sarah A. Foster, daughter of Thomas
R. Foster (7), was born September 18, 1849. She
married, January 4, 1870, John Wilson Bishop, of
Worcester, Massachusetts.
SAMUEL WATERS FOSKETT. Ebenezer
Foskett, son of Samuel and Sarah (Hunt) Foskett,
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, March 8,
1787. He was a farmer and spent his whole life
on the old Foskett homestead in Charlton, where
Ebenezer Foskett, of Stoneham, settled in 1739, and
where Dan Foskett lives now (1905). He died
in Charlton, October 14, i860. He married in West
Sutton, July 4, 1820, Anna Waters. (See sketch
of Waters family.) She was born in West Sutton,
May 20, 1791, and continued to live on the old place
after the death of her husband until her death,
September 23, 1875, in Charlton. Their children
were: 1. Harriet, born April 3, 1821, died at
Webster, June 17, 1894; married, 1851, Reuben T.
Eddy, son of Joel and Sally (Thurston) Eddy,
born in Oxford, December 7, 1811. He had a
meat market in Webster; died in Webster, July
3, 18.76. Married (first), May 24, 1837, Dulcinea

WORCESTER COUNTY

177

Converse, of Spencer, who died March 10, 1846, had
three children : Anna Maria, Byron Edgar, Lewis
Elmer. 2. Samuel Waters, born December 29, 1823.
3, Tamma, born August 15, 1825, died at Charlton,
April 30, 1855 ; married, 1853, Whitman B. Potter,
a Charlton farmer; he went west in 1856, settled in
LaCrescent, Minnesota, had by this his first marriage
Amelia Tamma, born at Charlton, March 24, 1855,
married, 1872, George Martin. 4. Mercy, born June
25, 1826, engaged 111 sale of millinery and tancy
goods at Southbridge, Massachusetts; in 1858 re
moved to Worcester; unmarried. 5. John, born
March 28, 1828, died at Webster, June 6, 1898, mar
ried, 1869, Betsey A. Dockham ; he was a farmer at
Charlton, removed to Lake Village, New Hamp
shire, 1872, lived at Webster again later and died
there ; his children were : Annie Augusta, Harrison
Brown, John Waters, Herbert. 6. Samantha, born
November 1, 1829, for some years had a millinery
store at Webster; later kept house for her brother
John and brought up his children; removed 1902 to
North Wilmington, Massachusetts ; unmarried. 7.
Dan, born February 11, 1833, married in Worcester,
September 26, 1862, Millia Antoinette Davis, daugh
ter of Samuel and Chloe (Simpson) Davis, who
was born in Paxton, February 14, 1843, is the fifth
Foskett in direct line to occupy the old homestead
of Ebenezer Foskett, bought in 1734; has twelve
children. 13. Eliza, born April 26, 1835, taught
school some years and afterward was a nurse in
Webster and Lowell; removed in 1896 to Worcester,
where she lived with her sister Mercy and died
there October 30, 1902.
Samuel Waters Foskett, son of Ebenezer Foskett,
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, December
29, 1823. He went to school in his native town and
at Nicholls Academy in Dudley. For seventeen
years he taught school in winter and among other
schools in which he taught were those of Sutton
street, Southbridge, Dudley and Charlton. At the
time that daguerreotypes came in vogue, some sixty
years ago, he went to Boston and learned the process.
For three years he made photography his business.
It was the custom at first for the photographer to
move from town to town, much as the itinerant
picture saloon man was doing a few decades ago
and is doubtless still doing in some sections. Mr.
Foskett was located in Framingham, South Fram
ingham and Charlton. Doubtless the daguerreo
types that he took in those years are the treasured
possessions of many families to-day. The old silver
plates are as fresh and good now as when first
taken. There was not much money in the business
and most of the early photographers took up some
other line of work before the later processes made
photography cheap enough to be popular. Mr.
Foskett had learned the trade of carpenter and had
a natural aptitude for the use of tools. He liked
wood-working and eventually entered the business.
He moved to Webster in 1869. He went to work
for Palmer & Kent, manufacturers of sash and
blinds. John D. Putnam subsequently bought the
shop and Mr. Foskett worked for him nine years.
He was a first-class mechanic and wood worker.
He built a house at Webster. Mr. Foskett- stood
well in the estimation of his neighbors. He was
elected member of the school committee while in
Charlton. In 1888 he removed to Worcester and has
since resided there. He has built several^ houses
in Worcester, but has not been in active business or
employment there. He is a Republican in politics
and is a member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal
Church. He married in Charlton, December 8, 1855,
Georgianna Mason, daughter of Ephraim Hubbard
and Prudence (Hills) Mason, born in Putney, Ver

mont, May 9, 1830, and died in Worcester, January
27, 1892. Their children, all born in Charlton,
were : 1. Dr. George Mason, born October 26, 1856.
2. Ann, born December 8, i860, taught for many
years in the public schools of Worcester, was later
a music teacher, married, July 29, 1905, Charles R.
Stobbs, of Webster, Massachusetts. 3. Eben, born
January 14, 1864.
Dr. Eben Foskett, son of Samuel Waters
Foskett, was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, Jan
uary 14, 1864. He was educated at Webster high
school and Nicholls Academy, Dudley. He learned
the printer's trade and for several years was assist
ant foreman of the Worcester Evening Gazette
composing room. While working at his trade he
qualified himself to enter the medical school of
New York University, from which he graduated
M. D. in 1894, and after two years service as interne
at Bellevue Hospital began the practice of his pro
fession in New York city, where he has been lo
cated since. He is at present instructor in diseases
of women at the University and Bellevue Hospital
Medical School in connection with his extensive
surgical practice. He married in Worcester, October
14, 1897, Flora Gertrude Fay, adopted daughter of
Winthrop Baxter and Elizabeth (Watson) Fay,
She was born in Jamaica Plain, Boston, March 10,
1868. Their children, born in New York city, are:
Winthrop Fay, born February 4, 1899; Elizabeth,
February 8, 1900; Eben Maxwell, June, 1904.
(I) Richard Waters, who came to Salem in
1636, was the emigrant ancestor of Stephen Waters
Foskett, of Worcester. -He was the second son and
third child of James and Phebe (Manning) Waters.
' He was born in St. Botolph, without Aldgate, London,
and baptized March 3, 1604. His father, James
Waters, was an iron-monger in St. Botolph. His
will was proven in 1617. His mother, Phebe Man
ning, was the daughter of George Manning, gent,
of Downe, Kent county, and descended from the
sister of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. His father
was buried February 2, 1617, and the widow married,
February 23, 1618, William Plasse, a gunsmith.
Richard Waters was also a gunsmith. Richard Waters
came to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, with his
mother and her second husband. He was admitted
a freeman May 22, 1639. He was a proprietor of the
town. His wife Joyce was admitted to the church
May 23, 1641. He had a tavern in Salem in 1668.
The town of Salem voted to buy Roger Conant's house
and land for William Plasse because they wished
him to stay and follow his trade of gunsmith in
that town. This place is opposite Derby square and
the Town Hall. Plasse, or Place, as the name is
spelled now, died April 15, 1646. Waters made his
will July 16, 1676, and it was proved November
28, 1677. The children of Richard Waters were :
Mary, married Clement English, August 27, 1667;
James, born in England, married Mary Stalworth,
March 24, 1669-70; William; Martha (daughter re
corded born November 27, 1640) ; John, ma.rried
Sarah Tompkins, August 1, 1663 ; Elizabeth' or Eliza,
baptized February 26, 1642-3, died unmarried Feb
ruary 4, 1662-3 ," Abigail, baptized May 18, 1645, mar
ried William Punchard, October 4, 1669; Ezekiel,
baptized April 9, 1647; Susanna, baptized April 1,
1649; married Benedict Pulsifer, February, 1673;
Hannah, baptized January 30, 1652-3, married Joseph
Striker, April 10, 1673 ; Sarah, married, February 26,
1651, Joshua Ray; Phebe, married, October 11,
1658, Thomas West; she died April 16, 1674.
(II) John Waters, son of Richard Waters (1),
was born in Salem, baptized there November 13, 1669.
He lived in North Field, now North Salem. He was
a farmer and owned land on Royal Side, now Beverly.

i78

WORCESTER COUNTY

He died in Salem, February, 1707. He married,
June 1, 1663,' Sarah Tompkins, daughter of John and
Margaret Tompkins, of Salem, probably grand
daughter of Ralph Tompkins, of Salem. She was
baptized November 1, 1642, and died in Salem. He
made his will February 14, 1706-7, and it was proved
March, 1707-8. His children were: Richard and
John (twins), born the last of September, 1664,
and died within two weeks ; John, born July 4,
1665, married Mary  ; Sara, born August 30,
1667, married John Symonds, March 3, 1689-90;
Richard, born November 13, 1669, married Martha
Read, March 3, 1697-8; Nathaniel, born' February
6, 1671, married, December 12, 1699, Elizabeth King;
Samuel, born March 29, 1674, died aged five weeks;
Samuel, born May 6, 1675 probably died young;
Elizabeth, born January 10, 1677-8, administration
granted on her estate to brother John November 13,
1734; Abigail, baptized May 6, 1683, married, April
6, 1704, John Jacobs.
(Ill) Richard Waters, son of John Waters (2),
was born in Salem, November 13, 1669, died at
Oxford while on a visit, February, 1725-6. He re
moved in 1720 from Salem to Sutton, Massachu
setts. With Saumel Rich, of Bellingham, he pur
chased, December 8, 1720, a tract of land at Sut
ton of about one thousand acres of William Taylor,
of Dorchester, Massachusetts, executor of the
Stoughton estate. This tract, annexed to the town
of Sutton in 1724, is now known as West Sutton
and two-thirds of it belonged to Waters. Waters
bought more land near Manchaug pond of Ezekiel
Lewis, William Dudley and" Nathaniel Byfield. He
built a house at the northeast corner of . Sutton
street and Millbury road. The old well remains
in use ; the house has long since disappeared. He
was "desired" by the church in Oxford to become a
member and deacon, but did not comply. He prob
ably joined the Sutton church by letter. He
made his will, then living adjacent ..to Ox
ford, county of Suffolk (now Worcester coun
ty), and it was proved February 17, 1725-6.
He then owned land in Salem. He married, March
3, 1697-8, Martha Read, of Salem. His children, all
born at Salem, were : Hannah, born March 4, 1699 ;
Richard, November 22, 1700, married Anna Hol
man, daughter of Solomon Holman, of Newbury;
Abigail, August 1, 1702, married Samuel Dudley,
of Littleton; Samuel, September 1, 1704; married,'
November 13, 1729, Rachel Holman, of Newbury ;
Mercy, baptized July 24, 1707; Ebenezer, baptized
July 10, 1709, died in Cuba, while taking part in
the expedition of Admiral Vernon in 1742 ; Mary,
baptized September 30, 171 1; Lois, baptized May 16,
1714, married Thomas Chamberlain, of Littleton;
Amos, born June 9, 1717. '
(IV) Richard Waters, son of "Richard Waters
(3), was born at Salem, Massachusetts, November
22, 1700. He had a part of his father's large farm
at Sutton and built a house on the site now occupied
by Bullard's farmhouse in West Sutton. The present
house was built by Elezer Waters, his son, in 1767,
and was standing as late as 1903. Pie was admitted
to the First Congregational Church in Sutton by
letter from Salem between 1724 and 1728, and was
an active and useful- church member and citizen of
Sutton during a long life. He died there May 7,
1787. He married, at Sutton, July 12, 1732, Anne
Holman, daughter of Solomon and Mary (Barton)
Holman. She was probably born in Newbury, Massa
chusetts, 1715, and died in West Sutton, February
20, 1788. Their children were: Mary, married
Anthony Sigourney, of Boston; Stephen, born April
1.3, 1735; Ebenezer, born July 3, 1739; Abraham,
born April 3, 1743; Ruth, born January 6, 1746,

married Thomas Kendall ; Samuel, born November
21, 1750; Hannah, born August 5, 1754, married
 Marsh.
(V) Stephen Waters, son of Richard Waters
(4), was born in West Sutton, Massachusetts, April
13, 1735- His father, Richard, set off to him a por
tion of the old homestead property southeast of his
house. In 1757 Stephen erected upon it the house
to which he brought his bride,' five years later, and
which has been the Waters, home from that day
to this (1903) and now or recently owned by his
great-grandson, Samuel Nathan Waters. Stephen
and his father made many trips to Boston to sell
produce.' The best road led through Grafton by
the house of Eleazer Flagg, where they often
stopped for rest and food. Here he met Eleazer's
daughter, whom he married. He had extensive
orchards and manufactured cider in considerable
quantities. His apple trees are still in evidence on
the old place. He died at West Sutton, January
10, 1819. He married, May 19, 1762, Huldah Flagg,
daughter of Eleazer Flagg. She was born in Grafton,
December 14, 1732. She was an invalid for many
years in the latter part of her life and became blind.
She died in West Sutton, January 24, 1825. Their
children were : Anna, born March 30, 1763, died at
West Sutton, October 22, 1790, unmarried; John,
born October 23, 1764, died at West Sutton, Octo
ber 19, 1847, married (first) Huldah Howard; Da
vid, born February 2, 1767, died young; Nathan,
born May 18, 1769; died aged about twenty-one;
Huldah, born August 11, 1771, died at Providence,
Rhode Island, March 6, 1833, married, 1802, Daniel
Hunt; Rebecca, born May 25, 1775, probably died
young. (VI) John Waters son of Stephen Waters (5),
was born in West Sutton, October 23, 1764. From
his father he inherited a large farm and devoted
himself even more extensively to fruit, so that he
is said to have had the largest orchards in that sec
tion of the state. He made much cider. He divided
the farm between his sons Nathan and Richard. He
died in West Sutton, October 19, 1847. He married
first at Sutton, November 25, 1790, Huldah Howard,
daughter of Captain John and Huldah (Sibley)
Howard. She was born in Oxford, June 23, 1768,
and died in West Sutton, September 26, 1795. He
married (second) at Sutton, December 15, 1796,
Hannah Putnam, daughter of Nathan and Betty
(Buffington) Putnam. She was born in West Sut
ton, March 13,' 1763, and died there October 28,
1818. He married (third) at Millbury, August 10,
1819, Hitty Kidder, daughter of Jonathan and
Susanna (Dwinnel) Kidder. She was born in Ox
ford, March 18, 1778, died July 17, 1866, at West
Sutton. He had four children by each wife. They
were: 1. Anna, born May 20, 1791, died at Charlton,
September 23, 1875, married, 1820, Ebenezer Foskett.
2. Lucy, born September 7, 1792,- died at Charlton,
October 15, 1830, married 1812, David Carpenter,
farmer in Sutton, born in Sutton, January 9, 1794.
died in Worcester, May 28, 1886, married (second)
Abigail Rich, who died October 5, 1873. David and
Lucy had five children. 3. Lydia, born December 24,
1793, died at Webster, April 19, 1872; married, 1820,
Elkanah Mclntirej farmer and printer in Charlton,
born in Charlton, March 16, 1782, died there August
9, 1853, married (first) Polly Chase; Elkanah and
Lydia had six children. 4. Huldah, born September
24, I79S, died at Oxford, December 14, 1843; mar
ried, 1814, Jesse Bigelow, farmer in Sutton and
west part of Oxford and Webster, born in Douglas,
March 7, 1792, died in Webster, March 14, i877,
married (second), about 1844, Esther M. Simpson,
of Webster; Jesse and Huldah had five children.

WORCESTER COUNTY

179

5. Stephen, born August 6, 1797, died at West Sut
ton, September 22, 1850; married Matilda Car
penter. 6. Nathan, born May 24, 1799, died at West
Sutton, May 8, 1878; married, 1832, Ulvah A. Put
nam, had seven children; he received half the pater
nal estate and tlie old house ; he manufactured cider ;
he was selectman and justice of the peace; he set-
tied niany estates; he was one of the main supports
of the Baptist church. His wife was the daughter
of Cornelius and Abigail (Bigelow) Putnam; she
was born in Sutton, January 18, 181 1, died in West
Newton, August 26, 1893. 7. Richard, born Novem
ber 1, 1802, died at West Sutton, March 29, 1876;
married, 1837, Julia A. Torrey; he was a farmer and
had immense apple orchards; his wife was daugh
ter of Lewis and Betsey (Titus) Torrey, born . in
Sutton, April 7, 1816, died in Worcester September
5, 1881; had five children. 8. Betsey, born January
17, 1804, died at Rochester, Minnesota, November
5, 1863; married, 1832, Tyler Carpenter, born in
Sutton, October 8, 1805, removed to Rochester,
Minnesota, 1856, and later to Marshall, Minnesota,
where he died March, 1884. .He had seven children
born in Sutton.
(VII) Anne Waters, daughter of John Waters
(VI), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, May 20,
1791. She married, 1820, Ebenezer Foskett (q. v.).
(I) Thomas Flagg or Flegg as the name is still
spelled commonly in England, who came to New
England with Richard Carver in 1637, was an an
cestor of Samuel Waters Foskett, of Worcester. He
was son of Bartholomew and Alicia Flagg, bap
tized at Whinbergh, Norfolk county, England, in
1615. He embarked at Scratby when emigrating to
America. He settled in Watertown as early as
1641, when he had a homestall of six acres and
other land. He was selectman there in 1671-72-73-
74-75-76-78-81-85-86-87. He is ancestor of all the
American Flagg families, it is believed. He died
February 6, 1697-8. His wife Mary died December
30, 1702. Their children were: 1. Gershom, born
at Watertown, April 16, 1641, was a tanner, re
moved to Woburn about 1668, held a commission
as lieutenant fn King William's war and was killed
by tlie Indians in a skirmish at Wheelwright's pond,
Lee, New Hampshire, July 6, 1690; married, 1668,
Hannah Leffingwell, had ten children. 2. John, born
in Watertown, June 14, 1643, settled there, died
February, 1696-7; married, 1670, Mary Gale, three
children. 3. Bartholomew, born at Watertown, Feb
ruary 23, 1644, served in Captain Moseley's company
in King Philip's war, 1675, probably died before
1697. 4. Thomas, born April 28, 1646, settled at
Watertown, died there 1719; married Rebecca Dix,
had six children. 5. William, born in 1648, soldier
on guard at Lancaster in King Philip's war and
killed by the Indians in the massacre August 22,
1675. 6. Michael, born at Watertown, March 23,
1650-1, settled there, one of the first proprietors of
the attempted settlement of Worcester in 1674,
served in King Philip's war, died in Watertown,
October 16, 171 1; married (first), 1674, Mary Bige
low; (second) Mary (Lawrence) Earle; had six
children. 7. Jtfeazer, born at Watertown, May 14,
1653, see forward. 8. Elizabeth, born at Watertown,
March 22, 1654-5, died August 9, 1729; married,
1676, Joshua Bigelow. 9. Mary, born at Watertown,
January 14, 1656-7, died September 7, 1720; married,
1674, Samuel Bigelow. 10. Rebecca, born at Water-
town, September 5, 1660, married, 1679, Deacon
Stephen Cook. 11. Benjamin, born at Watertown,
June 25, 1652, removed to Worcester at the time
of the third and successful attempt to settle in 1718
and was very prominent among the early settlers;
died at Worcester, May 3, 1741 ; married, 1689 or

1690, Experience Child, had nine children. 13. Allen,
born at Watertown, May 16, 1665, settled there,
died November 11, 1711; married, 1684-5, Sarah
Ball, had nine- children.
(II) Eleazer Flagg, son of Thomas Flagg (1),
was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, May 14,
1653. He removed to Concord; was a tanner. Like
at least three of his brothers he served in the King
Philip war, being in Captain Samuel Appleton's
company in the< Narragansett expedition in 1675.
He was admitted a freeman March 20, 1690, and
held town offices. He died in Concord, May 1, 1722.
He married at Concord, October 10, 1676, Deborah
(Wright) Barnes, widow of John Barnes, who was
killed by the Indians in the Sudbury fight March
31, 1676. She "may have been daughter of Edward
and Elizabeth Wright, of Concord. Their children
were : Deborah, born at Concord, October 9, 1677 ;
Abigail, born at Concord, March 9, 1679-80, died
there August n, 1680; Eleazer, born about 1687;
Priscilla, married, 1705, Joseph Wheat, of Concord;
Joseph, married, 1713, Mary Tompkins, of Salem,
had eight children.
(Ill) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (2),
was born at Concord about 1687. He lived in Con
cord and was constable and suryeyor of highways.
He was one of the forty original purchasers of
Hassanamisco, later called Grafton. On the various
divisions of the land among the proprietors 1728-
1744 he received parcels aggregating about one
hundred and fifty acres. There is no evidence that
he himself ever lived in the new town, but he deeded
his land to his three sons, Eleazer, Robert and Na
thaniel. Eleazer Flagg was also a petitioner for the
Narragansett townships, as eldest male heir of his
father, and on the setting apart of these lands by
the general court in 1733 his name is found as a
grantee in Narragansett No. 6. (Templeton)- and he
received lot 94 in the division of the township in
1735. He died in Concord, March 28, 1745, in his
fifty-ninth year. He married at Concord, January
26, 1708-9, Deborah Tompkins, daughter of John
Tompkins, Jr.. and Rebecca Knight, born in Salem,
January 8, 1688-9, died in Grafton, December 16,
1753- Their children were: 1. Eleazer, born in
Concord, October 23, 1709, married Huldah Chand
ler. 2. Nathan, settled in Concord, bought land in
Grafton, left no issue. 3. Robert, born at Concord,
August 25, 1713, removed to Grafton about 1735,
married Miriam  and had seven children. 4.
Nathaniel, born at Concord, Mav 21, 1716, received a
gift of land in Grafton from his father and re
moved to that town, was a soldier at Crown Point
1755, died before 1786, married Elizabeth 
and had nine children. 5. Deborah, born at Con
cord, February 13, 1718-9, died before 1757, mar
ried at Concord, October 19, 1749, Jacob Whitte
more, of Concord, 6. James, born at Concord, May
3, 1723, removed to Upton about 1750 and to Wil
mington, Vermont, 1783, died 1807; married Anna
Morse, of Cambridge, had eight children. 7. Jon
athan, born at Concord, February 3, 1725-6, died at
Bolton, September 26, 1747. 8. Abigail, born at
Concord, January 25, 1728-9, married Jonathan Rolf,
of Westboro. 9. Elizabeth (twin), born at Con
cord, January 25, 1728-9, married  Nelson.
(IV) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (3),
was born at Concord, Massachusetts, October 23,
1709. He removed to Grafton probably in 1728,
the year of the purchase from the Indians. He
settled first on his father's , land. In 1831 he re
ceived a lot by deed of gift from his father, com
prising forty-two acres of the eighteenth lot of the
first division and a part of the thirty acres of the
second division. This estate was .Situated in the

i8o

WORCESTER COUNTY

Merriam district, east of the centre of the town,
occupying part of the eastern slope of Chestnut
Hill and meadow land beyond. There is now on
exhibition at the museum of the Worcester Society
of Antiquity a large wooden bowl hewn from a tree
on this hill by 'Eleazer Flagg in 1732, four years
after the original settlement. In 1745 a substantial
dwelling house was built, which was torn down in
1845. He was one of the charter members of the
church in 1731. He was appointed deputy sheriff in
, 1746 by Sheriff Benjamin Flagg, a cousin of Eleazer
Flagg (III), who was a very prominent man in
Worcester. He married at Concord, September 28,
1731, Huldah Chandler, daughter of Samuel and
Dorcas (Buss) Chandler, who was born in Con
cord, July 5, 1709. She was received in full com
munion by the Grafton Church, February 20, 1742.
She died January 27, 1765; he died 1771. Their
children were: Huldah, born December T4, 1732,
died at West Sutton, January 24, 1825, married,
1762, Stephen Waters; Eleazer, born November
12, 1734, died at Grafton, February 10, 1767, married,
1763, Sarah Chandler; Simon, born May 25, 1736,
died at Grafton, May 26, 1736; John, born August
2, 1737, probably died young; Mary, born March
19, 1740, died April 6, 1724, married, 1763, Benjamin
Goddard (See Goddard Family) ; Samuel, born De
cember 5, 1741, died at Grafton, October 17, 1822,
married, 1769, Lydia Rockwood; Submit, born Sep
tember 5, 1744, died at Berlin, Vermont, March 14,
1839, married, 1773, Daniel Hayden.
(V) Huldah Flagg, daughter of Eleazer Flagg
(4), was born at Grafton, December 14, 1732, mar
ried, May 19, 1762, Stephen Waters. (See Waters
Family sketch in this work.)
(I) Roger Chandler, one of a company of
twenty from Plymouth Colony who settled Concord
about 1658, was an ancestor of Samuel W. Foskett
and most of the Worcester county Waters and Flagg
families. He was admitted a freeman May 24,
1682. He died at Concord, January 11, 1716-7, aged
about eighty, according to- his gravestone. He mar
ried at Concord, April 25, 1671, Mary Simons, of
Concord, probably daughter of William and Judith
(Phippen) Simonds, born December 9, 1647, died
in Concord, August 29, 1728. Their children were:
Mary, born at Concord, January 7, 1671-2, died
there August 14, 1759, married, 1690, Lieutenant
John Heald; Samuel, born at Concord, March 23,
1673-4; Joseph, born at Concord, October 7, 1678,
died there November 14, 1679; Abigail, born at Con
cord, May 31, 1681, died there March 29, 1766, mar
ried Eleazer Brown, of Concord; Hepzibath, married
(first) Ephraim Jones, married (second), 1711,
Joseph Fletcher, of Concord and Acton, who died
1746, married (third) ¦  Stow.
(II) Samuel Chandler, son of Roger Chandler
(1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, March 23,
1673-4. He was a prominent citizen of Concord,
serving as selectman in 1718-19-20-21-22-23-24-30-
31-32-33-34-35-36-39 ; town treasurer from 1723 to
1727, inclusive, and representative in the general
court from 1729 ,to 1736, inclusive, and again in
1739. He was active in the purchase of Grafton
township from the Indians in 1728, being one of the
forty proprietors ; was also an early petitioner for
the grant of the Narragansett townships to survivors
of King Philip's war in the right of his father-in-
law, John Buss, who had been a member of Captain
Nathaniel Davenport's company in that war. In the
records of Narragansett No. 6, now Templeton,
granted by the general court in 1733. His name also
occurs in the drawing of lots among the proprietors
in 1735- He probably never gave up his residence
in Concor'd, however. He died there April ' 27,

1743. He married in Concord, December 11, 1695,
Dorcas Buss, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Jones) Buss, born in Concord, January 26, 1672-3,
died January 13, 1757. The children of Samuel
Chandler were : 1. Elizabeth, born October 6,. 1696,
died October 18, 1712: 2. Mary, born September 22,
1699, died before 1773, married (first), 1718, Joseph
Dudley; married (second), 1752, Judah Clark, of
Lexington. 3. Joseph, born October n, 1701, died at
•Concord, January 31, 1746. 4. Samuel, born Octo
ber 19, 1704, was a farmer in Concord, will proved
November 17, 1754, married about 1730 Dinah  ,
had nine children. 5. John, born January 11, 1706-7,
died at Concord, May 3, 1730. 6. Huldah, born July
5, 1709, married Eleazer Flagg, (III). 7. Rebecca,
born December 2, 1709, married, 1731, Eleazer Davis,
of Bedford. 8. James, born August 28, 1714, was on
committee of safety and correspondence in 1774, and
the military stores the seizure of which was one of
the objects of the British expedition to Concord
April 19, 1775, were in part in his care at that time;
he died December 8, 1792; married (first)- Mary
Wright, (second) Mary Flagg, daughter of Joseph
and Mary Tompkins Flagg; married (third) Mary
Whittaker, of Carlisle; daughter Sarah married
Eleazer Flagg, (5),
(III) Huldah Chandler, daughter of Samuel
Chandler (2), was born July 5, 1709, married Eleazer
Flagg (4). (See Flagg Family. Also Waters and
Foskett families.)
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER. Philip Fowler
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Rufus Bennett Fowler,
was a cloth worker and was probably born in Marl
borough, Wiltshire, England, about 1590. He sailed
from England on the ship "Mary and John" the
24th day of March, 1633-4, and arrived in New Eng
land in May. Owing to misrepresentation of the
activities and intentions of the colonists in New
England, ships sailing to that place were subjected
at that time to a rigid scrutiny, the passengers were
compelled to' take the "Oathes of Allegiance and
Supremacie" and the master, to give bond to per
form the services of the Church of England during
the voyage. On his arrival in New England Philip
settled in Ipswich, Essex county, Massachusetts, and
Ihe "Fowler place"' in that town on which he Jived
is still occupied by a Fowler. He received grants
of other lands in and near Ipswich during his life,
and performed the duties of a respected and honored'
citizen of the town of Ipswich. He. died in 1679,
having reached the age of eighty-nine. He was-
twice married, first to Mary Winslow in England.
Of this marriage there were seven children: Mar
garet, Samuel, Hester, Joseph and Thomas, all of
whom except Thomas were born in England. Mary
Fowler died in 1659, and in 1660 Philip married
Mary Norton, by whom he had no children.
(II) Samuel Fowler was born in England in-
1618 and came to Ipswich with his parents in the-
ship "Mary and John." The record of Samuel (2)
is confused, ' but it is probable he lived in Ports
mouth, New Hampshire, until 1668, when he moved1
to Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was a shipwright.
He was probably a Quaker, and there is a record
of his being brought before the court in 1675 for
travelling on Sunday. He married twice, his first
wife's name being unknown. He married as his
second wife, about 1675, Margaret, the widow of
Robert Morgan. He died in Salisbury, January,
1710-11, at the age of ninety-two. His children,
probably by his first wife, were : William, Mary,
Sarah and Samuel.
(Ill) Samuel Fowler was bom in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, and came to Salisbury with his

WORCESTER COUNTY

181

father in 1668. He was a laborer and lived in Salis
bury until his death in 1737-8. In 1693 his father
Samuel (2) transferred all his property to his son
Samuel (3) in return for the care of him and his
wife Margaret during their old age. At his death
Samuel (3) was possessed of considerable property
for that time. He married in 1684 Hannah Worthen,
and their children were : Samuel, Hannah, Susanna,
Jacob, Mary, Sarah, Ann, Ezekiel, Robert, Abraham,
Thomas, Lydia and Judith.
(IV) Ezekiel Fowler" was born at Salisbury,
1697-8. He lived at Salem and married, in 1722,
Martha Chase, of Bristol county, Rhode Island. He
died at Salem in 1735. The record of his children
is incomplete. He had however a son Samuel.
(V) Samuel Fowler was a cordwainer and was
born probably about 1730. His place of birth is un
known. He married Hannah Bowen. of Swansea,
Rhode Island, in 1752, and lived there until 1753.
He moved to Warren, Rhode Island, in the follow
ing year, and about 1764 moved to Northbridge, then
a part of Uxbridge, settling in the easterly part of
the town. Like his father and grandfather he was
a Quaker. His children were : Sarah, Ezekiel, Mary,
Isaac, Olive, Bernard, John, Martha, Elizabeth, Han
nah, Peace and Phebe.
(VI) ' Bernard Fowler was born in Warren,
Rhode Island, in 1762, and came to Northbridge
with his father in the following year. He married
his first wife, Rebecca Mowry, of Smithfield, Rhode
Island, in 1790; she died in 1805. In 1810 Bernard
(6) married Abigail Steere, of Gloucester, Rhode
Island. Bernard (6) died in 1843, at the age of
eighty-one. He was a farmer. His children by his
first , marriage were: Mary, Robert, Willis, Phebe,
Caleb and Samuel, and by his second marriage:
Thomas, Rebecca, Charles and Nancy.
(VII) Charles Fowler was born at Northbridge
in 1815. He was a farmer and lived in Northbridge
until about 1890. He married, February 9, 1841,
¦ Susan Frost Bennett, of Northbridge. She was the
daughter of Rufus Bennett, known as "Father" Ben
nett, a farmer in Northbridge, and member of the
legislature from that town for a number of years.
He was ordained a Methodist minister in the early
days before the Methodists settled and became
salaried preachers, and he refused to accept such a
settlement. He continued to minister without pay
to all who required his services, since as he said,
"The Grace of God is free." AH the country side
was his parish, in which he solemnized marriages
and attended funerals and no gathering of the citi
zens was complete without the presence and advice
of "Father" Bennett. Charles (7) died in _ Wor
cester, in 1895, at the age of eighty, surviving his wife
but three days. He was born a Quaker. He had
three children : Rufus Bennett, named for his
maternal grandfather; Charles Thomas and Mary
Abby. (VIII) Rufus Bennett Fowler was born at
Northbridge, Massachusetts, December 5, 1841. He
graduated at the Barre Academy, Barre, Vermont,
in 1861. After his graduation he became assistant
superintendent of the Uxbridge woolen mill. He
later took a course in the Eastman Business College
at Poughkeepsie, New York, the first to adopt actual
business methods in its course of instruction and
at that time at the height of its popularity, having
about fourteen hundred students. At the close of
his course Mr. Fowler accepted the position of
superintendent and instructor of the banking depart
ment of the Eastman College. In this department
two banks and a clearing house illustrated in a
practical way the functions of banks in business life.
In addition to his duties as instructor and super

intendent Mr. Fowler also studied law. In 1864-5
he became lecturer on commercial law at the United
States College of Business in New Haven, Connecti
cut. This college was an ambitious undertaking of
Mr. Thomas H. Stevens, for many years teacher in
the Claverack Institute, New York, to broaden the
instruction in schools of this class. From 1865 to
the time of the great fire, Mr. Fowler was engaged
in the wholesale business in Chicago, gradually drift
ing into mechanical pursuits and patent law, urged
both by his natural ability and his inclination in that
direction. His services as an expert in such matters
were in constant demand. In 1872 he returned to
the east and was for some time engaged in designing
special machinery in Worcester. He also at this
time completed an invention of a ribbon loom.
He married in 1875, Helen M. Wood, of Barre,
Vermont, and after his marriage lived in Stafford
Springs, Connecticut, where he conducted the manu
facture of narrow wares by means of looms of his
own invention. In 1881 he returned to Worcester,
where he now lives, and took up the profession of
patent attorney and expert in patent causes. The
nature of his profession is such that a comparatively
few become acquainted with his merits and ability,
and although he ranks high in his profession he is
better^ known through his connection with various
organizations devoted to public service.
He was president of the Worcester Board of
Trade in 1900 and 1901, his natural fitness and
ability for the position and his public spirit and Inter
est in the welfare of Worcester directing attention
to him, and he was recognized as a very capable and
efficient president. While at the head of the board
of trade there was a spontaneous movement to run
Mr. Fowler for mayor of Worcester, and he could
have had the Republican nomination with the sup
port of all the newspapers, but he declined it on
account of the pressure of his private business. The
only public office he has accepted is that of park
commissioner of Worcester, which he now holds.
He is a member of the Worcester Society of Anti-
auity, the Worcester Economic Club, the Public
Education Association of Worcester, the Worcester
County Musical Association, the Massachusetts Civic
League, the National Municipal League, the Ameri
can Forrestry Association and the National Geog
raphic Society. He is - an honorary member of the
Worcester Continentals, a trustee of the Worcester
County Institution for Savings and a director in
several manufacturing corporations. Although he
was reared as a Quaker he and his family have at
tended Central Congregational Church. His children
are tlcrry Wood, born in 1876, and Susan B;nnett.
born in 1885, died in 1892.
WOODWARD FAMILY. Thomas_ Woodward
(1), seems to be the first person of this family of
which there can now be any positive knowledge.
He married Elizabeth Tynen, in Childwell parish,
Lancashire, England, May 23, 1592. Five children
were born to them, two of whom, John, born April
10, 1594, and Henry, born March 22, 1607, emigrated
to America in the company that followed Rev. Rich
ard Mather. They landed in Dorchester. Massachu
setts, from the ship "James," Captain Taylor, Au
gust 16, 1635.
(II) Henry Woodward, above named, remained
in Dorchester until 1660, when he went to Northamp
ton, on the founding of the church there, where he
became one of the "seven pillars." He died April
7, 1685, aged seventy-eight years. His wife, Eliza
beth, died August 13, 1690.
(Ill) John Woodward, son of Henry (2), was
born in Dorchester, 1649, went to Northampton with

1 82

WORCESTER COUNTY

hrs father, and married in 1685. • He was among the
first party to settle Northfield, and five years later,
on the desertion of this northern post, came back and
went to Westfield, from which town his wife came.
Before 1700, he removed to Lebanon, Connecticut,
where his name appears as one of the fifty-one
grantees to the "five mile purchase." He died in
Lebanon about 1718. He married Anna Dewey, at
Westfield, May 18, 1671. Of their six children the
second, John, was born April 2, 1674.
(IV) John Woodward, son of John (3), born
in Northampton, accompanied his father on his many
migrations and was thus one of the original pro
prietors of Lebanon. He was a constable in 1703,
selectman in 1717-19-25-26, again from 1731-35. He
was a deputy to the general .court of the province
of Connecticut from 1720 to 1731. A justice of the
peace for Windham county from 1725 to 1743. He
was a deacon in the church and a member of the
council. He died September 19, 1743, aged sixty-
nine years. He married Experience Baldwin, June
2, 1703. They had three children, of whom Israel,
the second, was born June 5, 1707.
(V) Israel Woodward, son of John and Ex
perience Woodward, born in Lebanon, lived on the
old place until after the death of his father. _ In
1747 he bought a farm in Watertown, Connecticut.
He died August 17, 1800, aged ninety-three years.
In October, 1744, he was commissioned captain of
a train band and was ensign in May, 1749. He
served in the French and Indian war as captain of '
the Sixth Company of the First Regiment, Connec
ticut Line, and was at Fort Edward, Ticonderoga
and Crown Point. He married Abigail Baird, of
Huntington, Connecticut, March 31, 1730. His wife
died December 27, 1803, aged ninety-six years. Of
the ten children all but one, who died in infancy,
were present at their mother's funeral, the oldest
being seventy-one years and th youngest fifty-three.
(VI) Samuel Woodward, son of Israel Wood
ward, the youngest of the family, was born October
25, 1750. He was apprenticed to his brother to learn
the tanners trade and remained with him until he
was of age. He taught school for five years and
entered Yale College in 1776. In 1779 the college
was broken up by -an attack of the British and he
decided to study medicine. After due training he
began the practice of medicine in Torringford, Con
necticut, where he remained until his death, Janu
ary 26, 1835, at the age of eighty-four. For twenty
years he was a member of the legislature, and for
a long period the "father of the House." He was
the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress
from 1800 to 1810. He married Mary Griswold,
daughter of Captain Shubael Griswold, February 10,
1782. There were eight children born of this mar
riage. (VII) Samuel Bayard Woodward, M. D., the
eldest son of Samuel and Mary (Polly) (Griswold)
Woodward, was born in Torringford, Connecticut,
June 10. 1787. His mother was a daughter of a
captain in the French and Indian and the revolu
tionary wars. Her brother was a state senator for
fiftv sessions. Another brother, Stanley, was secre
tary of the territory of Michigan and its governor
under Jefferson's administration. Later he became
United States senator from Ohio. Samuel Bayard
Woodward, with three brothers, studied medicine
under his father, who was a physician with a large
practice in Torringford and educated many students
in his profession. In 1809 he received a license to
practice in Connecticut. He remained with his father
one year, and in 1810 removed to Wethersfield, Con
necticut, began practice for himself and there re
mained until he came to Worcester in 1832. In 1822

he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medi
cine from Yale College. He was instrumental in
founding the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford.
While working up this project he traveled over a
large part of Connecticut in his gig. From 1827 to
1832 he was physician to the Connecticut State
Prison, and here became familiar with the cases of
the insane poor, to which he was to devote the best
years of his manhood.
The Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital at
Worcester, the first public institution of the kind
in America for the care of criminal and pauper in
sane, had meanwhile been established through the
unceasing exertions of Horace Mann and was being
built. Dr. Woodward was made first superintendent.
He began in December, 1832, and served until June,
1846, and during this period made the Worcester
Hospital a model for the entire country for the suc
cessful treatment of the insane poor. The report
of the trustees in 1846 says : "The success of the
hospital is due to the professional skill, personal
address and energy, conscientious fidelity and pure
ardent philanthropy of Dr. Woodward." In ac
cepting his resignation they add: "We feel that we
are bound to bear our unqualified testimony to the
justice of your claims to be recognized and remem
bered as one of the most distinguished benefactors
of the Commonwealth." After resigning, he retired
to a beautiful estate in Northampton, where he re
ceived a few private patients, but he never recovered
his impaired health and passed from earthly scenes,
January 3, 1850, aged fifty-three years.
Hon. Stephen Salisbury describes his personal ap
pearance and character as follows: "His person was
a rare model of strength and manly beauty. On his
brow sat courtesy and command in entire harmony,
and it is no exaggeration to say that his form and
carriage were majestic. His stature was six feet
four inches and without the deformity of obesity,
his weight was two hundred and sixty pounds. His
temper was benevolent, liberal, sanguine, decided and '
persevering. He understood readily the character of
men, had great power over their feelings and easily
gained their confidence and love. His mind was of
a practical character."
He married in 1815, Miss Maria Porter, of Had
ley, Massachusetts, a lineal descendant of Jonathan
Edwards. She died in Worcester, October 10, 1873,
at the home of her son Samuel. By her he had
twelve children: Charles, born April 17, 1816;
Urania B., born June 16, 1817, died October 7, 1857;
Rufus, born October 3, 1819, mentioned below ; Stan
ley Griswold, born June 5, 1821 ; Henry, born Sep
tember 2, 1822, mentioned below ; Samuel, born Janu
ary n, 1825; Maria Porter, born August 3, 1826;
Edwin, born June 9, 1828, died 1829 ; Catherine Todd,
born March 30, 1831, died 1849; Edwin Porter, born
July 16, 1832 ; Algernon Sidney, born June 6. 1835,
died February, 1836. Of these children Dr. Rufus,
Samuel and Henry bore well their part in the history
of Worcester.To better fix the reader's mind on the wonderful
skill and capacity of this man it may be summed up
by the subjoined review of his work: He studied with
his father; practiced twenty years at Wethersfield,
Connecticut; was elected secretary of the Connecti
cut Medical Society; was one of the examiners of
the Medical College ; six years physician of the Con
necticut State Prison; was a prime mover in the
formation of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford ;
served fourteen years as superintendent of the In
sane Asylum at Worcester; in 1832 represented the
Hartford district in the legislature as senator ; became
a Fellow of the Albany Medical College; was the
first president of the Association of Insane Asylum

WORCESTER COUNTY

183

Superintendents and the founder of the society ; a
member of the Ohio State Medical Society and Ohio
Historical Society; he wrote extensively for medical
works and scientific journals.
(VIII) Samuel Woodward, son. of Dr. Samuel
B, Woodward, and father of Samuel B. Woodward,
was born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, January 1 1 ,
1825, and came to Worcester with his father. He
attended the Worcester schools and from school soon
went into the Worcester postoffice as a clerk under
Mr. Fisher, postmaster; after one year of faithful
wo'-k there he entered the employ of the leading
hardware .store of the city at that date — Kinnicutt &
Rice, in 184(1, was admitted to the firm as partner
1847. After the death of Mr. Rice he still continued
in the firm of which he and Mr. Kinnicutt were active
members. In 1887 he retired. Though many times
tendered office he always declined to accept, preferring
rather to attend to his own matters and support other
capable fellow-citizens for the various offices. For
a number of years he was a director in the Citi
zens' Bank of Worcester; also connected officially
with the Worcester Gas Company. He held an im
portant business trust as member of the board of-
sinkihg fund commissioners, which place he held at
the time of his death, which took place December
30, 1888, at the age of sixty-four years. September
14, 1852, he married L. E. R. Treadwell, of Ipswich,
by whom one child was born — Samuel B., August
J4, 1853. Mrs. Woodward died March, 1857.
(VII) Edwin Woodward, son of Samuel Wood
ward (VI), was born July 16, 1832, at Wethers
field. In 1861 he entered the service of his country
as lieutenant in Captain Studley's company, Fif
teenth Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry, _ and
was subsequently detailed to serve in the signal
corps, where he remained until the close of the war.
After the close of the war be engaged in the drug
business at Worcester in partnership with David
Scott, and later went to New York and engaged in
the brokerage business. He now lives a retired life
at Summit, New Jersey. He married Helen M. Mus
grave, five children: Thomas N., born July 8, 1863,
died July 27, 1864; Helen M., born December 8,
1864, died January 9, 1870; Martha G, born July 6,
1867; William S., born October 17, 1869, died 1890;
Anna T., born September 17, 1871.
(IX) Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, son of Samuel
Woodward (8), born August 24, 1853. In Worces
ter, his native city, he attended the common schools,
in 1870 entered Harvard College, graduating in the
class of 1874, and the Harvard Medical School in
1878. He began his active medical practice at Wor
cester in 1881, and is to-day among the leaders in
his profession. Dr. Woodward has descended from
a line of eminent medical practitioners — his grand
father and great-grandfather being such in their
day and generation ; also his uncle and others. Dr.
Woodward is a Republican, and in church relations
affiliates with the Unitarians. Among the offices
held by this gentleman are that of surgeon of the
Memorial Hospital, consulting surgeon of City and
St, Vincent's Hospital, trustee of the Worcester
Insane Hospital and Worcester Insane Asylum. Has
been president of the Worcester District Medical
Society, director of Worcester Gas Light Company,
trustee for Worcester County Institution for Sav
ings, and one of its investment board.
He married, September 16, 1884. Margaret Perley,
of New Hampshire, daughter of the late chief jus
tice of that state.
(VIII) Henry Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel
B. Woodward (7), was bom in Wethersfield, Con
necticut, September 2, 1822. He came with his

parents to Worcester when he was only seven years
old, and his early education was received in the
common and high schools there. When he was in
the high school his father gave him his choice of
studying art or a college education, and he chose
art. He had a gift for drawing and painting and
he studied under good masters. While he never
made painting his exclusive occupation it has been
an absorbing avocation. He has been prominent
among the artists of Worcester for many years. He
has frequently sold his pictures and exhibited in
various exhibitions for many years. He was one
of the organizers of the yVorcester Art Students'
Club and has been president of that interesting or
ganization. When a young man he taught drawing
and painting at H°ly Cross College and at one
time had a studio in the business section of the
town. For the most part he has worked in his
studio at his residence, 43 West street, Worcester.
He devoted virtually all his time not claimed by
business to painting pictures, and in spite of ill
health is still at work with the palette and brush at
every opportunity. Mr. Woodward is an artist by
nature. He loved' nature and art alike and many
of his pictures were out-door scenes along the sea
shore or in the fields. He did not confine himself to
scenery, however, but painted many and varied
subjects. Mr. Woodward is known to many who are not
interested in art as an excellent business man. For
many years he was an active factor in the financial
life of Worcester. He began his business career in
Boston as clerk in the dry goods store of Henry
Pettis, who was a relative. After a few years he
returned to Worcester to accept a position as secre
tary to his father, who was the superintendent of
the Worcester Insane Hospital on Summer street.
After a few years he entered the Worcester Me
chanics' Savings Bank, where for forty-nine years he
was the treasurer. The Mechanics' Savings Bank
was the second in Worcester. It was chartered May
15, 1851, with Isaac Davis as president and Parley
Hammond as treasurer. In 1854 Mr. Woodward- be
came treasurer, and at the end of a half century re
tired from active work at the bank. He was the
oldest and best savings bank official of the "state.
While Mr. Woodward divided his time between
banking and painting he had few other interests.
He is a member of the Worcester Horticultural
Society and of the Worcester Agricultural Society.
In politics he is a Republican.
He married (first), May, 1853, Mary Hunt,
daughter of Eben and Mary (Abbey) Hunt. She
died January 24, 1872. She was born in Milford,
Massachusetts. He married (second) Mrs. Amelia
(Gerry) Wells, of Boston, December 21, 1875. She
was the widow of Benjamin Wells, of Boston. The
children of Henry and Mary (Hunt) Woodward
were: Henry, died young; Catherine Burns, died
young; Alice Hunt, resides at home; Maria Phil
ips, resides at home ; Harry Andrews, graduate of
the Classical high school, married Lottie Benson,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Comstock;
Harry Andrew is with Goldman & Sachs, brokers,
in New York city; he has one son, James Henry
Woodward ; Norman Porter, graduate of the
Classical high school, is with Samuel Ward & Co.,
stationers, Boston, as traveling salesman ; resides
in Boston ; Mary Hunt, teacher of kindergarten at
the Winslow street public school. Mr. Woodward
is a member of the Church of the Unity of Wor
cester, being one of its early members when its first
pastor was Edward Everett Hale, and he has taken
great interest in its building up.

1 84

WORCESTER COUNTY

FOX FAMILY. Thomas Fox (i), who settled
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as early as March,
1631, was the emigrant ancestor of Mrs. C. W.
Hamilton and Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward through
their mother's line. He was evidently one of the
earliest political reformers in New England and a
man of great moral courage, for the very first record
of Thomas Fox is an account of the proceedings
in the general court which punished him for sug
gesting that the court had taken bribes in the
Bratcher case. That was in March, 1630-31. He
was evidently a man of influence. He was admitted
a freeman in March, 16,37-8, and was then thirty
years of age, showing that he was born in 1607-08
and probably came over when he was twenty-one, in
1630. It is said that' he came from London and that
he was the son of Dr. Thomas Fox, a physician of
that city. He seems to have been an apprentice to
Governor Craddock, who had a farm in Medford.
A tradition that has more than the usual claim for
credence states that he emigrated from England in
anger and disgust at the injustice done him in a law
suit, which he believed was decided against him
because he was a grandson of John Fox, the author.
The suit was about a lease for three lives on seven
teen houses in London, and as it happened in the
reign of Charles I, when Puritans were persecuted -
at every opportunity, Fox had good reason, per
haps, to doubt the justice of the English courts.
Thomas Fox was one of the original proprietors
of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He dealt in real
estate and was executor and administrator of many
estates. He was selectman in 1658 and repeatedly
afterwards elected to that office. He was an es
teemed and enterprising citizen and stood well in
the church. The name of his first wife was Re
becca  . She died May 11, 1647. He mar
ried (second) Ellen Green, widow of Percival
Green, May 24, 1650. She died May 27, 1682, aged
eighty-two years. He married (third), April 24,
1683, Elizabeth Chadwick, widow' of Charles Chad-
wick. She died in 1685, aged seventy-one years. He
married (fourth) Rebecca Wyeth, widow of Nich
olas Wyeth, December 16, 1685. He died April 25,
1693, aged eighty-five years.
The house at Cambridge owned by Thomas Fox,
sometimes called the Holmes house, stood originally
on the north side of the college grounds, but is now
owned by the college. In the earlyi days of the
colony the place belonged to Mrs. Ellen Green, the
second wife of Fox. The house was repaired by
their grandson, Jabez Fox, who owned it, and his
son Thomas Fox, of Woodstock, Connecticut, sold it
to Rev. John Fox, of Woburn, Massachusetts.
General Ward, of Shrewsbury, made this house his
headquarters while in command of the American
forces in Cambridge in 1775, and he was there at the
time of the battle of Bunker Hill. Dr. Abiel Holmes,
while he was chaplain, to the college, and Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, his son, was born in this house.
The house was torn down in 1890, and the site is
suitably marked. It is near the law school.
The daughter of Mrs. Rebecca Fox by a former
husband, Thomas Andrews, was a victim of the
witchcraft craze, and there is on record a pathetic
letter written by Mrs. Fox in 1692 to the general
court, asking for the release of her daughter "who
was crazed, distracted and broken in mind and
had beeir so these twelve years and upwards." She
had then been in prison for six months. Her hus
band was a fugitive to avoid the same fate, and
she had four young children, one a baby, left to the
mercy of neighbors. Not until the following January
was she tried, acquitted and released. By that

time the delusion had passed and fhe persecution
ceased abruptly.
Thomas Fox had one son, Jabez, baptized at
Concord, Massachusetts, and possibly Thomas Fox,
who married, December 13, 1647, Hannah Brooks.
(II) Rev. Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fox (1),
was born in Concord in 1647 and baptized there.
He was educated at Harvard .College, where he
graduated in 1665. On taking his second degree
there, three years later, his public address consisted
of a few lines of Latin verse. He served one year
as assistant of Rev. Mr. Carter, pastor of the Wo
burn church, and November 5, 1679, he was called
to be minister there. The house which the town
built for him was on Pleasant street, near the site
of the public library, and was occupied by Mr. Fox
and his son, who succeeded him as minister, for
seventy-six years. He died of smallpox, February
26, 1702, in the city of Boston, and was buried in
Woburn, where in the oldest burying ground his
grave stone may be seen.
He married Judith Rayner, daughter of Rev.
John Rayner, minister of Plymouth, Massachusetts,
-and Dover, New Hampshire. His widow married
(second) Colonel Jonathan Tyng, of Boston,
formerly member of the council of Sir Edmund
Andros, governor. Colonel Tyng died January 19,
1723. His widow died June 5, 1736, in her ninety-
ninth year. The children of Rev. Jabez and Judith
Fox were : John, born at Woburn, May 10, 1678;
Thomas, born at Woburn, November 6, 1680, died
July 10, 1730; Thomas, born at Woburn, November
13, 1681 ; Jabez, born at Woburn, December 2, 1684;
Judith, bprn at Woburn, June 19, 1690, died 1703
of smallpox. (Ill) Jabez Fox, son of Jabez Fox (2), was
born at Woburn, Massachusetts, February 25, 1705.
He was a merchant tailor and maker of woolen
cloth. He married Hannah Burroughs, daughter of
Rev. George Burroughs, MaFch 8. 1705. Their chil
dren were: Thomas, born in Boston, December 6,
1706 ; Hannah, born in Boston, June 27, 1708 ; Judith,
born in Boston, August 19, 171 1; Rebecca, born in
Boston, 1714.
(IV) Thomas Fox, son of Jabez Fox (3), was
born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1706.
He married Mercy  . They settled at Wood
stock, Connecticut, among the first settlers, where
he followed the trade of fuller, manufacturing and
dressing woolen cloth. He resided in a two-story
frame house near the famous Putnam wolf cave.
The old house was destroyed by fire in 1850. He
died in 1796. His children were : Hannah, born
April 27, 1731 ; Thomas, born April 27, 1731;
Thomas, born September 7, 1732; Maria, born April
23, 1735; John, born March 10, 1737; Mary, born
March 10, 1740; Jabez, born May 6, 1745; Fanny,
born November 17, 1749; Rebecca, born July 9,
I7S3- It is said that there were seven daughters
while the names of only five are known. It is said
also that one of these daughters married 
Parmenter. (V) Sergeant Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fox
(4), was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, May 6,
1745. He married Mary Strobridge, September 28,
1769, at Woodstock. She was born August 10,
1749, at Middlehorough, Massachusetts. He was a
draper and had a fulling mill at Ketch brook. He
was the first in this country to make Scotch plaids.
He was an ardent patriot and was actively engaged
in the revolution. Sergeant Fox raised a company
of men to defend the coast at the time General
Arnold, the traitor, was attacking Connecticut. Ser
geant Fox and twelve men were attacked by a

WORCESTER COUNTY

185

largely superior force of British and Tory cavalry.
The Americans were stationed in a brick school
house, where they defended themselves desperately,
killing six of the attacking party. Their ammuni
tion became exhausted and they attempted to escape
through the back window to a swamp in the rear.
Sergeant Fox, the last to leave the building, was
overtaken by the Tory leader, Captain Finch, a
man who Fox knew and to whom he appealed for
quarter. Finch called him a damned Rebel and cut
him down with his sabre. The sword, coat and
hat of Sergeant Fox were preserved in the Boston
Atheneum. He was killed May 20, 1780, and July
1, 1780, his widow gave birth to a daughter (Han
nah). The children of Sergeant Jabez and Mary
(Strobridge) Fox were: Thomas, born May 12,
1770; Polly, born June 20, 1772; William, born
March 19, 1773 ; Jabez^ born December 13, 1774, died
in infancy; Asa, born March 23, 1776, died at
City Point, Virginia, of yellow fever; Jabez, born
August 5, 1777; Betsey, born February 4, 1779;
Hannah, born July 1, 1780. The widow of Sergeant
Fox married (second) William Spear, by whom
she had a daughter Miriam, who married Marvin
Mudge and had ten children.
(VI) Thomas Fox, son of Sergeant Jabez Fox
(5), was born at 'East Windsor, Connecticut, May
22,1770, and was but ten years old when his father
was killed. He learned the same trade that his
father and grandfather had followed. He had a
fulling mill first at Westfield, Massachusetts, and
later at Tolland, Connecticut. He married Chloe
Bradley, of Tolland. Pie died of malignant fever,
November I, 1811, probably in Ulster county, New
York. His wife died at Crystal Lake, Henry county,
Illinois, aged seventy-two years. Their children
were: William Bradley, born in Scotland, Connecti
cut, in 1795; Chauncy Johnston, born at Tolland,
Connecticut, August 21, 1797; Pliny L., born at
Tolland, Connecticut, 1799; Mary, born at Tol
land, probably in 1802; Eliza, born at Tolland; Har
riet, born at Tolland.
(VII) William Bradley Fox, son of Thomas
Fox (6), was born in Scotland, Hartford county,
Connecticut, in 1795. At the time of his father's
death he was only sixteen years of age. He was
-apprenticed to the fuller's trade that had been fol
lowed for at least four ' generations by his ancestors.
After serving his apprenticeship he married Eliza
Ingalls in 1819, and three years later went to Wor
cester, where he established himself in the business
he had learned. From a modest fulling mill he de
veloped a large industry. He owned the well known
Fox's mills and became wealthy. He died in i860.
His children were: 1. Lemuel Ingalls, born at Tol
land, Connecticut, January 23, 1821. 2. William
Bradley, Jr., born at Tolland, Connecticut, April
16, 1823. 3. Nancy Jane, born February 10, 1825,
married Dr. Rufus Woodward; she died December
¦8, 1905. 4. Charles, born in Worcester, June 7,
1827, married Jennett Hyde in 1855; he died 1891,
no children. 5. Ann Rebecca Sumner, born Decem
ber 16, 1829. 6. Thomas, born February 29, 1832,
died young. 7. Eliza, born March 23, 1834, married,
1859, C. Willard Hamilton, of Worcester, a tape
manufacturer, who died Oct. 3, 1901 ; she resides at
37 Oak avenue, Worcester, with her daughter, Fanny
Maria, bom March 9,- 1865, unmarried 1905. 8.
Thomas, born in Worcester, May 24, 1835, married
Mary Feel in 1863; he died 1875; no children. 9.
Maria Peabody, born in Worcester, September 30,
1837, died young. 10. Maria, born January 22, 1841,
died 1886, unmarried.
(VIII) Nancy Jane Fox, daughter of William

B. Fox (7), was born in Worcester, February '10,
1825, married Dr. Rufus Woodward (q. v.).
(VIII) Rufus Woodward, M. D., son of Dr.
Samuel B. Woodward (7), and father of Dr. Lemuel
F. Woodward, was born in Wethersfield, Connecti
cut, October 3, 1819. He was fitted in the Worcester
schools for Harvard College, which he entered in
1837. After his graduation in 1841 he began the
study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Sargent, and in
1842 entered the Harvard Medical School, from
which he graduated in 1845. For three years he
was assistant physician at the State Lunatic Hospital,
of which his father was the first superintendent.
Then he spent two years in study in Europe, devot
ing much attention to insanity with the intention
of assisting his father in a private asylum at North
ampton, Massachusetts. His plans were changed
by the sudden death of his father in 1850, and 011
. his return home, soon afterward, he began to prac
tice his profession in Worcester. His first office
was at No. 2 Elm street. Later he built the house
at 52 Pearl street, now occupied by Dr. Lemuel F,
Woodward or "Doctor Lem" as he is universally
known to distinguish him from his cousin, "Doctor
Sam" Woodward. This house was built in 1870.
For thirty-three years he devoted himself to his pro
fession, seeing patients on the very day of his own
sudden death, December 30, 1885, at the age of
sixty-six. He was a member of the local and state medical
societies. During the civil war he was examining
surgeon for volunteers, and in 1862 volunteer sur
geon under the sanitary commission. From 1863
to 1866 he was city physician, and on the formation
of the board of health in 1877 was induced to ac
cept the position again. He was city physician the
remainder of his life and was chairman of the
board of health, of which ex-officio he was a mem
ber. From 1871 to 1880 he was visiting surgeon to
the city hospital. He was consulting surgeon to the
Washburn Dispensary from 1874 till his death. He
was physician to the House of Correction and to
the Orphans' Home. For twelve years he was a
member of. the school board. He was elected a mem
ber of the American Antiquarian Society in 1861.
> He was a member of the Harvard Natural History
Society and always greatly interested in botany and
natural history. He was one of the founders of
the Worcester Natural History Society, an organi-
, zation that has shown much activity recently, He
' was president of it for many years. Much of Dr.
Woodward's leisure time was spent in his garden.
Perhaps nobody in Worcester knew more about the
flora of this vicinity than he. He was a member of
the famous old Worcester Fire Society.
He married Nancy Jane Fox, daughter of Will
iam B. and Eliza Fox. She was born in Worcester,
February 10, 1825. Her father came to Worcester
about 1825 and was the proprietor of the Fox
mills at Vernon square. He formerly lived at Tol
land, Connecticut. His children were: Dr. Lemuel
F., Rufus S., Ralph, Jane, (see Woodward Family
sketch and Dr. Samuel B. Woodward sketch else
where in this work).
(IX) Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward, son of Dr.
Rufus Woodward (8), was born in Worcester,
April 26, 1857. He attended the public schools
of his native city and the high school, preparing for
college at the latter^ institution. He graduated from
the Lawrence scientific school at Harvard University
in 1878. He went to Harvard Medical School,
where he took his degree of M. D. in 1882. He
spent two years in the Boston City Hospital and
the Lying-in Hospital in Boston. He began to prac-

1 86

WORCESTER COUNTY

tice' medicine in Worcester, at 49 Pearl street, but
soon afterward his father died and he succeeded to
his practice and has since occupied his- father's of
fices at 52 Pearl street. The medical library alone
is exceedingly valuable and interesting from a his
torical point of view. The medical works date back
in some cases two centuries and are the collections
of four generations of Doctors Woodward. The
father, grandfather and great-grandfather of Dr.
Woodward were all noted doctors in their day. He
has a group of portraits of the three in his office.
Their libraries and aparatus have descended di
rectly to him. With this inheritance of three genera
tions of education and training, of practice and
skillfulness, Dr. Woodward could scarcely help tak
ing the leading position he has among the surgeons
of Worcester. His great-grandfather was Dr. Sam
uel Woodward, his grandfather and father have
been mentioned here. Further history of the family
will be found elsewhere in this work.
Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward succeeded his. father
as city physician of Worcester and held the position
until 1893, when he resigned and was succeeded by
Dr. W. T. Clark, the present city physician. Dr.
Woodward was the first out-patient surgeon at the
City Hospital, when that department was estab
lished. For the past nine years he has been house
surgeon at the City Hospital. He has been on the
staff of the Memorial Hospital since it was organ
ized. This institution was endowed by Ichabod
Washburn and incorporated in 1871. A dispensary
was opened in 1874 and the hospital in 1888. It is
devoted exclusively to the treatment of diseases of
women and children. He is orthopedic surgeon at
St. Vincent's Hospital, Worcester. He is a member
of the Worcester District Medical Society, the
Massachusetts Medical Society; the Worcester Nat
ural History Society; of which he is a director; the
Worcester Club ; the Quinsigamond Boat Club ; the
Tatassit Canoe Club ; the Tatnuck Country Club ;
All Saints' Protestant Episcopal Church. In politics
he is a Republican.
While Dr. Woodward has had a general prac
tice in Worcester, he has made surgery a specialty.
He is called upon to perform a large number of the
major operations in the hospitals and ranks among
the best and most successful surgeons in this sec
tion of the state. His personalty helps him win the
confidence of his patients. His work as city physi
cian among the poorer classes has made 'him gen- ,
erally popular and his professional skill is recognized
by physicians and surgeons as universally as by the
public. Dr. Woodward lived for many years at 52
Pearl street with his mother, who died December
8, 1905. He is unmarried.
(IX) Rufus S. Woodward, second child of
Rufus (8) and Mary Jane (Fox) Woodward, and
brother of Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward, was educated
in the public schools of Worcester and Amherst
College, from which institution he was graduated
with the class of 1881. He was employed by his
uncle, Samuel B. Woodward, in the hardware firm
of Kinnicutt & Co. until 1886, and from that time
until 1889 by' Jerome, Marble & Co. From 1889
until 1904 he was a member of the last named firm,
which then became the J. Russel Marble Company,
with which he became identified and with which he
continues to be connected. He attends All Saints'
Protestant Episcopal Church, and in politics is a
Republican. He is a member of the Quinsigamond
Boat Club, of which he was a former president. In
1894, he married, at Newburg, New York, Stella
Brooks; daughter of Colonel T. Benton and Han
nah (Hulse) Brooks. Her father was breveted
colonel of the First Regiment, New York Engi

neers, for gallant and meritorious conduct at the
siege of Fort Pulaski in Charleston Harbor dur
ing the war of the rebellion. He is a distinguished
geologist and mining engineer. Mrs. Woodward
was educated chiefly in German private schools.
Mr. and Mrs. Woodward are the parents of four
children, all born in Worcester : Rufus Stanley, Jr.,
born in 1895 ; Hildegard Hulse, in 1898 ; Katherine
Fox, in 1900; Stella Brooks, born July 2, 1905.
ELIAS HARLOW RUSSELL.* Robert Russell
(1) was the emigrant ancestor of Principal E..
Harlow Russell, of the Worcester State Normal
school. Robert Russell is said to have come from Scot
land. He settled in Andover, Massachusetts, and
from the strength o.f his characteristics, or some
thing, the district in which he had his home was
called the Scotland District. He was there probably
in 1677, perhaps earlier. He took the oath of fidelity
February 11, 1678. He was one of the proprietors
in 1681, and doubtless earlier. He married Mary
Marshall July 6, 1659. He was admitted a free
man in 1691 ; died December, 1710, in the eightieth
year of his age. He was the first person buried in
the South Parish graveyard. His homestead is now,
or was recently, owned by a lineal descendant, Dr:
Ammon Russell,
The children, of Robert Russell (1) were: 1.
Robert, died in military service, in war, May 27,
1689. 2. Thomas, died 1731, aged sixty-eight. 3.
Benjamin. 4. John, (see forward). 5. James, and
perhaps daughters.
(II) John Russell, son of Robert Russell (1),
born about 1682, at Andover, probably; died 1778,
aged ninety-six years, four months. He married
Sarah Chandler and settled in Andover. Among
his children were : John ; Joseph.
(Ill) John Russell, son of John Russell (2),
was born in Andover, Massachusetts, settled there,
and married Hannah Foster. Among their children
were two who removed to Bethel, Maine : 1. Ben
jamin, born January 27, 1737; married Mary Favor.
2. Abraham, married Abigail S-wan, resided at Bethel,
Maine. (IV) Benjamin Russell, son of John Russell
(3), born in Andover, Massachusetts, January 27,
1737; married, October 7, 1762, Mary Favor, born
March 1, 1739. He removed from Andover and be
came one of the early settlers at Fryeburg, Maine,
in 1767. There he became a leading citizen, serving
the town as chairman of the board of selectmen.
In March, 1777, he removed to Bethel, Maine, where
he was, in 1779, the first town clerk. He performed
the duties of magistrate under his commission of
justice of the peace. His records indicate that he
was well educated. His penmanship was excellent.
He was one of the most prominent citizens for many
years. He died November 23, 1802. His children
were: 1. Benjamin, Jr., born July 28, 1763; mar
ried Mehitable Abbott. 2. Mary, born October 15,
1764; married Nathaniel Segar. 3. Theodore, born
December 6, 1765 ; married Abigail Abbott, of 'An
dover, Massachusetts. 4. William (see forward). 5.
John, born at Andover, Massachusetts, married Susie
Twitchell. (V) William Russell, son of Benjamin Russell
(4), born at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1766; re
moved with his parents to Fryeburg and later to
Bethel, Maine, where he died suddenly about 1846.
He was a farmer. He .married Mehitable Kilgore,
of Bethel, Maine. Children were: 1. Mehitable,
born January 4, 1792; married Sebra Dunham, of
Paris, Maine. 2. Cynthia, born December 20, 1793;
married William Bent, of Paris. 3. Elsie, , born

WORCESTER COUNTY

187

March 8, 171X1; married William llartletl. 4. Will
iam, born March 12, 1708. 5. Elias. (soe forward).
(1, Samuel, horn March 9, 1802; married Hannah
Dustin. 7. Henry, horn February 15, 1804, resided
at Newburyport, Massachusetts. 8. Mary, born
June 13, 180(1; married Paul Pearson. 0. Theodore,
"horn August t, 1808; removed from Bethel early.
\o, Sophia, horn August 8, 1811, married Rodney
Cole. 11. Palmer, born August 1, 1813: removed
from Bethel early.
(VII Elias Russell, son of William Russell (5),
was born in Hethel, Maine, March 28, 1800. lie
learned the shoemaker's trade and divided his time
between that and farming. He settled iu Sanhorn-
ton, New Hampshire, when a young man, and mar
ried, September 29, 1825, Comfort Rundlett, a resi
dent of Sanliornton, though they wore married at
Northfield, New Hampshire. He died January 31.
1808. Their children, all born at Sanborntou, were :
1, John Simons, horn March 30, 18.H1. 2. William
Rundlett, born August 7, 1827. 3. Mehitable Ann,
born December 31, i8-'8. 4. Cynthia Kli.-a, born
July J-\ 183--. 5. Elias Harlow, (see forward).
(YU) Elias Harlow Russell, son of Elias Rus
sell (61, was born in Sanhonuon, New Hampshire,
November 27, 1830. His early education was re-
eeived in the district schools of his native town.
Like every New Hampshire boy he had more farm
work than school in his boyhood, lie attended the
Woodman Sanhoniton Academy and Ihe Literary
and Biblical Institution at Now Hampton. New
Hampshire. In 1853. while be was still a student at
the last named institution, he began to teach school,
but continued his studv and p'reparaiion for his pro
fession and went to tiie New England Normal In
stitute at Laneaster, Massachusetts, of which Pro
fessor William Russell was the principal. This was
an admirable school in its day and the principal was
an exceptionally gifted teacher and scholar, it is
now extinct. In 1850 Mr. Russell taught school
again. At that time he determined to study medi
cine and he began to study under the direction of
Professor Albert Smith, M. D., who was a member
of the faculty of Dartmouth College. Before com
pleting his course in the Medical school, however,
lie desired to follow his original purpose to teach,
and in 1850 he went back to teaching. He was in
structor for three years in the teachers' institutes
of Grafton and Coos counties. New Hampshire.
Then he taught in a number of academies and pri
vate schools. 1 Tis subjeot was chiefly elocution.
Among other institutions he taught in the Highland
Military Academy, Worcester; at Eaton's Business
College, the predecessor of Hitunanu's. in the Board
of 'trade huilding; Professor Rushoe's Private
school in tbe Walker building; a Hoarding school in
(he old Salisbury mansion. Lincoln square. For
two years and a half be taught in Nichols Academy,
Dudley, Massachusetts. During the same years,
1801-6^-63, he gave three courses of lectures ou elo
cution in the Divinity school of Harvard Uni
versity. In 1804 he accepted the position of prin
cipal of the l.eroy Academy at Leroy, New York,
a non-sectarian school of lugh character and repu
tation, and he held this position for ten years. In
1804 he was unanimously invited by the State Board
of Education to become principal of the Worcester
Normal school, then about to be established. He
accepted, and from that time to the present has
been identified with the institution.
The Worcester Normal school was established
by a Resolve of the general court which went into
effect June, 187 1. The State Board of Education
was authorised and required to establish a Slate
Normal school in Worcester, and the trustees of the

Worcester Lunatic Hospital, a slate institution, wore
authorized and required to convey for the purpose
.1 tract of land, of not more than five acres, for a
site, to he designated by the governor aud his coun
cil. The site chosen is ideal, From the hill on
whioh the Normal school was built the city and
surrounding country, with its green hills and or
chards, the smoking factory chimneys in the fore
ground, the picturesque buildings of the city around
and about them, spread out like a groat panorama
below. The tract of land was a part of what had
been called Hospital Grove. The stone for the build
ing was quarried ou and "oar the land where the
structure was built. The building is massive and
dignified. The architecture is well suited to the
purposes of the building. The interior arrange
ments, designed by Mr. Russell for the purposes he
had in view, have been found admirably suited to
the needs of the institution. Another building has
been added to the school, for the purpose of a gym
nasium. It is a valuable adjunct to the institution.
The Normal school was opened September 15, 1874,
and for thirty-one years Mr. Russell has been the
principal. He laid out the general plan in the first
place; he has developed the school year by year till
its reputation now is second to none among the
normal schools of the country.
He has always cut loose from stereotyped meth
ods, not so much for the sake of novelty as to de
velop in the students the special talents or abilities
of i he individual. The graduates of this school
begin their teaching with the idea of reaching each
of their pupils in different ways, in dealing with
each individual according to his needs, and the
graduates of the Worcester Normal school have
proved the value of Mr. Russell's methods during
the past thirty years.
An apprentice system, developed by the prin
cipal along original lines, has been one of the most
popular and attractive features of the school. The
little folks like to go there to school. The parents
are eager to send their children tliere for instruc
tion and the students at the school find the train
ing for school work, with real pupils tliere ami in
the Worcester schools, extremely valuable. This
apprentice system accounts in large measure for the
high standing of the graduates of this institution
compared with those of other schools, where actual
experience and practice in the art of teaching is not
given. To quote from the school announcement : " The
design of the Normal school is strictly professional :
that is to prepare in the best possible manner the
pupils for the work of organizing-, governing and
teaching the public schools of the Commonwealth.
Il is made a special aim to seize every opportunity
to give the pupils the benefit of whatever tends 10
lit them for the work of teaching. The spirit of this
endeavor pervades the whole school. The knowledge
demanded is in great part knowledge of the material
to be operated on, and of tlie conditions and limita
tions under which the work must be earried on.
The government of the school is not a government
of rules, not even of laws. The school is not with
out law, but the pupils are led by suggestion, en
couragement aud admonition to become a law unto
themselves." Of course, the primary purpose of the Worcester
Normal school is filled when it educates teachers
for the public schools. About half of the teachers
in the Worcester city schools are trained in this
school, and many of the graduates find employment
in the county. There is a very harmonious arrange
ment between the school and the city school author
ities. The pupils in the Normal school are given

1 88

WORCESTER COUNTY

tlie opportunity to serve in the schools of the city,
under the direction of the Normal school teachers
and the teachers in charge. It is an open question
whether the city needs the school more than the
school needs the city to maintain its present
efficiency. Mr. Russell was a pioneer in the child-study
movement and must be reckoned among the fore
most investigators of the subject, lie was one of
the earliest to study the child after modern scien
tific methods, and his was the first Normal school
systematically engaged in child-study, which has
been taken up everywhere in America and Europe
in the past twenty years. The school work under
his direction began in 1884. _ For twenty years _ he
has been investigating, reading, studying, writing;
papers and making addresses 011 this subjeot of
Child-Study. He has remained at his post at the
Normal school, notwithstanding offers of more lu
crative positions in other cities, lie could have been
president of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col
lege at Amherst, lie was offered the principalship
of the State Normal school at Providence, Rhode
Island, and of the Swain Free school, of New Bed
ford. He was offered an attractive place in the facul
ty of 'Washington University at St. Louis. He was on
two different occasions offered a vacancy on the
board of school supervisors in Boston. ^ And when
Clark University established its collegiate depart
ment he was offered the presidency, and unanimously
elected before he had made his decision. This
great compliment on the part of an institution lo
cated in the very city in which his life's work has
been largely accomplished was a source of great
satisfaction, and he very reluctantly decided finally
to adhere to his determination to slay at the
Normal school. He resigned the post of college pres
ident to continue his labors in the Normal school.
This incident reveals one of the most noticeable
characteristics of the man. He believes in drilling
in one hole; in persisting in a good course once
begun. It shows, too, how little financial consid
erations have influenced him in continuing to serve
Worcester and the Commonwealth as the principal
of the Normal school. Everyone of these posi
tions, it is learned, carried with them larger sal
aries than that of the principalship of this school,
some of them very much larger.- In thirty years
Mr. Russell seems not to have lost a particle of the
enthusiasm and abounding magnetism with which
he influences his pupils. He seems to have car
ried into effect the notion of President Eliot, that
with the proper training, care and development a
man's intellectual and mental powers should im
prove year after year, regardless of age, unless
healtn fails. There is a suggestion of youth and
cheerfulness in Mr, Russell s words and manner
very encouraging and stimulating to all who meet
him. He has written a number of papers, printed in
the New England Historic-Genealogical Society,
among them a sketch of a very intimate friend, the
late Senator George F. Hoar. He has written ex
tensively on educational topics, and twice has read
papers before the National Educational Associa
tion, in Chicago in 1893, and in St. Louis in 1904.
He has several papers published in the proceedings
of the American 'Antiquarian Society, of which he
is a member, and for a number of years member
of the council. Few literary honors in America are
more highly appreciated than honors in the Ameri
can Antiquarian Society. Mr. Russell has deliv
er lectures at the Summer schools of Clarke Uni
versity, and for two years he was a lecturer in the
Harvard University Summer school.

lie has been a member of the St, Wulstan So
ciety, since its organisation by the leading schol
ars and most gifted men of the city. He is at pres
ent its vice-president, lie is a member of the
Colonial Society, of Massachusetts ; of the Friday
Evening Club, of Boston; of the Worcester Art
Museum corporation; of the Stale Teachers' Asso
ciation; of the New Hampshire Forestry Associa
tion; of the Appalachian Mountain Club; he was
formerly a member of the famous old Worcester
Fire Society. He is a trustee of Leicester Academy.
lie was formerly a member and president of the
board of directors of the Free Public Library, of
Worcester, He has been elected honorary member
of the Phi Beta Kappa in Massachusetts, notwith
standing the fact that he holds no college degree,
He married, November n, 1862, Harriet Thurs
ton Lee, daughter of George W. and Laura (San
ford) Lee, a native of Lancaster, Massachusetts,
where they were married. She died October 22,
1900. Their children were: 1. Lee, born at Lc-
roy, New York, January 8, 1865, graduate of the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, member of the
faculty of the State Normal school; married Alice
L. B. Woodworth, July 4, 1894, and had: Ralph, born
January 14, 1900; Helen, born October 28, 1901;
Walter, born April 1, 1905. 2. Olive, horn at Leroy,
New York, March 23, 1867, kindergartner, graduate
of the State Normal school. 3. Philip, born July
24, 1869; died September 16, 1895, at Worcester, un
married. 4, Ernest, born at Lcroy, New York, Sep
tember 28, 1871, clerk in the Worcester County In
stitution of Savings; married July 9, 1897, Ella G.
Price, daughter of William B, and Rebecca E. Price.
Their children are: Robert Price, born July r6,
1898; Elizabeth, born May 9, igo3; Sidney Lee, born
in Worcester, February -i, 1905.
DR. WESLEY DAVIS was born in Waitsfield,
Vermont (now called Northfield), September 5, 1841,
the son of Horace Atkins and Harriet (Bradley)
Davis. His grandfather was John B. Davis. His
ancestral line runs as follows:
(I) Thomas Davis, of Amesbury, married De
borah Martin, December is, 1709, Their children
were : 1. Abigail, born October 6, 1710. 2. Thomai,
born February 28, 1711-12. 3, Mary, born January
17, 1713-14. 4. Sarah, born January 20, 1715. j.
Amos, born November 28, 1718. 6, Mcribah, born
January 21, 1719. 7. Moses, born January 16, 1721;
married Mary Whittier. 8. Timothy, born March 1,
1 723. (II) Amos Davis, 9011 of Thomas (1), bom
November 28, 1718, at Amesbury, Massachusetts.
He was in Newton, New Hampshire, 1758; in Upson,
New Hampshire, 1765 ; in Danville, New 1 lampshire,
1767; in Bradford, Vermont, between 1768 and 1784,
and died at Warner, New Hampshire, 1803, leaving
a widow. His son John, of Warner, New Hampshire,
was his administrator. Amos Davis' married (first)
Alice Carrier and had; 1. Allis, born April 9, 174S.
2, Abigail, born March 22, 1750; married (second)
Hannah Blank  and had: 1. Amos, born Octo
ber 26, 1752, 2. Benjamin, born October 24, I7S4-
3. Hannah, born November 8, 1756. 4, John, born
August 12, 1758.
(ITI) Benjamin Davis, son of Amos (2), born
October 24, 1754, at Newton, New Hampshire, He
was in .Bradford, Vermont, from 1768 to 1793! *etv<t&
in the revolutionary war as private under Captain
Frye Braley and Colonel Polcr Olcotl, one month
and four days from September 23, I777> receiving
three, pound sterling for service in two hundred and
seventy miles I ravel, and must have been present
af the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1781 he wrved for

WORCESTER COUNTY

189

a short period on scouts under Captain Joseph Huber
and Major John Barton. In 1786 he was elected petit
juror and in 1788 was a grand juror. In 1790 he was
second constable and collector, and in 1792 lister. In
1793 he was petit jnror, trustee of schools and lister.
April 4, 1793, he sold his homestead in Bradford
to his brother-in-law, Stephen Jenkins, and moved
with his family to Duxbury, Vermont. In 1794 he
was elected town representative, being the first one
ever elected by the town of Dnxbury. In 1795 and
in 1805 he also served as town representative. He
died October 13, 1830, in Dnxbury, and his grave
stone inscription reads. "Captain Benjamin Davis,"
the title doubtless coming from his militia service.
He married Betsey Jenkins and they had: 1. Abigail.
bora Mav 28, 1774. 2. Amos, born December 17, 1775.
3. Betsey, born April 18, 1778. 4. Hannah, born April
14, 1783. 5. Pally, bom May 18, 1785. 6. Elijah,
born November 6, 1787. 7. John Barron, born Octo
ber 2. 1790. S. Lydia Styles, born August 29, 1792.
9. Andrew (date not known). The mother, Betsev
(Jenkins) Davis, died April 28. 1814, aged sixty
years. (IV) John Barron Davis, son of Benjamin Davis
(3). bom October 2, 1790; married (first) Nancy-
Atkins, daughter of (6), John (5). John (4), Josiah
(3), Josiah (2), William (1). Theix children were:
Azro; Charles: Chandler; Mary; Ellen; Horace.
The mother died March 6, 1834, and Mr. Davis mar
ried (second) Lncins Cobb, and had : Nancy ; Laura ;
John. (V) Horace Atkins Davis, son of John (4) . bora
June 20, 1810. in Dnxbury, Massachusetts; married
Harriet Newell Braley (6), Silas (5), John (4),
Roger (3), Roger (2), Roger (1). Children were:
i. Wesley, born at Northfield, Vermont, September
15. 1&41. 2. George Washington, born at same place,
March 26, 1847. 3. Lydia Ann, born at Dnxbury-,
Vermont, June 11, 1849.
(VI) Jjl^Vesley Davis, son of Horace Davis (5 r,
bora September 15. 1S41, was educated in the acad
emy of his native town and at the LTniversity of
Vermont. He graduated from the Pittsfield Medical
school in 1866, and hegan the practice of his chosen
profession at Westport; New York. In_ 1869 he
came to Worcester, where he practiced his profes
sion. He was for twenty-one years visiting phy
sician of the city hospital." He was the owner of
the five story Adams apartment house — a family hotel
at number 1 High street, Worcester, where he had
his office.
November 1, 1866, he married Cynthia H. Adams.
daughter of Daniel Adams, of Parton. Vermont,
for whom Adams Ferry was named. Three sons
were born to them : George A., September 16, 1868-
' Nellie Harriatt, June 14. 1872. died September 14.
1872. Edwin H., November 2, 1874. Daniel A. W.,
April 5, 1882.
FYFE FAMILY. The family to which William
E. Fyfe, deceased, of Clinton, Massachusetts, be
longed was from William Fyfe. the first American
ancestor, who emigrated from Fifesbire, Scotland.
and early in 1700 settled npon a tract of land in
Bolton, Massachusetts. This William <T) had a
son named William (n), who married and had
among his children a son named William (HI).
The line runs thus :
(I) William Fyfe. the Scotch immigrant, came
to Bohon about 1700.
(H) William Fyfe. son of William (1).
(HO William Fyfe soe of William (2).
(IV) William Fyfe, son of William ^3), born
August 10. 1837.
OI) William Fyfe, grandfather of the late Will

iam E. Fyfe, of Clinton, succeeded to the farm
which had been cleared and improved by his father,
and devoted the years of his life to agriculture. He
was one of the best farmers of Bolton and took
a leading part in public matters in his town. He
died at the age of seventy-six years.
(Ill) William Fyfe, father" ot" the late William
E. Fyfe, of Clinton, was reared on the old home
stead farm. When a young man he engaged in
teaming and transporting produce to the Boston
market. He later returned to the old farm and
married but eventually settled on another farm in
the same neighborhood, and there spent the re
mainder of his days. His wife's maiden name was
Sally Carrnth ; she was born in Spencer. Massa
chusetts. He was her second husband. By her union
with Mr. Fyfe. she had three children, of whom
William E. was one The father, William Fyfe.
died at the age of sixty-four years. She died at
the age of sixty-three. They attended the Unitarian
and Baptist churches, respectively.
f IV > William E. Fyfe, son of William and Sally
(Carruth) Fyfe. was born in Bolton, Massachu
setts. August 10, 1837. on the old Fyfe homestead.
He received his education at the common schools
of his native place, but only remained in school
until thirteen years of age, when his services were
needed on his father's form. He there found em
ployment as a mill operator and in a shoe shop.
When seventeen years of age, he went to Cambridge,
where for two years he drove a bread-cart and later
a wagon for the Kennedy Cracker Co. for four
years. He clerked for a short time in a grocery, and
then opened a grocery store of his own, conducting
the same for two years and met with good success.
He finally disposed of his business and purchased
a bakery, which he conducted in connection with the
grocery business. This he followed eight years, when
he sold out and removed to Clinton. Massachusetts,
where he engaged in the real estate business and
erected a handsome residence, known as the "Fyfe-
shire" on the Bolton Hills. After three years he
sold this property and bought a sixty-two acre farm,
and for five years devoted his time and energy to
the raising of garden produce. He then sub-divided
his place, reserving a large share for himself and
sold many lots, upon which to-day may be seen many
dwellings. His real estate business proved one of
success and he was financially rewarded.
For two years he carried on the bakery business
at Clinton, and was for twelve years interested in a
large comb factory, being the director and pur
chasing agent. For eight years he was engaged as
a partner with B. L. Nowell & Co., of Montreal,
in the horn-glue stock and Canada ash business.
Not many years since he formed a partnership with
E_ L_ Plummer for the purpose of carrying en the
butter business. This firm later was consolidated
with that oi C. M. Fay. and in April, 1895, moved
to the new and spacious quarters in a business house
erected for them by Mr. Fyfe. This firm was known
as Fyfe. Far and Plnmmer. who ca~ried on an ex
tensive retail and wholesale grocery and produce
business. Mr. Fyfe was also a director in the Clin
ton Wall Trunk Co. Politically Mr. Fyfe was a
Republican. He served as road .commissioner for
five years. Both he and his wife were members of
the Baptist church.
In iS6r Mr. Fyfe married Joseptine Carruth, bora
in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. June 25. 1839,
daughter of C. Edward Carruth, a grocer of that
city. By this marriage one daughter was born. Dora
J., who married Edward L Plummer. her father's
business associate. They have three children — Helen
L.. Josephine Fyfe. and George Fyfe Plummer.

190

WORCESTER COUNTY

Mr. Fyfe was an extensive traveler, both in this
country and in Europe and Canada. The beautiful
residence he erected was built in the most thorough
manner and contains every modern improvement.
In his estate was a thirty-two acre tract of land,
being part of the old Fyfe homestead. This land
has been greatly improved and it should be recorded
as a part of the original tract granted by the king.
It is now a beautiful park and has a small lake.
He, in his lifetime, provided that it should go to
a charitable institution, and be forever known as the
"Fyfeshire." in honor of its ancestral history, com
ing as it did, direct from the king. In the midst of
life, surrounded by all that tended to give him
pleasure, in the enjoyment of the handsome fortune
he had accumulated by industry, when all bid fair
for many more years, both he and his estimable
daughter were killed by a railway train, upon a
crossing in Lancaster, June 23, 1899. The funeral
was among the largest attended of any in the coun
try, showing in what esteem they were held.
CHARLES B. GATES. The Worcester family
of descendants of the emigrant Stephen Gates has
been traced elsewhere in this work in detail. The
line of descent of Charles B. Gates, of Worcester,
is as follows:
(I) Stephen Gates, descendant in England from
Thomas Gates of Higheaster and Thurseubie, Essex
county, 1327, through William, Peter, Geoffrey, Geof
frey, Sir Geoffrey, William, Sir Geoffrey, William
and Thomas Gates. He was the son of Thomas
Gates of Norwich,' Norfolk county, England, and
came to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638, removed to
Lancaster, then to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He
died at Cambridge in 1662. His children were : Eliza
beth, Mary, Stephen, Thomas, Simon, Isaac, and
Rebecca. (II) Simon Gates, son of Stephen Gates, was born
1645, died April 21, 1693, at Brockton, Massachu
setts. He married Margaret  and they resided
at Cambridge, Lancaster and Brookline, Massachu
setts. Their children were: Abigail, Simon, Simon
2d, George, Amos, Jonathan, Samuel, Margaret.
(Ill) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (2),
born January 5, 1675-6; died March 10, 1735; mar
ried May 29, 1710, Sarah Wood, and settled in Marl
boro. Their children were : Simon, Sarah, Susannah,
Stephen, Solomon, Samuel, Silas,_ John.
(IV) Solomon Gates, son of 'Simon Gates (3),
born May 14, 1721 ; died March 2, 1761, at Worcester,
Massachusetts ; married Mary Clark and lived at
Worcester. Their children were: Sarah, Samuel,
Mary, Paul, Silas and James.
(V) Samuel Gates, son of Solomon Gates (4),
born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January I, 1750-1,
died December 19, 1831 ; married Lucy Chadwick.
He was a soldier in the revolution. His children
were: 1. Joel, born March 7, 1782. 2. Polly, born
October 12, 1783. 3. Joshua, born June 19, 1787.
4. Willard, born October 15, 1793. 5. Henry Brazer,
born August 1, 1797. 6. Nahum, born June 10,
1801. All the foregoing were born at Worcester,
Massachusetts. (VI) Joel Gates, son of Samuel Gates (5), born
at Worcester, Massachusetts, March 7, 1782 ; died
in Worcester 1856; married Joanna Stearns, May
17, 1805, at Worcester. They settled on the old
Gates farm at Bloomingdale, now in large part oc
cupied by the state hospital for the insane. The
old house is owned by A. Frank Gates. Later in life
he resided on Prospect street. He married (second)
 Wood. All his children were by the first wife.
The children were, according to Worcester
records: 1. Leonard, born January 3, 1805. 2. John,

born March I, 1807. 3. Charles Emory, born April
13, 1806. 4. Harriet Porter, born April 17, 1810. 5.
Lucy Chadwick, born June 22, 1813. 6. Samuel,
born December 19, 1817. 7. Mary Walker, born
October 27, 1818.
(VII) John Gates, son of Joel Gates (6), born
in Worcester, March 1, 1806; died at Worcester
December 12, 1877. He was raised on the old Gates
homestead at Bloomingdale, and educated in the
Worcester schools. He learned the carpenter's
trade and worked at it in Worcester for a number
of years. About 1831 he began business as an
undertaker with an office and shop on School street,
adding the lumber business in^a small way in 1835,
and continued to deal in lumber until his death.
He sold the undertaking business to his partner,
W. G. Maynard, about 1845, and bought the place
on Union street where the lumber yard of John Gates
and of John Gates Sons has since been located. Be
fore starting for himself he had been in partner
ship for a time with Henry Golding in the manu
facture bf woolen machinery. Golding subsequently
sold his business to R. B. Wetherbee. Mr. Gates
carried on an extensive lumber business with marked
success. He was one of the substantial business
men of the old school in Worcester.
He married Betsey W. Allen, of Plymouth,
Massachusetts. Their children, all born in Wor
cester, were : 1. George Allen, born January 7, 1833,
now associated with his brother Charles B. Gates,
proprietor of the business conducted as John Gates'
Sons, lumber deale'rs at 179 Union street, Wor
cester. 2. Harriet Davis, born January 8, 1836. 3.
John Bradford, born April 16, 1839. 4. Mary Eliza
beth, born March 3, 1841. 5. Albert Holmes, born
July 14, 1842. 6. Albert Stearns, born January 21
or 23, 1844. 7. Emory' Winslow, born June 22, 1848.
8. Charles B., born September 12, 1851.
(VIII) Charles B. Gates, son oLJahn Gates,
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sep^mber 12,
185 1. His early home was on Central street. . He
attended the public schools, Worcester Academy
and Leicester Academy. He entered the University
of Michigan as a special student, and graduated
there from the Law Department in 1874 with the
1 degree of LL. B. He practiced law in Michigan for
a short time, then returned to Worcester. He was
admitted to the Worcester county bar in 1875, and
opened an office in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Two
years before his father died, the lumber business on
Union street was closed out. In November,
1877, Charles B. Gates and his brother Emory
W. Gates decided to revive the business. A part
nership was formed under the firm name of John
Gates' Sons. The taste for a business life was
stronger in Mr. Gates than the love of a professional
career as a lawyer, so he abandoned law to take
up his father's business as a lumber merchant. Un
fortunately his brother died at the very outset of
the new firm's career, in 1880, and Charles B. Gates
has carried the business on alone, really building
it up to its present proportions. The name of his
firm stands well among business men. The central
location has perhaps given the business some ad
vantages for retail trade. Mr. Gates simply buys
and sells every kind of lumber according to the de
mand. He has no mill and manufactures none of
his stock. As a business man he ranks high. He
has tended pretty closely all his life to his busi
ness interests, and has not entered politics or other
business. He is well known in Masonic circles. He
is a member of Athelstan Lodge, of Eureka Chap
ter, of Hiram Council, Lawrence Chapter of Rose
Croix, .Worcester County Commandery, and has
taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite

~—/s r

/4N<fi^Ja

WORCESTER COUNTY

191

in Masonry. He is a member of the college fra
ternity Phi Delta Phi, which is especially strong
in the western colleges. He is a Republican.
He married February 2, 1881, Ida Evelina Noble,
at Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was the daughter
of Charles E. Noble and Jerusha P. (Crosman)
Noble. Her mother was born at St. Johnsbury, Ver
mont, 1824, and removed in 1830 to Michigan, where
the family settled. Her father was in the railroad
business, and during the last years of his life was gen
eral eastern agent of the Michigan Central and Great
Western Railroad with offices in the Astor House,
New York city. He died in New York, 1873. Her
mother is living (1905) at the age 6f eighty-one.
She was born November 22, 1851, at Detroit, where
the family was then located. They have two chil
dren, both born in Worcester. 1. Burton Noble,
born December 19, 1881, spent two years in Cornell
University, graduated at Clark College, Worcester,
in 1905, and will take graduate courses in Clark Uni
versity next year. His specialty in college has been
biology. 2. Aleene Crosman, born September 28,
1886, graduate of the South high school at Wor
cester, now a student in the Burnham Preparatory
school at Northampton, Massachusetts.
JOSEPH CHARLOTLE DAPPER, artist, of
Worcester, was born in Rhine, Hessen, Germany,
April 12, 1861, a son of Matthew and Emilie (Mil
ler) Dapper, who were born in Mayennce, on the
Rhine, Germany. Matthew Dapper (father) served
in the capacity of judge. They were the parents
of three other children, all of whom reside in
Germany and are married, namely: Eugenia, Lud-
wig, who serves as judge in a high court; and
Franz, a district attorney in Metz.
Joseph C. Dapper pursued a course of study in
art at the Royal Academy in Munich under the
famous painter, Carl von Piloty, who for the greater
part of his life, was a member and professor of the
Munich Academy. He began his studies in 1878
and continued up to 1883, a period of five years.
In 1884 he came to the United States, locating in
New York city, and for a time was engaged in the
practice of his profession with several artists. Later
lie opened a studio in the building on the southwest
corner of Fifth avenue and Fourteenth street, New
York city, where he remained for a number oi years.
In 1899 he took up his residence in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, and opened a studio in the Dexter build
ing, No. 540 Main street. He makes a specialty of
portrait work, in which line he is highly proficient.
In the city of New York, September 2, 1891,
Mr. Dapper was united in marriage to Miss Alex-
, andria C. Enig, who was born iu Roeskilde, Den
mark, January 5, 1868, a daughter of Andreas Enig,
a musician. Their children are : May W., Alice E.,
Harry H., and Helen E. Their residence is at No.
80 Merrick street, Worcester.
WILLI AM. HENRY FAIRBANKS. Jonathan
Fairbanks (1), the immigrant ancestor of William
Henry Fairbanks, of Clinton, Massachusetts, was
born in England before 1600 and came to Boston
with his family in 1633, remained there about three
years, and then settled in Dedham, where he' was
one of the pioneers. He was a singer of the famous
Dedham Covenant. His house is still standing at
Dedham and is now owned by the family associa
tion, having been occupied to the present time by
Jonathan and his, lineal descendants. He was ad
mitted to the church August 14, 1646, and was a
town officer. He married Grace Lee, who died
December 28, 1673. He died at Dedham, December
5, 1668, and his will was proved January. 26 fol

lowing. The children : John, died November 13,
1684; George, died January 10, 1682-3; Alary, born
April 18, 1622, married Michael Metcalf; Susan,
married October 12, 1647, Ralph Day, of Dedham ;
Jonas, see forward ; Jonathan, Jr., died January
28, 1711-2.
(II) Jonas Fairbanks, son of Jonathan Fair
banks (i), was born in England, and came to
Dedham with his parents. He signed the covenant
in 1657, and March 7, 1659, became one of the fathers
of the town. He was a farmer and believed to be a
carpenter also. In 1652 he was fined for wearing
great boots, not being worth two hundred pounds,
the amount of wealth prescribed by the laws of
the colony in 165 1 to suffice for men who could law
fully wear great boots. He removed to Lancaster
in 1657.' There he met his death in the assault by
King Philip and fifteen hundred warriors, Febru
ary 10, 1675-6. Some fifty persons were slain that
day, including Joshua Fairbanks, son of Jonas.
¦ Jonas Fairbanks married, May 28, 1658, Lydia
Prescott, daughter of John Prescott, who came from
Sowerby, Halifax, England, the same place that
the Fairbanks came from. Lydia was born in Wa
tertown, August 15, 1641. After Fairbanks was
killed she married (second) Ellis Barron, of Wa
tertown, Groton and Lancaster. The children of
Jonas Fairbanks: Marie, born June 20, 1659;
Joshua, April 6, 1661, killed by Indians; Grace,
November 15, 1663; Jonathan, October 7, 1666;
Hasadiah, February 28, 1668, married John Moore,
of Concord, January 1, 1698; Jabez, January 8,
1670-1, see forward; Jonas, May 6, 1673, was of
Watertown, 1695-6, when he sold to brother Jabez
land of their father Jonas ; died September 13,
1697, and is buried in his brother Jonathan's lot.
(Ill) Captain Jabez Fairbanks, son of Jonas
Fairbanks (2), was born at Lancaster, January 8,
1670-1, and he settled there after the war. He died
March 2, 1758, aged eighty-seven. He was a very
efficient soldier and officer in the Indian war, and
was no doubt incited to heroic exploits by the
massacre of his father and brother in 1676 and of
his only surviving brother in 1697 during a raid on
the town. At the time his brother Jonathan and
one of his children were killed, Captain Jabez was
the means of saving a garrison and perhaps • many
lives including that of his own little son Joseph.
Twenty-one persons were killed in this raid, two
were wounded and six carried off captives, of whom
five were ransomed later, including the wife of
Jonathan Fairbanks. In 1700 Jabez had lands laid
down to him on both sides of Dane's brook above
Thomas Sawyer's saw mill. This site was the
homestead of Jabez and his descendants for a
hundred years. He was deputy to the general court
in 1714-21-22-23. He married Mary Wilder, daughter of Thomas
and Mary (Houghton) Wilder, who died Feb
ruary 21, 1718, in her forty-third year. He
married (second), March 25, 1719, Elizabeth Whit
comb, who died May 11, 1755, aged about eighty
years. The children of Jabez and Mary were: Jo
seph, born 1693, see forward ; Jabez ; Elizabeth,
married Deliverance Brown, December 24, 1718;
Jonas; Thomas; Abigail, married Major Henry
Willard, of Ashburnham, descendant of Major Si
mon Willard; Jonathan, baptized June 18, 1710;
Grace, baptized February 27, 1712, married Joseph
Brown, March 27, 1733; Joshua, baptized March 28,
1714; Anna, baptized November 18, 1716, married,
April 5, 1738, Simon Butler.
(IV) Deacon Joseph Fairbanks, son of Jabez
Fairbanks (3), was born in Lancaster, Massachu
setts, 1693, and died at Harvard, December 6,

1 92

WORCESTER COUNTY

1772, in his seventy-fourth year. The section of
Lancaster in which he lived was set off in the new
township of Harvard in 1732, and he was dismissed
from the First Church at Lancaster to the new
church at Harvard, September 9, 1733. He was
selectman of Harvard in 1733-35-43-45-52, and was
town treasurer from 1736 to 1740. He was the
first deputy to the general court from the town,
sent in 1740, but he declined and Peter Atherton
served instead. He was a prominent citizen for
many years and was on most of the town commit
tees appointed to protest against and resist British
aggression. The old homestead at Harvard is owned
by Andrew Fairbanks. It was built about the year
1720. Deacon Joseph Fairbanks married, April 21,
1718, Mary Brown, who died November 14, 1791,
'aged ninety-one years, eleven months and six days.
Their children: Phineas, born April 8, 17J9; Mary,
October 17, 1721, died October 22, 1721. Joseph,
November 4, 1722; Mercy, February 6, 1724-5, died
February 17, 1724-5; Cyrus, May 23, 1726, died Sep
tember 3, 1736; Mary, January 19, 1729, married,
October 12, 1748, John Priest; Lydia, August 16,
1731, married, February 18, 1756, Manasseh Sawyer;
Elizabeth, May 1, 1734, died November 19, 1736;
Amos, April 21, 1737; Relief, December 31, 1739,
married December 31, 1760, Caleb Sawyer.
(V) Captain Amos Fairbanks, son of Deacon Jo
seph Fairbanks (4), was born in Harvard, Massachu
setts, April 21, 1737. He was a farmer. He was
a soldier in the French war, a private in the foot
company from Harvard commanded by Captain
Israel Taylor, of Harvard, Colonel Oliver Wilder's
regiment, in 1757. He was an ensign in the oldest
military company in 1774 was lieutenant when the
company responded to the Lexington call, April,
1775, and captain in the miscellaneous service dur
ing the revolution. He was on the committee of
safety and correspondence in Harvard, 1780. He
was deacon of the church, elected November 28, .
1786, resigned November 4, 1798. He died January
4, 1809, aged seventy-one years, eight months and
twenty-three days.
He married (first), April 23, 1760, Lucy Gates,
who died November 12, 1767, aged twenty-eight
years, twelve days. He married (second) Rhoda
Sawyer, who died February 23, 1813, aged seventy-
two years. Children of Captain Amos and Lucy
Fairbanks were : Jacob, born June, 1761, died
young; Jacob, May 6, 1762; Lucy, March 24, 1764,
married Reuben Whitney; Mercy, March 28, 1766.
The children of Captain Amos and Rhoda Fair
banks : Amos, born September 5, 1769, see forward ;
Noah, June 23, 1771; Rhoda, June 15, 1774, mar
ried Josiah Haskell, Jr. ; Joseph, February 19, 1776 ;
Daniel, October 20, 1778, died March 10, 1779;
Mary,' February 24, 1781.
(VI) Amos Fairbanks, son of Captain Amos
Fairbanks (5), was born at Harvard, Massachusetts,
September 5, 1769,, died March 28, 1837. He
settled at Harvard, on the old farm. He mar
ried, April 27, 1794, Rebecca Whitney, born April
13, 1777, daughter of Israel and Hannah (Mead)
Whitney, of Harvard. She died at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, October 15, 1763, at the home of her
daughter, Eliza Seymour, aged eighty-six years.
Their children, all born at Harvard, were: Horace>
October 15, 1795, resided at Boston, married Amelia
Dodge, July 13, 1818; Amos, November 27, 1799;
Clark, February 13, 1802, died May 7, 1885 ; Israel W.,
November 1, 1804; Zopher, October 20, 1806, resided
at Duxbtiry, married Harriet C. Longley, December
31, 1833, died December 14, 1879; Rebecca, August 5,
1808, married, February 23, 1836, Edmund Sawyer,

of Warner, New Hampshire; Henry, June 11, 181 1,
see forward; William, May 4, 1813, died 1817;
Eliza, September 6, 1718, married, October, 1844,
Friend Seymour, and lived at Charlestown.
(VII) Henry Fairbanks, son of Amos Fair
banks (6), was born at Harvard, Massachusetts,
June n, 1811, on the old homestead. He received
a common school education in his native town and
learned the butcher's trade. He was in business
in Princeton and Sterling, and drove a market wagon
to Boston from 1850 to 1870. About 1870 he re
moved to Sudbury and subsequently returned to
Sterling, where he died January 18, 1897, in the
eighty-sixth year of his age. He married Martha
Conant, who died August 25, 1858, in Princeton,
and is buried in Acton, Massachusetts. He mar
ried (second) Sarah A. Moore, of Sudbury, who
died in Sterling and was buried in Sudbury. He
married (third) Lucinda Brown, died in Sudbury.
The children of Henry and Martha Fairbanks were:.
William Henry, born at Littleton, November 7,
1841, see forward; Martha Ann, born at Littleton,
died aged eight years; Ellen Maria, died December
9, 1897; Albert Conant, born September 5, 1852,
married Emma T. Sprague; Curtis Albro, born
September 27, 1855, died 1871. Albert Conant
Fairbanks is a successful manufacturer of musical
instruments, and wood rims for bicycles and other
vehicles, the patent for which is his. His com
pany has a large plant for manufacturing the wooden
rims in England and also at Tonawanda, New
York. He was a member of the city council of
Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1893-94.
(VIII) William Henry Fairbanks, son of Henry
Fairbanks (7), was born at Littleton, Massachusetts,
November 7, 1841. He was educated in the public
schools of the neighboring towns of Sterling and
Acton. He became associated with his father in
the meat business. In 1865 he started in business
on his own account in South Lancaster. In 1867 he
removed to Hudson, Massachusetts, and carried on
the meat and provision business there for three
years. From 1870 to 1875 he was in the manufact
uring business in Boston, making rubber syringes
and other goods. He settled in Clinton in 1875
and since then has been engaged in the meat and
provision business there. He has also dealt exten
sively in cattle and horses, buying his stock in the
west by the carload. He has been successful in
business and commands the esteem and confidence
of his townsmen. He is a Republican in politics,
but has never cared for public office.
He married, at Sterling, Mary Jennie Bailey,
born at Northborough, Massachusetts, March 3,
1840, died September 5, 1895, daughter of Charles .
M. and Mary (Rice) Bailey. Her father was a
tanner by trade. The children: May Bailey, born
May 30, 1871, formerly a teacher in the Clinton
public schools, now residing at home; Harry Co
nant, born October 23, 1881, now a partner in his
father's business.
LAWRENCE WILLMORE PENNINGTON.
Arthur Pennington (1), father of Lawrence Will-
more Pennington, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was
born in Birmingham, England. He iharried Sarah
Shaw, daughter of William Shaw, of Birmingham,
England. They were married at Birmingham
and lived there. He was a tool maker and chain
maker by trade. After making ready to , go to
America twice they finally started in March, 1854,
with their son Lawrence. Arthur Pennington died
on the voyage over. ¦ His widow remained in Boston
for about two years and then returned to her old
home in- Birmingham, England, with her two chil-

WORCESTER COUNTY

193

dren, the younger having been born on the voyage
to America. A few years later she married Wil
liam Empson, and had several children, only one
of whom is now living, Emma, who married John
Asbury, and now or recently was living in Provi
dence, Rhode Island. Sarah Shaw, mother of
Lawrence W. Pennington, was the only daughter
among thirteen children borne by her mother. Her
father married twice and had in all twenty-five
children. (She died in Birmingham in 1869.) The
children of Arthur Pennington were : Lawrence
Willmore, born at Birmingham, England, February
26, 1852; Arthur, born on the voyage from England
to America, March, 1854, returned to England, came
to Providence, Rhode Island, after he was grown
up, but soon returned to his native place, where
he married Julia Howland.
(II) Lawrence Willmore Pennington, son of
Arthur Pennington (1), was born in Birmingham,
England, February 20, 1852. He came to America
first with his parents when two years old and re
turned a few years later to England with his mother
and brother. He was brought up and educated in
Birmingham. He is a graduate of Midland In
stitute, receiving in 1873 the degree of Master of
Arts. He had specially good training in draughting
and designing, for which he early showed a special
aptitude. He learned the trade of manufacturing jeweler
and followed his trade in England for a time. In
1870 and 1871 he was designer and pattern maker
for Joseph Josephs & Son, St. Paul's Square,
Birmingham, England, who had at that time the
reputation of making the highest grade and most
costly diamond and precious stone jewelry of any
makers in England. In 1871 he patented his first
invention, a reversible "E" ring top, and sold forty-
three designs at considerable profit. In 1872 he
patented a scarf stud and sold sixty-one designs.
In 1873 he patented eighteen designs used in the
jewelry trade, a window curtain pulley, a new sus
pender buckle, a separable cuff button, patented in
the United States, and sold to George Mason. In
1873 he came to the United States and located at
Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked as
foreman for a number of the large manufacturing
establishments, such as Thomas Quail's, Millin &
Hutchins, and here he invented his method of iri
descent coloring of metals, 'which was a great money
maker for him. He also had a secret process for
straight and for basket coloring that was in great
demand. He invented about this time a contriv
ance for bending scrolls and another for setting
stones and pearls. In 1S74 he returned to England
and stayed about three years, and while there pat
ented several more valuable patents, one of which
netted him for some time a hundred pounds a week.
He made a machine for cutting joints for bracelets
and lockets.
He returned to the United States in 1878. After
working a short time at Newark, New Jersey, he
returned to Providence, Rhode Island. Here he
taught the workmen of Dity Wilcox tlie trade of
diamond ring manufacturing. He opened his own
shop on Peck street, Providence, in 1878, and began
to manufacture jewelry. Much of his work, how
ever, was applying his process of coloring and lap
ping to the work of other Providence jewelry
manufacturers. For Rice, Allen & Mason alone
he did contract work to the amount of seventy-five
dollars' a day profit. Twice he enlarged his shop,
moving first to Dyer street, then to Eddy street.
In 1887 he transferred his business to Worcester.
In 1879 he sold George Mason his process for inlay
ing and producing colors on metals. From 1878
13

to the time of his removal to Worcester he pro
duced a series of valuable inventions, used by man
ufacturers of jewelry, most of which are of too
technical a nature to be described here.
His first location in Worcester was at 81 Me
chanic street, where he made all kinds of jewelers'
goods to order. Fie developed a large business,
designing all kinds of jewels, diamond settings, de
signing and making emblems, badges and insignia of
all sorts. He made goods for retail jewelers in all
parts of the state. He had to move soon to better
quarters on Main street, at the corner of Mechanic.
He continued to experiment, invent and patent new
devices. In 1886 he invented a method of soldering
metal to glass; in 1891 he brought out his process
for soldering aluminum; in 1891, after he had be
come interested in pyrography, he invented a poker
for the work, and in 1894 devised the electric pencil,
for permanent writings and drawings on glass, china
and all delicate surfaces ; in 1896 he invented a new
process for casting gold and silver hollow. It is
doubtful if any man in his line of work has pro
duced more useful and numerous inventions than
Mr. Pennington. He continues to experiment as
he has the opportunity.
He opened a retail store at 6 Elm street in con
nection with his manufacturing business. In 1904
he removed to No. 377 Main street, where he is
now located. Mr. Pennington has made many
famous designs. He made the Ten Eyck charm and
pin, and the Prince Henry souvenir, consisting of
the Worcester city seal wrought in ivory and silver,
presented to Prince Henry of Prussia, March 6, 1902,
by the citizens of 'Worcester. As far back as 1869
be took a queen's prize for pencil drawing of his
teacher. In 1S70 he took a prize for a bronze de
sign. He has a burnt wood picture in the Dublin
Art Gallery and a portrait of President Roosevelt
in the White House. ,
It is as an artist in burnt wood that Air. Pen
nington has made himself famous. He was a few
years ago conceded to be the best artist in burnt
wood in this country. Pyrography has become
in the last few years the most attractive and popu
lar form of art among all classes and ages. The
beautiful and skillful work of Mr. Pennington has
doiie as much to inspire the devotion to this form
of art as anything else. His exhibitions have in
terested many to learn how to do burnt wood pic
tures. When Mr. Pennington began to burn pictures
on wood he found the art in a crude state. He
broke away from the conventional scrolls and designs
and attempted successfully pictures requiring deli
cate shading and coloring. He was probably the
first artist to make a distinctly successful picture
of nude figures in burnt wood. The first large pro
duction which is now famous, is the "Diana's Hunt
ing Party," owned by J. F. Regan, of Worcester.
This picture brings out in elaborate detail thir
teen figures over fifteen inches in height, while
the effect of foliage and water is produced very
naturally and effectively. Tius picture is as large
as the original painting, eight feet long and forty-
two inches in width. The original painting by Hans
Makart in the Metropolitan Art Museum of New
York is one of the best known productions of any
artist. At the time Mr. Pennington' made this
beautiful specimen of his art, it was pronounced
the largest, most elaborate and artistic specimen
of pyrography ever produced.
Mr. Pennington has made many hundreds of
pictures since he began to study burnt wood art.
He has been a prize winner in exhibitions in New
York, Chicago and Boston, besides numerous ex
hibitions in smaller cities. One collection of his

194

WORCESTER COUNTY

pictures was exhibited in London and Germany.
Among his best are "Reveries" and "The Golden
Age." While much of his work is original in de
sign, he has made very artistic reproductions of many
famous paintings, such as Rosa Bonbeur's "Head of
a Lion," Paul Potter's "Head of a Bull and Cow,"
"Lion in His Cage," and "Words of Comfort," which
is a specially fine piece of work representing an
aged woman reading to her husband, sick in bed.
Another large production of Mr. Pennington's is the
"Battle of Newbern," which is forty-four inches in
length and fourteen in width, containing four hundred
and thirty different figures. He made for Nathan I.
Durlech, of New York, a reproduction of "Nymphs
and Satyr," a well known painting. Another speci
men of his best work is "Bacchante Awakening,"
a life size nude figure, beautifully drawn and colored.
It is fifty-four inches by seventy-two inches in size.
It is a copy of the painting by Frederick Kraus.
Another large work is a reproduction of Le Quesne's
"The Daughters of Menistho," four feet five and
three-fourth inches by six feet, one inch. The
"Nymphs and Satyr" picture was the largest of
all, being six feet by nine and a half. One 'of his
most successful collections of burnt etchings con
sisted of portraits of members of the Mitchell fam
ily of London, made from photographs. It is im
possible to give an adequate idea of the extent and
variety of Mr. Pennington's work with poker and
aluminum pencil. He received much assistance from
his daughter, Lavinia, who was also a clever artist.
Mr. Pennington has never joined any secret orders
and is not a club man. Most of his burnt Wood
pictures were produced at home evenings. For the
past thirteen years he has resided at No. 13 June
street, Worcester.
He married, September 6,. 1871; Selinia Cashmore,
daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Cashmore, at
Birmingham, England. Her father is still living in
that city at an advanced age. She died January,
1898. He married (second) Lucy Chaffee, daughter
of James H. and Laura Chaffee, of Berkshire, Ver
mont, June 20, 1905, at Worcester. The children
of Lawrence W. and Selinia (Cashmore) Penning
ton were : Lawrence, born at Birmingham, England,
February 24, 1873, married Lillian Wheeler, of Graf
ton, has one daughter ; Selinia Lavinia, born January
16, 1876, married, ' at Worcester, January 29, 1904,
Dr. Nicholas William Hoffman, of Dubuque, Iowa,
dean of the N. A. R. D., resides in Worcester.
Arthur H. Hioms, professor of Electro-Metallurgy
in the Midland Institute at Birmingham, England,
married Elizabeth Cashmore, sister of Mrs. Pen
nington. His text books known as "Mixed Metal
and Metallic Alloys," "Elementary Metallurgy,"
"Iron and Steel Manufacturing" and "Practical
Metallurgy and Assaying" — are used in this country
by most all the teachers of that line in the colleges,
and his works are.accepted as authority on the various
subjects. THE STEWART BOILER WORKS of Wor
cester, well known throughout the New England
states, and which stands high among the leading
industries of the city of Worcester, sustaining a
reputation for thorough workrrtanship and honorable
dealing, has since September, 1888, been under the
ownership of James C, John C. and Charles M.
Stewart, sons of Charles Stewart, a native of Glas
gow, Scotland, who learned his trade in England.
Upon his arrival in Worcester, Massachusetts, Charles
Stewart began manufacturing boilers for Bellows
& Whitcomb, who were at that time engaged in
building portable steam engines.
The firm comprising the three gentlemen above

named was founded in 1865 by Charles Stewart and
David M. Dillon under the original firm name of
Stewart & Dillon, and the first shop was on Man
chester street, but was later removed to Cypress
street. In December, 1869, Mr. Dillon retired from
the firm and Mr. Stewart continued the business
alone until 1872, when William Allen became his
partner, the style changing to Stewart & Allen, and
this partnership continued for a period of three years.
Prior to that time (1871) Mr. Stewart purchased
the boiler business of Rice, Barton & Fales, machine
and iron company, which they carried on in connec
tion with their business of paper-making machinery.
Upon the dissolution of the partnership, in 1875,
Mr. Allen established the firm of William Allen &
Sons, which has continued in business in the city
of Worcester since, and Mr. Stewart in 1878 admitted
hjs son, James C Stewart, to partnership, changing
the name of the firm to that of C. Stewart & Son,
In 1888 Charles Stewart retired and his three sons,
above mentioned, have continued the business up
to the present time (1906).
In September, 1889, the works were moved to
new shops at the present location, Albany street.
The plant is extensive, covering a space- of nearly
two acres of land located a half mile east of the
Union station, and on the line of the Boston & A1-"
bany Railroad, and easily accessible from all parts of
the city of Worcester by means of the electric cars.
The main building is sixty by three hundred and
seventy feet, and there are a number of smaller
buildings for various purposes, all admirably equipped
with machinery. There is a spur track running
alongside the works, and with a powerful electric
hoisting crane gives excellent facilities for receiving
, and shipping goods. The firm manufactures loco
motive, marine and tubular boilers, tanks for oil,
water and general purposes, smoke stacks, penstocks,
and heavy plate iron work of all kinds. They also
attend to repairs of boilers in mills, etc. They em
ploy on an average seventy-five men, many of whom
have served at the works for a long period of time.
JOSEPH McGOWN. The pioneer ancestor of
the American branch of the McGown family was
Joseph McGown (grandfather), who emigrated
thither from his native land — Scotland — landing in
New York city. Prior to his emigration to America
he married and among the children born to him was
a son Henry McGown.
Henry McGown (father) was born at Paisley, an
important manufacturing town • in Scotland, was
reared and educated there, and by giving close at
tention to his studies and by pursuing a course of
reading ' good literature became a well ' informed
man on a number of subjects. After his marriage
to Elizabeth Bizland, of Paisley, Scotland, about
1842, he _ came to the United States, locating first at
Unkersville, Connecticut, where he was employed at
his trade of weaver. After a residence of one year
there he moved to Mason. Village, New Hamp
shire, where he served as foreman for the Columbia.
Manufacturing Company's mill for about thirty years,
and later he removed to High Bridge, same state,
where he continued to act as foreman for the same
company. In 1871 he took up his residence in Clin
ton, Massachusetts, and engaged in the grocery busi
ness, this proving a most lucrative enterprise. The
following named children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. McGown: Joseph, of whom later: Elizabeth,
John, Henry, William W., and Jean. Henfy Mc
Gown (father) died January, 1874; his wife passed
away August, 1874.
Joseph McGown, eldest son of Henry and Eliza
beth (Bizland) McGown, was born in Paisley, Scot-

yV

<"Vv-a, X

V.

WORCESTER COUNTY

195

land, November 13, 1840. When eighteen months old
he was brought to this country by his mother, his
father having preceded them, and after a tedious
and perilous voyage on a sailing vessel was landed
safely in New York city. He received his educa
tion in the schools of New Ipswich and Mason Vil
lage, New Hampshire, and when five years old ac
companied his parents to High Bridge, New Hamp
shire, where he was employed for a number of
years in the mill operated by his father. Upon the
removal of the family to Clinton, Massachusetts, he
followed the trade of machinist for a short period
of time, and then entered into partnership with his
father in the grocery business, established by the
latter, this connection continuing until the death of
Mr. McGown, Sr., since which time the son has.
conducted the business alone and is now in receipt
of an extensive and lucrative patronage, only ex
ceeded by establishments in the large cities. Mr. Mc
Gown has accumulated considerable real estate in
his adopted town, and ranks among, the prosperous
and influential citizens. Although repeatedly re
quested by the leaders of the_ Republican party in
his community to accept political office, he has al
ways declined the honor but is willing to aid the
party otherwise to the best of his ability. He is an
active and interested member of the Masonic Order,
also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. McGown married, January 1, 1863, Miss
Clementine E. Baxter, a daughter of Anson Baxter,
of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and their children
are: Henry A., married Grace Buttrick, and their
family consists of three children : Margery, Mary J.,
and Ellenoir. Joseph E., who married Jean Mc
Gown, and the issue of this marriage were three
children : Edith, Muriel, and one who died young.
George, deceased, who married May Barden, and
one children was born to them, Pauline. Andrew B.,
who married Mary Morgan, now deceased, and their
children are: Dorothy, Virginia. John L., who
married Nellie Jenkins. Isabelle C, who became the
wife of John Sparks, issue : Donald, and one who
died young. Esther, unmarried, resides at home.
The family attend the Congregational church of
Clinton. CHARLES BASSETT EATON. The Eaton
family, of which Charles Bassett Eaton is a repre
sentative in the present generation, is lineally de
scended from Jonas Eaton.
(I) Jonas Eaton came from England and pur
chased land in Watertown, Massachusetts, where
he had a residence in 1643. He with his brother Will
iam, also- of Watertown, Massachusetts, were among
the first settlers of Reading, Massachusetts. Jonas
and wife Grace were recorded among the members
of the church at Reading as early as September 29,
1648. He died there February 24, 1674., and his widow
married, November 18, 1680; Henry Sillsbee, of Lynn.
Jonas and Grace Eaton had children: Mary, born
February 8, 1643-4; died 1731; John, born Septem
ber 10, 164s; Jonas, born September 28, 1647, died
October 14, 1647; Jonas, born September 24, 1648;
Sarah, born 1650; Joseph, born January 5, 1651 ;
Joshua, bom December 4, 1653; Jonathan, born De
cember 6, 1655 ; David, born September 22, 1657,
died October 7, 1657.
(II) John Eaton, born September 10, 1645, mar
ried, November 26, 1-674, Dorcas Green, and lived in
Reading. He died there May 25, 1691. Their chil
dren were : Jonas, born March 13, 1676-7, died March
28, 1676-7: Grace, born January 12, 1677-8, married
John Boutelle; Noah, born January 26, 1678, died
in 1701; Thomas, born June 22, 1679, died Novem
ber 30, 1679; Jonas, born May 18, 1680, married

and settled in Framingham; -Joseph, born April 18,
1681, died April 29, 1681 ; Benjamin, born January
16, 1683^4, died February 2, 1683-4; Joseph, settled
in Reading; Benjamin, settled in Roxbury; Dorcas,
born July 26, 1688, died young; Stephen, born Au
gust 11, 1689, died August 25, 1689; Phoebe, born
August 25, 1690, married Jonathan Nichols.
(Ill) Jonas Eaton, born May 18, 1680, was a
carpenter and bricklayer, settled in Framingham,
Massachusetts, and married Grace, daughter of John
Gould. He purchased March 10, 1705-6, the east
half of what was known as the "Half Mile Square,"
and died there August 13, 1727. His children were :
Mehitable, born February 17, 1706-7; Noah, born
July 22, 1708; John, born September 3, 1710, settled
in Killingly, Connecticut; Phebe, born October 22,
1714; Jonas, born October 22, 1714; Joseph, born
March 12, 1716; Mary, born March 12, 1718; Joshua,
born July 1, 1721, settled in Voluntown, 'Connecti
cut; Benjamin, born October 9, 1723; Ebenezer, born
September 2, 1727, cordwainer.
(IV) Noah Eaton, born July 22, 1708, married
Hannah Vinton of Stoneham, and resided in Fram
ingham. He died October 8, 1791 ; she died March
8, !795- Their children are: Hannah, born Novem
ber 8, 1731, married John Cheney; Noah, born Au
gust 7, 1733 ; Abigail, born February 1, 1735, married
Daniei Gregory; Jonas, born January 29, 1737; John,
born July 30, 1740; Mehitable, born April 21, 1743,
married Deacon Samuel Dakin ; Ruth, born Febru
ary 16, 1744, married Peter Parker; Malt'iah, born
January 15, 1747; Silas, born December 1, 1750;
Mary, born May 11, 1753, married Simon Goddard, ,
of Philipston.(V) Maltiah Eaton, born January 15, 1747,
in Framingham, Massachusetts, married Huldah
Haynes, of Sudbury, December 31, 1778, who died
in 1816. In the year 1773 he purchased a tract of land
in the -township of Gerry, now Phillipston, Massa
chusetts, somewhat later removing his goods from
Framingham to that place on a one-horse litter made
of two wooden poles serving as thills extending
back of the horse to the ground, across which short
poles were fastened to support a platform to hold
the freight, the horse dragging the poles along, after
the Indian style of transporting camp fixtures. He
died August 17, 1831. His children were : Amy,
born 1780, married Daniel Crossman; Huldah, born
April 19, 1785, died unmarried, July 4, 1849, in Win
chester, New Hampshire; Avery, born February 2,
1789: Maltiah, died in infancy.
(VI) .Avery Eaton, born February 2, 1789, in
Phillipston, married, January 22, 1818, Lydia Brown,
born in Lexington, Massachusetts, January 18, 1793.
Lydia Brown was a descendant from Deacon Joseph
Brown, who came from England, and located in Lex
ington,' Massachusetts, where his son Benjamin was
born June 30, 1720. He married Sarah Read, De
cember 23, 1742, and died March 4, 1802. Their
son Nathan, born September 5, 1766, married Lydia
Muzzy, December 25, 1788, and were the parents of
Lydia Brown, wife of Avery Eaton. She died in
Springfield, Massachusetts, July 14, 1881. Avery
Eaton built a house just back of his father's on
the old homestead at Phillipston, and resided there
until his father's death. In 1844 the place passed
into the hands of the eldest son, William Avery
Eaton, who resided there about* thirty years, when
he built a house in Athol and removed there, subse
quently selling the farm. The children of Avery
Eaton were : William Avery, born October 5, 1818 ;
Lydia Samantha, born October 15, 1820; Caroline
Huldah, born October 12, 1822; Harriet Relief, born
November 9, 1824, married, April 7, 1847, Lorenzo
Blanchard, of Petersham ; Almira J., born May 27,

196

WORCESTER COUNTY

1827, died July 27, 1827; John Osgood, born Sep
tember 2, 1828, died July 6, 1832; Charles Bassett,
born June 20, 1831 ; Mary Augusta, born July 18,
1835, married George P. King, of Barre, Massa
chusetts. (VII) Charles Bassett Eaton, seventh child of
Avery and Lydia (Brown) Eaton, was born in
Phillipston, Massachusetts, June 20, 1831, on the
original homestead of seventy-five acres that his
grandfather, Maltiah Eaton, purchased November 11,
1773. Here upon this farm were spent the first,
twelve years of his life, attending the village school,
building windmills, sleds, wagons, and water-wheels
in the old shed, chamber (the latter used in driving
a miniature saw mill constructed on the brook near
the house), while his sisters braided palm leaf hats.
At the death of the grandfather the farm became
the property of his .father Avery and his Aunt Hul
dah. Later they sold -the place to their brother
William, and in April, 1844, removed to a farm of
forty-five acres with cottage house and barn upon it
in Winchester township, New Hampshire, about three
miles south of the center. In the fall of 1845 young
Eaton, at the age of fourteen, entered the employ
of Mr. Belding in a cotton factory in West Win
chester. Within a few weeks this mill with a woolen
factory standing near it were consumed by fire, and
the lad found employment as chore boy for Mr.
Murdock, who owned a woolen mill in the town
and boarded his help at the house. During winters
the lad usually went home to attend the town school.
In 1847 he was engaged in painting pails in South
Orange, Massachusetts, for Mr. Washburn (after
wards governor of the state), and the following
season performed the same work at a pail factory
in Winchester, New Hampshire. Here he gained
great proficiency in the work but found it quite in
jurious to health, for on entering Edwin Kendall's
high school at Petersham, in September, 1848, he
found his strength greatly impaired. This, however,
returned to him, and those school days in Petersham
have ever been to him a source of pleasant recollec
tions, for it was at that time that he made the
acquaintance of Mary Caroline Cheney, who after
ward became his wife, and who for more than fifty
years has been a true helpmate.
After returning to Winchester and giving a little
further attention toward obtaining an education,
he began looking for a situation as clerk, and visiting
the store of B. B. Murdock at Northfield, Massa
chusetts, in the midst of a severe snow storm, made
such a favorable impression that within a few days
he received a letter asking him to call again, when
the contract was closed to accept a clerkship in his
store one year for one hundred dollars and his
board. It was a very large country store, and the
associations between employer and employed proved
to be of the most pleasant character. In the fall
Mr. Murdock sold the business to Messrs. Hastings
and Fay, who desired Mr. Eaton to remain with
them, but wishing to be among his acquaintances at
Petersham, he entered the employ there of, Weth-
erell & Mudge, making a contract to remain with
them three years, and continued at the store and
postoffice until disabled by a severe attack of rheuma
tism, which made him almost helpless for several
months. As soon as he was able to leave his home
at Winchester, whither he had gone when unable to
attend to his duties with Wetherell & Mudge, he again
returned to Petersham and engaged to clerk in the
store of George A. Rogers, who after a time sold out
to Messrs. Hawes & Tolman, Mr. Eaton continuing
with them about two years.
In 1849 E. D. Cheney, father of Mary Caroline
(before mentioned) removed from Petersham to

Worcester, and Mr. Eaton followed them there, en
gaging with B. L. Hardon & Company, ¦ dealers in
dry goods, with store on Main street, Worcester^
the members of the firm being B. L. Hardon, Stephen
Sawyer and William Cary.. After his clerkship here,
he was with Warren & Emerson, who kept a country
store in Royalston, but in September, 1852, he en^
tered the store of Lee & Bassett, in Athol, .who car
ried on a large general store business, also having
an extensive palmleaf hat trade, and a tailoring de
partment, where a large number of girls found em
ployment. Here Mr. Eaton remained nearly three
years, much of the time having a large share of
responsibility in the conduct of the business. No
vember 14, 1854, he married Mary Caroline Cheney,
and began housekeeping in Athol, at the same time
making a home for his widowed mother, who for
more than thirty years received his generous and,
kindly ministrations <jf help and support. Mr. Eaton
was now enjoying the full confidence of his em
ployers, and business was prosperous, but there ex
isted an undercurrent which ^in time changed the
course of events. Mrs. Eaton was an only daughter,
and her parents were arriving at the conclusion that
she must have a home near them. All the induce
ments Messrs. Lee & Bassett could offer and the
earnest appeals from other friends in Athol failed
to check the tidal wave rolling toward Worcester,
and there the young couple arrived in April, 1855.
Mr. Eaton soon found employment with Mr. E. H.-
Sanford, who had opened a store in Flagg's block
for the sale of fancy dry goods, and here made
himself so useful that within a few months he
was given a substantial increase in salary, and within
a year was allowed . to take a third interest in the
business. This agreement was continued for six
years, when (in 1862) Mr. Eaton rented a store
in Brinley Hall block and began .for himself, at
first in a small way, but business grew as time went,
and in 1870, for the purpose of securing more
room, he removed to the old Butman store, on the
site of the present State Mutual building. Here he
continued the fancy dry goods business until Octo
ber, 1877, -when he sold to Hebbard & Shepherd. The
following year he engaged in the galvanized iron and
sheet metal business. That not proving satisfactory,
he relinquished it and in 1879 went to work in the
store of Sanford & Dixon, dealers in paper and
stationery, soon purchasing Mr. Sanford's interest,
and' with Mr. Dixon removed the stock to No. 505
Main street, and for two years business was con
ducted under the firm name of Eaton & Dixon.
After purchasing Mr. 'Dixon's interest the business
was continued under the style of C. B. Eaton &
Company, Harry H. Browning holding an interest
about two years. At that time Mr. Eaton sold one-
half interest in the business to Will W. Lewis, who
had been a clerk in the store a number of years,
but November 1, 1892, Mr. Eaton sold his half in
terest to W. B. Emerson, since which time Mr.
Eaton has been engaged in the real estate business
and caring for the large property interests now in
the possession of the family.
Mary Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, wife of Charles
Bassett Eaton, was a granddaughter of Ebenezer
Cheney, born in Milford, Massachusetts, April 14,
1782. He was by trade a blacksmith, and married
Mary Daniels, of Holliston. Their son, Edson
Daniels Cheney, born in Milford, October 16, 1810,
married Sarah B. Shattuck, of Barre, April II, 1833.
She was daughter of Asa Shattuck, born in Han
cock, New Hampshire. March 26, 1789, and his wife
Abigail Conant, of Oakham, Massachusetts, born
there November 16, 1791. This Asa Shattuck was
son of Ezekiel, of Groton, Massachusetts, and his

WORCESTER COUNTY

197

wife Sarah Bullard. Edson Daniels Cheney came
to Worcester in 1849, and was engaged in the manu
facture of carriages, in Petersham, Massachusetts,
until he came to Worcester. Then for six years he
carried on carpentering and house building, and in
i860 opened a flour and grain store, and after a period
of seventeen years retired with a well earned
competency and the reputation of a successful, hon
est business man. He died in Worcester, April 13,
1894. His daughter, Mary Caroline Cheney, wife of
Charles Bassett Eaton, was born in Barre, Massa
chusetts, February 23, 1834.
The children of Charles Bassett and Mary Caro
line (Cheney) Eaton, born in Worcester, were:
Alice Carrie, born March S, 1S59; Cora Belle, born
October 15, 1870; Grace Cheney, born August 12,
1876, died August 12, 1S77.
(VIII) Alice Carrie Eaton, eldest child of Charles
Bassett and Mary Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, mar
ried Frederick Norton Cooke, February 9, 1881. He
is a native of Norwich, Connecticut, born Septem
ber 12, 1854, a telegrapher. Their home is with the
parents. Their children are: Cheney Eaton Cooke,
born November 13, 1882, died January 31, 1884;
Frederick Norton Cooke, born August 12, 1S84.
(VIII) Cora Belle Eaton, second child of Charles
Bassett and Man- Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, mar
ried William H. Nelson. August 16, 1893. Their
children are: Charles Winthrop, born June 8, 1894;
Madeline, born June 19, 1900, died August 21, 1900;
William Earl, born April 25, 1903.
(ATI) William Avery Eaton, eldest brother of
Charles B., married Emily Johnson, of Petersham,
May 2, 1843. They had three children: Lucy Caro
line, Emily Elvira, and Martha Fidelia, fie died
June 12, 1895.
(ATI) Lydia Samantha Eaton, his eldest sister,
married, April 23, 1844, Uri Twichell, of Athol, a
fanner. They had four daughters and one son.
She died August 31, 1854.
(VII) Caroline- Huldah, another sister, married,
January 3. 1853, William Hutchins, of Winchester,
New Hampshire, a farmer, who died September 6,
i860. She married (second), July 4, 1863, Edwin
M. Cooper, also of Winchester. They had no chil
dren. She died August 17, 1901.
WILLIAM HERBERT INMAN, senior mem
ber of the firm of Pratt & Inman, conducting an
extensive steel business in Worcester, Massachu
setts, is a native of Rhode Island, bom in Burrill-
ville, March 15, 1845. His parents were Francis
Henry and Hannah (Marsh)' Inman. His mother
was a daughter of John and Lucy Marsh, bf Slaters-
ville, Rhode Island. His paternal grandparents were
James and Nancy Inman, of the same town.
William H. Inman was four years old when his
parents took up their residence in Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He was educated in the public schools of
that city, and after leaving his studies entered the
office of his father. May 8, 1864. when nineteen
years of age. From that time he has been con
tinuously connected with the business to which he
was then introduced, and which is worthy of some
what extended notice.
The keeping of bar iron and steel for sale as a
special business in Worcester- was commenced by
Joseph Pratt and Samuel Hathaway, under the firm
name of J. Pratt & Co., in May, 1829. At that
time the only modes of transportation to Worcester
were by horse or ox teams from Boston, or by the
Blackstone canal from Providence. The business
gradually developed in importance, and was con
tinued by the firm above named until 1832, when
occurred the death of Mr. Hathaway. It was then

continued without change of name by Mr. Pratt.
with Isaac Davis as a partner, until 1835, when
Edward Earle succeeded Mr. Davis, and the style
of the firm was changed to that of J. Pratt & Earle.
This was continued until 1S4S, when Elbridge G.
Pratt, brother of Joseph Pratt, purchased the in
terest of Edward Earle, and the firm again took the
designation of J. Pratt & Company. Elbridge G.
Pratt died that year, and the business was continued
without change of firm name until 1853, when Francis
H. Inman, who had entered the house as a clerk.
in 1849, was admitted to partnership, and the firm
name was changed to that of Pratt & Inman. which
has been its form to the present time. In 1871
William H. Inman, who had entered the employ of
the house in May, 1864, was admitted to partner
ship. In 1S74 Mr. Pratt retired from the firm. This
excellent man, who was born in 1800. lived to the
remarkable age of ninety-five years, dying in 1895.
Mr. Francis H. Inman continued his connection with
the business until his death, in 1898, after which
the business was continued by William H. Inman
until 1903, when his son, Albert H. Inman, who
had been with the establishment since 1S87. was
admitted to partnership. The firm fully maintains
the prestige enjoyed by its predecessors, through
so many years, and its house is Tecognized as one
of the substantial and important enterprises of
Worcester, distributing its goods through a wide
territory, and supplying many of the largest manu
facturing establishments throughout the East.
October 3. 1867, William H. Inman married Mary
E. Cheney, a granddaughter of Charles Davis, who
was for many years connected with the Washburn
& Moen firm of Worcester. Two children were bom
of this marriage: Albert Henry and Edith Loraine.
Albert H. Inman, son of William H. Inman,
married. January 1. 1891, Effie B. Moore, a daugh
ter of Charles F. Moore, of Worcester, and to them
have been born twp children, Chester M., and Mar
jorie. Mr. Inman is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, affiliated with Quinsigamond Lodge and
Worcester Royal Arch Chapter.
THE GODDARD FAMILY has had for several
generations some very distinguished representatives
in Worcester and Worcester county. It is one of the
finest old families of English lineage. The emigrant
ancestor was William Goddard. Some of his de
scendants, especially those who are ancestors of the
Worcester families, are here given.
(I) William Goddard was born about 1630 in
London, England. He was a grocer. In 1650 he
married Elizabeth Miles. They had six children be
fore coming to America, three of whom died when
infants, and they had six more in Watertown. Massa
chusetts, where they settled in 1666. He came oyer
the year before and prepared a home for his family.
Of the American bom children, three died in in
fancy and three sons survived as happened with the
six born in England. The second son born in Water-
town was Benjamin.
(II) Benjamin Goddard. son of William Goddard
(1). was born in Watertown. Massachusetts, in
1668. He married Martha Palfrey, of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, about 1700, and died in Cambridge,
October 21. 1730. Their children were: Nathaniel,
born in Charlestown about 1702, died in Weston,
1780: Benjamin, born in Charlestown, 1705, died in
Grafton, Massachusetts, 1759 ; John, born in Charles
town. 1709, died in Cambridge, May 12, 175 1 ;
Thomas, born in Charlestown, died in Cambridge,
1768: Martha, born in Charlestown, died in Cam
bridge. 1770.
(Ill) Benjamin Goddard, son of Benjamin God-

198

WORCESTER COUNTY

dard (2), born 1705, married Mary Kidder, of Graf
ton, in that town about 1730. Their children were:
Nathaniel, born in Grafton, Massachusetts, about
1732; Josiah, about 1735; Benjamin, November 15,
!7o7- died in Grafton, March II, 1806: James, April
24. 1740, died in Athol, February 22, 1809; Samuel,
December 27, 1742, died in Royalston, Massachusetts,
August 16, 1806; Elizabeth, died in Petersham,
Massachusetts. 1820; Hannah, settled in Worcester,
New York ; Mary, married Thomas Gregg, of Sutton.
(IV) Samuel Goddard, son of Benjamin (3)
and Mary Goddard, was born December 27, 1742,
married Elizabeth King, of Sutton, in that town
(Rev. D. Ball), and second Catherine Parker Parks,
nee Gerry, a widow, of Petersham, June 28, 179a
He had twenty-three children, including four sons
that his second wife had by her first marriage.
Some of his children were: Henry, bom in Sutton,
February 25, 1770, died in Royalston, February, 1848;
Samuel, born in Sutton, July 6, 1772. died in Nor
wich, Vermont, November 14, 1844; Elizabeth, born
in Sutton, February 2, 1774, died in Montpelier,
Vermont, October 4, 1834; Salmon, born January
26, 1776, died young; AshaheJ, born in Sutton, Sep
tember 25, 1777, died in Belfast, Maine, November
11, 1806; Salmon, born in Royalston, Massachusetts,
January 6, 1783 ; James, born in Royalston, July 5,
1784, died in Royalston, February 9, 1841: a son;
bom in Royalston, March 15, 1786, died the same
day and was buried with his mother; Benjamin,
born in Royalston, May 5, 1791, died in Worcester,
September 1, 1867: Catherine, born in Royalston,
March 5, 1793, died March 6, 1793; Tamar, bom in
Royalston, February 5, 1795, died in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, May, 1888; Nathaniel, born in Royalston,
February 7, 1797, died in Millbury, Massachusetts,
after 1890; a son, born in Royalston, April ;?. 1709,
died 1799; Catherine, born in Royalston, November
4. 1800, died 1800; Danford. born in Royalston. No
vember 8, 1801, died 1804; Danford, born in Royals
ton, March 7, 1804, died in Valparaiso, South Amer
ica, February 2, 1859. Two infants by the first wife
died unnamed
(V) Benjamin Goddard, son of Samuel (4) and
Catherine Goddard, was born May 5, 1791, married
Sarah (Stockwell) Sibley, widow of Dorrance Sib
ley, of Sutton, at Millbury, February 7, 1822. He
died in Worcester, September 1, 1867. Their chil
dren were: Henry, born in Worcester. October 4,
1823, died in Worcester, January 12, 1904; Harriet,
born in Worcester, October 11, 1825, died in
Dowagiac, Michigan, December 3, 1869: Catherine
Parker, born in Worcester, November 2. 1827, died
in Worcester, August 18, 1843; Dorrance Sibley, born
in Worcester, October 11, 1829; Delano Alexander,
bom in Worcester, August 27, 1831, was editor of
the Worcester Spy and the Boston Advertiser, died
in Boston, January II. 1882.
(VI) Henry Goddard, eldest son of Benjamin
(3) and Sarah (Stockwell) Goddard, was born in
Worcester, October 4, 1823. During his entire busi
ness life he was intimately identified with the progress
of tbe manufacture of wire. With the exception of
a single attempt in Walpole, all the earliest efforts
at wire drawing in this country were made in Wor
cester and two or three neighboring towns. Prior
to 1831 the hardware dealers of Worcester county
imported all their wire from England and Germany,
and it is stated on good authority that shortly be
fore that the entire output of wire in England did not
exceed one four horse load weekly. In 1843 or
1844 he entered the mill of the Washburn & Moen
Company where his father was manager, later was
employed as a wire drawer, and continued in that

company's service uninterruptedly for more than
fifty years. Upon the death of his father he became
manager of the South "Worcester milL Shortly after
this building was destroyed by fire, and he was
transferred to the larger mill of the company on
Grove street, returning the following year to take
charge of the new mill at the old location. In i860
this mill was closed and Mr. Goddard went again
to the Grove street works, where he remained as
foreman of the wire drawing and nail department
until poor health and the arrival of his seventy-fifth
birthday induced him to give up active work. He
finally severed his connection with the company in
December, 1898. After that date he was not actively
engaged in any business.
His withdrawal from this service was marked
with many tokens of the esteem and affection of
those who for so many years had been associated
with him or served under him. The directors of
the corporation testified upon their records to his
faithful and intelligent leadership, his unvarying de
votion to the company's interest and the great respect
inspired in all who knew him by. his uprightness of
character and kindly disposition. No other person
had been so long and so prominently identified with
the business which, during his connection with it,
had grown from what was almost a mere handicraft
to a leading place among the great industries.
Mr. Goddard married. April 7, 1840, Eugenia D.
C Ball, a native of Holden but living with her par
ents in Worcester at the time of their marriage.
Of this union two children survive him, Julius God
dard and Mrs. WiUietta Goddard Ball, both of .whom
now reside in Massachusetts.
His naturally retiring disposition and his fidelity
to the interests of his employers hindered to some
extent his active participation in the burdens of pub
lic office. He was always deeply interested how
ever, in public matters, jealous of the reputation of
his city, keenly alive to its best interests, and for a
long time influential in its affairs. He served as a
member of the common council in 1860-62-73-74,
and as alderman in 1865-68-60.
There was perhaps no place in Massachusetts
where the Morgan or anti-Masonic excitement was
greater, or attracted a larger percentage of the lead
ing business and professional men, than Worcester
county, where it actively interferred with the affairs
of both church and state. Mr. Goddarrfs father,
being naturally a man of positive conviction and
great earnestness, and sustaining an important rela
tion to one of the leading industries having adopted
a position hostile to the Fraternity, was prominent
and outspoken in his opposition, and after a bitter
contest, was elected to the general court upon the
anti-Masonic issue. It is, however, worthy of note
that his son Henry never sympathized with his
father's attitude, and was among the earliest to ally
himself with the Fraternity in the Masonic revival,
which followed this great excitement. This act
seemed to completely upset his father's antagonism to
the Order. From the moment that he knew of his
son's connection with it he never uttered another
word against Freemasonry. Others who had been
hostile to the Fraternity were heard to say that if
all its members were like Henry Goddard there was
much to be said for it and nothing against it.
He received the first three degrees in Morning
Star Lodge, in 1847; the orders of Knighthood in
Worcester County Commandery in 1855 and was its
eminent commander in 1866-67-681 On September
7, 1871, the Commandery elected him to honorary
membership. In 1863 he received the Scottish Rite
in Boston Consistory, was subsequently a deputy

Qf.

<£pe*2*ei

-rU-

/trZ&£*L4*£y>

WORCESTER COUNTY

i oo

master of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, and was
the first senior warden of l-nwrence Chapter of Rose
Croix, which was instituted June 17, 1870.
When the Masonic bodies in Worcester first oc
cupied their present halls in 18(10, Mr, Goddard was
one of those most actively interested iu securing
them, and was a generous contributor in preparing
them to suitably accommodate the Fraternity. He
was made a member of the hoard of directors of
Masonic Apartments at its organisation, and up to
the time of his death was active in the management
of that body and its successor, the present trustees
of the Masonic Fraternity.
Few men in Worcester had a larger personal
acquaintance and none more highly respected.
Modest and unassuming, be never sought prefer
ment, hut when it came he faithfully performed the
duties it imposed. In his relations with his fellow-
men, be exemplified the principles of charity and
brotherly love, and by his many amiable qualities
made himself beloved by men of every station. 1 1 is
deep sympathy with any one who was in trouble
was continually manifested by his kindly acts. To
such he gave freely aud gladly, never grudgingly.
He was thoroughly devoted to his business, pro
verbially honest, and his great simplicity and purity
'of character were recognised and pri.ed by all who
knew him. Departing, he has left the record of an
upright and honorable citisen, a kind and^ genial
man' a true and sympathising friend, Mr. Goddard
died at liis homo in Worcester. January \2, 1004.
t,Yl) Dorrance Sibley Goddard, son of Benja
min t.O and Sarah S. Goddard, was bom October
it, 18-u married Mary Howe Williams, of Hubbards
ton, in that town, March .'5, 1855. Their children
were: Gertrude, horn in Worcester March jo, 1 856,
married Henry Rrannon. see sketch elsewhere in this
work, Alice, born in Worcester, August j8, 1857,
married John Saekville West, of Tiverton, Rhode
Island, June 10, 1800, no children. Emma, born in
Holyoke, November .25. 1850, see sketch of C. S.
Hall Dwight, born in Worcester, December .7,
¦C, 1801. Harry Williams, born in Holyoke. Septem
ber 14, 1863. Winthrop, born in Worcester, July
10, t8w, died April 10, 1808. Mary, born in Wor
cester. October 3, 1800, married Archibald N. God
dard, in Worcester, August t. 1900. Their children,
horn in Worcester, are: Eloisc Olive, born Janu
ary ^ locu; Miriam, April 10. 1903; Emmons, Au
gust 10, 1004.
Dorrance Sibley Goddard was educated in the
Worcester public schools and at Worcester Acad
emy. After completing bis studies he went back to
the home and for three years lived the strenuous life
of a New England farmer. Then bo decided that
he preferred manufacturing and he apprenticed him
self in the Washburn & Moen wire mills at South
Worcester where- ho learned the trade of wire drawer.
He learned the business of wire making thoroughly
and rose step by step to tbe superintendence of the
mill, a position that he tilled for many years. Dor
rance S. Goddard followed in bis father's footsteps
in entering the wire business. It is fair to count
Benjamin Goddard as one of the founders of the
great wire business now owned by the American
Steel and Wire Company operated in Worcester.
The Washburn & Moon Manufacturing Company
started in 1831 in Northville in a small wooden
building, Tho owners were Benjamin Goddard and
lehalvd Washburn, The building was occupied in
part by C, Read & Co.. manufacturers of wooden
screws, and it was in connection with the making
of screws that the tirst wire making machinery
was developed. Wire was drawn by hand when
Washburn & Goddard began operations, most of the

wire being unpolled from England. The business
grew rapidly, but in 1835 Mr. Goddard withdrew
and Mr. -Washburn established the tirst wire mill
ou tbe Grove street location. It was natural then
for his sou I lot-ranee to enter the business that had
developed during his. youth by consolidation and
growth to the point where it became the largest wire
manufactory in the world. Mr. Goddard has the
distinction probably of having seen more of the
progre.-s and development of this the greatest of
Worcester industries than any other living man,
possibly more than any other one man. lie has
the satisfaction too of seeing his son, Harry W.
Goddard, president of a great wire making institu
tion, Tbe Spencer Wire Company, making the third
generation of the family prominent in ihe manu
facturer of wire and wire goods. Alter the firm
of Washburn & Goddard was dissolved, Benjamin
Goddard at first manufactured wool machinery in
the Northville mill where the wire works were
started. After be gave up this business, however,
the mill passed into the hands of Mr. Washburn,
his former partner, and Mr. Goddard again en
tered the business of wire making there under con
tract for Mr. Washburn. In 1840 Benjamin God
dard took charge of the wire mill established by Mr.
Washburn at South Worcester on the site later occu
pied by the Worcester Wire Company and its suc
cessor, The American Steel and Wire Company. Ben
jamin continued in charge of this mill until his son
succeeded him. He died in 1807. His son, Henry
Goddard. worked here and became the head of an
important department for The Washburn & Moen
Manufacturing Co. Delano A. Goddard, another
son, making three of them in all, worked under
his father in the South Worcester mill. Delano was
a man of culture and great intellectual powers. He
wont on the editorial staff of The Spy and later to
Boston, where he made a brilliant record as editor
of The .tdicrtiscr. The South Worcester mill was
a one-story structure about thirty by fifty feet.
Coarse wire was drawn there and then taken to the
Grove street mill to be finished. The old mill at
Northville was burned February 13. 1845. and the
mill' at South Worcester was also burned July 7,
1S07, but rebuilt immediately. In February, 180S,
the various companies were consolidated under the
name of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co.
with a capital of one million dollars. In tbe ca
pacity of superintendent of the Cniinsigamond works
of this great company Dorrance S. Goddard spent
his life until he retired some years ago.
For a time Mr. Goddard was in the wire busi
ness at Holyoke. Massachusetts. Tn iSo.- he formed
a partnership with William E. Rice, of Worcester,
and started a mill at Holyoke, This firm continued
in the business of wire making until 1S00, when a
favorable proposition to sell to the Washburn &
Moen Company was accepted and both Mr. Rice
and Mr. Goddard became identified with the Quin
sigamond works of tbe Washburn & Moon Manu
facturing Company. Mr. Rico being president and
Mr. Goddard superintendent of the wire depart
ment. Tho mill and real estate at Holyoke wore
sold to the Whiting Paper Company.
Mr. Goddard loves travel and has taken ad-
vantagx- of his opportunities to see much of his
own country. Soon after the discovery of gold in
California be made his tirst trip across the con
tinent. That was in 1851 when the journey was
slow, difficult and dangerous. He has been an in
terested observer of tbe development of the rail
road system that now makes travel to California
an attraction for the pleasure seeker and a brief
vacation outing for the business man of the east.

200

WORCESTER COUNTY

He has kept a journal of his travel that should be
of public interest as well as record for his friends
and family. He has crossed the continent twelve
times, and returned nine times by land and thrice
by water. He has made three trips to Alaska, the
first in 1885, when the country was isolated irom
the rest of the world and difficult of access. He
crossed the Isthmus of Panama three times while
tbe French companies were trying to dig the canal.
Now that the American government is pushing the
work in a workmanlike way he is following the
progress made with great interest and plans a visit
to Panama shortly. Mr. Goddard's interest in this
great undertaking is not only that of a business
man with a love for the solution of mechanical and
engineering problems, but of- a very earnest Ameri
can citizen who believes that the completion of
this canal will add immensely to the future pros
perity and wealth of the American people. Mr.
Goddard is an active man in spite of his years and
is fully able to enjoy travel. He loves books and
thoroughly enjoys his home life at his beautiful
residence at South Worcester.
In his religious views he is liberal. He belongs
to no secret societies. He relates that his father
was much opposed to all secret orders and when
one of the sons became a Mason he was greatly
shocked. Somewhat to the surprise of his son, how
ever, the subject was never mentioned between
them. Mr. Goddard has been a Republican since
the party was organized. He has been a member
of the school board, of the board of aldermen for
four years and representative to the general court
one year.
When the First Co-operative Bank was organ
ized in Worcester Mr. Goddard was. a charter mem
ber and its first president and served seven years,
when he resigned.
(VII) Dwight Goddard, eldest son of D. S.
Goddard (6), was born December 27, 1861. He
graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Insti
tute, class of 1881, as mechanical engineer, and
from that year up to 1884 was superintendent of the
Massachusetts Screw Company, at Holyoke. From
1884 to 1887 he was assistant mechanic of the
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and
from 1888 to 1891 was treasurer of the Goddard
Machine Company, at Holyoke. He then entered
the Hartford Theological Seminary, from which he
was graduated in 1894. Eor five years, from 1895
to 1900, he served as missionary of the American
Board at Foochow, China, and during the years
1900 and 1901 served as minister at Lancaster,
Massachusetts, and associate pastor of the Taber
nacle Church, Chicago, Illinois. In the latter named
year he returned to his former vocation, mechanical
engineer, becoming connected with the firm of
Wyman & Gordon, manufacturers of drop forgings,
and at the present time (1905) is the manager of
their Cleveland office. Mr. Goddard is a member
of the Worcester Central Conference of Congrega
tional Ministers, and of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers. He is the author of a series
of biographies of Engineers and Inventors.
Mr. Goddard married, October 22, 1889, Harriet
M. Webber, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, who died
May 17, 1890. Mr. Goddard married (second),
November 27, 1895, Frances E. Nieberg, M. D., of
St. Marys, Ohio. Their children are: Dorrance,
Born October 4, 1897; Theodore N., May 18, 1902.
Mr. Goddard is at present a resident of Cleveland,
Ohio. (VII) Harry Williams Goddard, son of Dor
rance S. Goddard (6), was born September 14,
1863, at Holyoke, Massachusetts, where his father

was in business for a few years. His father re
turned to Worcester when he was an infant and
both father and son have subsequently lived there
or at Spencer. Harry attended the public schools
of Worcester and entered the high school. After
two yea-rs in the high school he left to work in the
wire mills of the Washburn & Moen Manufactur
ing Company at Quinsigamond, Worcester. He be
gan as a scale boy, weighing the wire. After two
years in the wire mill, he spent a year at Wil-
braham Academy. The wire business had its at
tractions for him, as his father and grandfather were
prominent figures in the wire industry and it was
natural that he should inherit a liking for the busi
ness and an- aptitude for it. At seventeen he left
the academy and started in the Spencer Wire Com
pany at Spencer, Massachusetts, literally at the
foot of the ladder. He did all kinds of work, and
became familiar with each department as a matter
of course. Without design or expectation of ad
vancement he gained a thorough insight and under
standing of the business, so that almost as a mat
ter of course he was made superintendent of the
mills when he was twenty-one years old. Mr. Sug-
den, who was at that tirrie the president of the
corporation, had been his own superintendent. The
Spencer Wire Company was an old and somewhat <
conservative concern. It had grown from a small
beginning in 1828 to considerable importance. In
1884, when Mr. Goddard was made superintendent,
about seventy-five hands were employed and an
extensive property at Spencer had been acquired.
Mr. Goddard was secretary of the company as
well as superintendent of the mills for several
years. When the president of the .Spencer Wire Com
pany, Mr. . Sugden, died in .1895, Mr, Goddard took
his place. At that time he bought of the heirs
of Mr. Sugden the latter's interests in the cor
poration which gave Jaim the control of the capital
stock. Mr. Goddard has remained the chief owner
of the company since then. For many years the
business had not been extended much, the proprie
tors being satisfied with quiet progress. Not until
1900 was any great change made. The facilities of
the company were then increased by the addition
pf a new and model plant in Worcester. Four
acres of land at the corner of Webster and Jacques
streets were acquired and substantial brick build
ings erected there. Ihe general offices were moved
to the new plant and the business has been rap
idly developed in the past five years. The com
pany has now five and a quarter acres of floor space
devoted to manufacturing and has over four hun
dred acres of land -for yard, storage and other pur
poses of the business. There are forty separate
buildings in the plant at Spencer. The company
makes all kinds of uncovered steel iron and cop
per wire, besides hundreds of specialties, and em
ploys at present about four hundred hands.
Mr. Goddard has become interested in other
corporations to some extent. He is the treasurer of
the Hobbs Manufacturing* Company, which makes
paper box machinery at its factory near Lincoln
Square, Worcester. He was for ten years presi
dent of the Springfield Drop Forging Company. He
is president of the New England Anchor Fence
Company, the Worcester Color Company and the
Central Grocery Company, a co-operative grocery
organized in 1905.
The energy and executive ability that have
made him so successful in his business brought him
into prominence in the board of trade, and in 1903
when President Blodget became mayor of Worces
ter, Mr. Goddard was elected president of the Wor-

J&IT&.

WORCESTER COUNTY

201

cester Board of Trade,_ He was re-elecled the fol
lowing year. ¦ His administration is conceded to be
one of the best in the history of the board. The
activity of the organization was increased and its
usefulness greatly extended. With the co-operation
of an exceptionally able secretary Mr. Goddard has
maintained the record of the past and maintained
.gratifying progress in the organization. When Sec
retary of War Taft came to Worcester in 1905 to
speak at the annual banquet of the board of trade,
Mr, Goddard had the pleasant duty of entertaining
Judge Taft at his beautiful home on Salisbury
street. Mr. Goddard is a director of the Mechanics'
National Bank of Worcester, and a trustee of the
People's Savings Bank. Ho is a member of the
Maine Coast Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club,
the Commonwealth Club and of the Tatnuck Coun
try Club. He is an earnest Republican and has
been at times active in the party management. He
and his family attend Piedmont Church. Mr. God
dard easily ranks among the leading captains of in
dustry in a city where hundreds of men have
achieved success in manufacturing, lie belongs
to a group of young men who are building their
fortunes under the new and complicated conditions
of modern business, young men who have been
fitted by education, inherited gifts and early train
ing to carry their burdens easily and keep the in
dustries of Worcester in the front ranks.
He married, December 14, 1887, Grace Watson,
daughter of George and Eleanor Watson, of Spen
cer. Their children are : Eleanor Grace, born
March 25, 1889; Marion Williams, August 29, 1893.
DELANO ALEXANDER GODDARD, young
est son of Benjamin Goddard (5), was born in
Worcester, August 27, 1831. His early education
was obtained in the Worcester schools. His father
had hoped to send all his boys to college, but owing
to financial reverses the older sons had to forego the
benefits of a liberal education. When Delano reached
tlie age when his preparation for college examina
tions should begin, the father felt his circumstances
improved enough to warrant the expense of a col
lege education for the youngest son and the one
perhaps most attracted by learning and study. Ben
jamin Goddard was a man of broad sympathy, but
rather taciturn. He was a strong anti-slavery man,
a man of firm integrity in business, but seldom
given to the, expression of his feelings. He had
flie characteristic habit of the old Yankee stock of
hiding his sentiments and emotions. One' day as
Delano was standing at his machine in the wire
mill, where his half holidays were industriously
spent, his father stopped at his side and said ab
ruptly: "Delano, do you want to go to college?"
The reply came without hesitation : "Yes, sir I" Ap
parently the father expected this decision, for he
said: "Go home, change your clothes and go to the
academy to be examined." There was no more
talk, The boy went home. That interview was
characteristic of both. Delano graduated from Wor
cester Academy with honor, delivering the vale
dictory of his class. He entered Brown University
in 1849, but the following year entered the sopho
more class at Yale College and graduated in 1853.
He left Worcester and sought his opportunity
in the west. He began his career as an editor in a
humble way on the local weekly, The Herald, at
Painesville, Ohio. A year later he returned to his
native city. He was on the staff of The Chronicle,
a Boston daily, in 1856. Early in 1857 he became
the associate editor of The Worcester Transcript, a
daily newsparer, but soon became the editor of The

Spy, under the Hon. John D. Baldwin, a post filled
afterward by Captain J. Evarts Greene, late post
master of Worcester. 'While writing the editorials
of The Spy Mr. Goddard served the city in the
legislature in 1861 and in 1867 in the house. of repre
sentatives. He was for about a year trustee of the
public library. In April, 1868, he became editor of
the Daily Advertiser of Boston and filled this
position with unsurpassed intelligence and ability
till his death,, January 11, 1882. In 1876 he took a
sea voyage for his health and spent a few weeks in
England and the Isle of Wight. In 1880 he made an
extended trip through the southern and western
states. He was specially interested in the American In
dians and perhaps no work qf his pen was under
taken with more intense earnestness than his pleas
for the nation's wards. He wrote little except for
his newspaper. He contributed in 1880 a paper on
'"Newspapers and Newspaper Writers in New Eng
land, 1787-1815" to the New England Historic-
Genealogical Society and a number of other papers
to learned societies to which he belonged and also
some magazine articles, lie was a member of the
council of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and
member of the American Antiquarian Society. He
took the degree of A. M. in regular course at Yale
College in 1856. Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, presi-
dent-of The, Massachusetts Historical Society at the
time of Mr. Goddard's death, said in a tribute at
the society meeting next day : "Amiable, intelligent,
accomplished, he had entered heartily into our work.
I often met him here and never without a renewed
sense of the variety of his information, of the candor
of his judgment, of the kindness of his heart, and
of that singular modesty which sometimes threatened
to conceal his sterling abilities." Charles C. Smith,
the author of a memoir published by the Historical
Society of Mr. Goddard, said of him: "Mr. God
dard's character was such that no one who was
brought into anything like intimate relatiins with
him could help being attached to him as by hooks
of steel. Those who were connected with him in his
daily duties felt for him an affectionate regard
which he called loyalty to the paper — apparently not
suspecting that it was a personal relationship to
their chief." Rev. Edward Everett Hale took oc
casion to speak of the editor's duty toward history.
"In a word," he concluded his eulogy, "with fresh
memory for the loss which this society and the
press of this country have both sustained, I ' should
say that we could in no way draw better the dis
tinction between the two schools of journalism —
that which is bad through and through, because it
is sensational, and that which is good through and
through, because it aims at truth— than by saying
of the two that the editor in the first school fails
because he is false to the claims of history, and
that the editor of the upright school triumphs be
cause to history he is true." These are but brief
selections from the tributes paid to the deceased.
When the history of journalism in Massachusetts
is- written for the Nineteenth Century the name
of Delano A. Goddard, of Worcester, will take a
place among the foremost editors of his generation.
HARVEY BRADISH WILDER. Nicholas
Wilder (1), to whom the ancestry of Harvey
Bradish Wilder is traced, settled on Sulham estate
in Berkshire county, England, in April, 1497, when
the property was given him by Henry VII. The
property is now or was at last accounts still in
the Wilder family. Four of the line have been
rectors of the parish. Nicholas Wilder was a chief
in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle

202

WORCESTER COUNTY

of Bosworth, 1485. When he was given the Sulham
estate he was also given a coat of arms which may
be found in Burke or the Genealogy. He had but
one son, John.
(II) John Wilder, son of Nicholas Wilder (1),
inherited his father's estates in 1525. His children
were : John, see forward ; Agnes, died 1580.
(Ill) John Wilder, son of John Wilder (2),
and grandfather of Thomas Wilder, who emigrated
to New England, married the only daughter and
heiress of Thomas Keats, who built Sulham House.
It was given in 1582 by entail to William Wilder,
their son. During the nineteenth century it was
greatly improved and the church was restored and
repaired by the owner, John Wilder, D. D., who
was also rector. Since 1777 Purley Hall has been
the residence of the inheritors of the estate. It is
about two miles north of Sulham. Thomas Wilder,
the fourth son, received the entailed' Wilder estate.
The sons John and Thomas were also provided for
in his will. Their children were : John, Nicholas,
William, Thomas, Eleanor, Joan, Alice.
(IV) Thomas Wilder, son of John Wilder (3),
was born in Sulham, England. He settled in Ship-
lake, Oxford county, but was proprietor of the
Sulham estate. He was born and died in Shiplake,
however. He married Martha  . He died in
1634 and she went to New England where two of her
sons, Edward and Thomas, settled. She came on
the ship "Confidence" in 1638 with her daughter
Mary. She settled near her son Edward in Hing
ham, where she was a proprietor in 1638. She
died April '20, 1652. Some authorities spell the
name; Shiplake, Shiplock. The children of Thomas
and Martha Wilder were : John, heir to his father's
estates, died in 1688; Thomas, see forward; Eliza
beth, born 1621, married Thomas Ensign; Edward,
married Elizabeth Ames, settled in Hingham,
Massachusetts, died October 28, 1690; Mary, came
to Hingham also.
(V) 'Thomas Wilder, son of Thomas Wilder
(4), was born in Shiplock, England, in 1618. He
settled in Charlestown, New England, where he
was a proprietor as early as 1638. He was admitted
a freeman June 2, 1641. He bought land in Charles
town, October 27, 1643. He was selectman in 1660
and 1667 and held' other offices. He removed to
Lancaster in 1659. He married Ann  in 1641.
She died June 10, 1692. She was admitted to the
church May 7, 1650. He died October 23, 1667.
He may have been born later than the date given
as he deposed June 17, 1654, that he was thirty-
three years of age. His will was dated January 22,
1667-8 and proved March 4, 1667-8. He bequeathed
to his wife and six children named below. The
children of Thomas and Ann Wilder were: Mary,,
born June 30, 1642, in Charlestown; Thomas, born
September 14, 1644; John, born 1646; Elizabeth, '
born 1648; Nathaniel, see forward; Ebenezer.
(VI) Nathaniel Wilder, son of Thomas Wilder
(5), was born in Charlestown, November 3, 1650,
died July, 1704. He married Mary Sawyer, of Lan
caster, daughter of Thomas Sawyer and his wife
Mary and was born Tuly 4, 1652. (See sketch of
Sawyer Family.) He settled in Lancaster, was
lieutenant in the company, and was killed by the
Indians. The children of Nathaniel and Mary
(Sawyer) Wilder were: Nathaniel, born 1675, set
tled in Petersham; Ephraim, born August 16, 1678,
of Lancaster, representative in general court; Mary,
born May 13, 1679; Elizabeth, born April 20, 1685,
died 1707; Jonathan, born 1686, married, and was
killed by the Indians 1707 ; Dorothy, born 1686, mar
ried Samuel Carter; Oliver, see forward.
(VII) Oliver Wilder, youngest son of Nathaniel

Wilder (6), was born in 1694. He married, 1713,
Mary Fairbanks, daughter of Jonathan Fairbanks,
who served in Captain Champney's company under
Sir William Phipps in the Canada Expedition, and
was a grandson of the emigrant, Jonathan Fair
banks, of Dedham. (See sketch.) She was born
in 1692 and died June 15, 1745. When he was six
teen years old he was working on his father's farm
with his brother Nathaniel, when they were at
tacked by Indians. Three years before their brother
Jonathan had been brutally tortured to death by the
Indians and their brother Ephraim severely wounded.
Oliver and Nathaniel managed to escape to the gar
rison, but the Indian servant who was working
with them was killed. Oliver was an ensign in the
service August 23, 1725, and at that time was living
at Turkey Hills. In 1726 he refused to accept the
office of constable and declined to pay the five
pound fine which the law imposed as a penalty for
refusing to take office. He rose through the various
grades to the rank of colonel. At the age of sixty-
diree he turned out with his regiment at the Fort
William alarm in 1757 and marched as far as Spring
field, Massachusetts. He was in the Crown Point
expedition in 1759. He often served the town as
moderator and selectman. He owned a mill privi
lege. His home was at South Lancaster and his
house is now or was lately standing. Ihe place is
now known as the Heald place. He was a cousin
of Judge Joseph Wilder, another very prominent
Worcester county man. Colonel Oliver Wilder died
March 16, 1765. There are stones suitably in
scribed marking the graves of Colonel Wilder and
his wife.
The children of Colonel Oliver and Mary
(Fairbanks) Wilder were : Hannah, born January
15, 1716, died November 23, 1723; Mary, December
24, 1717; Oliver, see forward; Tilley, June 23,.
1722; Keziah, February 27, 1725; Tamar, May 23,
1727; Phinehas, April 24, 1730, married, 1780, Lois
Boies; Lois, April 20, 1733; Moses, May 4, 1736,
married Submit Frost; Abigail December 16, 1740.
(VIII) Oliver Wilder, third child of Colonel
Oliver Wilder (7), was born May 17, 1720, at Lan
caster, Massachusetts, He settled in that part of
Lancaster set off as Sterling. He was justice of
the peace and captain of tlie militia company there.
He became one of the leading citizens. H6 served in
the Indian wars. He married (first), June 6, 1739,
Sarah Townsend. She died 1743. He married
(second), 1745, Ruth  . The children of
Oliver and Sarah (Townsend) Wilder were: Ezra,
born May 27, 1741, died 1816; Oliver and Sarah
(twins), born November 7, 1743; Samuel, born Jan
uary 13, 1746. The only child of Oliver and Ruth
Wilder was : Tamar, born May 27, 1748.
(IX) Samuel Wilder, fourth child of Oliver
Wilder (8), was born. in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
January 13, 1746. He settled in Sterling. He died
October 22, 1824, aged seventy-nine years. He was
a sergeant in Captain Benjamin Houghton's com
pany, Colonel John Whitcomb's regiment in the
revolution at the Lexington Alarm in 1775. Later
he was a lieutenant. He married, January 15, 1772,
Martha Rugg. The children of Lieutenant Samuel
Wilder or Mr. Wilder as he is designated usually
on the records were: Calvin, see forward; Alice,
baptized April 10, 1774; David, baptized April 6,
1777; Daniel, baptized April 4, 1779; Polly, bap- {
tized November 18, 1779; John, baptized August 26,
1781; Josiah, baptized October 26, 1783; Luke, bap
tized October 2, 1785; Dolly, baptized May 25,
1788. (Five children of Samuel, Jr., recorded as
baptized 1794 to 1808 may be his also.)
(X) Calvin Wilder, eldest child of Samuel

WORCESTER COUNTY

20'

Wilder (9), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
October 30, 1772, and was baptized in the Lancas
ter church, November 11 following, lie died April
5, 1832, aged sixty years. He married, December
17, 1795, Susanna Celandine or Solendine, of Lan
caster. They settled in Lancaster. He was select
man of the town in 1812-15-24-25. He served the
town in other offices and committees, lie was one
of the leading citizens. His only son was Alexander
Hamilton Wilder, born July 20, 1804, see forward.
(XI) Alexander Hamilton Wilder, only son of
Calvin Wilder (10), was born in Lancaster, Massa
chusetts, July 20, 1801. lie married, November
10, 1835, Harriet Eaton, of Philadelphia. She was
the daug'hter of Nathaniel and Eunice (Wilder)
Eaton. Her mother was from another branch of
the Lancaster Wilder family. Her parents were
married in 1792.
Alexander H. Wilder received his early educa
tion in the schools of Lancaster. He came to Wor
cester at the age of nineteen in 1S23 and entered
the office of the register of deeds under Artemas
Ward, Esq. When twenty years old he suffered an
attack of rheumatic fever that crippled him for life,
but did not interfere seriously with his duties in
the register's office. He was a clerk and assistant
to Mr. Ward for twenty-three years. He succeeded
him as register June 17, 184O, and was elected and
re-elected to this office until his death. From 1823
to 1874 he was continuously in the register's office
as clerk and chief. More than half of the business
of the office, from the establishment of the county
in 173 1 to the day of his death, was performed under
his administration. His name first appears as
register in book No. 409 and is signed for the last
time in book No. 945. During the latter years of his
service he had no opponent at the polls, both par
ties honoring him with a nomination. The Spy said
at the time of his death: "Probably no one who
habitually transacts business with that office can
remember the time when Mr. Wilder was not em
ployed in it, and the experience of very few goes
back to the time of the register who preceded him.
His unfailing courtesy and patience, his quiet and
systematic business methods, his absolute rectitude
and accuracy, made him a model official, whose
service and example have been of inestimable value
to the community." He was a man of deep re
ligious feeling. He was for many years member of
the Central Congregational Church, but joined the
Plymouth Church when it was formed. He was
generous in his charity. He was a man of many
friends. Few men were better known or more highly
esteemed in the county. He died December 12,
1874. The children of Alexander Hamilton and
Harriet (Eaton) Wilder were: Harvey Bradish, see
forward; Alexander E., born August, 1839, died
September 29, 1839.
(XII) Harvey Bradish Wilder, only surviving
son of Alexander Hamilton Wilder (n), was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 12, 1836. He
attended the Worcester public schools, the Thetford
(Vermont) Academy and the Leicester Academy,
He began the business of life in the office of the
register of deeds, under his father's administration,
'n 1853. In April, 1855, he accepted a clerkship in
the book store of Ticknor & Fields, in Boston, but
m August, 1856, he was called back to Worcester,
Massachusetts, to become chief clerk in the regis
ter's office. In 1875 he served as register, having
been appointed by the county commissioners to fill
the unexpired term of Alexander H. Wilder. He
resigned this office at the expiration of a year, and
Mr. Charles A. Chase was elected and seryed during
the year 1876. At the election in 1876 Mr. Wilder

and Mr. Chase were both candidates, and Mr.
Wilder was elected, lt is a notable fact that Mr.
Wilder was connected with this ofiice as clerk for
his father, and as register for a period of forty-four
years, until his retirement January I, 1901. 1 lis
successor was Daniel Kent, the present register. Air.
Wilder was recognized as a model officer. The
Worcester registry is the third largest in the stale,
being exceeded in volume of business done only by
the registry offices of Suffolk county and Middlesex
county, both older and larger. Worcester held its
rank even after the towns of Fitchburg, Leominster,
Lunenburg, Ashburnham and Westminster were
taken to form a new registry in August, 1884. (.See
Merriam family of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.) The
office is looked upon as showing the highest efficiency
and accuracy. Since the new quarters were occu
pied in the new court house the registry has had
the best modern appliances and conveniences, as
well as fireproof rooms. Since his retirement Mr.
Wilder has lived at his home in Worcester, No. 12
Walnut street, having no active business. He is a
charter member of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free
Masons. He is a member of the Ancient and Hon
orable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He was
a member of Worcester City Guards from 1856 to
1861. He was appointed adjutant of the Third Bat
talion of Rifles, Fifth Brigade, Third Division,
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, January 18, 1861,
and March 2, 1861, was appointed on the staff of
Brigadier-General George H. Ward, Fifth Brigade,
Third Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia,
with ' rank of captain. He was first sergeant of
Artillery in the Ancient and Honorable Artillcry
Company in 1877, and second lieutenant in 1880.
He is a member of the Commonwealth Club.
He married, October 21, 1862, Anna F. Chapman,
of Ossipee, New Hampshire. She died November
12, 1864. He married (second), June 14, 1870, Mary
J., daughter of Dr. Jefferson Pratt, of Hopkinton,
Massachusetts, and they have one son, Charles
Pratt Wilder, born in Worcester, April 3, 1873.
NELSON R. SCOTT. The name Scott is ob
viously of Scotch origin. The families bearing that
name are now scattered all over the world. Before
the year 1200 there were well established lines in
the counties of Peebles, Fife, Forfair, Roxbury,
Dumfries, Selkirk, Kincardine, etc. Members of
the Scott family have held the dukedoms of Buc-
cleuch and Queensbury ; the marquisate of Dumfrie-
shire; the earldoms of Buccleuch, Deloraine, Drum-
lanrig, Sanquahar and Tarras; the viscounties of
Hermitage, Nith, Torthorwald and Ross. Alexander
Scott was in the Scotch Parliament in 1473, and
throughout its history the Parliament, frequently
if not always, had members of this family among
its membership.
The branch of the Scott family that went to the
north of Ireland at the instance of the Protestant
rulers of England to settle in the place of dispos
sessed Roman Catholic Irish have still some repre
sentatives tliere, though many of tlie Scotch-Irish
branch have come to America. In 1890 there were
born in the whole of Ireland only one hundred and
ninety-six persons of the name of Scott. Of this
number one hundred and forty-seven were in the
Ulster counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry,
indicating a population of about seven thousand.
(I) John Scott, the pioneer ancestor of Nelson
R. Scott, of Worcester, was from the Scotch Cov
enanters of Ulster. He came among the first Scotch-
Irish emigrants in 1718, or soon before. He must
have brought with him more than most of tbe set
tlers, for be soon became 0110 of the heaviest tax-

204

WORCESTER COUNTY

payers of the town of Leicester, Massachusetts,
where he bought land and made his home. His
wife Martha and five or more children came with
him. He bought his first land of the original pro
prietors of the town of Leicester. The original
homestead which he settled upon remained in the
hands of his descendants until 1850. It has been
known to the present generation as the Grosvenor
farm. The farm is situated in Auburn, formerly
Ward, formerly Leicester.
John Scott was on the ministerial tax list dated
December 7, 1727, as owning thirteen hundred and
three acres of land, the largest amount of any per
son on the list. He paid the largest tax in 1735
and subsequent years. In his will he bequeaths a
coat of armor, an indication that some ancestor had
been a knight some generations before. His will is
dated 1753, and it was allowed May 15 following.
Before he died he deeded lands to his son Matthew,
December 29, 1743-4; to his "beloved son" Nathaniel,
August 1, 1749. Thomas received the homestead in
the will. The children were: Matthew, born 1712,
died at Leicester, November 25, 1797, aged eighty-
eight, according to town records; married Martha
Lockard, January 2, 1745-6; Nathaniel, was captain
in the revolutionary war, married Eunice Woods
(intention dated January 2, 1762) ; Elizabeth, mar
ried Hugh Cunningham ; Thomas (see forward) ;
Rebecca, married James Browning, of Rutland, Jan
uary 15, 1756; Jane, married  Thomson.
(II) Thomas Scott, son of John Scott (1), was
born about 1720-30. He came with the family to
Leicester and worked with his father to clear the
land and subdue the soil. He inherited the home
stead on the death of his father in 1753. He bought
land first of Thomas Denny, November 20, 1760,
in Leicester, and then December 3, 1760, of Caleb
Nichols, a piece of land adjoining the other. He
deeded his farm and buildings to his son Thomas
Scott, Jr., January 10, 1791. .Nine of his ten chil
dren were living, and most of them married, in
1803, when he made his will. The will is filed
May 19, 1803. He died April 23, 1803, age not
given, in Ward, Massachusetts, now Auburn.
He married Mary Livermorfe, January 3, 1766.
She was born in 1743. He must have been much
older. Their children were: Asa, born August 23,
1767; Thomas, Jr., March 13, 1769; Elizabeth, Jan
uary 6, 1771, married  , Eddy; Reuben, Decem
ber 29, 1772; Nancy, December 27, 1774, died Sep
tember 17, 1787; Catherine (twin), January 18,
1777, married  Phillips; the preceding are re
corded in Auburn as born in Ward; the following
were born in Ward: David, November 1, 1779;
Mary, February 4, 1781; Jerusha, April 17, 1783,
married  Gale.
(.Ill) David Scott, eighth child of Thomas
Scott (2), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts, No
vember 1, 1779. He inherited the old homestead.
He was a farmer. He married (first), August 30,
1820, Chloe Ryan, of Charlton, Massachusetts, who
was born April 13, 1796, and died at Auburn July
31, 1823, leaving two children; married (second),
March 13, 1825, Betsey (Sprague) Trask, who died
at Auburn August 25, 1840; married (third) Elmira
(Watson) Crosby, widow, of Brookfield, -June 25 or
24, 1 841 ; she died at Auburn July 28, "1845 ; mar
ried (fourth) the sister of his first wife, April 2,
1849, Ruth (Ryan) Sibley, of Spencer. She sur
vived him. Children of David and Chloe (Ryan)
Scott were : David, Jr., (see forward) ; Nelson
Ryan, (see forward). Child of David and Betsey
(Trask) Scott was: Elizabeth Sprague, born in
Auburn, Massachusetts, April 16, 1827, lived and
died in Worcester; unmarried.

(IV) David Scott, Jr., eldest son of David Scott
(3). born June 7, 1821; married, October 14, 1846,
Luanda. H. Fay, of Princeton, Massachusetts, who
was born March 8, 1823. He came to Worcester
when a young man, learned the drug business and
opened a drug store. For many years he was suc
cessful in business. His store was on the north
corner of Main and Mechanic streets, Worcester,
and he was the owner of the land and building in
wliich his store was located. The block is still
owned by his heirs. Mr. Scott was a prominent
Free Mason and was a member of the Worcester
County Commandery, Knights Templar. He died
March 16, 1878. Children were: Frank, born Jan-
" uary 5, 1850, died young; Fred, June 13, 1852, was
a physician; died at Terre Haute, Indiana, unmar
ried; Alice, December 16, 1854. All the foregoing
were born in Worcester.
(IV) Nelson Ryan Scott, second child of David
Scott (3), was born at Auburn, Massachusetts,
July 23, 1823. His mother died when he was but
a week old. His mothers sister, Ruth W, then
the wife of Deacon Sibley, of Spencer, took him to
her home and brought him np. After the death of
Deacon Sibley, she became the fourth wife of
David Scott and step-mother to Nelson Ryan Scott
He attended the district and high schools at Spen
cer, and Leicester Academy, and worked at farming
until he was seventeen, when he went to his father's
home in Auburn and helped his father with the
farm work there. In order to induce him to remain
on the old homestead his father deeded to him an
undivided half of the farm^ provided he would re
main on it and care for him the rest of his life. But
farm life was distasteful to him and in March, 1849,
he gave up the deed and followed his elder brother
to Worcester, and went to work for him in his
drug store. He learned the business thoroughly and
remained there until 1852.
He formed a partnership with the late Charles
Sibley, the deputy sheriff and court crier for many
years afterwards. The firm name was Sibley &
Scott They began business May 22, 1852, in the
store at the sonth corner of Main and Sudbury
streets. The partnership was dissolved in 1854. Mr.
Scott entered into a new partnership with Thomas
Pierce, his father-in-law, for the purpose of manu
facturing boots and shoes. Their factory was on
Main street opposite the foot of Chatham street
The firm managed to pull through the financial panic
of 1857 with severe losses, but without failure. In
1858, however, Mr. Scott retired from the shoe
business and went to work again for his brother
David, May 1, 1858. He remained with him until
December 1, 1866, when he started to build Scott's
block at the junction of Main and Southbridge
streets, on a triangular lot, from which it is gen
erally called the 'Flatiron Building." When the
building was completed he opened a drug store in
the north store July 4, 1867, and this store has
been conducted successfully there by Mr. Scott
and since his death by his son, George T. The store
was favorably located and Mr. Scott took rank
among the most successful merchants of the city.
He found much pleasure in genealogical and
antiquarian research. He collected antiques, coins,
medals, Indian implements of stone, etc. He had a
very large and valuable collection which after his
death was presented to the Worcester' Society of
Antiquity, of which he was an active and interested
member. Among other things of special value in
this collection are the pewter platters. He loved
travel and knew his own country thoroughly. He
went to California when trips for pleasure to that
state" were rare. He went by steamer by way of the

WORCESTER COUNTY

205

'Isthmus of Panama, and he brought back with him,
after a stay of five months, an exceedingly interest
ing collection of natural curiosities, such as pebbles,
mosses, chemicals, etc. He spent the last year of
his life in Europe, a country that fascinated him
with its antiquities and historical researches.
Mr. Scott was well known in Masonic circles.
He was a member of Montacute Lodge; of which
he was the Worshipful Master in 1871, declining a
re-election; a member of Worcester Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons; of Worcester County Commandery,
Knights Templar, and of the Worcester Lodge of
Perfection, to which he was exalted September 13,
1863. He was a charter member of the Worcester
Continentals and remained an active member until
his last trip to Europe, when he was made an hon
orary member. He was- also 'a member of Stella
Chapter, order of the Eastern Star; Hopewell Coun
cil, Legion of Honor; the Worcester Council, Royal
Arcanum ; the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso
ciation; the Worcester Art Students' Club; the
American Pharmaceutical Association; the Massa
chusetts College of Pharmacy; and the Worcester
Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was the
first president. He was a regular attendant of the
Salem Street Congregational Church from the time
he came to Worcester until he left for his last trip
abroad, when he deeded his pew to the society. He
sat under the preaching and pastorates of Rev.
George Bushnell, Rev. Merrill Richardson and Rev.
Charles M'. Lamson.
He was of a cheerful, self-sacrificing disposition,
ready and willing to extend a helping hand in' case
of need. He was unwilling to mar the pleasure of
others, a characteristic that was shown even during
the last few weeks of his life when, rather than de
tain the party with which he was travelling at Cairo
in Egypt, he decided, only two weeks before his
death, to push on up the River Nile with them. On
his arrival at Luxor he was so exhausted that he
had to be carried by two natives to the hotel. When
questioned within three days of his death whether
he would remain at Luxor or return with the party
to Cairo, he replied: "I will return with you to
Cairo, so as to be nearer my Heavenly home," He
was unconscious when the boat arrived at Cairo
and died three days afterward February 19, 1883,
aged fifty-nine years, seven months, seven days. His
wife died January 17, 1904.
He married (first) June 15, 1845, Maria - E.
Crosby, of Brookfield, daughter of his father's
third wife. She had one son, Charles Nelson, born
at Auburn April 6, 1846. She died at the age of
twenty-four years, July 27, 1847. He married (sec
ond) Julia A. Pierce, daughter of Major Thomas
and Maria (Mason) Pierce, May 6, 1851. She had
one son, George T., born Octobei 30, 1853. She
died at Boston, January 17, 1904.
(V) Charles N. Scott, eldest son of Nelson
Ryan Scott (4), was born in Auburn, Massachu
setts, April 6, 1846. He was educated in the public
and high schools of the city and at the Highland
Military Academy. He entered the United States
navy as midshipman. He was in the United States
Naval Academy during the war when it was located
at Newport, and later when it was back in the old
home at Annapolis. He was in the same class with
Commodore Richard T. Wainright; with Adolph
Marix, who was judge advocate at the hearing on
the Maine disaster, and with Seaton Shroeder, ex-
governor of Guam. Mr. Scott suffered a severe at
tack of malaria and was pronounced by a medical
board physically unfit for naval service. He resigned
before graduating and returned to his home in Wor
cester. When the drug store was opened he en

tered upon an apprenticeship in pharmacy. After
three years in the drug business he was obliged to
leave to take charge of the property of his late
father-in-law, Benjamin Goddard, who died sud
denly. Mr. Goddard was the owner of a large
jewelry business which was continued by Mr. Scott
in partnership with Frank A. Knowlton, under the
firm name of Benjamin Goddard & Co. In 1876
Mr. Knowlton purchased the interests of the God
dard estate and the partnership was dissolved. The
jewelry store of Mr. Goddard was for a long time
located at the corner of Main and Walnut streets.
In July, 1876, he opened a jewelry store on Main
street, opposite Foster street, lie removed later
to the Butman block, corner of Elm and Main
streets. Then he removed to the south store of
Scott's block, where he was in business for about
five years. Iu 1888 he retired from the jewelry
business, and with the exception of three years,
when he was in the brokerage business with an of
fice in the, Taylor building, opposite the city hall,
he has not been engaged in any active business.
He is a member of Montacute Lodge of Free 'Ma
sons ; of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, and of Wor
cester County Commandery, Knights Templar. lie
is a Republican in politics. He attends Plymouth
Congregational Church.
Mr. Scott has had the same love of travel and
interest in genealogy, archaeology and antiquities
that, characterized his father. He spent' many win
ters in the tropics and is quite familiar with Ja
maica, Cuba, and the West Indies. He was in
Cuba when the war broke out, and crossed the island
under a guard of Spanish soldiers on his way home.
, He married, May 3, 1869, Ella Frances Goddard,
daughter of Benjamin and Martha (Dolliver) God
dard. Benjamin Goddard was born May 15, 1813,
in Philadelphia. Martha Dolliver was born in Wor
cester, July 8, 1814. The children of Charles N. and
Ella Frances (Goddard) Scott are-: Arthur Nelson,
born in Worcester, January 29, 1870, died August
12, 1886, drowned while bathing in Coe's Pond, just
after entering Massachusetts Institute of Technology
at the age of fifteen with honors in French and
English; Ralph Goddard, born at Worcester, No
vember 10, 1884, died October 24, 1890; Chester
Francis, born in Worcester, October 20, 1887, grad
uate of the English high school.
(V) George T. Scott, youngest son of Nelson
Ryan Scott (4), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, October 30, 1853. He received his early
education in the Worcester public schools. He also
attended the academy at Easthampton, Massachu
setts. He then entered the drug store of his father
and learned the business, for which he showed a
natural aptitude. He ' became a skillful pharmacist
and soon assumed the burden of the business. His
father took him into partnership in 1875. After his
father's death he became the sole owner of the
business which he has carried on successfully to the
present time. His drug store has held its rank as
one of the leading stores of its line in the city. He
is a prominent Free Mason, a member of Athelstan
Lodge, Eureka Chanter, Hiram Council, Worcester
County Commandery of Knights Templar, and re
ceived the thirty-second in the Massachusetts Con
sistory. He is also a member of the Worcester
Pharmaceutical Association; the American Pharma
ceutical Association; Conquest Council, Royal Ar
canum, and the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso
ciation. He married, October 28, 1879, Emma E. Long-
ley, of Worcester, who was born December 26,
1856, died September 18, 1903, daughter of James
O. and Caroline E. Longley. James O. Longley was

206

WORCESTER COUNTY

born in Boylston, September n, 183a. Caroline
(.Lawrence) Longley was born in West Brookfield,

July 30, IS

Their children are: Harry Longley,

born in Worcester, February 5. 1SS2, associated with
his father in the drug store; Nelson Theo, born in
Worcester, February 7. 1884. associated with his
father in the drug store; Sidnev Mason, born in
Worcester, June 4. 1889, student in the Sonth higts
school; Forrest L., born September 9. 1890, died
December 21. 1891.
HENRY BRAXNON. manufacturer of Wor
cester, is a striking example of a self-made man,
one who, favored by no stroke of lnck or family
heritage, has carved ont his own career and achieved
conspicuous success entirely through the exercise
of unflagging industry, indomitable resolution and
wise judgment
He is a native of England, born in Nottingham,
March 7, 1850, a son of John and Margaret E. Bran-
non. The father was a trunk maker in- that city.
He came to the United States in the year in which
his son was born, and the following year sent for
his wife and child, who joined him in Boston. In
1857 Mr. Brannon bought a farm in Princeton,
Massachusetts, and was engaged in its cultivation
during the remainder of his life. He was a Repub
lican in politics, and his first vote after his naturali
zation was cast for Abraham Lincoln, at the first
election of that immortal man. Mrs. Brannon died
in 1892. and her husband five years afterwards, in
1897. They had ten children, of whom two died
in infancy : the oldest being Henry, of whom further ;
Margaret IL, James H, William E., Katie M., died
aged eleven years, Charles F., Sarah B., and A.
Gertrude. Henry, eldest chi'.d of John and Margaret E.
Brannon. was less than a year old when his parents
arrived in the United States. He received his edu
cation in the common schools of Princeton, Massa
chusetts, and at the early age of sixteen years went
to work, devoting his earnings to assist his father
in liquidating a mortgaged indebtedness on the farm
which he had purchased Young Brannon's first
employment was in the Crompton Loom Works in
Worcester, where he remained for five years. He
then worked for some years in Taylor & Farley's
organ factory in the same city. In 1S74. at the age of
twenty-four, having acquired a little money by dint
of energetic labor and careful economy, he pur
chased the turning and cabinet shop of J. M. Goodell
in Worcester, and has been the proprietor of that
establishment ever since. Mr. Brannon has de
veloped a business of considerable proportions, one
of the first in its particular line. His product in
cludes all descriptions of doors, sash and blind work,
door and window screens, and fine honse finishing
wood work. A specialty for which his factory is
widely famed is artistic bank, office, store and other
fine hardwood cabinet work, made to order, and
after special designs. The establishment is equipped
with the most modern machinery, and employs seven
teen operatives throughout the year.
Mr. Brannon is actively identified with various
institutions of a semi-public nature, and which
largely enter irto the life of the community. He is
a member of the directorate of the Worcester Co
operative Bank, and has served as trustee of the
City Hospital, a trustee of the Mechanics' Associa
tion, and a director and treasurer of the Young
Men's Christian Association. Political honors have
been bestowed upon him. and he has served with
tact judgment and efficiency for four terms as a
member of the board of aldermen from the fifth
ward and in his last term honorably filled the posi-

• tion of president of the board, the most important
in the gift of the citizens, next to that of mayor.
He served in the Old State Guard with the rank of
orderly sergeant, and is an honorary member of the
Worcester City Guards, in which he served four
years. He is a member of the Union Congregational
Church of Worcester, has beep treasurer of the
church and parish, and on the standing committee
of the church for many years. He is a member of
the Congregational Club, Worcester Society of Anti
quity, Worcester Board of Trade, and Home Market
Club of Boston. Mr. Brannon is also connected with
the local lodge of Odd Fellows. In Masonry he is
a Knight Templar, and a trustee of the permanent
fund of the Commandery; also a trustee of the
Masonic Fraternity and vice-president of the Ma
sonic Charity and Educational Society. In politics
he is an unswerving Republican. He is deeply in
terested in all things affecting the community, and
has rendered efficient aid in behalf of municipal im
provements as well as religions, educational and
benevolent institutions.
Mr. Brannon is a man of sterling business integ
rity. His word is as good as his bond, and that
has been rated AA in the first grade among finan
cial agencies for many years. The popularity of Mr.
Brannon among his fellow citizens was demonstrated
some time ago, when he had a unanimous request
from the prominent Republicans of' his ward to be
their nominee for the position of representative to
the legislature. His probity of character, companion
able disposition, and genius as a master workman
have all tended to place him in an enviable position
among his fellow citizens. He has taken his own
full share in the duties of a public-spirited citizen,
and all the interests that have engaged his attention,
included in the organizations already mentioned par
ticularly has he rendered invaluable service to the
church in which he is an honored member and also
in the Y. M. G A., in which organization he has
received signal honors, and done yeoman service
for the young men of the city.
February 14, 1878. Mr. Brannon was united in
marriage to Gertrude Goddard. oldest daughter of
Dorrance S. Goddard, who for many years was con
nected with the wire industry in Worcester, and
whose sketch appears in this work By this mar
riage were born these children: Alice M., a gradu
ate of the high school and Smith College, and is a
school teacher: Mildred L. a graduate of the school
of Domestic Science of Boston; Olive G., a high
school graduate, and bookkeeper in her father's
office: Henry G.. who is completing his course in
the high school: Roger W.; Dorothy W. : Edna L.;
and two who died in infancy.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. The Otis family
has had many men of distinction from colonial times
to the present and all are of the same family, all
descendants of the same progenitor, John Otis, or
as the name is spelled otherwise Attis. Oates. Oatise.
The English family has a coat of arms.
(I) John Otis, the emigrant ancestor of Har
rison Gray Otis. John P. K. Otis and Mary Eliza
beth Otis, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was born
in Barnstable. England, in 1581. He settled in
Hingham in New England. He was there at the
time of the first division and drew land in 1635.
Most of the early settlers in Hingham. Massachu
setts, were from Hingham, England, and it is thought
that Otis lived in Hingham for a time before com
ing to New England. His homestead was on Otis
Hill in the southwest part of Hingham, Massachu
setts. He had numerous grants of land between
1635 and 1647. He was admitted a freeman March

UmAvi J3ji(2<Kfr?<7>T^

WORCESTER COUNTY

207

3, 1635-6. He was a town officer. His buildings
burned March 15, 1645-6. lie removed about 1655
to Weymouth, Massachusetts.
He married (first) Margaret  in England.
She died in Hingham, June 28, 1653. He married
(second) and his widow drew land in Weymouth
in 1663. He died in Weymouth, May 31, 1657, aged
seventy-six. His will was dated the day before his
death and was proved July 28, 1657. He bequeathed
to his wife ; to son John, who was made executor ;
to daughter Margaret Burton and her three chil
dren; to daughter Hannah Gile; to Mary and
Thomas Gile, Jr. ; to daughters Anne and Alice.
His widow Elizabeth made will September 12, 1672,
proved July 17, 1676, and bequeathed to son John
Streme; daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law, Lieu
tenant John Holbrook. The children of John Otis
were: John, see forward; Richard, went to Wey
mouth in 1654, settled in Dover, New Hampshire,
in 1662; killed by the Indians 1689 with his son
Stephen; wife and child captured and sold to the
French; his widow married a Frenchman in Canada,
but after his death she returned to her old home
and married (third) Captain Thomas Baker; Mar
garet, married Thomas Burton, of Hingham; Han
nah, married Thomas Gile ; Ann ; Alice.
(II) John Otis, eldest son of John Otis (1),
was born in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, in
1620. He came to New England with his parents
and lived on Otis Hill in Hingham. He held land
in Hingham in 1668-9. In 1661 John Otis removed
to Scituate, where John Otis was buried May 8,
1641. It seems likely that John Otis, who died there
and of whom all record is lacking, may be father of
John Otis (I) and grandfather of John Otis (II),
who went to Scituate twenty years later to live.
He probably had land there. He bought a house
¦ of Deacon Thomas Robinson, south of Coleman's
hill. Otis also bought of John Hatheiiy twenty-
three shares of the Conihasset partnership of forty
shares. This Conihasset tract was three miles square
and included parts of the present towns of Hanover
and Abington. He was admitted a freeman at Hing
ham, 1662, and at Barnstabfe, Massachusetts, in 1678.
He settled in Barnstable on the Otis farm, opposite
Hinkley lane, near the marshes in the West Parish.
He left his son John there and returned to Scituate,
where he died January 16, 1683. There' is a stone
on his grave in the old burying ground in the meet
ing house land a mile south of the harbor, but the
inscription is not legible.
_ He married (second) Mary Jacob, daughter of
Nicholas Jacob, who came over in 1633. His chil
dren were: Mary, baptized 1653, married John
Gowan; Elizabeth, married (first) Thomas Allyn,
(second), David Loring; John, born in Hingham,
1657, married Mercy Bacon, captain, deputy to gen
eral court, chief justice of the court of common
pleas, first judge of probate, member of His Ma
jesty's council; Hannah (probably), born 1660;
Stephen, see forward ; James, 1663, settled at Wey
mouth; Joseph, 1665, judge of court of common pleas,
deputy general court, etc; Job, 1667, settled at Scit
uate. (Ill) Stephen Otis, fifth child of John Otis (2),
was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1661. He was
captain of the company and prominent in town af
fairs. He was a tanner by trade. He built a new
house about 1691. He died May 26, 1733. His grave
is marked in the old burying ground near the har
bor. His will was made in 1729. He married Han
nah Ensign, of Scituate, 1685. She was the daugh
ter of John Ensign and granddaughter of Thomas
Ensign, one of the Conihasset partners in 1646. She
was born in 1669. Her father fell in the Pawtucket

fight, March 26, 1676. The estate which came from
the Ensign family went to Ensign Otis, her son,
and was owned by three of the name, Ensign Otis,
in successive generations. The children of Captain
Stephen and Hannah (Ensign) Otis were: Ensign,
born 1691 ; John, 1694, selectman of Boston ; Han
nah, 1696 ; Mary, 1697 ; Dr. Isaac, see forward ;
Stephen, 1707, died in Scituate, 1755; Joseph, 1709,
settled in Boston and was keeper of the jail there;
Joshua, 171 1, settled in Scituate.
(IV) Dr. Isaac Otis, fifth child of Stephen Otis
(3), was born in 1699. He married 1718, Deborah
Jacobs, daughter of Deacon David Jacobs and his
wife Sarah Cushing, daughter of John Cushing.
Deacon Jacobs was grandson of Nicholas Jacobs,
of Hingham, whose daughter, Mary Jacobs, married
John Otis (2). Isaac Otis was the first regularly
bred and educated physician in Scituate. He set
tled there and began to practice in 1719, when the
town voted a settlement of a hundred pounds to
encourage him to remain there. He was a
man of uncommon accomplishments of person and
mind. He died in 1786. The children of Dr. Isaac
and Deborah (Jacobs) Otis were : Isaac, born in
Scituate, 1719, graduate of Harvard College,- 1738;
- Josiah, 1721, died young; Josiah, 1725, died young;
William, 1726, married, died without issue; Stephen,
1728, settled in Hanover, see forward; James, 1732,
died young; James, 1734, married Lucy Cushing,
granddaughter of Rev. Jeremiah Cushing; he was
third physician in Scituate ; was in French war ;
Thomas, 1736, died young; Thomas, 1738, died
young. (V) Stephen Otis, fifth child of Dr. Isaac Otis
(4), was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1728
died early in life. He married Elizabeth Wade,
They settled at Hanover, a neighboring town. Their
children were : Charlotte, born 1763 ; Deborah, 1765 ;
William, January 16, 1768; Paul, born 1771, see
forward ; a daughter, married  Howard.
(VI) Paul Otis, fourth child of Stephen Otis
(5), was born in 1771. He married (first) Pene
lope Nichols, November 5, 1791. She was born
April 15, 1769, died April 24, 1792.- He married
(second) Lucy Bailey, August, 1795. She was born
March 9, 1776, died August 21, 1805. He married
(third) Mabel Litchfield, February 15, 1806. She
was born October 12, 1784, and survived him. In
1792 he lost three children by small pox, during an
epidemic. His children were: Elizabeth, born April
25, 1792, died November 25, 1792; Henry, July 18,
1796, died February 10, 1834; Benjamin Bailey, July
11, 1799, see forward; Harvey, September 19, 1802,
settled in Kingston, New York; William, April 16,
1807, married Mary Boynton, and lived at Hubbards
ton, Massachusetts, and Claremont, New Hampshire;
Lucy Bailey, May 22, 1809, married William Ross,
of Worcester; Mary F., October 25, 1811, married
 Mussey, of Leominster ; Silas D., June 26,
1814, married and settled in Lowell, Massachusetts;
Roland L, September 11, 1816, married Elizabeth
Thompson, and settled in Leominster, Massachusetts ;
Paul. October 18, 1818, settled in Worcester; mar
ried there, October 13, 1840, Laura M. Knight.
(VII) Benjamin B. Otis, third child of Paul
Otis (6), was born in North Scituate, Massachu
setts, on the old homestead. He married Mary
Carter, 1822. She was the daughter of John Carter,
of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mr. Otis started for
himself in Worcester in the shoe and leather busi
ness. His store was on Main street, between School
and Thomas streets, which in the thirties and forties
was the business centre of the town. Mr. Otis was
a prominent business man in his day and was active
in town affairs. He was constable for many years.

20S

WORCESTER COUNTY

He was a member of the First Unitarian Church
(Second Parish) of Worcester during tlie pastorate
of Rev. Alonzo Hill, who was appointed colleague'
of the first minister. Dr. Aaron Bancroft. Mr. Otis
died in Lancaster, Massachusetts; his wife also died
in Lancaster.Their children, all bom in Worcester except the
eldest, were: Mary Elizabeth, bom April 23, 1S23,
in Lancaster, Massachusetts, died in Worcester, June
26, 1S24; John Carter, see forward; Benjamin Frank
lin, January 27, 1S27. lives in West New-ton and is
auditor of the city of Newton, Massachusetts : George
Henry, March 10, 1829; Nancy Carter, July 10, 1831,
died October io, 1832; Man- Jane, bom September
3, 1S33. married, November 29, 1865. Hon. Phinelias .
Ball, who was mayor of Worcester, etc. (See sketch
of Ball Family) ; Harrison Gray, see forward; Ann
Eliza, March 19, 1S38; Lucy Maria, July 30, 1840;
Edwin Augustus, March 16, 1843; Ellen Louisa,
March 31, 1846.
(VIII) John Carter Otis, eldest son and second
child of Benjamin B. Otis (7), was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, March 12, 1825. He received
his education in the public schools. At the age of
fifteen he entered the employ of Samuel B. Scott,
who kept a shoe store in Worcester, and also went
to live in his employer's family, after tlie custom
of the times. He remained in this position for about
five years, when he went to work for his father,
who was a manufacturer and dealer of boots, shoes
and leather in Worcester. In 1844 he went to St.
Louis, Missouri, where his mother's brother resided,
and was employed about three years as clerk. He
returned to Worcester in 1848 and was in partner
ship with his father until 1850, when he formed with
C. H. Fitch the firm of Fitch & Otis for tlie manu
facture of boots and shoes, occupying first a shop
on Front street and later part of the Bangs block
on Main street. The financial troubles of 1857 caused
a suspension of their business in common with that
of many others.
In 1861 Mr. Otis was employed for a time in the
office of the city treasurer, and the following year
entered the Quinsigamond Bank as teller, and dur
ing the absence of the cashier on account of illness
served as assistant cashier. He held this position
for ten years and retired, greatly to tlie regret of
the directors, to devote himself exclusively to the
duties of the treasurership of the Union Water Meter
Company, an office to which he had been elected in
1868, when the company was formed by his brother-
in-law, Hon. Phinehas Ball, and Abram and Benajah
Fitts, for the manufacture of the Ball & Fitts water
meter. At the death of Mr. Ball in 1894 Mr. Otis
was elected president, and the two positions he held
until his death March 11, 1900.
Mr. Otis was vice-president of the Worcester
Five Cents Savings Bank; member of the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association, of which he was vice-
president and for twelve years a trustee; an active
member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity,
From early childhood he was a member of the First
Unitarian church, and was elected deacon in 1863,
He was a life member and for several years was a
director of the American Unitarian Association, and
he served twenty-five years from 1866 as treasurer
of the Worcester County Conference of Unitarian
Churches, of which he was later vice-president. He
was a man of upright character, generous and kindly
in disposition, and highly esteemed in social as well
as business circles.
Mr. Otis married, April 18, 1849, Mary E. Ket
tell, daughter of John P. and Maria (Vose) Kettell,
She died February 2, 1894. He died March 11, 1900.
They had three children: John Pierce Kettell, bom

March 9, 1853, succeeded his father in business;
Man- Elizabeth, born April 27, 1857: James Frank
lin, bom May 19, 1861, died March 8, 1884.
(IX) John P. K Otis, son of the late John C
Otis (8) and grandson of B. B. Otis (7), was
bom in Worcester. March 9, 1853. He attended the
public schools of Worcester, leaving the high school
in his second year. He was in the city engineer's
office from 1800 to 1S71, when he entered tlie Wor
cester Free Institute, now the Worcester Polytech
nic Institute, and was graduated as a civil engineer
in 1873. He was assistant engineer of the Spring
field (Massachusetts) Water Works from 1873 to
1876. and engineer of tlie Portland (Maine) Water
Company from 1876 to 1S7S. During the three years
from 1S7S to 1SS0 he was an instructor in civil en
gineering in tlie Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
He became manager of tlie Union Water Meter
Company, with which his father and uncle were con
nected, in 18S0. When his father died in March,
1900, he was elected president and treasurer of the
company. .
The Union Water Meter Company was organized
November 0, 1S68, and re-organized in 1S75 with a
capital of $75,000. The first building occupied by
the company was a one-story wooden structure in
the rear of 31 Hermon street In 1872 a four-story
brick building forty by one hundred feet was added
to the plant. The first meter made by the company
was the Ball & Fitts reciprocating piston meter, the
joint invention of tlie Hon. Phinehas Ball and Ben
ajah Fitts. In 1876 tlie company bought tlie Union
rotary piston meter of Benajah Fitts, and in 1802
the company bought the Columbia pattern meter of
Phinehas Ball. This meter was especially designed
and adapted for measuring water carrying sediment
or tending to corrode or form deposits in meters.
The company has been among the leaders in its line
of business for many years, and it is one of the
unique industries in which all Worcester takes pride.
Besides the manufacture of water meters the com
pany makes water, steam, air and gas pressure regu
lators, steam fire gongs, chronometer governor
valves, hydraulic valves, cement testing machines,
cement lining presses, hand feed drills, and special
hydraulic machinery. The products of the company
are used in every state and territory of the country
and largely exported. Mr. Otis was a member of
the Worcester County Mechanics- Association; the
Worcester Board of Trade : the Worcester Society
of Civil Engineers; the Worcester Society of Anti
quity and the Commonwealth Clnb.
Mr. Otis married. October 19, 1S74. Isabelle C.
Stratton, daughter of Charles T. and Jane M. (Grif
fin) Stratton, of Worcester. Charles T. Stratton
was a machinist. Mr. and Mrs. Otis have five chil
dren. Albert Stratton, born November 23, 1S75;
Emma Heywood, born January 30, 1880, married
John Wilson, of Bangor, Maine ; their child Caroline,
born July 26, 1905; Edward King, born October 6,
1884 ; Donald Kettell, born March, 1892 ; Mary Eliza
beth, born October 14, 1895.
(VIII) Harrison Gray Otis, seventh child of
Benjamin B. Otis (7), was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, September 18, 1835. He received
his early education in the public schools of his native
town and at Worcester Academy. After leaving
school he went to work for Fitch & Otis, shoe manu
facturers. His brother, John C. Otis (VIII), was
the junior partner. He was first 'a leather cutter,
then traveling salesman for the firm. From 1859
to 1863 he was assistant door-keeper at the state
house in Boston during the time that Hon, Alexander
H. Bullock, of Worcester, was speaker of the house.
When Mr. Bullock was elected governor he offered

WORCESTER COUNTY

209

Mr. Otis the position of governor's messenger.
During these years Mr. Otis was a law student in
Mr. Bullock's office. He returned to the shoe busi
ness, and for twenty years was associated with
Smyth Brothers, shoe manufacturers, and Charles
H. Fitch & Co., boot and shoe manufacturers.
In 1887 Mr. Otis was elected an assessor of the
city of Worcester and was at once chosen chairman
of the board. He served the city in this important
office, giving the taxpayers the utmost satisfaction
until 1899, when he was appointed to his present posi
tion as deputy tax commissioner of Massachusetts,
a position to which his experience as an assessor
and long business training admirably fitted him.
Mr. Otis has made a thorough study of taxation
and is one of the leading experts in this subject
¦today. He was one of the founders of the Associa
tion of Massachusetts Assessors, and was for four
years its president and for many years chairman of
its legislative committee. He is known to. all the
assessors. and legislators of the state, and his intelli
gent and courteous co-operation with the managers
of the corporations of the state in getting them to
conform to the statutes, in making their reports and
adjusting their taxes, is thoroughly appreciated. Mr.
Otis is an ideal public officer, having the tact, com
mon sense and integrity that his responsible position
requires. Mr. Otis is a Congregationalist. He was
for many -years member of the Salem Street Con
gregational Church and treasurer of its society. He
is now a member and trustee of Union Congrega
tional Church. He is a member of the Worcester
Society of Antiquity and of the Congregational Club.
He married, April 29, 1858, Olive Haywood
Fitch, daughter of James Harvey Fitch. Their chil
dren are: Charles Ii., born in Worcester, July 7,
1859, died 1880; Edward F, born September 29,
1867; Annie Louise, resides at home with her par
ents, is clerk in the city treasurer's office, Worcester;
Harry Benjamin, clerk in the city treasurer's office.
Mr. Otis resides at 41 Harvard street. All the
children live at home.
BENJAMIN WILLIS CHILDS. Samuel Quids
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Benjamin Willis
Childs, of Worcester, was an early settler at Plym
outh, New England. He came from England and
was probably the first emigrant of this name in New
England. He was related in some way to the fam
ilies of this name at Roxbury. Savage gives Richard
Childs as his brother. Freeman states that he was
slain by the Indians at Rehoboth, March 25, 1675.
He has many descendants in' western Massachusetts,
Vermont and in the west. Another line of his de
scendants is to be found in Maine. The family
genealogy gives Richard, of Barnstable, as the son
of Samuel Childs (1).
(II) Richard Childs, son of Samuel Childs (1),
was born in 1624. He married Mary Linnett, Oc
tober 15, 1648. She was of Barnstable. They had
one son, Richard, and probably other children.
(Ill) Richard Childs, son of Richard Childs (2),
was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, March, 1653.
He married, about 1678, Elizabeth Crocker, daughter
of John Crocker. She was born October 7, 1660,
died January 15, 1716. He married (second) Han
nah  . He was a prominent citizen of Barn
stable and was the honored deacon of the church
there. He died January 15, 1716. The children
of Richard .and Elizabeth (Crocker) Childs were:
Samuel, born November 6, 1679, see forward; Eliza
beth, January 25, 1681 ; Thomas, January 10, 1682;
Hannah, 1684; Timothy, September 22, 1686; Ebe
nezer, 1691, married Hope  , born 1690, who
died in Barre, where her son and other relatives
14

lived, May 3, 1783; Elizabeth, June 6, 1692; James,
November 6, 1694; Mercy, May 7, 1697; Joseph,
March 5, 1699; Thankful, August 15, 1702.
(IV) Deacon Samuel Childs, son of Richard
Childs (3), was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts,
November 6, 1678. He married ( first), July 7, 1709,
Hannah Barnard. She died May 16, 1727. He mar
ried (second), about 1729, Experience  . She
died May 25, 1744. He married (third), June 25,
1750, Sarah Philip (Mattoon) Field, widow of
Zachariah Field, of Northfield, Massachusetts. She
died March 21, 1752, aged sixty-three years. He
died March 18, 1756, aged seventy-seven years. He
removed from Barnstable to Deerfield when a young
man. He was a man of character and influence.
He was deacon of the Northfield church. He was
a blacksmith by trade. His children were born in
Deerfield, viz: Hannah, born July 8, 1710; Samuel,
Jr., September 20, 1712 ; Asa, January 3, 1715 ; David
(twin), March 23, 1718; Jonathan (twin), March
23, 1718, see forward; Ebenezer, November 11, 1720;
Elizabeth, August 5, 1724; Experience, June 7, 1730.
(V) Jonathan Childs, twin son of Deacon Sam
uel Childs (4), was born in Deerfield, Massachu
setts, March 23, 1718. He married, about 1739, Re
becca Scott, who was born January 9, 1707. He re
moved from Deerfield to Hardwick, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, where he died March 18,
1793, aged seventy- three years. Rebecca, it is said,
was a woman of marvellous strength and health.
She lived to the age of one hundred and one years.
Tradition in the family tells us that she met the
good old-fashioned test of physical prowess — She
could lift a barrel of cider from the cart and carry
it to the door unaided. She died at Hardwick in
1809. The children of Jonathan and Rebecca (Scott),
Childs were: Jesse, born October, 1740; Hannah,.
September 17, 1742; Ebenezer, see forward; Joseph,.
March 2, 1746; Jonathan, Jr., October 13, 1748, died;
young; Elizabeth, November 29, 1750; Moses, April
3, 1752; Sarah, April 2, 1755; Jonathan, October 24,,
1756; Rebecca, October 8, 1758; David, November
16, 1760; Sarah, April 22, 1763.
(VI) Ebenezer Childs, third child of Jonathan
Childs (5), was born January 25, 1744. He married
(intentions dated November 15), 1769, Abigail Wil
lis. He removed from New Salem to Barre about
1775, thence to Hardwick, Massachusetts, about 178^
He died at Hardwick, March 7, 1809. His wife died',
December 25, 1810. Their children were: Betsey,.
born at New Salem, Massachusetts, May 27, 1772,.
died 1870; Benjamin Willis, born in Barre, October-
5, 1774, see forward; Moses, July 6, 1777; Ebenezer,.
born in Hardwick, March 21, 1784, died March 7,
1786; Ebenezer, born in Hardwick, July 2, 1787,
married (first) Hannah Lowell; (second) Pede
Johnson; (third) Mary Bullen; Anna, married
Lionel Tenney, of Barre.
(VII) Deacon Benjamin Willis Childs, second
child of Ebenezer Childs (6), was born October 5,
1774, in Barre, Massachusetts. He married, about
1798, Anna Washburn, who was born May 21, 1780,
died , October, 1844. She was the daughter of Eli
phalet Washburn. Deacon Childs lived for several
years in Barre, but spent most of his life in Hard
wick, where he was deacon of the Congregational
church, and a successful farmer and school teacher.
He died at Hardwick, January 13, 1838. The chil
dren* of Benjamin Willis and Anna (Washburn)
Childs were: Benjamin Willis, Jr., see forward;
Tryphenia, August 13, 1801, married Eli Cooley;
Aurelia, June 28, 1803, married William Burnap;
Elvira, May 28, 1805, died January 31, 1842 ; Franklin
L., September 10, 1807, married Margaret Marsh;
Tyler, June 18, 1809; married Nancy Williams;

2IO

WORCESTER COUNTY

Martin Luther, June 2, 1811, married, January 6,
1840, Mercy Holmes Chapin; Ann W., May 26,
1813, married (first), October 18, 1832, Lyman
Hawkes; married (second), 1840, Elias Ayers; Julia
Ann, April 5, 1815, married, October, 1828, Rev.
Gideon Dana, of Amherst; Alexander Hanson, Feb
ruary 26, 1817, married Phebe Stevens ; William Al
len, June 2, 1820, married, October 29, 1845, Olive
Hinckley; Elizabeth Hoyt, January 21, 1826, died
1850. (VIII) Benjamin Willis Childs, eldest son of
Benjamin Willis Childs (7), and father of Benja
min Willis Childs (IX), of Worcester, was born in
Barre, November 6, 1799. He married, January 24,
1827, Elizabeth Southworth. See account of her
ancestry forward. He was a mason by trade. He
came to Worcester about 1833 and after a few years
moved to Oxford, where he spent most of the active
years of his life following his business of mason
and builder. While in Worcester he was lieutenant
in the Worcester Light Infantry in the early thirties.
He died in Oxford, December 31, 1866. His wife
died August 7, 1853.
The children of Benjamin Willis and Elizabeth
(Southworth) Childs were: 1. Anne Elizabeth,
born at Granby, Massachusetts, December 19, 1827,
died in Worcester, Massachusetts,- July 30, 1888, un
married. 2. William Lee, born June 7, 1830, died
August 28, 1830. 3. Frances Maria, born March 21,
1834, in Worcester; married, November 26, 1863,
Bernard Barton Vassall, of Oxford, Massachusetts,
who was born October 10, 1835, died in Worcester
March 23, 1894. He was the son of Vester and
Sarah (Barton) Vassall, and grandson of Benjamin
and Polly (Stone) Vassall. He enlisted in Company
E, Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry, in the civil war,
May 4; 1861, and was commissioned second lieu
tenant. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Ball's
Bluff and confined in a prison in Richmond for six
months. He was promoted to the rank of first
lieutenant, but resigned and was honorably dis
charged December 20, 1862. After the war he served
the government in the post office department, re
organizing the service in North and South Carolina.
Pie was for many years special agent of the postal
department for New England. He was connected
with the juvenile department of the State Board of
Charities for several years as agent. He was a
prominent member of the Grand Army. He made
his home in Worcester after the war, and his widow
resides at 247 Park avenue, Worcester. They had
no children. 4. Benjamin Willis, Jr., see forward.
(IX) Benjamin Willis Childs, youngest child of
Benjamin Willis Childs (8), and the third in direct
line of this name, was born in Oxford, Massachusetts,
January 15. 1839. He received his early education
in the district schools of Oxford. At the age of
fourteen he went to the Berlin (Massachusetts)
Academy, when Mr. Bride was the principal. He
began his business career as clerk in the general.
store of E-astus Ormsbee, of Oxford, where he
worked for four years. Then was a student at Wil-
braham and Dudley Academies. At the age of nine
teen he bo<T-ht the store of Mr. Ormsbee and began
busines- nn his own account. His affairs prospered
and after trn years he sold his store in Oxford,
which is at the present time owned by Leonard E.
Thavr -•nrl entered upon a larger field in Worcester.
He became the senior partner of the firm of Childs
& Manning brothers, wholesale dealers and jobbers
of bo^t- -md shoes. His partners were George G.
Man-; ~id Theodore Manning. Their place of
busi"- "'• on Pleasant street and they began to
do hv '¦ ps in 1869. In 1874 Mr. Childs sold his in

terests to his partners, who continued the business.
Mr. Childs started in business again on Mechanic
street at the present location of Polis Theatre. He
was associated with Irving W'. Tourtelotte under
the firm name of B. W. Childs & Co. After six
months Henry E. Smith was admitted to the firm
and the name became Childs, Smith & Co. The
business grew rapidly and became the largest in this
section of the state. Mr. Childs continued in busi
ness until 1890, when he sold to his partner, Colonel
Henry E. Smith, and retired from active business.
He has for many years been prominent in the bank
ing circles of the city. From 1880 to 1896 he was
a director of the Citizens' National Bank, and from
1885 to 1889 was the president. Since 1896 he has
been a director of Merchants' National Bank of Wor
cester. His business judgment and knowledge of
banking and business and his sterling common sense
are appreciated by his associate directors.
Mr. Childs has always taken an interest in politi
cal affairs. He was a Republican until 1884, but
having always advocated a "tariff for revenue only,"
supported Grover Cleveland for president, and he
has since been allied with the Democratic party. He
was elected as a Republican to represent ward
eight in the common council in 1882 and 1883. He
was an active member of the Republican city com
mittee and could have ha'd other positions had he
cared for public office. Since he has. been a Demo
crat he has occasionally been drafted by his party.
He was their candidate for mayor, senator and other
offices. Mr. Childs has been a member of the Church
of the Unity of Worcester since 1888, and has served
as member and chairman of the parish committee for
several years. He is a trustee by appointment of the
governor of Westboro Insane Hospital and has
served since 1892 on the board. He has been one of
the park commissioners of Worcester since 1899,
He married, September 20, 1865, Olive Maria
Chamberlin, of Templeton, Massachusetts, who was
born there January 5, 1843, the daughter of Moses
and Charlotte (Miller) Chamberlin. Their children
are : 1. Thomas Southworth, born in Oxford, Massa
chusetts, August 13, 1866, married, December 29,
1897, Eliza Porter Prescott, of Rockville, Connecti
cut; they have two children: Prescott, born at Hol
yoke, Massachusetts, December 2, 1898; Benjamin
Willis, fourth of this name, born at Holyoke, May
14, 1903. Thomas S. is a graduate of Philips Acad
emy at Exeter. He was formerly in business with
his father, but since 1888 has been in the shoe busi
ness in Holyoke. 2. Frances Maria, born in Ox
ford, January 3, 1868, died at Templeton, Massachu
setts, August 30, 1896, unmarried. 3. Alice Louise,
born in Worcester, August 23, 1873, graduate of
Smith College, 1896, now assistant registrar of Smith
College. 4. Mabel Willis, born in Worcester, No
vember 12, 1875, died January 2, 1885. 5. Agnes
Chamberlin, born in Worcester, September 29, 1877,
graduate of Smith College, 1901 ; teacher of physics
at Smith College. 6. Gertrude, born in Worcester,
March 6, 1883, graduate of Bradford (Massachusetts)
Academy; lives with her parents. 7. Breta Willis,
born in Worcester, February 10, 1888, student in
Worcester high school.
THE SOUTHWORTH FAMILY. (I) Edward
Southworth was the progenitor of the American
families in Southworth. He was born in England
about 1590 and died there about 1621. He married,
May 28, 1613, Alice .Carpenter, born About i59°-
died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, March 26, 1670.
She was the daughter of Alexander Carpenter, of
Wrington, England, which is in Somersetshire. He
was a silk worker in Leyden, one of the Pilgrim

WORCESTER COUNTY

211

exiles who formed Rev. John Robinson's church.
He was descended from the Southworths of Samles-
bury Hall in Lancashire, where the family was es
tablished in the thirteenth century. His widow mar
ried Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth. Tra
dition has is that Alice Carpenter and Bradford were
lovers before either married and that her parents
selected Edward Southworth because of his higher
social rank. After Bradford's wife Dorothy was
drowned in Provincetown Harbor, Governor Brad
ford wrote to the widow in England and she came
over in the ship "Ann" in 1623 to marry him. Her
two sons, Thomas and Constant, came with her or
soon followed. She died March 27, 1670, aged
eighty years. The children of Edward and Alice
(Carpenter) Southworth were : Constant, born in
Leyden, Holland, 1615, died in . Duxbury, Massa
chusetts, March 10, 1678-9; Thomas, born in Ley
den, Holland, 1616, died in Plymouth, Massachusetts,
December 8, 1669.
(II) Constant Southworth, son of«Edward South-
worth (1), was born in Leyden, 1615. He was
brought up in the family of his step-father, Governor
William Bradford, at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He
was admitted a freeman 1636-7. He was in the
service against the Indians in the troubles of 1637.
In 1646 he was color bearer for the Duxbury com
pany. He was of the council of war in 1653: He was a
deputy to the general court and assistant to the
governor. He was treasurer of the colony, 1659 to
1673. He owned land in Tiverton and Little Comp
ton as well as Duxbury. He married, November 2,
1637, Elizabeth Collier, of Duxbury, daughter of
William Collier, a London merchant, who assisted
the Plymouth colonists, and in 1633 himself made
his home in Plymouth, where he died in 1670. Con
stant Southworth died March 10, 1679. His children
were': Mercy, born about 1638; Edward; Alice,
1646, married Benjamin Church, the celebrated In
dian fighter ; Nathaniel, see forward ; Mary, probably
about 1650, married David Alden, son of John and
Priscilla Alden, Pilgrims ; Elizabeth ; Priscilla ; Wil
liam,- 1659.
(Ill) Nathaniel Southworth, son of Constant
Southworth (2), was born in Plymouth, Massachu
setts, 1648, died in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Jan
uary 14, 1710-11. He married, January 10, 1671-2,
Desire Gray, born November 6, 165 1, died at Ply
mouth, Dece/nber 4, 1690, daughter of Edward and
Mary (Winslow) Gray. He lived at first in
I Plymouth, later in Middleboro, Massachusetts. He
was surveyor of highways in Plymouth in 1673,
constable there in 1668, selectman 1689, and 1691,
and ensign 1694 arid 1695. He owned land in Tiver
ton, Rhode Island. The children of Nathaniel and
Desire (Gray) Southworth were : Constant, born
August 12, 1674; Mary, April 3, 1676; Ichabod,
March, 1678-9; Elizabeth, 1682; Nathaniel, May 18,
1684; Edward, see forward.
(IV) Edward Southworth, youngest child of
Nathaniel Southworth (3), was born in Plymouth,
Massachusetts. 1688, died in Bridgewater, Massa
chusetts, April 26, 1748. He married in Hull, June
-Z5, 171 1, Bridget Bosworth. of Hull. He_ removed
with his family to the north parish of Bridgewater
during its early settlement. The children of Edward
and Bridget (Bosworth) Southworth were: Con
stant, born July 25, 1712, see forward; Bridget,
April 15, 1714; Ebenezer, August 13, 1716; Edward,
December, 1718; Theophilus, February 10, 1720,
revolutionary soldier; Sarah, January 16, 1723;
Lemuel, April 27, 1728 (twin) ; Benjamin (twin),
April 27, 1728 ; Mary, January 2, 1732.
(V) Constant Southworth, eldest child of Ed
ward Southworth (4), was born July 25, 1712, died

1775. He married (first), April 18, 1734, Martha
Keith, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Fobes)
Keith. He married (second), January 6, 1770, Mrs.
Hannah Shaw, of Raynham. She married (second),
September 29, 1780, Robert Keith. Constant South-
worth and wife joined the church in 1741. He was
a loomer by trade. He resided at Bridgewater, where
all his children were born. He. was in the militia
in 1762, and in 1775 was ensign in Captain Abiel
Packard's company (Sixth Bridgewater), Colonel
Thomas Clapp's regiment. He died from disease
contracted while working on the Continental forti
fications of Dorchester Heights. The children
of Constant and Martha (Keith) Southworth
were: Betsy, born January, 1735; Nathaniel, see
forward; Ezekiel, March ¦ 10, 1738, revolution
ary soldier; Martha, April 18, 1741 ; Mary (twin
of preceding), April 18, 1741; Desire, Septem
ber 7, 1742; Jedediah, January 6, 1745; Constant,
January 29, 1747; Sarah, December 9, 1749; Ichabod,
June 9, I75L
(VI) Nathaniel Southworth, second child of
Constant Southworth (5), was born February 16,
1737, in Bridgewater. He married (first), January
15, 1762, Katherine Howard, daughter of David
Howard, son of David (III), "son of Ephraim (II),
son of John (I) Howard, a pioneer at Duxbury.
Nathaniel married (second), March 18,. 1777, Janet
or Jenny Brett, daughter of Simeon and Mehitable
(Packard) Brett, of North Bridgewater. She mar
ried (second), April 20, 1789, Ephraim Groves. He
resided at North Bridgewater, where his children
were born. The children of Nathaniel and Kather
ine (Howard) Southworth were: Martha, born
1764, died young; Simeon, July 17, 1766, see for
ward; Nathaniel, April 6, 1769; David, 1773. The
child of Nathaniel and Janet (Brett) Southworth
was : Catherine, 1777, married Ambrose Keith.
(VII) Simeon Southworth, second child of
Nathaniel Southworth (6), was born in North
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, July 17, 1766, died July
1, 1820, in Lyme, New Hampshire. He married,
December 24, 1789, Elizabeth Anderson, born 1768,
died August 28, 1795. He married (second), April
30, 1798, Anna Stone, of Oxford (North Gore), born
February 1, 1770, died October 28, 1834, in Wor
cester. She is .buried at North Oxford. She was the
daughter of Uriah and Lois (Stone) Stone. He was
a carpenter, born in Bridgewater, removed to Ward,
now Auburn, Massachusetts, and later to Lyme,
New Hampshire, where his six youngest children
were born. The children of Simeon and Elizabeth
(Anderson) Southworth were: Alva, born 1791;
Justin, 1793; child, died young. The children of
Simeon and Anna (Stone) Southworth were: Eliza
beth, see forward; Nancy, April 24, 1801, died Janu
ary 20, 1881, at Hardwick, Massachusetts, unmar
ried; Sarah, September 17, 1803, died April 5, 1824,
unmarried; Louisa, November 29, 1806, died in Ox
ford, January 8, 1870, married (first) Benjamin
Vassall, probably a descendant of Hon. William
Vassall, who settled in Scituate among the Pil
grims ; ( Vester Vassall, see above, was his son by
a previous marriage) ; James M., January 2, 1809,
died September 19, 1816; Alvah, August 15, 1812,
died January 19, 1872, in Hardwick, married, 1843,
Fanny Hunter; representative to general court, 185 1 ;
farmer; Constant, March 15, 1814, died December S,
1877. (VIII) Elizabeth Southworth, fourth child of
Simeon Southworth (7), was born in Auburn, Massa
chusetts, July 12, 1799, died in Oxford, August 7,
1853. She married Benjamin Willis Childs (VIII),
and was the mother of Benjamin Willis Childs (IX),
see above.

'I J

WORCKSTKR COUNTY

WILLIAM ARTHUR Rll.UOl'RN. Thoma<
Kilburn (i). the immigrant ancestor of William
Arthur Killiourn, ot Lancaster, Massachusetts, was
born in Wood Dillon, Cambridgeshire, England, in
1578, and baptised there May 8. that year. In 1013
he received a bequest iu the will of Agatha Hor-
rowdale. Ho was a member of the Church of Kug-
land iu good standing and seems not to have been
a Puritan, like most of the immigrants of the first
half century of the settlement of New England, lie
was warden of his parish in 103.2. In April, 1035,
with part of his family, he sailed in the ship "In
crease," Robert Lea, master, and settled in Wethers
field. Connecticut, lie died there before 1030: she
about 1050. He married in England Frances  ,
Their children were: Margaret, baptised ai Wood
Dillon, England, September 23. 1U17. married Rich
ard Law, prominent magistrate of Connecticut ;
Thomas, baptised November 30, iooo, came over with
wife Elizabeth, aged thirty, in the ship "Elizabeth"
Of Ipswich, sailing April 30, 1034, from England;
may have returned to Kngiand; George, of whom
later; Elizabeth, baptized May 12, 1014, did not
emigrate; Lydia, baptized July 14, 101(1, married
Robert Howard, of Windsor, Connecticut, and bad
live children; Alary, born 1010, married John Root,
Sr., resided at Farmington, Connecticut ; he died
August 1(184.; Frances, baptized September 4, Kut,
married Thomas lltVord, of Stratford, Connecticut;
John, baptized at Wood Dillon, September 2, 1(124,
prominent citizen, sergeant in militia, representative
to general court, etc.
(II") George Kilburn, son of Thomas Kilburn
(t), was baptized at Wood Dillon, England, Feb
ruary 12, 1(112, He came to Roxbury in New* Eng
land as early as 1(138 and was a member of John
Eliot's churcli there, lie removed lo Rowley, where
he became a proprietor. He was admitted a free
man there May 13, 1040. He married Elizabeth
Barker, sister of James Barker. He died October
14, 1085. The inventory of bis estate was returned
hy his widow Elizabeth November jo, 1(185. The
children of George and Elizabeth Kilburn were:
Mary, born at Rowley, May 3, 1(144; Joseph, March
2, 105J-3. married Alary Trutuliall, May 3, 1(178:
Jacob, December 1, 1(154, soldier in the Indian wars
in 1080; Samuel, of whom later; Isaac, January 20,
K150. married, July J,|, 1(184, Mary Cheney, lie died
December 10, 1713; was a deal mute; Elizabeth,
February t, 1(163.
(Ill) Samuel Kilburn, fourth child of George
Kilburn (j), was born in Rowlev. Massachusetts,
January 0, 1(15(1. lie settled at Rowley. Married
Mary Foster, November 12, 1(18.1, died April 22, 172.1,
leaving a will in the court at Ipswich. Their chil
dren were: Hannah, born October 2, 1083, married,
April 5, 1701, Judah Clark; Samuel, July 20, 1(187,
married Mary Lovell, December 7, T734; David, of
whom later; Maria, July st, 100.(1, died September 2,\,
i7to> Jedediah, April 20, 1600, married Susannah
Fisher, of Ipswich, March 22, 17.14, died February
4, 1750; Dr. Eliphalet, 170(1, married Jane Frazer,
widow of Nathan I'riine, widow of Mark I'rinie;
lie died June 4, 175.2.
(IV) David Kilburn, third child of Sanutel Kil
burn (3), was horn in Rowley, Massachusetts, March
12, 168c). lie settled in Rowley also. 11c married,
January j.s, i~j.|, Elizabeth Fiske, of Ipswich. She
died April 17, 1731. lie married (second), Novem
ber 5, 1731, Ruth Eiskc, of Andover. The children
of David and Until Killiuni were: David, bom al
Rowley, October in, 1733, died aged three months;
David, November 22; 1734, died aged two years;
Jonathan, November 15, 1737, married Elizabeth Net
son, July 22, 17(10; removed to Lunenburg, 17(17, and

died there t8»x\ leaving a sou David; David, March
2, 1738-0; Ruth, June 15, 1740, died 1,-40; Samuel,
April i j, 1 74 j, died 17-17; William, ty^cjt, of whom
later; Lydia, May 22s 174(1, became tt Shaker at
Shirley; Ruth, Februan, J4, t;.|< 8, married Thoma*
Houghton; after be died she joined the Shakers;
Samuel, November 10, 1740, removed to Lunenburg
in 17(17, mairicd Sarah took; he joined the Shaker*
in 1785; son Samuel settled in Eilzwtlliam, New
Hampshire. (VI William Kilburn, seventh child of David
Kilburn (4), was bom in Rowley, March 0, 1*43- 4.
He removed with others of the family in 1707 to
Lunenburg, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, He
was a soldier in tbe revolution in 1770-80 in the
Lentil Massachusetts Regiment, He married Mercy
Smith. He died in Eitchburg' in the home of his
son William, August 1.1, 183^, aged eighty- eight years,
Their children were: William, of whom later; Jere
miah, died young; Ehnous, died young'; Merov, "born
in Lunenburg, married Ezra Cowdrcy, of l.unen-
Imrg, and had twelve children ; Betsey, married Wil
liam Taintor, of Leominster, bad nine children) son
John graduated at Itrown University; she died at
Charlestown, June, 18,13, aged forty-three yean)
Ruth, married Josiah Hurrage and bad thirteen chil
dren, (VI) William Kilburn, son of William Kilburn
(5), was born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, July
16, 1773, He settled there and married Mary Mnee
or Maev, January u, 1790, He removed to the
adjoining town of Fitchhurg in 180a, and to Groton,
Massachusetts, in 1841V He was a shoemaker hy
trade and also carried on a farm until his death in
1857. Their children were: Deacon Jeremiah, of
whom later; Alary, born April 8, 1800, married, 1830,
Stephen Stickncy; William, June id, iNoj, was a
physician and surgeon; Elhridge Gerry, Fitcltliurg,
February ->5, 1808, attended Brown University, lint
left in senior year before graduating; married, No
vember, 1840, Elizabeth A. Hall; Martlm, Kitehhurg',
March 18, 1810, married Avery Stockwell, 1830;
Sarah, June j(i, iSio, married Asa L, Kendall, June,
184 j ; lesided at Groton Massachusetts.
(VII) Deacon Jeremiah Killiourn, eldest child of.
William Kilburn ((1), was horn al Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, January i.\, 1707. lie settled in
Groton, where bis parents moved in 1K40, lie be
came deacon of the Groton Unitarian, t'ongTogii-
lionaK'bureli there, lie was a halter by trade, lie
died in Groton iu iX(u, aged sixty-live yours, lie
married, April 7, 1S1S, at Fiiehlitii'g, Fatty I 'Mint,
daughter of John Flint, of Concord, Massachusetts,
Her father was n prosperous farmer. Their chil
dren; Martha Augusta, born 1818, died August 17,
i8,|i ; Jemiiua Flint, tKdO, died in Fiteliburg' wlufo
visiting in iHjo; Mary F.„ i.Sjj; Josiah llni'Vago,
Groton, March 15, 18.14, married Mary E. Fttrns-
worth, daughter or Dr. Amos FuniswniMli, of Huston,
December 0, 1851 ; member ol' the linn of I'Yencli,
Wells ft Company, dealers in crockery, etc., Milk
street, Itoslon; direct or of the Grocers' Hank, 11ns-
lon; Ann Mtiria, iHjfi; Francos Jane ttSjo, married
James E. Wellington ; William Arthur, 1838; Grot'ffe
Wells, i8.|,|.
(VIII) William A, Killiourn, seventh child of
Jeremiab Killiourn (7), was bom in Groton, Massa
chusetts, July 1(1, 1H3H. lie was edueitled there in
the common schools, at Lawrence Academy til Ct'O-
Ion; Philips Academy at, Exeter, Now I lainnsliire,
where be filled for college, and al llarviird Univer
sity where be was graduated in t lie* clMH of tBj8,
For the lifleon years following' ho was engaged in
educational work, lie tdttghl school nl Ft'tunlng-
ham Aetulemy five years and in the Lancaster Acad-

WORCESTER COUNTY

-'[3

ciuy, In 1873 he accepted the position of manager
of the country place and farm at Lancaster of
Nathaniel Thayer and lie has filled that responsible
position with eminent success ever since. He is
well known among the agriculturists and horticul
turists of the slate, lie is an expert in his line and
the farms of which he has charge are famous
throughout the country for their fniils, vegetables
and stock, their battle and horses, Mr. Kilbourn
was for many years secretary of the Worcester
East Agricultural Society,' and a member ot the
State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts for
sixteen years, lie is p'ast master of Lancaster
Grange, and Worcester East Pomona Grange, Pa
trons of Husbandry, and he has accomplished much
to bet lev tbe lot of the Massachusetts farmer and
to make farming more attractive and profitable,
lie is highly esteemed aud honored by his fel
low citizens. For more than twenty years lie served
on the board of overseers of the poor of Lancaster.
He' was on the school committee and for nearly
twenty years served as moderator of the town meet
ings, lie is the treasurer of the water board of the
town and lias served on many important special com-
mil Ices of tbe town, lie is a Republican in politics.
Iu religion he is a Unitarian.
lie married (first) Ellen l.evingstou, of Keene,
New Hampshire, iStu. lie married (second) Abbie
I1'. Goss, daughter of Jonas and Abbie (Fletcher)
(loss, of Lancaster. The children of William A. and
Ellen Kilbourn were : Robert H„ born April jo,
18(13; Nellie, October -•-•. 18(15, died February -X
ifjoi, leaving two children, Eben C. Maun and Maud
K. Manning. The children of William A. and Abbie
Kilbourn were: Martha, born December 8, 1871,
married George L. Willard, of Somerville, Massa
chusetts; William, born August 14, 1873, died Feb
ruary 25, 1873: Elizabeth F„ born December j8.
1874; Arthur Goss, born August 10, 187(1; Mary,
born April 2S, 1880; Alice Maud, born January 10,
1882: Anna Goss, born August 23, 1883; Flint, died
in infancy; Ruth \\„ born February 23. 1888; Wal
ton Goss, born May 18, 1801.
. GEORGE AI.F.XANDER BIGELOW. John
Bigelow (1), proprietor of Watertown, in New
England, as early as 164a, was the pioneer ancestor
of George Alexander Bigelow, of Worcester, and,
in fact of nil the American families of that sur
name. He bought a house and lot in Watertown
in 1640 and took the oath of fidelity in 165.'. lie was
a blacksmith by trade. He acquired considerable
real estate and carried on a farm. His homestall
was bounded by those of Richard Ambler, William
Parker, Thomas Straight and Miles Ives. For fur
ther details of John Bigelow. see sketches of other
branches of the Bigelow family of Worcester county
in this work. He was a town officer.
He married (first), October 30, 164.!. Mary War
ren, She died October 10, 1691. lie married (.sec
ond), October a, 1(104, Sarah Bemis, daughter of
Joseph Bemis, of Watertown. Mr. Bigelow died
uly 14, 1703, aged eighty-six years. His will was
made January 4, 1703, and proved July 23. 1703,
The children of John and Mary Bigelow were: John,
born October 37, 1643 ; Jonathan, born December
Jt, 1646- Mary, born March 14, 1048, married
Michael Flag'g, ancestor of the Worcester county
Flnggs; Daniel, born December t, 1650, resided in
Framingham; Samuel, mentioned below; Joshua,
born November 5, 1655, resided in Watertown and
Weston; Elizabeth, bom June 15, 1(157, married
Lieutenant John StearnS ; Sarah, born September jo,
16SQ, married Isaac Learned, of Sberborn, near
Framinghatu; James, lived iu Watertown; Martha,

born April 1, i(i6j; Abigail, born February 4, 1(164,
married Henjamin Harrington; Hannah, born March
4, lOtib, died young; a son, born and died December
18, 1667.
(11) Samuel Bigelow, fifth child of John Bige
low (i), was born ill Watertown, Massachusetts,
October 28, 1653. He married Mary Flagg, daugh
ter of Thomas and Mary Flagg, who was bom
January 14, 1658, died September 7, 17JO. lie was a
prominent citizen of Watertown. lie was an inn-
holder from 1702 to 1716. lie represented the town
in the general court in 1708, 1709 and .1710. His
will, dated September 30, 1720, mentions his chil
dren, as given below, and some of his grandchil
dren. The children of Samuel and Mary Bigelow
were : John, born May 9, 167s ; Mary, September
u, 1677; Samuel, September 18, 1679; Sarah, Octo
ber 1, 1O81, married Josiah Howe; Thomas, men
tioned below; Mercy, April 4, 1686, (Martha in
some accounts) married Lieutenant Thomas Gar
field, sou of Captain Benjamin Garfield (.see Gar
field family sketch); Abigail, May 7, 1087; mar
ried, August 1, 1710, Jonathan Culler, of Killingly,
Connecticut; Hannah, May 24, 1711, married Daniel
Warren, a soldier iu the French war.
(.IH) Thomas Bigelow, fifth child of Samuel
Bigelow (2), was born in Watertown, Massachu
setts, October J4, 1683, married, July i_>, 1705, Mary
Livermore, of Watertown. lie settled in Marlbor
ough, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1720,
when he removed to Waltham, where ho died Octo
ber 0, 1755. His wife died August 14, 1753. The
children of Thomas and Mary Bigelow were:
Thomas, born April 26, 1706, resided in Marlboro;
Mary, September 2, 1707; Grace, February 7, 1700;
Uriah, July 15, 1711, killed accidentally at Marl
boro, March S, 17J4; Abraham, March 5, 1713, re
sided in Weston; Isaac, September 1, 1716; Jacob,
September, 1717; Sarah, May 15, 1720, married
Lieutenant Elisha Livermore, who was prominent
in Waltham ; Josiah, mentioned below.
(IV) Lieutenant Josiah Bigelow, youngest child
of Thomas Bigelow (3), was born in Waltham.
Massachusetts, July 30, 1730, lie married. July
27, 1749, Mary Harrington, daughter of Jonas and
Abigail (Stearns) Harrington, born March 8, 1730.
He was prominent, like his brothers, Jacob and ,
Abraham, in town affairs. He was lieutenant of
the Weston Artillery Company and turned out on
the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775. lie died at
Waltham, July 15, 1810, aged eighty years. His
children, all born in Weston or Waltham, were :
William, born October 11, 1749; Anna, August 23,
I7SIJ Uriah, November 30, 1753; Converse, Jan
uary jo, 1755; Mary, March 3, 175(1; Alpheus, No
vember 4, 1757; Eunice, married, April 24, 1788,
Joseph Morse, and settled in Templeton, Massachu
setts, and Eaton, New York; had eight children.
Uriah, March 15, 1700: Thomas, August n, 1708;
Sarah, July 31, 1773. married, July 8, 1790, Hezekiah
Morse. (V) William Uigelow. eldest child of Lieutenant
Josiah Bigelow (4), was born in Weston, October
11, 1740, married, March 25. 1772, llepsibah Russell,
who was born September u, 175S, at Weston. They
lived a few years at Weston and then removed in
1778 to Natiek, Massachusetts, an adjoining town,
where he spent the remainder of his life. He died
March 25, 1813, and his widow died October 31.
1830. He served in the revolution in Captain Samuel
Lanison's company at the Lexington call. He was
the original character described by Harriet Beecher
Stowe iu her "Old Town Folks" as "Deacon Badger"
and his wife llepsibah was described as Grand
mother Badger. Those who remembered Mr. and

2I4

WORCESTER COUXTY

Mrs. Bigelow at the time the story was written de
clared that the characters were very accurately
drawn. William Bigelow, tlieir eldest son, was de
scribed as "L'ncle Bill." Hepsibah, the mother of
Professor Calvin E. Stowe, husband of the author.
was known as "Susy" while Eunice figured as
"Aunt Lois" and Abigail as "Aunt Keziah."
Their first three children were born at Weston,
the remainder in South Natick. The children: i. Will
iam, born September 21, 1773. married Margaret
Lander. 2. Mary, born August 16, 1775, died Octo
ber 17, 1823. 3. Isaac, born October 2, 1777, mar
ried Fanny Jackson. 4. Hepsibah. bom December
!S, !779, married, March 16. 1797, Samuel Stowe, of
Natick, and resided in Natick. (.Their second child
was Calvin Ellis, Stowe, born April 26, iSo2, married
Harriet Beecher, daughter of Dr. Lyman Beecher.
She was tlie famous author of Uncle Tom's Cabin ;
he wrote many theological works.) 5. Abigail, born
February 15, 17S2, died October 30, 18 1 1, unmar
ried. 6. Josiah, born March 16, 17S4, died April 13.
1794. 7. Eunice, born April 10, 17S0, died April 15,
1S31. unmarried. 8. Abraham, mentioned below.
9. Susanna, born May 20, 1700. married, iSt7, Alex
ander Thayer; mother of A. W. Thayer, for twenty-
five years consul at Trieste, Austria, a well known
writer, author of life of Beethoven; she was mother
also of Dr. Henry Thayer; she died June 12. 1S45.
10. Mehitable, born August 18, 1792, married Hon.
Chester Adams, a native of Bristol, Connecticut ; re
sided at Natick; was colonel in the war of 1812;
town clerk of Natick for twenty-seven years ; repre-
tentative to tlie general court five years; to the
state senate four years; she died November 10,
1877; he died 1856, aged seventy-one years.
(VI) Colonel Abraham Bigelow. youngest child
of William Bigelow (5), was born at Natick, Massa
chusetts, Mardi 15, 1788. He married, March 15.
1814, Louisa Train, who was born at Weston, June
6,. 1794, and died in Natick, December 23. 1874.
Colonel Bigelow was prominent in the militia and
became colonel of a regiment of mounted militia. '
He was commander of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company of Boston in 1827 and 1828. He
was colonel of the Artillery when Rev. John Pier-
pont delivered his election sermon in which he made
a strong protest against the military in so offensive
a way that it was noticed in the records of the or
ganization. He died at Natick, October 16, 1873,
aged eighty-five, years.
The children of Colonel Abraham and Louisa
Bigelow were: 1. Alexander, mentioned below. 2.
Louisa Fiske, born May 14, 1816, married, .October
6, 1840, James W. Locke, who was born at Fitz-
william, New Hampshire, October 6. 1813, and died
March 4, 1844; resided at Batesville, Arkansas. 3.
Margaret L., born September 21, 1817, married, No
vember 29, 1843, Farnum White, of Holden ; re
sided at Hudson, New York, where he died 1854:
she died at Natick, July 6, 1886. 4. Lucy Train, born
April 8, 1819, married, May 15, 1845, Jonathan B.
Mann; he resided for many years in Washington,
D. C. She wrote often for the newspapers on his
torical subjects; he died 1905. 5. Marshall Train,
born January 28, 1821, died August 16, 1S22. 6.
Marshall Field, born October 5, 1822, married Caro
line Warland. 7. Francis Oliver, born February 6,
1823, died February 25, 1862; resided at M'edford,
Massachusetts. 8. Mary, born March 8, 1825, died
July 30, 1827. 9. Mary Elizabeth, born January
S, 1828, died November 30, 1846. 10. Martha Green
wood, born February 8, 1830, married Samuel S.
Richardson, and settled in Terre Haute, Indiana.
11. Ellen Maria, born November 14, 1831, married,
April 12, 1859, Isaac De Forest White; resided at

Buffalo, New York; he died October 12, 1873. 12.
William Perkins, born July 20. 1834, married Martha
Mansfield. 13. Abby Frances, born in Holden,
Massachusetts, September 20, 1830, married, Feb
ruary 22, 1855, Isaac Gale.
(.VII) Alexander Bigelow, eldest child of Abra
ham Bigelow 1,0), was born in Natick, Massachu
setts, December 12. 1814. His educational advantages
were limited to the common schools. When he
was fifteen he went into a woolen mill to work,
and after he learned tlie trade of woolen manufactur
ing in its various branches, came" to Worcester and
started in business for hitoself in partnership widi
George Barber about 1850. The firm was Bigelow
& Barber and tlieir location was tlie present site of
tlie carpet mills of M. J. Whiuall at South Worces
ter. In 1853 Bigelow & Barber bought tlie mill and
privilege at Hopeville on the Middle river, below
tlie power station. They built a new mill, were
twice burned out, but rebuilt In 1870 Mr. Barber
withdrew from the business and Mr. Bigelow formed
a stock company with E. D. Thayer to continue tlie
mill. The name of tlie corporation is the same as
that under which tlie business has since been con
ducted to the present time, the Hopeville Manu
facturing Company. Air. Thayer was president,
Mr. Bigelow treasurer and Edward Gould, a di
rector. After ten years Mr. Bigelow bought the
other interests and remained until his death the
sole owner.
Mr. Alexander Bigelow started with nothing and
acquired a very creditable competence; he built up
a prosperous business and ranked among the most
respected and esteemed of tlie manufacturers of his
day in Worcester. The industries of Worcester of
which tlie Hopeville Manufacturing Company is
an example have been developed by tlie energy aud
ability of men like Mr. Bigelow. His woolen mill
is tlie best memorial of his prudence, economy and
thrift, his business sagacity and indefatigable in
dustry. Mr. Bigelow was a member of the Church
of the Unity (Unitarian). In politics he was a
Republican, but never cared for public office him
self. He married, April 5. 1S45, Adeline Stockwell,
daughter of Cyrus Stockwell. She died at Worces
ter, December 24, 1879. He married (second) Oc
tober 18, 1S81, Sarah M. Goodwin. She resides in
Worcester. Mr. Bigelow died January 22, 18S7.
The children of Alexander and Adeline Bigelow
were: 1. Elizabeth, born in Worcester, married in
Worcester, July 16, 1878, David Manning, Jr., a
prominent lawyer; he was representative to tlie
general court ; state senator two terms ; he died Jan
uary 5, 1905, leaving one son, Alexander Bigelow
Manning (see sketch of Manning family), 2.
George Alexander, mentioned below.
(VIII) George Alexander Bigelow, younger
child of Alexander Bigelow (7), was bom in Wor
cester, July 19, 1853. He attended the public schools
of his native place. After three years in the Wor
cester high school he left to accept a position in the
Central National Bank. He was advanced to various
positions in .the bank, where he worked in all for
four years. He then entered partnership with
George W. Coombs in the firm of Hyatt, Coombs
& Company, dealers in wool, 184 Front street, Jo
seph Hyatt, who was interested in the firm, lived
at Delaware, Ohio. After three or four years the
headquarters of tlie business was removed to the
Boston office on Federal street, and the firm name
was changed to Coombs & Bigelow. After seven
years Mr. Bigelow withdrew from the business in
order to take charge of the Mechanical Refrigerating
Company on North street, Boston, the controlling

WORCESTER COUNTY

215

interest of which was owned by his father and
brother. Mr. Bigelow managed this business until
it was bought by the Quincy Market Cold Storage
Company. In 1894 Mr. Bigelow returned to Worcester to
take charge of his father's mill. Since then he has '
been president- and treasurer of the Hopeville Man
ufacturing Company. For some years his brother-
in-law, David Manning, was an officer of the cor
poration and devoted some attention to its affairs.
At present Mr. Bigelow's son, Edward A. Bigelow,
is the clerk of the company. During the past ten
years the capacity of the plant has been doubled and
the product correspondingly increased. The chief
product of the mill is woolen cloth for men's and
boys' clothing. Mr. Bigelow is a member of the
Commonwealth Club, and the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association. He is a member of the
South Unitarian Church. In politics he .is a Re
publican. He married, October 10, i877,*Dora L. Tucker,
daughter of James and' Ellen (Walbridge) Tucker,
of Norwich, Connecticut. Their children are: 1.
Adelaide, born in Norwich, July 27, 1878. 2. Helen
Louise, born in Worcester, August 5, 1880. 3. Ed
ward Alexander, born in Worcester, May 5, 1885,
attended the Worcester public schools and the
Lowell Textile School and now with the Hopeville
Manufacturing Company. 4. Dorothy Elizabeth,
born in Worcester, September 10, 1891,
WALTER FREDERIC BROOKS. Captain
Thomas Brooks (1) was the emigrant ancestor of
Walter Frederic Brooks, of Worcester, Massachu
setts, and a large part of the Brooks families in this
country. It is claimed by some authority he came
from Suffolk, England. He settled first at Water-
town, where he had a lot assigned him in 1631. He
was admitted a freeman December 7, 1636, but very
soon afterward removed to Concord and settled. In
Watertown he was one of "the townsmen then in
habiting" to whom the, general court granted certain
plow lands along Beaver brook in 1636.
He was elected by the general court constable
of Concord, December 4, 1638. He was a deputy to
the general court seven years, representing the town
of Concord. He was captain of the Concord com
pany. He held various other offices. He was an
assessor, or "appraiser of horses, cattle, etc., for
the purpose of taxing." He was appointed a special
officer to prevent drunkenness among the Indians.
He purchased of the general court the right to carry
on the fur trade at Concord for the sum of five
pounds. In his day he was a leading citizen, both
in civil affairs and in the military.
His wife Grace died May 12, 1664. He died in
testate, May 21, 1667. An agreement among his
heirs on file at the probate office made June 17,
1667, was signed by the, eldest son, Joshua Brooks,
Captain Timothy Wheeler, husband of Mary Brooks,
Caleb Brooks and Gershom Brooks, also sons of
Captain Thomas. The children of Captain Thomas
Brooks were: 1. Mary, married Captain Timothy
Wheeler, of Concord. He died July 10, 1687; she
died October 4, 1693. 2. Hannah, married, Decem
ber 13, 1647, Thomas Fox. 3. Joshua, of whom later.
4. Caleb, born 1632, married, April 10, 1660, Susan
nah Atkinson (daughter of Thomas Atkinson), born
1641 and died 1669; married (second) Hannah,
sister of his first wife, born 1643; removed from
Concord to Medford in 1670. 5. Gershom, married,
March 12, 1666-7, Hannah Eckles, daughter of Rich
ard and Mary Eckles, of Cambridge, had sons Daniel
and Joseph, and four daughters. There may have
been other children of Captain Thomas Brooks.

(II) Joshua Brooks, son of Captain Thcmas
Brooks (1), was born about 1630, probably in Eng
land. He married, October 17, 1653, Hannah Mar
son, daughter of Captain Hugh Mason. He was a
tanner by trade. He settled in that part of Con
cord later made the town of Lincoln, where many
of his family and his descendants have since lived.
Three generations of his descendants in the direct
male line 'have successively held the office of deacon
of the Lincoln Church. He was the ancestor of
nearly all the name since in Concord and Lincoln.
He inherited one-half the Medford property, but
there is no account of its disposition except that in
January, 1708. He learned his trade as furrier and
tanner from Captain Mason, and subsequently mar
ried his daughter. He was admitted as freeman
May 26, 1652. The children of Joshua Brooks were :
Hannah, married Benjamin Pierce, of Watertown;
John, died May 18, 1697; Noah, born 1657, died Feb
ruary 1, 1738-9; married Dorothy Wright, daughter
probably of Edward Wright, of Concord. Grace
born at Concord, March 10, 1660-1, died 1753, mar
ried Judah Potter; Daniel, born at Concord, No
vember 15, 1663, of whom later; Thomas, born May
5, 1666, died September 9, 1671 ; Esther, born July 4,
1668, died 1742; married, August 17, 1692, Benjamin
Whittemore, born 1669, died 1734, son of John and
Mary (Upham) Whittemore; Joseph, born Septem
ber 16, 1671, married (first) Abigail Bateman;
(second) Rebecca Blodgett; Elizabeth, born Decem
ber 16, 1672; Job, born July 26, 1675, died May 18,
1697; Hugh, born January 1, 1677-8, died January
17, 1746-7, married, March 9, 1701-2, Abigail Barker,
born 1683, daughter of John and Judith (Simonds)
Barker; Thomas (possibly), m.arried Elizabeth

(III) Daniel Brooks, son of Joshua Brooks (2),
was born at Concord, Massachusetts, November 15,
1663. He was known as Daniel Brooks Sr., or
Ensign Daniel Brooks. He died October 18, 1733.
He married, August 9, 1690, Ann Meriam. She died
January 24, 1757, and was daughter of John and
Mary (Cooper) Meriam. His will is dated January
6, 1728-9. It mentions "my brother Joseph," wife
Anna, daughters Anna Jones and Mary Wheeler,
sons Samuel and Job and no others. The children
of Daniel Brooks were : Daniel, born June 5, 1693,
died young; Samuel, born May 5, 1694, married in
Weston, September 6, 1738, Elizabeth Garfield; Han
nah or Anna, born February 21, 1695-6, married,
1716, John Jones, who died March 12, 1762, aged
seventy-two years; she died in 1753; she had five
children; Job, baptized 1698, (he was the. father
of John Brooks, and the grandfather of Hon.
Eleazer Brooks), married, January 26, 1721, Eliza
beth Flagg; Mary, born March 2, 1699-1700, mar
ried Thomas Wheeler; John, born February 12,
170172. (IV) Deacon John Brooks, son of Daniel
Brooks (3), was born February 12, 1701-2, in Con
cord. He married Lydia Barker, daughter of John
and Elizabeth Barker, and born June 18, 171 1. He
was deacon of the First Church in Acton, where he
died March 6, 1777. Issue, four children recorded
at Concord, the remainder at Acton : John, born
December 17, 1728; Samuel, March 16, 1729-30;
Charles, April 6, 1732; Lydia, May 7, 1734; Ephraim,
August 5, 1736; Daniel, October 24, 1738; Nathaniel,
February 17, 1740-1; Jonas, March 18, 1742-3, died
March 15, 1746; Peter, March 29, 1745; Jonas, July
31, 1747-
(V) Captain Samuel Brooks, son of Deacon
John Brooks (4), was born in Concord, Massa
chusetts, March 16, 1729-30. He married Mrs. Han
nah Brown, of Carlisle, Massachusetts, March 14,

2l6

WORCESTER COUNTY

1755- Her maiden name was Hannah Davis, and
she was a daughter of Simon and Hannah (Brown)
Davis, of Concord, Massachusetts, where she was
born June 9, 1724. Captain Samuel Brooks settled
in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1752, the first
of the name in that town, and where many of his
descendants have lived and are living. He was on
the jury list as early as 1760. He was elected field
driver in 1762, highway surveyor in T764, town
warden in 1766, tythingmari in 1768, juror of the
superior court, highway surveyor in 1770, surveyor
of boards, shingles, etc., and special committee to
perambulate the town line between Shrewsbury
and Worcester in 1771, juror in 1772, tythingman,
school committee and special committees .1773- In
1774, with many of the most wealthy and influential
men of Worcester, he signed a protest against the
acts and agitation of the committee of safety and
correspondence. He apparently wished 'to avoid
war and separation from the mother country, but
when the war came he worked and fought against
the crown. He was sent to the general court from
Worcester in 1786 and 1787. He was a selectman
from 1783 to 1793. He was captain in the militia.
He died in Worcester, June 29, 1817, aged eighty-
seven years. Hannah, his widow, died at Worcester,
December 6, 1819, at the ~ advanced age of ninety-
five years. The child of Captain Samuel Brooks
was : Samuel, born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
June 10, 1755.
(VI) Deacon Samuel Brooks, son of Captain
Samuel Brooks (5), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, June 10, 1755. He removed from Wor
cester, Massachusetts, to Haverhill, New Hampshire,
at about the close of the revolution and settled there.
He went to Haverhill to open a store at the "Cor
ner." He was also the owner of an oil mill on the
brook, but was not very successful in these ventures.
Later he went to Quebec in Canada, and contracted
with the governor of the provinces for a tract of
land in the town of Chester, then in an unbroken
wilderness, and two of his brothers began lumber
ing in the forest. A year or two later, in 1812, he
took his family to Canada, but owing to a change
of governors in the provinces, the plans he had
marked, out were defeated, and he left Chester to
settle Stanstead, Canada, where he lived to the
close of his life. Deacon Brooks was, while in
Haverhill, the History of Haverhill says, one of the
most influential citizens of the town. He took part
in all public affairs. He was a representative to
the general court, selectman of the town, and filled
many other positions of honor and trust. For many
years he was the register of deeds for Grafton
county, New Hampshire. He was a man of genial
manners, ve^y ingenious and skillful.
He married Ann Bedel Butler, March 8, 1789.
She was the daughter of Colonel Timothy Bedel,
who was prominent in the revolutionary war. She
was the widow of Dr. Thaddeus Butler. Their
•daughter Hannah married for her first husband Cap
tain William Trotter, of Bradford, Vermont, and
for her second husband Colonel William Barron, ¦
of the same town. Both it is said were famous in
their day for their fondness for the chase, and they
had access to hunt for deer back of Mt. Gardner.
Barron was a gentleman of the old school, somewhat
slightly built, and very dignified and commanding
in person and in speech. Another daughter of Dea
con Samuel Brooks married Asa Low, of Bradford,
Vermont, and a third, Judge Nesmith, of Franklin,
New Hampshire. The Haverhill history says these
women were of great excellence of character and
ornaments of home, society and church. Other chil
dren were: Nathaniel, born in Haverhill, New

Hampshire, October 3, 1797, resided at Worcester,
Massachusetts ; Samuel, Edwin, George Washing
ton, had twenty children. The old Brooks house
where the Deacon lived in Haverhill stood on the
South Park near where the pump now or was re
cently. The house and barn were afterward moved
to Court street. It was remodeled and was recently
occupied by Judge Westgate, and later by Mrs. Bar-
stow. Samuel Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks (6),
was born in 1793, at Haverhill, New Hampshire. He
married Eliza Towle, of Haverhill. They lived a
short time at Newbury, , Vermont, then removed to
Canada, where he became a prominent merchant at
Stanstead, later at Lennoxville, where he was • a
farmer and trader. In 1837 he was appointed a
delegate to go to London to interest capital in de
veloping Canada. He formed the British Land
Company, and became the manager. He removed to
Sherbrooke. He was manager there of a branch of
the Montreal Bank. He was a promoter of the
Grand Trunk Railroad. Elis sons William and
Charles resided in Chicago.' Another son, Dr. Sam
uel Brooks (Dartmouth, 1874, McGill, M. D.), re
sides at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Edward Brooks,
son of Samuel (VII), is also a graduate of Dart
mouth, is a lawyer, has been senator and judge of the
Canadian courts. Edwin Brooks, son of Samuel
Brooks (VI), was a lawyer in New York, removed
to California, where he was living in 1888.
(VII) Nathaniel Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks
(6), was born at Haverhill, New Hampshire, Oc
tober 3, 1797. His parents removed from Haverhill
with a large family of children, and settled finally
at Stanstead, Canada, where they both died. At the
age of twenty-one Nathaniel Brooks came to Wor
cester, where his grandfather Brooks died in 1817,
the year before. His grandfather had been in his
day one of the leading citizens. He soon took a
leading part in the affairs- of the town of Worcester.
He was selectman and filled various other town
offices. He represented the town in the general
court in 1843-44. He was deacon of the old South
Church the last fourteen years of his life, and was
highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities
as a neighbor and citizen.
He married, April 9, 1822, Mary Chadwick, who
was a member of the family for which Chadwick
Square was' named, was born in Worcester, July 3,
1794. She died August 31, 1876. He died November
3, 1850. They had eight children, all born in Wor
cester, as follows : John Adams, born April 10, 1823,
died July 17, 1832; Charles Edwin, August 15, 1824;
Elizabeth Fisk, June 8, 1826, married George Prich-
ard, of Bradford, Vermont, June 5, 1844; Nathaniel
Newton, November 27, 1828 (twin) ; Mary Chad
wick, November 27, 1828 (twin), married John
Anderson, of Anderson, Heath and Company, of Bos
ton, Massachusetts, and is the last survivor of the
family; Horace Earle, March 1, 1834, was in the
civil war, and died October 22, 1870; Frederic Barron,
July 11, 1838 (twin), died April 11, 1839; Francis
Lowe, born July 11, 1838 (twin), died April 11,
1839. (VIII) Charles Edwin Brooks, son of Nathaniel
Brooks (7), was born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
August 15, 1824. He was educated in the Wor
cester schools and at Worcester Academy. When
a young man he left the farm to enter mercantile
life. After a service of four years in the office of
the Daily Spy, he entered the grocery business as a
member of the firm of Brooks and Stearns, whose
store was at 8 Front street. He was in business
there for about twelve years. During a part of the
civil war he served as commissary at Newbern,
North Carolina. Upon his return to this city he

THE PARKER HOMESTEAD, LANCASTER, MASS.

WORCESTER COUNTY

217

became associated with his brother Horace and his
brother-in-law, David H. Fanning, in the Worcester
Skirt Company, the name of which was afterward
changed to the Worcester Corset Company. He
was treasurer and librarian of the Worcester County
Horticultural Society from 1879 until his death,
which occurred December 22, 1890.
He married, December 2, 1851, Elizabeth Capron
Fanning. Her father, Henry Willson Fanning,
was of the sixth generation in descent from
Edmund Fanning, who settled at what is now
Groton, Connecticut, in 1653. (See sketch of Fan
ning family and D. H. Fanning in this work.) Her
mother was of the well known Hale family of Con
necticut. The children of Charles Erwin and Eliza
beth • Capron (Fanning) Brooks were : 1. Ella
Brooks, died at the age of four. 2. Arthur An
derson, born in Worcester, December 25, 1856, was
graduated at the Worcester high school, fitted for
college. He graduated from Harvard College in the
class of 1879, and from the Divinity School in 1884..
He was ordained and installed in 1885 minister of the
Third Congregational Society (Unitarian) at Green
field, Massachusetts. He resigned this charge De
cember, 1896, and went abroad for study and recre
ation. He resides in Boston, Massachusetts. 3.
Walter Frederic, born in Worcester. Massachusetts,
January 13, 1859.
(IX) Walter Frederic Brooks, son of Charles
Edwin Brooks (8), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, January 13, 1859. He was educated in the
Worcester schools and fitted for college. He grad-
, uated from the high school in the class of 1877.
He preferred to enter business at once rather than
go to college, and he entered the office of George
Crompton, loom manufacturer, where he worked for
two years. He was associated with William H.
Morse for eleven years in the banking business. In
1891, in partnership with Mr. J. F. Rock, he leased
the Worcester Theatre and they managed it for
three years. He was elected treasurer of the Wor
cester Corset Company in December, 1895, and
since then has been identified with this concern,
which is the largest, best equipped one of the most
famous corset factories in the country. The present
corporation is the Royal Worcester Corset Com
pany, of which he is the treasurer. The plant is
located on Wyman, Hollis and Grand streets, Wor
cester, and is one of the finest manufacturing build
ings in the city. During Mr. Brooks' connection
with the business, it has been growing very rapidly
and has greatly prospered.
Mr. Brooks is a well known Mason, having
taken all the degrees to the commandery. He is a
member of the Worcester County Commandery,
Knights Templar. He is a member of the Worcester
Society of Antiquity, and of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society as well as other societies.
He is a Republican. He resides at 54 Queen street,
Worcester, with his aged mother, Elizabeth Fanning
Brooks. He is author and compiler of "History
of the Fanning Family," published in two volumes
in 1905.
. PARKER FAMILY. 'Since that memorable
nineteenth day of April, 1775, when Captain John
Parker stood in command of his company of minute-
men lined up on Lexington Green confronting the pro
gress of Major Pitcairn and his eight hundred British
regulars, the name of Parker has occupied a promi
nent place in the early annals of the United States of
America. But members of this family have not
only become distinguished for services upon the
battle field, but as divines, doctors of medicine and
of surgery, judges, members of congress, journalists,

artists, lawyers, civil engineers and in fact in all the
various walks of life. In this monograph, however,
we design to present to the reader in brief outline
some of the incidents and professional undertak
ings of George Alanson Parker and three of his sons,
Harold, Herbert and Chester.
George Alanson Parker was born in Concord,
New Hampshire, May 8, 1821, son of Joseph and
Esther (Chapman) Parker. His childhood days
were spent in Concord, and from experience in the
schools of that town he developed a strong desire
for a classical education, and with that object in
view fitted for entrance to Harvard College. But
the fates led in another direction, and he entered the
office of Loammi Baldwin, a noted civil engineer,
where he prepared himself for a lifework that proved
not only congenial, but in the prosecution of which
lie was highly successful.
In 1842 he, in company with Samuel M. Felton,
became the successors of Loammi Baldwin at Mr.
Baldwin's death and for many years they were the
most successful firm of civil engineers in New
England. Among the public works in which he
was engaged during this time were the surveys of the
Fitchburg, Petersboro and Shirley and Sullivan
roads, and the building of the Sugar River and Bel
lows Falls bridges. About 1855 he established a
home in Lancaster which was occupied as a sum
mer residence mainly until his business permitted
him to make it his permanent abode. He was chief
engineer of Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore
Railroad during and after the war, and built while
chief engineer of that road the then famous
bridge across the Susquehanna river at the head of
Chesapeake Bay. This undertaking was particu
larly difficult owing to the depth of water, the in
secure bottom ami the immense bodies of ice that
annually descended the river. The successful com
pletion of this structure brought Mr. Parker in
national reputation as a constructing engineer. He
was one of a board to examine and report upon
the proposed bridge across the Mississippi at St.
Louis. He was for a time acting president of the Phil
adelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad and was
offered the office permanently. He, however, pre
ferred a more independent life than the duties of
such a position would permit.
During the civil war he was engaged by the
United States government to supply the rolling
stock for the various roads used by the war depart
ment. He built many railroad lines in Delaware,
Virginia, the eastern shore of Maryland and later
the Zanesville & Ohio River Railway, and fqr
many years was consulting engineer for the Balti
more and Ohio Railroad corporation. He was also
interested in railroads in Mississippi and Texas.
Mr. Parker was a special admirer of nature,
therefore found enjoyment in out-door life and rec
reation, and in selecting a home for himself and fam
ily in which to take the comfort and leisure due as
a reward for an active, strenuous, successful busi
ness life, located in the ancient but charming resi
dential town of Lancaster. And here he entered
heartily into the duties as a citizen, serving on vari
ous committees for the improvement of the high
ways and the building of substantial bridges, a work
for which by large experience he was specially
well fitted. He was also chosen to represent his
district in the state legislature, serving in that
capacity for three years, 1870-71-72, and when Me
morial Hall was ready for occupancy he gave lib
erally toward furijishing it with fixtures and a valu
able collection of books and works of art. With
his natural taste for rural life Mr. Parker took great

2l8

WORCESTER COUXTY

delight at his Lancaster horse and gave much tone
to beauhtying it w^th — ees, choice shrubs and
plants, and the entertaining of his friends and
neighbors upon his premises -sras an additional pleas
ure, for he was held in high esteem by the people of
Lancaster. He was among- the first to recognize
the c : nsequences of the destruction of oar forests
and believed that it was a wise business pr 3 position
tor every tanner who owned even a ?ma_^ tem-
t:r>- to plant trees t: cake the place of those annu
ally cut down. He exemplified bis views by himself
planting many thousands of forest trees in planta
tions, distinct from ornamental planting, and now
the practical value of his views is demonstrated by
the valuable timber growing upon sandy hillsides
and fields otherwise valueless, within the limits of
his Lancaster estate.
Mr. Parker married Harriet N_ daughter oi Cor
nelius C. Feiton and Anna Morse his wife. She
was a sister of Samuel M. Feiton, Mr. Parker's
first associate in civil engineering in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, and in the seventh generation from
Nathaniel Feiton, who came from England to Salem
in 1033. when seventeen years cf age. and later
married Max Skeltou. daughter of Rev. Samuel
bkelton. the first minister of Salem. George Alan
son Parker died April 20, 1887. His children were :
Edith, bom in Charlestown, August 2. 1&4S: George
A., May 22. 15=2^ died February X 185,3: Harold,
June 17- 1^54.: Herbert. March 2. 1856: Bertha.
March 16, 1J5S; Feiton, October 8. 1S60: Chester,
bom in Chester, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1S02.
Harold Parker, born in Charlestown, Massa
chusetts, June 17, 1S54, received his early education
in the public schools at Lancaster, and by private
tutor. Subsequently he attended a private school in
the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then
entered the Lancaster Academy, then a popular and
highly successful institution. "Here he prepared to
enter Exeter Academy and there fitted to enter Har
vard College; after a year and a half he left Cam
bridge and between the years 1871 and 1899 was en
gaged in engineering, manufacturing and railroad
work in many parts of the United States, and for
most of that period maintained an engineering office
in Clinton, but has always had bis home in Lan
caster. He represented die twelfth district in the
legislature and has held continued town office for
many years. He was appointed by Governor Crane
commissioner ot Wachnsett Mt. State Reserva
tion in 1899 and re-appointed by Governor Bates.
He was appointed by Governor Crane a commis
sioner oi state highways and has been re-appointed
by successive governors to the present time. He
has been engaged in tbe cutting and manufacture of
lumber in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in the
construction and operation of street railways and
other enterprises. And as a token that he is compe
tent, and that the people have confidence in him, Mr.
Parker has frequently been selected as arbiter where
differences were to be adjusted and where property
rights came in question. He has served as road
commissioner and water commissioner in his home
town, and the Lancaster people have honored him
with other public positions, all of which he has
filled with credit to himself and profit to the com
munity. He married, July 29. 1884, Elizabeth W., daughter
of Rev. Dr. George M. Bartol, of Lancaster, which
place has for many years been his home. Mr.
Parker is a member of the famous Hasty Pudding
Club of Cambridge, president of the Chaffee Manu
facturing Company and a director in several street
railway companies.. In politics he is a Republican,
and an active worker in whatever he undertakes.

Public-spirited, and like his father is fond of oofc-
door exercise, appreciating to the fall his beautiful

Lancaster. Tkeir children are; z
a student at Harvard; Elizabeth,

1*7;

heme born :Xf
Xrueha, Iii
Herbert Parker, son of George Alanson Parker,
was com in Luariesto-sn, Massachusetts, March 2.
1S56. He received his early instruction in private
schools in Philadelphia, PeEnsyiTania, and after
fitting for college with private tutors entered Har
vard in 1874, from whence he graduated widi high
honors in 1878. Because of iD health he cia not com
plete the academic course but was later gnen his
degree of A. B. He read law in the office of the
late Cuited States senator, George F. Hoar, and in
iSSj was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, sad
commenced tbe practice ef his profession in Wor
cester the following year. Attracted by his special
qualities, Senator Hoar engaged him to act as his
private secretary at Washington, where his asso
ciations with leading legislators of the country gave
opportunity for die young lawyer to add materially
to his already generous stock of knowledge. At the
conchision of his duties as private secretary for
Senator Hoar, he again opened a law office in Wor
cester, but later located in Qintcm forming a co
partnership with the late Judge Ceircoran. He be
came a member of the law firm of Norcross, Baker
& Parker in fitchburg, Massachusetts, later opening
an ofiice in Worcester, where the practice of his
profession was continued until he was appointed
assistant district attorney for the county of Wor
cester in 1886, the district attorney being the Hon.
Francis A. GaskilL and upon Mr. GaskOPs retire
ment to go upon .the superior court beach, he be
came district attorney by appointment of Goverisor
Greenhalge, and was later elected to the same office,
the duties of which he discharged widi ability and
professional skOL
La igoi he was elected attorney general for the
state of Massachusetts and re-elected until 19D&.
when he declined a renomination for the par-
pose of conducting his private practice. During his
term as attorney general it devolved upon him to
try many important cases, in all of which he dis
played remarkable foresight, care and wisdom, and
especially was he congratulated for the manner
in which he conducted the trial of the murderer of
Mabte Page and its successful issue, in obtaining the
conviction of the guilty party. In 1905 Tufts Gol-
lege conferred upon him the honorary degree of
T.I. D. Mr. Parker is a gentieman of many gifts,
learned, thoughtful, witty, has a good command of
language and knows how to use it effectively. He
is a member of the Union dub, the St. Botolph, and
the Tatcmn Club of Boston, also of the Bosto»
Press Club and of the Worcester Qob of Worcester.
He resides in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
He married in 1886, Mary C Vose. a daughter
of Josiah H. and Caroline C. (Forbes) Vose, of
Clinton. Massachusetts. Their children are: George
A, bora -in 1887; Katherine Vose. iSS?: Edith,
September, 1894; Haven, April, 1899; Mary G,
June. 1903; Harriet Feiton. April, 190s.
Chester Parker, son of George Alanson Parker,
bora in Chester, Pennsylvania, August 10. 1862, was
educated in tbe schools in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
a private school in Worcester and at Exeter Acad
emy. New Hampshire, remaining two years at the
latter place. He then entered into the real estate
business in Boston, and has continued in that nidi
great success as a real estate broker with oSkes
in Devonshire Building and 15 Exchange street
Boston. He resides at Lancaster, Massachusetts,
upon the old Parker homestead. He is a member of

WORCKSTKR COUNTY

219

tho board of real estate arbitration in Boston, also
a member of the Real Estate Exchange in that city.
lie is a Republican in politics but, like his brothers,
not a seeker for public ollico. 1 lo is a gentleman
whose opinions are greatly respected, aud whose
judgment on values of real estate arc in frequent
demand, "
lie married, October, 1899, Ethel Whitney Law-
ton, daughter of Robert G. Lawton, of Havana,
Cuba. Their children are : Chester, born Septem
ber, 1900; Feiton, 1002, died the same year; Lydia
]!, I'"., November, 1904.
In tracing' out the emigrant ancestor of this fam
ily we have not boon confined to the narrow limits
ot the "three brothers," but found Cn\ investigation
that choice must be made from at least throe dozen
Parkers, who were launched upon our New Eng
land shores prior tu the year 1630. To the uniniti
ated it might appear that where there are so many
to select from, the choice might be the more easily
made, but experience teaches otherwise. We have
after careful research taken as the progenitor of
this New Kngiand family:
U) Joseph Parker, who located in the town of
Newbury, Massachusetts, as early as 1642, when in
May of that year his son Joseph was born. Three
years later he was of Andover, where he helped to
form the first church there. His children were :
Joseph, Stephen, John and Samuel. Joseph, the
father, died 1678.
(II) Joseph Parker, bora at Newbury, May
IS, 1642, resided in Andover subsequently to '1045,
and had a son Joseph.
(Ill) Joseph Parker, born about 1660, married
Elizabeth Bridges, lived in Andover, Massachusetts,
and had sons Joseph and Peter.
(IV) Joseph Parker, born February 27, 1682,
married, February 6, 1712, Abigail Mitchell, and
made their home in Andover, Massachusetts. Had
son Joseph and perhaps others.
(V) Joseph Parker, born November 12, 1712,
in Andover, married Elizabeth Martin, April 26,
1757. He was one of the very early settlors of Pem
broke, New Hampshire. As early as 1737 a vote
was passed that the ferryboat at Suncook be kept
against Joseph Parker's house lot, which was No,
14. He also bought lot No. 20 of Eleazer Allen
about 1760, which he sold to James Knox, May 8,
1776, He signed the "Association Test" in summer
of 1776. "We the subscribers do hereby sol
emnly engage and promise that we will to the ut
most of our power at the risk of our lives and for
tunes with anus oppose the hostile proceedings of
the British fleets and armies against the United
American Colonies." Their children were : John,
born August 15, 1760; Molly, born September 7.
1766; Dorcas, born February 12, 1769; and perhaps
others. (VI) John Parker, born August 15, 1760, mar
ried Martha Lovcjoy, May 21, 1781, He purchased
a tract of wild land in North Pembroke and there
built a log house and lived with his father until he
could build a better one. He was a member of the
first militia company of the town, and with others
signed a petition December 30, 1777, to have this
company annexed to Colonel Stickney's regiment,
July 1, 1780, he enlisted to serve for three months.
He died May 27, 1823, having merited the military
title of colonel. Children were: Joseph, born No
vember 3, 1781 ; Caleb, February 28, 1784 ; Abigail,
June ao, 1787; John Ladd, 1789; Ezra, September 12,
J79I! Obidiah, 1793; James, 1794; Mehitable Love-
joy, April 17, 1800; Charlotte, April 30, 1803; Martha,
1803. (VII) Joseph Parker, born November 3, 1781,

married Esther Chapman. He went to Concord,
New Hampshire, about the year 1821, and for sev
eral years was employed on tho Granite Lodge, and
later was the first overseer of the alms house and
town farm, lie was a much respected and useful
citizen, lie left Concord in 18,34. Children were:
Lucretia, born May 4, 1807; Martha, November 30,
1808; Caleb, September ,S, 1810; Lyman, January
2, 1812; Horace, Apiil 5, 1814; Joseph, April 30,
1817; Horace, August 15, 1819; George Alanson,
May 8, 1821 ; Mary Esther, July IO, 182,1; Lucy Ann,
March o, 182(1: Lucretia, August 19, 1829.
(VIII) George Alanson Parker, born in Con
cord, Now Hampshire, May 8, 1821.
HENRY WILLIAM EDDY. Rev. William
Eddy (1), of Crainbrook, Kent county, England, was
the father o.f the two emigrants of the name who
settled in New England in 1630. lie was the pro
genitor of Henry William Eddy, of Worcester. The
sons were: John, born about 1595 ; Samuel, was in
Plymouth in 1632, and probably came with his
brother in 1630; lie was admitted a freeman at
Plymouth in 1U33; reported able to bear arms
164,3 ; his wife was Elizabeth, and they had a large
family and resided in the Plymouth colony.
(11) John Eddy, sou of Rev. William Eddy (1),
was born in Crainbrook, Kent county, England, in
1595, according to his oath made December 15, 1673,
when at the age of seventy-seven he asked to be
excused from training I John Eddy came to Plym
outh in New England in the ship "Handmaid,"
arriving October 29, 1630. Ho removed to Water-
town. Governor Bradford wrote of him : "A
Godly man, now and then a little distempered."
He was admitted a freeman in Watertown, Septem
ber 3, 1634. He served the town in various town
offices, lie married (first) Amy  , and (sec
ond) Joanna  , who died August 25, 1683, at
the age of eighty years. The children of John and
Amy Eddy were: Pilgrim, born August 25, 1634;
John, born February 16, 1636-7; Benjamin, buried
111 1(139; Samuel, bom September 30, 1640; Abigail,
born October n, 1643.
John Eddy died October 12, 1684, at the ago of
ninety years. His will dated January 11, 1677, and
probated December 16, 1684, bequeathed to sons
Samuel and John; sons-in-law John Miriam (Mcr-
rianO and Thomas Orton; and daughters Mary Or
ton, Sarah Miriam, Pilgrim Steadman and Ruth
Gardner; wife to have according to their marriage
• contract. ' (III) Samuel Eddy, son of John Eddy (2), was
born in Watertown, Massachusetts, September 30,
1640. He was a farmer, settled at Watertown. He
married Sarah Mead, November 31 (sic 31 -.9:), 1664,
She was the daug'hter of Gabriel Mead, of Dor
chester, Massachusetts. He was admitted a free
man there May 2, 1638, Her mother, Joanna, was
admitted to the church there about 1638. Gabriel
Mead died May 12, 1666, aged about seventy-seven
and his will was proved July 17, 1667. His four
daughters, Lydia, Experience, Sarah and Patience,
were all minors at the time. The children of Samuel
and Sarah (Mead) Eddy were all born in Water-
lowti, viz.: Samuel, horn June 4. 1668: Benjamin,
born September 16, 1673.
(IV) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (3),
was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, June ,4,
1668. lie married, December 13, 1693, Elizabeth
Woodward, of an old Watertown family. He died
August 6, 1746, She died August 7, 1753. The
children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Woodward)
Eddy were : John, born at Watertown, May 6, 1696,
settled in Oxford, Massachusetts; Elizabeth, born in

220

WORCESTER COUNTY

Watertown, May 28, 1697, died young; Sarah, born
in Watertown, May 9, 1700, settled in Oxford, mar
ried, June 1, 1730, Peter Hurd; Samuel, born in
Watertown, August 18, 1701; Elizabeth, born in
Watertown, July 29, 1703 ; Ebenezer, born in Water-
town, January 9, 1705, settled in Oxford; Benjamin,
born in Watertown, November 30, 1707, married,
1733, Elizabeth Truesdell; he was a tailor; settled
in Winchendon or Royalston where he died aged
ninety years.
. (V) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (4),
was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, August 18,
1701. He settled in Oxford, Massachusetts. He
married, January 30, 1727, Elizabeth Bellows, of
Marlboro, Massachusetts. His farm was in that
part of Oxford later set off as Ward, now Auburn.
He died there August 4, 1762. The inventory of his
estate was five hundred and seventy-eight pounds.
The deed of his farm was dated May 20, 1724, when
Abraham Skinner of Colchester, Connecticut, sold
him sixty acres on Prospect Hill. He was select
man and held other offices. The children of Samuel
and Elizabeth (Bellows) Eddy were : Elizabeth,
bom November 24, 1728, at Oxford; Samuel, born
1731, died 1736; Ruth, born in Oxford, October 23,
l733. married (intentions dated July 10), 1762, John
Hart, of Leicester; Jonathan, born in Oxford, De
cember 23, 1735, soldier in the French war; died at
Fort Edward unmarried; Samuel, born July 31,
1738; Abigail, born in Oxford, December 5, 1740,
married, January 2, 1759, Joshua Merriam, of Ox
ford North Gore; Levi, born in Oxford, April 27,
1745, married (intentions dated June 28) 1766, Sarah
Stone (Smith?) of Charlton. The Eddy genealogy
gives also John, died in French and Indian war.
(VI) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (5),
was born in Oxford, July 31, 1738. He married,
March 13, 1760, Susannah Merriam, of Oxford
North Gore, and settled on the Eddy homestead.
He was a man of prominence. He served in the
French war, 1757. At the close of the war in 1763
he was lieutenant of the second company, Joseph
Phillips, captain. In 1776 with William Campbell
and Amos Shumway he was on the Oxford com
mittee of safety and correspondence. He was cap
tain of the militia and served in the revolution.
He was selectman in 1771 and 1773. He served
the town as constable and in other capacities. He
died July 4, 1798. His wife died January 17, 1803,
aged sixty-six years. The children of Samuel and
Susanna (Merriam) Eddy were: Isabella, born
March 27, 1761 ; Samuel, born July n, 1764; John,
born May 31, 1768; Rufus, born April 6, 1772;
Susanna ; Ruth. All of the foregoing are mentioned
•in their father's will, dated June 5, 1793, excepting
Isabella. (VII) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (6),
was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, July 11, 1764.
He married Sarah Hart and settled in Oxford. He
died May n, 1813; she died October 17, 1838, aged
seventy years. He was deputy sheriff for many
years and well known all over the county. The
children of Samuel and Sarah (Hart) Eddy were :
James ; Samuel, born July 19, 1796, settled on the
homestead ; Lewis, born February 16, 1801 ; Leonard ;
Lydia, married Daniel P., son of Reuben Eddy;
Sarah, married (first) Thomas Baird; married (sec
ond) Swan Knowlton; Susan; Mary, married W.
T. Warren, resided at Holden, Massachusetts.
(VIII) Lewis Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (7),
was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, February 16, 1801.
He married, May 14, 1823, Almira Smith, daughter
of Samuel Smith, of Oxford, Massachusetts. He
settled on a farm in Auburn and also owned a farm
in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He was a carpenter

and builder, also a leading citizen of Oxford. He
and his brother Samuel were both captains of the
militia company and both represented the town in
the general court, Samuel of Oxford, Lewis of
Auburn. Lewis Eddy was assessor and selectman
in Auburn, and a prominent member of the Con
gregational church. He sold both farms Some years
before his death and moved to Worcester, where
he died June 14, 1875. His wife died June 5, 1867,
also in Worcester. The children of Lewis and Al
mira (Smith) Eddy were: 1. Eliza N., born April
16, 1824, married, December 22, 1847, Levi Eddy,
settled in Worcester; he died December 5, 1870;
she died 1888. 2. Henry William, born October 17,
1826, married 'January 3, 1850, Julia Foster, of
Fitchburg; married (second) Nancy M. Merrill.
3. Amelia L., born April 1, 1829, married, April 10,
1849, William H. Richards; married (second), June
24, 1869, David B. Galloupe, of Salem; no children.
4. Emily S., born November 24, 1831, married, De
cember n, 1856, Charles A. Bowker; she died Janu
ary 15, 1852, 5. Lewis M., born June 9, 1834, mar
ried, April, 1871, V. Adelaide Libby, of Rockland,
Maine; resided in Boston. 6. Mary F., born Feb
ruary 10, 1836, married, December 29, 1859, John N.
Peters, of Westboro; resided in Worcester. 7. Sam
uel S., born April 27, 1838, married, January 1, 1857,
Susan W. Carry; married, (second), October 14,
1880, Franc O. Webster, of Rochester, New York;
second lieutenant Fifty-first Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia in the civil war and very efficient;
raisefl in Worcester, Company F, Forty-second Reg
iment, of which he was made captain; removed in
1867 to Rochester, New York, where he became
colonel of the Fifty-fourth Regiment, New York
National Guard; manufacturer and trader. 8. Lucian
A., born March 5, 1842, married, June, 1863, Caro
line A. Haskejl, of North Brookfield, Massachusetts;
resides in Syracuse, New York. 9. Albert M.,
born March 22, 1843, married, December, 1869, Caro
line M. Hervey, resides in St Louis, Missouri. 10.
Alfred Theodore, born February 28, 1845, married,
July 12, 1864, Elizabeth S. Cummings, of Nashua,
New Hampshire; she died April 1, 1878; he was
in the civil war, the Forty-second and Fifty-first
Massachusetts Regiments. 11. Herbert, born 1849,
died 1850.
(IX) Henry William Eddy, son of Lewis Eddy
(8), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts, October
17, 1826. He attended the district . schools of his
native town and Leicester Academy. After leaving
school he learned the trade qf carpenter of his
father, who was a contractor in Auburn. When he
was twenty-one years old he came to Worcester and
worked at his trade for Captain Lamb. After a
year he went into business for himself in Worcester,
and his first shop was on Southbridge street. He
began in a small way, but in 1849, when he started
as a builder, Worcester was growing into cityhood
and he soon became one of the leading builders
of the place. When he started Worcester had a
population of only 8,500. It has now 130,000. He
was in business until he was seventy years old, a
period of nearly fifty years, while his active life
was much longer. But in those fifty years Mr.
Eddy took a large share in the development of
Worcester, in building the shops, business blocks,
homes and public buildings that comprise the tangi
ble city of today, that will comprise a substantial
part of Worcester for hundreds of years in part,
for the monument of a builder's work lasts longer
than the work of most craftsmen.
Among the buildings that Mr. Eddy constructed
in the course of his business career are the follow
ing: The People's Savings Bank building on Main

WORCESTER COUNTY

221

street, a fine type of modern office building; the
Fawcett building adjoining the People's Bank build
ing; the Five Cents Savings Bank building, another
fine office building; the Dean and Salisbury build
ings at Lincoln square; the Vaill building; Loring
& Blake's building, the National Wire Goods build
ing and other shops on Union street. He iuilt the
Whitcomb Envelope factory on Salisbury street;
the Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope factory and
the Ames Plow Company works on Prescott; the
Chase building and others for Ransom C. Taylor
on Front street, the Foster building on Foster
street; the stone freight house of the Boston &
Maine Railroad, formerly the Worcester & Nashua
Railroad, near Lincoln square; the Grout building,
Main street; Dr. Henry Clarke's building, Waldo
street; the Sargent building; the Sumner Paratt
building, Front street. He re-built the Central Ex
change building, now next to the best and largest
office building in the city. He has constructed more
than two hundred dwelling houses in Worcester,
some of them among the finest in this section. He
built the home of Charles F. Washburn on Elm
street; Mrs. William Dickinson on Cedar street;
Major L. J. White on Harvard street; the Bowker
house on Cedar place ; the residence of the late
Lucius J. Knowles and that of William H. Burns.
His place of business was first on Southbridge
street. Then he removed to the Paine-Aldrich shop
on High street, and later to 6 Norwich street, where
he was located for some forty years. In 1865 he be
gan the manufacture of small parts of boot and
shoe machinery in Lynn. The name of the firm
was Tripp, Eddy & Co. Later the firm removed to
Boston and bought the business of A. L. Perkins &
Co., a firm in the same line, and continued in busi
ness until 1900, when the firm sold to the trust, the
United Shoe Manufacturing Company. Since re
tiring from business Mr. Eddy has lived at his
handsome home, 7 Ashland street, Worcester.
He married, 1848, Julia Ann Foster, of Fitch
burg. He married (second), 1884, Mrs. Nancy M.
Merrill, a widow, daughter of  Lord. The
children of Henry W. and Julia Ann (Foster) Eddy
were: 1. Frank Foster, born in Worcester; he is
a manufacturing dentist with places of business at
172 Tremont street, Boston, and at the Franklin
building, New York city; married and has one
daughter. 2. Charles H., born in Worcester, gen
eral manager and treasurer of the Chickering Piano
Company of Boston.
FRANK AUGUSTUS ATHERTON has been
identified with the business life of Worcester since
the close of the civu\war. His boyhood was spent
in his native town of Harvard, in Worcester county.
In 1864, when he was only fifteen years of age, he
enlisted in Company E, of the Sixth Massachusetts
Regiment, one of the famous Worcester county regi
ments, and served for three months. At the close
of his term of service the war was approaching an
end, and he returned to his home in Harvard, where
for a year and a half he worked in a sawmill, and
acquired a knowledge of wood manufacturing that
was essential to his success in his subsequent busi
ness. In 1865 he purchased his father's business,
which he still conducts. He has a large mill, one
hundred and sixty-three feet in length, at 183-5-7
Park avenue, in Worcester, equipped with modern
machinery for the manufacture of refrigerators,
store fixtures and other cabinet making. For forty
years he has taken an active interest in city affairs.
He is a Republican, and in 1889, 1890-91-92 repre
sented his ward in the common council. He was
a member of the committees on sewers and high

ways. He is and has been for twelve years (1905)
an overseer of the poor of the city. Pie is a mem
ber of the Masonic order in Massachusetts, having
taken all the degrees, including the thirty-second ;
is also a member of Morning Star Lodge. His home
is at 5 Hall street, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Mr. Atherton's ancestry is extremely interesting.
It runs back in the Atherton line to James Atherton,
probably a brother of Governor and Major General
Humphrey Atherton. The Athertons came to Lan
caster, Massachusetts, in 1653, and some of the
Atherton family still reside on the original farm.
Harvard, Massachusetts, where Frank A. Atherton
and several generations before him were born, was
part of the same settlement.
(I) James Atherton was born in England,
probably in Lancaster, where for a thousand years
the Athertons have been an important family, hav
ing a manor and of course bearing arms. He was
born in 1626; he died in Sherborn, Massachusetts,
at the home of his daughter, Deborah, wife of
Captain Samuel Bulla»d, August 6, 1710. His wife
died also at Sherborn, December 29, 1713. Children
were: 1. Hannah and 2. James, (twins), born'
March 13, 1654. 3. Joshua, born March, 1656. 4.
Hannah, born November 10, 1657. 5. Mary, born
November 17, 1660. 6. Elizabeth, born June 10,
1665; died September 6, 1666. 7. Deborah, bom
June 1, 1669. 8. Joseph, (see forward).
(II) Joseph Atherton, son of James (1) and
Hannah Atherton, born May 28, 1672, at Lancaster,
Massachusetts ; married Hannah Rogers, at Lan
caster, January 9, 1720. Children, born at Harvard,
Massachusetts, were : I. Oliver, born August 1,
1721. 2. Mary, born May 8, 1722-3. 3. Joseph, (see
forward). 4. Elizabeth, born May 5, 1727. 5.
Elizabeth, born September 7, 1729. 6. Hannah,
born May 16, 1731. 7. Patience, born August 15,
1735- (III) Joseph Atherton, son of Joseph (2) and
Hannah (Rogers) Atherton, his wife, was baptised
October 26, 1729; born about 1725; married Sarah
Hutchins in 1752. Children, born at Harvard, were:
1. David, born July 31, 1753, died young. 2. Sarah,
born May 25, 1755. 3. David, born September 17,
J757- 4- Jonathan, born November 11, 1759. 5.
Abigail, born November 2, 1762. 6. Joseph, born
May 12, 1768.
(IV) David Atherton, son of Joseph (3) and
Sarah Atherton, born September 17, 1757, married
Esther Atherton. He lived in the house built by
Joshua (2) Atherton. It stood under a great elm
and was one of the familiar land marks for nearly
two hundred years. It was destroyed in 1852. lt
had a great central chimney, part of stone, part of
brick, laid in clay mortar. Joshua Atherton died
there. His son, Peter, who was a prominent man
in the town of Harvard, representing the town in
the general court and serving as its first town clerk,
occupied the house. David Atherton was its fourth
owner. In 1805, while gathering nuts, he fell from a
tree, and as a result of his injuries his legs and the
lower part of his body were paralyzed. He lived
for twenty-five years, working at the shoemaker's
trade which, he learned after his misfortune. His
children were : 1. Silence, born May 29, 1785. 2.
Louisa, born May 11, 1787. 3. Ebon, born March 1,
1789. 4. Charles, born February 22, 1792. 5. Martin,
born July 2, 1793. 6. Emily, born July 31, 1795. 7.
George, born January 21, 1798. 8. Mary, born March
2, 1801. (V) Ebon Atherton, son of David (4) and Esther
Atherton, born March 1, 1789, at Harvard and lived
there. He had a son Alfred, born at Harvard.
(VI) Alfred Atherton, son of Ebon Atherton

222

WORCESTER COUNTY

(5), was born at Harvard and learned the carpen
ter's trade. He established the business in Wor
cester now carried on by his son, Frank A. Ather
ton. He married Abbie M. (Adams) Stacy, born'in
Harvard about 1822. She was a daughter of Jona
than and Alice (Whitney) Adams, a descendant of
Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massachusetts, who was
the progenitor of John Adams, John Quincy Adams
and many other famous men. Her father died at the
age of forty-seven. She is the youngest and only
survivor of a family of ten children and was obliged,
at the age of thirteen, to earn her own living. She
went to work in a cotton mill at Lowell, where she
was employed till her marriage, in her twentieth
year, to George W. Stacy, who died before the
birth of her first child. This daughter, Georgianna,
is now the wife of Francis Merrifield, of Worcester.
The children of Alfred Atherton and his wife, Abbie,
were: 1. Frank Augustus (see forward). 2. Edward
Herbert, born at Harvard, February n, 1856; grad
uated at Harvard College 1879; teacher of foreign
languages in Boston Latin Sfchool. 3. Walter E.
Atherton, born May 16, i860; a resident of Worces
ter; married Ethel Muzzy and had: Leroy, born
August, 1880; Dora, bom September 27, 1885; Carl,
born June, 1886. The" widow of Alfred Atherton is
still living (1905) in Worcester. He died there in
1892. (VII) Frank Augustus, son of Afred Ather
ton (6), born February 15, 1849; married' November
5, 1873, Inez L. Adams', daughter of John Quincy
and Harriet L. (Bottom) Adams, born at Wood
stock, Connecticut, a descendant of President Adams.
Their children are: 1. Ralph, (see forward). 2.
Bessie F., (see forward). 3. Philip Hyde,- born
May 27, 1888. 4. Ruth Eveline, born March 5, 1890.
' 5. Laura Inez, born June 11, 1892.
(VIII) Ralph Edward Atherton, son of Frank
A. Atherton (7), born August 18, 1878, was edu
cated in the Worcester schools. He graduated from
the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and is now a
district inspector for the American Bell Telephone
Company, at Chicago, Illinois.
(VIII) Bessie F. Atherton, daughter of Frank
A.' Atherton (7), born September 17, 1885, graduated
from the Worcester high school in 1903..
GEORGE HENRY CLEMENCE. Richard
Clemence (1)', from whom George Henry Clemence
is descended, emigrated from England about 1782.
He was born November 12, 1757, and died in Brook
field, Massachusetts, March 5, 1813. He married
Anne Ainsworth November 22, 1781. She was born
in England May 4, 1762, and died April 20, 1832.
Eight children were born to them.
(II) Henry Clemence, son of Richard Clemence
(1), born October 14, 1795 ; was a hatter by trade, and
located in Brookfield, Massachusetts. He settled in
Hubbardston, Massachusetts, about 1814, and was
made a Master Mason April 27, 1830, in the Temple
ton Lodge, of Templeton, Massachusetts.
He married, November 27, 1820, Harriet W.
Waite, ,of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, born Febru
ary 26, 1802, at Hubbardston; died there December
n, 1824. He died in Hubbardston, January 30, 1863.
Two children Were born to them.
(Ill) Richard Henry Clemence, son of Henry
Clemence (2), born at Hubbardston, September 28,
1821 ; died September 17, 1868, in Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He was a carpenter by trade, and lived
in Fitchburg a number of years. He came to Wor
cester where he entered the employ of the Wash
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and in 1863
went to New York city for the company. Before
the close of the civil war he returned to Worcester

and opened there a grocery and provision st
He was a member of Masonic bodies. He mar
Mrs. Eva L. Kendall (born' Osgood), November
1862. She was born January 9, 1831, at Hartl:
Vermont, and died December 21, 1904, at Worce:
Massachusetts. (IV) George Henry Clemence, son of Ricl
Henry Clemence (3), was born at Worcester, Ma
chusetts, January 13, 1865. He attended the V
cester public schools, afterward preparing ui
private tutors for entrance to the Massachu:
Institute of Technology, which he entered in the
1886, taking the special course in architecture.
entered the employ of Stephen C. Earle, archi
of Worcester, in 1882; severing his connections
him in 1890, he entered the- employ of Darling Bi
ers, general building contractors, of Worcester,
remained with them two years. In 1892 he b
the practice of his profession, taking offices in
Walker building, Worcester, Massachusetts, w
he has remained to date. His practice has ste
increased, resulting in placing his reputation
those of the leaders of the profession in Wor«
A large number of residences, public buildings,
ness premises, etc., attest his capacity and indi
in his profession.
He married at Worcester, Massachusetts, (
ber 9, 1889, Anna Eliza McDonald. She was
in Worcester November 27, 1865, and is a %
uate of the Classical high school ; class of
They have one child, Hazel, born at Worcc
Massachusetts, August 28, 1890. Mr. Clemence
member of local Masonic bodies, and of the c
of Odd Fellows; also a member of Hancock 1
He is a fellow of the American Institute of A
tects, and of Worcester Chapter, American Insl
of Architects. LYMAN JOSIAH TAFT. Robert Taft (1)
first emigrant of this surname, who is the proge
of so many of the Taft families of Worcester cc
where the name is more common than in any c
section of the country, was the ancestor of L]
Josiah Taft, late of Worcester. Under the he;
of other Taft farnilies a pretty complete recoi
the life of Robert Taft in New England, gatl
largely from the researches of the late Judge
phonso Taft, father of the Secretary of '^ar,
be found in this work.
Robert Taft was a native of Scotland. Hi
pears to have come to New England in 1677 or
and settled in Braintree, now Quincy, Mass;
setts, near Boston. It was just after the disas
King Philip's war. In 1678 and 1679 the coU
who had been driven away from the frontier t
by the Indians, were making plans for re-se
their farms. Robert Taft and Savill Simpson j.
in the purchase of Colonel William Crowne's
at Mendon for which they paid ninety pounds
gust 15, 1679. They sold their place in Brail
November 18, 1679, and doubtless moved to Mc
with others from Braintree in the spring of
The land was divided by deed dated July 29,
Half the property which was on one side the
was known as Pondfield and that went to Simj
while the land on the opposite side of the road k
as Fortfield from an old fort built long befor
days of King Philip, as shown by the nan
earlier deeds, went to Robert Taft and becam
nucleus of the Taft homestead. Taft was acqui;
He got land in one way and another until he o
all about the pond which was in the earlier
known as Taft Pond. Alanson Taft; of Me
lately owned the original home site, besides o\
for two miles and a half from his home a

1 n

WORCESTER COUNTY

223

interest in what became the town of Sutton, Massa
chusetts, in 1703. In rebuilding the town of Mendon,
Taft was an important factor. He was on the
first board of selectmen. He and his sons built the
first bridge over the Blackstone river. He served
during all his active life on important town com
mittees and in other offices of trust and honor. He
was for his day a citizen of wealth and distinction,
and he founded a family than which there is none
in Worcester county with a morp honorable record
or with a greater number of distinguished men. The
children of Robert and Sarah Taft were: Thomas,
born 1671; Robert, Jr., 1674; Daniel, 1677; "Joseph,
1680; and Benjamin.
(II) Daniel Taft, third son of Robert Taft (1),
was born probably in Braintree, Massachusetts, but
possibly in England in 1677. He died August 24,
1761, as stated on his gravestone in the Mendon
burying ground at the age of eighty-four years.
He settled on part of the Fortfield farm given him
at the time of his marriage by his father. It is the
farm occupied some years ago by Samuel H. Taft.
He had five sons who became enterprising farmers
in the vicinity. After his wife Lydia died in 1758
he went to live with his son Daniel on what is
now known as the Southwick farm in Mendon where
he died in 1761. He was a lawyer as well as farmer.
He was legal adviser to his brothers and to the
town. He was town treasurer many years and
moderator of the town meetings. He was the lead
ing citizen for some years. He was a delegate to
negotiate for a new county and Mendon and Ux
bridge were transferred from Suffolk county to the
new county of Worcester. He gave the town the site
for a burying ground in Mendon. He represented
the town in the general court in 1728 and other years,
and was justice of the peace and conveyancer for
bis section. Mr. Taft married (first), 1702-03,
Hannah  , who died August 8, 1704, leaving an
infant son Daniel, who died soon afterward. He
married (second), December 5, 1706, Lydia Chapin,
daughter of Captain Josiah Chapin. The child of
Daniel and Hannah Taft was : 1. Daniel, born August
4, 1704. The children of Daniel and Lydia (Chapin)
were: 2. Abigail, born September 24, 1707. 3.
Josiah. see forward. 4. Lydia, April 13, i7i3- 5-
Daniel, April 29, 1715. 6. Ephraim, May 25, 1718.
7. Japhet, March 3, 1721-22. 8. Caleb, 1724.
(Ill) Josiah Ta.fr, third child of Daniel Taft
(2), was born April 2, 1709, and died 1756, aged
forty-seven years. His father gave him his farm
by deed. It was on the west side of the Blackstone
and passed to his son Bazaleel. He was captain
of the militia. In 1732 he became a resident of the
town of Uxbridge where he became as prominent
as his father had been in Mendon. He held the
various town offices. Among his . children were :
Caleb, died at Harvard College in 1756; Bazaleel,
a prominent citizen, soldier in the revolution; Joel,
born 1747-48, see forward.
(IV) Joel Taft, son of Captain Josiah Taft (3),
was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1747-48, and
settled there. Among his children was Joel.
(V) Joel Taft, son of Joel Taft (4), was bom
on the old homestead at Uxbridge, Massachusetts,
in 1766. He married Chloe Fisher in 1789, and they
bad among others a son John, born June 22, 1797.
(VI) John Taft,. son of Joel Taft (5), was born
in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, June 22, 1797. He re
ceived a good education in the public schools and
In New Salem Academy. He married, April 18,
1826, Lurenza Newton, daughter of Josiah New
ton, a resident of Hubbardston,' Massachusetts. John
Taft died at Petersham in 1834, leaving a widow and
two sons. Mrs. Taft married (second) Captain

Sewall Moulton, of Hubbardston. The children of
John and Lurenza (Newton) Taft were: Alonzo;
and Lyman Josiah, see forward.
(VII) Lyman Josiah Taft, son of John Taft
(6), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 10, 1829, and died in Worcester, February 24,
1878. His father died when he was very young and
after his mother married again his stepfather and
he did not get along well together. The boy had a
taste for books and study; the stepfather expected
him to be content with a single term in the dis
trict school of Hubbardston, and when the boy studied
at home by candle light the stepfather interfered
and forbade him the use of candles. He then re
sorted to pine knots for light and the woods for his
school room. Here he was not molested, but the
strain on his eyes weakened them and later prob
ably caused them to fail him. He went to the
Westminster Academy and offered to work for
his tuition. He made the arrangement and then his
mother saw to it that each week when he came
home he should take a week's supply of provisions
back with him. He made rapid progress in his
studies, especially in the classics, but after two
years his eyes failed him and were so bad that he
had to stay in a darkened room to save them. He
gave up further study and was never able to read
much afterward. This misfortune made a prosperous
business man out of a promising scholar.
First Mr. Taft decided to follow the example of
Richard 'H. Dana, who was a common sailor for
two years when a young man, and who detailed his
adventures in a fascinating book "Two Years be
fore the Mast." Mr. Taft went to sea. He made
voyages to South America and the Pacific and ac
cepted every chance to study navigation. His progress
was so rapid that when at the end of two years the
ship's captain and mate both died in New Orleans,
he was able to assume command and he brought
the ship to its home port in safety. He visited his
mother at Hubbardston and then came on foot to
Worcester to look for work. He got a position in
a railroad restaurant, not being able to take employ
ment requiring much strain on the eyes. He found
the work congenial, and made many friends among
the traveling public as well as in Worcester. He
decided to follow this business on his own account.
He established a restaurant and became a prosperous
business man in Worcester. He soon acquired a
competence. His partners were Charles H. Rice and
Frank Harrington, and their store at 233 Main
street was run under the name of Taft, Rice &
Harrington. He extended his business to include the
railroad restaurant in the Union station. He built
a five-story building in which he located his busi
ness; he purchased other real estate in Worcester
and invested his money to advantage. In 1868 he
was able to retire from active business, leaving his
business interests in the hands of partners. At
that time he was one of the foremost citizens of
Worcester. He traveled extensively in the South
and elsewhere. In 1876 he sold out all his business
interests and two years later died as universally re
gretted as any man of his day in Worcester. He
was still in the prime of life and had reason to
expect many more years of life. Although his career
would probably have been professional if his eyes
had been stronger, he found much to occupy his
mental gifts in his business career. The purity of
his life and the nobility of his character were an
example to all about him. The following resolu
tion passed by some of his associates expresses the
esteem and appreciation for him: "To an unusual
degree Mr. Taft mingled devoutness of spirit with
strong, practical good sense. Modest and retiring

224

WORCESTER COUNTY

to a fault, yet he was never afraid nor ashamed to
speak out the faith that was in him when occasion
called. "As a Christian man he merited and re
ceived the respect of all who knew him. Kind to
the poor, a helper of the needy in their distress,
ever ready to respond according to the measure of
his ability to calls fpr help, he failed not to adorn
the doctrines of Christ in all things. He rests from
his labors and his works do follow him." He was
brought up in the Congregational church, but later
joined the Episcopal church when it was located in
Pearl street. He was a vestryman and helped build
the present edifice of All Saints Church. He mar
ried Mary Augusta Roper, daughter of Ephraim and
Eunice (Richardson) Roper, of Templeton, Massa
chusetts. She was born at Templeton October 21,
1832, married December 12, 1854.
Ephraim Roper was the son of Manasseh and
Lucy (Livermore) Roper, born at Sterling, Massa
chusetts, September 17, 1799, married . at Sterling,
July 10, 1821, Eunice Swan Richardson, born Barre,
Vermont, May 30, 1799, daughter of Asa and Mary
(Stuart) Richardson, and granddaughter of Captain
Benjamin Richardson. Ephraim Roper settled in
Templeton. He was the first overseer of the town
farm. He had eight children. Manasseh Roper,
father of Ephraim, was born in Sterling May 26,
17S2. He married at Princeton, November 25, 1790,'
Lucy Livermore, born Weston, November 25, 1760.
He was a soldier in the revolution. He lived on
the homestead in Sterling. He had seven children.
Ephraim Roper, father of Manasseh Roper, was
born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, October 21, 1716.
He married, April 8, 1748, Michal, daughter of Ben
jamin and Zerviah Houghton. She was born June
22, 1725, and died December 31, 1816. He died De
cember 5, 1793. They had eleven children. Mr.
Roper was the founder of the Sterling branch of the
Roper family.
Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim
•Roper, was born in Sudbury,, Massachusetts, about
1714. He married Sybilla Moore, who was born in
Sudbury September 2, 1694. He was captive among
the Indians 1697-9. He lived in Sudbury and Wor
cester, Massachusetts, where he was a farmer. He
was accidentally killed in the woods February 16,
1730. He had ten children,, the records of only two
being known — Ephraim and Daniel, who founded the
Rutland family of his name.
Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim
Roper, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 23, 1644. He married (first) Priscilla — — . He
was a farmer, and settled in Lancaster. His eldest
daughter, Priscilla, the only child born in Dedham,
and his wife Priscilla were killed by the Indians
February 10, 1676. He married (second) at Concord,
November 20, 1677, Mrs. Hannah Goble, of Con
cord. Both husband and wife were killed in the
second massacre at Lancaster, September 11, 1697,
and also the third daughter. He was the father of
six children, the last five being born in Concord.
John Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim
Roper, was born probably in Buckingham, England,
161 1. He married Alice  ,born 1614. They prob
ably came on the ship "Rose" of Yarmouth. He
was admitted a freeman at Dedham, Massachusetts,
June 2, 1641. He resided in Charlestown and Lan
caster, and was selectman in the latter place. He
¦ was massacred by the Indians March 26, 1676. Alice.
his widow, married (second) at Charlestown, April
ia, 1681, John Dickinson, and resided at Salisbury,
Massachusetts. She married (third) 1684, William
Allen. She died there April 1, 1687. John and Alice
Roper had eight children.
John Roper, father of the preceding John Roper,

lived in New Buckingham, Norfolk county, England,
born about 1588. He sailed with his family to New
England in 1637, and settled in August of that year
in Dedham, Massachusetts. Two of the children are
known : John, Jr., mentioned above, and Walter, born
1614, married Susan  .
Mrs. Taft came from a sturdy race. Her an
cestors fought in the early wars and many of them
lost their lives. Mrs. Taft lives at 2 Congress street,
where she has liv^d for over forty years'.
The children of Lyman Josiah and Mary Au
gusta (Roper) Taft were: Marion Lurenza, bom
October 23, 1855, died May 4, 1879; Ella Lillie, Jan
uary 17, 1858, married in 1900, Archibald Blinn;
they reside in Mavilette, Nova Scotia; Frank Wil
fred, January 11, 1862, died April 6, 1864; Waiter
Stuart, November 17, 1863, died April 9, 1864;
Georgia Frances, February 1, 1867, died August 28,
1867; Charles Lyman, January 9, 1870, died July
25, 1888, at Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts.
CLARENCE WHITMAN HOBBS. Jeremiah
Hobbs (1), born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, June
14, 1747, removed to Norway, Maine, with the first
settlers. Eight children and his wife came also
soon afterward. Part of the town of Norway was
formerly called Rustfield from the fact that the land
was owned by Henry Rust, of Salem, Massachusetts.
In 1786 five settlers came to form a colony at Nor
way. They were Jeremiah Hobbs, Amos Hobbs, his
brother, Joseph Stevens, Jonas Stevens and George
Lessley (Leslie), all from the town of Gray, Maine.
The records do not show that they stayed at Gray
for any length of time. They felled trees and
cleared land in what they supposed was the Rust
land. By mistake Jeremiah Hobbs cleared a lot
in the Cummings purchase, which was later incor
porated in the town of Norway, however. His lot
is east of the present location of the Congregational
Church. The five pioneers built their little Houses
next spring; each of these houses were of the same
style, sixteen by twenty-seven feet. They were clap-
boarded with pine rift clap-boards, nailed on the stud
ding, and the roofs were covered with long shingles
similar to those still used in some remote places in
New England and the provinces. The chimneys were
tooped out with what was called "Catting" — laying
up split sticks cob-house fashion, in clay mortar
mixed with straw chopped fine . to make it adhere.
The floors were of bass wood planks, hewed out with
axes. Each of the five had a board sawed at Jack
son's saw mill in Paris, Maine, out of which to
make a door. Most of the window panes were made
of paper oiled to make it weather-proof and
translucent. The houses were occupied in the spring
of 1787, as soon as they were ready. The families
stayed that winter at Shepardsfield, now Hebron,
and Oxford, to be nearer their new homes where
the men were preparing the land and houses.
Jeremiah Hobbs moved his wife and eight chil
dren to Norway about September I, 1787. Amos
Hobbs had moved June 1, in the same year. The
first marriage in the town of Norway, Maine, was
that of Miriam Hobbs, daughter of Jeremiah Hobbs,
to Nathan Foster, May 17, 1791, and the third was
another daughter, Olive Hobbs, to Joel Stevens,
one of the pioneers. Lydia Hobbs, the only child
of Jeremiah Hobbs, the pioneer,, to be born in Nor
way, was one of the first children born in the town.
Jeremiah Hobbs married about 1770, Anna Fow
ler, who was born in Kittery, Maine, October 20,
1746. died June 18, 1824. He died June 17, 1814-
Their children were: Olive, born May 30, 1771,
married Joel Stevens, third wife; Miriam, July I7>
1772, married, May 17, 1791, Nathan Foster;

WORCESTER COUNTY

Wealthy, February io, 1774, died April, 1845; mar
ried John Daniels, Jr., of Paris, Maine; Anna,
March 15, 1776. died 1849; "married Deacon John
Horr; Daniel, September 17, 1778, was on list of
those coming to Norway in 1797, probably had lived
there most of the time ; married Sarah Noyes, daugh
ter of Bela Noyes; William, April 2, 1780, died Feb
ruary 19, 1845; settled in Norway in 1802, married
Catherine Wetherby, kept a general store at Nor
way; Sally, January 8, 1782, died February 15,
1850; married Nathan Foster; Jeremiah, January 17,
1785, died February 15, 1850; married Anna Frost;
Lvdi'a, bom in Norway, Maine, August 20, 1789, died
April 25, 1813. (In 1807 Jeremiah Hobbs, Jr.,. and
Jeremiah Hobbs, 3d, are mentioned as coming to
Norway. They were probably Jeremiah, Jr., here
mentioned and a son of Amos Hobbs, named Jere
miah, about the same age.)
Amos Hobbs, mentioned above, the brother of
Jeremiah, was born in Hopkinton. Massachusetts, in
1761, and came to Norway, Maine, with the first
settlers. He married Lucy Robinson, who died in
Norway, September 7, 1S48, aged eighty-nine years.
They had eight children and have many descendants.
(II) William Hobbs, son of Jeremiah Hobbs (1),
was born probably in Maine. April 2, 1780, died
February 19, 1845. He married, June 7, 1808, Cath
erine Wetherbee or Weterby. He settled in Nor
way and kept one of the first general stores in that
town; bis place was near what is now the centre
of the village. He was a prominent man in the
vicinity, and active in town affairs. His children
were: Charlotte Sophronia. born October 29. 1808,
married Dr. Nathaniel Grant, removed to Ossipee,
New Hampshire; William Whitman. May 20, 1810,
married Sarah Farrington Merrill, daughter of
Ezekiel Merrill, first settler of Andover, Maine, said
to be from Andover, Massachusetts; Jeremiah
Wellington, June 8. 1814, married Fanny O. Green
leaf; Charles Leslie, June 10, 1816, died May 16,
1834; Henry Hill, March 13, "1821, married Sarah
Moulton; Milton Wilkins, April 30, 1823, married
Mrs. Louisa Mudgett, resided in Boston; Cornelius
Washington, June 5, 1826, married Lucy J. Hobbs,
daughter of Robinson Hobbs.
(HI) William Whitman Hobbs, son of William
Hobbs (2), was born at Norway, Maine, May 20,
1810. He received a good education at first class
schools and an academy, and for several years de
voted himself to teaching, for which he had a special
aptitude. He taught schools at Paris Hill, Augusta,
Andover and others places in Maine, and with in
variable success. While teaching at Andover, Maine,
he first met Sarah Farrington Merrill, whom he
married June 17, 1840. She was the daughter of
Deacon Ezekiel Merrill, who was the oldest son of
the first settler of the town of Andover, Maine.
Mr. Hobbs settled at Norway after his marriage
and conducted a farm there. In 1849 Mr. Hobbs
caught the gold fever and was captain of a com
pany which crossed the continent He remained in
the gold fields of California about two years. When
he returned he settled on the old homestead in
N'Drway and greatly improved it. He was select
man in 1850 and representative in the legislature
in 1865. For many years he was deputy sheriff in
his county, and he was well known to all the
lawyers, jurors and others attending the courts at
Paris, the county seat He was appointed to a
department position in Washington, but after two
years resigned on account of his dislike for Wash
ington life. He moved to Minnesota and engaged
in business there. He was liberally endowed phy
sically and mentally, and had great energy and pub
lic spirit. He died in Minnesota in 1876.
15

The children of William Whitman and Sarah F.
(Merrill) Hobbs were: Adela Sophronia, born July
12, 1842, married, April 18, 1867, John Milton Adams,
of Portland, Maine, and settled at Deering, Maine ;
their children are: Susan Merrill, Sarah Whit
man, John Milton, Adele, Charles; Martha Ellen,
born July 4, 1844, married, December 2, 1872, Alvin
S. Wilcox, and have one son: Roger Merrill Wil
cox; Sarah Frances, born June 11, 1847, died Sep
tember 10. 1851 ; Clarence Whitman, born June 27,
1852. (IV) Clarence Whitman Hobbs, son of William
Whitman Hobbs (3), was born in Norway, Maine,
January 27. 1852. He was educated in the schools
of his native town. He began his business life in
the office of the Daily Eastern Argus of Portland,
Maine, ih 1870. He soon afterward entered the First
National Bank as clerk, and filled various positions
there for two years. This experience has been ex
tremely valuable to him in his subsequent career
as a manufacturer and man of business. He started
in business at Lynn, Massachusetts, manufacturing
paper boxes in 1883. The business was run under
the name of the New England Paper Box Co. and
proved successful. He sold his interests in 1888
and removed to Boston. In 1891 he went to Wor
cester and organized the Hobbs Manufacturing Com
pany with Richard Sugden and Harry W. Goddard,
of the Spencer Wire Company. In 1894 Mr. Sugden
died. The Hobbs Manufacturing Company started
on Union street to make paper box machinery, the
value of wliich Mr. Hobbs had seen in his busi
ness in Lynn. In 1895 the Hobbs Manufacturing
Company was incorporated, and in 1903 bought the
business of Wintherby, Rugg &.Richardson and their
factory at 26 Salisbury street (See sketches in this
work of Seneca M. Richardson and Gilbert J. Rugg
for history of the firm.) Another large brick build
ing was constructed. The president of the corpora
tion is Mr. Hobbs, the treasurer Harry W. Goddard
and the other director is J. Philip Bird. Besides the
paper box machinery and the wood working ma
chinery made by the company, some envelope making
machinery is built With the four story addition
on Prescott street the company now has sixty-five
thousand feet of floor space. The new building is
one hundred and twenty-five by sixty feet, four
stories high and adjoins the old building.
There has been a systematic and very success
ful effort made for the past fifteen years to improve
the machinery turned out by this concern. New
patents and devices have added to the simplicity and
efficiency of the machines. The paper box machines
of 1891 are crude affairs compared with those of
the present day. These machines find a market in
all parts of the world. They are made to be as
nearly automatic as possible and capable of many
adjustments for various sizes and styles of paper
boxes. The Hobbs Manufacturing Co. has the
reputation among those in the business of bringing
out new machines ahead of all their competitors.
The experimentation goes on constantly. In the
summer of 1906 Mr. Hobbs says there are no less
than six new machines in preparation for tbe paper
box making business. The regular force at present
is about one hundred and thirty hands, and tbe busi
ness of the company gives the best of promises for
future growth and expansion.
Mr. Hobbs belongs in the list of Worcester manu
facturers who have built up new industries by nis
shrewdness and energy. He has" made two paper
boxes grow where only one was used before his
time. His company is turning out better wood
working machinery than ever before. Mr. Hobbs
has devoted himself almost exclusively to his busk

226

WORCESTER COUNTY

ness, which has naturally made great demands upon
him. He is a member of the Commonwealth Club
and of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican
in politics. He is a member of Central Congrega
tional church, Worcester. »
He married, June 13, 1877, Marion Blanchard
Twitchell, daughter of Samuel B. and Malvina A.
(Chapman) Twitchell, of Bethel, Maine. Their
children are: 1. Clarence Whitman, Jr., born Octo
ber 1, 1878, educated in the Worcester schools and
at Harvard College, graduated 1902, from the law
school in 1904, practicing law in Worcester. 2.
Samuel Twitchell, born in Portland, Maine, October
29, 1880, a graduate of Harvard College, 1903, Mas
ter of Arts, 1904, salesman for Hobbs Manufacturing
Co. Both sons live at home, 12 Westland street.
THE WHITMAN FAMILY. John Whitman
(1), one of the earliest settlers of the town of
Weymouth, Massachusetts., is an emigrant ancestor
of Clarence Whitman Hobbs, of Worcester, and of
nearly all bearing the name of Whitman in this
country, as well as an equal number, at least, bear
ing others names, in this country.
He came from England, but from what particular
part of it has not been ascertained. He may have
come from Holt in the county of Norfolk. The name
of Whitman or Whiteman was common there, and
he may have been attracted to a colony in New
England where old friends were to be found. Gov
ernor Winthrop and his company came from the vicin
ity of Holt and settled Weymouth, Massachusetts.
Mr. Whitman probably came to New England some
years prior to 1638. He was made a freeman March
13, 1638-9, was a town officer of Weymouth in 1643,
and was appointed an ensign by the governor in
1645. He was probably the first military officer in
the town of Weymouth. At the same time, May
14, 1645. he was made the magistrate of the town,
a commissioner to end small causes, as the office
was termed. He was also deacon of the church
there probably from its foundation, and until his
death, November 13, 1692.
He was probably nearly ninety when he died,
as the youngest of his nine children was born in
1644 and the eldest son was born in 1629, while some
of the daughters may have been older. It is sup
posed that he was married in England about 1625.
The family did not follow the father to Weymouth
until 1 641. He had a brother Zachariah who emi
grated at the time he did or soon afterward and
settled in Milford, Connecticut, as early as 1639.
His estate at Milford was bequeathed to Rev.
Zechariah Whitman, son of his brother, John Whit
man, of Weymouth. The records according to Pope's
Pioneers show that Zachariah, aged forty, came with
his wife Sarah, aged thirty-five, and child Zachariah,
aged two and one-half, in the "Elizabeth" from Wey
mouth, England, April 11, 1635.
Robert Whitman, aged twenty, from the parish
of Little Minories, England, came in the "Abigail"
in June, 1635. and settled at Ipswich. It is not
1<nown that he was a relative. The fact that
Zachariah and Robert Whitman came in 1635 makes
at probable that John came also in that year.
John Whitman owned and lived upon a farm ad
joining the north side of the highway, leading by
the north side of the meeting house of the north
parish of Weymouth arid directly against it, and
extending to Weymouth river. His dwelling house
was near the middle of the farm and a part of the
house now on the place was built about 1680; if this
date is correct it was occupied by the emigrant an
cestor. The farm until 1830 was owned by a de
scendant. He had many grants of land and must

have become by purchase and otherwise the largest
land-holder or one of. the largest in the town. He
held the office of ensign until March r6, 1680. May
15, 1664, he was appointed a messenger to the In
dians and held other positions of trust in the colony.
The children of Joh'n Whitman (1) were:
Thomas, born about 1629, died 1712, married Abigail
Byram, settled at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. John,
died February I, 1713. Zechariah, born 1644, died
November 5, 1726, married Ruth Reed, settled at
Weymouth. Abiah, born 1646, died January 28,
1727-8; inherited the homestead, admitted freeman
October 12, 1681 ; married Mary Ford, daughter, of
Andrew Ford, had seven children. Sarah, mar
ried about .1653, Abraham Jones, son of Thomas
Jones, the tailor, of Hingman; she was probably
the eldest child; they lived together sixty-five years
lacking a month or two; she died June 11, 1718;
they resided at Hull. Mary, born 1634, died July
10, 1716; married, November 22, 1656, John Pratt.
Elizabeth, died February 2, 172b; married, May, 1657,
Joseph Green. Hannah, born August 24, 1641, mar
ried, September 9, 1660, Stephen French. Judith,
married Philip King.
(II) Rev. Zechariah Whitman, son of John Whit
man (1), was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, '
1644. He graduated at Harvard University in 1668,
and was ordained September 13, 1670, as the first
minister of Point Alderton, Nantasket or Hull, with
the munificent salary of forty pounds per' annum.
Marmaduke Matthews had been preaching at Hull,
but for "several erroneous expressions" was ad
monished by the government, which would not grant
the desire of his people to have him return.
The young minister, soon after his ordination,
married Sarah Alcock, twin of Anna, daughter oi
Dr. John, Alcock (H. U. 1646) of Roxbury.; The
contract of marriage was dated October 26, 1670.
He was admitted a freeman in May, 1673. At the
death of his uncle, Zachariah Whitman, of Milford,
Connecticut, in 1666, he inherited the property and
in the right of his wife had a -considerable property
at Stow, Massachusetts. Mr. Whitman continued
minister of the Hull church until his death, though
November 24, 1725, he had a colleague, Ezra Car
penter (H. U. 1720) ordained. Mr. Whitman died
November 5, 1726. The preceding August the town
voted 'to pay to his children twenty-five pounds a year
for his maintenance while he lived and did not
preach. His wife died April 3, 1715, aged sixty-
five years, according to her gravestone.
Mr. Whitman was a good scholar and penman
and wrote most of the wills and legal papers in Hull.
According to the Boston News Letter in which his
obituary was published December 15, 1726: "he was
well esteemed for his natural and acquired accom
plishments; but especially for steady piety, diligent
zeal and faithfulness in the discharge of .his pastoral
office ; the exemplariness of his conversation ; and
his patience and submission to the will of God under
his afflictions." By his will, made June 12, 1725,
and proved December 16, 1726, he confirms the
grants of land already made to his_ sons_ and daugh
ters and names various heirs. His children were:
Zechariah, born 1672, died 1752, aged eighty; mar
ried (first), January 6, 1702-3, Mrs. Sarah Fitch,
who died November 27, 1705; he married (second)
Damaris Carmen, who died November 27, 1705-6;
married (third) Hannah  : he received from his
father the Milford estate and he removed to Mil
ford about 1700. John, born 1674, died February
22,- 1684; his gravestone was evidently inscribed
by Rev. Zechariah, his father, and is the oldest stone
in the graveyard. Joanna, born at Hull, married
Ephraim or John Hunt, and resided in Boston.

WORCESTER COUNTY

227

Rev. Samuel, born 1677, died July 31, 1751, aged
seventy-five years ; graduated at Harvard in 1696
and is said to have been a tutor- there for a short
time. He occasionally preached at Lancaster, Massa
chusetts, between 1697- 1701. In 1699 he was the
teacher of the grammar school at Salem, later the
minister at Farmington, Connecticut, at that time
one of the largest towns in Connecticut. Ordained
December 10, 1706. He married, March 19, 1707,
Sarah Stoddard, daughter of Rev. Solomon and
Esther (Warham) Stoddard, of Northampton, by
whom he had a large family. He was a fellow of
Yale College in 1726, a position he retained for more
than twenty years; he died Juy 31, 1751. Sarah,
married (first)  Cocks ; (second) Lieutenant
Robert Gould, Sr., of Hull, his third wife. She
lived with and took care of her father until, his
death, he having deeded her his homestead, to take
effect upon his decease ; she died at Hull, September
29, 1784. Elizabeth, died at Hull, November 19,
17,08. John, born 1688, died August 3, 1772, aged
eighty-five years. Mary, married, ¦ October 22, 1713,
Nathaniel Jacobs, of Hull. Eunice, born April 10,
1696, died October 5, 1734.
(Ill) John Whitman, son of Rev. Zechariah
¦ Whitman (2), was born in 1688, married Mary
Graves, of Charlestown. She died November 24,
1716, aged seventeen years, nine months. He mar
ried (second) Dorcas Chitty, widow of Thomas
Chitty and daughter of Captain Jacob Green, of
Charlestown, Massachusetts. She died October 18,
1718, aged thirty-four. He married (third) Mar
garet Damon, widow of John Damon, of Charles
town, and daughter of Rev. John Clark. She died
October 16, 1758, aged sixty-six years. He was a
magistrate, deacon of the church and one of the
wealthiest and mo,st influential men of the town.
He received by deed and inheritance from his father
a large tract of land at Stow, Massachusetts, Eind set
tled there. He also received from his second wife
and her brother a considerable property. He died
August 3, 1772, aged eighty-four. By his will dated
October 15, 1757, proved September 8, 1772, he made
his son, Charles Whitman, residuary legatee and
sole executor, directing him to support and manumit
a negro servant named Boston. His children were:
1. Jacob, born November 16, 1716, died May 10,
1802, aged eighty-six; married Hannah Hartshorn,
daughter of Jacob and Martha Hartshorn, of Boston ;
he settled at Bristol, Rhode Island, about 1745; he
was a blacksmith by trade and especially skilled in
making iron work for ships ; was thrice elected
deputy to the general assembly of Rhode. Island ; was
member of the town council from 1769 to 1773 ; was
appointed in 1778 by the general assembly general
sealer of weights and measures within and through
out the state. He left a large and valuable estate,
some of which is now or recently was owned by his
descendants ; he subscribed toward the building fund
for the college edifice and president's house of
Brown University. He had thirteen children. 2.
John, born September 21, 1717, died September 12,
1763; married, February 6, 174.7, Mary Foster,
daughter of Rev. Mr. Foster, of Stafford, Connecti
cut. He went to Nova Scotia in June, 1761, with
forty-five others in the ' sloop "Charming Molly,"
hut he died before the settlers received their grants
•of land, his share being distributed among his sons.
He was deacon of the church at Stow, and left
considerable real estate. He had eleven children.
His widow married (second) Samuel Bancroft,
brother of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, of Worcester, and
is said to have several children by this marriage. 3.
Lucy, born January I, 1718-9, married  Harris.
4- Thomas, born March 18, 1720, was a physician,

died unmarried before his father. 5. Zechariah, born
November 18, 1722, died January 14, 1793; mar
ried Elizabeth Gates, settled upon a part of his
father's lands, and had fifteen children, all of whom
survived their parents and were married. 6. Jean,
born November 25, 1724, probably died without issue
before her father. 7. Charles, born 1731, died De
cember 10, 1807, aged seventy-six.
(IV) Dr. Charles Whitman, son of John Whitman
(3),, was born at Stow, Massachusetts, 1731. He
studied medicine, settled in his native town and
practiced his profession for nearly fifty years. His
first wife was Anna Stevens, a direct descendant of
Pocahontas. She died in 1785 and the next year
he married Mrs. Catherine -Davis Swift, widow of
the Rev. Dr. Swift, of Billerica, Massachusetts. He
died December 10, 1807, aged seventy-six. His
widow died September 28, 1834, aged eighty-seven.
He had eleven children, all by his first wife. He
was a man of great dignity of manner and fastidious
about his dress. He always wore a long, dark green
coat with silver buttons, silver knee buckles, his cue
tied with ribbons three yards and a half in length.
He was a man of great influence and much respected
in the vicinity.
The children of Dr. Charles Whitman were: 1.
Isaac, born August 13, 1758, died October 24, 1758.
2. Isaac, born February 16, 1760, died August 15,
1791, aged thirty-one ; married, July 1, 1781, Susanna
Gates. 3. Catherine, born April 30, 1761. 4. Eunice,
born November 30, 1762, died March 11, 181 1, and
married John Russell, Jr., son of John and Abigail
(Hildreth) Russell; married (second),. November
2, 1801, Dr. Martin Howe, son of Adonijah and
Lydia (Church) Howe, who practices in Barre and
Boston; the Russell homestead was at Princeton,
Massachusetts. 5. Lois, born May 17, 1765, died
October 17, 1778. 6. Dorcas, born April 7, 1767,
died July 11, 1844, aged seventy-seven years; married,
April 20, 1788, Dr. Isaiah Whitney, who settled at
Rindge, New Hampshire; had ten children; she was
drowned by the upsetting of a coach near Burling
ton, Vermont. 7. Hannah, born February 11, 1769,
died June 23, 1784. 8. Jane, born April 8, 1771,
died December, 1858, aged eighty-seven years; mar
ried, September 25, 1794, Captain Moses Todd, a
farmer and inn-holder, first postmaster of Rindge,
New Hampshire; often town officer; removed to
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1833; had nine chil
dren. 9. Charles (twin) born April 28, 1773, died
September 24, 1846; married, 1798, Charlotte Wood,
who died June 8. 1836; married (second), March
26, 1840, Lydia Whitnay, daughter of Jacob and
Esther Whitnay ; studied medicine with Dr. Eldridge,
father of the first husband of "Fanny Fern ;" he in
herited a large estate and his father's professional
practice; he represented the town in the general
court six years ; in 1802 was appointed surgeon to
the Second Regiment of militia; had six children.
10. Betty (twin) born April 28, 1773, died Octo
ber 6, 1778. 11. Anna, born December 12, 1787, died
November 21, 1868; married, August 30, 1805, Benja
min Hapgood, of Marlboro, Massachusetts, where
they resided for fifteen years, then settled in Stow;
she married (second), December 20, 1842, Deacon
Josiah Whitman, son of Deacon John and Abigail
(Whitman) Whitman, removed to Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, where she died November 21, 1868,
aged eighty years; had ten children by first mar
riage. (V) Catherine Whitman, daughter of Charles
Whitman (4), was born April 30, 1761. She mar
ried. June 10. 1780. Judah Wetherbee, son of Silas
and Betsey Wetherbee. He was born in Stow about
April 13, 1755, died in Stow about December, 1835.

228

WORCESTER COUNTY

They resided for a time in Stow, then removed to
Waterford, Maine. She died in Boston about 1843.
Their children were: 1. Charles Wetherbee, born
November 30, 1781, said to have married and died
in New York city about 1825. 2. Betsey Wetherbee,
born March 8, 1783, died about 1833 unmarried at
Marlboro. 3. Amelia Wetherbee, born December
4, 1784, married, September 17, 1810, Darius Wilkins,
born February 26, 1774, ' died November 23, 1858;
she died June 23,, 1843; resided at Norway, Maine,
had five children. 4. Catherine Wetherbee, born
May 26, 1787, married William Hobbs. 5. Charlotte
Wetherbee, born June 20, 1789, married Henry Hill,
died at Providence, Rhode Island. 6. Jane Whit
man Wetherbee, born January 28, 1791, married at
Norway, Maine, March 16, 1813, David Fowler, son
of John Fowler, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, deputy
sheriff; she died August 16, 1866, aged seventy-five
years ; had four children. 7. Judah Wetherbee, born
at Stow, Massachusetts, July 19, 1794, married (first),
January 4, 1821, Miranda Russell ; married (second)
at Dedham, Massachusetts, November 28, 1833, Mary
Draper Kingsbury, daughter of Dr. Ezekiel, and
Mary (Draper) Kingsbury; he served in the war
of 1812; resided till 1803 in Stow, then removed to
Charlestown; provision dealer in Quincy market,
1 Boston, also milk dealer; died in Charlestown, Jan
uary 7, 1869; widow died after 1889; had ten chil
dren. 8. Isaac Wetherbee, born July 17, 1797, mar
ried, September, 1818, Sophia Greene, daughter of
Barnabas and Mary Greene; he died at Lawrence,.
Massachusetts, July 18, 1868; she was living in
1889, at Lawrence. 9. Jacob Wetherbee, born August
19, 1798, died young. 10. Ann S. Wetherell, born
November 17, 1799, married in Stow about 1827
Charles Newell; resided in Florida; she died in
Nashville, Tennessee, December 8, 1872. 11. Mary
Wetherbee, born August 12, 1803, married (first)
John Hunter; married (second), 1837, Charles Whit
man Hapgood, son. of Benjamin and Anna (Whit
man) Hapgodd; she died August, 1850.
(VI) Catherine Wetherbee, daughter of Judah
and Catherine (Whitman). Wetherbee (5), was born
May 26, 1787. She married, January 17, 1807, Will
iam Hobbs, son of Jeremiah and Anne (Fowler)
Hobbs. He was born April 2, 1781, and died Feb
ruary 19, 1843. They settled at Norway, Maine.
She died in 1864. Their children were all born in
Norway, Maine. (See sketch of Hobbs Family.)
JAMES EDWIN WESSON. John Wesson (1),
of Salem, Massachusetts, the- earliest American an
cestor of James Edwin Wesson, of Worcester, was
the progenitor of many if not all the Massachusetts
families of that name, as well as of those known as
Weston, the patronymic appearing in both these
forms. The family originated in England, whither
came its founder with William the Conqueror, from
whom he received valuable estates in Staffordshire
and elsewhere in England.
John Wesson was born in 1630 or 1631, in Buck
inghamshire, England, and died about 1723, aged
over ninety years. About 1644, when Only thirteen
years old, his father being dead, he sailed as a
stowaway in a ship bound for America. He settled
in Salem, Massachusetts, where in 1648, at the age
of eighteen, he was a member of the First church.
About 1653 he removed to that part of Reading now
known as Wakefield, and accumulated one of the
largest estates in the town, his lands adjoining the
Meeting House square and extending southerly. He
was a Puritan, very earnest in his piety, and his
gravestone in the Reading graveyard shows, that he
was one of the founders of the church there. He
served in King Philip's war. In 1653 he married

Sarah, daughter of Zachariah Fitch, of Reading, and
this is the first marriage there of which record
exists. He had at least eight children, four sons
among them, each of whom became the head of a
family,, and has many descendants in all parts of the
country. His children were : 1. Sarah, born July
15, 1656; baptized May 10, 1657. 2. Mary, born
May 25, 1659; probably died young. 3. John, born
March 8, 1661 ; baptized August 29, 1661 ; married
Mary Bryant, 1684, and had twelve children; lived
at Reading, Massachusetts., 4. Elizabeth, born at
Reading; baptized October, 1663. 5. Samuel, (see
forward). 6. Stephen, born 1667; was a pious, in
dustrious man; had a farm in Reading where he died
in 1753, aged nearly ninety. (Stephen, his son, be
came the owner of a farm in Wilmington, Massa
chusetts, deacon of the church and a leading citi
zen; died 1776, aged eighty-one years; left many
descendants.) 7. Thomas, born 1670; married Sarah
Townsend, and is the ancestor of the Weston fam
ilies in New Hampshire. The facts herein given
with reference to John Wesson are from a manu
script record left by his son John.
(II) Samuel Wesson, son. of John Wesson (1),
was born at Reading, Massachusetts, 1665, His
name usually appears as Weston. He married
Abigail — :  , about 1688 and settled at Read
ing. Their children were: Abigail, born 1689;
Samuel, (see forward).
(Ill) Samuel Wesson, son of Samuel Wesson
(2), was born in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1690,
and went to Framingham, in 171 1, when he was
twenty-one years old, and there married, May 7, 171 1,
Martha, daughter of Nathaniel Haven, granddaugh
ter of Richard Haven, of Lynn,- who came, over in
1645. In 1713 Samuel died, and his widow married
Isaac Cousins, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 12, 1745-46; she died the following year, at her
home in* Sherborn. The one child of Samuel and
Martha (Haven) Wesson was : John (see for
ward). (IV) John Wesson, born in Framingham, Mass
achusetts, December 1, 1711. He married . Ruth
Death, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, an adjoining
town, January 22, 1740/ She was born April 20,
1711, daughter of Henry and Rachel (Leland)
Death, her father being the son of John, who came
from Natick to Sherborn in 1677-78; John Wesson
probably lived at Framingham until after the death,
of his mother in 1746. He moved to Grafton, Mass
achusetts, near the Sutton and Worcester lines as
early as 1749. He bought of John Gould nine
acres in Sutton in 1749, and several other tracts of
land in the neighborhood, owning land in Grafton,
Worcester, and Sutton, in that part now Millbury,
but part of which was annexed to Worcester in
1785, called the "Gore." He was a revolutionary
soldier in the Framingham- company. He was in
Captain Joseph Winch's company, Colonel Samuel
Bullard's regiment in 1777, arid was in the cam
paign under General Gates that ended in the sur
render of Burgoyne. He married (second) Re
becca Daniel, August 24, 1757. The children of John
and Ruth Wesson were : 1. Samuel, born at Sher
born, July 14, 1741 ; he became a revolutionary sol
dier ; married Rebecca  ; died" 1776. 2. Levi.
3. Joel. 4. John, Jr., married Mehitable Elliott. 5-
Abel, married Sarah Drury. 6. Silas; he was one
of twelve soldiers who joined with Major Timothy
Bigelow, of Worcester, and marched to Canada,
where Silas was killed at the attack on Quebec, De
cember 31, 1775.
(V) Joei Wesson, son of John Wesson (4),
was born probably about 1746, at Framingham. He
married Hannah Bigelow, born in Worcester, July

f/^j(^^i^ir JZ^rfrr^-z^r f%t

WORCESTER COUNTY

229

3, 1748, daughter of Joshua and Lydia Bigelow.
They lived for a few years, in the seventies, in
Brookfield, but for the greater part of their lives in
Worcester. He held much real estate, ¦ and paid
one of the largest taxes in that town. He was a
juror in 1785 and on the school committee in 1787.
He was a plow-maker by trade and was in Fram
ingham in 1789, plying his trade there. Hannah, his
widow, died December 29, 1829, aged eighty-two
years. Their children were: 1. Hulda, married
Lewis Witherby, of Shrewsbury. 2. Hannah, mar
ried  Bartlett. 3. Mary, married Charles
Warren, November 16, 1808; she was called Polly.
4. Sewell. ' 5. Joel, Jr., bom April 7, 1775, at Brook
field, Massachusetts; married Thankful Newton, in
Shrewsbury, September 15, 1796; she was born Jan
uary 4, 1778 ; they had two sons : David, married
Anna Burbank, of Worcester, November 1, 1827;
and Andrew, born November 14, 1808, at north
parish of Sutton, now Millbury, who had a son
Frank B., now (1905) of New York city. 6. Rufus,
{see forward).
Joel Wesson and his brothers were the owners
of a large part of "the Gore," which was claimed by
both Worcester and Grafton. Joel was considered
an inhabitant of Grafton until 1785, when the title
of Worcester to the section was acknowledged
formally. A very important deed in tracing this
genealogy is recorded at Worcester. Joel Wesson
and his brother Levi Wesson deeded to their broth
ers, John, Jr. and Samuel, October 24, 1777, certain
lands in "the Gore," and the deed gives the names of
the children of John and Ruth (Death) Wesson.
Joel sold his farm in North Brookfield to his
- brother, John Wesson, June 25, 1789.
(VI) Rufus Wesson, son of Joel Wesson (5),
was born in 1786, in Worcester, on the old home
stead at "the Gore." He was a farmer, and ac
quired much real estate, and bought what is known
as the Wesson place near Lake Quinsigamond,
March 7, 1814, of Lewis Baird. He was also a
plow-maker. He was a highway surveyor and col
lector of taxes in 1825, fence viewer in 1816, and
served in the militia in the Grafton company. He
married, at Worcester, September 18, 1808, Betsey
Baird. She was of a family well known in Wor
cester. The Bairds were from the west of England,
and of earlier date from Scotland. The English and
Scotch pedigrees have been carefully kept. (See
Vol. 1, Proceedings of the Worcester Society of
Antiquity.) Of the children of Rufus and Betsey
Wesson, nine are recorded in Worcester : 1. Cor
nelia, born January 28, 1810; married to H. H. Har
rington, of Shrewsbury, 1833; of her children were
Gilbert H. Harrington, late of Harrington & Rich
ardson Arms Company. (See sketch of Gilbert H.
Harrington elsewhere in this work.) Mrs. Cornelia
(Wesson) Harrington lived to the age of upwards
of ninety years. 2. Martin, married Abigail H.
Green, of Grafton, at Marlboro, January 6, 1840. He
was a shoe manufacturer in Springfield. 3. Edwin,
born December 13, 181 1; married at Marlboro,
Nancy H. Harrington, of Grafton, June 10, 1838.
He was a rifle manufacturer, and operated a fac
tory at NorthborO', and afterward in Hartford, Con
necticut. He died at the age of thirty-nine years.
4. Betsy, born January 26, 1814; married W. H. H.
Conner, of Grafton, October 17, 1844. 5. Rufus, Jr.,
(see forward). 6. Charlotte, born September 3,
1819. 7. Jane, born May 8, 1823. 8. Daniel B.,' (see
forward). 9. Franklin, born November 8, 1828, at
Worcester, Massachusetts. He went to California
in 1851, built, the first brick building in Shasta, and
tliere carried on a large business, being an expert
rifle-maker. 10. Frances, born August 8, 1830.

(VII) Daniel Baird Wesson, who made for him
self world-wide fame as an inventor of the revolver
which bears his name, was a son of Rufus Wesson
(6). He was born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
May 18, 1825. At the age of seventeen, while yet at
school, he began to devote his evenings to making
firearms in Northborough, Massachusetts, under the
direction of his brother Edwin, who died in 1850,
and whose interests he took in charge, and it was
this establishment which turned out the Wesson
rifle, the leading favorite with hunters at that time.
Subsequently, at Norwich, Connecticut, he formed
a partnership with Horace Smith, under the name
of Smith & Wesson, and they established a factory
and made the "volcanic" rifle, a repeater. Mr.
Wesson also invented a metallic cartridge. About
1855 the firm sold their .patent rights to the Volcanic
Repeating Arms Company, now the Winchester
Rifle* Company. Mr. Wesson remained for a time
as superintendent, but in 1857 joined Horace Smith
again, under the firm name of Smith & Wesson, and
began to manufacture revolvers in Springfield, Mass
achusetts. They began in a small shop with about
seventy-five men, making a few thousand arms a
year, but the busineess grew very rapidly, espec
ially after the breaking out of the civil war, and
became enormous. The Smith & Wesson works are
in some respects the largest and most com
plete of the kind in the world. The build
ings and equipment are especially substantial
and complete, and an average force of five
hundred men have been employed for many,
years. The Smith & Wesson revolvers are famous
all over the world, and are the favorite weapon in
some of the foreign armies, as they are in that of
the United States. They received the highest award,
against the competition of the whole world, at the
Exposition in Paris, 1867 ; Moscow, 1872 ; Vienna,
1873; Philadelphia, 1876; Australia, 1880; and at
many of the numerous exhibitions more recently.
Mr. Smith retired from the firm in 1874. Mr.
Wesson admitted to partnership, January 1, 1882,
his son, Walter H., and later his son Joseph, and
these two . are now the active managers of the
business. Mr. Wesson has also been actively identified with
with various other business interests, being a direc
tor in the First National Bank of Springfield, Mass
achusetts, and the Bigelow-Cheney Wire Company,
and was an officer in the water companies of Lead-
ville, Colorado, and Independence, Iowa. He has
borne a prominent part in local affairs, and has gen
erously' contributed of his means to various enter
prises of public worth. He is president of the Oak
Grove Cemetery Association, and a charter member
and vice president of the Hampden County Horti
cultural Society. His broad, public spirit is manifest
in various splendid gifts. With James Kirkland and
Joshua D. Sackett he purchased the magnificent
estate out of which Edgewood Park was made and
opened to the public, and he gave to the city of
Springfield the beautiful Wesson Fountain, de
signed by Gilbert and Thompson. In politics he is
a Republican, and has been an active and influential
advocate of its principles and policies. Mr. Wesson
married, May 26, 1847, Cynthia M. Hawes, of North-
boro. Some years ago he built on the place where
his wife was born, within sight of the little shop in
which he learned to make arms, a residence costing,
it is said, $300,000. The children of Daniel Baird
and Cynthia M. (Hawes) Wesson were : 1. Sarah
Jeanette, married George J. Bull. 2. Walter Her
bert. 3. Frank Luther. 4. Joheph Hawes.
(VII) Rufus Wesson, Jr., son of Rufus Wes
son (6), was born May 17, 1815, at Worcester, Mas-

230

WORCESTER COUNTY

sachusetts. He began work with* his father on the
farm, making plows. In 1844 he engaged in the man
ufacture of shoes in South Shrewsbury, cutting out
the stock and distributing it among farmer-shoe
makers for miles about, as was then the custom.
He built up a large demand for his goods, and in
1848 established his factory on Front street, Wor
cester. Prosperity there attended him, but he de
cided to locate in the west, and in 1851 removed to
Peoria, Illinois, where he engaged in shoe manufac
turing. Suffering financial reverses, in 1854 he re
turned to, Worcester and made a new beginning as
a shoe manufacturer, opening a shop on Waldo
street, nearly opposite the police station, where -he
carried on a successful business until 1870, when he
retired, just before the great change in shoe manu
facture, whereby the shoes were made in large fac
tories by machinery, operated by steam power. He
married Miriam Harrington, July 23, 1840, daughter
of Colonel. Daniel and Zillah Harrington, of Shrews
bury, where they were married. She died in Chi
cago in 185 1. There were two children by this mar
riage: 1. James Edwin, (see forward). 2. Char
lotte Miriam, born April 18, 1845, at Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts; married Charles T. Sherer, the dry
goods dealer, and has a son, Joseph F. Sherer, and
several daughters. Mr. Wesson married, in 185 1,
Mrs. Jennie (Burtnett) Kendrick, of Kenosha, Wis
consin, who died in 1856 without issue. He mar-.
ried (third) in 1858, Sophia Goddard, daughter of
Deacon Nathaniel Goddard, of Millbury, who is now
.(1905) living in Worcester. Their children were:
1. Afred, born July 18, 1863, married Ella Daniels,
and has two sons; is manager for the Woodbury-
Carlton Engraving Company, Walnut street, Wor
cester. 2. Walter Gale, (see forward).
(VIII) James Edwin Wesson, son of Rufus
Wesson, Jr., (7), was born in Grafton, Massachu
setts, June 14, 1841. He was educated in the pub
lic schools of Springfield and Worcester, Massa
chusetts, but at the age of fourteen, at the time
or his father's financial reverses, left school and
went to work with him to build up their fortunes
anew, and the two were thus associated until the son
attained his majority, and learned the shoe manu
facturing business thoroughly, as it was then con
ducted. The father was conservative and disposed
to let well-enough alone, but the son, recognizing
the impending revolution in the shoe business, es
tablished in a small way a business on his own ac
count, in a small room in the same building owned
by his father on Waldo street. It was his purpose,
as soon as possible, to install the most modern ma
chinery and make shoes entirely at the factory. In
a few years, however, all manufacturers were driven
to choose between the large shop and an elaborate
equipment of machinery, or retirement from busi
ness. The senior Wesson retired, and the son,
James E. Wesson, fitted up a larger and more com
pletely equipped shop in the C. C. Houghton build
ing, 105 Front street, Worcester. He had made
an auspicious beginning on Waldo street, and after
five years at the Front street location he moved (in
1874) into a building at 31 Mulberry street, owned
by Samuel Winslow, where he remained for six or
seven years. Finding these quarters inadequate to
the increased demands he leased of Charles Bigelow
the building at 10 Mulberry street, where he con
tinued business for five years. Again the business
had outgrown his facilities, and he again made a
removal (in 1889), this time to the present factory,
corner of Asylum street, then owned by Samuel
Winslow, but which he subsequently purchased from
the Winslow Trust. In 1905 Mr. Wesson received
into partnership his brother, Walter Gale Wesson,

who had been associated with him in the business
and had resided with him for many years. The-
factory is one of the few shoe factories of Worcester
which have been uniformly successful, and has con
stantly extended its business. The building is
40x166 feet, four stories with basement, and in re
cent years has employed two hundred operatives or
more, with a daily capacity of fifteen hundred pairs
of shoe's. An interesting memento of the earlier
days of the industry is to be seen at the factory,
a shoe made in 1854 by Rufus Wesson, Jr.
Mr. Wesson married, January 1, 1865, at Clin
ton, Massachusetts, Anna Endora Stoneberger. (See
forward.) They reside at 7 Linden street, in a
house which was erected by Mr. Wesson's father. One
of the pleasant reminiscences of the family life in the
old mansion was the entertaining at dinner, on the
fortieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. James
Edwin Wesson, the same company that was enter
tained by his father and mother, on that New Year's
eve forty years before, with the exception that, the
father having died, his place was occupied by his
youngest son, Walter Gale Wesson. Otherwise the
personnel "of the company was exactly the same. Mr,
Wesson is a man of domestic tastes, and has but
few interests outside his home, his oniy society con
nection being with Morning Star Lodge, Ancient.
Free and Accepted Masons, the Worcester Club, and
the Tatnuck County Club.
Mrs. James Edwin Wesson, daughter of Adam
and Harriet Newell (Mason) Stonebarger, was
born in DaytOn, Ohio. The early representatives
were called Steinberger and are of Austrian origin.
The founder of the American branch came to this
country in 1767, settling in Frankfort , township,
Cumberland county; Pennsylvania.
Peter Stonebarger (3), grandfather of Mrs.
Wesson, went from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to
Dayton, Ohio, and was among the early settlers of
that place. He was architect and builder of the first
bridge built across the Miami river at Dayton, be
fore the days of railway construction, cutting the
timbers for it in the Alleghany mountains and float
ing them down the river to their destination. When
the old bridge was torn down in 1904, it was seen
that the timbers were all hewn out by hand; he also
designed and built the first Roman 'Catholic Church
in Dayton, and Leon Beaver, his grandson, was
supervising architect of 'the present cathedral built
on the old site, the original church -having been
torn down. Adam Stonebarger, son of Peter Stone
barger (3), after being associated with his father
for a time, went into business for himself as a dealer
in paints and oils in western Pennsylvania. He
married Harriet Newell Mason, born in South-
bridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of Lemuel and
Lydia (Adams) Mason, whose ancestors (Adams,
Harthaway and Mason) came from early Puritan
stock. (VIII) Walter Gale Wesson, son of Rufus
Wesson ,(7), was born at Worcester, Massachusetts,.
October 14, 1865. He attended the Worcester
schools and the -Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
from which he graduated in 1886. Directly after
graduating he accepted a position in the school de
partment of Washington, District of Columbia, to
organize and take charge of a manual training course
in the high schools. The next year he held a posi
tion with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com
pany at Baltimore, Maryland. After a year at
Baltimore, he spent three years in Philadelphia, or
ganizing the manual training department in a pri
vate school for boys. At a later day. he was sim
ilarly occupied for three years at Menomonie, Wis
consin, as principal of an industrial school estab-

WORCESTER COUNTY

231

lished there by Senator Stout along the lines of 'a
technical institute.
When manual training was introduced' into the
public schools of Worcester, Mr. Wesson was
chosen to organize the work. He has won high
praise from those competent to judge, and from
the families of the boys and girls who have taken
the manual training courses in the past few years.
The manual training idea with its natural develop
ment into the industrial school is by far the most
useful and important thing recently adopted in, the
American system of public education, and the in
herited mechanical skill and fine technical training
of Mr. Wesson admirably fitted him for the pio
neer work of organizing such schools. Mr. Wesson
left the Worcester schools in 1904, and became as
sociated with his brother, J. Edwin Wesson in the
manufacture of shoes, and in 1905 became a mem
ber of the firm.
KINNICUTT FAMILY. Roger Kennicutt (i)(in
the first deed, 1680, spelled Kennecut) came from
Devonshire, England, about the middle of the seven
teenth century, and settled in Maiden, Massachu
setts. He married, 1661, Johanna Shepardson, born
March 13, 1642, the third daughter of Daniel and
Johanna Shepardson. Daniel Shepardson came to
America from England in 1632, and settled in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he died July 26,
1644. January 30, 1679, Roger Kennicutt sold his es
tate in Maiden, consisting of a house, land in the
limits of Charlestown, known as Molton Island,
south and southwest, to Lieutenant J. Smith. He
moved with his family to Swansea, Rhode Island,
and bought, May 19, 1680, of John and James Brown,
a tract of land bounded on one side by Kikemut
Creek. He died about 1696. Roger and Johanna
Kennicutt had three children: Johanna, born Jan
uary, 1664; Lydia, born January, 1667; John, born
October, 1669.
(II) John Kennicutt, son of Roger and Johanna
(Shepardson) Kennicutt, born in Maiden, October,
1669, moved with his father to Swansea, Rhode
Island, 1680. He married Elizabeth Luther, daugh
ter of Hezekiah Luther, of Swansea. The exact date
is not known. He died August 23, 1722.
(Ill) John Kennicutt, son of John and Eliza
beth (Luther) Kennicutt, born in Swansea, 1700,
married Anna Eddy, 1725, who died December 8,
1735- Two years after her death, May 30, 1737, he
married Hannah Gorham, daughter of Jabez Gor
ham, of Bristol, and great-great-granddaughter of
John Howland, one of the "Mayflower" passengers.
He died in March, 1782. He was town clerk of
Warren, Rhode Island, and a noted Tory at the out
break of the revolution. He was a "firm Episco
palian." "His usual practice was to catechise his
children every Sunday morning and then prepare for
church. They attended St. Michael's, Bristol, dis
tant six miles. His daughters rode on horseback
and the sons walked on foot." Records. "Histori
cal Discourse, St. Mark's Church, Warren, Rhode
Island, November 10, 1878." Providence Press
Company, printers, 1879.
(IV) Shubael Kinnicutt, son of John and Han
nah (Gorham) Kennicutt, born Swansea, March
28, 1732, married Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Burr,
of Rehoboth, July 3, 1766. He died in Swansea,
August 13, 1810.
(V) Thomas Kinnicutt, son of Shubael and
Elizabeth (Burr) Kinnicutt, born Swansea, August
13,. 1768, married Amey, daughter of Deacon Samuel
Wightman, of Rehoboth, June 14, 1794. He died in
Seekonk, August 28, 1820.
(VI) Francis Harrison Kinnicutt, son of

Thomas and Amey (Wightman) Kinnicutt, was bom
in Seekonk, Rhode Island, April 27, 1812. He came
to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1828, and in 1830
became a clerk in the hardware store of George T.
Rice, Main and Walnut streets. He was soon ad
mitted as a partner, and after a few years, with his
brother, Thomas Kinnicutt, he purchased the inter
est held by Mr. Rice, who took up cloth manu
facturing. Samuel Woodward took the place of
Thomas Kinnicutt, who was a lawyer by profession,
and in later years assumed the active management,
giving Mr. Kinnicutt time to attend to other im
portant duties. The above named were all honorable
members of the Worcester Fire Society. Francis H.
Kinnicutt from his coming to Worcester took up
and bore well his part in the functions connected
with the social life of the then small town, and his
name appears in connection with many of the early-
day balls and other assemblies held each winter,
especially in court time. The man of affairs of to
day is often so absorbed in the details of his busi
ness that he does not show the world the better
side of his nature. In the last years of Mr. Kinni-
cutt's life, relieved from care, his geniality of dis
position became known to a wider circle. He main
tained his interest in the prosperity of the city to
the last. His great sympathy for young men to
whom he took a liking was frequently manifested in
a practical manner.
He was made director of the Citizens' Bank in
1842, and was its president from i860 until his
death, September 12, 1885. He was also a director
of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad from 1855,
and its president from 1866 to 1881, when he sur
rendered his trust. For nearly a quarter of a cen
tury he was a member of the board of investment of
the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and
in each and every position of trust evinced fidelity
and good management. He held few if any public
.offices, but" took an interest and supported every
means calculated to make better his city, county and
commonwealth. He married Elizabeth, the second
daughter of Hon. Leonard Moody Parker, of Shir
ley. Mrs. Kinnicutt was the granddaughter of the
first Levi Lincoln and great-granddaughter of the
first Daniel Waldo.
(VII) Rebecca Newton Kinnicutt, daughter of
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni
cutt, born September 17, 1838, married Dr. George^
E. Francis, of Worcester, June 23, 1868. She had
two children, Elizabeth and George Kinnicutt.
(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Kinnicutt, daughter of
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni
cutt, born August 18, 1840, married Dr. William H.
Draper, of New York, October 15, 1861; died De
cember 19, 1869. She had three children: William,
Martha, and Robert Watts.
(VII) Julia Burling Kinnicutt, daughter of
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni-
cut, born July 1, 1843, married John M. Barker, of
Worcester, no issue.
(VII) Frank Parker Kinnicutt, son of Francis
H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinnicutt, born
July 13, 1846, married Eleanor Kissel, of New York,
November 19, 1875. He engaged in medical prac
tice. They had two children : Frank Harrison, and
Gustave Herman Kissel.
(VII) Lincoln Newton Kinnicutt, son of
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kenni
cutt, born March 14, 1849, was educated in the pub
lic schools and completed his education abroad. At
the age of seventeen he entered the hardware house
of his father, and upon attaining his majority was
admitted as a partner. In 1877 he retired fronrthis,
business and entered the office of George T. Rice, a

?32

WORCESTER COUNTY

banker, and in 1884 formed a partnership with Alex
ander Dewitt, and the firm of Kennicutt & Dewitt,
bankers, was founded which is today the largest
private banking house in Worcester. Mr. Kinni
cutt has been actively connected with many of the
institutions of Worcester, serving in the capacity of
treasurer of the Worcester Art Museum since its
organization; trustee and treasurer of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute; trustee of the Worcester
County Institution of Savings, and as a director of
the Citizens' National Bank, Worcester National
Bank, Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, Wor
cester Trust Company, and the Boston Tow Boat
Company. He is also an active factor in the follow
ing charitable institutions of Worcester, namely:
The Children's Friend Society, the Worcester
Employment 'Society, and the Old Men's Home. He
is a Republican in politics, but has never taken any
active part in. public affairs. He married, October
10, 1878, Edith Perley, daughter of Judge Perley,
of Concord, New Hampshire. They have one son,
Roger, born at Worcester, February 12, 1880. He
is a graduate of Harvard, and is now attending the
Harvard Medical School.
(VII) Leonard Parker Kinnicutt, D. Sc, son
of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni
cutt, was born in Worcester, May 22, 1854. He mar
ried Louisa Hoar Clarke, daughter of Dr. Henry
Clarke, June 4, 1885, who died January 22, 1892.
He married (second) Frances Ayres Clarke, daugh
ter of Josiah H. Clarke, July 9, 1898 ; no issue. He is
professor of chemistry in the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute. The Parker and Kinnicutt families, together with
the families into which they have married and inter
married, have been of much importance and as
sociated with many of the historic events during
the period covered by the last two centuries.
(I) James Parker was living in Woburn, Massa
chusetts, in 1640. He married Elizabeth Long,
daughter of Robert Long, of Charlestown, May 23,
1643, by whom he had one son. She died, and in
his old age he married Mrs. Eunice Carter, widow
of Samuel Carter, who was the son of the Rev.
Thomas Carter, by whom a daughter was born thirty
years after any of her father's other children. There
are no records of his children except his son James,
to be further written of in this narrative.
He came to Groton about the date of its or
ganization, and was the first and largest proprietor.
The town was divided into "acre rights," each one
of which entitled its owner to nearly fifty acres.
Mr. Parker had fifty of these "rights," and his landed
estates were increased until he became the largest
land owner, if not the richest man within the terri
tory during its early history. He was an in
fluential man, a deacon in the church; a sergeant,
and so 'on up to captain, in the military service; a
selectman at the town organization in 1662, hold
ing the position more than thirty years; and was
also town clerk, and usually moderator of the
meetings and chairman on all important committees,
appointed to locate roads, lay off lands, and es
tablish bounds. In later life he was appointed to
represent the town in the general court. His home
was far out from the present village, near Martin's
Pond, somewhat removed from the highway, in a
shaded, secluded spot, with at present no house
to mark the spot where dwelt the chief original
proprietor. His son,
(II) James Parker, Jr., was born in Woburn,
April 15, 1652. He married Mary Parker, Decem
ber 11, 1678, lived at Groton, and had five children.
•He was killed by the Indians, July 27, 1694, and his
family carried into captivity. His second son was,

(III) Phineas Parker, born 1684, at Groton,
where he died August 13, 1744. He was twice mar
ried, first to Abigail  , who died February 4,
1721 ; and second to Elizabeth  . Of the eight
children of Phineas Parker, his second son was
(IV) Leonard Parker, born at' Groton, June
3, 1718; married Abigail  , and had ten chil
dren, the third of whom was
(V) James Parker, born at Groton, November
26, 1744. He came to Shirley soon after he reached
his majority, and settled upon the farm for many
years in the possession of the Parker family. He
married Sarah Dickenson and had ten children. For
one year he was a selectman, and later held a justice's
commission, but never exercised _ the function of
his office. He lived in the trying days of the
revolution, but took no active part except to en
roll with the eighty volunteers called out by the
alarm of April 19, 1775. His life was mainly spent
in the discharge of his personal business, his' lands
were kept under good cultivation, and he thus be
came wealthy. In 1802 he resigned his farm to
his eldest son, and removed to the centre village,
where he died September 29, 1830/ His wife Sarah
preceded him to the grave, her death occurring
November 22, 1829. He had ten children: Sarah,
James, Lovey, Henrietta, Rhoda, Abigail, Daniel,
David, Lydia and Leonard Moody.
(VI) Leonard Moody Parker, son of James ahd
Sarah (Dickenson) Parker, was born in Shirley,
January 9, 1789. At the age of fourteen he was
sent to Groton Academy then under the preceptor-
ship of Caleb Butler, Esq., and in 1804 entered Dart
mouth College from which he was graduated in 1808
with high horiors. He studied law two years in the
office of the Hon. Abijah Bigelow, of Leominster,
and one year in the office of Hon. Levi Lincoln, of
Worcester, and in 1811 commenced the practice of
law in Charlestown' Massachusetts. In 1812, upon
the declaration of war against Great Britain, Mr.
Parker was appointed army judge advocate attached
to military district No. I, and held that office until
the reduction of the army, after peace was declared.
During his life he was an ardent and consistent
politician of the Democratic school, and repeatedly
held seats in both branches of the state legislature.
He held the office of commissioner, and was a mem
ber of the national convention of 1820. But politics
did not absorb the active life of Mr. Parker. He
was a life member of the Boston Society of Natural
History, an honorary member of the Northern Acad
emy of Arts and Sciences, of Hanover, New Hamp
shire, and a corresponding member of the North
Eastern Historical and Genealogical Society. In 1830
he received from President Johnson the appointment.
of naval officer for the Port of Boston and Charles
town in which he continued for four years, when
he retired to his native place, the pleasant and quiet
town of Shirley, where he passed the residue of
his days. He married, March 22, 1814, Martha,
daughter of Governor Levi Lincoln (senior), by
whom he had three children: Martha, Elizabeth and
Sarah. Mrs. Parker died at Charlestown, April 26,
1822. Mr. Parker died in Shirley, August 25, 1854.
In his will he bequeathed the sum of four thou
sand dollars to constitute a fund for the endowment
and support of a high school for the benefit of all
the youth of the town, and his books were given to
tlie town for the beginning of a library.
(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Parker, daughter of
Leonard Moody Parker (6), was born in Charles
town, May 9, 1817, married Francis H. Kinnicutt,
. of Worcester, October 26, 1837, and is the mother
of six children: Rebecca Newton, Elizabeth Waldo,
Julia B., Frank Parker, Lincoln N., Leonard Parker.

WORCESTER COUNTY

233

(VII) Sarah Rebecca Parker, daughter of
Leonard Moody Parker (6), born March 6, 1822,
married Joseph Mason, of Worcester, November 10,
1846. One child was born of this union, Joseph P.,
at Worcester, September 15, 1848, married A.
Wright, of New York city, November 13, 1877.
FREDERICK SUMNER PRATT. The Pratt
family, of which Frederick S. Pratt is a representa
tive, traces its ancestry to Thomas Pratt, who took
the oath of fidelity in Watertown, Massachusetts,
in the year 1652, and who was there as early as
1647. He is reported to have come to America
about that date from London, England. About the
year 1679 he purchased of Thomas Eames thirty
acres of land in Framingham, and settled in that
town. By his wife Susanna he had the following
children: Thomas, Abial, married Daniel Bigelow;
Ebenezer, Joseph, John, Philip, Ephraim, Nathaniel,
Jonathan, David, and Jabez.
(II) Jonathan Pratt married Sarah, daughter of
John Gale, of Framingham, and first resided on a
portion of his father's place in Framingham; then
removed to Oxford and was a selectman of Ox
ford in 1723. Administration On his estate was
granted in 1735. His children were: Jonathan, born
April 21, 1701 ; Abraham, Sarah, married Oliver
Shumway; Joseph, Lydia, married Jedediah Barton;
Micah, Jonas, and Susanna, married Jonas Coller.
(Ill) Jonathan Pratt, born April 21, 1701, re
ceived from his father a deed of sixty acres of
land in Oxford, in 1723, and November 18, 1725,
married Lydia, daughter of Theophilus Phillips, of
Watertown. He built the house afterward, known
as the Deacon Stone place, which was standing in
1892, and then considered to be the oldest house in
Oxford. His wife died in May, 1729, and he mar-
ried_ (second), May 28, 1730, Ruth Eddy, who died
April 1, 1731, and he married (third), December
[5, 1731, Deborah, daughter of Deacon John Coolidge,
of Watertown. He died July 25, 1788, and his wife
died February 9, 1793, aged eighty-three years. He
was a selectman of Oxford in 1740-41-51-56.
His children were : Keziah, born March 18,
1727, married Moses Holmes ; Lydia, born 1728,
died 1729; Ruth, born 1731, died 1746; Mellison,
born 1733, died 1746; Lydia, horn 1736, died 1746;
Huldah, born March 1, 1739, married Isaac Town;
Jonathan, born August 15, 1741 ; Elias, born No
vember 7, 1743; Elisha, born July 15, 1747; Esther,
born June 6, 1752; Deborah, born July 15, 1754,
married Jesse Merriam.
, (IV) Elias Pratt, born in Oxford, November 7,
I7<*3, married, Afigust 6, 1767, Lydia, daughter of
Jonathan Hill, of Billerica. She was born March
25, 1746. He settled near the old homestead in
Oxford, and was one of, the men who marched in
Captain John Town's company in answer to the
alarm, April 19, 1775. They went to Roxbury and
served fourteen and three-quarter days. Septem
ber 25, 1778, he was commissioned captain of the
Fifteenth Company, Fifth Worcester County Regi
ment, Colonel Jonathan Holman, commanding. He
again served as captain, from April 11, 1779, to July
I.; I779, a period of two months and twenty days,
his company being stationed at Rutland. He was a
selectman of Oxford from 1785 to 1794. He died
March 14, 1816, and his wife died March 10, 1829,
in Sutton. Their children were : Lydia, born 1768,
died the same year; Jerusha, born September 18,
1769, married Thomas Davis; Lydia and Ruth
(twins), born September 25, 1771, married brothers,
Ambrose and William Stone; Elias and Elijah
(twins), born March 4, 1773; Zadock, born Novem
ber 17, 1775; Jeremiah, born September 20, 1779;

Sylvanus and Sylvester (twins), born August 20,
1781 ; and Amasa, born May 7, 1787.
(V) Elias Pratt, born in Oxford, March 4, 1773,
married Sally, daughter of Dr. Ezra Conant of Ox
ford, November 15, 1801. He first settled upon the
old family homestead in Oxford, but about 1817
removed to the neighboring town of Sutton, where,
in 1825, he purchased the Hathaway place, known later
as the Pratt house, and afterward as the Rufus
King house. He made this farm his home for a
number of years, but finally removed to Worcester,
where he died September 2, 1854. In Oxford he
served on the board of selectmen 1808-09-17, and was
captain of militia. His children were: Sally, born
1802, died 1804; Ezra, born October 6, 1804, died
October 9, 1805 ; Serena, born August 14, 1806,
married Charles King; Sarah, born January 29,
1808, married Joshua O. Lewis; Sumner, born Sep
tember 30, 1809; Emeline, born December 14, 1812,
married Leonard Woodbury; and Amanda, born
August II, 1815, died May 22, 1837. The mother
of these children, Sally (Conant) Pratt, was a
lineal descendant of Roger Conant, often called the
first Colonial governor of Massachusetts. She was
b'orn in Warwick, Massachusetts, May 15, 1777, and
died in Worcester, December 4, 1852.
(VI) Sumner Pratt was born in Oxford, Massa
chusetts, September 30, 1809, upon the farm which
was the home of his ancestors for three genera
tions, and there his school days and early man
hood were passed. His business career began with
the manufacture of loom shuttles in 1831. In 1843
he was engaged in manufacturing cotton thread in
Worcester. This continued for two years, when he
established an agency for cotton and wool machinery
and mill supplies in that city. He was very success
ful in this business, which grew extensively in the
course of years, and he maintained an active interest
in the firm which bore his name until a short time
before his death, which occurred January 6, 1887.
He was respected as a high-minded and public-
spirited citizen, and was held in esteem by all his
associates for his sound judgment and nobility of
character. In his social and family life he was
beloved for personal qualities of an uncommon order.
He served the city as a member of the common
council in 1869-70-71-72, and of the board of alder
men in 1876-77. He was a trustee of the Wor
cester County Institution for Savings, vice-presi
dent of the People's Savings Bank, a director of the
Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and
at one period president of the Board of Trade. Dur
ing his life in Worcester he attended All Saints'
Church (Protestant Episcopal), holding the offices
of vestryman and warden for a long period. In
politics he was first a Whig and then a Repub
lican. Sumner Pratt was twice married. His first wife,
whom he married May 19, 1836, was Serena, daugh
ter of Caleb Chase, of Sutton, and who died June
19, 1848. By her he had two children : Frederick
Sumner, born September 21. 1845; and Emma
Amanda, born May 8, 1848. His second wife, whom
he married August 5, 1850, was Abby Curtis, daugh
ter of Ebenezer Read, of Worcester, and who died
April 29, 1896. By her he had one child, Edward
Read, born May 1, 1851, died October 31, 1880.
(Vii) Frederick Sumner Pratt was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, September 21, 1845. He was
educated in the schools of Worcester, graduating
from the high school in 1862. After four years of
service in the Worcester Bank he entered the busi
ness of his father, soon after becoming a member
of the firm of Sumner Pratt & Co. In 1896 he
retired from this firm in order to confine his at-

-'34

WORCESTER COUNTY

tention to portrait and landscape painting, a work
which for some years had been of exceeding in
terest to him. This interest, although dating from
art studies pursued in early life, received a fresh
impulse from the visit of John Sargent to Worcester
in the year 1890, when a most friendly and helpful
intercourse with that distinguished master was
brought about. Naturally his advice and criticism
proved an invaluable aid to the Worcester artist.
There are many portraits bearing Mr. Pratt's signa
ture now in Worcester homes and others, and he
has been an occasional exhibitor at the art galleries
of national reputation. He is a trustee of the Wor
cester County Institution for Savings and an officer
of the Worcester Art Society and the Worcester Art
Museum, as well as a member of several clubs. He
is a parishioner and warden of All Saints' Church
(Protestant Episcopal) and a Republican in politics.
Frederick Sumner Pratt married, January 19,
1871, at Worcester, Sarah McKean Hilliard, who was
born in Boston and was a daughter of Judge Francis
Hilliard and Catharine Dexter Haven (daughter of
Judge Samuel Haven, of Dedham, Massachusetts.)
She died in Worcester, December 27, 1897. Their
children are : Francis Hilliard, born in Worcester,
November 3, 1871, died November 4, 1871. Frederick
Haven, A. M., M. D., born in Worcester, July 19,
1873, a graduate of Harvard College and of the Har
vard Medical School, who has published papers on
scientific and educational subjects, and is engaged
in physiological research. He is a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the Boston Society of Medical Sciences and
of the St. Botolph Club, Boston. Katherine Chase, born
in Worcester, December 29,1875. She became the wife
of Dr. Alfred Lindsay Shapleigh, of Boston, June
2, 1896, and they both went to China as missionaries
in 1896 and again in 1904. In February, 1905, her
husband and only children (Samuel Brooks and
Stephen) died from smallpox at Ngankin; a third
son (Frederick Gordon), having died in 1900 at
Worcester. With rare courage and devotion she
resolved to continue her work in China and is now
(1906) at Yang Chow. Robert Gage, born in Wor
cester, October 17, 1877, a graduate of Harvard
College, class of 1900, and now (1906)' holds a re
sponsible position in the Crompton & Knowles Loom
Works. He married, July 9, 1906, Edythe McCord
Coleman, of Morristown, New Jersey. Elizabeth
Hilliard, bom in Worcester, July 27, 1882, married
Dr. William Irving Clark, of New York, June 23,
1906. PETER WOOD. Thomas Wood (1), great
grandfather of Peter Wood, of Worcester, Massachu
setts, was born and brought up in Yorkshire, Eng
land. He came of an old English family not quite
generally scattered over Ireland as well as Eng
land. Few surnames had a larger representation
among the early settlers and pioneers of New Eng
land. Thomas Wood left England when a young
man to make a home in Ireland and establish him
self in business there. He bought a farm in Castle
Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ireland, established a
woolen mill and manufactured woolen cloth. His
son John, grandfather of Peter Wood, of Worcester,
succeeded him in business.
(II) John Wood, son of Thomas Wood (1),
was born in Castle Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ire
land. He followed his father in the manufacture
of woolen goods in his native town. He left his
business to three of his sons, Bernard, James and
William. In fact, the woolen mill established a
hundred years ago by Thomas Wood is still owned
and operated by his descendants. The children of

John Wood were : James, Thomas, William, Ber
nard, father of Peter Wood; Catherine, married
 Markey. All the children were born in Castle
Bleyney, Ireland.
(Ill) Bernard Wood, son of John Wood (2),
was born about 1798 in Castle Bleyney, Ireland, died
there in 1848. He was a farmer and manufacturer,
owning with his two brothers the woolen mill of
his father and grandfather. He married Anne Cum-
mesky. She died 1880, aged about seventy-eight
years. The children of Bernard and Anne (Cum-
mesky) Wood were: Catherine, resides on the old
homestead in Ireland; Mary, died unmarried at the
age of nineteen in her native place; Patrick, mill
wright, resides in Bleyney, has a family; Margaret,
died in 1900 in Albany, New York; four of her
children are living in New York state, viz. : Anne,
John, Patrick and Bernard; Owen, died in Ireland
unmarried; Bernard, a bleacher by trade, resides in
Brookfield, Massachusetts, married Anne Shevlin;
Peter, born March 18, 1845; James, died young in
Ireland. (IV) Peter Wood, son of Bernard Wood (3),
was born in Castle Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ire
land, March 16, 1845. He obtained a common school
education in the national schools of his native parish.
He went to work in the dyeing establishment of
Alexander Reid & Son in the city of Glasgow, Scot
land, and there learned the trade of dyeing and
bleaching. In 1868, at the age of twenty-three
years, he came to this country. He was engaged at
his trade for four years and saw something of the
country, working in various places in the United
States. In 1872 he came to Worcester and since
then he has lived there. He went to work first in
the dye-shop of Orr & Walker at the corner of
Gardner and Southgate streets. Two years later
he bought an interest in the business of, Mr. Walker
and became a partner with Mr. Orr, of the original
firm. The firm name was the Worcester Bleach and
Dye Works, with shops at -no Grove street. In
1894 Peter Wood sold his interest in the com
pany. The Worcester Bleach and Dye Works are
now located at 61 Fremont street, near Webster.
James E. Orr is treasurer of the company, which
was incorporated in 1891. This company bleaches
and dyes cotton yarns and warps, braids, threads
and tapes.
Mr. Wood established his present business in
the following year. He formed a corporation known
as the Peter Wood Dyeing Company, with capital
of $20,000. The original officers were Peter Wood,
Walter Delano and Robert Ruddy. The present
works were built at the foot of Holmes street. South
Worcester, in 1895, and Mr. Wood began business
there in 1896. At present the officers of the com
pany are: President and treasurer, Peter Woodj
directors, Robert Wood, his son, and Ini C. Davis.
Robert Wood is the boss bleacher. Another son,
Peter Wood, Jr., is superintendent of the works.
The company bleaches and dyes cotton yarns and
warps, threads, tapes, braids, etc., largely for the
cotton mills, employing thirty or more hands regu
larly. Mr. Wood has interests in several other
successful Worcester enterprises. In 1887 Mr. Wood,
Robert Ruddy and Robert Redford started the thread
factory on Manchester street under the firm name
of Ruddy Thread Company. It developed into an
excellent business, but in 1899 it seemed advisable
to sell out to the trust — The American Thread Com
pany. But Mr. Wood and his associates did not
stay out of the thread business long. Mr. Wood
bought the shop of the Worcester Steam Heating
Company at 116 Gold street. Mr. Wood, James
Montgomery, Charles Dolan, Charles Hall and James

4^yv ~^Y~S^Z^

WORCESTER COUNTY

235

Ruddy became the directors of the Wachusett
Thread Company, which for several years has con
ducted a profitable and growing business in the
manufacture of thread. Mr. Wood is president,
Mr. Dolan superintendent of the mill and Mr.
Montgomery treasurer. The business in 1905
amounted to $360,000. Mr. Dolan has demonstrated
the fact that he has good judgment and business
ability. The industries that he has established have
been creditable to the city as well as to him, and
there is every .prospect that the business has a great
future in Worcester. Mr. Wood is a member of the
Worcester Lodge of Elks, No. 243 ; Alhambra Lodge,
Knights of Columbus, and of the Frohsinns. He be
longs to the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter's
parish, Worcester. In politics he is a Republican.
He married (first), November 24, 1875, Anne
McKenna, daughter of Terence and Anna (Hughes)
McKenna, at Worcester, Massachusetts. He mar
ried (second), July 31, 1895, at Worcester, Agnes
Mitchinson, daughter of Joseph and Ellen (Pilken-
ton) Mitchinson. the children of Peter and Anne
(McKenna) Wood were: Catherine, born October
12, '1876, resides at Albany, New York -r Owen, born
October 12, 1878, plumber by trade, resides in
Schenectady, New York; Robert, born December
17, 1879, attended the Worcester schools, entered the
dye shop and learned the business; is now boss
bleacher for the Peter Wood Dyeing Co. ; Peter, Jr.,
born March 1, 1881, attended the Worcester schools,
went into the dyeshop and learned the business; is
now superintendent; unmarried; lives with parents
at 24 Cambridge street ; Anne, born March 28, 1882,
lives at home with her parents. The , children of
Peter and Agnes (Mitchinson) Wood we're: Mildred,
born May 10, 1896; William, born July 31, 1897;
Agnes, born March 10, 1898. All the children were
born in Worcester, Massachusetts.
GEORGE HENRY COATES, son of Henry
Moss and Orra Natalia (Cone) Coates, was born in
Windsor, Vermont, June. 23, 1849. For his mother's
family see sketch of Cone family. She is living,
1905, with her son in Worcester at the age of
eighty-four. There were twelve children born to
her parents and six of them are now living: Mrs.
Coates; H. S. Cone, Ascutneyville, Vermont, aged
eighty-seven; Mrs. Lucy Marston, Marshall, Mich
igan, aged seventy-nine; James M. Cone, Keene,
New Hampshire, aged seventy-three; Mrs. Ellen M.
Putnam, Manchester, New Hampshire, aged seventy-
one. In Her immediate family there was not a
death until the oldest child was sixty-two years old.
There were ten of the twelve alive in 1901, when the
youngest was sixty-six years old. The family has
an unusual record for longevity. Henry M. Coats,
as his name was formerly spelled, was a blacksmith
by trade. He was the son of Prescott and Lydia
(Penniman) Coates.
George H. Coates was educated in the public
schools and at Windsor Academy. He had some
mechanical knowledge and doubtless much inherited
skill in mechanics. He came to Worcester at the
age of eighteen to learn tool making and mechanical
engineering. He started to work for the Ethan Allen
Fire Arms Company and learned the business
thoroughly. He had charge of the construction . of
the first self-cocking fire arms. He was foreman at
Allen's for about eight years.
In 1877 he established the business in which he
has been so successful and with which his name is
associated the world over, the manufacture of the
Coates Clipper. When he invented the adjustable
clipper in 1876 all clippers were imported from Eng
land and France. Mr. Coates had made a specialty

of repairing these imported instruments. It re
quired a mechanic of exceptional skill t<3 insert new
teeth in these instruments, temper them anew and
grind them. Mr. Coates did considerable work of
this kind for McCoy & Saunders of New York city.
He, naturally came to devise a vastly better article
than the one then made abroad. He showed his
patent to McCoy & Saunders and received at once
an order for five hundred. These were the ad
justable hair clippers, and doubtless many of the
first made are still in use in barber shops. Mr.
Coates had no machine shop, but the price he had
been quoted by Forehand & Wadsworth for the
manufacture of his machine caused him to buy a
small plant and start to manufacture his own goods.
Step by step he advanced until he has a very ex
tensive plant and an extremely successful business.
His first machinery was bought in Boston of Hill,
Clark & Company, and he has bought a great deal
of machinery of that firm since. After a year in the
little basement of a house on Dewey street, Mr.
Coates was able to build a shop forty by fifty feet
on the present location, 237 Chandler street. He
had only a five horse power engine to run his ma
chinery. His first engine and boiler was bought of
William Allen & Son.. His Chandler street shop
was built in 1878 and was but one story high. He
soon had to build an addition forty feet long. In
1884 he raised the building to two stories and added
fifty feet, making the building six times its original
size. The business increased with proportionate
rapidity. The clippers found a market all over the
world. The power was increased to one hundred and
fifty ' horse. Another addition of seventy-five feet
on the Dewey street end of the building was erected
in 1903. At present the factory has over an acre
of floor space.
Mr. Coates was not satisfied with his first in
vention and he has from time to time improved on
his own work and added new devices. He has
taken out more than forty patents. He says that
in his experimenting and designing he has been
greatly indebted to the education received " at
the night school in mechanical drawing at the Wor
cester Polytechnic Institute soon after he came to
Worcester. He studied under Professor Alden and
Superintendent Higgins, who are now the owners of
the Norton Emery Company and the Plunger Ele
vator Company. He won several prizes at exhi
bitions of mechanical drawings in Boston, and re
ceived the highest reward of merit there for a col
ored drawing of a Corliss engine. The business is
now a corporation. The officers are : . President
and treasurer, George H. Coates; vice-president and
manager, B. Austin Coates. These two own the
business. The additions have been made as their
means would permit. Mr. Coates has shown a rare
combination of inventive genius and shrewd business
ability. He has made his own fortune without out
side assistance from the outset.
The Coates Clipper Manufacturing Company is
known all over the world for ingenious and use
ful machinery. The selling agents are John H.
Graham & Co., 113 Chambers street, New York.
The London place of business is at 14 Thayies Inn,
' Holborn Circus ; the continental headquarters in
Copenhagen. The latest patterns of clippers are
models of artistic work. They have ball bearings,
the teeth are beautifully cut and hardened, and each
blade is ground with diamond dust. These clippers,
for the use of amateur and professional barbers, are
sold from $2.50 to $3.50 each. A Worcester man
who returned recently from a visit to Australia
told Mr. Coates that he found the Coates clipper
the only kind on the market in Australia, where he

236

WORCESTER COUNTY

and many , others used it to keep their beards
trimmed close.
The power clipper equipped with the Coates
patent flexible non-heating shaft is the best instru
ment yet devised for clipping horses and shearing
animals. It is the only gearless machine on the
market. Special sheep shearing machines are built.
The ordinary horse clipper is run by hand power,
but some very fine instruments run by electric
motors are made. A number of other specialties
are made by the Coates Clipper Mfg. Co. The
Coates grooming brush is operated by power and is
warranted to groom perfectly twenty-five horses in
an hour. This company makes an ingenious machine
to grind the caulks on horses' shoes without having
the expense and trouble of taking the shoes off
when they get dull.
The flexible shaft which Mr. Coates invented is
one of the most important devices recently used in
the mechanical world. They are inade large enough
to transmit twenty horse power or more and small
enough for the most delicate dentist machinery. The
Coates Company has recently built some dentists
machinery, using this shaft which never breaks like
the coiled wire flexible shafts in general use. The
flexible shafting has been found extremely useful
by some manufacturers of automobiles ahd launches.
In some forms of grinders used in the manufacture
of machinery this device is a wonderful time saver.
It is believed that Mr. Coates has in this shaft an
even more valuable patent than that of the clippers.
In all of the Coates manufacture the greatest pains
is taken to make all parts interchangeable and to
test fully everything made in the shop.
Another important department of the Coates
Company is the manufacture of the Coates housed
gear breast drills and the Coates drill press. An
ingenious device is a combination of the Coates
flexible shaft, an electric motor for power and a
magnetic hold-on with a Coates drill for Use in
marine work, bridge work and in other places diffi
cult to reach by ordinary drills. It is easily portable,
is used under water and it is said to- be a_ great time
saver for all kuids of drilling. The -Coates angle
drive is a device to transmit power at right angles.
The Coates screw driver is used by chair builders
and others having to insert a large number of
screws. It is operated with a flexible shaft and
works very rapidly. There is hardly a day but
some new use for this flexible shafting develops. It
has been tried successfully in transmitting one
hundred and fifty horse power. The possibilities of
the device are incalculable.
A biography of a man like Mr. Coates, who has
made his business what it is, must be something
of a catalogue of the products of his factory. Those
products represent his life work and thought. They
represent an important contribution to civilization
and progress. Mr. Coates has made some tremen
dous contributions to the labor-saving machinery of
the world. Every successful device means labor-
saving for the whole human race, in other words
means that each man's labor should bring him a little
more of the fruits of human toil, more of what
is generally described as wealth. While Mr. Coates.
is one of the inventors who has gained some return
financially from his invention, he has given to the
world devices that will always be useful and labor-
saving. Mr. Coates is fortunate in his partner. His son,
B. Austin Coates, was born June 2, 1879. He gradu
ated from the Worcester high school in 1896 and
from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1900.
Since then he has been associated in business with
his father. He married Louisa Boyden Coe, daugh

ter of S. Hamilton Coe, June 5, 1901. He is a mem
ber of the Commonwealth Club; the Worcester
Automobile Club; Quinsigamond Lodge, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons ; Eureka Royal Arch
Chapter; Hiram Council; Lawrence Chapter of
Rose Croix; Worcester County Commandery,
Knights Templar. He has taken all the degrees in
the Scottish Rite. He attends St. Mark's Protestant
Episcopal Church.
George H. Coates has taken all the degrees of
Free Masonry in the Scottish Rite, and is a member
of the Quinsigamond Lodge, Hiram Council, the
Chapter, and Worcester County Commandery. He
is a Shriner. He is also a member of the Economic
Club, the Worcester Automobile Club, the Worces
ter County Agricultural Society, the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association, the Home Market
Club of Boston.
He married, June 23, 1872, Adelaide Long, daugh
ter of William Long, an expert machinist of Bidde-
ford, Maine. They were married in Worcester in
what was then a first class neighborhood on Me
chanics street. Their only son is B. Austin Coates,
mentioned above. George H. Coates was himself
an only son.
(I) Daniel Cone, who was of Connecticut before
1657, was the first known ancestor of Mrs. Henry
M. Coates, mother of George H. Coates, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts, and of a large number of
descendants now scattered widely throughout the
United States. He was probably the first of the
name in this country. The first mention of Daniel
Cone was March 2, 1657, when Governor _ John
Winthrop sf the Connecticut made a requisition
on Governor Peter Stuyvesant of New York for the
return of one James Parker, for whom Daniel Cone
was a bondsman, and on whose complaint the action
was brought. In the spring of 1662 he appears
as one of twenty-eight persons who received from
the Connecticut Colony , a grant of land sit
uated on both sides of the Connecticut
river about thirty miles above its mouth.
This land had been in the possession of the
Wangunk tribe of Indians from time immemorial.
The Indians deeded to them a tract of land six
miles east and west and from Middletown to Chester,
Connecticut. The consideration was thirty red, coats,
which may have been worth a hundred dollars. The
colony granted the land to these twenty-eight set
tlers and later the general court confirmed their
title. The town was called Haddam after a town
in England of that name. Daniel Cone received his
allotment of four acres on 'the town site, on the
west side of the river, with land in the meadow and
timbered land adjoining in 1662, and removed to the
new town in that year. Previous to this change of
location he had married Mehitable Spencer, fourth
daughter of Jared and Alice Spencer, then of Hart
ford, Connecticut. Jared Spencer settled at New
town (Cambridge), Massachusetts, in 1634, removed
to Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1637, to Hartford, Con
necticut, in 1660, and to Haddam, Connecticut, in
1662, being also one of the founders of that town.
Mehitable Spencer was born in Lynn in 1642 and
died in Haddam in 1691.
Daniel Cone married (second) Rebecca Walkley,
widow of Richard Walkley, of Haddam, Connecti
cut. No record of her death has been found. He
resided in Haddam until 1680, when he removed to
the east side of the river to the vicinity of Machi-
Moodus. About 1695 he returned to Haddam, where
he died October 24, 1706, aged eighty years. He was
commissioner for his town in 1669 and held other
town offices. A few months before he died he
deeded his land on the west side of the river at

WORCESTER COUNTY

237

Haddam to his youngest son, Caleb. The children
of Daniel Cone (I) were: Ruth, born January 7,
1662, place of birth unknown; Hannah, born April
6, 1664, in Haddam, Connecticut; Daniel, born Janu=
a'ry 21, 1666, married Mary Gates, died Juae 25,
1725; Jared, born January 7, 1668, married Elizabeth
 ; he died April 11, 1718; Rebecca, born Feb
ruary 6, 1670; Ebenezer, bom in Haddam, baptized,
March 25, 1673; Nathaniel, born in Haddam, bap
tized June 4, 1675, married Sarah Hungerford ; he
died about 1730; Stephen, born at Haddam, baptized
March 26, 1678, married Mary Hungerford; he died
December 1, 1756; Caleb, baptized March 19, 1682,
married (first) Elizabeth  , married (second)
Elizabeth Cunningham; he died September 25, 1743.
(II) Caleb Cone, youngest child of Daniel Cone
(1), was born at Haddam, Connecticut, in 1679,
and. baptized in the Middletown Congregational
Church, March 19, 1682. ' He married in Haddam,
December 16, 1701, Elizabeth  , who died there
November 14, 1714. He married (second) Elizabeth
Cunningham, September 6, 1723. He was born, lived
and died on the homestead where his father originally
settled in Haddam. He was buried within sight of
the old home, his grave being marked by . a stone
suitably inscribed. He was a representative of his
district in the general court in I73I-32-33-34-35-39-
He held the commission of captain in the colonial
troops for many years. He held other offices in
the town.
The children of Caleb Cone were : Caleb, born
September, 1702, married (first) Hannah  ;
(second) Sybil Bailey; he died February 27, 1790;
Joseph, born January 26, 1704, married Susannah
Wells; he died 1779; Noah, born July 14, 1707,
married Hannah  : he' died August 5, 1757;
Elisha, born September n, 1709, married Hannah
Hubbard; he died March 6, 1809; Joshua, born July
4, 1714, died young; Simon, born June n, 1724, died
1756; Daniel, born December 22, 1725, married
Susannah Hurlburt; he died July 12, 1762; Beriah,
born September 12, 1727, had son Beriah; Abigail
born July 2, 1730, married Elisha Knowles; Mary,
born March 23, 1732, married Richard Knowles;
she died October .8, 1796; Lydia, born January 29,
!735, married Joseph Tyler, died 1823.
(Ill) Daniel Cone, son of Caleb (2) and Eliza
beth (Cunningham) Cone, was born in Haddam,
Connecticut, December 22, 1725. He married, May
12, 1750, Susannah Hurlburt, daughter of Daniel
and Esther (Hamlin) Hurlburt who was born in
Middletown, Connecticut. They settled in Middle-
town and most of their children were born there.
She was born November 19, 1729, died May 15,
1774- He died in Middletown, July 12, 1762. Their
children were: Esther, bom August n, 1751 ; Dan
iel H., born July 16, 1753, married Elizabeth Atkins ;
he died April 17, 1841 ; William, born April 6, 1755,
married Abiah Atkins ; he died 1834 ; Joshua, born
September 1, 1757, married Mehitable Blinn; Robert,
born December 16, 1759, married Margaret Paget ; he
died May 19, 1804; Thomas born probably in Mid
dletown, baptized February 8, 1763, married Mehit
able Lyman; he died April 12, 1854.
(IV) Thomas Cone, son of Daniel Cone (3),
was baptized at Middletown, Connecticut, February
8, 1763. At the age of twenty-one and just at the
close of the revolutionary war he left his home
and started up the Connecticut valley in search of
work. He was a tailor by trade. He located first
at Northampton, Massachusetts, where he worked
for two years. He married there,- March 13, 1786.
They started immediately on horseback to make a
home for themselves in Vermont. Their wedding
trip was through the wilderness to the little town

of Winchester, in western Vermont, where they
settled and spent the remainder of their lives. He
became one of the most prominent citizens of the
town. His wife was born November 17, 1764, died
October 11, 1827. He died April 12, 1854, at the
age of ninety-one years. Their children, all born
at Winchester, Vermont, were : Thomas, born May
5, 1787, married Olive Lane; he died January 22,
1858; Robert, born November 27, 1788, married
Fanny Royce; he died December 30, 1814; Morris,
born October 6,- 1790, married Lydia Farrington;
he died March 29, 1846; Laura, born March 13,
!793, married (first) Cyrus Jones; married (sec
ond) James Swinton; she died February 13, 1879;
Theodore, born October 11, 1795, married Eliza
Wooley; he died August 25, 1852; John, born Octo
ber 7, 1797, married Lucinda Rand; he died June
2, 1879; James, born October 7, 1797, married Cath
erine Cuyle'r ; he died October 24, 1861 ; Stephen,
born February 2, 1800, married Sally Pratt; he died
November 1, 1884; Charles, horn March 4, 1802,
married Martha Dean; he died November 7, 1870;
Eliza, born December 13, 1805, married Lyman
Haywood; she died 1848.
(V) Thomas Cone, son of Thomas (4), and
Mehitable (Lyman) Cone, was born at Westminster,
Vermont, May 5, 1787. He married Olive Lane,
daughter of Samuel Lane, in 1808. She was born
at Clarembnt, New Hampshire, March 4, 1790, died
May 6, 1852. He was a tailor by occupation. He
settled first at Swanton, Vermont, near his birth
place, removed 1816 to West Claremont, New Hamp
shire, where he died January 22, 1858. He was
held in high esteem by his neighbors. He was a
man of excellent character and standing in the
community. His children were : Curtis E., born
January 17, 1809, married Celia S. Judd; he died
July 17, 1873; Julia Ann, born September 17, 181 1,
married John Mercer; she died December 6, 1902;
Narcissa M., born February 9, 1814, married (first)
Elias Lovell; (second) Abel Camp; she died Feb
ruary 8, 1885; Fannie E., born October 13, 1815,
married John L. Seaver; she died May 3, 1900;
Harley S., born December 28, 1817, married Estella
J. Adams, lived at Ascutneyville, Vermont; Charles
E., born June 2, 1820, married Luthera E. Sturte-
vant; died October 12, 1900; Natalia O., born March
18, 1822, married Henry W. Coates, lives at Wor
cester, Massachusetts, with her son, George H.
Coates ; Lucy E., born April 6, 1824, married Lorenzo ,
Marston, lives at Marshall, Michigan; Robert L.,
born September 2, 1826, married Mary S. Maynard;
no children; died May 21, 1900; Lyman H., bom
January 22, 1829, married 'Lucia Judd, resided at
Windsor, Vermont; James Monroe, born June 28,
1831, married Harriet C. Richardson, lives at Keene,
New Hampshire; Ellen M., born March 2, 1834,
married Orrin Putnam, lives at Manchester, New
Hampshire. (VI) Natalia Ora Cone, daughter of Thomas
Cone (5), was born at Claremont, New Hamp
shire, March 18, 1822. She married, March 18,
1847, Henry Moses Coates, son of Prescott and
Lydia (Penniman) Coates. She resides with her
son, George H. Coates, Worcester, Massachusetts.
See George H. Coates sketch which precedes this in
the work.
CHARLES HOMER PERRY, M. D. John
Perry (1), the first American ancestor of Dr.
Charles H. Perry, of Worcester, was born in Eng
land in 1613. He was in Watertown, Massachu
setts, in 1674, when his age was sixty-one years.
That is about all that is known of him. He came
late in life and Bond surmises that he was the

238

WORCESTER COUNTY

brpther of William Perry, of Watertown, who was
born in England in 1606, a tailor by trade, who came
over before 1642.
Another John Perry lived in Roxbury and ' had
three children there: Elizabeth, born January 25,
1637; John, born September 7, 1639; Samuel, born
March 1, 1640. But this John Perry, Sr., died
September, 1642, leaving his house and land to his
wife to bring up his three children. Curiously
enough we are told that ¦ John Perry, Jr., had a
brother and a sister. Obviously, however, the John
Perry, Sr., who died in 1642 was not the sari>e one
that was in Watertown in 1.674.
(II) John Perry, son of John Perry (1), was
born in London, England, according to the generally
accepted story, in 1644, and carne to America in 1666.
He married Sarah Clary, daughter of John Clary,
of Cambridge, where she was born October 16,
1649. They settled in Watertown. In 1701 he
was in North Brookfield for a year and Perry's
pond there was named for him. He died in 1724,
before December 23. Children of John and Sarah
Perry were : John ; Joanna, born November 8,
1672; Sarah, born July 11, 1675; Elizabeth; Josiah,
see forward; Joseph, born January 17, 1690.
(Ill) Josiah Perry, son of John Perry (2), was
born in Watertown, Massachusetts, November 28,
1684, married, January 12, 1708, Bethia Cutler,
daughter of John Cutler, of Watertown. She was
born November 26, 1684, and died September 16,
1767. He married (second) Elizabeth Harrington.
The children of Josiah and Bethia Perry, all born
in Watertown, were: Jonathan, born January 7,
1710; Lydia, December 8, 1711, married John Ball;
Josiah, Jr., February 7, 1714; Ephraim, November
1, 1715; Nathan, of whom later; Bethia, January 31,
1719; Mary, February 13, 1721 ; Israel, February 6,
1723 ; Dorcas, December 2, 1727 ; Sarah, 1728.
(IV) Nathan Perry, fifth child of Josiah Perry
(3), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, May
2, 1718. He was a weaver by trade. He came with
his father April, 175 1, and settled in Worcester and
was for twenty-three years deacon of the church
(Old South) from 1783 until he died, February,
1806, aged eighty-eight years. He succeeded John
Chandler as county treasurer. He was town treas
urer and selectman for ten years from 1780 to 1790.
His homestead was on what is now Vernon street,
the Elijah Hedge estate, which he bought when he
came to Worcester. He married, at Watertown, May
1, 1745, Hannah Fiske, daughter of Deacon Nathan
Fiske. She was born in 1719 and died in 1813, aged
ninety- four years. Their children were: Hannah,
born in Watertown, 1747) died 1749; Hannah, born
1749, in Watertown; Nathan, Jr., born March 30,
1751, in Watertown; the following children were
born in Worcester : Sarah, born November 29, 1752 ;
Josiah, see forward; Mary, born March 1, 1759;
Deacon Moses, born February 16, 1762, father of
Deacon Samuel Perry and ancestor of many of the
Worcester Perrys.
(V) Josiah Perry, son of Deacon Nathan Perry
(4), was born in Worceser, March 9, 1755, died
March 12, 1842. He married (first) Lydia Flagg,
April 3, 1777; (second) Prudence Harrington, July
6, 1780; (third) Sarah Metcalf, November 22, 1796.
The only child of Josiah and Lydia was: Lydia,
born February 20, 1778. The children of Josiah and
Prudence Perry were: Nathan, see forward; Mind-
well, February 7, 1783; Josiah, October 16, 1704;
Sophia, October 3, 1786; William, April 22, 1789.
The children of Josiah and Sarah Perry were :
Sarah, October 20, 1797; Prudence, January 31, 1803.
(VI) Nathan Perry, second child of Josiah
Perry (5), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,

March 24, 1781. He conducted a farm and had a
grist mill on the old homestead. He married Anna
Galen, daughter of Elisha Galen; she died February
1, 1845, aged seventy years. He- died October 3,
1837. Their children, all born in Worcester, were:
Sereno Haven, born December 26, 1802; Loring
Fish, June 17, 1804, died August 8, 1848; Louisa,
May 15, 1806; Miranda, May 18, 1808; Josiah Galen,
see forward; Julia, June 12, 1812; Dexter Har
rington, June 4, - 1814, married, December 17, 1839,
Elizabeth A. Baker, born September 21, 1815, daugh
ter of James Baker and sister of Charles and Will
iam J. Baker, the lumber merchants of Worcester;
he died March 16, 1872, and she died April 19,
1877 ; Frank D. Perry, the contractor, is their son ; '
Sophronia, February 27, 1816; Nancy, October 5,
1819; Harriet, February 22, 1822, died August 2,
1848, unmarried.
(VII) Josiah Galen Perry, fifth child of Nathan
Perry (6), was born in Worcester, June 15, 1810.
He lived on the homestead at Quinsigamond village.
He carried on a grist mill with his brother, Dexter
H. Perry, until 1855. The partnership was dissolved
in 1862 and the property divided. He married
Martha Homer, born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts..
Their children were : Charles H., see forward ;
Louisa Emerett, born February 24, 1839; Mary
Aurelia, December 28, 1841 ; a child, born August
11, 1845; a child, born March 15, 1848.
(VIII) Dr. Charles Homer Perry, son of Josiah
Galen Perry (7), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, March 17, 1835. He was educated in the
public schools of Worcester and at Worcester Acad
emy, where he fitted for college. He was graduated
from Brown University in 1859. He studied medicine
at the University 'of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
and Bellevue Hospital and received his medical de
gree in medical college there. He was connected
with Bellevue Hospital in New York city when the
civil war broke out, and he entered the service in
1861 as assistant surgeon, United States navy, and
served through the war. He served under Admiral
Farragut for twenty-six months and also tinder
Admiral Porter. Served as surgeon on United
States gunboat "Kenebec" twenty-six months;
United States receiving ship "Ohio" six months;
United States ship "Susquehanna" nine months, un
der Admiral Porter. At the close of the war he re
turned to Bellevue to complete his studies. He be
gan the practice of his profession in Medway, Massa
chusetts, but after a short time settled in Worces
ter, where he has been practicing since 1874. He
has been fortunate in his practice and ranks high
in the medical fraternity. He is a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, the Worcester Med
ical Society, and the American Academy of Medi
cine. He was a charter member of a G. A. R. post
at West Medbury; this post is no longer in exist
ence. Is a member of Worcester Post, No. 10, G.
A. R. Member of Montague Lodge, F. and1 A. M.
^ He married, 1868, Clara T. Thayer, daughter of
Eli Thayer, the great anti-slavery leader of Massa
chusetts. They have no children.
CHAR.1ES AUGUSTUS VAUGHAN. John
Vaughan (1), the pioneer ancestor . of Charles
Augustus Vaughan, of Worcester, Massachusetts,
was born in England, probably about 1615. He set
tled in Providence, although he seems to have lived
in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay, for a few years.
John Vaughan was in Watertown in 1633, and a
proprietor in 1636, but John Vaughan, of Provi
dence, had a case in court in Providence March 4,
1634. The only other early settler of this family
was William Vaughan, a proprietor of Springfield,

WORCESTER COUNTY

239

who leased his land January io, 1644, for a period
of six years, and perhaps returned to England. John
Vaughan was accepted as an inhabitant in good
standing at Newport, May 20, 1638, and was ad
mitted a freeman, which meant also membership in
the church, 165 s. He was granted forty-two acres
of land at a place called the Hermitage in 1639, and
May 22, 1662, had an eighty-acre lot laid out to him.
He deeded eight acres to his son, John, by deed of
gift April 16, 1673, and a farm July 23, 1680, to his
son Daniel, of Newport. He died 1687, at New
port, where he lived during most of his active life.
Children were: 1. John, born April 19, 1644; set
tled in Newport. 2. David, born July 19, 1646; set
tled at Portsmouth. 3. George, (see forward). 4.
Daniel, born April 27, 1653; married Susan Grimes
and settled in Newport. 5. Mary, born July 3, 1658.
(II) George Vaughan, son of John Vaughan
(i),bom October 20, 1650, died May 7, 1704. He
lived at Newport, Rhode Island, and later at East
Greenwich.^ He was a blacksmith by trade. He had
a grant, with others, of five thousand acres of land
at East Greenwich, October 31, 1677. He was deputy
to the general assembly in 1684-98-99, and was on
the grand jury in 1698. He commanded a cavalry
company in 1687. His will was dated April 11,
1699, and was proved May 25, 1704. His wife Mary
and- son , George, Jr., were the executors. He men
tioned his smith's tools in the will. He married,
July 26, 1680, Margaret Spink, daughter of Robert
and, Alice Spink. She died 1704. Their children
were : 1. George, Jr., born April 19, 1682 ; married
Jane Nichols. 2. David, born April 29, 1683 ; mar
ried Mary Pearce. 3. Mary, born February 23,
1685. 4. Christopher, (see forward). 5. Abigail,
born February 24, 1689; married 'John Hall. 6.
Robert, born March 7, 1691; married Joanna Sweet.
(Ill) Christopher Vaughan, fourth child of
George Vaughan (2), born in Newport, Rhode
Island, April 29, 1686. He was admitted a freeman
1707, and settled in East Greenwich, on the land
granted to his father. He died there October n,
1751, and his will was proved August 29, 1752. It
mentions a loom, showing that Christopher was
probably a weaver as well as a planter. His executor
was Christopher, Jr., to whom he left the home
stead for life, and to his grandson Christopher after
him. His" estate was valued at two thousand, six
hundred and forty-eight pounds. He married, June
1 26, 1709, Deborah Nichols, born February 17, 1688,
daughter of Thomas and Mercy (Reynolds) Nichols.
Their children, all born at East Greenwich, were :
1. Christopher, Jr., born July 6, 1710. 2. Benjamin,
born July 2, 1713. 3. Mary, born May 8, 1715 ; mar
ried  Nichols. 4. Deborah, born July 13,
1719; married  Weaver. 5. Ruth, born
August 12,, 1729, married  — Spencer.
(IV) Christopher Vaughan, Jr., son of Christ
opher Vaughan (3), born July 6, 1710, at East
Greenwich, Rhode Island; died there April 23,
1758. He had the homestead of his grandfather.
, He married (first) Hannah  and (second)
Elizabeth (?)  . The children of Christopher
and Hannah Vaughan, all born at East Greenwich,
were: 1. Christopher, Jr., born April 22, 1735, set
tled in East Greenwich. 2. Benjamin, born Sep
tember 6, 1744, settled in Vermont and was in the
revolution, (he seems to be the Benjamin Vaughan
who finally settled at Danby, Vermont, though the
statement of his English birth there is evidently-
wrong, being confused apparently with the earlier
ancestor, John). Benjamin lived also at Tinmouth,
Vermont. In the revolution he was in the same
company with John and James Vaughan, his broth
ers. (See the record of John.) 3. Abigail, born

September 6, 1744. The only child on record of
Christopher and Elizabeth, born at East Green
wich, was Alice, born October 25, 1754. Other
children were : 5. James, soldier in the Vermont
companies with John and Benjamin Vaughan. 6.
John, (see forward).
(V) John Vaughan, son of Christopher Vaughn
(4), born about '1760. Benjamin, John and James
Vaughan were all soldiers together in the revolu
tion. Benjamin Vaughan was the first to enlist in
the Shoreham (Vermont) company, Captain Eben
ezer Allen's, April, 1778, probably about the time
that the Vaughan family went to Vermont. In 1780
Benjamin and James' Vaughan were in Captain
Gideon Ormsby's company, Colonel Ira Allen's regi
ment. In 1781 Benjamin, James and John Vaughan
were in the same ¦ regiment, Colonel Ira Allen's,
under Captain Jacob Odell. The only other Vaughans
in the revolution, from Vermont, were Charles,
Obadiah and Jabesh, whose relationship has not
been traced.
John Vaughan settled in Shoreham, in the west
ern part of Vermont, named evidently from Shore
ham, Rhode Island. Some of the settlers came from
Danby where Benjamin Vaughan settled. There
were only six families in Shoreham before 1775.
The Vaughan family came during the revolution. It
is related in the town history that Major Nathan
Smith, who settled there with three brothers from
Nine Partners, New York, was, with- Benjamin
Vaughan, the first to scale the breastworks in pur
suit of the enemy at the battle of Bennington. Ac
cording to family tradition John Vaughan sold sup
plies from his farm to the soldiers at the battle of
Bennington in 1777. John Vaughan married Achsah
Hill, the daughter of David Hill. Among their
children was George Pike Vaughan, (see forward).
(VI) George Pike Vaughan, son of John Pike
(5), was born in Shoreham, Vermont, about 1813.
For many years he was engaged in farming in the
neighborhood of his birthplace, but later in life
changed his abode to Thetford, Vermont, where he
died. He married, October 29, 1845, Mary Moore
Palmer, born August 21, 1823. She is still living
with her family. Her father was Jared Palmer.
Jared Palmer was born January 18, 1795, at
Orf ord, New Hampshire, and died , May 23, 1886 ;
his wife died 1867. Their children were: 1. Mary
Moore Palmer, before mentioned. 2. James M. Pal
mer, a real estate agent in Lowell, Massachusetts,
where he died. 3. Charles Palmer, lived in Thetford ;
was an invalid all his life, from an accident early
in childhood. 4. Caroline Palmer, married Wilson
Farnsworth, of Thetford, Vermont; they were mis
sionaries for fifty years in Turkey; representing
the American Board. 5. Helen Palmer, married
William Slade, who was a farmer and judge in
Thetford, Vermont, and has four children: William,
Congregational clergyman; Maria, married Fred
Garey, a carpenter, of Thetford, and they have four
children : Nellie, school teacher in Gloucester,
Massachusetts; Mary, married Leon Turner, resides
in Vermont. The children of George Pike and Mary Moore
(Palmer) Vaughan, all born at Shoreham, Ver
mont, were: 1. George Leslie, born July 1846; mar
ried Emma Lyman, of Thetford ; is a farmer ; they
have five children: Lyman-; Elizabeth; Raymond;
Christine; Charles. 2. Charles Augustus (see for
ward). 3. Mary E., married Warren C. Jewett, of
Worcester. (See sketch of Jewett.) 4. David Albert;
married A. Emily King; resides in Metcalf, Massa
chusetts; they have four children: Mabel; Ethel;
Irving; Justin (twin of preceding). 5. Frank M.,
married and has two children; resides at Carribridge,

240

WORCESTER COUNTY

Massachusetts. 6. Arthur J., a carpenter and builder,
resides in Worcester; married Clara Davis and they
have two children. 7. Octavia H. teaches school
in the Adams square public school, Worcester. 8.
Henry, married Cora Dakin, died leaving one child,
Florence. (VII) Charles Augustus Vaughan, second child
of George Pike Vaughan (6), born at Shoreham,
Vermont, August 19, 1847. His education was ac
quired in the common schools and academy of
Thetford, Vermont, whither his parents removed
during the early years of his life, and at the age
of fifteen he left school' to work on the farm with
his father. Three years later he came to Worcester,
Massachusetts, to learn the trade of carpenter, of
H. & A. Palmer, for whom he worked ten years.
In 1875 he started in business for himself as car
penter and builder, and has since been engaged
successfully in this business. Among the many fine
residences and buildings that he has built are the
following: L. D. Thayer's residence, Main street;
Gilbert Harrington's, Main 'street; T. B. Brown's and
Henry Taylor's, Richards street; William H. Saw
yer's, Lincoln street; Fred S. Taylor's, Institute
road; John D. Baldwin's, Cedar street; George F.
Blake's; Judge William T. Forbe's, Trowbridge
road; George Moore's; George Heywood's, Gardner,
Massachusetts; Andrew J. Bates's, Webster, Massa
chusetts; Mr. Sibley's country house, Spencer,
Massachusetts; Mann Brothers', Leicester; The
Armsby Block, Main street, Worcester; Whitins-
ville public school; a number of churches in Wor
cester county.
Mr. Vaughan was for two years president of the
Builders' Exchange, of Worcester. He has been
active in public affairs in Worcester and prominent
in public life. He is a leading Republican, serving
the city in the board of aldermen in 1899, 1900-01-02,
from Ward one. He is an active member of Union
Church, was a member of the building committee,
and has been a trustee since 1897. He is a member
of the Worcester Board of Trade and of the Ver
mont Association ; a trustee of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association; a director of the Young
Men's' Christian Association and director of the
Merchants' and Farmers' Insurance Company of
Worcester. He married (first) October 6; 1869, Ann
E. Morse, daughter of Willis and Maria M. Morse,
of Southbridge, Massachusetts, a descendant of Sam
uel Morse, one of the pioneer settlers of Massachu
setts, and one of the leading families. She died De
cember 19, 1889. He married (second) September
19, 1896, Adele Fairbanks, daughter of William H.
and Ellen (Williams) Fairbanks, of Holden, Massa
chusetts. She is a descendant of Jonathan Fair
banks, of Dedham, the progenitor of all of that name
in this country.
The children of Charles Augustus and Ann E.
Vaughan were: 1. Charles Albert, born October
7,' 1871 ; now a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota,
of the firm of Bull & Vaughan, builders and con
tractors; he was a corporal in Company C, Light
Infantry, of Worcester, and served in the Spanish
war, in Cuba; married, in 1900, Isabella Cundall, of
Worcester, and they have had two children: Isabel
and Edward Cundall Vaughan. 2. Robert Henry;
born October 27, 1876; married, 1899, Elizabeth
Cundall, sister of Isabella (Cundall) Vaughan, and
they have four children: Charles Augustus, born
October 3, 1900; Jessie, born August 7, 1902; Marian,
born October 29, 1904; Willard Cundall, born Jan
uary, 1906. 3. Louis Edgar, born March 9, 1880,
graduate of the Boston Technical school. 4. Ralph
Donald, born January 28, 1884; student at Cornell
University, class of 1907, making a specialty of

architectural engineering. 5. Catherine May, bom
May 24, 1887. The children of Charles Augustus,
and Adele (Fairbanks) Vaughan were: 6. George
Fairbanks, born January 30, 1897. 7. Margaret, born
July 16, 1902. 8. Barbara, born August 21, 1904.
CLAFLIN FAMILY. Robert Claflin (1), or
M'ackclothlan, was the immigrant ancestor of Charles
Winslow Claflin, late of Hopkinton, and his daugh
ter, Mrs. Arthur Osgood Young, of Worcester, and
in fact all of the name in this vicinity, including
Governor Claflin and the late H. B. Claflin, the
great dry goods merchant of New York. This name
was particularly difficult for our forefathers to spell;
it is found rendered in fourteen different ways in
Scotch records and about as many in the early Amer
ican records. The first of the name was probably
Norse or Scandinavian, and the name means with
out the Mac, lake-land, the first of the name doubt
less taking his name from some locality. Mac'
means simply "son of" in Scotch and Irish names.
The name is found in Ireland as McLaughlin at
present. The family tradition supports the belief that
Robert McLaughlin was a soldier in the Scottish
army, taken prisoner by Cromwell at the battle of
Dunbar. Many of these prisoners were sent to New
England and sold for a term of years to the colonists.
Robert settled in Essex county and v was admitted
or accepted as a townsman November 4, 1661, in
Wenham. He received a grant of land in i&xj in
Wenham and sold some land in 1673. He was sur
veyor of highways there. His house or part of it is
still standing and the old well is still in use. The
place was owned lately by a family named Richards.
Robert Claflin married Joanna Warner, October 14,
1664. She was probably a daughter of John War
ner, an early settler at Ipswich and later at Brook
field, Massachusetts. He died shortly before Sep
tember 19, 1690, when the inventory of his estate
was filed by Thomas Fiske, administrator. The
children of Robert and Joanna Claflin, all born at
Wenham except the second, were : Joanna, born
August 12, 1665 ; Robert, probably born at Brook-.
field; Elizabeth, May 18, 1670; Priscilla, August
22, 1672; Daniel, January 25, 1674, of whom later;
Abigail, March 19, 1676; Mary, February 22, 1678;
Antipas, 1680.
(II) Daniel Claflin, son of Robert Claflin (1),
was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, January 25,
1674. He was a tanner by trade and lived in Wen
ham until after May 25, 1722, when he sold to Emer
son Cogswell, of Ipswich, for eighty pounds his
home, bark, mill, tan vat and material for carrying
on the trade of tanner. He had three acres of land.
He then removed to Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He
was probably attracted to this town by the large
number of Scotch Presbyterians who located there
among the first settlers. The town "was incorporated
December 24, 1715. It was bought with a legacy
of eight hundred pounds given by Governor Edward
Hopkins, of Connecticut, "for the breeding up of
youth in the way of learning for the public service
of the country in future time," and "for the uphold
ing and promotion of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ in New England." The income from the
rentals of the land owned by the trustees of the
estate was paid to Harvard College. Claflin was
one of the most prominent of the early settlers. He
was selectman in 1727 and town treasurer in 1729
and several years after that.
He married, March 11, 1701, Sarah Edwards,
probably daughter of Rice Edwards, who was in
Salem in 1643 and removed to Wenham, where he
died in 1683. Sarah died January 6, 1743, at Hop-,

<?faM^ MJ%£4^~-

WORCESTER COUNTY

241

kinton, and Claflin died at Framingham, the ad
joining town, 1775, calling himself in his will "old
and decrepid." The children of Daniel apd Sarah
Claflin, born at Wenham, were: Daniel, born Feb
ruary 19, 1702 ; Sarah, April 27, 1703 ; Mesheck,
November 4, 1705, died June 3, 1706; Joshua, June
8, 1707; Caleb, December 11, 1708; Cornelius, Feb
ruary 2, 1711; Robert, August 16, 1714; Ebenezer,
July 2, 1716, of whom later.
(Ill) Ebenezer Claflin, son of Daniel Claflin
(2), was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, July 2,
1716, and died at H°pkirlton in 1793. His wife was
received into the church at Hopkinton, September
10, 1731, by letter from the Ipswich Church. He
served in the Second Hopkinton company, under
Captain John Jones, and was later on the trainband
and alarm list of the town of Hopkinton. He mar
ried in Hopkinton, May 22, 1739, Hannah Smith,
daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Smith. Their
children, all born at Hopkinton, were : Hannah,
April 26, 1741 ; Ebenezer, September 14, 1742 ; Dolly,
1744, died July 1, 1839, unmarried f> Isaac, of whom
later; John, July 5,. 1750; Aaron, 1753.
(IV) Isaac Claflin, son of Ebenezer Claflin (3),
was born at Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 1748, and
died there May 19, 1831. He was a soldier in the
revolution in Captain John Holman's company,
Colonel Samuel Bullard's regiment, and responded
with his company on the Lexington alarm, April
19, 1775- He married Mary Stimpson, daughter of
Stephen and Hanhah (Haven) Stimpson. His wife
died at Hopkinton, July 27, 1825, aged sixty-nine
years. Their only child was James, born at Hop
kinton, July 4, 1790.
(V) James Claflin, son of Isaac Claflin (4), was
born at Hopkinton, Massachusetts', July 4, 1790,
and died there May 25, 1851. . He settled at Hop
kinton also. He married, ¦ August, 1812, at Barre.
Massachusetts, Susannah Wadsworth, and she died
January 9, 1890, 'aged ninety-eight years. Their
children, ail born at Hopkinton, were : Thomas Jef
ferson, born August 21, 1813; Mary Wadsworth,
September 7, 1816; Charles Winslow, April 4, 1820,
of whom later; Martha Wadsworth, April 15, 1823;
Isaac, June 13, 1826; Susannah, January 28, 1828;
James Fitzgerald, March 25, 1834.
(VI) Charles Winslow Claflin, son of James
Claflin (5), was born at Hopkinton, April 4, 1820,
and died October 13, 1884. He was the founder
of the business still bearing his name in Boston
and Worcester. He was one of the most successful
coal merchants of New England. He married, April
18, 1844, Ann Maria Valentine, , who was born De
cember 23, 1819. Their, children, born at Hopkin
ton, were : Emma Francis, born February 21, 1845 ;
Charles Leslie, of whom later; Mary Valentine,
November 3, 1855, of whom later.
(VII) Mary Valentine Claflin, daughter of
Charles Winslow Claflin v6), was born at Hopkin
ton, Massachusetts, November 3, 1855.. She mar
ried, January 16, 1890, Arthur Osgood Young, of
Worcester, son of Stephen Young. M'r. Young has
been a member of the firm of C. W. Claflin & Com
pany for many years. The business was in charge
of Charles L. Claflin, son of C. W. Claflin, when
started in Worcester, in 1875, and later an office
was opened in Boston. The business at present is
a partnership and is owned by the Charles L. Claflin
estate of Hopkinton, Arthur O. Young, of Wor
cester, and - Edward W. Pierce, of Brookline. The
wholesale department in Boston is in charge of Mr.
Pierce, and the Worcester business, wholesale and
retail, is in charge of Mr. Young. The main office
in Worcester .is at 375 Main street. The firm has
extensive yards at 5 Grafton street, 301 Shrewsbury
16

street, and at Ludlow street, opposite the station at
Jamesville. Mr. Young's home is at 26 Institute
road, Worcester.
The children of Arthur Osgood and Mary Val
entine Young are : Charles Claflin, born December
5, 1893; Margaret Valentine, February 1, 1897; Ar
thur Osgood, Jr., November 5, 1898.
DEXTER FAMILY. The following family to
which William H. Dexter, business factor and phil
anthropist, belongs, descended from Gregdry Dexter,
of Rhode Island, one of the companions of Roger
Williams, when he founded Providence plantation in
1636-1674. William H. Dexter, was born in Charlton, Massa
chusetts, January 11, 1823. He is the son of John
B. and Lucinda (Mclntyre) Dexter. The father was
born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, June 24, 1795;
died at Worcester, November 24, 1867. He married
Lucinda Mclntyre, February 12, 1818, a native of
Charlton, born April 8, 1793; died at Worcester,
January 5, 1866. William H. attended the schools
of his native town, entering his father's store when
but fourteen years of age. Later he clerked at Bur-
rillville, Rhode Island, but returned to Charlton and
re-pitered his father's store; where he remained for
a time, and then spent five years clerking in Boston,
three years in a hotel with Pardon Stevens and two
years in a general merchandise house. His
various clerkships imbued him with the notion
of becoming a merchant himself. In 1846,
having acquired a good knowledge of business
and sufficient capital he came to Worcester,
opening the first grocery store off of Main street.
Here he operated five years with much success. He
then started in business as . a wholesale and retail
flour and grain merchant. Here he laid well the
foundation of his future business career, which
proved more than usually successful. Three years
later, 1854, he bought land of Judge Charles Allen,
on Franklin square, and erected a fine four-story
block, moving his business to the ground floor. He
paid one dollar per foot for the land and many
thought he paid more than it was worth, but he
looked ahead and had faith in the location and pros
perity which finally came to Worcester. The same
land he sold in 1893 at thirteen dollars per foot.
He kept pushing ahead in his operations and became
easily the largest grain and flour merchant of his
city, at the same time building up for himself a
good and lasting business reputation over a large
area of country. ,
In 1873 he retired from the flour business by
selling to Curtis & Company. He then gave his at
tention to the development of Franklin square, which
he so named. Dexter's name adorns the five-story
blocks on the square, and another block was erected
by him on the northeast corner of Main street and
Allen court. The Franklin building, erected by Mr.
Dexter in 1872, stands near the postoffice building,
and was at that time . one of the largest building
blocks, in the city. It has has an imposing brown
stone front; contains numerous offices and fine
stores, and has paid on the investment good returns
for thirty years. Mr. Dexter has always been noted
for his rare good judgment in real estate matters.
From 1873 to 1878, inclusive, he was a valued
member of the city council, and was for three years
a member of the school board. He has never been
especially interested in holding office, being too much
absorbed in his own affairs. He was an originator
of the First National Fire Insurance Company, of
which he was a director for twenty-four years, and
three years vice-president and manager, resigning to
look after his real estate business. While this worthy

242

WORCESTER COUNTY

gentleman has been an active business factor in Wor
cester, and has amassed a goodly fortune, he has
not, become sordid and miserly, but on the contrary,
has been a benefactor second to none._ His religi
ous life has ever been consistent with his profession.
He has been identified with the Main Street Bap
tist Church for about fifty years, and has rendered
invaluable aid to the Worcester (Baptist) Academy,
as a trustee and treasurer, having had charge of
the endowment fund for nearly a quarter of a cen
tury. He has been a great force in the upbuilding of
this- institution, having accomplished more, perhaps,
than any other man. In 1892 he gave the United
States government five thousand dollars to help pur
chase the site for the new post office building, and
many thousands toward the erection of Dexter hall,
Worcester Academy. This structure, named for
him, is among the finest up-to-date dormitories in
this country, East or West. Half of his time has
been spent in behalf of the institution. He has en
couraged study and research among the students,
by giving valuable prizes to them for merit, hence
is revered ever as a father by the whole faculty and
students roll. One of the supreme pleasures of his
life has been to aid struggling young men, many of
whom have made their mark in the world.
In 1848 he was married to Eliza A. Foss,' of
Livermore, Maine. Their only child, a daughter,
died in infancy. January 11, 1905, Mr. Dexter and
his friends celebrated his eighty-second birthday.
He is robust for one of four-score and two years.
He preaches and practices the gospel of pure air
and sunshine. Summer and winter, when the
weather is at all suitable, both he and his good wife
take their usual ride about the city.
To enumerate the many benefactions of his life
would not be practical in such a sketch, but the
chief, in addition to those above referred to are these :
He gave, but a short time ago, the Worcester Acad
emy, a block on Main street ; Newton Seminary five
thousand, five hundred dollars ; Dexter hall, to Wor
cester Academy; statute in memory of the soldiers
of the civil war to the town of Charlton. Charlton
was his native town, where he attended school and
spent his childhood days and hence the tender regard
for her people. Recently he gave that place a town
hall and public library, costing over thirty thousand
dollars. It is a fine brick structure, complete in
every detail. To the Methodist church of Charlton
he gave an organ. Mrs. Dexter gave a handsome
dormitory to the young ladies' Colby College, at
"Waterville, Maine, costing nearly fifty thousand dol
lars. Through the associations of Oread school in
Worcester, she became an intimate friend of Mrs.
John D. Rockefeller and her younger day associates.
In sketching the life of this busy man, one is
impressed with the value of good training and a con
sistent religious life, for in such cases the results
of a business career become potent factors for the
common good of mankind.
GEORGE F. BLAKE. William Blake (1) was
the emigrant ancestor of George F. Blake, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts. His father was William
Blake, of Pitminster, England, where he was bap
tized July 10, 1594. He married there, September
23, 1617, Agnes Band, widow, whose maiden name
has not been ascertained. Some recent investiga
tions however, suggest that she may have been the
widow of Richard Band and daughter of Hugh
Thorne, of Pitminster, baptized January 12, 1594.
In the same parish in England four of the children
of William Blake were baptized, but from 1624 to
1636 his place of residence is unknown. It is be
lieved that he came to America in the fall of 1635

or early in 1636 and remained at Dorchester or Rox
bury, making the acquaintance there of William Pyn
chon and others who were considering a plan of
settlement in the Connecticut valley. At any rate
he was with Pynchon and his associates on May
14 and 16, 1636, when they drew up and signed the
articles of association at Agawam, now Springfield,
and he was one of five to assign the lots and manage
affairs of the colony. He drew land tliere but ap
parently decided to return to Dorchester and settle.
He drew land in South Boston in March, 1637-8.
He was made a freeman of the colony March 14,
1638-9. He was a man of integrity and ability. He
was constable in 1641, selectman in 1645-7 and 1651
on the committee to build the new meeting house.
In 1656 he was elected town clerk and "clerk of the
writs for the county of Suffolk," and these offices
he held till within six weeks of his death, which
occurred October 25, 1663. He was also the clerk
of the train band. In his will he made a bequest
for the repairing of the burying ground. Soon after
his death his widow Agnes removed to Boston,
probably to live with her son, John, or her only
daughter, Anne Leager. She died in Dorchester.
His estate was appraised at two hundred and twenty-
four pounds. His children were: John, baptized
baptized at Pitminster, September 6, 1620, died at
Boston, January 25, 1688-9; Anne, baptized at Pit
minster, August 30, 1618, died at Boston, July 13,
1681, in the sixty-third year of her age; William,
baptized at Pitminster, September 6, 1620, died at
Milton, Massachusetts, September 3, 17Q3, at the age
of eighty-three years ; James, baptized at Pitminster,
April 27, 1624, died at Dorchester, June 28, 1700,
aged seventy-six years; Edward, supposed to be the
youngest child, died at Milton, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 3, 1692.
(II) James Blake, son of William Blake (1),
was born in Pitminster, England, baptized April 27,
1624. He came to New England with "his father.
He married about 1651, Elizabeth Clap, daughter
of Deacon Edward and Prudence (Clap) Clap, who
died in Dorcester. January i6; 1693-4, in the sixty-
first year of her age. He married (second) in Reho
both, September 17, 1695, Elizabeth (Smith) Hunt,
widow of Peter Hunt, and daughter of Henry and
Judith Smith, from county Norfolk, England. Mr.
Blake lived in the north part of Dorchester. His
house, built about 1650, was of such substantial
character that the town voted to model the parson
age after it in 1669 and it remained in the Blake
family until 1825. In 1895 it was removed from
the original location on Cottage street to Richardson
Park, and the Dorchester Historical Society secured
possession of it and have fitted it up for their pur
poses. Mr. Blake was a busy man. From 1658 to
1685 there^ is scarcely a year that he did not serve
the town in some official capacity. He was select
man thirteen years, later constable, deputy to the
general court, clerk of the writs, recorder, sergeant
of the militia company. He was deacon of the Dor
chester church for fourteen years and ruling elder
for the same period. He was often called upon as
administrator and in other capacities in the settle
ment of estates. He died June 28, 1700, leaving a
will dated June 26, 1700. His estate was appraised
at four hundred and seventy-three pounds. He ahd
his wife are buried in the old graveyard in Dor
chester, and the stones that mark their graves are
in excellent_ condition.
Their children wei;e: 1. James, born August 15,
1652, married (first) Hannah Macey, February 6,
1681, and married (second) Ruth Bachellor, July 8,
1684. 2. John, born March 16, 1656-7, inherited
property of his uncle John in Boston, but remained

WORCESTER COUNTY

243

in Dorchester, deacon, married Hannah

who

had four children; she died May 16, 1729, he died
March 2, 1718. 3. Elizabeth, born October 3, 1658,
married Jeremiah Fuller. 4. Jonathan, born July 12,
1660, died November 10, 1660. 5. Sarah, born Feb
ruary 28, 1665, died May 22, 1666. 6. Joseph, born
August 27, 1667, married Mehitable Bird, who died
Anril 15, 1751 ; he died February 1, 1738-9, eleven
children lived at Dorchester.
(Ill) James Blake, son of James Blake (2),
was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, August 15,
1652. He married (first), February 6, 1681, Han
nah Macey, daughter of George and Susannah
Macey, of Taunton, who died June 1, J683, aged
twenty-three years. He married (second), July 8,
1684, Ruth Bachellor, who was born in Hampton,
New Hampshire, May 9, 1662, daughter of Nathaniel
and Deborah (Smith) Bachellor. She died in Dor
chester, January 11, 1752, aged ninety years.
There has long been a tradition in the family
that the first house upon Dorchester Neck (now
South Boston) was erected by James Blake. An
investigation made a few years ago brought to light
evidence that Captain James Foster had a dwelling
there as early as 1676, but Blake's house was without
doubt the second built on the peninsula about 1681.
Although isolated from the village of Dorchester
the house was beautifully situated to command a
view of the harbor and shore. It was on the road
to Castle William, later Fort Independence, and at
times it became a sort of house of entertainment for
the English officers at the fort. His new house
was almost entirely destroyed by the British troops,
February 13, 1776. Mr. Blake was a farmer. He was
deacon of the Dorchester church twenty-three years.
He died October 22, 1732, at the age of eighty years.
His children were: 1. Hannah, born September 16,
1685, died October 2, 1686. 2. James, born April 29,
1688, married Wait Simpson, daughter bf Jonathan
and Wayte (Clap) Simpson, born in Charlestown,
March 30, 1685, died in Dorchester, May 22, 1753,
town clerk twenty-four years, author of Blake's
Annals, the original of which is deposited with the
New England Historic Genealogical Society; he died
December 4, 1750, at Dorchester, had seven children.
3. Increase, born June 8, 1699, married, July 23, 1724,
in Boston, Anne Gray.
(IV) Increase Blake, son of James Blake (3),
was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, June 8,
1.699. He married in Boston, July 23, 1724, Anne
Gray, daughter of Edward arid Susanna (Harrison)
Gray, who was born in Boston, March 16, 1704-5,
and died there June 20, 175 1. Mr. Gray was a rope
maker and became wealthy. One of his sons, Har
rison Gray, was prominent in public life and treas
urer of the province. Another, Rev. Ellis Gray,
was pastor of the Second Church of Boston, and
these names, Ellis Gray and Harrison Gray, have
been retained among the. descendants of their sister
even to the present generation.
Increase Blake shared with his only brother
James in his father's estate in 1732, but soon after
ward sold all his share of the real estate. He resided
in Boston, where all his sixteen children were born,
probably in the vicinity of Milk and Batterymarch
streets. He was a tin plate worker, and his trade
was followed by several of his sons and grandsons.
He did not appear in public life as much as his
brother. He was an inn-holder on Merchants row
in 1740. From 1734 to 1748 he was sealer of weights
and measures, an office appropriately connected with
his trade. In 1737 he leased of the town of Boston
one' of the shops at the town dock at dn annual
rental of thirty pounds, and in 1744 requested a re
newal. He died probably in 1770. It is stated that

he was buried in the Gray and Blake tomb, No. 74,
at the Granary burying ground.
His children were : I. Ann, bom May 8, 1725,
married, November 6, 1746, Thomas Andrews, house-
wright, died in Boston, June 2, 1752, aged thirty-
five years (Granary burying ground inscription).
2. Increase, born October 28, 1726, married, April
18. 1754, Ann Crafts, and married (second), Decem
ber 7, 1762, Elizabeth Bridge. 3. Edward, born
July 9, 1728, married, October 24, 1751, Rebecca
Hallowell. 4. _ James, born March 20, 1730, living
1774. 5. Harrison, born September 10, 1731. 6. Wil
liam, born September 14, 1732, married in Boston,
March 26, 1770, Dorcas Ward. 7. Hannah, born
September 9, 1733, married 1752, Colonel Thomas
Dawes. 8. Susannah, born October 14, 1734, mar
ried, 1755, Captain Caleb Prince. 9. John, born June
22, 1736, married in Boston, June 28, 1757, Anne
Clarage; was a tinplate worker. 10. Thomas, born
January 14, 1737-8. 11. Benjamin, born May 9, 1739,
married, August 17, 1763, Elizabeth Harris. 12.
Joseph, born July 5, 1740, married, December 3,
1761, Sarah Dawes. 13. Nathaniel, born September
28, 1741, died October 15, 1741. 14. Ellis Gray, born
September 9, 1743, married, August 23, 1778, Jane
Cook. 15. Mary, born August 17, 1745, married,
March 1, 1770, in Boston, Simon Whipple, had three
children. 16. Sarah, born August 18, 1746, mar
ried Joseph Bachelder, of Chelsea, Massachusetts.
(V) Increase Blake, son of Increase Blake (4),
was born in Boston, October 28, 1726, jnarried there,
April 18, 1754, Anne Crafts, daughter of Thomas
and Anne (White) Crafts, who was born in Boston,
January 10, 1734, and died March 21, 1762, aged
twenty-eight. A few years ago a grave stone in
scribed with her name and date' of death was found
on Boston Common. He married (second), Decem
ber 7, 1762, Elizabeth Bridge, perhaps daughter of
Ebenezer and Mary Bridge, of Boston, born 1731.
She died of small pox in Worcester, November 22,
1792, aged sixty-one years, and was buried in a pas
ture in the northern part of the city near what is
now Nelson place. An obituary notice in the Spy
of December, 1792, refers to her as "one of the
noblest women earth was ever blessed with. A liv
ing Christian."
Mr. Blake was a tinplate worker in Boston, hav
ing a shop on King street, now State street, near
the old State House. He is said to have supplied
the Provincial troops with canteens, cartridge boxes
and the like, but refusing to make them for the
British troops was driven from town. His wife
was equally patriotic. Her bible, which is in pos
session of Mrs. E. A. Knowlton of Rochester, Min
nesota, gives evidence of an encounter she had with
a British soldier. One day when sitting in front
of her door reading her Bible she was asked by a
soldier as he passed what she was reading. She
replied "the story of the cross," upon wliich he
answered that he would fix her Bible so she would
always remember the cross and with his sword he
made a deep cut across the page through many
leaves. The story has several forms as it has been
handed down, but the Bible, the cut and the sword
of the British soldier are undoubted realities. When
forced to leave Boston, just after the Battle of
Bunker Hill, he removed his wife and seven children
to Worcester, sacrificing nearly all of his Boston
property. He opened a shop in Worcester at Lin
coln square and worked at his trade. In 1780 and
for a number of years he was jailer or gaoler. He
died in Worcester, February 28, 1795. His estate
was appraised for forty-two pounds and proved to
be insolvent. The claims amounted to $91.49, .the
net assets were only eleven shillings, six and a half

244

WORCESTER COUNTY

pence — $1.92 — to be divided. Twelve of his children
were born in Boston, the thirteenth at Worcester.
His children by his first wife were: Anne, born
August 9, 1755, died December 6, 1760; Thomas,
born December 20, 1756, died in infancy; William,
born March 12, 1758, died September 7, 1759; Eliza
beth, died March 7, 1760; James, died January 22,
1762 ; James, born January 29, 1762, married, July
14, 1784, Rebecca Cunningham. The children of his
second wife were: Mary, born November 5, 1763,
married, September 15, 1797, Andrew Tufts; Persis,
born March 31, 1765, married, December 8, 1790,
Samuel Case; Thomas Dawes, born October 23,
1768, married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton;
Ebenezer, born May 31, 1771, supposed to have been
lost at sea; Sarah, born November 25, 1772, living
1795; Susanna, born April 4, 1774, married, August
3, 1800, George Anson Howes ; Dorothy, born June
15, 1781, in Worcester, no further record of her.
(VI) Dr. Thomas Dawes Blake, son of Increase
Blake (5), was born in Boston, October 23, 1768.
He married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton, daugh
ter of Cornelius and Lydia (Claghom) Norton, of
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, who was born there
May 1, 1786, and died September 30, 1873, at Farm
ington, Maine. Mr. Blake spent his eariy days in
Worcester and attended Dr. Payson's celebrated
school, from which he graduated with the highest
honors of his class. He practiced for a short time
as a physician at Petersham, Massachusetts, but in
1799 settled at Farmington Falls, Maine. He was
a ripe scholar and to quote the history of Farming-
ton, "possessed of those strong virtues acquired dur
ing the troublous times in which his early life was
spent." He died in Farmington, Maine, November
20, 1849.
His children, all born at Farmington, were:
Cordelia, born April 19, 1804, died May 24, 1808;
Adeline, born September 16, 1806, married, April 9,
1835, John F. W. Gould; Martha, born November
12, 1808 married, April 27, 1828, David C. Morrill,
son of David and Lucinda (Woods) Morrill, who was
born December 4, 1804, and died June 12, 1877, she
died January 22, 1895, lived at Farmington; Thomas
Dawes, born February 4, 181 1, married, May 13,
1841, Hannah D. Norton; Increase, born December
8, 1812, married, September 26, 1844, Sarah Farns-
worth; Cornelius N., born February 8, 1815, died
August 29, 1827; Ebenezer Norton, born July 30,
1817, married, February 16, 1843, Harriet Cummings;
George Fordyce, born May 20, 1819, married (first),
January I, 1845, Sarah S. Skinner; married (second)
December 24, 1857, Martha J. Skinner; Jotham
Sewall, born February 6, 1821, died March 5, 1881 ;
Freeman Norton, born June 1, 1822, married Helen
S. Baker. (VII) George Fordyce Blake, son of Dr. Thomas
Blake (6), was born May 20, 1819, at Farmington,
Maine. He married (first) at Lynnfield, Massa
chusetts, January 1, 1845, Sarah Silver Skinner,
daughter of William and Lucy (Aborn) Skinner,
who was born at Lynnfield, June 18, 1821, and died
in Boston, October 14, 1856. He married (second)
at North Sandwich, Massachusetts, December 24,
1857, Martha J. Skinner, sister of his first wife, who
was born at Lynnfield, June 24, 1835, and died in
Boston, June 2, 1897.
Mr. Blake began his business career at an early
age and before he was thirty he held a responsible
position as mechanical engineer at the Cambridge
brick yards. His mechanical skill led him to devise
several useful inventions, among which was a water
meter which brought his name into public promi
nence. His greatest achievement, however, was the
Blake steam pump, which he devised originally for

use in his own business. This pump was so suc
cessful that he devoted most of his energies to its
manufacture and improvement. He must be counted
as one of the great mechanical inventors of the
nineteenth century. Unlike many of them he reaped
richly of the fruit of his invention. The Blake pump
is now manufactured by a corporation known as the
George F. Blake Manufacturing Company. Mr.
Blake made his home at various times in Cambridge,
Medford, Belmont and lastly in Boston, where he
died July 22, 1905. He had two children by his
first wife and four by his second
His children were: Thomas. Dawes, born Oc
tober 25, ,1847, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, mar
ried, May 18, 1870, Susan P. Symounds, four chil
dren; Sara Augusta, born December 6, 1853, at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, married, October 21, 1885,
at Belmont, Massachusetts, Roland H. Boutwell, son
of Rodney C. and Nancy J. Boutwell; she died at
Belmont, February 27, 1891, no children; George
Fordyce, born February 9, 1859, at Medford, Massa
chusetts, married, April 29, 1885, Carrie H. Turner;
Grace Bertha, born August 30, 1863, at Medford,
died there February 29, 1868; Jennie Maria, bom
April 29, 1869, at Medford, married at Boston, April
17, !895, Arthur Stoddard Johnson, son of Samuel
and Mary (Stoddard) Johnson, who was born in
Boston, June 4, 1863, has three children; Alice Nor
ton, born July 6, 1872, at Belmont, resided at Bos
ton, Massachusetts; married James M. Newell, June
6, 1901, one child.
(VIII) George Fordyce Blake, son of George
Fordyce Blake (7), was born at Medford, Massa
chusetts, February 9, 1859. He was educated in the
public schools of his native town. He attended the
Warren Academy at Woburn, where he prepared
for admission to the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and entered in the class of 1879. He
made a trip around the world in 1880. During the
next four years he was a draughtsman in the office
of the Blake Manufacturing Company, of which his
father was the president. He was also connected
with the Knowles pump works as draughtsman. His
father was also president of this company.
He engaged in business on his own account Feb
ruary 28, 1884, when he formed a partnership under
the firm name of Blake, Boutwell & Co., to deal in
iron and steel at Worcester, Massachusetts. In
October, 1891, the firm became George F. Blake,
Jr., & Company. In May, 1893, the business of the
company was extended by the addition of an iron
mill at Wareham, Massachusetts, and a store in
Boston. Mr. Blake has numerous other interests
and connections. Since 1896 he has been the senior
partner in the firm of Blake, Sampson & Co., dealers
in wood and coal, in Worcester. He is a director
of the Worcester Trust Company, the State Mutual
Life Assurance Company, and the Callahan Supply
Company. He was a director of the Central National
Bank, which was absorbed by the Worcester Trust
Company. He is a trustee of the Worcester
County Institution for Savings. He was for three
years a director of the Providence & Worcester
Railroad, now owned by fhe New York, New Haven
& Hartford Railroad Company. He is a trustee of
the Worcester Insane Asylum and Hospital, ap
pointed by Governor Bates to fill out the unfinished
term of Philip W. Moen, a director and vice-presi
dent of the Worcester Cold Storage Company. He
is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade, the
Home Market Club, the Worcester Club, the Com
monwealth Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, of
which he was for two years president; the Tatnuck
Country Club, the Exchange Club, Boston ; the Tech
nology Club, Boston; the Calumet Club, New York;

WORCESTER COUNTY

245

and Grafton Country Club. Mr. Blake's home is
on Lincoln street, Worcester, and he has a beautiful
summer place on Salisbury street, Worcester, where
he indulges a taste for farm life at its best. He has
traveled extensively both for business and for pleas
ure. He married, April 20, 1885, at Newton, Massa-'
clmsctls, Carrie Howard' Turner, daughter of Job
A, Turner, treasurer of the George F. Blake Manu
facturing Company arfd of the Knowles Pump
Works. Her mother was Vesta Howard. Mrs. Blake
was born April 10, 1861, in Boston. Their children
arc: Fordyce Turner, born February 10, 1889;
Vesta Carolyn, born March 31, 1896.
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS. The Col
lege of the Holy Cross, founded in the year 1843,
by the Rt, Reverend Benedict Joseph Fouwiek, second
Bishop of Boston, is the oldest Catholic College in
New England. The most cherished wish of Bishop
Fen wick was to establish iu his diocese an institu
tion which should furnish a secular education of
the highest grade, and at the same time thoroughly
imbue its students with the principles of the Catholic
faith, lie was aided in his first stops to realize this
desire by the generosity of the Rev. James Fit ion,
of Boston, who, in 1840, had erected on Vakaehoag
Hill, or Hill of the Pleasant Springs, near Wor
cester, the Seminary of Mount St. James. This
building, with nearly sixty acres of land. Father
Fitton presented to the Bishop in 1842. The fact
that the site was given for the purpose was not the
only consideration that induced the Bishop to erect
liis college there. The location is ideal for an in
stitution of this kind. There is a magnificent view
of the city of Worcester to the north. Beyond the
city is Mount Waehusott, amid the clustering hills
of Central Massachusetts, and in every direction the
scenery is the finest that nature affords. It is
true that from the Bancroft Tower, from the summit
of Newton Hill or from Green Hill one gets equally
beautiful scenery, but none better. There could be
no more picturesque site to display the architectural
simplicity of Holy Cross: there could be no location
in Worcester offering more natural beauty to the
eye of teacher and student.
The Bishop organized the first classes in the Semi
nary of Mount St. James November 2. 1843. He
had called the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to
take care of the new college. The 'college building
was completed aud occupied January 13, 1844. The
cornerstone was laid June 21, 1843, by Bishop Fen-
wick. The first annual exhibition was held July
20, 1844. Bishop Fenwiek died August 10, 1846,
just as his great work was fairly under way. At
his own request he was buried in the college ceme
tery. A few days before his death he gave to the
Fathers in charge of the college the legal title to
tlie property.
On the afternoon of July 14, 1852, eight days
before Commencement, fire broke out in the main
building, and it was burned down. This disaster
was so serious that the very existence of the college
was threatened, but Rt. Rev. John B. Fitzoatrick,
the Bishop of Boston, determined that the institu
tion, which had been established by his predecessor,
should not perish. He began tlie work of rebuilding
and October 3, 1853, a larger and better college
building was ready "for the students, and the college
resumed its functions as before. A class of students
who had entered in 1843 and 1844 had advanced to
Philosophy, by which name the senior year was
then known, and were ready for graduation in 1849,
The college authorities, therefore, applied to the leg
islature to be incorporated. Their petition was not

granted, and it was not until the close of the civil
war, which effectually eliminated the sectarian pre
judices at Beacon Hill, in 1805, that the charter was
granted by the general court. While the action of
the Massachusetts legislature prevented the confer
ring of degrees that had been rightfully earned at
Holy Cross, an arrangement was made, so that
Georgetown College in the District" of Columbia con
ferred the degrees earned at the Worcester institu
tion until the Act of Incorporation was passed in
1865. I low the faculty and students bore their dis
appointment at this time may be judged from the
testimony of His Excellency Alexander H. Bullock,
who said at the Commencement in 1868 that he had
been deeply impressed by the manner in which the
friends of the college hid all signs of their dis
appointment in failing to get the charter, and ex
hibit oil a patience which, under such circumstances,
he should hardly have dared to expect from many
Christian denominations. It was during the civil
war that the college, besides having become dear to
the Catholics ol New England, attracted the favor
able notice and support of many of their non-Catho
lic brethren. Gov. John A. Andrew visited and in
spected the college during the school term of 18(12,
and presided at the annual Commencement that
year. On that occasion he spoke in the highest
terms of the college, and the sincerity of his praise
was shown by his constant friendship for the col
lege at every opportunity. The charter was signed
by the governor March 24, 1805. It gave the college
Ihe right to confer such degrees as are conferred
bv other colleges in the state, except medical de
grees, and placed Holy Cross on an equal footing
in the statutes of the Commonwealth with Harvard,
Amherst, Williams, Tufts and other colleges. Per
haps the Holy Cross degrees mean more to the grad
uate now than they would if the charter had not been
withheld for a time. In this connection the college
acknowledges its indebtedness to the late Hon.
Alexander 11. Bullock, of Worcester, who, while
Speaker of the House, offered to present the petition
for a charter, and while governor of the state pre
sided at three successive Commencements.
The college buildings have been vastly improved
and greatly enlarged in the past twenty-five years.
In 1875 the esat wing of the main building was
raised and extended. This wing, which was the
only part of the building not destroyed by the fire
of 1852- gave place in time to a structure One hun
dred and twelve feet long, with an easterly frontage
of ninety feet. On the first story is the refectory;
on the second the study hall; on the upper floor the
chapel. Adjoining this wing on the southeast cor
ner is the infirmary. A later and more modern
structure, known as the O'Kane building, was com
pleted in 1805, and formally opened in September
of Ihat year. It contains the gymnasium, 50x139
feet, one of the largest and most complete in New
England. On the third floor is Fenwiek hall, an
auditorium for public lectures, debates, meetings,
assemblies of students, etc. A new dormitory build
ing, alumni hall, with one hundred rooms for stud
ents, was completed in the fall of 1905.
The system of education is the one in use in all
the colleges of the Society of Jesus, and is guided
Iv- the principles laid down in the famous "Ratio
Studiorum." This hody of rules and suggestions
has been elaborated by centuries of experience, and
has been judged worthy of attentive study and'
hearty approbation by the ablest scholars. The col
lege announces that instead of abolishing prescribed
studies and increasing elective courses it advocates
a wise, deliberate% and prudent selection by men
whose profession is education ; and not an unwise.

246

WORCESTER COUNTY

sudden and rash choice by inexperienced youths just
entering on the process of education. "It is not a
system of ever-changing theory and doubtful ex
periment, but one on which have been built the char
acters of the world's best scholars and statesmen
for centuries. It meets the_ demand for modern
improvement by wise adaptation and readjustment.
The natural sciences and modern _ languages are by
no means overlooked or neglected in this system, but
the ancient languages and their literatures are still
retained as prescribed studies and, with mathematics
and philosophy,' form the 'essential trinity of courses'
which Professor Ladd, of Yale considers 'abso
lutely necessary for a truly liberal education.' "
The - college has an excellent library. In every
department the college has grown rapidly in the
past few years. Nearly a thousand bachelors of
arts have been graduated in the college of the Holy
Cross. In the athletic world Holy Cross more than
holds her. own with colleges of her size. The pres
ent officers of the college are: President, Rev.
Joseph F. Hanselman; vice-president, Rev. Joseph
H. Hann; chaplain, Rev. Albert R. Peters; treas
urer, Rev. Patrick A. McQuillan; prefectof studies,
Rev. Thomas E. Murphy; prefect of discipline, Rev.
Fernand A. Rousseau. There are sixteen instructors
in the college and thirty in the preparatory depart
ment besides the faculty.
REV. JOSEPH FRANCIS HANSELMAN.
(1) Henry Hanselman, father of Rev. Joseph Francis
Hanselman, of the Society of Jesus, and president of
the College; of the Holy Cross at Worcester, was
born in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, October
16, '1828. He was a paper manufacturer, and in 1847
came to this country, in the interests of his firm,
to establish a paper mill, first in Philadelphia and
1 then in New York city, but the undertaking was
not successful. Later he engaged in various com
mercial enterprises successfully in Brooklyn and New
. York city. The later years of his life he was en
gaged in the real estate business in Brooklyn, where
he won the respect and confidence of his fellow citi-
,zens. He was interested in public affairs and held
various offices in the city government of Brooklyn,
Shortly before he died he was tendered the nomina
tion for city auditor, but his health was failing and
he had to decline the honor. He was a Democrat.
He was originally a Protestant in his religious be
liefs and affiliations, but was converted to Catholi
cism after he came to America. While in search of
the same sect to which he belonged in Switzerland,
he found such a conflicting array of various denomi
nations in America that he began to doubt whether
God's truth, which ought to be the same everywhere,
could consistently be found in all the sects alike.
His investigations led him into the Catholic
Church. He died October 17, 1884, in Brooklyn,
New York.
He married Margaret Jacobs. She was born
near Treves in Rhenish Prussia, November 30, 1830.
She emigrated to this country in 1849, and lived be
fore as well as after her marriage in New York
city and Brooklyn. She died December 28, 1904.
(II) Joseph Francis Hanselman, son of Henry
Hanselman (1), was born in Brooklyn, New York,
October 28, 1856. He received his early education ih
the parochial school. He studied the classics under
private tutors and fitted for college. He entered St.
.Vincent's College, near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where
he was a student for two years. He completed his
collegiate education at St. Francis Xavier's College,
in New York city and was graduated with the degree
of A. B. in the class of 1877. He studied theology
in the Grand Seminary, Montreal, in 1877 and 1878.
On September 7, 1:878, he entered the . novitiate of

the Society of Jesus at Manresa, West Park, New
York. In 1880 he went to Frederick, Maryland, to
review his classical studies at the Jesuit Normal
school. He spent three more years at Woodstock,
Maryland, in the study of philosophy. From 1884
to 1888 inclusive he was professor of the classics
at St. Peter's College, Jersey City, New Jersey, and
during the college year, 1888-9 he, taught philosophy
and. mathematics in St. John's College, Fordham,
New York city. After three years more of study
at Woodstock, Maryland, he was ordained there in
June, 1892, but remained in the study of theology
until 1893. During the years 1893 t:o 1897, inclusive,
he was prefect of studies and discipline at Holy
Cross, Worcester. Then he spent another year, at
Frederick in the study of ascetic theology. He re
turned to the College of the Holy Cross and was
prefect of discipline in 1898-99, 1900-01. He became
president of the college, August 24, 1901, and has
since held the position. During his administration
the college has enjoyed the utmost prosperity. It
has been difficult to accommodate all the students
who have sought admission.
WILLIAM PHINEHAS SEARLS. Robert
Searis (1), the pioneer ancestor of William Phinehas
Searls, late of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of a
number of families in Massachusetts and Connecti
cut, was born in England, in Dorchester, _ if the
family tradition is correct. The date of his birth
was about 1640. He married in 1660, Deborah
 , and about the same time came to this coun-
tfy, settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Other
Searles or Searle pioneers preceded him. Many of'
the Searles families are descended from John
Searles, of Springfield, Massachusetts, who was
there as early as 1637, and from Philip Searl of
•Roxbury, Massachusetts. The name is variously
spelled in the early records, but the descendants of
Robert Searls, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, have
maintained the spelling, Searls, in all the generations,
except for occasional variations of individuals.
Robert Searls was admitted an inhabitant of Dor
chester June 9, 1662. His wife died March 2, 1713-4,
at Dorchester. The town record of his death notes
that he was "town clerk for many years." Doubt
less the completeness of the early records in Dor
chester, relating to the Searls family, is due to the
fact that for sixteen years he himself kept the
record as town clerk. He died, at Dorchester, Feb
ruary 7, 1717. He signed the Dorchester petition
to the King in 1664. He owned twelve acres in the
"Great Lots" in 1668. The children of Robert and
Deborah Searls were: Nathaniel, born in Dorches
ter, June 9, 1662, baptized there April 5, 1668; mar
ried, 1694, Sarah, daughter of John Rogers and
Elizabeth Peabody, and great-granddaughter of
Thomas Rogers of the "Mayflower" ; Salter (a pe
culiar family name found in almost every family
of Robert Searls' descendants. There were several
pioneers of this name. William Salter, of Boston,
left a large family of children and was in Boston
as early as 1638), born June 26, 1664, died April
8, 1690; baptized at Dorchester Church, April J,
1668; lEsbon (given Edna in some accounts), born
February 24, 1669, died young; Robert, (see for
ward); Esbon,'born March 18, 1674; Deborah, born
April 4, 1677; Jabez, born March 13, 1679, married
Thankful Topliff, April 9, 1702, at Dorchester, and
had a large family of children there; she died May
1, 1747; he died July 31, 1724.
(H) Robert Searls, son of Robert Searls (1),
born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, July 2, 1671;
married there December 4, 1695, by Rev. Mr. Dan
forth, Rebecca Evans. He settled in Dorchester

(^r 6^^&Z<?Z^g^&&Z£Zr

The Lewis Publishing Co.

WORCESTER COUNTY

247

and died there July 13, 1752, of smallpox "being,"'
the town records tell us, "the fourth person that
had it in the town in the year 1752, and the only
person that died of it in the town of Dorchester,
though such numbers had it in Boston and sur
rounding towns, and hundreds died of it there."
His widow, Rebecca, died May 17, 1761, in her
eighty-fifth year. Both were buried in Dorchester,
and their graves are marked with headstones. The
children of Robert and Rebecca (Evans) Searls
were: Salter, baptized December 6, 1696, died at
Dorchester, May 15, 1753 (headstone at Dorchester) ;
Rebecca (twin), born February 15, 1700; Deborah,
(twin), born February 15, ,1700, died January 20,
1755, unmarried; Mary, born December 21, 1701,
died unmarried October 12, 1765; Robert, (see for
ward). (Ill) Robert Searls, son of Robert Searls (2),
born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, July 3, 1705; set
tled in Dorchester and married Sarah Maudsley,
who was of an old Dorchester family, January 6,
1731. He was known generally as Robert Searls,
Jr. Children, all born in Dorchester, were: Eliza
beth, born December 17, 1732 ; Rebecca, May 26, ,
1734; Elijah, March 28, 1736; John, May 17, 1738,
settled in Dorchester and raised a family there;
Salter, (see forward).
(IV) Salter Searls, son of Robert Searls, Jr. (3),
was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, June 15,
1741. When a young man he removed to Brooklyn,
the county seat of Windham county, Connecticut.
He died there May 25, 1808. He served on the
school committee and in other offices. . He married
Alice Cady, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, born Feb
ruary 23, 1747; died October 24, 1819. Their seven
sons and one daughter all settled in Windham county
in the towns of Plainfield, Brooklyn, Hampton, and
Pomfret. The children were : Daniel, Sarah, Phine
has, (see forward) ; Elijah, Joel, John, Richard,
Bela. (V) Phinehas Searls, son of Salter Searls (4),
was born April 26, 1773 ; died May' 30, 1856 ; married
(first) Alithea Brown, born in Brooklyn, Connecti
cut, April 11, '1786; died February 15, 1825. She
was the daughter of Alpheus and Sarah Brown;
married (second) Mary Witter Paine, bom January
30, 1785; died January 5, 1857.
The children of Phinehas and Alithea (Brown)
Searls were: Harriet, born May 28, 1805; died
July 8, 1805 ; William, (see forward) ; Charles, July
5, 1815, died October 18, 1892; Alithea, October 27,
1819 died January 24, 1824; Henry, March 18,
1821, died July 13, 1821 ; Almary, August 12, 1822 ;
died April 8, 1856; Daniel, February 15, 1825, died
June 29, 1866. The children of Phinehas and Mary
Witter (Paine) Searls were: Martha Ann, Novem
ber 29, 1826, died February 15, 1829; Lewis, Sep-
, -tember -2, 1828, died December 19, 1902.
(VI) William Searls. son of Phinehas Searls
(5) and father of William P. Searls, was born in
Plainfield, Connecticut, (now called Wauregan) on
the Quinebaug river, January 26, (?) 1811; died
January 11, 1900. He married Catherine Jane
Backus, of New York city, May 27, 1841. . She was
the twin daughter of Simon and Eunice Alice
(Linus) Backus, of a family of ten children. She
was born in New York city December 8, 1822;
died in Worcester, April 20, 1905. She was the
great-great-granddaughter of Rev. Timothy Ed
wards, her father's grandmother being a sister of the
s.fe famous Rev. Jonathan Edwards. The record of the
Linus family was destroyed in a fire some years ago,
when the old homestead at Bridgeport, Connecticut
was destroyed. The family was of English and
French descent.

Mr. Searls removed from Plainfield, with his
parents, to Brooklyn, Connecticut, when he was a
young boy. The Searls place at Brooklyn is the
farm now owned there by Frank Weaver. The
family occupied the place forty-seven years. He
began life as clerk in the country stores at Brook
lyn and Plainfield, Connecticut. From there he
went to Hartford, Connecticut, where he held a po
sition in a dry goods establishment. He went to New
York to take a responsible position in one of the
largest dry goods store there. Eventually he went
to Wall street and became one of the leading brokers
of his day. With his brother Charles he became
associated with several of the most prominent oper
ators of Wall street. Both were members of the
New York Stock Exchange for many years. Will
iam Searls was elected president of the Stock Ex
change in 1868. At the end of his term he retired
from active life. For thirty years he enjoyed his
retirement, occupied only with the cares of his in
vestments. He resided in Brooklyn, New York.
He became a member of the Clinton Avenue Congre
gational Church of that city May 1, 1850.
Children were: Catherine Isabelle, born in New
York city, June 2, 1842, died July 26, 1842; Flor
ence Amelia, born in Brooklyn Heights, New York,
June 29, 1848; educated in private schools and at the
Parker Collegiate Institute ; has lived in recent years
in Worcester, at the home of her brother, William
P.' Searls, 105 Bumcoat street; William Phinehas,
(see forward).
(VII) William Phinehas Searls, son of William
Searls (6), was born in Brooklyn, June 3, 185 1 ;
died November 20, 1904. His early education was
obtained at private schools and at the Brooklyn
Polytechnic Institute. For a time he was with his
father on Wall street in the brokerage business.
Later he was associated with Hatch & Foote, bank
ers and brokers, and with the Tiffany jewelry es
tablishment. He went to Chicago, where he was
connected with the grocery business of J. W. Doane.
Returning to New York, he married September 12,
1882, Kate Robinson, daughter of John R. Robinson.
His father-in-law was interested in Mexican silver
mines and Mr. Searls for a time managed a mine
for him at Chihuahua, Mexico. He was in the real
estate business until 1890, when he came to Worces
ter to live on account of the health of his daughter
Florence. He made his home at 105 Burncoat street,
in an attractive portion of the suburbs of the city.
Soon after coming to Worcester he became inter
ested in the North End Street Railway Company.
When the company was organized in 1892 he became
its first president. While his company was fighting
for its franchise and locations he was called upon
many times to appear before the Board of Aldermen
at hearings in opposition to the powerful Consoli
dated Street Railway Company, of Worcester.. He
won for his company, and the line was constructed
from Greendale to Washington Square, and it was
operated by the North End Street Railway Company
until it was leased to the Consolidated August 1,-
1895, for a term of ninety-nine years. The North
End Street Railway Company is still in existence as
a corporation. It was the intention of the company
from the first to extend its lines to Clinton. He
was also interested for a time in the Drapery Fixture
and Wood Carving Company, and during the last
years of his life was interested in the Worcester
Manufacturing Company, which conducted extensive
experiments with compressed air motors,, etc.
He was one of a committee o.f seven appointed,
to recommend a plan for the investment of the funds
obtained by the Worcester Agricultural Society from
the sale of its grounds. His committee reported

248

WORCESTER COUNTY

in favor of the purchase of the present grounds at
Barbers' Crossing. At a meeting in Horticultural
Hall it was voted to accept the recommendation
and to negotiate the purchase of the tract, also to
locate and lay out a regulation racing track, much
to the satisfaction of horsemen generally. Mr.
Searls was an ardent Republican. He represented
Ward Two in the general court in 1893-94-95. He
was on the committee on election laws in 1894, and
chairman of the committee on finance and house
chairman of the committee on expenditures in
1895. He was a man of attractive personality. He
made friends readily and kept them. He was a
shrewd man of business. . The only child of Will
iam Phinehas and Kate (Robinson) Searls was :
Florence, born on West End avenue, New York
city, November 3, 1888.
DANIEL KINSLEY. Richard Montague (1)
was the emigrant ancestor of Daniel Kinsley, of
Worcester, and of many others in Worcester county
and Western Massachusetts. His pedigree is traced
in England back to 1066. An abstract of the line
of descent is as follows : Beginning with William
Montague, who was born about 1500. William
Montague, of Boveney Parish, Burnham, Bucking
hamshire, 'England. Robert Montague, married Mar
garet Cotton, daughter of Roger Cotton, of Ward-
ville, Berkshire. William Montague, married Mar
garet Malthouse, daughter of John Malthouse, of
Binfield, Berkshire. William Montague of Boveney,
M. A., Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge, left
Eton College and succeeded to his estate at Boveney,
1585 ; living in 1634. He married Richard Burn's
daughter Elizabeth. Their children were : William,
Peter, was in Virginia in 1634; Richard, Robert,
Elizabeth, Anne, Margaret..
Richard Montague was born about 1614 in
Boveney, where for generations his ancestors had
lived. When he came to New England is not known.
The first record is 1646, when he removed with his
wife from Wells, Maine, to Boston, Massachusetts. It
is believed that he went to Wells in 1637 from
Boston. He married Abigail Downing, daughter of
Rev. Dr. Downing, of Norwich, England. The
Downing family in England has a well established
pedigree in the Montague genealogy, but some of
the links connecting Rev. Dr. Downing with the
pedigree seem to lack proof, though probably cor
rectly guessed.
In 1651 Richard Montague removed to Wethers
field, Connecticut, taking With him a letter from
Emanuel Downing, of Salem, his wife's cousin, to
Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut. He was* one
of the original fifty-nine citizens who signed the
agreement April 18, 1659, at Goodman Ward's house
in Hartford to settle at Hadley, Massachusetts. He
held various town offices in Hadley and was select
man in 1671 and 1677. In March, 1681, he was made
clerk of writs. He died December 14, 1681. His
wife died November 8, 1694. Their children were :
Mary, born about 1642, probably in Wells, Maine;
Sarah, born June 15, 1646, in Boston, died June
19, 1646, in Boston; Martha, born June 16, 1647, in
Boston; Peter, born July 8, 1651, probably in Weth
ersfield, Connecticut; Abigail, born 1653, in Wethers
field; John, born probably 1655, in Wethersfield.
(II) John Montague, son of Richard Montague
(1), was born probably in 1655 or 1656, in Wethers
field, Connecticut. He removed with his parents to
Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659 or 1660. He mar
ried, March 23, 1681, in Hadley, Hannah Smith,
daughter of Chileab and Hannah (Hitchcock)
Smith, granddaughter of Luke and Elizabeth (Gib
bons) Hitchcock, of Wethersfield. She was born

July, 1662. The grave-stones of her parents are of
interest. They read: "Ens. Chileab Smith d. March
7, 1731, aged 96 years, and Hannah his wife d. Aug.
3i> 1733. aged 88 years. It is a worthy memorial
they lived in marriage state 70 years." John Mon
tague was a selectman in 1697. He lived on the
original homestead at Hadley until his death about
1732, as stone shows. The children of John Mon
tague were: John, born December 31, 1681 ; Rich
ard, born March 16, 1684; Hannah, born August
8, 1687, died November, 1688; Hannah, born March
21, 1689, died April 19, 1689; Peter, born May, 1690;
William, born December 16, 1692; Samuel, born
April 2, 1695 ; 'Hannah, born May 28, 1697 ; Luke,
born October 4, 1699; Nathaniel, born October 6,
1704. (Ill) Deacon Samuel Montague, son of John
Montague (2), was born in Hadley, Massachusetts,
April 2, 1695. He married, January or June 24,
1716, Elizabeth White, daughter of Deacon Na
thaniel White, of Fladley. She died October 15,
1753. aged fifty-seven years. He married (second),
June 13, 1754, Mary Billings, widow of Jonathan
Billings, and daughter of Joseph Root. He was one
of the first forty settlers in Sunderland, Massachu
setts. His home lot, which he received from his
Uncle Peter, was No. 14 and this land is now or was
recently owned by his descendants. He was a man
of energy, activity and good judgment, and in the
course of his long life filled almost every office in
the gift of his fellow citizens. The records indi
cate the order or rank of certain offices. He is
designated as lieutenant, then deacon, then captain,
showing the rank of deacon in the estimation of
the people was higher than lieutenant but lower
than captain. He was selectman also. He died
January 31, 1779, aged eighty-four years. The chil
dren of Deacon Samuel Montague were : Samuel,
born June 30, 1720; John, born January 10, 1723,
died February 15, 1748, unmarried; Daniel, born
January 1,3, 1725; Giles, born January 29, 1727;
Richard, born May 7, 1729; Caleb, born July 27,
1731 ; Giles, born December 16, 1733, died Septem
ber 10, 1734; Elizabeth, born September 18, 1735,
died September 17, 1743; Nathaniel, born February
13, 1739, slain in battle at Lake George, August 7,
1757; Ebenezer, born October 1, 1741, died Sep
tember 28, 1743.
(IV) Samuel Montague, son of Samuel Mon
tague (3), was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts,
June 30,, 1720. He. married in 1742, Elizabeth Mon
tague (his cousin), daughter of Peter and Mary
(Hubbard) Montague, of South Hadley, Massa
chusetts. He resided in Sunderland many years
and there his children were born. He was one of a
number of Separatists who were excommunicated
from the church at Sunderland, September
24, 1753, He removed to Bennington, Vermont,
in 1761, and was moderator of the first town meet
ing there. Some of the Kinsley family, among them
John Kinsley, were also among the early settlers of
Bennington. The church at Bennington was founded
by the Separatists. In 1773-4 he removed to Pitts-
ford, Vermont, but returned to Bennington, where
he died of smallpox, January 17, 1777. His widow
married Rev. James Smith, a Baptist minister. She
died January 31, 1816, in Pittsford, aged ninety-five
years, three months. He was a weaver by trade.
His sons settled on the land he owned in Pitts-
ford. His children were : Samuel, born in Sunder
land, as were all the other children, January 15.
I743J Elizabeth, born October 4, 1744; Mary, born
November 25, 1746, baptized February 1, I747i ?'
Amherst; Martha, born November 21, 1748; Persis,
born February 13, 1751 ; Azubah, born February 14.

WORCESTER COUNTY

249

1753; Experience, born May 14, 1755; Adonijah,
born April 11, 1757; Nathaniel, born June 4, 1759,
died in Oneida, New York; Rufus, born October
28, 1762.
(V) Samuel Montague, son of Samuel Mon
tague (4), was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts,
January 15, 1743. He married, 1764, in Benning
ton, Vermont, Lucy Safford, daughter of Joseph and
Ann (Bottom) Safford, of Ipswich, Massachusetts,
and Norwich, Connecticut. She was born June, 1748,
and removed with her parents to Bennington. They
resided in Bennington until eight of their children
were born. He removed in July, 1784, to Cam
bridge, Vermont, when there was no road and the
trail was blazed. They were among the first set
tlers in Cambridge. He died March 27, 1826, in
Cambridge, Vermont. She died April 4, 1828, aged
eighty-one. The children of Samuel and Lucy
(Safford) Montague were: Lucy, born February 12,
1765; Darius, born April 18, 1767, died of smallpox;
Anna, born October 2, 1769; Elizabeth, born Feb
ruary 11, 1771; Samuel, born April 23, 1775; Ce-
linda, born November 28, 1777; Child, born April 3,
1779, died April 27, 1780; Joseph, born July 6,
1781; Solomon, born April 15, 1785; Challis, born
November 18, 1788.
(VI) Lucy Montague, daughter of Samuel Mon
tague (5), was born in Bennington, Vermont, Feb
ruary 12, 1765. She married Daniel Kinsley. (See
Kinsley Family).
KINSLEY FAMILY. (I) Stephen Kinsley was
the emigrant ancestor of Daniel Kinsley, of Wor
cester. The records show that his descendants have
followed this" way of spelling the name without a
"G" wherever they have settled. The emigrant was
in Braintree, first in 1637. John Kingsley, of Dor
chester, is believed to be a brother. Stephen was a
proprietor of the town of Braintree and was ad
mitted a freeman May 13, 1640. He removed to
Dorchester and bought half of the Hutchinson farm,
February 23, 1656. He returned to Braintree and
sold land in Milton, May 11, 1670. He was an
elder of the church and deputy to the general court.
His will was dated at Milton, May 27, 1673, and
proved July 3, 1673, in which he mentions his
family. His children were : Samuel ; John ; a daugh
ter who married Henry Crane; a daughter, who
married Anthony Golliver; a daughter who mar
ried Robert Mason; Mary, born August 30, 1640,
at Braintree. (II) Samuel Kinsley, son of Stephen Kinsley
(1), was born probably in England. He married
Hannah  . He died before 1673, when 'his
father's will was made. He probably 'lived at Milton.
His children were: Samuel, born 1662; and two
daughters. (Ill) Samuel Kinsley, son of Samuel Kinsley
(2), was born in 1662, at Dorchester. He married
Mary Washburn, in 1694. She was the daughter of
John Washburn. They settled at South Bridge-
water, Massachusetts, and , bought the Jeduthan
Robbins place, adjoining Thomas Washburn's. His
children,' except Daniel, who is believed to belong
here, are given by the Bridgewater history. See
also Easton, Massachusetts, history. The children:
Samuel, born 1720, died 1773, at Worcester; John,
married Thankful Washburn, daughter of William
Washburn, 1746; Nathan, married Betty Dunbar,
daughter of James Dunbar ; Benjamin, born March 16,
1701, married (first) Priscilla Manley, died March
13, 1759, Easton; married (second) Widow Perkins;
Mary, married Thomas Willis, 1716; Sarah, mar
ried Josiah Hayward, 1715; Benjamin; Bethia, mar
ried William Brett, 1732; Susanna, married Samuel

Packard, 1729; Daniel, born 1720-30, (need proof
of this connection). (Samuel (IV) died in Wor
cester on his way from Deerfield to his family in
Bridgewater, September 25, 1773, aged fifty-three.
His son Samuel went to Charlemont, Massachu
setts, where Daniel Kinsley settled. His son Martin
settled at Hardwick, Massachusetts. His son Caleb
at Montague, Massachusetts. He married Sophia
White, about 1742.)
(IV) Daniel Kinsley, son, of Samuel Kinsley
(3), of Bridgewater, probably, was born about
1720-30. He removed to western Massachusetts
and was one of the prominent settlers of Charle
mont in Hampden county. His brother, Samuel
Kinsley, had sons settle in Charlemont and other
towns in the vicinity. Samuel died at Worcester on
his way home from Deerfield to his home in Bridge-
water, as the inscription on his stone tells. He was
buried in Worcester. Pie must have been one of
the early settlers at Charlemont, as his son Daniel
was born there in 1764, and in 1770 he was one of
the three largest property owners as shown by the
tax list. The others were Othniel Taylor from
Deerfield, and Aaron Rice, brother of the founder,
Moses Rice. He married Eunice  . The fol
lowing list of children is probably incomplete :
Daniel, born at Charlemont, Massachusetts, April
22, 1764; John, settler at Bennington before 1775;
Stephen, who drew lot 47 in Cambridge at the same
time Daniel, Sr., and Daniel, Jr., drew land there
in 1783. (The records show that the family was in
Bennington, Vermont, before coming to Cambridge
and the adjoining town of Fletcher, Vermont.)
(V)' Daniel Kinsley, son of Daniel Kinsley (4),
both in battle of Bennington, Vermont, was born
at Charlemont, Massachusetts, April 22, 1764. He
removed with his father to Bennington, Vermont,
about 1780. He and his father drew land in Cam-
- bridge, Vermont, together, August 28, 1783. Daniel,
Sr., had lot No. 1 ; Daniel, Jr., lot No. 44 ; Stephen
Kinsley lot 47.
Daniel Kinsley married, November 22, 1788,
Lucy Montague (q. v.), daughter of Samuel Mon
tague (V). This was the first marriage in the
town of Cambridge, Vermont. (Date from family
record differs from that in Montague Genealogy).
He died in Fletcher, Vermont, September 27, 1828;
she died February 10, 1850, in Fletcher. Their chil
dren, all born in Cambridge, were : Clarissa, born
August 9, 1789, died at North Hero January 22,
1820, married Moses Haynes, of North 13ero, March
31, 1805 ; Eunice, born August 23, 1790, died at
Cambridge; Hannah, born January 21, 1792, married
Elihu Parks, of Russelton, Canada, January 31,
1812 ; Lucretia, born January 19, 1794, lived at ,
Brasher, New York, died there 1871, married M'elzar
E. Buck, at Russelton, Canada, January 6, 1812; Ben
Alvah, born January 11, 1796, died at Lowell, Ver
mont, December 6, 1870; Elvira, born January 5,
1798, died at Fletcher, Vermont, July 3, 1859; Guy,
born May 8, 1800, married Emily Scott Fletcher,
July 4/1826; Earl, born in North Hero, Vermont,
August 4, 1802, died at Grand Isle, June 29, 1868;
Nancy, born December 17, 1804, married Jefferson
Scott, at Fletcher, May 8, 1828; Samuel, born May
29, 1807, died at North Hero, October 5, 1808;
Chellis, born July 19, 1809, married, March 12, 1837,
Almira Hubbard, at North Hero ; Calista, born in
Russelton, Canada, April 20, 1812, died in North
Hero, August 8, 1847.
(VI) Ben Alvah Kinsley, son of Daniel Kinsley
(5), was born in Cambridge, Vermont, January 11,
1796. In 1812 he served six months in the New
York state militia. He enlisted April 27, 1813, in

25°

WORCESTER COUNTY

the Second Company, Thirtieth Vermont Volunteers,
and served a year in the army commanded by Gen
eral Wade Hampton. The sufferings and privations
of this campaign were terrible. He was slightly
wounded by a bullet in the battle of LaCole Mill,
Odelltown, Canada. He had a narrow escape from
death crossing the ice from Butler's Island to North
Hero, which is related in Vol. 2, page 200 of the
Vermont Gazeteer. He married, February 26, 1824,
Catherine Montague, daughter of Rufus Montague,
granddaughter of Samuel Montague (q. v.) above,
a second case' of marriage of cousins in the line. She
was crippled several years before her death, Feb
ruary 15, 1849. He married (second) Lucy or M.
P. Blair, of Fletcher. He was the author of the
history of Fletcher in the Vermont Gazeteer. He
was said to be a man of good judgment, deep feel
ing and excellent religious principles. He was
original in his ways and thought. His biographer
terms some of his ideas eccentricities. Five of his
sons, Rufus, Jason, Edgar, William and Alonzo,
were soldiers in the civil war and all passed through
the service. After the war a very interesting family
reunion was held at which all the children were
present. He died December 6, 1870, at Lowell,
Vermont. The children of Ben Alvah Kinsley, all born in
Fletcher, Vermont, were : Guy, born February 12,
1825, married, March 14, 1853, Lucinda Ellsworth,
resides at Council Hill, Clayton county, Iowa, has
had eleven children. Lucretia, born February 13,
1827. Daniel, born June 13, 1829. Rufus, born
October 9, 1831, printer by trade, married, April
10, 1872, at Cambridge, Ella L. Bingham, daughter
of Judge Royal T. Bingham, of Fletcher, has seven
children. Jason, born October 25, 1833, served in
First Iowa Cavalry throughout civil war, teacher,
died at McGregor, Iowa, October, 1903. Alonzo,
born February 3, 1836, served in Company H,
wounded in breast by minie ball July 16, 1861 ;
farmer at Cambridge, Vermont, married, January
6, 1869, at Johnson, Vermont, Emma Alsie Brown,
daughter of Dexter W. Brown, of Waterville, Ver
mont, has four daughters. Edgar, born August 16,
1837, adopted by his uncle, Rufus Montague, and
name changed by act of legislature ; married, March,
i860, Louise Sherwood, daughter of Zalmon Sher
wood, of Fletcher; married (second) Annette Blair,
daughter of Charles Blair, of Fletcher; was a sol
dier in the civil war; has had six children. Will
iam Lyon, b'orn March 12, 1844, died September
24, 1901 ; carried a ball in his elbow received in the
battle of Cold Harbor ; married Ellen Lucretia Whit
tle, in Lowell, Vermont ; has one son, Ross.
(VII) Daniel Kinsley, son of Ben Alvah Kins
ley (6), was born in Fletcher, Vermont, June 13,
1829. He spent his boyhood in his native town,
working on a farm and attending the district school.
He came to Massachusetts when he was seventeen,
as many Vermont boys did' about that time, hoping
to save money enough to buy a farm and settle in
Fletcher. He went to work for Bonum Nye, of North
Brookfield, one of the county commissioners, and
he became acquainted with the other county commis
sioners in the course of business. When a vacancy oc
curred in the messenger's office at the court he was
the ufianimous choice of the board. He. was elected
June 21, 1853, as messenger of the courts and held
the position for fifty years. His duties at first in
cluded work now done by the janitor and others.
Time has worked many changes in the court house
and the courts of Worcester county. One interest
ing souvenir of the early days of his work for the
county is the magnificent elm, known as the Kins
ley elm, between the court house and the Unitarian

church. It was a seedling in the year he began as.
custodian of the court house, and next year he
transplanted it to its present location. It is as
large as many elms of twice its age and nowhere is to
be found a more graceful and beautiful tree.
Hon. Alfred S. Roe in an article in the Wor
cester Magazine, October, 1903, just after Mr. Kins
ley had completed his fifty years bf service at the
court house, reviewed briefly the history of those
years. "In these fifty years," he said, "Mr. Kinsley
saw no less than thirty-three different men sit
upon the supreme bench and, had he been a note-
taker, what a volume of reminiscences he might have
prepared. He has followed the entire existence of
the superior court, for he had been six years on duty
when it was established and each one of the more
than fifty judges left his own distinct impression on
the mind of the messenger. He saw the progress
of distinguished and elequent lawyers from their
places as counsel to those of judges and two, Gray
and Holmes, he saw promoted to the highest judicial
positions attainable in the United States, viz. : seats
in the supreme court of the nation. He was present
when ChaHes Devens exchanged his pen for the
the sword and went out to do battle for his coun
try." Mr. Kinsley returned to Fletcher to marry an
old schoolmate, August 24, 1854. His wife was
Harriet Newell Mudgett, daughter of Jesse Mudgett,
of Cambridge. Mrs. Kinsley died March 4, 1900.
Mr. Kinsley is now retired. He resides at the rear
of the Court House at 15 Court street, this being
a portion of the Isaiah Thomas estate, which Mr.
Kinsley purchased in 1883 and upon which he built
two apartment houses. He is a member of Ply
mouth Congregational Church, although formerly a
member of Central Church. He was one of the early
promoters of the Y. M. C. A. His children are:
Catherine Montague, born in Worcester, June 23,
1855, married, 1878, Charles A. Reed. They have
had ten children : Josephine E., born September I,
1880, wife of Rev. Tyler E. Gale; Henry D., born
September 4, 1881, died August 16, 1882 ; Millicent
E., born January 30, 1883 ; Horace B., born ¦ July 8,
1884; Karl, born March n, 1886, died in infancy;-
Margaret K., born May 19, 1887; Katherine Mon
tague, born May 6, 1889, died June 2, 1900 ; Frank :
H., born July 27, 1891 ; Maybelle, born August 22,
1893; Raymond, born June 11, 1897, died January '
31, 1898. Fanny Amelia, born September 10, 1857,
died January 17, 1863. Florence Josephine, born
October 26, i860, resides at home. Carrie Carleton,
born March 26, 1864, is a public school teacher.
Sumner Alvah, born April 8, 1868,- married Maybelle
Pierce, in 1893; they have two children: Katherine
Montague, born October 9, 1896, and Mildred, born
September 7, 1901. He (Sumner Alvah) is with the
Woodbury-Carlton Engraving Company of Wor
cester, Massachusetts. Edward William, born Janu
ary 12, 1871, married, December, 1905, Edith Lan
caster. He is a member of the banking house ,of
Kinsley & Adams of Worcester.
SHATTUCK FAMILY. William Shattuck (1),
the progenitor of the Shattucks, of Worcester, and
of most of the name in this country, was born in Eng
land in 1621 or 1622, and died at Watertown, Massa
chusetts, August 14, 1672. He was a young boy
when he came to America, and his name does not
appear in the records until 1642, when he was
twenty years old. That same year he married
Susanna —  . After the death of Shattuck she
married Richard Norcross who survived her. She
died December 1, 1686. Shattuck was a farmer and ,
weaver. In 1853 one of his descendants, Lemuel

WORCESTER COUNTY

251

Shattuck, had a monument erected on his grave
and suitably inscribed. It is in the old graveyard
on the road from Cambridge to Watertown west of
Mount Auburn, Their children were: 1. Susanna,
born 1643; married J. Moue and J. Fay. 2. Mary,
bom August 25, 1645; married Jonathan Brown. 3.
John, born February 11, 1647; married Ruth Whit
ney. 4. Philip, born 1648; married D. Barstow and
R. Chamberlain. 5. Joanna, died April 4, 1673, un
married. 6. William (see forward). 7. Rebecca, born
1655; married Samuel Church. 8. Abigail, born
1657; married J. Morse and J. Parker. 9. Benjamin,
died in his twentieth year. 10. Samuel, born Feb
ruary 28, 1666 ; married Abigail  .
(II) William Shattuck, son of William (1) and
Susanna Shattuck, born 1653, at Watertown, in the
old homestead in the easterly parish on the high
way to the pond, where he lived all his life and
died October 19, 1732, at the ripe old age of seven
ty-nine. Like his father he was a weaver, but like the
versatile neighbors about him he did other things,
such as farming and brick-making, as the season
called him. He was a prominent man and held sev
eral town offices. He married Susanna Randall in
1678. She died May 8, 1723. Her father, Stephen
Randall, married Susanna Barron. He died Feb
ruary 26, 1708. Susan Barron was the daughter of
Ellis Barron, who died at Watertown, October 30,
1676, and sister of Moses Barron, born March 1,
1643, who married Mary Learned, settled in Chelms
ford and was ancestor of Lucy Barron, wife of Dr.
Benjamin Shattuck, (see forward). The children of
William and Susanna Shattuck were: 1. Susanna,
married Samuel Holden. 2. Joanna, married Isaac
Holden. 3. Elizabeth, born November 23, 1684;
married R. Goddard and others. 4. William, born
1686; married Hepzibah Hammond. 5. Benjamin,
(see forward). 6. Mary, baptized April 13, 1690;
married William Greenleaf. 7. Abigail, married
Joseph Holden. 8. Joseph, born October 9, 16^4 ;
died October 15, 1694. 9. Jonathan, born October 16,
1695; married Elizabeth Stearns. 10. Robert, born
January 1, 1698; married Mary Pratt 11. Moses,
born November 11, 1703; died at Boston, May 31,
1724, unmarried.
(Ill) Rev. Benjamin Shattuck, son of William
(2) and Susanna Shattuck, born at Watertown, July
30, 1687. He graduated at Harvard College in 1709
and engaged soon afterward as teacher of the pub
lic school at Littleton, at the princely salary of thirty
pounds a year. The town engaged to build for him
a new school house. During the next six years he
studied for the ministry while he taught the youth
of Littleton, and he was so well liked there that he
was called to preach, and became the first minister
of Littleton. He preached for fifteen years, then
resigned, but spent the rest of his life in the same
town. He died August 30, 1730. He married" Martha
Sherman, baptized September 1, 1689, the daughter
of Joseph Sherman, blacksmith and prominent citi
zen of Watertown. This Joseph Sherman married
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Winship, of Cam
bridge, and was the father of William Sherman,
shoemaker, of Watertown, and grandfather of Roger
Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
The father of Joseph Sherman was Captain John
Sherman, a distinguished citizen, bom 1613, at Ded
ham, Essex county, England, who came to America
in 1634. The children of Rev. Benjamin Shattuck
were : 1. Stephen, born February 10, 1710, married
Elizabeth Robbins. 2. Martha, born January 7, 1712;
married Samuel Turtle. 3. Benjamin, (see for
ward). 4. Timothy, married Desire Hall. 5. Wil
liam, born January 1, 1718; married Abigail Reed.

6. Sarah, December 13, 1719; married Jonathan Dix.
7. Ebenezer, born February 22, 1722. 8. Susanna,
born April 8, 1724; married Caleb Taylor. 9. Eliza
beth, born February 13, 1726; married Elias Taylor.
10. Jonathan, born July, 1728; died February 19,
1745. 11. Moses, born June, 1732; died December
13, 1737-
(IV) Dr. Benjamin Snattuck, son of Rev. Ben
jamin (3) and Martha (Sherman) Shattuck, born
in Watertown, December 8, 1713; was a physician
at Littleton, but removed shortly before his death
to live with his son at Groton, where he died Octo
ber, 1790. He married, November 13, 1740, Dinah
Hunt of Littleton, probably a descendant of William
Hunt, one of the early settlers of Concord, Massa
chusetts. She was buried at Littleton, January 17,
1791. Their children were : 1. Moses, born Aug
ust 10, 1741, keeper of general stage house at Port
land, Maine, where he died February 1, 1801. • He
married Hannah, widow of Joseph Golding, daugh
ter of John Waite of Newbury, Massachusetts. She
died December 22, 1800. Edmund, born July 20,
1744; married Abigail Chambylain. 3. Jonathan,
(see forward). 4. Somers, born July 6, 1749; mar
ried Esther Rogers. 5. Arthur, born November 29,
175 1, probably lost at sea.
(V) Jonathan Shattuck, son of Dr. Benjamin
(4) and Dinah Shattuck, born in Littleton, August
9, 1746. In 1776 he bought of John Earle a farm
in Oxford. In 1781, he removed to Chesterfield, New
Hampshire and in 1787 to Townshend, Vermont,
where he died April, 1821. He married September
15, 1767, Huldah Curtis, born at Dudley, Massa
chusetts, 1748. After his death she removed to
Bakersfield, Vermont, where she died November 1,
1821. Their children were: 1. Jonathan, born
September 20, 1768; married Mehitable Fairbanks.
2. Huldah, born March 24, 1770; married Harmon
Davis, a blacksmith of Townshend, Vermont; died
October, 1805. 3. Arethusa, born August 15, 1772;
married James Saunders, of Chesterfield, New
Hampshire. 4. Elizabeth, born April 6, 1774; mar
ried Amos Coburn, farmer of Champion, New York;
died July, 1851. 5. Moses, born November 20, 1776;
married Hannah Brigham. 6. Phebe, born June 27,
1778; married Winslow Wheelock, settled in LeRoy,
New York. 7. Josiah, (see forward). 8. John,
born September n, 1786, resided at Brandon, New
York. 9. Benjamin, born March 20, 1789; married
Lydia Jackman. 10.. Hepsibah, born May 16, 1793,
married Ezekiel Cady, chair-maker, of Wilmington,
Vermont; married (second) John Smith, farmer of
the same town, died August, 1850.
(VII Josiah Shattuck, son of Jonathan Shat
tuck (5), born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire,
October 20, 1781 ; died, 1858. He was a farmer at
Bakersfield, Vermont He married, October 25,
1810, Susan B. Boutelle, born at Leominster, Massa
chusetts, February 9, 1792, daughter of William and
Tabitha Boutelle; died 1877. Their children were:
1. Harriet S., born March 4, 1812; died December
2, 1812. 2. William B., (see forward). 3. Harriet
A., bom February 9, 1818; married, March 5, 1837,
James Maynard, a farmer of Bakersfield. 4. Jason
L., born May 5, 1820; married, May 1, 1844, Lucy
R. Farnsworth, who was a farmer at Bakersfield,
Vermont. 5. Noel K., born May 9, 1822; married
July 12, 1853, Emily A. Purdy, school teacher in
Moundsville, Loudon county, Vermont. 6. Ora L.,
and 7. Orrilla L., born October 9, 1824; died 1855,
unmarried. 8. Laura A., born November 3, 1826;
married December, 1849, Horace H. Farnsworth,
carpenter, teacher. 9. Henry and 10. Henrietta, born
February 9, 1829; Henrietta died August 16, 1845.

252

WORCESTER COUNTY

n. Lydia S., born October 3, 1831; married .William
H. Drake, born in New London, Connecticut, ma
chinist; resided in Bellows Falls, Vermont.
(VII) William Boutelle Shattuck, son of Josiah
(6) and Susan Shattuck, born January 18, 1816;
died December 9, 1893; married Emily M,, daugh
ter of Simon and Phoebe (Bowen) Maynard, of
Bakersfield, Vermont, formerly of Leominster, Mass
achusetts. She was born in 1813 and died April 8,
1879. Their children were: 1. James Harlan (see
forward). 2. William Oscar, born April 3, 1847, in
Burlington, Vermont. 3. Raymond B., born May
26, 1856; died December 13, 1893.
(VIII) James Harlan Shattuck, son of William
B. (7) and Emily M. (Maynard) Shattuck, was
born May 25, 1844, at Bakersfield, Vermont, where
his early years were spent. His education was ob
tained in the common schools of his native town
and in Bakersfield Academy. At the age of twenty
he came to Worcester, after a short stay in Boston,
and started in the fruit and commission business,
building up a large and successfuU business. After
twenty years of mercantile life he retired, and has
since lived in the city of his adoption. In 1865 he
'enlisted for service on the frontier but on account of
a full quota he was not called upon to serve.
Mr. Shattuck is a Republican. He is a mem
ber of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. He married,
April 20, 1874, Anne Emerson Perley, daughter of
Anderson and Edith Emerson Perley,- of Enosberg,
Vermont, born June 3, 1843. They have no children.
FREDERICK E. REED. Reed, Read, Reede,
and Rede were all derived from the word Rehea,
which had its origin in Phoenicia and Greece. The
mode of spelling used by the Puritan ancestors was
usually Reede and Reade. There are many accounts
of the race of Reeds fighting against the Romans.
They are to be found in England, Scotland, Ireland,
and America. About fourteen hundred or fifteen
hundred years before the Christian era, in the great
western emigration, the Reed families emigrated to
the present England and Scotland, and Prince Reda,
their chief, and his knights put to flight the Romans
in 180, A. D. The Reads or Reeds are directly de
scended from these conquerors, who settled in the
region now forming the barony of Redesdale. The
present Baron of Redesdale is a relative and a prom
inent member of the House of Lords. The scenes
in Scott's novels and poetical works are laid in this
territory, rich in monuments of the past, and some
of the present names of towns and parishes are de
rived from Reed, Redsford, for Reidsfors, Radham
for Reedham, and Riddle for Redesdale.
As the line of England and Scotland was con
stantly changing according to the valor and the
strength of parties, the Reeds have become mixed
with both nations, and the barony of Redesdale, '
being on the border, the Reeds had the advantage
of distinguishing themselves and consequently were
promoted in civic government, and they were con
nected with the royal family of England long be
fore the days of William the Conqueror. There
was : Withred, King of Kent, in the seventh cen
tury. Ethelred, or Read the Good, in 866. Alfred,
or Reed the Shrewd, in 871. Eldred, or Reed the
Elder in 946. Eethelred the Second, in 978.
When William the Conqueror took possession of
the English throne, the legal heir to the throne was
the brother-in-law of the King of Scotland. Wil
liam's heir married the legal heiress, the daughter
of Edward the Confessor, who was Ethelred the
Second's own son. So both houses became merged
into one family. The Reeds are among the reign
ing princes of Northumberland, Kent, Wessex and

Mercia, and all are politically allied. Mar x f
of castles and fortifications are to be found
land and Scotland along rivers, valleys, an ¦ .*, ' ',
lands, and there are still some splendid cas
cupied by the Reed descendants at the prese
as: Chipchase Castle at the junction of th
and Tyne rivers, which is now occupied -y Xf
Christopher Reed, and owned by Sir Christ . I
son, who is deputy lieutenant of the count' "'*,'s
Ewellgrove, Ipsden House, Ashmans in hyty -r-
Wood Parks in Gal way, Rossenara in Kilkent*- ;-&-"'
Brianus De Rede, 1139, living in Morpi
Mensbach river, in the northern part of Ef.ST* ,?*',
had : Robert, of Rede ; William, bishop of C
ter; Thomas, of Redydale. William's grandsoi
frinus, had : William ; Thomas, of Redydale BroOB
ert. Thomas, of Redydale, had: Thomas and
John, mayor of Norwich, 1388, had an only soifei*3
married Isiod Stanley, and they had: John, !;%S; "
omomew, Robert, William. William Reade, S. :-C3J!'i,
had a son, Sir William, whose son married Re .
daughter and co-heir of Menis, whose first
Mathew, married Alice, daughter of Andrew \ y.
whose son William married Lucy Henage, wh(>-'"'<|>
Elias, John, and William. William sailed '
Gravesend, county of Kent, in the "Assurani
London" in 1635, of which Isaac Bromwell
George Percy, were masters. There were on
vessel at the time of sailing two hundred and tw
one persons, the average age of whom was ;
twenty-five years. The vessel sailed July 24,
and probably landed about a month later in Bo
whence Reade proceeded to Weymouth and se
there. It is supposed that he came from Maidstone,
London. On March 9, 1636-7, he purchased i
the estate of Zachery Bickneli his house and f;
which was located on the west side of Middle sti
The old house stood on the. knoll opposite the ji
tion of Middle and Charles streets. The prem
were recently owned by James Clapp. They pas
out of the family in 1769. William Reade was ami
the first settlers of Weymouth, which was madi
plantation May 8, 1635. He was admitted a freen
September 2, 1635, and was elected deputy to
general court, December 7, 1636, and again Septe
ber 6, 1638. Rev. Joseph Hull and his company ca
to Weymouth in the spring of 1635, shortly befi
Reade settled there, and this band of very worthy s
tiers established one of the most noted colonies of t
early days of the New England Puritans. In t
same month that Mr. Reade left England anoth
ship containing his future wife sailed. Avis De
con was on the "Alice," of which Richard Orchai
was the master, and which sailed July 13, 1635, fro:
Gravesend with thirty-two passengers, most of whoi
were young men and women. Her twin brothe
Thomas Deacon, came on the boat with Readi
Avis Deacon married William Reade probably soo
after her arrival in New England. Reade was al
lotted land in the first division at Weymouth am
he acquired considerable real estate later.
The children of William and Avis (Deacon",
Reade were: Margaret, born 1636, died July 6
1659; married, May 11, 1651, John Vinimg; Hannah
born 1637, married, April 2, 1658, Nicholas Whit
marsh; William, born October 15, 1639, married,
1675, Esther Thompson ; Esther, born May 8, 1641 ;
Ruth, born 1642, died 1663; married, December 19,
1662, John Whitman; Thomas, born 1645, died No
vember 14, 1719; married, in 1670, Sarah Bickneli;
Mary, born 1647, died 1655, unmarried; John, born
1649, died January 13, 1720; married Bethiah Frye;
James, died July 21, 1726; married, April 18, 1683,
Susanna Richmond. There is considerable difficulty

^v

ThsXewisPiJshshmq, Co\

f/$U-

WORCESTER COUNTY

2S3

in tracing the children of William Reade of Wey
mouth and the authorities differ. In this sketch it
has been thought best to follow the genealogy writ
ten by John L. Reed, published in 1901.
(II) William Reed, son of William Reed (i),was
born October 15, 1639, at Weymouth, Massachusetts,
and died in 1706. He was constable of Weymouth in
1675 and selectman in 1681. He was an extensive
dealer in land. His will, dated October 26, 1705,
was' proved September 12, 1706. He lived on Pleas
ant street on the southwesterly side. In 1888 a
part of the old house was still standing, having been
remodeled and occupied by Palmer Loud. The old
dam which Reed built across the river in 1680 or
before 1690 is near the house. He owned all the
land on both sides of the street from Hingham line
to Ragged plain and from the river to a point west
erly from the house owned by William Dyer. He
built a double house later on the site that had been
occupied by William Dyer's house, and also a house
between that and his own residence.
Esther Thompson, his wife, was the daughter of
Lieutenant John Thompson, who was born in Wales
and was only six years old when he landed in Wes
son's company in May, 1622. He married, December
6, 1645, Mary Cook, daughter of Francis Cook,
who came in the Mayflower to Plymouth. She was
born in Plymouth in 1626, died March 21, 1715. He
settled thirteen miles west of Plymouth and built a
log house there. The site is now in Halifax or Mid
dleboro. He lived there until his house was
burned by the Indians. While living there he or his
wife walked to the church at Plymouth every Sun
day. John Thompson died June 16, 1696. He and
his wife are buried at Middleboro, Massachu
setts. After his death the widow removed to Abing-
ton. Mr. Thompson was a private in Lieutenant
Edward Oaks' company, April 26, 1676, in King
Philip's war. He removed to Weymouth and set
tled on land bought of John Raue, whose house
had been burned by the Indians in King Philip's war.
Some of the timbers of the original house are in
the house now standing on the property. In 1900
the Thompson place at Halifax was sold to John
Ljinberg and passed out of the hands of the Thomp
son family, which had owned it from the first set
tlement. In 1669-70 William Reed was fence viewer of
Weymouth. He was elected a selectman November
28, 1681, and in 1682 perambulated the Hingham line
with Corporal French. He was again selectman in
1686 and 1687, 1695, 1696 and 1697. He also served
the town on important special committees at vari
ous times. His will names his children : They were :
John, born October 21, 1680, died young; William,
born May 24, 1682, died June 3, 1753; married, 1703,
Alice Nash ; John, born July 10, 1687, married (first)
Sarah Hersey; married (second) Mary Whitmarsh;
Jacob, born November 6, 1691, died 1766, married
(first) Sarah Hersey; married (second) Hannah
Noyes, widow; Bushna, married Nicholas Porter;
Mercy, born at Weymouth, married  Whit
marsh; Mary, born at Weymouth; Hester; Sarah,
born March 21, 1694, married Hezekiah King.
(Ill) William Reed, son of William Reed (2),
was born at Weymouth, May 24, 1682, died June 3,
1753. He married, 1703, Alice Nash. She died
December 5, 1751. She was a daughter of Lieutenant
Jacob Nash, the son of James Nash, who settled in
Weymouth, in 1628. William -Reed moved to Abing-
ton in 1708. At the first town meeting held in Ab-
ington he was elected town clerk and selectman.
He was fence viewer in Weymouth in 1707, and
served that town as a member of many important
committees. Rev. Mr. Dodge in his journal June

3, 1753, says of William Reed : "Attended the funeral
of the aged Capt. Reed, the largest I have ever
seen in town. Ten at least of his descendants in the
male line have been liberally educated. Of these
two have been members of Congress, viz. : his grand
son, the late Rev. Dr. John Reed, of West Bridge-
water and his son, Hon. John Reed, or Yarmouth,
now a member. After the expiration of his present
term he will have been in Congress twenty-two
years — eighteen in succession"
The children of William Reed (3) were : Alice,
born in Boston, October 19, 1703, died October 24,
1703 ; William, born December 15, 1704, died Novem
ber 21, 1724; Obadiah, born March 14, 1707, died
November 4, 1753 ; married, October 19, 1731, Mary
Nash; Ebenezer, born July 13, 1709, married, Feb
ruary 21, 1732, Hannah Thompson; Alice, born
April 4, 171 1, died September 29, 1724; Daniel, born
December 6, 1713, died April 5, 1781 ; married (first)
September 15, 1739, Ruth White; married (second),
February 7, 1776, Sarah Hamlin; James, born March
3, 1716, died aged thirty-seven years; married, May
10, 1739, Abigail Nash; Solomon, born October 22,
1719, died 1785, married (first), in 1748, Abigail
Stoughton, of Connecticut; married (second) Sarah
Reed, widow of Elijah Reed; Jacob; Moses, born
January 15, 1723, married Phebe  ; Alice,
born April 19, 1725, married, December 1, 1748, Jacob
Reed. (IV) Rev. Solomon Reed, son of Captain Wil
liam Reed (3), was born October 22, 1719, at Wey
mouth, Massachusetts. He died in the spring of
1785, aged sixty-six years. He married (first), in
1748, Abigail Stoughton, of Connecticut; married
(second), Sarah Reed, the daughter of Jacob Reed,
his father's youngest brother.
He graduated at Harvard College in 1739. He
was ordained as minister of the Second Congrega
tional Church in Framingham in 1746, and remained
there until 1756, when he was installed as minister
of Titicut, a parish in the northwestern part of
Middleboro and the southwest part of Bridge-
. water. His health failed in 1684 and he died
in the spring of 1685, at little past sixty-five years
of age. He seems to have been a very earnest and
pious minister of the church. There are a few of
his manuscript sermons in the archives of the Pil
grim Society at Plymouth, written in a fine clear
hand, and showing decided ability as a writer. There
is also a manuscript journal for the period from
October 3, 1743, to January 9, 1745. During this
period Rev. . Mr. Whitefield was preaching in this
country and laying the foundations of many churches.
"In his will he mentions by name all his children
except Sarah. His children were : Sarah, born
1750; John, born November 11, 1751, married (first),'
in 1780, Hannah Sampson; married (second), in
1822, Mrs. Phebe Sampson Paddock; Solomon, born
March 18, 1753, died February ' 2, 1808 ; married,
March 14, 1781, Susannah Willard; Samuel, born
1754, died July 13, 1812; married, 1780, Anna Shaw;
Timothy, born 1756, married, 1788, Hannah King
man. (V) Rev. Samuel Reed, son of Rev. Solomon
Reed (4), was born probably at Framingham, Mass
achusetts, where his father was then pastor. He died
July 13, 1812, aged fifty-seven, and in the thirty-
third years of his ministry. He married, 1780, Anna
Shaw, of Warwick, Massachusetts. He graduated
at Yale College in 1777 and was ordained over the
church and society at Warwick, Massachusetts, in
1779. He was said to be a man of sound sense, a de
voted Christian and much beloved by his people and
the -community generally. The inscription on the
monument erected by his parishioners at Warwick

?54

WORCESTER COUNTY

is as follows : "Rev. Samuel Reed, second minister
at Warwick, died July 13th, 1812, aged 57- He had
strong powers of mind ; was bold in the defense of
truth; severe against wickedness; mild towards the
humble; pitiful to tlie distressed; affectionate
towards his friends. Frank and sincere in all his
professions; rational and fervent in his piety; faith
ful in his pastoral duties.
"He taught the Christian doctrifie in its sim
plicity and truth; he maintained tlie freedom of the
human mind, the unchangeable obligations of moral
duty, the impartial justice of God and future retri
bution. "Under the vital impression of this faith, he felt,
and communicated the cheering entertainments of
life, and enjoyed the richest solace and triumph in
death." The children of tlie Rev. Samuel Reed were :
Samuel, born March 23, 1781, died young; Anna,
born April 19, 1784, died 1835, in Warwick; mar
ried, December, 1813, Deacon Joseph Wilson; Abi
gail, born February 17, 1786, married, December,
1805, Joel Mayo; Samuel, born April 25, 1788, mar
ried Melinda Wheelock; Stephen, born November 5,
1790, died 1847; married Jerusha Moor; Timothy,
born July 10, 1793, died 1854; married Susan Kings-
ley. (VI) Samuel Reed, son of Rev. Samuel Reed,
(5), was born at Warwick, Massachusetts, April
25, 1788. He married Melinda Wheelock. They
settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He died very
suddenly and was buried in Warwick, Massachusetts,
where his widow afterward resided. His children
were: John, born February 26, 1820, married Delia
Winter; Melinda A., born October 12, 1824.
(VII) John Reed, son of Samuel Reed, was
born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, February 26, 1820.
He married Delia Winter. They resided first at
Croyden, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, where
their son, Frederick E. Reed, was born. They re
moved to Worcester about 1850. John Reed was
a teacher of' music and later foreman of one of the
departments of one of the largest and best equipped
machine shops in New England at that time. He
continued in the machinist business after coming to
Worcester. He retired from active work in 1883.
He resided after that at Shrewsbury and Worcester.
He died in Holden, Massachusetts, December, 1902,
at the advanced age of eighty-two. He was a mem
ber of the First Church of Christ. Flis children
were": Frederick E., born in Croyden, New Hamp
shire, March 1, 1847; Ella E., born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, August 7, 1856.
(VIII) Frederick E. Reed, son of John
Reed (7), was born in Croyden, New Hampshire,
March 1, 1847. He came to Worcester with his
parents when very young, and was educated in the
Worcester schools. At seventeen he went into the
machine shop and learned the trade of machinist.
After two years he returned to school and took
a course at Worcester Academy and at Howe's Busi
ness College in Worcester. While attending school
he also kept books for the Wood & Light Machine
Co.-, the concern with which his father was for many
years connected. This business was established in
1848. They made iron working machinery, did mill
work, dealing in shafting, pulleys and hangers. He
was bookkeeper five years for this company. He
rested for a year on account of his health, and then
went into the draughting department and had charge
of the draughting and designing of the company for
five years. He studied in the drawing school of the
Worcester County Mechanics' Association. This
school was established in 1864 and is said to be the
first of its kind in the country. It gave practical

instruction in architectural and mechanical drawing
and daughter. Drawing was later introduced into
the public schools, and when it was finally taught
in the evening schools of the city the school of the
Mechanics' Association was discontinued. Mr. Reed
was active in the promotion and support of the school
during the time when it was needed in the city.
Mr. Reed went into business for himself in 1875
at 54 Hermon street under the firm name of A. F.
Prentice & Co. He manufactured an improved' up
right drill, also hand and foot power lathes, slide
rests, milled machine screws and made to order
special machinery of all kinds. He makes a spe
cialty of machine tools, of engine lathes, hand
lathes and foot lathes of all kinds. He built tlie
first building on tlie present site in 1883 at 120 Gold
street. The business has been very successful and
the plant has grown from a small beginning to
large proportions. The present name of the com
pany is F. E, Reed Company. The original shop at
the Gold street location had 2262 feet of floor space.
In 1905 the shops of the F. E. Reed Co. had two
and three-tenths acres of floor space. The first
building in 1883 was two stories high, 55 by 183
feet. The second, built in 1888, was 50 by 58 feet.
A large building was erected in 1889, another in
1890, another 93 by 107 was erected in 1896; another
50 -by 131 in 1899; another 30 by 107 in 1901 and
another in 1904, 40 by ?3 feet. The later buildings
are four stories in height and all are well constructed
brick buildings of modern design. When Mr. Reed
began he employed six men. The average pay roll
lately has contained over three hundred names of
employees. He is the chief owner of a number of
other important enterprises in Worcester. The Mat
thew Manufacturing Company at 104 Gold street was
organized in 1894 with Mr. Reed as president and A.
T. Matthews as general manager. They manufacture
metal goods and employ one hundred and fifty hands.
They make a specialty of drawn sheet steel work,
stove trimmings, steam pipe collars, bicycle fittings,
ferules, arid other sheet metal specialties. Mr, Reed
is a partner in the Reed & Curtis Machine Screw
Company, which employs one hundred and fifty
hands. He is the proprietor of the Reed Foundry
Company at 95 Gold street, iron foundaries, employ
ing one hundred and twenty-five hands. He is
treasurer of the Worcester Lawn Mower Company,
employing sixty hands. Mr'. Reed has been one of
the most successful manufacturers in Worcester. He
has built up a very large business and has shown
himself possessed of business ability of a high" order.
He has been devoted to his business career and has
cared for no outside interests. He is counted among
the leaders of industry in Worcester. Mr. Reed's
summer home at Thompson, Connecticut, is a model
of its kind.
SOUTHGATE FAMILY. Richard Southgate,
the pioneer of the American branch of the family,
came with Daniel Denny from Coombs, Suffolk,
England, in 1715. The following year he went back
for his family, brought then over in July, 1717, and
with them his brother James. In March, 1718, the
Southgates and Daniel Denny removed to Leicester
and settled there, but what circumstances led to their
selecting that spot is not known. Mr. Southgate
became an extensive landowner in the town, and is
one of the grantees in the settlers' deed; lots Nos.
35, 41, and 42 were conveyed to him by that deed.
In 1737 he was the owner of seven hundred and sev
enty acres in the town. He was the first treasurer of
the town, and was much employed as a surveyor of
lands, being a skillful and trustworthy person.
Richard Southgate was born in 1671, a son of

WORCESTER COUNTY

255

John Southgate. In October, 1700, he married Eliza
beth Steward; they had six children, all born in
England, five of whom came to Leicester, Massa
chusetts, Steward, born. 1703; Elizabeth, 1705, died
1791, unmarried; Hannah, 1709, married Nathaniel
Waite, of Leicester, 1737, and died 1754; Mary, 1712,
married Daniel Livermore, of Weston, 1732; Rich
ard, 1714. Richard Southgate (father) died in 1758,
aged eighty-eight years; his wife died in 175 1, in
the eighty-eighth years of her age. They are said
to be the ancestors of all of the name in New Eng
land. Steward Southgate, son of Richard and Elizabeth
(Steward) Southgate, married Elizabeth Scott, of
Paimer, then called the "Elbow," in 1735, while he
was living there. About 1740 he returned to Leicester,
and spent the remainder of his days there. Their
children were: John, born 1738; Robert, 1741, was
a physician, removed to Scarboro, Maine, and
is noticed in this work; Margaret, 1743; Sarah,
1744, married Azariah Dickinson, of Hadley; Stew
ard, 1748.
Steward Southgate, son of Steward and Eliza
beth (Scott) Southgate, married and removed to
Hardwick. He was a soldier in the revolution, and
after the close of the war went to Barnard, Ver
mont, where in 1795 he lost five .children by the
canker-rash within a few days of each other. For
his second wife, Mr. Southgate married Elizabeth,
daughter of Nathaniel Potter, and their children
were: Amos, born 1751, died in Boston, 1775; he
married and had a daughter born after his death,
who became the wife of Jonah Earle ; Rebekah, born
1754, died 1756; Ruth, born 1758, died in Boston,
1777; Moses, bom 1761, died in Boston, 1777. Mr.
Southgate was at first a member of the Congrega
tional church, but became a zealous and leading mem
ber of the Society of Friends, to which society his
second wife's father belonged prior to 1732. He must
have been well educated for his day, and seems to
have possessed a clear head, strong purpose, and
withal great sensibility and Christian resignation. _ He
had a commanding influence among his religious
brethren, and the memoranda that he left alludes in
terms of deep emotion to the afflictions through
which he was called to pass. He did in 1765, and his
second wife diecf in 1748.
John Southgate, son of Steward Southgate, mar
ried Eleanor Sargent, daughter of Jonathan Sargent,
1776, and their children were : Sally, born 1777,
died unmarried; John, born 1778, died 1804, unmar
ried, as related in this work; William, born 1782,
died 181 1, unmarried. He was rather a skillful and
talented painter, he had, cultivated his taste under
several masters, among others, Ralph Earle, to whom
he was remotely related, and Gilbert Stuart. The
department of art to which he devoted his attention
was that of portraits, in which he would have prob
ably attained a distinguished reputation had he dili
gently devoted himself to it as a profession. Har
riet, born 1792, died 1841, unmarried; Eliza, born
1796, married Jacob Bigelow, then of Montreal,
where she died, leaving one son, Dr. George F.
Bigelow, of Boston. George W., born 1800. Mrs.
Southgate died in 1825.
Richard Southgate, youngest son of Richard and
Elizabeth (Steward) Southgate, the pioneer an
cestors, came with his father from England. He
married Eunice Brown, daughter of Samuel Brown,
1741, and their children were: Richard, born 1742,
removed to Bridgewater, Vermont; Isaac, .1744;
Samuel, 1747, resided in various places and died in
Scarborough, 1773; Elijah, 1751, married Patty
Hastings, died in Shrewsbury, 1837, aged eighty-

seven years, without children; Jonas, 1753, married
Mary Whitney, of Grafton, 1782, and died 1784;
Eunice, 1757, died unmarried; Judah, 1761, mar
ried Susannah Taylor, of, Spencer, 1798, and died
1799; Mercy, died unmarried. Mr. Southgate was
known as "Elder," and was a Baptist preacher. He
held meetings in the schoolhouse, when it stood
where the brick factory now stands, opposite to
where Esquire Rawson lived. He resided in the
southeast part of the town, near the line of Spencer,
and was a farmer.
Isaac Southgate, son of Richard and Eunice
(Brown) Southgate, married Rebekah Brown,
daughter of John Brown, 1769, and they were the
parents of one daughter, Rebekah, born 1770, mar
ried a Mr. Hodges, of the state of New York.
Mr. Southgate married for his second wife, Eunice
White, 1771, and their children were: Asa, born
1772; Betsey, 1774, married Nathan Beers, 1790;
Samuel, 1776, married Hannah Waite, i8oi8an'd they
reared a familv of children in Leicester; one of
their sons, John P., died 1882, in Worcester, and
another, Samuel, died in 1874, in Leicester; Eunice,
1779, married Sylvanus Earle, removed to Ohio,
and died in 1835; Isaac, 1782, married Maria Webb,
daughter of Peter Webb, Esq., and granddaughter
of Thomas Denny, Sr. Mr. Southgate died in 1800,
aged fifty-six years. He was one of the active bus
iness men and public-spirited citizens of the town;
for many years a manufacturer of cards. He rep
resented the town in the legislature, served as trus
tee of the Worcester County Agricultural Society,
and took an active part in promoting the interests
of that important association.
James Southgate, who came with his brother Rich
ard, Southgate, from England, as above stated,
became a proprietor of the settlers' half of
the town, as owner of lot No. 30. At the
first town meeting he was chosen one of the
selectmen and surveyor of highways. He with his
brother and several other inhabitants of Leicester
addressed a letter to the governor, in ' 1725, asking
for soldiers to guard the town from the Indians.
He was a deacon of the church, and took an active
part in settling Mr. Parsons in 1720. His wife's
name was Mary, and they had one son, James,
born 1718, who married Dorothy Lincoln, in 1741,
and they were the parent's of one daughter, Dor
othy, born 1746. His house was located a little north
of Mr. Morton's, in the east part of the town. There
is no trace of the family after that period.
John P. Southgate, son of Samuel and Hannah
(Waite) Southgate, above referred to, was born in
Leicester, Massachusetts, July 29, 1804, died Feb
ruary 7, 1882, in the seventy-eighth year of his
age. Samuel Southgate (father) was also born in
Leicester, 1776, and probably attended the schools
of that town. During the latter years of his life
he engaged in the manufacture , of cards, and con
tinued the same until his decease, February, 1882.
John P. Southgate learned the trade of a cabinet
maker of Deacon Murdock, then town sexton in
Leicester, and after attaining his majority in 1825,
worked at his trade a few years in Worcester, and
then returned a°-ain to Leicester, where he changed
his business to brush making, and in 1834 removed
again to Worcester, where he opened a shop for
brush making in a building which stood on the site
of the present Horticultural Hall on Front street.
In 1837 he removed to the north corner of Main
and Mechanic streets, _ where he went in company
with James H. Wall in the boot, shoe and leather
rade, and was burned out in 1841. He then re
moved to the building which then stood on the

256

WORCESTER COUNTY

site of Piper's Block, next south of the old
United States Hotel, where he was alone two or
three years, and in 1844 went in partnership with
Thomas M. Rogers in the leather and shoe find
ings trade, the firm being Southgate & Rogers. In
1850 they removed to the north corner of Main and
Pleasant streets, in the block on the site of the one
now owned by Mr. Rogers. Mr. Southgate retired
from this business in 1855, with a handsome com
petence, and engaged for a few years in some real
estate operations which resulted very unfortunately
for him in the sudden collapse of 1857 and '58,
which proved disastrous to so many. From i860
to 1880 he was engaged in manufacturing on a
limited scale in Auburn, but during the last year
or two, since the decease of his wife, he had re
sided in this city with one of his sons. Mr. South-
gate was a man of sound practical judgment and
strict business integrity, and universally respected.
Always taking a lively interest in public affairs,
he was a member of the common council in 1850
and 1851, and alderman in 1855 and 1856, ever faith
ful and prompt in attention to the duties assigned
him. Mr. Southgate married May 21, 1829, Sarah
Swan, of Leicester, and their children were: John
Frederick, bom June 13, 1831, died 1858; Reuben
H., bora December 8, 1833, mentioned hereinafter;
Frank White, born February 10, 1840, now a resi
dent of Worcester; James Stewart, born October
8, 1842, died November 22, 1899.
Reuben H. Southgate, second son of John P.
and Sarah (Swan) Southgate, was born in Lei
cester, Massachusetts, December 8, 1833. In 1835
he was brought by his parents to Worcester, Massa
chusetts, attended the common and high schools of
that town and for a short time the Baptist Academy,
now Worcester Academy. Shortly after attaining
the age of eighteen years he engaged in business
with his father, who was associated with Thomas
M. Rogers, they being dealers in shoe findings. In
1855 Mr. Southgate, Sr., retired from active pur
suits, his son, Reuben H., succeeding him, and
under the name of Rogers & Southgate they con
ducted a store at the corner of Pleasant and
Main streets until 1873. In that year Mr. South-
gate bought out the interest of his partner, Mr.
Rogers, and moved to Franklin Square, where he
remained until April 1, 1888, when he retired from
business. Since then he has devoted his time to
travel in foreign countries, visiting Asia, Africa,
Europe, and in fact all parts of the globe, gaining
thereby a vast store of useful and interesting knowl
edge and pleasure. He. has always adhered to the
principles of the Republican party, and he cast his
first presidential vote for J. C. Fremont.
Mr. Southgate married, June 8, 1864, Anna J.
Wood, daughter of Ichabod and Anna (Warren)
Wood, of Watertown, the latter named now lead
ing a retired life at Asheville, North Carolina, aged
ninety years. Their children are Louis Warren,
born February 25, 1865, married, June 8, 1892,
Clara Brigham, daughter of L. L. Brigham, of
Worcester, and they are the parents of one child,
Richard Brigham, born. May 5, 1893. Philip Wood,
born May 10, 1868, died December 7, 1905. Both
Louis Warren and Philip Wood Southgate grad
uated at Worcester Technical School and Columbia
Law School of Washington. Both spent three years
in the patent office in Washington, D. C. Under
the firm name of Southgate & Southgate they were
engaged as patent attorneys in Worcester, where
they conducted an extensive and lucrative business.
They were admitted to practice in the supreme and
district courts in all the states of the Union.

FRANCIS A. GASKILL. Many persons in the
United States bearing the name of GaskiU may trace
their lineage to Edward, the ship carpenter of
Salem, Massachusetts. As early as 1636 his name
appears among those in the list of proprietors of
lands in that old historic town. The name is
variously spelled in the early records as Gaskin,
Gasking, Gascoyne, Gascoins, Gaskell, Gaskill and
Gaskil. (I) Edward Gaskill, the ship carpenter, owned
in 1636 the right to twenty acres of land in Salem,
and by his wife Sarah had children: Samuel,
baptized August 7, 1639; Daniel, bom October 10,
1640; Sarah, born May 14, 1643, married Peter Joy,
May 24, 1661 ; Hannah, born March 1, 1646 ; Ed
ward, born April 30, 1648.
(II) Samuel Gaskill, born 1639, married Pro-
.vided Southwicke, 30th day, 10th month, 1662. In
the Registry of Deeds, book 9, leaf 29, date of
October 13, 1690, we find . that Thomas Maul of
Salem, merchant, for forty-five pounds conveyed
to "Josiah and Daniel Southwicke, Samuel Gaskin,
Caleb Buffum, Christopher Foster, and Sarah Stone,
all of Salem, in New England, Samuel Collins of
Lynn, and several others of ye people called Quak
ers, in ye county of Essex in New England, a small
tract or parcel of land containing about four rods
or poles, be it more or be it less, being situate in ye
town of Salem aforesaid, bounded easterly and
southerly by said Maul, westerly by land in pos
session John Richards of Salem; northerly by the
main broad street or highway just as it lies and is
now fenced together, with a meetinghouse which
stands upon said land, for the use of the above
named and several other of- ye people commonly
called Quakers, to worship and serve God in." The
before mentioned meeting house was the first Quaker
meeting house in Salem, and the Samuel Gaskill
mentioned is without doubt the son of Edward, who
married Provided Southwick, and was punished for
attending the Quaker meeting. In 1716 they sold
this meeting house and the land to Thomas Maul,
of Salem, for twenty-five pounds, and two years
later Daniel Southwick, Samuel Gaskill, Caleb
Buffum, and Samuel Collins having bought another
lot on the other side of the way, more commodious
for setting' a meeting house, and erected a meeting
house thereon, etc. (See deed recorded November
18, 1718, vol. xxxiv, p. 202, Registry of Deeds.)
This was the second Quaker meeting house in
Salem. The children of Samuel Gaskill and Pro
vided Southwick: Samuel, born 23, nth month,
1663; Edward, born October 23, 1667; Hannah, born
January 2, 1669; Provided, .born April 22, 1672.
(Ill) Samuel Gaskill, born 23, nth month, 1663,
married Bethiah Gardner, daughter of Thomas
Gardner, Jr., and his wife Hannah, February 18,
1723-4. Mr. Gaskill owned four rights to common
land in the two lower parishes of Salem. By his
will dated September 1, 1725, we find the names of
several of his children : 1. Samuel. 2. Nathan. 3.
Jonathan, married Alice Pickering, of Salem, and
had Jonathan, married Hannah Estes, November
30, 1761. 4. Hannah, married David Nichols.
5. Content, and 6. Sarah, both unmarried;
also four other daughters, names not given; ten
children in all. Nathan had, January 18, 1726,
eighty acres of land in Mendon, and Jonathan had
eighteen acres laid out to him in the same town in
February, 1737-8.
(IV) Samuel Gaskill married Sarah  , and
was living in Salem in 1722, 'a shipwright by occu
pation. April 8, 1736, h* purchased of Stephen
Swett a large farm which was formerly the prop
erty of John Cass, situated in the south parish of

WORCESTER COUNTY

257

Mendon (now Blackstone) whither he removed,
and where he died in September, 1761. In his will
dated December 5, 1758, his son Ebenezer was named
executor. An inventory of the estate was filed
October 28, 1761. His children were : Samuel, died
prior to December 5, 1758; Ebenezer; Joseph;
Stephen; Benjamin; Sarah, married Richard Estes;
Huldah, married Benjamin Cook; Elizabeth.
(V) Ebenezer Gaskill married Hannah Girdler
(or Gurley), July 15, 1745. He resided in the south
parish of Mendon, now Blackstone. Their chil
dren were: George, married Sarah Read, Novem
ber 5, 1767; David; Peter; Joseph; Samuel, mar
ried (first) Olive Cook, May 27, 1784, and had
Hannah, Naum and Sarah.
(VI) Peter Gaskill,. born 1763, died May 17,
1846; married, January 20, 1790, Hannah Thomp
son, of Mendon, who was the mother of his chil
dren. She died July I, 1809, in the forty-seventh
year of her age. He married (second) Esther
Scott, widow of David Metcaif. He resided in the
south parish of Mendon, ' now Blackstone. He was
a very thrifty farmer, and left a large estate for his
time. His will was dated November 24, 1830, in
which he provided for the care of his wife Esther,
gave each of his six daughters one thousand dol
lars, and named his son Peter sole executor. He
also mentioned the following children: I. Lebbeus.
2. Elisha. 3. Dianna, married Daniel Aldrich. 4.
Sally, married William Metcalf. 5. Asenath, mar
ried Joseph Aldrich. 6. Mariah, married Thomas
Aldrich. 7. Hannah, married Caleb Thayer, Jr. 8.
Anne, married Samuel Verry. 9. Peter, died un
married, September 18, 1846, before his father's
.will had been approved. This Peter Gaskill left a
will dated September 17, 1846, by which he be
queathed the farm where he lived to Albert and
David Gaskill, sons of his brothers, Lebbeus and
Elisha. By an inventory of the Peter Gaskill estate,
dated October 10, 1846, and returned October 27,
same year, we learn that the value of the estate
was $21,097.83,
(Vii) Lebbeus Gaskill married Susan DeWitt.
He was by occupation a farmer, and called of Cum
berland, Rhode Island, but was the proprietor of
lands in Mendon, south parish. His will was dated
December 23, 1861, and the inventory was returned
March 16, 1863. He died February 9, 1863, aged
sixty-nine years, seven months ¦ and ten days. The
widow, Susan . Gaskill, then of Smithfield, Rhode
Island, made her will October 15, 1867. Their chil
dren were : Albert, born April 9, 1821 ; Warren,
born August 31, 1822.
(VIII) Albert Gaskill married Anna Smith
Comstock, , December 30, 1840, Rev. Adin Ballou
performing the ceremony. Mr. Gaskill was a farmer
and an extensive dealer in real estate. His chil
dren were : 1. Alice K., attended Oread Institute,
Worcester, 1869 and 1870, married Charles Wilson,
who is deceased and they have one child also de
ceased. 2. Francis Almon.
(IX) Judge Francis Almon Gaskill was born
January 3, 1846, at the family home in that part of
Mendon now known as Blackstone. He attended
the schools in his native town and after taking a
course at the Woonsocket High School entered
Brown University, from which institution he grad
ated in 1866 at the age of twenty years. _ For a year
he served as private tutor for a family in Newport,
and at the close of this engagement entered the
Harvard Law School, remaining there a year and a
half, when he came to Worcester and continued
the study of law in the office of Hon. George F.
Verry, one of the most noted and accomplished
lawyers in central Massachusetts. After being ad-
17

mitted to the bar in 1869 an association was formed
for the _ practice of law under the style of Verry
& Gaskill, resulting in a most successful business
career, and which was brought to a close by the
death of Mr. Verry in 1883. In 1875 and 1876
Mr. Gaskill served the city of Worcester as a mem
ber of the common council. After the death of Hon.
George F. Verry, Mr. Gaskill became associated with
a stepson, Horace Verry, Esq. For ten years this
firm continued, and during this time Mr. Gaskill
was district attorney for the middle district of
Massachusetts, holding that office from 1887 to
1895, when he was appointed by Gevernor Greenhalge
associate justice of the superior courts of Massa
chusetts, an office which he now holds.
Judge Gaskill has served the city of Worcester
as a director of the Free Public Library for several
years< and as president of the board in 1888, and
as trustee of both Brown University and Worces-,
ter Academy. His fondness for books, of which
he posesses a rare assortment, brings him into .the
circle of various literary and social bodies, notably
the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston, also the Uni
versity Club of that city, the Worcester' Club and
the Tatnuck Country Club. He is vice-president of
the People's Savings Bank, and director of the
State Mutual Life Assurance Company. Brown
University in 1899 gave him the degree of LL. D.,
and recently paid him an honor by placing him upon
its Board of Fellows. In politics Judge Gaskill
is a strong Republican, and at various times has
given valuable aid to the promotion of the princi
ples of that party upon the political platform, being
a forcible and oolished speaker.
Judge Gaskill married (first), 1869, Katherine
M., daughter of A. B. and Ann Eliza Whittaker, of
Providence, Rhode Island, where Mr. Whittaker
was 'a prominent merchant. She died in 1889, having
borne to her husband two children : Mary M.,
and George A. Gaskill. Judge Gaskill married (sec
ond) Josephine L., daughter of Joseph and Phebe
Abbott, of Providence, Rhode Island. No children
have been born of this marriage. Judge Gaskill
attends the First Baptist Church in Worcester.
George A. Gaskill, only son of. Judge Francis
Almon and Katherine M. (Whittaker) Gaskill, was
born in Worcester, June 4, 1877. ' He graduated
from Worcester Academy, class • of 1894 ; and from
Brown University, A. B., 1898. He attended Harvard
Law school- two years, was admitted to the bar
1901, and has since practiced law in Worcester in
the office of Herbert Parker, attorney general of
Massachusetts. He was elected a trustee of Wor
cester Academy, 1905. He married, June 1, 1905,
Caroline Dewey Nichols, daughter of Dr. Charles
L. Nichols, and granddaughter of Judge Francis H.
Dewey. ROBINSON FAMILY OF DORCHESTER.
James Robinson (1), the immigrant ancestor of
Hannah Caroline (Robinson) Davis, of Worcester,
was born in England and came to this country about
1660, when a young man. There is no proof that
he was related to any of the numerous other immi
grants of this surname among the early settlers,
nor is there any clue yet discovered whereby his
birthplace in England could be discovered. This
difficulty in tracing the family in England • is of
course the rule with all the Puritan fathers, and the
difficulties are enormously increased in the case of
a family bearing a surname like Robinson, because
of the great number of persons of the same name
at the same time.
James Robinson settled in Dorchester and was
admitted a freeman there in 1669. He died there

258

WORCESTER COUNTY

April 18, 1694. His name appears in the seating
of the church March 17, 1693-94, in the "fourth
men's below." His wife was admitted to the church
February 15, 1673-74, and a month later on the
strength of her membership her four children were
baptized — James, Thomas, Samuel and Mary. He
married September 27, 1664, Mary Alcock, daughter
of Thomas Alcock, now generally spelled Olcott.
She died March 13, 1718, aged seventy-three years.
Children of James and Mary Robinson were: 1.
James, born November 8, 1665, was soldier in the
Canada expedition in 1690 under Captain John "With
ington ; there is no record of his having any family
at Dorchester. - 2. Thomas, born April 15, 1668. 3.
Samuel, born September 4, 1670. 4. Mary,, born
March 17, 1673, died young. 5. John, 'born April
17, 1675; see forward. (Many of the early writers
have followed excellent authority in calling this
'John the Rev. John Robinson, who became the min
ister at Duxbury in 1701 and preached there until
¦dismissed in 1738; but it has been shown that he
was the son of Samuel Robinson, of Dorchester,
possibly a brother or some relative of James; he
¦died at Lebanon, Connecticut, 1745, aged seventy-
four years, making him several years older than
John, son of James. Robinson (1), mentioned above.)
6. Henry, born June 21, 1678, died young. 7.
Ebenezer, born January 5, 1682, killed at Port Royal,
May 27. 1707, while fighting with the Americans
and British arainst the French.
(II) John Robinson, son of James Robinson (1),
was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, April 17,
1675. He seems to have been a quiet citizen like
his father. He joined the churcli October 15, 1699,
and owned the covenant February 22, 1701-02. He
died at Dorchester, February 6, 1742-43. He mar
ried Mary  , who died at Dorchester, Decem
ber 22, 1713. He married (second), January 20,
1714-15, Ruth Burt. Only two children were recorded
at Dorchester, viz. : 1. James, born May, 19, bap
tized May 21, 1704. 2. John, Jr., born March 20,
1706-07, see forward.
(Ill) John Robinson, Jr., son. of John Robinson
(2), of Dorchester, was born there March 20, 1706-07.
He seems to have been a prominent citizen of Dor
chester and is called Major,, doubtless serving in
the Colonial wars. He died in 1767. He married
Susannah Williams, born 1706 and died 1804. Their
children, all born at Dorchester, were : John, born
July 28, 1728, probably captain in the revolution ;
Mary, born January 12, 1730-31 ; Captain James, see
forward; Ebenezer. born March 25, 1735, died young;
Ruth, born December 19, 1737 ; Ebenezer, born Sep
tember 27, 1741 ; Stephen, born January 4, 1748.
(IV) Captain James Robinson, son of John Rob
inson, Jr. (3), was born in Dorchester, Massachu
setts, January 30, 1732, and died there March 14,
1808. He seems to have been a soldier in the revo
lution in Captain Ebenezer Withington's company,
Colonel John Robinson's regiment, April 19, 1775,
at the battle of Lexington. Later he became cap
tain of the militia and commanded a company in the
regiment of Colonel Ezra Bedlam during "Shays's
Rebellion" in 1787. He was one of the signers of
the Suffolk Resolves. He was on a committee with
a number of other Dorchester men to remonstrate
with the general court against the annexation of
Dorchester Neck to Boston, January 23, 1804. He
married Sarah Breck, born in 1736 and died 1797.
They lived at Dorchester and their children, all
born there, were: 1. Stephen, see forward; 2. James,
born July 17, 1756. 3. Edward, born December 26,
1758. 4. John, born November 27, 1761. 5. John,
born July, 1763. 6. Joseph, born June 18, 1766. 7.

Sarah Breck, February 2, 1769. 8. Susanna, born
June 8, 1771.
(V) Lieutenant Stephen Robinson, eldest son of
Captain James Robinson (4), was born in Dor
chester, Massachusetts, August 23, 1776, and died
there October 24, 1852. He was lieutenant of the
First Brigade of Artillery, First Division, in 1806.
He married April 11, 1805, at Dorchester, Hannah
Withington, daughter of Ebenezer Withington, who
was a soldier in the revolution, a minute man at
Lexington. The children of Stephen and Hannah
Robinson were: Stephen Augustus, see forward;
James Ebenezer, born December 16, 1810; James
Withington, February 21, 1812;' Hannah Withington,
July 10, 1814; John Flavel, January 29, 1817'; Mary
Withington, April 30, 1819; Edward Breck, May
29, 1821.
(VI) Captain Stephen Augustus Robinson, eldest
child of Stephen Robinson (5), was born at" Dor
chester, Massachusetts, May 3, 1806 (family record
May 5), and died there June 9, 1863. He settled
at Dorchester and married Mary Capen, daughter
of Joseph Capen, of Canton, Massachusetts.
- CHARLES FREEMAN READ. Esdras Read
(1), the immigrant ancestor of Charles Freeman
Read, of Worcheste'r, was born in England, the son
of Mathew Read. The name Esdras is sometimes
found Ezra. A tract of land was granted him by
the town of Boston, of which he was a proprietor
as early as 1638. His place was at 'Muddy river,
now Brookline, but he removed that year .to Salem
and was a proprietor of the town. He was admitted
to the Salem church, May 10, 1640, and his wife
Alice December 29, 1640, when Rev. John Fiske was
pastor, and. went with him and his church to Wen-
ham, then called Enon, meaning "much water," in
1643. He was deputy to the general court from
Wenham in 1648 and also in 1651. He was sent
in 1655 by Rev. Mr. Fiske and his church to look
out for a more commodious settlement and he
selected Chelmsford. The next spring Rev. Mr.
Fiske, Mr. Read and a majority of the church mem
bers removed to that place. While at Wenham
he was deacon of the church. In 1658 he was again
admitted an inhabitant of Boston, where he died
in 1680, and his gravestone is now standing in
Copps Hill cemetery. He was a tailor by trade and
owned considerable" property on Copps Hill at the
time of his death. Administration was granted De
cember 17, 1680, to his son, Obediah Read, of Bos
ton. Esdras Read married Alice Ward.
(II) Obediah Read,, son of Esdras Read (1),
was born about 1639. He married Anna Swift, of
Boston. She died September 13, 1680. The record
of his death is on his gravestone in Copps Hill ceme
tery, Boston, as February 19, 1721. He was a car
penter by trade. The children, of Obediah and Anna
Read: Thomas, born 1665, see forward; Rebecca,
1668; Elizabeth, 1669; Sarah, 1671 ; Anna, 1672;
Obediah, Jr., 1677; James, 1679,
(III) Thomas Read, son of Obediah Read (2),
was born in Boston in 1665. He went back to
Chelmsford and had a grant of land' from the town.
The name of his first wife is not known. He mar
ried (second) Hannah  . His children by the
first wife were : Thomas, born 1687, see forward ;
Jonathan, William, Esdras, John. The children of
Thomas and Hannah: Benjamin, Timothy.
(IV) Thomas Read, son of Thomas Read (3),
was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, 1687, and
married Sarah Fletcher. He was a prominent man
in the town of Chelmsford and held the office of
justice of the peace. He died December 24, 1773,

WORCESTER COUNTY

259

aged eighty-six years. The Reads were the first set
tlers in that part of Chelmsford, now Westford.
The children of Thomas and Sarah : Sarah, born
1712; Timothy, 1714, see forward; Eleazer, 1731;
Benjamin, 1732.
(V) Timothy Read, son of Thomas Read (4),
was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, March 21,
1714. He married, November 10, 1732, Mary Cum
mings. He moved from Chelmsford to Dunstable,
Massachusetts, when that town included the present
towns of Dunstable, Nashua, Nashville, Hollis and
parts of the towns of Pelham, Londonderry, Hudson,
Merrimac and Townsend, some now of New Hamp
shire, some of Massachusetts, having an area of two
hundred square miles. For many years Dunstable
was on the frontier and the early settlers .were ex
posed to Indian attack frequently. Many outrages
were committed there by the Indians and many deeds
of valor and heroism by the white men. The chil
dren of Timothy and Mary Read: Elizabeth, born
1733; Mary, 1734; Timothy, Jr., 1736; Eleazer, 1749.
(VI) Eleazer Read, son of Timothy Read ($),
was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, February,
1749. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war
and fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. He mar
ried Rachel Cummings. Their children : Rachel; born
January 4, 1770; Rhoda, November 26, 1772; Caleb,
August 7, 1775, see forward ; Leonard, 1777 ; Re
becca, 1779; Betsey, December 17, 1780.
(VII) Caleb Read, son of Eleazer Read (6),
was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, August 7,
1775, died November 28, 1838. He was a captain
in the militia and served as such in the war of
1812. He married Sarah Richardson and their chil
dren were : Calvin, see forward ; James, born in
1799 ; Rachel ; Abigail.
(VIII) Calvin Read, son of Caleb Read (7),
was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, January 20,
1798. He was educated in the common schools.
He was a farmer during his active life. In re
ligion he was a Universalist, in politics a Democrat.
He was a very skillful fifer and used to play a great
deal for parades and military occasions. He married
Catherine Baxter, born December 30, 1799, in Haw
ley, Massachusetts. Their children : Sarah Richard
son, born in Hawley, January 4, 1821 ; Calvin Dwight,
born at Ashfield, February 28, 1824; William Eleazer,
born in Hawley, June 25, 1828 ; Caroline Rathbone,
born in Hawley, December 19, 1829; Calista Blood,
horn in Hawley, July 13, 1831 ; Anna Eliza, born in
Dunstable, February 8, 1833 ; Charles Freeman, see
forward : James Alonzo, born at Dunstable, Novem
ber g, 1839; Emily Etta, born in Lennox, New York,
September 2, 1844. All deceased except Calista,
Charles F.. James A. and Emily E.
(IX) Charles Freeman Read, son of Calvin Read
(8). was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, August
7. 1835. He received his early education in the pub
lic and high schools, working, when not in school,
on the homestead. He went with his father's fam
ily -to Lennox, Madison county. New York, in 1844,
and worked with his father on the farm there until
1852. He then went to Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
and attended the high school. He began his career
in business at Gardner, where he became clerk in
a general store. February 21, 1853. He remained
in this store as clerk and bookkeeper for five years.
Heathen entered the employ of Greenwood & Wright,
chair manufacturers of Gardner, as shipping clerk
and bookkeeper. Later he became a member of
the firm, and was for 'many years identified with the
. chair manufacturing business of Gardner. He re
tired from business and removed to Worcester in
1806. His home there is on Burncoat street, corner
Marie avenue. Mr. Read has always been a Republi

can in politics. He was elected to various positions
of honor and trust in Gardner. He was town audi
tor, assessor, and member of the school committee.
During the civil war he served three years in the
cavalry. At the expiration of his term of enlist
ment he was mustered out as first sergeant in
"Read's" company, Third Massachusetts Cavalry,
Second Division, Nineteenth Army Corps. He served
under Generals Banks, Butler and Sheridan. He
was in the Department of the Gulf and in Shenan
doah Valley. He was at the battle of , Cedar Creek.
He saw Sheridan's famous ride.
Mr. Read joined the Evangelical Congregational
church ih Gardner, Massachusetts, in 1858. That
church afterward merged into and became a part
of the First Congregational Church of Gardner. He
remained in that church until 1896, when removing
to Worcester, he changed his membership to the
First Congregational (Old South) church, Worces
ter. Since 1902 he has ~been parish clerk of Old
South. While at Gardner he was superintendent
of the Sunday school for a number of years. In 1865
he joined Hope Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of which
he was master in 1876 and of which he is at present
an honorary member. He was commander of D. G.
Farragut Post, No. 116, G. A. R., in 1880 and 1881.
He was a member of the Massachusetts staff of the
national commander, G. A. R., in 1895. He is a
member of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A.
R., of Worcester, and served for four years on
the library committee. He was elected quartermaster
of the post, March 15, 1906.
Mr. Read married, at Gardner, Massachusetts,
December 15, 1858, Catherine Augusta Wright, born
April 9, 1839, daughter of David and Elizabeth
(Gay) Wright, granddaughter of Joseph Wright,
who came from Sterling to Gardner, settled on
Wright Hill, married Rebecca Nichols. Of the chil
dren of Joseph Wright, Rebecca, born June 25, 1791,
married Walter Greenwood ; Martha, born July 12,
1802, married Levi Heywood, the chair manufacturer ;
and Emily, born December 24, 1814, married Seth
Heywood, the chair manufacturer, all of Gardner.
David Wright was one of the pioneers in the manu
facture of cane and wooden seat chairs. He was
one of a family of eleven children and lived to the
advanced age of ninety-one years. He was born in
Gardner, October 25, 1808. Catherine 'was educated
in the public and high schools and academy and
taught school for some time before marriage. She
was eligible for membership in the Daughters of
the American Revolution through her maternal an
cestors. She died at Gardner, April 10, 1889.
Mr. Read married (second), at Worcester, Janu
ary 1, 1896, Oella Elizabeth Stone. She is eligible
to membership in the Daughters of the American
Revolution through her great-grandfather, Jeduthan
Stone, son of Nathan and Mary Stone, born Janu
ary 13, 1748, served in the revolutionary army under
Captain Thomas Eusts, marching from Rutland to
Cambridge, April 19, 1775. Jeduthan married, Janu
ary 11, 1773, Elizabeth Howe, who bore him seven
children. -Mrs. Read's grandfather was Augustus
Stone, and her father, Joseph Stone, who married
Martha E. Maynard. Oella was educated in the
public, schools and at Worcester Academy. The
children of Charles Freeman and Catherine Augusta
Read: Ettie Elizabeth, born in Gardner, March 11,
i860, died 1884; married A. E. Knowlton, had one
son, Stanley Read Knowlton. Charles Clarence,
born in Gardner, January 2, 1862, graduate of the
Gardner high school, commercial traveler, selling
chairs and furniture; married Annie Hurlbut and
they have three daughters — Katherine, Alice, and
Esther. Gertrude Wright, born in Gardner, August

26o

WORCESTER COUNTY

26, 1866, died 1901 ; married A. E. Knowlton, whose
first wife was her sister Ettie E. ; their three chil
dren — Dorothy, Henry, Hazel. David Wright, born
in Gardner, November 27, 1874, died aged three years
and two months.
JAMES ATKINSON NORCROSS. The emi
grant ancestor, Jeremiah Norcross (1), came from
England to America in the year 1638, and from
"Bond's History and Genealogies of Watertown,
Massachusetts,," we learn that he was a proprietor
in' that place as early as 1642, his family then con
sisting of wife Adrean and three children, Nathaniel,
Richard • and Sarah. The original homestead in
Watertown covered about twenty-six acres, the ti
tle to which was held within the family for more
than one hundred and sixty years. A portion of
this estate was later purchased by the United States
government, and ' is now the location of the Water-
town arsenal. The senior Mr. Norcross, in 1654,
when arranging to visit England, executed a wili
in which the various members of his family are
mentioned, leaving at his death the greater part
of his estate to his son Richard. The brother
Nathaniel .received the degree of A. B. at "Cather
ine' Hall College," Cambridge, 1636-37, was called
to become the minister at Lancaster, and signed
with others a petition to the general court to plant
a settlement there. But there being so much de
lay in preparing for the settlement and building
the early houses, that his attention was called in
another direction, he is said to have returned to
England in 11646. His father died in England in
I657- (II) Richard Norcross, born in England, 1621,
was the possessor of a small estate at Watertown in
1642. He was chosen to act as the first schoolmaster
in that town, and from 1651 to about the year 1700
followed the occupation of a school teacher, and for
nearly a quarter of a century was the* only person
in the town to fill that office. He married (first)
Mary Brooks, daughter of Captain Thomas Brooks.
She died in 1671, and he married (second) Susanna,
widow of William Shattuck. Mr. Norcross died
in 1709, leaving six children, the eldest, Mary, hav
ing died in 1661.
(Ill) Nathaniel Norcross, born 'in Watertown,
December 18, * 1665, was a shoemaker, and resided
in Watertown and Sudbury. He married (first)
Mehitable Hagar. She died April 5, 1691, and he
married (second) Susanna, daughter of Dr. Philip
Shattuck, of Watertown. She died in Sudbury,
February 15, 1711-12. He died in 1717, leaving a
family of four children.
(IV) Philip Norcross, born March 5, 1698,
married, in 1721, Sarah, daughter of Edward Jack
son, of Newton, and settled in that town, their home
being on the site of the present Eliot meeting house.
Philip Norcross died in 1748, leaving nine children.
(V) Jonathan Norcross, born February 7,
1734"35, the fifth child of Philip Norcross, was a
soldier in the French and Indian war, and at Lake
George in 1758. Two years later he removed to
Georgetown, Maine, where he married Martha,
daughter of James Springer. In 1775, he was a
resident of Readville, Maine, but we have no record
of his death. His wife died in 1809, and was buried
at Hollowell, Maine.
(VI) Jonathan Norcross, Jr., born 1767, mar
ried Jane Atkinson, of Lancaster, England, and re
sided during the greater portion of his life in Wayne,
Maine, where he owned a farm. It is believed at
his death he was buried in Winthrop, Maine. His
widow died and was buried in Salem, Massa
chusetts.

(VII) Jesse Springer Norcross, sou of;
Jonathan Norcross, Jr., wa!s born in Wayne, Maine,.
in 1806. He was ' a carpenter and builder, also pro
prietor of the "Norcross Mills," at Winslow, Maine.
He married, in 1826, Margaret Ann Whitney, of
Westboro, Massachusetts. They resided in Various ' ' '
places in the state of Maine, among them the towns.
of Clinton and Winslow. In 1843 he removed to
Salem, Massachusetts, where he continued to ply
his occupation as .carpenter and builder. In the
year 1849 he joined the great concourse of seekers-
for gold in California. He died the following year
and was buried at Benicia, in that state. His widow,.
Margaret Ann (Whitney) Norcross, was the daugh
ter of Jonah and Anna (Rider) Whitney. The
father of Jonah was Thomas Whitney, a revolution
ary soldier from the town of Shrewsbury, Thomas.
being in the fifth generation from the emigrant an
cestor, John Whitney, who settled in Watertown,.
Massachusetts, and was admitted freeman there in.
1635-36. The children of Jesse Springer and Mar
garet Ann (Whitney) Norcross were: Rosina C,
Julia and James A., twins ; Elizabeth, Orlando W.,
William, died at sea, when nineteen years of age;
Leander, who died an infant, and Charles Henry,
died when four years of age. As the business ca
reer of the two brothers, James Atkinson, bora
March 24, 1831, and Orlando Whitney, born Octo
ber 25, 1839, appears so closely interwoven, it seems.
highly proper that they should be reviewed together.
James Atkinson Norcross, eldest son of Jesse-
Springer and Margaret Ann (Whitney) Norcross,
born March 24, 1831, in Kennebec county, Maine,
was a mere lad when the family removed to Salem,
Massachusetts. The early death of his father placed
upon his shoulders heavy responsibilities. Having in
herited in a large degree the mechanical genius of
his father, he learned the trade of a carpenter,*which>
he followed at Salem a number of years. In 1864,
upon the return of his brother Orlando from his.
three years service in the war of the rebellion, the
two formed a partnership which continued until the
year 1897. The style of the firm was Norcross.
Brothers, and their business career was started in
Essex county, Massachusetts, in the city of Salem,
but they soon removed to the city of Worcester to.
gain a larger field in which to labor. The Leicester
Congregational Church was their first large contract.
The excellent manner in which that contract was filled.
gave the firm an enviable reputation among build
ing contractors, and from that date onward they
were awarded a large share of the contracts givem
out for expensive structures erected- within their
immediate locality. As their facilities for executing
work, and the quality of their workmanship became
known to the public, demand for their services came-
not only from the various cities and towns in the
New England states, but far and near throughout'
the United States, until there was scarcely a city
among those most prominent in the Union but what:
contained a sample of their handiwork.
During the thirty-three years of most unpre
cedented business prosperity, James A. Norcross
attended to the clerical and financial part,
while Orlando Norcross gave attention to di
recting the men in their employ, an arrange
ment which proved to ensure signal suc
cess. They erected factories, equipped with the-
latest improved machinery, where they manufacture
doors, sash, and all necessary finish required by their
contracts, and the firm soon became conspicuous
for reasonable prices, promptness, and the skill- ,
ful way in which all of their contracts were met.
Scores of magnificent structures erected by this
firm may be found noted in the personal sketch of

? Lewis PublisHintj.. Co.

J-OL^^^

cyi en o?o

cn^c^€>^^D

WORCESTER COUNTY

261

the brother partner, Orlando, which follows at the
conclusion of the notice of James A., who retired
from the firm in 1897 for the purpose of enjoying
•gome of the ease and comfort to which a lifetime
of labor and steady brain work entitled him. For
.years he had resided iri an .elegant mansion on
Claremont street, Worcester, built of Longmeadow
sandstone, but he sought better and more roomy
surroundings, and after purchasing a tract of land
"containing several acres, situated on May street, a
.short distance west from his Claremont street home,
upon a beautiful eminence, furnishing a command
ing view of the surrounding country, he reared, his
"Fairlawn," and passed the remainder of his days
within this home of beauty and luxury, into which
he with his family removed in July, 1895. After his
retirement from business he visited various portions
•of the United States for the purpose of inspecting
rare and choice specimens of work produced by
his craft, and in February, 1892, in company with
'.his wife, visited the Old World, passing considerable
time in England, France, Holland, and Italy, enjoy
ing the scenes and meditating on the contrast be
tween the New and the Old World.
James A. Norcross was not a seeker of public
office, although he served the city one term as a
member of the common council in 1877. He was a
member of the Worcester Board of Trade, the Com
monwealth Club, the Sportsman and Continental
Clubs, also the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso
ciation. In the building of the South Unitarian
Church he was one of the most liberal contributors.
In this society he took an active interest, and within
its circle found his religious home. He was a man
¦of charitable disposition, and his kindliness was
often evinced by his many acts of charity. He died
at his home, August 4, 1903, and was survived by
his widow, who was Mary Ellen Pinkham, and their
children, as follows :
1. Julia Ellen, born October 14, 1851 ; married,
June 8, 1871, at Worcester, Thomas Seymour Os
borne, of Nova Scotia, and had children : John
Seymour, born February 28, 1872, died an infant;
Mary Gertrude, May 5, 1873, married Alfred Mer-
rifield, of Worcester; Florence Elizabeth, born April
-27, 1875, died July 9, 1902. She married, 1892, Fred
A. Corey, of Worcester, and had children: Charles
E., died August 29, 1893; James Earle, born April
¦27, 1896; Fred, born September 10, 1900. Rosie
Winifred, born April 5, 1878, married, January 18,
,1899, Harry E. Mayo, of Worcester, and had one
child, Virginia, born June 3, 1899. John Edwin
Norcross, born August 24, 1880, married Nellie
Billings. James William Thomas, born July 24,
1882, married Ethel Comstock, and have Lawrence
Wilmot. Arthur Wilmot, born February 7, 1888,
died January 18, 1889. Ellen, born September 28,
1890. David Benjamin, born July 7, 1894.
2. James Ephraim, born 1853, in Salem; died
[855. 3- James Franklin Norcross, born in Salem,
Massachusetts, January 8, 1856. He attended the
common schools there, and in South Adams and
Worcester, in turn. He left school at the early age
of fpurteen years to enter the employ of Norcross
Brothers, and took up carpentering, in which he
continued almost three years. He then went to
East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, to . learn quarry
ing and stone cutting. After ten years he was
made superintendent of all this business for Nor
cross Brothers, and served in ' that capacity until
April 1, 1897, when he resigned, and later engaged
in the same line of business on his own account.
After a year he sold his, plant, and on December 1,
J898, removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, where

he has since resided. He was engaged in caring for
his father's business and arranging his own affairs
until 1901, when he bought an interest in the West-
field Marble and Sandstone Company, a corpora
tion doing business' in Westfield, Massachusetts,
where their quarries are located. He was vice-
president and manager from the time he entered
the _ company until 1906, when his widowed mother,
desiring his assistance in the management of her
affairs, he resigned the position of manager, but has
retained to the present time, that of vice-president.
While in East Longmeadow, Mr. Norcross attended
the Congregational church, and served as a mem
ber of its parish committee, and was also for one
year secretary of the school board. In 1882 he
joined Hampden Lodge No. 27, I. O. O. F., of
Springfield, Massachusetts, of which he is yet a
member. In politics he is a Republican. He mar
ried, March 7, 1878, Sarah Etta Robinson, born in
East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, July 13, 1857, a
daughter of Jonas and Martha (Bradbury) Robin-
> son; her father is a leading stone cutter and setter.
To Mr. and Mrs. Norcross were born two children :
Jonas Walter, May 23, 1879; and Mary Etha, August
21, 1882.
4. Arthur Warren, born at Salem, Massachusetts,
July 27, 1861. He received his education in the Wor
cester public schools, graduating from Woodland
grammar school in June 1878. In the fall of that
year he entered the Classical High School, where
he continued his studies for a time, subsequently
taking a course in Bryant & Stratton's Business
College at Boston. In 1881 he entered the employ
of Norcross Brothers, contractors and builders, where
he remained about a year, subsequently removing
to New York city, Baltimore, Cleveland and other
cities in the employ of the firm until about 1897,
when he became a partner in the firm of Norcross
& Cleveland, contractors and builders, of Boston.
This firm built the present Brewer building on
Front street, Worcester. Mr. Norcross, since the
dissolution pf Norcross &¦ Cleveland, continued as
contractor until recently, and is at present super
intendent of a large building concern in New York
city. He was an attendant of the First Universa
list Church at Worcester, and is a Republican in :
politics. He married, December 18, 1888, Alice
Willard Warren, born in Worcester, adopted daugh
ter of Otis and Caroline E. Warren, of Worcester.
One child was born to them, Pauline, born Sep- '
tember 12, 1890, died February 10, 1892.
' 5. Rosa Minerva, born in Salem, June 2, 1863;
died April 5, 1877.
6. William Ephraim, born at Salem, Massachu
setts, May 11, 1866. At the age of three years he
removed with his parents to Worcester, where he
attended ¦ the public schools at Woodland street,
from which he graduated, taking a year's course in
"the Classical High School. He then entered the
¦employ of Norcross Brothers, where he was pay
master of the outside help for two years, after
which time he entered the shipping department as
head shipper, continuing for three years. Subse
quently he entered the office of the draughting de
partment, where he remained for two and a half
years. About a year before the dissolution of part
nership of Norcross^ Brothers, he became interested
in the affairs of "Fairlawn," the estate of his- father,
where he, assumed charge of the farm and has re
mained in charge of affairs to the present day. In
1898 he built his residence at "Fairlawn," adjoining
the home of his father, where he resided until the
death of his father, August 4, 1903, when he came
to live with his family at "Fairlawn." Mr. Nor
cross is an attendant of the South Unitarian Memor-

262

WORCESTER COUNTY

ial Church in which he has served as treasurer and
clerk. He is a Republican in politics, and a member
of the Worcester Automobile Club ; he was a mem
ber for two years of the Lakeside Boat Club, and for
three years of the Commonwealth Club. He mar
ried, November 23, 1890, Lillian Mabel Blenus,
born at South Dedham, Massachusetts, June 17,
1867, daughter of Charles W. and Vesta (Gates)
Blenus, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Charles W.
Blenus was a piano case maker, a veteran of the civil
war, and a member of Post No. 10, G. A. R. The
children of Mr. ahd Mrs. Norcross are : Hazel, born
August 19, 1893; Rosemary, born November 26,
1899. 7. Mary Elizabeth, born at South Adams, Massa
chusetts, October 31, 1868, married, September 20,
1892, William Loriii Davis, of Millbury, Massachu
setts, a brick manufacturer. One child, Margaret,
born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 10,
1896. 8. Florence A., born in Worcester, 1871 ; diel
July 9, 1871.
9. Jesse Orlando, born at Worcester, Massachu
setts, December 1, 1875. He received his education
in the Woodland street grammar school, the pri
vate school of John Dalzell on West street, where
he remained two years. He then entered the enlploy
of Norcross Brothers as clerk and bookkeeper in
his father's office. Here he remained about two
years, and then entered the employ of his brother,
who was of the firm of Norcross & Cleveland. In
the latter position he began to learn the trade of
carpenter, and later became a journeyman in the
business; He remained about two years in their em
ploy. In 1901 he purchased an eleven acre farm
on Millbury avenue, just over the line in Millbury,
where he built an elegant mansion and engaged in
the poultry business for some time; he still resides
at this place. In January, 1905, the firm of Nor
cross & Shiland under Massachusetts laws was
incorporated with quarters at 214 Summer street,
for the sale of automobiles. Jesse O. Norcross is
the president and director; H. E. Shiland, secretary,
S. Norcross, clerk of the corporation. Mr. Shiland
retired from, the company six months later. In
February, 1906, the company moved to more com
modious quarters at the corner of Foster and. Com
mercial street, the firm name having changed to that
of Norcross Automobile Company, agents for the
•"Packard," "Peerless," and "Auto Car." Mr. Nor
cross is an attendant of the South Unitarian Memor
ial Church, a Republican in politics, a member of
Worcester Grange, No. 22, Patrons of Husbandry,
the Worcester Automobile Club, and was formerly
a member of the Lakeside Boat Club. He was a
charter member of Wellington Rifles, Company H,
Second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia,
enlisting as private at its organization, May 2, 1894,
serving three years. He married, December 16,
1896, Maud Marie Smith, born July 13, 1877, daugh
ter of Marcus M. and Ann Elizabeth (Butterfield)
Smith, of Keene, New Hampshire. Marcus M.
Smith has been connected with the foundry depart
ment of the Crompton & Knowles Company.
Mrs. Mary Ellen Norcross, widow of James
Atkinson Norcross, was born January 8, 1835, in
Peabody, Massachusetts, daughter of Hicks and
Mary B. Pinkham. Her father was born October
6, 1806, in New Hampshire, and died December
23, 1849; he was a contractor and carpenter; his
wife, the mother of Mrs. Norcross, was born in
Massachusetts, December 16, 1806, and died January]
21, 1850. Mrs. James A. Norcross is possessed of j
like charitable and philantrophic traits of character!
with her lamented husband. Like him she has always!

been deeply attached to the South Unitarian Church
of Worcester, to which, since her husband's death,
she has presented the sum of $20,000 for the liquida
tion of its debt. Her "benefactions have been con
stantly extended to all worthy purposes.
CHARLES ANDREW FLETCHER. Robert
Fletcher (1) was the emigrant of Charles Andrew
Fletcher, of Worcester. The family name is doubt
less of French origin, signifying archer. While some
genealogists state that the family came to England
first at the time of William the Norman, others be
lieve that the first of the name was Jean de la
Flechiere, who came to England with the Duke of
Savoy in the thirteenth century. He came from
Burgundy, now the Canton de Vaud of Switzer
land: His son Henry and other descendants were
prominent in English and Scotch history.
Robert Fletcher, the emigrant, was born as shown
by the record of his death, in 1592. Family tradi
tion has it that he was from Yorkshire, England.
He settled in ConGord, Massachusetts, early. He is
said to have come to New England in 1630. He
was appointed the constable of the town of Con
cord by the general court, November. 2, 1637. He
removed to Chelmsford and joined with William
Fletcher and others in 1654 in inviting Mr. John
Fiske and the Wenham Church to remove to Chelms
ford. His will was made February 4, 1672, "aged
about fourscore," as the will has it. He commits
his wife to the care of his son Francis and his wife,
and bequeaths also to sons, Francis, William and
Samuel. The inventory was dated May 12, 1677.
He died April 3, 1677, at Concord, at the age of
eighty-five years. He was counted among the most
influential and wealthy men of the vicinity. The
children of Robert Fletcher were: Luke, born in
England, died in Concord, May 21, 1665, probably
unmarried; William, born in England, 1622, settled
in Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Cary, married 
Kebby ; Samuel, see forward ; Francis, born in Con
cord. Massachusetts, 1636, settled there.
(II) Samuel Fletcher, son of Robert Fletcher
(1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1632.
He was admitted a freeman March 21, 1689-90. He
settled in that part of Chelmsford now Westford,
Massachusetts. He married Margaret Hailston, Octo
ber 10, 1659. He died December 9, 1697, and his
grave is iu the Middle Chelmsford cemetery. The
inscription on the headstone reads: "Here lyes ye
body of Samuel Fletcher, aged 65 years, died Decem
ber 9, 1697." The children of Samuel and Margaret
(Hailston) Fletcher were: Samuel, bom in Con
cord, Massachusetts, 1661. married Mary Cotton;
Sarah, born August 24, 1663 ; Hannah, bom Septem-
zer 26. 1660 : William, sec forward.
(Ill) William Fletcher, youngest son of Samuel
Fletcher (2), was born in Chelmsford. Massachu
setts, January 1, 1671. He married there, Decem
ber 10. 1701, Mary  . He died about 1743- His
will (Vol. 21, Page 205, Middlesex) names his liv
ing children. His children, all bom in Chelmsford,
were: William, born 1702, at what is now Westford
in Chelmsford, died September 22. 1784; Samuel
(captain), born 1707, had fifteen children at West
ford; Oliver (H. C. 1735), selectman 1758-61, died
December 1, 1771 : Thomas, born January 15, 1711;
Robert, born April 20, 1713. resided near what is
now the Lowell city farm; Benjamin, see forward;
Mary, born January 1, 1718; Lydia, born June 1,
,1724. (IV) Benjamin Fletcher, sixth child of William
JFletcher (3). was born in Chelmsford, now West-
jford, Massachusetts, February 22. 1715, died 1774-
BHe lived in Chelmsford and vicinity. He was a

WORCESTER COUNTY

263

prominent lfian and wealthy for his day, as the in
ventory of his estate iu the possession of Charles
A, Fletcher shows, lie was collector of taxes in
Chelmsford in t754; lie held other offices. His
children were: Benjamin, see forward; Eleazer.
(V) Benjamin l'lelcher, son of Benjamin Fletcher
(4), was born probably iu Chelmsford, Massachu
setts, about 1750, lie married, December 4, 1770,
Rachel Spaulding, of Chelmsford, and they settled
in that town. Among their children was : Henja
min William or William Benjamin, see forward.
(A'l) Henjamin William Fletcher, as his name is
given in the Weare, New llanipsbire, history, son
of Benjamin Fletcher (5I. was born November 1,
177-', iii Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He settled in
Weare, New llanipsbire. about a mile north of the
Oil Mill village. lie was a fanner. lie ap
pears as a taxpayer of Weare as early as 1820 and
as late as 1840, and probably lived all his active life
in Weare. lie married Sarah Ballard, and their
children were: William, removed lo Vermont; Har
riet, Sarah, remained in Weare: Susan, Benjamin,
see forward; Charles B„ Beulah, Mary Grace.
(VI 1) Benjamin Franklin Fletcher, son of Benja
min William Fletcher to), was born in Weare, New
Hampshire, January 7, 1811, died al Manchester,
New Hampshire, June 18, 1886. He married Elvira
Adams Wilson, of the well known Scotch- Irish Wil
son family, whose progenitor was among the seniors
of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1718. She was
a native of New Boston, New Hampshire, lie re
sided at Manchester, New Hampshire, was a house
carpenter and contractor. His wife was born April
24, 1812, in New Boston, New Hampshire, and died
in Manchester, September 25, 188(1. The children
of Benjamin F, and Elvira Adams (Wilson)
Fletcher were: 1. James Franklin Wilson, born
April 0, 1843, died November 13, 1002; was a house
carpenter; served through the whole civil war in
Company E, Eighth New Hampshire Regiment.; he
enlisted as a private and was discharged as first
lieutenant: he resided in Manchester and Nashua,
where he died; never married. 2. Eben Harris, born
in Manchester, July 5, 1845, died at Manchester.
New Hampshire, September 5, 18(18. resided at Man
chester, New Hampshire, and Salem, Massachu
setts, where he was editor of the Salem Enterprise ;
was captain of a militia company in .Manchester;
never married. 3. Mary Maria, married George War
ren Currier, he is deceased and she resides in Bed
ford. New Hampshire, with her son, Allen Fletcher
Currier, who conducts the farm, 4. Sarah Eliza
beth, married John Milton Todd, resides at New
Boston, New Hampshire: their son. Samuel Herbert
Todd, resides at home. 5. Laura A„ born January
7- 1850, died June 1. 1853. 6. Charles Andrew, born
July 17, 1851, sec for\vard.
(VIII) Charles Andrew Fletcher, president of
the Clark-Sawyer Company of Worcester, was born
in Manchester, New Hampshire, July 17, 1851. Fie
was the son of Benjamin Franklin and Elvira Adams
(Wilson) Fletcher. His mother came from a well
known Scotch-Irish family that settled in 1718 in
Londonderry, New Hampshire. Mr, Fletcher at
tended the Manchester public schools. After grad
uating from the grammar school ho accepted a clerk
ship 111 the crockery store of Charles A. Smith in
Manchester, New Hampshire, where he gained his
first experience and knowledge of the business, in
which he has been engaged over since. After a year
and a half later he came to Worcester, in November,
18(10, and went to work for Clark, Sawyer & Com
pany, then as now the leading store iu the crockery,
glassware and housefurnishing trade. Except for
two periods of two years each Mr. Fletcher has re

mained in the Clark-Sawyer store ever since he
came to Worcester, serving in various capacities
from clerk to president. In 1874-75-7(1 Mr. Fletcher
was iu business in Fitchburg. In 18S4 he loft the
company again and established at Gardner, Massa
chusetts, Ihe Central Oil and Gas Stove Company.
.After two years he was induced by the Clark-Sawyer
Company to return and lake charge of the house
furnishing depaitineiit. The business was incor
porated at ibis time and Mr. Fletcher became a
director and clerk of the company. The company
became a Massachusetts corporation in 1N00 with
a eapilal of $100,000. The ollicers for the past few
years have been: President, Charles A. Fletcher;
treasurer, Geoige Richardson; secretary, Stephen
Sawyer. Mr. Fletcher has been president since
1807, and during these years the company has en
joyed a season of great growth and prosperity. The
Clark-Sawyer Company stores occupy 30,000 square"
feet of tloor space in the" best business section of
Worcester. The wholesale department has be
come the larger and more important end of
the business. The company has commercial
travelers all over New England, and they make
a specialty of foreign novelties, having their
own buyers in the markets abroad every season. A
characteristic of the house is to take hold of a
new invention of an attractive novelty, a specialty
for instance having been made of refrigerators. Mr.
Fletcher has for many years given personal atten
tion to I he imported goods of the house. The holi
day trade has grown to enormous proportions in both
wholesale and retail departments, owing largely to
the attractive line of toys and bric-a-brac of both
foreign and domestic manufacture sold there. The
markets of England, Germany, France, Italy, Austria
and Bohemia are visited every season. The Clark-
Sawyer Company carries the largest line of whole
sale novelties in New England. It is the largest
retail house furnishing store in New England, and
outside of Boston also the largest crockery house.
Mr. Fletcher is a member of the Commonwealth
Club and of the Worcester Society of Antiquity.
lie is a Republican. On account of the pressure of
business be has in late years withdrawn from most
of the clubs and societies to which he formerly be
longed. lie married, October I, 1874, Helen Maria Shat
tuck. daughter of Samuel F. Shattuck, of Worcester.
Thev have had two children : Helen Esther, born
July, 187(1, married Edward Marcus Dodge (See
sketch elsewhere in this work) ; Charles Shattuck,
born July 21, 1878, died September 13, 1003. while
a junior at Harvard College.
STIL1.MAN HOUGHTON FAMILY. Sir
Richard Houghton (1), bart., of Houghton Towers,
Lancashire, England, father of Ralph Houghton,
of Lancaster, was a progenitor of the Houghton
family, of Worcester county, to which the late Still-
man Houghton belonged. Sir Richard fought against
King Charles, although the rest of the family fought
for the king. If tradition is correct then, and John
Houghton, of Lancaster, was cousin of Ralph, son
of Sir Richard, the two men came, for opposite
reasons, to America ; one because he was against the
king, the other because he was not. That is not
important. The two cousins seem to have lived
amiably side bv side in Lancaster, the son and
nephew of Sir Richard Houghton. The Houghton
ancestors are traced to Roger de Bushi, one of the
followers of William the Conqueror.
(.111 Ralph Houghton, son of Sir Richard Hough
ton (x), born in England, in 1633; died April 15,
1705, in Lancaster. He is believed to have emigrated

264

WORCESTER COUNTY

to New England in 1635. He was in. Lancaster in
1647, and was one of the founders of that town
with five others : Edward Breck, Nathaniel Had-
lock, William Kerley, Thomas Sawyer, John Pres
cott. He was the first town ' clerk, and the writing
of the early records in his hand show that he was
not only a good penman but well educated. His
home was on the Neck. He was town clerk for many
years; was admitted a freeman in 1668, and was
deputy to the general court in 1673-89. He was one
of the leaders, and was identified with the organiza
tion of the town and its government until his death.
He had to abandon his home with the others at the
time of King Philip's war in 1675. In 1682 he set
tled in Milton. He returned to his Lancaster home
in 1685, but was. again in Milton in 1690, and built
a homestead" there in which seven generations of de
scendants have been born. He married Jane  ,
who was born 1626, in England, and died January
10, 1700-1. Their children were: 1. Mary, born Janu
ary 4, 1654. 2. John, born April 28, 1655. 3. Joseph,
born July 6, 1657; settled in Milton. 4. Experience,
born October 1, 1659; married May 22, 1784, Ezra
Clapp, of Dorchester. 5. James (see forward). 6. .
Sarah, born February 17, 1664. Ralph Houghton,
of Dorchester (Milton'later), was lost at Port Royai
June 7, 1782, aged twenty- eight, in the earthquake.
(Ill) James Houghton, son of Ralph Houghton
(2), born in Lancaster, in 1661. (This date is given
in the American Ancestry.) It is stated by some
writers that he was born before the family came
to Lancaster. Ralph Houghton's family was among
the first to come, and was doubtless living there
by 1650. James Houghton settled first on the Neck
but removed to Still river before the massacre in
1697, with his brother-in-law, Caleb Sawyer, and
built upon lands given him by his father, Ralph
Houghton. He had eight children. The second son,
Ralph, was a soldier in the Acadian expedition to
Canada and died in 1710, in the service. His brother
James was his administrator.
James Houghton died in 1711. His will was
proved September 11, 171 1. His widow was the
Widow Mary Houghton mentioned in the list of
those in the garrison house in 1711. The garrison
house of James Houghton has descended from father
to son for five generations, and has been occupied
the longest of any in old Lancaster, continuously in
the same family. ' The present house is a capacious
farm house, including at least three structures, all
ancient. The west end is the original garrison
house which sheltered the families of the neighbor
hoods from Indian raids. It was built from 1692
to 1704. The first chimney was of stone, and the
huge foundations still fills half the cellar. It was
early replaced by the present many-flued brick pile,
with eight fire places, ovens, cupboards, and smoke
closet, where there is room enough to cure simul
taneously the hams and shoulders pf a dozen swine.
Many of the little windows remain, though the
sash has been renewed, at nearly double the height
now thought convenient. The walls are filled with
brick and stone so as to be bullet proof. The huge
oak beams and plates show for a third of their length
below plaster and laths. These timbers are 12x14
inches. Once when it became necessary to remove
some of the panels of the wainscoting, during renova-
vations, the wood was found to ,be unpainted soft
pine without knot or check, of excellent workman
ship, thought to be from the hand of James Hough
ton, himself a carpenter, and builder of his own
house. The house passed to Thomas Houghton,
his son, also ancestor ' of Stillman Houghton. It
passed to his son Elijah, to his son Thomas, to
his son Cephas and then to his son now or lately

the owner, Edward Warren Houghton, of Harvard,
Massachusetts, as that section of Lancaster is now
known. Children of James and Mary Houghton were:
1. James, born 1690; married Sarah  (called
James Houghton, Sr., to distinguish, him from James
Houghton, son of Jonas Houghton, a younger man).
2. Ralph, died in service in Canada, his brother
James administered his estate. 3. John. 4. Thomas
(see forward). 5. Edward (see Houghton family
under Knapp family). 6. Ephraim, joined in deed,
with Edward and James, to Jonas. 7. Hannah. 8.
Experience. In 1723 Ephraim, Edward, Thomas
and John, sons of James, lived in the vicinity of the
old house in Harvard. James Houghton, who mar
ried Sarah, was not there at that time.
Caleb Sawyer was grandson of John Prescott,
the founder of Lancaster, and fifth son of Thomas
Sawyer, one of the first proprietors, who married
Mary Prescott. Caleb Sawyer was born in Lancaster,
April 20, 1659; married Sarah, daughter of Ralph
Houghton, December 28, 1683. He had a special
grant- of thirty acres on the east side of Bare Hill
where he built his house some time after the massacre
of 1697. The well known "rendezvous" tree was
near his house. He died February 13, 1755.
(IV) Thomas Houghton, son of James Hough
ton (3), born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, about
1690-1700; married Maria or Moriah' Moor and set
tled on the homestead in Harvard. He was a farmer.
Children were: 1. Hanah, born December 16, 1728-9.
2. Thomas, born October 9, 1731. 3. Moriah (as
Maria was then spelled by the family), born Sep
tember 5, 1736. 4. Elijah (see forward).
(V) Elijah Houghton, son of Thomas Houghton
(4), born in Harvard, or what is now Harvard, then
Lancaster, Massachusetts, June 2, 1739; married
Mercy Whitney, and settled in Harvard. Their chil
dren were : 1. Thomas, born January 11, 1767. 2.
Elijah, born October 23, 1769. 3. Abraham, born
January 23, 1771. 4. Moriah, born November 7, 1772.
5. Mercy, born September 27, 1774. 6. Abraham
(2d), born April 26, 1777. 7. Elizabeth, born Decem
ber 3, 1779. 8. Hanah, born April (?), 1781.- 9.
Alice, born February 22, 1784. 10. Hannah, born
April 22, 1786. 11. Sally, born September 22, 1788.
(VI) Abraham Houghton, son of Elijah Hough
ton (5), born in Harvard, Massachusetts, April 26,
1777. He settled in Harvard, Massachusetts, and
died there. He married Elizabeth Parks. Th'ey had
six, children Betsey,^ Maria, Andrew, Martha, Will
iam, Thomas Stillman.
(VII) Stillman Houghton, son of Abraham
Houghton (6), born in Harvard, Massachusetts,
June 19, 1820; died April 26, 1889. He was raised
on the farm in Harvard' and attended school there.
He learned the machinist trade and started the first
loom for the Clinton Wire mill, where he was em
ployed for a number of years. He came to Wor
cester to associate himself with D. H. Fanning, who
in 1861 started the manufacture of hoop skirts in
Worcester. The company was called the Worces
ter Skirt Company. Out of it grew the Worcester
Corset Company, at the head of which Mr. Fanning
has continued. Mr. Houghton was engaged in the
manufacturing of skirts and corsets for many years.
For a time he was in business for himself in the
manufacture of pocketbooks. He retired some years
before his death. His widow now lives in their old
home, 19 Oak avenue, Worcester. He died April
26. 1889, in Worcester. He was a Republican in
politics. He married, 1845 Mercy Randall Weatherbee,
daughter of Silas and Mary (Taylor) Weatherbee,
born in Boxboro, Massachusetts, November 8, 1824.

3>fHAZ&f<tec

WORCESTER COUNTY

265

Her father was born in Boxboro, her mother in Har
vard, Massachusetts. She was one of fourteen chil-'
¦dren. Her grandfather was Simeon Weatherbee.
Children of Stillman and Mercy Randall
(Weatherbee) Houghton were: 1. Evander, born
1847, died 1853. 2. Herbert O. (see forward). 3,
"Lilla, born February 12, 1861, married Albert C.
Marble and had : Ralph L., born, 1898.
(VIII) Herbert O. Houghton, son of Stillman
Houghton (7), born in Clinton, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 22, 1850. He was educated in the Worcester
schools and is in the city directory business. He
resides at 19 Oak avenue, Worcester. He married
Carrie L. Stockwell, daughter of Deacon Leander
and Julia (Lealand) Stockwell, of Grafton. Chil
dren are: 1. Arthur S., born February 17, 1879; at
torney in Worcester. 2. Mabel S., born July 18,
1881. 3. Cecil F., born September 20, 1883 ; is a
teacher in Sharon, Connecticut. 4. Louis H. (twin),
born May 14, 1887; is now on training ship Enter
prise. 5. Louise M. (twin), born May 14, 1887. i
STEPHEN SAWYER. Thomas Sawyer, one of
the founders of Lancaster, Massachusetts, was the
emigrant ancestor of Stephen Sawyer, of Worces- ¦
ter, Massachusetts.
(II) Thomas Sawyer, born in England about 1616,
settled first at Rowley, Massachusetts, about 1643.
He removed to Lancaster in 1647, when there were
but three permanent settlers there : John Prescott,
Richard Linton and Lawrence. John Ball had ap
parently left the settlement after being there for some
time in behalf of the proprietors. In May, 1653,
Thomas Sawyer was appointed by general court one
of the prudential managers of the town. They had
full powers to allot land, govern the town and admit
freemen. The other members of the board were
Edward Breck, Nathaniel Hadlock, William Kerley,
John Prescott and Ralph Houghton. Thomas Saw
yer was admitted a freeman 1654, and was a pro
prietor of Lancaster 1648. Naturally he became one
of the leading men. He was a blacksmith by trade.
His farm was on the present grounds of-the Seventh
Day Adventists, between South Lancaster and Clin
ton. There is a, stone to mark his grave in the
old graveyard in Lancaster. He died September 12,
1706, about ninety years of age.
There is little of interest on the records about
Thomas Sawyer until 1676, when King Philip's war
was raging and Lancaster suffered greatly. His son
Ephraim Sawyer was killed by the Indians at Pres
cott's Garrison, now in Clinton. Sawyer's house was
one of the garrisons, and he was in command there.
It was just behind the house now or lately owned
by John A. Rice, of Lancaster. It is interesting to
note that other heads of Worcester county families
of note, written about in this work, were in the
same garrison. In 1704 the garrison was at the house
of Thomas Sawyer, Jr., the aged father in com
mand. Sawyer had nine men under him : Andrew
Gardner, Thomas Sawyer, Jr., Mr. Gardner, Jabez
Fairbanks, ancestor of the vice-president; Nathaniel,
another son of Thomas Sawyer ; John Harris ; Daniel
Rugg, ancestor of Arthur P. Rugg and most of the
Worcester county Ruggs; Samuel Prescott, ancestor
of the historian and of Worcester families of the
name. These families all lived on the west side of
the Nashua river, at what is now called South Lan
caster. In the following year Thomas Sawyer, Jr.
was taken captive, as will be related later. Thomas
Sawyer, Sr. lived with his daughter, Mary Wilder,
while Thomas was a captive in Canada.
Thomas Sawyer, Sr., married, 1648, Mary, daugh
ter of John Prescott of Watertown and Lancaster.
(See Prescott family). His will is dated March 6,

1705-6, proved April 12, 1720. The children of
Thomas Sawyer and Mary (Prescott) Sawyer were:
1. Thomas, born July 2, 1649. 2. Ephraim, born
January 16, 1650-1. 3. Marie, born January 4,1652-3;
married  Wilder. 4. Elizabeth, boi-n January,
1654. 5. Joshua, born March 13, 1655. °- James, born
March 22, 1657. 7. Caleb, born April 22, 1659. 8.
John, born April, 1661. 9. Nathaniel, born Novem
ber, 1670, mentioned in father's will; three of fore
going not living at time father's will was made —
Ephraim, John and Elizabeth.
(II) Thomas Sawyer, son of Thomas Sawyer- (1),
was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, July 2, 1649,
the first white child born there.. His capture by the
Indians forms one of the most familiar stories of
the colonial period in Massachusetts. He was a
man of fifty-five when the event took place, and
was living in the garrison as described above. Queen
Anne's war was making the lives of the colonists
unsafe especially on the frontier. Indians made
frequent attacks and massacred men, women and
children. On October 16, 1705, Thomas Sawyer,
Jr., his son Elias, and John Bigelow, of Marlboro,
were at work in his saw mill when they were sur
prises and captured by Indians. The Indians took
their captives back to Canada, and' turned Bigelow
and young Sawyer over to the French to ransom.
The Indians kept the. other Thomas Sawyer to put
to death by torture. Sawyer proposed to the French
governor that he should build a saw mill on the
Chamblay river in consideration of saving his life
from the Indians and giving the three captives their
freedom. The French needed the mill and were
glad of the opportunity. But the Indians had to be
reckoned with. They insisted on burning Thomas
Sawyer at the stake. They knew him and knew he
was a brave man, not afraid of torture and death.
The crafty French governor defeated their purpose
by a resort to the church. When Sawyer was tied
to the stake a French friar appeared with a key
in his hand, and so terrible did he paint the tortures
of purgatory, the key of which he told them he
had in his hand ready to unlock, that they gave up
their victim. Indians fear the unseen more than real
dangers, and doubtless the friar took care not to
specify just what he would do in case the auto-de-fe
was carried on. Sawyer built the mill successfully,
the first in Canada, it is said. He and Bigelow came
home after seven or eight months of captivity. Elias
Sawyer was kept a year longer to run the mill
and teach others to run it. The captives were well
treated after the French found them useful to them.
Thomas Sawyer married three times : First,
Sarah  , 1670; second, Hannah  , 1672; and
third, Mary White, 1718. He died at Lancaster,
and his grave there is marked by a stone. He
died September 5, 1736, in the eighty-ninth year of
his age (so said), but was probably eighty-seven,
if the records are correct. His will mentions four
sons and two daughter. He bequeathed twelve
pounds to purchase a communion vessel for the
Lancaster church. Children of Thomas. Sawyer
were : 1. William. 2.. Joseph 3. Bazalies. 4.
Elias. 5. Mary, married Joshua Rice, of Marlboro.
6. Hannah, married Jonathan Moore, of Bolton. 7.
(perhaps) Sarah, married Rev. Nathaniel Whitman,
of Deerfield, Massachusetts.
(Ill) William Sawyer, son of Thomas Sawyer
(2), was born in Lancaster, where the family lo-
'cate'd during Indian troubles. He married, 1700,
Hannah, daughter of John Houghton, 2d. _ They
settled in Lancaster, in what is now the village of
Bolton, in the southerly part. Their garrison as
signment near the centre was with John Moore,
near Fryeville. He owned land in other places — a

266

WORCESTER COUNTY

hundred acres on the west slope of Gates Hill, now
called Sawyer Hill, and one hundred and twenty-
acres on the east slope of tlie hill.
Deacon Josiah Sawyer, son of William Sawyer
(3I. born in* Lancaster, 1714; married Sarah Fair
banks, a descendant of tlie Lancaster branch of he
descendants of Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham. (Sec
Fairbanks.) She was tlie daughter of Jabez Fair
banks, of Bolton, granddaughter of tlie famous
Indian fighter, and brother of Esquire Ephraim
Fairbanks of Berlin, Massachusetts, whose home
in 173S was on Wheeler Hill. Josiah Sawyer was
one of the charter members of tlie Berlin church,
and its deacon. His Bible and the stand on which
it rested during his daily family devotions have
been preserved by his descendants. The Indians
were still a menace to the inhabitants of Worces
ter county towns when he was a young man. In
1735 he was living with his father at Bolton, but
was clearing the land on Sawyer Hill and was pre
paring to make his home there. While returning
home one evening afoot, as was his custom, an
Indian waylaid hm, just as he was descending the
hill north of Quaker meeting house. Sawyer dodged
the upraised tomahawk and took to his heels. For
tunately for him, he was a good runner, for he
was unarmed. The savage soon saw that he was
outclassed and gave up the pursuit. By measure
ment next day it was found that one of tlie leaps,
as the foot prints showed, was sixteen feet. That
leap is famous in Berlin history.
He married Sarah  , who died 1762. He
married (second) Mary Tooker. The Tooker fam
ily preceded the Chase family on the Acre in Clin
ton. She died March 25, 1799, aged seventy-one
years. He died July 3. 1805, aged ninety-one years.
He was deacon of the church from 1770 to 1799.
The children of Deacon Josiah and Sarah Sawyer
were : 1. Josiah, born November 24, 1738. died
young. 2. William, born March 5, 1740. 3. Han
nah, born June 25, 1743, married  Curtis, of
Harvard. 4. Rebecca, born February 15, 1745. mar
ried  Wilder of Putney, Vermont. 5. Sarah,
born February 6, 1747. married William' Wilder of
Putney. Vermont. 6. Aholiab, born 1749. 6. Josiah,
born November 8. 1752. The children of Josiah
and Mary were: 7. Levi, born November 10, 1764,
died young. 8. Silas, born July 5, 1766. 9. Thomas,
born March 9, 1770. died 1771.
(V) Josiah Sawyer, son of Deacon Josiah
Sawyer (4). was born in Berlin. Massachusetts,
November -8, 1752. He married Bathsheba Moore,
of Putney. Vermont. He had the homestead in
Berlin, which he left to his daughter Lucinda. Her
son Daniel H. Carter inherited it. The place is now
or was lately owned by Willard G. Bruce. Josiah
was a farmer. Bathsheba, his wife, died March 17,
1778. He married (second) Persis Baker, daughter
of Samuel Baker. She died 1785, and he married
(third) Prudence Johnson, of Leominster, Massa
chusetts, January 4. 1786. The children of Josiah
and Bathsheba (Moore) Sawyer were: 1. Alvan,
born October 30, 1770. 2. Eunice, born November
10, 1774. married Ephraim Babcock. 3. Bathsheba,
born May 9,- 1778, died young. The children of
Josiah and Persis (Baker) Sawyer were: 4. Su
sannah, born November 19, 1781. married Caleb
Houghton. 5. Bathsheba, born 1784, died young.
The children of Josiah and Prudence (Johnson)
Sawyer were: 6. Ira, born October I, 1787. 7.
Lucinda, born April 20, 1789, married Amory Car
ter and Cummings Moore. 8. Rufus, born September
22, 1790. 9. George, born February 6, 1793. 10. Asa,
bom September 3. 1795. 11. Persis, born June 18,1798;
married Loring Howe, of Marlboro. 12. Sarah, born

July 12. 1800. married Lewis Carter; died February
26, 1805. Josiah Sawyer was a soldier in the revolu
tion, in Captain Benjamin Hasting's company. CoL
John Whitcomb's regiment in 1775. and also served
in Captain Jonathan Houghton's company and Cap
tain David Nourse's company. He served at Fish-
kill. New York, and at the Bennington alarm in
177S. (VI) Alvan Sawyer, son of Josiah Sawyer (5),
was born in Lancaster, (now Berlin), October 30,
1700. He married, February 13, 1794, Sarah, daugh
ter of James Goddard, Sr. He settled in Berlin on
ihe farm previously owned by Thomas Bride, and
now or lately by Leonard W. Brewer. His wife Sarah
died November 14, 1806, and he married (second) .
Sally Newton, of Marlboro, 1S08. The children of
Alvin and Sarah (Goddardl Sawyer were : 1. Lucy,
born March 16, 1795, married Amory Sawyer. 2.
Zilpah, bom February 3, 1 797. died October n. 1775,
unmarried. 3. Levi, born April 7, 1799. died un
married, 1837. 4. Eli, born January 7, 1801. 5.
Alvan, bom September S. 1803, married Lucy Bige
low, of Lowell, who died May 18, 183 1 ; married
(second) Jerusha A. W. Tarleton, of Nashua; he
died in Cuba 1850. The children of Alvan, Sr., and
Sally (Newton) Sawyer were: 6. Josiah. born
March 25. 1810. 7. George W.. born October 11,
1811. 8. Stephen, born February 11, 1813. 9. Sally
Newton, born 1815, married Julius L. Clarke, son
of Rev. Eber L. Clarke; resided in Worcester and
Newton, Massachusetts, has been state auditor and
commissioner of insurance. 10. Susan, born 1819,
married Edward L. Brigham, of Worcester, in 1844;
she died 1871.
(YII) Stephen Sawyer, son of Alvan Sawyer
(6), was born in Berlin, Massachusetts, February
11, 1813. He worked on tlie farm in summer and
went to school in the winter, and obtained an excellent
education. At an early age he began to teach
school, but preferred a mercantile life and went
to work in the general store of Haman Hunt in
Berlin. After a year there the outlook did not
seem to him wide enough rto accord with his
aspirations. Most of his youthful friends elected
to settle in their native town. Against much sin
cere and kindly advice he concluded that a larger
field would be more promising to his hopes. In ac
cordance with this conclusion, which he has called
an inspiration, he left Berlin in 1S41 and came to
Worcester, he at once found employment in the dry
goods house of H. B. Claflin & Co., there.
At that time H. B. Claflin & Co.'s was the live
liest business house in the commonwealth outside
of Boston. A few years later, when Mr. Claflin
sought the larger field for business afforded by
New York, Mr. Sawyer was retained as salesman
by the succeeding firm of Hardon, Hunt & Brown,
which was soon reconstructed under the title of B.
L. Hardon & Co., with Mr. Sawyer as one of the
partners. Through his connection with this welt
known business Mr. Sawyer became well known in
mercantile circles ; his ability was generally recog
nized, and he acquired a thorough knowledge of
business that must have been a large factor in his
greater successes in later life. He was a member
of the firm for fifteen years, retiring in 1856 on ac
count of ill health. Like many others who have
lived to an advanced age and won large successes
in the business world, he met ill health in middle
life and retired, built up his health and strength,
and went back to work with renewed vigor and
courage. He re-entered business in Worcester with
T. H. Clark and E. W. Ball, in 1866, under the
well known firm name of Clark, Sawyer & Co.
They bought the stock of crockery, glassware, etc.', of

WORCESTER COUNTY

267

John Firth & Co., and rented the store, their pre
decessors had occupied in the Flagg building, Main
street. The business prospered and they soon out
grew their quarters, and they rented two large
stores in R. C. Taylor's building on Main street,
opposite the Worcester Common. A few years
later Mr. Ball retired and George Richardson
took his place in the firm. They had to increase
their store space again, and moved to their present
stores at 478 to 482 Main street. No mercantile
house in the city has shown a greater and steadier
rate -of growth. They have constantly added to
their store by taking rooms in the building above
and adjoining and occupy more floor room and
transact a larger wholesale and retail trade than
any other house of the kind outside of Boston in
Massachusetts. Besides all kinds of glassware,
silverware and crockery, the firm deals in a mul
titude of housefurnishing articles, and has for years
had a practical monopoly of the business in Wor
cester. They import extensively staple goods and
novelties, toys, etc.
Mr. Sawyer devoted himself zealously to busi
ness. As head of the firm, for most of the time
he was responsible directly for its great success.
He enjoyed his material advantages modestly. He
was elected a trustee of the Worcester Five Cents
Savings Bank in 1867, and vice-president in 1876.
His position in the business world was shown
soon after the firm of Clark, Sawyer & Co. was
formed, by his election in January, 1867, as a
director of the Mechanics' National Bank, a posi
tion that he filled until his death in 1904. He was
a director of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance
Company of Worcester, elected December 8, 1886,
and served in that office seventeen years, during
ten of which he was chairman of the board. He
was not especially active in politics. He was a
Republican, and served the city as alderman during
the administrations of Mayors Clark Jillson, Charles
B. Pratt and Frank H. Kelley. He attended. the
Congregational church, and contributed liberally
to its charities. He always took an interest in
Berlin, his native place, and often expressed his af
fection for the town.
Mr. Sawyer died January 2, 1904, after a short
illness. The estimation in which he was held gen
erally by his fellow citizens is perhaps best ex
pressed by extracts from" the formal actions of the
various boards of which he was a member. The
trustees of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank
in their memorial said : '.'His long business life of
over fifty years in this city made him familiar with
most of its leading business men, and his good
judgment as to the value of property eminently
fitted him for usefulness in this bank. He carried
the burden of his years with the vigor of a much
younger man and was rarely absent from the stated
meetings of the bank." In the memorial of the
Mechanics' National Bank the following statement
was made: "He was a director for thirty-seven
years. During that time he has taken an active in
terest in its affairs, and has been constant in his
attendance at its meetings. While he was always
careful and conservative in his views on the Various
questions that might arise, and in his judgment of
men, he was at the same time willing to lend as
sistance and credit to those whom he felt were en
titled to receive it. He exhibited the same traits
in his own affairs, and from a small beginning he
built up a strong and substantial business. He
was a gentleman of the old school, and his pleas
ant manners and genial ways made friends of those
who met him or were associated with him." The
directors of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance

Company expressed their appreciation of Mr. Sawyer
as follows : "His business experience in Worces
ter, covered a period of about sixty years, during
which Worcester grew from a town of some 6,000
inhabitants to a city of multiform activities, with
a population of nearly 130,000, and he had much to
do as a public-spirited citizen in furthering its
growth and prosperity. We record our high ap
preciation of his loyalty to duty, his upright char
acter, his pure mindedness, his thorough integrity,
his uniform kindness, his honest purpose to serve
well his fellow men, and his rare example of carry
ing to ripe years the cheerfulness, courage and hope
which pertains to young manhood."
He married Lucy Fairbanks Sawyer, daughter
of Deacon Oliver Sawyer, granddaughter of William
Sawyer, the son of Deacon Josiah Sawyer, whose
family is given in this sketch. She died December
29, 1847. He married (second) Mary W. Bigelow,
Worcester, December 2, 1857. His children were :
1. Lucy Fairbanks (by first marriage), born De
cember 29, 1847, resides in Worcester, unmarried.
The children by the second marriage were : 2. Mary
Sophia, born at Worcester, November 1, 1858, died
March 9, 1859. 3. Harriet Louise, born in Worces
ter, September 26, 1862, died March 19, 1868. 4.
Stephen, born October 29, 1868. 5. Grace May, born
in Worcester, March 6, 1871, resides with her mother
and brother Stephen at 31 Chestnut street, Wor
cester. (VIII) Stephen Sawyer, Jr., son of Stephen
Sawyer (7), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
October 29, 1868. He attended the public schools
of his native city, and graduated in due course from
the Worcester high school with the class of 1887.
He immediately went into the Clark, Sawyer & Com
pany store to learn the business and was soon after
ward admitted to partnership. The firm was in
corporated in 1890 under the laws of Massachusetts,
with a capital of $100,000. During the latter years
of his father's life the son assumed his share of
the work in the store. The present officers of the
company are : President, Charles A. Fletcher ;
treasurer, George Richardson ; secretary, Stephen
Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer has devoted his attention to
business exclusively. In politics he is a Republican
He is a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, F. and A.
M., and of Eureka Chapter, R. A. M., and of the
Tatassit Canoe Club.
(V) William Sawyer, ancestor of Mrs. Stephen
Sawyer, son of Deacon Josiah Sawyer (4), born
March 5, 1740, married Hannah Barrett, daughter
of Lieut. Oliver and Hannah (Hunt) Barrett, of
Bolton, January 10, 1764. The Barrett family has
always been prominent in Bolton. William Sawyer
settled on part of his father's homestead in Berlin,
now or lately owned by M. Reed Tyler, known as
Lakeside. He died February 28, 1822, aged eighty
years ; she died February 8, 1830, aged eighty-
eight years. He was in the revolutionary war in
Captain Benjamin Hastings' company, Col. John
Whitcomb's regiment, 1775, and possibly also in the
Continental armv in 1776. The children of William
and Hannah (Barrett) Sawyer were: 1. Abigail,
born May 5, ,1765, married Cotton Newton. 2.
William, born February 6, 1767. 3. Amos, born
March 17, 1769. 4. Mary, born February 8, 1771,
married, September 26, 1792, Rufus Howe, of Berlin,
son of _ Joseph Howe, of Gates Pond; resided at
Marlboro, Vermont. 5. Oliver, born April 17, 1774.
6. Asa, born August 2, 1775, settled in Jaffray, New
Hampshire, 1803 to 1817. 7. Uriah, born May 24,
1778; married, February 2, 1803, Sally Spofford, re
sided at Jaffray, New Hampshire, and in Ohio. 8.
Polly, botn 1780, married Rufus Howe, who died

268

WORCESTER COUNTY

in Marlboro, Vermont; she returned to Berlin, g.
Hannah, born January 6, 1781, married Robert
Fosgate, resided at Winchester, New Hampshire;
died there, 1871, aged ninety years. 10. Levi, born
1784, died young.
(VI) Deacon Oliver Sawyer, son of William
Sawyer (5), born in Berlin, .Massachusetts, April
I7V 1774, married Lucy Fairbanks, of Northboro,
who died April 22, 1810, aged twenty-three years.
He married (second) Sophia Rice of Northboro.
He succeeded to the homestead on Sawyer Hill in
Berlin, and built the house that was burned there
-while owned later by Madame Rudersdorff, the
mother of Richard Mansfield, the famous actor.
Deacon Oliver Sawyer was prominent in the town
as well as the church. He was a town officer, and
highly respected by his fellow citizens. He died
April 15, 1851 ; his wife Sophia, died September 1,
1841. Their children were : 1. Lewis, born February 2,
1813, died on the homestead, February 8, 1856, un
married. 2. Oliver Barrett, born June 5, 1816. 3.
Lucy Fairbanks (twin), born September 9, 1819,
married Stephen Sawyer, of Worcester, January 8,
1845, _ died in Worcester, December 29, 1847. 4.
Sophia ( twin), born September 9, 1819, died on the
homestead October 24, 1873, unmarried. '
BIGELOW FAMILY. John Bigelow (1), the
common ancestor of the Worcester families of the
same surname, was the progenitor of Mary Wood
bury Bigelow, who married Stephen Sawyer of Wor
cester. John Bigelow is believed to have come from Eng
land, but the variations in spelling at the time of
his emigration to New England make it difficult
to trace this name, which was spelled according to
the fancy of the writers. He .was born in 1617
.and came to America before 1642. The first men-
• tion of his name on the records is found in Water-
town, Massachusetts, ' where, September 30, 1642,
he married Mary, daughter of John and Margaret
Warren, and said to have been born in England.
She died October 19, 1691. He took the oath of
fidelity at Watertown in 1652, and was made a
freeman April 18, 1690. He was a blacksmith by
trade, and was allowed certain timber for the build
ing of his forge by the town. He was highway sur
veyor 1652 and 1660; constable 1663, and one of
the selectmen _ 1665, 1670 and 1671. His homestead
consisted of six acres. He married (second) Octo
ber 2, 1694, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Bemis, of
Watertown. (See Bemis). He died July 14, 1703,
aged eighty-six. His will was dated January 4,
1703, and proved July 23, 1703. The children of
John and Mary (Warren) Bigelow were : 1. John,
horn October 27, 1643, married Rebecca Olmstead,
lived in Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Mary, born March
14, 1648, married. June 3, 1674, Michael Flagg, son
of Thomas and Mary Fiagg; he was born March
23, 1651, and died about 171 1; she died before, as
he married (second) Mary Earle. 4. Daniel, born
December 1, 1650, married Abigail Pratt, lived in
Framingham, Massachusetts. 5. Samuel, born Octo
ber 28, 1653, married Mary Flagg, lived in Water-
town. 6. Joshua, born November 5, 1655, mar
ried Elizabeth Flagg, lived in Watertown and
Westminster. 7. Elizabeth, born June 15, 1657,
married Lieut. John Stearns, and lived in
Billerica, Massachusetts, where they had a large
family of children; she died April 18, 1694. 8. Sary,
born September 29, 1659, married July 23, 1679,
Isaac Learned, son of Isaac and Mary (Stearns)
Learned. He was born October 5, 1655. They moved
to Framingham, near the Sherborn line. Fie was
selectman of Framingham in 171 1. 9. James, mar

ried thrice, resided in Watertown. 10. Martha, born
April 1, 1662, married twice; her second husband
was Obadiah Woods, of East Hartford, Connecticut;
he died April 11, 1712. 11. Abigail, born February
4, 1664, married, December 10, 1684, Benjamin Har
rington. 12. Hannah, born March 4, 1666, died.
March 8, 1666. , 13. A son, born and died December
18, 1667.
(II) Samuel Bigelow, son of John Bigelow (1),
born October 28, 1653 ; married, June 3, 1674, at the
same time that his sister Mary was married, Mary
Flagg, daughter of Thomas and Mary Flagg. ' She
was born January 14, 1658, and died September 7,
1720. He was a prominent man in Watertown, an
innholder 1702-16; and represented the town in the
general court 1708, 1709 and 1710. His will, dated
September 30, 1720, proved February 21, 1731, men
tioned his sons John, Samuel, Thomas and Isaac;
daughters Mercy Garfield, Abigail Cutler and De
liverance Stearns ; sons-in— law Thomas Read, Josiah
Howe and Daniel Warren; grandchildren David
Bruce, Nathaniel Read, Isaac Read, Thomas Read,
Catherine Read, Phinehas Howe, Abraham Howe,
Rachel Howe, Samuel Warren, Daniel Warren and
Hannah Warren. : The children of Samuel and Mary
(Flagg) Bigelow were: 1. John, born May 9, 1675,
married Jerusha Garfield, lived in Marlboro. 2.
Mary, born September 12, 1677, married, February
2, 1700, David Bruce, of Marlboro; married (sec
ond) Thomas Read, Jr., of Sudbury. 3. Samuel,
born September 18, 1679, married Ruth Warren,
lived in Marlboro. 4. Sarah, born October 1, 1681,
married, December n, 1706, Josiah Howe, of Marl
boro, a grandson of John Howe, the first settler.
(See Howe). 5. Thomas, born October 24, 1683,
married Mary Livermore, of Watertown. 6. Mercy,
born April 4, 1686 (recorded Martha), married Jan
uary 2, 1707, Lieut. Thomas- Garfield (See Garfield);
she died February 23, 1745, and he died February 4,
1752. 7. Abigail, born May 7, 1687, married, Au
gust 1, 1710, Jonathan Cutler, of Killingly, Connec
ticut, resided at Colchester, Connecticut. 8. Han
nah, born May 24, 171 1, married Daniel Warren
and they lived in Westboro, Shrewsbury; he was a
soldier in the French and Indian war, and was taken
prisoner to Canada. 9. Isaac, born May 19, 1691,
married Mary Bond, and lived in Colchester, Con
necticut. 10. Deliverance, born September 22, 1695,
married August 10, 1715, John Stearns of Lexington,
Massachusetts, resided in Worcester, where many
descendants have lived.
(Ill) Samuel Bigelow, son of Samuel Bigelow
(2), born Watertown, Massachusetts, September 18,
1679; married, in Watertown, March 28, 1705, Ruth
Warren, of Watertown. They removed to Marl
boro, where she died April 12, 1716. He married
(second) December 4, 1716, Mary Gleason, daugh
ter of Joseph and Martha Gleason, of Sudbury.
She was born October 6, 1682, and died in Shrews
bury, May 14, 1752. He' died in Marlboro. The
children of Samuel and Ruth (Warren) Bigelow
were: 1. Mary, born December 17, 1705, married,
December 10, 1727, Daniel Ward, son of Joseph and
Abiah (Wheelock) Ward, of Marlboro; he was born
April 14, 1701. 2. Samuel, born October 16, 1707,
married Jedidah Hathorn, lived in Shrewsbury. 3.
Cornelius, born November 24, 1710, married Mary
Graves, lived in Westboro. 4. Jedediah, born Feb
ruary 8, 1714, married Thamazin Nurse, lived in
Douglas, Massachusetts. 5. Ruth, born April IO,
1716, died July 25, 1716. 6. Jason, born April 11,
1718, married Abigail Witt, lived in Brookfield,
Massachusetts. 7. Ruth, born December 30, I7I9.
married, June 7, 1743, Daniel Heminway, of Fram-
ingham, and moved to Sherborn in 1745; she died

WORCESTER COUNTY

269

November 15, 1794. 8. Amariah, born September
14, 1722, married Lydia Brigham, lived in Shrews
bury. 9. Martha, born October 21, 1724, married
December, 14, 1749, Ezekiel Brigham, of Marlboro
and Grafton, Massachusetts.
(IV) Samuel Bigelow, son of Samuel Bigelow
(3), born in Marlboro, October 16, 1707'; married,
November 28, 1729, Jedidah Hathorn, .and moved
to Shrewsbury, where he settled in the south part
of the town, near the Grafton town line. She died,
and he married (second) May 7, 1770, Mrs. Abigail
Hastings, widow of Moses Hastings, and daughter
oi William Taylor. His will dated April 14, 1795,
mentions wife Abigail, daughters Dorcas Leland and
Jedidah Wheeler, children of Samuel (deceased) ;
child of daughter Sarah Smith (deceased) ; sons
Solomon and Ithamar, who were appointed exec
utors. The children of Samuel and Jedidah (Hat
horn) Bigelow were : I. Samuel, born June 24, 1731,
married Phebe Rand. 2. Jedidah, born March 21,
1733, married, April 30, 1760, John Wheeler, of
Shrewsbury. 3. JDorcas, born July 6, 1735, married,
December 1, 1768, Seth Swan, of Paxton. 4. Sol
omon, born July 25, 1767, died October 25, 1742. 5.
Silas, born October 10, 1739, married Sarah Hall,
resided at Paxton. 6. Solomon, born July 1, 1742,
married Sarah Newton. 7. Ithamar, born July 30,
1745, married Persis Barrett. 8. Sara.h, born Sep
tember 10, 1747, married June 8, 1767, Ephraim
Smith, of Grafton, Massachusetts.
(V) Samuel Bigelow, son of Samuel Bigelow
(a), born Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, June 24, 1731 ;
married, at Shrewsbury, July 1, 1755, Phebe Rand,
daughter of Daniel Rand. She died June 10, 1770.
He married (second) 1770, Anna Winchester, of
Grafton. He died in 1787. The children of Sam
uel and Phebe (Rand) Bigelow were : 1. Levinian,
born February 1, 1756, married, November 5, 1776,
Samuel Whitney, of Westboro. 2. Mary, born Aprii
13, 1757- 3- Vashti, born May 19, 1758, married,
February 26, 1777, James Wheeler, son of Ebenezer
Wheeler, of Grafton. 4. Lucretia, born June 1, 1760,
married, August 14, 1781, Adam Harrington of
Shrewsbury. 5. Humphrey, born September 4, 1761,
married Mary Underwood. 6. Serena, born March
16, 1765, married, November 13, 1786, Benjamin Jen
nings, of Brookfield.
(VI) Humphrey Bigelow, son of Samuel Bige
low (5), was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts,
September 4, 1761. He married, December 20, 1786,
Mary Underwood, of Westford,- Massachusetts. She
died in Shrewsbury, October 6, 1789. He married
(second), October 26, 1791, Hannah Whipple, of
Grafton. She was born October 5, 1771, and died in
Worcester, January 5, 1848. They- lived in 'Shrews
bury until 1804, when they removed to Charlton,
Massachusetts, where they lived several years. Later
they lived in Sutton and Westford, and then moved
back to Shrewsbury. He died October 2, 1842. Chil
dren of Humphrey and Mary (Underwood) Bige
low: 1. John, born August 12, 1787, married Mary
Jones. 2. Samuel, born August 1, 1789, died Octo
ber, .1789. The children of Humphrey and Hannah
(Whipple) Bigelow: 3. Samuel, born July 2, 1793,
married Cynthia Forbush. 4. Catherine, born Au
gust 12, 1795, married, November 2, 1818, Joel Fay,
of Sutton. 5. Hannah, born October 2, 1797, mar
ried Samuel Lamb ; resided at Charlton ; married
(second) Daniel Richardson ; married (third)
Pardon Aldrich, of Grafton. 6. Mary, born August
4,_ 1799, died December 25, 1819, unmarried. , 7.
Silas, born August 10, 1801, married Silence Pierce.
8. Moses, horn Tuly 23,  . married Amanda Smith.
9- Susan Whipple, born September 1, 1806, married,
November 30, 1826, Owen W. Allen, of Shrewsbury,

moved to Ohio. 10. Miriam, born September 6,
1809, married, June 12, 1833, Joel Fay, late hus
band of her deceased sister ; she died August 15,
1837. 11. Whipple, born February 16, 1812, married
Amy Chase. 12. John, born November 27, 1814,
married Lucinda M. Slocomb.
(VII) Silas Bigelow, son of Humphrey Bige
low. (7), was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts,
August 10, 1 801. He married, November 20, 1823,
Silence Pierce. She was born February 6, 1803,
daughter of Amos and Anna (Hicks) Pierce of
Sutton. He died in Worcester, October 12, 1883;
she died there August 12, 1886. He went to Sutton
before he was married, and carried on a boot and
shoe manufacturing business in addition to con
ducting his farm. He removed to Worcester in
1847, and continued in the shoe manufacturing busi
ness there until i860. All their children were born
in Sutton, viz. : 1. Silence Adaline, born August
9, 1824, married, June 1, 1846, Curtis B. Greene;
she died June 30, 1902; their only child, Jennie A.,
married Frank E. Kimball, resides at 8 John street;
he is with E. T. Smith Co., wholesale grocers. 2.
Harriet Ann, born February 14; 1826, married De
cember 13, 1864, Albert G. Mann, of Worcester (see
Mann). 3. Mary Woodbury, born July 5, 1828, mar
ried, December 2, 1857, Stephen Sawyer (see Saw
yer). 4. Edward H. (twin), born at Northbridge,
Massachusetts, July 5, 1830, married April 21, 1852,
Mary S., daughter of Samuel and Martha Patterson;
resided in Worcester, where-he died September 10,
1867; Louisa Carrie, their only child, born June 19,
1853, married, December 25, 1882, Luther Baker, and
died 1905. 5. Emily (twin), born July 5, 1830, died
February 19, 1834. 6. Silas Austin, born October
22, 1832, died March 26, 1844. 7- Charles Amos,
born October 3, 1834, in Sutton; married, February
ia. 1856, Mary Caroline Patch (born in Worcester,
September 10, 1836, died August 10, 1883), lived
several years in Texas, then engaged in the whole
sale grocery business with E. T. Smith ; he died
in Worcester, April 23, 1885. His children were:
i. Charles Frederick, born in Worcester, September
9. 1857, married Mabel E. Hewitt, November 4,
1885 ; lieutenant in Battery B ; engaged in the business
of E. T. Smith Co.; died November 4, 1900; ii.
Frank A. Bigelow, born in Belton, Texas, January
2, 1861, resided at New York city; iii. Mary Ella,
born in Salado, Texas, September 20, 1866, married
Frank Green of Gardner; resides in Brooklyn. 8.
Luther Henry, born December 30, 1836, in Sutton,
married C. Helen Lovell ; daughter of A. Beaman
Lovell ; resided in Worcester, where he died No
vember 22, 1871 ; his two children died in infancy.
He entered the book store of Jonathan Grout when
a boy, later became a partner under the name of
Grout & Bigelow (now Davis & Banister) ; he was
in Company C, 51st Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia in the civil • war, with rank of
lieutenant. 9. James Whipple, born September 8,
1839, married, October 24, 1877, Mrs. C. Helen
(Lowell) Bigelow, widow of his deceased brother,
Lieut. Luther H. Bigelow ; he was a partner of
Walker Armington in the grocery business in Wor
cester ;, he died November 30, 1901 ; she died De
cember 9, 1882.
(VIII) Mary Woodbury Bigelow, daughter of
Silas Bigelow (7), was born July 5, 1828. She
married, December 2, 1857, Stephen Sawyer, of
Worcester. (See Sawyer).
DOLLIVER FAMILY. Robert Dolliver or
Dalyber (1), as it was then generally spelled in the
English records, was the progenitor in England of
the Dolliver family of Essex and Worcester coun-

270

WORCESTER COUNTY

ties, Massachusetts, ancestor of Edward B. Dolliver,
a business man of Worcester, and Henry W. Dolli
ver, postmaster of Whitinsville, Massachusetts.
Robert Dolliver lived .in the parish of Stoke Abbot,
Dorset county, England. The name is said to be
of Welsh origin, and the earliest location of the
English branch was at North Junterice in _ Wales.
Robert Dolliver was a yeoman. He died in 4633,
and his will, dated March 20, 1632, proved March
27, 1633, gives much information of his family. He
directed that he should "be buried in the church
yard of Stoke Abbot before the church porch there,
near the place where my father was buried," indi
cating thereby that the family had been located there
for some time, and giving a clue to the English an
cestry. "And my will and desire is" the will de
clares "that I may have a tomb set over me and
towards that charge i give 13 shillings, four pence."
He remembered the poor, and the church in his
will. (See pages 128 Genealogical Register 1894).
1. Robert, Jr., "Eldest" was executor. 2. Samuel,
left fifty pounds in father's will, see forward. 3.
Tristram, baptized 1598, May 28, at Stoke Abbot;
came to Salem before 1641 and was in the fishing
business at Marblehead and Gloucester; returned
to Stoke Abbot — whence he wrote, April 20, 1648,
to John Balch about accounts due him in New
England ; asked for the date of death of his wife
from the records ; gave power of attorney to his
brother, Samuel Dolliver, of Marblehead, for col
lection of money from John Whitt, of Wenham ;
he came again to Massachusetts ; he married (first)
Mary  , who died July 3, 1644, and (second),
at Stoke Abbot, August 31, 1657, Sarah Peavie ;
he died at Gloucester, July 3, 1664. 4. Joseph, mar
ried Rachel  and settled at Greenwich, Rhode
Island. 5. Mary. 6. Sarah. 7. Rebecca. 8. Daugh
ter, married Walter Burt. 9. Daughter, married
John Lestry and had three sons ; John, Edward and
William Lestry.
(II) Samuel Dolliver, son of Robert Dolliver
(1), was baptized at Stoke Abbot, England, Febru
ary 5, 1608. He settled in Marblehead, Massachu
setts, about 1642, and was probably in Salem for
a time before that. He was admitted a proprietor
of the town and elected to various town offices.
He bought of Thomas Millirad, of Newbury, Massa
chusetts, his farm of forty acres of tillage and ten
acres of marsh at Fresh Water Cove, Gloucester.- He
died at Gloucester, July 22, 1683, leaving an estate
valued on inventory dated September, 1683, at 113
pounds. The division of the estate was made to
the eldest son Joseph ; sons Richard, William and
John ; daughters Mary, wife of Richard Babson ;
Sarah Dolliver (Dalliber as it was then spelled) ;
to son-in-law, Richard Dike; to Mary, his widow,
who was then the wife of James Gardner. The
heirs receipted for their portions at various dates
from 1684 to 1696. Samuel Dolliver had the un
usually large herd of ten cows at the time of his
death. He married (first)  , and (second),
August, 1654, Mary Elwell, daughter of Robert
Elwell. The children of .the first marriage were :
1. Joseph, born 1629. "the eldest," see forward. 2.
Dorothy, married at Marblehead, November, 1653,
John Waldron. 3. Rebecca, married Richard Dike,
at Gloucester, and had many children. The chil
dren of Samuel and Mary Dolliver were: 4. Cap
tain William, born August 16, 1.656, married Anne
Higginson, daughter of Rev. John Higginson; she
was accused of witchcraft ; marriage was unfortunate,
5. Samuel, born July 9, 1658. 6. Mary, born March
26, 1662. married Richard Babson. 7. Richard, born
April 18, 1665. 6. Sarah, born December 24, 1667,
married Joseph Killum. 9. John, born September

2, 1671, married Susanna Marriner, November, 1700;
she died February 26, 1705; married (second), Feb
ruary 11, 1706, Elizabeth Wood; had eight children.
removed to North Falmouth, Maine.
(Ill) Joseph Dolliver, son of Samuel Dolliver
(2), was born in 1629, in England. He gave his
age as forty in 1669. He was among fhe early pro
prietors of Marblehead. He is said to have been
early of Salem, also, but he was settled in 1648 in
Marblehead, where he lived the remainder of his
life, and died there in 1688. He was a constable of
Marblehead in 1660. He married Lucy  and
among their children were : 1. Joseph, Jr., see for
ward. 2. Abigail^ born 1685, baptized December 13,
1685. (IV) Joseph Dolliver, son of Joseph Dolliver
(3), was born about 1665, in Marblehead, Massa
chusetts. He settled in his native town and seems
to have had three wives all named Mary. He mar
ried (first), January 16, 1689-90, Mary Pousland;
(second) Mary Furnace, October 19; 1704, and
(third), April 10, 1707, Mary Salmon, all at Marble
head. The children of Joseph and his wives werf-r
1. Peter, died young.- 2. Samuel, baptized March
8, 1690-91. 3. John, "Jr.," see forward. 4. Thomas,
baptized September 27; 1696, died May 11, 1760,
aged sixty-two years, six months. 5. Peter, born
1701, see forward. 6. Joseph, married, January 27,
1736-37, Lucy Merritt.
(V) John Dolliver (called Jr. because of an
elder John of Marblehead, according to the pre
vailing custom), son of Joseph Dolliver (4), was
baptized at Marblehead. Massachusetts, May 19,
1695. He settled in Marblehead and all his five
children were born there. He married, January 2,
1715-16, at Marblehead, Mary Trefry. She died at
Marblehead, 1751, a^ed fifty-six years. Their chil
dren : 1. John, baptized June 23, 1723. 2. Mary,
baptized July 12, 1726. 3. Sarah, baptized June 22,
1729. 4. Annice (Agnes), baptized May -20, 1733.
5. Richard, baptized November 2, 1735.
(V) Peter Dolliver, son of Joseph Dolliver (4),
was baptized at Marblehead when probably less than
a month old, November 30, 1701. He married, De
cember 29, 1724, Mary Dennis, and their children
all born in Marblehead, were : I. Peter, born 1726,
baptized March 6, 1725-26. 2. Hannah, baptized
November 5, 1727. 3. Mary, born February 25,
1732-33. 4. Joseph, baptized April 6, 1735. 5.
Thomas, baptized March 20, 1736. 6. John, baptized
June 10. 1739. 7. Sarah, baptized July 29, 1744.
(VI) Richard Dolliver, son of John Dolliver (5),
wa« baptized November 2, 1735. He married Sarah
Coffin, Oct°ber 2, 1759, and settled at Marblehead,
where their children were born, viz: 1. Sarah, bap
tized September 6, 1761. 2. Richard, baptized Janu
ary 5, 1764, died young. 3. Mary, baptized Decem
ber is. 1765. 4. Richard, baptized June 28, 1767.
5. William, baptized April 29,' 1770. 6. Joseph, bap
tized February 24, 1771. 7. John, baptized May 8j
1774. see forward.
(VI) Thomas Dolliver, son of Peter Dolliver
O), was baptized at Marblehead, March 20, 1736-37.
He settled in Marblehead, and was a soldier in the
revolutionary war. He married, August 7, 1759,
Sarah Bowdoin, and their children were: 1. Thomas,
born October 24, 1762. 2. Samuel, baptized October
7, 1764. 3. Mary, baptized November 2. 1766. 4-
Peter, baptized November 6, 1768. 5. William, bap
tized 1770, died young, 6. Mary, baptized November
r. -T7-72. 7. John, baptized August 8, 1773- 8. Sarah,
baptized April 2, 1775. 9. John, baptized December
8, 1776, see forward. 10. Thomas, baptized July
.5, 1778. 11. Sally, baptized December 26, 1770. 12.
Sarah, baptized September 17, 1780. 13- William

WORCESTER COUNTY

•i

baptized July 28, 1782. 14, Thomas, bapli/ed June
15. I/83, 15. Isaac, baptized December 12, 1784,
1(1. Isaac, baptized November 5, 178(1. 17. Polly,
baptized September 24, 178(1, 18. Benjamin, bap
tized July 11, 1790. 10. Benjamin Stone, baptized
April -7, 1704. JO- Hannah, baptized February 9,
1800. 21. Mary Green, baptized January 2(1, 1812.
(VII) John Dolliver, son of Richard Dolliver
(d), born 1774, baptized at Marblehead, May 8, 1774,
or son of Thomas Dolliver (6), and baptized De
cember 8, 1770, descendant unquestionably from
Joseph Dolliver (4), was horn and brought up in
Marblehead, where so ninny generations of his an
cestors had lived. He learned the trade ol" shoe
maker. He removed to Worcester and bought a
lot of land of Joseph Searl. lie removed to Grafton
in the thirties and bought laud there of Elijah
Brooks, Samuel Wood and Jonathan Warren, of
Grafton, six acres with the house, etc, lie became
a manufacturer of shoes and at his death bequeathed
his half-interest in the shoe factory at Grafton to
his son Joseph. He died January 7, 18(13. John
Dolliver lived at Lynn for some lime before coming
to Worcester and some of his children were
horn there. He removed to Worcester, where
his wife was born, and the remainder of
the children were born in that town. He
married, at Worcester, November II, 1802, Mary
or Mercy Barber, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth
Barber, and she was born in Worcester, May jo,
1770. Joseph was ihe son of Robert and Sarah
Barber, aud was born at Worcester, April 25, 1738,
The children ol" John and Mercy Dolliver were:
t, Mercy, boriT at Lynn, May 13, 18114. 2. Betsey,
born al Lynn, November 17, 1805, died at Worcester,
Anril 25, 1820. 3, John II., horn at Lynn, Decem
ber 17." 1807. died before bis father; left children
Ellen MeKenzie, Caroline Augusta Aspinwall, Mary
Eliza Dolliver and Annie E. Dolliver, all born in
Worcester. 4. Samuel Yarnuni (took the middle
name B.) born at Lynn, September 20. 1810, see
forward. 5. Martha, bom al Worcester, July 8,
1813, married Benjamin Goddard, of Worcester. 0.
Joseph, born ai Worcester, May 22, 181(1. married,
April 12, 1842, Zurviah Mason, resided at Grafton.
7. Horatio, horn at Worcester, July 12, 1810, re
sided at South Reading, Massachusetts, '
(VIII) Samuel B. Dolliver (recorded at Lynn
as Samuel Yariuuu Dolliver), son of John Dolliver
(7I, was horn al Lynn, Massachusetts. September
20, 1810, and died at Grafton, Massachusetts. July
1 8. 1880. lie followed his father's trade of shoe
maker and shoe manufacturer most of bis life. For
a few years late in life he was employed by the
Worcester Machine Screw Company. lie was a
leading citizen of the town of Grafton. In politics
he was a Democrat. He served the town of Graf
ton as assessor and selectman. Ho married (first),
July 20, 1834, Doha E. Blake, born in Shrewsbury.
Massachusetts, June 18, 1814. She died at Grafton,
February 7, 18(13. He married (second) Nancy G.
 , who survived him. The children of Samuel
B, and Delia E. Dolliver were: 1. Edward S„ born
in Grafton, June 4, 1835, l''c>' March 26, 1840. 2.
Mary E„ horn in Grafton, February 12. 1841, died
July to, 1840. 3. Maria E. born iu Grafton. May
16/1843, married A. W. Gilford, of Worcester. 4.
Kdward B., born in Grafton, September 1, 1848, soe
forward. 5, Honrv W., born in Grafton, Decem
ber 20, 1854. see forward.
(IX) Henry W. Dolliver, son of Samuel B.
Dolliver (8), was bom in Grafton, Massachusetts,
December jo, 1854. He was educated in the public
and high schools of his native town. Like his father
and grandfather he learned the trade of shoemaker.

and worked in the shoe factory of J. 11. Brigham,
lit Worcester, four years, and for his brother-in-law,
A. W. Gilford, of' Worcester, lie then took the
position of clerk of the (Jiiiusigaiiiond Hotel at North
Grafton. After six months he suffered an accident
while hunting that nearly cost him his right hand,
and laid him up for a year, lie began work again
as clerk in the market of G. B. Brooks, Grafton.
In 1870 he removed to Whilinsville, Massachusetts,
a village in the adjoining town of Northbridge. He
was assistant postmaster for four years under D.
P. Gray, at Whilinsville, was bookkeeper three years
for J, V, Prentice, and again was under Postmaster
Gray for seven years, or until his death, when Mr.
Dolliver was appointed to succeed him March 1,
1005. lie is a member of the Whitinsville Lodge
of Odd Fellows. In polities he is a Republican, and
has been clerk of the Northbridge board of select
men from 1800 to 1900.
He married. October 0, 1870, Clara E. Gray.
Their children are: 1. Maud l... graduate of the
Whilinsville high school, 2. Jessie L„ member of
the class of 1908, Whitinsville high school. ?.
Harold G.
EDWARD B. DOLLIVER. one of the success
ful business men of Worcester, was born in Graf
ton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September T,
1848, sou of Samuel B. and Delia E.' (Blake) Dol
liver, and grandson of John and Mary or Mercy
(Barber) Dolliver. who were the parents of five
children: John. Joseph, Hoiatio, Samuel B. and
Martha John Dolliver (grandfather) was born in
Marblehead, Massachusetts, was a shoemaker by
trade, and died in Grafton, Massachusetts, about
1800. Samuel B, Dolliver (father) was born in Lynn
Massachusetts. September 20, 1810. He followed
his trade of shoemaker up to about 1870. when he
entered the employ of the Worcester Machine Screw
Company, remaining with them for a number of
years. He was a Democrat in politics, and held
ihe offices of selectman and assessor in the town of
Grafton. Massachusetts. He married Delia E. Blake,
born in Shrewsbury. Massachusetts, June 18, 1814,
and. their children were: 1. Edward S., born in
Grafton. Juno 4. 1835, died March 25, 1S40. 2.
Mary A., born in Grafton, February 12. 1841. died
July 10, 1840. 3. Maria E„ born iu Grafton, May
10. 1843. wife of A. W. Gifford. of Worcester. 4.
Edward B. (soe forward). 5. Henry W„ born in
Grafton, December 20. 1834, postmaster at Whitins
ville. Massachusetts: married Clara Gray, and they
are the parents of three children : Maud. Jessie and
Harold, Samuel B. Dolliver (father) died in Graf
ton, July 18, 1880. and his wife also passed away
in ihe same town. February 7. 1803.
Edward B. Dolliver acquired his education in
(he common schools of Grafton, and at the age of
fourteen, having completed his studies, entered into
his first regular employment in the shoemaking
business with his father. He continued along the
same lines until he was twenty-one years old, and
then engaged in clerking in the Quinsigamond
House, in Nonh Grafton, remaining for about two
years. He then clerked in the Wavorly House, in
Worcester, until the spring of 1872. when he re
moved to Boston, there acting as clerk in the War
wick House, where he remained until September,
18-2. He was then employed in a restaurant, in which
his father held an interest, and in 1873 he pur
chased his father's interest, and conducted the estab
lishment until September. 1870. when he sold out
to his partners, Messrs, Dolliver and Currier. Two
months later Mr. Dolliver removed to Worcester,

272

WORCESTER COUNTY

where he found employment in the Worcester
Machine Screw Company, serving about three years
as a workman in the factory. In the spring of
1879, when Mr. Gifford purchased the interest of
his two partners, becoming -sole owner of the estab
lishment, Mr. Dolliver was placed in charge of the
office, which position he retained until April, 1900,
discharging the responsible duties with efficiency
and credit. In 1900 Mr. Gifford sold his business
to the Standard Screw Company, and Mr. Dolliver
was elected manager of this branch of the company,
and is also treasurer and one of the directors of
the company. His career as a business man has been
one of success and prosperity, and his is an example
that might well be followed by the rising generation.
Thrown upon his own resources at the tender age of
fourteen, with no capital but those success-bringing
qualities — energy, industry and perseverance — he has
attained an enviable place in tlie business world. He
is a member of the Worcester Continentals, in which
he has held membership for about twenty years,
and has held the positions of first lieutenant, quar
termaster, sergeant and quartermaster, having been
appointed by Colonel H°Pk'ns- He is a member of
the Worcester Mechanics' Association, and was a
director in the same during the years 1901-02-03.
He is a member of the board of trade, serving on
the membership committee. He is a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons,
joining January 20, 1880, and has served his lodge
as worshipful master from 1887 to 1889, and is
now a trustee of the permanent fund and treasurer
of the board of trustees of the charity fund. He
is also a member of Eureka Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons ; Hiram Council, Royal Select Masters ;
Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templar;
Worcester Lodge of Perfection ; and the Tatassit
Canoe Club.
He married, May 6, 1875 Augusta O. Pratt, born
in Grafton, Massachusetts, July 5, 1852, a graduate
of the Grafton high school, daughter of Chandler
M. and Olivia (Fisher) Pratt, who were the parents
of two other children, as follows : Julius F., born
in Grafton, Massachusetts, April 15, 1845, died in
Scotland, July 7, .1900; and Clarence M., born in
Grafton, Massachusetts, January 28, 1850, died May
22, 1879. Chandler M. Pratt was born in Thomp
son, Connecticut, September 23, 1802, died May 7,
1864, in Grafton, Massachusetts. His wife, Olivia
(Fisher) Pratt, was born in Medway, Massachu
setts, October 23, 1807, died February 7, 1855, in
Grafton, Massachusetts. The children born to Mr.
and Mrs. Dolliver were : Winifred O., born June
8, 1884, obtained her education in the public and
high schools of Worcester, graduating from the
latter in the class of 1903, after which she attended
Bradford Academy for one year. She is a teacher
in theSunday school of Old South Congregational
Church; Clarence E„ born August 21, 1885, died
December 14, 1904. I
. HENRY ALBERT MACGOWAN, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts, was born in Greenville, New
Hampshire, May 2, 1864. On the maternal side he
is a descendant of William Basset, who 'came from
England to Massachusetts between 1620 .and 1630.
Colonel William Basset, a relative, was a successor
of Captain Miles Standish in the office of marshal
of Plymouth county. Daniel Basset, a great-great-
granson of William Basset, the pioneer ancestor,
served as a lieutenant in Colonel Gamaliel Brad
ford's Regiment in the Continental army in the war
of the revolution. Lieutenant Daniel Bassett was .
accompanied in this service by his son. Joseph, who
was one of the last of the revolutionary pensioners

of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, dying
July 7, 1855, at the advanced age of ninety-three
years. He was a sea captain and school master by
occupation. '
The paternal grandfather of Henry A. Mac
gowan,. came to this country from Scotland, in 1842.
Soon after locating here, he superintended the fitting
out' of the first mill at Highbridge, New Hampshire,
and lived to see five large mills erected along the
same stream within a distance of three miles, with
the operation of which he was for many years con
nected. His son, Joseph, father of the subject of
this sketch, succeeded him in his position in con
nection with these mills. In 1872 Joseph removed to
Clinton, Massachusetts, where for over thirty years
he has been the proprietor of a large grocery busi
ness. For many years he has been a deacon of the
First Congregational Church of Clinton, Massachu
setts. In social, business and church life he has en
joyed a merited reputation for absolute integrity,
sound judgment, business sagacity and public-
spirited citizenship. He married Clementine Bax
ter, daughter of Ansel and Octavia (Bassett) Bax
ter, and granddaughter of Joseph Bassett mentioned
above. As a boy, Henry A. Macgowan attended the
public schools in Clinton, Massachusetts, graduating
from the high school of that place as valedictorian
of the class of, 1882. The same year he entered
Amherst College, became a member of the Chi Phi
fraternity, and was graduated in 1886 with the de
gree of Bachelor of Arts, having been previously
elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
He afterwards attended Andover Theological Semi
nary for one year, but failure of health compelled the
abandonment of theological study. The follow
ing year, having partially regained his health, he
turned his attention to the vocation of teaching.
From 1888 to 1890 he served as principal of the
Sterling (Massachusetts) high school; from 1890
to 1892 of the Scituate (Massachusetts) high school;
and from 1892 to 1897 of the Marblehead (Massachu
setts) high school and academy. In the spring of
1897 Mr. Macgowan resigned his position at Mar
blehead and engaged with his brother in the insur
ance business in Worcester, the firm becoming man
aging agents for Central Massachusetts of the Mut
ual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark,
New Jersey, and in addition doing a general insur
ance business, including surety bonding.
Mr. Macgowan has always affiliated with the Re
publican party in state and national politics. He
has been a member of the Church of the Unity, in
Worcester, and has served the same in various
official capacities. He is also actively interested in
the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in a
large number of the bodies. He has served as an
officer of Athelstan Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Wor
cester County Commandery of Knights Templar,
and Aletheia Grotto of M. 0. V. P. He is a mem
ber of the Twentieth Century Club, an honorary
member of the Worcester Continentals, and has
served as president of the Amherst College Club
of Central Massachusetts. Mr. Macgowan is the
author of "The New Century Outline Maps" which
are widely used in the public schools.
June 26, 1889, in Sterling, Massachusetts, Mr.
Macgowan was married to Grace R. Butterick,
daughter of James and Mary (Rugg) Butterick, of
Sterling. On both sides of Mrs. Macgowan's family
the ancestry dates back to the founders of Massa
chusetts and to revolutionary soldiers. On the
maternal side Mrs. Macgowan is a direct descendant
of four founders of colonies, Samuel Hagar, one
of the founders of Westminster, and John Prescott,

^^^-JiAcyn^

WORCESTER COUNTY

273

Thomas Sawyer, and John Rugg, founders of Lan
caster. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Macgowan
are Marjorie Butterick, ' born May 14, 1890; Mary
Josephine, born January 25, 1892; and Eleanor But
terick, born August 30, 1893.
GEORGE SESSIONS. Samuel Sessions (1),
the emigrant ancestor of the late George Sessions,
of Worcester, came from England to America in
1630. He had a son Alexander.
(II) Alexander Sessions, son of Samuel Ses
sions (1), was born about 1645. He was living in
Andover, Massachusetts, in 1669, and died there
February 26, 1688-9. He married Elizabeth Sp'of-
ford, of Rowley, Massachusetts, April 24, 1672. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Sessions were members of the An
dover church in 1686. They had a son Nathaniel.
(Ill) Nathaniel Sessions, son of Alexander Ses
sions, (2), was born at Andover, Massachusetts,
August 8, 1681, and died in Pomfret, Connecticut,
in 1771. He married Johanna Miller. They had a
son, Amasa, born August 13- 1715.
(IV) Amasa Sessions, son of Nathaniel Ses
sions (3), was born August 13, 1715, and died April
17, !799- He married Hannah Miller. ¦ He was a
captain in the revolutionary war, in Colonel Backus'
regiment of Connecticut. He had a son Samuel,
born November 26, 1746.
(V) Samuel Sessions, son of Amasa Sessions
(4), was born November 26, 1746. He resided at
Union and Westford, Connecticut, and died in 1818.
He married Abigail Ruggles, of Pomfret, Connec
ticut, October 11, 1767, and settled in Heath, Massa
chusetts. He was in the revolutionary war, a lieu
tenant in Captain Grant's company, Colonel John
son's regiment in 1781, and was at West Point in
1781 in Colonel Canfield's regiment. He had a son
George, baptized at Union, Connecticut, in I77i._
(VI) George Sessions, son of Samuel Sessions
(5), was born at Union, Connecticut, and baptized
there in 1771. He married, February 20, 1800, Lu
cina Lumbard, at Brimfield, Massachusetts. She
was' born October 13, 1781, and was the daughter
of Joseph, Jr. and Mary Lumbard. (Joseph Lum
bard and Joseph, Jr., were both in the revolutionary
war.) He settled at Heath, Massachusetts, and had
a son George, born October 23, 1814.
(VII) George Sessions', son of George Sessions
(6), was born at Heath, October 23, 1814, and died
at Worcester, Massachusetts, November 8, 1901.
He married Mary Groves Mirick, daughter of Tilley
and Persis (Moore) Mirick.
George Sessions left his home at the age of
seventeen to make his own way in fhe world. He
came to Worcester and worked first as a farm hand.
Then for twelve years he was employed _ at the State
Lunatic Asylum on Summer street. His first busi
ness venture was with a partner named Howe, in
the manufacture of tools for shoemakers. The firm
was Howe and Sessions, and the business was suc
cessfully conducted for ten years, when he sold to
his partner, who continued for many years under
the name of John Howe. Mr. Sessions was ap
pointed city undertaker in 1850, and immediately
started in the business, which for nearly fifty years
he conducted with remarkable success, taking the
lead in his business, and maintaining his firm far
in advance of all his competitors. His appointment,
which gave him the opportunity to make use of his
natural ability for the difficult duties of his voca
tion, was from Levi Lincoln, then mayor of Wor
cester, afterward governor of Massachusetts. When
he began he had charge of all the interments in the
city. During part of the two first years he was
in partnership with Danforth B. Cummings; In 1852
he formed partnership with Horace G. Mirick,
, -18

which continued for seven years; subsequently he
took his sons into partnership with him. As his
business grew with the city's growth, he increased
his facilities, and added a wholesale department to
his undertaking business. He held his position as
city undertaker until 1886, when he resigned. He
turned over to his sons, Waldo E. and Frank E.,
who had been in partnership with their father for
many years, the management of the business. The
business has been carried on under the firm name
of George Sessions and Sons. Mr. Sessions lived
to see his business more than fifty years old. He
died November 8, 1901, at his home in Worcester.
During his long career in Worcester Mr. Ses
sions had charge of the "funerals of many thousands
of all classes, and of some very prominent men.
During the civil war he frequently showed his char
ity for the widows and orphans of soldiers' who
gave their lives to their country, and many soldiers
were buried at the expense of George Sessions.
Mr. Sessions married Mary G. Mirick, of Holden,
Massachusetts. (See sketch of her family herewith).
They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary
in 1888. Three weeks afterward, October 21, 188,
Mrs. Sessions died. Their children were: Waldo
E., born at Heath, Massachusetts, February 12, 1843;
Frank E., born at Worcester, Massachusetts, May
22, 1852; Mary L., born at Worcester, August 23,
1858. (VII) Waldo E. Sessions, son of George Ses
sions (7), was born at Heath, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 12, 1843. He married Josephine Ufford, Oc
tober 19, 1869. She was the daughter of>Dixon De
Forest and Harriet (Gould) Ufford. He has been
the senior partner of the firm of George Sessions
and Sons since the retirement of his father in 1886,
and has been identified with it and active in its
management for about forty years. He is also a
member of the wholesale firm of Frank E. Sessions
and Company. Mr. Sessions is one of the best
known men in the Masonic fraternity in this vicinity,
having taken the thirty-two degrees and belonging
to the lodge, chapter, council, commandery and other
Masonic bodies.
The office and ware-rooms of George Sessions
and Sons are in a large brick building recently
erected at Nos. 5 and 9 Trumbull street. The whole
sale factory of Frank E. Sessions and Company is
at Nos. 7 to 18 Eaton place. The firm is still the
city sexton and undertaker, and manufactures coffins,
broadcloth caskets, and undertakers' supplies.
Mr. Sessions had three children : Laura J., born
August 24, 1875, married Burton W. Grout, assis
tant treasurer of the Worcester Five Cents Savings
Bank, February 1, 1899, at Worcester; he died July
4, 1905. Mary E., born March 20, 1877, lives with
her parents. Waldo E., Jr., born February 3, 1882,
married Marie G. Webb, daughter of George D.
Webb, of Worcester. They have two daughters,
Katharine, born May 6, 1903, at Worcester, and
Josephine Ufford, born May 13, 1905.
(VIII) Frank E. Sessions, son of George Ses
sions (7), was born at Worcester, May 22, 1852.
He married Anna Josephine Scranton, daughter of
Crawford and Annie (Montgomery) Scranton, April
22, 1874, at Providence, Rhode Island. He is a
partner with his brother Waldo in the firm of George
Sessions and _ Sons, also with F. E. Sessions and
Company. His children are : George, born in 1875,
died in the same year; Florence, born June 26, 1876,
married Edmund A. Garland, October 6, 1899, at
Worcester ; Ethel, born December 25, 1880 ; George,
born August I2,_ 1886, died in 1888. Mr. Sessions
has been an active Mason for many years, is past
master of Athelstan Lodge, has filled all the chairs,
and since 1887 has held the office of treasurer con-

274

WORCESTER COUNTY

tinually, all but the three years when he was going
through the chairs. He has taken thirty-two degrees.
(VIII) Mary L. Sessions, daughter of George
Sessions (7), was born at Worcester, August 23,
1858. She married Charles G. Warren, son of Sam
uel Warren, October 12. 1879. Their children are:
George Sessions, born September 21, 1881 at Wor
cester; Charles G., Jr., born at Worcester, August
18, 1888; Arthur, born at Worcester, December 5,
1880: Philip, born at Worcester, July 12, 1893.
THE MIRICK FAMILY (1) John Mirick was
the emigrant ancestor of Mrs. George Sessions,
late of Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the son
of the Rev. William Mirick, of Saint Davids, Wales,
Pembrokeshire, and was born in England in 1614,
and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he
took the freeman's oath in 1641, and where he pur
sued his occupation of cooper and blockmaker. He
married in Charlestown in 1641, Hopestill  .
They had a son John.
(II) John Mirick was born at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, in 1655. He married Elizabeth Trow
bridge, February 9, 1682, at Newton, Massachusetts.
She was the daughter of Deacon James Trowbridge
(1636-1717), and granddaughter of Thomas Trow
bridge, of Taunton, England, who settled in Dor
chester about 1634, went to New Haven, Connecticut,
and back to England, where he died in 1672. John
Mirick was a tanner by trade. He was admitted
a freeman of Watertown, July 21, 1685. His will
is dated April 29, 1706, and he died in July, 1706.
One report says he was killed by the Indians at
Groton, Massachusetts, July 21, 1706, another that
he died July 11. His wife died in 1734 at Newton,
Massachusetts, aged seventy-four years. One of
his sons was James, born October 26, 1696, at New
ton. (Ill) James Mirick, son of John Mirick (2),
was born at Newton, Massachusetts, October 26,
1696, and married, October 20, 1725, Mary Woolson.
She died at Templeton, Massachusetts, September
13, 1780. James was dismissed from Groton church
to Weston June 24, 1724, and died in Boston, October
26, 1774. He had a son Elisha, born September 13,
I73S- (IV) Elisha Mirick, son of James Mirick (3),
was born at Weston, Massachusetts, September 13,
1735, and married, January 6, 1762, at Rutland,
Massachusetts, Persis Moore, daughter of Lieuten
ant Paul and Hannah (Hubbard) Moore. She was
born September 16, 1740, at Rutland, and died Jan-
uarj' 31, 1810. Paul Moore was a soldier in the
revolutionary war. Elisha Mirick was a house-
wright, and a sergeant in the revolution, in Captain
Paul Raymond's company, First Worcester Regi
ment. He had a son Tilley, born May 26, 1772.
(IV) Tilley Mirick, son of Elisha Mirick (4),
was born at Holden, Massachusetts, May 26, 1772,
married, November 12, 1799, at Holden, Polly
Turner, who died February 22, 1854. Tilley Mirick
died September 21, 1832. His daughter, Mary
Groves Mirick, born May 20, 1815, married George
Sessions (7), of Worcester, Massachusetts. (See
sketch of Sessions above).
JAMES A. ATHY. John Athy (1), father of An
drew Athy and grandfather of James A. Athy, of
Worcester, was obliged to leave his native home in
Galway, Ireland, in 1848, on account of political
troubles, during which he had rendered himself ob
noxious to the British government by his out-spoken
opposition to the laws then in force, both in public
speeches and as a leader and agitator among his
own people. The Athy family was of ancient Irish
origin. One of the first of the name in Galway

erected the first castle in the town, where for many
centuries the family has been conspicuous. William
de Athy was treasurer of ^Connaught in 1388, and
in the charter of Galway given by James II the
name of Andrew Athy appears. William Athy and
Edmond Athy were bailiffs in 1512 and 1514, and
Francis Athy was sheriff in 1631. John Athy came
to Boston in 1848 with a family of motherless chil
dren, his wife having died in Ireland, in 1846. An
drew Athy was left in Boston while John Athy and
his son Philip went, west. They did not return until
many years later, and not long afterward the Boston
brother with whom Andrew was left also went west
(II) Andrew Athy, son of John Athy (1), was
not only the most prominent man of his race in
Worcester, but in his day he was the best known
Irish-American citizen in the state. He was born
January 1, 1832, in Galway, Ireland, and came to
Boston with his father in 1848. When his uncle
also went west Andrew Athy was left to look out
for himself. He went to work first in Westboro,
where he was employed for a time by the father of
Captain J. Everts Greene, late postmaster of Wor
cester. In 1850 Mr. Athy came to Worcester and
from that time until his death was a resident of
that city. He went to work for the firm of J.
Walker & Co., in which Hon. Joseph H. Walker
was made a partner in 185 1. He learned the trade
of shoemaker and for many years worked in the
factory of Congressman Walker, holding the posi
tion of foreman during a large part of the time. In
later years, curiously enough, he twice defeated Mr.
Walker, his former employer, as candidate for rep
resentative to the general court. Although Mr. Athy
devoted to the shoe business about twenty-five years
of his life, he is best known and remembered as the
leading undertaker of this section among the Catholic
p'eople. He went into business in 1875 as under
taker and followed that business the remainder of
his life. During his later years he took his son
into partnership and thus was relieved from some
of the burdens of business, which was located first
at 16 Green street.
Mr. Athy never sought public office, yet the in
stances are rare in the history of Worcester where
public office so often sought the man. A friend wrote
of him: "Public life had no attraction for him,
as he was a better thinker than speaker, and the plat
form and legislative hall were to him almost places
of torture." Yet he served the city in the common
council in 1865-66-67-69-70-71-72-73-74-75-76-77-78-78-
78-80. No man was more prominent and influential
during all those years. He represented the city in
the general court in 1874-75, having as colleagues
Hon. W. W. Rice, Samuel R. Heywood, Colonel J.
E. Estabrook, Enoch H. Towne and Osgood Brad
ley. He had important committee assignments in
the legislature. He served in the city council as
an alderman in 1881-82-83-85-86. fie was the
chairman of the street lighting committee when
electric lights superseded gas in illuminating the
city streets. He served on the most important com
mittees. Although usually among the minority Mr.
Athy's long experience and good judgment were
always appreciated in the city government, and par
tisanship did not interfere to any extent with his
work in the city government. He lived to see the
old prejudices against his racedie out, and his good
example had much to do with the promotion of
good feeling on the part of his own people. He
was the candidate for mayor of the Democratic
party in 1886 at the close of Mayor Samuel Wins
low's first term, and although he consented to run
only two days before the election he received more
votes than the successful candidate the year before.

WORCESTER COUNTY

275

In a Republican city his showing was very creditable
to his personal popularity. He was chairman of the
Democratic city committee in 1891-92-93. When
President Cleveland was elected he was prominently
mentioned for the position of postmaster, but Cap
tain Greene was re-appointed. Mr. Athy was a dele
gate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896.
He was appointed one of the three members of the
commission to supervise the erection of the new
City Hall and attended to his duties on this board,
in which he took great interest and satisfaction to
the last. The very last time he ever left his home
was to attend a meeting of the commissioners on
the occasion of the delivery of the keys by the con
tractors. The Spy said of him at the time of his death :
"Andrew Athy was an American of Americans and
yet there has never lived in all America a warmer
lover of his native Ireland than he was. Every
movement that was ever started since he reached the
years of manhood having for its object thq restora
tion of Ireland's independence or the amelioration
of the condition of her people commanded always
his active co-operation and material aid. He was a
member of the Jackson Guards when that organiza
tion was disbanded by Governor Gardner and later
he took part in the organization of the Emmet
Guards and went to the front with his company
immediately after the breaking out of the civil war.
Such heroes as O'Neill, McConville, McCafferty,
Daly and others whose names are on the soldiers'
monument were his comrades and personal friends."
He was a member of Alhambra Council, Knights
of Columbus. He was chief marshal of the parade
on several St. Patrick days. Formerly March 17
was the greatest day of the year for the Irish- Ameri
cans. When the Ancient Order of Hibernians was
organized he became a charter member and held
every office in the organization. He was a charter
member of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Society.
He was head centre of the Fenian Brotherhood from
the first, when it was in its prime. When the Par-
nell movement started he was elected president of
the local branch of the National Land League and
served as delegate to several of the national con
ventions. He was honorary member of the American-
Irish Historical Society. At the time _ of his_ death
he was president of the Irish Centennial Society of
'98. He was a member of the Worcester Board of
Trade, one of the founders of the . Bay State Sav
ings Bank and trustee of the People's Savings
Bank. In 1870 he was one of the state leaders in
the strike of the Knights of St. Crispin. He went
from city to city to present the cause of the strikers
and raise funds. A prominent shoe manufacturer
of Worcester offered him an interest in his -busi
ness if he would give up abetting the strikers and
enter his employ. Needless to say Mr. Athy refused
the offer.
At the time of his death The Spy said of his
knowledge of the theatre: "If Andrew; Athy had
one leaning stronger than another in his nature it
was towards the theatre and the stage. He loved
the play, but only in its higher forms, for there was
no more fastidious theatre-goer in Worcester than
he. He not only loved the play, but he loved to
talk with his friends about his observations of great
plavers he had seen. His analysis of the respective
abilities of both the Booths, of Lawrence Barrett,
of Barry Sullivan, of Henry Irving, Jefferson,
Florence and other great actors was at all times in
teresting and intelligent, as it was indeed remark
able. As has well been said _ of him: 'He was a
dictionary of theatrical reminiscences.' "

Mr. Athy died May 15, 1898. All the newspaper
comment in obituary and editorial notices was in
line with the following from the records of the city
government: "There was not a flaw in his armor
of principle, integrity and zeal for his fellowmen.
There was no blemish to mar, no stain to dim the
lustre of his character. The life of such a man is
an inspiration, his death a bereavement to the com
munity." One who knew him well said: "For the
meagre opportunities that he had, he was a won
derful man. He was one of the best-read men in
Worcester; his library was very extensive. He
possessed a wonderful memory. Whatever he read
he never forgot. A mass of dates and statistics
which wouldthrow the ordinary mind into a chaotic
state was with him always arranged for practical
and immediate use."
He married Jane Duffy, who died July 8, 1894.
His children were: 1. Mary, married John J. Hor-
gan. 2. Frances, a graduate of the high and normal
schools in Worcester, and a teacher in the public
schools. 3. James A., see forward. 4. Nettie, a well
known singer, married Dr. J. J. Rafferty. 5. Annie,
an actress who has been successful in her profession ;
married Dr. P. W. Heffern, of Boston.
Mr. Athy's brother, Philip R. Athy, who went
west with his father was chief of police of Mem"
phis, Tennessee, during the yellow fever epidemic
of 1878 ; he was afterwards sheriff of ' the county.
He died there in 1882 at the age of forty-four years.
(Ill) James Andrew Athy, son of Andrew Athy
(2), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January
15, i860. He received his early education in the
Worcester public schools. After two years in the
high school he was appointed a page in the house
of representatives of Massachusetts, and he held
this position in the years 1876-77-78-79, gaining by
this experience in the state house a knowledge of
men and affairs and a very practical education that
has served him in good stead all his life. He came
back to Worcester to give all his time to his father's
business, and soon relieved his father of many of
the cares and burdens of the same. He was associ
ated with him in partnership during most of his
business career. Andrew Athy established the busi
ness in 1875, and from the first James A. Athy was
familiar witb the details. After his father's death
James A. Athy bought out the other heirs and since
May 26, 1900, has been the sole owner. The office
and ware-rooms were removed from Green street
to the present location on Trumbull street, July 25,
1900, when the business had been established twenty-
five years. Mr. Athy has been successful in busi
ness and stands high in the esteem of all his associ
ates both in the business and social world. He is
a member of the Knights of Columbus, Washing
ton Club ; Division 3, A. O. H. ; Worcester Lodge
of Elks ; O'Connel Associates ; Court Quinsigamond,
Order of Forresters ; the Frohsinns ; Wachusett Boat
Club ; honorary member of the Emmet Guards and
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R. ; veteran
member of the Worcester Light Infantry, in which
he served in the years 1882-83-84.
Mr. Athy married (first) in Worcester, July 8,
1885, Mary Cannon, daughter of Anthony and Mary
(Grady) Cannon. She was born in Elgin, Illinois,
and died in Worcester, November 8, 1889. She was
a sister of Tony Hart, the famous comedian and
minstrel. They had one child, Anthony Andrew
Athy, born July 25, 1888, called Tony Hart for his
great-uncle ; he is a student at Holy Cross College,
class of 1909. Mr. Athy married (second), April
9, 1896, Mary Rosa Lee, daughter of Peter and
Mary (Carrington) Lee, of Worcester.

-6

WORCESTER COUNTY

THE MeGAl'l.EY FAMILY of Worcester is
descended from the McAulcy or Macauley family of
Scotland and Ireland, having been prominent in
Scotland before history began and for many genera
tions in Ireland. Tho clan Macauley. according lo
Anderson, belongs to tho race MaeAlpin of Ros-
shiro and Argyleshire, a surnamo held by a branch
of the Rosshire of native Gaol, and supposed to have
been adopted from the Alhanieh, the tirst known in
habitants of Scotland. The general denomination,
Siel or Cinel (race of), Alpin, includes several clans,
descendants of the race to which Kenneth MeAlpin.
under whom the Scots and Picts were united, be
longed, namelv. ihe clan Gregor, the clan Grant,
the Mackinnoiis, the MacNabs, the MacDullios or
MacFies, the MaeQuarries, and the MaeAulays. The
latter family belongs in Duinbarlonsbire, There was
a laird there of Ibis name in 1008. Ahoid that time
the family emigrated with thousands of Scotch and
English to the "northern counties of Treland. There
were in 181x1 some four thousand of the family Mac-
aulev in the two counties of Antrim and Donegal,
(I) Thomas Macauley, the first ancestor of whom
there is anv record in tbe family from which Thomas
F. and Walter McGauley, of Worcester, descended,
lived in the parish and town of Duuleer, county
Louth, Ireland, and his descendants still live in that
and adjoining towns. He was a cattle dealer and
it is believed that the family for some generations
before had been engaged in raising and dealing 111
cattle. (II) Thomas Macauley, son of Thomas Macauley
(1), the preceding, was born and lived in Dtinleer,
and' followed his' father's vocation. He was ap
pointed the agent of the cattle raisers and all ship
ments to the markets wore made through him. This
office has been held in the family for three genera
tions. (Ill) Thomas Macauley, the third of the name,
son of Thomas Macauley (2). was the grandfather
of the subjects of this sketch. He was bom in Drog-
heda, adjoining Dunlccr, county Louth, Ireland, in
1809 or 1810. He was a cattle dealer and agent for
the shipping of all the cattle of the section. Tle
lived in Dunlccr, where his- children were bom. He
married, 1828-0, Elizabeth Morgan, born in 180(1,
daughter of C. G, P. Morgan and his wife, Fanny
Bellow. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth
(Morgan) Macauley were: Thomas, of whom later:
succeeded his fatber in office and was succeeded by
his son John: Peter, born 1833; Patrick, 1834; Mary,
1836, married  Qiiinn, aud died in New Hamp
shire; Matthew, 1838, lived in France; Margaret,
1840, died young; Elizabeth, 1842, married Thomas
Maney, formerly a grocer of Worcester ; he acquired
a competence; his family resides on Cambridge
street ; Michael, 1854, resided on Cambridge street.
where bis family now lives; Anne, 1848, married
Thomas Nolan ; their children reside in Worcester.
(TV) Tliomas McGauley, son of Thomas Mac
auley or McAulay, was the first to adopt the present
spelling of the surname in this country, He was
born in Dunlccr in T829-30. He came_ to America
when a young man and settled in Uxbridge, Massa
chusetts. There he married, May 19, 1*53, Sarah
Gardner, daughter of Waller Gardner, chief of con
stabulary ^ of county Limerick. The Gardner family
came originally from England and were staunch'
Episcopalians or Church of England in religious
faith, but Mrs. Gardner was a Roman Catholic and
her daughters followed her while the sons followed
the father in church affiliations. The McGauley
family came from stern old Scotch covenanters and
were largely Presbyterian. Of Walter Gardner's
sons, James Gardner became a bandmaster in the

Union army during the civil war; Patrick was cap-
lain of a company in the First Minnesota Regiment
in the civil war, representative and senator in the
Minnesota legislature and sheriff of the county;
Michael was chief on tho Queen's staff with the rank
of colonel when General Grant visited Ireland dur
ing* his tour of the world; John was a policeman in
Uxbridge and died there.
Thomas McGauley followed his trade of shoe
maker iu Uxbridge in the early fifties. He removed
in 1858 to the adjoining town of Hopkinton, Massa
chusetts, where ho worked in shoe factories, making
boots and shoes by hand. At Unit time nearly every
man in Hopkinton, Uxbridge and other Massachu
setts towns known as shoe towns was a skillful shoe
maker. In 1803 Mr, McGauley removed to Wor
cester. He worked in Ihe boot factory of Walker
&• Brown, and was foreman for Timothy Stone &
Sons, boot manufacturers. He died in Worcester,
January 31, lQO|- His wife died July 14, 1882,
The children of Thomas and Sarah (Gardner)
McGauley were: Elizabeth, born February 10, 1855,
died young; Thomas Francis, ol" whom later; Cath
erine, May 26, 1850, died young; Walter John, June
(1, 1801, of whom later; Mary, June 10, 1805, mar
ried William R. Gallagher, of Worcester; Sarah,
December 21, 1874, unmarried, lives with ber brother
Walter; Michael, August 28, 1878, died young,
(V) Thomas Francis McGauley, son of Ihomns
McGauley (4), was born in Uxbridge, Massachu
setts, November 4, 1856. His early education was
obtained in the public schools of Worcester, whither
bis parents moved when he was ipiite young. Hut
his school days were brief; he went to work in the
shoo factory under bis father when he was twelve
years old aud continued until twenty-one, Those
were the palmy days of the shoe business, and when
a boy of fourteen he earned fifteen dollars a week.
Compared with I be wages in some other trades this
was large, and it is evidence of the capacity for
hard work that has always characterized Ml". Mc
Gauley. lie was employed by the firm for which his
father had worked, and later was foreman for
Walker ov Brown and 11, B. Kay, who were promi
nent boot and shoe manufacturers of Worcester.
When Mr. Fay went out of business in l886,_Mr,
McGauley determined to make a venture in business
on his own account. Tn December of that year he
opened a grocery store at the corner of Cambridge
and Douglas streets. Later be removed to his pres
ent location at the corner of Cambridge and Camp
streets, near the fonner store, He does business
under Ihe name of the Cambridge Market Co. Mr,
McGauley lias been successful in his business, which
has grown constantly from a modest beginning.
He was formerly a director in the Equity Co
operative Bank of Worcester, He is a member of
the Worcester Agricultural Society. He was first
lieutenant in the Emmet Guards just before that
militia company became a part of ihe regular State
militia, Mr. McGauley is best known for his services
to the Republican party, of which he has been n
staunch supporter and leader for many years. Since
1900 he lias represented one of the two Worcester
senatorial districts on the Republican state commit
tee and has proved one of the most nctive, alert 11 ml
faithful representatives Hint the committee has had
from Worcester. For some twenty years he has
served Ihe party as delegate to various conventions,
lie has been on the Republican county and on the
congressional committees. I-^e is a member of the
Republican Club, Tn all these years he has declined
to run fur office himself. Tie has given freely of
bis time and money to strengthen the parly in which
he believed and to which he belonged. He has the

WORCESTER COUNTY

277

tact and good judgment necessary to make a suc
cessful political leader, and few men in the city have
a wider influence. Mr. McGauley is free from any
obligations that money can create in the political
world. He believed in helping friends who have been
faithful, but in the main his political interests have
been centered where he thought the Republican party
would be most strengthened. He is absolutely
trusted by his associates.
Mr. McGauley and his wife and family attend
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Parish since his removal
to his present residence on Tirrell street. With
ancestors of Catholic, Presbyterian, Puritan and
Church of England beliefs, it is not remarkable that
Mr. McGauley is a man of toleration in religion as
weli as in politics. He abhors bigotry of all kinds.
He married, September 23, 1886, Elizabeth T.
Maloney, daughter of James and Margaret (De-
veney) Maloney, of Worcester. Their children are:
Thomas Francis, Jr., born October 17, 1887; James
M., July 31, 1889; Sarah L., April jo, 189 1 ; Frank,
April '26, 1893 ; Margaret, October 17, 1895 ; Leo,
March 6, 1897; Robert, August 14, 1899, died young;
Arthur, December 1, 1901 ; Edward, November 24,
1905- (V) Walter John McGauley, son of Thomas
McGauley (4), was born in Hopkinton, Massachu
setts, June 6, 1 86 1. He followed the boot and shoe
business like his father and brother. He worked at
the boot business in shop of Samuel Brown, corner
of Front street and Bartlett place, Worcester, for
six years, and then he went to West Medway, Massa
chusetts, and worked for Fogg, Houghton & Cool
idge for six months, and then was engaged by H.
B. Fay, of Worcester, where he changed the system
of handling the goods. Instead of handling the
boots, in course of manufacturing, five times, Mr.
McGauley did the same work by handling the goods
only three times, thereby saving time and expense, and
the boots had a better sale besides. Mr. McGauley
remained with H. B. Fay for eleven years or until
he went out of the business. After leaving H. B.
Fay, he engaged in the grocery business at the corner
of Cambridge and Douglas streets, Worcester, which
was the beginning of the present business now owned
b" his brother, Thomas F, and known as the Cam
bridge Market. After conducting tbe business for
a year he sold out to his brother. Owing to ill
health he was advised by his physician to do out
door work, and in April, 1888, he was appointed a
letter carrier in the Worcester postoffice, in which
capacity he is now serving.
He married Susan A. Littleton, daughter of
' Stephen and Catherine (Hastings) Littleton, who
were_ born in county Clare, Ireland, and who were
married in Worcester, Thanksgiving Day, 1853, at
St. John's Church by Rev. Father Gibson. W. J.
McGauley and Susan A. Littleton were married in
Worcester; November 28, 1883. by Rev Thomas J.
Conaty, at the Church of the Sacred Heart. Their
children are: Susan A., born September 17, 1884;
Sadie H., October 3, 1886; Thomas J., September 28,
1887; Anne C-, September 18, 1890; Walter Gard
ner, November 13, 1891 ; Robert Morgan, July 3,
1893; Francis Hastings, June 22, 1897.
ALONZO RAY WELLS. Thomas Wells (1),
who settled in Ipswich among the pioneers, was
the emigrant ancestor of Alonzo Ray Wells, of
Worcester. He was born in England in 1605
and came in the spring of 1635 on the ship
x ^ Susan and Ellen" from London with young
Richard Saltonstall. He settled in Ipswich while
ms brother, Deacon Richard Wells, settled at Salis
bury, Massachusetts, not far away. Some writers

think that Nathaniel Wells, of Rhode Island, was
another brother. Thomas was the founder of the
Wells family in this country. He married Abigail
Warner. His house lot was No. _ 35. He drew
other land afterward. He was admitted a freeman
May 17, 1637. He was a husbandman.
He died October 26, 1666. His will was dated
July 31, and proved November 15, 1666. His widow
Abigail died July 22, 1671. Her will was made
July 22 and proved September 26, 1671. Their chil
dren were all born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, viz. :
Nathaniel, married, October 29, 1661, Lydia Thur-
ley ; John, married, 1665, _ Sarah Littlefield ; Sarah,
married John Massie ; Abigail, born June 19, 1661,
married Nathaniel Treadwell; Thomas, see forward;
Elizabeth, married John Burnham, June 9, 1669;
Hannah; Lydia, married, March 25, 1669, John
Ropes. '
'(II) Rev. Thomas Wells, fifth child of Deacon
Thomas Wells (1), was born in Ipswich, Massa
chusetts, 1647. He married, January 10, 1669-70,
Mary Perkins. When the settlement was made at
Wells, Maine, by his brother Nathaniel, he bought
land there and he was living in Wells, in December,
1669, as a deed states. He was preaching in Kit
tery and the Isle of Shoals, however, in 1670. He
appears to have been a member of the class of 1669,
and his father left a provision in his will for his
education at Harvard College, but he did not grad
uate. He probably went into the ministry early, as
he was the first man honored by Harvard College
with the degree of Master of Arts, honorary. He
appears as of the class of 1703, when the degree
was given. In 1672 or 1673 he became the first set
tled minister of Amesbury, Massachusetts. He be
came a leading spirit of the town for some fifty
years. The history of Amesbury reveals much that
is interesting of this good old Puritan minister. He
died July 10, 1734. His will was dated August 7,
1728, and proved July 29, 1734. His wife Mary
died January 26, 1726-7.
Their children were : Thomas, born October 30,
1670; John, February 2, 1672-3; Luke, March 19,
1673-4 ; Titus, see forward ; a son, who left descend
ants ; Abigail, married, February 6, 1704, Samuel
Bartlet, Jr.; Mary, marrried, July 15, 1702, John
Martin; Eliezer, June 10, 1686; Elizabeth, December
17, 1688; John, October 9, 1692, whose son Thomas
removed to Chester, New Hampshire, before 1768.
(Ill) Titus Wells, fourth child of Rev. Thomas
Wells (2), was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts,
March 14, 1675-6.' He settled in the West Parish
in 1726, but always lived in Amesbury. He died
after 1736. He married Joanna Rowell. The chil
dren of Titus and Joanna (Rowell) Wells were:
Sarah, born July 30, 1698; Thomas, see forward;
Mary, March 11, 1702; Timothy, April 16, 1704;
Titus and Hannah (twins), February 5, 1705-6; he
was for a time in Chester, New Hampshire, with
his brothers; Philemon, September 3, 1708; Jacob,-
August 28, 1710, went to Chester, New Hampshire;
Philip, April 7, 1713, died February 2, 1714-5 ; Eliza
beth, March 11, 1716; Abigail, December 18, 1718.
(IV) Lieutenant Thomas Wells, second child of
Titus Wells (3), was born in Amesbury, Massa
chusetts, March 4, 1699-1700. He married (first),
December 15, 1720, Sarah Hadley, daughter of Sam
uel and Jane (Martin) Hadley, and granddaughter
of the emigrant, George Hadley. He married (sec
ond), about 1738, Elizabeth Ingalls, daughter of
Captain Samuel and Mary (Watts) Ingalls. She
was his eldest daughter and heir; he died in 1760.
Captain Ingalls was from Andover, Massachusetts,
and was born there May 7, 1683. Elizabeth was
born September 18, 1709..

278

WORCESTER COUNTY

Lieutenant Wells was in the service in the Indian
¦wars. He became a man of note in Chester, New
Hampshire, where he moved in 1729, buying his
farm of Eldad Ingalls, some relative of his second
wife. The lot was No. 61. Lieutenant Wells died
March, 1769. His will was allowed May 7, 1683.
In it he names nine children, all by his second wife
except Winthrop.
The children were born at Chester, but are re
corded at New Chester, (Bristol) New Hampshire.
except Winthrop. They were : Winthrop, born prob
ably in Chester about 1730, married Dolly, daughter
of William Healy, settled in Candia and Plymouth,
New Hampshire; Sarah, December 2, 1739, married
 Carr; Thomas, January 19, 1741, said to have
been killed by John Tolford, December 27, 1773;
Henry, March 24, 1743, settled at Sandown ; Reuben,
see forward ; Samuel, August 24, 1749, revolutionary
soldier; had homestead at Chester, removed to New
Chester; Peter, July 26, 1752, soldier in the revo
lution; Ebenezer, May 3, 1754^ married Sarah Favor;
settled in Hill, New Hampshire; Phebe, October 14,
1757; Peter, January 20, 1762, revolutionary soldier;
Timothy, May 10, 1765.
(V) Reuben Wells, fifth child of Lieutenant
Wells (4), was born in Chester, New Hampshire,
August 28, 1746. He married Molly  . He
went with his father to New Chester, New Hamp
shire, now Bristol and Hill, His father owned one
hundred acres at Chester, one hundred and seventy
acres at Goffstown and four hundred acres at New
Chester, when he died. He removed to New Ches
ter with his six sons, among whom was Reuben,
shortly before his death in 1769. Reuben's farm
was lot No. 64, fourth division in what is now Hill,
New Hampshire. He was living there in 1774, He
died April 3, 1804, at Hill, aged fifty-seven years,
seven months, five days, according to the records.
He was a soldier in 1777 in Captain Samuel Mc-
Connel's company, Colonel Thomas Stickney, Gen
eral John Stark's regiment at Bennington.
The children of Reuben and Molly Wells, all
born in New Chester or Hill, New Hampshire,
were: Reuben, born April 3, 1770, see forward;
Thomas, August 14, 1771, married Betty Bean; Han
nah, January 16, 1777, married Ephraim Quimby ;
John, December 19, 1778, married Judith Favor;
Samuel, September 29, 1780, married Rebecca Carle
ton; Henry, April 22, 1783, died June 26, 1800;
Molly, November 5, 1784; Ebenezer, February 17,
1787; Peter, May 17, 1789; Joanna, January 24,
1792, married Samuel Hoyt; Sarah, October 27,
1793, died August 18, 1795. (There is an interesting
letter from Reuben Wells relating to the enlistment
of his brother Peter in the revolution on file at the
state archives, Concord, New Hampshire, and printed
in the state papers. It refers to Lieutenant Thomas,
his father and other members of the family. It seems
that^ Peter did service for other members of the
family in the revolution when it was inconvenient
for them to go. Brother Peter was in charge of
Reuben after his father's death.)
(VI) Reuben Wells, eldest son of Reuben Wells
(5), was born in New Chester, now Hill, New
Hampshire, April 3, 1770, He married Priscilla
Sanborn. He was a farmer at Hill, where his chil
dren were born. He died August 4, 1808. His wife
died March 10, 1807. Their children were : Moses,
see forward ; Reuben, born April 22, 1795, married
Mahala —  ; died March 22, 1819, in twenty-
fifth year, leaving one child. Lucy, November 8,
1797, married Moses Sanborn. Sanborn, October
12, 1801, lived and died in Londonderry ; had no
children, Sherburn, born July 31, 1805, married,
September 28, 1828, Martha Washington Chase, who

was born in Hill, November 15, 1802; located at
Bristol in 1838, was custom carder and cloth dresser,
played bass viol in the church, died at Bristol, No
vember 16, 1874; wife died July 24, 1889, Their
daughter, Martha A., born August io, 1829, married
William G. Gould, and died September 4, 1857,
leaving Francis Leroy Gould, now of Chicago; their
son, Fletcher Chase, born July 15, 1831, married,
September 3, 1857, Sarah S. Drake; he died June
20, 1872, leaving Frank Fletcher Wells, born at New
Hampton, May 22,' 1858, now of Chicago; and Martha
Ann, born at Bristol, July 20, i860, married George P,
Everleth, a printer of 18 Goulding street, Worces
ter. They have a daughter, Minnie Sadie, born in
Bristol, September 19, 1881, married, September
24, 1902, Albert H. Austin, and they have: Chester
Eveleth, born in Worcester, March 25, 1884. (The
Austins reside at 18 Goulding street with the Evcr-
leths.) (VII) Moses Wells, eldest child of Reuben
Wells (6), was born at Bristol, or Hill, New Hamp
shire, September 19, 1792. He married Elizabeth
Ray, daughter of John Ray, of Manchester, New
Hampshire, She was bom in Derryfield, New
Hampshire, in 1795. Moses lived in Londonderry,
New Hampshire, and Charlestown, Massachusetts,
John Ray was a revolutionary soldier and served
under General Stark at Bunker Hill and Benning
ton, He owned a large farm in the northern part
of Derryfield and was active in the movement to
change the name to Manchester. He was a prom
inent citizen. He was a friend and neighbor of
General Stark.
The children of Moses and Elizabeth (Ray) Wells
were: Amos, resided in Maiden, Massachusetts, and
Manchester, New Hampshire, where he kept a store ;
died there; left sons; Horace and Sherburn: Pris
cilla, married Josiah Sawyer; Elizabeth, married
Josiah Sawyer (husband of sister Priscilla also) j
Mary, married John Fosdick; they resided in Lowell,
Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire ;
their son, Sylvester Fosdick, resides in South
Boston, Massachusetts; Alonzo Ray, see forward,
(VIII) Alonzo Ray Wells, youngest son of Mosca
Wells (7), was born in Charleston, New Hamp
shire, May 1, 1842. He received a common school
education. Mr. Wells enlisted in August, 1862, as
a wagoner in Company A, Tenth New Hampshire
Volunteers. He was promoted first as forage mas
ter, then assistant wagon master and later wagon
master, and had charge of the ammunition train In
Butler's advance up the James in 1864. In 1865,
after the close of the war, he was stationed in
Richmond and used his teams in returning the1
refugees to their homes, leaving Richmond every
Monday morning with sixty wagons and twenty
ambulances loaded with refugees and their goodi.
It usually took a week to make a trip and Mr. Wells
had many sad as well as laughable experiences, He
was discharged in 1865 with his regiment. Soon
after his discharge he entered the railroad service.
became a locomotive engineer, and continued till
1887. He is now living retired at 9 Arbor Vltae
street, Worcester.
Mr. Wells is a Free Mason and a member of
the order of Elks. He belongs to the Frohslnns, a
social club, the George Ii, Ward Post, No, 10, G.
A. R., of Worcester, Worcester Driving Club and
the Cottage Club and Improvement Society of Fal
mouth, Massachusetts, where he has a summer
residence. lie is a Congregationalist in religious
preferences and Republican in politics.
He married (first) Emily Harris, daughter of
C. M, and Emily (Dean) Harris, She was born
December 6, 1846, died March, 1891, in Worcester,

/ '

WORCESTER COUNTY

279

He married ^ second L March 12. iSgtv, Eva Irene
Bruse, daughter of Charles and Emily .1. Bruso. oi
Worcester. She was born there November 3. 18:4,
She was educated in the Worcester schools, and is a
graduate of the Worcester high school. The onty
child of Mr. Wells was by the first marriage: Kay
lVau. horn in Worcester. April 29. iSsxx tie is at
present a student in the Worcester high school.
ALEXANDER COLE MEN ROE. one of the
most prominent citizens of Worcester, Massachu
setts, and who has been actively identified with the
steamship, railroad, insurance and musical inter
ests of that city, traces his descent to a family that
has had a distinguished record ever since the days
of the pioneer settlers of the stale ef Massachusetts.
(D William Munroe. one of the first settlers
of Lexington. Massachusetts, was the ancestor oi
most of those bearing this name in New England.
Some members of the family spelt the name Monroe.
and in the early history ot the family in this couu-
try (and probably the the same practice was observed
elsewhere> the tirst syllable "Mmi" was omitted,
and the name was variously spelleti "Kev," "Row"
and "Re we* William Munroe was horn in Scot
land, in itcs. and belonged to the famous elan
a that name. He came to America in t05_\
a prisoner of war taken by Cromwell at
e of Worcester, or soon afterward, and sold
in service to an American proprietor, lt is on record
that in k\>» Robert Munroe. Hugh Munroe. John
Munroe anil another ot the same family name, were
among those consigned to Thcm.ts Kemble. of Bos
ton, and obliged to work for a certain period of time
for those who had bought their services from the gov
ernment. William Monroe worked out his time
and acquired property in Cambridge as early as
to^y. He settled in Cambridge Farms vnow Lex
ington) in iooo, near the Wobnrn tine, his farm
herns on Woburn street, on or near the farm now
or lately owned by Hugh Graham. His sons lived
with him after they had attained manhood, and it is
related hy his descendants that he made so many
additions to his dwelling house, to accommodate
the {amities of his sons, that the place resembled a
topewsik. it was so long. He was admitted a free
man in i(**\ and subscribed to the building fund
for the first meetinghouse. He was married three
times, and though he was forty years old at the
time of his first marriage, raised a family of thir
teen children. He died January .j- 1717. and his
wilt, dated November 14, 171$. mentions sous— John.
George. tXtiuel. Joseph and Benjamin — anci daugh
ters— Eleanor Burgess, Martha Comee. Hannah
Peine, Elisabeth Rugg, and Mary Fassett.
He married (first), 1055, Martha  , and
their children were: John, oi whom Liter: Martha.
horn November j, tooj-: married, January Jt. 10^
Jehu Coniee. of Concord: resided at Lexington ;
died. April 13, trjvi: William, horn October if\
tWjft, married Mary Cutler: George, married Sarah
 v William 'Munroe married tsecomD. tor--
Mary  , horn in 1051. died August, icmj.
Their children were : Duttiet. born August u, tor,'-
married Dorothy  : Hannah, married. IV-
eemher ju K*ii, Joseph Fviree, and had eight chil-
<iiea. Joseptt PVtree's first wife was Ruth Holland.
and hte third, Beriah Child, widow of IXmtet Child .
Elisabeth, married Thomas Rugg and had eleven
children; Manr, born June .&*, 10-8, married, about
tjevx Joseph l«fcssett: lived on the Page place in
Bfcvlfctvl from thence moved to Lexington; Etavid,
toro (Xtofcer 6. toiso. noe mentioned in the will of
his father; Eleanor, born Fehrwary, J4, 10^3. mar
ried, August it, 170?, William Burgess, of Charles

town; had four children: Sarah, born March 18,
to8j, married George Blanchard. about 1707; Jo
seph, born August 10. 1087: married Elizabeth
 ; Benjamin, born August 16. icxx>. married
twice. William Munroe married t, third) Elizabeth
Wyer, widow of Edward Wyer, of Charlestown; she
died December 14. 1715, in lur eightieth year.
til) John Munroe." eldest child of William (1).
and Martha Munroe. was born May 10. icw. He
was admitted to the church. February 1. Kxx). to
gether with his father, and his sisters. Martha
Comee, Elisabeth Rugs, and Hannah Feirce. He
subscribed to the building fund of the meetinghouse
in ichjj, and was on the tax list of 1003. He be
came a very prominent citizen, serving the town
as assessor in 1000. 1714 and 1720: constable in 1700;
selectman in 1718-0 and 1720; and treasurer of the
town in 1718-10- jo. He held many positions of trust
and honor. He was lieutenant of the militia there.
He received a grant of nine hundred acres of land
for his services in the battle with the Indians at
Lamprey river, June 6. 169a In addition to his
many other offices and duties, he was sexton of the
church and rang the bell for years in the first
church in Lexington to call the worshipers to service.
His death occurred September 14. 1753. He married
Hannah  > who died April 14. 1710. Their
children were: John, born in Lexington, baptized
ibptj. probably married Rachel  ; Hannah,
baptized toga died April 14. 1716: Constance, bap
tized ttxx): Jonathan, baptised March u. lOgo. died
August jo. 1724; William, baptized February 1.
1701. married twice; Elisabeth, baptised March 5.
1703: Susannah, baptized July I. 1705, married. June
10, i~J4. Ebenezer Nichols: Jonas, of whom later:
Martha, born December o. 1710; Marrat. horn
IVeember o, 171.1. married, April 17, 1737, Deliver
ance Parker.
1,111) Jonas Munroe. fourth son aud eighth
child of John (,j\ and Hannah Munroe. was born
in Lexington, Massachusetts. November jj. 1707.
He was a lieutenant of the Lexington Militia Com
pany. He married vtirst>. June .5. 17.14. Joanna
Locke, bom February j, 1713. died September 17,
174$. daughter of Joseph and Mary (Meadl Locke.
Their children were: Jonas, born Xo\emb;r j.
17.55. died June 3. 1700: John, of whom later:
Stephen, born October 25. 1730. married. July S.
1700. Nancy Ferry, of Wobuni. Massachusetts ;
Jonathan, born May j>. 1742. married Abigail Ken
dall, of Wobuni: Joanna, born April u. 1747- mar
ried, luly o. 1777. John Adams. Jonas Munroe mar
ried ( second1 V 1750. Rebecca Watts, of Chelsea. He
died November 9, 1x5. and his widow married,
April Itx l77.v John Muzzy, of Lexington, grand
son of the tirst settler and his second wife. The
children of Jonas and Rebecca (Watts'* Munroe
were: Ebenezer. born April jo. I75J: hs was a set
tler at Ashburnham. where other members of the
family also located. He was an officer in the revo
lutionary war, a prominent citizen, and left many
descendants. He married. May to. 17SJ. Lucy Si
monds. of Wobuni. Rebecca, bom June 17. 1755,
married. May jj. 1777. John Muzzy. Jr. Martha,
bom September u. 1758. died at Ashburnham, 17113,
unmarried. tlVi John Munroe. second son and child of
Jonas V.3^ and Joanna (Locked Munroe. was born
»n Lexington. Massachusetts. Febmary r. 1737. He
was a member of the Lexington Company of
Mi! Ira in the battle of Lexington, and marched to
Cambridge. June 17. 1775- He profeahhr rendered
other services to his country. The names of his
children were obtained front a deed in which his
heirs assign their rights to his real estate in Prince-

280

WORCESTER COUNTY

ton to Jonathan Page, of Charlestown. This Page
married Lydia, a daughter of John Munroe. The
deed bears date of February 23, 1805. One record
gives the name of his first wife as Anna, and their
children as : Sarah, baptized July 12, 1767, prob
ably died young; Anna, born November 18, 1759,
baptized July 12, 1767, probably died young. He
married (second), April 13, 1762, Lydia Bemis, of
Weston, Massachusetts, daughter of John and Han
nah Bemis. Their children were : Lydia, born at
Lexington, Massachusetts, May 9, 1767, baptized
May 17, 1767; married, January 16, 1783, Jonathan
Page, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, later of Charles
town, Massachusetts, where he kept a tavern of
note. He was colonel in the militia, and was sta
tioned in Boston harbor, |n 1812, to superintend
the erection of some fortifications there. He bought
out the interests of the other. heirs of John Munroe
at Princeton. Polly t (Mary), married Nathaniel
Brackett (intentions dated December 31, 1805). John.
Lucy, married John Stone (intentions dated Feb
ruary 7, 1802) . Sally, born 1782, died June 28, 1836,
at Princeton, Massachusetts. Nathan, of whom
sketch follows.
(V) Nathan Munroe, second son and sixth and
youngest child of John (4) and Lydia (Bemis)
Munroe, was born in Lexington or Newton, Massa
chusetts, June, 1773. He lived for a time in New
ton, and then bought a lot in Rutland, June 3, 1801,
and settled there. He bought another lot, adjoining
his farm, two years later. He was living in Rutland
in 1805 when he deeded his interest in the estate of
his father, in Princeton, to his brother-in-law, Jon
athan Page. He sold a piece of land in Rutland,
December 3, 1817, a tract of land, to Jesse Fitts,
of Oakham, Massachusetts. About that time he
went to Pennsylvania on business; on his return
he was taken sick, and died suddenly at Dana
(Hardwick or Rutland before 1801), in 1818. He
married Deidamia Wheeler, June 2, 1799, and their
children were : Charles, of whom later. Isabella,
born in Rutland, Massachusetts, November 24,
1802, died August 31, 1844. John, born in Rutland,
Massachusetts, July 7, 1805, married Mary Epps;
lived in Concord, New Hampshire; father of Hon.
John P. Munroe, of Worcester; died February 21,
1896. George, born in Rutland, Massachusetts,
April 3, 1807, died July, 1831. Cyrus, born in Rut
land, Massachusetts, December 27, 181 1, died De
cember 12, 1864. Nathan, born in Rutland, Massa
chusetts, August 31, 1814, died February 8, 1839.
Abigail,, born in Rutland, Massachusetts, October 3,
1817, died June 14, 1818.
(VI) Charles Munroe, eldest child of Nathan
(5) and Deidamia (Wheeler) Munroe, was born in
Newton, Massachusetts, March 6, 1800, died June
5, 1891. He married Mary Cole, of Millbury, June
26, 1828. Their children were : Ruby Ann, born
in Worcester, July 16, 1829; Alexander Cole, of
whom later; Lyman Cole, born in Worcester, Octo
ber 16, 1838, died September 6, 1904.
(VH) Alexander Cole Munroe, second child
and oldest son of Charles (6) and Mary (Cole)
Munroe, was born in Millbury, Massachusetts,
August 22, 183 1. Shortly afterward he removed
with his parents to Worcester, where his youth was
spent. He attended the little white wooden, and the
brick schoolhouse, formerly on the common, with
Caroline Corbett as teacher and Sarah Joyce as
assistant. Many of the boys who attended this
school have made their mark in the world. Later
he attended the "English" school at the corner of
Thomas and Summer streets, under the tuition of
Warren Lazell. His parents removed to Lowell,
Massachusetts, in 1846, and he went with them. He

accepted a position in the Lowell postoffice, in 1850,
and had charge of the mailing department for three
years. He was then for six years in the employ of
the Boston & Lowell railroad, in the freight and
ticket departments, being superintendent of trans
portation at Lowell for the two months prior to
its consolidation with the Nashua and Lowell rail
road. While living here Mr. Munroe took an active
part in the work of the High Street Congregational
Church, being for several years its treasurer, col
lector and librarian of the Sunday school.
He finally left Lowell to accept a position as
station agent for the Providence & Worcester Rail
road, at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1859, and
remained there until his appointment, in 1861, as
general agent for New England of the Providence &
Worcester Railroad and Providence & New York 1 1
Steamship Company, with headquarters at Worces
ter, Massachusetts. The competition at that time
for New York freight to and from Worcester and
the north was very strong. The combination be
tween the steamship line and the railroad was made
in 1858, and the monopoly previously enjoyed by the
Norwich line was seriously disturbed. When Mr.
Munroe accepted this position, the competition was
at its height. Mr. Munroe entered eagerly on this
work, glad also to return to the city in which his
boyhood had been spent. His work was successful
and satisfactory to the companies. In spite of
the fact that there were nine radical changes in the
management of the companies during the twelve
years he held this position, he retained his place
undisturbed. He handled all the freight of both
corporations and also all freight by the Neptune
line from Worcester, and points north and east to
New York, the south and west, amounting in
through billing to more than two hundred thousand
dollars annually.
Having purchased the insurance agency of Gen
eral George A. Washburn, of Worcester, in Feb
ruary, 1873, Mr. Munroe took up with alacrity the
new line of work with which he has since been
identified. He retained the management of the
transportation business, at the request of the rail
road and steamship companies interested, until Oc
tober 1, 1873, when, finding the double duties bur
densome, he resigned as general agent. He largely
extended the business of the fire insurance agency,
he purchased, and has for many years been in the
foremost ranks of fire insurance men in the state.
He has been president of the Worcester board of
fire underwriters for four years, and at the present
time (1906) is president of the Worcester protective
department, of which he has been for thirty years
a director. On account of the increased scope of the
business Mr. Munroe decided to take a partner, and
on January I, 1903, invited Edward P. Ingraham
to become his business associate, the firm name be
ing A. C. Munroe & Ingraham. Mr. . Ingraham is
an expert in fire insurance, having been for four
teen years secretary of the board of. underwriters
of Worcester, and an energetic business man. The
efforts of the new firm have resulted in even greater
gains than before, Mr. Munroe calculating recently
that the agency had earned about four hundred
thousand dollars above the losses during the time
he had been in the business. The firm now repre
sents the following companies : Liverpool and Lon
don and Globe Insurance Company; Atlas Assurance
Company of London; Franklin Fire Insurance Com
pany of Philadelphia; Spring Garden Insurance
Company and Philadelphia Underwriters of Phila
delphia; Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Com
pany of New York; Newark Fire Insurance Com
pany of Newark, New Jersey; Buffalo German In-

WORCESTER COUNTY

28 1

surance Company and Buffalo Commercial Insur
ance Company of Buffalo, New York; Albany In
surance Company of New York; India Insurance
Company of Boston; Camden Fire Insurance Asso
ciation of New Jersey; Insurance Company of the
State of Pennsylvania; Worcester Mutual Fire In
surance Company; the Merchants' and Farmers'
Mutual Fire Insurance Company; The Abingdon
Mutual Fire Insurance Company; The Dorchester
Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; Standard Life
and Accident Insurance Company of Detroit, and
the Columbia Insurance Company of New Jersey.
The A. C. Munroe & Ingraham agency is located in-
the Clark building on Main street, nearly opposite
City Hall. Mr. Munroe has for many years been
the leader in his line of business in the city of
Worcester. _ His judgment in insurance is sought
by the business men of Worcester and implicitly
followed. In one case Mr. Munroe had a million
dollar insurance risk to place in a single day.
He comes of a musical family, and has been in
terested in musical work ever since he took up his
residence in Worcester. He was at one time chair
man of the board of trustees of the Worcester Mo
zart Society; treasurer of the Beethoven Society;
afterward president of the Worcester Choral Union.
For thirty-four years he has been a member of the
Worcester Musical Festival Chorus, and for thirty-
three years of this time was executive officer of the
association, having been secretary twenty-three years,
vice-president eight years arid president two years.
He was basso of the quartette choir of the Union
Church for four years, and for twenty-three years
basso and director of the choir of the Old South
Church. When he resigned from that position in
1888 he was substantially reminded of the good will
of the congregation. Many believe that the uni
formly good music at the Old South Church is due
to the faithful and constant efforts of Mr. Munroe,
,and that this accounts for the growth and leader
ship of that church in music over many other
churches in the city.
During his official connection with the festivals,
they advanced from small and modest efforts until
they rivalled anything of the kind in this country
or Europe and have made the name of Worcester
famous in musical circles the world over.
He has not lost his interest in the association,
being still one of the most earnest and persistent
workers for the success of the annual festivals.
While he was secretary much of the routine work
and the burden of correspondence fell upon his
shoulders. In an article about Mr. Munroe, Wor
cester Light says: "Mr. Munroe has requested
Light not to say much about his services in con
nection with the Festivals, claiming that the marked
success achieved is due to the unselfish devotion
of a splendid body of choir leaders and teachers
forming the board of government during his con
nection with it— to the location of the Festival in
a region noted for a century for its love of music —
to the teaching of music in the public schools — to
the growth of the city itself— and to the undoubtedly
nigh average intelligence of the population. Ad
mitting these facts, Light still believes that the work
of Mr. Munroe has been of so conspicuous a char
acter in connection with the Festivals, that the gen
eral public will insist upon giving him a larger
amount of commendation for the results attained,
than he is at present inclined to receive."
Mr. Munroe is a member of the Board of Trade;
the Worcester Machanics' Association; the Old
South Church; the Congregational Club, of which
he was formerly treasurer. He is an honorary
member of the Worcester Continentals. He has been

a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity,
and of the Commonwealth Club. His executive
ability and remarkable tact have been proven by
the position he has held in musical circles, requiring
probably more tact and judgment than any other
position man is called upon to fill. He has a very
attractive personality, and all his acquaintances
are drawn into the circle of his friendship. He is
quick to perceive and decide, but conciliatory in
manner and speech, and although respecting the
opinions of others, is not inclined to yield his own
convictions. He is one of the best examples of the
gentleman in business ; of exemplary character ; re
fined and considerate of others ; appreciating his
duty as a citizen; loving art and music; yet thor
oughly enjoying his business career.
Mr. Munroe married, October 19, 1859, Helen
Augusta Hill, born in Whitefield, New Hampshire,
March 23, 1834, daughter of Peter W. and Hannah
(Johnson) Hill. At an early age she removed with
her parents to Lowell, Massachusetts. Mrs. Mun
roe has had an unusual musical career. She is an
artist with much more than a local reputation, hav
ing been a leading member of quartette choirs for
thirty-four years. For twenty-eight years she was
a member of the same choir as her husband, sus
taining the soprano part for twelve years, and the
contralto for sixteen years, her voice being of so
extended a compass (from G below low C, to C
in alt three octaves and three notes) that she was
able to sing either part with remarkable success. At
the age of fourteen years she was engaged* as the
leading alto singer of the Worthen Street Methodist
Church Choir, in Lowell, and until 1861, when she
came to Worcester, sang constantly in Methodist,
Unitarian, Episcopal and Congregational choirs in
Lowell and its vicinity, as well as at public concerts
of importance and social functions. On coming to
Worcester she was at once secured as contralto for
the Union Church Quartette, Mr. B. D. Allen being
the organist and director. She continued to be the
leading attraction at concerts fqr many years,
notably those given by the "Hamilton," the "Mo
zart" and "Beethoven" Societies, and the Worcester
"Choral Union." For fourteen years prior to 1873
she was the leading contralto soloist of the Worces
ter Music Festivals, and then declined the position.
During these years Mrs. Munroe filled engagements
with many associations elsewhere, in concerts, mu
sical conventions and festivals, in Boston, Provi
dence, Springfield, Greenfield, Fitchburg, Brooklyn,
New York, Bridgeton, New Jersey; and many other
cities. She has always been of a retiring disposition,
modest and diffident, and, while enjoying church
positions, disliked the notoriety of public concert
work. Possessed of a remarkable voice, which ren
ders her at the present day a highly prized member
of the "Home Music Club," of which association
she was a charter member, she was, when quite
young, offered the opportunity to visit Europe and
study for the operatic field. Great success was
prophesied for her; competent judges said of her
voice that it was only equalled by that of the great
Alboni. Possessed of a fine stage presence, she
would undoubtedly have been successful, but she
shrank from publicity, and at the advice of the
friend whom she afterward married remained in
America. Mrs. Munroe's grandfather, Asa John
son, of Whitefield, New Hampshire, was a teacher
of music and singing schools, an excellent violin
player, and well known throughout northern New
Hampshire. He was also a prosperous farmer. His
eight children — Simeon, James, David, William,
Catherine, Joanna, Sarah and Hannah — were ali
musical, and it was said that the Johnson girls

282

WORCESTER COUNTY

could "sing down anything in Coos county.'' Han
nah, the mother of Mrs. Munroe, could sing the "C
in alt," (or "high C,") while her husband, Peter
W. Hill, could as easily sing the "low C;" it would
thus appear that Mrs. Munroe came very naturally
by her unusual voice, and her musical ability. The
Hill family was a large one, and all the members
were musical ; the choir of the church in Whitefield,
New Hampshire, was composed entirely of members
of the Hill and Johnson families, under the charge
of Asa Johnson, and was for years a very noted
one. Mrs. Munroe has always been interested in re
ligious and charitable work, having been for four
years president of the Old South Benevolent So
ciety, and for thirteen years president of the Wom
en's Auxiliary to the Young Men's Christian Asso
ciation. DANIEL AUSTIN HOWE. John How or
Howe (i), the immigrant ancestor of Daniel Austin
Howe, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was an early
settler at Watertown, Massachusetts. He was born
in Warwickshire, England, it is believed, the son
of John Howe, who is supposed to be a descendant
of. John Howe, of Hodinhall, connected with Sir
Charles Howe, of Lancaster, during the reign of
Charles I.
John Howe made his home in Sudbury with set
tlers from Watertown, then the adjoining town. He
was there in 1639 or earlier. He was admitted a
freeman in 1640. In 1642 he was one of the Sud
bury selectmen. According to tradition he was the
first white inhabitant who settled in the Sudbury
New Grant, as it was called. He built his cabin a
little to the eastward of the Indian plantation, and
in this vicinity many of his descendants have lived
and are living still. His house was about one thou
sand rods from the Spring Hill Meeting House, a
little to the east of the present road from Spring
Hill to Feltonville, lately owned by Edward Rice.
Howe was a man of dignity and universally re
spected, even by his Indian neighbors. In 1655 he
was appointed "to see to the restraining of the -
youth on the Lord's Day." Boys were boys even in
the Puritan town of Sudbury in the days of Crom
well. He was brought into contact often with his
Indian neighbors and he won their confidence and
good will and often he became an arbiter in case
of differences between them. The story is told of a
pumpkin grown on the land of one Indian, but on
a vine belonging to another. Both claimed the
pumpkin. Howe was asked to decide the owner
ship of the pumpkin. He cut it in two and gave
a half to each. From 1657 till his death in 1680 he
lived in Marlboro, and was the founder of most
of the families of this surname in Middlesex and
Worcester counties.
Descendants of Abraham Howe, another emi
grant settler, also settled in Marlboro, however. In
1662 he and Goodman Rice were appointed to make
a grant of land to Thomas Danforth, or rather de
termine the size of a grant made by the general
court in payment of services. John Howe opened the
first public house in. Marlboro. He petitioned the
general court September 30, 1662, to be excused
from training because he was aged, thick of hearing
and maintained three soldiers in his family. He
died in Marlboro, May 28, 1680. His will was dated
May 24, 1680, and proved June IS, 1680. He made
bequests to his wife, Mary, and children: Samuel,
Isaac, Thomas, Eleazer, Sarah Ward, Mary With
erby; grandchild, John, son of John. He gave
Thomas "the horse he troops on."
His children were: John, born 1640, married,
January 22, 1662, Elizabeth Woolson, was killed by

the Indians; Samuel, October 20, 1642, married
June S, 1663, at Sudbury, Martha Bent ; Sarah, Sep
tember 25, 1644, married, June, 1667, Samuel Ward,
died young; Mary, August 8, 1648; Isaac, August
8, 1648, married, June 17, 1671, Frances Wood;
Josiah, married March 18, 1671, Mary Haynes, of
Sudbury; Mary, June 18, 1654, married, September
18, 1672, John Wetherby; Thomas, June 12, 1656,
married Sarah Hosmer; married (second) Mary
Barron ; Daniel, June 3, 1658, died 1661 ; Alexander,
December 29, 1661, died January, 1662 ; Eleazer, Jan
uary 18, 1662, married, 1683, Hannah Howe, daugh
ter of Abraham Howe, of Marlboro.
(II) Colonel Samuel Howe, son of John Howe
(1), was born October 20, 1642, in Sudbury, Massa
chusetts. He married, June 5, 1663, Martha Bent,
daughter of John Bent, of Sudbury, and settled in
his native town. He was admitted a freeman in
Sudbury in 1671. He married (second) Sarah
Clapp, September 18, 1685, and had other children.
He was an important man in his day. He was
colonel of the regiment made up of companies from
the towns in the vicinity. He was a town officer.
' The children of Samuel and Martha (Bent)
Howe were : John, born July 24, 1664; Mary, March
2, 1665; Lydia; Samuel, May 19, 1668; Martha, Oc
tober 9, 1669; Daniel, November 2, 1674; David,
November 2, 1674; Hannah, April 6, 1677. The
children of Colonel Samuel and Sarah (Clapp)
Howe were: Daniel, February 24, 1689; (probably)
Moses, about 1695; Micagah, August 22, 1700.
(Ill) David Howe, son of Colonel Samuel Howe
(2), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, November
2, 1674. He married, December 25, 170— (probably
1702, record torn). He built and conducted the
Wayside Inn. He received from his father, Samuel
Howe, in 1702, the farm on which it is located. It
was part . of one hundred and thirty acres in the
New Grant territory, either lot 48 or 49. The tavern
was built a few years after David Howe acquired'
the land. The Indians were threatening during the
first decade of the eighteenth century, and the work
men engaged in building it had to resort at night
to the Parmenter garrison half a mile away. It
was opened as a public house. It was not until
1746 that it became known as the Red Horse Tav
ern. In that year Colonel Ezekiel Howe, David's
son and successor as tavern keeper, put up as a
sign a red horse, a time honored custom of the
early taverns, being- to designate for the benefit of
the unlettered the house by some picture or sign
by which one who could not read might identify
the house. In later years it became known as the
Wayside Inn from the Tales of the Wayside Inn
written by Longfellow. Of course, the old tavern
cannot claim all that Longfellow ascribed to it, but
no more fitting country tavern could have been
selected for his purpose. It is a fine specimen of
early architecture, plain, but spacious and in
teresting. During the revolutionary war, when it was con
ducted by Colonel Ezekiel Howe, the Red Horse
Inn was the centre of revolutionary activity.' After
the death of the famous old colonel his son, Adam
Howe, conducted the hotel for forty years. Then
came the railroads and the paths of travel changed.
Lyman Howe was the last Howe in the direct line
to run the hotel. He sold it in 1866. The Wayside
Inn has been at times since then run as a road
house. It is much frequented by lovers of Long
fellow. At present the old house is an attractive
spot for automobile owners who are interested in
colonial history and antiquities. The quiet dignity
of the old tavern is very charming, much different
is the scene there today from the bustle and activity

WORCESTER COUNTY

-'^

of nearly two hundred years ago when the tavern
was one of the best on the road from Boston to the
colonies to the westward. It was a stopping place
for settlers on their way to their new homes, It was
a halting place for troops during' all the Indian
wars ami the revolution, The fanners on (heir way
to and from (he market iu Boston stopped there.
The stages to and from Boston passed there, Wash
ington and oilier celebrated men have slept in (lie
old inn. lt would be of great historic interest even
if Longfellow had not immortalized it. Tlie region
round about corresponds well with the character
of the building. It is on (he edge of a plain in
what is called the Fcckhatn district at the foot of
Nobseot Hill. Close to the inn runs a little brook
known as Hop brook. The hotel stands at the side
of the broad road, looking today much as it did
'probably a hundred and seventy-five years ago.
David Howe died August 3, 1750, at Sudbury.
The children of David and Hepsibah 1. Death)
Howe were: Thankful, born December 15, 1703,
married Peter Howe, April 9, 17J3; llepsibah, Octo
ber 1, 1700; Eliphalet, June 3, 1710, settled ta Rut-
tod; Israel, May 6, 17 u, settled in Rutland;
Rutti^ February 23, 1714-5 ; David, June 13, 171?;
liwekiel, April 5, 17JO, settled iu Sudbury, owned the
tavern there.
(IV) Ezekiel Howe, son of David Howe (3),
was born iu Sudbury, Massachusetts, April 5, 17.V.
He married Bathsheba  > January 10, 1743-4,
and about the time of his marriage succeeded his
father in (he ownership of the tavern, It was in 1740
that he named it the Red Horse Tavern. He was
chosen lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Henry Card
iter's fourth Middlesex regiment, and commissioned
February 15, 177(1, but he declined to serve, lie was
chosen colonel ot the same regiment and commis
sioned May' 10, 1776. He marched with his regiment
at the Lexington alarm and served most of the lime
durin^ the revolution until ill health compelled him
to resign in a letter dated January jo. 1770, The
resignation was accepted February 4. i7,"u He
was in some of the New York campaigns.
Colonel Ezekiel Howe was proliahly the most
prominent citizen of Sudbury and the vicinity at the
period of the revolution. He was honored and re
spected by his fellow citizen, a man of property
and influence. He held town orticcs and various
positions of honor.
The children of Colonel Ezekiel and Bathsheba
Howe were: Ruth, born Mav 2, t?45; Aim, January
& 1746-7, (.one record gives 1747-?*) : Hepsibah, April
27, 1740; Bathsheba, January to, 17JJ; Molly, August
*d> 1754; Ezekiel, May 10, 175O; Olive, July 10,
1758; Eliphalet March* Jj, 17m ; Adam, May 13.
f\ ) Eliphalet Howe, sou of Colonel Ezekiel
Howe (4), was born iu Sudbury, Massachusetts.
March ij, 17m, He married Hannah Henry, June
tft 1788. She died September .y. 18,2.2, He died
December 7, 1834, He settled in Barre, near Rut
land, where his Uncle Eliphalet was one of the
early settlers on Walnut Hill. The history of
Rutland mentions the uncle among the tirst settlers,
Tlie name was spelled How in practically all the
early records of Sudbury and Rutland, while an
other family named Howe was living in the same
towns. The distinction of the families ceased when
practically all the Howe family added the Anal >."
The How* family is one of the most prominent and
numerous of all the early families in Worcester
county. Kltphalct Howe's place was in Barre and
there his descendants still live
The children of Eliphalet and Hannah Howe
were; Adam, born April 8, 1780. drowned June 13,

1800; Hannah, May 5, 1701, married Moses Law
rence, Jr., of Hardwick, bchmary 18, 1819; Artemas,
horn July 3, 1 7ufi, married (inienlioiis daled Deccm-
tier 18A )8j»\ Sophia M. W'cthcicll, of IVtersliani ;
Asenalh. February -'.(, 170S, married John \Y. Wes
ton, December a>, 1M0; Siibuiii, October o, 1700;
Charlotte, June 18, 180J, married Slillniiin Clark, of
Hardwick v intentions dated April 22,) iS.|j ; Eli
phalet, February 18, i8v\|,
(,\T) Eliplialel Howe, Jr., son of Eliphalet
Howe (5), was born in Bane, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 18, 1804, He married Keziah Kinsman, June
-8, 1833, She was horn January 1, 180.'. He was
a fanner living ill Barre where all his children were
horn. The children of Eliphalet and Keziah Howe
were: Samuel Austin, born May 0, 1834; Mercy
Ellen, December 2$, 1,830, married Franklin Babbitt,
died August 1, 1885; Augustus Elliott, born iu
Barre, October 23, 1837; Maria, October 23, 1830;
Christina, May 4, 1843; Mary Elizabeth, November
1, 18.(7, died January 17, 1848; Frank,
v,VIl) Samuel Austin Howe, son of Eliphalet
Howe 1,0), was horn in Barre, Massachusetts, May
(1, 1834. He died in Bane, February \2, 1005, He
married, December JO, 1858, Lucy Jane Warner, who
was born June 15, 1835, al Hardwick, Massachu
setts, of the well known Warner family. She died
October v8, 1887, They lived in Barre and West
boro, where Mr, Howe carried on a farm and con
ducted a large milk route.
The children of Samuel A, and Lucy J. Howe
were: Ella J., born December 10, 1850. married
William A, Reed, June 18, 1870: has two children:
William C bom April 4. 1880, and \ era, August
7, 1880; Daniel Austin, January 17, i8cu. married
Florence d. Teuney. December 5, 1890: Walter
Eliphalet, Westboro, January 15, 1808, married Mary
Ballon Cpton, and had: Maud, Daniel W. ; James
Weston, Westboro, June -\\ 187^, married Carrie
Delano, and had one child, Madeline.
(.YllO Daniel Austin Howe, son of Samuel
Austin Howe (7), was born in Barre, Massachu
setts, January 17, i8w. His father moved front
Barre to Westboro when he was six years old, and
he attended the public schools of Westboro, work
ing on his father's farm iu the summers until he was
seventeen years of ago. He attended Bryan &
Stratum's Commercial College in Boston. At the
age of seventeen he went to work as bookkeeper
for Chickering & Boynton. of Westboro, Four
years later he bought the store, but sold it immedi
ately and came lo Worcester to locate. With
George E, Stearns he bought the tea and coffee
business of Alfred Holden. of Worcester, Ibis busi
ness had been established in 1857 by Mr. Holden
and had becu in successful operation for twenty-
seven years. The firm of Stearns & Howe began
business in 1883 After a short time Xlr. Howe
bought out his partner and has since that time been
in business alone at tbe same location next the Bay
State House on Main street. Worcester. When he
bought due business it was retail and later he added
the wholesale department. Now two-thirds of the
business is wholesale. Mr Howe deals in spices,
canned goods and groceries. The house is known
all over New England and Mr, Howe's salesmen
cover most of New England in their regular trips.
Mr, Howe has been a successful business man, and
at the same tune he has found time to own and con-
duet a stock farm at Barre,' the home of his an
cestors. The form is Mr. Howe's summer home.
Mr. Howe was formerly a member of Anchoria
Lodge of Odd Fellows; the Hancock Club; Utopia
Rebekah Lodge . No, K17 ; Worcester Grange, Patrons
of Husbandry, He is a member of the Worcester

284

WORCESTER COUNTY

Board of Trade; Worcester Agricultural Society and
the Worcester County Horticultural Society. He is
a Republican in politics. He is an active member
of Central Congregational Church and Sunday
school, and has been auditor of the church.
He married, December 5, 1899, Florence Gray
Tenney. She was born at Auburndale, Massachu
setts, August 5, 1877, the daughter of Arthur Bur
ton and Harriet Elizabeth (Gray) Tenney. Her
father was born at Newport, New Hampshire, May,
1846. Her mother was born at Waterford, Con
necticut, September, 1844. She attended the Wor
cester schools and was graduated from the Wor
cester high schopl in the class of 1896. They re
side at 8 Burncoat street, Worcester. The children
of Daniel Austin and Florence Gray (Tenney)
Howe are : Mildred Gray, born February 24, 1901 ;
Frank Warner, October 27, 1902; Daniel Austin, Jr.,
November 24, 1903; Florence Ella, September 1,
TH'E TENNEY FAMILY. Thomas Tenney, the
emigrant ancestor of Mrs. Daniel Austin Howe,
(Florence Gray Tenney) was a member of Rev.
Ezekiel Rogers's company of colonists from York
shire, England. They arrived in Salem, Massachu
setts, December 1, 1638, and settled at Rowley,
Massachusetts, in April, 1639. He was one of the
proprietors in 1643. He testified that he was sixty-
six years "old May 4, 1680, hence he was born in
1614. He was twenty-four years old when with his
wife Ann he came to this country. She died and
was buried September 26, 1657. He married (sec
ond), 1658, Elizabeth Parratt, of Rowley. She re
ceived a bequest of ten pounds from Rev. Ezekiel
Rogers when he died, in 1660-1. Thomas Tenney's
home lot is now or was lately owned and occupied
by the Prime family, next south of house of George
B. Blodget, now or formerly. Tenney had grants
of land in 1661-67-70-73-74. He was ensign in the
militia company. He was town marshal in 1653-4
to 1666. He gave the official warning of town
meetings in 1650-53-60-61-66. He was overseer of
the poor in 1656-64-71. He was selectman in 1660-
61-70. He was viewer of fences, highways and
chimneys in 1669, constable in 1656, tithingman in
1680. His services were evidently in constant de
mand by his fellow citizens.
The children of Thomas and Ann Tenney were :
John, born December it, i6ao: Hannah. March 15,
1642; Mary, June 17, 1644; Thomas, July 16, 1648;
James, August 15, 1650; Sarah, April 15, 1652, died
April 10, 1653 ; Daniel, July 6, 1653.
(II) Deacon John Tenney, son of Thomas Ten
ney (1), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, De
cember 14, 1640. He married, in Rowley, December
14, 1663, Mercy Parrat, daughter of Francis and
Elizabeth Parrat, of Rowley. She was born July
23, 1646, and died November 27, 1667. He married
(second), in Merrimac, now Bradford, Massachu
setts, December 2, 1668, Susannah Woodbury, daugh
ter of Humphrey and Elizabeth Woodbjury, of
Beverly, Massachusetts.
John Tenney settled at Rowley, later at Brad
ford. Susannah, his wife, was born February 4,
1648. She was dismissed from the Beverly church
to the First Church at Bradford in 1682-3. She
died April 9, 1716. He bought one hundred acres
of land of Edward Hazen, of Rowley, May 20,
1664. He was moderator of the first town meeting
ever held in the town of Bradford, Massachusetts,
February 2, 1668. In 1668 he was clerk of writs
and in 1669 selectman. He was on the school com
mittee and on the first list of deacons of the church,
dated December 13, 1702. He was one of a commit

tee to hire the minister June 28, 1705, and on an im
portant committee appointed to heal differences in
the church, showing that he must have been a per
son of tact and discretion. He was one of the com
mittee that invited Rev. Thomas Symmes to become
the Bradford pastor, June 14, 1708. John Tenney
made a large number of real estate deals at Row
ley. He died April 13, 1722. Of his children there
are records only of two : Sarah, born October 17,
1665, baptized January 8, 1666; Samuel, November
20, 1667, baptized November 23, 1687.
(Ill) Deacon Samuel Tenney, son of John Ten
ney (2), was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, No
vember 20, 1667. He married Abigail Bailey, daugh
ter of Deacon Joseph Bailey. She died at Brad
ford, November 2, 1689.. He married (second), in
Bradford, December 18, 1690, Sarah Boynton, daugh
ter of Captain Joseph and Sarah (Swan) Boynton,
of Bradford. She was born January 11, 1671-2, and
joined the church in full communion August 4,
1691, at Bradford. She died April 3, 1709. He
married (third) Hannah Moody, of Newbury, Jan
uary 26, 1710-11. She joined the church July 1,
1716. She died October 29, 1745, at Bradford, now
Groveland, Massachusetts. .
His home lot was near or at the place of T. H.
Finney, now or formerly, (1891). He joined the
church January 23, 1687. He was chosen elder
March 28, 1718. He was a shorthand writer, then
a rare accomplishment, and used to fake down
the sermons for practice. He was a gifted singer and
led the church service for twenty-five years. He
was altogether one of the most distinguished men of
his time. He repeatedly held most of the offices of
trust and honor within the gift of his^ fellow citi
zens. He was a lieutenant in the provincial troops
and member of the colonial assembly of 1725. He
was one of the few who voted against the King's
charter iri the assembly. He died February 3,
1747-8, in his eighty-first year. A stone suitably.
inscribed marks his grave in the Groveland burying
ground. His will was dated October 23, 1735.
The child of Samuel and Abigail (Bailey) Ten
ney was: Abigail, born November 22, 1689. The
children of Samuel and Sarah Boynton (Tenney)
were : Mercy, October 23, 1691 ; John, December 8,
1692; Susanna, February 5, 1694-5, married John
Bailey; Sarah, March 29, 1696; Samuel, December
17, 1697; Joseph, March 16, 1698; Ann, September
24, 1700; Daniel, February 14, 1702; Jonathan, De
cember 8, 1703; Dorothy, December 20, 1704; Philip,
December 16, 1706.
(IV) Daniel Tenney, son of Samuel Tenney
(3), was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, now
Groveland, February 14, 1702. He married Sarah
Kimball, who died August 31, 1732, aged twenty-
seven years. He married (second), May 18, 1733,
Ann Coleman, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He
settled in Bradford, where he joined the church
June 26, 1720. He died May 7, 1751, and his son
Thomas was appointed administrator of his estate.
His widow died June 28, 1768, aged sixty-eight
years, and was buried in the Groveland graveyard.
The children of Daniel and Sarah (Kimball)
Tenney were: Deborah, born June 30, 1726; Daniel,
(twin) July 26, 1730, died young; Thomas (twin),
July 26, 1730. The children of Daniel and Ann
(Coleman) Tenney were: Daniel, March 16, 1734!
Jonathan, January 29, 1735-6; Sarah, July 29, 1737 1
Shubael, January 5, 1739-40.
(V) Daniel Tenney, son of Daniel Tenney (4).
was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, March 10,
1734. He married, June 25, 1761, Joanna Cheney.
They settled in Bradford. The children of Daniel

WORCESTER COUNTY

285

and Ann (Coleman) Tenney were: Daniel, born-
April 4, 1762; Eldad, April 20, 1764; Rhoda, August
25, 1766; Moses, April 16, 1769; Thomas, September
21', I77i; Aaron, July 11, 1774; Joanna, March 8,
1776; Paul, September 12, or 24, 1781, M. D., was
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1803 with A. M.
degree; married, August 12, 1894, Anna Hoyt,
daughter of Samuel Hoyt, of Poplin, -New Hamp
shire ; resided at Bedford Hills, Wilmot, New Hamp
shire, removed to Williamsburg, Ohio; died Septem
ber 29, 1844.
(VI) Thomas Tenney, son of Daniel Tenney
(5), was born at Bradford, Massachusetts, Septem
ber 21, 1771. He married Hannah Long, of Hop
kinton, New Hampshire. He married (second)
Susan Cheney. In 1796 he removed to Newport,
New Hampshire, and occupied first the Hiall Call
farm; later and for many years he lived on the
place now or formerly of H. F. Pike. He was a
carpenter by trade. He died in Newport, 1841.
The children of Thomas Tenney were: Joshua,
born December 2, 1795; Mary, December 3, 1798;
Hannah, September .0, 1800; Temperance, July 20,
1808; Susan, June 10, 1807; Abijah W., November
25, 1810; Isaac C, July 11, 1814; Daniel W., October
17, 1816.
(VII) Abijah W. Tenney, son of Thomas Ten
ney (6), was born in Newport, New Hampshire,
November 25, 1810. He married, August 9, 1840,
Hannah Stevens' Jenks, daughter of Captain Bela
W. and Mary (Stevens) Jenks. She was born No
vember 26, 1816, and died September 12, 1848. He
married (second), June 15, 1849, Emily Baker,
daughter of James and Sophia (Chapin) Baker.
She was born April 22, 1823. He lived at Southville
in Newport, New Hampshire. He was a man of
very genial nature, yet just to all with whom he
dealt, and exacting justice and honesty in return.
Living an earnest, Christian life, trusted and hon
ored by all who knew him, he exemplified the
Golden Rule from day to day. He had very strict
ideas in regard to temperance and his entire family
was brought up in accordance with them. In politics
he was a stanch Republican. Although very much
interested in town as well as national affairs, and
enjoying the esteem of his fellow-townsmen, yet he
would never hold any public office as he disliked
heartily the many disputes and controversies in
which a man of public affairs must be concerned.
Besides the farm which he always carried on, he
was for many years engaged at his trade as a mill
wright. He was always considered a very good
mechanic and was skilled at various trades.
The children of Abijah W. and Hannah Stevens
(Jenks) Tenney were: Abijah Wallace, born Sep
tember 9, 1841, died September 22, 1844; Mary
Jenks, May 18, 1845, married Thomas Adelbert Mon
tague; Arthur Burton, May 22, 1846; George Hub
bard, July 26, 1848, died December 11, 1866.
(VIII) Arthur Burton Tenney, son of Abijah
W. Tenney, (7), was born at Newport, New Hamp
shire, May 22, 1846. He received his education here
at the district schools and until nineteen years old
worked with his father. Then wishing to follow the
carpenter's trade he left Newport, finally coming
to Worcester. He returned to Newport where for a
short time he was engaged in building. Soon he
moved to Auburndale, Massachusetts, and there he
took up the building business in company with Mr.
Soule. He took his family next to Holyoke, Massa
chusetts, where they were settled for several years
while he was engaged in New York and many of
the nearer cities and towns until he finally came to
Worcester, where he was connected with the erec

tion of many of the large buildings of the city, the
Knowles Loom Works being the last one. While
living in Worcester he superintended the construc
tion of several large buildings in Providence, Rhode
Island, among them being that of the Rhode Island
Hospital Trust Co., and the B. H. Gladding Co.
Alter the death of his wife, which occurred in 1893,
he settled in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where he
lived until 1900. Then, owing to poor health, he
went to Los Angeles, California, where he is at
present successfully engaged in" architecture and
building. He married (first), at Worcester, September 17,
1868, Harriet Elizabeth Gray, who was born at
Waterford, Connecticut, September 25, 1844.
The children of Arthur Burton and Harriet
Elizabeth (Gfay) Tenney were : Louis Burton, born
December 18, 1872, married Mary Gould, of Paw
tucket, July 3, 1900, has one child, Florence G. ; Flor
ence Gray, August 5, 1877; Estelle Palmer, October
1, 1882, died in Providence, Rhode Island, March
18, 1892. Mr. Tenney married (second), 1897, Mar
tha A. Sheldon, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
(IX) Florence Gray Tenney, daughter of Ar
thur Burton Tenney (8), was born August 5, 1877,
at Auburndale, Massachusetts. She married Daniei
Austin Howe, December 5, 1899, at Worcester,
Massachusetts. (See sketch of Daniel A. Howe and
family.) FRED WENDELL WHITE. Thomas White
(1), of Weymouth, was the pioneer ancestor of
Fred Wendell White, city treasurer of Worcester,
Massachusetts. He came from his home in England in 1624 or
soon after, and settled in Weymouth. He was ad
mitted a freeman March 3, 1636, and was a deputy
to the general court in 1636 and 1637, 1657 and
1670. He was a proprietor of the town as early as
1643. According to the deposition to the will of
Anne Looman, made October 21, 1659, he was born
in England in 1599 or 1600. He was a carpenter
by trade. He died August, 1679. His will was dated
July 5, 1679, and proved August 28, of that year.
He mentioned the children named below, grandchil
dren Lydia, Mary and Ebenezer White, Pastor Sam
uel Torrey and Elder Edward Bates. Thomas Dyer,
who witnessed the will, was of Mendon later.
The children of Thomas White were: Joseph,
see forward; Samuel, born 1642, admitted a free
man 1666, married Mary Dyer, son of Thomas
Dyer, named above; Thomas, admitted a freeman
1681, married Mary Pratt, of Braintree; Hannah,
married, June 24, 1660, John Baxter; Ebenezer,
(Lieutenant), married Hannah Phillips, daughter of
Nicholas, settled in Weymouth.
(II) Captain Joseph White, son of Thomas
White (1), was born about 1640 in Weymouth. He
married, September 9, 1660, Lydia Rogers, daughter
of John Rogers, of Weymouth, one of the pioneers
there. Captain White died March 23, 1706, his wife
Lydia died May 8, 1727. He settled in Nipmuc
or Mendon in 1663, and was formally accepted on
the list of ten men from Weymouth, and thirteen
from Braintree who constituted the first settlers
of the town. His was one of the first fifteen families
located in Mendon in 1662 and 1663. He was the
largest taxpayer in the town for many years. He
held many offices and served on special committees
for the new town. Several of his children were born
in Weymouth before he went to Mendon,' several of
them were born while the family was away from
Mendon during King Philip's war. Savage gives
eleven children. The Mendon records seem to give

286

WORCESTER COUNTY

four children to Captain Joseph and Lydia, not
mentioned by Savage, possibly belonging to Jo
seph, Jr.
The children of Joseph and Lydia were: Joseph,
born at Weymouth, December 16, ibto; Samuel,
February 14. 1667, at Mendon; John; Ebenezer;
Thomas : Ann, married a Mr. Trask : Mary, married
a Mr. Hiil; Experience, born in Mendon. December
5, 1080; Hannah, November 29, 1081, at Mendon; Jo
seph, October 19, 1083. see forward; Lydia, May
10, 1080. married a Mr. Cook: Hannah, December
9, 1691; Abigail, November iq, 1693; William; and
Benjamin, March 28, 1701.
(IH) Joseph White, son of Joseph White (2),
was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, October 19,
1083, and died there October jS, 1757. He married,
about 171 1, Prudence  . Their children, all
bom at Mendon, were: Joseph, Jr., born September
22, 171-?, see forward: Peter, December 6, 1714;
Aaron, May 22, 1717; Moses, August 31, 1721.
(IV) Joseph White, Jr., son of Joseph White
(3), was bom in Mendon, September 22, 1712, and
settled in that part of Mendon, later Uxbridge,
Massachusetts. He married, December 4. 1734,
'Judith Clark, of Uxbridge, Rev. Nathan Webb of
ficiating. They had thirteen children: Sarah, born
September 4, 1735, died September, 1747 ; Lyral, May
8, 1737, married, November 25, 1750. Aimer Taft,
at Uxbridge : Lois, August 25, 1739. married, January
6. 1757, Edward Seagraves, at Uxbridge; Eunice,
November 1, 1741 : Joseph, May 4, 1744. died Sep
tember 8, 1747: Judith, December 1, 1746, died Sep
tember, 1747: Amos, October 20, 174S. married. May
i"> 1770. Azubah Taft, at Uxbridge; he died in the
Revolutionary army. Joel, October 4, 1751, died at
Northbridge. Massachusetts, July 22, 1835: Jesse,
see forward; Obadiah, September 8, 1753; Edward,
June 5, 1756, died June 14, 1756; Abner, April 5.
175S, died April 5, 175S; Moses, August 3, 1759, died
August 8. 1750.
(V) Jesse White, ninth child of Joseph White
(4), was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. June
12, 1754; married, March 28, 1777, in Uxbridge,
Anna Mason, of Uxbridge (published March 10,
1777, in Northbridge). He was educated and learned
his trade as blacksmith at Uxbridge. He was a
farmer as ¦ well as a blacksmith. He settled in
Northbridge. From him the elder Paul Whitney
learned his trade.
He was deacon in the Baptist church of some
neighboring town, perhaps Grafton. He held various
town offices. He was a revolutionary soldier, ean-
listing as a private in Captain Josiah Wood's com
pany which marched from Northbridge to Rox
bury April 19, 1775, on the Lexington alarm. He
was sergeant in Captain David Bateheller's company.
Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment which
marched December S. 1776, on the alarm to Provi
dence. He was sergeant in Captain David Batchel
ler's company, Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment,
which marched on the alarm to Rhode Island July
28, 17S0. He was chosen by the town of North-
bridge, July 29, 1779, one of a committee to hire
men to enlist in the Continental army, and was
rated to pay for that service, six pounds, March I,
17S0, and one hundred and twenty pounds in old
currency, March 12, 1781.
He married Anna Mason, as stated above, and
had eleven children : Lucy, born May 5, 177S, mar
ried Dr. Artemas Bullard; Noah, February 21,
1780; Amos, see forward; Jesse, June 13. 1783;
Alden, March 21, 1785; Anna, January. 4, 17S7, died
February 14, 1795 ; Joel, January 5, 1789 ; Eunice,
March 4, 1791 : Sally, May 6, 1793, died May 19,
1793; Mason, May 14, 1704: Washington, May 19,

1796. Jesse White, father of these children, died
at Northbridge, March 2, 1830^ and is buried there
in what is known as the Cooper graveyard.
lYI) Amos White, third child of Jesse White
(5), was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 19, 1781. He followed his father's trade of
blacksmith, and had a blacksmith shop of his own
later. He manufactured edge tools, chiefly for boot
and shoe makers, also axes.
Mr. White was a Methodist and was connected
with that denomination until late in life when he
attended the Congregational church. He was captain
of the Northbridge Militia Company, and was always
known afterward as Captain White.
He married, September 1, 1803, Hepzibath Aid-
rich, of Northbridge, who was born May 21, 1780^
and died October 27, 1865. Both are buried in the
Cooper graveyard. Their children were: Lowell,
see forward; Jefferson, born June 18, 1805; Otis,
October 12. 1S06; Amos, June 3, 1809; Lydia. May
15. 1813; Lucy Bullard, September 30, 1814; Laura,
November 24, 1817; Perry, August 29, 1820, died
April 28, 182 1 ; Luke, January 7, 18.12, died July 16,
18S2. Amos White, father of these children, died
March 11, 1853.
(VII) Lowell White, son of Amos White (6L
was born in West Sutton, Massachusetts, May ao,
1S04. At an early age he moved to Northbridge
with his parents. He received his early education
in the common schools of Northbridge, working
on his father's farm up to the age of fourteen years,
when he was apprenticed to Cheney Taft. a grocer,
with whom he remained for about three years. He
helped his father for a time on the home farm and
then went to work in Levi Fuller's shoe shop and
later in Warren Adams" shoe shop, some three years
in all, and then for Deacon Joel Batcheller, manu
facturing shoes until October, 1847, when he moved
to Grafton and accepted a position in Captain John
W. Slocumb's shop. He continued in the shoe
business until within a year of his death. He worked
in Westboro for some time while living in Grafton.
He was prominent in town affairs at Grafton,
and served on the board of selectmen. He was a
Republican. He was a member of the Congrega
tional church and of the Grafton Lodge of Odd Fel
lows. He married, October 5, 1828, at Northbridge,
(by Rev. John Crane) Miranda Dodge, who was
bom February 19, 1808, the daughter of Abner and
Rhoda (Adams) Dodge, of Northbridge. Mr.
Dodge was prominent in military affairs and had the
rank of captain in the militia.
The children of Lowell and Miranda White
were: Catherine Augusta, bom February 6, 1830;
Merrick Dodge (see forward) ; Sarah Frances, born
October. 1835. died October 9, 1S36; Ann Maria
(twin) bom July 23, 1S40; Jane Sophia (twin),
bom July 23, 1840. Lowell White, father of these
children, died February 12, 1875.
(VIII) Merrick Dodge White, second child of
Lowell White and father of Fred W.White, was born
in Northbridge. Massachusetts, September 16, 1834.
He attended the Northbridge public schools until
he was thirteen years of age and helped his father
make shoes. When the family moved to Grafton
in October, 1S47. he went to work in the shoe factory
of Captain John W. Slocumb. He worked there
until December 25, 1858, when he took a position
as cutter in the shoe shop of John Hayes, at Dover,
New Hampshire. He returned in 1861 and worked
for a year in Worcester for J. W. Brigham, South-
bridge street; and for two years at South Framing
ham in the Charles Prentice shop; and for a year
in the shops of Augustus Forbush and H. C Green-

WORCESTER COUNTY

287

wood, in Grafton. He was clerk in the Sherman
House, Natick, two years and a half, and later was
engaged in the restaurant business in Westboro and
Grafton, conducting a business in the last named
town on his own account After more experience in
the hotel business he returned to shoe making for
C H. Tilton, Ashland, where he worked for five
years. In 1889 he began work for his brother-in-
law, Samuel A. Prescott, in the manufacture of
shoddy." He was in this business for eleven years
when he lost his arm in an accident and had to re
tire. He is at present living with his sister, Mrs.
Prescott In politics he is a Democrat, and while
in Natick was delegate to various party conven
tions. He attends the Congregational church. He
served five years in the Grafton Military Company.
He married Emma Adelaide Wendell (intentions
dated August iS, i860), at Dover, New Hamp
shire. She was a daughter of George Washington
and Prudence (Jenness) Wendell, of Dover New
Hampshire. She died August iS, 1889. Their
children were: Harry Lowell, born at Dover, New
Hampshire, January 24, 1861 ; Fred Wendell, see
forward; Clinton Sutton, born at Grafton, June 2,
1864. (IX) Fred Wendell White, son of Merrick
Dodge White (8), was born at Dover, New Hamp
shire, March 16, 1862. In the fall of 1866 he -moved
with his parents to Grafton, Massachusetts, where he
entered the common schools of that town. After
completing two terms in the high school he went
to Worcester to take a position, April 7, 1879, as
assistant cashier at the store of Barnard & Sum
ner. He remained in that position until March 8,
1880, when he entered the employ of W. H. Morse
& Company, bankers, as assistant cashier. He be
came assistant bookkeeper at the First National
Bank October n, 1880, of the same year, and con
tinued in various positions, advancing to the posi
tions of paying and receiving teller, in all some
seventeen years, when he resigned to accept a posi
tion with Mr. Barton. He was appointed assistant
city treasurer by William S. Barton, then the city
treasurer, September 24, 1897. Upon the retirement
of Mr. Barton owing to failing health, January 2,
1899, he was elected treasurer of the city and has
been re-elected to the position at every election since.
The position fa one of great responsibility. The
city treasurer receives all of the taxes and assess
ments and disburses all the money of the city. Mil
lions of dollars are handled every year in his office.
Mr. White has given the utmost satisfaction to
the city officers and the taxpayers.
He is a member of the Adams Square Congrega
tional church, is its treasurer, and member of the
music committee. In politics he is a Republican.
He is a prominent Free Mason, member of Monta
cute Lodge, of Worcester Royal Arch Chapter and
of Hiram Council. He is a member of Worcester
Lodge, No. 56, Odd Fellows; of the Hancock Club;
of the Worcester Automobile Club; of the Wor
cester County Mechanics' Association; of the Sons
of the American Revolution; Worcester Congrega
tional Club ; the Economic Club ; and Worcester
County Horticultural Society. He was formerly a
member of Company G, Sixth Regiment, Massa
chusetts Volunteer. Militia, from 1880 to 1884 in
clusive, and belongs to the -Veteran Association.
He married, April 22, 1886, Mabel Josephine
Boyd, who was bom vjctober 19, 1864. the daughter
of John T. and Elizabeth W. (Butts) Boyd, of Bos
ton. Mr. Boyd was a sailmaker at Charlestown
Nayy Yard, a veteran and lieutenant colonel in the
Fifth Massachusetts Infantry in the civil war.
The children of Fred Wendell and Mabel Jose

phine (Boyd) White were; Marion Winter, born
April 17, 1889; Frances Lowell, bom January 31,
1892; died September 9, 1903; Eloise Boyd, born
August 16, 1900.
EMERSON WARNER, M. D. (I) William
Warner, the emigrant ancestor of the Warner family
of Barre, and of Dr. Emerson Warner, of Worcester,
is believed to be a son of Samuel Warner, of
Boxted, Essex, England, arid was doubtless born in
England about 1590. William Warner was one of
the pioneers at Ipswich, Massachusetts, was one of
the proprietors as early as 1635, and his name ap
pears on a list of proprietors dated 1637. He was
admitted a freeman, May 2, 1638. The date of his
death is unknown, but he was living October 29,
1654. Records exist in this country of three of his
children, namely: Daniel; John, born about 1616
in England; and a daughter, born in England, be
came the wife of Thomas Wells, and died July, 1671.
(II) John Warner, son of William Warner, was
born in England about the year 1616. He was reared
in his native land and came to the Ipswich Colony,
Massachusetts Bay, either shortly before or after
the remainder of the family. He was a passenger
from London on the' ship "Increase" in 1635, when
he gave his age of twenty years. He removed from
Ipswich to Brookfield in 1670, was one of three men
there who took the Indian deed for tlie towTi of y
Brookfield, December 19, 1673. and was one of the
principal inhabitants there. When the town was
destroyed by the Indians in 1675 he retreated with
his younger children to Hadley, Massachusetts,
whither Mark Warner, an elder son, and other chil
dren had gone to settle. He probably died at the
home of some of his children, 1692.
John Warner married (first)  .
He married (second) Pricilla Symonds, daughter
of Mark Symonds, about 1655. The children of John
Warner, and his first wife were : Samuel, born about
1640; John, born about 1643, died at Springfield,
Massachusetts, January 21, 1724; Mark, born 1646,
died at Northampton, Massachusetts, May 31, 1738,
aged ninety-two years; Nathaniel, born about 1650,
was a resident of Brookfield in 1673, died in Hadley,
Massachusetts, January 15, 1714; Daniel, born about
^53. died in Ipswich, Massachusetts, June 8, 1659.
The children of John and Priscilla (Symonds) War
ner were: Joseph, born August 15, 1657, died June
18, 1658; Mehitable, bom April 16, 1659, died at
Hadley, Massachusetts, June 12, 1678; Daniel, born
April 16, 1661, died 1688 ; ¦ Eleazer, born November
13, 1662, died at Hadley, Massachusetts, May 8,
1729; Priscilla, born 1664, married Thomas Cum
mings, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, December 19,
1688. (Ill) Samuel Warner, son of John Warner, was
born in Ipswich. Massachusetts, about 1640. He
was in Brookfield in 1673. but his family was not
with him. He was one of the petitioners for the in
corporation of the town of Brookfield, and possibly
was there two years later when the town was de
stroyed. He testified March 26, 1678, describing him
self as thirty-eight years old and that he formerly
owned land in Brookfield. He became one of the
pioneers in Dunstable, Massachusetts, now Nashua,
New Hampshire, was one of the fourteen proprietors
residing there November 30, 1682, and was one of
the seven male members of the first church which
was organized. December 16, 1685. He purchased a
farm in Groton, Massachusetts, the adjoining town,
October 14, 1689, and probably died there about
IJ**3. He married (first) in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
October 21, 1662, Mercy Swan, who died in Dun-

?! !«f

288

WORCESTER COUNTY

stable, Massachusetts, April 3, 1683. Their children
were : Priscilla, born September 25, 1666, died
young; Samuel, born July 5, 1668, settled at Pom
fret, Connecticut; John, born August 2, 1670, died
July 14, 1671 ; Dorothy, born June 2, 1672 ; Sarah,
born May 28, 1674 ; ^Richard, born' August 13, 1676,
at Groton, died 1767, aged ninety-one. years; his
will dated June 10, 1763, was proved October 15,
1767. Samuel Warner married (second), May 4,
1684, Mary Swallow, and their children were:
Eleazer, born January 27, 1686; Priscilla. The chil
dren of his first wife were probably all born in
Ipswich, and the children of his second wife were
born in Dunstable.
(IV) Eleazer Warner, son of Samuel Warner,
was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, January 27,
1686. When a young man he devoted several years
to the military service. He was assigned to duty on
the frontier and for many years was stationed with
the military company at Brookfield, the scene of
his grandfather's disaster in King Philip's war. He
enlisted as a private and rose in rank from time to
, time through the grades of sergeant, ensign and lieu
tenant of the company commanded by Captain Sam
uel Wright, of Rutland. Later he became captain
of the military company at Hardwick and New
Braintree and retained the office until 1756, when he
was seventy years old. He evidently liked the mili
tary service and enjoyed a vigorous old age. He
is the hero of the only Indian tale related of Hard
wick settlers. In 1830, while he was in the military
service, he removed his family from their residence
in Groton or Dunstable to Hardwick, now New
Braintree. His land was near Ditch meadow, and
his farm included part of the old Indian fort at
Winnimisset. Shortly afterward he had to go to
Canada to effect an exchange of prisoners, and while
he was there an Indian became offended at him and
followed him home.
According to family tradition the Indian, lurked
about for several days for a chance to take a shot
at Warner. One day Captain Warner went into the
forest with his musket and came across his enemy.
The Indian jumped behind a tree, and Warner
dropped behind a log. Placing his hat on a stick
Warner raised it above the edge of the log, and the
Indian was deceived by the old trick and let fire
at the empty hat. The captain sprang up and the
Indian rushed forward with his scalping knife only
to meet the contents of the white man's gun. His
body was thrown in the lily pond between the road
and river, half a mile east of Old Furnace. After
his marriage Captain Warner went to live on the
west side of the road from New Braintree to War
ren, on the south side of the brook, at the head of
Ditch meadow, then Brookfield, now New Brain
tree. About 1730 he removed to a farm which he
sold to Perez Cobb, May 4, 1764, and which was for
many years known as the Perez Cobb farm. It was
located on the road to Rutland, about a mile east
of Furnace village, already mentioned. Mr. Warner
became one of the most active and honored citizens
of the new town of New Braintree, was selectman
for six years, assessor for a similar period of time,
was often chosen moderator of the town meetings,
and was one of twelve man who formed the first
church there.
Captain Eleazer Warner married, December 4,
1722, when thirty-six years old, Prudence Barnes,
daughter of Thomas Barnes, of Brookfield. Their
children were: Mary, born April 21, 1724, married
Thomas Robinson, November 23, 1744, died August
7, 1812; Phineas, born October 11, 1726, married
Martha Nash; Warham, born November I, 1730,
(November 2 in New Braintree records) resided at

New Braintree and died there December 4, 1817
leaving a large family; Eleazer, born February 26,
!733-34, was a soldier in the French war, died in
the service November 20, 1755; Martin, born Sep
tember 2, 1735, settled in Norwich; Silas, born May
21, 1737, died of wounds received in French war,
August 24, 1760; Samuel, born October 7, 1739, lived
at New Braintree, married Unity Ware, April 19,
1769; Noah, born February 9, 1741-42, killed, in battle
in the French war, 1760; Prudence, born 'June 14,
1744, married Daniel Eldridge, February 10, 1767. '
Eleazer Warner, father of these children, died in
New Braintree, February 28, 1776, aged ninety years.
He survived his wife several years, she passing
away in New Braintree, February 25, 1770, aged
sixty-six years. Seven sons of this old warrior,
Captain Warner, entered the military service during
the French war, and three lost their lives.
(V) Phineas Warner, son of Captain Eleazer
Warner, was born October 11, 1726, at New Brain
tree, then Brookfield, Massachusetts. He was deacon
of the church in New Braintree, and a man of dis
tinction. He married Martha Nash, of Hatfield,
Massachusetts, February 11, 1752, and their children
were: Eleazer, born 1756, died November 17, 1758,
aged seventeen months; Phineas, born 1759, died
May 6, 1762, aged two years, eight months; Martha,
born 1767, died September 4, 1778, aged seventeen
years ; Phineas, born November 2, 1763, died at New
Braintree, July 24, 1841 ; and perhaps others. Deacon
Phineas Warner died March 25, 1795, at New Brain
tree, and his wife passed away at the same place
October 23, 181 1. -
(VI) Phineas Warner, son of Phineas Warner,
was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 2, 1763, and died there July 24, 1841. He was
an ensign in the army. He married Mary Pollard.
She died 1841. Their children were : Patty, born
November 7, 1784; Daniel, born August 28, 1786;
Eli, born June 22, 1788; Betsey, born April 8, 1790;
Amory P., born July 9, 1805, died April 28, 1880.
(VII) Amory P. Warner, son of Phineas War
ner, was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts,
July 9, 1805, died at Worcester, Massachusetts, April
28, 1880. He was reared on a farm in New Brain
tree, educated in the public schools of his native
town, and was a farmer by occupation. He was a
member of the Methodist church. He was a Repub
lican in politics. He married, March 12, 1829,
Cemira C. Haskins, born in Prescott, Massachusetts,
September 13, 1811, died February 6, 1881. They
were the parents of one child, Emerson, born April
30, 1831, at New Braintree, Massachusetts.
(VIII) Emerson Warner, son of Amory P.
Warner, was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts,
April 30, 1831. He attended the district schools of
New Braintree, Wilbraham Academy, Wesleyan Uni
versity at Middletown, Connecticut, which he en
tered in 1852, graduated therefrom in 1856, and
received the degree of Master of Arts in 1859. For
a few years thereafter he taught in Wilbraham Acad
emy. He received his degree of Doctor of Medi
cine from Harvard Medical School in 1863, began
to practice in Shrewsbury, but removed to Worcester,
January 1, 1866, and led a very busy professional
life there for twenty years. In 1872 and 1873 he
visited many of the leading medical institutions in
Europe. Since 1886, when his career was interrupted
by illness, he has not been in active practice, but has
traveled extensively in Asia, Africa, South America^
North America and Europe, accompanied by_ Mrs.
Warner. They have passed several winters in the
Azores and the south because of the modified cli
mate. Dr. Warner has been across the country
many times in every direction, visiting most of the

WORCESTER COUNTY

289

states and important cities in the United States and
Canada, and he has been around the world twice
by different routes. In -these nineteen years Dr.
Warner has acquired a cosmopolitan knowledge of
the world,, its geography and its people such as few
men are fortunate enough to possess.
When Dr. Warner came to Worcester he took
possession of the house on Main street erected in
1793 hy the Rev. Dr. Austin, then pastor of the Old
South Church. A portion of that landmark is , still
standing near the Crompton & Knowles loom works,
whither it was moved in order to make room for the
present Warner block, a four story building," ex
tending from 570 to 576 Main street, where he now
resides. Dr. Warner was in regular attendance at
the opening of the Worcester Dispensary, and for
seventeen years was on the staff at the Worcester
City Hospital. He has been consulting surgeon at
the Memorial Hospital since it was established, was
president of the Worcester District Medical Society,
and for many years was a councillor of the Massa
chusetts Medical Society. In politics he is a Repub
lican. He was a member of school boards in the
cities in which he resided prior to taking up his
residence in Worcester, and was a member of the
Worcester school board for twenty years. He rep
resented Worcester in the general court in 1884 and
1885, and as chairman of the committee on public
health did important work in sanitary legislation.
He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and was delegate to the general conference
in 1880. He has been interested in the Worcester
Associated Charities,, and belongs to the Worcester
Art Museum Corporation.
Dr. Warner married (first), July 18, 1851, L.
Angeline Cleveland, of Hardwick, _ Massachusetts,
and the two children born of this union died young.
Mrs. Warner died September 20, 1854. Dr. Warner
married (second), May 24, 1856, Isabelle H. An
drews, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, daughter , of
David and Honoria (Sparks) Andrews, and grand
daughter of David and Rebecca (Stratton) An
drews. Her father was born July 3, 1791, was a
farmer in Glastonbury, and represented that town
in the Connecticut legislature in 1842 and 1843. He
married, December 25, 1819, Honoria Sparks, born
June 3, 1802, died September 14, 1879, and his death
occurred March 23, 1858. The children of Dr.
Emerson and Isabelle H. (Andrews) Warner were:
Effie L., born September 7, 1865, died September
30, 1884. Isabel, born November 20, i860, educated
in the Worcester schools, married, October 30, 1887,
Dean S. Ellis, M. D., born in Vermontville, Frank
lin county, New York, August 28, 1856, son of Sam
uel and Emily M. (Towne) Ellis. Dr. Ellis ob
tained his preliminary education in the public schools
of Worcester and at New Salem .Academy, where
he pursued a four years course. He then entered
Jefferson Medical College, graduating in the class
of 1883, and immediately thereafter began practice
in Worcester, where he at once became popular with
all classes. He is skilled as a general practitioner
ranks well among his fellow-physicians, and is recog
nized as one of the leading practicing physicians of
Worcester. He is medical examiner for eight in
surance companies, surgeon to eleven local societies,
'and a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society,
American Medical Association, and the Worcester
Medical Association. In 1904 Dr. Ellis purchased
the granite block, 578 and 586 Main street, remodeled
the entire building, ahd at the present time it is one
of the best in the city. He is a lover of fine horses,
and always drives animals of splendid breed and fine
mettle. Dr. and Mrs. Ellis have traveled quite ex
tensively both in this country and abroad. Their
19

children are : Ruth, born December 17, 1889 ; Ralph
Warner, born November 16, 1891 ; Ethel, born July
29, 1894; Myrtle Isabel, borri August 8, 1896, died
September 7, 1901 ; and Dean Emerson, born July
5, 1903. STEPHEN P. STREETER. Stephen Streeter
(1), first of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1642, was
the emigrant ancestor of Stephen P. Streeter, of Wor
cester. He is believed to have come to New England
before 1640. Fie may have preceded the settlers of
1642. in Gloucester, as Blynman's grant as that time
included a lot primarily given to Streeter. He had
a house in Gloucester, but did not remain long there
after its permanent settlement. In 1644 he was in
Charlestown, recorded as a householder, and he took
the freeman's oath there May 29, 1644. He and his
wife Ursula joined the church there March 21, 1652.
The family genealogists think the proof conclusive
that Stephen Streeter came from the Streeter family
in Goudherst, England. The tradition in some
branches of the American family is that the emigrant
came from Surrey while Goudherst is in Kent, but
there are representatives in both counties now and
have been for centuries.
Stephen Streeter's will was made June 10, 1652.
He was a shoemaker by trade. His wife Ursula is
said to have been the daughter of Henry Adams,
of Braintree, but the relationship is not proved.
After Streeter's death his widow married, October
13, 1656 or 7, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Sam
uel Hosier, of Watertown. He died July 29, _ 1665.
His widow married, about 1666, William Robinson,
of Dorchester, whose name first appears in Dor
chester records in 1636. He was killed July 6,
1668, being caught in the wheel of his mill and torn
in pieces. His widow married Griffin Crafts, of
Roxbury. She died before 1690. The children of
Stephen and Ursula Streeter were : Stephen ;
Sarah, who was under eighteen when her father's'
will was made in 1652 ; Samuel ; John, a soldier in
King Philip's war, 1675; Hannah, born November
10, 1644; Rebecca; Mary, (posthumous) born about
1652. (II) Stephen Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter
(1), was probably born in England and died in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1689. He lived in
Charlestown, Watertown, Brookline and Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He sold half of the homestead in
Charlestown, inherited from his father, in 1679, and
other land in 1681. His wife Deborah was ad
mitted to the church at Cambridge in full com
munion July 13, 1701, and after her husband's death
she married, August 10, 1704, Samuel Sears, of
Wrentham, Massachusetts.
The children of Stephen and Deborah Streeter
were : Stephen, born June 20, 1667, at Watertown ;
Sarah, born October 2, 1669, in Watertown ; Samuel ;
John, born probably' at Brookline; Rebecca, born
September 3, 1683, at Cambridge; Deborah, born
September 25, 1685, died April 7, 1689, at Cambridge ;
Joseph, born September 18, 1687; Benjamin, born
November 25, 1689, died April 23, 1690.
(Ill) Samuel Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter
(2), was born probably at Brookline, Massachusetts,
and died at Framingham, Massachusetts, 1752. He
probably removed from Cambridge to Attleboro,
Massachusetts, about 1706, where he bought land
on several occasions, but later he was again in
Framingham, Massachusetts. His will is dated April
23, I7S1, and probated September 16, following.
He married (first), Deborah  , who died

November 13, 1708, and_ (second) Mercy
who was probably a widow Howe. The children
of Samuel and Deborah Streeter were : Mary

290

WORCESTER COUNTY

baptized February 2, 1696-7; Sarah, baptized Febru
ary 2, 1696-7; Stephen, baptized in 1698, died in
Douglas, Massachusetts, September 22, 1756; Samuel,
baptized January 7, 1699-1700, died in Charlton,
Massachusetts, June 7, 1763; Mercy, baptized May
14, 1704; Susanna, baptized April 28, 1706, in Cam
bridge; Joseph, born May 10, 1708; Deborah, mar
ried Jedediah Belknap, of Framingham; Elizabeth,
married Ebenezer Frizzell, of Framingham.
(IV) Stephen Streeter, son of Samuel Streeter
(3), was baptized September 4, 1698. He settled in
Framingham and removed to Douglas, Massachu
setts, where he died September 22, 1756. He was
a yeoman. He bought a one hundred and sixty acre
farm at Douglas, December 14, 1744. He married
Catherine Adams, and they joined the church in
full communion at Framingham, February 7, 1725.
Seven of their children were born in Framingham.
The children of Stephen and Catherine (Adams)
Streeter were: Esther, born January 13, 1724-5,
married Josiah Haven, of Framingham; Stephen,
born February 14, 1726-7; Abigail, born January 15,
1728-9; Elizabeth, born January 9, 1729-30; John,
bom February 14, 173I72; Ursula, born November 9,
1733; Adams, born December 31, 1735; Zebulon,
born March 24, 1739; Naphtali, born March 6, 1741,
in Douglas, owned land in Royalston, Massachu
setts; Samuel, born January 16, 1743, in Douglas;
Mary, born April 1, 1747, probably married Benja
min Green, of Spencer, Massachusetts.
(V) Zebulon Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter
(4), was born in Douglas, Massachusetts, March
24, 1739. He settled in Surrey, New Hampshire,
where he died October 14, 1808. He and his .brother,
Adams Streeter, were two of the leading ministers of
the Universalist denomination in their day. His
will was made December 3, 1807, and proved Octo
ber 26, 1808.
He married, July 16, 1760, at Oxford, Massa
chusetts, Tabitha Harvey, who was born 1736 and
died in Surrey, New Hampshire, January 25, 1813,
aged seventy-six years. Their first three children
were born in Douglas, the others in Winchester,
New Hampshire. The children of Rev. Zebulon and
Tabitha (Harvey) Streeter were: Benjamin, born
April 21, 1762; Daniel, born June 23, 1764; Benoni,
born June 22, 1766; Hannah, married Samuel Hud
son; Lucy, born January, 1771; Jesse, born October
25, 1773; Elijah, born July 3, 1775;- David; Tabitha,
married  Smith, of Grafton, Vermont; Eliab,
born 1774, died 1806, unmarried.
(VI) David Streeter, son of Zebulon Streeter
(5), was born in Winchester, New Hampshire,
December 2, 1777. He removed early to Concord,
Vermont, where he took the freeman's oath, March
4, 1799, and was on the tax list as a voter and prop
erty owner in 1802. He married, July 18, 1803, at
Concord, Vermont, Anna Winslow, of Wendell,
Massachusetts. The children of David and Anna (Winslow)
Streeter, all born in Concord, Vermont, were:
Phebe, born May 23, 1806; David, born January 14,
1808; Zebulon, born October 19, 1809, died March
15, 1810; Anna or Nancy, born December 25, 1810,
married  Howard; Susanna, born September
14, 1812.
(VII) David Streeter, son of David Streeter
(6), was born in Concorn, Vermont, January 14,
1808, and died there. He married, December 6, 1832,
Mercy Row, at Concord, Massachusetts. All their
children were born at Concord, viz. : Jane W.,
born September 8, 1833; Anna L., born February 23,
1835; Chester P., born May 12, 1837, died February
25, 1882, married, March 28, 1858, Eliza Boutwell;
Prescott B.

(VIII) Prescott B. Streeter, son of David
Streeter (7), was born in Concord, Vermont, May 12,
1837. He married, February 8, 1865, Georgianna
Boutwell. They settled in Concord, Vermont, where
their children were born, viz. : Adelbert D., born
April 18, 1866; William P., born May 27, 1868;
Elmira E., born May n, 1870; Stephen P., born
April 13, 1872; Dene F., born March 19, 1874; Alice
. M., born April 27, 1877; Henry P., bom June 8,
1882; Carrie E., born February 1, 1885.
(IX) Stephen Streeter, son of Prescott B.
Streeter (8), is the subject of this sketch.
Stephen P. Streeter was born in Concord, Ver
mont, April 13, 1872. The public and high schools
of his native town gave him the foundation of his
education. He took a course in the State Normal
School of Vermont and at Oberlin College, Oberlin,
Ohio. After graduating from college Mr. Streeter
taught for a year and a half in the Vermont Indus
trial School, where he learned by experience the
excellencies and defects of the various systems of
teaching boy's schools. He taught in the public
schools also. He is a natural teacher and from the
first showed himself able to transfer his thoughts
to his pupils and also to inspire in them self-con
fidence and -self-reliance, characteristics that are
essential in any attempt to educate. In 1896 Mr.
Streeter accepted the position of teacher and assistant
superintendent of the Worcester County Truant
School at Oakdale. He remained there for about
two years, the results being unusually good, and
won the esteem and praise of the officers of that
institution. In 1898 he became the master of the
congregate department of the Boston Parential
School. When Edwin F. Northrup resigned as superin
tendent of the Worcester Boys' Club in April, 1900,
the executive committee selected Mr. Streeter to
fill the position and neither Mr. Streeter nor the man
agers of the club have ever had any occasion to re
gret the "choice. His experience and natural ability
made him especially adapted to the peculiar work
demanded of the administrative officer of an insti
tution of this kind. To the technical and industrial
side of the Boys' Club Mr. Streeter brought a mind
richly stored with facts of value to him in his work.
He had kept closely in touch with scientifiec and
technical education in school and in private study.
When Superintendent Streeter commenced his
duties in Worcester there were no organized classes;
no systematic way of visiting the house; the dor
mitory was unfurnished; there was no reading room
and the manual training department was not in ex
istence. He made provision for all these needs and
deficiencies and provided a library and reading room.
He organized the business classes also, and estab
lished the gymnasium.
The Boys' Club was established in 1889, although
the real beginning of its usefulness was in 1893, when
it was incorporated. The chief departments of the
club in past years have been the savings bank, where
in small sums several hundred dollars are on de
posit with the club; the manual training classes;
the civil government and business classes. In the
manual training department there are classes in
carpentry, carving and printing. The boys show.
great interest of course in the gymnasium where
they are given some instruction and encouraged to
take systematic exercises. There are classes in
music and in basketry. There are of course various
games for recreation and the reading room is well
patronized. The police court is one of the newer
departments of the club. Some of thhe rougher
members are turned over to a lady probation officer,
who gets them to join the classes, visits them in

WORCESTER COUNTY

291

their homes and -tries to get them interested in
study or useful occupations. It is the purpose of
the club to prevent crime among boys^ by getting
them away from evil companionship and idleness and
keep them usefully employed or interested in harm
less play and sports.
The membership fee is one cent. In previous
years it has been free. Each member when he pays
his dues is presented with a membership ticket, and
if he loses it he has to pay two cents for a dupli
cate. The money is used to buy games for the
club. Superintendent Streeter reserves the right to
take up a boy's ticket, but that is seldom necessary.
If a member violates the rules he is fined a nickel.
In 1905 there were classes in manual training, print
ing, pyrography, and they had an orchestra, Sun
shine Club, Checker Club, Ping Pong Club, Athletic
Club, Dramatic Club, Music Club and Glee Club.
About fifteen hundred boys are enrolled as mem
bers and there is an average nightly attendance of
two hundred and twenty. The club is supported by
voluntary subscriptions. Enrolled on the list of con
tributors are the names of a majority of the mer
chants, manufacturers, bankers, capitalists and citi
zens,* who realize the importance of organized action
in educating the boys. The present officers of the
club are: President, George T. Dewey; vice-presi
dent, W. S. B. Hopkins; secretary, Florence A.
Rider; executive committee, Henry L. Miller, James
Taylor, Jr., Lewis C. Muzzy, Mrs. David F. O'Con-
nell, U. Waldo Cutler and M. Adelaide Mellen.
The secret of Suoerintendent Streeter's success
is in his character, his intense earnestness and en
thusiasm for his work, his appreciation of its mean
ing and vast importance to the boys themselves as
well as the community, and above all his personal
magnetism, which is always in evidence notwith
standing his quiet manners and unobtrusive ways.
His work is not confined to the limits of the club.
He was the author of the bill introduced in the last
legislature by Representative Arthur M'.Taft, of Wor
cester, and passed, providing for indeterminate sen
tences up to sixteen years of age for boys com
mitted to truant schools, instead of the old sentence
of from forty days to two years at the discretion of
the court.
Mr. Streeter is a member of the Piedmont Con
gregational Church and is superintendent of its Sun
day school and member of the standing committee.
He is a member of Boylston Lodge, A. F. and A. M.
of West Boylston; U. S. Grant Lodge, Knights of
Malta; Beulah Sisterhood of Daughters of Malta;
the National Association of Charities and Correc
tions; the Massachusetts Civic League; the National
Conference of Boys Clubs' Superinendents ; treas
urer of the Knights of Malta ; member of the Twen
tieth Century Club ; the Worcester Sportsmen's Club ;
the National Conference on Education of Backward,
Truant and Delinquent Children. Mr. Streeter is
unmarried. JAMES MILES. James Miles (1), was the
father of James Miles, a prominent builder and con
tractor of Worcester. He married Jane French.
They lived in Oxfordshire, England. He died when
a comparatively young man. The children of James
and Jane (Franch) Miles were: I. Eliza, married in
England Thomas Larke; they are now living in
Woonsocket, Rhode Island; have no children. 2.
William, came to America and settled in Blackstone,
Massachusetts, and became associated with his
brother James in business. In 1885 he settled in
South Dakota, where he and his children are living,
viz.: William, Millie, Albert, Arthur. 3. Emma,

married James Collect; they are living in Black
stone, Massachusetts. 4. James.
(II) James Miles, son of James Miles (1), was
born in Oxfordshire, England, May 24, 1847. His
father died when he was a young boy. He left
school to learn the mason's trade in London. He
worked there at his trade until 1869. His brother
and one sister were already in America. He came
over in 1869 and his mother and other sister soon
followed. He worked at his trade in Woonsocket,
Rhode Island, for three months, coming then to
Worcester, where he worked for several years. He
returned to Woonsocket to enter into partnership
with his brother, William Miles, as masons and
contractors under the firm name of Miles Brothers.
They soon developed a large business. Among other
large buildings erected by this firm were the mills
of the Woonsocket Rubber Co., one of the first
large brick buildings in that city; the Conant thread
works, No. 5 mill at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and
numerous other mills in Rhode Island cities. He
retired from business on account of his wife's health
and from 1881 to 1886 conducted a farm, which he
bought at Grafton, Massachusetts.
Mr. Miles started in business again , in 1886 in
Worcester under his own name. Besides taking
large contracts he has built and sold buildings in
Worcester to the value of $250,000 or more. He has
been one of the leading builders of brick buildings in
Worcester. Among the buildings he has erected
are: The hotel building on Main street now
occupied by the Worcester market; Hotel Adams
at the corner of Pleasant and High streets, owned
by Dr. Wesley Davis; the Forrest building, corner
of Main and Austin streets for R. C. Taylor. At
this time his son became associated with him and
they built a factory for Lafayette Robbins on La
grange street; The Buckingham and The Kensing
ton, apartment houses on Murray avenue; The Vic
toria, an apartment house on Orange street; a large
shop for the Crompton & Thayer loom works, Cam
bridge street; the Abbott street school house for the
city; a repair shop for the school department; two
large shops for Abraham Israel on Water street. In
late years the business has been conducted under the
name of James Miles & Son, his son having been
admitted to partnership.
Mr. Miles married, in Blackstone, Massachusetts,
April 14, 1872, Ella Elizabeth Boyden, daughter of
William Wesley Boyden. Mr. Boyden was a car
penter by trade, born in Mendon, Massachusetts, in
what is now Blackstone, September 7, 1835. Wil-
. liam Wesley Boyden was son of Joel and Mercy
(Briggs) Boyden and grandson of Amos and Sally
(Benson) Boyden. Joel Boyden was born July 7,
1803, in old Mendon. He married, November 28,
1833, Mercy Briggs. Amos Boyden was the son
of David and Abigail (Carrol) Boyden. He was
born May 31, 1766. He married Sally Benson,
September 30, 1790. The children of James and
Elizabeth (Boyden) Miles were: Walter James;
Grace Ella, born in Grafton, Massachusetts.
(Ill) Walter James Miles, son of James Miles
(2), was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts. He
married, March 15, 1898, Phoebe A. Blanchard,
daughter of Daniel Blanchard, of Adams, Massa
chusetts. He was educated in the Worcester schools.
He learned his father's trade and since leaving school
has been associated with him. He is now a member
of the firm of James Miles & Son. He resides at the
corner of Pleasant street and Richmond avenue on
Richmond Heights. The children of Walter J. and
Phoebe A. (Blanchard) Miles are: Dorothy; Mar
jorie, born July 29, 1902; Priscilla, born June 19,
I905-

292

WORCESTER COUNTY

SAMUEL GUSTAYUS CURTIS. Henry Cur
tis (i) was the immigrant ancestor of the Curtis
family of Worcester, prominent from the first set
tler to tlie present day. One of his most prominent
and best known descendants of the present genera
tion is Samuel Gustavus Curtis, of Worcester.
Henry Curtis came from England at the age of
twenty-seven, in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann," in
the year 1635, and settled in Watertown, New Eng
land. He was a proprietor of that town in 163O.
Soon afterward he removed to tlie adjoining town
of Sudbury, of which he was, in 1639, a proprietor.
His house and barn were burned during King
Philip's war just before his death. He died May S,
1678, and the estate was administered by his son
Joseph. His homestead was on the north street
of the settlement, probably where the old Curtis
house stood. His sister, Joan Parker, of St.
Saviour's parish, Southwark, England, bequeathed
to Henry Curtis of Sudbury, a silver tankard and
six silver spoons, and to his wife and diree sons,
Ephraim, John and Joseph, with him, twenty
shillings apiece.
He married Mary Guy, daughter of Nicholas
Guy, who died in Sudbury. She died there Decem
ber 3, 1682. Their children were : ' 1. Ephraim, born
in Sudbury, mentioned below. 2. John, born 1644.
3. Joseph, born 1647; married at Sudbury, February
5, 1678, Abigail C. Grout of Sudbury, daughter of
Captain John Grout; settled in Shrewsbury.
(II) Ephraim Curtis, son of Henry Curtis (1),
born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, March 31, 1642 ;
was the first white settler of the present city of
Worcester. In the fall of 1673, according to the
judgment of Caleb A. Wall, as nearly as he could
fix the date, Ephraim Curtis left his home in Sud
bury with a pack on his back, a long, light Spanish
gun and his axe. Two days later he camped on the
very spot which was owned and occupied by him
and his descendants for many generations. The
principal reason tor his selecting this locality to
settle was his belief that there was mineral wealtii in
the soil, from the report that a valuable lead mine
had been discovered by the Indians, who had a sort
of rendezvous on Wigwam hill while on hunting and
fishing excursions. He settled down to clear the
land and make a home in tlie wilderness, and for two
years remained there, working alone. He used to
confess in later years that when he sat down and
turned his face toward old Sudbury, where his fam
ily was, he could not always restrain his tears. But
he persisted. Such was the self-denial and per
tinacity of the pioneers. For a time Curtis laid
claim to the whole township of Worcester, but he
had to be content with about two hundred acres near
upper Plantation street, and another lot near Graf
ton gore, granted by the general court as his share
of the town.
The Indian war drove him away from his for
est home in 1675. He was a brave soldier and
served on the committee to confer with the Indian
sachems before the war broke out. He was a lieu
tenant in the militia company. He was at Brook
field at the time of the massacre. It was he who crept
from the garison house, under cover of the night,
eluded tlie Indians, intercepted the Lancaster com
pany of forty-six men, under Major Willard and
Captain Parker, who were going in another direction,
and brought relief to Brookfield. He was of a
sturdy, ventersome nature, a frontiersman, soldier
and scout, used to the customs of his Indian adver
saries, and familiar with the camp fire and the am
buscade. His two sons were. 1. John, born 1707, was a cap
tain; inherited the homestead; commanded a com

pany in the French and Indian war in I7S7; died
June 29, 1797, aged ninety years; married Elizabeth
Prentice, daughter of Rev. John Prentice, of Lan
caster. 2. Ephraim, mentioned below.
(Ill) Ephraim Curtis, Jr., son of Ephraim Cur-
tic (2), was bom about 1710. He inherited from
his father a farm of two hundred and fifty acres near
the line between Auburn, Millbury and Worcester.
He married Mary Rice, of Sudbury, Massachusetts,
December 23, 1729. Their children, bom in or near
Worcester, were: 1. Samuel, (see forward). 2.
Judith, born September 6 (or 26) (twin) 173a
3. Mary, born March 5, 1732. 4. Abigail, bom June
21, 1734. 5. Ephraim, bom September 6, 1730. 6.
Oliver, bom January 29, 1740; resided on that part
of his father's farm lying near the present location
of Holy Cross College.
t,l\") Samuel Curtis, son of Ephraim Curtis
(3), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, September
26, 1730; died at Auburn, Massachusetts, October 18,
1814, aged eighty-four years. He resided on the
Auburn homestead of this branch of the family.
During the revolution he was one of tlie most prom
inent patriots of the town. He served on various
committees. One who knew him wrote of him:
"His patriotism and valuable qualities always insured
the confidence and esteem of his townsmen. Gifted
by nature with a strong mind he cultivated and im
proved it by observation and reflection, and as a re
ward of his merit he was repeatedly promoted to the
highest offices of the town. As selectman, repre
sentative to the general court, his integrity was al
ways conspicuous and his usefulness always ap
parent." He married, March 3, 1757, Mary Ward, daughter
of Major Daniel Ward; she was bom in 1736, and
died June 3, 1830, aged ninety-four years. Their
children were all born in Worcester, viz.: 1. Sam
uel, born 1759, baptized January 21, 1759, died young.
2. Mary, born February 10, 1760. 3. Samuel, born
October 11, 1761, mentioned below. 4. Ephraim, born
1763, baptized April 3, 1763, had the homestead, left
no children. 5. Sarah, baptized June 23, 1765. 6.
Levi, baptized October 4, 1767. 7. Lecretia, baptized
May 27, 1770. 8. Lydia, bom July 26, 1772. 9. Azu
bah, baptized January 22, 1775. 10. Lydia, bom Aug
ust 13, 1780.
(V) Samuel Curtis, Jr., son of Samuel Curtis
(4), was born in Worcester and baptized there April
3, 1763. He resided on the Curtis farm on Plantation
street on the estate adjoining Colonel Benjamin
Flagg's, afterwards owned by his son Benjamin F.
Curtis, and later by E. B. and G. Dana. He was
captain of the Worcester Artillery company.
He married (first), August 20, 1785, Eunice
Flagg, of Uxbridge. He married (second) Eunice
(Taft) Stowell, daughter of Josiah Taft and widow
of Stowell. She was a member of the Old South
Congregational Church. She died in 1861. He died
before his father, January 29, 181 1. Children of
Samuel and Eunice (Flagg) Curtis were: 1. Sarah,
born November 25, 1785; married Ebenezer Reed;
their daughter was Mrs. Sumner Pratt. 2. Abigail,
bom February 23, 1788. 3. Aaron, bom March 5,
1790, father of Charles F. Curtis, of Auburn. 4.
Samuel, born April, 1792. 5. Ephraim, born April
8, 1794. 6. Lydia, bom March 22, 1796, 7, John,
born April 29, 1798. 8. Benjamin F„ mentioned
below. 9. Albert, born July 13, 1807, died Juty 18,
1898, aged ninety-one years; founder of Curtis &
Marble and other large manufacturing concerns of
Worcester; one of tlie most successful of the pio
neer manufacturers to whom tlie city of Worcester
owes much; married Sarah K, G. Houghton. 10.
William, born 1809, married Caroline Tompkins, of

WORCESTER COUNTY

293

New York. 11. Eunice, baptized October 21, 1810;
married Charles P. Bancroft; died 1893 at Brook
line, Massachuestts.
(VI) Benjamin Franklin Curtis, eighth child
of Samuel Curtis (5), born in Worcester, September
7, 1800; bought the Plantation street homestead and
was a farmer; died there in 1858. He married,
April 4, 1831, at Auburn, Massachusetts, Hannah S.
Wakefield, who was born in Vermont, the daughter
of Henry Stone Wakefield, of Montpelier, Vermont.
Children were: I. Sarah Maria, born January 25,
1832, died young. 2. Ellen Olivia, born August 21,
1835; unmarried. 3. Samuel Gustavus, mentioned be
low. 4. Charles F., enlisted in Company H, Twenty-
fifth Massachusetts Regiment, and died in the service
in 1864, at Newbern, North Carolina. 5. Albert W.,
mentioned below.
(VII) Samuel Gustavus Curtis,- third child of
Benjamin Franklin Curtis (6), born in Worcester
June 10, 1838, on the old Plantation street home
stead in Worcester, which is situated about a quar
ter of a mile from Belmont street and is near the
Insane hospital. He married, April 15, 1873, Mary
Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of Benjamin Har
rington, of Worcester, an uncle of ex-Mayor Francis
A. Harrington, of Worcester. She was born January
25, 1836. He lives at 370 Plantation street on the
homestead which he has carried on for many years,
and is one of the most prosperous farmers of the city.
He is a member of the Union Congregational
Church. He has never cared for public office nor
been interested in fraternal societies. Their only
child is Mabel, who resides with her parents at the
homestead. They had a daughter, Sarah Edith,
who died young.
(VII) Albert W. Curtis, fifth and youngest
child of Benjamin Franklin Curtis (6), was born in
Worcester, May 26, 1848. He was educated there
in the public and high schools and at Yale College,
from which he was graduated in 1871. He studied
law under Judge Thomas L. Nelson, of Worcester,
and at the Harvard law school, and was admitted
to the bar in 1874. Two years later he opened an
office in Spencer, where he has made his home since.
As local magistrate he is generally known as Judge
Curtis. He is a trustee of the public library and the
Spencer Savings Bank. He has been town clerk
since 1877, and member of the board of selectmen
for a number of years. He is a prominent Republi
can, and a man of considerable influence in the com
munity. He a Past Grand Master of Good Will
Lodge of Odd Fellows.
He married Mary R. Morse, of Spencer. They
had five children: Anna S. ; L. Edith; Alice W.;
Charles Samuel; Helen M.
HENRY MELLEN. Richard Mellen (1), the
immigrant ancestor of Henry Mellen, was one of the
early settlers of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He
was admitted a freeman September 7, 1639, and had
doubtless been in the eolony for several years be
fore that. He removed to Weymouth in 1642 or 1643,
and probably did not live long afterward. Savage
calls- attention to the difficulty of tracing the name
because of the great variety of spelling found in the
records. It is found spelled Mellins, Mullins, Mal-
lins, Melling, Melen, and even Meles. He had a
land grant in Weymouth in 1642 and 1644 on the
back side of Kingoak Hill, but removed from there
or died soon after, as his name does not appear again
on the records. Some of his children were : James,
born in Charlestown, June 3, 1642 ; Sarah, born April
4, 1643, at Weymouth; Mary, married at -Charles
town, 1662, Daniel Whittemore. Simon, perhaps
born in England, mentioned below.

(II) Simon Mellen, son of Richard Mellen (1),
born about 1644, in New England, or before 1639 in
Old England, married Mary  and settled in
the southern part of Framingham, Massachusetts,
in 1687. He had civil privileges in Sherborn, and
left descendants there. He died December 19, 1694,
and when his estate was settled in 1695 all his
children were mentioned. His widow died in Fram
ingham, Massachusetts, June 1, 1709, aged seventy
years. Their children : Simon, born at Winemesit,
Boston, September 25, 1665 ; (and at Maiden) ;
Thomas, mentioned below; Richard, born January 2,
1671-2; married, December 6, 1695, Mary
Gleason, daughter of Thomas Gleason, Of Framing
ham ; James, born 1681 ; John, born January 29,
1685-6. (Ill) Thomas Mellen, second child of Simon
Mellen (2), was born in Maiden, Massachusetts,
August, 1668. He married Elizabeth  and
they settled in Framingham. He was elected tything-
man there in 1704. The children of Thomas and
Elizabeth Mellen were : Henry, born August 12,
1691, mentioned below; Thomas, born August 12,
1693, at Sherborn, died February 4, 171 1-2; Lydia,
born at Sherborn, April 12, 1695. Sarah, born March
22, 1697, at Framingham; Mary, born October 16,
1699 ; Richard, born November 10, 1701 ; Tabitha,
born January 4, 1703-4, married Mark Whitney, of
Hopkinton, 1727.
(IV) Henry Mellen, eldest son of Thomas
Mellen, (3), was born August 12, 1691 ; married,
March 24, 171 1-2, Abigail Pratt. Fie lived at Fram
ingham until 1725, when he removed to Hopkinton.
About that time a colony of Scotch-Irish settled in
Hopkinton and a number of Henry Mellen's chil
dren married into these families. Henry Mellen with
his wife was admitted to the Framingham church,
March 11, 1720; they were dismissed to the Hop
kinton church, December 27, 1724, and received there
January 3d, following. He was deacon of the Hop
kinton church in 1732. He died there May 3, 1767,
aged- seventy-five years. His widow Abigail died
July 30, 1781, aged eighty-eight years. Their chil
dren, born in Framingham were : Thomas, mentioned
below; Daniel, born March 6, 1714-5; Sybilla, born
July 20, 1717; Abigail, born November 20, 1719;
John, baptized June 3, 1722; graduate of Harvard
College, 1741 ; teacher at Sudbury ; ordained as min
ister at Sterling, December 19, 1744; later at Han
over; was a distinguished man; Mary, baptized June
26, 1724, married John Jones, of Hopkinton, 1749.
The children born at Hopkinton, were as follows :
Lydia, born April 20, 1726, married, 1747, Jacob
Chamberlain; Joseph, born May 20, 1728, married
Ruhamah Butler, 1747; Elizabeth (twin), born July
1, 1730, married James Nutt, 1747, at Hopkinton;
Martha (twin), born July 1, 1730, married Samuel
Chamberlain; James, baptized 1732.
(V) Thomas Mellen, eldest son of Henry Mel
len (4), was born at Framingham, May 15, 1713. He
married Elizabeth  and they had nine chil
dren. He married (seicond) Widow Wilson. He
died in Hopkinton in 1782. The children of Thomas
and Elizabeth were: Henry, baptized 1735, died
1813; Elizabeth, born May 25, 1737; James, born
June 10, 1739, mentioned below ; Mary, born 1742 ;
Sarah, born 1744; Lucy, born September _ 11, 1746,
married Abner Stone; removed to Fitzwilliam, New
Hampshire; Sarah, born May 25, 1749; Mehitable,
born September 7, 1751; Thomas, born February 25,
1754; major in the revolution, died 1805. The only
child of Thomas and his second wife was. Joseph,
settled in Milford, Massachusetts.
(VI) Colonel James Mellen, third child of
Thomas Mellen (5), was born in Hopkinton, Massa-

294

WORCESTER COUNTY

chusetts, June io, 1739. He married Elizabeth Rus
sell, daughter of James Russell, of Flolliston, a man
of distinction. Her brother, Jonathan, was a noted
man, ambassador to Sweden, and holding other im
portant positions. Colonel Mellen went into the
revolutionary war a private and was mustered out
a colonel. He marched in Captain Jesse Eames'
company from Framingham to Lexington and fought
during the day, April 19, 1775. He was captain of
a company in Colonel Ward's regiment at the bat
tle of Bunker Hill. Fie soon afterward entered the
Continental line and was major, commanding the
Twenty-first Regiment in 1776. He was promoted
lieutenant-colonel in Colonel James Wesson's reg
iment in January, 1777, and was stationed at Hud
son river, New York, and ' served faithfully in
various responsible positions as lieutenant-colonel
for four years. He was discharged January I,
1781. He served on Washington's staff and be
came a friend, dining often with the general. He
was officer of the day October 2, 1780, when
Andre was hanged for a spy. He carried Andre's
message to Washington, asking that he be shot in
stead of hanged. Washington's reply "The laws
of War forbid it," must have been taken to the
condemned man by Colonel .Mellen. Another im
portant service was in taking two hundred men
and supplies safely to Fort Schuyler previous to
the attack of Burgoyne.
Like most of the Continental officers Colonel
Mellen returned home worn out in health, poor in
property and cheered only by wordy honors and
promises of compensation never fulfilled. It is hard
to realize the truth in some of these cases. He
finally lost heart and broke down completely dur
ing the last years of his life, mentally as well as
physically. He lived fourteen years at Milford and
fourteen at Mendon, where he died September 27,
1812, aged seventy-three years. His widow Eliza
beth died June 19, 1830, aged ninety years. They
are both buried at Mendon and their graves are
suitably marked. Their children, all born at Hop
kinton, were : David, born August 17, 1763, settled
at Nassau, New Yoric; William, born May 20, 1766,
married Lucretia Marsh; Mary, born January 10,
1768, married Samuel Warren, Jr., 1797; Betsey,
born April 14, 1770, married Rev. John Fiske;
Abigail, born June 12, 1775, married Samuel Pen-
niman, 1804; James, mentioned below.
(VII) James Mellen, son and youngest child
of Colonel James Mellen (6), was born in Hopkin
ton, October 28, 1780. Married (first), February
12, 1801, Submit Wheelock, daughter of Jesse and
Phebe Wheelock. She was born January 18, 1782.
James Mellen was a farmer and traveling merchant.
His homestead was at the north end of Caleb's
Hill or Inman's Hill in Mendon. His wife Sub
mit died January 29, 1823, and he removed to Spof-
ford. New York, where he married (second)
Maria McKnight, of Spofford, and they had one
child. Mr. Mellen died at Orange, Massachuestts,
at the home of his son Nathaniel. The children of
James and Submit Mellen all born in Mendon,
were : Nathaniel R., born August 19, 1801 ; mar
ried Ruth C. Wales ; resided at North Orange,
February 14, 1824; David, born July 1, 1803, died
young; Leonard, born April 10, 1806, married Eliza
beth S. Mayo, March, 1834'; William, born Decem
ber 12, 1811, married (first) Elizabeth Odell, (sec
ond) Charlotte Jackson; Mary W., born Novem
ber 5, 1813, married Robert B. Shepard, of New
Orleans; a child born December 30, 1815, died
young; James, born November 23, 1817, died young.
(VIII) Leonard Mellen, third child of James
Mellen, Jr., (7), was born in Mendon, April 10,

1806. Fie received a common school education there
and became a farmer. In 1840 he removed to Hard
wick, Massachusetts, where he bought a farm. In
early life he was a Whig, later a Republican. He
was an active member of the Congregational church
and very strict in his views. In early life he was
connected with the Mendon Light Infantry. He
died January 20, 1873. Fie married Elizabeth S.
Mayo, twin daughter of Captain Peter Mayo, a
sea captain, of Harwich. She was born October 24
1810, died February 22, 1897. Their children: Ed
ward, born 1830, was a farmer in Rutland, married
Abigail Bemis (see sketch of Dr. Bemis and fam
ily) ; Mary Warren, lives at Hardwick, unmarried ;
Henry, died young; Henry, mentioned below; Han
nah, lives at Hardwick, unmarried; James Frank
lin, born January 31, 1845, unmarried.
(IX) Henry Mellen, fourth child of Leonard
Mellen (8), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts,
February 4, 1840. He attended the district schools
there until he was sixteen. He came to Worcester
August 29, 1856, as an apprentice for Alvin T.
Burgess, mason and builder. He served four years,
for which he received his board and $40 the first
year, $50 the second year, $60 the third year and $70
the fourth year. He remained with Mr. Burgess
for several years and was his foreman the last year
he worked for him at the then generous wages of
five dollars a day. He learned all kinds of mason's
work, brick, stone and plaster. When he left Mr.
Burgess he began in business for himself in a small
way, but met with uniform success, and in a few
years was reckoned among the leading masons of
the city. He began in business in partnership with
Sylvester W. Dearborn under the firm name of
Dearborn & Mellen. After three years he sold his
interests to his partenr and was alone until he
admitted his son, Walter L. Mellen, to partnership
in 1890, when the firm name was changed to Henry
Mellen & Son. Mr. Mellen was the mason and
contractor for all of the buildings of Jonas G.
Clark, except the stone work on his residence. He
built the Clark blocks on Main and Front streets,
and the buildings at Clark University erected by
Mr. Clark. He had the contract for building the
Worcester City Hospital. He built the Chadwick
building; the Armsby, Main street; the residences
of Dr. Workman, Elm street; William H. Sawyer,
66 Lincoln street; Charles E. Thwing, Elm street;
and many other of the fine residences of the city.
For the city he built school houses at Adams square,
New Worcester, Union Hill, Adams street. He has
constructed the mills and other buildings for F.
E. Reed; a tack shop on Lagrange street for D.
E. Somers and a large addition to the Bowler
brewery. He built the Quincy high school house;
the Brookfield Town Hall, and many other build
ings in the country. He went to New Bedford in
1877 on a contract and remained three years on
that and other work offered him. He built there
Robeson's block with nine stores; the Masonic
block; Waite' s building; the Thayer & Judd candle
works and the first factory of the famous Pierpont
Manufacturing Co., silver-smiths.
Mr. Mellen was in Company A, of the City
Guards, Captain A. B. R. Sprague company, Major
Charles Devens's regiment. He enlisted in 1861.
In the following year he re-enlisted in Company E,
Forty-second Regiment, and was detailed as orderly
at brigade headquarters with the rank of first cor
poral. He was mustered out in 1863. He was a
member of the common council from ward eight
in 1885. and 1886, and has always taken _ an active
part in public affairs. He is a Republican. He
was formerly a member of the Board of Trade;

WORCESTER COUNTY

:o

yo

he is a member and was for three years a trustee
of the Worcester Count}- Mechanics' Association.
He is a member of the Plymouth (. Congregational)
parish. He married, August 29, 1S62, Mary Adelaide
Felt, daughter of Elijah and Hannah (.Lawrence)
Felt She was born at Templeton, Massachusetts, J uly
6, 1843. Their children are: Walter Leslie, men
tioned below. Bessie Frances, born March 5. 1S70,
died April 3, 1891.
Elijah Felt was bom November n, 1799, died
March 19, 1&49. Married Hannah Lawrence, daugh
ter of Josiah and Tabitha Lawrence, born February
17, 1S07. Elijah was the son of Samuel Felt who
was bean March 17, 17SS, died June 26. 1S20; was
a private in Captain John Bacheller's company,
Colonel Ebenezer Bridge's regiment on the Lex
ington Alarm, April 19, 1775. Later he served in
Captain Jonathan Brooking's company, Colonel
Enoch Hale's regiment Samuel married Naomi
Woods. Samuel Felt's father was Aaron Felt, who
married Mary Wyatt Moses, the father of Aaron
Felt, was born in 1651, married Lydia Felt His
father, George Felt, was the immigrant, and was
bom in England in 1601. The name was also
spelled Felch. George Felt was a mason by trade
and came to Charlestown, in New England, as early
as 1633; he resided on the Maiden side in 1640; he
removed to Casco Bay, but returned to Maiden.
He married Elizabeth Wilkinson, daughter of
Widow Prudence Wilkinson. He died in 1693;
his widow in 1694. Mrs. Mellen is a member of
the Worcester Woman's Club and of Colonel
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri
can Revolution.
(X) Walter Leslie Mellen, only son of Henry
Mellen (9), was bora in Worcester, January 10,
1868. He attended the public schools there and
graduated in 1887 from the Classical high school.
He went to work for his fatber and in 1890 was
admitted to partnership in the business under the
firm name of Henry Mellen & Son. Some of the
work done since he became connected with the
business is mentioned above in the account of the
business. He is a prominent Free Mason, a mem
ber of the Morning Star Lodge, Hiram Council,
Eureka Chapter and the Worcester County Com
mandery of Worcester; he has taken the eighteenth
degree in the Scottish Rite and belongs to Aleppo
Temple in Boston. Mr. Mellen is a member of the
Commonwealth Qub. He is a Republican in poli
tics and a Congregatkvnalist in religion, being a
member of Plymouth Church.
He married Carrie E. Fisher, of Fisherville,
Massachusetts, a village of Grafton named for her
grandfather, who established a mill there. His
name was Erastus Fisher. Her parents were Albert
Laban and Ellen Agnes (Hill) Fisher. Her father
had a grocery store at Fisherville for many years.
The children of Walter and Carrie E. (Fisher)
Mellen are: Albert Fisher, born July ao, 1893;
Dorothy, born December 29, 1894. They reside at
41 Queen street, in a double house, with Mr. Md-
len's parents.
JAMES HUNT, well known throughout Wor
cester county as deputy sheriff and for his promi
nence in political life, was bom January 27, 1833,
in Gloucestershire, England. He was the son of
William and Harriet (Hodges) Hunt-
He attended private schools in his native place.
In 1830, at the age of seventeen, he came to Amer
ica. He learned the trade of boot and shoe manu
facturing and worked at his trade in New Braintree,
Massachusetts, and Stafford, Connecticut. In 1861

he moved to Rockville, Connecticut, and learned the
trade of wool dyer at the Leeds mill. He became
boss dyer later at the WTindenpere mill at Elling
ton, Connecticut, and the Thomas Lewis mill at
Naugatuck. Connecticut In 1805 he went to Meri
den, Connecticut, and engaged in tlie retail boot
and shoe business, where he remained until 1873. when
he removed to Worcester. He worked at his trade
of shoemaker for a number of years. First he
worked for D. G. Rawson & Co., shoe manufact
urers, afterwards the firm of Goddard, Fay & Stone.
He worked also for S. R. Heywood. He was ap-.
pointed for one year on the police force by Mayor
Samuel E. Hildreth, but at the end of the year
took up his trade again. He worked in the shoe
factory of C. C Houghton. In 1880 he was ap
pointed a constable for civil cases by Mayor Francis
A. Harrington. He has since then devoted his
time to tlie duties of that office and of deputy sheriff
combined with tlie real estate business. He
was appointed deputy sheriff first in Feb
ruary, 1803, by Sheriff Robert A. Cham-
the vicinity of Webster square, Worcester, and on
Union Hill. For the past twenty years Mr. Hunt
has been occupied chiefly with the business of
constable and deputy sheriff. His office is in the
Walker building. In a position requiring the ut
most tact and discretion, has has been uniformly suc
cessful. Mr. Hunt has always been a Republican and
taken his part in the work of the organization. He
has shown his interest by constant activity. He
served the city in the common council in 1897-98199.
He was on the committees on police, public build
ings, education, legislative matters and bills in the
second reading. He represented ward six. In 1899
and 1900 he was elected representative to the general
court from ward six. He was on the committees
on cities, and on parishes and religious societies.
He was elected an overseer of the poor in 1899 for
a three-year term, and in 1901 was re-elected. He
has been favorably mentioned as candidate for sen
ator in his district
He has the unique distinction of being the senior
member of the brder of Knights of Pythias in Wor
cester. He took the degrees of this order in 1868
at Meriden, Connecticut, in Myrtle Lodge, No. 4.
The order was at that time enjoying a period of
very rapid growth. In 1SS5 Mr. Hunt transferred
his membership to Regulus Lodge of Worcester,
ind since that time has been one of the most active
tnd prominent members of the order in Worcester.
Mr. Hunt has seen the order grow from nothing
to a membership of about a thousand in thirty
years in Worcester. He is a member of Monta
cute Lodge of Free Masons._ He is a member of
U. S. Grant Commandery, Knights of Malta, and
of Prince Consort Lodge, Sons of St George, He
belongs to the Webster Square Methodist Episco
pal Churcli and is one of the trustees. He is a
trustee and president of the board of trustees of the
Sterling Methodist Camp Meeting Association,
¦R-hich owns the grounds at Sterling Junction.
He married (first) Sarah L. Russell. She was
born in Stafford, Connecticut, January ji. 1838, died
May 28, 1894. He married (second) Mrs. Annie
Turner, widow of William C. Turner, born in St
John, New Brunswick. He has no children.
THE CARY FAMILY in England is one of
the oldest as it is one of the most illustrious and
honored in the kingdom of Great Britain. The name
existed in England before the Conquest and must
have been as old as the time of the Saxons.
(I) Adam de Kari (Gary) was lord of the

296

WORCESTER ¦ COUNTY

Castle Kari in 1198 according to Sir William Pole.
He was born about 1170 and married Ann, daughter
of Sir William Trevett, Knight. The castle no longer
exists, but the town is called Castle Cary_ still. It
is in Somersetshire. During the reign of King
Stephen the Lord of Cari was opposed to him; the
king assaulted and took the castle; in 1153 it was
again besieged and nearly ruined. The site of the
old castle is very interesting to antiquarians.
(II) John de Kary, son of Adam (1), was born
about 1200; married Elizabeth; daughter of Sir
.Richard Staoleton, Knight.
(Ill) William de Kary or Karry, son of Sir
John (2), was born about 1230; married Alice,
daughter of Sir William Beaumont, Knight.
(IV) John de Karry, of Castle Karry, son of
William (3), was born about 1270; married Phillippa,
daughter of Sir Warren Archdeacon, Knight. Some
times the "de" was used, sometimes not.
(V) Sir John Cary, son of John (4),. was born
about 1300; married Margaret Bozon or Bozume,
of Clovelly in Devon.
(VI) Sir John Cary, Knight, son of Williarrr
(5), was born about 1325; married Agnes, daugh
ter of Lord Stafford, and (second) Jane, daughter
of Sir Guy de Bryen, Knight. Since the reign of
Edward II the spelling has been Cary.
(VII) Sir John Cary, Knight, son of John (6),
was born in 1350 at Holway in northwest Devon;
married Margaret Holway; was very noted, chief
Baron of the Exchequer, judge. After the king
(Richard II) was put to death by Henry IV, Sir
John was banished and all his goods and lands con
fiscated to the crown. He died in Waterford, Ire
land, four years later, 1404.
(VIII) Sir Robert Cary, son of Sir John (7),
was born about 1375. He married Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Philip Courtenay, Knight. He married (sec
ond) Jane, daughter of Sir William Hanchford,
Knight. He defeated in single combat a Knight
of Arragon, for which Henry V restored unto him a
good part of his father's lands, and at the same
time Robert took the coat of arms of his opponent,
which he and his successors have since borne:
Argent, on bend sable three roses argent. Before
that the arms were : "Gules, chevron entre three
swans argent." The motto is: Virtute Excerptae.
(IX) Sir Philip Cary, son of Sir Robert (8), was
born about 1400. He married Christian Orchard.
He died 1437.
(X) Sir William Cary, Knight, son of Philip (9),
was born in 1437. He married Elizabeth Paulett. He
was known as the Knight of Cockington. He took
part in the War of the Roses on the Lancaster side.
His side suffered defeat at the Battle of Tewks
bury, May 4, 1471, and Cary with others took refuge
in the Abbey Church, a sanctuary where, according
to the custom of the times, they could not be
molested. They were enticed out on promise of par
don and two days later were beheaded. His prop
erty was confiscated, but Henry VII restored it to
his son later. William left two sons : Robert, born
1460; Thomas, born 1465.
(XI) Robert Cary, son of William (10), was
born about 1460. He inherited Clovelly from his
father. He married (first) Jane Carew, daughter
of Nicholas Carew, and they had two sons, John de
Cary, born about 1485, and Thomas de Cary, born
about 1495. Robert Cary married (second) Agnes,
daughter of Sir William Hody, and they had one
son, William, born about 1500. He married (third)
Margaret Fulkeram, who bore him a son Robert,
about 1510; Robert Cary died in 1540 and has a
monument in the Clovelly Church.
(XII) William Cary, son of Robert (ri) and

Agnes (Hody) Cary, was born about 1500. He was
sheriff of Somersetshire in 1532, residing at Bristol.
He was mayor of that city in 1546. He died March
28, 1572.
(XIII) Robert Cary, eldest son of William Cary
(12), was born in Bristol in 1525 and died 1570.
(XIV) William Cary, eldest son of Robert Cary
(13), was born October 3, 1560. He was sheriff
of Bristol in 1599 and mayor 1611. He had eight
sons, three of whom came to America in 1634,
1635 and 1640 respectively.
THE AMERICAN UNE.
(XV) John Cary, son of William Cary (14),
was born in Bristol, Somersetshire, England. He
came to New England about 1634. His brother
James settled in Charlestown and his brother Miles
near Jamestown, Virginia. A family record made
by one of his grandsons states that when a youth
the immigrant, John Cary, was sent by his father
to France to perfect his education and that while
he was absent his father died. On returning home
to Somersetshire he differed with his brothers in
the settlement of their father's estate, finally com
promising by taking one hundred, pounds as his
share and immediately sailed for America. John
Cary was among the original settlers of Duxbury
and Bridgewater, and his name is in the original
grant as well as in the subsequent Indian deed. He
was elected constable of Bridgewater in 1656, the
first and only officer elected in the town that year,
the first after its incorporation. He was elected
the first town clerk and held the office until 1681.
Iii 1656 he was one of the ten freemen of the town.
In 1677 Deacon Willis and John Cary were ap
pointed "to take in all the charges of the late war
(King Philip's) since last June and the expenses
of the scouts before and since June."
He married, 1644, Elizabeth Godfrey, daughter
of Francis Godfrey, one of the first settlers of
Bridgewater. He died in 1681. The children of John
and Elizabeth Cary were: John, born 1645; Francis,
1647; Elizabeth, 1649, married William Britt; James,
1652; Mary, 1654; Jonathan, 1656, see forward;
David, 1658; Hannah, 1661, died unmarried; Joseph,
1663; Rebecca, 1665, married Samuel Allen; Sarah,
1667. (XVI) Jonathan Cary, son of John Cary, immi
grant (15), was born in Bridgewater, Massachu
setts, 1656. He married Sarah Allen, daughter of
Samuel Allen. He died before middle life, 1695,
at Bridgewater. Their children: Recompence, born
about 1688, see forward; John, born about 1690;
Jonathan, born about 1692.
(XVII) Recompence Cary, son of Jonathan Cary
(16), was born in Bridgewater. Massachusetts, 1688.
He married Mary Crossman, in Bridgewater, 1711,
and_ resided there during his whole life, a man
of influence and character. He died 1719. Their
children: Seth, born 1714, died unmarried 1742;
Ichabod, 1715; Ebenezer, 1717, died unmarried;
Saran, 1718, married Benjamin Haywood, 1742, and
had a large family; Simeon, 1719; Zebulon, 1721;
Jonathan, 1723; Josiah, 1724, died unmarried 1743!
Mary, 1726, married Joseph Crossman, of Easton;
Abigail, 1729.
(XVIII) Jonathan Cary, son of Recompence Cary
(17), was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1723.
He "was remarkable for his probity and Christian
character." He was a member of the Congrega
tional church in Bridgewater for seventy years, dea
con for sixty years. He lived with the wife of his
youth for a period of sixty-five years, and died Feb
ruary 2, 1813, aged ninety years. He married Mary
Curtis, daughter of Captain Joseph Curtis, of Stough
ton, in 1747. She died at the age of ninety-five years.

WORCESTER COUNTY

297

Their children were : Moses, born November 20,
1748; Mary, born 1750, died 1768; Dorothy, born
December 17, 1752, died unmarried; Jonathan, born
February 14, 1757; Huldah, born 1759, died 1763;
Alplieus, born April 21, 1761 ; Huldah, born August
4, 1763, died 1775 ; Sarah, married (first) Daniel
Alden, 1786, (second) L. A. Beal, 1809; James, born
1766. (XIX) Jonathan Cary, son of Jonathan Cary
(18), was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 14, 1757. He was a soldier in the revolution
and during his declining years drew a pension. He
died December 25, 1852, aged ninety-five years. He
married, 1784, Abigail Perkins, daughter of Jona
than Perkins. Their children were: Huldah, born
1785, married Darius Howard; Caleb, 1788; Jona
than, 1791; Luther, 1794; Martin, 1795; Abigail,
bom about 1797, married Isaac Dunham ; Sally, born
about i799,_ married Zibot Keith; Mary, born about
1800, married James Littlefield ; Aurelia, born about
1802, died in infancy; Nancy, 1804, died in infancy.
(XX) Luther Cary, son of Jonathan Cary -(19),
was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1794. He
removed when young to East Machias, Maine, and
settled finally in Cooper, Maine. He died there.
He was a farmer. He married, 1818, Eliza W.
Foster. Their children were: James Webber, born
August, 1819.; Eliza A., born April, 1822, died May,
1827; George Williams, August, 1824; Mary L,
November, 1826, died July, 1827 ; Delia F., June,
1828, married Stephen J. Getchel, of Cooper, Octo
ber, 1853, and had three children; Charlotte A., De
cember, 1830, married Henry L. Foster, 1858, and
resided in Providence, Rhode Island; Mary E.,
March, 1834, married Charles Cary, of East Machias,
Maine, and had two children ; Martin L., September,
1836, was a soldier in civil war; Martha E., April,
1838, lived at Providence; Hiram Foster, August,
1842, see forward.
(XXI) Hiram Foster Cary, son of Luther Cary
(20), was born at Cooper, Maine, August, 1842.
He received a common school education and worked
during his youth on his father's farm. He en
listed, 1862, in the civil war in the Ninth Rhode
Island Cavalry, and served with credit throughout
the war.
He left Maine when sixteen years old, went to
Providence, Rhode Island, and was apprenticed in
the stucco business. _ After the war he want to
Boston and engaged in the manufacturing of paper
collars and cuffs. About 1876 went to Ballston
Spa, New York, and engaged in some business.
About six years later went to Saratoga, New York,
and engaged in the spring mattress business. He
left there and returned to his wife's old home, Mill
bury, Massachusetts, twelve years later, where he
still resides.
He married Frances J. Harrington at Jamaica
Plain, Massachusetts, now Boston. She was born
May 24, 1843, the daughter of Thomas J, Harring
ton, (horn at Worcester, January 26, 1804, and
Eliza J. (Waters) Harrington, -who was born May
21, 1798, and died December 22, 1876. The chil
dren of Thomas J. and Eliza J. Harrington were:
1. Fidelia, born June 5, 1838; died November 10,
1848; 2. Sophia, born March 3, 1841, unmarried.
3. Frances J,, born May 24, 1843, mentioned above.
Noah Harrington was the father of Thomas J.
Harrington. The only child- of Hiram Foster and Frances
Cary was: Foster Harrington, born August 3, 1874,
mentioned above.
(XXII) Dr. Foster Harrington Cary, son of
Hiram Foster Cary (21), was born at Jamaica
Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, August 3, 1874. His

parents removed to Ballston Spa, New York, when
he was quite young, and he attended the public
schools there. He attended the Saratoga high school,
at Saratoga, New York, and the Worcester Academy,
Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was graduated
in 1894. He was active in athletics and won dis
tinction on the relay team and other field events.
At graduation he was the class historian. From
1894 to 1898 lie was a student at Harvard Medical
School. He received his degree of M. D. in 1898
and received a house appointment in the Boston
City Hospital, serving there until July, 1900, when
he took a place on the staff of the Boston Lying-in-
Hospital. In 1902 he began to practice his profes
sion in Worcester with his office at 130 Main street,
removing after a few years to 11 Elm street. He is
a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society,
the Worcester" District Society, the American Medi
cal Association.- He is a Free Mason, a member
of Olive Branch Lodge. Since coming- to Wor
cester, he has been appointed visiting obstetrician
at the Worcester City Hospital, visiting gynecologist
at the City and Memorial Hospitals, out-patient de
partments. He is a member of the Quinsigamond
Boat Club and of the Winter Club.
PEVEY FAMILY. George Abbot (1) was the
pioneer ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester.
His identity has been established by record dis
covered since the genealogy was published. He •
may have come with his adult sons. He was a pro
prietor of Rowley in 1643. The general court re
ferred his will to the Salem court, November 11,
1647. The inventory was taken August 30, 1649,
showing houses and lands, some of which were at
Newbury, thirty books, household effects.
We learn of his family from the will of his son
Thomas, of Rowley. This will, made September 5,
1659, and proved September 27, bequeathed to wife
Dorothy, father-in-law Richard Swan; brothers
George, Nehemiah and Thomas (sic) Abbot. The
three brothers, George of Andover, mentioned be
low, Nehemiah of Ipswich, and Thomas of Con
cord, sold November 25, 1659, land at Rowley, form
erly belonging to their father, George Abbot de
ceased, subject to the life interest of the widow,
Dorothy Abbot. The children of George and Dorothy
Abbot were : George, mentioned below ; Nehemiah,
mentioned above; Thomas, mentioned above.
(II) George Abbot, son of George Abbot (1), the
pioneer ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester,
emigrated from Yorkshire to New England in 1640
in the same vessel with Hannah Chandler, whom he
afterward married. He was one of the first settlers
of the town of Andover, Massachusetts, in 1643,
and was one of the proprietors. He lived and died
on a farm in Andover, that is now or was recently
in the possession of his descendants. His house
before his death and long afterward was used as
a garrison house. He married Hannah Chandler,
who was the daughter of William and Annis Chand
ler. Her brother, Thomas Chandler, was among
the first settlers.
George Abbot died December 24, 1681, aged sixty-
six years. His widow married Rev. Francis Dane,
who died February, 1697, aged eighty-one years, and
his widow died July 11, 1711, aged eighty-two years.
The children of George and Hannah Abbot were:
John, born March 2, 1648, died March 19, 1721 ;
Joseph, bom March 11, 1649, died June 24, 1650
(the first death record in the town) ; Hannah, born
June 9, 1650, died March 2, 1740; Joseph, born
March 30, 1652, died April 8, 1676, killed; first of
the Andover victims of King Philip's war; George,
born June 7, 1655, died February 27, 1736; William,

298

WORCESTER COUNTY

born November 18, 1657, died October 24, 1713;
Sarah, born November 14, 1659, died June 28, 1711;
Benjamin, mentioned below; Timothy, born Novem
ber 17, 1663, died September 9, 1730; Thomas, born
May 6, 1666, died April 28, 1728; Edward, died
young; Nathaniel, born July 4, 1671, died December,
1749; Elizabeth, born February 9, 1673, died May
4, I7SO. (Ill) Benjamin Abbot, son of George Abbot (2),
was born in Andover, Massachusetts, December 20,
1661, and died there March 30, 1703. He married,
1685, Sarah Farnum, daughter of Ralph Farnum;
cleared a farm near Shawshene river, where his de
scendants now _ or lately lived on the same place.
He was an active, enterprising and respectable citi
zen. The children of Benjamin and Sarah (Farnum)
Abbot were: Benjamin, mentioned below; Jonathan,'
born September, 1687; David, January 29, 1689;
Samuel, May 19, 1694.
(IV) Benjamin Abbot, son of Benjamin Abbot
(3), was born in Andover, Massachusetts, July n,
1686, and died December 8, 1748. He assisted his
brothers in clearing their farms and was an active,
upright man. He married Elizabeth Abbot, daughter
of George Abbot. She died 1718 and he married
(second), 1722, Mary Carlton, who died January,
1726. He married (third), 1729, Abigail Abbot,
daughter of Deacon Nehemiah Abbot. She died De
cember 8, 1753, aged fifty- four years. The Abbot
family is one of the most distinguished as a family
in New England. It has produced many noted
clergymen, authors and public men. Many of the
descendants of other surnames were equally promi
nent. In this family of Benjamin four of his daugh
ters had eleven sons graduate at college and eighteen
grandsons. The child of Benjamin and Elizabeth
Abbot was : Sarah, born August 13, 1718. The chil
dren of Benjamin and Mary were: Benjamin, born
November I, 1723; Daniel, January 9, 1726. The
children of Benjamin and Abigail were: Abigail,
April 8, 1730; Mary, August I, 1731 ; Abigail, Janu
ary 24, 1734; Abiel, August 4, 1735; Jacob, Febru
ary 13, 1737, died in the army at Albany, February,
1760; Elizabeth, mentioned below; Anna, October 23,
1739; Joel, November 6, 1742; Dorcas, August 12,
1744- (V) Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Benjamin
Abbot (4), was born in North Andover, Massa
chusetts, November 8, 1738, and died October 12,
1789. He married, 1758, Ebenezer Cummings, of
Hollis, and (second) Thomas Merrill, of Conway,
New Hampshire. She died in 1788, aged sixty-six
years. The children of Ebenezer and Elizabeth
(Abbot) Cummings were : Elizabeth, • born Novem
ber 23, 1759; Ebenezer, September 15, 1761 ; Abigail,
July 1, 1763; Bridget; July 15, 1765; Lucy, July 9,
1767; mentioned below; Mary, October 22, 1770;
Jacob Abbot, November 2, 1772; Sarah, January 28,
1775- The children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Abbot)
(Cummings) Merrill were: John, March 2, 1782;
Benjamin, March 15, 1784 (H. U. 1804. LL. D.).
(V) Lucy Cummings, daughter of Elizabeth
(Abbot) Cummings (4), was born in Hollis, Massa
chusetts, July 9, 1767. She married, April 8, 1787,
Peter Pevey, mentioned below.
The first records discovered of the Pevey fam
ily in America are at Efampton, New Hampshire.
About 1720 three of this name appeared in the
vicinity, probably from England. Peter settled in
Hampton; Edward in Dover; Joseph in Dover. The
name seems to be correctly spelled Pevey, although
several generations and some of the present genera
tion _ spell the name Peavey. . Edward Pevey was
baptized in the Dover, New Hampshire, church, Jan
uary 12, 1724. Mary/wife of Edward Pevey, was

dismissed to the Berwick church, August n, 1727,
from the Dover church. Joseph Pevey and child
Esther were baptized in the Dover church, April
7, 1728. (I) Peter Pevey, the first ancestor of this sur
name of the Worcester family of the same name,
was born in 1697, presumably in England; he died
November 23, 1756, in Andover, Massachusetts. He
married, July 15, 1720, at Andover, Esther Barker,
of that town. They settled in Hampton, New Hamp
shire, after their marriage and lived there until 1724
or 1725. The two eldest children were born there
and the four eldest were baptized there. The chil
dren of Peter and Esther (Barker) Pevey were:
Hannah, born in Hampton, July 14, 1721, married,
March 28, 1758, William Benit ; Mary, born in Hamp
ton, March 22, 1723 married, May 5, 1748, Eliakim
Wardwell. Rachel, born in Andover, Massachusetts,
February 18, 1726, baptized at Hampton May 23,
1726; Esther, born at Andover, April '23, 1728, bap
tized June 2, at Hampton; Peter, born in Andover,
October 17, 1731, died there unmarried August 3,
1754; Thomas, mentioned below.
(II) Thomas Pevey, youngest child of Peter
Pevey (1), was born in Andover, Massachusetts,
March 14, 1736. He married, March 22, 1758, Dor
cas Holt. They settled in Andover. Their chil
dren: Peter, born April 14, 1762, mentioned below;
Hannah, born at Andover, married there Peter
Johnson, September 10, 1795. Probably other chil
dren. (Ill) Major Peter Pevey, son of Thomas Pevey
(2), ( ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester,
was born April 14, 1762. During the revolutionary
war he was living in Andover, Massachusetts. At
the age of fifteen, in fact just before he was fifteen,
lie enlisted April 7, 1777, as a private in Captain
Abbot's company, Colonel Tupper's regiment and
served in the army until December 31, 1779. He is
also reported as of Captain Benjamin Farnum's com
pany, Colonel Ebenezer Francis's regiment in 1777
and 1778. He was with the army at the surrender
of General Burgoyne. Soon after the revolution
he went to Wilton, New Hampshire, and conducted
.the mills at the French place. He began the , settle
ment in the south part of Greenfield and built him
self a log house . there. In the spring of 1789 he
started with a yoke of oxen to take his furniture
to his cabin. His wife, whom he married two
years before, rode horseback with a bundle lashed
to the saddle and her baby in her arms. She was first
to arrive at the new home. Mr. Pevey was prominent
in military affairs and was major of the Twenty-
sixth New Hampshire regiment. He was one of
the founders of Greenfield. He married, April 8,
1787, Lucy Cummings, who was born July 9, 1767,
and died October 15, 1854. Her brother, J. A.
Cummings, was the author of a spelling book and
geography used extensively in the early part of the
nineteenth century. The children of Peter and
Lucy Pevey were : Peter, born July 29, 1788, resided
in Greenfield, deacon of the church there, married
at Wilton, New Hampshire, June 22, 1819, Dorcas
Holt; married (second), April 9, 1857, Tamazin
Holt; Sally, bprn July 11, 1790, married, June 2,
1855, William Wright; Lucy Cummings, born July
3, 1792, married, July 11, i8t6, Farnham Holt; Ben
jamin Abbot, mentioned below; Jacob, born Decem
ber 1796, married, November 2, 1824, Susan Camp
bell; married (second), March 26, 1840, Sarah
Marsh; Abiel, born March 27, 1799, died Novem
ber 29, 1799; Dorcas, born October 8, 1801, mar
ried, March 2, 1824, Edward Pratt; married (sec
ond), April 27, 1847, William Sheldon; Elizabeth,
born April 6, 1803, died November 5, 1803; Eliza-

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WORCESTER COUNTY

299

beth, born August 30, 1804, married, June 4, 1833,
Nehemiah Lowe; Abiel, born January 17, 1807,
married, December 4, 1832, Louisa Stone; John Mer
rill, born November 30, 1809, died December _>, 1809 ;
Merrill Cummings, born August 7, 1812, married,
June 3, 1841, Elizabeth Stone.
(VII) Benjamin Abbott Pevey, son of Peter
Pevey and grandson of Elizabeth Abbott (Abbot)
(5) was born in Greenfield, New Hampshire, Sep
tember 25, 1794, died November 16, 1864. He re
sided in Greenfield and Bennington, New Hamp
shire, and Schaghticoke, New York. In the fall of
1853 one of his sons bought of John A, Putnam
the mill that was built by Philip Putnam and car
ried it on for several years.
Benjamin Abbott Pevey married, May 13, 1820,
Clarissa Whittemore, daughter of Amos Whitte
more, who was born December n, 1799, died May
19, 1871. Their children were: Amos Whittemore,
born April 6, 1821, died September 27, 1821 ; Clarissa
Livonia, born January 28, 1823, unmarried, resided
with Dr. Benjamin Pevey at 80 Pleasant street,
Worcester, until her death, January 21, 1903; Lucy
Cummings, born March 18, 1825, married, 1851,
George S. Russell; they are living (1906) in Welles-
ley, Massachusetts; Amos Abbot, born July 6, 1827,
mentioned below; Benjamin Merrill, born March 26,
1831, died September 17, 1832; Franklin Merrill,
born at Bennington, New Hampshire, May 2, 1833,
mentioned below; Edward Payson, mentioned be
low; Benjamin Merrill, born in Schaghticoke, June
6, 1838, mentioned below; Mary Elizabeth, born in
Schaghticoke, February 7, 1844, married, October 17,
1866, Simeon Thompson; married (second), July
4, 1871, Richard Henry French, who died in 1903;
Charles Kimball, born in Schaghticoke, January 25,
1844, mentioned below. The first four of the pre
ceding were born in Greenfield, the next three in
Hancock, New Hampshire, and the last three in
Schaghticoke, New York.
(VIII) Amos Abbot Pevey, fourth child of Ben
jamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Greenfield,
New Hampshire. He received a common school
education and then studied dentistry with a well-
known and able practitioner. Diligent and pains
taking, he soon acquired proficiency in his profession
and, when ready to open an office of his own, lo
cated in Clinton, Massachusetts. He soon proved
his skill as a dentist and developed a large practice.
After some years he decided to remove to Woon
socket, Rhode Island, where he was even more suc
cessful. For many years he was recognized as one
of the most prominent men of his profession in
the state.
He helped to establish three of his brothers in
the same profession. They learned the business
Jn his office in Clinton and at one time all four
were dentists at the same time in Clinton. His
brother Frank practiced for many years in Boston,
but the two other brothers subsequently located
and practiced in Worcester. Each built up a sub
stantial business. Dr. Pevey was a prominent mem
ber of the Rhode Island Dental Association.
Dr. Pevey married, October 9, 1854, Ellen F. Judd,
daughter of Lucian Judd, who removed from Water-
bury, Connecticut, to Clinton, Massachusetts. Mr.
Judd was a soldier in the war of 1812 and his father
was in the revolution. He is a descendant of Thomas
Judd, who was in Cambridge in 1634 or 1635, and
removed thence to Farmington, Connecticut, and
thence to Northampton, Massachusetts. Of his six
sons, Thomas, Tr. and Philip, settled in Waterbury,
Connecticut. Dr. Pevey's widow resides at 13 Ham
mond street, Worcester. Their children: Edward,
born November 10, 1857, died September 20, 1861;

Helen Augusta, born October, 1864, now Mrs. Fred
Ashley; married (first) George Lyford Gould, one
son, George Lyford Gould, Jr. ; they reside at 13
Hammond street, Worcester. Dr. Amos Abbot Pevey
died March 6, 1889, in Worcester.
(VIII) Franklin Merrill Pevey, sixth child of
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Benning
ton, New Hampshire, May 2, 1833. When he was
three years old his parents removed to New York
state, where he lived until he was eighteen years
old. He then went to Clinton, Massachusetts, to
study dentistry in his brother's office. From 1854
to 1857 he had an office in New Ipswich, New Hamp
shire, Since his marriage he has lived in Wilton,
New Hampshire, and practiced his profession. He
was interested extensively in real estate. He was
one of the committee in charge of the building of
the town house, and the bell was a gift to the town
from him. Fie died in Wilton, May 1, 1901. Dr.
Pevey married, December 26, 1858, Nancy B. Shel
don, daughter of Uzziel and Eliza (Barrett) Shel
don. They had no children. She died September
27, 1903.
(VIII) Edward Payson Pevey, seventh child of
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Green
field, New Hampshire, February 27, 1836, died De
cember 20, 1903, at Richmond, Virginia. He was a
young boy when the family removed to Schaghticoke,
New York, a small town situated a few miles above
Troy, where his father had a saw mill. He re
ceived a common school education in the district
schools of New Hampshire and New York, his op
portunities for school being limited. When he was
a young man he returned to Wilton, New Hampshire,
where he worked in' his father's saw mill. From
there he went to Lowell, to work for his uncle,
Abiel Pevey, whose son, Gilbert A. A. Pevey, be
came a distinguished lawyer in Boston. He removed
in a short time to Boston, where he conducted a
restaurant and later was the proprietor of a stall
in the famous old Faneuil Hall Market. From there
he removed to Marlboro, Massachusetts, and was
there proprietor of a restaurant,
Mr. Pevey came to Worcester following the civil
war and established a meat market at 39 Exchange
street. He built up a large business there. He
was the first of the family to locate in Worcester.
A few years later Dr, B. M. Pevey and Dr. Charles
K. Pevey started in business as Pevey Brothers, den
tists, at 244 Main street. Mr. Pevey removed his
market to Southbridge street, but about 1870 became
connected with the firm of White, Houghton & Co.,
16 Front street. In 1874 the firm of White, Pevey
& Dexter, pork packers, was organized, the original
members being Rollin G. White, Mr. Pevey, and
Edwain C. Dexter, now the only survivor. A sketch
of Mr. White appears elsewhere in this work. The
firm was very successful in business and their trade
extended all over New England. The first store
was on Front street opposite the old city hall and
the abbatoir was on the Grafton road. The business
was afterward moved further down Front street to
A. B. Hall's block, now the Commonwealth Hotel,
where the company was located for a number _ of
years. _ In 1890 they moved to the present location
on Bridge street. The abbatoir at present is located
on Putnam lane and is one of the largest and best
of the kind in New England. The company was in
corporated in 1800, and a few years later sold to
the firm of Swift & Co., of Chicago. Mr. Pevey
retired from active business at the time of the sale,
and made his home at the Bay State Hotel. His
wife died February 3, 1886. He died of heart trouble
when in the south on a pleasure trip with his daugh
ter, Mrs. Charles M. Booth.

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WORCESTER COUNTY

Mr. Pevey's business ability and common sense,
integrity and good nature won for him a leading
position_ among the business men of the city. He
was universally liked and esteemed. He was an
active Mason and well known in the Masonic fra
ternity of the state. He was a member of Montacute
Lodge, Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, the Worcester
County Commandery, Knights Templar, of which for
twenty-six years he was the standard bearer. He was
a charter member of the Worcester Continentals
and was on the colonel's staff as commissary ser
geant. He belonged to the Commonwealth Club.
He attended Piedmont Congregational Church. In
politics he was an active and earnest Republican.
He enlisted, September 6, 1862, and served until
September 2, 1863, in Company I, Fifty-third Regi
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. He was a
member of Post No. 10, G. A. R.
He married, September 25, 1858, Martha Jane
Buell, daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Holden)
Buell, of Newport, New Hampshire. Their chil
dren were : Nellie Florence, born November 20, 1859,
mentioned below; Frank B., born July 21, 1873, died
January 22, 1874.
(IX) Nellie Florence Pevey, daughter of Ed
ward Payson Pevey (8), was born in Wilton, New
Hampshire, November 20, 1859. She married in
Worcester, November 16, 1881, Charles Matthew
Booth, who was born January 28, 1859, the son of
Benjamin and Betsey (Charnley) Booth, both natives
of England. Mr. Booth was for forty years super
intendent of the Quinsigamond wire mill of Wash
burn & Moen. He retired a few years before bis
death. Benjamin Booth died May 19, 1901; his
wife died November 14, 1905. • Their children were :
George Jones, born April 1, 1855, died April 5, 1882 ;
Olina Elizabeth, born 1657, at Lowell, married Will
iam H. McClure, superintendent of the Worcester
fire alarm system, resides at 26 Kingsbury street,
Worcester; Charles Matthew, mentioned above.
Charles M. Booth was educated in the public
and high schools of Worcester. He began in busi
ness as clerk in Kinnicutt's hardware store. Iri
August, 1884, he entered Washburn & Moen's of
fices and rose through various positions to sales
agent and head of the flat wire and specialty depart
ment of the American Steel and Wire Company.
He is a member of Montacute Lodge of Free
Masons, Hiram Council, Eureka Chapter, and Wor
cester County Commandery, the Tatassit Canoe
Club, the Automobile Club. He is a Republican.
He resides at 284 Highland street, Worcester. The
children of Charles M. and Nellie Florence (Pevey)
Booth are: Edith Florence, born in Worcester, De
cember 12, 1884, died August 2, 1885 ; Martha Pevey,
born in Worcester, December 23, 1890, a student
in the Worcester high school.
(VIII) Benjamin Merrill Pevey, eighth child
of Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in
Shagticoke, New York, June 6, 1838. He studied
dentistry in the office of his brother, Dr. Amos A.
Pevey, at Clinton. He practiced first at Clinton,
then removed to Worcester with his brother, Dr.
Charles K. Pevey. In recent years his office has
been at his residence, 80 Pleasant street. He is
a prominent Free Mason, a member of Worcester
County Commandery, Knights Templar. .He at
tends Union Church. He married, November 19,
1870, Ella Fisk, who died in 1873. Their only child,
Frank Fisk, died in infancy.
(VIII) Mary Elizabeth Pevey, daughter of Ben
jamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Schaghticoke,
New York, February 7, 1841. She married (first),
October 17, 1866, Simeon Thompson, and had one
son, Simeon E., who has a livery stable at Corona,
California; is married and has two sons and two

daughters. She married (second), July 4,' 1871,
Richard Henry French, and had three children:
Sanger Eames and Edith Bradford (twins), born
July 6, 1872; Henry, born June 8, 1874, of whom
Sanger E. French alone survives. He is a stable
keeper, is married but has no children. Mrs. French
resides with her son, Simeon E. Thompson, at
Corona. (VIII) Dr. Charles Kimball Pevey, youngest
child of Benjamin A. Pevey (7), was born in
Schaghticoke, New York, June 6, 1848. He studied
dentist. He also learned his profession with his
brother, Dr. Amos A. Pevey, at Clinton, and was
formerly in partnership with his brother, Dr. Ben
jamin M. Pevey, in Worcester. His present offices
are at '438 Main street. He is a Knight Templar
and prominent in-the Masonic fraternity. He is un
married. (VIII) Lucy Cummings Pevey, third child of
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Green
field, New Hampshire, March 18, 1825, and mar
ried, 1851, George S. Russell, a farmer. They
are now living at Wellesley, Massachusetts. Their
children are: George, born 1852, died 1852; William
Tolman, born September 20, 1854; Mary Claretta,
born December 19, 1857; George Amey, born De
cember 24, 1859, died July 22, 1906.
EBENEZER BUTTERICK, inventor of the cele
brated and useful "Butterick Patterns," was born in
Sterling, Worcester county, Massachusetts, May 29,
1826. He was the son of Francis and Ruhamah
(Buss) Butterick, grandson of Jonathan and Han
nah (Sawyer) Buttrick, great-grandson of Francis
and Hannah (Gilson) Buttrick, great-great-grandson
of John and Elizabeth (Falkner) Buttrick, great-
great-great-grandson of John and Mary (Blood)
Buttrick. The father of the last name John was
a son of William and Sarah (Bateman) Buttrick,
and grandson of William Buttrick, who was born
in England in 1616, came to America from Kingston-
on-Thames in 1635, and died in Concord, Massachu
setts, June 30, 1698. Ebenezer Butterick's father
was a farmer and carpenter, an active and leading
citizen, and the principal founder of a Universalist
Society in Sterling, a proof of the intellectual
courage which he never lacked, and which his son
inherited and enlarged.
The son was educated in the common schools
of Sterling and in the Leicester Academy, an ancient
and still flourishing school in Leicester,. Massachu
setts. The best business habits of his life he
credited to his clerkship in his brother's village
store, the firm, Butterick and Bartlett. Still a youth,
he began the business of tailoring as an apprentice
in Worcester, Massachusetts. Careful application
soon made him expert and enabled him to establish
himself as 'a merchant tailor of taste and skill i/i
Sterling, Leominster, and finally in Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts. In 1850 he married Ellen Augusta Pollard,
of his native town, who died in 1879, leaving a
daughter, Mary Ellen Butterick, a son having died
in infancy. In the conduct of his business, Mr. Butterick
was much annoyed by the waste of time in cutting
children's garments, and conceived the idea that a
set of graded patterns would be a great advantage
to him and to other tailors, and especially to mothers
making clothes for their own children^ It was dur
ing a period of recuperation from disabling sick
ness and anxiety that his meditative mind con
ceived this idea. It was highly characteristic that a
benevolent impulse and an interest in little children
were fundamental to the invention which is_ now so
intimately and honorably associated with his name.
In June, 1863, he astonished his wife by telling her

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The Lewis PubJis'hvn-n - Co

WORCESTER COUNTY

301

that he was going to set about the making of pat-
terns as a new business, and her deterrent caution
did not avail to check his enthusiastic confidence
that he was on the track of a useful and profitable
invention. Having made convincing experiments in
Sterling, he . cut the first salable patterns on an
extension table in the sitting room of his Fitch
burg house, 41 Grove street They were patterns
for boys' clothing, and the boy who furnished the
first measurements was Clarence Buttrick, a
nephew of Mr. E. Butterick, then ;four years old
and now, as then, living in Sterling, Massachu
setts The first positive success was with the
"Butterick Shirt Pattern," but an equal success
with patterns for boys' and girls' clothing soon
followed. The first patterns were folded by mem
bers of the family, his own and his wife s rela
tives They were packed in boxes containing each
one hundred patterns, and were sold at a whole
sale price of $to for each box; $25 retail The
first small purchases were made in Shirley, Massa
chusetts, and the purchasers of the first box were
James Tuttle & Co., of South Acton Mr. But
terick never spent the ten dollar bill which he
personally got for this box of patterns, but kept it
as an interesting reminder of the day of small things.
In September following the start in June, rooms
were taken in a house near Mr. Buttenck's, and five
girls and women were employed to do the fold
ing under the direction of Mrs. Butterick s sister.
A Mr Curtis, of Fitchburg, did the first printing,
and Mr. A. L. Howard of Fitchburg was the first
traveling salesman. Another salesman, John Roach,
traveling through New Hampshire, Maine and Nova
Scotia in the fall of 1863, was successful to a de
gree that was decidedly encouraging. A device tor
"trimmed patterns" answered a good purpose till
the introduction of cuts and drawings on the pat
tern labels superseded it. In the spring of 1864
the work was taken to the old Academy building
in Fitchburg, and during the same season Mr But
terick issued his first fashion-plate, a small one,
showing what he could do in the line of children s
garments. Later in the year he began publishing
gentlemen's fashion plates, accompanied by cut pat
terns, which did away with the labor of tracing
and cutting out patterns from diagrams as had been
previously necessary. ' .
Some months in advance of these improvements,
Mr Butterick had introduced his patterns in New
York. In or about October, 1863, he had_ taken
two upper rooms at 192 Broadway. Almost literally
he "took up his bed and walked," for he brought
a bedstead of his own invention from Sterling for
the back room where, using it by night, by day it
could be folded back against the wall. His inventive
genius was always seeking and finding new ayermes
of expression. Shortly Mr. Abner W. Pollard, later
for a long time a partner in the business, came
to New York to assist Mr. Butterick, his brother-
in-law, and he also lodged in the back room, which
b- day was store-room and work-shop, in the front
room Mr. Butterick rheeting his customers. Factory,
and home were removed to Brooklyn in 1865, De
cember 7th, a day of national thanksgiving for the
return of peace. The home gathered in seven per
sons who had assisted in the work in Fitchburg,
while for the factory a second story, in a dwelling
house was at first sufficient room. From time to
time a room was added, then a larger building was
taken, and finally a commodious building on the
corner of Throop and Lafayette avenues, which has
until now (1904) been equal to the manufacturing
requirements of the business. It was Mr. Butterick s
habit to go to the manufactory in its humble stage

every morning before breakfast and sweep the rooms
and make the fires, after breakfast going to the New
York office. In 1867 Mr. Butterick associated with
himself J. W. Wilder, his general agent, and A. W.
Pollard, his secretary, in the firm of E. Butterick
& Co., and the business throve apace until 1875,
when particular circumstances conspired with the
financial depression of the time to cripple it
seriously. It soon rallied in response to the heroic
efforts put forth by Mr. Butterick, his partners
assisting to maintain an enterprise in which he had
unfailing confidence and pride. The Butterick Pub
lishing Company was organized in 1881. In the
meantime , subsidiary offices had been established
in all important centres in this country and abroad,
and the praise of the Butterick patterns was every
where heard, especially as, since 1866, their most
significant appeal has been to women, whose con
venience and economy and taste they had pre
eminently served.
In 1883 Mr. Butterick's health suffered a serious
collapse. It rallied slowly, but never completely,
during the remainder of his life, during which, still
interested and influential in the conduct of the
business, he lived in a quiet meditative fashion,
spending nearly or quite half the year in the town
where he was born, and where he made himself a
commodious but simple home on a "large farm,
and endeared himself to all the neighborhood by
his cordial friendliness. His participation in the
business ceased in 1899, but never his interest in
this creation of his mind and heart. Of his physical
disabilities he made mental opportunities. His liberal
means took nothing from the simplicity of his char
acter and tastes. To gentle manners he united an
inflexible will and a sense of justice that was an
immovable rock. Of a deeply religious nature, he
cherished a most comfortable faith in the openness
'to each other of this life and the life beyond.
He was formally associated with the Metropolitan
Art Museum, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and
Sciences, the Brooklyn Guild, and the American
Unitarian Association. In the welfare of poor chil
dren he had special interest, and a generous ap
preciation of their needs. No man was ever less
injured by good fortune or less convinced that
mere money-getting is the chief end of life. After
a short illness, he died March 31, 1903, and was
buried in Leomister, Massachusetts, a town adjoin
ing the pleasant town where he was born.
DANIEL EDWARD DENNY. Robert Denny
(1), to whom the line of Daniel Edward Denny, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, has been traced, was
living in England in 1590. His children were :
Edmund, born probably at Combs, Suffolk county,
England, married Johan  ; he was buried at
Combs, May n, 1609; Robert, married Margaret
 ; he was buried at Combs, February 1, 1624;
she was buried there February 7, 1609.
(II) Edmund Denny, son of Robert Denny
(1), married Johan — — . He was buried at Combs,
May n, 1609. The children of Edmund and Johan
Denny were: Edmund, born at Combs, baptized
there 1575 ; Johan, married  Wade.
(Ill) Edmund Denny, son of Edmund Denny
(2), was baptized at Combs, 1575. He married
Agnes Castard, of Battysford, May, 1601. Among
their children was a son, Edmund, born March 31,
1681. (IV) Edmund Denny, son of Edmund Denny
(3), was buried March 31, 1681. He married
Dorothea Moore, of Rattlesden, 1627. She died
October, 1637. He married (second) Susan Syer
(Sawyer). His child by first wife was Edmund,.

W2

WORCESTER COUNTY

died 1707. His children by second wife were:
Thomas, buried November 22, 1717; John, died un
married 1684 or 5; Samuel, buried October 7, 17.7,
married Amy  , who died in 1733 ; Susannah, mar
ried Ralph' Weeler; Deborah, married Thomas
Granger, of Ipswich, died about 1685.
(,V) Thomas Denny, son of Edmund Denny
(4), was born in England and died there November,
(buried November 22,) 1717. He married Grace
Cook, about 1686. She was born in March, 1655,
and was buried December 19, 1741. See sketch
of Denny family of Leicester for further details.
The children of Thomas and Grace (Cook) Denny
were: Edmund, died December 18, 173 1 ; Thomas,
born at Combs, buried there February 17, 177.';
Samuel, born 1689, landed in America, July 20,
1717, died June 2, 177J; Daniel, born November 30,
1694, died April 16, 1760; Sarah, married William
Green, of Battisford, married (second)  Pier-
son; Deborah, born 1699, died June I, 1766.
(VI) Daniel Denny, son of Thomas Denny (5),
was born at Combs, England, November 30, 1694,
died April 16, 1760. He was the emigrant ances
tor. He left England in June, 1715, and arrived
at Boston, September 12, 1715. He settled in
Leicester, March, 1717. lie ma,rried Rebecca
Jones, of Worcester, December, 17J2. She died
December jo, 1740, aged forty years. For a more
extended account of the pioneer -in Leicester see
sketch of the Denny Family of Leicester in this
work. The children of Daniel and Rebecca (Jones)
Denny were: 1. A child who died young. -'. Thomas,
born March rg, 1725, died October 23, 1774; he
married Tabitha Cutler, of Grafton, June 25, 1752;
she died August 8, 1753, and he married (second),
October 21, 1755, Mary (Chaplin) Storrs, widow,
of Pomfret, Connecticut; he was a member of the
first Provincial congress in 1774; he has been
called "most active and zealous of those who hi
1770 were in opposition to parliament; he died while
a member of the Provincial congress. 3. Mary,
born April 22, 1727, died August 8, 1822; married
Nathan Sargent. 4. Rebecca, born April 10, 1729,
married John Lynde; married (second) Asa Stow-
ers. 5. Samuel, bom May 20, 1731. 6. Sarah, born
January, 1778, married (first) Thomas Sargent,
married (second) Hon. Seth Washburn. 7. Daniel,
born October, 1736, died November 17, 174a. 8.
Isaac, born August, 1739, died 1743.
• (VII) Colonel Samuel Denny, son of Daniel
Denny (6), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts,
May 20, 1731. He died September 20, 1817. He
married Elizabeth Henshaw, September 29, 1757.
She was born September 29, 1737, died December
7, 1787. She was a descendant ot Joshua Henshaw.
John Alden, the Pilgrim of Plymouth, was an
other ancestor. See Henshaw family elsewhere in
this work. Samuel Denny was lieutenant-colonel
of Colonel William Henshaw's regiment of minute-
men which marched upon the Lexington alarm
April 19, 1775. February 21, 1776, he was elected
colonel' of the first regiment in the county of Wor
cester, and in November he was stationed with the
army at Tarrytown, New York. He was colonel
of the Second Regiment, which was engaged Octo
ber 21. 1779. He was a representative in the gen
eral court in 1778, and was a member of the con
vention called to act upon the ratification of the Con
stitution of the United Stales in January, 1788,
He lived on Moose Hill in the northwest part of the
town. The children of Colonel Samuel , and Elizabeth
(Henshaw) Denny were: Daniel, born August 6,
1758, died in Worcester, April, 1822; married Nancy
Watson; Elizabeth, born March I, 1760, died No

vember 18, 1846; married Thomas Walter Ward, of
Shrewsbury : Samuel, born April sr 1763, mar
ried Desire Boyden, June a, 181 j; David, bom Jan
uary 7, 1764, married Betsey Spooner; Isaac, born
November 27, 1705, married Grace Tidd; William,
born September 17, 1767, married Patty Smith; Sarah,
born May 23, 1769, married Stephen Harris;
Thomas (afterwards Nathaniel Paine), born July
22, 1771, married Sally Swan; married (second)
Mary Denny, of Worcester; Harvard, 1797, studied
law under Hon. Nathaniel Paine and by act of the
legislature took his name; was seven years a rep
resentative in the general Court, and in 1823 and
1824 was in the senate; he was president of the
Leicester Bank; Polly, born August 21, 1773, died
October, 1852; married, May 1, 1798, Rev John
Miles, of Grafton; Joseph, born April 2, 1777, mar
ried (first) Phebe Henshaw; married (second)
Lucinda Henshaw, sister of his first wife, and his
cousin. (VIII) Isaac Denny, son of Colonel Samuel
Denny (7), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts,
November 27, 1765. He was a soldier in the revolu
tion at the age of sixteen. He married May 16, 1703,
Grace Tidd, descended from an old Lexington fam
ily. The emigrant John Tidd was a tailor. He came
early and was settled in Charlestown, Massachu
setts, and proprietor of the town in 1637. He re
moved to Woburn, the adjoining town, in 1640. He
was a town officer there. Isaac Denny died at
Hardwick, Vermont, March 19, 1813. His widow,
Grace (Tidd) Denny, married in 1818, John Sar
gent, and died in Leicester, Massachusetts, April 16,
1859, aged eighty-five years. Isaac Denny was a
farmer. He removed to Hardwick, Vermont, after
the revolution and settled there. Washburn's His
tory of Leicester says of his millitary record: "In
July 1781, seven men from ' Leicester enlisted into
the Continental service for, the term of three months,
viz.: Jotham Smith, Isaac Denny, Ebenezer Upham,
Asa Green, Marshall Newton, John Hapgood. Howe,
Some of these were not quite sixteen years of
age." The children of Isaac and Grace (Tidd) Denny
were : Harriet, born February 14, 1794, died June
29, 1870; married, April 16, 1816, Elisha P. Mathews,
who died March 10, 1861; Gratia, born October 18,
1795, died October 22, i860; married, March 31,
1829, Ebenezer Williams, of Brimfield, Massachu
setts, where Mrs. Williams died; Maria, born De
cember 3, 1797, married, November 22, 1826; Eliza
beth Ifeushaw, born January 29, 1801, lived in New
buryport, Massachusetts, unmarried, died Septem
ber 25, 188(1; Isaac, born March 8, 1805, died No
vember 24, 183 1, unmarried; Laura Amelia, born
September 3, 1807, married, June 17, 1834, John
Balch, of Newburyport, who died July 11, 1871 ; she
died July T7. 1886; Edwards Whinnle, horn June 9,
1810, died February it, 1865, at Worcester, Massa
chusetts. (IX) Edwards Whipple Denny, 9011 of Isaac
Denny (8). was born in 1 lardwick, Vermont He was
a deaf mule, but notwithstanding this handicap was
entirely successful in business. He was educated at
the American Asylum at Hartford, Connecticut He
married. May 4, 1837, Elizabeth D. Stone, who wns
also a deaf mute. She was born in Eden, Vermont,
but both were pupils at Hartford among the first
of the pupils of Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, the prin
cipal, who accomplished so much for the deaf and
dumb during his lifetime. Dr. Galliurdet's own wife
was a deaf mute and he went to Europe to learn
the methods of teaching the deaf mutes and to
learn how to talk with his fingers. Mr. Denny
learned the carpenter's trade and was .1 skilled wood

WORCESTER COUNTY

303

worker. He came to Worcester when it was a small
village and bought a large estate on Highland
estate, which has become very valuable during the
past thirty years. The residence of Daniel E. Denny
on West street stands on a portion of the old place.
The children of Edwards Whipple and Elizabeth D.
(Stone) Denny, both born in Worcester, were:
Ann Elizabeth, February 4, 1841, died December
20, 1857; Daniel Edward, born July 14, 1845.
(X) Daniel Edward , Denny, son of Edwards
Whipple Denny (9), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, July 14, 1845. He attended the public
schools of Worcester and Worcester Academy. He
learned the trade of machinist in the shops of Lu
cius W. Pond and worked for twenty years at his
trade, principally for Mr. Pond and at the Wash
burn shops of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
He was a skillful mechanic, and perhaps should be
cited in a history of Worcester county as a fine ex
ample of the combination of brains and mechan
ical skill in the workshops of Worcester that have
built up the city and attracted new enterprises
here. After twenty years of labor at the lathe
and drill Mr. Denny accepted a position in the
railway mail service. He was promoted step by
step till he was "clerk-in-charge." He retired at
the end of twenty years to enter the real estate and
fire and accident insurance business. Since 1902,
when Mr. Denny went into business for himself, he
has been in public life and has served the- city
creditably in several capacities.
He served the city in the common council in 1904
and 1905. He was elected from ward one for a
two years term. In his second year he was elected
president of the board, one of the highest honors
in the city government. Some matters of great
public importance have been acted upon since Mr.
Denny has been in the city council. He has been
on the committees on streets, sewers and on military
affairs. The making of a boulevard out of Shrews
bury street from the railroad station to Lake Quin
sigamond has been carried into effect. The Green
wood Street Park has been acquired and the mag
nificent Green Hill estate has been acquired at a
nominal figure from the heirs. The water works
have been extended along the Asnebumskit brook
in Paxton. The city has been redistricted, making
ten wards instead of eight. He was a member of
redistricting committee. Mr. Denny has been an
active and efficient councilman. His good record in
the city government was recognized by his constit
uents, and by a flattering vote he was elected to the
general court for 1906, from ward one, the fifteenth
district. Mr. Denny is known best from his brilliant ca
reer at the head of George H. Ward Post, No.
10, G. A. R., of Worcester. Mr. Denny entered the
service at the age of nineteen in Company E, Forty-
second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Mili
tia. He joined the Worcester Grand Army Post
in 1869, ahd has since then been an active member
and held various offices from time to time. He has
been the commander in 1904 and 1905. During
those two years this post made a remarkable gain in
membership. Forty years after the civil war and
over forty after the military service of most of the
men began, this post added to its membership one
hundred and twenty-six members, bringing the
total membership to seven hundred and sixty-eight,
and putting the post in the first place in the coun
try in point of numbers. Those who know the men
believe that this post stands at the head also in
the character and standing of the members, in their
records as soldiers and as citizens. The auxiliary
associates of this post number nearly four hundred,

and that also is the largest auxiliary of any post.
The head of the post deserves some share of the
credit for the strength and gains made in the mem
bership. Flis earnestness and executive ability have
helped materially in putting the post at the head
and maintaining the lead.
Mr. Denny is known all over the state among
the Knights of Pythias. He was a charter member
of Regulus Lodge of Worcester, No. 71, K. P. and
was first master-at-arms of that body. He served
through the various offices and was elected chan
cellor commander in 1887. He was admitted to the
grand lodge the year following under the admin
istration of P. G. C. Charles B. Newton and was
appointed grand master-at-arms; in 1891 he was
elected grand prelate by a handsome vote. The
year following he was chosen grand vice-chancel
lor, and in 1893 was given a unanimous election as
the twenty-second grand chancellor of the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts. When the parade and
field day sports of the Knights of Pythias of the
state were held in Worcester he was grand mar
shal, a position for which his military training and
physique admirably fitted him. Mr. Denny is a
Free Mason of high standing. He belongs to Morn
ing Star Lodge, Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram
Council arid to Worcester County Commandery,
Knights Templar. He is also a member of. the
Worcester County Mechanics Association and has
recently been elected a trustee. He was formerly
a member of the Royal Arcanum. He has attended
Central church since a «young boy.
He married, April 17, 1867, Martha Alice Fisher,
daughter of Robert D. and Alice (Russell) Fisher.
She was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 8, 1844. They were married in Worcester.
Their children are: 1. Frank Edward, born Sep
tember 9, 1869, died May 16, 1872. 2. Alice Eliza
beth, born March 27, 1871, a graduate of the Wor
cester Classical high school, 1890, and afterwards
a teacher in the same school for four years; married
Peter Robinson Culbert, who is a newsdealer at
334 Main street, Worcester, January 11, 1900; they
have one child, Janet Denny Culbert, born December
7, 1904. 3. Edward Arthur, born in Worcester,
December 16, 1872, graduate of the Worcester Clas
sical high school, 1892; married Bertha J. Griswold,
September 17, 1901, at Worcester; he has been with
the State Mutual Life Assurance Company for
ten years and is at present assistant cashier. 4.
Florence Isabel, born November 11, 1881, graduate
of the Worcester Classical high school, class of 1900,
now employed at the Worcester County Registry of
Deeds.
WARREN CARLTON JEWETT. Edward
Jewett (1), of Bradford, England, father of the
emigrants of the name, Maximilian and Joseph
Jewett, was ancestor of Warren Carlton Jewett,
of Worcester. Edward Jewett was a clothier in
Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng
land. He was descended from Henry de Juaft, a
knight of the First Crusade. Edward Jewett mar
ried, October 1, 1604, Mary Taylor, daughter of
William Taylor. He lived and died at Bradford.
His will was dated February 2, 1614, and proved
July 12, 1615, his wife Mary being executor. The
will mentions sons : William, Joseph and Maximilian,
daughter Sarah, and father-in-law William Taylor.
His children, baptized at Bradford, were: William,
September 15, 1605; Maximilian, October 4, 1607;
Joseph, December 31, 1609, came with Maximilian
to Rowley and became a prominent man there, pro
prietor, deputy to the general court; died February,
1660; Sarah, and perhaps others.

304

WORCESTER COUNTY

(II) Maximilian Jewett, son of Edward Jewett
(i), was born in Bradford, England, and was bap
tized there October 4, 1607. He came to this coun
try with- Rev. Ezekiel Rogers in 1639. He settled
at Rowley, Massachusetts, and was admitted a free
man May 13, 1640. He was very early a deacon of
the church and always known as Deacon Jewett,
even on the town records. He was for many years
selectman and a deputy to the general court. His
wife Ann, whom he married in England, died No
vember, 1667, buried November 9. He died Octo
ber 19, 1684. He drew his home lot at Rowley, Jan
uary 10, 1643-4, on Bradford street, named for his
home in England. It consisted of two acres and
was alongside the home lot of his brother Joseph,
part west and part east of the street. He drew
many lots of land in later years. In 1652 he and
Thomas Dickerman, the two largest taxpayers of
Rowley, each had six cows, but Dickerman's stock
was valued by the asses'sprs at a slightly larger
amount. Jewett's assessed property was valued at
one hundred and five pounds, eight shillings, four
pence. He married (second), August 30, 1671, Ellen
Boynton, widow of John Boynton. His widow mar
ried (third), in Ipswich, June 1, 1686, Daniel Warner,
Sr., of Ipswich. She died August 5, 1689.
The children of Maximilian and Ann Jewett
were: Ezekiel, born March 5, 1643, married Faith
Parrat; Anna, born February 26, 1644-5, married,
December 5, 1666, Barzilla Barker ; Mary, born Feb
ruary 18, 1646-7, married, in Merrimac Village, now
Bradford, named from the birthplace of the Jewetts
in England, November 26, 1668, David Haseltine;
Elizabeth, born May 22, 1650, married, in Bradford,
July 21, 1680, Robert Haseltine; Faith, born October
8, 1652, married Samuel Dowse, of Charlestown;
Joseph, born about 1655, married Rebecca Law;
Sarah, born March 17, 1658-9, buried June 19, 1660;
Sarah, born about 1660, married, May 13, 1689,
Jeremiah Ellsworth; Priscilla, born May 19, 1664,
buried September 4, 1664.
(Ill) Ezekiel Jewett, son of Maximilian Jewett
(2), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 5,
1643-4. He was chosen to succeed his father as
deacon of the church at Rowley and ordained there
October 24, 1686. He married, February 26, 1663-4,
Faith Parrat, daughter of Francis Parrat. She died
October 15, 1715, in her seventh- fourth year. He
married (second), October 23, 1716, Elizabeth Jewett,
widow of John Jewett. Ezekiel died September 2,
1723, in his eighty-first year. His will was dated
February 16, 1722-3, and was proved November 4,
1723. He left land at Boxford to his sons Ezekiel
and Thomas; in Bradford to his son Francis. His
widow married (fourth), December 2, 1723, Ensign
Andrew Stickney, son of William Stickney.
the children of Ezekiel and Faith Jewett were:
Francis, born March 15, 1664-5, married Sarah
Hardy; Thomas, born September 20, baptized Octo
ber 28, 1666, married Hannah Swan ; Ezekiel, Jr.,
born July 24,. baptized September 6, 1668, died
young; Ezekiel, Jr., born October 25; 1669,
was in the expedition against Canada in 1690;
settled at Boxford and had a large family
there; married Martha  ; Maximilian, born
February 5, baptized October 11, 1671-2, mar
ried Sarah  ; Ann, born September 29, 1673, died
Seotember 11, 1689; Sarah, born November 24, 1675,
married, January 30, 1707-8, Jonathan Bailey; Eliza
beth, born March 29, 1678, married, November 30,
1704, Isaac Platts; married (second), June 6, 1716,
Francis Nelson; Nathaniel, born February 12, 1681,
married Mary Gage; Stephen, born February 23,
1682-3, married Priscilla Jewett.
(IV) Francis Jewett, son of Ezekiel Jewett (3),

was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 15, 1664-5.
He married, in Bradford, Massachusetts, June 20,
1693, Sarah Hardy, daughter of John Hardy, of
Bradford. She was born there March 25, 1672,
died there Febmary 3, 1744, in her seventy-second
year. Her grave is in Groveland, as that part of
Bradford in which they lived, East Bradford, is
now known. He died at Bradford, September 19,
1751, in his eighty-seventh year, and was buried in
the graveyard at Groveland. His will was dated
September 18, 1751, and proved December 9, 1751.
The children of Francis and Mary (Hardy) Jewett
were : Samuel, born April 26, 1694* married, in Brad
ford, October 23, 1718, Ruth Hardy, of Bradford;
James, born April 16, 1696, died young; Ann, born
September 24, 1698, married, at Bradford, April 16,
1737, Ephraim Pemberton, of Amesbury, Massachu
setts ; Mary, born July 6, 1702, died young ; Ezekiel,
born April, 1704, died October 4, 1727, buried in
Groveland; Mary, born October 20, 1706; Sarah,
born October 5, 1708; Nathaniel, born November
20, 1710, baptized December 3, 1710, married, in
Bradford, December 25, 1734, Susanna Gooden
(Gooding), of Bradford; James, born April 26,
1713, not mentioned in father's will, 1751 ; Esther,
born December 9, 1719, died July 13, 1720.
(V) Deacon Nathaniel Jewett, son of Francis
Jewett (4), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts,
November 20, 1710, baptized December 10, 1710. He
married, in Bradford, Massachusetts, December 25,
1734, Susan Gooden, of Bradford, Massachusetts.
He was a soldier in the revolution at the age of
sixty-six. He was at Ticonderoga. He removed to
Hollis, New Hampshire, where he died October 5,
1791, at the age of eighty-one years. The children
of Deacon Nathaniel and Susan (Gooding) Jewett
were: Mary, born 1740, died December 12, 1747;
Lieutenant Ebenezer, born 1743; and others born at
Hollis, New Hampshire.
(VI) Ebenezer Jewett, son of Deacon Nathaniel
Jeiyett (5) ; was born in Rowley probably, possibly
Bradford, in 1743. He enlisted in June, 1777, in
Captain Emerson's company on the Ticonderoga-
Alarm and again in 1780 he was lieutenant in Captain
Barron's company, Colonel Nichols' regiment, at the
defence of West Point. He was selectman of Hollis,
New Hampshire, in 1782. He married Mary Rideout,
March 15, 1792, and settled at Hollis, New Hamp
shire. He died October 6, 1826, at the age of eighty-
three years. The children of Lieutenant Ebenezer
and Mary (Rideout) Jewett were: Ebenezer, born
February 13, 1793; Polly, born September, 1794;
Nathaniel, born July 21, 1796; James, born March
29, 1799 ; Francis, born May 26, 1801 ; Susannah, born
December 16, 1803; Lydia, born April 26, 1806.
(VII) Ebenezer Jewett, son of Ebenezer Jewett
(6), was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, February
!3, 1793, and spent his early life there. He lived
for some years in Quincy and his children were all
born there. He came to Worcester, where he died
April, 1870. He married Elizabeth Walker. His
estate was administered by his son, Eben Jewett.
The children of Ebenezer Jewett were: Eben;
Elizabeth, married Edward A. Spear, of Quincy,
Massachusetts ; Joseph, lived in Hubbardston ; Mary,
married Joseph W. Carlton, of Boston.
(VIII) Eben Jewett, son of Ebenezer _ Jewett,
Jr. (7), was born in Quincy, New Hampshire. He
came to Worcester with his father and settled on
the farm on the corner of Holden and Chester streets,
where he has since lived. He was a successful
farmer. He married Emily Jane Knowlton, daugh
ter of Jeremiah and Emily Knowlton, born June
24, 1836. The children of Eben and Emily Jane
(Knowlton) Jewett were: Warren Carlton, bom

WORCESTER COUNTY

305

January 28, 1855 ; J. Henry, born in Worcester, No
vember 10, 1857.
(IX) Warren Carlton Jewett, son of Eben
Jewett (8), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
January 28, 1855. ,He was born aijd brought up on
the Jewett farm at the corner of Holden road and
Chester street, Worcester. He attended the Wor
cester common and high schools. He worked with
his father after leaving school and has remained there
since, owning and running the farm in late years.
He has developed the property • until he has one
of the most "productive and profitable farms in this
section. He was elected to the common council from ward
one in 1887 and served three years. In the city
election of 1890 he was elected a member of the
board of aldermen and served four years. He was
president of the board in 1894, when the new city
charter went "into effect. He established a reputa
tion for thorough and faithful work in ihe interests
of the city when in the city council. He has also
served the city for the past four years in the gen
eral court. He was on the committees -on cities
and on agriculture.
He has been prominent in the Grange. He was
secretary of the Massachusetts State Grange for
six years, and was master for four years. He was
for two years president of the Worcester Agricultural
Society. He is a member of the State Board of
Agriculture by appointment of the governor, and is
serving his second term of three years. He is
unquestionably one of the best known farmers in
the state. He has held offices of honor and trust
for the past twenty years and invariably filled them
satisfactorily. He has been prominently mentioned
as a Republican candidate for the senate in his
district. Mr. Jewett in his capacity of master of '
the State Grange and on the State Board of Agri
culture has been in great demand as a speaker and
is considered an authority on agricultural matters
in New England. He has a wide acquaintance among
the leading farmers and public men of the country.
He married Mary Elizabeth Vaughan, of Thet
ford, Vermont. They have one daughter, Jennie
Warren, born April 5, 1884.
_ BROWN FAMILY. Nicholas Brown (1), the
pioneer ancestor in America of the late William O.
Brown, county commissioner for a number of years,
and Edward Augustus Brown, treasurer of Wor
cester county, Massachusetts, was the son o£ Ed
ward Brown and Jane Side, daughter of Thomas
Side. The father lived and died in the parish of
Inkbarrow, Worcestershire, England,- and the son,
Nicholas, was doubtless born there.
Nicholas Brown was in Lynn in New England
before 1638. His son John's name appears in the
Indian deed of Lynn as "ye Worshipful Mr. Brown."
He sent this son John to England in 1660 to look
after the property of his father-in-law, which, as
next heir to the Side estate, he had inherited.
Nicholas Brown was a mariner in his early days.
He settled in Lynn at the northwest of Saddlers'
Rock, in what is now Saugus. He had two hundred
and ten acres of land there, granted by the town,
situated on the river. His neighbors were Boniface
Buxton on the south, Lieutenant Thomas Marshall
and Jeremiah Swain on the west. North of his land
was the Wigwams meadow. He owned two hun
dred acres in Reading and three hundred and twenty-
seven acres on the north side of Ipswich river. He
was admitted a freeman September 7, 1638, and
was a- deputy to the general court from Lynn in
1641. Mr. Brown was a leading citizen in the town
of Reading, where he lived after the town was in-
20

corporated from Lynn in 1644. He was appointed
commissioner to hear small causes in 1640, the title
of the local magistrate at that time. He was deputy
to the general court in 1655-56-61, and was also
selectman during those years.
Nicholas Brown, his wife and children were dis
missed from the Lynn church to the Reading church
February 6, 1663. She died November 1, 1674. He
died April 5, 1673. His will was dated March 9,
1673, and proved June 17, 1673. He bequeathed to
children : John, Josiah, Edward, Joseph, Cornelius
and Elizabeth, and to wife Elizabeth. The children
of Nicholas and Elizabeth Brown were : John ;
Josiah, both born in England probably; Edward,
born August 15, 1640 ; Joseph, December 10, 1647;
Cornelius; Sarah, June 6, 1650; Elizabeth.
(II) Joseph Brown, son of Nicholas Brown (1),
was born in Reading, Massachusetts, December 10,
1647. He married, May 26, 1674, Elizabeth Ban
croft. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Thomas
and Elizabeth (Metcalf) Bancroft, and was born in
Reading, December 7, 1653. Lieutenant Thomas
Brown was born in England in 1622, perhaps at
Cheadle, Stafford county, where a Thomas Bancroft
was baptized February 10, 1622. The first wife
of Thomas Bancroft, Alice Bacon, had one child
who died young. (For further details of Thomas
Bancroft, see Bancroft family elsewhere in this
work.) Joseph Brown died at Reading, October 16,
1723, and Elizabeth Brown, who died there Decem
ber 31, 1732, may have been his widow.
Michael Metcalf, father of Thomas Bancroft's
second wife, Elizabeth, was born in Tatterford,
county of Norfolk, England, in 1586. He was a
Dornix weaver, that is weaver of a kind of stuff
used for carpets and curtains. He lived in Norwich
in Norfolk county. He married Sarah Ellwyn, who
was born June 17, 1593, in the adjoining town of
Waynham of Wymondham, where they were mar
ried October 13, 1616. Their seven eldest children
were born in St. Benedict's, Norwich, and four
younger at St. Edmondsbury.
On his way to America Michael Metcalf wrote
a letter to "All the true professors of Christ's Gos
pel within the city of Norwich," saying, "I was perse
cuted in the land of my father's sepulchres, for not
bowing at the name of Jesus, and observing other
ceremonies in religion, forced upon me at the in
stance of Bishop Wren of Norwich and his chan
cellor, Dr. Corbett, whose violent measures troubled
me in the Bishop's court, and returned me into the
High Commissioners Court. Suffering many times
for the cause of religion, I was forced for the sake
of the liberty of my conscience to flee from my
wife and my children, to go into New England, tak
ing ship for the voyage at London Sept. 17, 1636;
being by tempests tossed up and down the seas till
the Christmas following, then veering about to Plym
outh in Old England in which time I met with many
. sore afflictions. Leaving the ship I went down to
Yarmouth in Norfolk County, whence I shipped '
myself and family to come to New England and
sailed April 15, 1637." Michael Metcalf settled at
Dedham, where he was admitted a freeman May 13,
1640. He was town officer and schoolmaster. He
died December 27, i664,_ and his will dated Decem
ber 27. 1664, mentions his wife and children.
(Ill) Nicholas Brown, son of Joseph Brown (2),
was born in Reading, Massachusetts, September 22,
1677. He married, May 28, 1700, Rebecca Nichols,
who was born August 10, 1684, daughter of Captain
Thomas and Rebecca (Eaton) Nichols. After the
death of Nicholas Brown, his widow married (sec
ond) Deacon Jonathan Barrett, as his second wife.
Her father, Captain William Nichols, married, De-

306

WORCESTER COUNTY

cember i, 1680, in Reading. Rebecca, daughter of
John and Elizabeth (Kendall) Eaton. John Eaton
was born in Staple, county Kent, December 20,
1635 ; his father, William Eaton, was born about
1604-5 ; they settled in Watertown, Massachusetts,
and Reading, where William died May 13, 1673, and
Martha, his widow, November 14, 1680. John Eaton
died in 1691 in Reading also. Elizabeth Kendall,
who married John Eaton, was daughter of Thomas
Kendall, of Reading, brother of Francis Kendall,
of Woburn (See sketch of Kendall family in this
work.) Rebecca Kendall, widow of Deacon Thomas
Kendall, died July 17, 1703, aged eighty-five years.
Her epitaph is famous : "Here lyeth the mother of
ten who had 175 grand and great grand children."
But her descendants were all by her daughters;
those of the name Kendall are as a rule descended
from Francis KefJdalL Nicholas Brown, clerk, died
September 2, 1713, aged thirty-six years, at Reading,
where he had lived. He was buried in the old
graveyard at South Reading, as was also his wife
Bebecca, widow of Deacon Barrett She died March
18, 1765, aged eighty-five years.
(IV) Deacon Benjamin Brown, son of Nicholas
Brown (3), was born at Reading, Massachusetts,
February 21, 1702, died at Reading, April I, 1768.
He married Susannah  .
(V) General Benjamin Brown, son of Deacon
Benjamin Brown (4), was born in Reading, Massa
chusetts^ March 22, 1728, died there January 4,
1801, aged seventy-three years. He married (first),
June 20, 1749, in Reading. Hannah Swain, who was
born August 26, 1731, in Reading. He married
(second) Elizabeth Wiley, February 20, 1772.
Hannah Swain was the daughter of Thomas
Swain, whose father was Lieutenant Benjamin Swain,
a doctor, whose father was Jeremiah Swain. Major
Jeremiah Swain, the last mentioned, was son of
Jeremiah, who was born in England, and settled at
Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1638, probably the
year in which he emigrated; settled in 1640 in Read
ing; married Mary  ; died 1658.
Major and Doctor Jeremiah Swain (2) fought
in King Philip's war and was wounded at Ft. Narra
gansett. He was captain in 1676; in 1689 he was
in command of the forces sent against the Indians;
he was selectman of Reading eight years; repre
sentative to the general court ten years and gov
ernor's assistant in 1690 and 1696; he married, 1664,
Mary Smith, daughter of Francis Smith, one of the
pioneer settlers.
Benjamin Swain, son of Major Jeremiah Swain,
was also a physician. He was for many years select
man of Reading and died in 1747; he married (first)
Margaret  , by whom he had nine children : in
1714 he married Elizabeth Boutwell, widow of James
Boutwell, by whom he had one child; his son,
Thomas Swain, was the father of Hannah Swain,
who married General Benjamin Brown as stated
above. Hannah (Swain) Brown died June 12, 1771,
aged forty years. Thomas Swain was a private
in Captain John Walton's company, Colonel David
Green's regiment, and marched with the company
on the Lexington call. He was appointed by the
general court lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Jonathan
Fox's regiment of Middlesex county, and was com
missioned in council February 12, 1776. In 1777
he was lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Samuel Bul
lard's Massachusetts regiment. He was present at
the surrender of Burgoyne. He was at Ticonderoga
with General Gates in 1776, and an interesting letter
written to his wife is printed in Eaton's History of
Reading, Massachusetts. He was a general of the
militia after the war.

(VI) William Brown, son of General Benjamin
Brown (5), was born in Reading, Massachusetts,
April 1, 1758. He married Martha Richardson, who
was probably born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts.' She
used to talk of that place and of Lynn, Saugus and
Reading to her grandchildren. He was a soldier in
the revolution and marched with his father on the
Lexington call in the Reading company. He was
also in the Train Band under John Walton, cap
tain. May 13, 1775. He settled in Royalston. Massa
chusetts, on the Prouty place as it is now called. He
was a tanner by trade and he built a* tannery in
Royalston. He then bought of Elder Whitman
Jacobs the farm south of and adjoining Newton's,
where as is supposed Abel Whitney first settled!
In several purchases he annexed to his farm the
Thomas Heminway place farther south and became
a large landed proprietor. In his later years he set
tled his son, Colonel Benjamin Brown, with him.
Colonel Brown commanded the Royalston Gren
adiers when they marched for the defence of Bos
ton in the last war with Great Britain. It should
be added - here that the farm passed to Colonel
Benjamin Brown's son, lieutenant Benjamin H.
Brown, and the farm has remained in the possession
of his descendants to the present time.
William Brown died in Royalston, December 23,
1830. His widow died there January 16, 1851, aged
ninety years, nine months, seven days. The chil
dren of William and Martha (Richardson) Brown,
of Reading and Royalston, were: William, bom
April 15, 1784, died aged nineteen years; Benjamin,
of whom later; Otis, born September n, 1793, died
August 19, 1796: Hannah, born December 13, 1795,
died July 12, 1886.
(VII) Col. Benjamin Brown, second child of
William Brown (6), was born at Reading, Massa
chusetts, May 16, 1787, and came to Royalston with
his parents. He was captain of a company which
went from Royalston in the war of 1812. He mar
ried Betsy Reed, daughter of Nathan Reed, of Rut
land, Massachusetts, later of Royalston. Betsey's
sister, Lois Reed, married W. R. Sargent, and lived
to an advanced age in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Nathan Reed was born in Rutland, Massachusetts,
May 31, 1761. He married Lois Maynard and settled
in .Royalston. He married (second), September 14,^
1783, Lois Maynard, who was born December 201,
1764, the daughter of Moses and Tabitha (Moore)
Maynard, of Rutland. At the age of sixty-seven
Moses Maynard tipped the scales at four hundred
and fifty-one pounds. He died December, 170.
His ancestry was: Moses Maynard, bom about 1697,
died March 26", 1782: Zachery Maynard, born in
Sudbury, June 7, 1647. died 1724; John Maynard,
the emigrant, was of Sudbury 1639, married, June
14. 1646, Mary Axtell. daughter of Comfort Starr.
(See sketch of Comfort Starr elsewhere in this
work.) Lois (Maynard) Reed died December 24, 1846,
and Nathan Reed died May 6, 1850. He was a
brother of Deacon Jonas Reed, who wrote the his
tory of Rutland. Their father, Deacon Jonas Reed,
of Littleton, was born June 7, 1722, and married
Elizabeth Wright, of Concord, April 17, 1746. The
father of Deacon Jonas Reed was Major Benjamin
Reed, who removed from Lexington, Massachu
setts, where he was born October 22. 1696, to little-
ton. He married Rebecca Stone, sister of Deacon
John Stone. Benjamin died July 13, 1789. aged
ninety-three years, and his first wife died Novem
ber. 17-48, aged fifty-two years.
The father of Benjamin Reed was William Reed.
captain, who was horn September 22, 1662, and
who married Abigail Kendall, his father's cousin,

/•'

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WORCESTER COUNTY

307

May 24, 1686. She had the Kendall peculiarity that
has been noted for centuries of extra, toes and fin
gers. Captain Reed settled in Cambridge Farms, now
Lexington, and was a great landholder in Cam
bridge Farms, Woburn and Billerica. He was just
ice of the peace and captain of the military com
pany. He was one of the first board of selectmen
chosen after the incorporation of Lexington in 1713,
and died there May 12, 1718. His widow died Octo
ber 12, 1734, and both were buried in Lexington.
The father of Captain William Reed was George
Reed, who was born in England, in 1629, and
bought a farm in Woburn, November 7, 165 1, from
Rebecca Terrace. He .married Elizabeth Jennings
or Jennison, of Watertown, Massachusetts, August
4, 1651, and he bought land in Weymouth, April
16, 1665. He married (second) Hannah Rockwell,
of Charlestown, November 9, 1665, having eight
children *by the first marriage and five by the sec
ond. The farm of George Reed is now or was
lately owned by Nathan Blanchard, and it is within
the limits of the town of Burlington. He was
wealthy and influential and deacon of the Woburn
church. He died February 21, 1706, aged seventy-
seven years.
The father of George Reed was the emigrant,
William Reed, of Woburn. William Reed or Reade
is believed to be the son of Thomas and Mary
Reade, of Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England,
and was born in 1587. He sailed from London in
the ship "Defence" in July, 1635, and arrived at
Boston, October 6, 1635, with his wife, who was
Mabel Kendall, born in 1605. (See Reade family
for further details.)
Elizabeth J. Jennison, who married George Reed,
as stated above, born April 12, 1637, in Woburn,
Massachusetts, was the daughter of Robert Jenni
son, of Watertown, and her birth is the earliest
record we have of the family. Robert Jennison
was admitted a freeman in May, 1645. His wife,
Elizabeth Jennison, died October 30, 1638, aged
thirty, and he married (second) Grace  , who
died November 26, 1686; he died July 4, 1690. His
will mentions his son-in-law, George Reed.
The first wife of Benjamin Reed, mentioned
above was Rebecca Stone, who was born Novem
ber 19, 1696, died November 30, 1748; they mar
ried about 1718, and they lived at Lexington,
Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Samuel
and Dorcas (Jones) Stone. Samuel Stone was
born October 1, 1656, and died June 17, 1743, aged
eighty-seven. They were married June 12, 1679,
and lived in Lexington where he and his father
before were deacons of the church. Dorcas Stone
died September 24, 1746, aged eighty-seven.
Samuel Stone was the son of Samuel and Sarah
(Stearns) Stone, of Cambridge Farms, born 1635,
and was a prominent man, town officer and deacon.
He died September 27, 1715, aged eighty years,
seven months. His wife, Sarah Stone, died Octo
ber 4, 1700, and' he married (second) Abigail  ,
who died in Woburn, 1728, aged seventy-one.
The father of Samuel Stone, Sr., was the emi
grant, Gregory Stone, who came in 1635 and set
tled in Cambridge. He was deacon of the first
church. He married Lydia Cooper, widow, who
had two children by her firsj: marriage and six by
the second. He was a deputy to the general court.
He died November 30, 1672, aged eighty-two, and
Lydia died June 24,-1674. His father was a dis
senting minister in Sudbury, Suffolk county, Eng
land, where Gregory was born about 1590. The
father, Rev. Samuel Stone, allowed four sons to
emigrate in order to enjoy religious freedom. The
wife of Samuel Stone, Sr., was Sarah Stearns,

wife of Isaac Stearns, the emigrant. (See sketch
of Stearns family.) The wife of Samuel Stone,
2d., Dorcas Jones, is believed to have been daugh
ter of John and Dorcas Jones, of Concord.
Betsey Reed's father, Nathan Reed, was the~son
of Jonas and Elizabeth (Wright) Reed. Elizabeth
Wright was the daughter of Joseph .and Elizabeth
Wright. Samuel Wright, his father, settled in Sud
bury, Massachusetts, where he was born April 9,
1670. He removed to Rutland and was prominent
in town and military affairs. He died January 15,
174°, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Cyprian
Stevens, died May 18, 1739. (See Stevens Family.)
Samuel Wright was the son of Edward Wright,
captain and pioneer in Sudbury, who died there
August 7, 1703. Captain Edward married, June 18,
1659, Hannah Axtell; who died May 18, 1708. He
was probably the son of Dorothy Wright, widow,
an early settler in Sudbury, who married (second)
John Blandford, Hannah Axtell was the daughter
of Thomas Axtell. He was buried in Sudbury,
March 8, 1646, leaving a widow Mary, who mar
ried (second) John Goodnow.
Colonel Benjamin Brown (VII), was prominent
among the early settlers in Royalston. He became
a colonel in the militia, and served two terms in the
general court, served in the town in all the im-
potant offices, and was many years selectman. He
was a prosperous farmer. His two brothers, Will
iam and Otis, died young. His sister Hannah
married William Pierce, of Royalston, and (second)
Samuel Dadmun, of Fitchburg, and lived in Fitch
burg. The children of Benjamin and Betsey (Reed)
Brown were : William Otis, born March 30, 1815,
died January 29, 1890, of whom later; Isabella R.,
May 3, 1818, married John Forrester Brooks, the
well known proprietor of the Massasoit House,
Barre; Eliza Morse, October 18, 1820, unmarried,
resides in Royalston and Fitchburg; Mary Richard
son, December 27, 1822, died January 10, 1823;
Benjamin Hammond, July 31, 1824, farmer at Ray-
alston, Massachusetts, married Nancy L. Wood, he
was a soldier in the civil war; Edward Augustus,
August 7, 1827, married Bessie Maria Harding;
served his regiment in the civil war as quarter
master; has for many years been treasurer of the
county of Worcester, resides in Worcester; Moses
Reed, born April 1, 1830, died January 27, 1864,
unmarried; Elizabeth Reed, March 22, 1833, resides
in Chicago, Illinois, where she was a school teacher
about forty years and is now enjoying a teachers'
pension for length of service.
(VIII) William Otis Brown, eldest child of
Benjamin Brown (7), was born in Royalston, Massa
chusetts, March 30, 1815, died January 30, 1890.
He was brought up in Royalston and received his
early education in the district schools there. He
worked at mechanical trades when a young man
in his native town. In 1854 he removed to Fitch
burg, a neighboring town, and started in business
as a dealer in grain and flour with his brother, Ed
ward A. Brown, the present county treasurer, and
W. A. Crehore under the firm name of Brown,
Crehore & Co. In 1857 he formed a partnership
with ex-Mayor H. A. Blood. Their grain store
was in the building on Water street opposite the
Union Station until 1861. He enlisted as quarter
master in the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment,
and was mustered into the service with the rank
of first lieutenant September 20, 1864. Soon after
the capture of Newbern, North Carolina, he was
appointed first commissary at that important point.
The historian of the Twentv-fifth Regiment, Cap
tain J. W. Denny, wrote, wrote of him : "Lieutenant
William O. Brown was esteemed by all as a most

3o8

WORCESTER COUNTY

capable and efficient officer. Indeed, it was often
remarked that his department was the best managed
.one in the service." Near the close of his time of
service yellow fever broke out at Newbern, and one
of the first victims was a clerk in his department.
The disease was not at first recognized by the army
surgeons who were not familiar with it. Mr. Brown
had a severe attack which nearly proved fatal and
doubtless left its mark on his naturally vigorous
constitution. After the close of the war he held a
responsible position at the construction of the
Hoosac tunnel, which was then being excavated
under state management, and remained in that po
sition until the contract for the completion of the
tunnel was let to the Shanleys in 1869.
Mr. Brown had a long record of faithful service
in town and county, and 'was highly esteemed as a
discreet, conservative and thoroughly honest official.
He was selectman of Fitchburg from 1857 until
1861, and after his return from the service in 1865-
66-70. He represented ward three in the board of
aldermen in 1888, and served on the committees on
police, highways, city property and buildings. He
was elected county commissioner of Worcester
county in 1868 and re-elected six times. He com
pleted his twenty-first year of continuous service
at the close of 1889, only a few months before his
death, when failing health obliged him to decline a
re-election. In January, 1877, he succeeded J. War
ren Bigelow as chairman of the board, a position
which he held during the remainder' of his term
of service. He had had the direct oversight of the
erection of the court house, of that part of the jail
built after- the fire in Fitchburg, and the- extension
of the jail in 1888. His successive elections were
proof of his ability and fidelity, to the duties of his
position. He was one of the incorporators of the Wachu-
sett National Bank of Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
which began business June 1, 1875, and was a director
to the time of his death and vice-president since
January 9, 1877. For several years he was treasurer
of the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Com
pany. He was director of the Fitchburg Mutual
Fire Insurance Company from 1865 to 1868, and
from July 7, 1870, until his death.
He was an entertaining companion and during
his long and varied experience had acquired a large
fund of anecdotes which he could effectively re
late. He had a deep love for children and was
often seen leading or. entertaining them, and no citi
zen, had more friends among the little folks.
He married Hannah G. Heywood, of Royalston,
Massachusetts. She died October, 1868. She bore
him two sons, George and Charles, who died at the
ages of thirteen and nine years, respectively. Mr.
Brown married (second), October 4, 1870, Rosa
Heywood, daughter of Walter and Nancy (Foster)
Heywood, of Gardner, Massachusetts. They had
no children. Mrs- Brown resides at, the homestead
on Main street, Fitchburg, where she is highly es
teemed. She is active in church and charitable
work. (VIII) Edward Augustus Brown/ son of Colonel
Benjamin Brown- (7), was born at Royalston, Massa
chusetts, August 7, 1827. He was educated in the
public schools of Royalston and at the Westminster
Academy in a neighboring town. After leaving home
he was employed first by Captain Ephraim Mur
dock, of Winchendon, in' his wooden ware estab
lishment for two years or more. In 1854 he went
to Fitchburg and worked as clerk in the store of
Brown, Crehore & Company, dealers in groceries,
butter, etc. In the year following he went west and
located in Beloit, Wisconsin, as a dealer in furni

ture, and remained there until the fall of 1859,
when he returned to Fitchburg and was employedl
in the flour and grain store of Blood & Brown, for
whom he worked until he enlisted.
Although he lost the sight of one eye throught
an accident in childhood and could not have been,
drafted as a soldier, he was accepted when he volun
teered having demonstrated that he had an excellent
vision, nothwithstanding the defect. When President
Lincoln called for volunteers in the spring of 1861
Mr. Brown was a member of the Fitchburg Fusiliers,
then commanded by General John W. Kimball, and
the company was offered as a whole, but was not
accepted. He joined the Twenty-rfifth Massachusetts.
Regiment when it organized and was made quarter-
- master-sergeant. The regiment went into camp Sep
tember 20, 1861. It was in the Burnside expedition!
to Roanoke Island and Newbern, North Carolina;
in the fall of 1862, he was appointed first lieutenant
and quartermaster of the Fifty-third Massachusetts-
Volunteers, and he went with the regiment to
Louisiana, where he was stationed during the re
mainder of his service with that regiment. After
the nine months of his, enlistment had expired and
he was mustered out, he returned to. Newbern and
worked in the commissary department until the
summer of 1864, when he received from President
Lincoln a commission as commissary of subsistence
with tlie rank of captain, and remained in the serv
ice until the surrender at Appomattox Court House
and the close of the war. He was also breveted
major by President A. Johnson and discharged as-
such. He was mustered out- October 2, 1865, after
more than four years of service.
He returned f o his father's home at . Royalston*
and assisted him until his father died in February,.
1866. On the first of May following he was ap
pointed general passenger and ticket agent of the-
- Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad, with central
offices in Fitchburg, a positipn that he filled with
credit. He resigned January 20, 1876, to accept the
appointment nf county treasurer to fill an unexpired
term of Charles A. ..Chase, resigned. He has been
re-elected at the expiration of each of his three year
terms of office,, and has (1.906) already served con
tinuously over thirty years. Mr. Brown has the-
honor of serving for the longest period of any
treasurer of Worcester county. In the meantime the
duties of the office have greatly multiplied; the-
population of the county has become vastly greater
and amount of money and the number of accounts-
handled by the treasurer greatly increased. Yet the
administration of Mr. Brown's office has been above-
criticism. The expense, compared with some other
counties in New York and New- England, is re
markably small. Mr. Brown has been a most useful
public servant. As he served the government and
the railroad company, so he. has served the county,.
with the same regard for economy and scrupulous-
regard for the treasury. He could not be more con
scientious and painstaking in any business, private
"or public.
Mr, Brown removed from Fitchburg to Wor
cester in 1877 to be nearer the office of the county-
treasurer. He has resided for many years at 31
Harvard street. In politics he is a Republican:
in 1875 he was a member of the common council
of Fitchburg, but he has never cared for party-
politics or for political contests. He attends Plym
outh Congregational Church, to which his family
• belongs. He is a member of E. B. Sumner Post,.
Grand, Army, of Fitchburg.
He married. September 13, 1869, Bessie Maria'
'Harding, , daughter of Theodore and Nancy (Clark)
Harding, of East Medway, Massachusetts. Her

^^-O^st/vc^ C% &£)<,

WORCESTER COUNTY

309

father was a farmer there. She was born April 14,
1841, and died at Worcester, August 15, 1903. The
.children of Edward Augustus and Bessie Maria
Brown are : 1. Anna Grace, born at Fitchburg, Feb
ruary 5, 1872, married, December 25, 1899, Clifford
Raymond Harris, graduate of the Worcester Poly
technic Institute, 1897, manager at present of the
.Standard Plunger Elevator Company of Worcester;
residing at 61 Beachmont street; they have two chil
dren : Edward Augustus Harris, born March 8, 1902 ;
Joseph Harris, born April 26, 1905. 2. Sarah Abbie,
born February 22, 1875, resides at home with her
father. 3. Mary Alice, born August 30, 1879, re
sides at home with her father.
BALDWIN FAMILY. Richard Baldwin (1),
-ancestor of John S. Baldwin and Charles C. Bald
win, of Worcester, held the Manor of Dunbridge,
in Aston-Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England, early
in the sixteenth century. His will was proved in
1552-53. His heir was Henry Baldwin.
(II) Henry Baldwin, son of Richard Baldwin
(1), was heir to the Manor at Aston-Clinton, which
is in the Hundred of Aylesbury and Deanery of
Wendover, four miles from Aylesbury east on the
road from London through Tring. Dundridge and
"the Chapel farm of the Baldwins were in that part
of Aston-Clinton called St. Leonards. Dundridge
remained in the Baldwin family until 1748 when it
was sold by the heir of J. M. Baldwin, Esq, to Ed
ward Darrell, Esq.
Henry Baldwin married Alice King and had eight
children, four sons and four daughters. His will,
dated January 2, 1599, mentions his children as fol
lows : Agnes ; Jane, married James Bonus ; Mary,
married Richard Salter; Richard, who inherited the
Manor; John; Robert; and Sylvester (see forward).
(Ill) Sylvester Baldwin, son of Henry Baldwin
(2), was born at the Manor of Dundridge about
3765. He married Jane Welles in 1590. He died
previous to 1632. His children were : Harry, buried
in 1594; John, not living in 1632; Henry, inherited
Dundridge; Richard; William; Sylvester, married
Sarah Bryan in 1620. These sons were born be
tween 1590 and 1600.
(IV) Sylvester Baldwin, son of Sylvester Bald
win (3), was bom about 1600 at Aston-Clinton. He
lived at St. Leonards in Aston-Clinton near Dund
ridge, where he owned the Chapel farm. He was
the executor of the will of his uncle, Richard Bald-
"win, who died without issue in 1636, leaving the
Manor to Henry Baldwin, son of Sylvester Bald
en (3) and brother of Sylvester Baldwin (4), who
'was the residuary legatee, as well as the executor.
Sylvester Baldwin was the emigrant ancestor. In
July, 1638, with his wife Sarah and six children,
he sailed for America in the ship "Martin." They
"belonged to the New Haven Company.
Sylvester Baldwin died in mid-ocean July '21,
1638. When the ship arrived in Boston Mrs. Bald
win and her son Richard were appointed executors
•of the will by the Court of Assistants. He left a
large estate. The widow and six children decided
to remain in America and settled as they had in
tended at New H^ven. In 1643 the Mrs. Baldwin
"was rated as one of the wealthiest proprietors. After
1643 she married (second) Captain Astwood and
Temoved to Milford, Connecticut, where she died in
1669. Captain Astwood died in London in 1654.
Sylvester Baldwin married Sarah Bryan in 1620.
Their children, all born and baptized at Aston-Clin
ton, were: 1. Sarah, baptized April 22, 1621, mar
ried, 1638, Benjamin.Fenn, of Milford, Connecticut.
2. Richard, baptized August 25, 1622, married, 1642,
Elizabeth Alsop, of New Haven; he lived at Derby

and Milford, was town clerk of Milford and deputy
to the general court; he has many descendants. 3.
Mary, baptized February 28, 1624, died in 1624. 4.
Mary, baptized February 19, 1625, married, 1640,
Robert Plum, of Milford. 5. Martha, baptized April
20, 1628. 6. Ruth, born in 1630. 7. Samuel, bap
tized January, 1632, died in 1632. 8. Elizabeth, bap
tized January 25, 1633, died 1633. 9. John, born in
J635, (see forward).
(V) John Baldwin, son of Sylvester Baldwin (4),
was born in Aston-Clinton, England, in 1635, and
died August 19, 1683. The maiden name of his first
wife is unknown. It is conjectured that she was a
daughter of Captain John Astwood, his step-father.
They were married in 1656 and a house lot was as
signed to them in Milford, Connecticut, and later
he received other grants of land in that town. His
wife died in 1657 soon after the birth of her only
child, John. In 1664 John Baldwin settled in New
London, Connecticut. He married (second), July
24, 1672, Rebecca Palmer, widow of Elisha Chese-
bro, and daughter of Walter Palmer (I) of Ston-
ington, Connecticut. They settled permanently in
Stonington where she owned an extensive tract of
land. She died May 2, 1713.
The children of John .Baldwin were: 1. John,
born April' 13, 1657, died 'in 1676, in England. 2.
Rebecca, May 20, 1673, married Elnathan, son of
Deacon Manasseh Minor, town clerk of Stonington.
3. Mary, February 24, 1675, married John Randall,
of Stonington. 4. Sylvester, March 4, 1677, received
a bequest in 1702 from the estate of his grandmother,
Sarah (Bryan) (Baldwin) Astwood; he married
Lydia Minor and Elizabeth Avery. 5. Sarah, 1680,
died unmarried. 6. Jane, 1681, died before 1692. 7.
Theophilus, 1683, married Priscilla Mason, (see for
ward). (VI) Theophilus Baldwin, son of John Baldwin
(5), was born in Stonington, Connecticut, June, 1683.
He settled there. He married (first) Priscilla Ma
son, daughter of Daniel Mason, May 25, 1710. She
was the granddaughter of Captain John Mason, the
Indian fighter, and of Rev. Peter Hobart, of Hing
ham, Massachusetts, whose daughter Rebecca was
Daniel Mason's second wife.
The children were born by the first wife. He
married (second), May 1, 1724, Jemima Powers, who
died in 1733, and he married (third) Elizabeth Has-
call, widow, of Norwich. He was the first deacon
of the church organized in 1727 in what is now
North Stonington. In many ways he was a man
of mark in the town, having character, ability, wealth
and a remarkably sunny temper.
The children of Theophilus and Priscilla
(Mason) Baldwin were: 1. John, born July 12,
171 1, (see forward). 2. Priscilla, November 17,
1713, married Daniel Caulkins. 3. Theophilus, Oc
tober 23, 1716, married (first), February 5, 1738,
Sarah Lamb, and (second), January 20, 1764, Eliza
beth Billings, of Stonington. 4. Sylvester, March,
1719, married (first) Anna  and (second)
Bridget Chesebro, of Stonington, and had ten chil
dren. (VII) Captain John Baldwin, son of Theophilus
Baldwin (6), was born July 12, 1711, at Stonington,
Connecticut. He married, February 6, 1736, Mary
Clarke. She died January 24, 1737, four weeks after
the birth of her son, John. He married (second)
Eunice Spaulding, of Plainfield, Connecticut, twin
daughter of Thomas Spaulding. She was born July
28, 1720. He died in 1762. He held a commission
as captain in the militia. His widow married (sec-
ont), November 1, 1764, Isaac Williams, who died
September 22, 1788. She died January,. 1819, aged
ninety-eight years and six months.

3io

WORCESTER COUNTY

The children of John Baldwin were: I. John,
born December 27, 1736, died January 8. 1737. 2.
Mary, February 9, 1741, married Stephen Frink. 3.
Priscilla, May 20, 1743, married Hubbard Borroughs,
Jr., and died in 177 1. 4. Elizabeth, June 23, 1745,
married, November 24, 1765, Jesse Swan, of Ston
ington. 5. Eunice , October 25, 1747, died August 23,
1761. 6. Thomas, April 6, 1731, died April 10, 1751.
7. John, May 12. 1752, (see forward). 8. Ziba, Feb
ruary 16, 1755, married, July 20, 1773. Amy Brown,
of Preston, Connecticut, died September 27, 1803.
(VIII) Major John Baldwin, son of John Bald
win (7), was born May 12, 1752, in Stonington,
Connecticut. He was a thrifty, forcible and influen
tial man. He married, January 23, 1772, Sarah Deni
son, of Stonington. She was the daughter of John
and the granddaughter of Daniel Denison'. who was
the son of Colonel George Denison, the emigrant
ancestor. She was born May 3, 1752.
Major Baldwin settled on the homestead in Ston
ington. Mrs. Baldwin died June 19, 1813; he died
August 3. 1814. Their children were : 1. John, born
October 28, 1772, married, January 31, 1796, Abigail
Boardman, of Griswold, and (second) in 1825, An-
ner Rose, a widow : he died in 1858. 2. Eunice,
March 16, 1775. married, January 17. 1793, Stephen
Tucker, of Griswold, Connecticut 3. Denison, March
25, 177S, died unmarried. 4. Andrew, December 13,
1780, married. November 22, 1801, Mary Boardman.
5. Daniel, May 21, 1783. married (first) Eunice
Frink, (second) Lucy Boardman, and (third) Han
nah Stanton, by whom he had nine children. 6.
Polly, February I, 1786, married Stephen Frink. 7.
George Washington. July 21. 1788. married. Novem
ber 16, 1809, Mary- C. Kinney, of Griswold; died in
St. Louis in 1846. 8. Sarah, in 1790, married, 1815,
Thomas Holmes ; died in Fall River, 1853. 9. Nancy,
in 1793. died in 1834, unmarried.
(IX) Daniel Baldwin, son of John Baldwin
(8), was born May 21, 1783. He married (first.)
April 22, 1804, Eunice Frink, who died childless,
May I, 1805. He married (second), January 22,
1806, Lucy Boardman, who died childless, August
17, 1806. He married (third) April 21, 1808, Han
nah Stanton, who bore him nine children. She
was the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Stanton, of
Groton, Connecticut, whose descent was: Nathaniel
(4) his father : Joseph (3) ; Captain John (2) ;
Thomas (1), the first settler. Her mother was a
lineal descendant of the first James Avery, of Gro
ton. Massachusetts, through his son, Captain James
Avery. Daniel Baldwin settled first in North Stonington,
Connecticut, where their first four children were
born. After 1816 they lived seven years in Chenango
county, New York, where their next four children
were born. Then they returned to North Stoning
ton where their youngest child was born.
Daniel Baldwin died October 28, 1855. His
widow, who was born March II, 1786. died March
19. 1S77, at the age of ninety-one. Their children
are: 1. John Denison. bom September 28, 1809,
(see forward). 2. Daniel Avery, July 2. 1811. mar
ried (first), May 23, 1835. Betsey Rogers, of Lyme,
Connecticut, who died April 17, 1S51 : he married
(second). May 22, 1S53. Amanda Colgrove, of
Voluntown. Connecticut; he was a shipmaster of
New London, Connecticut He had ten children.
3. Sally Adaline. July 17, 1813, died young. 4. Nancy
Adaline. April 27. 1815, married, December 3, 1839.
Frederick P. Frink. of Salisbury. Connecticut, and
died childless in New London, October 31, 1869.
5- Andrew, born and died April, 1817. 6. Mary7 Ann,
May 8, 1818, married, November 1. 1837, Charles
¦ D. Smith, of Woodstock; resided at Worcester and

had two children: Ebenezer Smith. November 7,
1839: Hannah Amelia, September 16, 1845, married
Samuel Woodward, who did business in Quincy
Market Boston. They have one child: Charles
Smith Woodward, bom September 16, 1868. 7. Han
nah, October 9, 1820, died young. 8. Robert Stan
ton. August ar, 1822, drowned June 3, 1838, in Nor
wich. 9. Amy Avery, September 9, 1825, married^
October 4, 1847, James Boardman, of Norwich, and
died childless July 30, 1866.
(X) John Denison Baldwin, son of Daniel Bald
win (9), was born in North Stonington, Connecticut,
September 28, 1809. He died at Worcester, Massa
chusetts. July 8, 1883, aged seventy-three years, nine
months and ten days.
When he was seven years old the family moved
from his native town to Chenango county, New
York, wliich at that time was wilderness, and for
seven years the son labored with his father and
other members of the family to subdue the soil,.
as their ancestors had done in New England nearly
two hundred years before. He learned to shoot
straight and to love nature. Those years in the
New York forests strengthened his character as well
as his muscles and developed the poetical side of his
nature. When the family returned to live in Stoning
ton, he was fourteen years old. He attended school
and studied diligently during the next three years.
At the age of seventeen he began to teach school.
He entered Yale College and pursued his course
from time to time, as his other duties permitted.
He did not graduate in regular course. He began
the study of law, but soon abandoned it for theology-
He preached for a short time to a Methodist con
gregation, but later entered the Divinity School at
Yale College and was graduated in 1834. In i839>
he received his degree of Master of Arts out of
regular course.
He was ordained September 3, 1834, and wasv
pastor of the Congregational church at West Wood
stock, Connecticut until July 25, 1837. From Janu-
arv 17, 1838, to May, 1845, he was pastor of the
church at North Brandford, Connecticut and at
North Killingly from April 29, 1S46, to September
17, 1849. He made his mark as a preacher and as
a man of sagacity and public spirit He took his
part in public affairs. He was elected to the Con
necticut legislature from North Killingly by the
Free Soil party. As chairman of the committee
on education he reported a hill for the establishment
of normal schools, and in 1850 his bill was- passed.
He was on the board of trustees upon whom he
devolved the selection of a site. , The normal school
was built at New Britain. At that time the normal
school was an innovation in the educational system
and it required no little agitation and earnest efforts
to establish in Connecticut the schools for the proper
training of public school teachers now deemed es
sential to the public school system everywhere. As
a member of the legislature he became more than-
ever interested in the Free Soil party and the anti-
slavery movement. He sought a larger field of use
fulness in order to advance the reforms in which he
was interested. He turned from preaching to journal
ism. He became editor of the Free Soil newspaper,
the Charter Oak, published weekly at Hartford,
later called the Republican. Editorial work he found
to his liking and his pen became recognized as one
of the political forces to be reckoned with. In
1852 he went to the larger field in Boston as ioint
owner of the Daily Commonwealth with William
Chflin, John B. Alley, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, and
William Spooner. Mr. Baldwin was the editor and
manager. He established close connections with the
leaders of the Free Soil and Republican party and

WORCESTER COUNTY

3n

gave substantial aid through his paper to the organi
zation of the Republican ' party. Charles Sumner,
Henry Wilson and Theodore Parker were almost
daily visitors at his office and the friendships formed
then were continued through life. The Common
wealth became the Daily Telegraph later and was
consolidated with the Traveler eventually.
Mr. Baldwin bought the Cambridge Chronicle
and edited it for a few months only. In 1859 he
came to Worcester. With his two sons, John Stan
ton Baldwin and Charles Clinton Baldwin, he bought
the Worcester Spy. The Spy was founded in Bos
ton by Isaiah Thomas in 1770, and removed to Wor
cester in 1775 where the first issue wasprinted May
3,' 1775, Just after the Battle of Lexington. The
daily edition was established in 1845. When Mr.
Baldwin took charge of The Spy the paper had had
some lean years though it was fairly prosperous.
The memorable election of i860 and the subsequent
events that culminated in the Civil war made new de
mands on the publishers of daily newspapers. Mr.
Baldwin and his sons took advantage of the oppor
tunity. Better facilities were secured. _ -The tele
graphic news came into use and the editorial page
of the newspaper was looked upon as the political
guide of the Republicans. The friends of The Spy
used to call it the "Worcester County Bible" ; its
political opponents expressed their dissent from the
editorial opinions of the paper by calling it "The
Lying Spy."
As the newspaper grew in circulation and pres
tige it became a very profitable business enterprise.
Mr. Baldwin and his sons acquired competences.
A brick building was built on Main street opposite
the City Hall for a home for the newspaper. Mr.
Baldwin had not only the efficient help of his sons,
whose knowledge of the printing business and con
duct of the counting room relieved him of a large
share of detail to devote his attention to editorial
work and his literary and political interests, but he
surrounded himself with capable newspaper men.
The late Captain J. Everts Greene was perhaps the
best known among his assistants. -
Mr. Baldwin was the head of his paper until
his death, though he was not able to do office work
during the last few years. He was a thorough news
paper man of the old school. He was a shrewd busi
ness man as well as a clear and forcible writer, far-
sighted and uncompromising.
He entered political life to further the principles
that he advocated in his newspapers. His leader
ship was recognized by his Republican associates in
Worcester county when he was selected the year
after he came to Worcester as a delegate to the
Republican National Convention of i860. His in
fluence at the convention was felt and it _ was at
his suggestion that Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was
nominated for vice-president. At the next Congres
sional election in 1862, Mr. Baldwin was elected a
representative by a large majority. He was re
elected in 1864 and 1868 by even greater majorities.
His successor was George Frisbie Hoar, late United
States Senator.
In Congress he served on the Committees on Ex
penditures, on Public Buildings, on the District of
Columbia, on Printing and on the Library. He was
not a frequent speaker, but many of his speeches
were notable efforts. He spoke March 5, 1864, on
state sovereignty and treason, the House being in
Committee of the Whole. He made a brilliant speech
April 7, 1866, on congress and reconstruction in the
house, and again January 11, 1868, in reply to Hon.
James Brooks, of New York, on the negro race, he
made a memorable speech. Some of his speeches
were published. He was active and influential in

committee work. He made an effort to secure an
international copyright act during his last term, and
his speeches and reports entitle him to stand among
the benefactors of American literature.
Mr. Baldwin will be remembered not only for his
achievements in the political world and as a con
gressman, not only as one of the great editors of
the civil war period of Massachusetts, but as an
author and student. At the close of his life he wrote
in his autobiography that he had been a close student
all his life and he had never known a time when it
was not a pleasure for him to study. This auto
biography, which, with his portrait painted by the late
William Willard, was left to his grandson, Robert S.
Baldwin, is an important contribution to the history
of the eventful period in which he lived. It gives
his political and religious Views as well as his part
in the activities of life.
After he was a preacher he acquired the French
and German languages. He made a special study
of archeology. He was interested in science and
was one of the first to take up the process of mak
ing portraits by the daguerreotype process and some
pictures of his family and others that he took have
been preserved. While in congress he had an op
portunity for archeological research. His book on
Prehistoric Nations was published by Harpers in
1869. In 1872 he published Ancient America, which
had a large sale and attracted much attention. In
1880 he published his genealogy of the Descendants
of John Baldwin, of Stonington, Connecticut. In
1881 in collaboration with Rev. William Clift he
published a Record of the Descendants of Captain
George Denison, of Stonington. In 1882 he pub
lished a partial genealogy of the descendants of
Thomas Stanton, of Stonington. In 1847 he pub
lished a collection oi; his poems entitled : "The Story
cf Raymond Hill and Other Poems." The book
reveals both the poetical temperament of the author
and skillful use of English in verse as well as prose.
The last time Mr- Baldwin appeared in a public
assembly as a speaker was in Mechanics' Hall, June
24, 1878, at the exercises attending the re-interment
of the remains of Isaiah Thomas, when he read a
very interesting account of the labors of Mr. Thomas
in the revolution.
Mr. Baldwin was a member of the American
Oriental Society of New Haven, established in 1843.
He was elected a member of the New England His
toric-Genealogical Society April 22, 1868 ; of the
American Antiquarian Society, October 21, 1869, and
an honorary member of the Worcester Society of
Antiquity, January 2, 1877. ,
One who knew him intimately wrote the fol
lowing at the time of his death : ."Mr. Baldwin was
a man of imposing stature, much exceeding six
feet in height, of large frame and great muscular
strength. In his early manhood, his massive head,
erect figure and stalwart proportions, indicative of
activity and power, gave an aspect of uncommon
force and dignity. His mind like his body was large
and vigorous. His political sagacity was highly
esteemed by those who had long been associated
with him. Though so much of a recluse, especially
in later years, he knew human nature well and could
foresee with great accuracy the political effect of
any measure or event. His election forecasts were
in general singularly near the truth, and his judg
ment of men, their character, capabilities and popu
larity, was rarely at fault. His advice in political
matters was often sought and highly valued. It was
delivered confidently but without arrogance and more
than once those who had refused to be guided by
it at an important juncture had cause to regret that
it had been rejected. As a writer Mr. Baldwin was

312

WORCESTER COUNTY

direct, clear and forcible. His style had no ornament
It was sometimes rugged, but always strong and
sincere. His wide range of reading and retentive
memory gave him a vast store of facts, and his
knowledge of political history was especially large
and accurate. But though his profession of journal
ism kept his mind • occupied much with such sub-
jects, his favOrite pursuit was the study of antiquity,
both the dim past of which authentic history gives
only hints and suggestions, and the less remote but
almost as difficult, field of family genealogy to which
most of his later years, while his health allowed,
was devoted."
Mr. Baldwin married, April 3, 1832, Lemira Hath
away, daughter of Captain Ebenezer and Betsey
(Crane) Hathaway, of. Dighton, Massachusetts.
Captain Hathaway, born in 1779, was the son of
Stephen Hathaway, born in 1745, and the grandson
of Nicholas Hathaway, born in 1722. His mother's
maiden name was Hope Pierce. Lemira Hathaway
was born March 6, 1813, and died April 2, 1904.
The children of John Denison and Lemira (Hath
away) Baldwin were: 1.. Ellen Frances, born in
Dighton, Massachusetts, January 19, 1853, died in
New Orleans, March, 1854. ("She had made uncer
tain," her father wrote of her, "that, if she had lived,
she would" have won a brilliant reputation in litera
ture.") 2. John Stanton, born in New Haven,
Connecticut, January 6, 1834, (see forward). 3.
Charles Clinton, born in Woodstock, Connecticut,
May 4, 1835, (see forward). 4. Mary Jane, born in
Woodstock, Connecticut, May 6, 1836, died in Hart
ford, Connecticut, December 29, 1850. ("She was
bright, vigorous and promising," her father wrote
of her, "and had seemed sure of a long life.")
(XI) John Stanton Baldwin, son of John Deni
son Baldwin (10)., was born in New Haven, Connec
ticut, January 6, 1834. He was educated in the public
schools and his was one of the first classes graduated
from the State Normal School of Connecticut at
New Britain. He learned the art of printing in
the newspaper offices with which his father was
connected in Hartford and Boston. At Hartford the
Republican office had a job printing department.
Mr. Baldwin learned the printing business thorough
ly in all departments, and when Jie came to Wor
cester with his father was well equipped to conduct
the mechanical and . business departments of the
newspaper as well as the editorial department. Dur
ing the larger part of the time that The Spy was
owned by the Baldwin family, from 1859 until 1898,
he was the active and responsible head of the paper.
After his father's death in 1883 the firm of John
D. Baldwin & Sons continued for five years to run
the paper with Mr. Baldwin at the head. The Spy
Publishing Company was organized April 23, 1887,
under the corporation law of Massachusetts. John
S. Baldwin was president; Charles C. Baldwin, his
brother, treasurer, and Robert S. Baldwin, his son,
secretary. In 1892 when Charles C. Baldwin with
drew from the company John S. Baldwin became
president and treasurer, and his son, John D. Bald
win, became a director.
Mr. Baldwin served in the Civil war as captain
of Company F, Fifty-first Massachusetts Regiment.
He is a member of Post 10, G. A. R., and of the
Loyal Legion. He was a representative to the gen
eral court in 1871, and he has served the city of
Worcester as a member of the board of license
commissioners, the school board and the common
council. Since Mr. Baldwin retired from the news
paper business in 1898 he has devoted a large part
of his time to his summer place at Marion, Massa
chusetts, on Buzzards Bay.
He married, October 19, 1863, Emily Brown, of

Worcester, daughter of Albert and Mary (Eaton)
Brown. (See sketch bf Edwin Brown and the
Brown Family). The children of John Stanton and
Emily (Brown) Baldwin were : 1. Mary Eleanor,
born November 25, 1864, was a teacher in the Wor
cester high school, married Professor Frederick
Dunlap, teacher of chemistry at University of Mich
igan. She has a daughter Roselee, born 1903. 2.
Robert Stanton, December 17, 1865, graduated at
Harvard University in 1891, was one of the editors and
directors of The Worcester Spy until 1898; has been
teacher since then in the Worcester Normal School;
3. Alice Hathaway, November 26, 1867, married,
1897, Miron L. Foster, lumber merchant of Wor
cester; their children were: Marcella, December 21,
1898 ; Alicia, December 8, 1899 ; Ellen F., born Au
gust 9, 1900. 4. John Denison, May 26, 1871, gradu
ated at Harvard University in 1893; was director
and business manager of The Worcester Spy until
1898 ; has since been in the life insurance business
in Worcester; married, 1898, Mary, daughter of
Thomas B. Eaton, of Worcester; they have two
children- Charlotte, born March 20, 1899, and John
Denison, born in 1903. 5. Emily Brown, March 27,
1873, died May 24, 1874. 6. Rosamond, September
24, 1874, died September 2, 1876. 7. Henry Brown,
August 9, 1877, lives with parents. 8. Emily Clin
ton, January 28, 1884.
(XI) Charles Clinton Baldwin, son of John Deni
son Baldwin (10), was born in Woodstock, Connec
ticut, May 4, 1835. He was educated in the public
schools and in the course of newspaper work. He
learned the business from typesetting to bookkeep
ing on the newspapers edited at Hartford and Bos
ton by his father. When he came to Worcester he
had charge of the counting room and for more than
thirty years he performed the duties of treasurer
of The Worcester Spy. He resigned as treasurer of
The Spy Publishing Company in November, 1892,
and retired from active business.
Mr. Baldwin is highly esteemed among all his
acquaintances. He has no taste for public life. He
prefers his study and home life. He is a member
of the Worcester Club. He has a decided taste for
genealogy, and is a member of the Worcester Society
of Antiquity. He belongs to the Worcester Horti
cultural Society. He and his wife are members of
All Saints Episcopal Church. They reside at a beau
tiful home at 11 Cedar street. He is a Republican.
Mr. Baldwin married, October. 1, 1868, Ella L.
T. Peckham, daughter of Dr. F. H. Peckham, of
Providence. (See sketch of the Peckham Family
for her ancestry.)
Their children are: I. Katherine Torrey, born
July 17, 1869, married April 29, 1887, Lynde Sulli
van', son of Dr. John Langdon Sullivan, of Maiden;
he is a lawyer; graduate of Harvard College and
Law School, living at Maiden, practicing law in
Boston: has one child: John Langdon Sullivan,
born March 12, 1903. 2. Edith Ella, November 19,
1870. 3. Grace Peckham. May 16, 1874. 4- Rose
Danielson, October 22, 1882, died November 8, 1893.
(I) John Peckham was the emigrant ancestor
of Mrs. Charles C. Baldwin, of Worcester, of her
sister Dr. Grace Peckham Murray, of New York,
and of the widow of George Whitman Danielson,
late editor of Providence, Rhode Island, another
sister. John Peckham was admitted an inhabitant of the
island of A.quidneck, (Rhode Island) March 20,
1638. He was made a freeman of Newport. March
16. 1641. He was one of the ten male members in
full communion of the First Baptist Church in 1648
and one of its founders in 1644. He was a resident
of that part of Newport which became Middletown,

WORCESTER COUNTY

313

where he was made a freeman in 1655. He married
(first) Mary Clarke, who died in 1648. He married
{second) Eleanor  . His children were : John,
- William, Stephen, (see forward) ; Thomas, James,
Clement, Sarah, Rebecca, Deborah, Phebe, Eliza
beth, and Susannah.
(II) Stephen Peckham, son of John Peckham
(1), was one of the earliest settlers of Dartmouth,
Massachusetts. He had a grant of land in Narra
gansett in 1679, but probably never went there to
live. He also purchased land in Dartmouth in 1679,
and was a substantia! farmer in that part of Dart
mouth now included in the city limits of New Bed
ford. He died April 23, 1724. His estate in round
numbers amounted to 1,800 pounds. His wife's name
was Mary and their children were: Stephen, born
February 23, 1683; Samuel, August 17, 1684; Elea
nor, January 12, 1686 ; William, October 27, 1688 ;
Mary, August 17, 1690; Hannah, January 28, 1692;
John, January 15, 1697; Deborah, June, 1699, mar
ried, January 19, 1727, Thomas Nye; Joseph, Feb
ruary 2, 1701 ; Jean, January 23, 1703, married, April
4, 1729, Thomas Delano; Isaiah, September 14, 1705,
married April 19, 1736, Ruth Morton.
(Ill) Stephen Peckham, son of Stephen Peck
ham (2), was born in Middleton, Massachusetts,
February 23, 1683, and died June, 1764, leaving an
estate valued at 512 pounds. His father left him in
his will the northerly part of the homestead which
he had divided into four parts for his four sons.
The children of Stephen and Content Peckham were :
1. James, born October 4, 1716. 2. Stephen, Septem
ber 14, 1718. 3. Seth, November 29, 1723, probably
died young. The children of Stephen and Keturah
(Arthur) Peckham were: 4. Elizabeth, July 5, 1741.
5. Eunice, December 6, 1742. 6. Richard, December
16, 1744-
(IV) Stephen Peckharn, son of Stephen Peck
ham (3), was born September 14, 1718. He married
(first) about 1739, Sarah Boss, who was born July
5, 1724, and died December 12, 1768. He married
(second) Elizabeth White, who was born December
22, 1740. He bought and inherited from his father,
portions of the old homestead, so that he finally
owned half of the entire farm, his brother Richard
inheriting the other half. His wife Elizabeth died
April 12, 1791.
The children of Stephen and Sarah (Boss) Peck
ham were: Elizabeth, born December 22, 1740;
Peleg, September 27, 1744; Mercy, February 23,
1746; Stephen, April 6, 1748; Seth, October 31, 1750,
(see forward) ; Jonathan, February 8, 1753, married
Hannah Soule, widow, daughter of Peleg White;
James, May 11, 1756; Sarah, June 9, 1758; Lydia,
January 9, 1761; Amy, February 18, 1763; Joseph,
January 27, 1766. Of these Stephen and Seth moved
to the town of Gloucester, Providence county, Rhode
Island. (V) Seth Peckham, son of Stephen Peckham (4),
was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, October 31,
1750. He married, January 26, 1775, Mercy Smith,
daughter of Captain John and Sarah (Hopkins)
Smith. Sarah Hopkins was the daughter of the
famous Thomas Hopkins, of Rhode Island. Mr.
Peckham lived on a farm in Gloucester, and was
probably a farmer. During the revolution he was
in Captain Joseph Kimball's company in which his
brother-in-law was a lieutenant. He died in 1826.
His children were: I. Hazael, born November 16,
1777. (see forward). ,2. Thomas, January 10, 1780,
married Anna Sweet. ' 3. Sarah, June 20, 1782, mar
ried Chad Taylor. 4. Seth, October, 1784, married
Deborah Keach, and lived in Gloucester. 5. Mercy,
1787, married in 1807, Josiah Wescott, of Scituate,
Rhode Island. 6. John, 1793, married in 1820, Han

nah Smith, daughter of Gideon Smith, of Scituate.
(VI) Dr. Hazael Peckham, son of Seth Peck
ham (5), was born in Gloucester, November 16,
1777, married in 1797, Susannah Thornton, who was
born October 8, 1776, daughter of Jeremiah Thorn
ton, of Burrillville, and his wife, Esther Wright,
of Providence. Their children were : 1. Paris, born
in 1798. 2. Smith, 1800, died in 1878. 3. Amey, 1801,
married William Day; 4. Susan, 1809, married Dr.
Justin Hammond. 5. Hazael, 1810, died in 1888. 6.
Pamelia, 1816, married Rhodes Hopkins, and died in
1886. 7. Fenner Harris, 1817, (see forward).
(VII) Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham, son of Dr.
Hazael Peckham (6), was born in Killingly, Con
necticut, January 27, 1817. He studied medicine in
the office of Dr. Justin Hammond, a physician of
Windham county, Connecticut, and Professors Knight
and Hooker, of New Haven. He was graduated
from the Yale Medical College in 1842. He prac
ticed first at East Killingly, but soon removed to
what is now known as Putnam Heights, where he
continued until 1852, having an extensive practice.
In 1852 he removed to Providence where he lived
and practiced the rest of his life. He was one of
the best known physicians in the state. While in
Connecticut he was a member of the State Medical
Society, and when he removed to Rhode Island he
became a member of the Rhode Island Medical So
ciety, and was twice its president. He was for many
years physician and surgeon of the Marine Hospital
at Providence, and was a member of the medical
board of the Economical Life Insurance Company.
He wrote a monograph on Hydrophobia, and another
on the Topographical^ Geological Condition of the
Second District of Rhode Island.
When the civil war broke out Dr. Peckham
volunteered his services, and was commissioned sur
geon of fhe Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery,
August 15, 1861. He had first been assigned to duty
with the Second Rhode Island Volunteers at Wash
ington, and had charge of the medical department
of Camp Sprague after the first Battle of Bull Run.
He joined the Third Regiment after the command
had reached and taken possession of Port Royal,
South Carolina, but ill health caused by the climate
caused him to resign in February, 1862. In April,
1863, he was appointed surgeon for the board of en
rollment of the second district of Rhode Island, and
at the request of Gen. J. Y. Smith, officially visited
Fortress Monroe, continuing his efficient services
with the board to the end of the war. He died Feb
ruary 17, 1887, and was buried in Swan Point Ceme
tery. He married Catherine Davis, daughter of Captain
William Torrey. Their children were: 1. Kath
erine Fenner, born February, 1841, graduate of
Mount Holyoke; and Woman's Medical College,
Philadelphia, with the degree of M. D., resides at
Putnam Heights, Connecticut, practiced her profes
sion in Boston; is life member of Colonel Timothy
Bigelow Chapter, D. A. R. of Worcester. 2. Rosa
Frances, October 28, 1842, (see forward). 3. Dr.
Fenner H., February n, 1844. 4. Ella Lois Torrey,
September 12, 1846. 5. Grace, October 16, 1848. 6.
Mary Davis, February 10, 1853, died February 10,
1853- (VIII) Rosa Frances Peckham, daughter of Dr.
Fenner Harris Peckham (7), was born October 28,
¦ 1842. She graduated in 1862 from the Providence
. high school. She studied art and painting for ten
years in Paris. She has pictures exhibited in the
Salon at Paris. In later years she has painted minia
tures and has done some excellent work.
She married. January 25, 1881, George Whitman
Danielson, of Providence. He was a former pub-

314

WORCESTER COUNTY

lisher and editor of the Providence Journal. He died
March 25, 1884. She is one of the founders and
charter members of the Providence Art Club. She
is a life member of Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chap
ter, D. A. R. of Worcester. Her children are:
Whitman, born December 17, 1881, a graduate at
Harvard; and Rosamond, born November 6, 1884,
graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Pennsydvania, class
of 1904. (VIII) Dr. Fenner Harris, Peckham, son of Dr.
Fenner H. Peckham (7),- was born in East Killingly,
Connecticut, February II, 1844. He graduated from
Yale Medical School in 1866, and became associated
with his father, after whose death he continued the
practice alone. He has now virtually retired, and
has been succeeded by his son, Dr. Charles F. Peck
ham. He served in the Civil war as lieutenant in the
Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers.
He married, October 29,. 1867, in Proyidence,
Mary H. Olney, daughter of Elam and Helen (Ful
ler) Olney. Their children are : I. Charles Fenner,
graduated at Columbia in 1890 with the degree of
M. D. ; he was surgeon to the Rhode Island Naval
Reserves in the Spanish American war with the rank
of lieutenant. 2. Alice, lives at home. 3. William
Torrey, graduated at Brown in 1897, married Alice
Hetherington Dike, October 22, 1901.
Dr. Fenner H. Peckham is a Free Mason, a mem
ber of Whatcheer Lodge. He is also a member of
the Massachusetts Commandery, Loyal Legion; Rod
man Post, G. A. R. ; the Squantum Club; the Uni
versity Club; the West Side Club; the Central Club;
the Agawam Hunt Club, and the Long Meadow
Golf Club. He is State Commissioner of Birds. He
is a member of the Rhode 'Island Medical Society,
and the American Medical Association, and is United
States pension examing surgeon. He is president
of the Hope Webbing Company; vice-president of
the Providence Telephone Company; director of the
Narragansett Electric Lighting Company; Mechanics
National Bank ; Free Masons Hall Company ; Provi
dence & Springfield Railroad Company, and Wood
River Branch Railroad Company. He is trustee of
the Mechanics' Savings Bank.
(VIII) Dr. Grace Peckham Murray, daughter
of Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham (7), graduated from
Mount Holyoke College in 1867. She graduated in
1882 from the Woman's Medical College of the
New York Infirmary. After having obtained her
degree she was interne and resident physician of the
New York Infirmary for Women and Children for
three years, after which she commenced her private
practice in New York city, in which she has since
been engaged. For many years she was attending
physician to the hospital, and was engaged in the
college and dispensary of that institution. In 1902
she was appointed professor of women's diseases at
the New York Post Graduate School, which posi
tion she now holds.
For three years she was sent as a delegate to
the New York State Medical Society by the New
York County Medical Society, of which she is a
member. She also belongs to the New York Acad
emy of Medicine : the New York Neurological and
the Women's Medical Association of New York,
of which she was president four years. She is vice-
president of the National Social Science Association.
She has been on the editorial staff of the New York
Medical Record, and has contributed many medical
articles to the current medical literature of the day.
She is associate editor of the Women's Medical
Journal. She is a frequent and regular contributor
to The Delineator and other magazines. She is a
member of the National Arts Club; the Wednesday
Afternoon Club; the Barnard Club; the New Eng

land Society; and the Manhattan Chapter, D. A. R.
She married, 1893, Hon. Charles H. Murray, who
is a prominent Republican and lawyer. -
(VIII) Ella Lois Torrey Peckham, daughter of
Dr. Fenner H. Peckham (7), was educated in the
public schools of Providence and in Mount Holyoke
College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she
was graduated in 1867. She organized the Worces
ter County Mount Holyoke Alumni Association, and
filled the office of president for twelve years. She
founded the Fortnightly Club of Worcester. She
is a very active member of the Worcester Woman's
Club, and was president in 1896, 1897 and 1898. She
is a member of the building committee of the club
house, and director of its corporation. She has been
an active member and vice-president of the Massa
chusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs. She
belongs also to the Worcester Art Society and Public
School Art League. She is a charter member of
Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter, D. A. R. She
was married to Charles C. Baldwin in 1868. (See
sketch of Baldwin family). Her daughter, Kath
erine Torrey, studied art in Paris, and has exhibited
her work in the Paris Salon. Edith Ella Baldwin
was also educated in Paris in art. Her work has
been exhibited in the Champs de Mars Salon of
Paris, and at the Society of American Artists in
New York. Grace Peckham Baldwin was educated
at Bryn Mawr College and at the Drexel Institute
Library School, Philadelphia.
TORREY ANCESTRY OF MRS. BALDWIN.
William Torrey (1), who settled in Weymouth,
Massachusetts, in 1640, • was the emigrant ancestor
of Mrs. Charles C- Baldwin through her mother's
line. He was born in Combe, St. Nicholas, Somer
setshire, England, in 1608, son of Philip Torrey (2),
and his wife Alice, a lineal descendant in the fifth
generation of William Torrey, who died at Combe,
St. Nicholas, in 1657. leaving a wife Thomasine, and
two sons. The line in England was: William (1),
Philip (2), William (3), Philip (4), and William
(5), the emigrant, designated above as William Tor
rey (1). His brothers James, Philip and Joseph
also came to New England in 1640.
William Torrey (1) served "many years as clerk
of the general court and was captain of the militia.
(II) Captain William Torrey, son of William
Torrey (1), commanded the Weymouth Company in
King Philip's war. He married Deborah Green.
(Ill) Joseph Torrey, son of Captain William
Torrey (2), was a merchant at Weymouth. He
married Elizabeth Symmes.
(IV) Rev. Joseph Torrey, son of Joseph Torrey
(3), settled at South Kingston, Rhode Island. He
married Elizabeth Fiske.
(V) Captain William Torrey, son of Rev. Joseph
Torrey (4), settled at Killingly, Connecticut. He
married Zilpah Davison, daughter of Daniel and
Catherine (Davis) Davison. He was born in 1763*
and died in 1847. His children were. 1. Zilpah,
married William Harris, of Scituate, Massachusetts,
and one of her eight children is Dr. William T.
Harris, United States Commissioner of Education.
2. Catherine Davis Torrey, born in 1819, married
Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham.
(VI) Catherine Davis Torrey, daughter of Cap
tain William Torrey (5), married Dr. Fenner H.
Peckham. They had one son and five daughters.
(See Peckham Family sketch).
(VII) Ella Lois Torrey Peckham, daughter of
Dr. Fenner H. Peckham, married Charles C. Ba'td-

ANDREW HILL HAMMOND was born in'
Alton, New Hampshire, August 3,- 1830. During

-zyT^xZ^

WORCESTER COUNTY

3i5

his infancy his parents removed to Gilnianton, New
Hampshire, where his early years were spent on a
farm. His father was a Baptist minister, but com
bined with his pastoral duties the occupation of a
farmer, after the custom of the early days, lie at
tended the district school in Gilnianton. At the age
of nine lie went to, live with his grandparents in the
(jure district of his' native town, and while there was
for several years under the tuition of his maternal
uncle, Jonathan Prescott Hill, who was a surveyor,
mathematician and school teacher of note in that
region. Mr, Hill was grandson of Dr. Jonathan Hill,
who married Mercy Prescott.
Mr. Hammond's experience as a pupil of. Mr. Hill
was of great benefit in after years, as it gave him a
love of books and study that attended him through
, life, and gave him a place among the self-educated
as well as the self-made men of his day and genera
tion. After he returned to Gilnianton to his father's
home, he attended the academy there, and also
worked on the farm. At the age of eighteen he
went to Manchester, New Hampshire, and learned
the trade of an iron moulder, and was employed in
Laconia, New Hampshire, at that occupation until
1851, when he came to Worcester and found a posi
tion in the malleable iron works of Waite, Cliadsey
and Company. Later he was employed in the
foundries of Goddard Rice and Company, and Will
iam A. Wheeler.
He had musical gifts which he cultivated while
working in the foundries, studying under such well
known instructors as S. R. Leland, founder of the
firm that still bears his name, Albert S. Allen and
E. S. Nason, and became a proficient teacher of
singing. One of his early experiences was a trip
west to teach singing schools, travelling down the
Ohio valley and up the Mississippi, returning through
the town of Chicago, then a small but growing vil
lage. He continued to study music and obtained a
position in the organ reed factory owned by Augus
tus Rice and Edwin Harrington, beginning on wages
of seventy-five cents a day, but his mechanical skill,
his inventive genius and _ musical ability soon made
him a force iu the business. He originated new
methods and appliances which increased the quantity
and improved the quality of the product, and was
soon in charge of the manufacturing' department.
Subsequently the firm became Redding and Harring
ton, and they made a contract with Mr. Hammond
to give him the benefit of all inventions and improve
ments that he should introduce, that would be of
benefit to the firm. In a short time they found it ad
visable to give him a third interest in the business,
Later he purchased their interest ami became the
sole owner, and continued in business under his own
name. In 1868 Mr, Hammond built his first factory
on the present local ion on May street, and added to
it from time to time until it was the largest organ
reed factory in the world, a position it held for a
number of years. It is equipped with special ma-
chinerydevised by Mr. Hammond for the purposes of
the business. The Hammond organ reeds are known
as a standard product all over Ihe world. The mak
ing of organ reeds is a distinct business from the
manufacture of organs, and is confined practically to
factories in Chicago and 'Worcester, The great
success of his business has been due not only to the
machinery that lie has devised, and the excellent
goods that he has been able (0 produce, but to the
tact and judgment he has shown in business deal
ings. Although Mr. Hammond has had few inter
ests outside of his business, he has always been a
reader and student, and has a very large and valued
horary in his beautiful home on Claremont street,

Worcester, After his sou. Richard Hill Hammond,
left school he was taken into business by his father,
and later became its manager. Under his direction
the affairs of the business have continued to grow
and prosper. Iu 1892 the Hammond Reed Company
was incorporated/ Since then Andrew Hill Ham
mond has been president and treasurer; Richard
Hill Hammond has been general manager and assist
ant treasurer and Alice B. Hammond and Mabel F.
Hammond, two daughters of Mr. Hammond, di
rectors. Andrew H. Hammond married, i860, R. Maria
Barber, daug'hter of Benjamin Barber, of Worces
ter. She was a woman of rare accomplishments
and ability. To her Mr. Hammond attributes much
of his material success. She died May 21, 1891.
Their children were: Charles Warren, died in in
fancy; Nellie Prescott, born April 20, 1800, a grad
uate of Oxford University, England, and teacher of
Chicago University; Alice Barber, born January
10, 1S08, married Clarence B. Shirley, of Boston;
Robert, died young; Richard Hill, born January 6,
1871, the business manager; Mabel Florence, student
at Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Mr. Hammond was a strong anti-slavery man.
He joined the Free Soil party when it was formed,
and later became a Republican, with wliich party
he has since acted politically, giving it his hearty
support. He never eared for public office, although
always ready to do his duty as a Republican and
citizen. But to his business he devoted the energy
of his life, and made it a success, lie died at his
home in Worcester, March 1, 1906.
(VIII) Richard Hill Hammond, son of Andrew
^ Hill Hammond (7), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He attended the Worcester schools in
cluding the high school and the Worcester Poly
technic Institute, and went from the college into his
father's business, where he soon became manager,
and for several years the entire care and manage
ment of the concern has been on his shoulders, and
it is to his credit to say that the business has in no
way suffered at his hands ; but on the contrary there
has been a steady improvement, and since the death
of his father Mr. Hammond has devoted himself
entirely to business, thus early displaying the same
characteristics and aptitude that made his father
successful. He has never been in politics, and is
unmarried. Andrew Ilill Hammond, mentioned at the head
of this sketch, is a direct descendant from William
llani (1), an emigrant from England to Exeter,
New Hampshire, in 164(1, Andrew Hill Hammond
having when a young man legally changed his name
fra in 1 lam to Hammond. William Ham removed
from Exeter to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in
1652, having there a grant of fifty acres of land on
Freeman's point, just above Portsmouth bridge. He
hail at least two children: Matthew, who had one
grant of land from the town in 1054 and another in
1660; Elizabeth, who married  Cotton. Will
iam Ham died in 167.?, and his will is at Concord,
New 1 lampshire, originally proved at Exeter. His
son Matthew was dead, and he bequeathed his
property to his daughter Elizabeth (Cotton) and
grandsons, William, John and Thomas Ham.
(11) John Ham, grandson of William Ham (1),
the emigrant, was born in 1649, and was on the tax
list of Coeheeo (Dover) in 1005. He married Mary
Heart, daughter of John Heart, of Dover, 1669. His
first homestead was at "Tolend" near the second
falls of the Cocheco. Later he removed to a farm
on Garrison hill, at Dover, was a juryman in 1688,
and a lieutenant, was town clerk in 1694. His wife
died in 1706, and he died in 17-7. His will, proved

3i6

WORCESTER COUNTY

At Exeter, named the following children: Mary,
¦born October 2, 1668, married John Waldron; John,
1671; Samuel; Joseph, born June 3, 1678; Eliza-
•beth, born January 2, 1781, married Jeremiah Rol
lins; Priphena, married John Tucker, who was
¦captured by the Indians in 1696, Jmt soon found his
way back to Dover, New Hampshire; he had a grant
ot land from the town of Dover at Scatterwit;
.Sarah, married Thomas Downes ; Mercy, married
.Richard Nason; Benjamin, born 1693.
(Ill) Benjamin Ham, son of John Ham (2),
was born in Dover, New Hampshire, 1693. He
married Patience Hartford, daughter of Nicholas
Hartford, in 1720. He inherited his father's farm
near Garrison's hill, where the last days of John
.Ham, his father, were spent. He was constable
in 1731, and had one full share in the common
lands in 1732. His wife joined the First Church in
1737. He was surveyor of highways in 1738, and
"voted in 1757 with . twelve others against building
the new meeting house at Pine Hill, Dover. He
died in 1781. The farm on which he lived was pur
chased of Peter Coffin in 1690. The original deed
.and part of the farm are now, or were lately, owned
¦by John T, W. Ham, a descendant. His children
were : William, born November 25, 1722 ; Mary,
•October 8, 1723, baptized October 23, 1737, married
 Young; John, 1736; Patience, 1737, baptized
March 25, 1739; Elizabeth, 1739, baptized December
10, 1749, married Jenness  .
(IV) William Ham, son of Benjamin Ham (3),
was born at Dover, New Hampshire, November 25,
1722 and joined the First Church of Dover, January
3, 1742; removed to Rochester, New Hampshire,
and died there in 1800. His children were : Charity,
married Job Allard; Benjamin, born 1753, married
Mary Waldron, removed to Farmington, New
Hampshire, where he died 1846; William, May 8,
J7S7; Francis, May 3, 1763, married Experience
Knowles, removed to Albany, New Hampshire;
.Ephraim, died unmarried; Eleanor, married Samuel
Twombley. (V) William Ham, son of William Ham (4),
was born in Dover, New Hampshire, May 8, 1757.
He was a soldier in the revolutionary war. He
settled at Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He . mar
ried Anne Meader. He died in 1843. His children
were : Miriam, married Francis Elliot ; Sarah, mar-
Tied Ezekiel Hayes; Eli; Ezra.
(VI) Rev. Ezra Ham, son of William Ham
(5), was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He
married Mercy Prescott Hill, daughter of Andrew
W. and Mary P. (Ham) Hill, in 1824, and grand
daughter of Dr. Jonathan and Mary (Prescott)
Hill. He became a Free Will Baptist clergyman,
and farmer in Lower Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
The children of Ezra Ham and Mercy (Prescott)
Hill were: George Edward, resides on Silver
street, Worcester, works for Grompton and Knowles
loom works ; James C, Lemuel M., Mercy Eliza
beth, Mary A., Enos H., Otis F., William. Andrew
Hill, born at Alton, New Hampshire, August 3,
1830, changed his name to Hammond.
HENRY A. DESPER, of Worcester, is de
scended on his father's side from French stock. The
immigrant, who was his great-great-grandfather, in
coming to this country was shipwrecked somewhere
on the coast of Massachusetts. It is known that he
was born in France, but the family records are lost
and the writer cannot give any details of his an
cestry, even to his given name, further than to state
that he settled here in Massachusetts, and a son of
his was named Edward Dispeaux, which surname
has since been changed to Despeaux and Dispeau

and is generally spelled Desper by the present gen
eration. Mr. Desper comes of Pilgrim stock on his
mother's side and is descended from several of the
"Mayflower" passengers, John Alden, Priscilla Mo-
lines and her parents, James and Susannah Chil
ton, Francis Cook, besides a number of the Puritan
fathers of Massachusetts Bay colony, as given below.
(II) Edward Dispeaux, son of the immigrant
ancester, referred to above, settled in Massachusetts,
but his wife's name is unknown. His descendants
are scattered up and down the Blackstone Valley
from Grafton to Providence, Rhode Island, as well
as in other sections and states. He had nineteen
children, it is said. He gave all the sons names
commencing with "J."
(Ill) James Desper, son of the preceding Ed
ward Dispjeaux (2), was born May 25, 1789. He
married, August 25, 181 1, Anna Cheney, who was
born in Auburn, Massachusetts, June 11, 1790, and
died January 29, 1842. He died November, 1872.
They had nine children, only five of whom lived to
grow up, viz. : James H., Jason, Miranda, William
E., mentioned below ; Mary Ann.
(IV) William E. Desper, son of the preceding
James Desper (3), was born in Auburn, Massachu
setts, April 20, 1824, and died October 3, 1902, aged
seventy-eight years, five months, thirteen days. He
married, March 29, 1847, Elvira Orcutt, who was
born in Stafford, Connecticut, March 4, 1823, died
August 4, 1897, aged seventy-four years, five months.
Mr. Desper was a machinist by trade and a manu
facturer of water 'meters in Worcester, Massachu
setts. He was a Republican in politics, and was a
member of the Second Adventist Church. William
E. and Alvira (Orcutt) Desper had five children,
three of whom lived to grow up, viz.: Henry A.,
Wilton H., Ernest W. Desper.
ANCESTRY OF ELVIRA (ORCUTT) DESPER.
William Molines and John Alden, both of whom
came to Plymouth on the "Mayflower," were ances
tors of Elvira (Orcutt) Desper, of Worcester. Both
signed the Mayflower compact at Provincetown, No
vember 15, 1620. William and Alice Molines were
of the Walloon Huguenot contingent.
(I) John Alden was born in England, 1599; he
married in Plymouth, New England, Priscilla Mo
lines, daughter of William and Alice Molines, men
tioned above. Her parents and brother Joseph died
during the "first sickness." Longfellow has made
John Alden and his bride the best known of the
younger Pilgrims. They lived at Plymouth a few
years and then removed to Duxbury. John Alden
was also one of the original proprietors of Bridge-
water, Massachusetts. He died at Duxbury, Sep
tember 19, 1687. His wife died February 5, 1688.
They had ten children.
(II) Joseph Alden, son of John Alden (1), was
born in 1627. He married Mary Simmons.
(Ill) Joseph Alden, son of Joseph Alden (2),
was born in 1667. He was deacon of the church.
He married in 1690, Hannah Dunham, daughter of
Daniel Dunham. He died December 22, 1747, and
his wife died January 13, 1748.
(IV) Mary Alden, daughter of Deacon Joseph
Alden (3), was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts,
April 10, 1699. She married, 1719, Timothy EdsOn,
son of Joseph Edson,' and she died at Stafford, Con
necticut, 1782. Timothy was born in 1689; they had
six children; they resided at Stafford, Connecticut.
(V) Timothy Edson, son of Timothy and Mary
(Alden) Edson (4), was born in 1722; he married
Lydia Joy, of Hingham, who was born October 5,
1725, and died at Randolph, Vermont, August 23,
1806. They had eleven children.
(V) . Mary Edson, daughter of Timothy and •

WORCESTER COUNTY

317

Lydia (Joy) Edson (4), was born June 22, 1767.
She married Ebenezer Johnson.
(VI) Selenda Johnson, daughter of Ebenezer
and Mary (Edson) Johnson (5), married, 1816,
Warren Orcutt. They had nine children, all daugh
ters, and all except one lived to be seventy years of
age or more except the youngest, who is now (1906)
sixty-five years old.
(VII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren and
Selenda (Johnson) Orcutt (6), was born March 4,
1823, married William E. Desper, March 29, 1847.
(VIII) Henry A. Desper, son of William E.
and Elvira (Orcutt) Desper (8), is the subject of
this sketch, mentioned below.
(I) James Chilton, another Mayflower ancestor
of Henry A. Desper, mentioned above, also signed
the compact. lie brought with him his wife Mary,
who died within a few months after the landing. Fie
died December 6, 1620.
(II) Mary Chilton, daughter of James Chilton
(1), married John Winslow, in 1627.
John Winslow, brother of Governor Edward
Winslow, and son^ of Edward Winslow, of Droit-
wich, Worcestershire, England, was baptized there
April 18, 1597. He came to Plymouth in the "For
tune" in 1621 and in 1655 removed to Boston, where
he bought the mansion of the late Antipas Boice,
September 19, 1671. His wife Mary came with him
to Plymouth. He married Mary Chilton before
1627. She is said to have been the first woman to
land from the "Mayflower." His will was ' dated
March 12, 1673, and proved May 21, 1674. He be
queathed to wife Mary; sons Benjamin, Edward, and
John; to William Payne, son of his daughter Sarah
Meddlecott, and numerous other relatives. His
wife died about 1676. Their daughter Sarah mar
ried in Boston, July 19, 1660, Myles Standish, Jr.
(Ill) Susannah Winslow, daughter of John and
Mary (Chilton) Winslow (2), married Robert
Latham, son of William Latham, the emigrant, in
1649, and settled in East Bridgewater before 1667.
Their children were. Mercy, born 1650, at Plym
outh; James Chilton, Joseph, Elizabeth, Hannah,
Sarah. (IV) Mercy Latham, daughter of Robert and
Susannah (Winslow) Latham (3), was born in
1650; married Isaac Harris, son of Arthur and Mar
tha Harris. (He married (second) Mary Dunbar,
daughter of Robert Dunbar, of Hingham and sister
of Peter Dunbar. He and his wife both died in
1707.) The children of Isaac and Mercy (Latham)
Harris were : Arthur, Isaac, Samuel, Desire, Jane,
Susana, Mary, Mercy, born 1680.
(V) Mary Harris, daughter of Isaac and Mercy
(Latham) Harris (4), married, 1713, Daniel Pack
ard, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lathrop) Pack
ard. Their children were: Sarah, born 1714; Mary,.
1716; Susanna, 1718; Martha, 1720; Daniel, 1722;
Isaac, 1724; Nehemiah, 1727.
(VI) Susannah Packard, daughter of Daniel
and Mary (Harris) Packard (5), was born 1718,
married, 1734, David Orcutt, and had three sons:
Daniel,*mentioned below ; Stephen, David, Jr.
(VII) Daniel Orcutt, son of David and Susan
nah (Packard) Orcutt (6), was born 1734; married
(first) Lydia Cushman, who was. mother of his chil
dren, and (second) Mary Hurlburt. His children
were : Lydia, born 1756, married Edward Bixby ;
Stephen, May 13, 1757, mentioned below; Mary,
l759> married Uriah Clough; Susie, married Tim
othy Clough; Betsey, married Pember Howard;
Sally, married John Clough; Daniel, Jr., married
Betsey Wood; Joseph O., born 1772, married Polly
Clough and Ruth Gould; Abigail.
(VII) Stephen Orcutt, son of Daniel and

Lydia (Cushman) Orcutt (7), was born May 13,.
I757J married, 1782, Molly Washburn, and had:
James, born April 28, 1783, married Polly Hitch
cock, January, 1805; Horace, May 14, 1785, married,.
May 14, 1807, Polly Howe; Stephen, Jr., August
14, 1787, married, May 30, 1813 ; Phillip, January 22,.
1790, married November 25, 1813, Persis Talmadge;
Warren, mentioned below; John, October 16, 1795,
married, 1821, Minerva Bradley; married, 1857,
Fidelia Case; Julia, March 12, 1798, married, March
6, 1817, William Rogers; Laura, September 23,
1801, married Abraham Francis, August 28, 1823;
Polly, March 12, 1804, died May 8, 1877.
Polly Clough, sister of Stephen Orcutt (8), who
married Uriah ClOugh as stated above, had nine chil
dren, one of whom, Mordecai Clough, married Lucy
Case and had six children. Of the latter, Sarah
Clough married Naaman Grant, and one of their
three children is Rev. Roland D. Grant, the noted
lecturer. (IX) Warren Orcutt, fifth child of Stephen Or
cutt (8), was born October 6, 1792; married, i8i6„
Selenda Johnson, mentioned above. Their children
were: Marietta, bom February 27, 1817, married
Austin Warren, 1842; Delina Augusta, July 12,
1819, died January 12, 1822; Elvira, mentioned be
low; Charlotte, January 2, 1826; Amelia Miranda,
February 16, 1828, married Isaiah Merrit Babcock
in 1852, and Miner Fenton in 1858; Laura Emeline,
February 22, 1830, married, 1853, Ashbel Burnham
Stud ey ; Elizabeth Cornelia, July 1, 1833, married
Josiah Converse, in 1862; Maria Celenda, October
5, 1837, married Charles Franklin Pasco, in 1859
and Orrin Lincoln Fletcher in 1865; Aurelia Fran
ces, July 20, 1841, married Julius Perry Maine, in,
1005. (X) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren Orcutt 1
(9), was born March 4, 1823, married William E
Desper, March 29, 1847.
¦c, (XI) Henry A. Desper, son of William Ei and '
Elvira (Orcutt) Desper (10), is the subject of this
sketch. r SP Francis Cook, another Mayflower ancestor
• u £'• DesPer> also signed the compact. He brought
with him his son John. His wife Hester, a Walloon
a member of the church, came in the "Anne" in 1623.
with other of his children. He settled in Plymouth
where he was admitted a freeman in 1633. He died
April 7, 1663. His will was dated December 7, 1659
and proved June 5, 1633. His children were : John'
Jacob, James, Hester, Mary, Jane, mentioned below.
(II) Jane Cook, daughter of Francis Cook (1)
married Experience Mitchell.
(Ill) Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Experi
ence and Jane (Cook) Mitchell (,2), married, 164s
John Washburn, Jr.
(IV) Jane Washburn, daughter of John, Jr
and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Washburn, married Will
iam Orcutt, Jr.
(V) Martha Orcutt, daughter of William Jr
and Jane (Washburn) Orcutt, married Solomon
Washburn, 1732.
(VI) Molly Washburn, daughter of Solomon
and Martha (Orcutt) Washburn (5), married
Stephen Orcutt, 1782, as stated above.
(VII) Warren Orcutt, son of the preceding
married Selenda Johnson, 1816.
(VIII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of the preced
ing, married, 1847, William E. Desper.
(IX) Henry A. Desper, son of the preceding
is the subject of this sketch.
t $P Th»omAs ¦r°y' one of tlxe Puritan progenitors
of Henry A. Desper, was a carpenter by trade. He
was a proprietor of the town of Boston in 1636 He
and Bartholomew Bernard, August 1, 16", 'were

3i8

WORCESTER COUNTY

awarded the contract to build the first town house
of Boston, which marks him as the master builder
of the colony and links his name forever with an
interesting and historic edifice. This was the first
capitol or state house of Massachusetts and it
stood until 1711, when it was destroyed by fire, and
on its site was erected the present building known
as the old -state house at the- corner of Washington
and State streets, one of the most venerated monu
ments of colonial Boston. Thomas Joy was arrested
in 1646 for helping to get signers to the petition for
enlarged franchise, and for questioning the general
court's authority in arresting him. Fie was soon re
leased. He removed to' Hingham, where in 1650
he owned a tide-mill and other property. He mar
ried Joan Gallop, ' daughter of John Gallop and his
wife Christabel; she was born in England and died
in Hingham, March 20, 1690; he died in Hingham,
October 21, 1678, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
(II) Ensign Joseph Joy, son of Thomas Joy
(1), was born April 1, 1645, married Mary Prince.
(Ill) Joseph Joy, son of Ensign Joseph Joy
(2), was born July 30, 1668, and married, May 22,-
1690, Elizabeth Andrews, daughter of Thomas and
Ruth Andrews. He died in Hingham, April 29,
1716, and his gravestone with the inscription still
legible in the Hingham graveyard is the oldest
gravestone of the Joy family in America.
(IV) John Joy, son of Joseph Joy (3), was
born February 7, 1695, married Lydia Lincoln, De
cember 19, 1724.
(V) Lydia Joy, daughter of John Joy (4), was
born October 5, 1725, married Timothy Edson, as
mentioned above.
(VI) Mary Edson, daughter of the preceding,
born June 22, 1767, married Ebenezer Johnson.
(VII) Selenda Johnson, daughter of Ebenezer
'and Mary (Edson) Johnson (6), married Warren
Orcutt, as stated above.
(VIII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren Or
cutt (7), married William E. Desper.
(IX) Henry A. Desper, son of the preceding, is
the subject of this sketch.
(I) Deacon Samuel Edson, emigrant ancestor of
Mr. Desper, was born in 1612 in England. He was
living in Salem in New England in 1639 and later
removed to Bridgewater, one of the first settlers
there. He built and owned the first mill; was a
member of the council of war. He married, about
1637, Susanna Orcutt and they had nine children :
Samuel, Joseph, Josiah, Susanna, Elizabeth, Mary,
Sarah, Bethiah, Benjamin.
(II) Joseph Edson, son of Deacon Samuel Ed
son (1), was born in 1649; married (first) Experi
ence Field and (second) Mary Turner. He had
seven children.
(Ill) Timothy Edson, son of Joseph Edson (2),
was born in 1689; married Mary Alden, February 10,
1719, and had five children.
(IV) Timothy Edson, son of Timothy Edson
(3), was born in 1722, married Lydia Joy. He was
an ancestor of Admiral George Dewey and of. Calvin
Edson, the famous "living skeleton." His daughter,
Mary Edson, born 1767, married Ebenezer Johnson,
as stated above. Their daughter, Selenda Johnson,
married Waren Orcutt, father of Mrs. William ' E.
and grandfather of ^enry A. Desper.
(IV) Henry A. Desper, son of William E.
Desper (3), and Elvira Orcutt (X), his wife, was
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, at 37 Shelby
street, July 14, 185 1. He has always lived either
at 37 or 40 Shelby street. He attended the public
schools of Worcester until he was fifteen years old,
when he went to Worcester Academy for a year. He
then went to work for Marcus Moore, builder, to

learn the carpenter's trade. He followed this trade
for five years in Worcester, Martha's Vineyard and
other places. He made patterns for his father and
assisted him in the manufacture and sale of water
meters. In 1873 he invented a new kind of water
meter and began to manufacture it. In 1875, for
about _ six months, he was engaged on a line of '
plumbing work in Boston.- He returned and entered
into partnership with his father in the water meter
business, also doing some plumbing business. In
1892 he bought out his father and has since carried
on the business under his own name. At one time he
carried on an extensive plumbing business. The
Desper business was located for twenty-five years
at 22 Cypress street and while there was burned
out six times, having a serious loss three times. In
1900 Mr. Desper moved his business tp 194 Union
street, his present location. He is at present manu
facturing elevator registers, plumbing specialties,
hydraulic valves and water meters. He makes a
specialty of large hydraulic valves for water works,
etc. In 1857-8 he .was superintendent of a small
water works and he can fairly claim to be one of
the oldest superintendents of water works in the
country. Mr. Desper is a Republican; but has had no time
for public office. He has been a member of the
Worcester County Mechanics' Association since
1868; is a member of the National Association of
Master Plumbers, the Massachusetts State Associa
tion of Master Plumbers; the New England Water
Works Association, and has been a member of the
order of American Mechanics and also the Good
Templars. He married, March 13, 1876, in Chelsea, Mary
Abby Frances Drawbridge, daughter of George D.
and Abby (Littlefield) Drawbridge. She was for
several years engaged with some of the large de
partment stores in Boston. Her father was foreman '
of the paper hanging and decorating department of
the Clark Sawyer Company from 1870 to 1874. Sub
sequently he removed to New Hampshire, where he
held the office of selectman, postmaster, etc. George
.D. Drawbridge wae the son of David Drawbridge,
who came to America in 1846 from England, where
he was an upholsterer and decorator. . He was col
lector of taxes in the old country. He married Eliza
beth Doebell, in England, and their oldest son,
George, was born there in 1835. David Drawbridge
settled first in Chelsea, later in Wells and Kenne-
bunk, Maine, where some of his descendants still
live. The Drawbridge family came to England from
Holland with William of Orange. There are
branches of the family in Maryland and Delaware
descended, it is said, from one of four brothers in
England. The immigrant returned to England to
claim his inheritance after fighting with, the colonists
against the British, and. found his share confiscated.
George Doebell Drawbridge married, in Kenne-
bunk, Maine, Abby Littlefield, daughter of Robert
and Rebecca (Houston) Littlefield. The Littlefields
were among the original settlers of Kennebunk, then
a part of Wells, and the father .of Robert Little
field, who owned two hundred acres of land at the
"old falls" on the Mousam river where the power
house of the Sanford .& Cape Porpoise railroad now
stands. One of the women was scalped by the In
dians #nd left for dead at the "Old Falls," but she
recovered and lived to be an old woman, always
wearing a cap to hide the disfigurement.
The children of Henry A. and Mary Abby Fran
ces (Drawbridge) Desper are: Arthur Merrit, born
January 6, 1877, died December 1, 1884; Flora Wini
fred, October 25, 1881, bookkeeper in her father's
office; Alice Genevieve, April 30, 1889; student in

WORCESTER COUNTY

319

the English high school, Worcester; Mabel Irene,
December 23, 1892; Charles Warren, March 14,
1895; Myrtice Vivian, April 10, 1899.
DAVIS FAMILY. Dolor Davis (1), who was
the immigrant ancestor of the larger part of the
Worcester county branches of the Davis families,
was the progenitor of John W. Davis, of Worcester.
Dolor Davis came from England and settled in
Cambridge before August 4, 1634, when he received
a grant of land in that town. He lived later in Con
cord and Barnstable, Massachusetts. He was a car
penter and builder. He was born in England and
died at Barnstable, Massachusetts, June, 1673. His
wife and children came over in 1635 with his broth
er-in-law, Simon Willard, of Horsemonden, Kent
county, who was one of the founders of Concord.
Dolor Davis was admitted a freeman at Dux
bury, Arfgust 5, 1638-9, and had a grant of land there
in 1640. He was admitted a freeman at Barnstable,
June 2, 1646, after living there three years. He and
his wife were dismissed from the Duxbury church
to Barnstable, August 27, 1648. He was surveyor
of highways, constable and on various committees
of Barnstable. In 1655 he left Plymouth colony ,
and returned to Massachusetts, where he bought at
Concord one hundred and fifty acres and a house.
In 1666 he went back to Barnstable and died there.
He married (first), March 29, 1624, Margery
¦Willard, who was baptized at Horsemonden, Kent,
November 7, 1602, and died prior to 1667. She was
the daughter of Richard Willard, yeomian, and
sister of the famous Major Simon Willard, men
tioned above. The children of Dolor Davis were :
John, born in England about 1626, inherited the
^oncord homestead; Mary, .born in England about
1631 ; Elizabeth, born in England ; Lieutenant Simon,
born in Concord, mentioned in sketch of Samuel E.
Davis family; Samuel, mentioned below; Ruth, born
in Barnstable, March 24, 1645.
(II) Samuel Davis, son of Dolor Davis (1),
was born probably in Concord; married, at Lynn,
January 11, 1665-6, Mary Mead or Meddowes, who
died at Concord, October 3, 1710. He .married
(second), October 18, 171 1, Ruth Taylor, who died
August 6, 1720. Samuel was admitted a freeman
March 21, 1689-90. He settled in Concord, Massa
chusetts, in that part which became Bedford, and
his homestead is now or was lately still owned by his
descendants. It was on the road from Concord to
Bedford, on the edge of the river meadow, and the
old weli which is still in use is believed to have
been dug by Samuel. He was a farmer. He was
living in 1714 ; the date of his death is not recorded.
The children of Samuel and Mary were: Mary,
born October 27, 1666, died December 18, 1667;
Samuel, June 21, 1669, married at Concord, March
Law, resided at Bedford; Daniel, March 16 or 26,
1673, resided at Bedford; Mary, August 12, 1677;
2, 1697-8, Abigail Read, married (second) Mary
Eleazer, July 26, 1680, resided at Bedford; Simon.
lieutenant, mentioned below; Stephen, March 30,
1686, resided at Bedford.
(III.) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Samuel
Davis <2), was born at Concord, August 9, 1683,
died 1763, He married Dorothy Hale in 1713. He
removed to Rutland, Massachusetts, about 1720, to
•what ^ has been known lately as the "Old King
Farm" containing seventy-six acres on Muscho-
pauge pond. He became one of the most prominent
citizens. He was one of . the first board of select
men. When he cleared his farm there was no road
and he had to carry his plow on his shoulder to
reach his fields before the road was built. He es
caped from the Indians at the time Rev. Mr. Willard

and the sons of Deacon Stevens were killed, as he
happened to return home by a different route and
earlier than usual. The Indians were lying in wait
for him. His wife Dorothy died July 21, 1776, in
her eighty- fourth year; both are buried in lot 6, in
the Holden burying ground. Their last days were
spent in Holden with their son Eleazer.
The children of Lieutenant Simon and Dorothy
Davis were : 1. Simon, born May 17, 1714, died April
9, 1754; married Hannah Gates, settled in Rutland;
his son Isaac, born February 27, 1749, was the
father of Governor John Davis, born January 13,
1787. 2. Israel, born August 31, 1717, died 1791,
married Mary Hurlburt, resided at Plolden and had
ten children. 3. Rev. Joseph, born July 16, 1720 (H. C.
1740), minister at Holden, 1742-1773, died March 4,
l799- 4- Eleazer, mentioned below. The preceding
were born in Concord or Bedford, the following in
Rutland : 5. Martha, baptized July 27, 1729, mar
ried  Smith and resided in Holden. 6.
Oliver, baptized April 16, 1732, married Mary Read,
resided in Princeton. 7. Azybah, baptized December
2, 1739- 8. Dolly, married  Brown, settled
in Maine. (IV) Eleazer Davis, fourth child of Lieutenant
Simon Davis (3), was born in Concord or Bedford
about 1725; married Sarah Ward, July 27, 1748,
at Holden, Massachusetts, and settled there. There
is no record of service, but he enlisted in the revo
lutionary army, 1775, in Captain David Hawes' com
pany, Colonel Samuel Holden's tenth regiment. The
children of Eleazer and Sarah Davis were : Asahel,
born March 5, 1749; Eleazer, Jr., March 22, 1751;
Bela, April 12, 1753, a son; Lucretia, June 4, 1758;
barah, May 10, 1760; Dorothy, October 7, 1762,
Molly, August 11, 1764; Jonathan, April 22, 1767;
Lydia, August 28, 1769; James, see forward; Lucy,
March 18, 1777.
(V) James Davis (2d), son of Eleazer Davis
(4), was born in Holden, Massachusetts, June 22,
1772. He married Ruhamah Smith, of Worcester,
in that town, November 26, 1801. She was the
daughter of Elisha, Jr., and Persis Smith, and was
born March 1, 1779. James Davis was a farmer at
Holden. The children of James and Ruhamah, all
born at Holden, were: Walter Hull, see forward;
Charlotte Threcy (Theresa), May 17, 1804; Jane
Catherine, March 13, 1807; James Sullivan Madison,
June 30, 1810; Ruhamah Lusanna, January 16, 1815;
Persis Smith, May 7, 1818.
(VI) Walter Hull Davis, eldest child of James
Davis (5), was born on the old homestead at Hol
den, now the town iarm, originally six hundred
acres in extent. At the age of twenty he removed
to Worcester and for thirty or forty years engaged
in farming. He invested his savings in tenement
buildings, and at length devoted all his time to
building and caring for his property. At the time
of his death he owned sixty tenements in Worces
ter. He died February 28, 1882.
He married Roxanna Adams, of Harvard, Massa
chusetts. Their children were : 1. John Walter, see
forward. 2. Francis A., born March 11, 1827, a
carpenter and builder, married Harriet D. Boyden,
of Holden, and had two sons : Walter, who resides
in Providence, and Charles, who resides in Con
necticut. 3. Sarah, born January, 183 1, married
Samuel L. Mitchell, a farmer on Long Island, New
York ; both are deceased ; they had children : Jane
E. Mitchell, unmarried, resides in Worcester; Ma
rion E. Mitchell,-married A. Q. Thayer, a baker, of
Worcester, formerly for twenty-five years a police
man of Worcester, and their children are : Jennie E.
Thayer, Clifton Thayer, and Lottie M. Thayer.
(VII) John Walter Davis, son of Walter Howe

WORCESTER COUNTY

Davis (6), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
August ji, 18.29, died August 17, 190O, Marrieil,
November -'9, iiS49, Myra \Y. Kilburn, of Holden,
daughter of William and Nancy Kilburn. The latter
died at the age of one hundred and three at the
residence of her son-in-law, William Kilburn, a car
penter and builder. J. Walter Davis, as lie was
generally known,, came to Worcester and started in
tlie manufacture of refrigerators, a business he fol
lowed successfully for twenty-five years. He was
a builder and contractor also for many years. He
was a member of the Masonic fraternity. The chil
dren of John Walter and Myra W. Davis were :
William i.., of whom later; Mary A,, born March
11, 1850, married John A. Sears, son of Alden Sears,
president of the Walker lee Company, had one son
who died in infancy; Harry.
(VIII) William L. Davis, son of John Walter
Davis (7), was born in Worcester. He was edu
cated in the public schools of Worcester. He went
to work as clerk in the drug store of Fairbanks,
Harlan & Co., then located on Southbridge street
at the corner of Myrtle street. He started in busi
ness for himself on the present site of the Federal
building, between Southbridge and Main streets, in
1880. When the building was sold by the owner,
Ransom C. Taylor, for the postoffice, the present
store at 602 Main street was built for him. Air,
Davis is a member of Athelstan Lodge of Free
Masons; Eureka Chapter, Royal Arch Masons;
Hiram Council and Worcester County Command
ery, Knights Templar; Worcester Lodge of Per
fection; Goddard Council; Lawrence Chapter of
Rose Croix. He has been at the head of the last
four bodies as presiding officer. He is a member
of the Massachusetts Consistory and of other Ma
sonic bodies.
He married Annette Steadman, of Bristol, Ver
mont, daughter of Oliver C. and Maria Steadman.
Her father was a farmer at Bristol. The children
of William L. and Annette Davis are: Herbert E.,
born February 17, 1878; Florence M, (twin), born
May 20, 1889; Grace M. (twin), bom May 20,
1889. CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY. William (1),
Count Tankerville, of Tankerville Castle in Nor
mandy, who came to England with William, tlie
Conqueror, was the progenitor of the Chamberlain
family in England. He himself returned to Nor
mandy, but his descendants remained in England
on the land granted to him.
(II) John De Tankerville, son of the former
carl, was lord chamberlain to King Henry I, and
assumed his title as a surname. (Ill) Richard, son
of John (2), was also chamberlain to King Stephen,
and the surname Chamberlain has since his day
been that of his family. (IV) William Chamber
lain, son of Richard (3). (V) Robert Chamber
lain was son of William (4). (VI) Sir Richard
Chamberlain was son of Robert (5). (VII) Sir
Robert Chamberlain, was son of Robert (6). The
line continues: Sir Richard (IX), John (X),
Thomas (XI), John (XII), William Chamberlain
(XIII). The American family, of which William
Chamberlain was the immigrant ancestor, doubtless
belongs to this family, though the line of ancestry
is not traced. The Chamberlain coat of arms :
Gules, an in escutcheon, argent, between eight mul-
lers in orle, or. Quartering: Gules, a chevron be
tween three escallops, or. Motto: Virtuti Nihil
Inviu'm. Seat: Duns-Tew in Oxfordshire, England,
(I) William Chamberlain, the immigrant ances
tor of General Robert Horace Chamberlain, of
Worcester, was born in England about 1620. His

brother, Thomas Chamberlain, was one of the three
original purchasers of the Dudley farm at Billerica*.
but he settled at Chelmsford, Massachusetts. An
other brother, Edmund, settled first in Wobuni,
then removed to Chelmsford before 1656, when he
sold land at Billerica. Savage says that Edmund
finally settled in Woodstock.
William Chamberlain was admitted an inhabitant
' of Woburn, January 6, 1048, and permuted to buy
land there. He removed to Billerica in 1654, about
the time his brothers left that town, aud spent the
remainder of his hie there. He died May 31, 1706,
aged eighty-six years. His house in Shawshiu
(Billerica) was on the farm, probably near tlie
Wobuni road, in the southwest part of the village.
His name appears first on the records October, 1654,
on a petition to enlarge the bounds of the town and
to change the name to Billerica. (Billenkey in the
original paper), A little later, when the committee
ou militia ordered sergeant Hills' house to be a
garrison, William •Chamberlain's family was one of
those assigned to it He married Rebecca  ,
who died September 26, 169.2, in the prison at Cam
bridge, where she was held on the preposterous
charge of witchcraft. The children of William and
Rebecca Chamberlain were : Timothy, born at Con
cord, Massachusetts, August 13, 1649-50; Isaac, bom
at Concord, October 1, 1650, died July ao, 1081;
John, died March 3, 1652; Sarah, born at Billerica,
May 20, 1655-56, married John Shedd; Jacob, born
January 18, 1657-58, see forward. And these also at
Billerica: Thomas, born February 20, 1659; Ed
mund, born July 15, 1660, married Mary Abbott;
Rebecca, born February 25, 1662, married Thomas
Stearns; Abraham, born January 6, 1664; Ann, born
March 3, 1665-66; Clement, born May 30, 1669;
Daniel, bom September 27, 1671 ; Isaac, born Jan
uary 20, 1681.
(II) Jacob Chamberlain, son of William Cham
berlain (1), was born at Billerica, Massachusetts.
January 18, 1657-58. He resided at Roxbury and
Brookline (Muddy River, part of Boston}. He'
should not be confused with Jacob Chamberlain, who
married Experience, and lived in Newton and vicin
ity, for both Jacob and Experience belonged to a
generation earlier; nor with Jacob Chamberlain, of
Boston and Newton, whose wife's name was also
Susanna. The latter Jacob may have been a son o£
Edmund Chamberlain, mentioned above. Jacob, son
of William Chamberlain, was admitted a freeman in
1690. He removed to Newton in 1700 or shortly
before that date, but died at Brookline. His will
mentions the names of his four children, He mar
ried, January 24, 1685, Mary Child, daughter of
Benjamin Child. Their children were: Jacob, born
March 7, 1686, see forward; John, born at Roxbury,
August 1, 1687; Mary,, married Samuel Davis;
Elizabeth, married Joseph Weld.
, (111) Jacob Chamberlain, Jr., son of Jacob
Chamberlain (2), was born March 7, 1686, and died
at Newton, Massachusetts, July 28, 1771. He came
to Newton with his father fr<5m Brookline about 1700.
His name is among those on a protest dated May
20, 1720, against having but tine school house in the
town. I-tc was selectman in 1746. He marrieil, 'about
1718, Susannah Stone, who was born at Groton,
October 23, 1694, the daug'hter of Deacon Simon
and Sarah Stone, of Groton. Their children, all .
horn at Newton, were: Jacob, Jr., born November
28, 1719, see forward; Josiah, born November U,
1721, died in French war about 1755; Susanna, born
September 27, 1724, died February 22, 1748-491
Isaac, born April 6, 1728; William, born September
22, 1730, died December 9, 1760, of smallpox; mar
ried, June 20, 1754, Ami Hyde; Sarah, born Septem-

WORCESTER COUNTY

321

ber ig, 1733, died September 5, 1796; Margaret,
born September 20, 1736; Simon, born August 10,
1739, married, 1763, Rebecca Cleveland.
(IV) Jacob Chamberlain, eldest son of Jacob
Chamberlain (3), was born at Oak Hill, Newton,
Massachusetts, 'November 28, 1719. Early in 1742
he removed to Worcester, where he bought a tract
of land of Richard Flagg on Salisbury street, Feb
ruary 28, 1742. (See Worcester Registry of Deeds.)
This land was handed down to his son John and
from him seventy-two acres were handed down to
his son Thomas, since inherited by his sons Robert
H. and Thomas, Jr., who are the present owners
of the property. Jacob Chamberlain was a farmer
by occupation. He held the office of selectman in
Worcester in 1761. In 1774 he was a Tory pro
testor, numbered among "the internal enemies" by
the committee of correspondence in 1775, and dis
armed by that committee. Again, June 16, 1777, he
was reported among others that the selectmen deemed
enemies to the "Common Cause." (See Worcester
Book, No. 354.) He was deacon of the old first
church on the common from 1775 to 1790. Fie left
the church August 8, 1779, on account of the inno
vation in singing. (See Lincoln's history of Wor
cester by Franklin P. Rice, page 153.)
He died March 17, 1790, and was buried on the
common and his headstone with the others there
was taken down and placed under the sod. The
stone bears the following inscription: "Sacred to
the memory of Deacon Chamberlain who departed
this life March 17, 1790, in the 71st year of his
age. Who fulfilled the office of deacon in -the
Church of Christ in Worcester for about 28 years
with satisfaction to the church and honor to him
self. He was possessed of good natural abilities
useful in society of which he was a member. In
structive and entertaining in conversation. Com
passionate to the afflicted. Given to hospitality, sound
in faitht And now, we trust, has entered into his
eternal rest."
After coming to Worcester he married, at New
ton, June 7, 1744, Lydia Stone, born May 4, 1724,
the daughter of John and Abigail (Stratton) Stone,
of Newton. Their children were: John, born July
22, 1745, see forward. Sarah, born January 26,
1746-47, died December 5, 1833; married Joseph
Howard, of • Holden, September 13, 1770. Thad
deus, born November 17, 1748, married Judith Barn
ard, January 27, 1774. Susannah, born June 10,
1751, died young. Jacob, born September 19, 1753,
married (first) Lydia Buck, of Sutton, March 18,
1784; (second) Mrs. Esther Kingsbury, February 3,
1824. Lydia, born October 8, 1755, died October 5,
1841; married Tyler Curtis, September 5, 1776. Su
sannah, born November 22, 1757, died December 16,
1845; married Benjamin Butman, October 22, 1786.
Abigail, born September 16, 1760, died February 2,
1829; married 'Abel Heyward. Jr., April 27, 1780.
Mary, born July 13, 1763, died November 21, 1802;
married Nathan Heywood, of Shrewsbury, July 1,
1793- William, born July 25, 1767, died May 6, 1853 ;
married (first) Betsey Lurtis, January 10, 1791 ;
(second) Dolly Chadwick, October 11, 1810. The
child of Jacob and his second wife, Mrs. Anna Hey
wood, whom he married June 3, 1769, was Anna,
born July 21, 1770, died February 1, 1838. Anna
Heywood was born at Brookline, Massachusetts,
widow of Abel Heywood, Sr., son of Major Daniel
Heywood, of Worcester, of Indian war fame.
(V) John Chamberlain, eldest son of Jacob
Chamberlain (4), was born at Worcester, July 22,
'745- He received the education common to the
farmer boy of those days and worked with his
father on the farm, which later came to him. He

dealt extensively in real estate and owned consid
erable propery. Seventy-two acres of the old home
stead was handed down to his son Thomas by will
dated June 5, 1806. In May, 1775, he was disarmed
by the committee of safety and correspondence, he
being in accord with his father's principles of loy
alty to the Crown. He was a selectman during the
years 1785 to 1795, inclusive, 1797, 1798, 1801, 1802.
He was deacon 01 the First. Parish Church twenty-
two years, succeeding his father in 1791. He died'
in 1813 .
He married, at Worcester, June 27, 1771, Mary
Curtis, born October 14, 1747, daughter of Captain
John and Elizabeth (Prentice) Curtis, of Worcester.
The children of John and Mary Chamberlain were :
John Curtis, born June 5, 1772, died December 8,
1834; a lawyer of note in Charlestown, New Hamp
shire, was member of congress from his 'district.
Elizabeth Prentice,' born November 8, 1774. Henry
Vassall, born January 11, 1777, a lawyer of some
note who settled in Mobile, Alabama, and became
a judge. Mary, born April 8, 1779, married Daniel
Greenleaf, April 3, 1800. Thomas, see forward.
Elizabeth, born May 25, 1785, died young. Levi.
born May 14, 1788, a lawyer of Keene, New Hamp
shire, where he died. Dolly, born January 16, 1792,
died unmarried.
(VI) Thomas Chamberlain, son of John Cham
berlain (5), was born at Worcester, March 6, 1783.
He received his education in the common schools
of this town. In early life and also after he was
married he taught school. Among others in his
charge were the schools at Tatnuck and Quinsiga
mond. He conducted the farm formerly owned by
his father and grandfather in what was known as
the Chamberlain district. His purpose of advancing
the science and encouraging and improving the art
of horticulture was widened by the fact that he
was one of the founders and first trustees of the
Worcester Horticultural Society in 1840. His
portrait may be seen on the wall of Horti
cultural Hall, Front street, Worcester. He was
crier of the Worcester court for seventeen
years. He was a member and first president of
the common council of the city of Worcester
after incorporation, and all of his public duties he
discharged with ability and faithfulness. He filled
most of the offices of the state militia, from cor
poral to brigadier-general, with highest honor to
himself and satisfaction to those under his com
mand. He was originally a Whig in politics, later a
Republican. He attended the Old South Church.
He married (first), May 30, 1810, Nancy Woods,
of Groton, born February 19, 1718, the daughter of
Colonel Sampson Woods. She died July 25, 1831.
He married (second), October 30, 1832, Hannah
Blair, born February 19, 1793, died August 23, 1873,
daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Harrington)
Blair, of Worcester. He died September 5, 1855.
Children of Thomas and Nancy Chamberlain were :
Charles Thomas, born May 30, 181 1, died July 4,
1867; married Sarah E. Hathaway, September 21,
1841. Nancy Woods, born June 16, 1813, died May
20, 1891; married, June 3, 1839, A. Watson Grant.
George Alexander, born September 24, 1815, died
July 22, 1866; married Martha W. Barnes, May 8,
1858. John Curtis, born October 7, 1817, died July
23, 1884; married, at Mobile, Alabama, Hannah
Elizabeth Chamberlain. Mary Elizabeth, born July
25, 1819, died July 25, 1886; married (first) Andrew
Kettell Hunt, December 7, 1843; married (second)
Herbert Curtis. Francis Henry, born September 5,
1821, died August 10, 1888; married Lucy Parker.
Sarah Jane, born July 1, 1824, died December 4,
1891 ; married Massena Parker, of Mobile, Alabama.

322

WORCESTER COUNTY

Caroline Maria, bom October 26, 1S26, died April
-27, 1854; married James P. Lowe, of Washington,
D. C. The children of Thomas and Hannah (Blair)
Chamberlain were: Dolly Curtis, born February
10, 1834, died October 4, 1872. Thomas, Jr., bora
June 4, 1835, married Augusta Hovey, August 31,
1858. Robert Horace, see forward.
(VII) General Robert Horace Chamberlain,
youngest son of Thomas Chamberlain (6), was born
at Worcester, Massachusetts, June 16, 1838. He
was educated in the public schools of Worcester,
followed by a course in Worcester Academy. At
*he age of eighteen he began an apprenticeship with
Ball & Ballard, machinists, School street, where he
remained until the civil war. He enlisted in Com
pany A, Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volun
teer Militia, September 25, 1862, for nine months,
-and was appointed a sergeant of his company. He
was in tlie campaign in North Carolina, taking part
in the engagements of Goldsboro, Whitehall and
.Kingston, and was afterwards at Fortress Monroe,
White House, Baltimore, Harper's Ferry and with
-the Army of tlie Potomac after Gettysburg in pur
suit of Lee. He was mustered out July 27, 1863.
He enlisted again July 20, 1864, in Company F,
.Sixtieth Regiment, and received a lieutenant's com
mission. He was subsequently promoted a captain.
The regiment was assigned to Indianapolis, Indiana,
-on special guard duty at a camp of five thousand
Confederate prisoners. He was mustered out No
vember 30, 1864. He then returned to Worcester
and worked at his trade of 'machinist until 1870,
when he was appointed bv Mayor Blake superintend
ent of sewers. He held this position for eighteen
years, from 1870 to 18S8, during which time the sys
tem was developed and widely extended. In 1888 he
was appointed master of tlie House of Correction,
and in 1892 was elected to his present position of
Jiigh sheriff of Worcester county.
For twelve years after the war he was active
in the state militia. In 1865 he re-organized tlie
\Woorcester City Guards and was tlie first captain of
.-that company for two years. He also re-organized
a battery of artillery in Worcester and it was called
: the Chamberlain Light Battery. He received the
commission of major and afterwards of colonel of
<rthe Tenth Regiment and was made brigadier-gen-
,eral of the Third Brigade, December 31, 1868. He
1 resigned and retired from, the service in 1876. Be-
ifore lie was superintendent of sewers, General
> Chamberlain had served from 1867 to 1870 in the
• common council of the city. He is a Republican in
politics. He is a member of Union Congregational
Church. General Chamberlain is a prominent Free
JMason. He became a member of Montacute Lodge,
A. F. and A. M., September 9, 1862; of Worcester
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, May 6, 1864; of
Hiram Council of Royal and Select Masters, March
-23, 1865. He received the Templar degrees in Wor
cester County Commandery, Knights Templar, De
cember 1, 1865. In 1892 he was elected grand com
mander of the Grand Commandery of Massachu
setts and Rhode Island. He is a member of Massa
chusetts Consistory, Thirty-second degree, of Scot-
tich Rite Masonry. He is at present treasurer of the
board of trustees of the Masonic fraternity and has
¦been for twenty years ; also of the Masonic Mutual
Relief Association. He is a charter member of
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of the
Republic, and a member of the Loyal Legion, Bos
ton. He is a member of the Hancock Club and of
the Worcester Board of Trade.
He married, January 10, 1865, Esther Browning,
ibom July 12, 1841, daughter of Joshua and Lavinia
«<Morse) Browning, of Hubbardston, Massachu

setts. Her father was a carpenter and captain oi a
company of artillery. The children of Robert Horace
and Esther Browning Chamberlain are: Flora
Browning, bom August 16, 1868, married Charles B.
Weatherby, June 12, 1894, and their children are-
Esther Sherman Weatherby, bom July 16, 1898;
Olive Benedict Weatherby, born August 21, 1903)
Jean Chamberlain Weatherby, born December 31,
1904. Mabel Susan, bom at Worcester, March 15,
1872, resides with her parents.
GEORGE H. RICE. Edmund Rice (1). die
immigrant ancestor of George H. Rice, of Worces
ter, and of all tlie Rice families, in fact, of that
vicinity, was one of the principal settlers of the
old town of Sudbury, Massacliusetts. He was born
in England in 1594 and settled in Sudbury before
1639. when he was proprietor and selectman there.
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1642, and was
deputy to the general court in 1643. He was a mem
ber of the committee to convey lands at Whip Suf-
ferage in 1657. He was deacon of the church in
1648. He became a proprietor of Marlborough,
Massachusetts, and moved tliere. Thomas, Samuel
and Joseph Rice, his sons, and he were among the
petitioners for church privileges in Marlborough.
He sold land to his sons, Edward and Henrv Rice,
February 20, 1654. He died May, 1663. The petition
for the division of his estate was signed June 16,
1663, by the widow, Mercy, eight elder and two
younger children. While there were five other
immigrants in Massachusetts from England of this
surname before 1650 most of the name can trace
their ancestry to Edmund, of Sudbury.
He married, in England, Tamazin  , who
died in Sudbury, June 13, 1654. He married (sec
ond) Mercy (Heard) Brigham, widow of Thomas
Brigham, March I, 1655. The children of Edmund
and Tamazin Rice were: Henry, bom in England,
1616, of whom later; Edward, bom in England,
1618, married Anna  ; Thomas, married
Mary  ; Mathew, married Martha Lamson;
Samuel, married Elizabeth King; Jacob, born 1637,
married Mercy King; Lydia, married Hugh Drury;
Daniel Edmund, Jr.; Benjamin, born May 31, 164a
The children of Edmund and Mercy Rice were:
Ruth, born September 29, 1659; Ann, .bom Novem
ber 19, 1661 ; Mary. These are probably not in the
correct order of birth.
(II) Henry Rice, eldest child of Edmund Rice
(1), was bom in England in 1616 and came to
America with his father. He married at Sudbury,
February 1, 1643, Elizabeth Moore, daughter of
another of the Sudbury pioneers, John Moore. (See
sketch of Moore family in this work.) Henry Rice
took the oath of fidelity July 9, 1645. His first grant
of land was in 1643 on the southern part of Mr.
Dunster's farm. He was admitted a freeman in
1658. He received from his father in 1659 the deed
of a tract of land in the wilderness at what was
called "New Trouble" and also about the same time
land south of the Cochituate brook confirmed later
by Indian deeds dated March 10, 1672-3. In 1679 his
brother, Benjamin Rice, conveyed to him land near
his house. Henry lived at what was called Rice's
End in the adjoining town of Framingham, and he
bequeathed his house there to his son Jonathan.
Henry died February 10, 1710, and being older than
his brother Edward, must have been about ninety-
three years of age. His will was proved in Middle
sex county. His wife Elizabeth died at Framing
ham, August 3, 1705. Their children were: Mary,
born September 9, 1646; Elizabeth, August 4, 1648,
married John Brewer; Jonathan, July 3, 1654; Abi
gail, June 17, 1657, married Thomas Smith; David,

ROBERT H. CHAMBERLAIN

WORCESTER COUNTY

323

December 27, 1659; Tamasin, February 2, 1661, mar
ried Benjamin Parmenter; Rachel, May 10, 1664;
Lydia, June 4, 1668; Mercy, January 1, 1670;
Hannah. (Ill) David Rice, son of Henry Rice (2), was
born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, December 27, 1659.
He was one of the original members and One of the
first deacons of the Framingham Church. He was
selectman of Framingham four years, town treas
urer two years, and was a leading citizen. His
homestead wag probably near that of the late Deacon
Luther Havens. He died October 16, 1723, at Fram
ingham. His heirs divided the property by mutual
agreement. He married, April 7, 1687, Hannah
Walker, who died December 18, 1704. Their chil
dren were: Elizabeth, born September 8, 1689, mar
ried Samuel Frost, February 1, 1710-11; Hannah,
January 5, 1691-2, married John Bent; Bezaleel, of
whom later; Josiah, August 19, 1701.
(IV) Bezaleel Rice, third child of David Rice
(3), was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. He
married Sarah Buckminster, June 23, 1720, and
owned the covenant with his wife February 19, 1721.
She was admitted to the church May 5, 1722. He
was a physican. His homestead was in the old red
house near the late Elisha Belknap's house. He was
a selectman in 1742. He was a soldier in the revolu
tion, being a private in Captain Clark's company
from Framingham. Their children were : Bezaleel,
of whom later; David, September 17, 1723; -Sarah,
September 21, 1725, married Dayid Stone; died at
Petersham, October 22, 181 5, aged ninety years ;
Zerviah, February 14, 1727-8, died March 4, 1739-
40; Josiah, November 23, 1734; Martha, July 9,
1737'> married  Drury, and lived in Shrews
bury. (V) Bezaleel Rice, eldest child of Bezaleel
Rice (4), was born in Framingham, May 19, 1721.
He married (first) Susanna Jennings, daughter
of Stephen and Susanna (Bigelow) Jennings and
granddaughter of Stephen and Hannah (Stanhope)
Jennings, of Sudbury. His wife Susannah died
September 15, 1750. He married (second) Sarah
Bent, March 13, 1751, and she was admitted to
the Framingham church, January 13, 1754. She
was the daughter of David and Mary (Drury) Bent.
He lived in the house at Framingham lately owned
by Joseph Goodnow. He died March 13, 1806, aged
eighty-five years. He spent his last years with his
son Samuel. The children of Bezaleel and Susannah
Rice were: Bezaleel, born April 11, 1744, died
August 10, 1748; Hezekiah, of whom later; Su
sanna, July 6, 1748, married Ezra Twitchell; Sarah,
September 5, 1750. The children of Bezaleel and
Sarah Rice were : Bezaleel, December 5, 1751,
died unmarried; John, February 9, 1754; Nathan,
August 1, 1756; Mary, baptized March 28, 1762;
Samuel, born 1764, haptized September 23, 1764.
(VI) Hezekiah Rice, second child of Bezaleel
Rice (5), was horn in Framingham, October 2, 1745.
He married Abigail Eames, of Hopkinton, in 1773.
Both owned the covenant April 10, 1774. He marr
ried (second) Elizabeth Eames, of Hopkinton, Mass-
achusetts; 1775. He removed to Dublin, New Hamp
shire, but returned to Framingham. He was a sol
dier in the revolution. He removed to Hopkinton,
an adjoining town, in August, 1793, and was re
ceived in the church there. He was sometimes called
Hezekiah Rice, Jr., because there was another
Hezekiah Rice older, than he in the same town. He
lost three children in an epidemic of canker rash.
The children surviving were: Ruth, baptized April
J7, 1774; John, of whom later; Hannah, born about
1778. (VIJI) Dexter Rice, son of John Rice (7), was

Dexter, the grandfather of George H. Rice, of
horn in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 1780. He
settled in Hopkinton. Among his children was
Worcester. (VII) John Rice, son of Hezekiah Rice (6), was
born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, about 1800. He
married Mary Ann Adams, daughter of John Adams,
of Hopkinton. She was a descendant of Henry
Adams, of Braintree, the ancestor of President
John , Adams and most of that surname in this
county. He was a carpenter and builder. He also
conducted a farm and during part of his life was a
shoe manufacturer. The twelve children of Dexter
and Mary Ann (Adams) Rice were: John A., re
sides at 5 Gates street, Worcester, is a carpenter by
trade ; Alfred D. ; Marie Annie ; George H., of whom
later; Lewis W., of whom later; Marilla; Alice B. ;
Abbott B. ; Henry W. ; Minnie, died young; Sarah
B. ; Wilbur C. All living but Minnie and Henry W.
(IX) George H. Rice, son of Dexter Rice (8),
was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, August 10,
1854. Se was educated there in the public schools.
He began his business career as a clerk in a grocery
store, where he worked for a year. He worked an
other year in the ice business, then learned the
trade of carpenter in Hopkinton. He began busi
ness there as carpenter and builder in 1876 and was
a general contractor and builder in Hopkinton 'for
about thirteen years. In June, 1889, he removed to
Worcester, where he carried on the same business.
H,e has built many residences and business blocks
since coming to Worcester. He built the James
A. Colvin machine shop on Lagrange street; the
Beaver block on Main street; James Kindred's
apartment house on Oread street; the Smith block
in South Framingham, the largest building in that
town, containing' stores, offices and the Masonic
Hall. He superintended the erection of a $100,000
building for T. M- Walker in Springfield, Massa
chusetts. His own contracts in Worcester amounted
to over $300,000. In 1894 he began to build tenement
houses for investment in Worcester in partnership
with his brother, Louis W. Rice, under the firm
name of George H. and L. W. Ijsice. They have at
prespnt seven large, modern brick buildings, contain
ing apartments. " Mr. Rice is a Free Mason. In
politics he is a Republican and is at present serving
his second term on the school board of Worcester.
Mr. Rice married Frances Delia Oapp, daughter
of Emory Pierce and Cynthia Jane (Woods) Clapp,
August 29, 1877. Mrs. Rice was born October 19,
1856, in Barrington, Illinois, where her father was
a contraptof in the oil well supply business. He
removed later to Michigan and later to the oil
regions in Pennsylvania. He returned to his old
hbn?e in Hopkinton and manufactured ,sljo.es. He
enlisted in Company C, in the Fortieth New York
Regiment, in 1861, being one of the first men to en
list from Hopkinton. He died in Westboro, Octo
ber 28, 1899. Mr. Rice's home is at 4 Lowell street
and his office is there also. The children of George
H. Rice are : Florence Pearl, born July ro, 1879 ;
Bertha C, January ic, 1882; Freda F., April 3, 1894.
(IX) Lewis W. Rice, son of Dexter Rice (8),
was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, April 2, 1856.
He was educated in his native town in the public
schools. He worked on a farm after leaving school
and later engaged in the meat business with Frank
Chandler under the firm name of Rice and Chandler,
on Main street, Westboro, Massachusetts, for sev
eral years. Later he sold out his meat business
and worked in a boot factory at Hopkinton, Massa
chusetts, for several years. He learned the carpen
ter's trade, and worked at it in Hopkinton and vicin
ity. In - 1894 he went into partnership with his

324

WORCESTER COUNTY

brother, George H. Rice, in building and renting
tenements in Worcester. He married, September
22, 1880, Annie Amelia Stebbins, daughter of George
H. and Caroline Antoinette (Knowlton) Stebbins.
Their children are: Edward Dexter born July 8,
1881; Nettie M., October 21, 1882; Blanche Maria,
October 26, 1886.
EDWARD M. DODGE. Richard Dodge (1),
the emigrant ancestor of Edward M. Dodge, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, came to Salem, Massa
chusetts, in 1638. He was the son of Richard Dodge,
of East Coker, Somersetshire, England. After he
came to America he lived for a short time with his
brother William Dodge, who had already established
his home at Salem. Richard settled in what is now
North Beverly, and the locality is called Dodge Row.
It is near Wenham Lake. He and his wife Edith
¦ were members of the Wenham church before 1648.
His name was first on a list of twenty-one subscrib
ers to Harvard College and he gave the largest
amount. He was probably born in 1602. He died
late in 1670, or early in 1671. His widow died
probably in 1677.
Their children were: John, baptized December
29, 1631, in England, lived in North Beverly, died
October 11, 1711. Mary, born 1632, married, 1653,
Zachary Herrick; died August 18, 1710. Sarah, bap
tized 1644; died 1726; married Peter Woodbury,
who was born 1640, and died 1704; Richard, born
1643, lived at Wenham, Massachusetts ; died April
13, 1705; Samuel, born 1645, died December 4, 1705;
Edward, born at North Beverly, died February 13,
1721 ; Joseph, born 1651, at North Beverly, died
August 10, 1716.
(II) Samuel Dodge, son of Richard Dodge (1),
was born at Beverly 1645 ; died December 4, 1705 ;
he married Mary, daughter of Thomas Parker, of
Reading. His wife died August 6, 1717. He was
a farmer at Ipswich, and was well-to-do. In his
will, proved December 24, 1705, he left property
valued at one thousand and fifty-one pounds. The
house he lived in was left to his son Antipas. The
graves of both Samuel and his wife are marked by
stones in the burying ground at Dodge Row. Their
children were : Samuel, born January 22, 1668, at
Ipswich, died young; Joseph, February 14, 1670,
married Martha White, of Wenham ; Annaniah, born
January 9, 1672, was a tailor in Boston; Ann, born
December 20, 1674, married John Edwards; Antipas,
(see forward) ; Mary, born June 6, 1680, married
Rice Knowlton ; Amy, born August 27, 1682, died
1719; Deborah, born April, 1685; Jabez, born March
22, 1686, married Margery Knowlton, lived at Ips
wich, Manchester, and Shrewsbury, Massachusetts;,
died October, 1774, at Shrewsbury; Parker, married
Mary Choate,- lived at Ipswich, died September, 1742;
Samuel, born December 11, 1692, married Susannah
Bishop. (Ill) Antipas Dodge, son of Samuel Dodge (2),
born September 7, 1677; married Joanna Low in
1699, and settled in Ipswich on the old homestead,
of which he inherited a fifth in 1705. He died soon
afterward. In May, 1707, his wife was appointed
his administratrix. The estate was valued at two
hundred and five pounds. The widow married Joseph
Hale, of Boxford, published September 19, 1708, and
he was appointed guardian of Joshua Dodge, her
minor son. The children of Antipas Dodge were :
Joshua, born February 1, 1701; Joanna, born July 15,
1702, married Ambrose Hale, of Boxford, who was
born February 19. 1698-9, son of Joseph and Mary
(Watson) Hale; David, bora 1704, married Martha
Esgate, in Haverhill.
(IV) Joshua Dodge, son of Antipas Dodge (3),
was born February i, 1701, in Ipswich, Massachu

setts. He was brought up by his step-father who was
appointed his guardian. He went to Boston and
worked at his trade of cordwainer. He was elected
sealer of leather in Boston 1729 and 1735. Joshua
Dodge bought of Timothy Brown, of Brookfield,
seventy-five acres of land on the west side of the
township of Brookfield, August 12, 1734. He bought
land extensively. He gave half the homestead to
his son Josiah, June 24, 1760, and willed the other
half to him. His will was dated November 13, 1706,
and proved July 2, 1793. His children were : Joshua,
Jr., born probably at Boston; Caleb, born probably
at Boston; Josiah, born probably at Boston; Eliza
beth; Sarah, married  Peabody; Samuel, of
Londonderry, New Hampshire.
(V) Joshua Dodge, son of Joshua Dodge (4),
was born in Boston, 17-23-7- His father removed
from Boston about 1740, and was a cordwainer at
Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 1742. In 1743 tlie
family was living at Brookfield, Massachusetts. He
married Thankful Morse. She died November I,
1797- He died at West Brookfield, Massachusetts,
February 24, 1796. His' will dated February 22,
1796, and proved April 26, 1796, mentions his wife
Thankful, five sons and other heirs. All tlie children
were probably born at Brookfield. They were:
Lydia, born July 9, 1749, married, June 5, 1775,
David Smith, of Brookfield; Moses, born October
23, I7SO, married Betsey Parker, of Shrewsbury,
1773; Jonas, born August 27, 1752; Nathaniel lived
on the old Dexter Forbes place; Rufus; Thaddeus,
born June 18, 1758, married Susan Holloway, of
Ipswich, published December 10, 1781 ; Artemas,
born July, 1765, died March 9, 1845 ; Eunice, married
Joshua Dodge, of New London, Connecticut.
(VI) Thaddeus Dodge, son of Joshua Dodge (5),
born at Brookfield, Massachusetts, June 18, 1758;
married (published December 10, 1781), Susan Hol
loway, of Ipswich; she died May 20, 1812; married
(second), May 21, 1815, Esther Tyler, of West
Brookfield. He died February 18, 1837. She mar
ried (second), May 12, 184.0, Ephraim Dewing. The
. children of Thaddeus Dodge were : Lewis, born 1782 ;
Darius, born March 18, 1784, died September 8, 1854;
Rebeccav married  Wright; Susan, married
 Sly; Pliny (see forward) ; Fanny, born Sep
tember 30, 1794; married, December 30, 1813, Reu
ben Stoddard, of North Brookfield; she died Novem
ber 24, 1871; Harriet; Betsey.
(VII) Pliny Dodge, son of Thaddeus Dodge (6),
born June 11, 1791, in Brookfield. He married De
cember 9, 1821, Cynthia Converse, of North Brook
field. She was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, 1799,
and died in Warren August 15, 1883. He died June
11, 1869. Their children were: Luke Converse,
born April 23, 1822, married Minerva Adams, daugh
ter of Amos and Eliza (Sanborn) Adams, of Lowell,
Massachusetts; Henry H., born August 11, 1823,
married Elvira M. Pratt and Jane Chambers; Ed
win L., born April 10, 1825, married Lucy A. Haven,
of Worcester; Charles, born April 29, 1826, married'
July 8, 1849, Lauretta E. Ainsworth, of Sturbridge,
Massachusetts; died March 10, 1883, at Worcester;
Warren F., born May 9, 1827, married, March 7.
1867, Rebecca A. Stout, of Topsham, Maine, died at
Earlville, Illinois, October 5, 1884 ; Thomas W., born-
September 10, 1829, at Spencer, Massachusetts ; John-
Q., born July 28, 1832; Pamelia C, born May 26,
1836, at Warren, Massachusetts, married, July 21,
1864, Celia M. Wheeler, of West Brookfield, who
died at Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, December 22,
1877; Anna E,, born September 22, 1840; Theodore
O., born May 24, 1843.
(VIII) Henry H. Dodge, son of Pliny Dodge
(7), born August 11, 1823; died at Bureau county,.

WORCESTER COUNTY

Illinois, about June d, 1887; married Elvira M, Pratt,
of Worcester, September 22, 18.(4, Divorced, He
married (.second), June jo, 1850, Jane Chambers,
Elvira married (second) Dr, J. Marcus Rice, sur
geon for Ihe Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment
in tlie civil war. She accompanied hitn and acted
as a nurse with the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regi
ment. She died January j8, 1803, Henry 11. and
Elvira Dodge had Edward 1 1. Dodge, born Novem
ber 20', 1845.
(IN) Edward 11, Dodge, son of Henry 11, Dodge
(8), born in Worcester, November Jo, 1845; married
June 10, (87J, Ella A. Hubbard. He served in the
commissary department of the Tweuiy-tiftli Regi
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, during the
civil war. He was an expert accountant and book
keeper by profession. He died at Worcester, May
11, 1807. They had but one child: Edward M.,
born at Worcester, July jo, 187,*,
(\) Edward M. Dodge, son of Edward 11,
Hodge (0), was born at Worcester. July jo. 1873.
lie attended (he Worcester public schools, and grad
uated frtMn the English high school in 1803, He was
a member of the Sumner Club and treasurer of the
class ot '03, He was with Ceorge 11. Clemence , the
architect, at his office in the Walker building, for
five years, He then formed a partnership with Wil
liam Estabrook to carry ou the business of tire
insurance, January 1, iooo, Mr, Estabrook with
drew from the linn and Mr, Dodge is still in busi
ness. He has been au active member of the Church
of the Unity in Worcester. He was secretary and
assistant superiuiendeut of the Sunday school for
six wars, resigning in too,?. He is well known iu
Unitarian circles, in the city aud county. He is a
member of the Worcester County Mechanics' As
sociation, of the Worcester Board of Underwriters,
the Commercial Travellers' Association, the Wor
cester Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
He married, September J3, 1003, Helen Esther
Fletcher, daughter of Charles A. Fletcher, of Wor
cester. She was born in Fitchburg', Massachusetts,
May jt, 18711, She was educated tn the Worcester
schools and at Miss E, A. Kimball's School for
Girls, Worcester.
JONATHAN PRESCOTT GROSVENOR.
John Grosvenor (i), was the emigrant ancestor of
Jonathan Prescott Grosvenor, of Worcester. He
was born in England, and came to America nrob-
ahlv when a young man. The family tradition
makes him a nobleman's son and a relative of
Queen FJi.-abetb, Al any rate he brought the
Grosvenor ooat-of-arms and used it, and it is in
scribed on bis gravestone at Roxbury, Massachu
setts, He married Esther Clark, horn in 1051, died
at Pomfret, Connecticut. June 15. 1738. He died
at Roxbury, September 57, loot. Anions their chil
dren was Ehene.-er Grosvenor.
(Ill Phenoj-er Grosvenor. son of John Grosvenor
OL was born in Roxhurv, Massachusetts. October
0. 1084. He married at Pomfret, Connecticut, Ann
Ma rev, horn 1087, died July 30. »7-*x "e died
September jo, 1730. Among their children was
Kheneror, Jr., bom at Pomfret, where they settle*!,
(Ut) Y\benerer Grosvenor. son of Ehene.-er
Grosvenor <,j\ was born at Pomfret. Connecticut,
December, T7J,j. He married Lucy Cheney, and
among their children was Daniel.
(IV) Rev, Daniel Grosvenor, son of Fhene.-er
Grosvenor (3). was horn at Pomfret, Connecticut,
1740, He was graduated front Yale College, irtio,
was ordained at Grafton, Massachusetts, October
»0, t7?4, and dismissed January t, 1788. on account
of failure of health. He was installed at Paxtou.

November 5, 1794, and dismissed November 17,
i8oj. lie was a trustee of Leicester Academy from
July 4, 1785, lo 1815, when lie resigned. At the
Lexington alarm, April to, 1775, he shouldered his
musket and marched with the niiiuitcuicn to Cam
bridge, lie was an affable and able pastor, but
gave up preaching because of bronchial trouble, and
removed to Petersham, Massachusetts, where he
died July JJ, 1834.
He married iu Sutton, May o, 1770, Deborah
Hall, born iu Sutton, Massacliusetts, March 5, 1756,
daughter of Rev. David Hall, of Sutton, who was
the pastor of a church in Sutton for nearly sixty
years, and who died May 8, 1780. Rev. David Hail
was the son of Joseph and Hannah (.Miller) Halt,
the latter named having been a daughter of Rev.
John Miller. Rev. David Hall married, June J4,
1731, Elizabeth, daughter of Dr, Jonathan Prescott,
of Concord, who was a son of Jonathan and Eliza
beth (Hoar) Prescott, the latter named having been
a daughter of Hon. John Hoar of Concord. Jona
than Prescott was descended from John Prescott,
first settler of Worcester county at Lancaster, Mas
sachusetts, to whom the wife of the late Governor
Roger Wolcott has erected a memorial stone, he
being' an ancestor of hers. Dr. Jonathan Prescott
married Rebecca, daughter of Hon, Peter Bulkeley.
Jr., born iu Concord, top. was graduated from Har
vard, iooo. He married Rebecca Wheeler, April
K\ 1007. His father, Rev. Peler Bulkeley. first
minister of Concord, was born at Woodhill, Bed
fordshire, England, January ,U, 15S3. He was the
tenlh generation in direct line of descent from
Robert' Bulkelev, one of ihe barons at the time of
the death of King John. i:id. The names of lineal
descendants: 1, Robert. -\ William, 3. Robert,
4, Peter, married Nicholsus Biard. of Haughton. 5.
John, married Andryue, daughter and heir of John
Colley, of Ward, and died 1450. 0. Hugh, mar
ried Helen Wilbraham, of Woodley. 7. Humphrey,
married Cyle, daughter and heir of John Mutt en.
8 William, married Peatryce, daughter and heir of
William of Bulansdale, o. Thomas, married Eliza
beth, daughter of Randelle Grosvenor. to. Edward,
D. D„ of Woodhill. married Olive Irlby. of Lin
colnshire, u, Peter, of Corcord,
The Bulkelevs and Grosvenors intermarried in
England and America, The Rev. Peter Bulkeley.
fatber of the Rev, Edward Bulkeley. who was a
cousin of Queen Elizabeth, was a -faithful minister
of the gospel, under whose directions his son re
ceived a learned and religious education, suited to
bis distinguished rank. About the age o_f sixteen
be was admitted a member of St. John's College at
Cambridge, of which be was afterwards chosen
fellow, and from which he received the degree of
Bachelor of Divinity. He succeeded his fatber in
the ministry of his native town, where he was a
realous preacher of evangelical truth about twenty
years, and for the most part of the time lived an
unmolested nonconformist. At length, his preach
ing- meeting with distinguished success, and his
church being very much increased, complaints were
entered against him by Archbishop Laud, and he
was silenced for his nonconformity to the require
ments; of the English church. This circumstance
induced him to emigrate to New England, where
he might enioy liberty of conscience. He arrived
in Cambridge," 1034. and was the leader of those
resolute men and self-denying- Christians, who scon
after went further un into tbe woods and sett'ed
Concord, Mr, Bulkeley was remarkable for his
benevolence, an.? hero he expended most of his es
tate for the benefit of his people. He was a thorough
scholar, an elevated, devotional Christian, laborious

326

WORCESTER COUNTY

in his profession and as a preacher, evangelical,
faithful, and of remarkably energetic, powerful and
persuasive eloquence. Two of Mr. Bulkeley's manu
scripts are preserved in the library of the American
Antiquarian Society. He gave a part of his library
and some other donations to Harvard College. After
a laborious and useful life, he died March 9, 1659,
in his seventy-seventh year. He married for his
first wife Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Allen, of
Goldington, whose nephew was Lord Mayor of
London. By her he had nine sofls and two daugh
ters. Eight years after -her death he married Grace,
daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood, by whom he
had three sons and one daughter. From his Son,
Rev. Edward Bulkeley, -who succeeded his father
in thi ministry at Concord, is1 descended Ralph
Waldo EmefSofl.
(V) Jonathan Prescott Grosvehor, son of Rev.
Daniel Grosvenor (4), was born at Grafton, Massa
chusetts, November 30, 1779. He married, April
23, 1804, Bethia1, bdtn at Holden, Massachusetts,
October 13, 1^81, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary
(A'len) Avery. . Rev. Joseph Avery was borri at
Dedham, Massachusetts, Oetober 14, 1751, son of
DeacOn Williarri artd Bethia- (Metcalf) Avery. Dr.
William VeTy, #ho came fo Dedham, 165b, faas
the emigrant ancestor. He1 built His house almost
Under the boughs of the Avery o'ak. History says
that this tree wis art ancient! free ihore than two
hundred and fifty years ago, when th'e to-Wri was
settled. The fori has been fntfcff twisted arid torn
by the storms of centuries', but fhe ftefi Show's all
Sigfts of life arid Vigdr, ¦ appaferitfy sufficient to
tVeatfter storms for cenfttrieS to eorrte. It measures
sixfe'eri feet in circuriifeferice five feet from the
ground. It is owried by the Historical Society. The
Fairbanks house, where some Of his ariceStots lived,
is Still tliere; it Was built 'iri 1636. Rev. Joseph
Avery entered Harvard before the close of his six
teenth year. During the forif ye'ars of his college
life' he Was ari ttncOrriftionly exemplary and con
scientious student. He haS been heard to remark
that one time he Was the only undergraduate of the
university riot addicted to the use of tobacco. He
was graduated in the class of 1771 with much honor.
He was ordained and settled over the church in
Holden, December, 1774. He married Mary Allen,
an aunt of Judge Charles Alleri, of Worcester. Her
mother was Mary Adaths, a Sister of Hon. SamUel
Adams, "Father of the American Revolution," gov
ernor of the commonwealth, and cousin to Presi
dent John Adams. Mary Allen was born in Bos
ton, February 8, 1755, died April 1, 1842. Rev.-
Joseph Avery died in Holden, March 5, 1824, hav
ing been pastor there about fifty years.
(VI) Charles William GfOsveridr, sort of Jona
than Prescott Grosvenor (5), born at Paxton, Feb
ruary 14, 1827, married, at Holden, Match 21, 1848,
Nancy, daughter of David arid Nancy (Davis)
Clapp, the latter named having been borri Jurfe 1,
1828, died at Leicester, May 10, 1888. Thomas
Clapp, son of Richard Clapp, was the emigrant
ancestor. The line of descent was Thomas 1,
Thomas 2, Joshua 3, Seth 4, Seth 5, David 6. Mrs.
Clapp's emigrant ancestor was Dolar Davis, who
married Margery, sister of SimOn Willard, emi
grant ancestor of Frances E. Willard. The line of
descent was Dolar (1), Simon (2), James (3),
Thomas (4), Captain E. James (5), captain of com
pany of state militia in the revolutionary war;
Edmond (6), a revolutionary soldier; Naricy (7),
Nancy (8).
Children of Charles William and Nancy (Clapp)
Grosvenor were: 1. Ella Elizabeth, born Decem
ber 27, 1848, at Paxton, married, December 21, 1880,

Henry H. Kingsbury, of Spencer. 2. Samuel Avery,
born at Leicester, November 30, 1850, married,
March 4, 1875, Eva L. Mclntire. 3. Jonathan Pres
cott, born April 24, 1853. 4- Clareilce William, bom
in Paxton, September n, 1855, married (first), De
cember, i8&>, H. Maria Bottomly; (second), Octo
ber 20, 1898, Cora E. Bancroft, of Worcester. 5.
David Clapp, born iri Paxton, March 1, 1858, mar
ried, August 27, 1885, Anna M. Wilson. 6. Adeline
Maria, bom in Leicester, September 1, I860. 7.
Herbert Wright, born in Leicester, December 16,
1863, died June 6, 1872. 8. Edith Marion, born Feb
ruary 9, 1868, (fled May 30, 1872.
(VII) Jonathan Prescott Grosvenor, son of
Charles Willialrri Grosvenor (6). borri at Paxton,
April* 24, *%Si, &teflderJ the puBlic schools of his
native town, coirfplefflig* his education at Leicester
Acaderhfc One dtf the1 featffifig Educational institu
tions for preparing stutfents for college. After
graduating he entered the office of Childs & Man
ning Bros., jobbers oj boots arid shoes in Wor
cester, arid learried the busiriess. He became trav
eling salesman fdf the firm, covering the' state of
New York. Iri 1S84 he went irito busiriess for him
self, eStabfishirig the Worcester Slipper Company,
which pfOVdd a Stfeeess from the first and has grOWfl
steadily. For twelve years the busiriess was lo
cated at 13 Mechanic Strfeet; iri August, 1898; he
removed the factory to Park avenue, occupying a
spacious iotir-itotf brick building, One huridfed arid
tWertty by forty-five feet, three1 hundred feef iri
ietigth, formerly occupied by the £. H. Sfatk Com
pany shoe mariufacfory. The huildifig is Well
Etniifiped Wifh the fetest devices for fire protection.
He gives employment to two hundred arid fifty
hands. To the "business of ladies' sfiflpers Mr.
GroSveriOf thert added the manufacture of ladies'
shoes, drid the iririOVation agaifi proved profitable.
The Grosvenor factory is -Well built arid arranged
for its purposes, and is one of the best equipped
in the state. The latest fools and machiriery are in
stalled and the business kept right up-to-date. The
product of the factory is sold direct to jobbers, and
the reputation of the Worcester Slipper Company is
said to be. unsurpassed for reliable and stylish goods.
The name of the company is a synonym for Mr.
Grosvenor, who has made it from the Start his per
sonal business and built it up step by step to its
present proportions, giving erilployment to a couple
of hurldred hands and producing every week goods
Worth mariy thousand dollars. In politics Mr.
Grosvenor is a Republican. He is a member of
Plymouth Church.
He married, August 25, 1881, Delia S. Gardner,
of Richville, St. Lawrence county, New York. Their
children: Pauline Le Rose, born March 21, 1891,
died March g, 1&92; Evelyn C, born Septerhber 4,
1894 ALBERT WILLARD ANDREWS. Rdbert
Andrews (1), the emigrant ancestor of Albert Wil
lard Andrews, Of Boylston and Worcester, Massa
chusetts, was a native of Boxfdrd, England. He
may have beeri a relative of Robert Aridrews, of
Ipswich, but the relatioriship iS not kndfan.
Robert Andrews or Andros (1), as the name was
commonly Spelled by the first generation, emigrated
from BoJifOrd, England, to New Erigland about
1656 with, six children and settled in Boxford, Mass
achusetts. He bought two hundred acres of land of
John Lambert, of Rdwley. The sale was confirmed
by the government in July, I661. The farm was
situated on the west side of Pye brbok in the vicinity
of the farm now or lately owned by Joseph H.
Janes. He erected his house on the land arid cleared

WORCESTER COUNTV

3^7

part of it, lie Ihuik'IiI several other tracts of land in
Jkixl'ot'd mid in the neighboring village of Tops-
ticiii, Ho bought of /iteelieus Gould a lot mi lush
brook. His house was in some way destroyed be
fore 1(1(18, when thin Ini was eallutl the cellar lot
aud he erected a new house. The second house,
built in 1GO8, wan probably the old Andrews house,
which was below the lot of Nathaniel Smith 011 the
same road. He left this house and the homestead
lot In his sou Thomas, the eldest, tuid the ancestor
of the Worcester family. U had been supposed
until lately that the Worcester branch was descended
from John, another sou,
Robert Andrews was an extensive cultivator of
the soil, When he died in May, 1008, lie had twenty-
five Mires of corn planted, Among the things men
tioned in the inventory of his estate were n ship saw
and other carpenter's tools, indicating that lie was a
mechflhic and carpenter as well as a farmer. He
died May 29, 1CO8, Ills will was dated May 16,
1668, und proved July 1, 1668,
He nawried in England Grace  She
died December as, 1700, at Boxford. Her will was
dated September 4, 1099, and was proved January 4,
1708-3. Both were probably buried at Topstield.
Iheir children were: Mary, born about ioj8 in
England, married Isaac Cummings, of Topstield,
November aj, 1650; Hannah, born about 104.1 in
England, married Captain John Peabody, one of the
pioneer settlers oi Boxford: Eliaabeth, born iu Eng
land about 104J. nuurried Samuel Symonds, a pio
neer settler of Ikixford; Thomas, born about 1646 in
England; John, born 1648, married Sarah Dickin
son, daughter of James and Rebecca Dickinson, of
Rowley, April 18, 1MSJ-4 i admitted a freeman Octo
ber, logo; settled iu Boxford; had eight children;
James, Hannah, John, Joahua* Lydia, josiah, Oliver
and Rebecca. There ia no evidence that lie had a
son Robert as indicated by the Shrewsbury his
tory, Hubert, born about 1(151, probably died uu-
maraied; will dated December ti, 1075; Rebecca, born
about 1054, married Samuel Marble; Joseph, born
September 18, 1657, married (,'u'st) Sarah l'erlev,
February t, 1081 ; she died January 15. 1093-4, and
he married (.second) Mary Dickinson, of Rowley,
Massachusetts, Mareh jo, 1(105 ; she died February
J5> 171m; resided at Boxford, lie was the great-great
grandfather of John A. Andrew, famous as "the
War (iovernor" of Massachusetts, Sarah, born 1058,
married Daniel Wood; Ruth, born May 27. 1004,
married Kdward Phelps, son of Kdward and Rli/.a-
lielh Pliclp, of Andover, May 10, idS.i,
(II) Thomas Andrews, son of Robert Andrews
(i), was born about 1045 in Finland. He in
herited the Andrews homestead and settled in Box
ford, lie was admitted a freeman May j, 1080-00.
lie was a prominent man iu his day, lie was select
man iu 1^88-0x0(1 07-1704 and held oilier positions
of honor and trust.
He married t first) Martha Antrum, of Ipswich,
widow of Obadiah Antrum, June jj, 107a lie
married 1 second) Mary Belcher, February 0, u>8t ;
manied (.third) Rebecca ----- . The children of
Thomas and Martha Andrews were: Klttaheth,
born January in, 1(171, manied William Wilson, of
Ipswich, April 10, too,?; Martha, born December JS,
1073. The children of Thomas and Mary (Belcher)
Andrews were: Rebecca, born April 14, vo8o;
— — -¦ , born Oetober 1. K188: Patience, born March
¦W, 1(18000; Esther, born February 16, lOt)*-,*, mar-
nod John tUxhy, of Hoxford, May 8, 17JJ; 'I homas,
born December" 18, too.}, married, March t, t7Ji,
Ruth Itixhy; had eight children, resided at Box
ford; Robert, horn May 10, (.about tooo).

till) Robert Andrews, son of Thomas An
drews (2), was horn iu Boxford, Massacliusetts, on
the old homestead, about idgd, on May 1(1. Ho
inherited the homestead of his father and grandfather
in Bnxfnrd. lie married, March 10, 1719- jo, De
borah I'Vies, at Andtiver, Massaehusells. lie died
at Boxford, April 14, 17m,
The history of Boxford, page JO, shows that this
Robert Andrews, undoubtedly father of Robert An
drews, who settled in Shrewsbury, was sou of
Thomas, not of John Andrews, as slated in Ward's
History of Shrewsbury, while there is no record
that John Andrews ever had a sou Robert. The
homestead went tO1 Robert's sou, Nathan Andrews.
Robert was selectman in Boxford in 17JO-3J-38-JQ-41-
4a-«-44. Ihe children of Robert Andrews were: Lieu
tenant James, born March 19, 1731, married Ruth
Wood, I'Vliruary 18, 1747-8; she died August 7,
1764, and he married (second) Elizabeth Bryant,
April io, 1705, resided at Boxford, died there 1794,
aged seventy-live years, Robert, November 8, t7Ja;
Nathan, May 2$, 17JO, married Mehitable Foster, of
Andover, April J3, 1751; married (second) Sarah
Symonds, widow, February 6, 1764; Samuel, 1731.
(IV) Robert Andrews, son of Robert Andrews
(j), was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 8, 17JJ. He married Lucy Bradstreet, of Taps-
field, May to. 1746-7. She was a daughter of Simon,
who was grandson of Governor Simon Bradstreet,
for many years governor of the Massachusetts Bay
colony, Lucy Bradstreet was also great-great-
granddaughter of Governor Dudley, Soon after his
marriage he removed to Brookfield, but in 1747 or
1748 settled in the north parish of Shrewsbury, now
Boylston, lie bought several small farms, about
three hundred acres ill all, which remained the fam
ily homestead for one hundred and titty years; the
greater part of this land is now beneath the waters
of the Metropolitan Water Basin.
He was captain of the Shrewsbury Second Pre
cinct Militia Company and served in the revolution
in 1775. He was a selectman of Shrewsbury in 1774-
75-70-70. lie was accidentally killed at Boylston,
November 11. 1780. aged sixty-seven years.- His
widow died December jj, 1815. aged ninety-one
years. Their children were: Robert, horn January 8,
1748 married Dorothy Goodonow, of Princeton; died,
July 1,1, 1835, aged eighty-seven : of their seven
children, one was Dr, John Andrews, born March
,U, 170,1. Samuel, September 14, 1750, married Judith
Vlagg, daughter of Stephen Flagg, July 10, 1777;
manied (.second) Aimis Morse, daughter of Rev.
F.heiuver Morse. Daniel, July jj. 175J. married
Dinah Bigelow, daughter of Joseph Bigelow, Jr.,
1781 ; he died March u, i8j(i, aged seventy-four,
killed bv an unruly bull. Elizabeth, February 17,
1755, died September JO, 1757. John, Marcli JO.
1757, married Margaret Parker, of Holden, De
cember 4, 1704; died February 13, i8jj, aged sixty-
live. Lucy, married Jonathan Bond, Jr, Asa, May
11. I70J, graduate of Harvard, 178,5; settled in Ips
wich; appointed by President George Washington
collector of the port of Ipswich in 1790 and held the
ollico thirty years; lie married, Oetober u, 1788,
Joanna Heard, daughter of Hon. John Heard, of
Ipswich: she died July u. 1707; he married (sec
ond) Hannah Farley, October j.s, 1708: she died
January o, 1807, aged thirty-six; he married (.third)
Sarah Farley, July 3. 1807. The sou of Robert and
Joanna Heard, John Dudley, graduated at Harvard
in 1810; Edward also in 1810; daughter Elizabeth
married Hon. Sidney Willard, professor at Har-

328

WORCESTER COUNTY

vard. Jotham, December 18, 1766, died young.
Theodore and Charlotte were the children of the
second wife.
(V) John Andrews, son of Robert Andrews
(4), was born in Shrewsbury now Boylston, Mass
achusetts, May 29, 1757. He married Margaret
Parker, of Holden, December 4, 1794, and settled
upon the homestead. He was selectman in Boylston
in 1798-1801-03-04-05-12-13. He was a prominent
man in town affairs for many years. He died Feb
ruary 13, 1822, aged sixty-five years.
Their children were: Mary Parker, born June
26, 1795,. married Jonathan Flagg, March 27, 1817 ;
Robert, March 22, 1797, died 1798; Willard, Octo
ber 6, 1798; Lucy Bradstreet, March 6, 1800, died
1801 ; John, March 2, 1802, married Mary E. Dunton,
November 3, 1831 ; Robert, January 2, 1805. Mar
ried Caroline Wilder; Thomas Denny, September
29, 1806, died October 1, 1833.
(VI) Willard Andrews, son of John Andrews
(5), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, October
6, 1798. He married, Dolly Houghton, June 18,
1829. He had the homestead. Willard Andrews
was a prominent man in town affairs ; he was assessor
for nine years. He died April 23, 1874; his widgw
died December, 1888.
The" children, all born in Boylston,- were : Al
bert Willard, born July 19, 1831; Theodore, Janu
ary 11, 1833; town treasurer, 1865; died March 1,
1888 ; Julia A., May 30, 1835, married Samuel I. Rice,
of Northboro; Ferdinand, December 13, 1838; served
three years in the civil war, corporal of Company D,
Twenty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers ;
died November 24, 1864; William, November 20,
1840; died 1841; Emma E., March 13, 1846; mar
ried John A. Ware.
(VII) Albert Willard Andrews, son of Willard
Andrews (6), was born in Boylston, .Massachusetts,
July 19, 1831. He was brought up on the old
homstead where the family had lived for several
generations. He attended the public schools of his
native town, the West Boylston high school and the
Worcester Academy. He remained at home on the
farm, teaching school during the winter seasons six
or seven years, until he married, January 12, i860,
Elizabeth Wright Bond, daughter of Thomas and
Harriet (Slocomb) Bond, of Boylston. She was
born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, September 12,
1837, and also comes from a prominent and patriotic
ancestry. His grandfather, Captain John Bond, who was
born in Westboro, Massachusetts, was in the sixth
generation from William Bond, who came from
Bury St. Edmunds, England, to Watertown, Massa
chusetts, when a mere lad, apparently only six years
old, in company with relatives. He was the third
son of Thomas Bond of Bury St Edmunds, a
maltster. William was in Watertown as early as
1631. He married, February 7, 1649-50, Sarah,
daughter of Nathaniel Bisco, (see Bisco Family
sketch in this work) "the rich tanner," and became
one of the leading citizens of the colony and the
province, filling various positions of public trust.
Lieutenant Bond, father of Captain John, was first
lieutenant in Captain Edmund Brigham's company
that marched for Lexington on the alarm, April 19,
1775, and was commissioned lieutenant April 5, 1776,
and marched to re-enforce the northern army under
General Gates. Lieutenant Thomas Bond's father,
Jonathan, was a soldier in the French and Indian
war, serving as lieutenant in Captain Benjamin
Woods' company in 1755, and in Captain Benjamin
Flagg's company in 1756.
After his marriage Albert Willard Andrews
owned a farm and saw mill in Boylston for a few

years. Then he removed 'to Worcester, where he
lived for over twenty years on Catherine street, en
gaged in the 'business of carpenter and builder.
He is still a member of the Congregational church
at Boylston. He was the town treasurer there in
1859-60-61. He was assessor there in 1863-64 and
for six years a member of the school committee.
He is a Republican. He is well known in tlie build
ing trades as a carpenter and contractor of high rep
utation for good and honest work. He built a large
number of houses in Worcester and the vicinity, and
for the past twelve years has resided on Lincoln
street The children of Albert and Elizabeth Wright
(Bond) Andrews were : Harriet Bond, born March
4, 1862, attended Worcester high school, graduate of
Normal School at Worcester, 1881, Normal Art
School, Boston, 1893, studied at Worcester Art
Museum; formerly teacher of drawing in Worces
ter public schools, now teacher of drawing in Hol
den high school and Bancroft school, Worcester ;
IiVes at home with her parents; Ferdinand, born
June 30, 1867, graduate of the Worcester high
school, 1885, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1889,
was for five years assistant chemist in lead works at
Carnegie, Pennsylvania; now head chemist in Rari-
tan Copper Works at Perth Amboy, New Jersey;
married, June 17, 1896, Esther Garbart, daughter of
John Garbart, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, lives at
Perth Amboy; has son, John Willard, born Febru
ary- 13, 1899. Arthur Willard, born May 9, 1869,
attended the Worcester high school and the Wor
cester Polytechnic Institute; formerly draughtsman
for N. E. Telephone & Telegraph Company, Boston,
now inspector of the American Telephone & Tele
graph Company in New York City; married, Aug
ust, 1899, Margaret Bingham, daughter of John
Bingham, of Boston; they have one child, Grace,
born June 30, 1902.
ALBERT A. SPAULDING. Edward Spaulding
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Albert A. Spaulding
of Worcester, was a pioneer settler in Braintree,
Massachusetts. It is believed that he came from
England about 1630. He was a proprietor of Brain
tree in 1640; was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640,
and was a juryman in 1648. He removed first to
Wenham and later to Chelmsford, Massachusetts,
where he was one of the proprietors in 1655. He
sold his house and lands in Wenham, August 18,
1648, his wife Rachel, consenting. He was a town
officer of Chelmsford. He married (first) Mar
garet; she died in 1640.- He married (second)
Rachel. He died February 26, 1670. His will was
dated February 13, 1666, and proved April 5, 1670.
He made bequests to his wife, to sons Edward, John,
and Andrew, and daughter, Dinah.
Children of Edward and Margaret Spaulding
were: 1. John, born about 1633; died 1721; mar
ried Hannah Hale; freeman at Chelmsford, 1690.
2. Lieutenant Edward, born about 1635 ; died January,
1708; married (first) Priscilla UnderwOod; married
(second) Margaret Barrett, November 22, 1681 ; she
died May 25, 1748- 3. Grace, died May, i64i._ Chil
dren of Edward and Rachel were: 4. Benjamin,
born April 7, 1643, in Braintree; died before May
25, 1708; married Olive Farwell, October 30, 1668;
daughter of Henry and Olive Farwell. 5. Joseph,
born October 25, 1646; died April 3, I74°> aged
ninety-six, at Plainfield, Connecticut; married Mercy
Jewell, December 9, 1670. 6. Dinah, born March
14, 1649. 7. Andrew, born November 19, 1652; died
May 5, 1713; married Hannah Jefes, daughter of
Henry Jefes, of Billerica, April 30, 1674.
(II) Benjamin Spaulding, son of Edward

WORCESTER COUNTY

3-9

Spaulding (i), born in Braintreo, Massachusetts,
April 7, 1643; died before 1708; married Olive Far-
well, daughter of Henry and Olive Farwell, first of
Concord, then of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 30, 1668. Benjamin was admitted a freeman in
1689, He was mentioned in his father's will, having
previously received his portion of the estate. He
purchased a large tract of land in the north part of
Canterbury, Windham county, Connecticut, now the
town of Brooklyn. His homestead there descended
to his son, Edward, and grandson Ebenezer, son of
Edward. Children of Benjamin and Olive (Farwell)
Spaulding were: 1. Sarah, born January 4, 1669;
married John Merriam. 2. Edward, (see forward).
t Benjamin, born July 6, 1685, in Chelmsford; died
eptember 17, 1712; married Sarah Hall, daug'hter
of Stephen Hall; she married (second) William
Blodgfett, August 18, 1714. 4. Elizabeth, married
Ephraim Wheeler. 5. Mary, married Isaac Morgan.
(Ill) Edward Spaulding, son of Benjamin
Spaulding (2), born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts,
June 18, 1672; died November 29,- 1740, aged sixty-
seven years. The Canterbury record gives tlie date
1739. He married Mary Adams, who died Septem
ber 20, 1754, aged seventy-eight years. They be
longed to the First church in Chelmsford and to the
Canterbury church. They settled in Canterbury,
Connecticut, on the Spaulding homestead, and he
died there. He was the third settler within the
present limits of Brooklyn, Connecticut. He bought
land north of Canterbury bounds, at the foot of
Tadwich, in 1707. He was with Joseph Adams and
Henry Smith on the first committee of the Religious
Society organized in 1731.
Children were: 1. Benjamin, bom July 20, 1696.
2. Elizabeth, born August 15, 1698; married William
Darbe. 3. Ephraim, (see forward). 4. Jonathan,
born April 15, 1704. 5. Ezekiel, born September 8,
1706, 6. Ruth, born September 28, 1710; married
John Bacon. 7, Abigail, born March 10, 1713 ; mar
ried Banajah Douglass. 8. Ebenezer, born August
7, 1719. 9. John, born December I, 1721.
(IV) Ephraim Spaulding, son of Edward
Spaulding (3), born in Canterbury, Connecticut,
April 3, 1700; married Abigail Bullard, of Plain-
field, Connecticut, and settled there. His children
were: 1, John, born August 8, 1724; died May 29,
1768; removed to Plainfield, New Hampshire. 2.
Phineas, born March 25, 1726; died August 31, 1785.
3. Reuben, born February 26, 1728. 4. Josiah, born
December 7, 1729. 5. Ezekiel, born September 30,
I73t 6, Palatiah, born March 19, 1734; died Octo-
b«r 3> 1750. 7. Abigail, born March 16, 1736; mar
ried Captain Samuel Hall, May 19, 1756, 8. Oliver,
bom September 30, 1739. 9. Mary, born May 16,
1744; married John Larrabee, December 16, 1662.
10. Ephraim, (see forward).
(V) Epliraim Spaulding, son of Ephraim
Spaulding (4), born in Plainlield, Connecticut, May
24, 1747; died in 1811. He married (first) Esther
Snow, May 20, 1773. She died July 17, 1806, in her
sixty-first year; married (second) Hannah Stowell,
September 1, 1808 She died March 9, 1S23, in her
sixty-fifth year. They resided at Ashford, Connecti
cut, He was a soldier in the revolution and served
in Captain Jonathan Parker's company, Colonel
Comfort Sage's regiment, in 1776. His company was
in the campaign in New York and Long Island, and
the battle of White Plains. He was in the same com
pany, in Colonel Webb's regiment, in 1780, and ap
parently served during the war.
, Children of Ephraim and Ether (Snow) Spauld
ing were: 1. Alva, born May 30,, 1773; died April
27< 1796, unmarried. 2, Betsey, born September 2,

1775; married Nicholas Aldrich in 1800; they settled
in Toliand, Connecticut; he died at Maltonville, New
York. 3. Lena, born September 29, 1780; married
Edward Holton or Houghton, and lived at Antwerp,
New York. 4. Dua, (see forward). 5. Edmund,
born September 27, 1784.
(VI) Dua Spaulding, son of Ephraim Spauld
ing (5), born September 26, 1782; died January 23,
1863, at Eastford, Connecticut; married Mercy War
ren, April 30, j 1807. She was born February 29,
1788. ChildreiiYwere: 1. Warner, born March 18,
1808; died March, 1828. 2. Erastus, born April 23,
1809, 3. John Warren, born May 25, 181 1. 4. Eliza,
born April 12, 1813; married Nelson Whitford; re
sided in Wilmington, Connecticut. 5. Lyman, born
March 25, 1815. 6. Nelson, born February, 1817.
7. Augustus, (see forward). 8. Gilbert, born July
3, 1821. 9." Ephraim, born December 26, i8jj. to.
Edmund, born October 18, 1824. 11. Mary Ann,
born April 8, 1827 ; died unmarried.
(VII) Augustus Spaulding, son of Dua Spauld
ing (6), was born in Eastford, Connecticut; set
tled in Eastford ; married Abigail Catherine Rich
ards, November 7, 1843. She. was the daughter of
Ebenezer and Catherine (Newell) Richards, of
Dedham, born November 12, 1824; died July 23,
1905. He died August 17, 1898. Children were:
1. Albert Augustus, (see forward). 2. George Rich
ards, born April a, 1857. 3. Carrie Newell, born
September 23, 1862.
(VIII) Albert Augustus Spaulding, son of
Augustus Spaulding (7), born in Ashford. Connec
ticut, October 14, 1853. He was educated in the
public schools of his native town and came to Wor
cester, Massachusetts, September 19, 1870, when
seventeen years of age, his capital then consisting of
seven dollars. He accepted a position as clerk for
Charles B. Eaton, a dealer in dry goods, whose
store stood where the State Mutual building now
stands, and served in that capacity three years. The
following seven years he was an employe of Den-
holm & McKay in the Boston store, a department
store located then on the corner of Main and Me
chanic streets. In 1881 he became associated with
John C. Maclnnes, a dry goods dealer, whose busi
ness was established in 1873, at No. 462 Main street,
Worcester, in the Gross & Strauss building. The
business increased rapidly both in volume and im
portance, and is now (1906) one of the three largest
department stores in Worcester, occupying several
blocks on Main street, opposite the common. The
present corporation was formed in 1892, when Mr.
Spaulding was elected vice president. The other
officers of the company are : President, John C.
Maclnnes, the founder of the business; clerk,
Charles A. Homer; and director, with the other
officers, Alexander T. Moir. The capital stock is
$100,000. Mr. Spaulding has been very active in the
development of the business, possessing a thorough
knowledge of the details of the same, and deserves
a full share of the credit for the prosperity of the
house. Mr. Spaulding is in every respect what is termed
a self-made man. Beginning life humbly, without
capital, and unaided by influential friends, he at
tained a position of honor and usefulness solely
through his own ability, and the exercise of energy
a,nd unconquerable determination. At every stage
of his effort he faithfully met every requirement
with entire loyalty and trustworthy devotion, and bis
advancement from time to time came to him as the
fruit of his own conduct. In all his business rela
tions he is integrity personified, and in his personal
character is an earnest, christian man. He is a
Republican in politics, but has never sought or held

33°

WORCESTER COUNTY

office, preferring to devote his leisure time to his
home and family, in which he takes great pride.
He_ is a consistent member of the Adams Square
Congregational Church, takes an active part in the
work thereof, serving as a member of the standing
committee since 1S9S. He is a member of the Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Worcester Board
of Trade, and the Worcester Automobile Club.
A man of pleasing personality, genial in disposition,
a good entertainer, and a lover of qut-door sports.
He married, June 1, 1880, Helen Fraser, born Feb
ruary 22, 1S56, daughter of James and Mary (Me-
Pherson) Fraser.
James Fraser was born in Wigtown, Scotland,
1823. died in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1885. When
a young man he came to Americas and later located
and lived for a time at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where
he was united in marriage to Mary McPherson, oi
Scotch descent, born 1822, died in Worcester, Mass-*
achusetts, 1879. They were the parents of six
children: Bessie, deceased; Hannah, deceased;
Susan, Mary Ann, deceased; Helen, wife: of Albert
A. Spaulding; Cora, deceased. James Fraser was a
carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, a Master
Mason, and a member of Plymouth Church, Wor
cester, Massachusetts.
The children of Albert A. and Helen (Fraser)
Spaulding are: 1. Cora Fraser, born January 18,
1881; graduate of Worcester high school; married,
June 26, 1905, Harry C Rose, of Worcester; re*
sides at No. 2591 Lincoln street. 2. Edith M., born
December 25, 1885 ; graduate of the Worcester big!*
school; a student in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New
York. 3. Paul W., born September 14, 1893; at
tending city school.
Mr. Spaulding hits been an extensive traveler and
in this way has broadened his views and ideas of
men and places. In 1900 accompanied by his eld
est daughter, Cora Fraser Spaulding, he took a trip
to Europe, visiting many of tlie principal cities of
the old world, and in 1904 he and his wife spent the
winter in California, and also visited all of the im
portant points in the West; places of interest and
note. The family reside in a beautiful colonial
home on Marie avenue, Worcester, and enjoy the
acquaintance of a wide circle of friends.
ROLLIN G. WHITE, for many years an enter
prising and prominent business man of Worcester,
Massachusetts, and a well-known philanthropic citi
zen of that town, born December 17, 1823, in New-
fane, Windham county, Vermont, son of Phineas
and Susan (Tyler) White, died November 19, 1905.
Phineas White (father) was born in Southbridge,
Massachusetts, June 27, 1781, son of Cyrus White,
also a native of Southbridge, Massachusetts.
Phineas White was in his early days a merchant
in Boston, and later moved to Vermont, where he
followed farming. He married in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, May 19, 1809, Susan Tyler, born
April 20, 1790, in Woburn, Massacliusetts. Tlie
following named children were born to them :
Susan Putnam, born in Boston, July 18, 181 1, de
ceased; James Lawrence, born August 23, 1813, in
Boston, died in Warren, Massachusetts, June 11,
1900; Thomas Cyrus, born December 8> 1815, in
Boston, died in Minnesota, about 1895; George
Tyler, born August 1, 1817, in Dover, Vermont, died
in Baltimore, June 14, 1903; Charles Augustus,
born November 8, 181 8, in Dover, died about 189O in
Baltimore; Catherine Lewis, born in Dover, May I,
1820, died in Boston, January 10, 1900; Sallie Tyler,
born in Newfane, Vermont, April n, 1822, died
in Troy, October 12, 1857: Rollin G, of whom later;
Cordelia E., born June 23, 1825, in Newfane, Ver

mont, died in West Wardsboro, Vermont, June 12,
1801 ; Mary A., born November 19, 1827, in
Newfane, Vermont, died in Leroy. New York.
March 19, 1897; Artemisia, born May 13. 1829,
in Newfane, (fied in Brattleboro, Vermont; Rhoda
Ann, born June 26, 18^2, resides at Auburn
dale, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, in tlie
Woodland Park Hotel, and has a son Frederick
M. Gooding. The father of these children died
January 2, 1864, at Wardsboro, Vermont, and Mrs.
White died in West Wardsboro, January 4, 1874.
Rollin G. White, eighth child and fifth son of
Phineas and Susan (Tyler) White, obtained his
education at Wardsboro, Vermont At the age of
twenty-one he removed to Worcester, Massachu
setts, and entered into his first regular employment
in a livery stable with G. S. Switzer Mid remained
some five years, receiving for his services twelve
dollars a month. He then went into the retail
meat business with Stowell Maynard, under the firm
name of Maynard & White. In 1857 he engaged
in the wholesale meat business in the Agricultural
building on Fronts street He conducted this busi
ness with considerable success for about ten years,
when he established himself in the pork packing
business, associated with a Mr. Pevey and Mr.
Dexter, and conducting business under the firm
name of White, Pevey & Dexter. This firm carried
on a most extensive and profitable business, and in
1893 sold their plant to the firm oi Swiit & Company,
Chicago, Illinois. From th* outset Mr. White's
business career was successful and prosperous, ow
ing in a great part to tlie straightforward methods
and general fair dealing that always characterized
his business transactions.
Politically Mr. White was a stanch Republican,
and while he never aspired to public office was un
tiring in his efforts to promote the welfare of that
organization. He attended the Old South Church
for a number of years, and later became a member
of the Union Church of Worcester, contributing
five thousand dollars to the building fund and five
thousand dollars to help pay - off the debt of this
church. Rollin G. White was married three times: First
to Sarah B. Mann, daughter of Jason and Sarah
(Bond) Mann, of Holden, Massacliusetts. She
died about five years after her marriage, and Mr.
White married for his second wife Lusanna T.
Spear, daughter of Luther and Hanna (Conant)
Spear, of Oakham, Massachusetts. Of this union
the following named children were born: Alice
and Susan, both deceased; Lucy A., wife of Ralph
H. Brigham, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, and
has one son, Rollin White Brigham, born August
11, 1893. Mr. White married for his third wife,
November 5, 1896, Mary E. (Parker) Reed, who
was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, December 13,
1837, tlie daughter of Emory and Sarah (Estey)
Parker, and widow of James G. Reed, of Rutland,
Massachusetts, a farmer, who died in June,

CHARLES STEARNS HALL. John Hall, the
grandfather of Charles S. Hall, deceased, for many
years a citizen of Worcester, Massachusetts, was
born 1779, died 1857. He married Nancy Moore,
who was born in Leicester, Massacliusetts, 1780,,
died i860. Following are tlie children of John and
Nancy Hall; Lucy, John, Fidelia, John, Elbridge
Gerry, Nancy, William Gray, Willard Moore,
Nancy Hall.
Elbridge Gerry Hall, father of Charles S. Hall,
married Elizabeth T., daughter of Stephen and
Deborah Putnam Stearns, of Worcester. She was
born April 19, 1814. Stephen Stearns was one of

y

m^^u 0, cM^Myj

WORCESTER COUNTY

33i

the largest real estate owners in Worcester -and a
man of prominence. • His farm included Columbus
Park arid extended south to Hope cemetery. Deb
orah Putnam Stearns Was a niece of General Israel
Putnam. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hall were:
Ann Elizabeth, born August 7, 1843, died March
f, 1896; Charles Stearns Hall, born April 26, 1847,
died June 18, 1905.
Charles Stearns Hall spent his youth in Wor
cester, attending the public schools, and after grad
uating from the high school pursued his Studies
at Howe's Business College. He then entered the
employ of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing
Company, at the South Worcester plant, as ship
ping clerk. When this branch was destroyed by
file Mr. Hall Was transferred to the main works
at Grove street, where he became assistant quarter
master and then quarter-master. His next position
was assistant to Superintendent Charles H. Morgan,
With the title of assistant maririfacfUrer, the super
intendent looking Out for the construction and main
tenance of bUildirigs and machinery, and Mr. Hall
beirig charged With the manufacture and development
of the Wire making art. After a connection of thirty-
four years with this eompariy, Mr. Hall resigned on
July i, I901, and engaged Iri business for himself
as a manufacturer at North Brookfield. This busi
ness he conducted successfully for four years, or
up to the time of his deaffi. He was also' a
member of k real estate eompariy, conducting bus
iness under the' firm name of DaViS & Hall. Mr.
Hall wis a Republican iri polities, but never held
e*ffi(ie, having no taste for public life. He Was a
member of the Second Advent Cflttrch, and served
on the dfficial board and as teacher iri the Suhday
School. He was a life member of the Worcester
Mechanics' Association, and for a tiriie a director Of
th£ Worcester Co-OperatiVe Bank. Mr. Hall was
of a retiring nature, devoted to his home arid
friends. His sympathies were brOad and tender,
and almost every, unfortunate Who came fo him
found a friend.
Mr. Hall married, June 17, 1880, Emma God
dard, born November 25, I859, daughter Of Dor
rance S. Goddard. Their children, borri in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, were as follows : Winthrop
Goddard, born April 1, 1881 ; Raymond Stearns,
born December 12, 1884; Annie Gertrude, born
June 29, 1888; Marjorie Williams, born February 2,
1891; Roderick Chesley, born April 13, 1893; Eliza
beth Putnam, born June 17, 1896. Mr. Hall died
at his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, June 18,
105. GEORGE H. MILLS. Samuel Mills (1), the
pioneer ancestor ef George H. Mills, of Worcester,
is believed to have come from Lancashire, England.
He came to New England before I640, arid was at
Weymouth, working for Henry Waltham March 11,
1640. He deposed then that he was twenty-one
years old, making his date of birth 1619. He re
moved to Dedham, where he settled and spent the
remainder of his days. He was a townsman there
January 1, 1644-5, and a member of the Dedham
church before 1646. He married (first) Frances
 * arid (second) Mary  . The latter died
October 30, 1694. He died January 16, 1695.
Children were : 1. Samuel, baptized March 29,
r646; died April, 1646. 2. Samuel, died December
15, 1649. 3. Benjarilin, (see forward). 4. Eliza
beth, borri December 5. 1652. 5. Stephen, died
December 3, 1653. 6. Sarah, born November 5,
1654. 7. Rebecca, born April 10, 1657.
(II) Benjamin Mills, son of Samuel Mills (1),
born in De'dham, Massachusetts, April 13, 165 1 ;

fnarried Mary  , and settled in Dedham. His
children as recorded at Dedham, were: 1. Benja
min, borri June 7, 1675. 2. Mary,- April 25, 1677.
3. Samuel, March 7, 1677-8. 4. William, (see for
ward). (Ill) William Mills, youngest child of Benja
min Mills (2), born in Dedham, Massachusetts,
May 2, 1682. He removed to the adjoining town of
Needham, or was living in that part of Dedham
when it was set off. He was one of the original
members of the First church at Needham. He died
at Needham July 9, 1759. His wife died October
3, 1759. Among their children, was William Mills,
Jr., probably the eldest soil.
(IV) William Mills, Jr., probably the eldest Son
of William Mills, Sr., born in Needham, Massa
chusetts, about 1725 ; married (first) Hanriah  ,
who died at Needham, February 23, 1758; second
—  ; arid (third) Eunice Eddy, at Oxford, March
4, 1772. He Seems to have had 3 distinguished
reCdrd as soldier and officer in the revolutionary
war. Children of William and Hanriah Mills were:
1. James (see forward). 2. Esther, December 10;
1751. Children by the second wife were : 3. Enoch,
born Msly 27, 1759: 4, Rhoda, botn January 2, 1761.
(V) Jarites Mills, eldest child of Williafii Mills^
Jr. (4), borri iri Needham, Massachusetts, January
30; 1750: He served in the revolutionary war itt \
Captain1 Nathaniel Heath's eompariy, Colonel Jona
than Reed's detachment of guards, in 1778. He
served in l779 Ivith th'e guards at Cambridge and
elsewhere dbotff Boston. Nehemiah Mills, of Need
ham, supposed to be a relative, was in the same
company. Philip Mills Who was with James Mills,
later at Dubliri, New Hampshire, served in a Need
ham Company also, under Captairi Robert Smith arid
Colonel William Heath in 1775. James Mills set
tled before the war Was Over af Dublin, New Hamp
shire, Where Philip Mills werit the year before. (See
history of Dublin, New Hampshire, arid Bethel,
Maine). He married a Dublin girl arid lived there
abtfflt four years, when with others from Dublin,
including relatives of his wife, he removed to Bethel,
Maltte. Philip arid his wife Anna remained in Dub
lin until 1797. It should be mentioned that Philip
and his wife were dismissed to the Dublin church,
although just after they arrived they had been
warned, after fhe ancient custom of New England
(January, 1780).
James Mills married February 7, 1782, Hannah
Mason, daughter of Moses Mason. They removed
to Bethel in 1785, and settled on a farm on Grove
Hill. In 1790 he was killed by a falling tree while
cutting wood. He left a widow and five young chil
dren. The widow married (second) September 10,
1792, Elijah Grover. He died in 1805.
Hannah Mason was the sixth child of Moses
Mason, born in Dublin, New Hampshire, May 4,
1762. Moses Mason was a great-grandson of Cap
tain Hugh and Esther Mason. (See sketch of Mason
family). Captain Hugh Mason was a settler at
Watertown ; a tanner by trade ; captain of the Water-
town company; Indian fighter; magistrate, and
deputy to the general court; born in England in
1606, sailed April 30. 1634, with wife Esther in ship
"Francis Of Ipswich." The line is through Captain
Hugh (1) ; John (2), Daniel (3). Moses Mason
(4), was the youngest son of Dariiel (3) and Ex
perience. He married Lydia Knapp,- daughter of
Jesse and Mary Kriap£, of Boston, who settled in
Dublin, New Hampshire. The Mason family re
moved to Bethel, Mairie, in 1799.
The Grover family was closely allied by mar
riage with the Mills family. They are very numerous
arid highly respectable. They are descended from

332

WORCESTER COUNTY

Thomas Grover (l), the emigrant, who came from
England and settled in Charlestown, Massachu
setts, in 1642. He removed to Maiden later.
Thomas Grover, son of the emigrant, mar
ried Sarah Chadwick, daughter of John Chad
wick, and had three sons : Thomas (3) ; Andrew (3) ;
and Ephraim (3). In 1702 he settled in that part
of Norton, Massachusetts, known as the Taunton
West Purchase, afterwards incorporated as Norton,
later as Mansfield (1770)'. Andrew Grover (3),
and Mary, had Jonas, born September 7, 1699. He
married Sarah Austin. Their son, James, Jr. (5),
born August 15, 1729, married April 8, 1754, Sarah
Wellman. James Grover (5), moved from Mans
field, Massachusetts, to Peckersfield, now Nelson,
New Hampshire, and later went to Bethel, Maine.
His son Elijah married Mrs. Hannah (Mason)
Mills. Children of James and Hannah (Mason) Mills
were : 1. John, born July 31, 1783, af Dublin, New
Hampshire; married Asenath Cummings. 2. James.
3. Hannah, born in Dublin, January 9, 1786. 4.
Deborah, born at Bethel, January 27, 1786. 5. Cyrus
(see forward).
(VI) Cyrus Mills, youngest child of James
Mills (5), born in Bethel, Maine, April 28, 1790;
settled in Bethel, Maine; later removed to the Frye
burg Academy ' grant, now Mason, Maine, adjoin
ing Bethel. In 1816 he and his brother John were
living in Bethel, and a road was laid out by the
town from their houses to that of their mother,
Widow Grover. Cyrus married Abiah Bean, daugh
ter of Daniel and Margaret (Shaw) Bean, born
December 31, 1792. Margaret Shaw was the daugh
ter of Ebenezer and Anna (Philbrick) Shaw, of
Standish, Maine. Daniel Bean was a revolutionary
soldier and late in life drew a pension. He was
the son of Jonathan Bean, of Kingston, or the
adjacent town of Brentwood, New Hampshire, who
with his wife Abigail removed to Sudbury, Canada ;
he died in 1800, aged forty- three; married in 1780
and had thirteen children. He was born in Kings-
tonton, or Brentwood, New Hampshire; resided at
Chester, New Hampshire, and was a descendant of
John Bean, a native of Scotland, who settled in
Exeter, New Hampshire. He removed to Standish,
Maine, and later to Bethel, where he bought a farm
near that of his brother-in-law, Eleazer Twichell.
Children of Cyrus arid Abiah (Bean) Mills were:
1. William Dexter, bom September 18, 1816, in
Bethel. 2. Daniel, born April 10, 1818, Bethel. 3.
Nelson, September 20, 1819, in Bethel. 4. Mary Bean,
born April 5, 1822, in Mason, Maine. 5. Charlotte,
born 1823. 6. Nathan Grover, born February 20,
1824. 7. Cyrus, Jr., born 1826. 8. O'Neal R., born
1828. 9. Betsey S., born 1830. 10. J. Mason, born
1832. 11. George H. (see forward). 12. Elijah G,
born January 9, 1835. 13. Stephen, died when one
and a half years of age.
(VII) George Horace Mills, son of Cyrus Mills
(6), next to the youngest of the children, was born
March 31, 1833, in Fryeburg Academy grant, now
the town of Mason, Maine. He received a common
school education in the schools of his native town.
He removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, when
a young man, and there learned his trade of carpen
ter. He came to Worcester to take the position of
foreman for Henry W. Eddy, the contractor and
builder, with whom he has been associated during
most of his residence in Worcester. One of the
early triumphs of building in Worcester was the
freight house of the Boston & Maine Railroad, the
roof of .which, 65x400 feet, was the largest in
the country, built up to that time without supports
or pillars. Mr. Mills had a notable career in the

civil war. He enlisted in Company C, Thirty-sixth
Regiment, a company raised by P. Emory Aldrich,
later justice of the superior court, within six days
from the beginning, until one hundred and ten men
were secured. A. A. Goodell was the captain. He
served from August 8, 1862, until June 8, 1865.
He was in the first battle of Fredericksburg. The
story ' of his service is that of his regiment, until
he was taken prisoner. From Virginia the regi
ment went to Jamestown, Kentucky, and thence to
Vicksburg, Mississippi. The next move was to
Jackson, whence they returned to Kentucky. They
served at Campello Station and at the siege of
Knoxville; at Blaine's Crossroads, in East Ten
nessee, and at Strawberry Plain in the same sec
tion. In 1864 the regiment left Tennessee, in April,
and in May took part in the battle of the Wilder
ness, and Spottsylvania Court House, where they
suffered heavy losses. May 21, they marched to North
Anna river, continually skirmishing. At Cold Har
bor, Mr. Mills was made first corporal of the com
pany for his services in taking a line of rifle pits
from the enemy. The march from this point to
White House Landing, was made in forty-eight suc
cessive hours, a distance of sixty miles. The regi
ment arrived at Harrison Landing June 15,
1864. The regiment made a gallant record at
Petersburg, taking two forts, four stands of
colors and five hundred and sixteen prisoners, and
then settled down to besiege Petersburg. Mr. Mills
was taken prisoner at Dr. Basan's house, and taken
to the prison first in Petersburg, then to Libby prison,
in Richmond, where he was kept from October 5 to
9, when he was taken to the parole camp and
detained until May, 1865. Although he was mustered
out at Alexandria, Virginia, June 8, the regiment
proceeded to Readville, Massachusetts, to be paid
off and ¦ discharged, and he was the last to do guard
duty, being detailed to guard the arms to be turned
over to the United States government there. He
is a member of George H. Ward Post 10, Grand
Army of the Republic, of Worcester. In politics
he is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. He married Mary Jane Prescott,
daughter of Harvey and Mary (Stuart) Prescott,
of West Boylston, Massachusetts. They were mar
ried at Clinton, Massachusetts, February 14, 1857.
Mrs. Mills numbers among her ancestors Colonel
Jonathan Prescott, of revolutionary fame. In the
Grover family her great-grandfather, also, was a ¦
soldier in the revolution.
Children of George Horace and Mary Jane (Pres
cott) Mills were: I. George Lyman, born Decem
ber 15, 1857, married Emma Viola Ryan ; no children.
2. Arthur Goodell, born January 23, 1863 ; was a mem
ber of the city guards ; served through the Spanish
war in Company A, Second Massachusetts Volun
teers ; married M'yrtie Merriam ; they have a son,
Harold Leroy, born November 29, 1903. 3. Harvey
Prescott, born August 10, 1867, died October 16, 1899,
unmarried. 4. Grace Mabel, born September 29,
1869; married James Henry Burke of Prince Ed
wards Island, November 23, 1903; they have one
daughter, Ada Mills Burke, born October 1, 1904;
he is an expert solderer for the Hamblen & Russell
Manufacturing Company, Worcester. 5. John Stuart,
born October 17, 1878, died January 18, 1892.
BANCROFT FAMILY. John Bancroft (1), was
the pioneer ancestor of the Bancroft families, of
Auburn and Worcester. He was the progenitor qf
Bertram A. Bancroft, of Worcester. John and his
wife, Jane Bancroft, came to New England on the
ship "James," sailing from London in 1632. They
settled at Lynn where John died in 1637. In 1638

WORCESTER COUNTY

333

the widow received a grant of land in Lynn. Her
son, John, went to Connecticut early, and is the
founder of the Connecticut branch of the family.
There is a family tradition that she went to live
with him, and died in Connecticut. Children of John
and Jane Bancroft all born in Eugland, were:
Amos; John, settled iu Connecticut; Thomas (see
forward) ; Samuel ; and probably William.
(II) Thomas Bancroft, son of John Bancroft
(i), was born in England in 162J. He became a
townsman of Dedham in 1648. In 1653 or earlier he
removed to Reading, Massachusetts, and settled there.
He- had land at Lynnfield and lived there for a
time, and perhaps in West Reading. He married
(first) March 31, 1047, Alice Bacon, daughter of
Michael Bacon, of Dedham. She died March 29,
1648. He married (second) July 15, 1648, Elizabeth
Metcalf, daughter of Michael and Sarah Metcalf.
She was admitted to the Dedham church December
14, 1051, and dismissed to the Reading church No
vember jj, 1669. He was in the service with the rank
of lieutenant. He died at Lynn, August 19, 1691.
His widow died May 1, 1711. Children .of Thomas
Bancroft were: Tlionias, bom and died in 1648;
Thomas (see forward) ; Elizabeth, born 1653, mar
ried Joseph Brown; John, born 1658; Sarah, born
1660, died 1661 ; Raham born 1002, died 1683 ; Sarah,
born 1665, married John Woodward; Ebenezer,
1667; Mary, 1670.
(Ill) Deacon Thomas Bancroft, son of Lieutenant
Thomas Bancroft (2), born in Dedham, Massachu
setts, in 1649; married in 1673, Sarah Poole. He was
an officer in King Philip's war ; and was selectman
of Reading for several years. He built the fourth
house in the west parish, near the Abraham Temple
house, generally known as the ancient Bancroft
homestead. Children of Deacon Thomas and Sarah
(Poole) Bancroft, all born in Reading, Massachu
setts, were Thomas, born in 1673; Jonathan, born
and died 1675; Sarah, born 1676, married
Abraham Bryant (2), of Reading and Sud
bury, Massachusetts; Mehitable, born 1678,
married  Parker; Jonathan, born 1681.
married Sarah  ; Raham or Rayham (see for
ward) : Judith, born 1688, married  Parker ;
Samuel, born 1691, died 1692; Samuel, born 1693;
Elizabeth, born 1608. married, 1713, John Lampson.
(IV) Deacon Rayham Bancroft, sixth child of
Deacon Thomas Bancroft (3), born in Reading,
Massachusetts, in 16S4; married (first) Abigail
Eaton, of a prominent Reading family, daughter of
Jonas and Hannah (Mason) Eaton. She died 1728,
aged forty years. He married (second), 1730, Ruth
Kendall, daughter of Samuel and Mary Kendall.
She died 1758 aged fifty-six years. He died 1758,
aged seventy-four years. Rev. Mr. Hobby called
him: "That good man, my friend Deacon Ban
croft." Children of Deacon Rayham and Abigail
(Eaton) Bancroft were : Joshua, born 1712 ; Abigail,
born 1716; David (see forward); James, born 1720,
died young; Ruth, born 1731 ; Abigail, born 1733,
died 1750: Judith, born 1735: James, born 1739,
married (first), 1757, Sarah Pearson, (second) Sarah
Parker; revolutionary soldier; selectman: repre
sentative to general court; died 1831, aged ninety-
two years.
(V) David Bancroft, third child of Deacon Ray
ham Bancroft (4), born in Reading. Massachusetts,
August j, 1718: removed to Worcester and settled
in the southern part of the town in what was later
Ward, now Auburn. Massachusetts. The births
of his children are recorded in Worcester, except
the eldest, Eunice. He came to Worcester about
I7-P- His first wife was Eunice. She died Octo
ber 15, 1777, aged fifty-nine years, and is buried

in Auburn. He married (second) Ruth Stone,
widow, at Ward, October 14, 1779. She died August
2, 1809, aged ninety- four years. David died at Au
burn, April 16, 1782, aged sixty-three years. His will
dated December 15, 1781, and allowed May 6, 1782,
mentioned land at Auburn (Ward) and Winchen
don, church, pew, books, etc. His grave at Auburn
is marked by a stone suitably inscribed. Children
of David and Eunice Bancroft were : Eunice, born,
probably at Reading, 1742; David, born at Worces
ter May 6, 1743; Jonas, October 26, 1744; John, De
cember 10, 1 745-O ; Ebenezer, September 19, 1748;
Jonathan, May 25, 1750; Mary, May 4, 1752; Ruth,
Marcli 24, 1754; Hannah, March 1, 1756; Nathaniel,
March 18, 1758; Timothy, December 1, 1760 (see
forward) .
(VI) Timothy Bancroft, youngest child and son
of David Bancroft (5), born in that part of Wor
cester, now Auburn, December 1, 1760; married
Mary Rice, June 13, 1782; died March, 1834, aged
seventy-three years. Fie was a farmer and settled
in Auburn, where all the children were born. Chil
dren were: Comfort (daug'hter), born January 11,
1786 ; married  Chapin and had children : Lucy,
Mary, Elizabeth, Benjamin ; Peter, died October
26, 1780; Peter M. ; Timothy Rice, May 19, 1794,
died March 21, 1795; Harvey, November 11, 1796,
inherited the homestead in Auburn ; Timothy, Jr.,
May 26, 1798 (see forward) ; Rominah, July 24,
1801. Mary, widow of Timothy, died October 10,
1844, aged eighty-four years.
(VII) Timothy Bancroft, Jr., son of Timothy-
Bancroft (6), bom in Auburn, Massachusetts, May
26. 1798; married Mary Clark, June 6, 1820, at
Auburn, and settled there on a farm. Their children,
born in Auburn, were : Mary Smith, born June 3,
1821, died January 3, 1823; Samuel Clark, Decem
ber 9, 1822; died December 21, 1838; Mary S., mar
ried  Elliott; Almira Salina, April
16, 1826, married  Burrill; Laura,
March 25, 1828, died February 19, 1846; Nel
son T., June 14, 1830; Malissa, April 23, 1832,
married  Walker ; Erastus, July 16, 1834 ; Eliza
J., married  Pond; Martha J., married J. Love-
lin; Enoch (see forward); Roswell S. Nine of the
children were named in the will. Timothy Ban
croft was evidently a man of property and educa
tion. He bequeathed a desk, books and bookcases
to his son Enoch, the residuary legatee.
(VIII) Enoch Bancroft, son of Timothy Ban
croft, Jr. (7), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts.
His father left him his farm and all his real estate
in Auburn; land bought of George W. Rugg; wood
lot in Leicester ; wood lots in Shrewsbury ; his
desk, Bible, books, bookcases, family effects and
heirlooms, and he had to pay some $4,500 in cash
bequests to the other heirs. He sold the farm in
Auburn and bought one on Lincoln street in Wor
cester, where he died in 1875, in the prime of life.
He married. Mary Prime. His children were: W.
E. : A. P.: Bertram A. (see forward) ; two who died
young : Mary L., married A. L. Haven, of Worcester.
(IX) Bertram A. Bancroft, son of Enoch Ban
croft (8), born in Worcester. Massachusetts, Jan
uary 15, 1867. His father died when he was a
young boy. He attended the Worcester schools
and has always lived in his native city. The growth
of the city has brought the Bancroft farm within
the suburbs, and recently it has been placed on the
market in building lots, under the title of the Ban
croft Investment Company. Since he discontinued
running the farm, he has been in the . teaming
business, and is a successful business man. His
integrity and many attractive qualities have made
for him a host of friends. He stands as well socially

334

WORCESTER COUNTY

as in the business world. He married Susan A.
(Mason) Rice, widow of William Rice, of Holden;
bom in West Boylston, Massachusetts, November 12,
1858, and had one child by her first marriage,
Andrew Jackson Rice, born May 8, 1881.
Mrs, Bancroft is the daughter of William H.
and Alary (Howe) Mason. William H. Mason
was born March 3, 1833. Mary S. Howe was born
January 11, 1838, and died January 11, 1905. They
had eight children, of whom six are living (1905).
Mrs. Bancroft's great-grandfather was Samuel
Mason, and his wife, her great-grandmother, was
Hannah Whitney, daughter' of William Whitney,
said to be the first settler in what is now the town
of West Boylston, Massachuestts. He was a des
cendant of John Whitney, of Watertown, the emi
grant. (See Whitney family.) Their son, Will
iam Mason, married Relief Henry, and they had :
Hannah, Esther, Samuel, Sarah A., Mary A., Will
iam, H., (see forward). Children of William H.
and Mary S. (Howe) Mason were : Susan, born
November 12, 1858; D. Waldo, October 27, i860;
Julia L., 1862, married William E, Bancroft, of Wor
cester, farmer and milk dealer; Willie H., born
1864; Mary E., born 1866; Lucy E., born 1868,
died July 29, 1903; Samuel F-, born 1873; George
G., born 1875.
The only child of Bertram E. and Susan A.
(Mason) Bancroft is: Ralph Enoch Bancroft, born
at Worcester, November n, 1893; student in the
public schools of Worcester. He is the fourth gen
eration of Bancrofts who have Eved in this home.
Mr. Bancroft's home is on the old homestead, 334
Lincoln street, Worcester.
Samuel Mason, born in Lexington, Massachusetts,
great-grandfather of Mrs. Bancroft, mentioned
above, was in Captain Solomon Stuart's company,
Colonel Josiah Whitney's regiment, jn 1777, and
marched on the Bennington call.
DR. FELIX D. FONTAINE has practiced in
Worcester, largely among the French speaking citi
zens, for nearly thirty years. He was born in St.
Hugues, Quebec, Canada, December 14, 1832. He
comes from early Frenqh stock that came fr,oia old
France to New France early in the eighteenth cen
tury. His great-grandfather Fontaine, who lived
to the remarkable age of one hundred and thirteen
years, settled at Vercher.es, near Montreal, and his
grandfather Felix, for whom he was named, was
born tliere and died there at the age of ninety
years, nine months, about 1855. His father, Louis
Fontaine, was also born at Vercheres, but settled
at St. Hugues.
Felix D. Fontaine spent his hoyhood on his
father's farm and attended the parish schools of his
native place. In 1846 he was sent to the .college at
St. Hyacinthe, and here he took the seven year
course, graduating with the degree of A. B., in
1853. He then took up the 3tudy of medicine at
Montreal in what was then known as the Medical
School of Canada, cow Victoria University Med
ical School. He received his degree of M. D. from
the Ontario University. He had hospital practice
in Montreal. He began the practice of medicine at
St. Jude, near St. Hyacinthe, where he remained
until i860. March, i860, he settled at St. Barnaby,
Yamachiche, near Three Rivers, Quebec, where he
was engaged in general practice for sixteen years.
In 1876 he removed to Nicolet, Quebec, but after
eighteen months there removed to Worcester, where
he has practiced ever since. He came to Worcester,
October 15, 1877, and opened an office in Primeau's
drug store, 54 Front street Four years later he
moved his office to Salem square, and finally in July,

1885, to 16 Pordand street, having purcliased the
property there. Excepting Dr. Napoleon Jacques
he was the first French physician to build up a
practice in Worcester, and, excepting Dr. Jacques,
is the oldest practicing physician among the French
speaking population in and about Worcester. He
is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society;
of Union St. Jean Baptiste d'Amerique; and of
St. Joseph's Union of Worcester. In politics he
is a Democrat. He is a member of Notre Dame
Konian Catholic Church.
He married (first) May 23, i860, Emma Regnault
of St. Pierre, Canada. She was born in France.
She had seven children, only one of whom sur
vived. She died October 20, 1867. He married
(second) May 24^ 1874, Mary Cresse, of Nicolet,
who bore him children; all but one of whom are
living. She died in Worcester, October 10, 1898.
Among his children were: Albert, born at St.
Barnaby, Canada, 1867; Joseph IJidyme Steven,
born at St Barnaby, June 4, 1875; Marie Flora
Albertine, born at St. Barnaby, May 4, 1876; Marie
Laura Cameiia, born at Nicolet, Canada, July 21,
1877; Marie Ida, born August 8, 1879, in Wor
cester; Marie Hortense Eva, born in Worcester,
October 18, 1881; Marie Rose Eveline, born March,
1883; Joseph Arthur Steven, horn in Worcester,
May 25, 1884; Joseph Robert Erail, horn in Wor
cester, September 2, 1886; Joseph Dona Rudolph,
bora in Worcester, December 11, 1887; Marie
Blanche Rebecca Alexandrine, born April 7, 1890;
Joseph Arthur Henry, born in Worcester, Novem
ber 11, 1891; Joseph Philip AMgnste, born in Wor
cester, January 15, 1893; Joseph Anatole Oscar,
born April 11, 1895; 4ie4 December 23, 1895. Six
of the elder children died in infancy or in early
life. CHARLES A. HOMER. Homer is an old
Saxon surname, derived it is said from the -Manor
Homere, now called Hummer, in Somerset county.
England. The earliest records containing the sur
name in England are the Inquisitiones Post Mortem
in the reign of Richard II, 1381-2. In these ancienjt
books the name is spelled invariably Homere and it
occurs repeatedly. The old Manor House in Som
erset is gone; 't was built of wood, and was y.ery
ancient -when it*was torn do$rn.
The first nobleman of the name was Thomas de
Homere, Lot;d of the Manor of Homere, ,to whom
lands in the neighboring county of Dorset were
granted jn 1338 by Lord Maltrayers. A family
tradition holds that ithe Homer family in Stafford
shire left this manor in Dorset on account of a
duel, in which presumably bis adversary got the
worst of the encounter, and settled at Ettingshall,
where tlie family has been located since the four
teenth century. The old Manor Hall at Ettings
hall was taken down in 1868 ; it dated back to Eliza-
bethian times. A pew is still preserved that was built
in the church attended by the Homers of Ettingshall
in 1626, built as the inscription states by Edward
Homer. The church is in the parish of Sedgley.
The name appears first in the Sedgley parish regis
ter in 1560, but some of the family removed to
Worcester, England, in 1552. The records at Et
tingshall give Richard Homer, married October,
1565, Margaret Wright, and was buried in I606 at
Ettingshall. He was probably grandfather of the
following Edward Homer, from whom the line is
traced with apparent correctness to the Worcester
(England) family.
(I) Edward Homer, progenitor of Charles A.
Homer, of Worcester, Massachusetts, lived at Et
tingshall, England. He married, July 8, 1628, Eliza-

tsYXAyJcS: if. $£^LyZ^jA^yfc<g

WORCESTER COUNTY

335

beth Wilkes, He was buried December 19, 1681,
under the name of "Old Edward Homer" of Et-
tingshall. His wife Elizabeth was buried February
22, 1685. Their children were: Edward, baptized
November 5, 1634, see forward; Thomas, baptized
June 15, 1637, buried July 2, 1637; Simon, baptized
March 10, 1639 ; Richard, -baptized January 23, 1642.
(II) Edward Homer, son of the preceding Ed
ward Homer (1), and probably great-grandson of
Richard, named above, was born in Ettingshall and
baptized there July 8, 1628. He married, July 16
1656, Anne Gibbins. She was buried May 12, 1675,
and he married (second) Jane — — . His children
born at Ettingshall were : Joseph, died young,
buried February 9, 1660; Anne, baptized January
7, 1661 ; Edward, baptized November 8, 1664, proba
bly died young; Captain John, baptized March 20,
1065, see forward; Edward, baptized February 9,
1668; Mary, buried July 25, 1672; Francis, baptized
September 11, 1673; Rebecca; Benjamin, baptized
November 23, 1682, married Mary Palmer.
(Ill) Captain John Homer, the immigrant, son
of the preceding Edward Homer (2), was baptized
at Ettingshall, England, March 20, 1665. He ap
pears to have resigned his rights to the succession
to a younger brother and was perhaps Well paid
for doing so, as he was owner of the vessel of
which he was the captain. He came to New Eng
land to live about 1690. He settled at Yarmouth,
though he lived in Boston for a time. He mar
ried, July 13, 1693, Margery Stevens, He died
November I, 1717, aged fifty-two years. She died
at Yarmouth, 1762, aged ninety-six or ninety-eight
years. The children of Captain John and Margery
(.Stevens) Homer were: John, born August 8,
1694, administrator of his father's estate; Mary,
born 1696, died young; Benjamin, born May 8,
1698, 1 see forward ; William, born June 29, 1701 ;
Michael, born September 26, 1703; Robert, born
May 29, 1706, merchant in Honduras, Central Amer
ica, sent his sons to Boston to be educated; sold
out his goods and started with part of his gold on
one ship while his wife took the rest of it by another,
but both were lost, probably victims of pirates ;
Thomas, born 1707; Mary, born 1708.
(IV) Benjamin Homer, son of Captain John
Homer (3), was born ih Boston, Massachusetts,
May 8> 1698. He removed to Yarmouth and built
a house, which is or was lately standing. He died
at Yarmouth, October 24, 1776, aged seventy-eight
years. He married Elizabeth Crowe or Crowell,
daughter of John and Bethia (Sears) Crowell and
granddaughter of John Crowell, one tlie three orig
inal grantees of Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Benja
min Homer was a prominent citizen, a magistrate
and deputy to the general court. The children of
Benjamin and Elizabeth (Crowell) Homer were:
Bethia, born March 18, 1722, married Benjamin
Cobbs, of Boston; John, born September 28, 1724,
married September 28, 1749, Abigail Osborn, of Nan
tucket; removed to Boston and became a ship owner
and merchant, was one of the fifteen who organized
tlie famous patriotic society — the Sons of Liberty —
but later when the break came he remained loyal
to England, and removed to Nova Scotia, where his
descendants have been prominent; Margery, bom
June 13, 1727, married, January 3, 1765, William
Sears, of Harwich ; William, born July 14, 1729, was
a loyalist, removed to Barrington, Nova Scotia, and
died on a voyage from Barbadoes to Boston; Ben
jamin, born August 5, 1731, removed to Boston;
Stephen, born April 15, 1734, married Elizabeth
Chapman, of Yarmouth; Thomas, see forward;
Elizabeth, born November 18, 1738, married David
Knowles, of Eastham; Robert, born January 28,

1742, married (first) Jerusha Sears, married (sec
ond) widow of John Thatcher.
(V) Thomas Homer, seventh child of Benja
min Homer (4), was born in Yarmouth, Massachu
setts, March 21, 1736. He settled there and prob
ably his children were born there. He married,
November 21, 1765, Elizabeth Sears. One record
states that he went to Vermont, but a deed in the
Worcester county records shows that Thomas
Homer, of Barnstable, bought a homestead at Rut
land, Massachuestts, of William Caldwell, of Rut
land, July 20, 1789. The land was south side of
John Rice's meadow and there were other lots
besides the home lot. He lived in Rutland about
twenty years, and several generations have lived
on the old homestead since his death. He died
at Rutland, November 21, 1812, aged seventy-six
years. His widow Elizabeth died August 19 or 20,
1819, aged seventy-two years. She was a lineal
descendant of Richard Sears. (See the Sears family
sketch in this work.) The will of Thomas Homer
was made October 17, 1807, and filed November
24, 1812. lt names the six children as given be
low and wife Elizabeth. He left the real estate to
his three sons, Thomas, Benjamin and William.
Thomas settled in Virgil, Cortland county, New
York ; Benjamin in Spofford, Onondaga county,
and their shares in the property were purchased
by William, who remained on the old homestead in
Rutland, for one hundred and forty dollars. The
deed is dated September 9, 1813. The children of
Thomas and Elizabeth (Sears) Homer were: Mary,
married  Stewart; Bethiah, married Almond
Coleman; Desire, married  ¦ — Smith and had a
son Francis, mentioned in tlie will of Thomas
Homer, Sr. ; Thomas, married Lydia Glazier, of
New Braintree, in 1800 aud they had: Edmund,
born May 9, 1801 ; Benjamin, born March 8, 1804;
Thomas Stacy, born July 1, 1802, and probably
others after he removed to Virgil, Cour.tland county,
New York; Benjamin, settled in Spofford, Onandaga
county, New York; William, see forward.
(VI) William Homer, son of Thomas Homer
(5), was bora in Barnstable, in 1784, and came to
Rutland when very young. He died at Rutland,
March 3, 184a, aged fifty-seven years. He married
Experience Reed, October 24, 1813. They had
eleven children born in Rutland, viz : Lyman
Homer, see forward; Cyrus, born December 2,
1816, married in 1849, Julia K. Lackey; he died
July 24, 1881; Samuel Read, born July 22, 1818,
died May 26, 1852; William Sears, born September
16, 1820, died September 5 or 6, 1847; Elizabeth,
born, January 16, 1822, married in 1842, Amos Hos
mer, of Sterling, she died July 2, 1905; George
Washington, born January 16, 1824, married Elsie
Holden Rogers, April, 1863, died May 10, 1899;
Sophronia Relief, born March n, 1826, married
William Green, of Hubbardston, April 13, 1847;
Amasa Craft, born July 30, 1S28, married Myra
Holden, of Rutland, and died February 4, 1906;
Mary, born December 9, 1830, died October 14,
1901 ; she married Addison Green of Hubbardston ;
Eunice Phylinda, born September 20, 1833, died
December 21, 1893; she married Theodore Cook,
of Leominster; Sarah Eveline, born March 24, 1838,
died May 9, 1897; she married Henry Cook, of
Leominster, Massachusetts.
(VII) Lyman Homer, eldest child of William
Homer (6), was born in Rutland, Massachusetts,
March 13, 1814, and died in Worcester, August 6,
1879, aged sixty-five years. He married Adeline
Russell, April 29, 1840, at Rutland. The children
of Lyman and Adeline (Russell) Homer were:
Agnes M., and Charles A., see forward.

336

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VIII) Charles A. Homer, only son of Lyman
Homer (7), of Rutland, was born in Rutland. He
went to school in Rutland and Syracuse, New York,
and attended Wilbraham Academy. After leaving
school he went to work in the store of Walter K
Forbes & Co., dealers in fancy goods, 204 Main
street, Worcester. He learned the business thor
oughly and remained with this concern about eight
years. He formed the firm of Homer & Freeman,
which purchased the business of Rufus L. Smith,
dealer in fancy goods, at 180 Main street, Wor
cester. After three years the partnership was dis
solved. Since 1889 he has been connected with the
John C. Maclnnes Company department store, first
as one of the heads of departments and since the
incorporation as a director and secretary of the
company. Since his connection with this business
it has become one of the largest and most prosper
ous stores of the kind in this section. The busi
ness was established by Mr. Maclnnes in 1873 at
462 Main street. The company was formed in
1892 with the same officers that are in charge at
present: John C. Maclnnes, president and treasurer;
Albert A. Spaulding, vice-president; Charles A.
Homer, secretary; Alexander J. Moir and the other
officers and directors. The store has been enlarged
by adding new departments and more room until
at present they have an entire four story building
at 462 Main street with a large frontage, opposite the
City Hall, and the Gorman block on the north and
the Buttrick and Whipple building on the south are
used by the company. Mr. Homer has paid especial
attention to the gloves, hosiery and underwear de
partments. In addition to his other duties he is
assistant treasurer of the corporation. Mr. Homer
has always devoted himself to business and especi
ally for the past twenty years. He enjoys travel and
has made a number trips across the continent, spend
ing several winters in California. In politics he is
a Republican. He is a member of the First Uni
versalist parish. He is a member of the Worcester
Board of Trade, the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association, the Worcester Antiquarian Society,
the Worcester Grange, the Quinsigamond Lodge and
Wachusett Encampment of Odd Fellows. He
has recently built a residence on Richmond Heights.
Mr. Homer married, May 3°, 1886, Susie H.
Ham, of San Francisco, California, daughter of
Israel Hayes Ham, descendant of the the Ham
family of Dover, New Hampshire, a sketch of
which has been written for this work. They have
one child: Adeline Grace, born in Worcester,
September 19, 1889, a student in the Classical high
school, Worcester, class of 1907.
ALEXANDER MAXWELL. David Maxwell
(1), the immigrant ancestor of Alexander Maxwell,
of Worcester, and of the Maxwell families of Wells,
Maine, Industry, Maine, and other towns in that
vicinity, is said to have come from Scotland and
settled about 1690 at Wenham, Massachusetts. He
drew land there in 1705, but httle is known of him.
One of his daughters married Luke Morgan and
resided in New Gloucester. Another married a
Mr. Pulsifer and settled in Poland, Maine. One
son settled in Nantucket and another in New Jersey.
Another branch of the family descended from
Hugh Maxwell, a Scotch-Irish settler in western
Massachusetts, and has many distinguished men
among its numbers. Another well known family
in New Jersey is possibly related to the Wenham set
tler. John Maxwell, son of John, settled in Green
wich, Sussex county, New Jersey, when a young
man. He was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, of
Scotch parents, in 1701, and died in Greenwich,

August 19, 1786. He was a descendant of Thomas
Maxwell, who at the capitulation of Limerick, Ire
land, ioor, settled in Tyrone.
(II) Gershom Maxwell, son of David Maxwell
(1), was born at Wenham in 1696. He was bap
tized March 13, 1720, on profession of faith at
Wells, Maine, where he settled, and with eight others
of his family was received in full communion Janu
ary 10, 1742, during a great revival season. His
children were: Abigail, bom March, 1720, died un
married; John, born March, 1722, baptized March
18, 1722-; David, born June 24, 1724, of whom later;
Miriam, born March, 1729, baptized March 2, 1729;
married Abel Gatchell; Barak, horn January, 173^
baptized April 9, 1732; Susanna, bom March, 1734,
baptized March 2, 1734; married  Littlefield;
Martha, born April, 1736, baptized April 18, 1736;
married Benjamin Brown; Gershom, born March,
1740, baptized March 3/0, 1740.
(Ill) David Maxwell, third child of Gershom
Maxwell (2), was born in Wells, Maine, June. 1724,
and baptized there June 17, 1724. He married Abigail
Morrison and settled in Wells, where their children
were born, viz. : Daniel, born May, 1747, died young;
Alexander, December 5; 1748; David, December,
1750, married Abigail Gilkey, no children (David
Maxwell was a settler in Industry, Maine, October
I, 1802, on Lot No. 3, a near neighbor of James
Thompson) ; Abigail, December, 1750, twin of David,
married James Rankin ; Mary, November, 1753, mar
ried Theodore Rounds, and resided at Shapleigh,
Maine; Sarah, November, 1757, married Elisha little
field; Susannah, December, 1760, married Nathaniel
Edwards; Eleanor, August 17, 1762, married Joseph
Maxwell, son of Barak Maxwell (HI), resided in
Gorham, Maine; Gershom, of whom biter; Benja
min, March, 1766, married — — - Weed ; Martha, June,
1768, married Nathaniel Kimball, and lived in Kenne-
bunk, Maine.
(IV) Gershom Maxwell, ninth child of David
Maxwell (3), was born in Wells, Maine, August;
17614. He settled in Industry, Maine, where his
children were born. He married Eunice Sawyer.
Their children: Gershom, of whom later; David,
Alexander, Mary.
(V) Gershom Maxwell, son of Gershom Max
well (4), was born in Industry, Maine, about 179a
He married Sally Taylor, who was born in Stark,
Maine. He was a farmer at Industry. Among their
children was Roswell, the father of Alexander Max
well, of Worcester.
(VI) Roswell Maxwell,, son of Gershom Max
well (5), was born about 1810 at Industry, Maine.
He was a farmer at Industry. He married Sally
Fish. He lived most of his life in Industry, but
late in life removed to Mercer, where he died. Thar
children: Rosina, married Philip Welsh, and re
sided at New Portland, Maine ; Lydia, .married Seth
Fletcher, and resided at Skowhegan, Maine ; Howard,
married Euphrata Merrow, and resided in Lewis-
ton, Maine ; Alexander, married Marv R- Curtis,
of whom later; Sarah, married Samuel Blethen, and
resided at Madison, Maine; Hannah, married Mar
cellus Ward, and resided at Madison, Maine;
Lorenzo, married, resides in St Paul, Minnesota.
(VII) Alexander Maxwell, fourth child of Ros
well Maxwell (6), was born in Industry, Maine,
August 22, 1838. He received a common school
education there. He learned the butcher's trade and
when a young man went into business for him
self, having a slaughter house at Mercer, Maine. He
bought cattle and shipped beef to Boston markets.
He conducted a successful business until he retired
in 1891. He removed to Worcester in Septem
ber, 1891, in order to live nearer his son who was

WORCESTER COUNTY

337

located in that city. He has invested extensively
in veal estate in that city, and is occupied in the
care of his tenements, lie resided several years
at 9 Elizabeth street; for the last eleven years he
has lived at 55 Orchard street Mr. Maxwell is
a member of no fraternal or religious organiza
tions. He married, August 27, 1865, Margaret Curtis.
She was born in Mercer, Maine, the daughter of
Stephen and Elmira (Works) Curtis. Her father
was born December 5, 1800, and died August 12,
1882, 1.1 er mother was born December 6, 1806, and
died July 22, 1865; she was the daughter of Joel
and Hannah (Partridge) Works, whose children
were: Seklen, Joel, Almon, Elmira, mentioned above;
Sabra. The' children of Stephen and Elmira (Works)
Curtis were: Mary, born at Mercer, 1829, died
1841 ; "Sabra, born at Mercer, May 20, 1833, died
December 23, 1881, at Mercer; Margaret, mentioned
above, married Alexander Maxwell. The father
of Stephen Curtis was John Curtis, who came from
an old Massachusetts family of this name, removing
from Bradford, Massachusetts, to Mercer when a
young man. His wife was Margaret Robinson, Their
children were: Eliza, Betsey, Sally, Reuben, Mar
garet, John, Stephen Curtis, mentioned above. Both
John Curtis and his wife lived to the advanced age
of ninety-two years.
The two children of Alexander and Margaret
(Curtis) Maxwell are: Arthur Leroy, born July
14, 1867, of whom later; and Mabel Vester, born Jan
uary 6, 1875, died at the age of two years and a
half. Mrs, Maxwell was a member of the Con
gregational church, at Mercer, Maine, but has not
joined any church since removing to Worcester.
(VIII) Arthur Leroy Maxwell, only living child
of Alexander Maxwell (7)," was born in Mercer,
Maine, July 14, 1867. lie was educated in the
public schools of his native town. When twenty-
one years old he came lo Worcester and went to
work for, the G. Henry Whitcomb Envelope Com
pany, where he remained for nine years. Since
February, 1899, he has been with the Sherman En
velope Company, one of the office staff. He is a
Republican. He resides at 55 Orchard street in the
same house with his parents.
He married Cora (Dakin) Vaughn, a widow, who
has a daughter by her first marriage, Florence B.
Vaughn, born July 2, 1882. The child of Arthur
and Cora Maxwell is: Arthur Leroy, Jr., born Feb
ruary 3, 1892.
THE CUTHBERTSON FAMILY, from which
Mrs, Jane (Cuthbertson) Pike, of Worcester, de
scends, is of Scotch origin. Her father, Alexander
Cuthbertson, lived in Glasgow, Scotland. He mar
ried Annie Robertson, of Glasgow. She had a
brother James and a sister Agnes .(Robertson) Davi
son who died in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The
Cutlibertsons came to America in 1848 and set
tled first in Fhenix, Rhode Island, later in Farn-
hamville, Massachusetts, and later in Holden, where
the mother died March 14. 1885, and the father died
March x. 1887, in Worcester, where he had made his
home with Mrs, Pike, after the death of his wife.
•The children of Alexander and Anne Cuthbertson
were: Jane, born in Glasgow, Scotland, November
ta, 1841, see forward; Alexander, born 1843, in
Johnston, Scotland, see forward: Jeanette, horn at
Glasgow, Scotland, 1846; Edward, born at Jack
son, Rhode Island, died June, 1005: 'Mary Ann,
born at Burrillville, Rhode Island, died June, 1902;
Elizabeth, born at Worcester, see forward.

(II) Jane Cuthbertson, born in Glasgow, Scot
land, November 12, i.S..|[. She came to America in
184K with her parents and was educated in the pub
lic schools here. She married Cyril Tike, of Wor
cester, who was a well known grocer and provision
dealer of that city, whose place of business for many
years was at 33 Liberty strait, lie was a very suc
cessful business man and was ill every respect self-
made and highly respected. He was born in St.
Hyacinthe, Canada, and died in Worcester, March
14, 1890. 1 le was a Baptist in religion and a Demo
crat iu politics. He was for some years a 'member
of the Worcester Democratic city committee. Mrs.
Pike is an active member of the home and foreign
missionary societies of the Lincoln Square Baptist
Church, to which she belongs and of which she is
a generous supporter. She was for ten years pre
viously a member of the Church of Christ, Wor
cester. She resides at 5 Carroll street.
(II) Alexander Cuthbertson, Jr., son of Alex
ander Cuthbertson (1), was born in Johnston, Scot
land, 1843, and died January 6, 1906. He came to
America with his parents when a young boy and was
educated here. He married Addie Thompson, and
their children arc: Lola M., bookkeeper; Effie Maud,
born at Fitchburg, graduate of the public and high
schools there .and of the Worcester Normal School,
now teaching iu Fitchburg; Jeanette, married An
drew Keogh, of Holden, and their children stre :
James Alexander Keogh, salesman, married Edith
Eames ; Mary Jane Keogh, married Augustus Fer-
rier, salesman; Charlotte, married Randall M. Whit
ney, commercial traveler; Jennie Keogh, deceased.
(II) Mary Ann Cuthbertson, daughter of Alex
ander Cuthbertson (1), was born in Burrillville,
Rhode Island, about 1850. She married John Craw-
shaw, and their children were : Lillie Maud, born at
Holden, married Russell Foote, November 29, 1904,
and have one child, Veara Maud ; John Edward, born
in Worcester, April 19, 1880, graduate of the Wor
cester high school, attended Colby College, Maine,
graduated at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in
1902, making a specially of chemistry; now with the
Dttpont Powder Company in its great eastern labora
tory, New Jersey; Cyril Pike, born July 16, 1889,
graduate of the Classical high school, Worcester,
1906. (II) Elizabeth Cuthbertson, daughter of Alex
ander Cuthbertson (1), was born in Worcester and
died there March 28, 1901. Was bookkeeper for
Cyril Pike. She wa.s an active member of Lincoln
Square Baptist Church and teacher in the Sunday
school, PUTNAM FAMILY. In the history of the early
settlement of Sutton are found the names of seven
persons by the name of Putnam, whose immediate
relationship cannot be traced, but it is confidently
believed that they are descended from John Put
nam, who came from Buckinghamshire, England, in
1(134, and settled in Salem, lie was admitted as a
freeman in J(>47, and died in 1663, Three sons came
with him — Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. Hence, in
tracing the genealogy of this family, John Putnam
is taken as the ancestor of the family in America.
(II) Thomas Putnam, son of John (1), was
admitted as a freeman iu 1642, and to the church in
Salem in 1643. In August of the same year he mar
ried Prudence Holyoke, from Tamworlh. England,
the daughter of Edward Holyoke, who settled in
Lynn in 1630. Their children were three sons and
five daughters. The names of the sons only can
be traced — Thomas, Joseph and Edward.
(Ill) Thomas Putnam, eldest sou of Thomas (2),

338

WORCESTER COUNTY

married Ann Carr, September 25, 1678. They had
one son and four daughters, whose names are not
given in the records.
(Ill) Edward Putnam, youngest son of Thomas
(2), married Mary Hale in 1681. Their children
were: Edward, born 1682; Holyoke, 1683, killed
by the Indians; Elisha, 1685, settled in Sutton; Jo
seph, 1687; Nehemiah, 1694; Ezra, 1696; Isaac,
1698, settled in Sutton.
(IV) Edward Putnam, eldest son of Edward
(3), was married, and his children were: Holyoke,
born 1705, settled in Sutton; Edward, 1711, died
February, 1800; Miles, 1725,
(V) Holyoke Putnam, eldest son of Edward (4),
first married Eunice  , and (second) Esther
Lovell, in 1742. Their children were: Sarah, born
1735, married E. Bateman; Ebenezer, 1738, mar
ried Hannah Dike, January, 1766; Hannah, 1741 ;
Martha, 1743; Eunice, 1745; Susanna, 1747; Joseph,
1749; Ezra, 1751; Thomas, 1754; Mary, 1758.
(VI) Ezra Putnam, eighth child and third son
of Holyoke (5), married Rebekah Dike, Decem
ber, 1780. Their children were : Daniel, born 1781 ;
Charlotte, June, . 1783.
(V) Edward Putnam, second son of Edward
(4), came to Sutton in 1737, and lived and died
where Peter H. Putnam lived later' on. He mar
ried Ruth Fuller, of Middleton, and their children
were: John, born August, 1735, died 1809; Stephen,
1739, died in the French and Indian war ; Ruth, June,
1741, married Samuel Rich, Jr., March, 1761 ; Arche-
laus, February, 1743, died 1809; Phoebe, November,
1745, married Nathaniel, son of Elisha Rich; Sarah,
March, 1747, married Paul, son of Jonathan Sibley,
December, 1766; Molly, baptized 1750, married
Bartholomew Putnam; David, July, 1752, married
Phoebe Woodbury, July, 1776; Caleb, October, 1754,
married Judith Sibley; Peter, 1757; Lucy, 1760,
married Henry Phelps, Jr., August, 1777; Asa, 1763.
(VI) John Putnam, eldest son of Edward (5),
was a captain in the revolutionary war, and a colonel
in the militia. He married Mary, daughter of Rev.
David Hall, D. D., in 1758. Their children were :
Joseph, born 1758, died in the revolution; Stephen,
1761, removed to Vermont ; Elizabeth, 1763, mar
ried Thomas Eddy. 1784; John, 1766, was a phy
sician; Charles, 1768; Mary, 1771, married Aaron
Putnam, 1790; Deborah, 1773, died 1789; Rebekah
Hall, baptized 1776, died young; Sarah, 1778, mar
ried Rufus Marble. 1798; Joseph Hall, 1780; Rebekah
Prescott, 1783, married Solomon Putnam, 1805.
(VII) Charles Putnam, fifth child and fourth
son of John (6), married Rhoda Stone, and their
children were: Polly, born 1794, married Captain
Charles Chase; Sally, 1796; Matilda, 1798; Rhoda,
1801, died same year; Betsy, 1802, married Otis
Pratt, 1828; Charles Prescott, 1804, married Mary E.
Marble, 1843; Sumner; twins, June 26, 1807.
(VII) Joseph Hall Putnam, tenth child and fifth
son of John (6), married Nancy Blandon, in 1805,
and (second) Waity Black. Their children were:
Brooksey, born 1806; Sullivan, 1808; Sumner, 1809;
died 1876; Pearley, 1815; Nancy, 1824, married Jo
seph Jones, 1846; Emeline, 1828, married Joshua
Lackey. (VIII) Sullivan Putnam, second child of Joseph
(7), married Millia R. Draper, and their children
were: Alfred, born 1842, married Abbie M. Putnam,
1867 ; Joseph Hall, February, 1849.
(IX) Joseph Hall Putnam, youngest child of
Sullivan (8), married Anna L. Whipple, by whom
one child was born — Millia, who died when a mere
child. (VIII) Sumner Putnam, third child of Joseph
(7), married Susan Dudley, in 1840. Their children:

Louisa, born 1846, married E. Everett Burdon, Octo
ber, 1867, and died August, 1869; Joseph Edward
December 19, 1848, died June 7, 1862.
(VIII) Pearley Putnam, fourth child of Joseph
(7), married Julia A. Walker, in 1841, and their
children were: Clarence D., born 1846; an infant
daughter, born July 22, 1850, died September 13,
same year; Mary E. W., August 13, i860, married
Lovell W. Putnam, October 9, 1878.
(VI). Archelaus Putnam, son of Edward (5),
married Sarah Putnam, 1765. Their children were:
Aaron, born July 13, 1766; Archelaus, August 17,
1768, died February 9, 1854; Sarah, December 26,
1770, married Isaac King, November 27, 1788; An
drew, September 24, 1773; Ruth, March 22, 1776,
married Adonijah Bartiett, who died in the army;
she then married Abner Putnam, March 13, 1799;
Betsy, September 14, 1781, married Captain Cyrus
Carpenter. (VII) Aaron Putnam, eldest child of Archelaus
(6), married Mary Putnam, May 18, 1790. Their
children were: Polly, born 1790, married Jason
Morse, 1812; Caleb, October 18, 1792, unmarried;
Charles, December 12, 1794; Willard, March 29,
1798; Rebekah, October 13, 1802, married Samuel
Waters; Betsey, August 15, 1804; Jason, September
4, 1807; Palmer, October 10, 1814.
(VII) Archelaus, second of the sons and chil
dren of Archelaus (6), married Phoebe Hicks, March
14, 1792. Their children were: Silence, born May
22, 1793; Tyler, November 8, 1795, died September
9, 1849; Julia, May 30, 1798, married John Leland,
April, 1821 ; Nancy, February 17, 1805, married
(first) Simon Tenney, February 6, 1828; (second)
Dr. David Hall.
(VIII) Tyler Putnam, second son of Archelaus
(7), in 1820 married Phoebe Woodbury. Their
children were : Mary Ann, born November 17, 1821,
married Andrew W. Pierce; Alvan, October 18, 1824;
John E., married Nancy A. Merriam; he removed
to Big Lake, Minnesota; Julia L., September 3, 1828,
died March 26, 1851 ; Emily Jane, December 9, 1830,
married John B. Pratt, of Oxford; Henry Tyler,
November 18, 1832, married Caroline P. Newton;
Susan E., October 8, 1834, died April 6, 1836.
(IX) Alvan Woodbury Putnam, second child and
eldest son of Tyler (8), married Mary Lovell
Knight, by whom ten children were born, as follows :
Elwin Tyler, April 29, 1849; Edgar Eugene, March
6, 1852; Irving Wilbur, December, 1853; Lovell
Woodbury, November, 1856, married Mary E. W.
Putnam, October 9, 1878; Milton Knight, May 20,
1859; Jennie Frances, July 14, 1862, died February
8, 1863; Elmer Julius, May 27, 1864; Edward Pratt
and Edward Pierce, twins, May 13, 1867, died same
day; Emma Carrie, November 14, 1868.
(IV) Elisha Putnam, son of Edward (3), lived
on and near the place known as the James Freeland
farm. He probably came to Sutton as early as 1725;
was admitted to the church in 1730, and chosen a
deacon in 1731. He was town clerk for many years,
and also town treasurer. His children were: Elisha,
born December, J715, died in 1758; Nehemiah, March
22, 1719, died November 27, 1791 ; Jonathan, July
19, 1721 ; Hannah, married Jonathan Dudley, Esq.;
Susannah, married (first) Timothy Holton, Febru
ary 24, 1742, and (second) John Whipple; Mary,
June 12, 1725, died April 22, 1736; Stephen, April,
1728; Amos, July 22, 1730, died -September 17, 1811;
Eunice, July 6, 1732, died at Windham, unmarried;
Huldah, May 25, 1734, married a Matthews; Rufus,
April 7, 1738.
(V) Elisha, eldest son and child of Elisha (4)-
was a soldier in the French and Indian war, and
died at or near Crown Point about 1758. He mar-

WORCESTER COUNTY

339

ried, March 3, 1742,

Their children

were: Andrew, born May 2, 1742, married Lucy
Park, January 10, 1764; Elisha, December 4, 1745,
died May 25, 1784; Antipas, July 24, 1747; Jokton,
May 1, 1750, removed to Sutton, Vermont; Luke,
October 5, 1755, was a revolutionary soldier; Will
iam, January 7, 1758. , ^,. , , \
(Vi) Elisha Putnam, second son of Elisha (5),
married Abigail Chamberlain, April 2, 1765. Their
children were: Molly, born February 23, 1766, mar
ried Moses Sibley; Vashti, January 28, 1768, married
a Wheelock; Hannah and Deborah, twins, January
20, 1770; Deborah, died February 6, 1770; Elisha,
August, 1772, married Levina Ellis; Abraham, Janu
ary 19, 1775, died April 14, 1777; Abner, March
28, 1777, married a Stearns; Lucy, November 16,
1779, married Oliver Sibley.
(Vi) Luke Putnam, son of Elisha (5), married
Mary Putnam, November 23, 1786, artd their only
child was Tyler, born September 11, 1791.
(V) Nehemiah Putnam, second son of Elisha (4),
-married Sarah Manning, October 5, 1742. Their chil
dren were: Aaron, born March 23, 1744; Sarah,
March 10, 1746; Hannah, July 26, 1748, married
Jonathan Willard, November 25, 1773 ; Rachel, April
17. 1750; Susanna, January 19, 1752, married John
Fuller, March 26, 1771 ; Eunice, December 4, 1753,
married Benjamin Shumway, April 4, 1773 ; Reuben,
April 9, 1757; Joseph and Benjamin, twins, Septem
ber 20, 1760, Benjamin married Patty Mason.
(VI) Aaron Putnam, son of Nehemiah (5), mar
ried, and his children were: Calvin, Franklin, and
Luther, the last named of whom died young.
(VII) Calvin Putnam, eldest son of Aaron (6),
'married Abigail Davidson, December 3, 1799. Two
children were born to them: Samuel and Hannah.
(VI) Reuben Putnam, son of Nehemiah (5),
married Elizabeth Mason. Their children were:
Aaron, born August 29, 1781, died February, 1854;
Jonas, March 5, 1783; Mason, December 20, 1784;
Manning, April 12, 1787; Rufus Austin, November
18, 1791 ; Polycarp (afterward changed to John Mil
ton), February 26, 1794; John O., July 26, 1796.
(VI) Joseph Putnam, son of Nehemiah (5),
marriid Tamar Towne, and their children were :
Tamar, born July 8, 1786; John Towne, September
24, 1787; Daniel, August 30, 1789.
(V) Jonathan Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar
ried Mrs. Anne (Chase) Stockwell, November 8,
1743. Their children were: Adonijah, born Octo
ber 9, 1744, married Mary Wilkins, November, 1766;
Mary, December 25, 1755, married Luke Putnam,
November 23, 1786; Francis, September 24, 1758;
Jonathan Follansbee, May 9, 1763, died October 30,
1858. (VI) Francis Putnam, son of Jonathan (5), mar
ried Joanna Leland, December 11, 1783. Their chil
dren were : Nancy, born February 8, 1784, married
•Charles Rich, April 9, 1809 ; Phebe, February 7, 1786 ;
Silas, October 15, 1788; Royal, April 16, 1791, mar
ried Mary Ann Seaver ; Olive, May 27, 1794 ; Maria,
June 28. 1796, married Aaron Elliot. Prudy, Feb
ruary 28, 1799, married Simon L. Marble, June
16, 1822; Pliny, February 15, 1801, married Olive
Ersy; Fanny, May 28, 1804.
. ,(VII) Silas Putnam, son of Francis (6), mar
ried Sarah, daughter of Captain Levi Ludden, /a
descendant of George Soule, one of the Pilgrims
who came from England in the "Mayflower." Their
¦children were : Syra Leland, born SeDtember 18,
1824; Annette Soule. April 24. 1826; William Pitt,
March 10, 1828; Walter Tell, August 11, 1829;
Rosetta Aseneth, July 24, 1831 ; Ada Freeman, May
n, 1813.
(VI) Jonathan Follansbee Putnam, son of Jona

than (5), married Philana Leland, July 6, 1786. Their
children were: Jonathan F., born May 6, 1787;
Philana, November I, 1789, married Major Rufus
Burdon;  , born July 11, 1795, died June 13,
1855- (VII) Jonathan Follansbee Putnam, son of Jona
than (6), married Harriet Hall. Their children were:
Dennev Sumner, born March 13, 181 7; Harriet Ward.
(VII) Jirn Putnam, son of Jonathan (6), mar
ried Roxana Burdon. Their children were : Estes,
born December 2, 1819; Roxana, July 5, 1821.
(VIII) Estes Putnam, son of Jim (7), married
Sarah P. King in 1840. Their children were:
Sarah R., married Joseph Bodo ; Hannah E., born
January 30, 1848, married Artemas Pickering; Al
bert F., January 19, i860.
(VIII) Sumner Putnam, son of Jim (7), mar
ried Laura E. Lowe. Their children were : Sarah
Elizabeth, born March 14, 1857, married Frank
Walden; James Selah, October 17, 1858; Jennie
Josephine, February 24, 1861 ; George Decatur,
November 21, 1862; Hattie Esfella, September 5,
1866; John E. L.'B., October 1, 1870; Fred Thurs
ton, October 7, 1872.
(V) Stephen Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar
ried Mary Gibbs, March 14, 1755. Their children
were : Solomon, born July 17, 1755 ; Mary, June
8, 1757; Rhoda, July 2, 1759. This family moved to
Hampshire county.
(V) Amos Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar
ried Sarah Swift, June 1 26, 1700. Their children
were : Eliphal, born July 8, 1762, died September
25, 1845; Lucretia, September 6, 1764, died January,
1852; Rebekah, February 18, 1767, died December
29, 1854; Paul, March 4, 1769, died 1779; Susan
nah, died in childhood. Elizabeth, October 22,
1772, married Ebenezer Newton; Polly, 1775, died
1851 ; Martha, October 25, 1781, died 1851 ; Martha,
October 25, 1781 ;' married Silas Livermore; died
October 3, 1852.
(V) Rufus Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar
ried (first) Persis Rice. Their children were : Eliza
beth, born November 19, 1765 ; Persis, June 6,
1767; Susannah, August, 1768; Abigail, August 7,
1770; William Rufus, December 12, 1771 ; Franklin,
May 27, 1774, died April, 1776; Edwin, January 19,
1776; Patty, November 25, 1777; Catherine, Octo
ber 17, 1780; Agnes.
(IV) Isaac Putnam, the fourth in line of de
scent from John Putnam, the American ancestor,
settled in Sutton about 1722 on the farm which
in later years was owned' by Oliver Hall and Robert
Luther. He was admitted to the church in Feb
ruary, 1730. His name is not found on the records
after 1740. He died in the fifty-ninth year of his
age. No one of his posterity is known to be liv
ing in Sutton at the present time. Deacon Palmer
Marble, Mrs. James Freeland and the children of
John Waters, deceased, are his great-grand children.
His children : Phineas, born October 1, 1722 ;
Asaph, September 11, 1724; Ann, July 27, 1726;
Susannah, August 20, 1728, married John Saddler,
of Upton, January, 1746; Nathan, October 24, 1730;
Edward, February 5, 1733 ; Isaac, November 4,
1734; Lydia, October 20, 1736; Daniel, March 28,
1739, married Ann, daughter of Hon. Samuel Chase,
removed to Corinth, New Hampshire.
(V) Phineas Putnam, son of Isaac (4), mar
ried and his children were : Levi, who settled at
Whittingham. Vermont; Enoch; Daniel; Betty;
Huldah; Eunice.
(VI) Daniel Putnam, son of Phineas (5), mar
ried Phebe Walker, of Upton. Their child was:
Austin, born March 16, 1796.
(V) Asaph Putnam, son of Isaac (4), mar-

340

WORCESTER COUNTY

ried Sarah Park, in 1743. The church records show
that they had the following family : Abijah, bap
tized October 21, 1744; Asaph, baptized June 18,
J749; Jonas, baptized August 16, 1752; Ephraim,
baptized July 7, 1756; Park, baptized July 7,
1756. (V) Nathan Putnam, son of Isaac (4), mar
ried Betty  . Their children 'were: Zadock,
born' December 29, 1752; married Abigail Elliot;
Micah, April 8, 1754; James, November 26, 1755,
married Betsey Willard; settled in Grafton; Betty,
January 12, 1758, married Lieutenant Stephen Mar
ble, November 14, 1776; Lydia, December 31, 1759,
married Stephen Fuller, November 7, 1777; Nathan,
May 16, 1761 ; Hannah, March 13, 1763, married
John Waters, Jr., December 15, 1796; Abner, March
17, 1765, married Abigail Waters; Sally, February
27, 1767, married Jesse Marble, February 26, 1790;
Tamar, October 23, 1768, married John King, Jr.,
March 17, 1785; Polly April 1, 1770, married Amos
Waters, July 4, 1791; John, September 3, 1771;
Oliver, July 9, 1773, married Betsey Newton, De
cember 15, 1796; George W., died without issue;
Abigail, married a Mr. Rawson.
(II) Nathaniel Putnam, son of John (1), mar
ried and was the father of five children : Samuel,
John, Joseph, Nathaniel, Benjamin, born July 11,
1764. (Ill) Benjamin Putnam, grandson of the an
cestor in America, married Sarah Holton, August
25, 1686. They had seven sons and one daughter.
Among the sons were: Tarrant, born April 12,
1688; Cornelius, September 3, 1702.
(IV) Tarrant Putnam, son of Benjamin (3),
married  , and their children were : Tar
rant, born April 3, 1716; Israel, Samuel, Gideon.
(V) Tarrant Putnam, son of Tarrant (4), mar
ried Priscilla Baker, December 9, 1742. Their chil
dren were : Tarrant, born April 24, 1744, died
December 7, 1770; Elijah, January 23, 1747, gradu
ated at Harvard College in 1766; Elizabeth, May
30, 1749, married Abraham Brown, March 2, 1773 ;
Priscilla, August 22, 1751, married Adam Brown,
December 3, 1772; Sarah, August 4, 1753, mar-
• ried Timothy Merriam, June 21, 1775 ; Martha, July
15, I77S, married David Copeland, September 1,
1778; Rebekah, May 5, 1759, married Aaron Mar
ble, November 16, 1784; Lydia, July 27, 1761; Molly,
November 15, 1763; Israel May 22, 1767.
(VI) Israel Putnam, son of Tarrant (5), mar
ried Hannah Woodbury, January 30, 1795. She died
September, 1795. He married, (second) Hannah
Le Baron, April 24, 1796. Their children were:
Hannah Le Baron, born March 10, 1797, married
Jabez Hull, October 22, 1821 ; Le Baron, August
19, 1799; Tarrant, May 18, 1801; Mary Le Baron,
November 7, 1803, married Dr. Leonard Pierce,
November 15, 1831 ; Israel, December 25, 1805 ;
Edwin, January 9, 1808; Frederick William, August
3, 1810; Frederick Augustus, May 30, 1813; Theo
dore Elijah, September 12, 1815; Caroline Priscilla,
August 3, 1818, married, (first) Dr. N. C. Sibley,
November 29, 1838.
(VII) Le Baron Putnam, son of Israel (6),
married Ann Braman, daughter of Dr. Amasa Bra
man, of Millbury. Their children were : Henry,
born January 3, 1824; George Frederick, August
29, 1826 ; Edward Francis, December 28, 1828.
(VII) Tarrant Putnam, son of Israel (6), mar
ried Cornelia Titus Van Nortwick, of New York,
October 4, 1828. Their children were : William
Bruce, born July 29, 1829; Emma Le Baron, March
27, 1831 ; Caroline Monroe, October 7, 1832.
(VII) Israel Putnam, son of Israel (6), mar
ried Sarah Frost, of Maine. He graduated at Brown

University; he was- a .physician and practiced his:
profession in Wales and afterwards at Bath, Maine..
One child was born of this union: William Le
Baron, 1835.
(IV) Cornelius Putnam, son of Benjamin (3),
married Sarah  . She died June 9, 1741. His'
second marriage was to Elizabeth Perkins, of Salem
November 12, 1741. His children were: Saralv
born January 3, 1726, died May 30, 1738; Bertha*
December 18, 1728; Cornelius, May 23, 1730; mar
ried Elizabeth Perkins, August 1753; Benjamin
May 13, 1732; Nathaniel, May 3, 1734; Tarrant^
March 28, 1736; Bartholomew, April 19, 1739, died.
young; David and Sarah (twins), May 31, 1741;
Sarah, March 18, 1743, married Captain Archelaus
Putnam, October 16, 1765; Bartholomew, April 21,.
1745 ; David, May 14, 1747 ; Elizabeth, September 28,
1749; Anna, November 21 1754.
(V) Nathaniel Putnam, son of Cornelius (4),
married Deborah Towne, November 23, 1756. Their
children were: Moses, born January 23, 1758;
Molly, February 25, 1759, married Jennison, Jan
uary 29, 1778; Hannah, May 11, 1761, married Tar
rant Dibley, April 22, 1779; Stephen, January 17,.
1764, died July, 1779.
(VI) Moses Putnam, son of Nathaniel (5), mar
ried Mary Allen, June 24, 1779. Their children
were: Deborah, born June 26, 1780; Polly, Sep
tember 25, 1781; Stephen, December 24, 1782; Na
thaniel, February 13, 1785; Elijah, October 9, 1786,.
died December 31, 1788; Moses, August 17, 1788;
Elijah, July 16, 1790; Sally, July 14, 1792, married:
Abraham Howard, April 3, 181 1; Stillman, January
15, 1797, died August 17, 1798; Suky, June 13, 1799,.
died August 22, 1803.
(VII) Stephen Putnam, son of Moses (6),.
married Mrs. Betsey Goddard, June 27, 1810. Their
children were: Fayette, born March 24, 181 1, died
August, 1813; Eliza, April 13, 1813; Mary Allen,.
April 18, 1816; Fayette, July 29, 1819; Marsilla,
October 11, 1820; Emila Sarah, July 22, 1824.
(VII) Stephen Putnam, son of Moses (6),.
married Charlotte, daughter of Joshua Morse. Their
children were: Susan, November 18, 1805; Still
man, July 13, 1807; Emily R., October 5, 1810, died
July 13, 1813; Hannah W., March 7, 1820.
(V) Bartholomew Putnam, son of Cornelius.
(4), married (first) Mary Putnam, and (second)
Hannah . Axtell. Their children were : Barthol
omew, born July 13, 1774; Lucy, July 18, 1779^
Edward, January 26, 1782; Prudence, November
13, 1784, married Daniel Hathaway; Phebe, Octo
ber . 10, 1787, married Captain Elijah Bigelow ;.
Lewis, July 15, 1796; Cynthia, August 27, 1804.
(VI) Bartholomew, son of Bartholomew (5),
married Hannah Tarrant Sibley, September 4, 1801.
Their children were: Russell, born February 3,.
1802; Polly, April 4, 1804, married Bethel Leonard,
August 8, 1826; Clark, February 18, 1806; Prudence,.
February 19, 1808; Leonard, April 26, 1810; Zilpha,.
April 8, 1812.
(VII) Russell Putnam, son of Bartholomew (6),,
married Adeline  . Their children were:
Russell Bartholomew, born April 4, 1825; Lucien,
July 24, 1827; Silas, July 19, 1830; Leonard, March
27, 1833.
V (V) David Putnam, son of Cornelius (4), rfar-
ried Elizabeth Woodbury, April 12, 1770. Their -
children were : David, born April 30, 1771, died
young; Betty, April 14, 1773, married Aaron Elliot;
Abner, May 14, 1775, died June 25, 1859; Cyrus,..
August 21, 1777; Jerusha, December 13, 1779, mar
ried Thomas Bigelow, August 28, 1803; Cornelius,.
January 28, 1782 ;' Sally, July 28, 1784, married Sam
uel Bigelow, December 27, 1806; Lucy, September-

WORCESTER COUNTY

34i

S, 1787, married, June 1, 1805, Simeon, son of Deacon
Aaron Elliott; Joseph, February 23, 1790.
(VI) Abner Putnam, son of David (5), mar
ried Amy, daughter of Captain Archelaus Putnam,
March 13, 1799. Their children were : Ruth, born
June 12, 1800; Sally, April 29, 1802, married (first)
Darius Putnam (second) Tourtellott Inman ; Harvey,
November 29, 1804; Anna, November 3, 1806, mar
ried Charles H. Newton, October 23, 1831; Arche
laus, December 3, 1808; Willard, February 7, 181 1;
Dexter, November l/\. 1813, married Ruby T. Torrey,
March 16, 1840; Louisa, October 14, 1816; Lawson,
September 18, 1820.
(VII) Harvey Putnam, son of Abner (6), mar
ried Rebekah Lee, January 7, 1829. Their children
were: Elias Merriam, born October 7, 1829; Susan
Ann, November 7, 1830, married Salem J. Shaw,
February 18, 1851; Ann Janette.
(VII) Archelaus Putnam, son of Abner (6),
married Laura Nichols. Their children were :
Francis, born February 16, 1833; Gilbert, Willard,
Addison, Laura.
(VII) Lawson Putnam, son of Abner (6), first
married Martha M. Inman, March 1, 1847. She
died July 11, 1858. He married for his second wife
Sarah R. S. Johnson, February 29, i860. Their
•children were: Milo Herbert, born December 19,
1849, died May 30, 1853; Wilmet S., September 26,
1852; Arthur L., April 18, 1862; Sarah E., August
J, 1864; Effie R., September 27, 1866; Amasa S., De
cember 5, 1870.
(VI) Cyrus Putnam, son of David (5), married
Lucinda Hathaway, May 17, 1800. Their children
were: Salmon, born December 29, 1800; David, Feb
ruary 6, 1803; Prudence, December 20, 1804, died
December 28, 1804; Lucinda, October; 5, 1806, mar
ried Merritt Cook, died January 14, 1845; Horace,
February 16, 1809; Mary Reid, October 2, 181 1,
•died January 15, 1812; Philander and Leander
(twins), March 10, 1815.
(VII) Salmon Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar
ried Tryphena Bigelow, February 24, 1824. Their
¦children were: Henry, Otis E., Samuel, Mary Lu
anda, Persis Jane.
(VII) David Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar
ried (first) Polly Titus, 1825 ; she died 1829. In the
•latter named year he married Almy Hicks; she died
,in 1842. In the same year he married Susan Will
iams, who died in 1846. The following year he mar
ried Rebekah Church. His children were : Water
man born October, 1826, died February, 1828; Mary,
December 13, 1828; Serentha, June 21, 1832, died
July 19, 1842; Philander, December 30, 1833; Cyrus,
October 5, 1844; Albra, July 28, 1846. •
(VII) Horace Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar
ried Clarinda Boyce. Their children were: Maria,
Jane, Silas, William, Ann, Julia, Emma.
(VII) Philander Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar
ried Harriet Prentice, October, 1838. The children
•by this union were: Marcus, born November 10,
1839; Wheelock, September 9, 1841 ; Edward, July
14, 1843; Emma Jane, June 28, 1847.
(Vll) Leander Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar
ried Eunice Lackey, June 1, 1837. She died March,
1852. He -married (secondly) Mrs. Martha A. Bower,
March '28, 1853. His children were: Dorcas Ann
•Lackey, born December 29, 1838, married Reuben
A. Usher; Emerlaide, February 6, 1843, married
Franklin Howard; Jerome, died March 26, 1852;
Franklin L., born March 28, 1853.
(VI) Cornelius Putnam, son of David (5), mar
ried Abigail Bigelow, by whom the following chil
dren were born: Polly, June 1, 1804; Darius, Sep
tember 30, 1806; Lucv, September 3, 1808; Alver
Abigail, January 18, 181 1, married Nathan Waters,

December 2, 1832; Harrison Bigelow, April 18,
1813. (VI) Joseph Putnam, son of David (5), mar
ried Polly Putnam, December 26, 1813; he married
for his second wife, Fanny Whittemore. His chil
dren were: Maria Louisa, born January 4, 1815;
Palmer, May 1, 1817; Mary Elizabeth, July 3, 1819;
Simeon, November 17, 1821; Alexander, June 29,
1824; George Whittemore, August 11, 1827; Charles
Vernon, July 6, 1829; Porter Franklin, July 21,
1831. (II) John Putnam, son of John (1), the an
cestor, born about 1630, was a military officer, a rep
resentative of Salem during the years 1680-86-90-91.
He was admitted as a freeman in 1665. He married
Rebekah Prince,.by whom four sons and four daugh
ters were born. The name of only one is given in
the records, Ebenezer, born 1665.
(Ill) Ebenezer Putnam, son of John Putnam
(2), married Hannah Brown. They had three sons
and two daughters. Among the sons was Jeptha,
born August 24, 1699.
(IV) Jeptha Putnam, son of Ebenezer (3), mar
ried (first) Ruth Ray;' (second) Mrs. Ruth Hay
ward, of Beverley, January 8, 1746. Their children
were: Benjamin, born August 27, 1725; Samuel,
May 10, 1727; Hannah, August I3, 1728, married
Benjamin Woodbury, May, 1746; Ebenezer, Feb
ruary 22, 1730, died March 5, 1730; Fuller, January
13, I73IJ Ruth, October 18, 1732, married Stephen
Halman, November 5, 175 1; John, July 27, 1738;
Mary, October 23, 1741 ; Benajah, September 7,
1747; Gideon.
(V) Samuel Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), mar
ried Kezia Hayward, September 22, 1757. They had
one son who enlisted in the army of the revolution
and was killed in battle.
(V) Fuller Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), mar
ried (first) Mary Cummings, December, 1752; (sec
ond) Eunice Haywood, November 23, 1756. Their
children were : David, born January 26, 1753 ; Eli,
September 27, 1754; Ruth, December 4, 1757; John,
July 8, 1760; Jeptha, September 24, 1762; Sarah,
July 20, 1765, married Nathan Putnam, Jr., March
31, 1785; Lucy, February 16, 1768, married Tyler
Marsh, May 9, 1781 ; Ruby, September 20, 1770;
Prudy, July 20, 1774, married Caleb Dibley, Janu
ary 1, 1794.
(VI) David Putnam, son of Fuller (6), married
Martha Waters, January 15, 1781. There is no rec
ord of their children, but their names were: Rufus,
who married Sally Sibley, 1805; Patty, who married
Captain Peter Putnam; Eli, who married Elizabeth
Harback. (VI) John Putnam, son of Fuller (5), married
(first) Huldah Waters, August 22, 1781. He mar
ried (second) Anne Powers.' He married (third)
Dorcas Sylvanus. His children were : John, Syl
vanus, Harry, Ruth, born March, 1820; Esther,
born October 28, 1822, married Freeman Sibley.
(VII) John Putnam, son of John (6), married
Nancy, daughter of Abner Cummings. Their chil
dren were : Dulceva, born December 12, 1813, died
July 20, 1816; Harriet, March 20, 1815, died July
20, 1816; Jane, November 1, 1816, married Waters
Putnam; John Perry, March 27, 1818; Ira; Novem
ber 15, 1819, died May 12, 1821 ; Ephraim Lughton,
April 30, 1821, died December 3, 1822.
(VIII) John Perry Putnam, son of John (7),
married Harriett M. Ward, January 26, 1850. Their
children were: John Walter, born September 13,
1852; Emma Jane, born March 19, 1854.
(IX) John W. Putnam, son of John , P. (8),
married Adora L. Putnam. One child was born to
them, Lucy Harriet, February 12, 1876.

342

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VII) Sylvanus Putnam, son of John (6), mar
ried (first) Betsey Elliott; (second) Persia Har
back, July 31, 1839. Their children were : Ira Syl
vanus, born August 14, 1827; Mary Elizabeth, June
8, 1829, died July 26, 1844; Julia Ann, January 12,
1833, married the Rev. Joseph Barber; Sarah
Maria, March 24, 1835, married Franklin Sibley.
(V) John Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), married
Mary Cumming, April 9, 1761. Their children were :
Rebekah, born September 13, 1763; Jacob, November
20, 1764; John, March 8, 1766; Olive, August 28,
1767; Simeon, August 10, 1769, married Martha
Batchellor. (V) Benajah Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), in
1770, married Mrs. Sarah Fitts. Their children
were : Sarah, born July 5, 1771, .married Peter
Stockwell, September 30, 1803; Phebe, November
26, 1773, married Samuel Dudley, February 15, ,
1795 ;' Mehitable, April 25, 1775, married Captain
Samuel Marble; Anne, May 11, 1777; Abijah, July
30, 1779; Eunice, June 17, 1782; Molly, , May 2,
1784, married Andrew Sibley; James, November
2, 1786; Sylvester.
(VI) Abijah Putnam, son of Benajah (5), mar
ried Betsey Burdon, May 15, 1803. Their children
were : Sally, born 1803 ; Melona, June 4, 1805, mar
ried Nicholas W6odward'; Vilota, June 26, 1807;
Luther, February 16, 1809; Jason, February 14,
181 1, • Lyman, January 28, 1813; James, February 7,
1816; Emory, July 16, 1818; Sylvester, September
12, 1821, married Ann M. Lynch, March, 1820;
Sally, November 26, 1823; Rufus, November 19,
1827. (VII) Lyman Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar
ried Eliza J. Brigham. Their children were : Sarah
J., born January 4, 1840; Julia M., December 31,
1846; Laura D., April 12, 1848; Orason L., Decem
ber 17, 1850, died September 19, 1870; Emma A.,
November 27, 1859.
(VII) James Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar
ried Phebe P. Sloan, November 9, 1836. Their
children were: Jane Elizabeth, born November 11,
1837; Henry Clinton, July 6, 1839; George Emory,
January 9, 1841 ; Abbie Melissa, December 3, 1844,
married Alfred A. Putnam, December 3, 1867.
(VIII) Henry Clinton Putnam, son of James
(7), married Harriet M. Fuller. Their children
were: Flora L., born July 20, i860; George Henry,
February 11, 1865.
(VII) Emory Pu,tnam, son of Abijah (6), mar
ried (first) Martha E. Muller; (second) Jane Mi
randa Miller. He was the father of one child, Mar
tha Jane, born June 13, 1852, married Lewis Pratt.
(VII) Rufus Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar
ried Hannah J. Graver. Two children were born
to them : Ella Frances, born May 22, 1871 ; Walter
. Edwin. (V) Gideon Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), married
Abigail Holton, November 28, 1775. Their chil
dren were : Gideon, born 1776 ; Nabby, April 23,
1778; Artemas, May 31, 1780. He removed with
his family to Calais, Vermont.
(VIII) Otis Earle Putnam, son of Salmon and
Trvphena (Bigelow) Putnam (7), was born in
Leicester, Massachusetts, February 20, 1831. After
a residence in Boston of some seven years his par
ents came to Worcester, Massachusett, and since
he was fourteen years old Mr. Putnam's home has
been in that city. He received his education in the
common and high schools of Worcester, and in 1847,
at the age of sixteen years, began his career as clerk
in the store of John B. Wyman, who in 1850 sold
his business to H. H. Chamberlain. Mr. Putnam
remained in the employ of H. H. Chamberlain &
Company and the succeeding firm, Chamberlain,

Barnard & Company, until 1857, when he was ad
mitted to the firm, then Barnard & Sumner, and later
Barnard, Sumner & Putnam. In 1892 the business
was transferred to a corporation under the laws of
Massachusetts. Mr. Putnam was successively treas
urer and vice-president of the company and finally
president, the position he still holds. In short, Mr..
Putnam has risen from the position of a junior-
clerk to the head of one of the best known and most
prosperous and thoroughly reliable department stores
in New England. The business of the Barnard,
Sumner & Putnam Company has shown a steady and
healthful growth from the beginning, when Wor
cester was a mere village. In 1891 the facilities of
the company were enormously increased by the erec
tion of a six story addition to the spacious Main
street building, extending to Waldo street in the
rear. Many new departments were added to the
store. Mr.' Putnam is connected with various social and
financial institutions of the city. He is a director
of the Worcester Electric Light Company, the Sher
man Envelope Company, the Eastern Bridge arid
Structural Company, the Worcester & Holden Street
Railway Company, and trustee of the Worcester
Five Cent Savings Bank, and of the Worcester
Music Hall Association. He was a director of the-
City National Bank and of the Worcester and
Marlboro Street Railway Company before the con
solidation. He is a member of the Worcester Club,
the Commonwealth Club, the Board of Trade, and!
honorary member of the Worcester Light Infantry,
Battery B, and the Worcester Continentals. Mr.
Putnam has been in the front ranks of the mer
cantile men of Worcester. He has always affiliated
with the Republican party in politics, but his interest
in municipal affairs particularly has not been nar
rowed by partisanship. He has always declined to-
. accept public office.
Mr. Putnam married (first) Harriet E. Waite,
of Worcester, who died in 1863. He married (sec
ond) in 1866, Louisa Davis, of Lowell, who died!
March 25, 1892. They had one son, Arthur Davis-,
mentioned hereinafter. Mr. Putnam married (third)
Florence Mace, of Baltimore, Maryland.
(IX) Davis Putnam, son of Otis Earle and Louisa
(Davis) Putnam (8), was born at Worcester, Massar
chusetts, February 16, 1868. He attended the com
mon schools of the city, and for a short period of
time prior to attaining his twentieth year was a
student in the high school of that city. He theri en
tered the employ of Barnard & Sumner, beginning.
in the position of clerk behind the counter, and
learning the business thoroughly in each and every
department. Finally, through the exercise of energy
and determination, he advanced to the position of
assistant treasurer, in which capacity he served the
firm until the severance of his connection there
with in 1903. From that time until the early part
of 1905 he took no active interest in business, then
becoming connected with the Pepperell Card & Paper
Company, from which he retired after serving a
few months. Mr. Putnam was formerly a director of
the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. He is an
attendant of Plymouth Congregational Church of
Worcester, and served as its assessor for a period
of six years. His political inclinations are strongly
Republican. He is not affiliated with any orders,
but is a strong spirit of good fellowship at the
Commonwealth Club where he takes a great in
terest,- having served on several committees.
Mr. Putnam married, May 21, 1890, Lou Frances
Sartelle, daughter of Francis K. and Deborah (March)
Sartelle, of Worcester. Francis K. Sartelle was
master mechanic of Washburn & Moen Manufac-

CCjsK-s

WORCESTER COUNTY

343

turing Company for years and their Canadian repre
sentative until his death. Their children are: Ethel
Davis, born April 18, 1891 ; Otis Francis, January
18, 1803; Arthur Davis, June 21, 1808, died Au
gust 25I 1899; and Louise Davis, May 20, 1903,
PAINE FAMILY. Stephen Paine, the founder
of the Paine family in New England, came from
Creat Ellinghatn, county Norfolk, England, 1038,
with a large company of emigrants from the neigh
borhood of Hingham, bringing his wife, three chil
dren and four servants, in the ship "Diligent," of
Ipswich. He settled first in Hingham, Massachu
setts, but about 1(143 removed to Rehoboth, of
which town lie was the founder. He possessed large
estates in that and adjoining towns, was prominent
in the affairs of the church and colony, and was
representative to the general court for many suc
cessive years and until his death in August, 1070,
llis wife, "Neele,"' died at Rehoboth, January 20,
lMxi, after which he married Alice, widow of
William Parker, of Taunton; she died December 5,
1(182. Of his children, authentic records have been
preserved of the sons, Stephen and Nathaniel. The
third child mentioned as coming with the family
from England probably died young. The first son,
Stephen, had a very large family. Nathaniel, the
second sou, was the progenitor of the Worcester
Paiues, (II) Nathaniel Paine, sou of Stephen Paine (t),
settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where he be
came a man of much influence and importance. He
died in Boston, 1(178, leaving a wife, Elizabeth, and
one son Nathaniel.
(Ill) Nathaniel Paine, son of Nathaniel Paine
(j), born at Rehoboth, October 18, 1661, married
Dorothy, daughter of Jonathan Rainford, of Bos
ton, lie was a judge of the court of common
pleas, judge of probate, and a councillor of Massa
chusetts Bay. He died February 28, 1723. He had
eleven children, Nathaniel, the fourth, being the pro
genitor of the Worcester Paines, There seems but
little doubt that this was the Nathaniel Paine who
in 1706 was appointed by the council of Massachu
setts Bay as one of a committee to consider the
expediency of resettling the town of Worcester, and
the building of the fort there, in accordance with
the request of owners of land in that settlement.
The request was not granted by the general court.
as the disturbed condition of the times rendered the
enterprise too dangerous to be sanctioned by the
legislature, Tbe children of Nathaniel Paine and
Dorothy, his wife. were. t. Elizabeth, born Novem
ber 6, 1081, married Samuel Vernon. 2. Mary, born
Tune 8, 1O82, married Simeon Drown. 3. Hannah,
born April 20. 1685, married Lieut. Charles Church,
4, Nathaniel, born March 0, 1088. married Sarah
Clark, He was tlie immediate progenitor of the
Worcester Paines. 5. Edward, born October 7, 1690,
died young. 6. Jonathan, born April 18, 1695, died
young. 7. Alatliea. born August 28, 1007, married
Timothy Fales. 8. Sarah, born May 5. 1699, died
in August same vear. o. Stephen, born 1701, gradu
ated at Harvard College in 1721. He was register
of probate for Bristol county in 1721-40. judge of
inferior court of common pleas for Bristol county,
'745, and until his death in 1740- "-1 aud it.
Dorothy and Sarah, twins, born March 10, 1706:
Dorothv married John Williams of Boston. October
'3. 17.20, and died in 1774: Sarah married Joseph
Russell, of Barnstnhte. and died in 17<M. Mr, Paine
died at Bristol. Rhode Island, February -& JT-3.
and his wife, Dorothv (Rainsford) Paine, in Jan
uary, I75J.
(IV) Nathaniel Paine, the fourth child of Na

thaniel, (3), of Bristol, Massachusetts, (now Rhode
Island) and his wife Dorothy, was born in Bristol,
Marcli 0, H)88. He was an active man, holding many
town offices, and was also representative for five
years. In 1723 he was a member of a court of
admiralty, specially commissioned for the trial of
pirates, of which William Drummer was president.
In 1724 he was appointed judge of the inferior court
of common pleas for Bristol county, and remained
in office until his death. He married, June 25. 1713,
Sarah, daughter of Timothy Clark, of Boston, by
whom he had seven children: I. Edward, born in
Boston, April 18, 1714. married, February, 1739,
Mary Bosworth, daughter of Benjamin Bosworth,
of Bristol. 2. Sarah, born August 17. 1716, married
Thomas Drowne, March 24, 173(1. They had a son,
Nathaniel Paine Drowne, graduated at Harvard
College in 17(14. 3. Nathaniel, born June 17, 1719.
4, Dorothy, horn January 20, 1723, married Hon.
John Chandler, of Worcester, who was a loyalist,
and one of six citizens of Worcester who in 1775
were banished from the country for giving aid and
comfort to tbe enemy. 5. Samuel, born September 3,
1725, died young. 6. Samuel Clark, born February
11, 1727; he was a captain of a company at the re
duction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point 7. Tim
othy, born July 8.' 1730, at Bristol. Nathaniel Paine
died at Bristol, 1729. His widow married John
Chandler and removed to Worcester, where she died,
1 780. (V) Timothy Paine, son of Nathaniel 14), of
Bristol, and Sarah Clark, his wife, was born at
Bristol, July 8, 1730, a short time after the death
of his father. He lived in Bristol until the mar
riage of his mother, in 1730. to John Chandler, of
Worcester, when he removed tliere and remained
a citizen of that place until his death. He stood
fifth in his class at Harvard College when he gradu
ate! in 1748. After his college days he returned to
Worcester and became one of the most active and
influential citizens. In 1751 he was appointed clerk
of the court for Worcester county, remaining in that
office until 1774. He was register of probate from
April, 1757. to 1767 ; register of deeds, 1761-77 ;
special justice of the supreme court in 1771, and
one of His Majesty's council from 17(13-08. He was
town clerk 1754-64: one of the selectmen of Wor
cester 1754-04, and 1706-75 ; and representative of
the general court 1755-57, 1759-02, 1788-80. In 1789
he was a candidate for congress, but his opponents
made use of the fact that he had been appointed
one of the mandamus councillors before the revo
lutionary war, and this, with the general charge of
loyalty to the English government, was pressed with
such force by the newspapers that lie lost his elec-
'ion, although a man of recognized ability and un
blemished character. He was a real estate owner
at Worcester as early as 1751, and by 1767 became
owner of a large tract of land on the "great road
to Boston." now Lincoln street. He was prominent
iu forming- the second Congregational parish in Wor
cester (Unitarian), in 1785, under the pastorate
of the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, father of George Ban
croft, tbe historian.
In 1740 Timothy Paine married Sarah, daughter
of Hon. John Chandler and Hannah Gardner, his
wife. Madame Paine was a most zealous loyalist.
The Timothy Paine house is still standing (1905)
ou the west side of Lincoln street, a short distance
from Lincoln square. She died at Worcester, 1S11,
aged eighty-five years. He died July 17. 1703, and
was buried in the old burying ground on Mechanic
street, Worcester, but later the remains were re
moved to Rural Cemetery. The children of Timothy
and Sarah Paine were: 1. William, born June 5,

344

WORCESTER COUNTY

1750. 2. Timothy, born January 3, 1752, at Wor
cester, died December 29, 1775, unmarried. 3. Sam
uel, born at Worcester, August 23, 1753, graduated
Harvard College, 1721, and like his father and
brother was a warm supporter of the Royal govern
ment. The Paines and Chandlers had long held
office under tlie Crown and tlierefore felt in duty
bound to do so. 4. Hannah, born July 22, 1755,
married, 1772, Ebenezer Bradish, of Cambridge,
Massachusetts. 5. Nathaniel, born July 22, 1755,
died December 25, 1757. 6. Nathaniel, born
January 5, 1759, died October 7, 1840. 7.
Anthony, born November 13, 1760, died July
S, 17S8, was in the apothecary business at tlie
corner of Main and Elm streets. 8. John, born
July 25, 1762, died unmarried, December 23, 1835.
9. Sarah, born March 28, 1764, married, January,
1786, James Perkins, Jr., of Boston, and died in that
city, December, 1841. 10. Elizabeth, born January
12, 1766. marrieil, February, 1786, Dr. Joseph Trum
bull ; she died in Worcester, July 10, 1S32, leaving
one son, George Augustus.
(VI) William Paine, the first child of Timothy
(5) and Sarah Paine, was born June 5, 1750, at
AYorcester, Massachusetts. He graduated at Har
vard College in the class of 1768, his name standing
second in the catalogue, according to the dignity
of families. He studied medicine with Dr. Edward
A. Holyoke, a physician of Salem. One of his in
structors, before entering college, was John Adams,
afterward president of the United States, who taught
in the Worcester school while studying law with
Hon. James Putnam, a lawyer of great ability. He
commenced his practice in Worcester in 1771, in
connection with the business of an apothecary. In
1772, with Dr. Levi Shepard and Ebenezer Hunt,
of Northampton, he opened the first apothecary
store in Worcester county. Like his father and
brother Samuel he was very friendly to the Crown,
and took an active part in the politics of his day.
In the spring of 1774 there was great excitment in
Worcester owing to the objectionable acts of parlia
ment then lately passed, especially at the report of
an effort to have the general court offer indemnity
for the tea destroyed in Boston harbor. The loyal
ists of the town were much excited at what they
considered the treasonable action of the Whigs in
•opposing the acts of parliament, and finally a pro
test signed by over fifty of them was presented at
a town meeting held in June, 1774. This protest,
which was the joint production of Hon. James Put
nam and Dr. Paine, was quite lengthy, and com
plained bitterly of the outrages perpetrated by
the Whigs, alluding especially to "the teas
of immense value lately belonging to the East
India Co. not long since scandalously destroyed
in Boston," and also protesting against the
committee of correspondence then being formed
and ending thus : "It is by these committees also,
that papers have been lately published and are now
circulating through the province, inviting, and
wickedly tempting all persons. These and all
such enormities we detest and abhor; and the
authors of them we esteem enemies to our King
and country, violaters of all law and civil liberty,
the malevolent disturbers of the peace of society,
subscribers of the established constitution, and ene
mies of^ mankind." These resolutions were spread
upon the town records of Worcester, and
when the opposition found it out trouble en
sued, they demanding of the selectmen that the clerk
be ordered to strike and erase the same from the
public records. The selectmen voted to so order the
record erased, and thereupon the clerk, in open town
meeting, with his pen defaced the pages on which

tlie obnoxious record was made, but this not proving
satisfactory to the patriotic voters there assembled,
he was made to dip his fingers into the ink and draw
them across the records, so effectually accomplish
ing tlie object that the words have been utterly
illegible, as may be seen by inspection of the volume
in the hands of the city clerk of Worcester, at this
late date.
Soon after this Dr. Paine went to England, where
he remained until the spring of 1775, but as the war
came on he was denounced as a loyalist, and, as he
could not return to his family and home, he at
once sailed for Liverpool, deigning to avail himself
of the advantages and means of improvement af
forded by foreign institutions, until tlie war should
terminate. After a year's attendance in hospitals,
and having received the degree of M. D. from Maris-
chal College, at Aberdeen, he was appointed to the
office of apothecary to the English forces in America.
Later he was admitted to the Royal College of Phy
sicians of London. He returned to America in 1782,
landing in New York in March, and in October
of the same year was appointed by Sir Guy Carle
ton physician of the army. He was ordered to Hali
fax and remained tliere on duty until the troops
were reduced in 1783, when he was discharged on
half pay. All of this is found in Lincoln's "History
of Worcester." In the summer of 17S4 Dr. William
Paine took possession of La Tete, an island in Pas-
samaquoddy Bay, granted him by the English gov
ernment for his "service in war." He wrote to his
brother Nathaniel, in June, 1784: "I am going to
move, bag and baggage, to Passamaquoddy. I have
already erected a house on the island, which is the
spot upon which I intend to reside." But on ac
count of poor society, lack of schools, etc., he re
moved from that point in 1785 to St, John, where
he began to practice his chosen profession again.
He was appointed by Governor Thomas Carleton
one of the first board of aldermen of St. John, and
in 1786 was unanimously elected alderman from Sid
ney ward. He was elected to a seat in the assembly
of New Brunswick, and was appointed clerk of the
house. He was afterward chosen speaker of the as
sembly, but as he soon after left the province re-
tained the office but a short time. In October, 1785,
he was appointed ''Surveyor-General of Woods_ in
the Province of Nova Scotia, all other His Majes
ties Territories in America," by Sir John Wentworth,
with orders to "carefully survey and diligently make
and register such white pine trees as may now or
hereafter be fit for the use of the Royal Navy."
He retained this position until the summer of 1787,
when, the act of banishment having been repealed,
he, by permission of the war office, went to Salem,
Massachusetts. After the death of his father, in
1793, he returned to Worcester and occupied the
paternal estate until his death. Until 1812 he was
on half pay as a British officer, when he was called
unon by the British government for servicej but
rather than act against his countrymen he resigned
his commission. In June of the last named year
he petitioned the legislature of Massachusetts for
consent to his being naturalized as a citizen of the
United States. ,Dr. Paine was one of the founders
of the American Antiquarian Society, and its first
vice-president. Fie died in Worcester, April 19, 1833,
the anniversary of the fight at Lexington.
Dr. Paine was married September 22, 1773, by
Paine Wingate, to Lois Orne, of Salem, by license
of his friend, Sir John Wentworth. Their children
were : 1. Esther Orne, born August 18, 1774. 2-
Harriet, born November 13, 1778, died December
20, 1778. 3. Harriet, born November 21, I779-, 4-
William, born November 2, 1783, died, unmarried,

WORCESTER COUNTY

345

July 21, 1834, at Batavia. 5. Elizabeth Putnam,
born at St. John, New Brunswick, June 26, 1786,
¦died at Worcester, Massachusetts. 6. Frederick Wil
liam, born at Salem, Massachusetts, May 23, 1788.
(VI) Nathaniel Paine, sixth son of Timothy (5)
and Sarah (Chandler) Paine, was born in Worcester,
August 5, 1759. Fie graduated at Harvard College
in 1775, read law with Hon. John Sprague, of Lan
caster, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar
of Worcester county in 1781. After five years prac
tice in Groton, Massachusetts, he returned to Wor
cester. He was a representative of _ the general
court 1798-1800; county attorney for a similar period
of time; and was appointed judge of probate, Janu
ary 24, 1864, holding the office thirty-five years, re
signing in 1836 on account of failing health. He was
one of the founders and a councillor of the Ameri
can Antiquarian Society. The late Governor Levi
Lincoln in a paper read before the Worcester Fire
Society, of which Mr. Paine was one of the founders
in 1793, says of him : "He was of bland and
courteous manners, an inquiring and observant
habit, rare colloquial powers and a memory so
singularly retentive as to become a perfect store
house of historic fact and personal anecdote; he
was a most instructive and delightful companion."
He married, December 18, 1785, Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Gardiner Chandler, of Worcester. Judge
Paine died at Worcester, October 7, 1840. Their
children were: 1. Nancy Leonard, born November
25, 1786, died January 8, 1802. 2. Charlotte, born in
old Paine house in Worcester, August 9, 1788. _ 3.
Nathaniel Anthony, born November 19, 1791, died
February 9, 1819, unmarried. 4. Sarah Chandler,
born November 29, 1794, died Worcester, October
15, 1840. 5. Gardiner, born May 23, 1799. 6. Henry,
horn August 12, 1804, entered Yale College, 1820,
but left on account of failing health. 7. Charles,
born August 12, 1804.
(VII) Frederick William Paine, the sixth child
of Dr. William Paine, removed to Worcester with
his father in 1793. He entered Harvard College in
1803, but left after- a stay of nine months to engage
in commercial pursuits. In 1806 and again in 1809
he made a voyage around the world, visiting China
and the northwest coast of America. In 1818 he
went to Europe, remaining there about four years,
during which time he was connected with the com
mercial house of James and Thomas H. Perkins.
He finally became a permanent resident of Wor
cester about 1816, and for the remainder of his life
was actively interested in the local affairs of the
place. He was a member of the General Court of
Massachusetts in 1829, one of the selectmen of Wor
cester 1827-31, and most of the time from 1838 to
1849, at which time the town was chartered as
a city. He was an assessor of taxes for the town
most of the time from 1829 to 1848, and his judg
ment as to the value of real estate was much es
teemed. He early manifested an interest in horti
culture, his garden on Lincoln street being noted
for its flowers and fruit. For many years he was
an active and influential member of the Worcester
County Horticultural Society, serving most of the
time as treasurer. He was a valuable member of
the American Antiquarian Society, contributing
largely to its library, also serving as one of its
• councillors. ,Mr. Paine was a man of literary tastes,
spending much of his time in reading. His library,
at the time of his death, was considered as among
the largest private collections in the state, number
ing several thousand volumes, representing every
branch of literature. When but fourteen years of
age he was employed to correct the proofsheets of
the first Greek Testament published in North Amer

ica, and issued from the pen of Isaiah Thomas, "the
patriot printer of the Revolution." Mr. Paine died
at Worcester, September 16, 1869. He was mar
ried May 5, 1822, to Ann Cushing Sturgis, daughter
of Hon. Russell Sturgis. Their children were:
1. William Russell, born January 26, 1823. 2. Eliza
beth Orne, born March 27, 1826. 3. James Per
kins, born Worcester, December 16, 1827. 4. Mary
Pickard, born March 13, 1830. 5. George Sturgis,
born June 4, 1833. 6. Annie Cushing Sturgis, born
March 5 1836, died November 19, 1873.
(VII) Esther Orne Paine, born August 28, 1774,
married (first) Joseph Cabot, of Salem, September,
1795; married (second) Ichabod Tucker, of Wor
cester, November 5, 181 1. Two children were born
to them : Joseph S. and William Paine Cabot.
(VII) Harriet Paine, born at Newport, Rhode
Island, November 21, 1779, married, March 7, 1802,
Joseph Warner Rose, and died June 29, i860. They
had nine children, among whom were : Harriet,
born February 5, 1804, married John C. Lee, of
Salem; Josephine, born February 13, 1815, married,
May 4, 1842, George Chandler.
(VII) Charlotte Paine, second child of Nathaniel
and Elizabeth Paine, was born August 9, 1788. She
married, September 25, 1818, Timothy Paine Brad
ish, of Natchez, Mississippi. She died at Worcester,
December 3, 1866. They _ had one child, Walter
Burling, who died without issue.
(VII) Gardiner Paine, fifth child of Nathaniel
and Elizabeth Paine, was born May 23, 1799. He .
married, October 11, 1831, Emily Baker, of Dedham,
Massachusetts. Two children were born to them,
Nathaniel and Anne Elizabeth. In 1826 Mr. Paine
was major of the Sixth Regiment, First Brigade,
Massachusetts Militia, under Col. Samuel Ward, of
Worcester, and was in command of a regiment at
the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill mon
ument. He was in business for several years
in partnership with Daniel Heywood, in a dry goods
and general store located on the west side of Main
street, about halfway between Pearl and Pleasant
streets, Worcester. He died January 27, 1854.
(VIII) George Chandler and Josephine (Rose)
Paine had two daughters that attained years of
womanhood. 1. Mary, born at Concord, New Hamp
shire, February 17, 1845; she married, October 4,
1871, A. George Bullock, of Worcester, and had
issue : Chandler, born August' 24, 1872 ; Alexander
Hamilton, born November 7, 1874; Augustus G.,
born April 20, 1880, died April 29, 1880; Rockwood,
horn  . 2. Fanny, born Worcester, Massa
chusetts, January 5, 1852; she married Waldo Lin
coln, of Worcester, and had issue: Merrick, born
May 25, 1875; and Josephine Rose, born February
28, 1878.
(VIII) William Russell was born July 26, 1823.
He married, April 12, 1855, Frances Thomas CliQeker,
of Taunton. Thev had five children— four daughters
and one son, Frederick William, born February 22,
1866. (VIII) James Perkins was born in Worcester,
December 16, 1827. He married, May 11, 1865,
Sarah Turner, of Boston. They had four children
—three daughters and one son, Russell Sturgis, born
June 6, 1874.
(VIII) Mary Pickard was born March 13, 1830.
She married, May 3, 1851, Allyn Weston, of Dux
bury. One child, a daughter, was born to them.
(VIII) Nathaniel Paine, son of Gardiner and
Emily (Baker) Paine, was born at Worcester,
Massachusetts, August 6, 1832. He was educated in
the public schools and academy of his native city.
By the above family history it will be observed that
he came of ancestors of prominence in revolutionary

346

WORCESTER COUNTY

days in town affairs, and that his grandfather was
many years judge of probate in Worcester county.
When seventeen years of age, having clerked for a
time in a leather store, he entered the Mechanics'
Bank as a clerk. In 1854 he was made the assistant
cashier of the City Bank, and three years later was
promoted to cashier, which office he held until De
cember 12, 1898, when he was elected president.
When the banks were merged into the Worcester
Trust Company, a snort time since, he became vice-
president and still holds the position. He has been
connected with many of the financial concerns of
Worcester. He was vice-president of the Wor
cester Five Cent Savings Bank, and chairman of the
Clearing Association. The honorary degree of
Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Harvard
College in 1898. He was from young manhood pos
sessed of a literary taste, and is especially fond of
history and art. He has written much of local his
tory, and many articles from his pen have appeared
in different publications. Among the papers pre
pared by Mr. Paine were "Early Paper Currency of
Massachusetts," "Historical Notes on the Town of
Worcester," "The Drama in Worcester," and "Early
American Imprints in the Library of the Ameri
can Antiquarian Society." He also edited with notes
the "Diary of Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Li
brarian of the Antiquarian Society." He is also con
nected with many other societies. He was one of
the founders of the Worcester Art Society and has
been its president, and is director of the Art Mu
seum Corporation, also was a' director of the Free
Public Library for eighteen years. He served in the
common council one term. He is a great lover of
good books, and possesses a fine library. The follow
ing list will explain -,his prominence in society mat
ters : Treasurer American Antiquarian Society ;
treasurer Worcester County Horticultural Society;
treasurer Home for Aged Men ; treasurer Devens
Monument Association; president Worcester Ly
ceum ; president Worcester Natural History Associa
tion ; director Free Library, and secretary for more
than a dozen years ; and director of the Worcester
Art Museum. He holds membership in the Massa
chusetts Historical Society, New England Historic
and Genealogical Society, American Society of Ad
vancement of Science, Colonial Society of Massa
chusetts, American Historical Association, Folk-
Lore Society of Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Monu
ment Association, Worcester Society of Antiquity,
Worcester Art Society, honorary member of the
Pennsylvania Historical Society. He is also a
corresponding member of the Long Island Histori
cal Society, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society
of Philadelphia, La Societie Numismatipue of Mon
treal, Canada, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society
of Melrose, Scotland, and the Georgia Historical
Society. He was one of the original members of
the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston. His has
been a busy life, and many public institutions have
felt the touch of his literary influence.
Mr. Paine was married June 14, 1865, to Susan
M- Barnes.
JUDGE HENRY CHAPIN, son of Elisha and
Sarah (Wood) Chapin, was born in Upton, Massa
chusetts, May 13, 1811. Soon after entering his
teens his father died and the boy Henry was forced
thus early to care for himself. Having improved
the opportunities granted by the public schools of
his native village, he began to learn the trade of
a carpenter, but a brief trial at that occupation proved
to his own mind he was not intended for a carpenter.
He then turned his attention to study, and fitting for
college entered Brown University and graduated
from that institution in 1835.

After teaching school for a time in Upton he
began the study of law with the late Emery Wash
burn, and also at Cambridge. He was admitted to
the bar in 1838, and at once began the practice of
his profession in the town of Uxbridge. Eight years
later he removed to Worcester and became a part
ner of the late Rejoice Newton. In that city he
grew rapidly into popularity, and his legal practice
became extensive. He was industrious, faithful and
efficient, consequently, highly successful in his pro
fessional undertakings, and within three years of
his coming to Worcester the people felt such confi
dence in his integrity and ability that they elected
him to the office of chief magistrate of the city, re
electing him in 1850, but he declined a third nomi
nation. In 185S the courts of probate and insol
vency, hitherto distinct, were united, and Mr, Chapin
was appointed to preside over the new court, a posi
tion which he held at the time of his death. It has
been said that during the twenty years he held the
office of judge of probate and insolvency more than
half the estates in Worcester county passed under his
jurisdiction in one or the other side of his court, and
that he was brought into official relations with a
larger number of persons in all conditions of life
than any other public officer of the county. His
patience, fidelity and impartially have been univer
sally admitted, and his kindly nature, courteous
manner and keen preception of justice to all parties
gained for him the confidence and respect of the
people of the county.
Judge Chapin was not an aspirant for political
office, and although entertaining firm political con
victions was not an offensive partisan. He repre
sented the town of Uxbridge in the general court in
1845, and received the nomination for congress in
1856 by the Republican convention, but declined the
honor. In 1870, although he had served as mayor
of the city of Worcester two terms, he accepted the
office again when chosen by the council to fill a
vacancy caused by the death of Mayor James B.
Blake, but retired after serving a few months, as
soon as a successor could be provided by a popular
election. In 1848 he was appointed by Governor
Briggs commissioner of insolvency, and in 1855 by
Governor Gardner commissioner under the "personal
liberty law" of Massachusetts, designed for the pro
tection of persons charged with being fugitive slaves.
For many years he was a member of the state board
of education, and for fifteen years one of the trus
tees of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital. He was for
many years president of the People's Fire Insurance
Company, a director of the City- National Bank,
vice-president of the Worcester County Institution
for Savings, and for thirty years served as a director
of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. Judge
Chapin was possessed of a kindly and highly sym
pathetic nature, always ready to do a benevolent
act, and was active in helping to organize institu
tions through which charity could be wisely dis
pensed to the unfortunate and the needy. The Old
Men's Home of Worcester was one of the institu
tions conceived and aided by him.
In religious belief Judge Chapin was a conserva
tive Unitarian, and was an active, influential member
of the Church of the Unity in Worcester, in which
for many years he served as superintendent of the
Sabbath school. After resigning the office of super
intendent, he joined the Bible class and thus con
tinued his connection with the school until failing
health prevented his attendance. He was an active,
strong man in the Unitarian denomination and for
many years took a prominent position in it. He
was twice elected president of the American Uni
tarian Association, and for four years was a mem-

4-/^tJ^ y\^

WORCESTER COUNTY

347

ber of the council of the national conference of
Unitarian churches. Judge Chapin was a man of
varied gifts that made him successful; he was a
good business man, an able lawyer, an upright judge,
an honored and respected citizen, a man of the
people, for with all his accomplishments and the
great esteem in which he was held by those who
came in contact with .him, he never displayed any
taint of egotism. As a speaker on public occasions
he was in great demand. His wholesome wit and
characteristic presentation of anecdotes, interspersed
with flashes' of oratory, gave him a reputation as
a good after dinner speaker, and the people of Wor
cester county were always pleased and instructed
as they listened to the voice of Judge Chapin at
their annual gatherings given under the auspices
of the various agricultural societies. Although he
claimed no right to be classed as a poet, yet many
of his productions are highly prized by his friends.
During the days of the anti-slavery agitation he
spoke frequently and effectively in behalf of the
Free Soil and Republican parties, but after his ac
ceptance of a judicial office he though it unbecom
ing to take a conspicuous part in political contro
versies. He was interested in historical research
and a prominent member of the American Antiquar
ian Society, serving as its treasurer for many years.
Mr. Chapin was twice married. First on October
8, 1839, to Sarah, daughter of Joseph Thayer, Esq.,
of Uxbridge. She died April 30, 1869, and their only
child, a son, died at the age of seven years and ten
months. He married (second), May 23, 1871, Louisa
Thayer, a sister of his former wife, by whom he
had one child, Margaret, born 1874, married William
Bazeley, two children: Louisa Thayer, born 1900;
Margaret Ley, born 1905; they reside in Uxbridge,
Massachusetts. The progenitor of this Chapin family was:
(I) Samuel Chapin, who came from England with
his wife Cicely and several' children in the year
1636, and first settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
but later removed to Springfield.
(II) Josiah Chapin, a son of Samuel Chapin,
settled in Braintree, was an active, enterprising man
and a land surveyor. He removed to Mendon about
the year 1682 and became quite a distinguished man
He was representative to the general court, and
gained the prominent title then of esquire. He had
sixteen children.
(Ill) Captain Seth Chapin, son of Josiah Chapin,
Esq., was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, August
4, 1668, and was the seventh child in his father's
family. He married (first) Mary Read; married
(second) Bethiah Thurston. He is said to have
been a man of talent and of considerable wealth.
He had fourteen children. He died in 1746, aged
seventy-eight years.
(IV) Seth Chapin, son of Captain Seth Chapin,
born in Medfield, July 2, 1692, was the eldest of
fourteen children. He married, February 5, 1713,
Abigail Adams, aunt of John Adams, second presi
dent of the United States. His home place was in
that part of Mendon now Hopedale, where he was
a large land holder. He died April 1, 1737, leaving
ten children.
(V) Moses Chapin, the youngest child of Seth
Chapin, was born in 1736. He married, December
9, 1756, Lydia Atwood, daughter of Eldad and
Martha Atwood. They lived in what is now Hope-
dale. He died June 9, 1802. She died February 8,
1813. Their children were: David, born 1757;
Jerusha, born 1760; Elizabeth, born 1762; Nathan,
born 1765; Henry, born 1767. died young; Lydia,
born 1770; Olive, born 1772; Anna.
. (VI) David Chapin, son of Moses .Chapin, mar
ried (first) July 4, 1777, Judith Thayer, daughter

of Seth and Judith Thayer. She died and he mar
ried (second), February 12, 1784, Martha Bates,
of Mendon, and settled in the territory now known
as Upton. He was a farmer. He died February 6,
1814, aged fifty-six. She died May 3, 1846, aged
eightv-one. Their children were: Elisha, born
April 10, 1778, by first wife; Judith, born March 21,
1785; Sarah, born October 14, 1788; Lydia, born
February 17, 1791 ; Joseph Bates, born April 25, 1793 ;
David, born July 2, 1795.
(VII) Elisha Chapin, son of David Chapin, born
April 10, 1778, married Sarah Wood, July 8, 1802,
in Upton, where they lived and died. He died June
13, 1826. Their children were: Experience, born
September 24, 1803; Sarah Ann, born May n, 1807.
Henry, born May 13, 1811, subject of this sketch.
JOHN FRED HUMES. Notwithstanding the
handicap of poor health for several years John Fred
Humes, or as he is better known J. Fred Humes,
has made in recent years rapid progress in his pro
fession. He is in touch with important litigation,
especially in the office of the city solicitor to whom
he is assistant. Mr. Humes was born in Sutton,
where his family has been prominent for several
generations. He is the son of John R. and Sarah
(Putnam) Humes, of Sutton. His youth was spent
in his native town and he graduated from the high
school in 1883. He attended Worcester Academy
the following year and graduated with the class
of 1884. He matriculated at Brown University and
studied there for three years and a half, but owing'
to a long illness in his junior year and poor health
following he abandoned college without his degree.
He undertook first the study of law in the office
of Frank B. Goulding. After six months his health
again gave out, and it was six years before he was
fully restored to health. Then he entered the offices
of Henry F. Harris and Charles M. Thayer. After
two years and a half he was admitted to the bar.
In June, 1897, he began his career as an attorney.
He remained with Mr. Harris and Mr. Thayer for
three years. In 1900 he opened an office at 532
State Mutual building. In August, 1904, he moved
to his present offices in the building of the Five
Cents Savings Bank. In November, 1903, he was
appointed assistant city solicitor to succeed Ernest
I. Morgan, and is the second incumbent of the office.
Mr. Morgan was appointed in 1899, when the posi
tion was created. Mr. Humes is secretary and
treasurer of the Bar Association of Worcester
County. Until his marriage Mr. Humes resided at Sutton
with his parents. He has since made his home in
Worcester. He married, June 22, 1898, Susan A.
Main, daughter of John and Ella (Reed) Main,
of Gloucester. She was born in Gloucester, August
4, 1869. The Main family is one of the old families
of Gloucester. Their children are : Warren Main,
born July 5, 1899; Raymond Putnam, born April 4,
1 901. (I) Amos Humes settled at Douglas, Massachu
setts, where his son Warren was born July, 1802.
(II) Warren Humes, son of Amos Humes (1),
was born probably in Douglas, July, 1802. The
history of Douglas says that he possessed in a great
degree the ability that characterized his father, who
was evidently a man of mark in Douglas. Warren
had limited opportunity for an education, but was
self-educated to an unusual degree and exerted all
his life a powerful influence in local affairs. He
was endowed with a remarkable memory, being
able, the Douglas history says, to retain and cor
rectly impart a vast amount of general information.
He began the practice of his profession of civil

348

WORCESTER COUNTY

engineer and surveyor at the age of twenty-five,
and was later acknowledged to be one of the best
in the southern part of the county. He became
an authority on real estate law. He had a large
share of the business of conveyancing in his_ locality.
He was a justice of the peace. He was intensely
interested in politics. For thirty years he was at
the head of the Democratic party in Douglas, and
controlled the town on all important matters. His
one great failure to control is the exception that
proves the rule. He opposed the purchase of a
town poor farm, and after a bitter contest was de
feated in town meeting, whereat the joy of the public
was expressed by a sort of Fourth of July celebra
tion. The wife of Warren Humes was Phebe Rich,
daughter of Samuel Rich, Jr., of Sutton. Samuel
Rich, Sr., of Douglas, married Elizabeth  ,
who died March 20, 1803. Their children were:
Samuel, born July 30, 1735; Benjamin, born July
20, 1737, married Rebekah- Daggett, July 15, 1762;
Hannah, born April 16, 1738; Elizabeth, born July
29, 1741; Sarah, born April 3, 1743; David, born
March 7, 1744; Jonathan, born July 20, 1747; Reu
ben, born May 10, 1752; Amos, born September 4,
1757. Samuel Rich, Jr., son of Samuel Rich, was born
July 30, 1735. He married Ruth Putnam, Novem
ber 18, 1761. She died December 28, 1811. Their
children were: Stephen, born January 3, 1762;
Elijah, born April 4, 1764; Ruth, born July 31, 1766;
Samuel, born February 26, 1769; Elizabeth, born
January 23, 1772; Phebe, married Warren Humes.
The children of Warren and Phebe Humes were :
John R., born February 22, 1834; Amos A., born
April 14, 1835; Milton, born April 13, 1840; Maria,
L., born June 13, 1846; George W., born February
17, 1837, died October 28, 1863 ; Juliet A., born Jan-
nary 19, 1850.
(Ill) John R. Humes, son of Warren (2) and
Phebe (Rich) Humes, was born in Douglas, Febru
ary 22, 1834. He resides in Sutton, where he runs
a farm and deals in lumber. He has held the offices
of selectman and assessor in Sutton. He married
Sarah M. Putnam. Their children are : George M.,
horn May 30, i860, married Lottie E. Wheeler, and
resides in Auburn; John Fred, born October 10,
1866 (see sketch) ; Nancy Evelyn, born December
24, 1868, married James Cranska, of Sutton, book
keeper at Manchaug, and has two daughters and
a son; Frank Edwin, born September 14, 1872, re
sides with parents at Sutton.
BARNARD FAMILY. The late Dr. Rebecca
Barnard, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was a de
scendant in the eighth generation from Robert Barn-
nard, of Andover, Massachusetts. The line is as
follows :
(I) Robert Barnard, called of Andover, Massa
chusetts. He was in Salisbury in 1642, Andover
1644, and Nantucket 1663. He was one of the
founders of the church in Andover, and several of
his descendants were ministers and physicians. He
died about 1682. Administration on his estate was
granted his grandson, Robert Barnard, February 1,
1714-15, more than thirty _ years after the senior
Robert's death, who by wife Joanna  , who
died" March 31, 1705, had the following children:
John, Stephen, born 1648-49.
(Il) Stephen Barnard, second son of Robert and
Joanna Barnard, married, in Andover, Rebecca How,
May 1, 1671, and resided in that town. Had sons:
Nathaniel, James, Robert and Stephen.
(Ill) Robert Barnard, third son of Stephen and
Rebeeca (Flow) Barnard, born in Andover, March
28, 1689, married (first) Rebecca Osgood, at An

dover, September 14, 1710, and she died July 29,
1727. He married (second) Elizabeth Bailey, May
15, 1729. In 1723 he purchased of Jeremiah Barst-
tow,- of Marlboro, three hundred and fifty acres of
land on which there was a mill and other buildings,
and removed from Andover to Marlboro where he
was -knpwn as a miller and -also kept a public house.
Their children were: Robert, born August 30, 1714;
Benjamin, born February 14, 1715-16; Martha; Re
becca; Elizabeth; born June. 3,' 1730; Joel, born July
14, 1732; Abigail, born April 28, 1734; Solomon,
born December 27, 1735; Martha, born April 26, 1740;
John, born May 19, I743. This John was a physi
cian and settled in Sterling, Massachusetts.
(IV) Benjamin Barnard, second son of Robert
and Rebecca (Osgood) Barnard, born February 14,
1715-16, married (first) Lucy Bush, of Marlboro.
She died and he married (second), in Harvard,
Mary Hunt, February 22, 1759. Mr. Barnard lived
in Marlboro until 1743, when he purchased the
home place of Stephen Houghton in Harvard and
removed there, where he died October 24, 1794. He
was prominent in the church, and' held the office
of selectman. His children were: Benjamin, born
August 13, 1738; Jonathan, born June 18, 1740, died
1742; Lucy, born November 13, 1742, died January
24, 1752; Jonathan, born February .24, 1745; Eph
raim, born May 3, 1747; Moses, born May 7, 1749;
Jonathan, born September 22, 1751, died September
27, 1756; David, born January 18, 1754. At least
three of the above sons of Benjamin and Lucy
(Bush) Barnard served in 'the war of the revolu
tion. Benjamin, the eldest, served in Isaac Gates
company, the Fourth, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regi
ment, April 19, 1775, eight and a half days at Cam
bridge. He also was paid mileage from Harvard to
Danbury, December 17, 1776. He also marched in
Captain Samuel Hill's company, Colonel Josiah
Whitney's regiment, on alarm at Bennington, Au
gust 19, 1777, and again 'in October of the same year.
Moses, the sixth child, was a graduate of Harvard
College, 1773, a physician, served as surgeon's mate
to Dr. Dinsmore, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment,
service two months and fourteen days. Also in
Captain Fuller's company, Colonel Whitcomb's
Worcester county regiment, in August and Septem
ber, 1775. Again as' surgeon on sloop "Republic"
commanded by Captain John F. Williams, engaged-,
August 20, 1776, and discharged November 18, 1776.
(See Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in Revo
lutionary War, Vol. 1.)
(V) Jonathan Barnard, third son of Benjamin
and Lucy (Bush) Barnard, born February 24, 1745,
married Lucy  . He served in Captain James
Burt's company, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment,
in response to the alarm, April 19, 1775. He settled
in Harvard on the home place, which at present
writing still remains in the Barnard family. A
fact worth recording is that for sixty years there
was not a death in this family. His children were:
Jacob, born April 16, 1769; Jonathan, January 27,
1771; Lucy, September 26, 1774; Benjamin, June
12, 1777; Sabra, July 24, 1779; Calvin, Jury 25, 1781;
Sarah, February 3, 1784; Esther, June 1, 1786;
Levi, April 20, 1789; Joel and Joab (twins). May
,12, 1793-
(VI) Benjamin Barnard, third son of Jonathan
and Lucy Barnard, born June 12, 1777, married
(first) Rebecca Keep. He married (second) Jemima
Whitcomb, of Boxboro. His children were : Frank
lin, born May 17, 1809; Granville, born January I,
1812, died September 15, 1895; Rebecca, born May
8, 1814, died November 5, 1817 ; Josiah, born May I,
1816, died June 20, 1858; Benjamin K., born Decem
ber 17, 1818, died January 14, 1900; Levi, born

WORCESTER COUNTY

349

March 22, 1822, died December 25, 1886; Abner,
born February 14, 1832,
(VII) Dr, Franklin Barnard, eldest son of Ben
jamin and Jemima (Whitcomb) Barnard, born May
17, 1809, married, March 3, 1833, Maria Ann Plum
mer, of Andover, Massachusetts, daughter of Heze
kiah Smith Plummer and his wife Betsey Stimpson
Poor, who were married April 3, 1806. Her great-
grandmother, Lovejoy Poor, purchased in Salem,
Massachusetts, a negro child whom she called Salem
Poor. It is related in the history of Essex county
that Dr, Barnard displayed unusual courage as a
soldier, and on one occasion shot an English gen
eral. He studied with Dr. Samuel Thompson in
Boston. He died in Worcester, November 29, 1889,
and his wife died March t, 1885. Their children
were: Anna M., born in Andover, May 13, .1835;
Dr. Rebecca, born April 20, 1837 ; Esther, born in
Harvard, August 24, 1830; Caroline, born in Wor
cester, November 19, 1842.
(VIII) Dr, Rebecca Barnard, second daughter
of Dr. Franklin and Maria Ann (Plummer) Barn
ard, was born in Andover, April 29, 1837. She
came to Worcester, Massachusetts a child in her
father's family in the year 1840. Her early educa
tion was attained in the public schools of Worcester
and at the Baptist Academy, after which for more
than fifteen years she was a teacher in the city
schools, during which engagement she was not ab
sent from her duties in her school room a single
day. As a teacher she gave most excellent satis
faction, the personal interest she took in her pupils
and the kindly assistance rendered them was the
means of creating many lasting attachments between
teacher and scholar which was only terminated by
her death. Her medical studies were pursued at
the College of the New York Infirmary, New York
city. After serving as an interne at the hospital
connected with that institution, she began the prac
tice of her chosen profession in Worcester. In the
city directory for 1879 her name appears as physician
with office at 49 Pearl street. As she was very
generally and favorably known throughout the city,
she found a fertile field in which to locate, and a
large and lucrative practice was soon obtained and
attended with remarkable success professionally. As
the years came and went her practice increased,
severely taxing her physical strength, yet her in
terest in educational institutions led her to accept
a position on tlie school board, to which she was
elected, serving six years. Her practical knowledge
on educational matters proved of considerable as
sistance to the board. She was a member of various
medical societies, among them the Boston, New Eng
land Hospital, and the Worcester District Medical
Society. For many years her residence and of late
her office was at the northerly end of Main street,
in what has been known as the Baldwin Eatoh house,
one of the old time landmarks, built in 1760, and
purchased by Dr. Rebecca Barnard in 1S70. Miss
Sarah Eaton, from whom the purchase was made,
remained in tbe house until her death in 1S87, in
the same room in which she was born, July 3. 1800.
Dr. Rebecca Barnard died unmarried September
9, 1905. HJAI-MAR S. ANDERSON. Erik Anderson,
the father of Hialmar S. Anderson, of Worcester,
of the firm of Robinson & Anderson, jewelers, was
born October 10, 1S41, in Smedjebaken Dalarne,
Sweden. He was the son of Anders and' Greta
(Carlson) Anderson. He married Charlotte E. Hall-
vorson, who died in Worcester, November 0. 1001.
He removed to Worcester, Massachusetts, November
ao. 1881. Their children are: Hjalmar M-„ see

forward ; Knut H., Arthur E., Gustav E., Ernst,
Minnie E., Francis. Two children died in infancy.
Hjalmar Anderson, son of Erik Anderson, was
born in Ramnas, Westmanland, Sweden, December
13, '870, and came to this country when quite young
with his parents. He was educated in the Worcester
public schools. When he was twelve years old he
went to work as office boy in the Palmer wire mill.
He returned to school for a time, then became a
weigher in the wire mill at Palmer, where the family
was then living. They moved to Worcester and he
entered the employ of the Taber Organ Company.
He worked for a time also for the Washburn &
Moen Company in the wire mill. At the age of
seventeen he began to learn the jewelry trade' of
A. L. Burbank & Company. He remained with the
firm and its successors, and since the recent death
of William H. Robinson, is the head and sole
owner of the business. The present name of the
firm under which he is doing business is Robinson
& Anderson, and the store is at 375 Main street.
He is a Republican in politics, and member of Thule
Lodge, No. 239. I. O. O. F., Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He married, December 3, 1892, Elizabeth Fisk,
who was born in Rotneros, Wermland, Sweden, Jan
uary 30, 1869, and educated in Sweden. She came
to America in 1887. Their children are : Hjalmar
S,, Jr., born August 18, 1893; Irving E. L., born
March 30, 1900; Wendall, born October 21, 1903.
JOHN RICHARD BACK. Jacob Back (1),
the grandfather of John R. Back, of Worcester, set
tled in Twerton, a village in Somersetshire, Eng
land, half way between Bristol and Bath. He , mar
ried Sophia Frances, by whom he had two sons,
Arthur and William. He died when a comparatively
young man. His widow married again and had a
daughter, Mary Francis. The latter came to America
sohie years ago, but returned to her native place
and married John Hill.
While the English ancestry of Jacob Back is not
traced it is known that the surname belongs to an
old English family. One branch of the Back family
came early to Connecticut but the connection, if
any, with the Worcester family is not known. Judah
Back, to whom the Connecticut family trace their
ancestry, was born September 21, 1765, in that por
tion of Windham, Connecticut, now the town of
Chaplin. He died Sentember 21, 182S, in Holland,
Massachusetts. It is likely that fhe father of Judah
Back was the emigrant from England. No other
branch of this family is known in this country.
The children of Jacob and Sophia (Francis)
Back were : 1. William, of whom later. 2. Arthur,
who came to Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1840,
and was interested in business before 1850 with L.
W. Pond; later he moved to Susquehanna, Penn
sylvania, where he spent the remainder of his days
and where his children settled; he was master me
chanic tliere in the railroad shops of tlie Erie Rail
road: the children of Arthur Back were: 1. Ar
thur: 2. Mary, resided at Binghamton, New York,
3. Sarah. 4. Charlotte. 5. Josephine.
(II) William Back, son of Jacob Back (1), was
born in Twerton, England, August 22, 1818. He
was educated in his native town and learned his
trade there. He became a very- expert finisher of
woolen goods. In fact, the goods that took the
prize at the Crystal Palace Fair in England in 1S50
were made in the mill where he was employed as
the finisher. But when in 1S51 he came to Worcester
with his wife and child he made a change in his

35°

WORCESTER COUNTY

a mechanical education. He came to Worcester be
cause his brother was located here, and he went
to work in the Pond machine shop. A number
of other English families came to Worcester at the
same time that Mr. Back came. There was an urgent
call at that time for skilled mechanics. The in
dustries of the state of Massachusetts were at an
important stage of their development, especially the
woolen mills. Some of the best mechanics in the
English woolen mills were induced to come to New
England. These English families came from the
prosperous middle classes. They were ambitious,
skillful in their trades, God-fearing and worthy
people. A group of these English families settled
in Worcester in what was then called "Oregon" on
the west side. Neighbors in the old country they
remained neighbors in Worcester.
He married in England Sarah Silcox, who died in
Worcester at the age of eighty-two. He died there
in 1893 at the age of seventy-five. Their children
were: 1. Arthur John, born in 1843 in Twerton,
England, was brought up in Worcester; he was
killed in 1864 on the Erie Railroad in a wreck at
Callicoon. 2. William Thomas, born May 24, 1846,
in Twerton, England, came to Worcester with his
parents when five years old; was educated in Wor
cester public schools and learned the machinist's
trade; for twenty-two years, since 1883, he has
been a foreman for F. E. Reed, manufacturer of ma
chine tools in Worcester; he is a prominent Odd
Fellow; he married Ella Russell, of Worcester, and
they have two sons : Arthur John, clerk at the F. E.
Reed Company shop, married, and resides on May-
wood street; William Russell, inspector at the F. E.
Reed. Company shop, resides with his parents at 52
Florence street. 3. John Richard, of whom later.
(Ill) John Richard Back, son of William
Back (2), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts,
April 24, 1851, about a month after his father and
mother came to Worcester to live. He received in
the public schools of that city his early education.
At the age of thirteen, however, he went to work
in George Crompton's loom works, Green street,
and remained there for two years. He tried mer
cantile business for a time and worked as clerk in
several stores. He returned to manufacturing and
served a regular three year apprenticeship with
Wood & Light, makers of machine tools. He was
promoted to a foremanship, and remained thirteen'
years with the firm, working, in fact, until the firm
went out of business. About 1886 he began to work
as a contractor for F. E. Reed. Two years later
the contract system was done away with and the
Reed shop reorganized. Mr. Back became the super
intendent, a position that he has held ever since.
Meanwhile, of course, the Reed business has greatly
increased. At first he had but fifteen men under
him, and now he has three hundred. The ,F. E.
Reed Company is described at some length ¦ in the
sketch of Mr. Reed. It is the largest concern in its
line of work in Worcester and in its special field
of engine lathes produces more than any other shop
in the country. The Reed lathes are known all over
the world. The company has a large export trade.
The business has grown constantly. Mr. Reed and
Mr. Back have worked together in the development
of this industry, Mr. Reed in charge of the selling
and Mr. Back in charge of the manufacturing end.
Since the corporation was formed in 1894, Mr. Back
has been a stockholder and director of the company,
and has been granted several patents on engine
lathes. Mr. Back is a member of the board of trade
and served one term as a director. He is serving
his second three-year term as director of the Wor

cester County Mechanics' Association, and he served
two terms as director of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association of Worcester. He is a Republican
in politics. He served the city of Worcester in the
common council from ward six in 1896-97-98. He
was an alderman in 1899 and 1900. In 1896 he was
on the committees on education, legislative matters;
in 1897 on public buildings, education and legislative
matters; in 1898 on education, legislative matters
and public buildings; in 1899 and 1900 on finance,
police, education, public claims and public buildings;
and chairman of the last two. He devoted himself
particularly to the work of the committee on educa
tion and claims. In 1898 he was a member of the
grade crossing commission appointed to solve the
problem of abolishing the crossings at grade of high
ways and steam railroads. Mr. Back retired from
the city council in 1900 at the end of his term. He
was appointed license commissioner by Mayor W.
H. Blodget with James F. Carberry and Captain-
John S. Baldwin for the year 1904. He was elected
chairman of the board. He was reappointed and
again served in 1905 as commissioner. Under the
present charter of the city of Worcester the chief
duty of the three license commissioners consists in
deciding between the various applicants for licenses
to sell intoxicating liquors and to grant the licenses
to the number permitted by law. The purpose of the'
license commission is to eliminate the influence of the
saloons in municipal politics by taking the granting
of licenses out of the hands of the aldermen.
In every public position in which Mr. Back has
served he has completely won and held the public
confidence ; he has devoted himself unreservedly to
the duties of the office. Few men having the heavy
business responsibilities of Mr. Back can be found
with the public spirit necessary to fill municipal
offices properly, if they are willing to take them at
all. Although still a young man Mr. Back is to be
reckoned among the founders of the great industries
of Worcester. Surely the men who create industries
and develop machinery for which a demand exists
is entitled to a large measure of public gratitude.
An establishment like the Reed shop benefits not
only the three hundred employees and their families,
but every taxpayer in the city, every merchant and
many other manufacturing industries. Mr. Back is
a member of the South Baptist Church and has
been on the board of trustees since 1897. He is a
member of no fraternal or secret order.
He married, November 15, 1877, Frances Lbrena
Parker, born in Boston, daughter of Charles Parker,
of Worcester. Their home is at 24 Oread street.
Their children are : Sadie May, born in Worcester,
April 23, 1881, married Herbert Sumner Ramsdell,
of Worcester, a clerk of the Duncan-Goodell Com-
paiiy hardware store, Worcester; they have a son„
Herbert Francis, born January, 1904. Lorena Fran
ces, born January 12, 1890, a student in the Worces
ter high school.
WILLIAM HENRY GOULDING. Peter
Goulding (1), emigrant ancestor of the Goulding
family of Worcester, was the progenitor of William
Henry Goulding of Worcester. There were a num
ber of emigrants to New England in the middle of
the seventeenth century, but none of them appear to
have left descendants by the name of Goulding ex
cept Peter. He came from England, probably from
Shipdam, six miles from Norwich. He was a de
scendant of Rev. Thomas Goulding, .who was co-
executor to the Bishop of Norwich. He was a
saddler by trade, but seems to have been an attorney
at law with a considerable practice in the courts.
He was not a Puritan, never took the oath of fidelity,

WORCESTER COUNTY

35i

nor joined the church. He was a man of morality,
as his Puritan critics described his virtues, of talent
and rare enterprise and courage. By marriage he
was connected with the aristocratic families of the
colony. He was in Virginia in 1667. He is said to
have become one of the earliest anti-slavery men of
Massachusetts, after visiting his brother in the south.
He was in 1670 attorney for Joseph Deakin, of
Boston, in a suit against Thomas Jeriner, mariner,
for the recovery of a negro slave, to the sale of
whom three years before in Virginia he testified.
His writing is mentioned as beautiful, and as more
than a generation in advance of his New England
contemporaries. He had a serious difference with
the Suffolk county court and was prosecuted and
fined "for charges that he divulged against the
court and clerk of Suffolk county." In consequence,
October 18, 1681, he addressed a complaint and pe
tition to the general court, but instead of sustain
ing his appeal the general court sentenced him to
make public acknowledgment of his fault, to* satisfy
the court, or pay a fine of twenty pounds to the
treasurer of the colony. But the general court ac
cepted a very ambiguous and dubious acknowledg
ment, and the fine was remitted. He bought of
Isaac Negus, April 11, 1682, two hundred acres of
land north of the Merrimac river, on Beaver Brook
creek. He was also interested in the second attempt
to settle Worcester in 1683, and bought the town
rights of Thomas Hall. He probably took up his
residence there until the settlement was the second
time broken up. He had several grants of land
in Worcester, and his son Palmer revived his claim
to one hundred and fifty-seven acres when the third
settlement ' was made in 1713, and the claim was
allowed. The family has been prominent in Wor
cester ever since. Goulding was the owner also of
three thousand and twenty acres in Hassanamesset
(Grafton), which at that time was' included in the
south part of Worcester. In 1694, when he left
Worcester at the time the settlement was abandoned,
he went to Sudbury, where he died in 1703, eleven
years before the successful settlement of Worcester.
He was only a sojourner in Sudbury, expecting to
return some time to Worcester. He was a cord
wainer as well as a farmer. Peter Goulding married
Jane  , who was the mother of three and
probably five of his children. He married (second)
Sarah Palmer, sister of Hon. Thomas Palmer, of
Boston, and in succeeding generations Palmer was
a common name for the sons. His children : 1.
Peter, recorded in Boston in list 166s. died young.
2. Mary, born January 21, 1665-6, died young. 3.
Francis, born February 22, 1667-8, probably died
young. 4. Martha, born probably in Virginia, mar
ried John Smith, of Hadley. 5. Elizabeth, born Oc
tober 6, 1773, married William Jenison, of Charles
town, settled in Sudbury and Worcester. 6. Winsor,
born March 3, 1674-5. 7. Thomas, born January 2,
1677. 8. Sarah, bom August 19, 1679. 9. John (cap
tain), born probably near Merrimac, Massachusetts,
1682, married, 1705, Abigail Curtis. 10. Jane, born
at Boston, January 16, 1683^4- "¦ Mercy, born at
Boston, September 8, 1786. 12. Peter, born prob
ably at Worcester. 13. Abigail, born probably at
Worcester. 14. Arabella, born at Sudbury or Wor
cester. 15. Captain Palmer, see forward.
(II) Captain Palmer Goulding, son of Peter
Goulding (1), probably born in Sudbury, 1695;
died February 11, 1777; married, at Concord, Massa
chusetts, December 4, 1722, Abigail Rice, who died
at Holden, February 17, 1722, aged seventy.
He is buried on the Worcester common, then the
burying ground of the town. He removed from
Sudbury to Worcester in 1728. He sold some land

here in 1722, and October 1, 1723, bought -twelve
hundred and six acres in the southern part of Wor
cester. He built his house where the Fourth Con
gregational Church stood later, near Front street,
and carried on a varied and extensive business as
tanner, shoemaker, curer of hams, maltster, etc. His
house was used in 1732 as a school, Richard Rogers,
teacher. He was on the committee to seat the
meeting, an important duty then. He was constable
1726-27-28-29; selectman 1730-31-37; treasurer 1738;
assessor 1732-33-34. ne, dealt in land extensively in
Worcester. He had a fine military record. He was
at the capture of Louisburg, June 17, 1745, in com
mand of a company. February 24, 1750, he and
William Johnson bought one hundred and thirty-
seven acres on the shore of Lake Quinsigamond.
Children of Captain Palmer Goulding: 1. Palmer,
born February 18, 1722-3, died January 30, 1792;.
married Abigail Haywood. 2. Abigail, born Sep
tember 24, 1724, died May 17, 1736. 3. Colonel John,
born October 3, 1726, died November 22, 1791 ; mar
ried Lucy Brooks. 4. Millicent, born November 12
or 25, 1728, died unmarried August 9, 1813 ; talented
teacher, once a Shaker. 5. Zurvilla (or Trovilla),
born December 25, 1730, married Cornelius Stowell.
6. Winsor, born December 4, 1732, married Eliza
beth Rice. 7. Ignatius, born September 6, 1734, died
November 5, 1814; married Elizabeth Goodwin. 8.
Peter, see forward. 9. Abel, born March 4, 1738,
died December 6, 1817; married Keziah Johnson, of
Shrewsbury. 10. Elizabeth, born May 1, 1741, died
unmarried, n. Patty, married John Miller.
(Ill) Peter Goulding, son of Captain Palmer
Goulding (2), born in Worcester, December 30,
1736, died July 17, 1790; married Lucy Brewer. He
was a carpenter by trade, and was. killed by a fall,
July 17, 1790. His children : 1. Levi, born March
!5> x767, died June 8, 1767. 2. Clark, see forward.
3. Lucy, born April 10, 1770, married Nathan Gates.
4. Patty, born March n, 1772; married, 1791, Charles
Johnson. 5. Lucinda, born February 23, 1774, mar
ried Timothy Johnson, 1792; resided in Worcester.
6. Peter, born May 15, 1776. 7. Sally, born April
28, 1778, died June 27, 1778. 8. Sally, born April 18,
1780; married Reuben Scott. 9. Zervilla, born Sep
tember 21, 1781. 10. Nabby, born December 23,
1783, died February 25, 1799. 11. Levi, born Sep
tember 11, 1787; married, April 18, 1809, Sally Har
rington. (IV) Clark Goulding, son of Peter Goulding
(3), born September 2A. 1768, in Worcester, died
there August 14, 1829; married Prudence Rice, born
April 9, 1776, married 1795, and died April 13, 1849.
Their children: 1. Mary, born October 23, 1795,
died 1837; married, 1834, Arthur Keyes, of Boyls
ton. 2. Lewis, born August 18, 1797,' died May 8,
1847; married, 1825, Luvy Adams; resided at Gard
iner, Maine. 3. Abigail, born June 21, 1799; married,
1823, Elisha Chaffin, of Worcester. 4. Harriet, born
February 22, 1801 ; married, 1841, Ebenezer Dana.
5. Henry, see forward. 6. Eli, born August 12,
1804; married Martha Alexander, of Deerfield, 1833.
7. Clark, born March 31, 1806, died at De Kalb
Junction, New Hampshire, January 29, 1894. 8.
Lucy, born October 15, 1807; married, 1844, Jason
Chapin. 9. Peter, born March 30, 1810, died March,
1896 ; married M'alinda . Hubbard. 10. Emelia, born
March 15, 1812, died April 17, 1812. 11. Frederick,
born December 12, 1813, died February 8, 1814. 12.
Hannah, born June 15, 1815; married 1832, H. P.
Dunham. 13. Fanny, born August 2, 1816; married,
1837, Gardner Childs. 14. Frederic, bora July 19,
1823, married, 1852, Calista Perkins; he died 1893.
(V) Henry Goulding, son of Clark Goulding
(4), born December 13, 1802, died January 30,

35^

WORCESTER COUNTY

1866, in Worcester. He married, 1829, Sarah Rice,
and lived in Worcester. He was a man of consid
erable property. He built the mansion at 20 Harvard
street in which his son, William H. Goulding, has
lived for many years. He was a manufacturer of
woolen machinery'; one of tlie first, and retired from
business in 1S51. He served as selectman; was one
of the founders and president of tlie Mechanics'
Bank; a member of the fire department in 1840. In
politics he was originally a Whig, and afterward a
Republican. His .children: 1. Sarah Rice, born
January 1, 1S30; married Henry- O. Clark; lived in
Worcester. 2. William Henry, see forward. 3. Sew
all Foster, bom July 17, 1836, died June 3- 1840.
(VI) William Henry Goulding, son of Henry
Goulding (5), was born in Worcester, Massachu
setts, May 23, 1833. He attended the public schools
of his native town, and in 1850 was graduated from
the high school. He took a course also at Leicester
Academy. He went to work in Boston as salesman
first for the wholesale firm of Pierce, Howe & Co.
After a year in their store he went into partnership
in the tailoring business with Henry Chaffin, under
the firm name of Chaffin & Goulding. After a period
of eight years, Mr. Goulding sold his interests to
his partner and returned to Worcester. Here he
decided to make his home, and founded the drug
store at present known as Buffington's, in 1859. The
store has always been on the spot now occupied, ex
cept during the time the present building was be
ing constructed after -the fire. He carried on the
drug store for eight years, and in 1866 sold it to
Elisha D. Buffington, whose estate still owns the
business, as the Buffington Pharmacy Company. At
that time the large property interests of Mr. Gould
ing kept him busy, and since then he has had no
other business than the management of his real
estate and other property interests. He enjoys
travel, and spends only a part of the year at his
home, 26 Harvard street. He has a cottage in
Cottage City at the sea shore, and in winter prefers
the climate of Florida to that of New England. He
is a member of the Commonwealth Club, and at
tends Plymouth Church. He married first, October
6, 1862, Florence Berry, daughter of Scotto and
Mary (Lovett) Berry, of Douglas and Worcester.
She died April 25, 1870. He married (second), No
vember 18, i89i,<Rose T. Ford, daughter of Joseph
T. and Henrietta W. (Womrath) Ford, of Phila
delphia, where they were married. Three children
were born of the first marriage, all in Worcester;
1. Mary Sarah, born December 13, 1865, married
Charles H. Curtis, of Boston; tlieir children: Her
man Goulding Curtis, born October 26, 1890; Philip
Goulding Curtis, bom July 8, 1893; Amy Goulding
Curtis, born -May 1, 1898; Charles Goulding Curtis,
born July 26, 1902. 2. Harry Scotto, born June 16,
1867, lives with his parents at home. 3. Louis Rice,
born April 7, 1870, married Minnie Whitney, and
resides in Boston, where he has a store, Beacon
street, and conducts a business of interior decorat
ing. To Mr. Goulding was born, of his second -
marriage, a son, William Ford, September 4, 1893,
a student in the Bancroft School.
THE HORNE FAMILY was an early one in
Maine and many of them were engaged in the lum
bering business, and were sturdy, thrifty people. Of
the branch of this family represented in Worcester
county Ichabod Home (1), who was engaged in
lumber cutting and rafting throughout his active
life, was indeed very successful. He married and
among his children, who were born at his home 'place,
near where he was, at Bingham, Maine, was one
named Ichabod, Jr., who became the father of the

gentleman for whom this personal memoir is
written. (II) Ichabod Home was borne October 7, 1829,
He was educated" at tlie common schools of his
native county and upon ending his school days be
gan farming, but later in life saw greater possibilities
in the business of his ancestors and began lumber
ing, in.whicli he was eminently successful. He died
in 1902. He was a stanch Democrat in political
views, but never aspired to office and belonged to no
secret society. He married Olive Gleason, who died
in 1S73. She was tlie daughter of Bryant and Eliza
beth (Corson) Gleason, of Maine, and became the
mother of the following children : Frederick J., born
October 10, 1S56; Florence E., Marcli 31, 1S5S, died
November, 1S87: Charles F., August 15, 1859; Sher
man, January, 1862; Thomas, of whom later; Flora
M., July 19, 1866, died July. 1883.
(Ill) Thomas Home was born on the old home
stead at Bingham, Maine, August 22, 1S04. He was
educated in the common schools in Clinton, Pitts-
field and Canaan, Maine, which had greatly improved
since tlie days of his father's and grandfather's school
days, and after obtaining the average education came
to Worcester, where he held a clerical position for
one year. He then went to Wisconsin, where for a
time he embarked in tlie lumbering business. But
the old Pine Tree State still had charms for him,
and we next find him in his native state, where for
three years he was engaged in buying hay. It was
in 1887 that he again came to Worcester, accepting
a position with the Washburn-Moen Wire Com
pany, where he remained seventeen years. He was
faithful to every duty imposed upon him and rose
to tlie position of assistant superintendent of their
great works. In 1903 he was elected by tlie city
council to the office of assessor, and has held the
position ever since, filling it with much credit to
himself and satisfaction to the tax payers. He was
re-elected in 1906 for three years.
He is a thoroughgoing, genial business man and
willing to do his share in any project for the general
advancement of his adopted city and county. Like
many another enterprising modern business character,
he is identified with the Odd Fellows and Masonic
fraternities. He belongs to tlie Blue Lodge of Free
and Accepted Masons.
He married, May 15, 1888, Georgia A. Drew, a
daughter of Albert and Helen Maine Drew. The
father was a merchant of Pittsfield, Maine. By this
union two sons were born: Roland D., March 14,
1895, and Evart J., January 26, 1903, both still living
at home. HON. WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE FORBES.
Daniel Forbes (1), the immigrant ancestor of Will
iam Trowbridge Forbes, judge of probate of Wor
cester county, was probably bom at Kinellar, Scot
land, about 1620. It is thought that he was one
of the Scotch prisoners of war taken at the battle
of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, eight thousand of
whom were sent to the English colonies. In the
early town records his name and that of his de
scendants is spelled variously: Forbes, Farrabas,
Farrowbush, Forbush, Furbish, Farebush, etc., and
the name Forbes is still pronounced in Scotland
with two syllables. In Burke's Heraldry it is
stated that the surname of Forbes was assumed
from the lands of Forbes, county Aberdeen, Scot
land, granted by Alexander II in 1249 to the pro
genitor of this noble family. Daniel Forbes w:as
in the employ of Edmund Angier, to whom he
conveyed land granted him by the town of Cam
bridge, Massachusetts. He removed from Cam
bridge to Concord and thence to Marlboro, where

S. (A e$nJZ^^>.

WORCESTER COUNTY

353

he died October, 1(187, He married at Cambridge,
Maivh 2(1 or 27, iooo, Rebecca IVrriinau, siuiposed
to have been a sister of Thomas Perriuiau, of Wey
mouth, and of Frances IVrriinan, who married, 1054,
Isaac Andrew, of Cambridge. His first wile died
May 3, i(>77. and he married (second), May 23,
1070, Deborah, of Concord, horn 1052, daughter of
John and Ami Kedial of Sudbury. She married
t, second) Alexander Stewart. He had light chil
dren: hauiel, Thomas, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel,
John, Isaac, Jonathan,
(.11) Deacon Jonathan Forbes, son of Daniel
(1), born in Marlborough, Massaehusitls, March 12,
1O84, died al Westhorough, an adjoining town,
March 24, 1708. lie was prosperous, owning a saw
mill and large tracts of laud; was constable, mod
erator of town meetings and selectman of the town,
and deacon of Westboro church. He married,
January 2, 171x1, Hannah llolloway, daughter of
Adam and Hannah (Uaywardl O'arrar) Hollo-
way, of Marlboro. Their children: Mary: Dinah;
Daniel; Thankful ; Jonathan, mentioned below ; Abi
gail; Patience; Phinehas; Eli.
(HI) Deacon Jonathan Forbes, Jr., son of
Deacon Jonathan Forbes (,2), born February 3.
1715, in that part of Marlboro subsequently incor
porated as Westboro, died November, 1750. Fie
married, in Westboro, November 23. 1738. Joanna
Taintcr; their children: John; Jonathan, mentioned
below; Phinehas; Mehitable; Joanna, died young;
Joanna, died young; Sarah, died young; Hannah,
died young,
(l\"l Deacon Jonathan Forbes, son of Deacon
Jonathan Forbes t.t), born in Westboro, March 1,
1740, died there June 5, 1805. He married, July
2. 1772. Sarah Brigham, born April 18, 1751, died
August 20, 1827, bequeathing to each of her forty-
live grandchildren a Bible. Their children: Moses;
Jonathan, mentioned below: Holland; Ephraim;
Sarah; Elias; Nancy; Aehsah ; all these children
attained maturity and married,
(Y) Captain Jonathan Forbes, son of Deacon
Jonathan Forbes u). born December 6, 1775, at the
rorbes homestead, West Main street, Westboro,
where he always resided, and where he died, Jan
uary 5, 1801, ile taught sehool when a young- man.
He was captain in the militia as early as 1813, and
in that year was also elected deacon of the Evan
gelical church, holding the latter office forty-eight
years, the fourth of the name in direct line holding
the office of deacon in the Westboro church. He
held most of the town offices and was a leader in
town affairs; it is said that he was chairman of
every committee on which he served. He married.
January 17, 1802, Esther, daughter of Ebenexer and
Esther Chamberlain, a niece of Judge Edmund
Trowbridge. Their children: 1. Sarah Brigham,
born April lb, 1803; married Rev. Charles Forbush,
of Upton, and died August 22, 1851; he died 1838.
a. Julia Miranda, bom June 25, 1804: married Rev.
John Wilde, who died in Alexandria, Virginia. 1808.
3- Jonathan, born November 20, 1800: died Jan
uary 24, 182a 4. Daniel H., born September 13,
1800: married Jane Jemima Baker; second, Mary-
Avery White. 5. Esther Louise, born June 22.
1810; died Oetober 3, 1812. o. Moses, bom Sep
tember 25, 1812; married Elisa L. Southwick. 7.
Ephraim, mentioned below. 8. Sophia, born January
7. 1821. died unmarried. August 14. 1881.
(YD Deacon Ephraim Trowbridge Forbes, son
of Captain Jonathan Forbes t.O, and fatber of
Judge Forbes, was horn ai Westboro, March 25,
1815. He received his education in the common
schools and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massa
chusetts, He taught sehool in Westboro and South-

boro, and for many years was ou the Westboro
school committee, lie was active in the Evangelical
churcli, and for many years deacon, lie resided on
the farm formerly owned by his father and grand
father, at, the junction of West Main slreet and the
road lo North . Grafton. He died August 2. 1863.
lie married, 1842, Catharine White, born July 25,
1815, daughter of William and Nancy t,A\ery>
\\ lute, 'of Westboro, formerly of Roxbury, Massa
chusetts, and great-great-granddaughter of Captain
Samuel Adams, father of Governor Samuel Adams,
of Massachusetts, descendant of Henry Adams, of
Braintree, the immigrant. Children of Deacon
Ephraim T. and Catherine Forbes: 1. Cathraine
Salome, born September 12, 1845: marrieil, March
12. 1807, Charles Brigham Kulriilge; resides at
Seattle, Washington. 2, Esther .Louise, born June
17, 1.847; resides in Westboro. 3. William T„ men
tioned below. 4. Francis While, born May 1, 1852;
married tirst. Jane A. Nasou, (.second) Fannie E.
Hooker. 5. Susan Eli/.a, born September 20, 1854;
died December 30, i860.
(VI 1) Hon. William Trowbridge Forbes, third
child of Deacon Ephraim Trowbridge Forbes (o),
was born in Westboro, on the old homestead. May
24, 1850. lie fitted for college in the public schools,
the Allen Classical School at West Newton, Massa
chusetts, and under the private instruction of Rev.
James Tufts, of Monson, Massachusetts. At Am
herst College, where he was graduated in the class
of 1871, he received first prize in mathematics in his
second year, and a German scholarship in his third
year. He was historian of his class, and one of the
editors of The Amherst Student. He rowed in his
class crew in the regatta of 1870 on the Connecticut
river. On leaving college he went to Constantinople,
Turkey, and for three years was instructor of niathe
niatics in Robert College there. He made a geo
logical survey of the vicinity of Constantinople with
Dr. George Washburn, president of tlie college, col
lecting about two thousand specimens of fossils,
many of them new varieties which were exhibited
at the Vienna Exposition.
He returned to Worcester to study law in the
office of Hopkins oi Bacon, and for three years was
standing justice of the First district court of East
ern Worcester. He resigned in 1870, and practiced
law in Westboro until he was appointed in 1888 to
his present position as judge of the courts of pro
bate and insolvency for Worcester county. Judge
Forbes held many of the town offices of Westboro.
He was representative to general court 1881-82, and
state senator from his district 188087. He served
on the committees on liquor law. being house chair
man, aud on the judiciary, probate insolvency, and
election laws. In 18S7 he prepared and carried
through the legislature laws abolishing taxation for
church purposes, and providing for the incorpora
tion of churches without a parish or religious so
ciety. He has taken much interest in local his
tory, and wrote the history of Westboro in Lewis's
"History of Worcester County," and co-operated in
the preparation of the town history published in
1801. He is a Congregationahst in religion, and
has been president of the Worcester Congregational
Club. He married. February 5. 1884. in Worcester. Har-
rietie Merrilield, daughter of William T. and Maria
C. (.Brigham) Merrirield, of Worcester. (.See Trow
bridge and Merrirield families). Their children: 1.
William Trowbridge Merrirield. born April 23. 1885,
graduate of Amherst College, and instructor iu
Robert College, Constantinople. 2. Allan While, born
June 20. 1880. a junior iu Amherst College. 3. Cor
nelia Brigham, bom July 14, 1888, a sophomore in

354

WORCESTER COUNTY

Vassar College. 4. Katherine Maria, born Septem
ber 23, 1889. 5. Esther Louise, born June 28, 1891.
6. Malcolm Stuart, born November 22, 1892, died
February 4, 1893.
MERRIFIELD FAMILY. Thomas Merrifield
was an ancestor of Harriette (Merrifield) Forbes,
wife of Hon. William Trowbridge Forbes, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts. His ancestry is ndt fully
proved. It is possible that he was that Thomas
born in Boston August 8, 1708, son of Joseph and
Margaret (Warden) Merrifield. Joseph, born June
8, 1675, was son of John and Sarah (Goad) Merri
field, John being the eldest son of Henry Merrifield,
of Dorchester, and his wife Margaret, the original
immigrants in this country.
The name of Merrifield has always been common
in the south of England, especially in Devon, from
which county Henry Merrifield is supposed to have
come. As far as is known he was the only one of
the name to come to New England until the eight
eenth century, and probably all of the name who
figure in the early New England records descended
from him. Thomas was a popular name in the
family, and possibly some other Thomas may haye
been the one who was in Dedham, rather than this
son of Joseph.
Thomas Merrifield lived in Dedham certainly
from 1736 to 1752, the dates of birth of the first
and last of his children recorded on the town rec
ords. No record of his death has been found. He
married, in Groton, Massachusetts, July 12, 1732,
Mary, born in Watertown August 29, 171 1, daugh
ter of John and Rebecca (Waight) Anderson. Her
father was a Scotchman; her mother a daughter of
John and Mary (Woodward) Waight, descended
respectively from Richard Waite (1) and George
Woodward (Richard 1), both of Watertown. Among
the children of Thomas and Mary (Anderson) Mer
rifield was Timothy, mentioned below.
(II) Timothy Merrifield, son of Thomas Merri
field (4), born in Dedham, Massachusetts, January
4, 1739. He owned land there in 1765, when he
deeded four acres to Ephraim Bacon, which bounded
southerly on his own land. There is, however, no
recorded deed showing when he bought his Ded
ham farm. In Sherborn he purchased a hundred-
acre farm on the road leading from Morse's farm
to Daniel Whitney's, in 1778, and a few months aft
erward deeded one-half of it to his brother Asaph,
and probably they lived here together until 1784,
when they bought of Jonathan Amory, of Boston,
one hundred and twenty-seven acres in what was
then the easterly part of Holden, now West Boyls
ton. Their old house is still standing, now occu
pied by J. Lambert, and is evidently very old, prob
ably built about 1739, when the land was purchased
by Joseph Woolley from Benjamin Flagg, Jr. . It
is very low-studded, with heavy timbers, wide floor
boards, and large square bricks in the hearths. It
had at the time of his purchase been recently the
home of Paul Raymond. Asaph Merrifield lived
here the rest of his life, and after his death the
house acquired the curious reputation that old houses
in fhe country sometimes did, of being haunted.
Queer things happened to the passersby ; wheels came
off their carts, etc., and thirty cats were known to
be kept in one of the front rooms. It has, how
ever, outlived these superstitions and looks strong
and solid for another century of existence. In 1786
Timothy Merrifield sold his half of the Holden
farm to Joseph Dwelly, and bought of him the
farm on the old turnpike, now Mountain street,
Worcester, afterward known as the Merrifield farm,
where he lived the rest of his life, dying in 1806.

His life was uneventful, with the exception of his
serving as a private in the revolution. He married,
1766, Lydia Cheney, died in 1770. Her two children
also died. He married (second), June 10, 1772, in
Sherborn, Mercy Perry, who was mother of all his
children that grew to maturity. She was daughter
of John and Mercy (Nelson) Perry, and was born in
Sherborn, 1742. Her father was descended from'
John Perry of Roxbury, through John (3), and
Samuel (2). Mercy Nelson was the daughter of
Francis Nelson of Rowley, and granddaughter of
Thomas Nelson (1). Children of Timothy and
Mercy Merrifield: Alpheus, mentioned below; Caro
line; Chloe.
(Ill) Alpheus Merrifield, son of Timothy Merri
field (2), was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts,
November 19, 1779. At the age of twenty-five he
commenced his public career by holding that curious
office, hog-reeve, to which it was the custom of the
time to elect young men immediately after their
marriage. In 1810 he was town constable and col
lector of public taxes, serving for six years. In
1812 and afterward he served on the school com
mittee of Worcester; he was also highway surveyor,
assessor, overseer of the poor many years, and select
man five years, also a member of many important town
committees, and was prominent in the First Uni
tarian Church, being deacon for twenty years. The
early part of his married life was spent on the
Mountain street farm, inherited from his father.
He became a contractor and builder, carrying on
business not only at home but in South Carolina.
He moved to Summer street, where he died Jan
uary 3, 1852. He married, November 12, 1804,
Mary Trowbridge, daughter of William and Sarah
(Rice) Trowbridge. They had eight children.
(IV) William Trowbridge Merrifield, eldest son
of Alpheus Merrifield (3), was born at the Moun
tain street farm, April 10, 1807. At fifteen he com
menced to learn the carpenter's trade and served a
seven year apprenticeship with his father. At
twenty-one he entered into business for himself as
contractor and builder, and built many of the im
portant buildings in Worcester, including the main
structure of Worcester Academy, the Lancaster
Mills, and many houses. In 1839 he purchased the
lot on Union and Exchange streets, where he erected
for renting purposes brick buildings, four stories
high, covering about two acres. These were burned
in 1854 and the present Merrifield buildings took
their place. They were designed to furnish room
and power to small manufacturers, and here Deacon
Washburn laid the foundation of the wire industry;
Knowles and Crompton founded the loom works,
and hundreds of other successful manufacturers
were attracted to Worcester because it was possible
to begin in a small way with little outlay of capital.
These were the first buildings in Worcester' of this
nature, and they gave an impetus to the mechanical
growth of, the city which did much to determine
her future. Mr. Merrifield was one of the founders
of Union Church. He was always active in the
agricultural and horticultural societies. Although
not caring for public life, he served in the city
government, being a member of the first city coun
cil, was also in the state legislature, for ten years
was trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, and was
president for a number of years of the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association. He died December
26, 1895, aged eighty-eight. He had had only one
illness in his life. When in town, as he almost al
ways was, he .never failed to go to his office. He
stayed at home the day before his death because it
was Christmas Day, and not because he was ready
to give up his work. He was twice married; first,

-WORCESTER COUNTY

35;

April 27, 1830. to Margaret, daughter of Jabez and
Nancy (Kingsbury) Brigham. Two children of
this marriage survive: 1. William Frederic, born
in Worcester, August 30, 1837; resides in Brook
line, Massachusetts. 2. Henry Kingsbury, born July
21, 1840, resides in Worcester. A grandson of his
daughter Catherine, Guy Merrifield French, is liv
ing in Ottawa, Canada. He married (second),
March 9, 1847, Maria Caroline, daughter of Charles
and Susannah (Baylies) Brigham, of Grafton. One
of their children is living: Harriette, wife of Will
iam Trowbridge Forbes, judge of probate for Wor
cester county, mentioned above. Mrs. Forbes was
educated at the Oread Institute. She is interested
in local history and genealogy, and has written many
papers on historical subjects. She wrote "The Hun
dredth Town," sketches of the town of Westbor-
ough. and edited the "Journal of the Rev. Eben
ezer Parkman." She has been regent of Colonel
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, D. A. R., and is now a
member of the State Council of the Massachusetts
D. A. R.
TROWBRIDGE FAMILY. Thomas Trowbridge
(1), of Taunton, England, the immigrant ancestor
of both Judge and Mrs. Forbes, is the progenitor of
all of the name in New England. He married
Elizabeth Marshall.
(II) James Trowbridge, youngest son of Thomas
Trowbridge (1), was an early settler in Charles
town; was lieutenant, selectman, clerk of writs,
deputy to general court, commissioner, and deacon.
(Ill) William Trowbridge, son of Lieutenant
James Trowbridge (2), bom November 19, 1684,
married Sarah Ward. .
(IV) James Trowbridge, son of William Trow
bridge (3), born at Newton, Massachusetts, April
21. 1717, married, 1740, Jerusha, daughter of Rich
ard and Sarah (Fuller) Park. He was the first set
tler of the name in Worcester. He was a turner
by trade. He came to Worcester in 1739 and bought
of Matthew Clark his farm of sixty acres and his
house on Tatnuck Hill. This farm is now the
property of the Tatnuck Country Club. He lived
there until 1747, when he sold it to Richard Flagg
and bought near the Auburn line the farm which
was for many years in the possession of himself
and his son, the central part of which is now called
Trowbridgeville. His old house stood until a few
years ago. He also owned the mill privilege where
he had a corn and a saw mill. He died July 21,
1806. Of his nine children only one seems to have
remained in Worcester, William.
(V) William Trowbridge, son of James Trow
bridge (4), was born in the Trowbridgeville home
stead, Worcester, March 20, 1751. He served as
corporal in the early days of the revolution, and also
on the committees of correspondence. He was
deacon of the First Unitarian Church for twenty-
years. He held numerous town offices, being con
stable, warden, collector of highway taxes, serv
ing on the school committee and on various other
town committees. His mansion house, still stand
ing at Trowbridgeville, was built 1798-9, and was
then considered one of the handsomest in Worces
ter. This reputation was owingj perhaps, to the
"wainscoting and interior finish, rather than to any
special features of the exterior. William Trow-
hridge died in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lewis
Chapin, just over the line in Auburn, September
30, 1838. He was buried in the Mechanics street
lurying ground, Worcester, and when. Foster street
was continued to the Union Station and the bodies
removed from that ground, his body and those of
his family were taken back to his old farm and re-

interred in that part of it which is now Hope Cem
etery. He married, December 12, 1776, Sarah,
daughter of Thomas and Judith (Stearns) Rice.
They were the parents of Mary, who married
Alpheus Merrifield, mentioned above.
HON. ALFRED S. PINKERTON. A citizen
of Worcester since early youth, self-educated and
self-made and prominent as a member of the Wor
cester bar, a former president of the Massachusetts
senate and one of the honored councillors of the
Republican state organization, a national figure in
the Odd Fellows brotherhood, a gifted orator. Hon.
Alfred S. Pinkerton stands high in the estimation
of his fellow citizens not only of Worcester but ta
an unusual degree to others, near and far. He is
one of the men that high honors make modest and
retiring. Air. Pinkerton's father was a merchant at Lan
caster, Pennsylvania, dealing in hardware, iron and
steel. He died when Alfred was a boy of fourteen
and his mother came to Worcester to live, bringing
her two children, a son and a daughter. His school
days were short. He had to become a bread winner
when a mere child. He gathered his education as
many good Americans have done without the aid of
the school teacher. He was clerk in several Wor
cester stores and manufacturing enterprises, thus
acquiring a thorough mercantile training. But he
turned his attention to the law and decided to make
it his profession. He studied in the office of the
late Peter C. Bacon, of Worcester, was admitted to
the bar in 1881, when he was twenty-five, and has
ever since been engaged in the active practice of his
profession. He was a member of the Massachusetts house
of representatives, representing ward two, in 1887-
88-89. Lrpon his first entrance to the house in 1887
he was appointed by Speaker Charles J. Noyes
chairman of the committee on towns, a position
which that year .was a particularly conspicuous one
by reason of several vigorous and hotly contested
town division cases involving questions of unusual
legal popular interest. These contests were heard
in the first instance by this committee and later by
the legislature ; he was the spokesman of his com
mittee on the floor and successful in maintaining its
contention. This was the year of the famous Bev
erly division contest and the spirited debates that
marked this long struggle, as well as the Medford
division issue that followed, which are memorable
in the annals of the legislature and of the literature
of town divisions.
In 1888 he was a member of the committee on
the judiciary and of that on constitutional amend
ments, and was also a member of a special committee
to represent the state in. connection with the cele
brations commemorative of the settlement of the
Northwest Territory. In 1890 he was elected to rep
resent the fourth Worcester district, which included
the wards of Worcester, the city of Fitchburg and a
number of towns, in the senate, and was that year
chairman of the committee on constitutional amend
ments, and member of the committee on the judiciary,
probate and insolvency, and of the special commit
tee to which was referred the first contested election
arising under the new Australian ballot law. The
report of the last named committee has been followed
as a precedent in cases involving the construction
of the law. In 1891 he was chairman of the com
mittee on the judiciary and by virtue of that posi
tion leader of the senate. He was also member of
the committee on probate and insolvency and chair
man of a joint special committee to consider state
commissions and their relation to state governments.

356

WORCESTER COUNTY

¦ The last named committee was one of great import
ance under the. circumstances. The then Democratic
governor, William E. Russell, had made in his
inaugural address a violent attack upon the system
of state commissions and contended for a greater
degree of executive authority. In consequence of his
inaugural address the general subject of state com
missions, their powers, duties, authority and relation
to the state government, were referred to this special
committee, of which Mr. Pinkerton was chairman
and of which Josiah Quincy, late mayor of Boston,
was a member. The committee held numerous hear
ings, and was allowed to sit in recess, and made an
elaborate report prepared by Mr. Pinkerton to the
legislature the following year. The Democratic
members made minority report upon certain phases
of the situation. This report, following a campaign
in which commissions were freely discussed, formed
the basis of future legislation on the subject of
commissions. Its suggestions and recommendations
are worth the attention and study- of those interested
in the uses of commissions as an auxiliary of state
administration. The senate of 1891 was tied politically between
the Republican and Democratic members. Mr. Pink
erton was chairman of the Republican steering com
mittee and spokesman of the Republican side, a po
sition requiring much tact and parliamentary skill,
but so well was the work done that in 1892 he was
elected president of the senate by the unanimous
vote of both Republican and Democratic members,
and the same compliment was given him the year
following. During his occupancy of the chair he
was made chairman of a special committee to sit
during the recess and consider the laws relative to
corporations other than municipal; the report of this
committee drafted largely by him is exhaustive and
comprehensive. It has been the basis of much
subsequent legislation to prevent the watering of
stock and otherwise to guard the interests of the
stockholders. As a result of this investigation and
report, the private investor is protected by law,
probably as much as the law can protect him, from
loss and depreciation of stocks while by later legis
lation great progress has been made in regulating
the public service corporations.
In 1895 he was chairman of the committee to re
vise the rules of the legislature. He declined a re-
nomination in the following year and has since been
engaged in the practice of law, giving freely of his
time to party interests and public affairs. As a pre
siding officer he won an enviable reputation as a
parliamentarian and for impartiality. While he was
the president of the senate a number of close par
liamentary questions came to him for decision, and
his rulings have since been followed as precedents.
He seldom reserved his decision on points of order
and questions to be decided, but almost invariably
decided them forthwith. It is a proof of his knowl
edge of parliamentary law and practice as well as
of his judicial mind to note that in every instance his
rulings were sustained. He is and for several years
has been the chairman of the executive committee
of the Republican state committee, and has de
clined election as chairman of the committee. He
has been secretary and is now chairman of the Re
publican county committee of Worcester county. He
is vice-president of the Middlesex Club, a famous
organization of men prominent in business and
politics. He has been one of the prominent cam
paign speakers of the Republican party for many
years, and has been the orator on many' occasions
of public interest. He was for several years di
rector of the Public Library.
He is also known for his leadership and honors

in fraternal and secret orders. He is past master
of Althelstan Lodge of Masons, a -member of Eureka
Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram Council and Worcester
County Commandery of Knights Templar.
He became a member of the Worcester
Lodge of Odd Fellows- in 1878, and was
noble grand of the lodge in 1881. He was
elected grand - master of Massachusetts for
the year beginning August, 1888, and was the young
est man ever chosen to fill the position. He was
elected to the sovereign grand lodge the following
year, but resigned before taking his seat, entering
that body as representative in 1890 and was con
tinued as a member until his election as deputy
grand sire at Dallas, Texas, and as grand sire .in
1898 at Boston. During his service as grand sire,.
at the head of the Odd Fellows of the United States
and of the world, he devoted a large part of his
time to the order. The good results of his labor
are apparent in the prosperity that is attending the
organization. He had the satisfaction of having all
his acts and one hundred and sixty-four decisions
approved. As an attorney Colonel Pinkerton, to use
the title by which he is generally known, has had
to do with some very important and noted cases-
At present his time is almost exclusively given to-
the practice of his profession.
Mr. Pinkerton was born at Lancaster, Pennsyl
vania, the son of William Cooper and Maria (Fiske)
Pinkerton, March 19, 1856. His -mother was a daugh
ter of Samuel Fiske, of Lexington, Massachusetts,.
a lineal descendant of one of the emigrants who-
founded the commonwealth of Massachusetts in
1630-40. His paternal grandfather was Henry Pink
erton, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who married into-
the well known Atlee family of Pennsylvania. The
Pinkertons were early settlers of Pennsylvania, com
ing from England. His father died at Scranton,.
Pennsylvania, December 28, 1871 ; his mother died.
while visiting her sister at Cambridge, Massachu
setts, in 1886. The children of William C. and.
Maria Pinkerton were: 1. Alfred S., borri March
19, 1856, married, August 18, 1904, Betsy Howe
Chapin, daughter of Willard and Lydia Chapin, of
Maiden, Massachusetts 2. Ella, born June 28, 1858,.
married A. M. Weeks, of Princeton, Massachusetts^.
in 1877, and has two children : Alice E. Weeks, born
December 7, 1877, married Harry Alexander, of
Upton, Massachusetts ; William J. Weeks, of Prince
ton, born July 26, 1882.
Maria Fiske, mother of Colonel Pinkerton, was-
born at Lexington, Massachusetts. Her father's-
family follows. Samuel Fiske came to Lexington
when a child and lived with John Chandler, who had
him baptized at Lexington, May 29, 1803. He was-
born at Salem, Massachusetts, September 30, 1789.
He married, January 25, 1818, Cordelia L. Tufts,.
of Charlestown, who was born January 7, 1795. She
died April 15, 1833. He removed from Lexington
to Shirley and later to Worcester, where he died
October 25, 1844. He was a representative in the-
general court from Lexington in 1828-29-30. Their
children were: 1. Lucy Ann, born at Kinderhook,.
New York, May 7, 1819, married, October 12, 1841,.
Joseph P. Hale, of, Bernardston. 2. Ammi R., born
at Charlestown (now Boston), Massachusetts, Sep
tember 28, 1820, married, December 28, 1846, Phebe-
James, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. 3. Augusta,
born at Lexington, December 31, 1822, married,
September 3, 1848, Timothy W. Wellington, moved
to Shirley, Massachusetts, thence to Worcester. 4.
Lucretia, born July 12, 1825, married, October 19,.
1845, William Hudson, of Lexington, who was a
soldier in the civil war, was in the signal corps in
Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, died of

WORCESTER COUNTY

357

disease, August 20, 1862, leaving John A. Hudson,
born December 2b, 1840, and William. F. Hudson,
born October 3, 1848. 5. Ardalia L,, born April 20,
1827, married, April 20, 1847, Lucius W. Pond, who
became one ol the most prominent manufacturers
<if his day in Worcester. 0. Maria, born December
jo, 1828, married, April 21, 1853, William C. I 'inker-
ton, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (See parents of
lion. A, S. Pinkerton.) 7, Lydia, born Juiy 27,
1830, 8, Samuel, born March 23, 1833, went to
Lancaster. Pennsylvania, married Amanda Stod
dard, of Philadelphia.
HARRINGTON FAMILY. Chauncey Good
rich Harrington was born in Worcester, June 30,
182(1, in a house that stood on the west corner of
Park and Salem streets, which at thai time was
occupied as a public house, his father, William Har
rington, being the landlord. His early education
was obtained in the public schools of his native town,
and alter passing through the various grades he
found employment with a maker of spectacles, then
-a Worcester industry. He latfr worked in a fac
tory in Millbury, where carpenters' and gardeners'
tools were made.
In the fall of 1850, the Harrington block, corner
of Main and Front streets, was built by his father,
and Chauncey G. Harrington, in company with Ed
ward Hemis, opened here a store for the sale of
boots and shoes, the style of the firm being Hemis
& Co., the location No. 2 Harrington corner. Al
though the firm name was subsequently changed to
Bemis & Company, Mr. Harrington continued a
member of the linn until the spring of 1873, During
the summer of that year he, accompanied by his
wife, made a trip to Niagara Falls. Toronto, and
down the River St. I-nwreucc to Montreal, thence
to the White Mountains, where ou June it, while
making a tour by coach from the Crawford House,
and on the way from Bethlehem to the Profile
House, a most thrilling accident occurred iu which
Mr. Harrington met with a narrow escape from
death. Two coaches each drawn by six horses left
the Crawford House in the morning, both well
laden with passengers and their baggage. The ride
to the town of Bethlehem was one of special pleas
ure. Here a short stop was made to allow the
passengers to partake of light refreshments and
stretch their limbs. At the appointed time, when the
signal was given, each one of the jolly party clam
bered into their proper places and tlie two coaches
with their precious human freight started from the
Sinclair House at a rapid clip amid the waving of
handkerchiefs and cheers from tbe patrons of the
hotel, responded to by the passengers with songs of
music, the swinging of hats and waving adieus as
they whirled along over the smooth road in the di
rection of the Profile House. The second coach
carried eighteen passengers, nine including Mr. Har
rington ou the top and nine including Mrs. Har
rington on the inside. There were also upon the
top of the coach several heavy trunks, making the
vehicle rather topheavy. For some distance the
two coaches traveled wiihin easy communication of
each other, but on reaching a certain house the
driver of the rear coach halted for a few minutes,
when on again mounting the box the forward coach
was out of sight. The driver as well as the horses
being apparently eager to overtake their leader, and
the road for a considerable distance being descend
ing, the coach was soon proceeding' at a fearful
speed, and as the attempt was made to pass a curve
in the road near tbe foot of Whitcomb hill, was
overturned throwing the nine persons and the tnmks
that were on top of the coach in a Inap by the road

side. Three of the passengers who were sitting near
Mr. Harrington when the coach went over were
killed and all of the others were more or less injured.
Mr. Harrington's injuries confined him in the house
in Bethlehem to which he was removed from the
scene of the accident for about three weeks. Mrs.
Harrington came from the wreck unharmed, al
though her lady companion in the coach received a
broken arm. Of late years Mr. Harrington has
occupied his time in caring for a valuable properly,
the accumulation of many years. Harrington block
at the corner of Main and Front streets is con
sidered one of the best locations for business pur
poses in the city of Worcester, He attends the Main
Street Baptist Church, and is a member of the
Commonwealth Club, and also of the Worcester
Society of Antiquity.
He married (first) Lois Ann Harrington, of
Millbury. She died, and he married (second) Har
riet Elizabeth Bemis, June 20, 1807. She was
daughter of William and Catherine (Eveleth)
Hemis, of Spencer, where she was born October 8,
1831. During her childhood her parents removed
to Worcester, where she received her early educa
tion iu the public schools and the Oread Collegiate
Institute, later becoming a teacher of music in that
institution, continuing- from 1854 to 1857.
Mrs, 1 larrington is a lineal descendant of John
Hemis, who was bom in Dedham, Essex county,
England, as early as 1550, and at his death left a
will proved June 28, 1604, by which we learn that
he had by wife Anne the following children: Isaac,
Luke, Neary, James, Susan, Abraham, and Joseph.
This last named Joseph Bemis married, lived and
died in England, leaving a son Joseph, born in Eng
land, HiH), who came to New England and settled in
Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1040. where
he died August 7, 1084, having had by wife Sarah,
nine children. The widow Sarah died about 1712.
John, born 1057, the youngest son of this Jo
seph, the farmer and blacksmith, married Mary
Harrington in 1080: lived in Watertown and had
fourteen children. Their sixth child, Samuel, born
1690, married, April 12. 1715. Sarah Barnard, and
had eight children. William, the third child bom •
in Sudbury, November 1, 1722, married Rebecca
White, July 5, 1750; and had Jesse, 1751 ; Sarah,
1/53: David, 1755; Sibhilah, 1758; Rebecca, 1761;
Persis, 1704: William. August 18, 1766: Silas. 1770.
He died March 23. 1801. and his widow Rebecca
died March 17. 1819. William Bemis. born August
18, 1700. married Lucretia Mirick. of Princeton; the
intention of marriage is dated February 3, 1802. She
died January 5, 1814. He married (second) Cath
erine Eveleth, also of Princeton. June 1, 1814. Chil
dren were: Diaries, born July 6, 1805; Dexter,
August 5, 1806; Jesse, Marcli 12, 1808; Elizabeth,
Marcli 17. 1811; David, August 3, 1812; Lucretia
Mirick, May 12, 1815: William, December 14, 1816;
George, July 25. 1818: Horace, June 25, 1821; Ed
ward, July 27. 1824 : and Harriet Elizabeth, Oetober
8, 1820' (I) Tbe ancestral line of Chauncey Goodrich
Harrington has been traced from Robert, who was
born in England in ioio. He embarked from there
in the ship "Elizabeth," April 10, 1634, and on arriv
ing- in Massacliusetts settled in Watertown, where
his name appears among the list of proprietors in
T642 and 1(144. He married, October I, 1648, Susanna
George, daughter of John George, of Watertown.
then deceased as was also her mother, the widow of
Henry Goldstone being- her guardian, Robert was
admitted freeman March 27, 1663. and died May
11, 1707. aged ninety-one years. His will, dated
January 1, 1704-05, mentions sons John, Daniel,

358

WORCESTER COUNTY

Benjamin, Samuel, Thomas, and Edward. To the
latter he gave his homestead. His will also men
tions daughters, Susanna Beers, Sarah Winship,
and Mary Bemis, showing thus early a union be
tween the Harrington family in New England with
the Bemis family. The inventory of Robert's estate
mentioned six hundred and forty-seven and one-
half acres of land and included a house and -mill
all appraised at seven hundred and seventeen pounds.
(II) Edward Harrington, born March 2, 1668-
69, the youngest son to grow to manhood of Robert
and Susanna (George) Harrington, married (first),
March 30, 1692, Mary Occington. She died and he
married (second) Anna, widow of Jonathan Bullard,
of Weston, Massachusetts^ He was selectman of
Watertown 1716-30-31. Their children were : Mary,
born 1692; William, 1694; Mindwell, 1697; Joanna,
1699; Edward, 1702; Samuel, August 3, 1704; Na
thaniel, June 25, 1706, was a graduate of Harvard
College 1728, and known as "Master Harrington" ;
Francis, June 11, 1709; Susanna, September 9, 1711.
(Ill) Samuel Harrington, born August 3, 1704,
married, October 19, 1725, Sarah Warren. He was
called of Waltham. They had Samuel, baptized May
19, 1728; Mary, baptized same day.
(IV) Samuel Harrington, baptized May 19,
1728, was called of Worcester in 1776, at which
time his daughter Hannah married Daniel Maynard,
of Shrewsbury, and may have been in Worcester-
prior to April 19, 1775, when his son Samuel marched
from Worcester in Captain Timothy Bigelow's com
pany for Lexington. His children were : Samuel,
born 1754, married Silance Robinson ; he died 1838,
aged eighty-four years; Hannah, born 1757, married
Daniel Maynard, and lived in Shrewsbury; Noah,
born February 2, 1760, married Lois Kingsley;
Joshua; and Jubal.
(V) Noah Harrington, born February 2, 1760,
was matross in Colonel Thomas Craft's artillery
regiment, 1775; William Todd's eighth Massachu
setts company, February 1 to May 8, 1776, three
months and seven days in Service. He may also
have served in Captain Sibley's company, Colonel
Keyes' regiment, mustered August 18,  , and in
" Captain Joseph Sibley's company, Colonel Dan
forth Keyes' regiment, enlisted Juiy, 20, 1777, and
again from December 1, 1777, to January 2, 1778,
and under Captain Dex for Rutland, afterward en
listing for three years.
He married, July 27, 1784, Lois, daughter of
Enoch Kingsley. She was born September 12,
• 1760, and died October 11, 1820. Their first home
was in Shrewsbury where three of their children
were born. They removed to Worcester about
1792, and lived on the road to Grafton where it
passes quite near the Boston & Albany Railroad
tracks. He, with his brother Samuel, kept a tavern
in Boston on the site of the present Adams House.
His children were: Lydia, born December 25, 1784;
William, 1786, died in infancy; Hannah, Septem
ber 23, 1792, died young; Samuel, died young; Will
iam, February 25, 1788; Luke, September 12, 1789,
died November, 1855; Samuel, 1797, died April 4,
1855; Eliza, 1800, married a M'r. Shay, died July
17, 1869; Thomas J., January 27, 1804, died July 5,
1888; Hannah, July 17, 1809, married Henry Tower,
and died March 23, 1853.
(VI) William Harrington, born February 25,
1788, married Abigail Adaline, daughter of Peter
and Elizabeth Stowell. She was born March 15,
1799. Her father and his brother Ebenezer, in com
pany with their father, Cornelius Stowell, were man
ufacturers of woolen goods, making a specialty of
weaving carpets, dyeing and dressing woolen goods,

and printing calicoes. They made the first carpets
used in the present state house in Boston.
Mr. Harrington passed his boyhood days upon
his father's farm and attending the common schools,
when a young man sought to learn the trade of a
mason and bricklayer, and during the construction
of the old Exchange building on Main street, near
Exchange, when the brick walls were nearing, their
full height, the staging on which Mr. Harrington,
and others were at work gave way, and the work
men with their bricks and mortar fell to the ground,.
several of the men being severely injured. Mr. Har
rington was taken up for dead and carried to the
opposite side of Main street near the corner of Wal
nut street, and laid in Mr. Hamilton's yard. Mrs.
Hamilton detected some signs of life and efforts
were made to revive him, which proved successful.
In the fall his knee had been crushed. That with
his other light injuries confined him to the house
nearly five years, when the limb was amputated by
Dr. John Green. As soon as he recovered from the
operation he attended the Leicester Academy where
he fitted for a teacher, and taught school in the
Central Worcester district. He later kept a store
on Main street on the site now occupied by the
Piper block, and also was engaged in keeping a
tavern at corner of Salem and Park streets. He
died February 12, 1871, aged eighty-tw>o years,
eleven months and seventeen days. His children
were : Frances A., bom October 4, 1821 ; William-.
Henry, April 29, 1824; Chauncey Goodrich, June
30, 1826.
HILTON FAMILY. The immigrant ancestor
of most of the New England family of Hilton was
William Hilton, who came from England to America
in the ship "Fortune" to Plymouth, November, 1621.
His wife and children came in 1623 in the ship
"Anne." Land was assigned to the family at Plym
outh in 1623. He removed to Newbury, Massa
chusetts, where he was living in 1635. He was ad
mitted a freeman May 19, 1642. He was a deputy
to the general court in 1642 and 1643. He removed
again to New Hampshire. His children were : Sarah,
born June, 1641, evidently of a second marriage;
Charles, July, 1643; Ann, February 12, 1648; Eliza
beth, November 6, 1650; William, June 28, 1663.
Page Hilton, a descendant of William Hilton,
mentioned above, was bom in Maine and died in
Bath, Maine. He married Mary Ann Caton. He
was the father of Charles Fowle Hilton and grand
father of Charles Eugene Hilton, of Worcester.
William Hilton, brother of Page Hilton, was
born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, November 28,
1813, and died at Hotel Brunswick, Boston, Decem
ber 25, 1887. He started in business as a country -
storekeeper at Frye village, Andover, Massachusetts.
His education was limited in his early years but he
was eventually a well-educated man with a bright,
open and inquiring mind and wide experience in
public affairs. He began buying wool of the farm
ers who then kept sheep generally. About 1843 he
removed to Boston to extend his operations in the
wool market and produce. In the successive firms
of Hilton & Gore, Williams, Hilton & Company and
in Hilton, Weston & Company this energetic man-
rose to the rank of the greatest wool merchant in
Boston, well known in all the markets of that staple-
throughout the world. Every year, in the interests
of his house, he spent considerable time in London.
Eminently successful as a merchant, public-spirited,
just and sagacious, he enjoyed the esteem of the best
people of the city. Mr. Hilton was rated as a.
millionaire.

WORCESTER COUNTY

359

He married Esther A.  , and they have
one daughter— Mrs. Catherine (Hilton) Fiske, who
survived him. In his will Mr. Hilton provided for
the eventual distribution of $540,000 among fifteen
religious societies, colleges and charities.
Charles Fowle Hilton, son of Page Hilton and
nephew of William Hilton, was a resident of White-
field, Maine. He married Charlotte Roe Chapman,
daughter of Benjamin and Lydia Ann (Turnbull)
Chapman. He died in Freeport, Maine. Charles
Fowle Hilton was a lumberman by occupation, /also
a farmer. He married (second) Eliza Spratt, of
Lewiston, Maine, by whom he had eight children,
five of whom are living.. Charles F. Hilton was a
leading citizen of Castle Hill Plantation, in Aroos
took county, Maine. The children of Charles Fowle
and Charlotte Roe (Chapman) Hilton were : Frances
Caroline, Charles Eugene, of whom later; Mary
Enez, Lydia Ann, Frank Ellsworth. The children
of Charles Fowle and Eliza (Spratt) Hilton were:
L'aban Page, Mary, Abigail, William, and several
others. Charles Eugene Hilton, son of Charles Fowle
Hilton, was born in Whitefield, Maine. He attended
the public schools at Castle Hill, Maine, and later
in Worcester, Massachusetts. He worked at farm
ing, having charge of the Heywood farm, Worces
ter, for ten years. He then bought his present es
tate, the old Allen place, and opened a stone quarry.
His farm on both sides of Grafton street, the
buildings on Woodland place. Mr. Hilton has been
very successful in contract work, excavating cellars
and furnishing stone for foundations, building high
ways, driveways, etc. He is a Free Mason, a mem
ber of Athelstan Lodge of Worcester; of Worces
ter Royal Arch Chapter; of the Republican Club
and other organizations. - The former owner of
the Hilton place was Major Allen, who sold it to
Edward I. Bliss, of the New York banking firm of
Bliss, Morton &, Company. Mr. Hilton bought the
farm of Mr. Bliss's widow.
Mr. Hilton married Rose May Rich, daughter of
Henry V. Rich, of Worcester. Her mother was
Deborah Sprague, of Rhode Island, a descendant of
the well-known Sprague family of that section.
Their children are: Benjamin Charles, born April
13, 1891; Irving Henry, February 27, 1893.
GEORGE CONVERSE BIGELOW. John Bige
low (1), the ancestor of the late George Converse
Bigelow, of Worcester, was an early settler in Water-
town, being a descendant, according to the pedigree
of Bigelow by the late H. G. Somerby, who spent
considerable time.jn searching the English records,
viz.: the Herald's visitations, deeds, charters, wills,
parish registers and other original documents, of
Richard de Baguley, Lord of Baguley, in the county
of Chester, England, 1243, since whose time the
name has had many variations of spelling, the pres
ent one having been accepted by nearly all the later
generations. Some of the descendants spell the
name Bagley, however. Not to occupy too much
space, we will take the direct line of descent to John
Bigelow, of Watertown, from Richard de Baguley,
Lord of Baguley, above mentioned, who married
Alice, daughter of Ralph de Vernon, and had a son.
(II) Ralph de Baguley, who married a daughter
of Hamon Massey, Baron of Dunham Massey. He
had lands in Baguley and Ollertbn in the parish of
Knutsford. He had three sons.
(Ill) Hamon de Baguley, third son- of Ralph, and
Lord of the Manor of Ollerton Hall in the parish
ot Knutsford in the county of Chester, left many
descendants in Ollerton.
(IV) Ralph de Baguley, of Ollerton Hall, a de

scendant of Hamon de Baguley, made his will and
died in 1540, and left two sons : Randall and Nicho
las. (V) Randall de Baguley, of Ollerton Hall, mar
ried Eleanor  , and died 1556; he left two sons:
Philip and Robert.
(VI) Robert de Baguley, of Ollerton, was buried
at Knutsford, November 4, 1582, leaving two sons :
Randall and John.
(VII) Randall Baguley, son of Robert, of Oller
ton, married Jane  , died at Wrentham, county
of Suffolk, and was buried May 17, 1626. They had
at Wrentham Persis, Susan, William, Margaret,
John. (VIII) John, above named, is said by Mr.
Somerby to be the John Biglo or Bigelow, of Water-
town. He was a proprietor there as early as 1642.
He bought a house and land there in 1649, and
took the oath of fidelity at Watertown in 1652, and
w'as admitted a freeman April 18, 1690. He was a
blacksmith and planter in the colony, was chosen
a surveyor of highways, 1652 and 1660, a constable,
1663, and one of "the seven men" (selectmen) in
1665-70-71. His homestead was bounded north by
Richard Ambler and William Parker, east by Thomas
Straight, south by the highway and on the west by
Miles Ives. He married (first), August 30, 1642,
Mary Warren, a, daughter of John and Margaret
Warren, and theirs was the first marriage recorded
in Watertown. She died October 19, 1691. He
married (second), October 2, 1694, Sarah Bemis,
daughter of Joseph Bemis, of Watertown. He died '
July 14, 1703, at the age of eighty-six. His will
dated January 4, 1703, was proved July 23, 1703.
The children of John and Mary (Warren) Bigelow
were: John, born March 14, 1643; Jonathan, born
December 11, 1646; Mary, born March 14, 1648,
married Michael Flagg, ancestor of the Worcester
county Flaggs; Daniel, born December 1, 1650, re
sided in Framingham ; Samuel, born October 28,
1653; Joshua, born November 5, 1655, resided in
Watertown and Weston, married Elizabeth Flagg;
he was a soldier in King Philip's war in Captain
Ling's company, was wounded, and in consideration
of his service the general court gave him a grant
of land in Narragansett; Elizabeth, born June 15,
1657, married Lieutenant John Stearns ; Sarah, born
September 29, 1659, married Isaac Learned, of Sher
born, near Framingham ; James, lived in Watertown ;
Martha, born April 1, 1662; Abigail, born February
4, 1664, married Benjamin Harrington; Hannah,
born March 4, 1666, died young ; a son born and died
December 18, 1667.
By his first marriage with Mary Warren the
Bigelows are connected by descent with the Warren
family. _Mary Warren's father, John Warren, was
on the list of one hundred and eighteen freeman at
Watertown, May 18, 1631. He was selected as
one to lay out the highways and see that they be
sufficiently repaired, and was selectman from 1636
to 1640. ' In a very elaborate genealogy of the War
ren family, Professor John C. Warren traced the
descent of John Warren from William the Con
queror, and gives the direct line as extended back
to the Saxon incursion into England in A. D., 495,
as also back through the royal lines of France, Ger
many and 'Italy. It will be seen from tables given
that the blood of the royal lines of England, France,
Germany and Italy flows in the veins of the Bige
lows and Warrens. William de Warren, the first
of the name, was one of the Norman barons who
fought at the battle of Hastings.
Samuel Bigelow, fifth child of John Bigelow, was
born in Watertown, Massachusetts, October 28, . 1653.
Fie married Mary Flagg, daughter of Thomas and

360

WORCESTER COUNTY

Mary Flagg, who was born January 14, 1658, and
died September 7. 1720. He was a prominent citi
zen of Watertown. He was an innholder from
1702 to 1716. He represented the town in the gen
eral court in 1708-09-10. His will, dated September
30, 1720, mentions his children, as given below, and
also some of his grandchildren : John, born May 9,
1675 ; Mary, born September 12, 1677 ; Samuel, born
September 18, 1679; Sarah, born October 1, 1681,
married Josiah Howe; Thomas, of whom later;
Mercy, born April 4, 1686, (also given Martha) mar
ried Lieutenant Thomas Garfield, son of Captain
Benjamin Garfield; Abigail, born May 7, 1687, mar
ried, August 1, 1710, Jonathan Cutler, of Killingly,
Connecticut; Hannah, born May 24, 171 1, married
Daniel Warren, a soldier in the French war, taken
prisoner by the Indians and carried to Canada ;
Isaac, born May 19, 1691, married Mary Bond and
lived at Colchester, Connecticut; Deliverance, born
September 22, 1695, married, August 10, 1715, John
Sternes. Thomas Bigelow, fifth child of Samuel Bigelow,
was born in Watertown, October 24, 1683 ; married,
July 12, 1705, Mary Livermore, of Watertown. He
removed to Marlboro, Massachusetts, where he re
sided until 1720, when he removed to Waltham,
where he died October 6, 1755. His wife died Au
gust 14, 1753. Their children: Thomas, born April
26, 1706, resided in Marlboro ; Mary, born September
2, 1707: Grace, born February 7, 1709; Uriah, born
July 15, 1711, killed in an acident at Marlboro,
March 5, 1734, unmarried; Abraham, born March 5,
1713, resided at Weston ; Isaac, born September 1,
1716; Jacob, born September, 1717; Sarah, born
May 15, 1720, married Lieutenant Elisha Livermore,
prominent in Waltham ; Josiah, born July 30, 1730.
Lieutenant Josiah Bigelow, youngest child of
Thomas Bigelow, was born in Waltham, July 30,
1730; married, July 27, 1749, Mary Harrington,
daughter of Jonas and Abigail (Stearns) Harring
ton. She was born March 8, 1730. Like his brothers
Jacob and Abraham he was prominent in town af
fairs and in military service. He was lieutenant of
the Weston Artillery Company on the Lexington
alarm April 19, 1775. He died at Waltham, July 15,
1810, aged eighty years. His children, all born in
Waltham, were: 1. Williarh, born in Weston, Oc
tober 11, 1749, was the original character described
by Harriet Beecher Stowe in the story of "Old
Town Folks" as "Deacon Badger," his wife Hepsibah
is described as "Grandmother Badger" and those
who remember them say their characters were most
accurately depicted. William, the eldest son, is de
scribed as "Uncle Bill." Hepsibah, the mother of
Professor Calvin E. Stowe, was known as "Susy,"
while Eunice figured as "Aunt Lois" and Abigail
as "Aunt Keziah." Professor Stowe was the author
of many theological works. 2. Anna, born August
23, I75i- 3- Uriah, born November 30, 1753. 4.
Converse, born January 20, 1755, of whom later. 5.
Mary, born March 3, 1756. 6. Alpheus, born No
vember 4, 1757. 7. Eunice, married, April 24, 1788,
Joseph Morse and settled in Templeton, Massachu
setts, and Eaton, New York ; had eight children.
S. Uriah, born March 15, 1766. 9. Thomas, born
August 11, 1768. 10. Sarah, born July 31, 1773, mar
ried, July 8, 1790. Hezekiah Morse.
Converse Bigelow, fourth child of Lieutenant
Josiah Bigelow, was born at Waltham, January 20,
1755; married. October 8, 1778, Anna Parks, who was
born in Brighton, Massachusetts, February 5; 1756,
and died at Sherborn, September 9, 1843. aged
eighty-seven years. He removed early to Templeton
where his first three children were born, then to
Sherborn where he lived the remainder of his days

and died April 23, 1829. He served in the revolu
tionary war from Weston in Captain Samuel Law-
son's company, April 19, 1775. also in Captain Asa-
hel Wheeler's company, Colonel John Robinson's
regiment, in 1776, also corporal in Captain Charles
Miles' company, Colonel Jonathan Reed's regiment,
at Ticonderoga in 1777. Their children were: Bet
sey, born July 31, 1779, married, May 27, 1806, John
Goulding, of Sherborn, had six children ; Anne,
born March 21, 1781, died unmarried December 26,
1871, aged ninety years ; John, born January 26,
1783, married Hannah Partridge and settled in Sher
born ; died December 8, 1839 ; she died August 27,
1S40; Converse, Jr., born November 20, 1784, mar
ried Mary Viles; Elijah, born August 31, 1786,
married Rebecca Fish; Calvin, born June 30, 1790,
married Elizabeth Adams; Sukey, born April 17,
1792, married Josiah Battelle ; Sally, born February
4, 1794, married Nathaniel Stearns, resided in Acton;
Josiah, born March 22, 1796, married Harriet
Sawin; Amos, born March 17, 1798, died July, 1798;
Moses, born June 29, 1801, of whom later.
Amos Bigelow, youngest child of Converse Bige
low, was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, June 29,
1801 ; married, May 27, 1827, Lucy Stowe, born in
Stow, Massachusetts, July 27, 1809, died in Sherborn,
August 29, 1885. He was a farmer and for many
years carried on the Bigelow homestead there, but
late in life retired, bought a place in the village and
sold the old farm. He was interested in the family
history and contributed much to the Bigelow gene
alogy. Their children "were: 1. George Converse, of
whom later. 2. Amos Elbridge, born May 10, 1830,
married Mary Pratt Green, April 4, i860, and their
children are: Irving Elbridge, Grace Hawley and
Mary Eleanor. 3. Henry, bom November 25, 1833,
married, May 10, 1863, Catharine Pierce, born May
10, 1839, died March 13, 1878; he married (second),
April 27. 1886, Mary Cockell ; Henry came to Wor
cester in 1864 and engaged in the retail boot and
shoe business, and about 1873 engaged in the real
estate business and appraising property for banks,
insurance companies, etc. 4. Edmund Dowse, born
December 5, 1838, married Alzina E. Jenkins, born
in Nantucket, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland,
where he resided many years in ship chandlers' busi
ness, afterwards removing to Kansas City, where he
now resides ; their children, born in Baltimore, Mary
land, are : Edmund Sprague, Lucy Stowe, and
Florence E. He enlisted in the Forty-second Massa
chusetts Regiment. His military services consisted
of duty in defense of Washington, D. C, until April,
1863; expedition to Mills Cross Roads, Virginia,
after Stuart's Cavalry, December .28-29, 1862; duty
on Columbia Pike, February 12, to March 30, 1863;
and at Vienna until April 11; moved to Norfolk,
thence to Suffolk, Virginia, April 15-16; siege of
Suffolk, April 17-May 4 ; Nansemond River, May 3 ;
Siege of Suffolk raised May 4 ; moved to West Point,
May 5, thence to Yorktown, May 31 ; raid to James
town Island, June 10-13; Dix's Peninsula Campaign,
June 12-July 10; action at Baltimore Cross Roads,
July 2: moved to Washington, D. C, July 10-11;
march in pursuit of Lee to Berlin, Maryland, July
13-24: moved to Alexandria, August 6, thence sailed
to Folly Island, South Carolina, August 7-13; siege
operations on Morris Island, South Carolina,
against Forts Wagner and Gregg, and on
Morris and Folly Islands against Fort
Sumter and Charleston, August 15 to Novem
ber 13 ; expedition to Seabrook Island,
November 13-15: resigned and honorably discharged
from service on surgeon's certificate of disability,
December 12, 1863. 5. Lucy Ann, born May 7, 1840,
died June 29, 1874, unmarried. 6. Wesley, born No-

WORCESTER COUNTY

361

vember 16, 1847, manufacturer of decorative furni
ture in New York, unmarried.
George Converse Bigelow, eldest child of Amos
and Lucy (Stowe) Bigelow, was born in Sherborn,
Massachusetts, March 11, 1828, where his boyhood
was passed acquiring a good public school and prac
tical education. After a short residence in Dover,
where he learned the trade of carpenter and builder,
building the residence of Hon. Henry Wilson in
Natick, he removed to Worcester, the city of his
adoption, in 1851, and there spent the remainder of
-his life. He had much native ability and push and
soon became a well known contractor and builder,
and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellow
citizens. The first important work on his own ac
count was the direction of the construction of the
Congregational Church in his native town. In i860
he formed a partnership with his brother, Amos E.
Bigelow, w'hich continued until about 1886 under
the firm name of G. C. and A. E. Bigelow, car
penters and builders. During this period they erected
a large number of buildings in Worcester and vicin
ity. In partnership with Silas E. Batchelder, Beacon
street, the firm built Piedmont Congregational
Church, corner of Main and Piedmont streets.
Among other buildings constructed by the Bigelow
firm were St. John's .Episcopal Church, Lincoln
street; the Armenian Church, Laurel street; Baptist
Church, Lutheran Church, Mulberry street; shops
for F. E. Reed; various additions to the Taylor and
Farley organ factory, Hanover street ; most of the
residences on Mt. Pleasant street; a block of resi
dences on Oread street; a residence on Main street;
all the blocks of residences on Oread place; three
residences on Benefit street; one on Benefit terrace;
a block of two houses on Austin street; a business
block on Front street; stores on Main street, &c,
were built for the senior partner. Many
handsome buildings were built by them in
different sections of the city. The firm al
ways enjoyed the highest reputation for
business integrity and thorough work, and never
met with a failure. After Mr. Bigelow retired from
the firm he took the- contract for the Knowles build
ing, corner of Main and Chatham streets, one of the
finest office buildings in the city at the time of its
erection. He was never active in politics, though
interested, and did not aspire to public office, but
was essentially a home man, where there was shown
the radiance of love in his heart for those who were
near and dear to him. Mr. Bigelow was an active
member of Piedmont Church for seventeen or
eighteen years. After a long and painful illness,
which he fought bravely,, without a murmur he sub
mitted to the inevitable, April 13, 1892, leaving wife
and daughter, Alice J., born August 8, 1856, educated
at Oread Collegiate Institute, married, October 2,
1879, Frank P. Knowles, of the Crompton & Knowles
loom works. They have children : George Francis,
born in Worcester, October 19, 1881 ; Alice Marian,
born in Worcester, February 2, 1886; and Lillian,
born in Worcester, August 26, 1888.
George Converse Bigelow married, at Worcester,
November 29, 1855, Eleanor J. Doane, born in
Spencer, June 8, 1834, daughter of Cheney and
Lorinda (Green) Doane. After finishing her edu
cation at Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massa
chusetts, and the Oread Collegiate Institute, Wor
cester, she became a teacher in the public schools
of Worcester, where she has been a resident for
more than fifty years. She has been an active mem
ber of Piedmont Church since its first organization,
interested and helpful in all charitable and edu
cational work, liberal and fair-minded, kind and free
to help others even at the expense of her own in

terests, cheerful and appreciative of kindness, enter
prising and energetic, with a nature susceptible and
responsive to noble influences, and thus thought and
life were strengthened with her years. She was also
a member of the Woman's Club of Worcester.
History tells us that Deacon John Done, or
Doane as the name is now spelled, the progenitor of
the Doane family in all its branches in this country,
came from England with his wife about 1629, when
history also informs us that thirty-five of the Ley
den Company with their families arrived at Plym
outh. He no doubt was one of these and a member
of Mr. Robinson's church. While it is not definitely
known from what part of the kingdom originally
came the founder of the Doane family in America,
we are fortunate in having our notes on the English
family from the pen of Mrs. Sarah Cash, of Dela-
mere, Cheshire, England, a writer well known to
the genealogical magazines of her country. Mrs.
Cash's home is within, the limits of the ancient
Delamere Forest, of which for many years the Dones
were Chief Foresters, and during the past few years
she has contributed to "Chester Notes and Queries"
a series of highly interesting articles on the Dones
of Utkinton. It is supposed the earliest settlement
of Dones at Utkinton was in King John's reign,
1199-1216, as in the old histories at a very early
period is given a marriage between a Done and a
Kingsley, formerly spelled Kyngslie, and when, as
appeared, the ancient Manor of that name had just
passed from a Saxon ownership. The office of
forestship, or Rangers of the Forest, by any noble
man holding such post, the same is held, figuratively
speaking, by the "tenure of a horn," which particular
horn in this case had been held by the Dones through
transcending generations. Frequent _ intermarriages
of the Dones with other great families in Cheshire
took place as a natural consequence to their relative
associations and possessions. This family is allied
to one of the notably older families of the county,
the Venables of Utkinton, a race spoken of as a race
of warriors.
The first and chief residence of the Done family
appears to have been at the old Hall of Utkinton,
county Chester. Tradition still speaks of the hospital
ities of Utkinton Hall during the occupancy of Sir
John Doane, the last possessor of the ancient line.
His lady, Dorothy Doane, was possessed of such
amiableness of temper and excellency of character,
that when a Cheshire man would express excellency
in the fair sex, he will say, "as fair as Lady Done,"
or "there's a Lady Done for you," both of which are
well known proverbs to this day in Cheshire. The
Dones' monuments still to be seen in Tarporley
church are very striking examples' of fine arts;
sculptured in marble they retain in a great degree
their purity and whiteness, while in the evident
care and truthfulness of execution they show ex
cellent workmanship and artistic skill. The medallion
wall piece of Sir John Doane in Tarporley Church
' represents him in the costume of the reign of King
James I, his left hand resting upon the hilt of his
sword, and with the Done motto, "Ommia Mei Dona
Dei." The portrait reproduction of Sir John and
Lady Done has been photographed from an ancient
painting now hanging in Maple Hall, near Stock
port. There is a similar portrait of Sir John Done
at Arderne Hall, the property of the Earl of Had
dington- The picture is well preserved, though dark
in tone, and the figure appears to have been depicted
as wearing the Bugle Horn. This Sir John Doane,
Knight, born 1576, knighted by James I, at Utkinton,
1617. died April 13, ^629, and was buried at Tar
porley, 1629. He married Dorothy, daughter of
Thomas Wilbraham, Esq., of Woodhey, and with

362

WORCESTER COUNTY

his youthful bride went to reside for some time, ac
cording to the desire of his father-in-law, in the
house of the celebrated John Bruen, of Stapleford, in
order to be schooled in the principles and habits of
Puritanism. It is very probable that Deacon John
Doane, of Plymouth, was a descendant of Sir John
Done. Knight, in England.
John Deane must have been known to the Pil
grims previous to his coming to Plymouth. He
was a strong man. The Pilgrims were very careful
to give no titles where they were not due. The
late Amos Otis, genealogist of "Early Barnstable
Families." says : In the Plymouth Colony the gov
ernor, deputy, governor, magistrates and assistants,
ministers of the church, schoolmasters, officers in
the militia, men of great wealth or connected with
the gentry- or nobility, were entitled to be called
"Mister" and their wives "Mistress." This rule
was rigidly enforced in earlier Colonial times, and
in all lists of names it was almost the universal cus
tom to commence with those who stood highest in
rank and to follow that order to the end. His
associates and the offices he was bidden to under
take by the governor, the court, and by the suf
frages of his townsmen show him to have been
a man of superior qualities. The names of the
Freemen of the incorporation of Plymouth in New
England in 1633 were: Edward Wynslow. governor;
Captain Miles Standish, William Bradford, John
Howland. John Alden. John Done, Stephen Hop
kins, William Gilson: Plymouth Colony- Record, vol.
1, page 3, council. January 2, 1633-34, at this court
Mr. John Doane being formally chosen to the office
of a deacon in the church, rather than an assistant
to the governor in the affairs of the colony, resigned.
His position would suggest that he deemed the offices
inconsistent one with the other. The question of the
day was " Separation and Independence." Hence we
can slightly appreciate his course of thought in
deciding. Nevertheless Mr. Doane henceforth was
frequently summoned to act upon committees for
the welfare of the community.
In 1636 Elder Brewster, Pastor Smith and Dea
cons Doane and Jenney, of Plymouth, Jonathan
Brewster and Christopher Wadsworth, of Duxbury,
James and Anthony Annable, of Scituate, were joined
to the governor and council for the preparation of
a regular system ¦ of laws. They began with the
declaration of the Mayflower Compact, &e. Until
now, 1636. there was no law establishing the offices
of governor, councillors or constables. By general
consent for fifteen years they were chosen annually.
Goodwin's "Pilgrim Republic." page 401. They as
sembled according to the order and having read the
combination made at Cape Cod. the nth of No
vember, 1620, on board the "Mayflower," they per
formed the important work for which they were
appointed. This was the first revision of the laws
of the colony, and to be appointed one of the com
mittee for this work was a mark of distinction, show
ing that Deacon Doane was respected for his wis
dom and integrity. Pratt's History of Eastham,
page 16, March 3. 1644-45. It is ordered that
Mr. Miles Standish, Mr. John Doane and John
Dunham shall take the accounts of Mr. Thomas
Prence for his treasurership. of its receipts and
payments, and certifye the Court thereof; Plym
outh Colony Record, vol. If, page 82.
In 1644 there was a movement toward a new
settlement at Nauset, but the final removal was
in 1645. The leaders in the enterprise were ex-
Governor Thomas Prence. Deacon John Doane,
Nicholas Snow. Josiah Cook, Richard Higgins, John
Smalley and Edward Bangs. It is noted in Plym
outh Colony Record, vol. XII, that Mr. John Doane

sold his home in Plymouth in 1645 to Mr. William
Hanbury. The territory of Nauset, purchased by the
Indians, embraced the greater part of the present
town of Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet. Our fore
father gave the name of Nauset to the whole pur
chase and it was so called until 1651, when the
court of Plymouth promulgated an order that hence
forth Nauset should be called Eastham. Deacon
Doane had about two hundred acres of land; at
various times having land granted him by court as'
well as by the town, afterwards. In Eastham town
affairs Mr. John Doane was an important man. He
was appointed by the court, June I, 1663, to solem
nize marriages and to administer oaths to witnesses.
He was a deacon of the First Church there, and
served the town as selectman for many years. In
1649-50-51-53-59 he was a deputy to the colony court
for Eastham, as he had been in 1642-43 for the
town of Plymouth. He died February 21, 1685,
aged about ninety-five. In his will his wife's name
appears as Abigail. His children were:
I. John. 2. Lydia, who was probably born
before her parents came to Plymouth; she mar
ried Samuel Hicks, who came to Plymouth with his
mother, younger brother, and sisters in the "Ann"
in 1623. His father, Robert Hicks, came over in
the "Fortune" in 162 1, and was one of the fore
most of the Pilgrim fathers. Abigail 2 (John I)
born January 13, 1631. in Plymouth, married, 1690,
Samuel Lothrop, born in England, second son of
Rev. John Lothrop, died at Norwich, Connecticut,
January 23, 1734-35. John 2, born at Plymouth, 1635,
died at Eastham, March 15, 1708; married (first),
April 30, 1662, Hannah, daughter of Edward Bangs,
who came over to Plymouth in the "Ann" in July,
1623; married (second), January 14, 1694, Rebecca
Pettee, whom he outlived. He went with his father's
family to Eastham, where he was a man of promi
nence and was for many years in public service. He
was a large landholder and was quite extensively
engaged in farming. He was a member of the First
Church of Eastham. His children were: John 3,
bom March 20, 1663. died May 15, 1663; John, born
May 29, 1664; Ann, bom July 25, 1666, died at
Orleans. July 12, 1745 : Rebecca, born May 12,
1668; Hannah, bom May 12, 1669, died June 6,
1765, married, February 12, 1701-02, John Collins,
bom at Eastham, December 18, 1674. died May 24,
1765, son of Joseph Collins. From them descended
the Hon. Enos Collins, a distinguished merchant of
Liverpool, Nova Scotia, who married a daughter
of Sir Brenton Halliburton, chief justice of Nova
Scotia, and who died at Liverpool, in 1871, aged
ninety-seven years. Isaac, born June 2, 1670; Sam
uel, bom March 2, 1673; David, born about 1674,
died November 18. 1748. of whom later. Daniel
2. bom about 1636, died December 20, 1712. He
was an extensive landholder and a prominent man
in Eastham. Ephraim 2. born . at Plymouth, re
moved to Eastham, died 1700. He married (first)
Mercy Knowles, the daughter of Richard and Ruth
(Bower) Knowles; married (second), after 1692,
Mary Snow, who was born in Barnstable, Decem
ber n, 1647, died at Eastham, 1703.
David Doane 3. youngest son of John Doane,
Jr. 2, bom at Eastham. about 1674, died November
18. 1748. Married, September 30, 1701, Dorothy
Horton, and in his will in 1738 names his wife
Sarah. He was a juryman 1708-09-13-14-15-19-20-
2S-30, and a constable 1711-12. Besides being a
farmer it is understood that he was a physician, and
that he had a lucrative practice is evident. He
had seven sons. viz. : Jonathan, John, Nathan, Eleazer,
Joshua. David and Enoch. Daughters: Hannah,
married Samuel Atwood, married (second) 

WORCESTER COUNTY

563

Higgins ; Keziah, married Isaac Bacon ; married
(second) Dr. John Duncain ; Abigail, married Prince
Collins ; Rachel, married  Higgins.
Jonathan Doane 4, born July 7, 1703, at Eastham,
died January 24, 1780; married, August 8, 1723,
Martha Higgins, and settled in Eastham. He was a
representative to the general court, a justice of the
peace, town assessor, &c.
Elisha Doane 5, eldest child of Jonathan Doane,
born November 24, 1724, at Eastham, Massachusetts,
died at Spencer, Massachusetts, about 1810. He
was commissioned captain of Sixth (Second East
ham) Company, Second Barnstable Regiment of
Massachusetts Militia, April 20, 1776. His widow
Martha drew a pension for his revolutionary serv
ices and spent her last days at the home of her
grandson in Spencer; she died November 10, 1837,
aged eighty-eight years. Their children were : Oliver,
born at Eastham, about 1754; Amos, born at East
ham, 1758; Nathan, born Eastham; Elisha, born
Eastham, January 7, 1770; Martha; Lucy, married
Samuel Flagg.
Nathan Doane 6, born Eastham, died at Brook
field, about 1840; married, May 21, 1785, Betsey
Smalley, who died August 7, 1834. He was a soldier
in the war of 1812. His children were: eight sons
and two daughters, the youngest, John, born De
cember 12, 1803, was drowned December 7, 1816.
Cheney Doane 7, youngest living son of Nathan
Doane, born at Brookfield, Massachusetts, April 15,
1802, died April 2, 1866. Married Lorinda Green,
of Spencer, born May 7, 1812, died June 9, 1890.
Children: Eleanor J., born at Spencer, June 8,
1834, married G. C. Bigelow; Elbridge, born Feb
ruary 2, 1840, was a soldier in the war of the
rebellion, enlisting in the Fifteenth Massachusetts
Regiment Infantry, Company F, the last of June
1861, was mustered into the United States army
July 12, 1861, and was discharged at Worcester,
Massachusetts, July 28, 1864. He was engaged in
the battles of Balls' Bluff, Fredericksburg and Gettys
burg. He was taken prisoner in the first battle in
which he fought and was wounded in the battle of
Gettysburg, which caused his absence from his regi
ment for several months, and in consequence of which
his health was so depleted that he was put on the
list of pensioners. He married Julia Barber, of
Esmond, South Dakota, had one daughter. Alma,
bom February 28, 1892. Lorenzo F., born August
13, 1842, died at St. Louis, Missouri. He enlisted
in the Twenty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts In
fantry, Company I, and was promoted to corporal.
He was in all the battles fought by the Twenty-
fourth Regiment during his term of service and was
duly discharged. He married, July 26, 1903, Mary
R. Jones, born at Falmouth, Massachusetts, March
10, 1856, daughter of Captain Silas and Harriet B.
(Robinson) Jones. Children : Bertha Leigh, born at
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, July 29, 1878 ; Joseph Rob
inson, born Kansas City, Missouri, October 2, 1882;
Mary Dorothy, born at Clear Lake, Iowa, July 22,
1886; Paul, born at Denver, Colorado, October 12,
1887. Anna Izette, born October 2, 1847, married
Rimmon Colton Fay, of Brookfield, February 22,
1870. Children: Walter Chapman, born Hartford,
Connecticut, April 28, 1872, died April 29, 1872;
Ralph Warren, born Lincoln, Rhode Island, July
28, 1873, died September 7, 1874; Elsie Florence, born '
Brookfield, Massachusetts, March 21, 1875, teacher
in Friends' School, Frankford, Philadelphia, Penn
sylvania; Arthur Colton, born Pawtucket, Rhode
Island, April 18, 1877; George Lucius, bom Lincoln,
Rhode Island, August 15, 1879 ; Rimmon . Wesley,
born Milford, Massachusetts, November 22, 1881 ;
Frank Homer, born Milford, Massachusetts, Febru

ary 14, 1883; Alice Eleanor, born Milford, Massa
chusetts, September 1, 1884, died January 10, 1885;
Pauline Ruby, born Hopedale, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 7, 1887; Dorothy Izette, born Ilion, New
York, January 12, 1892.
Thomas Doane, a descendant of Deacon John
Doane, of Plymouth, in a direct line from Samuel
Doane, brother of David, sons of John, Jr., who was
born at Orleans, Massachusetts, September 20, 1821,
died October 22, 1879, was one of the first civil
engineers of his time, having done very extensive
and important work from Massachusetts to" Dakota.
He was. an active member of the Boston Society of
Civil Engineers, and was elected president shortly
after its organization in 1879, and was nine times
re-elected to that position. He became a member
of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1882.
From 1869 to 1873, while a resident of Nebraska,
he was instrumental in founding "Doane College"
situated in Crete, on the "Big Blue" river, twenty
miles west of Lincoln, and one of the leading educa
tional institutions of that state, and of which David
Brainard Perry, son of Deacon Samuel Perry, of
Worcester, is president, and who married Mr.
Doane's eldest daughter, Helen, July 3, 1876. Mr.
Doane resided for many years at No. 8 Pearl street,
in one of the oldest houses in Charlestown. It was
at one time owned by Oliver Holden, the composer
of the famous hymn "Coronation," who lived there
for many years and died in one of the upper rooms.
In 1863 Mr. Doane was appointed chief en
gineer of the Hoosac tunnel, and located the line
of the tunnel, built the dam in the Deerfield river
to furnish water power, and in this work intro
duced nitroglycerine and electric blasting for the first
time in this country. He also introduced com
pressed air, and invented the machinery for it,
and had a large share in inventing the pneumatic
drills used there. On the opening of the tunnel
in 1875 he run the first engine, the "N. C. Munson"
through it. In 1869 he went to Nebraska and built
two hundred and forty miles of railroad on the ex
tension of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail
road, and located and named nearly all the- towns
on the extension. Completing his work in Nebraska
in 1873 he returned to Charlestown, and soon after
wards was appointed consulting engineer of the
Hoosac tunnel and had charge of the reconstruct
tion of the Troy and Greenfield Railway and of the
tunnel. He finished his duties in this direction in
1877, and two years later was appointed consulting
and acting chief engineer of the Northern Pacific
Railroad for one year. During that time he lo
cated the Pend d' Oreille division across the Colum
bia Plains in Washington Territory, and parts of
the Missouri division in Dakota. Mr. Doane was at
one time employed as consulting engineer of the
West End Street Railway, Boston, and in the winter
of 1877-78, in company with other officials of the
railway, visited a number of western cities for the
purpose of examining cable systems. A large part
of the engineering for the city of Charlestown was
done by Mr. Doane previous to that city becoming
a part of Boston in 1874. Mr. Doane has at one time
or another been connected with all the railroads
running out of Boston, but particularly with the
Boston & Maine. In company with his brother,
John Doane, Jr., he opened an office at No. 21 City
Square under the firm name of T. and J. Doane, Jr.,
for the general practice of civil engineering and
surveying, an office which was maintained until his
death in 1897.
WILLIAM HOWE BLISS, son of Harrison
and Sarah (Howe) Bliss, was born September 23,

364

WORCESTER COUNTY

1850, at Worcester, Massachusetts. His mother was
the daughter of William and Sarah (Hayden) Howe,
of Worcester. He attended the public schools and
Highland Military Academy. He entered Worcester
Academy but did not complete his course. He be
gan his business life in the jewelry business in 1870.
Later he was superintendent of the Boston, Clinton
& Fitchburg Railroad at New Bedford, a position
he filled for two years. For a year he was at Tif
fin, Ohio, engaged in the manufacture of staves for
oil and flour barrels. Since the death of his father
his time -has been occupied in the care of the real
estate and property. He was formerly a member
of the Tatnuck Country Club and of the Hancock
Club. He is a member of the Worcester Society
of Antiquity. He married (first) May 31, 1883,
Nellie J. Winch, daughter of Martin Winch. He
married (second), April 15, 1891, Florence E. W.
Weston, daughter of David and Almira Weston, of
Fort Fairfield, Maine. Almira Weston was the
daughter of Rev, Amos and Mary (Watson) Par
mer an English clergyman who came to New Bruns
wick as a missionary. Mrs. Bliss was born at Fort
Fairfield, Aroostook county, Maine. The children
of these two marriages were : Elizabeth Howe, born
January .11, 1886, now at Smith College, class of
1908; Sarah, June 7, 1893, died August 22, 1894;
Florence, May 22, 1895; and Dorothea, November
17, 1898.
(I) Thomas Bliss, was the last English ances
tor of the Bliss family of Worcester. He resided
at B elstone and was a man of property. He was
a Puritan and his wealth and prominence perhaps
invited the persecution he suffered and through
which he lost both his wealth and his health. He
was imprisoned for his religious and political views.
His children, of whom Thomas and George emi
grated to America to escape persecution, were :
Jonathan, died 1635-36; Thomas, died in 1640;
Elizabeth, married Sir John Calcliffe, of Belstone;
George, born 1591, died August 31, 1667; and Mary
(Polly). .
(Il) Jonathan Bliss, son of Thomas Bliss (1),
of Belstone, was born about 1580 at Belstone. On
account of his non-conformist views he was per
secuted and virtually driven out of England, suf
fering heavy fines and eventualy dying at an early
age from a fever contracted in prison. Four chil
dren are said to have died in infancy, two grew up.
They were: Thomas, died in 1649; and Mary.
(Ill) Thomas Bliss, of Rehoboth, Massachu
setts, son of Jonathan Bliss, of Belstone, England,
was born in Belstone, and on the death of his father
in 1636 he removed to Boston, thence to Braintree,
thence to Hartford, Connecticut, thence back to
Weymouth, Massachusetts, and in 1643, with others
he helped make the settlement at Rehoboth. He
was a freeman at Cambridge, May 18, 1642, and in
Plymouth colony January 4, 1645. In June, 1645,
of that year he drew a lot of land at the Great
Plain, Seekonk. In 1646 he was fence viewer, in
1647 the surveyor of highways, two important of
fices in the colonial days. He died at Rehoboth,
June, 1649, and is buried in the graveyard at See
konk, Massachusetts, now Rumford, East Provi
dence, Rhode Island. His will was proved June 8,
1649. Their children were : Jonathan, born about
1625, died about 1687;  , married Thomas
Williams; Mary, married Nathaniel Harmon, of
Braintree; Nathaniel, possibly of Springfield, seems
to have left no descendants in male line. (See
Chapin Genealogy.)
(IV) Jonathan Bliss, son of Thomas (3) and
Mistress Ide Bliss, born in England about 1625, was
made a freeman of the Plymouth colony 1655. He

was "way warden" at the town meeting in Re
hoboth May 24, 1652, and May 17, 1655, was on the
grand jury. He was a blacksmith. He was made
a freeman in Rehoboth, February 22, 1658, and drew
land June 22, 1658. He was one of the eighty who
made what is called the North Purchase. He
married, 1647-48, Miriam Harmon (probably a sis
ter of his sister's husband). He died 1687. The
inventory of his estate was sworn to May 23, 1687.
The magistrate was the famous governor, Sir Ed
mund Andros. Their children were: I. Ephraim,
born 1649. 2. Rachel, December 1, 165 1, married,
October 28, 1674, Thomas Manning, of Swansea,
Massachusetts. 3. Jonathan, March 4, 1653, died
1653. 4. Mary, September 31 (sic), 1655. 5. Eliza
beth, January 29, 1657, married June 25, 1684, James
Thurber. 6. Samuel, June 24, 1660, died August
28, 1720. 7. Martha, April, 1663. 8. Jonathan,
(sometimes recorded Timothy) September 17, 1666,
died October 16, 1719. 9. Dorothy, January 27, 1668,
married, June 26, 1690, James Carpenter. 10.
Bethia, August 1671, married, April 15, 1695, Daniel
Carpenter, died February 27, 1702-03. Her hus
band was son of William Carpenter and Miriam
Searles, of Rehoboth, born October 8, 1669.
(V) Ephraim Bliss, son of Jonathan (4) and
Miriam Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, February 5,
1649. He resided at Braintree, Quincy, Scituate,
Rehoboth and Providence, Rhode Island. Their
children were : Jonathan, born at Braintree about
1672-73; Mary; Thomas; Ephraim, married Mary
 , resided at Rehoboth (she was born 1702, died
November 14, 1730) ; and Daniel.
(VI) Jonathan Bliss, son of Ephraim (5) and
 Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, 1672-73. . All
his children died young without issue except John.
They were : Hannah, Thomas, Mary, John, born
171 1, died June, 1752; Nathaniel, and Ephraim.
(VII) John Bliss, son of Jonathan (6), was
born at Rehoboth, 171 1. He married on Thanks
giving Day, 1735, Rebecca  , a very capable
and energetic manager, history tells us, who with
great prudence and thrift cared for her property
after the death of her husband. He died 1752.
Their children were: Nathan, born December 19,
1736, died December 3, 1820; Elizabeth, April 5, 1738;
Anne, April 1, 1740 ; William, June 6, 1742, died 1822 ;
Rebecca, December 20, 1744; John, August 21, 1747,
died March 12, 1825; Abigail, April 28, 1750; Ke
ziah, born November 26, 1752, died 1793-94.
(VIII) Nathan Bliss, son of John (7) and Re
becca Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, December 19,
1736. He was a farmer at Rehoboth. He married,
December 26, 1760, Joanna Bowen, who died March
10, 1823. He died December 3, 1820, Their children
were: I.Nathan, born December 19, 1761, died Janu
ary 31,1852. 2. Abel, December 22, 1763, was a farmer
at Rehoboth, captain in the militia, married Olive
Briggs, of Dighton, who died May 17, 1823; he
married (second) Hannah Horton, died without
issue, November 13, 1843, (she died March 7, 1859,
aged sixty-six years). 3. Olive, October 2, 1765,
married, January 4, 1786, Samuel Goff. 4. Joanna,
July 25, 1767, married, January 18, 1787, Shubael
Horton and  Payne. 5. Sylvanus, July 9, 1709,
died June 23, 1859. 6. Rebecca, July 12, 1771,
.married May 23, 1793, Sylvester Goff, of -Rehoboth.
'7. John, born September 1, 1773, died August 29,
1859. 8. Thomas, October 17, 1775, died 1855. 9-
Anna, September 17, 1777. 10. Cromwell, March
!7> 1779, died February 7, 1848. 11. Ezra, June 17,
1780, died May 11, 1857.
(IX) . Nathan Bliss, son of Nathan (8) and
Joanna Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, December 19,
1761. He removed to Royalston, Massachusetts, be-

WOkVKSTKR COl'NTY

tween 1770 and 1775> and married Ruth Briggs
at Higlucu, Massachusetts, who died at Koyalsion,
November j8, i8(U. She was born al Dighton,
lVecnihci' 22, 1705. lie died at Royalston, Jan
uary 31, 185.'. He was a fanner. Their children
were Annie living at Royalston, unmarried; Abel
born Augu.-t 23, 1785, died July 4, 1852; Ruth 1-05,
married James Buffum, who lived in kocno, Now
Hampshire, She died 1850: Sally, born 1800, mar
ried Benjamin Buffum, of Royalston,
t\1 Abel Ballon Wis-, s>m of Naihan Bliss,
Jr, (,oL was born at Royalston, August J3, 1785,
lie was a shoemaker, lie married Nieena Ballon, who
was born March 0. i~88, and died 'April 7, 1847.
lie died July 4, 185.-, Vheir children were : Nathan,
born SepienilKr, 1808, married Finily l.ovett, 183.';
Abel Ballon. February 21, 1811, died August 4,
1852; Harrison, October 0, 1812, married S.uah 11,
llowe; Ru— ell, December 5, 1815, married Marx-
May, March 8. 1.835. died June 15, 1852; James
July to, 1818. married Julia Drury, died January
io, 18)2; Nieena J,. December u, 1823, di.d Jan
uary 7, 1845. unmarried; Olive l.ueian, July 3,
1825, married May o, 1847, Charles C. Balch, car
penter, resided at Shirley, Massachusetts.
(.XI) Harrison Bliss, son of Abel 1,10) and
Nieena Balloti Bliss of Royalston, was horn at
Royalston, October o, 181.2. What education he
got in school was obtained in bis native place. He
started out at the ajje of eighteen to make his own
living. He landed in Worcester, as he used to say
with just seventeen cents in Ins pockets.
He went to work first at the very place where be
afterward bought one of the finest houses in the
city, where his son, William H, Bliss, now lives.
iiis employer was Dr. Oliver Fiske. Thai was
in 1830. lie worked for four years in the Worces
ter Post Office when Deacon James Wilson was
postmaster in tbe present Union Block, and under
tubal Harrington in the old Central F.xcliaugc
Building. He went into business with Deacon
Alexander Harris in the Salisbury Block in Lin
coln Souare, dealing in groceries and in flour. Later
he took Joseph E. Crrgory as partner. He sold
his interest in this store in 1850 and later opened a
flour store in partnership with T. and .1 Snnou
under the name of Bliss, Sutton & Co.. on Mechanic
street, and in 1857 sold out to his (Partners, From
that time to bis death he was occupied with bis
real estate and hanking business. He started Hon.
H, A. Blood, of Fitclihurg. in business, Mr. Blood
was iu his employ in bis store in Worcester,
Mr, Bliss was president of the New Bedford
and Taunton braneh of the Boston, CHmon & tntch-
burg Railroad Company, and vice-president of the
Fhtnringham and Lowell branch, tvth of which are
wow operated by the New York, New Haven &
Hartford Railroad Company.
Mr. Bliss and the late Hon. Francis H Dewey
founded the Mechanics National Bank m 1848 He
was president from 1800 to his death in 188.- _ He
was interested in the Mechanics' Savings Bank from
its organisation in 1851. He was on the board of
investment He was president front i8?\» to bis
death, He was largely interested in ihe old Music
Hall Company, the successor of which owns the
Worcester Theatre,' He was interested largely m
the Bay State House corporation. He was a rep
resentative to the general vviirt in 1855. 1805 and
1874 He was an Alderman in 1S0;. iS.\v. 1804. -,8x.
>875 and 18-tv He was chief owner oi the O; en',,0.
Powder Company, manufacturing gun pow.hr near
IVrtland. Maine, During the Franco- Prussian war
he twad'e a snug sum ot money selling powder to
the belligerents. The house m which bis son -in

law, Francis II, Dewey, live-., lie said was built from
the profits of ihe ...do of powder al thai time. He
sold out to adxaniago later, lie married Sarah
II. Howe, April 5, 1830, daughter of William llowe.
of WoivoMor. tSee llowe family.) A brother of
bis wife, Rev. William llowe. of Cambridge, Ma.-sa-
elmsetls, is still living (1015), and will be one
bundled years old May. 1000. Her father w\t,s a
contractor. He had the contract for the building
ol the Worcester Turnpike oxer which tor some
distance ihe ears ot" the Boston & Woive.-ier
Flevmo Railroad run. lie lost inouev and was
ruined by the contract. Mrs. Bliss died July .'),
i88-\ a few weeks a tier her husband. She was a
very capable woman and famous for ber eharuies.
lie died July 7, 188J, I'heir children were: 1,
Harrison, Jr.. born July ,ai. 184^. married Amy
Brown, of Dighton, November o. 180.1, died May
1J, 1808, 2. Sarah, September 22. 1815, died Novem
ber 18, 1840. 3- W'dbam Howe, S.ptombor -\;. 1850,
4, Famelia Washburn, May ji, 1854. d-.ed Scpioin-
ber o. 1854. 5. l.i.vic Davis. Marcli i„\ 1850, mar-
nod Francis H. Dewey, December u, 1878, a I \W
cester. They have one son and one daughter.
(.See Dewey family aud Bullock family,)
The mother of Harrison Bliss tn). was X-.cen.i
Ballon. She married Abel Bliss, in Richmond,
New Hampshire. She was horn March 0, 1788, in
Richmond; lie was born August -x 1785. ai' Reho
both, and when six weeks old was carried ou horse
Kick in his mother's arms from Rehoboth to their
new home in Royalston. The Ballon family is
widely scattered but many Worcester county fami
lies are related to the Ballous,
t,l) Maturin Ballon, ihe emigrant ancestor,
married Hannah Tike, daughter of Robert and Cath
erine Tike, probably of Providence, Rhode Island,
1040 to 1040, He died February 24. 1001, to Jan
uary ,u, 1003. Their children were: John, born
ioje>. married Hannah Garrett; James, bom proba
bly at Providence, iojj. married Susanna Whit
man. lC*\t: Deter. 1054. married Barbary  ;
Hannah, 1050, died unmarried; Nathaniel. 1058,
died young; Samuel, iooo, drowned June k\ icoo,
(ID James Ballou. son of Maturin (i>. was
horn at Providence. Rhode Island. 105.2. He mar
ried Susanna Whitman, daugluer of Valentine and
Mary Whitman tor Wightman V who was horn in
Providence, February -\8. 1058, married July jj, 1083.
James was a large owner of land. With what he in
herited and bought he had fully a thousand acres.
Their children vere: James, horn November t.
1084. married Catherine Arnold. January jj, 1714;
Nathaniel, April o. 1087, married Mary Lovell,
December 7. 1710: Okidiah. September 0. 1080. mar
ried Damaris Rirtlet;. January 5. 1-17. second
 Salisbury; Samuel, January :•,;. iooj, married
Susannah Arnold, second. Ms:\ Smith: Susanna.
January 3. KV).-. married John Inman. and Richard
Ssiylcs: Bath-hcba. February 15, 1008, married
Dame! Arnold. October (O. i%v; Nehemiah, January
-\\ »rvo. married Mary Holt and Abigail Ferry.
H.UD James Ballon, son of James v-D and Su
sanna Ballou. was Kirn in Prov'denoe. afterward
called Snv.shveld. now liiKoln. Rhode Island. X.v.
vcuilxer t. :."\84 He married Catherine Arnold
daughter ot Flisba and Susantta vCat-oeu:er>
Arnold, in Providence, January- ;j. 1-13. She was
bom in Wrentham, later called C.-.-.itlvnawd. Rhode
lslaii.5, Fcbn-ary ^8 i(vx\ He was one of three
pioneers to cross the Blackstone river and settle
Civ.ubcrland. The Ox>ks and Ballous. two v>f these
families, often intermarried, They were Baptists
of the Roger Williams sv>rt. The little church built
in or about C-i?- still standing as Cumberland, was

366

WORCESTER COUNTY

known as the "Elder Ballou Meeting House." James
Ballou died February io, 1764. Their children
were: Sarah, born November 15, 1713, married
Uriah Jillson, 1733; Ariel, November 18, 1715, mar
ried Jerusha Slack, 1740; Bathsheba, November 26,
1717, married Michael Keith and Elisha Newell;
Martha, October 6, 1720, married Elder Nathaniel
Cook, January 27, 1742 ; James, December _ 10, 1723,
married Tamasin Cook, June 7, 1744; Elisha, No
vember 15, 1726, married Hepsibah Thayer, Novem
ber 30, 1748; Priscilla, November 6, 1731, married
William Cook, 1753.
(TV) James Ballou, son of James (3) and
Catherine Ballou, was born in Wrentham, near
Cumberland, Rhode Island, December 10, 1723, mar
ried Tamasin Cook (Daniel (3), Nicholas (2),
Walter (1) ), born June 16, 1725, married June
7, 1744. He was made a freeman of Cumberland,
April 19, 1749. In 1774 he moved to Richmond,
New Hampshire, with other Rhode Island associ
ates. He and other Ballous settled on what has
since been known as Ballou Hill. The town was
divided in factions later owing to a schism in the
Baptist church caused by "the New Lights," in which
James was interested but later abandoned. His
wife Tamasin, died April 25, 1804, and he married,
second, Huldah Carpenter, widow of Joseph Car
penter, June 19, 1806. He died January 21, 1812.
His children were: 1. Seth, born February 20,
1748, married Margaret Hilton. 2. Olive, May 13,
1751, married Preserved Whipple. 3. Silas, Feb
ruary 24, 1753, married Hannah Hilton, April 17,
1774. 4. Susannah, June 16, 1755, married Nathan
Harkness, June 4, 1775. 5. Oziel, July n, 1757,
married Hannah Robinson, December 7, 1790. 6.
Tamasin, June 29, 1759, married Ebenezer Swan,
February 15, 1778. 7. James, April 25,- 1761, mar
ried Mehitable Ingalls, November 5, 1786. _ 8.
Russell, July 11, 1763, married Henrietta Aldrich
and  . 9. Aaron, September 25, 1766, married
Catherine Bowen, September 8, 1786. 10. Daniel,
May 26, 1768, married Mary Hix, April 8, 1787. 11.
Priscilla, January 3, 1772, married Nathan Bullock,
February 28, 1790.
(V) Russell Ballou, son of James (4) and Ta
masin, was born at Cumberland, July 11, 1763. He
married Henrietta Aldrich, daughter of Jonathan
and Patience Aldrich, of Cambridge, Massachusetts,
who was born August 20, 1764, certified, (married)
February 23, 1783. All their children were born
at Richmond, New Hampshire. He removed in
1804, to Royalston, Massachusetts. His wife Hen
rietta died June 8, 1827, aged sixty-seven, and he
married, second, Mrs. Beebe Mellen, of Swansea,
New Hampshire, widow of Joel Mellen, April 16,
1827. He died at Swansea, New Hampshire, Novem
ber 10, 1847 ; she died 1854. His children were :
Betsey, born October 6, 1783, married Royal Bland-
ing, November 18, 1802; Amey, October 27, 1785,
married Stephen Parks ; Nieena, March 6, 1788,
married Abel_ Bliss, 1806 (see Bliss Family) ; As-
quire, May 8/1792, maried Arathusa Maynard, May
29, 1816; R^ussell, September 9, 1794, married Lucy
D. Norton, January 29, 1816; Luther, September 7,
1797, married Clarissa Davis, December 3, 1818;
Priscilla, June 25, 1800, died unmarried, May 8,
1814; Olive, born August 29, 1803, married Jacob
Boyce, 1829; Russell, died in infancy.
HOWE FAMILY. Ezekiel Howe, son tof
Thomas Howe (3), grandson' of Thomas, and great-
grandson of John Howe, of Sudbury, was born in
Marlboro, "Massachusetts, January 29, 1720. He
married Elizabeth Rice, of that town, May 10,
1740, and their first child Patience was born in

Marlboro, but recorded also at Worcester whither
the father moved about 1742. Their children were
Patience, born June 10, 1742; Elizabeth, February
12, 1744; Ebenezer, November 4, 1746; Joel, Novem
ber 2, 1748; Jotham, June 17, 1750; Lucy, April 20,
1752; Rebecah, April 3, 1754; Ezekiel, March 20,
I7S6. (V) Ezekiel Howe, son of Ezekiel (4) and
Elizabeth Howe, was born at Worcester, March 20,
1756. He married December 21, 1773, Mary Young.
She was born in Worcester, May 14, 1757. William
died in 1820. Their children were : William,' bap
tized July 20, 1783; Mary, baptized July 20, 1783';
Asa, baptized July 20, 1783; Ezekiel, baptized Sep
tember 28, 1783. These records are from the Old
South Church. They were born between 1774 and
1783. (VI) William Howe, son of Ezekiel, Jr: (5)
and Mary Howe, was born at Worcester about
1780, and died in 1820. He married Sarah Gould,
December 22, 1805. Their children were : Will
iam, born March 25, 1806, now living (1905); John,
born August 7, 1808; Rufus, born July 27, 1812;
Sarah H., born June 30, 1814, married Harrison
Bliss. (See W. H. Bliss, Bliss Family.)
(VII) William Howe, son of William Howe
(6), was born May 25, 1806, so if he lives till his
next birthday he will be one hundred years old.
He is the oldest clergyman living in the United
States. Although always in close touch with the
members of his family in Worcester, he has made
his home in Cambridge, Massachuestts. In appear
ance Dr. Howe is no older than he has been for
the past ten years. His sight and hearing have
failed but his intellect is clear and his memory ex
cellent. His youth in Worcester at the home of his parents,
town of Holden, and Market street, Worcester,
is rich with anecdotes that after nearly a century
are full of interest. At that time Worcester was a
country village around the court house, and ex
cept for a few stores even Main street was the
location of farms. It is a marvelous thing to re
member events a hundred years ago. When he was
fourteen his father died and his mother had the care
of three younger than he. She managed her af
fairs which were somewhat tangled at- the time of
her husband's death in a way to. win praise from
the most astute financiers of the town who knew
the problems that she had to meet. William was
fitted for college and entered Waterville (now
Colby) College, which is a' favorite Baptist in-,
stitution. There were thirteen men in his class,
nine of whom graduated. Needless to say he is the
oldest, living graduate of Colby. He was educated
for the ministry at Newton Theological Seminary,
and it was while he was there that he began the
work that he continued for over half a century,
that resulted in the establishment of four Baptist
parishes growing out of his mission work. This
work he began in Boston as city missionary, walk
ing to Boston from Newton, some ten miles every
Saturday and Monday to carry on the work. In
a sail loft on Charlestown street he started the first
mission and Sunday school that grew into the pres
ent Merrimac Street Union Baptist Church. He
established seven others and carried on the eight
missions simultaneously. From a Commercial Street
Sunday school grew the Baptist Bethel Church on
Hanover street. The Union Baptist Church united
with the Tremont Temple Church, and has be
come the most important Baptist church in Boston
and probably the best known in the country. From
another Sunday school developed the Harvard' Street
Church, and from still another the Bowdoin Square

WORCESTER COUNTY

367

Church. Dr. Howe himself was the first pastor of
the Merrimac Street Church, the building being-
dedicated in 1846, and he remained pastor till 1858
when the union with Tremont Temple took place.
In 1863 Dr. Howe accepted the pastorate of a
chapel on Harvard street, Cambridge, and under
his hands this chapel grew into the parish of the
Broadway Baptist Church. Since he was seventy
he has been living in retirement at 910 Massachu
setts avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He mar
ried in 1832, Angeline Ammidon, of Boston. She
was one the first women to form an anti-slavery
society when the abolition movement began in Massa
chusetts. She died in 1883. They had no children.
He was one of the founders of the Associated
Charities of Boston, and was at one time a mem
ber of the Boston school board. He knew personally
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun,
Rufus Choate, and other famous men long since
dead. He has always been interested in the Spell-
man seminary for colored girls at Atlanta, Georgia,
and in that city he has erected a memorial chapel
to his wife.
JOHN E. BRADLEY. Among the most im
portant factors in 'the industrial world is recognized
the Bradley family,, whose name is particularly
identified- with railway development in the United
States, and as pioneers in the great business of
building stage coaches and subsequently the manu- _
facture of steam and electric railway cars.
(I) The Bradley family in America was founded
by Daniel Bradley, who sailed from England, April
8, 1635, and settled at Haverhill, Massachusetts,
later resided at Ipswich. He married Elizabeth Ayer
and they had sons, Daniel and Joseph* He was killed
by Indians, August 13, 1689.
(II) Joseph Bradley, son of Daniel (1), mar
ried Hannah Heath, April 4, 1691, and their children
were: Mehitable, Joseph, Martha, Sarah, David,
Nehemiah, Samuel and William.
(Ill) William Bradley, son of Joseph (2), mar
ried Mehitable Emerson. Their children were:
Susan, Sarah, Abigail, Hannah, Mehitable, Joseph,
Jonathan, William, Moses, and Nancy.
(IV) Jonathan Bradley married Sarah .Osgood,
of North Andover, June 17, 1773- Their children
were: Thomas Osgood, born September 28, 1774;
Sarah, Mary, William, Elizabeth, and Jonathan.
(V) Thomas Osgood Bradley, son of Jonathan,
married Mehitable Carlton, and had children: Os
good, born January 15, 1800, died May 11, 1884;
John and Frederick.
(VI) Osgood Bradley, son of Thomas (5), was
born January 15, 1800. He received a high school
education, and early entered upon an active career.
His life affords a striking example of the great
results attainable through' industry and well directed
effort. Beginning as a carriage maker, he prose
cuted his labors with such success that at the time
of his death he was held in honor as the oldest of
the pioneer car builders in America. . He learned
the carriaee-makirig trade in Framingham, coming in
1822 to Worcester, where he began the making of
coaches and carriages in an old wooden building in
the rear of the "Green Store," but subsequently
removed to other and larger quarters as business
expanded. In 1826 he began the making of coaches
for the large stage line operators in New York
and New England, and for years built the majority
of those in use in that region. At the dawn of
the railway era in 1835 he turned his attention to
the building of railway coaches, and in 1837 sold
out his carriage business to become exclusively a
railway coach builder, constructing the pioneer cars

for many of the early eastern roads, maintaining
one manufacturing location for a full half century.
For a decade prior to 1849 he was associated in busi
ness with Edward B. Rice. During the civil war
Mr. Bradley entered into large contracts with the
government for the construction of gun carriages
for field, sea-coast artillery, fully maintaining the
high reputation of the Bradley works and receiving
the cordial appreciation of the War and Navy de
partments. Mr. Bradley was a splendid representative of his
residential city. Progressive and enterprising, he
was a leading factor in its upbuilding, and used his
influence and means without stint for its advance
ment in moral and intellectual as well as in ma
terial affairs. He was a man of great nobility of
character, of strict integrity and the highest moral
worth, and was held in esteem by the entire com
munity. He was prominently connected with the
Plymouth Congregational Church, and aided ef
ficiently in promoting its interests and usefulness.
In 1845 he bought the fine mansion which stood on
the site of the present Chase building, ' where he
lived for many years, and where he died, May 11,
1884, in his eighty-fifth year. Nearly ten years be
fore his demise (on January 15, 1875) he there cele
brated his seventy-fifth birthday. This was one of
the notable events of. the day, being the occasion
of a remarkable gathering of men whose heads had
become whitened with the frosts of many a winter,
among the number being many railway magnates
from various sections of the country.
His first wife was Fanny Sanger, by whom were
born: 1. Elizabeth Mehitable, born September 11,
1824; married George A. Hamilton. 2. Maria San
ger, September 29, 1826, married John B. Wyman,
in 1843 ; he became a prominent military man in the
civil war period. 3. Henry Osgood, see forward.
4. John, April 10, 1831. 5. Daniel Sanger, Febru
ary 9, 1834. 6. Osgood, December 26, 1836. 7.
Sarah Olivia, November 2, 1839. Mr. Bradley, after
his first wife's death, married Sarah J. Makepeace,
by whom was born one child, A. Jeannie, who re
sides in Worcester, and is unmarried.
(VII) Henry Osgood Bradley, third child and
eldest son of Osgood (6), was born September
17, 1828. He received a liberal education, and early
in life became associated with his father in busi
ness affairs, becoming the office manager and gen
eral accountant of the Bradley works, and displaying
the same sterling qualities which characterized the
sire. He was a man of unusually broad informa
tion, his mind well expanded not only through liberal
reading but by much travel. He was just of age
(in 1849) when the California gold-seeking voyagers
set out, and he went on the first vessel sailing from
Boston, remaining away a year. He became familiarly
acquainted with the United States, and twice made
a tour of Europe, visiting the industrial and art
centres, solely for purposes of recreation and mind
improvement. With quiet domestic tastes, he was
devoted to his family, and would attach himself to
no societies whatever. He bore a full share in' pro
moting every community interest, but with entire
want of personal ambition, and would not enter
upon any public career. He supported the princi
ples of the Democratic party.
Mr. Bradley married (first) Sarah L. Stock-
bridge, of Hanover, Massachusetts, and of this mar
riage were born two children, Fanny Sawyer and
John ' Erving. Mrs. ' Bradley died November 22,
1867. For his second wife Mr. Bradley married
Alice Wetherell, of Providence, Rhode Island, who
died in February, 1895. Mr. Bradley survived her
until October, 1901.

368

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VIII) John Erving Bradley, only son of Henry
Osgood and Sarah L. (Stockbridge) Bradley, was
born February 26, i860. He received academical
instruction in the high school of Worcester, and
studied for one year in Amherst College. At the
early age of eighteen years he entered upon an
independent career, taking employment with the old
Jerome Marble Company of Worcester, manufac
turer of paints, oils, and mill supplies. He remained
with the firm for four years, acquiring a _ familiar
knowledge of all developments of the business in
cluding all the manufacturing processes, and was
about to enter upon a traveling engagement in the
interests of the establishment when (in March, 1882)
he entered the employ of Osgood Bradley & Sons.
After the death of the uncle in 1896, he became
general manager of Osgood Bradley & Sons' business,
and was so occupied for five years, and until the
death of his father, when he became full owner.
Under his management the high reputation of the
house has been fully maintained, and the scope of
its business considerably enlarged, while its worth
to the community is manifested by the employ
ment it affords to a company of nearly three hun
dred operatives, the majority being men of family.
His deep interest in industrial affairs is evidenced
by his connection with various important bodies, —
the National Association of Manufacturers ; . the
Master Car Builders' Association of , America ; the
American Railroad Appliance Association; the New
England Steam Railroad Club; the New England
Street Car Railroad Club, in which he is a me'mber
of the executive board; and the Worcester Metal
Trade Association. He is also a member of the
Worcester Club, and of its membership committee ;
the Tatnuck Country Golf and Tennis Club; the
Tatassit Canoe Club, of which he is commodore ; and
the Up-Town Club, of which he is president. He
served for three years in the Worcester Light In
fantry, and is a member of its Veteran Associa-
tion; and of the membership committee of that body.
His political affiliations are with the Republican
party. He has been frequently solicited to enter
upon active political life, and to become a candidate
for various offices, but his deep interest in business
concerns and in the commercial and social bodies to
which he is attached would not permit him to accept
proffers which were at once sincere and importunate.
Mr. Bradley married, October, 1887, Emma L. D.
Dingley, daughter of Hon. John B. and Maria M.
(rrinney) Dingley, both of whom are deceased.
Her father was a prominent business man of Gard
iner, Maine, and was the first mayor of the city,
occupying the position for several terms through
various re-elections. Two children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Bradley — Helen, June, 1888; and
Katherine, April, 1895.
BENJAMIN ALLEN BARBER has been one
of the leaders in musical affairs in Worcester for
fully twentyTfive years. He was born December 23,
i8=;s, in Worcester, and has spent his whole life
there. He is a son of Benjamin and Ann Maria
(Collins) Barber. His father was born in the little
town of Wardsboro, Vermont, in 1804, died in Wor
cester in 1867. His mother was of the Collins
family of Southboro, Massachusetts, where she was
born July 6, 1816. She was a daughter of Daniel
and Polly (Chamberlin) Collins. She died at Wor
cester in 1904. Benjamin Barber was a stone cutter
by trade. After he came to Worcester, about 1830,
he followed his trade and soon began to take con
tracts, having at first David Woodward as his part
ner. He built many substantial buildings in Wor
cester. He was the contractor for the mason work

of the old city hall. He married Ann Maria Col
lins, of Southboro, November 20, 1838. - Their chil
dren were: Rhoda Maria, born September 5, 1840-
Warren, died young; Emery Perry, born , August
29, 1846, resides in Boston, retired, unmarried; Linda
Frances, bora August 12, 1851, married Albert E.
Peirce, and resides at Evanston, Illinois; they have
a son and daughter; Benjamin Allen, born December
23, i85S-
Benjamin Allen Barber, son of Benjamin and
Ann Maria (Collins) Barber, married Georgie Lee,
daughter of Benjamin Franklin Lee, of Worcester'
April 17, 1883. They have one child, Edith Louise,
born October 14, 1884. Mrs. Barber's mother was
Louise Bramhall ¦ Hammond, daughter of John and
Adeline Hammond, of Worcester, and Mr. Barber
has , charge of the extensive estate of the late John
Hammond, who was one of the leading men of the
city in his day and owner of much real estate. His
handsome old mansion on Highland street is the one
now occupied by Colonel William A. Gile.
Benjamin Allen Barber obtained his early edu
cation in the Worcester schools and passed the ex
aminations for entrance to the high school, which
at that time was in the small building on Walnut
street opposite the present classical high school. He
went to work first for F. A. Clapp, who was a dealer
in men's furnishing goods, the predecessor. of E. B.
Clapp, his brother. The store was then where the
R. J. Healey shoe store now is. After two years
and a half experience as clerk and salesman he
entered the employ of Jerome Marble & Co., then
and now the largest dealers in paints, oils, chemicals
and drugs in this section. The present name of the
firm is J. Russel Marble & Co. Mr. Barber has been
with the firm ^ince' 1872, a period of thirty-three
years, and has occupied close confidential relations
with- the owners as the cashier.
Mr. Barber has taken a high place in the Masonic
fraternity. He took eighteen of the degrees in Wor
cester and the remainder, including the thirty-second,
in Boston. He belongs to Quinsigamond Lodge,
Eureka Chapter, the Worcester County Commandery,
Hiram Council. He is interested in athletics, being
a member of the Boston Athletic Association and of
the Worcester Golf Club. He has always taken an
interest in amateur theatricals, and has helped many
amateur performances in a city where amateurs have
developed unusual talent. He is best known, how
ever, as a singer. He has sung bass in most of the
Protestant churches having quartettes in Worcester.
He has been one or more seasons in the quartette
at Old South Congregational Church, the First Bap
tist Church, Piedmont Congregational Church, Cen
tral Congregational Church, First Unitarian Church
and at the Church of the Unity. He is the only sur
viving member of the original Schumann Quartette,
and he still sings first bass 'in the present Schumann
Quartette. It has been Mr. Barber's custom to enter
tain during the week of the Worcester Festival the
visiting artists. At the festival of 1904, for in
stance, over a hundred and fifty lovers of music
gathered at his invitation at his house to meet some
of the Festival soloists. Mr. Barber is personally
a charming man. He is popular in the social' circles
of the city and has one of the largest lists of
acquaintances and friends. Mr. Barber has a beauti
ful home at 31 Germain street, Worcester.
CHARLES ALBERT ALLEN. The name of
Allen occupies a conspicuous place in the history
of Worcester county, Massachusetts. It is found
not only in the industrial but in the professional life
of the people who have stood for all that is noblest
and best. Persons in the United States bearing

WORCESTER COUNTY

369

this surname find many lines to follow- in reaching
the progenitor, for there are now at least twenty
persons of the name of Allen who came to these
American shores prior to 1640. But to James, who
settled in Dedham and removed to Medfield, a con
siderable number can trace their ancestry, among
them Charles Albert Allen, who was born in Wor
cester, son of Albert S. Allen.
He attended the schools of his native town, pass
ing up through the various grades, after which he
took a full course in the Worcester Academy, ac
quiring the profession of a civil engineer. For
several years he found employment at his profession
in Worcester and vicinity, a considerable portion of
the time being engaged in making important surveys
for the W. & N. R. R. During this period he de
signed and constructed the railroad viaduct at Wor
cester, also constructed the State Lunatic Hospital
at the lake, the railroad bridges on South-
bridge street, and other important works. In the
year 1877 he was elected by the city council to
succeed Percy Daniels as civil engineer for the.
city of Worcester, and was annually re-elected until
the year 1893. During the fifteen years that he was'
at the head of the engineering department of the
city there were, aside from the natural and rapid
growth of the city, various special instances when the
department was seriously taxed with responsibility,
namely: the construction of the new dam for the
storage of the water, known as the Tatnuck brook
supply, and the disposal of the sewage of the city,
both of which was handled with professional skill
and sound judgment. Mr. Allen has given much
time to the study of sewage disposal for cities and
towns, and has personally investigated various sys
tems both in this country and in Europe. When
Worcester was compelled by an act of the legislature
to purify her sewage before turning it into the
Blackstone river, Mr. Allen, after careful investiga
tion, recommended a system which was finally put
in use to the acceptance of all interested parties.
Since Mr. Allen's retirement from the city govern
ment he has been engaged in expert work, as
consulting engineer, special engineer, or commis
sioner in various parts of New England and in the
south and middle west. Within the past ten years
fully one hundred different cases have come under
his attention and service, many of them of unusual
importance and public interest, such as the abolition
of grade crossings, he having been appointed by the
superior court on forty-three grade crossing commis
sions, questions of supplying cities and towns with
pure water, disposal of sewage, water power develop
ment, and attendance before the courts or commis
sions to give evidence as an expert engineer. He
was appointed by Governor Greenhalge a member
of the Metropolitan water board, but was obliged to
decline serving on account of other engagements
consuming his time. Mr. Allen belongs to the Amer
ican Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society
of .Civil Engineers, the Worcester County Society of
Civil Engineers, the New England Water Works As
sociation, the Massachusetts Highway Association,
Commonwealth Club, of which he is president, the
Tatnuck Country Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club,
and the Boston Club of Boston. He is also a mem
ber of Quinsigamond Lodge, A. F. and A.' M. In
politics he is a Republican.
As has been stated, Mr. Allen traces his descent
back through the following ancestral lines to :
(I) James Allen, who came to America and
settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1637, married
Annie Guild, the sixteenth day of the first month
in 1638. He was a proprietor there in 1642, and
five years later took the oath of a freeman. He
24

removed with the first thirteen settlers to establish
the town of Medfield, and drew his house lot on
South street, and was living there in 1660, and may
have died there, September 27, 1676. His wife died
March 29, 1672-73. Their children were : John, born
December 4, 1639; Mary and Martha, twins, born
1641 ; Mary married Joseph Clark, Martha married
William Sabin; Sarah, born 1644, married Domingo
White ; James, born 1646, married Lydia Adams ;
Nathaine, born 1648, married (first) Mary, Sabin
(second) Mary Frizzell; Joseph, born 1652, married
Hannah Sabin, „of Seaconk.
(II) Joseph Allen married Hannah Sabin, in
1673, and took his house lot in the north part
of Medfield, since known as the "Allen peace." He
was a cooper by trade, and at the time of the sack
ing of Medfield by the Indians, during Philip's war,
all the houses were burned except Joseph Allen's.
He died January 14, 1703-04. She died 1730. Their
children were: Joseph, born December 19, 1676, mar
ried Miriam Wight; Hannah, born June 23, 1679,
married Benoni Twichell in 1705 ; Daniel, born April
21, 1681, settled in Pomfret, Connecticut; David,
born 1683, settled in Ashford, Connecticut; Noah,
born April 21, 1685; Eleazer, born August 25, 1688,
married Mary Battle in 1712; Jeremiah, born August
5, 1690; Hezekiah, born November 3, 1692, mar
ried Mary Draper; Abigail, born October 24, 1694,
married Ebenezer Battle; Nehemiah, born April 22,
1699, married Mary Parker; Thankful; Mary.
(Ill) Joseph Allen, born December 19, 1676,
married Miriam Wight, of Medfield, November 4,
1 701. She was a daughter of Ephraim Wight, of
that town, and was born August 22, 1675 ; she was a
granddaughter of Thomas Wight, who came from
the Isle of Wight and was in Watertown, Massa
chusetts, 1636. Joseph Allen died May 25, '1727,
in Medfield. His children were: Joseph, born Au
gust 16, 1702; Miriam, born May. 27, 1704, died
March 3, 1727-28; Moses, born September 20, 1708;
Lydia, born 1714; Aaron, born March ii, 1715,
married Hannah  .
(IV) Aaron Allen, born March 11, 1715, married
(first) Hannah  , who died August 17, 1778. He
married (second), January 4, 1779, Deborah, widow
of Colonel Daniel Plimpton. She died February 20,
1787. He married (third) widow Catharine Smith,
August 9, 1787. He died May 3, 1794, in Sturbridge.
This Mr. Allen with his brothers, Joseph and Moses,
about the year 1736 removed to Sturbridge, Massa
chusetts. Joseph and Moses were chosen town of
ficers the year following the incorporation of that
town, 1738. The children of Aaron were : Aaron,.
born August 22, 1739, married Abigail Allen, daugh
ter of Nehemiah; Simeon, born June 26, 1741, mar
ried Sarah Puffer; Elizabeth, born March 29, 1743^
married John Allen; Thankful, born June 29, 1745,
died May 3, 1759; Prudence, born December 1, 1747,
married March Stacy; Reuben, born November 12,
1740, died November 5, 1754; Ithmar, born October
9, 1751, married Dolly Pincheon; Joel, born October
26, I7SS, died August 27, 1754; Caleb, born June 25,
1755, married Rhoda Allen; Amosa, born September
27, 1757, died October 26, 1759; Elisha, born No
vember 20, 1759, married Cylinda  ; Hannah,
born September 29, 1762, died October 27, 1762.
At least four of the above named sons served in
the war of the revolution. Aaron marched to re-
enforce General Gates at the north ward, enlisted
September 26, 1777, discharged October 18, was in
Lieutenant Benjamin Freeman's company, Colonel
Jonathan Holeman's regiment. He also enlisted July
30, 1780, in Captain Abel Mason's company, Colonel
Jacob Davis's regiment, serving twelve days iri Rhode
Island. Ithmar also served in Lieutenant Benjamin

37o

WORCESTER COUNTY

Freeman's company on the same expedition to re-
enforce General Gates. Caleb evidently served in
several campaigns, was sergeant in Captain Joseph
Sibley's company, Colonel Glenforth Key's regi
ment, enlisted July 8, 1777, discharged January 3,
1778. He was a revolutionary war pensioner, Au
gust 15, 1833. He died August 22, 1839.
(V) Elisha Allen, born November 20, 1759, mar
ried Cylinda  . He evidently enlisted December
10, 1776, and served in Captain Abel Mason's com
pany, Colonel Jonathan Holeman's regiment, dis
charged January 20, 1777; he was stationed at Provi
dence, Rhode Island. He very likely served at other
periods during the revolutionary war. He was a
farmer and resided at Sturbridge, having received
by will from his father, Aaron Allen, "all his Per
sonal and Real Estate not before given or shall
hereafter be given in this will, he paying all my
just debts and personal charges, the Legacies in this
will and erecting a proper monument over my
grave." In order to correct errors in former pub
lished accounts of this Allen family we quote further
from this will, which may be found in Worcester
county probate records, volume twenty-six, page
ninety-eight, filed May 21, 1794, allowed October
28, 1794:
"I give to my beloved son Aaron Allen, Jr.,
Simeon, Ithmar, & Caleb, each the sum of fourteen
pounds to be paid in silver money or Indian corn
at three shillings per bushel. I give my beloved
daughter the wife of John Allen the sum of four
pounds. To my beloved daughter Prudence, the
wife of Mark Stacy, four pounds. My son Elisha
to be executor."
The will appears to have been signed January
3, 1794, although perhaps drawn August 24, 1791 ;
the will does not give the name of his wife. But
Elisha, in settling the estate, took a receipt from
Catharine Allen (his mother-in-law) for the amount
agreed upon for her legacy, July 5, 1794. Elisha
died January 30, 1818. His children were : Oren,
born April 10, 1786, died January 31, 1814; Walter,
born March 22, 1788, married Harriet Holbrook;
Thankful, born July 22, 1790; Cylinda, born April
6, 1792, died October 5, 1826; Calesta, born No
vember 10, 1795, married Pardon Thompson; Alvan,
born November 13, 1798, married Lucy Salisbury;
Martha, born December 20, 1800, married Alfred
Hitchcock; Elisha Dwight, born March 27, 1804,
married Orril Merrick.
(VI) Alvan Allen married Lucy Salisbury,
daughter of Benjamin and Catharine Salisbury, who
died in Brimfield, Massachusetts. He died in 1841,
Catharine in 1850. For some years Mr. Allen re
sided in his native town, Sturbridge, Massachusetts,
but in the year 1836 removed to Worcester, and with,
Ginery Twichell, Simeon Burt, and Frederick Bil
lings became interested in establishing various stage
lines for the transportation of passengers and the
United States mail. He visited Washington at in
tervals, securing government contracts for carrying
the mail, and while the N. & W. R. R. was in
process of construction he held a contract for carry
ing passengers from the end of the road to the
wharf where they took steamboat for the city of
New York. In 1845 he engaged in the grocery busi
ness, and three years later opened a store for the
sale of pianofortes, securing about the year 1848 the
sole agency in Worcester for the sale of Chickering
piano, and this agency he retained until his death.
In 1849, 1850 and 1858 he represented ward four
in the city council. In 1853 he was assistant assessor
and also city marshal. Five years later he was
chosen to serve on the school committee. He was a
member of the Massachusetts state militia and held

the office of major. On November 29, 1859, while
passing from Front to Mechanic street over the lo-'
cation of the N. & W. R. R. tracks, he was accident
ally struck by a passing train and killed. Their chil
dren were: Albert S., born October 2, 1827, married
Eliza A. Cole; Benj amine D., born February 16,
1831, married Eliza F. White.
(VII) Albert S. Allen married Eliza A. Cole,
daughter of James and Eliza (Prouty) Cole. Eliza
beth Prouty was the daughter of Joel and Elizabeth
or "Betsey" (Gates) Prouty, of Boston, Massachu
setts. Elizabeth Gates was the daughter of Sylvanus
Gates, of Rutland and Spencer, and Elizabeth
Graham, his wife, whose mother was Jane Thomp
son, granddaughter of Lord Craig. Joel Prouty was
son of Asa and Lydia (Livermore) Prouty, of
Leicester, and grandson of David Prouty, senior,
of that town. Mr. Allen was a teacher of music
as early as 1847; he opened rooms in Pains New
Block, Main street, Worcester, where he gave in
struction on the pianoforte, and from that time until
his death he continued as organist in various
churches, and teacher of music, with the exception
of the time spent in the service of his country dur
ing the civil war as a member of Company A, Fifty-
seventh Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
He served through the Wilderness campaign, and
was there on duty at Camp Distribution at Balti
more, Maryland, until the close of the war. He
died in Worcester, April 23, 1895. Eliza Ann Cole,
wife of Albert S. Allen, died February 2, 1885.
Their children' were : Charles Albert, born January
27, 1852; Mary Salisbury, born November 23, 1853;
Frank L., born August 8, 1862.
(VIII) Charles Albert Allen, whose name heads
this sketch, married Grace T. Chase, daughter of
Joseph Chase, for many years a woolen manufac
turer in Blackstone, Lowell, and Worcester, Massa
chusetts. Their children were: Robert Chase, born
March 8, 1878, graduate from the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute; Charles Albert, Jr., died
May 2., 1884; Chester Salisbury, born No
vember 25, 1881, was educated in the public
schools, Worcester Academy, and Brown University;
Mary Harville, born March 10, 1886, graduated from
the high school, and is now in St. Margaret's School
for Girls, Waterbury, Connecticut; Grace Walker,
born February 26, 1889, now a student in the high
school ; Robert Chase and Chester Salisbury are civil
engineers. Robert Chase Allen married Florence
Akens Taylor, April 14, 1903, and they are the par
ents of two children : Donald Taylor, born February
29, 1904, and Charles Albert, second, born August
14, 1905.
REV. FREDERIC W. BAILEY. Benoni Bailey
(1), the pioneer ancestor of the Rev. Frederic W.
Bailey, was an early settler of Danbury, Connecti
cut, at a place called "Wild Cat" in the present
town of Bethel. The destruction of the early town
records by the British during the revolution has pre
vented any fuller knowledge of him except that
in his family bible, now possessed by Mr. Joseph
T. Bailey, of Philadelphia, his age is mentioned as
ninety-six at his death in 1793. In the absence of
any definite information, indications have pointed
to the Bailey family of Massachuestts as the proba
ble original.
He married Lydia, daughter of Solomon Ferry,
of Danbury, descendant of Charles Ferry, of Spring
field, Massachusetts. Their children were : Samuel,
Rebecca and Sarah, who married Ebenezer Munson.
(II) Samuel Bailey, eldest son of Benoni, born
1728, died 1808. He inherited the old farm in
Danbury and lived there throughout his life. Was

WORCESTER COUNTY

37T-

appointed lieutenant of the Ninth Company Train
Band in the Sixteenth Regiment of Connecticut
by Act of Assembly, May, 1776, and served in the
revolutionary war. He married Lydia Beebe, a
great-granddaughter of Captain James Beebe, of
Danbury, and Sarah Benedict, daughter of Thomas,
of Norwalk. The children of Samuel and Lydia
Bailey were: Ebenezer (see forward), Lydia, born
May 8, 1769, married Edmund Beebe; Samuel, mar
ried Huldah Hoyt; Benjamin, born December 9,
1756, married Hannah Dibble; Lemuel, born Novem
ber 2, 1779, married Abbey Gr.egory.
(Ill) Ebenezer Bailey, son of Samuel (2), was
born in Danbury, 1760, and died March 31, 1801.
He married, December 7, 1778, at Danbury, Ann,
daughter of Samuel Starr, of Danbury, fourth in
descent from Dr. Comfort Starr, of Cambridge,
Massachusetts. The children of Ebenezer and Ann
Bailey were: 1. Clara (Beebe), born May 27,
1779. 2. Lucy (Benedict) (Comstock), April 2,
1782. 3. Zoe (Hitchcock), July 13, 1784. 4. Lydia,
June 11, 1788. 5. Noah Starr, (see forward.) 6
Ebenezer Gould, February 7, 1795. 7. Samuel P.,
December 24, 1797.
(IV) Noah Starr Bailey, fifth child of Ebenezer
Bailey (3), was born in Danbury, July 16, 1790,
and died in Norwalk, October 26, 1853. Brought
up to the trade of a tailor, he later developed into
a candy manufacturer and dealer at Norfolk, a busi
ness which was continued both there and at St.
Louis, Missouri, by his son Samuel.
Noah Starr Bailey married Angeline, daughter
of Clausen Holley, or Hawley, and wife Sarah Dib
ble, of Danbury. She was born June 17, 1790. The
children of Noah Starr and Angeline Bailey were :
Mary Louisa, born June 9, 1815; William Egbert,
(see forward) ; Samuel Henry, born March 16,
1820; Sarah Ann (Terry), born March 20, 1823;
and Frederick Starr, of Springfield, born May 24,
1825. (V) William Egbert Bailey, second child of
Noah Starr Bailey, was born at Norwalk, Connecti
cut, October 31, 1817, and died in Brooklyn, New
York, 1893. He early entered upon a mercantile
career in New York city, being for some years with
the clothing house of Taylor, Ryno & Company,
with a branch office at New Orleans. After his
marriage he became a resident of Brooklyn, East
ern District, where most of ' his life was passed.
William E. Bailey, married, December 25, 1839, in
New York, Jane, a daughter of John Sharpe or
Scherp, and Marcy Higbie, daughter of Aaron and
granddaughter of Samuel and Jean Higbie, of
Jamaica, Long Island. Jane Sharpe, born in Brook
lyn, New York, March 19, 1814, was a granddaughter
of Jacob Hendrick Sharpe, of New York, and
Francina Schaats, a descendant of Rev. Gideon
Skaats, first pastor of the Dutch church at Albany,
New -York, and great-granddaughter of Jacob
Sharpe or Scherp, the Palatine of Germantown, New
York, and his wife Anna Maria Bomper, daughter
of Lodewick Bomper, of New York.
The children of William E. and Jane (Sharpe)
Bailey were: Peter Sharpe, of Springfield, Massa
chusetts, born May 31, 1841, captain of Company
D, Twenty-seventh Infantry,, Massachusetts, in civil
war, William Starr, born February 14, 1845, mem
ber of Ninth New York Volunteers, killed in bat
tle of Fredericksburg, December 21, 1862; John
Henry, born February 14, 1849; Sarah Louise, born
June 1, 1851; Emma Jane, born February 3, 1855;
Frederic William, born January 31, 1858; Mary
Angeline, born December 25, 1859, died October 19,
1895. (VI) The Rev. Frederic W; Bailey, son of

William Egbert and Jane S. Bailey, was born in
Brooklyn,' New York, January 31, 1858. Graduat
ing from the public schools he was for a time with
H. J. Baker & Brother, wholesale druggists of New
York. Under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Almon
Gunnison, then pastor of All Souls Church, Brook
lyn, he was led to think of the ministry as his voca
tion. He graduated from St. Lawrence University,
Canton, New York, in 1878, with the degree of B.
D., and after serving in pastorates at East Jaffrey,
New Hampshire, and Flightstown, New Jersey, and
persuing a course of study at the Boston School
of Oratory under Professor Moses True Brown,, he
received a call from the new All Souls' Universalist
Church on Kilby street, Worcester, as its first pastor.
For some three years he served thus, in which time
the land at the corner of Woodland and Norwood
streets was secured and plans for a new brown stone
church were drawn after designs prepared by Mr.
James A. Norcross, who was greatly interested in the
enterprise. At this period Mr. Bailey found him
self little in sympathy with the prevailing thought
of the Universalist denomination, and in January,
1889, promptly withdrew therefrom to seek orders
in the Episcopal church. He was confirmed at
St. James' Church, Cambridge, and after a special
course at the General Theological Seminary, New
York, was ordained Deacon by the Rt. Rev. B. H.
Paddock, D. D., Bishop of Massachusetts, at Christ
Church, Brooklyn, Eastern District, in 1889, and a
priest in St. Paul's Church, Natick, in 1890. Of
this parish he remained in charge till 1891, establish
ing during that time the St. Andrew's Church in
Wellesley, which became part of his parish. In
1891 he returned to Worcester as the rector's as
sistant at All Saints Church, and in 1893 was called
to the rectorship of the Church of the Ascension
in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1898, he was chosen
Secretary of the Commission on Parochial Archives,
diocese of Connecticut, and copyist, and did much
to preserve the old church records and papers there.
Since 1901 he has resided at 33 Harvard street,
Worcester, and is serving as a missionary of the
diocese of Western Massachusetts, under his former
associate, Bishop Vinton. He had charge of Christ
Church, Rochdale, in 1903, re-opened and renovated
the dormant Grace Church, Oxford, and in 1905
established the Holy Trinity Church at Southbridge.
Mr. Bailey is widely known as a genealogist and
historian, especially such as pertains to early Con
necticut. He has himself published seven books of
early Connecticut marriages, all taken from church
records, and two books of early Massachusetts mar
riages all of which have had wide circulation and
have been of great service in establishing old family
connections. In 1892 he copyrighted and patented
a book for the keeping of family records and trac
ing ancestry which is in such favor that a fourth
edition is now contemplated, greatly enlarged and im
proved. He is a member of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society in Boston, the New Haven
Colony Historical Society, and tbe Massachusetts
Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
On January 14, 1891, Mr. Bailey married at
Worcester, Lena Olive Marble, daughter of Jerome
and Susan Emeline (Blanchard) Marble. Her father
was born at Charlton, September 10, 1824, and died
in Worcester, February 14, 1906. He married,
March 21, 1849, Susan Emeline, daughter of Will
iam K. Blanchard, of Charlton (son of Isaac) and
Susanna Boomer, who descended through her father,
Rev. James Boomer, from Matthew Boomer, an
original settler of Freetown, Massachusetts. The
children of Jerome and Susan E. Marble were:
Fenella and Lena Olive, as mentioned above. Jerome

372

WORCESTER COUNTY

Marble was for years the leading wholesale dealer
in paints and oils of Worcester, having also a branch
at Boston. John Putnam Marble, the father of Jerome, was
born in Charlton, October I, 1802, and died in Wor
cester, January 23, 1901, at 33 Harvard street, where
he had for some years resided. He married, No
vember 30, 1823, Ruth Ann, daughter of William
P. Ryder, a great-grandson of Eleazer Ryder, of
Sherborn, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of
Major General Salem Towne, of Oxford, who de
scended from William Towne, an original settler
of Salem, Massachusetts. They had two children:
Thaddeus, who died single in 1852, and Jerome,
mentioned above.
Thaddeus Marble, father of John Putnam Mar
ble, was born in Sutton, February 24, 1758, and died
in Charlton, March 19, 1817. He was a scythe
maker. He married Olive, daughter of John Put
nam, of Sutton, son of Jeptha, who was great-
grandson of John Putnam, an original settler of
Salem, Massachusetts, in 1634. (See sketch of the
Putnam family of Sutton, Massachusetts, in this
work.) Enoch Marble, father of Thaddeus, was a son
of Fregrace Marble the pioneer of the family at
Sutton, and a son pf Samuel, of Andover. (See the
Marble family elsewhere in this work.)
The children of Rev. Frederic William and Lena
Olive (Marble) Bailey are: John Marble, born
October 17, 1891, at Worcester; Nella May, August
25> 1897, at New Haven, Connecticut; Frederic
Starr, October 18, 1900, at New Haven; Connecticut.
GEORGE W. CARR, president of the George
W. Carr Company of Worcester, was born in St.
Johns, New Brunswick, May 24, r8S3, a son of
Charles and Eliza (Smith) Carr, natives of London
and Hull, England, respectively. Charles Carr
(father), a sailmaker by trade, came to St. Johns,
New Brunswick, from England, in early manhood,
and was there united in marriage to Eliza Smith.
George W. Carr was educated in the public
schools of St. Johns. He began -his business life
as clerk in a men's furnishing goods, boot and
shoe store, acquiring thereby a thorough knowledge
of the duties of that position and performing the
same in a highly creditable manner. He came to
Worcester, Massachusetts, in September, 1873.
After working a short time at harness making and
carriage trimming, he engaged in business in part
nership with Eugene Curtis, under the firm name of
Curtis & Carr, in the construction of concrete
roofs and walks. Later he was in partnership with
Charles O. Richardson in the same business. The
firms with which Mr. Carr has been connected have
conducted a large and profitable business in Wor
cester and vicinity, especially in gravel roofs and
artificial stone, granolithic and concrete construc
tion. In 1901 the firm was incorporated under the
name of the George W. Carr Company with George
W. Carr as president, H. C. Wilson as treasurer,
and A. H. Carr as superintendent of the work in
Worcester and vicinity. In 1906 this firm assumed
the interests of the Carr and Anderson corporation
of Boston, and Mr. J. Fred Carr became the man
ager of the Boston office.
Among the more important contracts for con
crete work of extensive proportions are the follow
ing: The New Home Sewing Machine Company
works at Orange, Massachusetts; Saunders cotton
mill at Saundersville ; Paul Whitin Manufacturing
Company at Northbridge; Draper Machine Com
pany at Hopedale; Chapel Mills Manufacturing
Company at Cherry Valley, Leicester; L. S, Star-

rett Company mill at Athol; Bayard Thayer's sta
ble at Lancaster (granolithic) ; Harry Payne Whit
ney's stable at Manhasset, Long Island; Art Museum
building at Pittsfield; Zenas Crane's place at Pitts-
field; Hon. L. D. Apsley's place at Hudson; rail
road station for the New York, New Haven &
Hartford Company at Marlboro; C. K. G. Billings'
place, New York city; new City Hall, Worcester,
(granolithic) ; residence of Henry C. Pratt on Burn-
coat street, Worcester; residence of Luther C.
Brown on Cedar street, Worcester; driveway and
wall of residence of George F. Hutchins, Ripley
street, Worcester; sidewalks of Westland street,
Vernon street and Stoneland road; sidewalk of
Conservatory of Music, Boston; sidewalk and in
terior of Horticultural Hall, Boston; East Boston
Drainage (concrete) of the Boston & Albany
Railroad; retaining walls, steps, paving and yard
of the Roger Wolcoot school, Dorchester; grano
lithic floors and sidewalks of Motor Mart, Boston;
waterproofing floors and basement of Eden Jordan's
stable, Boston ; granolithic floor of Anglier building,
Brockton, and tar concrete work of car shop, Port
land, Maine.
George W. Carr married, August, 1885, Georgi
anna Kindred, daughter of Amos and Sarah (Ketch)
Kindred, of New Brunswick, natives of England and
New Brunswick, respectively, and one child was
born to them, Ella L. Carr. Mr. Carr is a, mem
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
Knights of Pythias.
FREDERICK WILLIAM BLACKMER. Will
iam Blackmer, or Blackmore (1), as it was some
times spelled, was the emigrant ancestor of Fred
erick W. Blackmer, of Worcester. He came from
England in 1665 to Scituate to live with his uncle,
Peter Collamore, who had made him one of his
heirs. Mr. Collamore came to Scituate early. He
was a proprietor in 1640, was able to bear arms 1643,
and was a town officer in 1650. He lived about
twenty years after his nephew came to New England,
and the nephew had a family and had been dead
about eight years when the uncle died in 1664. Mr.
Collamore made his will January 16, 1683. It was
probated June 4, 1664. It mentioned his wife Mary;
and various relatives among then the four chil
dren of William Blackmer, Peter, John, Phebe and
William Blackmer.
A farm was laid out to William Blackmer at
Scituate by the freemen. It was located where the
late Captain Elijah Curtis resided. He married, July
17, 1666, Elizabeth Bankes. In 1669 he was freed
from military duty on account of the loss of an
eye, yet he must have volunteered when King Philip's
war desolated the colonies, for he was killed by
the Indians, April 21, 1676. On January 24, 1677,
his widow married Jacob Bumpas, who was born
March 28, 1644, at Duxbury, son of Edward Bumpas
(originally Bonrepos), of Plymouth, who came on
the "Fortune" in 1621. Jacob and Elizabeth Bumpas
had two sons and other children and left many de
scendants in Middletown and Rochester, Massachu
setts, where they settled later.
The children of William Blackmer were: Peter,.
baptized July 7, 1667; John, baptized May 29, 1670,.
married Anna Branch, December 19, 1700,' resided
at Marshfield, Massachusetts; Phebe, baptized Sep
tember 22, 1672, married Ebenezer Holmes ; William,
baptized April 11, 1675, was an infant only a few
days old when his father was killed, died 1698, un
married, leaving his property to his brothers and
their children.
(II) Peter Blackmer, son of William Blackmer
(1), was born May 25, 1667, at Scituate, Massachu-

WORCESTER COUNTY

373

setts, and died at Rochester, Massachusetts, August
i, 1717. He married Elizabeth  , and became
one of the pioneers and first settlers of Rochester,
Massachusetts. He married (second) al Rochester
Sarah Edwards, daughter of Samuel Edwards, Octo
ber 24, 171 1. All but the last two children, Samuel
(ad) and Mary, wire by his first wife, and all but
Peter were born at Rochester,
The children of Peter Blackmer were: Peter,
bom probably' at Scituate, died it«w; John, born
September as, 1690; Jane, born December 8, 1693;
Jemima, born November 16, 169s; Joseph, born
September 4, 1697; William, born October 11, 1699;
Peter, born March 21, 170a; Stephen, born July 27,
1704; Samuel, born April 12, 1705, died young;
Samuel, born July 20, 1712; Mary, born November
5, 1714.
' (III) Peter Blackmer, son of Peter Blackmer
(2), was born at Rochester, Massachusetts, March
2\, 170.2. He and his older brother, John Blackmer,
settled in Warren and Palmer, Massachusetts. John
Blackmer raised a family at Rochester. He mar
ried Mercy Brickett, March j, 1711-12. and had
Nathaniel, born July 3, 1712; Elizabeth, born March
i j. 1713-14; Susannah, born July 8, 1716; John, born
March 21. 1717-18; Mary, born March 8, 1719-20.
John drew sixty-three acres in the second division
of Palmer in 1746, on John Patterson's right, and
Peter in 1743 drew thirty acres in the first division
of tlie common lands on Joseph Brooks' right in
Pajmer. Peter Blackmer of Palmer was in Captain
Buckminster's company at Fort Dunimer, August
6 to ,20, 1748, in the French and Indian war. He
later settled at Warren, Massachusetts. John Black
mer who fought against the Indians in 1758, in this
vicinity, was probably a son of Peter. The names
of his children have, not been found. He had a son
Peter. Jr., born 1729.
(IV) Peter Blackmer, son of Peter Blackmer
(3), was born near Warren or Palmer, Massachu
setts, in 1709, He moved to Greenwich about 1760,
and was one of the prominent men of that town. He
married Esther Sheppard, who died October 17,
1 801, aged seventy-two years. He was a farmer. His
place is now or was recently owned by George
Wheeler, Their children xvere born from about
1760 to 1790. Not all the dates have been preserved.
Their children were: Rolen or Roland, engaged
in Shay's Rebellion, went to Pelham, was treasurer
and selectman of that town, had Mary, David, Peter,
Susan, Esther, Thankful, Amos, Asa, Moses; Mary,
married Archibald Lammon ; David, married Louise
Stebbins; Peter, born 1781, died July 2. 1838: mar
ried Betsey Stebbins : Susan, married Abner Strone :
Esther, married Bethens Huck: Thankful, married
Barnabas Sears ; Asia, married Sally Stebbins ; Amos,
born November 1, 1769, died April 18. 1823, mar
ried Margaret Gray, who died March 7. 1853, aged
seventy-three years : Moses, married Mary Vaughan.
(V) Amos Blackmer, son of Peter Blackmer
(a), was born at Greenwich, November i, 1769.
He married (intentions March 7), 1802, Margaret
Gray, daughter of Daniel Gray, of Pelham. They
settled in Prescott, Massachusetts, on the farm of
Daniel Gray. Amos died April 18, 1823: his wife
died March 7, 1853. Their children, all born at
Greenwich, Massachusetts, were: Mary D., born
J805, died young; Daniel Gray, born 1809, mar
ried Adeline Sears, of Prescott. Massacliusetts;
Peter, born October 31. i8ti, died February 27,
1882; he never married; William H., born April
14, 1814, died November 15. 11885; moved from
Prescott to Hardwick in 1858': Esther Shepard, born
May ta, i8ai, died in North Brookfield, December
18 1885; Amos Harvey, born November 12, 1817,

married Lydia E. Sanger, of Westboro, Massachu-
rosiding at Greenwich, where he died January 17,
1901, (VI) William Hack Blackmer, born at Prescott,
Massachusetts, April 14, 1814, married Harriet"
Newell Howe, at Worcester, April 14, 1S39; he died
November 15, 1885. He settled in Hardwick, Massa
chusetts, in 1858, on the Petersham road. He was
a farmer and his widow is now living at No. 150
Lincoln street, Worcester, Massachusetts. She was
born July 16, 1817. The children of William Hack
and Harriet N, Blackmer were: Francis Thaxter,
born in Worcester, March 30 1844, died in Wash
ington, D. C, January 15, 1884; Daniel Gray, born
in Prescott, January 3, 1846, died in Worcester,
November 30, 1872; William, bom in Prescott, July
10, 1847, died July 26, 1847; Mary Anjeannette, born
in Prescott, September 18, 1848, died in Hardwick,
December 24, 1809; Edwin Augustus, born in Pres
cott, November 9, 1850, died in Worcester, No
vember 30, 1882: Charles Henry, born in Prescott,
November 23, 1S52, died in Hardwick, December
1, 1869; Emory Washburn, born in Prescott, May
24, 1854, died in Hardwick, December 24, 1869;
Hattie Adaline, born in Prescott, June 29, 1856, died
March 30, 1857; Frederick William, born in Hard
wick, April 10, 1858; George Albert, born in Hard
wick, March 26, i860, died in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, April 25, 1889; Herbert Theodore, born
in Hardwick, February 11, 18(12. died in Worcester,
July 14, 190a.
(VII) Francis T. Blackmer, son of William H.
(6), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1844,
but spent his boyhood in Prescott and Hardwick,
where his parents lived. He was educated in the
district schools and at Wilbraham Academy. When
twenty years of age he returned to Worcester to
enter the law office of the late Hon. William W.
Rice. Fie was admitted to the bar in 1867, but
he continued in the employ of Mr. Rice until he was
admitted to partnership. In 1875 he was elected
city solicitor of Worcester, and he continued in
this office until 1881, when he resigned to take the
place as district attorney of Judge Staples, who
was at that time promoted to the bench. In both of
these important public offices he was distinguished
for faithful and aWe service. In 1883 his health
failed so that he was obliged to give up work. He
tried by rest and travel to regain his health, but
the struggle was vain, and in January, 1884, he died
at Washington, -D. C.. at the very beginning of
one of the most promising legal careers and with
remarkable attainments for a lawyer only forty years
old. He was particularly successful as a trial lawyer,
He was very effective in persuading juries to his
way of thinking. His familiarity with Yankee char
acter and his easy confidence-winning mannerisms
commanded the attention of rural jurors as nobody
else could. He probably became known to more
persons in the course of his career as a lawyer and
district attorney than any other lawyer in the county.
Tn the examination of, witnesses he had no peer
among his contemporaries. He was always in con
trol of his temper and composed under the greatest
stress, (.VII) Frederick William Blackmer, son of Will
iam H. Blackmer (6). was born April 10, 1858, at
Hardwick, Massachusetts. He attended tlie com
mon schools in towns where his parents lived, and
fitted for college at Barre Academy and the Hitch
cock high sehool at Brimfield, Massachusetts. He
came to Worcester in 1880 to enter the office of
Francis T. Blackmer. his brother, and take a course
at the law school. He had hardly become familiar
with the details of his brother's practice when his

374

WORCESTER COUNTY

brother was taken sick, retired and died. The busi
ness needed him and his legal education was gained
by hard work in actual practice. He had to give
up the plan to go to the law school. In 1883
he was admitted to the bar at Fitchburg. Shortly
after his brother's death he formed a partnership
with Ernest H. Vaughan. In March, 1884, the new
firm opened offices in the old postoffice building on
Pearl street. After a year they moved to the Walker
building, and on the completion of the State Mutual
building they took the corner suite, No. 801-804,
where they are at present. For about ten years
Blackmer & Vaughan have ranked as the oldest
firm of lawyers in Worcester. They have been ex
tremely successful in their practice for over twenty
years. They have made a specialty of corporation
cases, especially bankruptcy proceedings, and settle
ments of financial embarrassments. They have or
ganized hundreds of corporations and are regular
counsel for over fifty different corporations. Their
most notable achievement in court perhaps was in
the famous Kettle Brook litigation. They won some
one hundred and twenty suits for damages against
the city of Worcester on account of the taking of
water for city uses. The damages amounted to
about $680,000 in all.
Mr. Blackmer is a member of the Commonwealth
Club and the Worcester Golf Club. He and his fam
ily attend the Central Congregational Church. He
enjoys travel and has made frequent trips to the
south and west. He is familiar with every city in
California and with most of the cities of the north
west. He resides in a very attractive new home on
Massachusetts avenue.
He married in 1883, Maggie Osgood Whitney,
daughter of Lovell and Hannah (Moore) Whitney,
of Boylston, Massachusetts, and a descendant of
John Whitney, who came to Watertown in April,
i6'Jt. Their children are : Ralph Fred, born in 1885,
graduated from Worcester Academy in the class of
1904; Albert Whitney, born in 1887, graduated from
Worcester Academy in the class of .1905, and now a
member of the class of 1909 in Amherst College;
Waldo .Harvey, born in 1890; and Bernice, born
in 1893.ALBERT GEARY MANN. Richard Mann (I),
who was in the town of Scituate, Massachusetts, be
fore 1644, was the emigrant ancestor of the late
Albert Geary Mann, of Worcester, and his family.
He took the oath of fidelity there January 15, 1644.
He was one of the twenty-six partners in the cele
brated Conihassett grant in 1646. He was drowned
February 16, 1655, while crossing the ice on the
pond near his house. John Hoar, who subsequently
went to Concord, Massachusetts, was his near neigh
bor and was on the jury that- held an inquest after
the death. The verdict shows that with the vain
attempts of those present to^help him he struggled
for an hour and finally succumbed to the cold and
was drowned. It is supposed that Rebecca Mann
who married John Co wen in 1656 was the widow
of Richard Mann. The name of Richard's wife
was Rebecca. Richard Mann was a farmer or
planter, and one of the original proprietors. His
farm was beautifully located. His neighbor on the
south was John Hoar, who early removed to Con
cord. Massachusetts. On the east was the ' sea and
on the north was Musquascut pond, in which the
drowning accident happened.
The children of Richard and Rebecca Mann were :
Nathaniel, born September 23, 1646, died July 20,
1688; Thomas, born August 15, 1650, married Sarah,
died 1732; Richard, born February 5, 1652, mar
ried Elizabeth Sutton; Josiah, born December 10,

1654, probably died young, though he may be the
Josiah who was in Boston 1674-5-6.
(II) Richard Mann, son of Richard Mann (1),
was born February 5, 1652, at Scituate, Massachu
setts. He married Elizabeth Sutton, who was born
in 1662. She was the eldest daughter of John Sut
ton, of Scituate, and granddaughter of Elder Na
thaniel Tilden, who was a wealthy citizen and
emigrated from Tenterden, in Kent, England, be
fore 1628, and settled in Scituate, Massachusetts.
Richard Mann was three years old at the time
of his father's death, and four when his mother
married John Cowen. When eleven he was ap
prenticed to Governor Thomas Hinckley, of Barn
stable, for a term of ten years. He was a soldier
in King Philip's war and received his portion of
land for services, especially at the Narragansett
sortie fight, so-calle'd. This tract of land was at
Hebron, Connecticut, and was deeded later by him
to his son Nathaniel. In 1703 he sold his farm at
Scituate to his brother Thomas, and about the same
time deeded a tract of Connihasset land to Gershom
Ewell. April 13, 1703, he bought a farm of three
thousand acres at Middleboro, Massachusetts, of
John Allen. Soon afterward he settled at Lebanon,
Connecticut, where he spent the remainder of his
days. All his children, except the youngest, Elisha,
were born before the family left Scituate.
The children were : 1. John, born April 7, 1684,
was in Lebanon, Connecticut, 1719, but removed to
western Massachusetts or to New Hampshire, where
he raised a family. 2. Rebecca, born March 22, 1686,
married Isaac Tilden, of Lebanon, June 4, 1716, and
had six children. 3. Hannah, born April 13, 1689.
' 4. Nathaniel, born October 27, 1693, married (first)
Mary Root. 5. Richard, born March 10, 1694, mar
ried probably Mary Culver, July 23, 1719, settled at
Lebanon, Connecticut, and had Esther, born De
cember 18, 1721, removed to New Hampshire or
Massachusetts. 6. Elizabeth, born August 27, 1696.
7. Abigail, born February 23, 1698^9, probably mar
ried at Lebanon, April 6, 1721, Simon Baxter. 8.
Elisha, resided for a time at Lebanon.
(Ill) Nathaniel Mann, son of Richard Mann (2),
was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, October 27,
1693. He removed early with his parents to Lebanon,
Connecticut, about 1704. He married (first) Mary
Root, of Hebron, Connecticut, February 1, 1713.
She died1 May 19, 1728. He married (-second) Mary
Sprague, March 4, 1729. She died October 15, 1735.
He married (third) Patience Role, September 5,
1736. He had six children by his first wife and two
by his second, according to the records of Hebron,
Connecticut, where they were born. Mary Root
was the daughter of Jacob Root, son of John Root,
one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut.
Jacob Root was one of the first settlers of Northamp
ton, Massachusetts, removed to Hebron, Connecticut,
1705, and was one of those chosen to run the bounds
between Colchester and Hebron in 1710. He died
August 9, 1731, aged about seventy. Mary was born
at Northampton, November 24, 1689.
The children of Nathaniel Mann were: Joseph,
born April 5, 1713 (probably 1714) ; Nathaniel, born
June 16, 1715-16, married Deborah Tillotson, June
5, 1739; Benjamin, born March 3, 1717; John, born
November 20, 1721, married (first) Margaret Peters;
Mary, born June 5, 1723; Nathan, born "June 20,
1727, married Elizabeth Skinner, February 12, 1752,
and had five children; Abjgail, born February 14,
!73°-3i; Abijah, born August 7, 1734, married Sarah
Porter. ,
(IV) John Mann, son of Nathaniel Mann (3),
was born at Hebron, Connecticut, November 20,
1720, died June 4, 1806. The Mann farm at Hebron

ALBERT G. MANN

WORCESTER COUNTY

375

contains about two hundred and fifty acres. The
present house was built in 1782 by Andrew Mann
and is in good repair (1884). The place was never
sold after Nathaniel Mann bought it until within
a few years. John Mann married Margaret Peters,
of Hebron, aunt of Governor Peters, of Hebron.
She was born August, 1724, died June 2, 1789. He
married (second), about 1790, Hannah Kellogg,
widow of Samuel Kellogg, of Marlboro. All his
children were by the first wife. They are: I.
Mary -or Margaret, born April 14, 1742, married
 Cross, and settled at Montreal, Canada, had
two sons. 2. John, born December 25, 1743, died
1828; married (first) Lydia Porter. 3. Mary, born
February 25, 1745-6, died May 18, 1817; married,
October 16, 1768, Jacob Loomis, who was born at
Andover, Connecticut, May 20, 1745, died May 9,
1813, had three children. 4. Hannah, born 1747. 5.
Mercy, born March 5 or 16, 1749, married Joel Mann.
6. Elijah, born August 9, 1751, married (first), Au
gust 20, 1771, Mary Perkins, who died 1781 ; he
married (second), November 14, 1782, Widow Bax
ter, of Lebanon, Connecticut, had four children.
7. Andrew, captain, born March. 18, 1755, married
Harriet Phelps. 8. Dr. Nathaniel, born August 11,
1757, educated at Dartmouth College and in Eng
land as a physician, married a Miss Owen, of Heb
ron, May 6, 1787, removed to Georgia, where he
practiced medicine; had two daughters. 9. Phebe,
born August 6, 1763 (or 68), probably married 
Buel. 10. Hannah, born June 5, 1772, married The
ophilus Baldwin, who was born August 25, 1769,
lived for a time at Bradford, Connecticut, removed
to Holland, Erie county, _ New York, where they
died; had four or more children.
(V) John Mann, son of John Mann (4), was
born at Hebron, Connecticut, December 25, 1743.
He married in 1765, Lydia Porter, of Hebron, Con
necticut. She was born March 17, 1746, daughter
of John Porter, of Hebron. He removed with her
on horseback to Orford, New Hampshire, in October,
1765 and settled on a tract of land given him by his
father. They arrived in the wilderness October 24,
1765, and passed the winter with a family that was
already located there, in a hut covered with bark.
That family moved away so that Mr. Mann and his
wife were the first abiding settlers of the town.
After the arrival of other settlers and much clearing
had been done, Mr. Mann bought other lots, making
a large farm, and built his house in what is now
the centre of a thriving village. He died at Orford,
New Hampshire, May 9, 1828. A handsome monu
ment erected to his memory is to be seen in the vil
lage grave yard. His -wife Lydia died March 5,
1805. It is said that late in life he married (second)
a Widow Barber. He had fifteen children by his
wife Lydia, born at Orford, New Hampshire, all
of whom except the two youngest lived to marry and
have children. They were : John, born May 21,
1766, married (first) Lydia Dutton; Solomon, born
August 19, 1768, married  Parkhurst; Jared,
born November 6, 1770, married Mindwell Hale;
Ira, born September 8, 1772, married (first) 
Bailey; Aaron, born July 21, 1774, married (first)
Sally Melvin; Lydia, born September 17, 1776, died
at Littleton, New Hampshire, December 29, 1851,
married Joseph Pratt and had four children; Sarah,
born Jane 4, 1778, died at Orford, New Hampshire,
November 5, 1864, married Dr. Rogers, had one
child; Nathaniel, born December 29, 1779, married
Mary Mason; Benning (judge), born November 25,
1781, married Phebe Mann; Asaph, born September
30, 1783, married Mary Barker; Cyrus (Rev.), born
April 3, 1785, married Nancy Sweetser ; Phebe, born
March 7, 1787, died November 25, 1871, married

Samuel Sargent, had seven children; Joel (Rev.),
born February 7, 1789, married Catherine Vernon;
Abijah, born April 3, 1791, died March 8, 1809; a
son who died in infancy.
(VI) Aaron Mann, son of John Mann (5), wsa
born at Orford, New Hampshire, July 21, 1774, died
in Elgin, Illinois, in 1851, having moved there and
settled with his family in 1838. He married (first)
Sally Melvin; (second) Sally Ingraham. Captain
Mann, as he was called, had sixteen children, eight
by each wife. They were : Sally, born at Orford,
married Reuben Roberts, resided at Fisherville, New
Hampshire; Aaron, born February 28, 1799, married
Eliza Weld; Harriet, married Francis Weld; Phil-
oxa, born 1803, died October 20, 1831, at Elbridge,
New York ; married, September 12, 1827, Peter Clark,
graduate of Union College, president of Washington
College, Kent county, Maryland, had one son; Eli
phalet Kimball, born in New Flampshire, went to
Elgin, Illinois, about 1833, died in Chicago about
1880; Isaac, Cyrus, Adin, William, Leonard, Ben
ning, Munroe, Charles, Eunice, Maria, died young;
and an infant that was buried with his mother.
(VII), Aaron Mann, son of Aaron Mann (6),
was born February 28, 1799, at Orford, New Hamp
shire, died March 10, 1854. He resided in the
easterly part of Orford and was a farmer and dealer
in lumber. He married Eliza Weld, at Orford,
New Hampshire. She was born April 15, 1800,
died August 9, 1876. Their children were : 1.
Caroline, born January 17, 1825, married Oliver
Chase, of Paxton, Massachusetts; married (second)
Calvin Proctor, of Claremont, New Hampshire, has
a son, Henry Chase, now or lately of Worcester,
Massachusetts. 2. Albert Geary, born July 19, 1827,
married (first) Julia Maria Sanborn, of Orford,
New Hampshire; married (second) Harriet A.
Bigelow, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 3. Henry A.,
born September 1, 1832, died January 9, 1835. 4.
Louisa, born October 8, 1836, died February 9,
1859; married, January 14, 1857, John E. Spaulding,
of Worcester; has no children.
(VIII) Albert Geary Mann, son of Aaron Mann
(7), was born at Orford, New Hampshire, July 17,
1827. He was brought up on the New Hampshire
farm. During a part of the year he was engaged in
burning lime, a business that his father carried on at
times, and in this occupation he learned the rudi
ments of the business which he followed later in life.
He attended the district schools of his native town,
but like most of the successful men who started
life under similar conditions, was taught to under
stand that school furnishes a man only a slight start
in his education. At the age of eighteen he left home
and went to Leicester, Massachusetts, to work. He
was back and forth between Orford, Leicester and
Worcester for several years. In 1847 he was em
ployed for about three months by David Wodward
the leading stone mason in Worcester at that time,
and he cut most of the window caps and sills for
the Warren block, then building on Pearl street.
In 1851 Mr. Mann located himself in Worcester,
and two years later entered into partnership with
David Damon, they having a stone yard on School
street. In 1857 the firm was dissolved and he con
tinued alone. He bought_ some property on South-
bridge street and established there the extensive
stone business which he conducted for many years.
He enlarged the stone yard several times by the
purchase of adjoining property. For twenty-five
years he carried on the largest stone business in Wor
cester, employing at times as many as eighty stone
cutters and masons. In 1868 he bought the granite
quarry at Marlborough, New Hampshire, where
most of his stone was secured.- He sold the city

376

WORCESTER COUNTY

much of the block paving. He furnished all the
stone for the ashlar work on the Union station and
Plymouth Church. In 1888 he was the contractor
for the granite in Jonas G. Clark's building, opposite
the City Hall, the largest and best block at that time
in the city. Much of his work was for cemeteries,
such as tombs, headstones and monuments. In the
course of his business life Mr. Mann made many
inventions and improvements, such as the hardening
of the heads of the tools used in cutting stone and
alterations in the derricks used in the quarries and
on construction of buildings. In 1876, in consequence
of the threatened withdrawal of railroad facilities,
Mr. Mann removed his stone yard to Crescent street,
and in 1885 he sold his entire business, including
the New Hampshire, quarry, to George D. Webb,
who has continued the business with marked success
since then. After the sale of his business Mr. Mann
occasionally served on building comrrfittees and
places where his knowledge and experience were
invaluable-. He was on the building committee of
the Young Men's Christian Association and also of
Central Church. Mr. Mann had a handsome resi
dence on Harvard street overlooking the town, so
much of which he had taken part in building. He
was an excellent business man with a reputation
for square dealing and uprightness, and personally
he was simple, sincere an'd courteous. He was a
member of the Society of Antiquity and of the Wor
cester County Mechanics' Association.
Fie married (first) Julia Maria Sanborn, of Or
ford, New Hampshire, and (second), December 13,
1864, Harriet A. Bigelow, of Worcester, who sur
vives him. They had no children. Mr. Mann died
June 9, 1899, after an illness lasting about a month.
SILAS EMERSON HARTHAN. William
Harthan (1) (spelled Harthborne, Hawthorn and
various other ways in the early records) was the
emigrant ancestor of Silas Emerson Harthan, of
Worcester, Massachusetts. He was also the pro
genitor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who changed the
spelling of his name from Hathorne. Following is
the line of descent of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the
author : 1. William Hathorne. 2. John Hathorne
and wife Ruth Gardner. 3. Joseph Hathorne and
wife Sarah Bowditch. 4. Daniel Hathorne anci wile
Rachel Phelps. 5. Nathaniel Hathorne and wife
Elizabeth Clark Manning. 6. Nathaniel Hathorne
and wife Sophia Peabody, married July 4, 1804. He
changed his name to Hawthorne; died at Plymouth,
New Hampshire, May 19, 1864.
William Hathorne, the emigrant, is the ancestor
of most of the families of Harthan and Hathorn
and other variations of the spelling. He and his
brother John were the only emigrants of colonial
days of this name. Both lived in Salem and it is
difficult to distinguish between the two families.
William and John Hathorne were sons of William
and Sarah Hathorne, of Binfield, Berkshire county,
England. William was born in 1607 and came with
Governor Winthrop in the "Arabella" in 1630. He
settled in Dorchester, where he was a proprietor.
He was admitted a freeman May 14, 1634. He was
a town officer there. He removed to Salem in 1636.
He represented Dorchester in the general court 1635
and 1637, and Salem many years after his removal.
Fie was elected speaker of the house of deputies in
1644 and re-elected a number of times. He had a
grant of land of six hundred and. forty acres Septem
ber 6, 1676, for extra services to the state. This
was the first grant in Townsend, Massachusetts, and
is probably the land occupied by his sons and grand
sons in Stow, Marlboro and Townsend later. He
was elected assistant to the governor in 1662 and

served until 1679. He was one of the most able,
energetic and widely influential men in New Eng
land. He was at the great training hi Boston in
1639. He was captain of the Salem military company
appointed May 1, 1646, commissioned major 1656,
He was narrow and bigoted arbitrary and intolerant
in church and state, judged by present standards, but
he was a zealous and fearless advocate of personal
rights against the encroachments of the royal agents.
He had letters from his brother, Robert Hathorne,
of Bray, England, April 1, 1653, with a message to
his brother John, who has been mentioned above.
A list of his children written by his own hand
has been preserved. He died in 1681, in his seventy-
fourth year. His will was dated February 17, 1679-
80 and an inventory is dated June 10, 1681, His
wife Ann was executor. He bequeathed to his
wife; to William, Samuei and Abigail, children of
his deceased son Eleazer; to son John; to Sarah,
widow of deceased son William; to grandchildren
Jervice Helwyde, land at Grotoil if he came over
from "Urop" to enjoy it; to daughter Sarah Coak-
er's two eldest sons by her husband Coaker; to, the
rest of his grandchildren. The estate was settled
by his sons, John Hathorne and Israel Porter. The
children of William and Anne Hathorne were:
Sarah, born March 11, 1634-5, married -Joseph Coker,
of Newbury, Massachusetts; Eleazer, born August
1, 1637, married Abigail Curwen, daughter of George
Curwen; Nathaniel, born August 11, 1639; John,
born August 5, 1641, married Ruth Gardner, daugh
ter of George Gardner; Anna, born December 12,
1643, married Joseph Porter; William, born April
1, 1645, married Sarah  ; Elizabeth, born
1649, married Israel Porter; Mary, baptized May 1,
1653. (II) John Hathorne, son of William Hathorne
(1), was born August 5, 1641, in Salem, Massachu
setts. He was distinguished in civil and military
life. He was a captain in the war with the eastern
Indians, later colonel of his regiment and chief in
' command of the expedition in 1696 against the In
dians. He, was a magistrate, except during the
brief administration of Sir Edmund Andros, and
was a most cruel and intolerant judge during the
witchcraft delusion. He married Ruth Gardner.
Their children were: John, Nathaniel, Ebenezer,
Joseph, baptized June, 1691, married Sarah. Bow-
ditch ; Ruth, Benjamin. There is some doubt whether
the Ebenezer and Nathaniel Hathorne, who settled
in Marlboro, Massachusetts, about 1720, were sons
of John (II) or Nathaniel, but there is more reason
to think that they were the sons of Nathaniel.
(II) Nathaniel Hathorne, son of William Ha
thorne (1), was born in Salem, Massachusetts,
August 11, 1639. He settled in Lynn, Massachu
setts. Among his children the historian of Marlboro
evidently believes were the two settlers, viz.:
Ebenezer and Nathaniel, though the Marlboro set
tlers may have been sons of Ebenezer Hathorne
(III), the son of Nathaniel (II). The children
of Nathaniel Hathorne (II) were: Ebenezer, mar
ried, 1683, Esther Witt, probably daughter of Jon
athan and Mary Witt ; she was born 1665 ; Nathaniel,
born in Lynn, Massachusetts.
(Ill) Ebenezer Hathorne, son of Nathaniel He-
thorne (2), was probably father of Nathaniel and
Ebenezer Hathorne, of Marlboro. There is no
doubt that the Marlboro line is connected with the
Salem family and probably in one of the ways indi
cated. Ebenezer Iiathorne married a Witt and the
Witt and Hathorne families came to Marlboro to
gether from Lynn and Salem.
(IV) Nathaniel Hathorne, son of Ebenezer Ha
thorne (3), was born in Lynn or Salem about 1690

WORCESTER COUNTY

377.

He is brother of the ancestor of Silas E. Harthan,
and came with his brother to Marlboro. He married
(first) Martha  and had several children.
He married (second1), 1728, Sarah Stevens, probably
of Stow, where the Hathornes seemed to have set
tled before coming to Marlboro. He settled on
what is now the Marlboro town farm. The children
of Nathiiniel and Martha Hathorne were : Nathaniel,
baptized August 11, 1723, died young; Martha, bap
tized December 23, 1726; Nathaniel, born December
23, 1726. The children by the second marriage
were: Ebenezer, born June 30, 1734, married, May
6, 1757, Rhoda Howe; Mary, born 1730, married,
November 5, 1754, Amasa Cranston ; Deliverance,
married, March 1, 1764, John Cutler, of Shrews
bury. (IV) Ebenezer Hathorne, probably son of
Ebenezer Hathorne (3), was born in Salem or
Lynn about 1690. He came to Stow and later to
Marlboro with his brother, Nathaniel Hathorne,
about 1720. He married, 1730, Elizabeth Goodale,
daughter of Benjamin Goodale. The Goodales were
settlers in Salem also. So were the Stevens family,
into which his brother married. The children of
Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Goodale) Hathorne were:
Lucy, born February 28, 1730; Silas, born December
22, 1732, was in French war, 1759; afterwards lived
in Shrewsbury; Micah, born March 31, 1735; Solo
mon, born February 24, 1738, married, 1761, Mary(
Gates, and had Ebenezer, born April 8, 1763, andv
Eunice, born April 1, 1765.
(V) Micah Harthan, as he usually spelled it,
son of Ebenezer Hathorne (4), was born in Marl
boro, Massachusetts, March 31, 1735. He was a sol
dier in the French and Indian war in 1757. He was
in Captain Samuel Howe's company at the fall of
Fort William Henry in the relief expedition. He
was also a soldier in the revolution at the Benning
ton alarm. He enlisted in Captain Solomon Stuart's
company and Colonel Josiah Whitney's regiment,
August 21, 1777. The powder horn carried by
Micah Harthan in the French and Indian war has
been preserved and is in the possession of Silas E.
Harthan. Micah Harthan came from Marlboro to the
north district of Shrewsbury, now located in West
Boylston, in 1761. He married Sarah Jones, of
Marlboro, November 26, 1761, recorded in Shrews
bury. She was born March 8, 1734, died 1820, aged
eighty-six years. He died in 1803, aged sixty-eight
years. The widow declined to administer the estate
and Jonas Temple, who married his daughter Lois,
was appointed, the other heirs consenting. The chil
dren of Micah and Sarah (Jones) Harthan were:
Caty, married Samuel Straw, of Peterboro, January
27, 1801; David, born January 15, 1764, married
Prudence Winn Smith; Eunice, married, November
20, 1794; Lois, married Jonas Temple, December
27, 1791; Lucy, married Benjamin Pollard, of
Greenfield, New Hampshire, February 2, 1796 ; Lydia,
married Thomas Keyes, Jr., March 26, 1791 ; Olive,
married Hiram Howe, of Holden, January 6, 1800.
(VI) David Harthan, son of Micah Harthan
(5), was born in Shrewsbury, now West Boylston,
Massachusetts, January 15, 1764. He married, July
15, 1786, Prudence Winn Smith, widow, born in
1764, daughter of Jacob Winn. He was the founder
of the well known Harthan Mills in West Boylston,
Massachusetts. His home was about fifty rods
north of the present railroad station at West Boyls
ton. The children of David and Prudence (Winn)
Harthan were : Antipas Smith, born in West Boyls
ton, October 3, 1788; Silas, born in West Boylston,
November 28, 1791; Lois, born November 19, 1793;

Dennis, born November 17, 1796;, Ward Boylston,
born July 28, 1804.
(VII) Antipas Smith Harthan, son of David
Harthan (6), was born in West Boylston, Massa
chusetts, October 2, 1788. He married Cynthia Fair
banks, born in West Boylston, Massachusetts, July
10, 1784. She was a descendant of Jonathan Fair-
bank, of Dedham. (See Fairbanks Family sketch
elsewhere in this work.) This branch of the family
•settled Lancaster and is that from which the vice
president of the United States, Charles W. Fair
banks, is descended. Antipas Smith Harthan died
in 1815. The children of Antipas Smith and Cynthia
(Fairbanks) Harthan were: Silas Smith, born in
West Boylston, Massachusetts, August 7, 1814;
Prudence Maria.
(VIII) Silas Smith Harthan, son of Antipas
Smith Harthan (7), was born in West Boylston,
Massachusetts, August 7, 1814. When eighteen years
of age he learned the trade of cabinet maker and car
penter. Fie had a common school education. He set
tled in Sterling, but in 1844 removed to Worcester
and lived in the old Dan Tucker house on Pleasant
street, opposite High street, where the Brunswick
block now stands, the house at that time being the
first one on the street coming from Main street. In
1845 he built and occupied the house on Chatham
street, then called Division street, corner of Clinton
street, now occupied by General Josiah Pickett.
Afterwards he removed to Guilford, Connecticut,
Sterling and West Boylston, Massachusetts. His
home at West Boylston was taken by the Metro
politan water board during the construction of the
reservoir there, and the last few months of his life
were spent on the old homestead in West Boylston,
where he was born eighty-eight years before. He
died September 18, 1902. He was a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge, 1. O. O. F., when in Worces
ter. In politics he was a Republican. He was a
Congregationalist and belonged formerly to the Old
South Church, Worcester, of which his wife was
also a member.
He married, January 6, 1836, Mary Ann Ross,
born in Sterling, Massachusetts, January 22, 1817,
the daughter of Peter and Polly (Burpee) Ross.
She was the mother of thirteen children, of whom
Silas E. Harthan was the second. She attended
the old Redstone school in Sterling, the very school
attended by Mary Sawyer, of whom- the verses
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" were written many years
ago. Mrs. Harthan was reared in the strict Ortho
dox faith of her ancestors and she brought up her
own children in the same way. She died December
6, 1902. A sister of Mrs. Harthan, Mrs. Olive Ross
Burbank, was the mother of Luther Burbank, of
Santa Rosa, , California, known throughout the
world as "The Wizard of Horticulture.'' Mr. Bur
bank and Silas E. Harthan are first cousins.
(IX) Silas Emerson Harthan, son of Silas
Smith Harthan (8), was born in West Boylston,
Massachusetts, March 5, 1838. He attended the
same little district school that his mother before
him had attended, the Redstone Hill school in Ster
ling, Massachusetts, After the family removed to
Worcester he attended the school house formerly
on the Common and the old Thomas street school.
He attended the academy at Guilford, Connecticut.
When a small boy he sold the Daily Spy and
the Daily Telegraph in Worcester. In 1848-49-
50 be sold the Worcester Directory, then only
twelve and a half cents a copy. While in the
academy at Guilford he began to learn the machin
ist's trade. When seventeen years of age he was
given charge of the department making dies for tin

378

WORCESTER COUNTY

toys and tinware. About that time he constructed
his first steamboat. It was twenty-one feet in length
and he made the boiler, engine, patterns, castings
and all himself. Afterwards he built a side wheeler
used in the passenger trade on the Providence river
and at Martha's Vineyard. In 1873 he built the
steamboats "Addie" and "Little Favorite," and later
four other steamboats used on Lake Quinsigamond.
These were the first steamboats on the lake. He
has built more than fifty steamboats. The last boat
the Mr. Harthan built was the "Sterling," now in
commission on Lake Waushacum, Sterling, Massa
chusetts. Mr. Harthan came to Worcester in i860 and
went to work for the Cleveland Machine Company
on contract work. He was also superintendent there
- for a time. He worked for the Gilbert loom works
also on contract work. In 1869 he became master
mechanic for the Bay State Shoe and Leather Com
pany, of which H. H. Bigelow was the general man
ager. Mr. Harthan invented the Bigelow Heeling
Machine, an ingenious machine for compressing
scraps of leather into heels, shaping the heel and
driving the nails part way through, ready for use.
Each machine had a capacity of three thousand
heels- a day, and each machine produced about four
thousand five hundred dollars a year in royalties.
The perfecting of this machine brought about the
consolidation of the Bigelow Heeling Company and
the McKay Company. He also invented other ma
chines used in the manufacture of boots and shoes.
The Armsby property at 44, 46 and 48 Central street
was purchased and rebuilt for use in making these
heel machines. Many of these machines are still
in use by the Bay State Shoe and Leather Com
pany at 68 High street.
In 1879 Mr. Harthan became the manager of the
first electric light company and" later the first electric
railway, the first electric power, the first storage
battery, operated* in Worcester. The first arc lamps
used in Worcester were in the Skating Rink on
Foster street during the New England Fair in Sep
tember, 1879. The next were installed at Union
Station. When the Denholm & McKay Company
moved into their present quarters opposite the Com
mon in 1881, the department £tore was fitted with
electric lights. The announcement that the store
was to be lighted by electricity awakened the fears
of some good old citizens. There was quite a public
demonstration against the innovation. A meeting
of the city government was hurriedly called as a
last resort to prevent the use of the new-fangled
lights on the opening night of the Boston Store, but
they failed to locate the management of the light
in time. Denholm & McKay's big Boston Store
was lighted with electricity on the opening night
of course, in spite of the clamor, and it was not
long before many stores in the city were lighted
with electric lamps. The dynamos then in use were
in the brick station on the old Skating Rink grounds.
There were very few instruments for measuring
electricity at that time. Lighting was done by thumb
rule at first, but the oil rule that necessity is the
mother of invention was again demonstrated in the
simplicity and reliability of the modern electric
light plant. In 1883 the electric light business was
sold^ to the Worcester Electric Light Company. The
Worcester Electric Power Company was organized
by a Boston company with Mr. Harthan as manager.
It was sold to H. H. Bigelow in 1887.
A number of electrical exhibitions were held in
the Skating Rink under the direction of S. E. Har
than and H. H. Bigelow to demonstrate to the
public the usefulness of electricity in the industrial
world. The public was made familiar in this way

with the uses that could be made from the same
electrical circuit, such as operating street railways,
furnishing power for running machinery, for both
arc and incandescent lighting; 'far heating, cooking
ranges, for sad irons, etc. An electric railroad for
carrying passengers was in operation in the skating
rink during these exhibitions. This was the first
electric"" railway in Worcester, if not in Massachu
setts. Soon after, in 1889, the cars on the dummy
railroad owned by H. H. Bigelow, connecting Lake
Quinsigamond with the business centre of Worces
ter, were operated by a trolley electric system. The
Foster Street Electric Railway was built in 1890
and later the North End Street Railway. Both of
these street railways were operated from the sta
tion on the Skating Rink grounds. In 1897 the
Worcester Electric Power Company was adopted
by the Worcester Electric Light Company.
In 1897 Mr. Harthan was employed by some
capitalists to re-open the old coal mine near Lake
Quinsigamond after it had been abandoned for
about seventy years. He found the mine about forty
feet deep and full of water. After pumping out
two hundred thousand gallons of water some fifteen
or twenty tons of coal were taken out and experi
mented with. Mr. 'Harthan burned some of the
coal in his furnace, as did others, and it was found
to be of too poor a quality to pay to operate the
mine. The coal was mixed with graphite and other
foreign matter. Mr. Harthan retired in 1898 after
selling his shop fittings and tools. He has devoted
his time since then to the care of his real estate
and to the operation of the steamboat "Sterling" on
lake Waushacum, Sterling, running during the
season from the Methodist Camp Grounds at Ster
ling Junction to the Waushacum Park Picnic
Grounds, a tract of land about thirty acres in ex
tent owned by a company in which Mr. Harthan is
a partner. These picnic grounds are the only
grounds in the state used exclusively for church
and society picnics. They have been open since
1878. Mr. Harthan married, January 15, i860, Mary
Elizabeth Tufts, born in Lancaster, May 19, 1838,
died September 11, 1877. She was the daughter of
Albert Tufts, of Medford, Massachusetts, of the
family that founded Tufts College in Medford. Her
mother was Mary Louise Newhall, of Lancaster,
daughter of Albert Newhall, of Lancaster, an emi
nent teacher and composer of music. Mr. Harthan
married (second) Maria Carpenter Buker, born in
Stonington, Connecticut, daughter of Nelson Car
penter, later of Putnam Heights, Connecticut. Her
mother was Mercy Randall Brayton, of the old
Brayton family of Rhode Island. She was a direct
descendant of Roger Williams.
The children of Silas Emerson Harthan were : I.
Frank Ellsworth, died in infancy in 1863. 2. Charles
Emerson, born in Worcester, educated in the public
schools and at the Polytechnic Institute; is asso
ciated with the General Electric Company at Lynn,
Massachusetts, as electrical engineer and at the head
of the entire arc light department; in 1905 was
made designing engineer of the whole General Elec
tric Company; he has made for the General Elec
tric Company a number of valuable inventions. He
married, June 21, 1888, Annie Hinks Dow, of Lynn,
Massachusetts, and has one child: Lewis Emerson,
born September 30, 1891, who has unusual musical
talents. 3. Addie Maria, born in Worcester, edu
cated in the Worcester public schools and the State
Normal school at Worcester; has been a teacher in
the Worcester public schools for the past fourteen
years. 4. Herbert Miller, born in Worcester, edu
cated in the public schools there; was of marked

WORCESTER COUNTY

379

mechanical ability; married, February 22, 1900, Har
riet AJlerton Purinton, a direct descendant of the
Allertons who came on the "Mayflower" ; he was
injured in the factory where he was employed and
died three days later, June 28, 1900, aged thirty-one
years. THE PARSONS FAMILY is of English de
scent, and are found at a very early date in New
England. Whether in the domains of England or on
the New England shores they have borne an honor
able part in all that has been for the upbuilding
of refined society and good forms of government.
As a family they have been prominent both in Eng
land and the United States. Whether as soldiers,
jurists, scholars, physicians, or clergymen, the name
stands for loyalty and high-minded living. Mrs.
M. E. Schieffelin, a descendant, says : "The Parsons
family Is of the same descent as the Earl of Rosse,
of Parsonstown, Ireland. The Parsons went from
England to Ireland. Their coat-of-arms is similar
to ours, and the form and face of the members of
the two branches have a striking resemblance."
(II) Joseph Parsons, on July a. 1635, sailed with
his brother, Benjamin and others of the family from
Gravesend, England, in the bark "Transport," bound
for America. He was born in Great Torrington,
near Exeter, Devonshire, England, and is supposed
to have descended from Sir Thomas Parsons, of
Milton Royal, who was knighted by Charles II,
1634. The record states that "His brother Benja
min Parsons was a grandson of Thomas Parsons,
of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England, who died
in 1597." Joseph Parsons married, November 26,
1646, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Margaret
(Ford) Bliss, of Hartford, Connecticut. She was
born in England, 1620, and died January 29, 1712.
He died October 9, 1683, at Springfield, Massachu
setts. He was a man of much prominence in his
day, and was one of the witnesses to the Indian
deed of the territory of Springfield, given to Will
iam Pyncheon and others for a consideration of
eighteen yards of wampum, eighteen hatchets, eight
een knives, July 15, 1636. In 1642 he' removed to
Northampton, and was among the first purchasers
from the Indians in 1645. For fifty years he was
the leading business man of the Connecticut Valley.
He was a' fur trader, and had a monopoly on the
beaver trade in Connecticut, for which he paid an
nually the sum of twelve pounds. He left a large
estate, part of which is still held by the heirs. He
was styled "Cornet," indicating that he had been
an officer in a British cavalry regiment. The chil
dren of Joseph- and Margaret Parsons : 1. Joseph,
born at Springfield, November, 1647, died Novem
ber, 1729. 2. John, born 1649, married Sarah Clarke,
at Northampton, December 23, 1675. 3. Samuel,
born 1652; he settled at Durham, Connecticut,
1706. 4. Ebenezer, born 1655, killed by Indians
in King Philip's war, September 8, 1675. 5. Jona
than, born June, 1657, died October, 1684. 6.
David, born April, 1659. 7. Mary, born June, 1661.
8. Hannah, born 1663. 9. Abigail, born Septem
ber, 1666. 10. Hester, born 1672; married Joseph
Smith, of Greenwich, Connecticut.
(II) Joseph Parsons and wife Elizabeth had ten
children: Joseph, John, Ebenezer, Elizabeth, David,
Josiah, Daniel, Moses, Abigail, Noah.
(II) Samuel Parsons and wife, settled at Dur
ham, Connecticut, had children: Timothy, Simeon,
Phineas, Aaron, Ithamar.
(Ill) Joseph Parsons, grandson of the ancestor,
married Elizabeth Thompson, and had children: Jo
seph, Samuel, William, Elizabeth, John.
(IV) Joseph Parsons, great-grandson of the

American ancestor, married Frances Usher; their
children : Frances, Elizabeth, Joseph, Thomas, Sam
uel, Dr. John, William, Sarah, Edward.
(IV) Samuel Parsons and Mary his wife had
children: Mary, Joseph, Hannah, Betsey.
(IV) William Parsons married Sarah Burnham;
their children: Sarah, William, Elizabeth, John,
Joseph, Ebenezer.
(Ill) Rev. David Parsons and wife Sarah
(Stebbings) Parsons had one child, David, and his
children were: Ezekial, Williams, David, Prudence,
Thomas, Harriet, Francis, Mary, Caroline, Sophia,
William, James.
(IV) Israel Parsons, born 1715, died 1767, mar
ried Hannah Waite, and for his second wife Lois
Wiley. His children: Hannah, Sarah, Deborah,
Israel, Ebenezer, James, Ruth.
(V) Israel Parsons, son of Israel (a), lived in
Hatfield, and married Nancy Parmlee. Their chil
dren: Nancy, Lucina, Harriet, Israel, Epaphroditus,
Susan, Hannah.
(IV) Dr. Solomon Parsons married Elizabeth
Taylor; their children: Jerusha, Elizabeth, Phebe,
Solomon. (V) Solomon Parsons, fourth son of Dr. Solo
mon Parsons (4), born August 29, 1757, died May
11, 1831. He married, 1789, Rebecca Coburn Wesson,
of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, a native of that place,
born 1726, died in Worcester, 1836. He removed
from Leicester to Worcester in 1812. He enlisted
in the army during the revolution, in March, 1777,
being only nineteen years old at the time. He was
present at the surrender of Burgoyne; and after
ward at the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778,
where he was severely wounded and left to die on
the field, but in a most wonderful manner survived
and lived for more than half a century. His own
graphic story of his service in that engagement ap
pears in the history of the Parsons family, and
illustrates the sterling virtues of the brave soldier
and Christian man. His children: Samuel, Eliza
beth, Sally, -Bloomfield, Maria, Solomon.
It is noteworthy that Bloomfield, fourth son of
Solomon Parsons, was named in honor of the sur
geon who attended him when he was wounded at the
battle of Monmouth. The following is the verbatim
statement of Solomon Parsons relative to his serv
ice in the revolutionary war :
"I. Solomon Parsons, of Leicester, listed March
9, 1777, during the war, and was at the taking of
Burgoyne, then marched to the southward and was
in the battle of Monmouth where I endeavored to
act well my part until I received a ball which broke.
my thigh. Our men being on the retreat I fell into
the enemies hands where I was stabbed ""with a
bayonette three times, one through my arm aud
one on my shoulder and knee, and recejved a blow
from the ramrod of the artillery on my head which
rendered me senseless. After the battle I was car
ried to Princeton College where I had my wounds
dressed. I was then carried to Trenton. My father
came with the solicitations of my friends to return
home if possible before I breathed my last which- all
expected soon. I received a pass Sept. 30, and went
home with my father and was confined seven years
on my friends and my own expense. In 1780 Gen
eral Washington ordered all sick absentees to be
returned deserters unless they returned or made a
return of themselves. I being unable my father got
a return made out signed by the Selectmen of the
Town and sent it on to Camp. It not being carried
up through a neglect I lost all my arrears of pay
and clothing and the hundred acres of land. At
the close of seven years our Representative sent
for me to go to Boston with him. In the year 1785

38o

WORCESTER COUNTY

the Commissary gave me a'Pention of twenty shil
lings per month. In the year 1816 I received $6 per
month. My fractured thigh continues to be a run
ning sore and very painful when it stops running
until it is lanced anew, which frequently occurs.
This I labor under with the inconveniences of a
stiff knee which this wound occasioned. But I
have now the consolation of seeing this country in
its Glory, which partly compensates me.
"(Signed) Solomon Parsons."
(VI) Solomon Parsons, son of Solomon, of
revolutionary fame, was born October 18, 1800, less
than a year after the death of Washington. Born
on a New England farm, Mr. Parson's long life
was devoted to the cultivation of the soil, an occu
pation in which he took delight. In 1812 his father
bought the farm near Valley Falls, in Worcester.
Here the elder Parsons and his son spent the re
mainder of their days, and the latter's son, Samuel
B. Parsons, still occupies the place. Solomon Par
sons married, April 16, 1828, Sarah Hasey Child, of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. She died 1876. During
the last years of his life, Mr. Parsons had a strong
aversion to war and all connected with it; but in his
veins ran patriotic blood that has never failed to
manifest itself in every generation of this good old
Worcester family. Among the family keepsakes is
a ribbon badge, worn in 1824, when he acted as
military guard in escorting General Lafayette
through Worcester. It bears a fine likeness of La
fayette and the outline of Bunker Hill monument.
Solomon Parsons was one of the founder's of the
First Methodist Episcopal Church of Worcester,
One of his peculiarities was the fact of his being
a consistent vegetarian, and he attributed his robust
constitution and long life to the fact of his not
being a meat eater. He was a strong advocate of
the anti-slavery movement, and, when the civil war
came on, he gave up his son, named after him, to
the service of his country. He was fond of travel;
in 1865 he sailed for the West Indies, and in 1869-70
made a journey to the Holy Land and traversed the
section once so familiar to the feet of Christ and
his apostles. In 1877, when long past three score
and ten, he made an ocean trip to South America.
But time finally caused his earthly travels to cease,
and December 16, 1893, he died on the old home
stead. He lived to pass his ninety-third birthday,
surviving nearly all who began life's race with him.
"Uncle Solomon", as he was called by many both in
and outside the family, loved peace and loathed
passion. He loved and prayed, and when his mission
ended his mortal remains were placed in the finest
shades of Hope cemetery, where he sleeps by the
side of his wife and son. His children were : 1.
Sarah Frances, born January 24, 1829; married, July
4, 1849, Samuel H. T. Bennett, of Pepperell, Massa
chusetts. 2. 'Solomon, born June 9, 1830; married,
April 21, 1856, Mary Smith Gilbert, of Windsor,
Connecticut. He entered the Union army as a mem
ber of Company F, Fifty-first Massachusetts Regi
ment, and died January 18, 1863. They had one son
Albert Gilbert, born June 7, 1857, died April 13,
1882. 3. Samuel Bloomfield, born February 24,
1832, married Elizabeth L. Gibbs, December 11,
1861. 4. Mary Elizabeth, born October 1, 1833, mar
ried, March 29, 1853, Elmer Woodward, of Orange,
Massachusetts. . 5. William Augustine, born October
30, 1836, died July 2, 1859. 6. Lucy Mason, born
July 19, 1840; married Nathaniel H. Bryant, of
Boston.' 7. Anna Eliza, born June 21, 1843; married
Angus Henderson, of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
He died December 21, 1897.
(VII) Samuel B. Parsons, son of Solomon and
Sarah Hasey (Child) Parsons (6), born February

24, 1832, in Worcester county, where he was reared
and educated. He has served as justice of the peace
for thirty-five years. After finishing his education
at the Leicester Academy, he took up civil engineer
ing and has followed it for more than fifty years.
He married Elizabeth L. Gibbs, of Boylston, Decem
ber 11, 1861. Their children: 1. Anna Gibbs, born
November 2, 1862. 2. Norman Bloomfield, Septem
ber 28, 1865. 3. Irene Elizabeth, December 8, 1867.
4. Nellie Merriam, September 18, 1870; died August
25, 1871.
(VIII) Norman Bloomfield Parsons, son of
Samuel B., as above, born September 28, 1865, was
educated at the Worcester high school, and for a
number of years had charge of the old home farm
which has belonged to the Parsons family .since
1812. In 1902 he was elected as a commissioner
from the seventh ward in Worcester, and re-elected
in 1904 by twelve hundred majority. He has been
treasurer of the Republican Club for seven years,
taking a lively interest in all political matters.
WALTER HEYWARD FISKE. Symon Fiske
(1), to whom the ancestry of Walter H, Fiske, of
Upton, is traced, was Lord of the Manor of Stad-
haugh, parish of Laxfield, county of Suffolk, Eng
land. He married (first) Susannah Smyth and (sec
ond) Katherine  . His will was dated Decem
ber 22, 1463, and proved at Norwich, February 26,
1463-4. He died in February, 1464. His children
were: William, Jeffrey, John, Edmund, Margaret.
(II) William Fiske, son of Sir Symond Fiske
(1), was born at S'tadhaugh, England. He married
Joan Lynne, of Norfolk. His widow made her will
July 15, 1504, proved February 28, 1505. He died
about 1504. Their children were : Thomas, William,
Augustine, Simon, Robert, John, Margery, Margaret
(III) Simon Fiske, son of William Fiske (2),
was born in Laxfield. He married Elizabeth  ,
who died in Halesworth, in June, 1558. His will
was dated July 10, 1536, and proved July 13, 1538.
He died June, 1538. His children were: Simon,
William, Robert, Joan, Jeffrey, Gelyne, Agnes,
Thomas, Elizabeth, John.
(IV) Simon Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (3),
was born in Laxfield. His will was dated January
25, 1505, and he died that year. His children were:
Robert, John, George, Nicholas, Jeffrey, Jeremy,
William, Richard, married Agnes Crispe; Joan,
Gelyne, Agnes.
(V) Robert Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (4), was
born at Stadhaugh, England, about 1525- He mar
ried Mrs. Sybil (Gould) Barber. For some time
he was of the parish of St. James, South Elmham,
England. Sybil, wife of Robert, was in great danger
in the time of the religious persecution, 1553-8, as
was her sister Isabella, born Gould, who was con
fined in the castle of Norwich and escaped death
only through the intercession of her brothers. Robert
himself fled for the sake of his religious beliefs
to Geneva during the reign of Bloody Mary. He
died in 1600 and his will was proved July 28, 1600.'
The progeny of his three sons. William, Jeffrey and
Thomas, settled in New England. His children
were: William, born 1566; Jeffrey, Thomas, Eleazer,
died in England, 1615, s. p.; Elizabeth, married
Robert Bernard.
(VI) Thomas Fiske, son of Robert Fiske (5),
was born in Laxfield, England. He married Marg
ery  . His will is dated February 20, 1610, and
proved February 28,- 1610. He died February, 1610.
He lived at Fressingfield, England. His children
were: Thomas, settled in Madfield, Massachusetts;
James; Phinehas, born 1610; Elizabeth; Mary.
(VII) Captain Phinehas Fiske, son of Thomas

WORCESTER COUNTY

38i

Fiske (6), was born in Laxfield, England. He mar
ried there in 1638, Sarah  , who died September
10, 1659. He married (second) in Wenham, Massa
chusetts, June 4, 1660, Elizabeth Easterick. He was
admitted a freeman in Wenham, Massachusetts,
1642, and in fact was one of the first settlers of the
town and a leading citizen. He was captain of
the militia company. He was constable in 1644,
deputy to the general court in 1653, magistrate to
end small causes in 1654. His will was dated March,
1673, and proved in Jupe of that year. He died
June 7. His children, all by the first wife, were:
James, born in England; John; Thomas, born in
England, 1632, married Peggy  .
(VIII) Hon. John Fiske, son of Phinehas Fiske
(7), was born in England. He married, December
10, 1651, Remember  . She married (second)
Deacon William Goodhue, of Ipswich. She was his
fourth wife and she died February 16, 1702. John
Fiske was admitted a freeman in 1649, was a con
stable in 1654 and representative in 1669 and 1681.
He died intestate in 1683. He was in King Philip's
war in Captain William Turner's company, and in
the Falls fight he 'was wounded. In consideration
of the wound which disabled him he was permitted
to keep a public house. He died October 27, 1682-3,
at Wenham, Massachusetts, where he had lived.
Children of John and Remember Fiske were : John,
born December 12, 1654, married Hannah Baldwin;
Samuel, born 1660; Noah, born November 14, 1662;
Elizabeth, born March 8, 1673; Remember; Waite.
(Genealogy gives Jonathan, born in December 12,
1688, after father's death, obviously an error of some
kind.) (IX) Dr. John Fiske, son of John Fiske (8),
was born at Wenham, Massachusetts, December 12,
1654. He married, January 17, 1682, Hannah Bald
win, daughter of John Baldwin, of Milford, Connec
ticut, and wife Mary Bowen, born November 20,
.663. John Fiske was admitted a freeman in 1685.
He practiced medicine and surgery in Wenham and
also in Milford, Connecticut, whither he removed
with his family in 1694 and joined the church there.
He sold his property in Wenham, November 15,
1693. He was a prominent physician in his day anti
he was a man of wealth. .He was a soldier in the
Indian wars and on account of a wound received
in the war was released by the court from the pay
ment of country rates. He died about 1715-18.
Children of Dr. John and Hannah (Baldwin) Fiske
were: Phinehas, born December 4, 1682; Benjamin,
born 1683; Ebenezer, born 1689, married Mehitable
 , and Rebecca Trowbridge; John, born 1693;
Hannah, married, August 20, 1713, Jeremiah Peck.
(X) Benjamin Fiske, son of Dr. John Fiske (9),
was born in 1683 and baptized in Milford, Connecti
cut, March, 1696. He married, July 24, 1701, Abi
gail Bowen, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. She was
the daughter of Obadiah and Abigail (Bullock)
Bowen, of Rehoboth. After Benjamin removed
to Rhode Island he was justice of the peace for
years at Scituate. He resided at Swansey, Massa
chusetts, also. He died February 14, 1765. Chil
dren of Benjamin and Abigail (Bowen) Fiske
were: Mary, born April 28, 1702; Hezekiah, June
11, 1704; Benjamin, March 8, 1706; Elizabeth, May
9, 1708; Daniel, December 16, 1709; Job, 1711; John,
January 11, 1713; Freelove, March, 29, 1716; Noah,
1722; Abigail.
(XI) Daniel Fiske, son of Benjamin Fiske (10),
was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, December 16,
1709. He married, December 24, 1732, Freelove
Williams, daughter of Peleg and Elizabeth (Car
penter) Williams, granddaughter of Daniel Williams,
aiid great-granddaughter of Rev. Roger Williams.

At the time of his marriage Daniel Fiske lived in
Scituate. His wife was born November 13, 1713,
died April 20, 1791. Mrs. Fiske's grandfather was
murdered by the Indians while hoeing his corn.
His wife was watching him from the cabin door
when she saw the Indian throw the tomahawk and
scalp his victim. Daniel Fiske died June 27, 1804.
He lived, at Scituate, Rhode Island. Children of
Daniel and Freelove (v\(illiams) Fiske were: Eunice,
born April 5, 1736; Joseph, April 23, 1738; Waite,
February 23, 1740; Rhoda, January 16, 1751 ; Daniel,
April 28, 1753.
' (XII) Daniel Fiske, son of Daniel Fiske (11),
was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, April 28,
1753. He married, in Cranston, April 13, 1785, Free
love Knight, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Man
chester) Knight. She was born January 21, 1766.
She married (second)  Thomas, and she died
May 20, 1819. He was a member of the Rhode Is
land legislature. He lived at Scituate, Rhode Island,
and died there, May 5, 1810. Children of Daniel
and Freelove (Knight) Fiske were: Rhoda, born
November 20, 1786, died unmarried 1872; Celia,
February 17, 1788, married Stephen Burlingame;
Stephen K., April 26, 1789; Isaac, March 4, 1792;
Hardin, March 4, 1795; Betsey, July 7, 1798, died
February 27, 1819; Arnold, July 26, 1802, married
Susan R. Miller.
(XIII) Stephen Knight Fiske, son of Daniel
Fiske (12), was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, April
.26, 1789. He married, in Scituate, March 2, 1817,
Mercey Burlingame, of Clemence. She was born
April 8, 1800, died July 19, 1857. His father died
when he was twenty-one. He carried on the farm
with the help of some of his younger brothers and
supported ¦ the family. At the age of twenty-eight
he and a brother bought the farm. His wife died in
1857. He gave part of his farm to his youngest
son Almond, and made his home with him for many
years, then went to live with another son at whose
home he died, August 18, 1871, in Scituate. He was
eighty-three years old and had his health until his
last illness, which was brief. He was held in high
esteem by his fellow citizens. He was representa
tive to the state legislature two years, town council
man for many years, held many other positions of
trust, and settled many important estates.
Children of Stephen Knight and Mercy (Burl-1
ingame) Fiske were: Almond W., born August '23,
1830, married Amy Cahoon; Daniel, May 27, 18 17,
married Ruth Burlingame; Clarinda Ann, March 23,
1818, married, February, 1838, Zephaniah Ramsdell;
he died January 26, 1885 ; she died January 26, 1885 ;
Stephen, June 21, 1819, married Cynthia Colvin;
Ebenezer, August 31, 1821, married Amy Colvin;
Cynthia, August 30, 1824, died July 22, 1828; Eliza
beth, September 3, 1828, died July 14, 1844.
(XIV) Daniel Fiske, son of Stephen Knight
Fiske (13), was born in Scituate, May 27, 1817. He
married, at East Killingly, Connecticut, July 3, 1842,
Ruth Burlingame. She was born June 20, 1820.
He attended the country schools and worked on the
farm during his boyhood. By studying at home he
fitted himself for the high school. After his course
in the South Scituate high school he taught school
in the village of Hope in. Scituate. At the age of
twenty-five he moved with his father to the village
of Hope, and was married the following summer.
He and his father carried on the farm together.
In February, 1848, he bought a good farm of one
hundred and fiftv acres in Brookfield, Massachusetts,
and went there with wife and three children to make
his home. In 1876 he gave up business and re
moved to 56 Coral street, Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he spent the remainder of his days. He died

382

WORCESTER COUNTY

March 19, 1897. He was a justice of the peace in
Rhode Island.
Children of Daniel and Ruth (Burlingame) Fiske
were: Julia Ann, born August 13, 1844, married,
November 15, 1865, George R. Hamant, of North
Brookfield; Mary Elizabeth, born January 19, 1846,
married, November 16, 1865, Moses Hobbs, of North
Brookfield, Massachusetts; Susan Maria, resides in
Worcester; Stephen Burlingame, born October 30,
1849,' married Alice N. Stebbins; Celia Jane, born
April 7, 1854, resided lately at 56 Coral street, Wor
cester ; Charles Daniel, born March 13, 1856; married
Melinda Brooks; Sarah Frances, born December 15,
1858, married, June 1, 1887, John Charles Hawkins,
01 Fiskville, Rhode Island.
(XV) Stephen Burlingame Fiske, son of Daniel
Fiske (14), was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts,
October 30, 1849. He married, at North Brookfield,
Massachusetts, March 3, 1873, Alice N. Stebbins,
born July 23, 1852. Mr. Fiske was educated in the
public schools of Brookfield. He assisted his father
for some time on the farm before he was twenty.
Afterwards he served an apprenticeship of, three
years in the drug business in Woonsocket, Rhode
Island, and he was for one year a member of the
firm of G. R. Hamant, of North Brookfield, Massa
chusetts. For the next five years he kept a drug
store in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire. In 1879 he,
came to Upton, Massachusetts, and succeeded to the
drug business formerly carried on there by James
S. Le Sure at the corner of North Main and Mil
ford streets. He had no opposition in his line and-
he built up a large and successful business. A few
years ago he built near the old location a new busi
ness block, where he has a main salesroom thirty
by seventy-six feet, with office, prescription depart
ment and laboratory in the rear. About three thous
and square feet of floor space is devoted to the
business. Mr. Fiske was not only the town apothe
cary, but he was the advisor and business confident
of half the town. He was most accommodating and
helpful to those needing advice and assistance, and
no man in the vicinity had the confidence and esteem
of the community more completely.
Mr. Fiske was a Republican in politics and_ was
intensely interested in public affairs. His business
ability as well as his high standing in the community
have called him often into the public service. After
'he had declined the office of town treasurer, when
he had been a resident of the town only three years,
he was in 1884 induced to accept the position and he
held it to the satisfaction of all concerned until his
death, except for two years. He was a member of
the committee to construct the school house, and
was a -member of the library committee for several
years. He was chief engineer of the fire depart
ment, was a. notary public and justice of the peace.
As a magistrate he was particularly helpful to the
veterans in putting their pension papers in shape.
He was an active member of a number of fraternal
orders. He invested largely in Upton real estate atid in
dustries and in every way possible helped in the
development of his town. He built a handsome
residence on Nelson hill, known as Maple Terrace.
Since the death of Mr. Fiske, his widow has lived
with her son in the building over the drug store in
the village square. Mr. Fiske died April I, 1904,
after a long illness.
He married, March 3, 1873, Alice N. Stebbins,
of a prominent North Brookfield family. Their chil
dren were : Charles Norman, born at" East Jaffrey,
New Hampshire, April 22, 1876 ; Harry Austin, born
at Upton, June 12, 1880, died there April 10, 1897;
Walter Heyward, born January 3, 1882.

(XVI) Dr. Charles Norman Fiske, son of
Stephen Burlingame Fiske (15), was born in East
Jaffrey, New Hampshire, April 22, 1876. He re
ceived his early school training in the Upton schools
graduating from the high school 1892. He then
studied a year at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, grad
uating 1893, and entered Harvard College. He de
cided to try for the office of surgeon in the navy,
and accordingly left college to enter the Harvard
Medical School, from which he was graduated in
1900. He entered the navy and is now (1905) a
past assistant surgeon, attached to the Marblehead,
now undergoing alterations and repairs in the Mare
Island navy yard, San Francisco. He married, Sep
tember 25, 1902, Helen Tucker Hawke, daughter of
Admiral James T. Hawke, who is living since his
retirement at Sonoma, California. They have one
child, John Norman, born November 15, 1903.
(XVI) Walter Heyward Fiske, son of Stephen
Burlingame Fiske (15), was born in Upton, Massa
chusetts, January 3, 1882. He attended the common
schools of his native town and graduated from the
Upton high school, 1829. He studied at Phillips
(Exeter) Academy one year and took a course in
Recker's Business College in Worcester. He came
into the store as soon as he left school and assisted
his father in the business. The entire management of
the business soon devolved on him by reason of his
father's ill health. He was virtually the town treas
urer also during the last illness of his father. Since
the death of his father, in 1904, Mr. Fiske has held
the position of treasurer. He is a member of the
Republican town committee. In a way he has taken
his father's place in the town as well as in the busi
ness. Those who had learned to trust the father
have reposed equal confidence in the son, and he is
popular with all his fellow citizens. He is a member
df the Milford Lodge, No. 223, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows; also Master Mason of Montgomery
Lodge, Milford, Massachusetts ; Benevolent and Pro
tective Order Elks, Milford Lodge, No. 628; Court
Upton, Foresters of America, No. 195.
He married, October 22, 1902, Ernestine Saunders,
daughter of Milton Saunders, of Milford, Massa
chusetts. They have one child, Helen, born in Up
ton, April 24, 1904.
CALVIN LYON HARTSHORN. No name has
been more prominent in the history of the develop
ment of agriculture and horticulture in Worcester
county than that of Hartshorn. Three generations
of them have pursued the vocation of farming in
the city of Worcester with success. They have each
kept ahead of their times and have led rather than
kept pace. The three representatives of these gen
erations are Calvin Lyon Hartshorn, his father Jonas
and his son Arthur E. They are descended from the
Hartshorns of Reading, Dedham, Walpole, Sher
born. Boylston and Worcester. ,
(I) Thomas Hartshorn, the founder of the family
of the name in America, settled in Reading in the
Massachusetts Bay colony. His original farm has
been occupied continuously by lineal descendants to
the present time. He was born in England in 1614.
The Hartshorns in England took their name from an
ancient parish of this name in Litchfield diocese,
Derby county. It is believed that the parish was
named from its geographical resemblance to a hart's
horn. The family was well established, as the
records show, as far back as the thirteenth century.
Henry de Hertishorn and others are mentioned as
residing in Derby county. They bore arms. The
coat of arms contains three bucks' heads and the
crest is a buck's head. The design obviously refers
to the name's significance. Thomas Hartshorn took

WORCESTER COUNTY

383

the freeman's oath at Reading, May 10, 1648. He
was a prominent and influential citizen, serving his
fellow colonists as selectman and in other positions
of trust and honor. He died about May 18, 1683.
His wife, Susannah, died March 18, 1659-60. He
married (second) Hannah  , who was re'ceived
from the church in Ipswich 6 (2) 1663, She died
July 20, 1673, He married (third) Sarah, widow of
William Lamson, of Ipswich. His children were:
Thomas, born October 30, 1646, died young ; Thomas,
born September 30, 1648; John, born May 6, 1650;
Joseph, born July 2, 1652; Benjamin, born 1654;
Jonathan, born August 20, 1656; David, born 1657;
Susannah, born March 2, 1659; Timothy, born Feb
ruary 3, 1661 ; Mary, born August 19, 1672.
(II) Joseph Hartshorn, son of Thomas (1), and
Susannah Hartshorn, was born July 2, 1652, at Read
ing, Massachusetts, died July 30, 1727, at Walpole.
He resided at Reading and Dedham, and was a
soldier in King Philip's war. He married Sarah
 ,, and their children were: Susanna, born
1677; Sarah, born 1679, married Samuel Guild, of
Dedham, January 8, 1700-1 ; Mary, born 1681, married
Jonathan Faierbank, February 3, 1702 ; Abigail, born
1686; Joseph, born 1688; Tabitha, born 1690; Rebeka,
born December 7, 1693; Thomas, born May "8,- 1695;
Ebenezer, born July 10, 1697, married Rebekah
 , Dedham; Martha, born July 2, 1700.
(Ill) Joseph Hartshorn, son of Joseph (2) and
Sarah Hartshorn, was born at Reading, 1688, died
at Walpole, December 22, 1758. He married Rachel
 , of Sherborn, March 17, 1709, and she died
November 14, 1769. They lived at Walpole and
Sherborn. Some of their children were : Joseph,
born March 12, 1710; a daughter, born September
25, 1 712; Sarah, born May 28, 1726.
(IV) Joseph Hartshorn, Jr., son of Joseph (3)
and Rachel Hartshorn, was born March 12, 1710,
at Walpole. He married Hannah Foster, December
29, 1721, and their children, all born at Walpole,
were: Joseph, born October 15, 1732; Samuel, born
April 22, 1734, died September 9, 1747; Joseph and
Hannah, twins, born January 9, 1735-6; Jacob, born
November 27, 1737; Mary, born January 11, 1742-3;
Ebenezer, born January 12, 1745-6 ;  , born
March 31, 1747; Samuel, born April 30, 1749; Sibbel,
born October 5, 1751.
(V) Deacon Ebenezer Hartshorn, son of Joseph,
Jr., (4) and Hannah (Foster) Hartshorn, was born
January 12, 1745-6, married Thankful  , who
died November 24, 1796. He married (second)
Betty, daughter of Jonas and Sarah Greenwood,
August 30, 1798, at Walpole. Ebenezer Hartshorn
was a farmer and also a carpenter. He moved
from Walpole to Boylston, Massachusetts, soon after
1700. He died May 27, 1813, at Boylston. His
children were : Jacob, born August 17, 1769 ;  ,
September 23, 1771 ; Daniel, February 7, 1774; Ebe
nezer, June 13, 1778; Nancy, January 23, 1781, at
Stoughtenham ; Warren, June 13, 1783; Grata, Oc
tober 27, 1788 ; Jonas, June. 1802 : Calvin, March 6,
1804, died November 8, 1889; Susan, August 19,
1806, died September 25, 1881, married William Ken
dall, December 25, 1828; Sarah, February 16, 181 1,
married Simeon Partridge, of Boylston,
(VI) Calvin Hartshorn, son of Ebenezer (5)
and Betty Hartshorn, was born March 6, 1804. He
remained at Walpole, following his vocation of mill
wright. He married, November 19, 1832, Maria Ann
Guild, born at Walpole, October 7, 1807. Their chil
dren were: I. Anna Maria, born September 12,
1833, married Luther Swan Leech., of Stoughton,
Massachusetts, who died April 11, 1875, leaving his
widow and a son, Joseph Swan Leech, born Novem
ber 14, i860. 2. Calvin Guild, born February 23,

1840, at Walpole. 3. Edwin Curtis', born September
28, KS44, died April 21, 1849.
(VI) Deacon Jonas Hartshorn, son of Ebenezer
(5) and Betty Plartshorn, was born at Sherborn,
Massachusetts, June, 1802. His father died when
he was a mere child and his mother apprenticed him
to a man named Temple at Boyleston, with whom
he served his seven years. He came to Worcester
and for a time was guard and turnkey at the county
jail. He bought a farm on Mountain street, but in
1839 sold it and bought of Joseph and William W.
Patch, two brothers, half of their farm of about
two hundred acres. The other half was retained
by William W. Patch. This new farm is the pres
ent Hartshorn estate. The new owner set out or
chards and shade trees, built the present barn and
dwelling house, vastly improving the property.
Jonas Hartshorn married (first) Eunice Patch,
April 1, 1828. She died October 2, 1834, at the age
of thirty years. He married (second)' Laura Ann
Patch, September 22, 1835. She died August 15,
1847, at the age of thirty years. He married (third)
Abigail Whitney, August 10, 1848. She died March
23, 1862, at the age of forty-nine years. He married
(fourth) Lydia W. Bray, March 15, 1864. Follow
ing are the children: John Clark, born January 20,
1829, died November 26, 1831 ; Nathan Greenwood,
born June 23, 1831, died November 26, 1831 ; Calvin
Lyon, born December 25, 1832 ; Caroline Elizabeth,
born November 9, 1836, died December 25, 1839 ;
John Warren, born September 9, 1839; Ann Eliza,
born October 15, 1842, died August 22, 1845 ; Emma
Jane, born May 15, 1845, died August 30, 1845;
Laura Ann, born August 3, 1847, died August 15,
1847. (VI) Susan Hartshorn, daughter of Ebenezer
(5) and Betty Hartshorn, was born August 19, 1806,
died September 25, 1881. She married William San
ford Kendall, a miller of Templeton, Massachusetts,
December 25, 1828. He was born in Boylston, Au
gust 9, 1803, died in South Royalston, February 23,
1879. Their children were : 1. William Sanford,
born at Templeton, October 18, 1829, died in Tem
pleton, March 25, 1835. 2. Albert Warren, born
September 8, 1832, died May 9, 1900, aged sixty-seven
years. He w<is a gate tender at one of the cross
ings on the Boston & Maine Railroad in Gardner.
He married (first), January 7, 1854, Charlotte Bar
rett Tyler, born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Oc
tober 17, 1832, died in South Royalston, Massachu
setts, May 23, 1856. He married (second), May 8,
1862, at Three Oaks, Michigan, Nellie Gilligan, born
in Joliet, Illinois, January 17, 1840, died in South
Royalston, February 5, 1878. He married (thira),
November 25, 1885, in South Royalston. Lucy Hill,
born in Boston, August 7, i860. His children were :
Arthur Clarence, born in Momence, Illinois, June
27, 1863, a chairmaker in South Royalston, married
in Gardner, October 25, 1888, Emma Elizabeth Wcf-
fenden, born in South Royalston. November 29, 1859 ;
Mary Arabella, born July 24, 1865, died September
19, 1899, aged thirty-four years; Charles Edward,
born South Royalston, October 15, 1869, died Sep
tember 11, 1873; Blanche Evelyn, born January 18,
1875, resides at Somerville, Massachusetts, un
married: Ruth Lilla, born June" 5, 1887; 3.
Charles Augustus, born in Templeton, December
15, 1834, died May 23, 1002, aged sixty-seven years :
he was a bookkeeper in Somerville, married, October
18, 1870, Lydia Clifford, born in Edgecomb. Maine.
4 and 5. Sarah Sophia and Susan Maria, (twins),
born October 29, 1837; Sarah S. died October 7,
1896, aged fifty-eight years; Susan M. married
November 27, 1856, Jeremiah Atkins Rich, born
April 11, 1825, a chair maker in South Royalston.

584

WORCESTER COUNTY

Susan M. Rich' died December 12, 1903, aged sixty-
six years. 6. William Sanford, born December 8,
1839, a miller in Athol Centre, Massachusetts, mar
ried, September 8, 1868, Adelaide Smith, born in
Athol, July 20, 1836, died October 29, 1896; their
children were : Leila Gertrude, born in South Royal
ston, May 14, 1809, died in Lynn, Massachusetts,
August 29, 1873; William Webster, born October
26, 1870. a sash and blind maker in Athol, married,
Marcli 8, 1893, Blanche Elsie Dennis, born in Athol,
November 10, 1876, having two children: Lelia
Blanche, born 1893, and Gladys Lenora, born
April 6, 1896; Elwood Lynde, born iu Glen-
ville, Connecticut. September 19, 1879; Goodman,
born in East Port Chester, Connecticut, September
9, 1880, died September 2b, 1881, 7. Edward, born
in South Royalston, November 27, 1843, died Janu
ary 5, 1845. 8. Edward Hartshorn, born March 30,
184.7,^ died June 13, 1850.
(VI) Sarah Hartshorn, daughter of Ebenezer
(5) and Betty Hartshorn, was born February 16,
181 1, died August, 1890. She married, November
27. 1837, Simeon Partridge, born July 6, 1799, died
i860. He was a farmer at Boylston. Their children
were: 1. Mary Keyes, born July 9, 1839, married,
June, 1S66, Henry Harlow, born in Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts, where he resides on a farm; they
had: Hiram Edward, born January 12, 1869, is
a farmer on the home farm in Shrewsbury, being
of the fourth. generation on that farm; Arthur John,
born January 16, 1871, married Annie Kershaw,
born England, June 3, 1904; he is a fanner; Edith
Maria, born March 27, 1873, is a teacher in the pub
lic schools of Worcester; Ruth Alice, born October
2, 1875, resides on the home farm; Plelen Elmira,
born January 29, 1879, married Charles Edward
Allen, son of Romeo Allen, of Shrewsbury, Decem
ber 25, 1902, and resides in Shrewsbury; Robert
Henry, born December 11, 1882, owns a milk route
in the city of Worcester; he boards in his father's
family in Shrewsbury, 2. Caroline Elizabeth, born
November 5, 1841, married, April 6, 1869, John Wil
liam Warren, born in Princeton and is on the Wor
cester police force (1898), They had Herbert An
son, born March 14, 1870, a civil engineer in New
York city, married, March 6, 1895, » Maude Sophia
Bosworth, of Worcester, and they had three children,
among whom were : Edwin Taylor, born April 27,
1896, and Barbara Bosworth, born March 24, 1898;
Thaddeus Chenery, born September 18, 1871, an
electrician in Worcester, married, September 19,
1895, Adaline E. Stearns; Susie Greenwood, born
August 29, 1876, clerk at the Worcester Insane Asy
lum ; John Partridge, born February 24, 1878, assist
ant superintendent at the salesrooms of the White
Automobile Company in New- York city ; Sara Maria,
born November 3, 1880, resides in New Rochelle,
New York; Philip Hamilton, born January 17, 1882,
graduated June, 1905, at the Lowell Textile School,
and is now in New Rochelle, New York. 3. Ruth
Ellen, born January 15, 1844, res'des in Worcester.
4. Susan Abigail, born April 14, 1847, for twenty-
five years a teacher in the public schools of Wor
cester ; resides in Worcester.
(VII) John Warren Hartshorn, son of Jonas (6)
and Laura Hartshorn, was born September 19, 1839,
married Emma J. Lyon, December 16, 1869, She
was born December 10, 1846, at New London, Con
necticut, died October 29, 1895. He is an insurance
agent at New London, Connecticut. Their children
were Albert Lyon, born January 17, 1871 ; Laura Ann
born April 16, 1873; Grace Evelyn, born June 8,
1883. (I) Thomas Greenwood was the emigrant an
cestor of Betty Greenwood, who married into the

Hartshorn family. He came to Boston in 1665, He
was born in England in 1643 and learned the trade
of weaver there. He settled in Cambridge, now
Newton, and was first town clerk there. In 1667
he was constable and for four years selectman. He
married (first) Hannah Ward, July 16, 1690,, and
(second) Abigail Spring, and had children by both.
His children were : Thomas, born January aa, 1671 ;
Thomas (Rev.), born July 15. 1673, graduate at
Harvard College, 1690; John; James born Decem
ber 19, 1687; William, born October 14, 1689.
Thomas died September 11, 1693.
(II) William Greenwood, son of .Thomas (1)
and Abigail Greenwood, was born October 14, 1689,
He was deacon of the church. He removed from
Newton to Sherborn, It is related in the history
of Sherborn that Greenwood was Ihe first man in
the town to receive potatoes, which were introduced
in New England in 1720 by the Scotch-Irish. Tlieir
use spread slowly. He tried his first mess in 1730
and after testing them declared that "after freezing
and thawing a few times they would be Rood." He ,
was a farmer and was always active in church and
town affairs. For twenty-four years he was the
town clerk and. for six years selectman. In 1747
he was "representative to the general court at Boston.
He married Abigail Woodward, and their children
were: Abigail, born June 2, 1716; Dorcas, born
July 17, 1717; William, born November 4, I7aij
Caleb, bom September 9, 1724, died February 4, 1800;
Jonas, born April 25, 1727, died May a8, 1803; Sam
uel, born March 21, 1729; John, born December 16,
1730; Daniel, born July 22, 1732; Joseph, born June
10, 1734; Abigail, born August 10, 1737.
(Ill) Jonas Greenwood, son of William (a) and
Abigail Greenwood, was born April 25, 1727, died
May 28, 1802, He married Sarah  , and their
children were: 1. Jonathan, born November ia,
1755, married Sybil  , and had Alvin, born
April 3, 1781, and Sybil, born January 2, 1785, at
Sherborn. 2. Mary, born March 16, 1758. 3, Belle,
born April 4, 1760, married Mary Babcock, July 10,
1783. 4, Betty, born January 23, 1765. 5- Betty,
born August <, 1767, married Ebenezer Hartshorn
at Walpole, August 30, 1708. See Ebenezer (V)
Hartshorn for genealogy. She died February, 1815.
6, Reuben, bom January 9, 1770, married  ¦ Cate,
and had five children, 7, Susannah, born July 4i
1772. 8. Jonas, born July 19. 1775. married Polly
Stratton, and had Aaron, born October 30, 1799,
and Sally Stratton, bom October 13, 1811. 9. Ach-
sah, born Dcrember 16, 1778.
(IV) Betty Greenwood, daughter of Jonas (3)
and Sarah Greenwood, married Ebenezer Hartshorn.
See ITartshorn (V).
(VII) Calvin Lyon Hartshorn, son of Jonas (6)
and Eunice Hartshorn, was born in Worcester,
Christmas Day, 1832. He was educated in the Wor
cester public schools, at Worcester Academy and
Essex Seminary (now Essex Academy) at Essex,
Connecticut. His early years when not in school
were spent on his father s farm. When he began
for himself he bought a milk route, which is re
markable for its long continued prosperity. It was
established in 1838 by his father and has been con
ducted without interruption to the present time. It
is the oldest in the city. Later he returned home
and conducted his father's farm. He began the rais
ing of early vegetables with a few small hot beds,
and as he found it profitable he extended the busi
ness until he has on the farm at present over four
hundred hotbed sash and two modern green-houses,
each one hundred and seventy-five feet In length,
About thirty hands are employed on the place in
summer and fifteen in winter. Mr. Hartshorn hai

WORCESTER COUNTY

385

remodeled the farm-house and built other buildings.
He has laid out part of the farm, which is at the
corner of May and June streets in a rapidly grow
ing and very attractive suburban section of Wor
cester, and has sold some of the property for build
ing lots. Such important city streets as Courtland,
Walworth, Lovell, June, May and Chandler cross
the farm. He has built a brick machine shop on
Chandler street, first occupied by the Wright Ma
chine Company and now owned by Bay State Stamp
ing Company. A new house on the farm is occupied
by his son, Arthur E. Hartshorn, who for several
years has taken up the active management of the
business. The farm is generally known as the Wal
nut Hill Farm. The fruits and vegetables raised
here are prize winners at all the horticultural and
agricultural exhibitions in this vicinity.
Mr. Hartshorn has been prominent all his life in
city affairs. He and his wife were charter members
of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, which
¦ has developed into an exceedingly strong and suc
cessful organization. For five years he was the
master of the Grange. His prominence among the
men of his own business is shown best perhaps, by
his service in the Agricultural and Horticultural
societies and in the public offices he has held, in
which special knowledge and training in agriculture
are requisite. He has been for many years trustee
and vice president of the Worcester Agricultural
Society. He is also a trustee and vice-president of
the Worcester County Horticultural Society. For
twelve years he was a member of the State Board
of Agriculture, for six years a member of the Dairy
.Bureau of Massachusetts, for six years a member
of the executive committee of the State Board of
Agriculture, for four years a director of the state
experimental station at the Massachusetts Agricul
tural College at Amherst, Massachusetts. In his
own business his word is taken as authority. Mr.
Hartshorn is a member of the Dewey Street Baptist
Church. He has had a very creditable career in the city
government. Men of his sterling honesty and com
mon sense are the kind needed in the public service
perhaps more today than formerly because of the
tendency of active and successful business men to
avoid public life. Mr. Hartshorn was in the com
mon council from 1870 to 1874. Through his efforts
mainly the fire department was extended to give
better protection to the residence section on the
West Side. He assisted the project of constructing
the boulevard, which at that • time was looked upon
by some of the people as a wild, extravagant and
useless expense. Time has shown the wisdom of
the construction of this great thoroughfare. As a
public officer he had the gift of foresight as well as
regard for the present economies. He made an
admirable servant on the board of overseers of the
poor, on which he served for twelve years. He was
appointed a park commissioner and the duties were
congenial, but after one year he was obliged to re
sign on account of the pressure of other business. He
served Worcester as representative in the general
court, as his ancestors had done before him. He
represented the twenty-fourth district in 1879 and
1880. He was nominated for mayor, but refused
to run against the late Mayor E. B. Stoddard. Not
withstanding his 'announced withdrawal he received
a very handsome complimentary vote in the annual
election of 1881, receiving 1571 votes.
Although retired from the active management of
his business, he has spent the past few years in
travel and special work of various sorts in which
he was interested. His personal qualities have at
tracted a large circle of friends in all parts of the
25

state. Pie seems to be universally popular not only
in this city but throughout the length and breadth
of the commonwealth.
He married, September 30, 1858, Helen M'arcelia
Marcy, of Charlton, born November 29, 1831, died
February 25, 1902. She was the daughter of An
drew and Clarentine (Towne) Marcy. Their chil
dren were : 1. Annie Maud, born October 18, i860,
married William K. Stanley, of Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts, October 18, 1881. He was born October 9,
1857. At present he occupies a responsible position
with the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company, one
of the leading department. stores of Worcester. Their
children are : Helen Maud Stanley, born October
19, 1882, married William Irving Whiting, of Wor
cester, and had Stanley Hartshorn Whiting, born
March 27, 1905; Grace Hartshorn Stanley, born
June 16, 1884. 2. Arthur Ernest, born February 10,
1867. (VIII) Arthur Ernest Hartshorn, son of Calvin
Lyon (7) and Helen Marcelia (Marcy) Hartshorn,
was born February 10, 1867, married September 17,
1890, Annie Maria, daughter of Thomas and Ann
(Buckley) Williams. She was a born at Worcester,
December 10, 1869. Her father was a manufacturer.
Arthur E. Hartshorn was educated in the Wor
cester public schools and graduated at Hinman's
Business College. At present he is the manager of
the Walnut Hill Farm and is conducting its busi
ness along the most progressive and scientific lines.
ALFRED SEELYE ROE, who has achieved an
extended reputation as a teacher, writer and lecturer,
and who has read many papers before the historical
, societies of the various states, is descended from the
old colonial families who settled in Massachusetts in
the seventeenth century.
(I) John Roe, or Rowe, as the name in variously
spelled, it being Rowe on his tombstone, but his
descendants invariably using the former form, was
born in Ireland in 1628, but was of English ex
traction. He emigrated to America in 1655, settled
in Lynn, Massachusetts, but soon afterward went
to Easthampton, Long Island, New York. Thence
he removed to Setauket, now (1906) Port Jeffer
son, Brookhaven township, and was one of the first,
if not the very first, settler in that place. The house
erected by him in 1690 is still standing and in good
condition, and is in use at the present time. He
was one of the constitutent members of the Presby
terian ' church of Setauket, and in his will he calls
himself a "cordwainer." The original burying place-
has been destroyed by the laying out of new streets,
and his tombstone is now to be found with those
of his descendants in the public cemetery of Port
Jefferson. Family tradition states that John Roe
met Hannah Purrier, a descendant of an English
family, on ship board, and they were married. Among
their children was a son, Nathaniel.
(II) Nathaniel Roe, son of John (1) and
Hannah (Purrier) Roe, married Hannah Reeve, of
Long Island, and many of their descendants are
prominent in Long Island today, especially in Port
Jefferson, Patchogue and Huntington.
(Ill) John Roe, son of Nathaniel (2) and Han
nah (Reeve) Roe, married a widow, Joanna (Miller)
(Helme), whose first husband, Thomas Helme, was
killed while felling a tree, and left one son, Thomas,
who became a prominent citizen of Long Island,
and was a member of the committee of safety dur
ing the revolution. John and Joanna (Miller)
(Helme) Roe had eight children, of whom the
fourth was Daniel..
(IV) Daniel Roe, fourth child of John (3) and
Joanna (Miller) (Helme) Roe, was a man of prom-

386

WORCESTER COUNTY

inence and influence in his day. He was captain
in the Second Regiment of the New York troops
during the war of the revolution, and was also a
member of the original committee of safety in Brook-
haven township. His family suffered greatly at
the hands of the enemy, and were obliged to flee
to Connecticut, where the last four of his children
were born. He married Deborah Brewster, fifth
in line of descent from Elder Brewster of the "May
flower." Among their children was a son, Austin.
(V) Austin Roe, youngest child of Daniel (4)
and Deborah (Brewster) Roe, was born in Wood
bury, Connecticut, in 1782. He married his first
cousin, Sally Roe, of Brookhaven township,- Long
Island, and among their children was a son, Austin
Marinus. (VI) Rev. Austin Marinus, son of Austin (5)
and Sally (Roe) Roe, was born in Brookhaven,
Long Island, September 27, 1823. With his par
ents he removed to Rose, Wayne county, New York,
in 1833, and was there reared on a farm. In his
early days he acquired as good an education as the
public schools of that time afforded, and in his later
teens was a student at Red Creek Academy for a
time. He entered the ministry of the Methodist
Episcopal denomination, and from 1850 until the
present time has been a clergyman in that church.
He has been retired from active service for the past
twenty years, having his home in Fulton, New York.
He is a member of the Northern New York, formerly
the Black River Conference. As a young man he
was a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for
James K. Polk, in 1844. He next voted the first Free
Soil ticket, and remained faithful to this party until
1856, when he voted for Fremont, and was a firm
upholder of the tenets of the Republican party, until
of late, when he began casting his vote for Prohi
bition candidates. • He married, more than sixty
years ago, Polly Catharine Seelye, born August 29,
1827, daughter of Colonel George and Polly CatH-
arine (Shepard) Seelye, the latter being seventh
in descent from Dr. Edward Fuller, of the "May
flower" company. Colonel Seelye was an officer in
the New York state militia, and his commissions
bear the signatures of Governors William L. Marcy
and William H. Seward. Her paternal ancestry de
scends from Watertown, Massachusetts, New Mil
ford and Danbury, Connecticut, and Washington
county, New York, in which latter place her great
grandfather, Nehemiah Seelye, was a captain in the
revolutionary army and was in action at Saratoga.
His home in Kingsbury was destroyed by the forces'
<of Burgoyne in their march from Canada. The
Shepards also came from Watertown, Massachu
setts, and after a time were found in Litchfield
¦county, Connecticut, whence Aaron Shepard and
family went by means of ox teams to the wilderness
of the Genessee district in 1812. Among the chil
dren of Rev. Austin Marinus and Polly Catharine
(Seelye) Roe is a son, Alfred S. Roe, the par
ticular subject of this sketch.
(VIII) Alfred Seelye Roe, son of Rev. Austin
Marinus (6) and Polly Catharine (Seelye) Roe,
was born in Rose, Wayne county, New York, June
8, 1844. He was a pupil in the public schools of his
locality until he had attained the age of sixteen
years, when he became a student at the Falley Semi
nary in Fulton, New York, where he received his pre
paratory training for college, expecting to enter an
institution of learning of that class in 1864. He
took a course in army tactics first, however, and
matriculated at the Wesleyan University, Middle-
town, Connecticut, in 1866, and was graduated from
.this institution in 1870. He is a member of the
Phi Beta Kappa. Fie officiated as principal of the

high school in Ashland, Massachusetts, until 1875,
and until 1890 in the high school of Worcester, being
principal during the last ten years. Since that time
he has been engaged in writing and lecturing, and
has also served his country in the legislature. In
politics he is a stanch Republican, and in the cam
paigns has always been an eloquent and convincing
speaker in behalf of that party. He represented
ward one of Worcester from 1892 to 1895, inclusive,
in the Massachusetts legislature, and was senator
from the Second Worcester district from 1896 to
1898, inclusive, during nearly all of this time being
chairman of the committee on education. He was
instrumental in the passage of a number of acts
which were greatly for the public benefit, among
them being: The act which today renders secondary
education in the state possible to the people of the
poorest and most remote towns; an act exempting
the property of invalid soldiers from taxation; and
the veteran's preference bill. At present he is super
visor of the evening schools of Worcester. He
enlisted in Company A, Ninth New York Heavy
Artillery, January 21, 1864, and served until October
17, 1865. His regiment helped build and man the
defences of Washington, and in the spring of 1864
joined the Sixth, Army Corps, sharing its fortunes
until the surrender of Lee. He was captured at
Monocacy- Junction, Maryland, July 9, 1864, and was
a prisoner for almost eight months in Danville, Vir
ginia. He has been a member of the George H.
Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic,
more than twenty-five years, was its commander
two years, and is now (1906) the junior vice-com
mander, Department of Massachusetts. He has
frequently represented Post No. 10 in department
encampments, and in 1883 and 1892 was delegated to
national encampments. In 1895 and 1896 he was an
aide on the- staff of Commander Derby, was in
spector-general for Commanders Blackmar and Judd,
an aide for Commander Field in 1905, and in 1905
was a member of the council of administration. He
was reared in the creed of the Methodist Episcopal
church, of which his family have been members for
more than a century, and has been an official mem
ber of Grace Church, Worcester. He is a lay preacher
in that denomination, but speaks frequently in other
houses of worship on subjects pertinent to the place
and time. He was nresident of the Red Cross or
ganization during the Spanish- American war. He
' is also connected with the following organizations:
Rose Lodge, No. 590, Free and Accepted Masons,
of Rose, New York; Worcester Society of Antiquity,
before which he has read many papers; New Eng
land Methodist Historical Society. He is an hon
orary member of Rhode Island Soldiers' and Sailors'
Historical Society, Kansas Historical Society, Old
Colony Historical Society, and the Westboro His
torical Society. He is also a member of the Massa
chusetts Society, and is president of the Worcester
Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution
For many years he has been a forcible speaker
in the cause of temperance, and has been a prolific
writer, for the political, religious and educational
press. Among his books may be mentioned: "His
tory of the Worcester classical and English High
School;" "History of Rose, Wayne County, New
York;" "History of the Ninth New York Heavy
Artillery;" "History of the Worcester Young Men's
Christian Association;" "History of the Twenty-
fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers;" "His
tory of Worcester in the Spanish War;" "Diary of
Captain Daniel Roe;" and many others.
He married, June 22, 1874, in Ashland, Massa
chusetts, Nora Ardelia Metcalf, daughter of Alvah
and Harriet Hannah (Vose) Metcalf. Alvah Met-

WORCESTER COUNTY

387

calf was born in Appleton, Maine, though many
generations of his family had lived in Massachu
setts. He was the seventh in descent from Michael
M,etcalf, the first schoolmaster of Dedham, Massa
chusetts, and his wife, Mary Fairbanks, whose girl
hood home stills stands in Dedham, the oldest
dwelling house in continuous use in America, but it
is in excellent preservation and is still in use as a
dwelling.. Harriet Hannah Vose, mother of Mrs.
Roe, was the daughter of Alexander and Malinda
Myra (Weeks) Vose, and was the seventh in a di
rect line of descent from John Alden and Priscilla,
of "Mayflower" history. Mrs. Roe had the ad
vantage of an excellent public school education, and
for many years has been a contributor to the press,
especially that of the Methodist church. She is the
author of "Three Little Street Singers," published
by Lee & Shepard, of Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred
S. Roe have had children : 1. Adelaide Estelle,
born April 6, 1875, died February 24, 1878. 2.
Annabel Catherine, born September 3, 1879, was
graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1901,
and is a teacher in the public schools of Worces
ter. 3. Delos Metcalf, born January 8, 1883, died
May 28, 1892. 4. Harriet Eudora, born June 5, 1885,
is in her senior year in Mount Holyoke College.
EDGAR EUGENE BUCK. William Buck (1)
was the emigrant ancestor of Edgar Eugene Buck,
of Worcester, and of a branch of the Buck family
that settled in Connecticut. William Buck came
to New England on the "Increase," sailing in April,
1635, from England and landing a month later at
Boston, Massachusetts. He gave his age as fifty
years and accordingly was born in 1585. His son
Roger was with him, and his age was given as
eighteen. He settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 1652 ¦ he had a grant of land, twenty acres,
lot No. 91 in the Cambridge Survey, so-called.
Here he . built a new home for his family. It was
in what was called the west field, northeast from
Garden' street, on what is now Raymond street.
He died intestate January 24, 1658, and was buried
in the old cemetery at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
His son Roger was administrator and it does not
appear that there were any other children. William
Buck was a plough-wright.
(II) Roger Buck, son of William Buck (1),
was born in England, 1617. He emigrated to New
England on the "Increase," April 15, 1635, Captain
Le Master, with his father, William Buck. His
mother was probably dead. It is generally sup
posed that Enoch Buck and Emanuel Buck, who
settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut, were relatives,
poss'ibly older sons of William Buck, who was
fifty when he came over. He was a plough-wright
and farmer. He settled at Cambridge near his
father. On the' death of his wife Susannah he
moved to Woburn, where some of his children
lived. He died there November 10, 1693.
The children of Roger and Susannah were:
Mary, born January 23, 1648, died unmarried August
31, 1669; Ruth, born November 6, 1653, died Sep
tember 21, 1682, married Thomas Bathrick or Baver-
ick; Elizabeth, born July 5, 1657, married, August
20, 1678, Joshua Wood; Lydia, married, November
3, 1672, Henry Smith; John, born September 3,
1644, died unmarried ; Samuel born March 16, 1669,
married Rachel Levin or Leven, settled in West
Cambridge (Menotomy), where he died September
21, 1690, his wife Rachel died 1694, and his estate
was divided among his children (Samuel has many
descendants) ; Ephraim, born July 26, 1646, mar
ried, January 1, 1671, Sarah Brooks, of Woburn,
Massachusetts.

(Ill) Ephraim Buck, son of Roger Buck (2),
was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 26,
1646. He married, January 1, 1671, Sarah Brooks,
daughter of John and Eunice (Mousall) Brooks, of
Woburn. He settled there probably a few years
earlier, as he is mentioned in the will of John
Mousall, whose granddaughter he married. Mr.
Mousall died March 27, 1665. Fie also left a be
quest to John Brooks. Ephraim Buck became a
man of distinction; he was the local magistrate ap
pointed to try small causes by the general court. He
was a farmer. His grandson, Jonathan Buck, son
of Ebenezer, was the founder of the town of Bucks-
port, Maine, and he has thousands of descendants
in Maine and northern New England, through this
• son, Ebenezer. (See the Bangor Historical Regis
ter.) He died January, 1721, at Woburn, Massa
chusetts. The children of Ephraim and Sarah
(Brooks) Buck were: Sarah, born January 11,
1673, married Thomas Grover; Ephraim, born July
13, 1676, married Esther Wagget; John, born Jan
uary 11, 1678-9, died young; John, born February
7, 1679-80, married Priscilla  — ; Samuel, born
November 13, 1682, married Hannah

Eunice, born July 7, 1685; Ebenezer, born May 20,
1689, married Lydia Eames ; Mary, born October
28, 1691, married (first) Nathaniel Pike or Spike,
married (second) Samuel Bigsbee.
(IV) Samuel Buck, son of Ephraim (3), was
born at Woburn, Massachusetts, November 13, 1682.
He married Hannah  :  about 1708. He was
a farmer. He settled in Woburn, Massachusetts.
The children of Samuel and Hannah Buck were :
Hannah, born February 1, 1710; Samuel, born May
7, 171 1 ; Sarah, born April 16, 1716; Zebediah, born
August 29, 1719.
(V) Samuel Buck, son of Samuel Buck (4),
was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, May 7, 171 1,
died December, 1765, at Killingly, Connecticut, ac
cording to the old church records. From somewhat
meagre and unsatisfactory records in Connecticut
the establisment of the family at Thompson and its
connection with that at Woburn is ascertained.
Samuel Buck went with other Woburn, Lexington
and Watertown families or followed them to Kil
lingly and Thompson, Connecticut, where this
branch of the Buck family lived. Eleazer Bateman
joined the Killingly Church September 15, 1715. He
was from Woburn. Richard Blosse, of West Water-
town, joined the church May 23, 1716; George and
Sarah Blanchard, of Lexington, October 18, 1715,
and the stream of emigration continued to Thomp
son from Woburn for a number of years. In 1729
James Wilson and Ivory Upham, who had just
come from Woburn, joined the - church. In the
thirties probably Samuel Buck, of Woburn, came
with or followed relatives. There is a record of the
marriage of Robert Buck, of Killingly, in 1715, but
nothing else about him. , He may have been one
of the Wethersfield family.
. He was one of the heads of families who on
November 19, 1745, signed the covenant and called
Rev. Perley Howe, of Dudley, Massachusetts, to
settle as the minister at' Killingly. He bought a
-farm in 1756 on Killingly Hill of Ebenezer Adams
and settled on it. The Rev. Mr. Howe kept no
church records and information about Samuel Buck's
family is difficult to find. He was deacon of the
church for many years. He was succeeded by Lieu
tenant Benjamin Levens, who may have been a rela
tive of Samuel Buck from Woburn, Massachusetts.
The son of Samuel, Samuel, Jr., married a Miss
Bloss, whose grandparents came from Watertown,
Massachusetts. The following are believed to be
some of Samuel's children: 1. Zerviah, married

3'SS

WORCESTER COUNTY

Giles Roberts, April 33. 1754- - David, married Anna
Russell. Tone 22. 1753. One accocn: er his line say;
he was bom in Massachusetts and came to Putnam,
par: of Thenmgson or Kilkngly townships. ConneeSi-
ctrt. He was a joiner and fanner. His children.
were: David, Jonathan. Aaron. Mrs. Josiah Dean,

Mrs. Benjamin Ct

Eliza, married Eenry Adams. Aaron, son ri David
Bock, was born a: Khhngh" and Bred cm ihe -rid
homestead. He manied Annie, daughter of Asa
Lawrence, cf KiDmgly. His children were: Luoy-
married Calvin LeffingweD; Rosamond, married
Calvin Boyden: Mary, married Jesse Herenden;
Amse, married Caleb Howe; Erastus. Elisha. Augus
tus, George, born October 13, iSio. There are
many descendants of David Back \\T) in the vi
cinity af Thompson and KfT'rngjj, Connecticut. 3.
Samuel, married Martha Bloss, January 1, 1760.
4- J~matfann, was in the revrfnttoaaary war, second
lieutenant, killed at the battle of Harlem, New
\ork. September 15. 1776; be was one of those who
gave to tht fund to buy the KilKrXy wrnmnin in
1775. no record of his marriage or children. 5.
Aaron, died August 22, 1755. 6. Lfl£d. died Octo
ber 5. 1756. 7. Reuben, married Elizabeth, joined
the church 176a Some cf the above may not be
the children of Samuel but there seems to be go.'d
reason to think all are : some certainly are.
i.YI) Samuel Buck, son of Samuel Buck ^5>.
was bcm at Killingly. Lonuecricn:. about 1740. He
settled in that part of the town called; Putnam. He
married Martha Bloss, January, 17CO. He and his
wife joined the church April o. 1704- The records
of his family are found in part in tbe records 01 the
old chnrch at Putnam Heights, the second church
built east oi Gtrinebaug in a parish formed in Wind
ham, Connecticut. Some of the children of Samuel
and Martha Bock were: Mary, baptized Febraary
an, 1704.: Hannah, baptized February .3?. 1764: Jo-
hannah. baptized February 00. 171:4: Joseph. bap-
tized June 1, 176a ; Simeon, baptized May -tS. :77c-
(VII > Joseph Back, son of Samuel Buck i.e.
was born in Putnam or Killingly. Connecticut, in
1766, baptized Tune 1. iTto. He is mentioned as
pr: mil-rent in 17913 among the early Methodists of
i no inpson, Connecticut, and vicinity. He was blind
for many years. He settled at Thompson, Con
necticut, where his four children were born, as fol
lows: Richard, who was a soldier in the war of
1S12. was in Captain Solomon Sites" company sta
tioned at New London; Amy: Barney and Aaron
(twins) ; Barney married Amy Sprague, of Thomp
son, Connecticut.
(YIH) Barney Buck, sou ef Joseph Back (7\
was born at Thompson, Connecticut, about 1793. He
was in Captain John Joslin's company a: New Lon
don in the war of 1S10. He married Amy Sprague.
of Thompson. The children of Barney and Aruy
(Sprague) Back were: " Warren, married Sophia
 . went to Michigan to live; Hiram, married
Cynthia Brown; Henry, married Sophronia Shel
don, married (second) Sophia Anderson; Aaron,
married Emfline Randall; Barney, married Almeda
Coman; William I_, married Martha Maddox: Ah-.
bie, married Sidney £>otton: Caroline, married Lib
erty Bjrown.
(IX) William L. Buck, son of Barney Bock
(8). was born m New York state, died July 15.
1S93. at Woodstock, Connecticut. He married Mar
tha Maddox, July .25, 1S47. She was the (laughter
of William and Jane <Moran> Maddox, of Union,
Maine. He died at Appleton. Maine. Mrs. Bnck
is living in Worcester. The children of William L.
and Martha t Maddox) Bnck were: 1. William
Henry, born August 20. 184S. at Thompson, Con-

nactknti married, 1S37, Ellen White, at ESn^h-,
Connecticut, and had two children: Marcos, bora
1S71, and Elmer White, be— iS^> both of vnani
reside in Worcester, Massachusetts- 2. Rosalie M^,
bora May io, iSw. at Thompson, CbnoectiaH, dkd
September 15, 1^51. 3. Lewis Frantlio, bora Xo-
By second wife, David, vember 11, 1SS51, died at North Grafton, Massachu
setts. Angus: la iS=£x 4. George L_. horn Decem-
ber 11, 1S5.J. at Thompson, Cormschca^ died Octo
ber 5. iSSj- 5- Mary Jane, bom October a*^, rS?=,
at Plainfield, Connecticut, married Frank F. Cart

Tanuar

had Ada Frances, bcrn October

30, 0S77, and Florence Edna Clark, bom July A
1SS4, resides at Coral street, Worcester, Massacfe-
setts. 6. Charles \\ arren, born January — . tS^S.
at Plainfield, jCoumecticnt, married Anna "Tarh April
16, 1SS4. 7. idgar Eugene, born February to, 1860,
at Putnam, Connecticut S. Frederick Lorenzo, bora
Angnst 27. 1861, at Ptain&dd, CoKnecricm. died
April 16, 1&5.
V.X> Edgar Eugene Buck, son of William L
Btsok 1^), was bcrn at Putnam, Connecticut Feb
ruary 10, iSec The faniily moved frequently -.-hilt
he was a boy and he lived at various :rmes it
Woodstock, Danielson, Putnam, M-oesup. His iather
was employed in oxoo n mills. He finished Ms earry
edtacatKK! in the Putnam schools. While a sere boy
he wen: into hasiness on his own account as a
truckman. After four or five years he wen: to work
in the shoe manufacturing business as a cutter. He
was employed a: Webster, Grafton. Nashua, and
Worcester. He became proficient in the art of cat
ting leather economically and was made foreman of
the cutting departments first at S. R. Heywood"?
factory, then at Whitcomb & Miles'. About tea
years ago he began the manufacture of novelties in
quarters in die Bowker building, Washington square.
Two years later he bought the bosiness of P. A.
Thompson & Ox, leather dealers. Later he :x-k
into partnership Arthur Davis and his son. He
name of the firm is the E. E. Bnck Leather Cora-
pony, and their present location is on Main street
in Franklin spuare. Tlie business has been extended
and enlarged. Mr. Bock is a thorcugh befiiness
man and has won his way in life by hard work and
his own energy. He has been a member of the
Gideoms, the Christian Commercial Travelers, the
order of United American Mechanics, ihe Knights
of Honor. He is a member of the Dewey Street
Baptist Church. In polities he has voted with the
Republicans. He married, April 17, iScx Addie Josephine
Herindene, of Woodstock, Connecticut. She jb a
descendant of Laben Herindene, who came from
Rhode Island to Woodstock when young. He mar
ried Mary Marcy, who was born in Woods::,**
Connecticut. Laben Herindene was born 1770, died
1S50. Their children were : Laben, Simeon, Wilbur,
Levi, Hannah, Mary.
Wilbur Herindene, son oi Laben Herindene, set
tled a: Woodstock, Connecticut. He married Maty
Estabrook. He was bora 1795, at Woodstock, died
Apni 5, 1S51. His wife died January 2CS. 1862. Thar
children were: Wilbur, Alfred, Fidelia, Sarah Jane,
Nelson, Mary Ann. Hannah, Emeline, James, Levi
James Herindene or Herindeen, son of Wilbur
Herindene. was bom at Providence, Rhode Island,
May 16, iS^j. He married- Emily Chamberlain, May
.50. 1S47. She was bom at Woodstock, October -i
iS-lj. He died January 15, 1^4. He was a life
member of the local grange. He was captain of a
militia company. He settled at Woodstock, Con
necticut Their daughter, Addie Josephine Herin
deen, married Edgar Eugene Bock, of Worcester,
Massachusetts. James Lester Buck, son of Edgir

WORCESTER COUNTY

3§9

E. and Addie Buck, was born in Worcester, August
31, 1885, married, May 17, 1905, Jessie Evilyn Hub
bard, of Holden.
WELLINGTON FAMILY. Fred W. Welling
ton, of Worcester, comes of the Wellington family,
headed by Roger Wellmgton, a planter, born about
1609, and became one of the early proprietors of
Watertown, Massachusetts. He removed from Bos
ton to that place. He has a record at -Watertown
in 1642. He was admitted as a freeman in 1690.
He married Mary, eldest daughter of Dr. Richard,
of Charlestown. He died March 11, 1698. His will
mentions s'ons: John, Benjamin, Oliver, Palgrave.
To take up the genealogical line of the family
let Roger, the planter, born 1609, be known as Roger
Wellington (1).
(II) Benjamin Wellington, son of Roger (1),
was admitted as a freeman, 1677, and in 1671 was
married to Elizabeth Sweetman. He died January
8, 1710. (Ill) Benjamin Wellington, son of Benjamin
(2), was born January 21, 1676, died at Lexington,
November 15, 1738. He married Lydia Brown, and
settled in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they
were admitted to the church, June 10, 1705. She
died May 13, 1711, and he married (second), De
cember 25, 1712, Elizabeth Phelps. She died Jan
uary 7, 1730, aged fifty-four years, and he then mar
ried Mary Whitney. He was for many years one
of the most popular men of the town, having been
elected as assessor, serving sixteen years ; town clerk,
fifteen years; treasurer, three years; and represent
ative, three years. Of his seven children one was :
(IV) Timothy Wellington, son of Benjamin (3),
was born July 27, 1719, and died previous to 1760,
He married Rebecca Stone, born January 22, 1721,
daughter of Jonathan and Chary (Adams) Stone,
of Lexington, Massachusetts. They have five chil
dren: Benjamin, born August 7, 1743, married
Martha Ball; Chary, born July 12, 1745; Timothy,
born April 15, 1747, died April, 1809; Abigail, born
March 14, 1749, married, December 29, 1768, Danieal
Cotting, of Waltham; Rushman, born September 4,
I7SI- (V) Captain Timothy Wellington, son of Tim
othy (4), born April 15, 1747, died April, 1809. He
was a member of Captain Parker's company, and on
the way to Lexington was taken prisoner, being
the first prisoner taken in the revolutionary war.
He was paroled, but he stole through the woods
and joined his company and fought that day. He
married Hannah W. Abbott, May 1, 1776.
(VI) Nehemiah Wellington, son of Timothy (5),
was born January 1, 1780, and was the grandfather
of General Fred W. Wellington. He married Nancy
Stearns, May 16, 1805, a daughter of Joshua Stearns,
of Waltham. He died May 11, 1857. He served
as a representative, 1836-38, assessor, 1840, and se
lectman, 1841. They had nine children: Anna
Eliza, born March 2, 1806, died October 3, 1822;
Augustus, born January 15, 1807; Hannah Maria,
born November 17, 1809, married Samuel Bridge, in
1835; Timothy W., born July 4, 181 1, mentioned in
the following paragraph; Sullivan, born November
8. 1813; Jonas Clarke, born November 30, 1815,
married, October 17, 1839, Harriet Bosworth, of
Attleboro; Horatio, born September 6, 1817, mar
ried, December 16, 1841, Mary Bowman Tell; Avis
M, born June 27, 1819, married Emory Abbott
Mulliken; Joseph A., born June 12, 1812, married
Ellen A. Smith.
. (VII) Timothy W. Wellington, son of Nehe
miah (6), was born July 4, 1811. He married (first)
Susan Ray, November 4, 183S, by whom he had

seven children, four of whom are as follows : Ed
ward W., born September 20, 1840. In the civil war or
war of the rebellion he enlisted in 1861 as a private in
the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volun
teers, was promoted to lieutenant in the Second
Massachusetts Cavalry, served in the Army of the
Potomac, but on account of failing health was
obliged to resign. Frank W., born November 13,
1842. He also enlisted as a private in the same com
pany, same regiment, same date as did his brother
Edward; was detailed to the commissary department
at Newberne, North Carolina, and served until the
close' of the war in 1865. George, born April 12,1847,
enlisted (first) in the Forty-second Massachusetts
Regiment of Infantry, when but seventeen years of
age, and went to New Orleans, and (second) in the
Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, was taken
prisoner at Plymouth, North Carolina, and sent to
Andersonville prison, where he died the following
year. Charles, a twin brother of George, elisted in
the navy, serving fifteen months under Admiral
Farragut at New Orleans. The mother of these
children died April 28, 1847. Mr. Wellington mar
ried (second), September 5, 1848, Augusta Tufts
Fiske, daughter of Samuel and Adelia L. Fiske, born
December 31, 1822, died at Worcester April 2, 1906,
being over eighty-three years of age. By this mar
riage two children were born: Fred W., and
Delia Maria, who died September 18, 1871,
being then a bright girl of fourteen years.
In 1855 Timothy W. Wellington moved to Worces
ter from Shirley. At the opening of the war of the
rebellion he took an active part in sustaining the
Union, in addition to sending four sons to the front.
He provided at his own expense a hospital at Wor
cester for sick and disabled soldiers, which he sup
ported about five months and dispensed favors to
more than sixty soldiers. In 1864 he represented
the twenty-seventh Worcester district in the legis
lature. The Worcester Society of Antiquity has
many valuable war relics given it by Mr. Welling
ton. He died at Alburgh Springs, Vermont, Au
gust 26, 1884, aged seventy-three years. His widow
has since died at Worcester, Massachusetts.
(VIII) General Fred W. Wellington, subject of
this memoir, son of Timothy (7), was born May
31, 1851, in Shirley, Massachusetts. The family
moved to Worcester in 1855. Fred W. attended the
schools of Worcester, also studied two years in
France and Germany. Handed down from ancestry,
his military likings were strong, and in his youth
he was a drummer boy from 1861 to 1865 for the
old state guard. In 1868 he took a position in the
First National Bank of Worcester as a bookkeeper,
remaining until August, 1870, and from that date
to 1871 was in charge of the coal yard at South-
bridge street, belonging to T. W. Wellington &
Company. The following year was spent in the
sunny land of California. In April, 1872, he returned
and entered into partnership with,T. W. Wellmgton
& Company, of which firm he was the junior mem
ber, conducting a wholesale and retail coal busi
ness. He continued in that line until May, 1874.
At that time he associated himself with James S.
Rogers and Arthur A. Goodell, coal merchants, the
firm name being J. S. Rogers & Company; in 1876
he became a member of the firm and in 1877 the
name of the firm changed to A. A. Goodell & Com
pany Mr. Rogers retiring. It was on January 1, 1878,
that General Wellington leased the coal yard at the
corner of Canterbury and Hammond streets and
engaged in the wholesale and retail coal trade under
the firm name of Fred W. Wellington & Company,
and for thirty (30) years he has been the sole owner.
In 1880 he purchased the present location, corner of

39°

WORCESTER COUNTY

Southbridge and Hammond streets, more than twen
ty-nine (29) years, where he has conducted the same
business. Among other enterprises with which he
is associated is the American Car Sprinkler Com
pany, organized for the purpose of watering streets
by electric power, and he has been the president of
this company since its organization in 1894. In 1888
he in addition to his other business, accepted the
treasurer's position and became general manager of
the Arthur C. Wellington Coal Company, where
he remained until 1896, when the company was
dissolved. It was in 1882 that General Wellington joined
the militia, being elected and receiving his commis
sion as second lieutenant in Battery B, Light Ar
tillery, unattached, First Brigade, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia. In January, 1883, he was elected
first lieutenant and soon became recognized as a
model military man, being very popular with his
command. September 29, 1884, he was elected cap
tain, commanding the battery, in which position he
served until January 1, 1886, when he was appointed
assistant inspector-general on the staff of Governor
Ames, with rank of colonel, which position he re
signed in 1889. He was re-appointed to the same
position by Governor Brackett in 1890 and 1891,
when he again resigned, and in the latter year he
enlisted as a private in Battery B, his old command.
He was re-appointed as colonel to the same place
on the staff of Governor Greenhalge, 1894, and was
re-appointed by him in 189S, (the year of the death
of Governor Greenhalge) and he was then appointed
by Acting Governor Wolcott, who continued Colonel
Wellington in the same position by successive annual
re-appointments up to 1900. In January of that
year he was appointed commissary general by Gov
ernor Crane, with rank of colonel, and in May of
the same year was given the rank of brigadier-
general by the legislature. He was continued in
the position of commissary general by Governor
Crane during 1901-2 and was re-appointed com
missary general by Governor Bates in 1903-04, In
the latter year he was placed on the retired list at
his own request with rank of brigadier-general. The
Wellington Rifles, Company H, Second Regiment of
Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, was
named in honor of General Wellington.
Very naturally such a gentleman finds his place
of prominence in the civic societies. Among such
connections it may be stated that he is a thirty-
second degree Mason, being a member of the Bos
ton Consistory. He also belongs to the Worcester
County Commandery, Knights Templar. In 1892 he
was captain-general of that body. Politically he is
a Republican, believing that this party best serves
the interests of the rank and file of the American
people. He served on the Republican State Central
Committee in 1887-88-89, and again in 1893-94-95-96,
and served as a member of the executive committee
from 1887 to 1896. '
General Wellington married, September 4, 1883,
Lydia A., widow of General Arthur A. Goodell, of
the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment, war of
the rebellion.
PLINY MOORE. John Moore (1), of Sudbury,
Massachusetts, was the first ancestor of Pliny MoOre
and probably hundreds of other Worcester men
and women. Moore was a proprietor as early as
1640. He was a farmer. His eldest son, John, was
also a proprietor of that town, but later made his
home in Lancaster and is the progenitor of a large
branch of the family, some of whom are in the city
and more in the various towns of the county. The
wife of John Moore was Elizabeth, daughter of

Philemon Whale. The Whale family came from
Colchester, England, where a brother died in 1609.
Elizabeth, wife of Philemon, and mother of Mrs.
Moore, died April 20, 1647. He married (second)
Sarah, widow of Thomas Cakebread, and (third)
Elizabeth  , who died November 8, 1688. He
died February 22, 1675, leaving his property to his
widow and the children of his daughter, Elizabeth
Moore. John Moore died in 1674, his will being-
proved April 7, 1674. His wife Elizabeth died June
6, 1664. Their children were: John, of Lancaster;
William^ Lydia, born at Sudbury, June 24, 1643,
married (first) Samuel Wright, (second) James
Cutler; Jacob, born at Sudbury, April 28, 1645; Jo
seph; Benjamin; Elizabeth, born January 10, 1649,
married Henry Rice; Mary, married Daniel Stone.
(II) Jacob Moore, son of John and Elizabeth
Moore (1), was born at Sudbury, April 28, 1645.
He married Elizabth Loker, May 29, 1667. He was
a captain in the Indian wars. He died March 23,
1715-16. Their children as recorded at Sudbury were:
Richard, born September 12, 1670, see forward;
John, born December 13, 1673; Elizabeth, born Feb
ruary 4, 1675; Nathaniel, born June 21, 1678, see
forward; Hannah, born July 18, 1680; Jacob, born
1680. (Ill) Richard Moore, son of Jacob (2) and
Elizabeth Moore, was born at Sudbury, September
12, 1670, and resided there, but he seems to have re
sided at Cambridge later in life. He married Mary
 . Their children as recorded at Sudbury
were: Sebella, born September 2, 1694; Collins,
born October 17, 1698, settled in Worcester (See
Wall's History) ; Isaac, born June 11, 1700, settled
in Worcester; Abijah, born December 22, 1705;
Richard, born January 10, 1707-08; Mary, born May
15, 1710; Lydia, baptized March 17, 1712-13.
(IV) Isaac Moore, son of Richard (3) and
Mary Moore, was born at Sudbury, June 11, 1700.
He came to Worcester at an early age with his
brother Collins, and Nathaniel, his unfile, his father's
youngest brother. (See Nathaniel Moore.) He was
a proprietor in 1726. He married Hannah  . •
His children, born and recorded in Worcester, were :
Hannah, born March 31, 1725; Thomas, May i,
1727; David, October 21, 1729; Jonathan, January
10, 1732; Samuel, May 5, 1736; Phebe, November
28, 1738; John and Isaac, (twins) March 11, 1741';
Mary, May 19, 1743; Sarah, November 9, 1744;
Susanna, March 22, 1747.
(Ill) Nathaniel Moore, son of Jacob (2), was
born at Sudbury, June 21, 1678. He married Grace
Rice, a sister of Jonas Rice, of Sudbury, who was
the first settler of the town of Worcester. Na
thaniel Moore is reckoned as the third settler, com
ing there in 1715, with others of the family, James
and Comfort, and Collins and Isaac, sons of his
brother Richard. He was a deacon of the church
He died November 25, 1761 ; his wife died 1768, at
the age of ninety-four years, (See Sketch of Jonas
Rice.) Children of Nathaniel and Grace Moore
have many Worcester descendants. They were:
Mary, born December 20, 1702; Sarah, July 2, 1704;
Henry, January 10, 1705-06; Judith, February 12,
1708; Grace, July 7, 1709-10; Elizabeth, June 23,
171 1 ; Eleanor, February 16, 1713; Nathaniel, Janu
ary 31, 1714-15.
(V) John Moore, son of Isaac (4) and Hannah
Moore, was born in Worcester, November 28, 173,8.
John Moore bought a farm near Tatnuck and built
there in 1763 the house which has been occupied
since by his descendants. He married, September
11, 1760, Esther Bigelow, who lived on a farm near
Lake Quinsigamond. Their children were: Will
iam, born April 19, 1761 ; Lydia, October 7, 1763 ;

WORCESTER COUNTY

39i

Matilda, February 5, 1768; Esther, April 26, 1769;
Tyler, March 10, 1771 ; Joshua, November 20, 1772;
Willard, October 12, 1775.
(VI) Willard Moore, son of John (5) and
Esther Moore, was born October 12, 1775, in the
house at Tatnuck in Worcester. He followed farm
ing as a calling, but was an invalid and recluse.
He married, January I, 1798, Mary Curtis, born
February 2, 1776. Their children were : Seraph,
born December 11, 1798; Nathaniel Curtis, October
ii, 1800; Alexander, October 10, 1802; Sybil, Sep
tember 25, 1804; Peregrine Craig, October 23, 1806;
John Bisco, August 7, 1809; Winthrop, January 25,
1812; Ephraim Curtis, February 15, 1815; Harrison,
May 14, 1818. .
(VII) Nathaniel Curtis Moore, son of Willard
(6) and Mary Curtis Moore, was born October 11,
1800, at Tatnuck, Worcester. He lived at home
until he was fifteen, then came to Worcester and
worked on a farm. He married, December 20,
1825, Sarah Childs, daughter of Moses N. Childs,
of Worcester, who lived in the house built in 1763
in which Pliny Moore now lives. Nathaniel was
captain 'of an independent cavalry company of Wor
cester. Sarah (Childs) Moore died January 4, 1832,
and left three children: 1. Calvin, born December
1, 1826; he and his wife moved to Jacmel, Hayti,
February, 1865, and both died there a few months
after. 2. Curtis, born May 30, 1828; he died in Hol
yoke, Massachusetts, April 20, 1902. 3. Luther,
born April 9, 1830; he died in Worcester, January
9, 1901. Nathaniel C. Moore married for his second
wife, March 13, 1833, Patty Moore, daughter of
Jonathan Moore, of Holden. Their children: 1.
Sarah (now living in Iowa), born December 9,
1833. 2. Martha, born May 30, 1835, died October
11, 1835. 3. Infant, born May 20, 1836, died un
named. 4. Seraph, born October 25, 1838, resides
with her brother Pliny in Worcester. 5. Eunice,
born April 7, 1841, resides in Worcester. 6. Baxter,
born November 16, 1842, resides in Dudley, Massa
chusetts. 7. Pliny, born October 7, 1847.
(VIII) Pliny Moore, son of Nathaniel Curtis
(7) and Patty Moore, was born at Worcester, Octo
ber 7, 1847, and has lived all his life in the house
where he was born. He is one of the best known
farmers in Worcester. He belongs to Worcester
Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. For twelve years
he was secretary of the Chamberlain District Farm
ers' Club, a flourishing and influential organization
of Worcester farmers, started in 1873. He has
been chairman for many years and is at present the
head of the club. He is a member of the Worces
ter Agricultural Society.
(VIII) Baxter Moore, son of Nathaniel C.
Moore (7), was born at Worcester, November 16,
1842. Until nineteen he attended the public schools
of the city and Worcester Academy. Then he
joined the quartermaster's department of Burnside's
Division of the Union army, stationed at Camp
Nelson, in Kentucky; subsequently he followed va
rious occupations, part of the time farming, also
working at mechanical business for several years
until the year 1877, when he bought the Walnut
Grove farm, where he now resides. In 1882 he con
ducted the farm at the Highland Military Academy;
in 1883 and 1884 he was farm manager of the
Buffum farm in Oxford, Massachusetts, but since
1884 he has run the Walnut Grove farm success
fully. He is a trustee of the Worcester South
Agricultural Society, a member of Dudley Grange,
Patrons of Husbandry, for six years. He was a
m,ember of the Worcester City Guards in the sixties
and declined a commission. He is naturally of a

retiring disposition and Las taken no active part in
politics. He is a Congregationalist.
He married, May 5, 1868, Jennie E. Mayers,
daughter of Francis R. and Harriet (Gowen)
Mayers, of Worcester. Their children were : Her
bert Francis, born January 22, 1869, died at birth ;
Harry Lawton, born December 20, 1872, married,
December 9, 1898, Florence A. Bisco, of Worcester;
she died July 8, 1899; Marian Jennie, born Janu
ary 21, 1878, married, November 14, 1899, George
L. Penniman, of Dudley, and their children are :
George Forest, born October 9, 1900; Earl Anson,
born February 28, 1903, died September 6, 1904;
and Wesley Moore Penniman, born December 7,
i905- CHARLES GREENWOOD is city forester of
Worcester, which office he has held since 1898, a
prominent citizen of the city, to which he removed
February 14, 1875, and since April 1, 1886, a resi
dent on the Patch farm, one of the oldest in Wor
cester, was born in the town of Hubbardston, Wor
cester county, Massachusetts, November 21, 1849.
Moses Greenwood, great-grandfather of Charles
Greenwood, born in 1752, settled with his two
brothers — Abijah and Levi — in the town of Holden.
Moses Greenwood married Betsy Dunlap, March 22,
1778; she was born in Cherry Valley, New York,
in 1756. When four years of age she was rescued
from the Indians, who had murdered her par
ents and burned their dwelling. She died Decem
ber 9, 1826, aged seventy years. She was survived
by her husband who passed away at the age of
seventy-five years, March 8, 1827. Their children
were: 1. Ethan A., born May 27, 1779; married
Mrs. Caroline Warren, of Roxbury, who died Janu
ary 20, 1875; he died May 3, 1856. He graduated
at Dartmouth College, and studied law for a short
period of time. He became a successful portrait
painter, and proprietor of the New England museum
in Boston. He also painted a large silk banner for
the military companies of the town. He acquired
a large property in Boston and Hubbardston. 2.
Aaron, born March 22, 1781 ; married Eliza Thatcher,
removed to Pennsylvania and died there in the year
1807. 3. Sally, born May 6, 1783; married Abel
Warren, of Northboro, June 4, 1805. Their deaths
occurred in the town of Northboro. 4. Moses, born
November 4, 17S5 (see forward). 5. Betsey, born
December 12, 1787; died April 24, 1797. 6. James,
born September 4, 1792; married (first) Sally Hunt
ing, March 3, 1814; she died October 17, 1818; mar
ried (second) Betsey Rice, May 1, 1819, removed
to Pennsylvania and there died. His children were :
Lucy, born December 1, 1814; died at Harford,
Pennsylvania; Stephen, born August 23, 1817, died
April 22; 1818; and Asa Willard, born November
4, 1819. 7. Cynthia, born October 1, 1794, was
drowned May 15, 1808. (Cynthia Greenwood with
two. other young people went to the mill-pond of
Major Greenwood's estate in Hubbardston, built a
raft and started to cross the pond, but the raft
parted and they were drowned.) 8. Betsey, born
May 20, 1799; married Elisha Whittemore.
Moses Greenwood, grandfather of Charles Green
wood, was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts,
November 4, 1785 ; died September 26, 1828. He
was a prosperous farmer, and owned a sawmill,
where he manufactured lumber. On January 9, 1806,
he was married to Polly Brown, born in Hubbards
ton, May 16, 1780; died January 14, 1859. Their
children were: 1. Lyman, born June 13, 1806; mar
ried Augusta Marean, November 19, 1829, and died
October 5, 1880. Their children were: Milo, born

392

WORCESTER COUNTY

March 4, 1831 ; removed South, and died in the war
of the rebellion; Moses, born October 9, 1S32; mar
ried Adelaide Wright, January I, 1857; was the
father of one child, Helen Mabel, born July 9, 1862,
and resided in Cambridge; died in Ashburnham,
Massachusetts, in 1904; Ann Elizabeth, born Septem
ber 16, 1834, married Lyman Woodward; Joseph
L., born June 10, 1836; removed to Abington; Asa
Morrill, born December 22, 1839; married Mary
E. Nichols, April 12, 1865; died in Leominster, 1904;
Helen A., born May 29, 1843; married James H.
Gleason; Mary Alice, born March 21, 1847; mar
ried Thomas B. Grimes; Frank B., born November
25, 1851. 2. Moses, born May 23, 1808; married
Adeline Ayers, of North Brookfield, resides in
Louisiana. 3. Aaron (see forward). 4. Cynthia,
born February 20, 1812, married William Joslin, a
farmer of Hubbardston. She died when about
seventy years of age, leaving three daughters and
two sons.
Aaron Greenwood, father of Charles Green
wood, was born May 23, 1808, in Hubbardston,
Massachusetts. He was for many years a selectman
of Hubbardston, and for one year represented
that town and Templeton in the general court. He
removed to Worcester a short time prior to his death,
August 3, 1878. On April 14, 1831, he married Ade
line Rice, a native of Hubbardston, daughter of
William and Rebecca (Allen) Rice, the former
named having been born May 17, 1788, died Novem
ber 13, 1831, and the latter born in 1790, died when
eighty-three years of age. Mrs. Adeline Green
wood died in 1883. She was the mother of nine
children, as follows : 1. Celia Jane, born February
28, 1832; married Lorenzo Barnes. 2. Sarah Re
becca, born January 5, 1834; married William H.
Earle. 3. Lucy Agnes, born January 31, 1836; died
April 17, 1843. 4. Charlotte, born May 15, 1838;
married George P. Earle. 5. Aaron Holbert, born
January 21, 1841, enlisted June 29, 1861, Company
D, Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, wounded at
Antietam, September 17, 1862; discharged February
14, 1863; died at Alexandria, Virginia, soon after
ward. 6. George, born May 11, 1843; enlisted Aug
ust 7, 1862, Company I, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts
Regiment; died of wounds received at Point of
Rocks, Virginia, May 10, 1864. J. Lucy Addie,
born April 3, 1845; married William H. Earle, (sec
ond wife). 8. Chester, born June 22, 1847. 9.
Charles, born November 21, 1849, (of whom later).
Charles Greenwood attended the public schools
regularly until fourteen years of age, continuing
thereafter during the winters for several years. At
the age of twenty-two he took up his residence in
Fitchburg, and there gained his first experience in
market gardening as a means of livelihood, con
tinuing that occupation for two and a half years. On
February 14, 1875, he removed to Worcester and, in
1886, purchased the Patch farm, consisting of one
hundred and four acres, but subsequently disposed
of all but fifteen acres, on which he resides. He
was a member of the Worcester common council
for two years, and in the spring of 1898 was ap
pointed to his present position of city forester by
the board of park commissioners. He is a Repub
lican in politics. He was for two years master, and
is now (1906) treasurer, for a term of seven years,
to Worcester Grange. He married, December 10,
1873, Ella E. Grimes, daughter of Joseph and
Augusta (Maynard) Grimes, and their children are:
Burt W., born March 18, 1881 ; graduated from the
Worcester high school in 1900; and from Harvard
University in 1904. He is now connected with the
Worcester Trust Company, and resides in the fam
ily homestead. Harold J., born May 7, 1884, studied

designing in the Eric Pape school of art, Boston,
where he won high honors, being a prize winner
in the competition of 1905, and a student of general
artistic ability. He resides at home. Mrs. Green
wood is a member of the Union Congregational
Church. Joseph Grimes, father of Mrs. Greenwood, con
ducted a farm for a number of years, and also was
employed in a chair factory at Gardner. He died
in 1894, aged seventy-four years. His wife, Augusta
(Maynard) Grimes, was a native of Sterling, and
died in 1899, at the age ot seventy-five years. They
were the parents of eight children, one son, Fred
erick W. Grimes, a resident of Jamaica Plains, and
seven daughters, all of whom attained years of ma
turity. JAMES PRESCOTT HAMILTON. John
Hamilton, (1), the immigrant ancestor of James
Prescott Hamilton, president of the Worcester Na
tional Bank, was born in England or Scotland.
The name was frequently spelt Hambleton on the
early records. The first record of John Hamilton
is found in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in' 1658.
He was then owner of four acres of woodland and
three of commons. He removed to Concord, Massa
chusetts, before 1667, and in 1671 is said to have
removed to Marlborough, but King Philip's war in
1675 caused the settlers there to abandon their homes
and he probably removed to some town near Boston.
Indeed, his son Joseph seems to have been an inn
keeper in Boston, later. His wife's name is spelt
Christian in the Concord records. Their children:
John, see forward; Joseph, born at Concord, Jan
uary 9, 1671.
(II) John Hamilton, son of John Hamilton
(1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, March i,
1667-68. He was maltster by trade. He settled in
Brookfield about 1700. He sold his house, barn
and land at Concord, January 25, 1702, after mov
ing to Brookfield. It was not until March 18, 1708,
that he sold the homestead at Concord. The pur
chaser was Obadiah Wheeler. He had a grant of
land at Brookfield, November, 1701, comprising fifty
acres of upland, formerly of James Hosmer, on the
county road east of Joseph Bannister's land. He
had a special grant of land from the town of Brook
field to encourage him to set up his trade as maltster
there. He married (first) Sarah  ; (second)
Hannah  . Two of his children were born at
Concord. Children : Joseph, born at Concord,
September 5, 1697, resided at Brookfield; married
Sarah  ; John, see forward; Hannah, married,
January 8, 1724, William Ayres; Dorothy, born
December 4, 1725, married Josiah Wood; Jonah;
Nathan; Amos.
(Ill) John Hamilton, son qf John Hamilton
(2), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, August
26, 1699. He resided in Brookfield. He married,
January 8, 1725, Mary Wheeler. Their children:
Reuben, born November 6, 1726; John, December
18, 1728, removed to Palmer, Massachusetts; Levi,
December 25, 1730; Hannah, December 10, 1733,
married, March 11, 1756, Nathaniel Wolcott; Silas,
February 10, 1736, removed to Whitingham, Ver
mont; Mary, November 4, 1739, married  Good
rich, of Hadley, Massachusetts; Mercy, June 11,
1743. (IV) Reuben Hamilton, son of John Hamilton
(3), born November 6, 1720, was for many years a
deacon of the second precinct church, Brookfield.
He removed to Worcester, where he died in 1790.
The administrator's bond is dated July 14, 179°!
His son Asa settled the estate. Deacon Reuben
Hamilton married, April, 1756, Lucretia Hubbard,

^-mx* '

i>

WORCESTER COUNTY

393

of Brookfield. She married (second) Captain Jon
athan Fay, of Westborough, Massachusetts, (in
tentions dated March 30, 1798) and she died in 1805.
Children of Reuben and Lucretia Hamilton: 1.
Reuben, born April 13, 1757, married, March 9,
1780, Elizabeth Woodbury, of Leverett, Massachu
setts; resided in Dublin, New Hafnpshire, and
Canada. 2. Lucretia, born October 23, 1758, married,
November 22, 1778, Joseph Bartlett, of Brookfield.
3. Hannah, born May 30, 1760, married, January 8,
1783, Elijah Allen; removed to Craftsbury, Ver
mont. Silas, born August 16, 1762, married and
moved to Hanover, Massachusetts; sailed from Bos
ton and was never heard of. 5. Asa, see forward.
6. Lydia, born June 1, 1767, died October 23, 1768.
7. Mary, born August 26, 1768, married Byfield
Pierce, of Worcester; removed to Craftsbury, Ver
mont 8. Dr. Samuel, born November 5, 1770, died
1847; married, October 23, 1793, Mehitable Bemis,
of Worcester; went to Dublin, New Hampshire;
was clerk of the Social Library, J.794, representa
tive in the legislature, selectman, prosperous mer
chant, removed to Canandaigua and Rochester, New
York; children — i. Ashley, born February 24, 1794,
married Clarissa Chamberlain; ii Eliza, born Au
gust 9, 1796, removed to Rochester, New York, wife
of Silas Ball; iii. Rebecca, born June 16, 1798; iv.
Harriet, born August 3, 1800; v. Mary, born No
vember 7, 1802. 9. Dorothy, born May 23, 1772,
married, 1796, Asahel Washburn, of Leicester; she
died May, 1849. 10. Luke, born March 29, 1775.
11. Betsey, born March 27, 1778, married Reuben
Muzzy, of Dublin, removed to Athens, Pennsyl
vania. 12. Eli, born April 19, 1781, married Mary
Woodward, resided in Dublin; died March 24, 1852.
(V) Asa Hamilton, son of Reuben Hamilton
(4), was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 28, 1763. He made his home in Worcester be
fore he was of age, and in 1793 opened a tavern
on the old Post road from Worcester to Lancaster,
three miles from Worcester common, in a house
occupied later by Solomon Parsons, and conducted
it 'until- 1800, when he bought a store on the west
side of Main street. He carried on this store, deal-.
ing chiefly in dry goods, the remainder of his days.
He is credited with a month and a third service
in the revolution for the town of Brookfield. He
remained in the militia after the war and rose to
the rank of captain. He was admitted to the Wor
cester Fire Society, July 5, 1802. He was promi
nent in public affairs and held many offices of trust
and responsibility. At the time of his death he
wastown treasurer. In personal appearance he was
straight, and erect, a fine-looking gentleman, very
neat and polite, and a great favorite with the
women who bought goods at his store. He died
suddenly at his residence on Main street, Decem
ber 14, 1831. He married, August 28, 1788, Eliza
beth Blair, who died July 17, 1834. Their chil
dren: Sewall, see forward; Charles Augustus, see
forward. (VI) Sewall Hamilton, son of Asa Hamilton
(.5)i was born in Worcester, March 1, 1789, mar
ried, October 11, 1810, Nancy Howard Fullerton.
He died December 10, 1824, in his thirty-sixth year.
Their children: 1. Mary Lucretia, born December
26, 1810. 2. Alexander Sewall (changed to Ed
ward), see forward. 3. Elizabeth Blair, born Sep
tember 12, 1814, married, October 23, 1839, William
Coe, who died August 24, 1850, leaving five chil
dren. 4. Martha Sanders, born May 31, 1816, mar
ried, November 11, 1839, Hiram Gould; he died
October 27, 1846, leaving children— i. Martha Cor
nelia Gould, born August 19, 1840, married W. H.
Balcom; ii. Sarah Goddard Gould, born August 4,

1846, married, December 6, 1866, Captain John N.
Coe and they had Arthur Hamilton Coe, born July
14, 1867. 5. George Augustus, born March 25, 1823;
married, April 2, 1845, Elizabeth M. Bradley, daugh
ter of Osgood Bradley, the car manufacturer; re
sided in St. Paul, Minnesota, and had — i. Fanny S.
B., born 1847; ii. Edward Fullerton, born Novem
ber, 1858.
(VI) Charles Augustus Hamilton, son of Asa
Hamilton (5), was born in Worcester, May 11,
1805, died there October 30, 1879. He received his
education in the common schools of his native town,
beginning his business career as clerk in the book
store of George A. Trumbull, in 1821. In I823
was clerk in a Boston store, the following years in
his father's store in Worcester, and in 1826 went
into partnership with his father. In 1829 he was
in the office of the clerk of courts of Worcester
county, and during the next two years held various
public offices, "deputy sheriff, constable, auctioneer,
collector of taxes, treasurer of the school district,
assessor of the second parish, and took care of. a
reading room in Paine's Building," to quote from
his diary. This variety of work was excellent
preparation for his career as a banker. It gave him
a thorough knowledge of business, a wide acquaint
ance with men, valuable legal training and self-
confidence. He was made cashier of the Quinsiga
mond Bank when it was organized in 1833. He re
signed this position in 1853 to become treasurer of
the Worcester County Institute for Savings, a po
sition he filled with conspicuous ability and success
until his death. This bank has from the start held
the lead among the savings banks of. Worcester
county. Mr. Hamilton was the first city clerk of Wor
cester. He was town clerk from 1836 until the
city was organized in 1848. He resigned as city
clerk in 1855, a period of twenty years in charge
of the public records. He was notary public from
1835 to 1839 and justice of the peace from 1844
to 1864. He was much attached to his church, the
second parish, now known as the First Unitarian
Church, , of which he was elected deacon in 1847.
He was actively engaged in Sunday school work,
and in 1881 became a life member. of the American
Unitarian Association. At the time of his death
he was the oldest survivor of the Worcester Light
Infantry, which he joined in the autumn of 1821.
He was made corporal in 1822, sergeant and clerk
in 1824, lieutenant in 1826 and captain in 1828. He
resigned in 1831. He was first president of the
Veteran Association of the Light Infantry.
He married, March 7, 1826, Eliza Abbott Porter,
daughter of Oliver and Sarah (Abbott) Porter, of
Boston. She was born October 29, 1803, and died
July 8, 1840. He married (second), April 13, 1843,
Hannah Maria Prescott, born January 18, 181 1, died
October 26, 1864, daughter of James and Hannah
(Champney) Prescott. Mr. Hamilton died at Wor
cester, October 30, 1879. ' Children of Charles A.
and Eliza A. Hamilton: 1. Sarah Abbott, born
March 22, 1827, married, April 10, 1850, William ¦
Cross, son of William and Sophia A. (Thompson)
Cross; children — i. Eliza Hamilton Cross, born Jan
uary 26, 1851, died May 5, 1865; ii. Mary Stacy
Cross, born April 17, 1854, died July 27, 1855. 2.
Frances Towne, born July 25, 1828, married, Octo
ber 4, 1853, Joseph Trumbull, of Worcester, son of
George A. and Louisa (Clapp) Trumbull ; she died
January 25, 1859; children — i. Helen Carnes Trum
bull, born December 27, 1856; ii. Frances Hamilton
Trumbull, born January 17, 1859, died in Philadel
phia, March 28, 1885. 3. Calvin Willard, born Jan
uary 12, 1833, see sketch elsewhere in this work.

394

WORCESTER COUNTY

Children of Charles A. and Hannah M. Hamilton:
4. James Prescott, see forward. 5. Edward Bangs,
born April 13, 1846, died November 2, 1897.
(VTI) Edward Hamilton, son of Sewall Ham
ilton (6), was born in Worcester, January 6, 1812.
His name was originally Alexander SewaU, but
was changed after his marriage by legal process to
Edward. He was a* teacher of music by profession
and prominent in musical circles. He was assist
ant treasurer of the Worcester County Institution
for Savings. He married, June 5, 1841, Mary Coe,
who died August 4, 1863, daughter of John Coe,
of \Yorcester- He married (second), April 15,
1865, Sarah Cornelia Moore Perkins, of Holliston,
Massachusetts. He died in Worcester, January 2,
1870. The only child of Edward and Sarah C
Hamilton was : George Howard, born December
14, 1868.
(VH) James Prescott Hamilton, son of Charles
Augustus Hamilton (6), was born in Worcester,
March io, 1844. After receiving the education af
forded by the common and high schools of his
native city, at the age of seventeen, he began his
career as clerk in the Worcester County Institution
for Savings, of which his father was treasurer.
He remained in this bank for several years, and ac
quired an excellent training for his profession. In
January, 1865, he entered the National Park Bank
of New York city, and during the next three years
filled several important positions in the several de
partments of this great institution. He left New
York in May, 1868, to accept the position of assist
ant cashier of the Worcester National Bank, and his
life since that time has been identified with the
banking interests of his native city. He was im
mediately promoted to the position of cashier. The
"Old Worcester Bank" (as his bank is familiarly
known) is the oldest in the city, having rounded
out a century of existence in 1904. It is and always
has been the largest bank in the city, unless trust
companies be included in the comparison. In the
past thirty-seven years during which he has been
cashier, the business has grown steadily. In Janu
ary, 1904, Mr. Hamilton was given increased re
sponsibility, being promoted to the vice-presidency
of the bank. The assistant cashier, Samuel D. Spurr,
was made cashier, and Frederick M-. Hedden as
sistant cashier, to fill the vacancies caused by his
promotion. The president until his death in 1905
was Stephen Salisbury, whose father, also Stephen
Salisbury was president until his death. In 1906
Mr. Hamilton was elected president of the bank.
An idea of the present business of the institution
may be obtained form the exhibit of deposits,
which in March 1905, amounted tp $3,356^81.12.'
The capital stock is $250,000. The growth of the
business has obliged the bank to plan for larger
quarters, and the alterations are now (1906) being
made in the bank building on Foster street. Mr.
Hamilton is one 01 three, executors of Mr. Salis
bury's will.
Mr. Hamilton is also treasurer of the Worcester
Gas Light Company, trustee of the People's Sav
ings Bank, and was formerly vice-president until
the enactment of the present law forbidding national
bank .ofiicers holding executive offices in savings
banks. He is also auditor of the State Mutual Life
Assurance Company, and president of the Worcester
Clearing House Association. He is executor of
the will of Josiah H. Clarke. He is also auditor of
Clark University, and was an executor of the will
of Jonas G. Clark, its founder, and later of his
widow's estate. Under Mr. Clark's .will Mr. Ham
ilton became custodian of certain funds, and the
following clause from the will explains the duty he

had to perform, and indirectly testifies to the con
fidence reposed in him by the distinguished
philanthropist: "I think it proper to provide and do accordingly
direct my executors to appoint Mr. James P. Ham
ilton one of their number, as treasurer, to hold and
have charge of such of the funds as are directed
to be kept separate from the general endowment
fund of die University for the space of five years
after the probate of this instrument, in order that
my purpose to keep these funds intact and independ
ent of said general fund may not fail"
Mr. Hamilton was one of the forty charter mem
bers of the Worcester Art Museum. He is a mem
ber of the Worcester dub, the Quinsigamond Boat
Club, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcester
Fire Society, and was a member of the Common
wealth Club. He is a regular attendant of tbe
First Unitarian Church, has served as its treasurer,
and is now chairman of its parish committee. In
politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Hamilton married, September 24, 1874, Sarah
Antoinette, daughter of George A. and Sarah A.
(Hadwen) Kimball. Their children are: 1. Edith.
born October 23, 1875, graduated at Radcliffe, 1904,
taught school at St. Agnes, Albany, same year. 2.
Charles Augustus, born July 15, 1877, graduated
Harvard University, 1899, entered the law offices of
Charles M. Thayer, and was admitted to the bar
1902, and has since practiced, having offices with
Mr. Thayer. 3. Mary, born March 12, 1882, gradu
ated Smith College, 1904.
(VH) Calvin Willard Hamilton, son of Charles
Augustus (6), was born in Worcester, January 12,
1833, and was educated there in the public and
high schools. He began his mercantile career in
Boston as clerk . in a dry goods establishment and
learned the business there. He started in business
in Worcester in the firm of Jenkins, Hamilton Jt
Company, dry goods dealers, succeeding B. L, Har
don, in the store on Main street between Waln-t
and Maple street During the civil war he entered
partnership with Charles Fox, his wife's brother,
under the firm name of C W. Hamilton & Com
pany, and manufactured anny cloth in the old Fox
mills, Worcester. After this firm was dissolved Mr.
Hamilton started in the manufacture of tapes and
narrow fabrics, and continued for many years with'
marked success. The business was located at 83
Water street and went under the name of Hamilton
Flock Company. He manufactured all kinds of
flocks, woolen yarns, etc., and was a dealer in shear
and gig flocks, woolen waste, etc. After giving up
his manufacturing business about 1885 he was con
nected with George Upton, glue manufacturer of
Boston, as traveling salesman, and later with the
American Glue Company in same business up to
the time of his death, October 3, 1901
Mr. Hamilton had few interests outside his home
and business. He was a member of the First Uni
tarian church and a Republican in politics. He was
of a social nature and made friends readily. He
won the confidence as well as the esteem of his
friends. He made his home at 37 Oak avenue,
Worcester, opposite the residence of Senator Hoar
who counted him as one of his friends and neigh
bors. His family are living there at present The
house is filled with antique furniture and treasures
that have been inherited in the family.
Mr. Hamilton married, October 27, 1859, Eliza
Fox, born March 23, 1834. (See Fox family sketch
with Dr. L. Fox Woodward's sketch.) She re
sides at the homestead, 37 Oak avenue. The only
child of Calvin W. and Eliza Hamilton was Fanny
Maria, born at Worcester, March 9, 1865, educated

\K S^^^oQjsvv/

WORCESTER COUNTY

395

in private schools and at the Worcester State Nor
mal school, and is now teacher of kindergarten at
the Elizabeth street school, Worcester.
COLONEL THEODORE S. JOHNSON, former
trial justice for Blackstone, and at present and' for
many years previous clerk of the courts of Worcester
county, Massachusetts, is a man whose high ideals
and executive ability render him in an eminent de
gree an interesting and influential citizen in the com
munity in which he lives. He traces his descent
back through a number of generations.
(I) Solomon Johnson, the founder of the
Johnson family in _ America, came to this country
prior to 1639, for in that year he was one of the
proprietors of and settled in Sudbury, Massachu
setts. He brought with him his wife and several
children. It appears from the records of Watertown,
Massachusetts, which bordered on Sudbury in the
early days, that Solomon was born in 1615, that he
was appointed to have charge of the public cow
pen (pound) near the Sudbury line, March 31,
1651, and that he continued there until 1660, when
he removed to Marlboro. He sold land in Sudbury
in 1653, and was one of the selectmen of Marlboro
from 1661 to 1666, inclusive, being a leader among
the pioneers of that town. He was very active in King
Philip's war, as all Marlboro men had to be in
order to protect their families and themselves from
the Indians. He had some difficulty with the town
of Watertown about the payment of church rates
after his removal to Marlboro, and the selectmen
of Watertown ordered a suit brought to compel him
and his so'n John to pay balance of. ministry rates.
Solomon Johnson made his will March 28, 1686,
and he died the following year, for his will was
proved October 6, 1687. This will makes mention of
his children, Nathaniel and John, of his grand
sons, the children of Nathaniel, and of his son-in-
law, John Barnes. No mention is made of any
other of his descendants living at this time. He
was a tailor by trade, and was also a farmer. Solo
mon Johnson was married three times. His first
wife, Elinor, came to this country at the same time
as he did. He. married (second), about 1650, Han
nah  , by whom he had three children, and
who died at Sudbury, June 4, 1685. He married
(third), February 1, 1686-87, at Watertown, Mass
achusetts, Hannah Crafts. The record of his chil
dren is as follows : John, born probably in England
1635 to 1637, married in Sudbury, Massachusetts,
Deborah Ward, 1657, resided at Marlboro; Na
thaniel (twin), born February 3, 1639-40, of whom
later; Joseph (twin), born February 3, 1639-40,
married Susannah  , at Marlboro, Novem
ber 19, 1667, and died in 1668; Johanna, born Feb
ruary 16, 1641 ; Mary, born February 23, 1643 ; Caleb,
born February 1, 1645, was shot and killed near
Watertown line by accident, May 4, 1654; Solomon,
born 1646, was at Marlboro at the opening of King
Philip's war, and probably died July 28, 1690. (He
may have been the Solomon who married Abigail
Goodnow of Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 6, 1716,
and had Hepsebath, born October 12, 1716, and
John, born October 17, 1718, in Sudbury, but it is
not Hkely if he were born as early as some au
thorities think he was) ; Jonathan, born (probably)
1646, his wife died December 28, 1728, and they had
three children; Samuel, born March 6, 1654; Han
nah, born April 27, 1656, married George Parmenter,
of Sudbury; Caleb, born October 31, 1658, mar
ried Agnes Bent, July 9, 1684, who died June 4,
¦729; Caleb died December 1, 1715.
(II) Nathaniel Johnson, second son and child of
Solomon Jonhson (1), was born February 3, 1639-

40, at Sudbury, Massachusetts. He went to Marl
boro, Massachusetts, in 1660, and settled there. He
and his brothers, John and Jonathan, were especially
active at the time of King Philip's war. In 1675
he was at the meeting when plans were made to
defend the town. When the town was garrisoned
about 171 1, he was in Captain Kerby's garrison near
his dwelling house on the road to Southboro.
The Johnson families may have left the town for
a short time during these Indian troubles, but in the
main they remained at their posts. Nathaniel John
son died July 24, 1718. He married, November 16,
1671, Mary Plympton, who died November 27, 1736.
The children of this marriage were : Joseph, born
October 6, 1672, married, January 9, 1705, Sarah
Maynard ; Samuel, born August 28, 1674, died
1740; Mary, born February, 1675 ; John, of whom
later; Joanna, born November 7, 1682; Dorothy,
born April 26, 1685 ; Jane, born March 22, 1687,
died 1688; Abigail, born 1691, died 1693.
(Ill) John Johnson, third son and fourth child
of Nathaniel (2) and Mary (Plympton) Johnson,
was born March 24, 1679, at Marlboro, Massachu
setts. He was a farmer, and married, February 25,
1707, Mary Plimpton, who died July 19, 1720. He
died February 15, 1758. Their children were :
Abraham, born June 13, 1709; Abigail, born Septem
ber 1, 1711, died February 10, 1760, unmarried;
Elizabeth, born July 30, 1713, died October 30, 1756,
unmarried; John, born May 29, 1715, was in the
French wars in 1756; Mary, born December 8, 1716;
Nathaniel, of whom sketch follows.
(IV) Nathaniel Johnson, third son and sixth
and youngest child of John (3) and Mary (Plymp
ton) Johnson, was born at Marlboro, March 18, 1718,
He resided in Marlboro, but in 1763 moved to Hard
wick, Massachusetts, where he died November 3,
1790. He married, December 31, 1740, Sarah For-
bush, of Westboro, Massachusetts, and they had
children as follows: Joel, born October 31, 1743;
Silas, April 21, 1746; Sarah, July 26, 1748; Stephen,
June 6, 1751 ; Catherine, April 25, 1753 ; Mary, Octo
ber 15, 1755; Susanna, July 5, 1758, died April 16,
1761; Persis, May 2, 1760; Nathaniel, January 12,
1762; Aaron, May 10, 1763; Tryphena, September 15,
1764, married Sylvanus Brimhall, September 14, 1783.
All the children were born in Marlboro, except the
youngest, who was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts.
(V) Silas Johnson, second son and child of
Nathaniel (4) and Sarah (Forbush) Johnson, was
born at Marlboro, Massachusetts, April 21, 1746, died
July 12, 1822. November 27, 1766, he married Pa
tience Walker, of Petersham, who died October 18,
1813, at the age of sixty-nine years. Their children
were as follows : Silas, of whom a sketch follows ;
Susanna, born April 15, 1770.
(VI) Silas Johnson, eldest child and only son
of Silas (5) and Patience (Walker) Johnson, was
born November 27, 1767. He married (first), Han
nah Nye, December 15, 1785, and after her death he
married (second), Celia Howard February 24, 1799.
He died March 19, 1840, and his widow married
(second), John Peckham, of Petersham, April 20,
1741. The children of Silas Johnson (6) are as
follows : Silas Nye, born September 3, 1799, died
at Dana, Massachusetts, April 1, 1879; Alanson,
born November 9, 1800; Hiram, September 3, 1892;
Gardner, October 25, 1804; Nehemiah Howard, May
26, 1807, resides in Illinois, September 21, 1841,
when he married Eunice Randall; Ranslure, July
15, 1809;. Theodore Wilder, of whom a sketch fol
lows. (VII) Theodore Wilder, seventh and youngest
son and child of Silas (7) and Celia (Howard)
Johnson, was born June 3, 1820, at Hardwick, Massa-

396

WORCESTER COUNTY

chusetts. He married, April, 1842, Emily Sears
Mellen, of Prescott, Massachusetts. Mrs. Johnson
died at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 5, 1902.
She was of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. Theo
dore Wilder Johnson died at Worcester, Massachu
setts, January 10, 1890. He and his wife were the
parents of the following named children. Colonel
Theodore S., of whom later; Emily Helen, born at
Dana, Massachusetts; Charles Rensselaer, born at
Dana, Massachusetts ; Samuel Howard, born at Dana,
Massachusetts, died in the same town, March 23,
1857- (VIII) Colonel Theodore S. Johnson, eldest
child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily S. (Miller)
Johnson, was born at Dana, Massachusetts, July 1,
1843. His youth was spent on the old place in his
native town. He attended the Dana schools and af
ter graduating from the high school went to Wil
braham Academy. In. 1864 he came to Worcester,
Massachusetts, to study law. He entered the office
of Dewey & Williams, one of the leading law firms
of the county. He was admitted to the bar in 1866
and immediately opened an office and began the
practice of law at Blackstone, Massachusetts. In
1867 he was appointed a trial justice for Black
stone by Governor Bullock. This office under the
Massachusetts statutes provides a magistrate for
large towns similar in jurisdiction to the district
courts. The trial justice has jurisdiction of minor
civil causes and criminal cases that are not serious
enough to go before the grand jury. Colonel John
son was the local judge for about four years, when
he resigned to take the position of clerk of the
district court in the city of Worcester. Hon. Hart
ley Williams, of Dewey & Williams, with whom Mr.
Johnson had studied law, was the justice and he
naturally turned to Mr. Johnson as a man having
the necessary experience, executive ability and dig
nity for the office. Mr. Johnson held this office
for ten years to the entire satisfaction of the. mem
bers of the bar and other authorities with whom he
had relations. In the civil and criminal branches of
a municipal court, in a city as large and cosmo
politan as Worcester, there is a natural demand
for the highest ahility on the part of the clerk to
keep the machinery of the court in good order. The
high reputation of this • court . during the time that
Colonel Johnson was its administrative officer, was
a test of his ability, and won him promotion to his
present position as clerk of courts of Worcester
county. He was elected in November, 1881, and
re-elected in 1886-91-96 and 1901. He is serving
his twentieth year and through all this period he
has given the utmost satisfaction. The details of
his office are too many and perhaps too technical
to be enumerated here, and it is difficult to explain
to others than lawyers what are the elements of
Mr. Johnson's success and popularity. However,
the public realizes that he is efficient. The machin
ery of the courts at Fitchburg- and -Worcester al
ways runs smoothly; the records of his office are al
ways up to date; and lawyers go out of their way
to show their appreciation of the administration
of Colonel Johnson. Perhaps his tact and courtesy
have much to do with the success of his depart
ment. He never hesitates to accommodate those
having business with his office, even at considera
ble personal sacrifice. At times the duties of his
position require him tp turn night into day to keep
up with the volume of business to be transacted.
He has chosen an excellent corps of assistants to
whom he gives much of the credit of the efficiency
of his office, but, as in all such cases, the credit
belongs to the chief, because he had the sagacity

to choose the right persons and the wisdom to keep
forces well organized and disciplined.
-The county of Worcester has had through all
its history a reputation for having in its clerks of
court men of high character and pronounced ability.
The office of clerk of courts requires exact legal
knowledge almost as extensive as that of the bench
itself. It re mires great personal dignity, modified
by a proper sense of the fitness of things and the
occasion, lt often requires the practical ability to
cut the Gordian knot of legal red tape to get results.
If there is one thing more than another that Colonel
Johnson likes to do it is to have the court get re
sults; to solve the problems brought to it and end
litigation rather than to continue it indefinitely.
Since the incorporation of the county of Worcester
in 1731, there have been but eleven different per
sons holding this office. It has attracted men who
have been in congress, and who have held other high
offices, because of the liberal reward allowed by the
county and because of the importance and honor
of the place. Yet it is universally conceded by men
familiar with the conditions and competent to judge,
that the present clerk is the most competent as well
as the most successful. No matter what standard
may be applied, Colonel Johnson must be deemed
the best clerk of courts that Worcester county has
ever had. His success in life must be measured by
his work as clerk, for that has been his chief oc
cupation. He has always been interested as a citizen in
municipal- politics, and has at times been very act
ive in the Republican organization. He was cap
tain and advocate general on the staff of the Third
Brigade Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from 1874
to 1876, inclusive. He was appointed in 1878 by
Governor Talbot as colonel and aide-de-camp on
his staff, whence the title by which he is generally
known. He represented the city of Worcester on
the Republican state central committee in 1881-2-3
and 1884. In 1883 he was elected director of the
Quinsigamond National Bank and was an active
factor in the management of that bank until its
liquidation. Is at present a director of the Mer
chants' National Bank. He has been connected with
various local corporations as director, "and his busi
ness ability and common sense have made him par
ticularly useful in the companies in which he has
been an investor. He. is also a member of a num
ber of social organizations. He married, in April,
1873, Amanda * M. Allen, of Blackstone, Massa
chusetts. (VIII) Charles Rensselaer Johnson, second son
and third child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily
Sears (Miller) Johnson, was born in Dana, Massa
chusetts, December 28, 1852. He attended school
in his native town and in 1865 removed with his
parents to Worcester, and was graduated from the
Worcester high school in 1871. He entered Harvard
University and graduated from there in 1875. He
then entered the law office of Rice & Blackmer and
studied under their personal supervision, being ad
mitted to the bar in 1878, and has since practiced
law in Worcester. His office is in the State Mutual
building. For many years he shared offices with
the late David Manning. Mr. Johnson has made
a special study of divorce, probate and chancery
cases. He became interested in the public schools
and for twenty years or more has been the most
influential figure in the administration of the schools.
Much of the high reputation of these schools is
due to the wise judgment and unfailing interest that
Mr. Johnson has taken as chairman of the board.
He has been a member of the school board since

WORCESTER COUNTY

397

1877, with the exception of a period from 1879 to
1892, and has been zealous at all times for the ad
vancement and development of the great public
schools system of Worcester. No citizen of this
town has shown a more continuous and unselfish
interest in this matter, and Mr. Johnson's long
experience and familiarity with the .schools and
school buildings, with the conditions of the past
as well as of the present, furnish a fund of in
formation that is invaluable to the city and that could
not be bought for money. It is services like those
rendered by Mr. Johnson that have made New
England what it is — an educational model for the
world. Mr. Johnson was a member of the Republican
city committee in 1880-81. He has been a master
in chancery since 1882, and is a notary public. He
is a member of various fraternal orders and was a
member of the supreme council, Royal Arcanum, in
1899. He is a life member of the Worcester So
ciety of Antiquity, and corresponding member of
the Western Reserve Historical Society. He is in
terested in local and family history and has written
various articles on historical subjects. He is also
a member of the state board of charity, having been
appointed by Governor Bates in 1904. He repre
sented the seventh ward of Worcester in the leg
islature in 1898-99, was on the committee on probate
and insolvency in the house in 1898, and chairman
of the committee on constitutional amendments
(house chairman) and member of the committee
on judiciary in 1899.
Mr. Johnson married, August 8, 1882, Mary Mc-
¦Gann, of Maynard, who died at Worcester, Massa
chusetts, December 6, 1887, leaving one daughter,
Florence Emily, born at Maynard, July 19, 1883.
He married (second), May 29, 1889, Susie Serry,
of Davenport, Iowa, and they have two sons :
Charles Ward, born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
March 8, 1894; Theodore Howard, born at Wor
cester, Massachusetts, October 24, 1896.
WILLIAM WATSON McKIBBEN, M. D. The
McKibben family of America is of Scotch-Irish
origin. The progenitor came to Pennsylvania dur
ing the great emigration from 1720 to 1750 from the
northern province of Ireland, which gave to Penn
sylvania its sturdiest and best stock.
. The variations in spelling the name make it some
what difficult to trace. The family settled _ in the
counties of Down and Antrim in the province of
Ulster, Ireland, and are to be found nowhere else
in the old country. The name is rare in Scotland,
as At present . spelled. The family was Presby
terian in religion and intermarried with the other
Scotch families in Down and Ulster. It is possible
'that a careful research would connect the Pennsyl
vania progenitor of the McKibbins or McKibbens
with the, family of Knockhashum, mentioned in the
genealogy of the family of James Orr, of Bally-
black, who died in 1627 and whose wife, Janet Mc-
Clement. died in 1636. The pedigree also mentions
the McKibbins of Haw. Descendants of the Orr
family of Scotch-Irish came to New Hampshire
and Pennsylvania with the early Scotch-Irish set
tlers. ¦In Pennsylvania Rev. J. McMillan mentions John
McKibben in his diary under date of 1775, as his
host, when he preached at Dunlap's creek, prob
ably in Washington county.
William McKibben, son probably of the first
settler of the name, was great-grandfather of Dr.
W. W. McKibben, of Worcester, and was born
probably about 1760 in Pennsylvania.
James McKibben, Jr., grandfather of Dr. W. W.

McKibben, of Worcester, was born at Cedar Run
in what^ is now Clinton county, Pennsylvania, about
nine miles southeast of Lockhaven, Pennsylvania,
about 1800. He married Catherine Lamb, daughter
of Hugh and  (Allison) McManigal. Her
mother was the daughter of Daniel Allison, and
was an aunt of United States Senator W. B. Allison.
She was born June 11, 1807, in Centre county, Penn
sylvania, and died September 5, 1855. He died July
28, 1858. Their children were : Frank Reed, see
forward; David A., resides in Leavenworth, Kansas,
and is president of the Home-Riverside Coal Min
ing Company of Leavenworth ; Joseph ; Lucetta ; and
James A.
Frank Reed McKibben, father of Dr. W. W.
McKibben, was born at Caroline, Seneca county,
Ohio, December 2, 1843. He was the fifth child
of a family of six children. He received a com
mon school education, but was largely self educated.
At the death of his father in 1858 he went to live
with Henry Isabel, at Plymouth, Ohio, where he
took up the trade of carriage trimmer. He worked
with Mr. Isabel also at Mansfield and Shenandoah,
Ohio, working at his trade until after the civil
war broke out.
He enlisted in November, 1861, in Company A,
Major William McLoughlin's Squadron, First Ohio
Independent Cavalry, which was soon afterward at
tached to the famous brigade of General W. T.
Sherman. The company proceeded from Mansfield
to the Big Sandy valley in Eastern Kentucky, serv
ing under Colonel (afterwards President) , James
A. Garfield in the campaign against Brigadier-Gen
eral Humphrey Marshall, of the Confederate forces.
Mr. McKibben was in the battle of Kernstown,
Virginia, March 23, 1862, against Stonewall Jack
son. In the summer of 1863 his squadron was trans
ferred to Burnside's command in the Army of the
Potomac, and he was in the battles of Knoxville
September 3, 1863 ; at Cumberland Gap ; Morris-
town; Strawberry Plains and in many skirmishes
and minor engagements. At Smoky Mountain he
was wounded in the breast and leg and carried back
to the city of Knoxville in an ambulance, and re
mained for many weeks in the hospital. He was later
transferred to General Sherman's command at Buz
zard's Roost, in northern Georgia, and was in the
famous March to the Sea. He finally rode back
to Nashville where he was mustered out in 1865.
After the war he located for a short time at
Plymouth, Ohio, and Leavenworth, Kansas, and
finally settled at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the dry
goods business, as clerk for his brother, David A.
McKibben. He had a tobacco store of his own
for a time, but eventually bought a farm which he
carried on, working in his brother's store in the
winter season and on his farm in the summer. In
1870 he was superintendent of the Shaw-Cotton Plan
tation on the Arkansas river for about a year. He
removed to Van Buxen, Arkansas, where he opened
a general store which he carried on for about seven
years alone, then took into partnership his brother-
in-law, Henry Pape, under the firm name of Mc
Kibben & Pape. In 1893 he sold out his interests
and the business was continued by the firm of H.
F. and C. A. Pape.
He bought a stock ranch of 6,000 acres five miles
from Wagoner, Indian Territory, on the reserva
tion of the Creek Indians. In addition to his ranch
he carried on a general store there. His store
was burned and he lost heavily. After four years
he returned to Van Buren and became the General
Agent of the Union Central Life Insurance Com
pany of Cincinnati, Ohio. He became interested in
real estate in Kansas City and had property there

398

WORCESTER COUNTY

valued at $6o,oqp. In 1900 he was appointed United
States jailer at 'Fort Smith in the Federal Jail. He
built and owned the McKibben Opera House at Van
Buren and was an extensive land owner there.
He was a Republican in politics and was a dele
gate to the Republican National Convention at
Minneapolis in 1892. He was a member of Van
Buren Lodge of Free Masons, No. 6, at Van Buren,
Arkansas. He was also an Odd Fellow. He was
director of the Crawford Company National Bank
at Van Buren; also of the Van Buren Canning
Company ; the Van Buren Ice Company and the Van
Buren Cotton Compress Company. He attended
the Methodist church and was a liberal contributor
to its charities.
He married at Fort Smith, Arkansas, September
7, 1870, Elizabeth Pape, who was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, January 16, 1851, the daughter of Henry Pape,
who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1828, and his
wife, Elizabeth Ziegenbein, born in the province
of Hanover, Germany, 1827. Her father was a con
tractor and builder before and after coming to
America ; he and his wife located in Cincinnati,
Ohio, about 1848. They were attracted thither, as
were many other Germans, by a book which was
circulated in Germany telling about the grape in
dustry, which began as follows :
"A little before the middle of the ninteenth cen
tury the culture of the grape was introduced into
the neighborhood of Cincinnati and for many years
it was thought that Hamilton county was destined
to be a great wine country. Nicholas Longworth
is principally entitled to the credit for the endeavor
to add this attractive product to the list of those
successfully harvested in this county. He had for
many years given much attention to the cultivation
of the grape with the view of making wine. His
first efforts were confined to the acclimatization of
foreign vines. He tried about forty varieties be
fore the idea occurred to him of testing our in
digenous grapes. He met with such success that he
withdrew from the practice of law and commenced
experimenting more elaborately upon the production
of wine from the native grapes. Two of these va
rieties, the Catawba and the Isabella, seemed to him
to possess the best qualities for wine and to be
best adapted to the climate and soil. He soon culti
vated large vineyards and built extensive wine
vaults where he stored the wine manufactured from
his own grapes as well as those purchased from
others. As a result Cincinnati became world famous
as .the center of a wine region, and thousands of vine
growers flocked to it, causing the vine-clad hills
to become famous the world over. In 1851 Mr.
Longworth had one hundred and fifteen acres in
grapes, almost exclusively Catawba, and he bottled
during the season 75,000 bottles." From about 1859
on, the vine growers began to have trouble with
their vines and soon it became apparent that the
vine culture was no longer adapted to the locality
of Cincinnati and "the vine-clad hills along the
hanks of the beautiful river, have long since become
a thing of the past."
The children of Frank Reed and Elizabeth (Pape)
McKibben were : Frank Pape, born November 13,
1871, see forward; William Watson, see forward;
Bertha Lucetta, born January 29, 1887, unmarried,
has lived at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, since
1902 ; Minnie Vera, born December 13, 1888, died
at Van Buren January 7, 1893. Frank Reed Mc
Kibben died at Duncan, Indian Territory, May 11,
1901. Frank Pape McKibben, son of Frank Reed Mc
Kibben, and brother of Dr. William Watson Mc

Kibben, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Novem
ber 13, 1871. He received his education in the
common schools of Van Buren, Arkansas, whither
he moved with his parents when he was an infant.
He studied three years at the Arkansas Industrial
University of FayetteviUe, Arkansas. He then took
a year's preparatory course for West Point, but
failed on his physical tests. In 1890 he entered the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating
as civil engineer in 1894. He became a teacher of
bridge engineering 'at the. institute and is at present
associate professor of civil engineering there. He
has designed and superintended the building of sev
eral important bridges and has designed some of the
structures of the Boston Elevated Railway.
He is the assistant engineer of the Massachusetts
Railroad Commissioners, appointed September 30,
1901. He is a member of the American Society
of Civil Engineers; of the Boston Society of Civil
Engineers; of the American Society for Testing
Materials ; of the Society for the Promotion of En
gineering Education. He has been librarian of the
Boston Society of Civil Engineers for several years.
Pie is a Republican in politics and is actively in
terested in the work of the Young Men's Christian
Association, for which he has lectured and worked
on various occasions. Pie is a member of the Con
gregational church, at Newton Center, where he
is at present living.
He married, January 26, 1899, Arabelle Almy,
at New Bedford. She was a teacher in the New
Bedford training school. She is a daughter of
Warren W. and Sarah (Gray) Almy. Her father
is a farmer of Tiverton Four Corners, ,Rhode Island.
The only child of Frank Pape and Arabella Mc
Kibben is : Elliott Spencer, born March 23, i$02.
William Watson McKibben, son of Frank Reed
McKibben, was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Au
gust 22, 1874. When he was two years old his
parents moved to Van Buren, an adjacent town,
where he attended the common schools after he
was six years old and graduated from the high school
at the age of thirteen. He entered the Arkansas In
dustrial University, taking a two-year, preparatory
course and then entered the collegiate department,
where he studied civil engineering for a year. Find
ing himself disinclined for this profession he left
college and entered the office of the Adams Express
Company as billing clerk. In 1891 he came to
Boston and entered the Berkeley School (Chauncey
Hall) where in one year he prepared for Harvard
University, entering September 26, 1892. He. grad
uated with the degree of A. B. in 1896 and entered
the Harvard Medical School from which he was grad
uated in 1900 with the degree of M. D. In the sum
mers of 1899 and igoo he served in the Boston
Floating Hospital for children. He was house sur
geon previously in the Free Hospital for Women at
Brookline. He came to the Worcester City Hospital
as house officer September 5, 1900, and remained
fourteen months.
He opened an office and began to practice medi
cine at 662 Main street, Worcester, where he re
mained .until July 1, 1903, when he entered the South
Department of the Boston City Hospital as assistant
resident physician, giving up his Worcester prac
tice for the time being, in order to make a special
study of children's diseases. In April, 1904, he went
to London and Paris where he studied pediatrics,
or children's diseases, after which he traveled in
Switzerland and Germany, returning to Worcester
September 1, 1904, and resuming his practice at
the old stand. In July, 1905, he removed-to 738
Main street, where he now resides and has his office.

WORCESTER COUNTY

399

Dr. McKibben is a member of Piedmont Con
gregational Church, and is at present a teacher in the
Sunday school. In politics he is a Republican. He
is, a member of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free Masons,
Worcester; of Quinsigamond Tribe of Red Men;
of Court Cunningham Foresters of America; of the
Delta Upsilon fraternity of Harvard; of the Twen
tieth Century Club ; the Congregational Club ; the
Economic Club ; the Massachusetts Associated
Boards of Health;, the Boston Society of Medical
Sciences ; the Massachusetts Medical Society ; and
the Worcester Medical Society, He is an honorary
member of the Stationary Engineers, He is a mem
ber and physician of the Junior Order of American
Mechanics. He received military instruction at the
college in Arkansas under Colonel Fletcher, U. S, A..
He married, September n, 1905, Olive Beatrice
Flint, daughter of Charles W. and Cora (Flint)
Flint, of Worcester.
DANIEL WEBSTER ELLIN WOOD. Ralph
Ellinwood (1) was the emigrant- ancestor of the
Ellinwood and Ellenwood families of America. He
sailed from England September, 1635, at the age of
twenty-eight years, in the ship "Truelove," He
settled in Salem, Massachusetts, where he was living
in 1637. He was a planter. He removed to the new
town of Beverly nearby. According to a deposition
made in 1669 he was aged about sixty years. He
was admitted to the church March 21, 1647, and
his wife was admitted August 13, 1648. He married
(second) March 14, 1655, Ellen Lyn. He died
1673-4. His will was dated January 7, 1673, and
proved August 3. 1674. He bequeathed to his wife
Ellen ("Helen"), and children: Ralph, John, Jo
seph, Benjamin, David, Mary and Elizabeth. The
widow signed her name Eleanor, which was prob
ably the correct way of spelling it.
Children of Ralph Ellinwood by the first mar
riage were: 1. Josiah, baptized May 26, 1644, and
probably others. Children of Ralph and Eleanor
(Lyn) Ellinwood were: 2. Stephen, baptized March
16,1656, 3. Ralph, baptized April 26, 1657. 4, Ralph,
born March 18, 1658. John, August 2, 1659. 6.
Joseph, May 12, 1602. 7. Mary, April 3, 1664. 8.
Elizabeth, born June 27, 1666. 9. Sarah, baptized
August 7, 1666. 10. Benjamin, born April 1, 1668.
it. David, born July 6, 1670.
(II) John Ellinwood, son of Ralph Ellinwood
(1), was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, August 2,
1659; married (first) Elizabeth Rawlinson ; second
Sarah Morrill. The widow of John Ellinwood, pre
sumably Sarah, died at Beverly, Massachusetts,
1764, at the age of ninety-eight years.
Children of John and Elizabeth (Rawlinsonl
Ellinwood were: 1. John, baptized February 9,
1606. 2, Joseph ; probably settled at Amherst, New
Hampshire, where other members of the family
went. 3. Dorothy. 4. Elizabeth. 5. David, born Au
gust 16, 1696. 6. Jonathan (not on records avail
able). Child of John and Sarah (Morrill) Ellin
wood was : Anna, February 6, 1704. Benjamin
Ellinwood (2) also lived in Beverly and had seven
or more children. Ralph Ellinwood (2) had by
his wife Ellen Lyn two or more children at Beverly.
(Ill) Jonathan Ellinwood, presumed to be son
of the preceding, grandson of Ralph Ellinwood (1),
was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, about 1690.
With a party from Roxbury, and some from Beverly
and Essex county, he removed to Woodstock, which
was in Connecticut some of the time, and in Massa
chusetts at other times. The Trasks and Wallis
families of Beverly were neighbors of Ellinwood in
Woodstock, and perhaps relatives. Jonathan Ellin

wood was a blacksmith by trade, although he owned
considerable land and doubtless always conducted
a farm. He was a soldier in the Cape Breton ex
pedition when Louisburg was captured June 17, 1745,
but died or was killed in the service. In the papers
relating to his estate at the Probate office in Wor
cester is a charge by his_ administrator "To a journey
to Worcester to settle with Colonel Willard and Cap
tain Stearns about Cape Breton." That was ih 1753,
though Ellinwood died in 1745. There was on the
same account another charge for "a trip to Beverly,
Massachusetts, to discharge two obligations given
by the deceased to maintain his mother." That es
tablishes beyond question the family to which he be
longed, although it does not name his fathei.
Joannah Ellinwood, his widow, married, about 1746,
Zebulon Dodge, who thus became one of the ad
ministrators of Jonathan Ellinwood's estate. He then
sold for forty pounds twenty acres in Woodstock
to Hezekiah Goff, as directed by an order of the
court. John Peake, as mortgagee, joined in the
deed. Jonathan Ellinwood bought, September 9, 1740,
land of a company of which Robert Hale and others
of Beverly were members, the property being at
Woodstock. He bought land there March 30, 1738,
of John Kathan, and September 7, 1740, an adjoin
ing lot of John Peake, who took a mortgage on the
land, as stated above. John Peake was guardian of
the minor children of Jonathan Ellinwood, with
Jabez Lyon as surety. Peake was surety on the
widow's bond with Joseph Wright.
Children of Jonathan were : 1. Thomas ; mentioned
in the settlement of the estate, apparently the only.
sou of age during the father's life. 2. Ephraim, born
1735; settled in Woodstock. 3. Joanna, born 1739.
4. Mary, born 1741.
(IV) Thomas Ellinwood, son of Jonathan Ellin
wood (3), was probably born in Beverly before his
father came to Woodstock, about 1710. He bought
land in Woodstock. October 23, 1730, of Jabez
Lyons, of Woodstock, half of lots S2 and 83. He
bought more land March 20, 1734-5, of Benjamin
Childs. He bought lots 86 and 87 of Ichabod Davis
and William Davis, of Brookline, Massachusetts,
January 5, 1740, and more land originally laid out
to Samuel Lyon, of Roxbury. February 17, 1742,
bought of Edward Sumner, of Roxbury. He sold
out about 1745 and removed with a colony of Wood
stock families to Brimfield, Massachusetts. He sold
land in the first division, fourth range lots 85, 86
and 87 to Jabez Lyon, who had helped settle Jona
than's estate. He was not married when this deed
was passed. He was a joiner or carpenter by trade.
At Brimfield where he went in 1746 or 1747 he was
a verv prominent citizen. He was selectman and
assessor in Brimfield in 1748, when his name first
appears in the town history. He was selectman
also in 1769 and 1775. He was also assessor in 1766-
67-73-74-75-76-8o-Si-84. He married, probably for his second wife, Re
becca Livermore, widow of Edmund Livermore, of
Sturbridge. Massachusetts, which adjoined the old
home town of the Ellinwoods in Woodstock. In
1760 one of her two Livermore children was .already
married to Eliphalet, brother of Nehemiah Allen,
who was guardian of the two children, and who
bought the real estate of Edmund Livermore sold
by order of the court. He paid one hundred and
thirty-two pounds for the fifty-acre homestead at
auction. Children of Thomas Ellinwood were: 1. Han-
aniah : soldier in the revolution. 2. Dr. Daniel (see
forward). 3. Thomas, Jr., born about 1760; died in

400

WORCESTER COUNTY

Athol in 1840, leaving sons. Frederick, Thomas, and
George Benjamin, and relatives Austin and Benja
min, who owed him money; he married Persis. 4.
Jonathan: soldier in the revolution from Brimfield.
(V) Dr. Daniel Ellinwood, son of Thomas Ellin
wood (4), was brought up in Brimfield, Massachu
setts. He was born there about 1746 and educated
in the schools there. He studied medicine under
Dr. Israel Trask. one of the noted physicians of his
day. When Dr. Ellinwood looked about for a place
to practice he decided on Athol. Massachusetts. Dr.
Trask was the son of Benjamin Trask. Dr. Trask
sold land in Athol to Dr. Ellinwood March 29.
1779. and Dr. Ellinwood settled there. He married
Lucy. Children were born probably in Athol, Massa
chusetts. Dr. Ellinwood died at Athol in 179+. The
inventory of his estate was filed December 3. 1779.
Six of his children were under age at the time of
his death.
Children of Dr. Daniel and Lucy Ellinwood
were: 1. Daniel, born about 1775. 2. Senaca. 3.
James (see -forward). 4. Justus: settled in Hut*
bardston in 1S12 ; married Sophia McOenathan, July
14. 1S14; he died September 4, 1S44; she died Sep
tember 21, 1S51 ; they had six children. Lucy
married Artemas Wilder, of Petersham (intentions
dated February 21). 1808. 6. Abigail, married Dr.
Chaplin, of Athol, Massachusetts.
{XT.) James Ellinwood, son of Dr. Daniel Ellin
wood (5). was born at Athol, Massachusetts, about
1780. He is buried in Athol, where he died. He
was a carpenter by trade and a skillful mechanic
He worked at his trade in Boston for a number of
years. He married Rebecca Higgins of Mount
Desert, Maine. (See sketch of M. P. Higgins for
a sketch of her ancestors.) After his marriage he
removed to Athol, Massachusetts, and settled on
the farm on the border of Phillipston, where he lived
the rest of his days.
Children of James and Rebecca (Higgins) Ellin
wood were: 1. Elvira, 2. Cynthia. 3. Horatio N.
4. Eliza. 5. Daniel (see forward). 6. Edwin O.
7. Euceva. S. Tilden. 9. Lucy.
(YID Daniel Ellinwood, fifth child of James
Ellinwood (6). was born in Athol, Massachusetts,
September 13, 1814. He attended the district schools
of his native town. He was apprenticed to his
brother, Captain Benjamin Twitchell, of Athol, at
the mason's trade. He followed his trade all his
life. He was known as a workman of unusual skill,
and he was known far and wide for his stucco
work. He finally came to Worcester, where he re
mained for two years, working at his trade. He left
Worcester to go to Michigan, where he had decided
' to locate with his family, but returned sick, after
the household goods were packed for the trip. He
had to give up the change and settled again in Athol
in 1850. Shortly afterward he bought a farm which
he conducted in addition to his work as a mason.
He died .here March 16, 1879.
He was an active member of the Methodist Epis
copal church and with Asa Waite and Mr. Estey
was one of the founders of tlie Trinity 'Methodist
Church which was at first located in Park street. He
was for many years a member of the Second Advent
Christian church at Athol. He was a charter mem
ber of that organization, and for many years a dea
con of the church. He was a man of exemplary
character, highly esteemed in both church and civil
life. He was a Republican in politics, but never
an office seeker. He was a member of Worcester
Lodge, No. 56, of Odd Fellows. He married Octo
ber 6, 1835. Dulcinia Chase, daughter of Moses and
Miriam (Twitchell) Chase, of Athol, Massachusetts.

Moses Chase was a blacksmith in Athol many years.
Children of Daniel and Dulcinia (Chase) Ellin
wood were : 1. Leroy Sunderland, born August 21,
1837; died April 18, 1839. 2. Miriam, bom January
I7> 1839; married Franklin Sawtelle, of Athol, and
they have two children : Jennie and Albert 3. Leroy,
born December 4, 1840; married Emily Homer, of
Westboro, Massachusetts, and they have five chil
dren: Flora, Ada, Daniel, Edith, and Alphonzo. 4.
Sarah, born January 17, 1842; married Samuel F.
Parsons, of Woodstock, New Brunswick, and had
four children, all deceased. 5. Hannah Maria, born
July 30, 1843; married Eliphas S. Gage, of Wor
cester. (See sketch.) 6. Edwin, bom March 29.
1845; married Clara Webster, of Athol, and they
have six children : Cora-Mabelle, Edwin-Clyde.
Daniel- Webster, Henry-Ovil, Arthur- Winf red (de
ceased), and Eva-Gladys. 7. Daniel Webster, born
February 21, 1847 (.mentioned below). 8. Eugene,
bom May 21, 1851- 9- Eva Rebecca, born February
8, 1854; married Harry M. Leland, of Worcester,
and they have three children: Ernest, Maud-Helen
and Stanley.
(VIII) Daniel Webster Ellinwood, son of
Daniel Ellinwood (7), was born in Athol, Massa
chusetts, February 21, 1847. He received his edu
cation in the common schools of Athol up to the
age of eighteen, when he came to Worcester and
served an apprenticeship with A. T. Burgess, a
mason and contractor, serving the customary three
years. He remained another year in the employ
of Mr. Burgess. In 1869 he entered in business
for himself, in partnership with Anthony Potter.
The partnership was dissolved after six months, and
since then Mr. Ellinwood has been in. business
alone. His office is at his home, 10 Winslow street
He has been the mason and contractor for many
notable buildings. Among those for which he was
the mason are: the Salisbury street school house;
the Abbott street school house; several brick build
ings on Pleasant street: the Millbury street school
house; large business blocks for John E. Day, also
for G. Henry Whitcomb, of Worcester, and the
Heywoods, of Gardner. Massachusetts.
He attends the Second Advent church, Piedmont
and Chandler streets, Worcester. In politics he is
a Republican. He is a member of Damascus Lodge,
Knights of Pythias, of Worcester.
He married, April 29, 1869, Anna Eliza Withing
ton, daughter of Josiah Muzzy and Isabella Bab-
cock (Smith) Withington, of Harvard, Massachu
setts. Her father was a farmer. Their children are:
1. Hattie Dulcenia, born February 24. 1870, unmar
ried, lives with her parents. 2. George Francis.
bom March 30, 1873; married Lois M. Magoon, of
Bristol, Vermont, daughter of Rev. John B. Ma
goon; they reside at Thomaston, Connecticut, where
Mr. Ellinwood is principal of the high school, and
also superintendent of the schools of the town;
they have one child, Leonard Webster Ellinwood,
born February 13, 1905.
(VIII) Dr. Eugene Ellinwood, son of Daniel
Ellinwood (7), and brother of the preceding, was
born in Athol, Massachusetts, May 29, 1851. He re
ceived his early education in the district schools of
his native town. At the age of seventeen he at
tended the New Salem Academy, where many noted
Worcester county men received part of their
training. He entered the dental office of Dr. James Hemen
way, of Athol, to learn dentistry. After two years
of study and experience he went to Woodstock,
New Brunswick, where he practiced for a year, but
wishing to study further he went to Philadelphia

WORCESTER COUNTY

401

and entered the Pennsylvania College of Dental Sur
gery, graduating from there in 1872 with the degree
of D. D. S. He opened an office in Clinton aud
resumed practice. About eighteen months later he
had an opportunity to buy the practice of Dr. J. B.
Walker, whose office was at the corner of Main and
Elm streets, in Worcester. Since buying this busi
ness Dr. Ellinwood has continued in the same of
fices to the present time. He has met with con
stant success in the practice of his profession. He
built a residence in 1876 at 14 Winslow street, and
seven years later sold it to his brother, D. W. Ellin
wood, and built his present home at 47 Piedmont
street. He attends the Park Congregational Church.
In politics he is a Republican and has frequently
served his party as delegate to senatorial and other
conventions. He was the organizer and director
of the Fraternal Aid Society that was afterwards
called the Massachusetts Benefit Association. He
was treasurer and director of the Single Tax Club
of Worcester, and organizer ' and _ assistant treas
urer of the Basin Mining and Milling Company, of
Portland, Maine. He is a member of the Massachu-
, setts Dental Society, formerly a member of the
Connecticut Valley Dental Association up to the
time it was merged into the Massachusetts Dental
Society. He has been a member of the Worcester
County Mechanics' Association, and is a member
of Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows, Worcester.
He married Atobie Priest, February 3, 1876,
daughter of Ira and Sarah Jane (Brocklebank)
Priest, of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Her father
was an official of the Massachusetts state prison for
many years. The only child of Dr. Eugene and
Abbie (Priest) Ellinwood is Ralph Waldo, born
Febraury 21, 1883; now a student in Harvard
University. GAGE FAMILY. Robert Gage (1), the pro
genitor of Eliphas S. Gage, of Worcester, was born
about 1690. He -lived in Weston, formerly Water-
town, Massachusetts, where his children were born.
His widow Mary died in Lincoln, Massachusetts,
March 14, 1777, at an advanced age. Their chil
dren: 1. Robert, Jr., born April 14, 1720, mar
ried, April 3, 1747, Susanna Smith, of Waltham.
2. Isaac, born September 26, 1721, estate administered
November 8, 1751. 3. Philip, born August 11, 1723,
married, March 7, 1744-45, Anne Priest; settled in
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. 4. Rachel, born July
23, 1725, admitted in full communion in the Water-
town church, December, 1742 ; died January 19,
'746. 5. Jonathan, mentioned below. 6. Lydia. 7.
Alice, born 1732.
(II) Jonathan Gage, son of Robert Gage (1),
was born probably in Weston, 1725. He married
Ruth Underwood (published April 4, 1752)- They
had a son, Jonathan, born in Lincoln, Massachusetts,
October 6, 1755, mentioned below.
(Ill) Jonathan Gage, son of Jonathan Gage (2),
was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, October 6,
1755, He was a soldier in the revolution, taking
active part in the fighting April 19, 1775; a private
in Captain William Smith's company of Minute
Men; Colonel Abijah Pierce's regiment; corporal
later in 1775 in Captain Nathan Fuller's company,
Lieutenant-Colonel William Bond's (Thirty-seventh)
regiment. He was a corporal in the Continental
army for three years — 1777 to 1780 — in Captain
Abijah Child's company, Colonel John Greaton's
regiment. He lived during the revolution in Lin
coln and Weston, but removed later to Berlin. He
bought land at Leicester, while a resident of Berlin,
of John Brigham, of Northboro, April 30, 1785- He
26

settled finally on the old Dr, Parsons place in the
northwest part of Leicester on the road leading
to Zolva Green's. The old house has long since
been torn down. He married Mary Brigham. Their
children, born in Leicester, were : 1. Levi, born Au
gust 9, 17864 see forward. 2. Silas, born April 13,
1788. 3. Mary (Polly), born April 15, 1790. 4.
Brigham, born November 17, 1793.
, (IV) Levi Gage, son of Jonathan Gage (3),
was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, August 9,
1786. He was a farmer by occupation. He mar
ried Nancy Barnes. Children : Levi ; Anson, men
tioned below; Marian Brigham, Silas, Willard, Her-
vey and Nancy, all deceased but Hervey and Nancy.
Levi page taught school in his younger days, as
did his wife, Nancy Barnes.
(V) Anson Gage, son of Levi Gage (4), was
born August 25, 1815. He married Rhoda Fidelia
Chapin in November, 1840. He died September,
1889. The mother died December 10, 1891, in Wor
cester at the home of our' subject; both are buried at
. Northfield, Massachusetts. Among their children was
Eliphas S., mentioned below. Isabelle Ellen died
an infant. Edward A., born February 8, 1843, and
died in 1857. Elliot Chapin, born July 3, 1847, re
sides in Worcester. Anson Gage, the father, was
in politics a Republican and prominent in the Ad
vent church.
(VI) Eliphas Samuel Gage, son of Anson Gage
(5), was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, Septem
ber 15, 1841. He was educated in the public schools
of his native town. When a young man he was em
ployed for some two years in piano manufactories at
Montague and Irving, Massachusetts. He came to
Worcester in 1866 where he learned the trade of
paper hanging and followed it until his health failed
¦ him and he took up the real estate business which
he has since followed. In politics is a Republican,
being on the Republican Central Committee some
five years; was justice of the peace in Worcester
over twenty-one years ; is a member of the Advent
Christian church ; belongs to A. F. & A. M., Royal
Arch Chapter, Hiram Council.
He married, April 11, 1865, Hannah Maria Ellin
wood, daughter of Daniel and Dulcinia (Chase)
Ellinwood. Their children are: 1. Minnie Isabel,
born September 24, 1866, graduate of the Worcester
schools and the Worcester State Normal school in
1888 ; she taught one year in Spencer 'public schools
and has since, except for two years in mission work
in the south, taught in the Worcester schools, being
at present a teacher in the Salisbury street school ;
member of the Advent Christian church of Wor
cester, and for several years a member of the Wo
man's Mission board of the Advent Christian de
nomination, taking a very active part and spending
two years in the south, as before mentioned,
2. Edward Anson, born June 4, 1869, graduate of
the Worcester high school and of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, class of 1893; now assistant
inspector of ordnance in the United States navy,
stationed at Quincy, Massachusetts ; married, June
15, 1896, Edith Newton ; children — Donald Newton
and Sydney Vernon. 3. Frederick Eugene, born
July 22, 1873, educated in the public and high schools
of Worcester and an Indiana Business College ;
now assistant foreman of the operating department
of the American Steel and Wire Company, Worces
ter ; member of Plymouth Congregational church ;
married Mary L. Frisbie; child: Marjorie Chase.
4. Arthur Chase, born May 23, 1880, educated in
the Worcester public and high schools ; now travel
ing salesman for the Plunger Elevator Company of
Worcester ; unmarried.

J.O.2

WORCESTER COUNTY

DR. CHARLES CLINTON SCOTT. William
Scott (ij, of Hatfield in New i^gland, was prob
ably the son oi Benjamin Scott, the immigrant of
New Braintree. Benjamin and Hannah Scott were
inhabitants of Braintree in 1643. Their children
were Hannah, married Christopher Webb, Febru
ary 18, 1654-55; John, born December 25. 1640;
Peter, born March 6, 1643; Benjamin, died 10S3.
Benjamin Scott's widow Hannah married, Septem
ber 21, 1647, John Harbor.
William Seott married January 28, 1670, Hannah
Ellis (or Ailis), of Braintree, the daughter of Will
iam Ellis, who settled in Braintree in 1639, was
admitted a freeman May iS, 1640, was a deacon
of the church, removed to Hadley, then to Hatfield.
was lieutenant, assistant of the court in 1676. died
September, 1678. Very little is known of William
Scott. His children were: Josiah, see forward;
Richard, bora February 22, 1673; William, Novem
ber 24, 1676; Hannah, August 11, 1679; Joseph,
March 21, 1682; John, July 6, 1684, died February
8, 1692; Mary, 1686; Mehitable, September 9, 1087.
died September iS, 1667: Jonathan, November 1,
1688, died young; Abigail, November 28, 1689.
(II) Josiah Scott, eldest child of William
Scott (1), was born in Hatfield. He was one of the
proprietors of Beraardston, Massachusetts. He mar
ried Sarah Berrett, Their children: Josiah, bora
November 29, 1699, settled in Whately; Sarah, Sep
tember 9, 1701; Hannah, May 30, 1704; Benjamin,
May 31, 1708, married Jemima  , and settled in
Whately; died 1792; Mehitable, May 4, 171 1; Moses,
see forward: Ruth, November 25, 1715.
(Ill) Moses Scott, sixth child of Josiah Scott
(2), was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, February
3, 1713. He settled on his father's giant of land
in Beraardston, and as these grants were to the -
men engaged in the fall fight in King Philip's war
in May, 1676,' William Scott (1) was undoubtedlyy
one of the soldiers. Moses Scott was a selectman
in 1761. He built a bridge near his saw mill in
1760. Moses bcott was captured with Sergeant
Hawks, August 20. 1746, with his wife and two
sons, one of whom died in captivity. He returned
from Canada and served again in the last French
war with Captain Qesson. He died at Beraard
ston, July 23, 1799, aged eighty-six years. He mar
ried, August 24, 1742, Miriam Nash, daughter of
Ebenezer Nash, of Hadley. Their children: Eben
ezer, born 1743, was the first white male born in
Beraardston, see forward; Moses, Jr., horn 1745.
died in Canada, February 11, 1747.
(IV) Ebenezer Scott, elder son of Moses Scott
(3), was born in Beraardston, the first male child
of white parents, in 1743. When two or three years
old, he was captured by the Indians and taken to
Canada, where he was sold to the French. He re
turned to Beraardston with his father. He served
in the revolutionary war and drew a pension late
in life. He removed to the adjoining town of Ver
non, Vermont, where he died in 1826. The names
of his children have not been secured: some of
them were: Eleazer, bom 17SS. married Sarah
Strickland, of Gill, settled in Vernon; Robert, see
forward; Lemuel, settled in Fletcher, an adjacent
town. (V) Robert Scott, son of Ebenezer Scott (4V
was born probably in Bernardston, Massachusetts.
or a town in that vicinity in Massachusetts or
southern Vermont, in 1763-64. He died in Bakers
field, Vermont, in 1S33. aged sixty-nine years. He
was brought up in Vernon, Vermont, He lived for
a time after his marriage in various towns in the
vicinity. He settled first in Townshend. He re
moved to Bakersfield, an adjoining town, in 1804,

and his descendants are living there at present He
was the first of the name in that town. He had 1
farm, but his regular occupation was carrying the
freight from Bakersfield to Boston and return.
He married Hannah Hesseltine, about 169a Her
sister, Judith Hesseltine, married, 1782, Ebenezer
Brigham, who was born March 3, 1761, in Sutton,
Massachusetts. The mother of Hannah Hessel
tine married (second') Silas Whitney.
One of Robert Scott's children was named for
Ebenezer Brigham. Both Robert and his wife are
buried in the Bakersfield cemetery. Children of
Robert and Hannah (Hesseltine) Scott were:
Thorcas Woodbura. born about 1792, in Townshend,
married Jerusha Shattuck; their son, Hamblet H.
Scott, inherited the homestead and still lives on the
original farm of Robert Scott; Nancy, born about
1794. married Solomon Hull, is buried at North
Fairfield, Vermont ; Russell, died at the age of twen
ty-six years and is buried at North Fairfield; Eben
ezer Brigham, see forward; Nahum, removed to
Palmyra, New York.
(VT) Ebenezer Brigham Scott, generally called
Brigham, son of Robert Scott (5) was bom in
Townshend, Vermont, 1797. He removed with his
parents to Bakersfield in 1804. and went to school
there. The opportunities in those new towns in
Vermont for good schools were not favorable.
He was a soldier from Bakersfield in the war of
1S12. Though he was under age at the time cf his
enlistment he was of unusual size and was ac
cepted. He removed to Oakham, Massachusetts, in
1832. and worked for a traveling merchant Later
in life he settled in Spencer and conducted a farm.
He died in Spencer in i860.
He married (first), 1815, Caroline Potter, whose
ancestry is given herewith. They were divorced and
she married (second) Levi Janes, of Bakersfield,
and had three children: Marther Baker, Charles
Wesley and Caroline Potter Janes. E. Brigham
Scott also married (second), April 28, 1838, at Oak
ham, Ann Thompson, of Spencer. Massachusetts.
Children of Ebenezer Brigham and Caroline (Pot
ter) Scott were: Whitney, bora January 14. 1816,
died 1830; Ebenezer Woodburn, see forward;
Nancy Caroline, bora January 22, 1821. married
(first), July 7, 1844, Josiah Lyon, son of Aaron and
Betsey Lyon, he was horn 1817 and died 1863; she
married (second) Willard Howe, son of Aaron and
Elizabeth Howe, he was bom 1S15 and died 1888, she
married (third)  Rowell; they lived in Paxton:
Mrs. Rowell is living with her daughter, Mrs.
Partridge, (1906) at 423 Pleasant street, Worcester.
Luke Cullin, bora July 4, 1824. married, November,
1846, Lizzie Ball. Joseph Barker, born November 27.
1836, married, January, 1856, Amanda E. Young,
born 1838, daughter of Francis and Sarah Young;
he was a soldier in the Mexican war and never
came north afterward, but settled at Dade, Bastrop
county, Texas, where he was living in 1903.
(VH) Ebenezer Woodbura Scott son of Eben
ezer Brigham Scott (6), was bom in Bakersfield,
Vermont, January 20, 1818, in the log cabin on his
father's farm. The opportunities for education
were scarce. The Bakersfield school at that time
was in a log house and school was kept but a few
weeks each year. When he was fourteen years old
his mother died and his father decided to come to
Massachusetts. They traveled on foot nearly two
hundred miles to Oakham, where his father and
he both were employed by a traveling merchant
He was paid $7 per month and his father §15 per
month, and he used" to say that the wandering life
was rather pleasant After three years he went to
work in the slaughter house of John Corey at

WORCESTER COUNTY

403

Watertown, and in the course of four years had be
come an important factor in the business, lie, and
Mr Corey's son were partners in a livery stable
business for a time. In' 1852 Mr. Scott came to
Rutland with his six children and settled on the
Charles Spooner farm on the Paxton road, where
he lived for twenty-three years. In June, 1877, he
removed to his late home, the former parsonage
of the Congregational church. In politics he was a
Democrat. He was a highway surveyor and mem
ber of the school committee. He cast his first
vote for Van Buren in 1840 and voted the Demo
cratic ticket until 1896, when he was against the
free silver Democratic candidates. He attended the
Congregational church. In his younger days he
belonged to an artillery company and to a fire en
gine company. He died July 27, 1902, at the age
of eighty-four years.
He" married Sarepta White, of Sturbridge, who
died October 4, 1888. Their children : Mary, mar
ried C. B. Linton, of Brooklyn, New York, and
has three sons; Caroline, married H. J. Davis, of
Rutland, and has six children; Ebenezer Woodburn,
Jr„i resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a milk
dealer, was in the Forty-second Massachusetts Regi
ment in the civil war ; Elizabeth A., married the late
Denny 'E. Mason; she resides in Rutland; Charles
Potter, born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July
24, 1849, a farmer of Holden; has a son Harry and
daughter, Delia; Etta, married Warren W. Bryant
and they have two sons and a daughter; their home
is in Princeton, Massachusetts; Clinton Brigham,
see forward ; Adelia Maria, died when fourteen
years old. , , ., ,
(VIII) Clinton Brigham Scott, seventh child
of Ebenezer Woodburn Scott (7), was born in Rut
land, Massachusetts, and when a young boy was
brought up on a farm there. He went to the Rut
land schools. Soon, after he was married he re
moved to Worcester and worked for several years
in the meat market of Aaron Hammond, on Mam
street. He worked later in Prentice's market, South-
bridge street, and Ring's market at the corner of
Coral and Grafton streets. He went into business
for himself in 1889 at 42 Chandler street and met
with gratifying success. His market became one of
the largest in the city at that time. He retired
from ' business in 1895 and went to live on the
homestead in Rutland, Mr. Scott is a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows and of Wor
cester Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen.
In politics he is a Democrat.
He married, at Paxton, Clara A. Marsh, daughter
of Luther and Augusta Marsh. She died Decem
ber 25, 1890, in Worcester. Their children : Charles
Clinton, see forward; Clarence Nelson, born in
Worcester, February 4, 1887, student of dentistry
in his brother's office; Edith Clara, born in Wor
cester, December 18, 1890, lives 'with her father at
Rutland. ., ,
(IX) Charles Clinton Scott, eldest child of
Clinton Brigham Scott (8), was born in Paxton,
June 28, 1878. His parents moved to Worcester
with him when he was eighteen months old. He
attended the public schools of Worcester, leaving
the high school at the -end of his second year. He
entered the dental offices of Dr. F. H. Kendrick,
where he remained for six months. In 1895 he
entered the Dental School of the University of
Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. He won his degree
at the end of his first year by crowding three years
work into one. In the summer of 1896, after grad
uating, he entered the office of Dr. W. H. Sears,
Worcester, where he practiced for three years. From
1899 to the fall of 1904 he was associated with Dr.

H. H. Gabler, of Worcester. Since then he has
been practicing at 578 Main street, where he has
elaborately appointed offices and employs an opera
tor and assistant. He is a member of Anchoria
Lodge of Odd Fellows, of the Massachusetts Dental
Society and has been a member of the Hancock
Club. He is a Republican and attends Piedmont
Congregational church. He married, June 14, 1905,
Bessie Bonker, daughter of Harry L. and Caroline
(Haring) Bonker, of Worcester. Her father is at
present an inspector of locomotives for the New
York Central & Hudson River Railroad and lives
in Worcester. (I) Nicholas Potter was the pioneer ancestor
of Dr. Charles C. Scott, through Caroline Scott,
who , married Brigham Scott, mentioned above. He
was a settler in Lynn as early as 1638, a brick
layer by trade. He married (first) Eunice  .
He married (second) Alice Weeks and (third)
Mary Gedney, daughter of John Gedney. His chil
dren : Mary, born and died 1659 ; Hannah, bap
tized March 25, 1661 ; Sarah, born October 4, 1662;
Mary, borri November 10, 1663; Samuel, baptized
March 10,1664-66, died March 10,1664—66; Hannah,
baptized- April 8, 1666; Lydia, baptized February
10, 1666-67, died 1668; Bethiah, baptized July 12,
1668; Samuel, baptized April 25, 1669; Lydia, bap
tized July 17, 1670; Robert, Elizabeth, Benjamin.
(II) Robert Potter, son of Nicholas Potter
(1), was born ini Lynn, New England, married
Ruth Driver and lived in Lynn.
(Ill) Robert Potter, son of Robert Patter (2),
was born March 18, 1661, married, January 9, 1682,
Martha Hale and they lived in Lynn.
(IV) Ephraim Potter, son of Robert Potter
(3), was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, February 5,
1683, and settled in Marlboro^ Massachusetts. He
married, November 23, 1708, Sarah Witt and their
children all born in Marlboro, we're: Mary, Sep
tember n, 1709; Martha, September 1, 1711; Jo
seph, February 3, 1713 ; Persis, August 29, 1715 ;
Ephraim, March 5, 1718; Sarah, January 26, 1721 ;
Theophilus, see forward; Elizabeth, January 25,
1728. (V) Theophilus Potter, seventh child of Ephraim
Potter (4), was born January 26, 1725, and settled
in Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he died Septem
ber 13, 1814. He married in 1748 Lois Walker, of
Sudbury. Of their children, the first four were
born in Marlboro, the other eight in North Brook
field. Their children: Silas, born June 17, 1749;
Barnabas, June 15, 17S1; Ephraim, July 31, 1752;
Hannah, December 17, 1755; Thomas, November
16, 1757; Abijah, January 23, 1760; Lois, January
J30, 1762, married Thomas Knight; Thaddeus, May
18, 1764; Esther, January 15, 1767; Elizabeth, July
17, 1770, died young; Luke, see forward; Aaron,
March 29, 1776.
(VI) Luke Potter, eleventh child of Theophilus
Potter (5), was born in North Brookfield, April
28, 1772, and died October 19, 1812. He married
Lydia Baker, the daughter of Joseph Baker, the
first settler and proprietor of Bakersfield, Vermont,
for whom that town was named. She died in North
Brookfield, January 28, 1810. Their children:
Lydia, born 1794, died at Palmer in 1813; Nancy,
born July 26, 1796; Roswell, born 1798, died at
Stockholm, New York; -Caroline, see forward;
Luke, born 1802, died in Canada about 1878; mar
ried Elvira Page, of Waterville, New York.
(VII) Caroline Potter, fourth child of Luke
Potter (6), was born in North Brookfield, 1800. She
died at Bakersfield, Vermont. She married Eben
ezer Brigham Scott, mentioned above.

404

WORCESTER COUNTY

HORACE WYMAN. The name of Wyman is
beyond doubt of Saxon origin, and in common
with family names of the earliest period, appears in
various different forms, as Wyman, Wiman, Wy-
mant, Wymond, Wimond, etc. It is estimated that
there are now in the United States about eight
thousand persons who appear under one or another
form of the name.
It was discovered by Henry F. Waters, A. M.,
of London, in the record of a will made by Francis
Wyman, farmer, pf the parish of West Mill, county
of Herts (Hertfordshire), England, that he was
the father of Francis and John Wyman, the emi
grant ancestors of the American branch of the
family. The family estate in England was inherited
by their elder brother Thomas. The names of John
and, Francis Wyman first appear in Woburn, Massa
chusetts, in 1640, as signers of town orders. They
had farm houses near the town site of Woburn;
that of John was demolished many years ago, but
that built by Francis, in 1664, is yet standing; It
was used for defensive purposes during King Phil
ip's war, and the loop-holes for the rifles of its
defenders are still visible. It is now owned by the
"Wyman Associates," and the descendants' of the
family have an annual re-union there. The broth
ers also owned houses in the village, opposite the
park, at the junction of Main and Wyman streets.
Their tannery was located nearby, and the vats yet
exist, but are buried beneath several feet of earth.
The ancient gravestone of Francis Wyman is still
plainly discernable, but its inscription is wellnigh
obliterated :
"Here lies ye bdy of Francis Wyman, aged about
82 years, died Nov. 28, 1699. The memory of ye
just is blessed."
The line of descent of the Horace Wyman fam
ily of Worcester, is as follows :
(I) John Wyman, born in West Mill, Herts
county, England, in 1621, emigrated to this country
in 1640, and was one of the first settlers of the
town of Woburn, Massachusetts. He married Sarah
Nutt, in 1644. , He was a man of enterprise and
marked independence. He, with others, was prose-

THE WYMAN HOMESTEAD
Birthplace of Horace Wyman

cuted before the. courts in December, 1671, soms
"for publicly manifesting contempt for the ordinance
of infant baptism as administered in tlie church of
Woburn," others for withdrawing from tlie worship
of that church. Some of those prosecuted received
public admonition, and others were fined. That he
bore a prominent part in the Indian difficulties is
established by documentary evidence.
(1) Sewell's "History of Woburn" says of the
fifty-eight persons enlisted from that place in 1675.
in King Philip's war, that one of tlie number, Simp
son, was apparently a Scotchman, one of those who,.
for espousing the cause of Charles II was sent
over to this country by Cromwell after he had de
feated them at the battle at Dunbar, 1650, or of
Worcester, 1651, to be sold, and being a tanner by
trade, was bought by Lieutenant John Wyman,.
tanner, of Woburn, "oh purpose for the manage
ment of his tanyard." (By "sale" is meant in
denture for a term, in payment of tlie ship passage
of Simpson. — Ed.). "Mr. Wyman, his master,.
(having had his son slain in the fight at Narragan
sett) petitioned the general court May 16, 1676,.
that his servant Simpson might be returned," etc.
This document is contained in the papers of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, and is as follows:
To the Honorable Go vers: ye Council now Sitting in,
Boston
The Petition of John Wyman
Humbly Sheweth that yore Petitioner Hath beene
often out in the service of ye Country against the
Indians : his sone also was out and slaine by the-
enemy : and his servants hath beene long out in the
warrs and now being reduced to greate wants for
clotheing: desires liberty to come downe from Had-
ly where he now remains a garrison souldier : and-
he is a taner by traid and yore Petitioner bought
him on purpose for that management of his tan.
yard: and himselfe being unexperienced' in that
calling doth, humbly request that favore of your
honors, to consider the premisses and to grant his
said servant Robert Simpson a dismission from this
present service that so his lether now in the fatts may
not be spoyled but yore Petitioner be ever engaged
to pray &c. Jno. Wyman.
(II) Jonathan Wyman, sou of
John (1), bom 1661, married Han
nah Fowle, 1690.
(Ill) Jonathan Wyman, son of
Jonathan (2), born 1704, married
Martha Thompson. He served ini
the war of the revolution.
(IV) Jonathan Wyman, son of
Jonathan (3), born 1734, married
Abigail Wright.
(V) Jonathan Wyman, son of
Jonathan (4), bom 1763, married'
Ruby , Richardson. Thfeir children
were: Jonathan, born 1787; Abel,.
I793J Abigail, 1795; Sylvester, Jo
seph, Stephen, Ray, Ruby, and Ipps.
(VI) Abel Wyman, second son
and child of Jonathan , (5) and Ruby
(Richardson) Wyman, was born in
r793> and died in 1864. He was a
boot and shoe manufacturer, and
was noted for his integrity, tact
and sagacity in business relations,.
and was of strong moral character.
He married Maria Wade, in 1817.
Their children were: Charles Aus
tin, born 1817; Ward, 1819; Win
throp, 1821; Nancy Maria, 1823;
Horace, 1827.
Maria (Wade) Wyman was the

/"CnjUL*^

*r

yrt-&*nL.

WORCESTER COUNTY

405

daughter of Ebenezer (5) and Leah Wade, whose
other children were Nancy and Harriet. Her ances
try is traced back as follows:
(I) Jonathan Wade, a native of England, emi
grated to America from Denver, near Donnham
Market, Norfolk county, in 1632, in the ship "Lion."
He first settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and after
wards removed to Mediford, and was elected the first
town clerk there in 1674. He was a prominent per
son in the town and the largest owner of land
there, and paid the highest tax for many years. He
gave a public landing place for boats and shipping
on the Mystic river upon which the town is situated.
(II) Major Nathaniel Wade, son Of Jonathan
(1), married Mercy Bradstreet, daughter of. Gover
nor Simon and Anne Bradstreet, and granddaugh
ter of Governor Thomas Bradley (2).
Governor Bradstreet made an affidavit relative
to this marriage, which is curious for its quaint
phrasing as well as for the subject matter. It is
quoted as follows from "Genealogy of the Dudley
Family," vol. 11, pp. 1031-1033:
"When Mr. Jonathan Wade of Ipswich came
first to my house att Andvar | yeare — 72 — to make a
motion of marriage betwixt his son Nathaniel
and | my daughter Mercy hee freely of himself told
me what he would | give to his son viz. one halfe
of his ffarme att Mistic and one third pt of his | land
in England when he Dyed: and that he should have
liberty to make | use of pt of impved and broken
upp ground vpon the sd ffarme till | hee could gett
some broken vpp for him selfe vpon his own pt and
like wise | that hee should live in and have the vse
of 'halfe the house &c till he had one [ of his owne
bit upon his part of the ffarme I was willing to
accept of his | offer or at least sd nothing against
it but ppounded that hee would make his sd' son
a deede of guift of that third t>t of _ his land in
England to enjoy to | him and his heired after his
death — this he was not free to do but sd it was | as
sure for he had soe putt it into his will that his
3 sons should have | that in England equally devyded
betwixt them vz each a pt. I objected | hee might
alter his will when hee pleased & his wife might dye
& hee marry | again and haye othr children wch
hee thought a vaine obiccon. much othr discourse
there was about the ,stock on the ffarme &c but
remayning vnwilling | to give a deed for that in
England : saying hee might h'ue to spend it and
often | repeating hee had soe ordered it in his will
as aforesd weh hee should never alter without | great
necessity or w'ords to that purpos so wee pted for
that time leaving | that matter to further con-
sidracon | after hee came home hee told sevall of
my | ffriends and others they informed me that he
had pfferd them iooo L and I would not accept of
it. the next tyme he came to my howse- after
some | discourse about the premsis and pceiveing his
resolucon as form'ly I - consented | to accept of wt
hee had formily ingaged. and left it to him to ad
wt he pleased | towards the building of him a howse
&c. and soe agreed that the young psons | might
pceede in maryage with both o consent wch ac
cordingly they did. S. BRADSTREET
The Hon. bie Simon Bradstreet, Esq. r | made
oath to the truth of the above written | (Sept. 21,
1683,) | before SAMLL NOWELL, ASSISTT. |
(III) Captain Samuel Wade, son of Nathaniel
(2), (IV) Nathaniel Wade, son of Samuel (3).
(V) Ebenezer Wade, son of Nathaniel (4).
(VI) Ebenezer Wade, son of Ebenezer (5). He
Vol. 1.

served in the French and Indian war, and also the
revolutionary war.
(VII) Maria Wade, daughter of Ebenezer (6),
married Abel Wyman.
Horace Wyman, youngest child of Abel and
Maria (Wade) Wyman, was born in Woburn, No
vember 27, 1827. He was educated at the Woburn
and Francestown (New Hampshire) Academies. He
commenced his business career in 1846 as machinist
in the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in New
Hampshire, and afterwards in the Lowell Machine
Shop, and in the Hinckley Locomotive Works in
Boston. He then entered into the employ of the
Holyoke Water Power Company as a draughtsman,
and in i860 became associated with George Cromp-
ton, of Worcester, as superintendent and manager of
his Loom Works. He is noted for his mechanical
ability and inventive genius, particularly in the line
of loom and factory machinery.
The records of the United States Patent Office
disclose the fact that he has taken out over one
hundred and fifty patents, the great majority of
them relating to textile machinery, many of his ma
chines being in use in the principal mills through
out the country, with the result of improved goods,
in greater quantities in a given time, and at a re
duced cost of production. From time to time he
has been associated with others, but the principal
machines with which his name is connected were
t altogether conceived in his own brain and wrought
out by his own masterly mechanical skill. The
Crompton Loom Works of Worcester owed much
of their success to improvements of his designing
and introduction. When George Crompton died in
1886, the business was reorganized by incorporation,
with Mr. Wyman as vice-president and manager, and
when that corporation was merged^into the Cromp
ton and Knowles Loom Works in 1897 he became
its consulting mechanical engineer.
While Mr. Wyman has been thus busily engaged
along lines which seemingly would tax the ability
of one man to the utmost, he has at the same time'
been actively interested in various other enterprises
entering into the commercial and financial life of the
city, serving as president of the Worcester Storage
Company, a director in the Quinsigamond Bank, the
People's Savings Bank, and the Uxbridge & Black
stone "Street Railway Company. He has also served
as a member of the board of aldermen. He is an
active member of the American Society of Mechani
cal Engineers, the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association, the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and
of the board of managers of the Old Men's Home.
He is also affiliated with local bodies of the Masonic
fraternity. In politics he is a Republican, and his
religious connection is with the Unitarian faith. Of
studious habits and cultivated tastes, he has read
and traveled much. He is familiarly acquainted with
nearly all regions of the United States, and 'he has
several times visited Europe, at times on business,
and again solely for recreation and mental improve
ment. He has made much careful study of genea
logical subjects, and has published two works in
volving a great amount of careful and patient re
search : 'The Wyman Families of Great and Little
Hormead, Herts county, England," 1895; and "Some
Account of the Wyman Genealogy and Wyman
Families in Herts county, England," 1897.
In i860 Mr. Wyman married Louisa B. Horton,
of Orleans, Massachusetts, who died in 1894. She
was of English extraction, a daughter of Sparrow
and Betsey (Doane) Horton, and a descendant of
John Doane, who was born in 1590. He arrived at
Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1630, and was assistant

406

WORCESTER COUNTY

to Governor Thomas Prince in 1633. Of this mar
riage were born four children :
(I) Horace Winfield Wyman, born May 30, 1861,
died October 11, 1905. He was educated in Wor
cester — in the pu'blic schools, the Worcester Acad-
rmy, and the Polytechnic Institute. In 1883, at the
age of twenty-two, he formed a partnership with
Lyman F. Gordon, a classmate at all the above
named schools,, and engaged in the manufacture pf
iron and steel drop forgings, an industry then in its
comparative infancy. This business they built up
and developed, until it has become one of the fore
most in the world ; its product reaching all parts
of the United States, and every foreign market open
to American commerce. Mr. Wyman possessed in
marked degree the mechanical taste and ability, as
well as the inventive genius which characterize his
father, and much of the efficiency and success of the
great works with which he was identified, was due
to his mechanical ability, joined to a keen business
judgment. He was treasurer of the Worcester Stor
age Company, a trustee of the Worcester County
Institute for Savings, and has been twice presi
dent of the Alumni Association of the Polytechnic
Institute. He was a member of the International
Iron and Steel Institute, the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, and of prominent clubs in
Boston, New York and Cleveland as well as of Wor
cester. In politics he was a. Republican, but he
never aspired to public office. In 1889 he married .
Mary Wills Haskill, of Atchison, Kansas, and their
children are : Aurelia, Horace and Louise.
(II) Maria Louise, born in 1864.
(Ill) Josie Horton, born in 1867, died in 1868.
(IV) Adelaide Richards, bom 1870, married in
1898, Ernest Wood, of the firm of C. G. Wood &
Company, woolen manufacturers of Worcester.
THOMAS ARMIT PELLETT. Thomas Pellett
( 1 ) , the immigrant ancestor of Thomas Armit Pel
lett, of Worcester, settled in Concord, Massachu
setts, where he married, March 5, 1660, Mary Dane
or Deane, of Concord. He was a farmer. Their
children, all born in Concord, were : Mary, born
August 27, 1662; Thomas, born April 18, 1666;
Daniel, born August 1, 1668; Samuel, born March
28, 167I ; Richard, mentioned below ; John, born
November 9, 1675; Elizabeth, bom April 8, '1679;
Jonathan, bom April 18, 1682; Sarah, born Septem
ber 5, 1685 ; Susanna, born January 18, 1690.
(II) Richard Pellett, eighth child of Thomas
Pellett (1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts,
April 23, 1673. He settled at Canterbury, Connecti
cut, and died there June 15, 1758. He married, April
2, 1703, Ann Brooks, of Canterbury. She died Octo
ber 25, 1756. Tlieir children, all born in Canterbury,
were : Jonathan, mentioned below ; Thomas, born
September 9, 1706, married March 18, 1730, Martha
Tibbets ; Samuel, born' March 7, 1709, married (first)
Margaret  , who died February 28, 1.748; (sec
ond), July, 1752, Hannah Underwood; Hezekiah,
born April 28, 1712, married, March 5, 1738, Abigail
Brown ; John, born April 4, 1715 ; Ephraim, born
June 21, 1718, married Hannah  ; Patience and
Ann (twins), born August 8, 1721.
till) Jonathan Pellett, eldest child of Richard
Pellett (2), was born in Canterbury, Connecticut,
March 2. 1704; married, February 20, 1733, Jerusha
Bradford, who died June 15, 1788.. She was a direct
descendant of Elder William Bradford, who came
in the "Mayflower" to Plymouth in 1620, The line
is through William Bradford (1), who married
(first) Alice Richards; (second) Widow Wiswell;
(third) Widow Mary Holmes. Thomas Brad
ford (II), son of William Bradford (I), set

tled in Norwich, Connecticut; married (first) An
na Fitch, daughter of Rev. , James Fitch, mar
ried (second) Priscilla Mason, daughter of Major
John Mason, the hero of the Pequot war. James
Bradford (III), son of Thomas Bradford (II),
was the father of Jerusha Bradford, born June
27, 1716. Her sister Mary married William Pel-
.lett. The Children of Jonathan and Jerusha (Brad
ford) Pellett were all born in Canterbury, viz. :
Jonathan, born June 20, 1734, died young; Edith,
born March .25, 1735, died young; James, born Feb
ruary 9, 1737, died young; Jonathan, born October
!9> !739. died young; Thomas, born November 20,
1742; Jerusha, born June 6, 1744; Joseph, born
March 18, 1748; David, born February 21, 1750;
Jonathan, born July 12, 1753; Hepzibah, born Feb
ruary 25, 1757; Rufus, mentioned below.
(IV) .Rufus Pellett, youngest child of Jonathan
Pellett (3), was born at Canterbury, May 25, 1760.
He also was a farmer at Canterbury, where he died
in 1806. He married Drusilla Wheeler. Their chil
dren, all born at Canterbury, were : Rufus, born
November 4, 1781 ; John, born July 4, 1783; 'grad
uate of Harvard College (M. D.), died at Salem,
Massachusetts, 1809; Eunice, born October 26, 1784,
married Joseph Graves, of Canterbury; Esther, born
December 9, 1786; Jonathan, died young; Timothy,
born May 4, 1791 ; Jonathan, born August 17, 1792 ;
Archibald, died young; Chester, mentioned below;
Maria, born April 22, 1800, resided in Canterbury to
advanced age ; Marian, born March 25, 1803, married
Aaron Stearns, of North Brookfield, removed to
Whaftely ; Heman, born September, 1805, died young.
(V) Chester Pellett, ninth child of Rufus Pellett
(4), was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, May,
1797. He was raised in his native town but re
moved to Wales, Massachusetts. Among his chil
dren was the father of Thomas Armit Pellett, John
C. Pellett. (V) John C. Pellett, son of Chester Pellett
(5), was born in Canterbury, Connecticut. He re
sided at North Brookfield and Wales,, Massachu
setts. He married, January 28, 1849, Sarah Har
wood, who was born June 15, 1820, the daughter
of Thomas Armit Harwood.
John C. Pellett was a railroad man, a section
boss on the New London & Northern Railroad and
later on the Vermont Central Railroad. He served
two years in the civil war. He was color sergeant
of' the Eleventh Vermont Regiment and he lost
his right arm in a skirmish during the campaign
in the Shenandoah Valley. He died at Brattleboro,
Vermont, in 1897. The children of John C. and
Sarah (Harwood) ) Pellett were: 1. Mary, married
Andrew Thomas, of Claremont, New Hampshire,
and they have a son, Leon Andrew, and a daugh
ter, Genevieve Louise, both born in Brattleboro,
Vermont. 2. John C, Jr., married Grace Double-
day, of Binghamton, New York; married (second)
Lizette Winslow; resides at 6 Jaques avenue, Wor
cester, is a mason and contractor, at present en
gaged in Brattleboro', Vermont. He has three chil
dren by the first wife : Charles Arnold, Louise,
John. 3. Thomas A., mentioned below.
Thomas Armit Harwood, son of Captain Peter
Harwood, was' born in Spencer, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 6, 1789; married (first), May 24, 1818, Han
nah Palmer Pellett, of North Brookfield, who died
September 1, 1830; married (second), June 15, 1831,
Ann Mead, of North Brookfield, who died August
30, 1870, aged eighty years ; he died April 4. 1880,
aged ninety-one, years. He was a soldier in the
war of 1812. They had a large family of chil
dren. Thomas Armit Harwood, Jr., was in the
British service; had a very adventurous life all over

WORCESTER COUNTY

407

the world; in 1879 was living in India under the
name of Francis Hudson.
Peter Harwood, grandfather of Mrs. John C.
Pellett, was the son of Major Peter Harwood, born
in North Brookfield, September 16, 1765, He was a
tavern keeper and farmer. He served three years
in the revolutionary army with his father who was
captain of the North Brookfield company. He suc
ceeded Captain Aaron Forbes as captain of the
company and was himself succeeded by his brother,
Captain Abel Harwood. He was selectman and as
sessor. He married, in Dover, New Hampshire,
about 1788, Elizabeth Armit, who was born in Scot
land (North Brookfield history says London, Eng
land) and came to America when she was three
years old. Captain Peter died in Spencer, April
17, 1836. Their eldest child was Thomas Armit
Harwood, mentioned above.
Major Peter Harwood, great-grandfather of Mrs.
John C. Pellett, son of Ebenezer Harwood, was
born in Littleton, Massachusetts, May 10, 1740. He
was a millwright and farmer. He married, May 26,
1763, Phebe Prouty, of Spencer, who was born
August 3, 1744, died February 13, 181 1; he died in
Delaware, January 14, 1805. He was an officer in
the revolutionary army — brave, daring and impetu
ous. He was court-martialled for disobedience pi
prders to abandon and destroy a bridge at White
Plains, then being held by the American army; in
attempting to hold it he was captured; the result
' of the court-martial was in his favor and he retained
his rank and was' further promoted. After the war
he built a brick house, the most expensive one in
town. He had nine children.
Ebenezer Harwood, father of Major Peter Har
wood and son of Peter Harwood, was born in Con
cord, Massachusetts, February 22, 1714. He mar
ried Dorothy Hubbard, who died in Brookfield, Au
gust 15, 1809. He removed from Concord to Little
ton in 1737 with his father and brother Joseph, and
thence to North Brookfield in 1743-4. In April,
1745, he joined the secret expedition against Louis
burg in Captain Olmstead's company under Sir Will
iam Pepperell and was killed during the siege June
I7> 1745- His widow drew his prize money at Bos--
ton, February, 15, 1748. She married (second) at
Worcester, July 5, 1750, Nathaniel Bartlett, of North
Brookfield. Peter Harwood, father of Ebenezer Harwood and
son of Nathaniel Harwood, was born in Concord,
Massachusetts, January 12, 1671. He married, No
vember 7, 1700, Mary Fox, of Concord, and died at
Littleton in 1740. He had seven children.
Nathaniel Harwood, the immigrant ancestor of
Mrs. John C. Pellett and her descendants^ father
of Peter Harwood, was first in Boston, then in Con
cord between 1665 and 1667. In 1665 he signed a
declaration of non-freemen of Boston as to their
satisfaction with the government. He married Eliza
beth  , who died April 25,, 1715. He died Febru
ary 7, 1716.
(VII) Thomas Armit Pellett, son of John C.
Pellett (6), was born in. Wales, Massachusetts,
Mav 19, 1850. He attended the public schools in
Brattleboro, Vermont, whither his parents moved
when he was only four years old. He learned the
mason's trade in Brattleboro. In 1874 the contractor
for the Worcester Insane Hospital at Bloomingdale,
Worcester, J. D. Plummer, sub-let the contract for
the brick work to Mr. Pellett. This contract took
three years during the warm months and took thirteen
million bricks. Mr. Pellett next superintended the
building of the Mount Hermon Boys' School at Gill,
Massachusetts, for Rev. Dwight L. Moody, for about
a year and a half. In partnership with Mr. Plummer,

under the firm name of Pellett & Plummer, his firm
built a school house at Saxtons river and a paper
mill in* Bellows Falls ; the Amherst hat shop and two
stores at Amherst. In partnership with his brother,
John C. Pellett, under the name of Pellett Brothers,
he built the high school building in Brattleboro, Ver
mont ; the Canal street school house ; the Hooker
block; the railroad station and the engine house,
all at Brattleboro. In company with J. M. Boswell
he built an addition to the Worcester Insane Hospi
tal, comprising two large wings. This firm also
executed important contracts at the gas works, Wor
cester, and built Lamb's block on Front street.
Again he went into partnership with his brother
as T. A. and J. C. Pellett. This firm had the con
tract for the tower on St. Paul's Church. In 1903 the
firm was dissolved, J. C. having important contracts
in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he has been working
since then, while Thomas A. Pellett has remained
in business in Worcester under his own name. In
1896 the firm was associated with John H. Pick-
ford in building the Standish Hotel ; additions to
Bowler Brothers' brewery; additions to the gas
house ; The Aurora, Main street, for Charles F.
Stevens ; the foundations of Bickneli block and two
tenement buildings for Rice Brothers. Pellett
Brothers also built the Worcester Society of An
tiquity building; Mr. Shell's residence, Northfield,
Massachusetts ; the Free Will Baptist Church ; the
German Lutheran Church, Worcester; the old Ethan
Allen factory on Jackson street. Some of the build
ings constructed by Mr. Pellett, when he was not
in partnership were : The Methodist Church at
Brattleboro; engine house and barn at North Brook
field ; stable for Charles Bush ; engine house for the
town of North Brookfield; a fine residence at St.
John, New Brunswick.
He married, April 2, 1878, Emily Barrett, of
Wardsboro, Vermont. Her father, Emerson Barrett,
was a wood- worker by trade. Their children are:
Arthur, born August 26, 1880; Annie, born February
24, 1882; Bradford, born June 15, 1889; Marion,
born April 6, 1901.
FRANK LUCIUS MURDOCK. The name
Murdock (Murdoch or Murtogh) is of Gaelic origin
and signifies Admiral, Sea Leader or Sea Power.
The Murdock coat of arms is thus described : Argent,
two ravens hanging paleways (sable) transfixed by
an arrow through their heads fess ways. The family
motto is: "Omnia Pro Bono." (All Things for the
Good). The C. of A. was registered by Murdock
of Camlodden in 1672 and has never been reduced.
The crest is a raven rising, shot through the breast
by an arrow.
Murdoch is the Scotch way of spelling the sur
name, which in England and America is spelled
Murdock. The name has been common in Scot
land for centuries, especially in Ayrshire. At, the
same time branches of the family are found over the
line in England. Henry Murdac, who died in 1153,
was a famous archbishop of York. He came of a
wealthy and important family in Yorkshire. He
jbined the Cistercian order of Monks at Clairvaux.
He was enthroned at York, January 25, 1151. The
second Duke of Albany was Murdac or Murdoch.
John Murdoch, born in Ayr, in 1747, died there
1824, was a distinguished writer and friend of Robert
Burns. Another famous Scotch author was Patrick
Murdoch, who died in 1774, educated at Edinburgh,
a native of Dumfries. Perhaps the best known mem
ber of the family was William Murdoch, the in
ventor of coal-gas lighting. He was born in Ayr
shire at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, the second
son of John Murdock, millwright, August 21, 1754,

408

WORCESTER COUNTY

died in 1839. His father and grandfather were both
gunners in the royal artillery. After Murdoch re
moved to England he spelled his name Miirdock.
At the present time Rev. Alexander Murdoch is
Canon of Edinburgh, an office he has held since 1883.
He has been rector of All Saints Church, Edin
burgh, since 1S07
(I) Robert Murdock, the first American ancestor
of Frank L. Murdock, of Worcester, Massachu
setts, was born in Scotland about 1665, He and his
brother, John Murdock, came to America about 1688
and settled, in Plymouth colony in New England.
John remained there and is the ancestor of a numer
ous branch of the family, Robert stayed about four
years in Plymouth. In 1692 he removed to Roxbury,
Massachusetts. On the early records the name is
spelled Murdo and Murdow as well as Murdock.
His was the only name of this family on the Rox
bury records before 1700. He married, at Roxbury,
April 28, 1692, Hannah Stedman, born in 1667,
daughter of Thomas and Mary Stedman, of Cam
bridge. Robert Murdock and his family removed
from Roxbury to Newton in 1703 and bought a house
and one hundred and twenty acres of land there for
ninety pounds of Jonathan Hyde and John Wood
ward. The farm was west of the school lot and the
Dedham road, north of Jacob Chamberlain's farm,
and east of John Hyde's. Later he owned the place
called the Captain Jeremiah Wiswall place.
His wife Hannah died 1727, aged sixty. He mar
ried (second') Abigail  . He died April, 1754,
aged eighty-nine years. Children of Robert and Han
nah (Stedman) Murdock were: Hannah, born Jan-
urary 22, 1693; Lt, Robert, February 11, 1695, married
Abigail Hyde, daughter of Samuel Hyde, Novem
ber 5, 1719, and his only son settled in' Hubbardston
with his cousin, Robert, ancestor of the Worcester
branch ; Lieutenant Robert was seelcetman, repre
sentative to the general court, etc,; John, May 25,
. 1696, ancestor of the Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and
Windham county, Connecticut, branches of the fam
ily, see forward; Samuel, March 24, 1(198; Benjamin,
March 4, 1701, married, 1725, Mary Hyde; Hannah,
born at Newton, May 22, 1705,
(II) John Murdock, third child of Robert Mur
dock (11, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
May 25, 1696. He married, in 1722, Surah  . He
bought twenty-two acres of land in Newton in 1721
of William Hyde for two hundred pounds. His place
was on the west side of the road, His neighbors
were on the north James Prentice and on the south
Daniel Hyde. He died March, 1744, aged forty-
eight years. His wife died 1779, aged seventy-six
years. Children of John and Sarah Murdock were :
Hannah, born July 17, 1723, died young; Abiel, Feb
ruary 21, 1724-25, went to Brookfield, Massachu
setts, thence to Hubbardston, married Rebecca Wat
son, who died June 3, 1772, aged seventy-five years;
he died January 20, 1834, aged ninety years; John,
December 24, 1727, founder of the Uxbridge branch ;
Ephraim, April 18, 1729, died young; Amos, August
7, I73°> founder of the Windham, Connecticut,
branch; Elisha, August 25, 1732, died 1749; Aaron,
August 28, 1735; Ephraim, March 10, 1737, married,
1761, Sarah Sever, and 1768 Charily Davis, lived
at Roxbury, deacon; James, March 15, 1738, mar
ried Deborah Williams, October 10, 1765; Robert,
see forward; Sarah, September 17, 1741 ; Hannah,
February 21, 1744, married Nathaniel Sparhawk,
1768. (HI) Robert Murdock, tenth child of John Mur
dock (2), was horn in Newton, Massachusetts, Sep
tember, 1739. lie was a soldier in the revolution.
He was in Coptain William Marean's company,
Colonel Dooliltle's regiment, at Lexington, April 19,

1775, He was second lieutenant in Captain Willilim
Marean's company, Colonel Nathan Sparhawk'l
(.Seventh Worcester) regiment. He was commis
sioned as lieutenant April 0, 1776, Lieutenant Robert
Murdock removed from Newton to Hubbardston,
Massachusetts, about 170s, He married Margaret
Cheney, of Newton, He died Oetober 1, 1819; sha
died March 11, 1826, aged eighty-four years. Chil
dren of Robert and Margaret (Cheney) Murdock
were: Margaret, born 1^08, in Hubbardston, mar
ried Luther Goodspecd ; Ebenezer, \J7\\ Robert, see
forward; Sarah, November 14, 1779, died September
24, 179S; Hannah, July 8, 1782, married Ebenezer
Stowe. (IV) Robert Murdock. third child of Robert Mur
dock (3), was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts,
August 31, 1773. He settled in his native town and
his children were all born there. He married Sally
Nichols, March 15, 1804, He died April 27, 185a;
she died September 5, 1855, Children of Robert
and Sally (Nichols) Murdock were: William, born
January 27, 1805, married Sarah Wheelock, Febru
ary, 1833; he died at Wendell, June 4, 18(10, and she
died October 14, 1863, aged fifty-six ; they had nine
children; Mary, August io, 1806, married, .March
1, 1832, Joshua P. 1'illsbury and lived in Washing
ton, 1), G, died April 30, 1802; Ebenezer, September
27, 1808, married Betsey Wheeler, March 2, 1836,
died July 6, 1845; their daughter Ellen married,
June 3, 18(13, John D, Williams; Sunnier, July a8,
1810, married Charlotte >W. Howe, January ar 1833, '
and had four children, among whom were Charles
W., Henry L,, Clara K., married Albert Mason, of
Gardner; Joseph Cheney, November 30, 1812, died
December 14, 1882; married Julia Greenwood, Janu
ary 5, 1838, and had six children: Julia Ann, Leander
L„ Willie C, Alfred C„ Abby L„ John G,; F.lisha. '
see forward; Sarah, July 31, 1818, married Richard
Leonard, died December, 1900,
(V) Elisha Murdock, sixth son of Robert Mur
dock (4), was horn in Hubbardston, Massachu
setts, June 21, i8r.s. He married Nancy Temple,
daughter of Thomas Temple, January 17, 1837, She
died September 2, 1853. He married (second)
Abigail A. (Clark) Young, May 24, 1855, She died
February 17, 1875, He married (third) Mrs. Marthn
J. Evans, of Royalston, Massacliusetts, April 9, 1877.
He resided all his life in Hubbardston and was a
highly respected and esteemed citizen of that town.
Children of Elisha and Nancy (Temple) Murdock
were: Lucius Adelbert, see forward; Klwin, died
young; George El win, August 7. 1840, resided in
Worcester. Child of Elisha and Abigail A. (Clark)
Murdock was: Nancy Ella, born March 10, 1857,
(VI) Lucius Adelbert Murdock, son of Elisha
Murdock (5), was born in Hubbardston, Massachu
setts, August 28, 1837. He attended the public
schools of his native town until eleven years old.
At that age he left home with fifty cents In his
pocket and hired out. to William Joslm. He earned
sixteen dollars in the first month of working out
and he saved as well as earned money, At the
age of fifteen he bought a farm in Tlubbanljlon,
which has since been known as the Murdock Farm,
and in three years he had cut off wood enough, so
that with his savings he had the property free of
debt, His ambition led him finally to leave Hub
bardston. He sold the farm to good advantage and
went to East Templeton as engineer for the Derby
Chair Company. He was llicrc but a short lime
when lie had an opportunity to make some money
by handling winnowing machines, His thrift and
envrgy interested William Smith, a manufacturer of
tinware, in Templeton Centre, and Mr. Murdock
accepted a position offered him by Mr. Smith. In

WORCESTER COUNTY

409

1861 Mr. Smith moved his business to Worcester
and took Mr, Murdock into partnership. The firm
name was Smith & Murdock and their place of
business was 174 Main street, near Lincoln square.
The firm manufactured and dealt in silver and tin
ware. In 1873 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Mur
dock went into business with his son, Frank L.
Murdock, dealing in wool stock at Bigelow court.
In 1880 he was appointed general agent of the
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadel
phia, Pennsylvania.^ with offices in Boston, , and he
withdrew from business in Worcester. For twenty-
five years he was actively engaged in the duties of
his position with the Penn company. He was well
known throughout New England among insurance
men and took a high standing among them. He
enjoyed the complete confidence of his company,
and under his management the business grew to large
proportions. Mr. -Murdock made his home at 21
Highland street. He attended the Plymouth Con
gregational Church, Pearl street, and was one of
its founders. In politics he was a Republican. He
was a charter member of the Brookline Lodge of
Elks at Brookline, Massachusetts, where he lived
during his later years. He was a member of the
Home Market Club of Boston. He was always in
terested in public affairs and was well posted in cur
rent events. He was an authority on insurance
matters. He died January 29, 1905, at Worcester.
He married, November 25, 1858, Ellen Hager,
daughter of Charles White and Lydia Parkhurst
(Whipple) Hager, of Hubbardston, Massachusetts.
Charles W. Hager was a farmer there. Children
of Lucius A. and Ellen (Hager) Murdock were :
Frank Lucius, see forward; William Herbert, born
July 10, 1863, died August 24, 1864; Mary Boyden,
born March 17, 1870, married Charles Crompton, son
of George Crompton, of Worcester, June 6, 1892.
(VII) Frank Lucius Murdock, 'eldest child of
Lucius A. Murdock (6), was born in East Temple
ton, Massachusetts, February 29, i860. His parents
removed to Worcester when he was a year old. At
the age of five he began to attend the public schools
in Worcester. He took a two years' course in the
high school and left to enter upon a business
career. In 1876 he entered into business with his
father, dealing in wool stock. He was in the firm
of Lucius A. Murdock for four years, when his
father went into the life insurance business and he
became connected with Tower, Wing & , Co., of
Lawrence, Massachusetts, manufacturers in wool
stock and commission merchants. He remained with
this firm until 1892, when he became vice-president
of the Basch & Greenfield Company, of Newark,
New Jersey. He resides at 714 Pleasant street,
Worcester. He and his family attend the First
Universalist Church. In politics Mr.' Murdock is a
Republican. He is a member of the Worcester Auto
mobile Club, and the Home Market Club of Bos
ton. He was from 1877 to 1880 a member of Com
pany C, Worcester . Light Infantry, Second Regi
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
He married, January 1, 1880, Inez Estelle Bud
ding, daughter of Benjamin Quincy and Lucy Ann
(Fessenden) Budding, of Worcester. Mrs. Mur
dock is a member of the Home Club of Worcester,
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters- of the Ameri
can Revolution. Their only child is Alice Camille,
born March 22, 1881, who lives with her parents.
Mrs. Murdock's father, Benjamin Quincy Budding,
was a well known inventor of shoe machinery.
JOSEPH RICE TORREY. In all parts of the
world, ' wherever razors and razor strops are used,
the name of Torrey is known, and that for a reason

to be seen farther on in this brief memoir of one of
the enterprising manufacturers , of the city of
Worcester. Joseph Rice Torrey was born August 23, 1828,
at New Salem, Massachusetts. When but two years
of age his father died and his mother moved to
Barre, Massachusetts, where he attended the common
1 schools and subsequently his his own efforts the
Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts,
and also took a course at the Leicester Academy,
where he early showed in a marked degree the
physical strength and power of endurance of an
athlete which has served him so well in the hard
and constant work of later years. At the age of
seventeen he taught school, teaching for two years
in Barre and Leicester, and then became an ap
prentice to the trade of stone-cutting, at which he
worked for about four years.
Being considered an expert penman he took up
the teaching of penmanship at Leicester and West
minster academies and other places in Worcester
county, finally locating in the city of Worcester in
1852, where he' engaged as bookkeeper with Will
iam H. Dexter, then in the flour and grain _ busi
ness. While occupying this position he originated
a system of accounts which was approved by Mr.
Dexter, and adopted by several large dealers in the
same line of business. We next find him in the
grocery trade, conducting a large- retail business
under the firm name of Eddy & Torrey; this part
nership was dissolved in 1858. Feeling that he had
not yet discovered his favorite calling he decided,
after carefully following out a line of investiga
tion in which he had been much interested for some
time, to engage in .the manufacture of razor strops.
His grocery business not having proved financially
successful owing to the great trade depression cul
minating in the disastrous year of 1857, he began his
new venture without capital depending solely upon
his own labor for the support of his family, but
by untiring industry nights as well as days he soon
established a reputation for making goods superior
to any other in this his newly chosen line. Year
by year he continued to expand this business _ and
enlarge his territory for trade. Commencing in a
small way in 1858, by 1880 he owned the largest
industry of the kind in existence. During the
year 1880 he added the manufacture of razors and
organized with Joseph Turner, .a skilled expert in
that line of cutlery, the J. R. Torrey Razor Com
pany, with Mr. Turner .as president and himself
as treasurer. ' They were as conservative in this
venture as Mr. Torrey had been in the strop busi
ness, but with the passing years of steady growth,
the razor business has increased until now this
firm is by far the largest exclusive manufacturers
of razors in this country, if not in the world, and
wherever men shave their faces the "Torrey" brand
is known and appreciated for its exceedingly fine
temper and keen cutting qualities.
There had been several previous attempts to
manufacture razors in the United States. Some of
them on quite an extensive scale, bringing from
England experienced. workmen, and in one instance
barrels of water were imported in which to harden
the blades, under the singular delusion that the
water in this country was not suitable for that
purpose. But all these attempts proved failures,
and it remained for the J. R. Torrey Razor Com
pany to establish the first successful manufactory
for that article in America.
Joseph Rice Torrey was never above his busi
ness and never shirked his personal duty. He
learned to creep before he tried to walk. He first
made by hand the razor strops which he sold upon

4io

WORCESTER COUNTY

the streets of Worcester, New York and 9ther
cities, until the people who used such articles be
came acquainted with the superior quality of his
goods, and dealers sought after them. Reputation
thus gained became his capital and earned for him
the handsome reward he now enjoys. Let his record
stand out boldly as an example to the rising young
man who would make a success of life.
In 1870 he was elected to represent Worcester
in the state legislature, being re-elected in 1871. He
is a stanch Republican in his political views, and at
one time wielded an influence in the councils of his
party second to none in the county. He served on
city, county and congressional committees in many
hotly contested campaigns. He has always been a
strong advocate of temperance and alwaj's practiced
total abstinence as the only consistent and safe man
ner of living. In his social relations he is num
bered among the Masonic fraternity, Worcester
Board of Trade, Massachusetts Club of Boston.
He belongs to the Old South Congregational Church.
He is an associate member of the Grand Army,
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, of Worcester.
In 1852 he married Ann Adelia Lewis, daughter
of John Lewis, of Westminster, Massachusetts. Two
children blessed this union: Frank William, who
died at the age of sixteen years, and Lewis Hamil
ton, who is now associated with his father as a
member of the firm of J. R. Torrey & Company,
and is also a director in the Torrey Razor Com
pany. Mrs. Torrey died in 1869, and in 1877 he
married Eliza Rice, of Barre, Massachusetts, b>
whom he has one daughter, Annie Louise.
The following regarding the ancestry of Joseph
Rice Torrey is of interest:
(1) William Torrey, one of the American im
migrant ancestors of the Torrey family in Mas sa
chusetts, was born at Combe St. Nicholas, Somer
setshire, England, about 1590; he was descended
from an eminent family of that county, received a
good classical education and came to Massachu
setts with his brother James about 1640. James
settled at Scituate, and William at Weymouth, where
he became a magistrate and captain of the train
band of the colony (the highest military rank of
the time), and was many years a representative
from Weymouth in the general court. Being a
good penman he was frequently chosen clerk of that
body. He was prominent in all committee work
where they had to do with literary and educational
questions. He died at Weymouth about 1675.
His son Samuel, born in England, graduated at
Harvard College, and became an eminent minister
at Weymouth. Preached the "Election Sermon"
three times and twice declined the presidency of
Harvard College. He was born about 1631, and
died in 1707.
Ebenezer Torrey, the grandfather of Joseph Rice
Torrey, born in 1771, at Weymouth, Massachusetts,
when a young man moved to New Salem, Massa
chusetts. He married a Miss Day of that place by
whom he had two sons: Sumner and William.
Ebenezer Torrey was very active politically and
prominent in the state militia. In 1810 was com
missioned captain by Gevernor Gore. He served as
a member of the Massachusetts legislature from 1831
to 1833, and was earnestly interested in securing
the charter for the first line of railway from Boston
to Worcester. He died in 1863 and was buried at
New Salem, Massachusetts.
William Torrey, son of Ebenezer Torrey, was
born at New Salem, in 1799, married Clarissa Rice,
daughter of Joseph Rice, of Barre, December 1,
1825, she being of the fourth generation from
Gersham Rice, one of the first settlers of Worces

ter. Their only child was Joseph Rice Torrey,
whose father, William Torrey, died in 1830, aged
thirty-one years, and was buried in New Salem,.
that part of which is now in the town of Orange.
CRAWFORD FAMILY. While the Crawford
family was well established in Scotland before 1200
we are told that it is of Anglo-Norman origin some
two centuries earlier, and the Crawfords of Scotland
trace their ancestry to a Norman noble of the days
of William, the Conqueror. The name is spelled
sometimes Crawfutt in the early Scotch records,
while Crauford was the ordinary spelling until later
days. A list of the heads of important Scotch fam
ilies in 1291 has been preserved. . It is known to
historians as the Ragman's Roll. On this list are
the names of five Crawfords: John de Crauford,
of Ayrshire; John de Crauford, tenant le Roi,
Ayrshire; Renaud de Crawford, of Ayrshire; Roger
de Crauford and William de Crauford. The records
show families in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and
Stirlingshire, as' well as Ayrshire, before the year
1200. The titles held in Scotland by this family
were: The Yiscountcy of Mount Crawford and
Garnock. The Earldom of Crawford belonged to
the Lindsey family. A number of Crawfords were
amoung the Scotch given grants of land in the prov
ince of Ulster, Ireland, in 1610, and later by King
James I. The first settler in Tyrone, whence came
the American immigrant of the branch of the fam
ily under consideration, was George Crawford.
Nicholas Pynnar, who made a survey of the Scotch
Irish settlements in 1619, reported that in the pre
cinct of Mountjoy, county Tyrone, George Crawford
had transferred his thousand acre grant to Alex
ander Sanderson. The name is common in the Prot
estant districts of Antrim, Down, Londonderry and
Tyrone at tlie present time.
(I) Aaron Crawford, the pioneer ancestor in
America of William H. Crawford, of Worcester,
was born in county Tyrone in 1677. If George
Crawford were his ancestor, the family had been
there some sixty years when he was born and George
would have been his grandfather or great-grand
father. He came to New England with his family
in 1713. some five years before the first extensive
emigration of the Scotch-Irish began. He arrived'
in Boston in the spring or summer of 1713 and lived
there probably until he settled in Rutland, Massa
chusetts, joon afterward. The grant of what is now
Rutland was confirmed to the children of Major
Simon Willard, of Lancaster, and others by order
of the general court, February 23, 1713. It is said
that the first clearing was made in 1716 and that
the settlers began moving there in September, 1719.
The town was incorporated May 13, 1722, and the
first meeting of the settlers under the act of incor
poration was held on the last Monday of July, 1722.
As one of the Crawford family was elected to a
town office at the first meeting, it is believed that
Aaron Crawford was one of the earliest settlers.
Aaron Crawford married Agnes Wilson, in the
parish of Capy,- county Tyrone, Ireland. She was
born in 1678. Three sons, Samuel, John and Alex
ander, born in Ireland, in this parish of Capy, were
brought over by the parents, also Martha. Alex
ander was less* than a year old when the family
arrived in Boston. Aaron and his wife both died
at Rutland and are buried in the graveyard in the
centre of the town. He died August 6, 1754; she
died December 10, 1760. Their children; Samuel,
born 1705 in Ireland, died October 17, 1760; mar
ried Margaret Montgomery and 'had no children.
Martha, born 1706, died September 20, 1795. m
Rutland; married, May 24, 1733, James Bell, of Ire-

WORCESTER COUNTY

411

land, who died March 25, 1793; they had Molly,
William, Martha, James, John, Aaron, Abraham,
Agnes, Samuel, Simson and Sarah Bell. John, born
in Ireland, settled in Palmer, Massachusetts; died
there unmarried. Alexander, born 1713 in Ireland,
see forward. Isabella, died young. Mary, born in
Rutland, April 15, 1721, married, April 15, 1745,
William McCobb and they had Elizabeth, Isabella}
Aaron, Margaret, Nancy, Fanny, John, Molly,
Martha, and Samuel McCobb. Moses, died un
married in Rutland, where he settled.
(II) Alexander Crawford, son of Aaron Craw
ford (1), was born in the county of Tyrone, Ireland,
in 1713, probably early in the year. He was an in
fant less than a year old when the family came to
America in 1713. He went to Rutland with the fam
ily in 1719 and helped his father clear the farm
during his youth. He settled in Rutland and fol
lowed the life of a pioneer farmer until 1750, when
he removed to Rutland West Wing, now Oakham,
where he died October 11, 1793, in his eightieth
year. He married Elizabeth Crawford, probably a dis
tant relative, February 5, 1735-36. She died April
27, 1774, aged sixty-two years, doubtless also born
in Ireland, in Londonderry county, emigrating with
¦several brothers and sisters from Magherafelt, of that
county, and settling in New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia. Their children: William, died in
infancy. ¦ John, born January 7, 1739, was captain
in the revolution ; married, February 9, 1759, Rachel
Henderson and had : Elizabeth, born March 14, 1760,
married Robert Wilson; John, born May 2, 1762,
drowned, unmarried, aged thirty-five, a school
teacher; Alexander, borri February 12, 1765, married
Bethia Willis and had eight children; Samuel, born
July 16, 1767; Samuel, born August 9, 1769, mar
ried Huldah Burden and had ten children; Calvin,
born October 18, 1770, married Catherine Bence and
had several children, removed to New York state;
Rachel, born April 2, 1773, married  Stimpson,
of Vermont; Josiah, born April 25, 1776; Patty
(twin), born December 11, 1778; Polly (twin), born
December 11, 1778. Infant, died young. Aaron,
married, January 31, 1768, Gilles Gill and had six
sons and three daughters, removed to Canada.
William, born October 23, 1745, see forward.
(Ill) William Crawford, son of Alexander
Crawford (2), was born in Rutland, Massachusetts,
October 23, 1745. He removed to Oakham with his
parents when five years of age and was brought up
on the farm, getting a meagre education in the
common schools. He learned the trade of clock-
making and became one of the most skilful and
famous mechanics in his line. His home was in
the eastern part of the town. He was a soldier in
the revolution and sergeant in Captain John Craw
ford's company, Colonel James Converse's regiment,
enlisting July 22, 1777, and was discharged July
26, 1777, serving in the Rhode Island campaign.
He was under the same officers on the Bennington
Alarm, from August 20, 1777, to August 23, 1777.
He was short of stature and somewhat lame in con
sequence of a fever sore. He became captain of
his company in the militia and was afterward al
ways called Captain Crawford.
1 He married Mary Henderson, who was born
July 30, 1748, died November 26, 1838, of old age.
She was the daughter of James arid Sarah Hender
son, of Rutland. Their children: Elizabeth, born
February 10, 1774, died February 3, 1838; married,
September, 1815, Jonathan King, who died April 1,
1827. James, born August 11, 1775, see forward.
Lucy, born February 7, 1778. William, born Feb
ruary 25, 1780, died March 30, 1781. Sarah, born

January 30, 1782, died February I, 1798. William,
born January 30, 1782, died February 1, 1798. Will
iam, born October 5, 1780, was representative to
the general court 1813-23-35-41-46, to the state senate
1825 and 1826, and was county commissioner from
1836 to 1850 inclusive; graduate of Dartmouth and
prominent school teacher; a giant mentally as
well as physically; general in the state militia.
Rufus, born November 13, 1785, married, January
16, 1820, (intentions dated) Clarissa Cunningham,
of Spencer, and had : Laura del Rosetta, born
March 5, 1826, married, May 10, 1846, Edwin Fuller
and had one child Edward L. Fuller ; Amanda Mal
vina, born November 30, 1834. Molly, born Octo
ber 6, 1787, married, June 27, 1812, Samuel Tenney
and had : Paul, born October 12, 1822 ; Lucy Maria,
born May 3, 1814; Martha Rice, born November
30, 1816; Mary Chandler, born July 5, 1819; Rufus
Oswell, born May 7, 1821 ; Laura Hazen, born
November 30, 1822 ; Ellen Elizabeth, born July 27,
1825 ; Isabella, born February 24, 1796, died Novem
ber 16, 1845. Alexander, born April 16, 1792, mar
ried, September 6, 1813, Mary Henderson and had :
Emeline Mariah, born September 30, 1814; Anson
Alexander, born January 17, 1817; William Amory,
born October 7, 1820. Harriet, born March 10, 1795,
died March 19, 1795.
(IV) James Crawford, son of William Craw
ford (3), was born at Oakham, Massachusetts,
August 11, 1775. He received his education in the
. public schools of his native town and helped his
father on the farm. In early manhood he learned
the trade of gunsmith, following it through life.
He. died at Albany, New York, February 5, 1814.
He had been employed in the government arsenal
there. He was an active and robust man, fully six
feet in height.
He married, March, 1800, Molly Butler, born at
Oakham, Massachusetts, October 17, 1780, died Jan
uary 31, 1825, daughter of John and Grace Butler,
of Oakham. Their children : Laureston Faulkner,
born October 8, 1801, married October 8, 1829,
Caroline R. Cummings, of Hardwick, born 1809,
died August 29, 1838, leaving son Joseph, born
1830, daughter Mary Reed, born June 4, 1832, and
daughter Emily Augusta, born January 29, 1834.
Algernon Sidney, born April 27, 1805, died July
1846, at Puebla, Mexico, of yellow fever during the
Mexican war; married (first) Eliza Gay and had
son James; (second) Lucy Stone, of Rutland, and
had daughters Jane and Ann. William Theron,
born April 2, 1807, see forward.
, (V) William Theron Crawford, son of James
Crawford (4), was born at Oakham, Massachu
setts, April 8, 1807. He received his education in
fhe common schools of that town. He became a
wheelwright by trade and while a young man and
unmarried worked at Rochester, New York. He
married Almira Clark, at Barre, Massachusetts, and
lived for a year or more in Rutland, Massachusetts,
but settled shortly in Barre, where he bought the
farm where his wife's ancestors for several genera
tions had lived. He lived there until his death,
January 8, 1858. He attended the Congregational
church regularly all his life,, but was never a mem
ber. In politics he was a Whig until the organiza
tion of the Republican party, with which he affiliated
in his last years. He was selectman in Barre in
He married according to' the family records,
November 6, 1831, Almira Clark, daughter of Thomas
and Sarah (Demond)' Clark, descendant of one of
the oldest families of Massachusetts, her immi
grant ancestor being one of the first settlers. Their
children: 1. Charles,, born May 11, 1833, married

412

WORCESTER COUNTY

Louise Blakeman, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, No
vember 2, 1866 ; died ' at Chicago, Illinois, May 31,
1905; was paymaster of the United States Volun
teers from 1861 to 1865; stationed at Fort Leaven
worth, Kansas, and Denver, Colorado; made brevet
lieutenant colonel at close of the war; his children
were — Charles, Jr. and Marion. 2. William, born
January 3, 1835, at Barre, married Judith • Perkins
Cochran, daughter of Rev. Joseph Gallup and De
borah Plumb Cochran, missionaries at Mount Seir,
Persia, at Buffalo, New York, May 31, 1880; edu
cated in Barre schools, Leicester Academy, Am
herst College and Andover Theological Seminary;
he had pastorates at Central City, Colorado; Green
Bay, Sparta) and Mazomanie, Wisconsin; received
degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst College
in 1893; his children — William Wilberforce, born
at Washington, Connecticut, June 30, 1882, educated
at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and Oberlin College,
Ohio ; married at South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sep-
temper 5, 1905; journalist in Chicago, Illinois;
Arthur Whipple, born at Sparta, March 5, 1885,
graduated at Beloit College, Wisconsin, 1906; Dora
Judith, born at Sparta, April 24, 1888. 3. Henry,
born March 5, 1839, died February 17, 1843. 4. Sid
ney, see forward. 5. Sarah Clark, born in Barre,
May 22, 1843, died there December 26, 1861. 6.
Ellen Almira, born in Barre, April 4, 1846, died in
Barre, April 27, 1873. 7. Joseph Bowman, born in
Barre, February 11, 1848, died in Barre, December
20, 1851. 8. Frederick Bowman, born in Barre, Sep
tember 12, 1854, was educated at Sheffield Scientific
School in Yale University, was in business at Balti
more and Philadelphia until his death, October 7,
1894. He married Janie Campbell, October 14, 1880,
children — Bessie, Frederick Campbell and Mary
Helmsworth. (VI) Sidney Crawford, son of William Theron
Crawford (5), was born in Barre, Massachusetts,
January 31, 1841. He received his early educa
tion in the public schools of Barre, fitting for col
lege in the high school of that town and at Monson
Academy. He entered Amherst College in 1857 and
graduated in 1861. From 1861 to 1864 he was
principal of Walton Academy, Delaware county,
New York. He was for one year assistant pay
master in the United States Volunteers at Leaven
worth, Kansas, and Denver, Colorado. Then he
studied theology at Andover Seminary, graduating
in the class of 1870. He has had pastorates in Fair-
haven, Vermont; Lyons, Iowa; Tampa, Florida;
Rutland, Massachusetts; and Provincetown, Massa
chusetts. During his residence in Florida he was a
member of the board of trustees of Rollins College
at Winter Park. He is author of "Historic Sketch
of First • Congregational Church, Lyons, Iowa" and
of "Rufus Putnam, and his Pioneer Life in the
Northwest," printed in the proceedings of the Amer
ican Antiquarian Society, 1899. He united first
with the Congregational church in Andover Semin
ary and since -then has kept his connection with the
church of which he was pastor. In politics he has
always been a Republican. He belongs to two col
lege- fraternities, the -Alpha Delta Phi and the. Phi
Beta- Kappa.
He married, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1875, Har
riet Phinney Peak, daughter of Dr. James Madison
and Celestia Benjamin Peak, of Cooperstown, New
York. Mrs. Crawford died in Tampa, Florida, 1888.
He married (second), 1901, in Provincetown, Massa
chusetts, Edith Small, daughter of Josiah F. and
Adelaide _L. Small. The children of Rev. Sidney
and Harriet Phinney (Peak) Crawford were. 1.
Frederick Stuart, born in 1876 at Lyons, Iowa, grad
uated at Amherst College 1897; since then he has

been on the staff of the New York Tribune, New
York city; married, 1002, Mabel Rosemond Mc
Lean, of Elmira, New York; their two children are:
Frederic Stuart Crawford, Jr., born 1903 ; Sidney
Peak, born 1905. 2. Paul Peak, born 1879, died
young. 3. Marjorie Peak, born 1881, died young.
(V) Elias Butler Crawford, son of James Crawr.
ford (4), was born in Oakham, Massachusetts, No
vember 19, 1810, and was educated there in the com
mon schools. When he was about twenty-one he
left home and went to New England, village of
Grafton, Massachusetts, and was engaged in the
thread business, he remained there until 1835, when
he removed to Oxford, Massachusetts, and for a
time manufactured spools. Later he manufactured
thread, and this business was continued under the
firm name of DeWitt, Campbell & Company; Alex
ander DeWitt being agent until after May, 1836,
when he was succeeded by Benjamin F. Campbell,
who continued until May 25, 1842, when the mill
was burned and the business discontinued. On Sep
tember 20, 1842, Stearns DeWitt conveyed to Elias
B. Crawford three-fourths of the estate of Buffum-
ville, including lands called Pierpont together with
the remnant of the plant of the old thread company
not destroyed, and Mr. Crawford continued the
manufacture of thread in a shop near the site of
the mill and had his home on this property. Mr.
Crawford acquired the other quarter interest in the
property April 24, 1845, from the Samuel Dows,e
estate, and he began the building of the present mill
of brick and had it nearly completed^ when he sold
it to Charles L. Harding, who fitted it up for making
broadcloths and doeskins. In 1854 Mr. Crawford
occupied the basement of the Sigourney mill in the
manufacture of twine. Elias B. Crawford bought
of H. G. Otis and Asa B. Taft, April 16, 1853, the
old Jacob Marble place on Rocky Hill, and the
Crawfords lived there until April, i860, when they
sold to Francis Coughlin, of Rhode Island. Mr.
Crawford removed to Putnam, Connecticut, and for
a time manufactured cotton goods. Later he manu
factured woolen goods, at Stafford, Connecticut, fin
ally coming to Wilkinsonville, Massachusetts, where
he owned a mill and manufactured , woolen goods
at what was known as Woodbury Village. His mar
ket was mostly in New York city. He sold out finally
to Moses Taft, of Uxbridge, in 1888, and retired
from active business, making his home in Worces
ter with his daughter, Mrs. Caleb Colvin. He died
there January 29, 1890. In politics he was a Repub
lican and in 1855 held the office of assessor in the
town of Oxford, and at . one time highway com
missioner. He married, at Grafton (intention dated) March
8, 1834, Jane Thankful Taft, who died January 10,
1876, daughter of Otis, granddaughter of Silas, de
scendant of Robert Taft, the immigrant, through.
his son Robert. (See sketch of Taft . families).
Their children : 1. Eliza Jane, born January 18, 1836,
married, June 26, i860, Albert H. Appleby, of Ox
ford, Massachusetts, and had Elmira Harris, born
September 8, 1861 ; Marian, born February 17, 1864,
married David Glass of Oxford ; Nettie Louise, born
October 5, 1867; Addie Eliza, born October 9, 1869;
Elias Butler, born August 23, 1875. 2. Ellen Minerva,
born November 11, 1837, died February 25, 1901;
married, October 8, 1877, Caleb Colvin, a prominent
Worcester manufacturer. 3. William Henry, see
forward. 4. Annette, born September 21, 1850, died
January 22, 1905 ; married Albert Harry Stone, of
Worcester, and they had — Nellie Crawford Stone,
born August 24, 1880; Arthur Stone, born July 11,
1888. (VI) William Henry Crawford, son of Elias B.

WORCESTER COUNTY

4i3

Crawford (5), was born at Oxford, Massachusetts,
May 7, 1840. He received his early education in the
public schools. At the age of eighteen years he
went to Schrawlenburg, New Jersey, where he taught
school for two years. In i860 he went to Worcester
and entered the employ of Sumner Pratt, a prominent
dealer in mill supplies, and spent his first year in
the business with which he has been connected all of
¦ the time since. After his first year he took a course
at Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts,
and then returned to the employ of Mr. Pratt. He
was a clerk in the concern until 1870, when he was
admitted a partner by Mr. Pratt under the firm name
of Sumner Pratt & Company. The store was at 22
Front street and the stock consisted of manufac
turers' supplies for the cotton -and woolen industries.
The firm continued until December 1, 1896, when
Mr. Crawford became the senior partner and John
T. Brierly was admitted to the firm. The present
name of Crawford & Company was then assumed.
The business was moved to 15 and 17 Mechanic
street. April 1, 1900, where it remained until burned
out March 17, 1905. Since then the firm has occupied
handsome and spacious quarters at 663 and 665 Main
street, in the Bellmar block, scarcely a month
elapsing from the time of the fire until the firm was
able to supply its trade from the new store. The
firm does a prosperous business with mills in all
parts of New England, New York, New Jersey,
Canada and other sections.
Mr. Crawford is an attendant of the Plymouth
Congregational Church, and has been on the board
of assessors of the parish three years. In politics
he is a Republican and had frequently taken part in
county, councillor, senatorial and congressional con
ventions of his party as delegate. He was a mem
ber of the Worcester common council in 1884 and
1885, and of the school board three years. He has
been a member of Montacute Lodge of Free Masons
since October 14, 1872. He was a director of the
Citizens' National Bank for several years. Mr. Craw
ford has an elegant residence at n Massachusetts
avenue. He married, June 8, 1865, at Palmer, Massachu
setts, Mary Ann Moore, daughter of Henry A. and
Elmira (Ruggles) Moore, of Palmer. Her father
was a scythe maker. Their children: 1. Lillian
Moore, born May 4, 1868, teacher in the Classical
high school, Worcester. 2. Mabel Jane, born Octo
ber 17, 1870, married Dr. Frank H. Howland,_of
Worcester, one of the leading dentists of the city,
and they have Mabel Gladys Howland, born March
4, 1904. 3. Anna Cutler, born June 3, 1873, resides
at home "with parents. 4. Harry Colyin, born Sep
tember 23, 1883, graduate of Amherst, 1906, and is
with the firm of Crawford & Company.
FROST FAMILY. Elder Edmund Frost (1).
the immigrant ancestor of Frederick E. Frost, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, was born in England
about 1610. He settled in Cambridge, Massachu
setts, where he was during his life ruling elder of
the Cambridge. church. He was admitted a freeman
March 3, 1635-36, and was a proprietor of the town
as early as 1636. He bought land of Thomas
Blodgett in 1639 on the west side of Dunster street,
between Harvard square and Mt. Auburn street.
He sold this place to Catherine Haddon and bought
a house on the west side of Garden street, near
Mason street. He sold land to Richard Eccles in
1646. He seems to have owned the land on the west
side of -Kirkland street from Divinity Hall avenue
to Francis avenue. His descendants owned it until
recently. He married (first) in England Thomasin
(Tamasin)  , and (second) Reana Daniels,

who was the widow successively of

James,

William Andrew and Robert Daniel. He died July
12, 1672. His will was dated April 16, and proved
October 1, 1671. He bequeathed to wife Reana;
to sons Ephraim, Thomas, John and Joseph; to his
two daughters, Sarah and Mary; to Jacob French
and his wife and the children of Golden More; to
Harvard College and to Mr. Alcock's son there.
The inventory of the estate of the widow was dated
January 3, 1675-76. The children: John, born and
baptized in England; Thomas, born April, 1637, died
youngj Samuel, born February, 1638; Joseph,
born January 13, 1639; James, born April 9, 1640;
Mary, born July 24, 1645; Ephraim, see forward;
Thomas; Sarah, born 1653.
(II) Ephraim Frost, son of Edmund Frost (1),
was bom in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1646, died
there January 2, 1717-18. He settled in Cambridge,
and married Hepsibath  . Their children:
Edmund, born March 14, 1679-80; Ephraim, born
September 23, 1682; Thomas, born 1688; Ebenezer,
born in Cambridge, baptized January 17, 1696-97,
see forward; Sarah, married, May 17, 1720, Nathaniel
Patten. (Ill) Ebenezer Frost, son of Ephraim Frost (2),
was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and bap
tized there January 17, 1696-97. He married, July 2,
1723, Deborah Martin. In 1730 he bought a lot on
the east side of North (now Massachusetts) ave
nue, Cambridge. He seems to have lived in Charles
town also and his children may have been born there,
or some of them. He was taxed there in 1741, 1745
to 1766. He sold Gideon Frost four acres, late of
John Cooper. Frost was a currier by trade. He
died in 1768. His 'will was dated April 16, 1768,
and proved June 28, 1768. The children : Abraham,
born March 7, 1723-24, married, June 8, 1747, Mary
Oliver; Ebenezer, baptized August 22, 1725, see for
ward; James, born March 2, 1731-32, married Eliza
beth Roby, daughter of Dr. Ebenezer Roby.
(IV) Ebenezer Frost, son of Ebenezer Frost
(3), was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
baptized there August 22, 1725. He removed to
Rutland, Massachusttts, after his second marriage
in 1761. He bought a farm of one hundred and
four acres including house and barn at Rutland
of Joseph Bartlett, of that town.1 The land was
bounded by land of William Allen, Captain Samuel
Brown, Samuel Mansland ,and Israel How. The
deed is dated December 19, 1760.
He married Naomi Dana, daughter of Thomas
Dana, April 21, 1748. He married (second) Ruth
Wright, of Woburn (published February 24, 1761),
He was appointed guardian of his four children of
his first wife July 13, 1761. His wife Ruth died at
Rutland, July 20, 1789, aged eighty-nine years ac
cording to the inscription on her gravestone. He
was a soldier in the revolution, a private in Captain
David Bent's company, Colonel Nathan Sparhawk's
regiment, and marched at the Bennington alarm.
The children of Ebenezer and Naomi Frost : Eben
ezer, born in Cambridge or Charlestown, baptized
February 19, 1748-49, see forward; Mary, baptized
February 24, 1750-51; David, baptized June 9, 1754;
Deborah, baptized February 12, 1758. Children of
Ebenezer and Ruth Frost : Ruth, born August 4,
1762; Joseph, baptized December 29, 1765; married,
November 20, 1784, Adonijah Bartlett; Jonathan,
baptized December 13, 1767; Dana, born 1769, died
May 28, 1843; Stephen, baptized April 8, 1770, mar
ried Polly Kendall, August 5, 1790.
Ebenezer Frost, son of Ebenezer Frost (4), was
born in Cambridge or Charlestown, Massachusetts,
and baptized in Cambridge, February 19, 1748-49.
He settled for a "short time in Southborough, but

4H

WORCESTER COUNTY

sold his land there September 5, 1771, to his father,
Ebenezer Frost, of Rutland, and went to Norwich,
New London county, Connecticut. He kept a tavern
there with good success. He also followed his trade
of stone mason until incapacitated by an accident
while laying a stone wall. He was an extensive
dealer in horses, many of which he sold in Cuba.
There is a deed in the Worcester registry in which
Ebenezer Frost, of Norwich, county of New Lon
don, conveys to Thomas Read, of Parkstown, Massa
chusetts, for twenty pounds all his right to the real
estate of his father, Ebenezer Frost, late of. Rut
land, Massachusetts, as set off to "my mother, Mrs.
Ruth Frost, as her dower." The deed is dated
May 17, 1799, ten years after the death of the
Widow Frost. Ebenezer Frost married Luthena
Cady, a native of France. Their children; Eben
ezer, Henry, Joseph, born 1792, see forward; Polly
Luthena, married  Peckham, and lived at
Hartford, Connecticut.
(VI) Joseph Frost, son of Ebenezer Frost (5),
was born at Norwich, Massachusetts, February 17,
1792. He was educated in the district schools of
this locality, and in early manhood went to Wood
stock, Connecticut, to learn the trade of cabinet
maker. After a few years he went to Greenfield,
Massachusetts, where he followed his trade and
made carriages in the employ of one Clay. After
his marriage, five years later, he removed to Strat
ton, Vermont, worked at his trade there two years,
then came back to Greenfield and worked for one
Bancroft and for Miles & Lyoni He remained in
Greenfield until i860, when he removed, to Water-
bury, Connecticut, and worked, there as1 carpenter
and cabinet maker for the next ten years. He
spent the last two years of his life in Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, living with George Washburn Frost,
his son. Mr. Frost was an Episcopalian in early
life, later a Unitarian. He was a Whig until the
Republican party came into being, when he became
a firm supporter of the new organization and re
mained so until his death. He was a member of the
state militia in his youth.
He married at Greenfield, Massachusetts, De
cember 2, 1819, Susanna Waite Guellow, born Sep
tember 30, 1801. ' Their children : Joseph Warren,
born at Stratton, Vermont, Noyembef 14, 1820,
married, March 17, '1845, Harriet Buck, of .Brattle
boro, Vermont, and had children— Webb War
ren, born February 4, 1846, married, ; December 20,
1866, Celia N. Armstrong; Hallie Eliza, born Feb
ruary 22, 1848, married, 1866, Sidney J. Enson and
had one son, Clarence, born June 20, 1869; Rush
Stanhope, born October 17, 1757, married S. Elinor
Davies and and have: Clarence Stanley, born No
vember 26, 1884; Herbert Leslie, born September
26, 1886; Rush Raymond, born August 11, 1890;
Howard Davies, born January 25, 1893; Marjorie
Adelaide, born May 27, 1906. Daniel Webb, born
May 11, 1822, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, married,
January 14, 1847, Louisa Cook, of Windsor, Con
necticut, died August 19, 1903; they had children —
Henry, born April 22, 1848, died August' 19, 1904;
Jennie Louise, born 1832, died 1859; S. Otis, born
January 17, 1858; Charles H., born December 10,
1859. Luthena Cady, born at Greenfield, Massachu
setts, April 28, 1824, married, July 3, 1843, Samuel
Azaro Corser, of Greenfield, born December 6, 1823,
and they had children — George Albert, born Sep
tember 23, 1845, died in civil war, »unmarried ; Ida
Luthena, born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, April
28, 1848, married, August 2, 1866, Waterman D.
Bristol, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Ada, born May
25, 1850, died February 19, 1883, unmarried; Charles
Henry, born in Millbury, died young; Elizabeth,

born November 23, 1855, married, April, 1889, George
Hawley and have a son, George William Hawley;
Susan Jane, born at Worcester, 1857, died young;
Hezekiah Stone, born in Greenfield, February 15,
1826, died April 26, 1898; married, March 13, 1845,
Mary Esther Munsell, born November 27, 1827, died
December 25, 1895, and they had children— Mary
Elizabeth, born February 8, 1847, married, October
28, 1902, Joseph Bowers, of Chicago; Ella Augusta,
born June 29, 1848, married, June 27, 1869, Edward
B. Beals, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and had
Alfred Tennyson, born April 21, 1870; Grace Frost,
born October 23, 1871 ; Nellie Elizabeth, born Sep
tember 28, 1873; Edna Winifred, born October 18,
1876; Joseph' Frost, born March 1, 1850, died Sep
tember, 1851. George Washburn, born at Green
field, July 2, 1828, died August 20, 1830. George
Washburn, born April 18, 1831, see forward. Eliza
beth, born May 16, 1833, married, January 3, 1853,
Noble Terrill, of Hamden, Connecticut, and had
children— Joseph Henry, born June 17, 1855, died
February 1, 1875; Ida Louise, born February 15,
1858, married, July 2, 1877, Noyes E. Bassett and
have — Raymond E., Louise H., Leon N. ; Jennie
Lusina, born April 22, 1867, married, June 6, 1888,
Octave Petitjean, and they have: Mabel T., Clif
ford O, Hazel J.; Jessie Evelina, born May 9, 1875,
died August 10, 1875. Charles Henry, born March
24, 1835, married Eliza Cook, of Windsor, Con
necticut, had no issue. Joseph Frost married (sec
ond), October, 1856, at Greenfield, Maria (An
drews) Abbott, mother of George Washburn
Frost's wife. They had no children.
(VII) George Washburn Frost, son of Joseph
Frost (6), was born at Greenfield, Massachusetts,
April 18, 1831. : He was educated in the common
schools of that town. He went to work first at
the age of eleven years and when not in school
was employed in the factory of the Russell Cutlery
Company. He then went to Fitchburg, Massachu
setts, and learned the trade of iron molder of Asher1
Green, remaining with him four years when he
removed to Worcester and entered the employ of
William A. Wheeler) in whose foundry he worked
for nine years. He worked also at his trade for the
Fall River Iron Works at Fall River, Massachu
setts; for the Holmes Iron Foundry at Providence
and for 'the W'hitin Machine Works at Whitinville.
He went to Springfield about 1857, and two years
later returned to' Fitchburg, where for ten years he
was employed in the foundry of Page & Smith and
for ten years by the Putnam Machine Company, re
siding in Fitchburg and Lunenburg for twenty
years. About 1881 he went again to Worcester and
worked in ' the foundry of Caleb Colvin and for
other foundries for a number of years. He is at
present associated with his son, Frederick E. Frost,
at 505 Main street. He resides on Piedmont street.
He is an Episcopalian in religion and a Republican
in politics. He has served at various times as dele
gate to- nominating conventions of his party. He
was a member of the Molders' Union of Fitchburg
from 1873 to 1878.
He married, March 20, 1856, Mary Ellen Abbott,
born January 22, 1840, daughter of Jonathan Wood
Abbott, born at Shapleigh, New Hampshire, April
17. .1789, and Maria (Andrews) Abbott, born at
Machias, Maine, June 9, 1798. Her father was a
custom tailor. Their children: Joseph, born at
Springfield, August n, 1857, died at Lunenburg,
February 8, 1875; Willard Francis, born at Fitch
burg, September 13, i860, unmarried; George Al
bert, born at Fitchburg, July 25, 1866, 'died July 1,
1868; George Henry; born at Fitchburg, March I,
1864, died August 12, 1864; Frederick Eugene, born

WORCESTER COUNTY

415

at Fitchburg, March 13, 1869, see forward ; Emma
Luella, born at Lunenburg, October 10, 1872, died
June 16, 1873; Harry Lincoln, born at Lunenburg,
June 12, 1877, died December 15, 1879.
(VIII) Frederick Eugene Frost, son of George
Washburn Frost (7), was born in Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts, March 13, 1869. He received his early edu
cation in the public schools there. At the age of
thirteen he came to Worcester with his parents
and attended the public and high schools. He was
graduated from the Classical high school in 1888.
He entered the employ of Perkins & Butler, dealers
in paper, twine, etc., as clerk, and remained two
years. He then started in business for himself at
554 Main ' street in the manufacture and sale of
rubber stamps. A year later he removed to 535
Main street, upstairs, where he was located for a
year. He was then at 537 Main street for a year.
In the spring of 1898 he bought of William L. Lewis
'the old established stationery store, formerly owned
by C. B. Eaton, at 505 Main street, where he has
since been located. He has made a specialty of
typewriters, stamps and stencils, in which he does a
large business as well as in the regular lines of
stationery, office supplies, etc. He manufactures
seals, door plates, badges and incidentally has a
large business in soda, confectionery and cigars. He
owns a fine residence at 33 Newbury street. He
attends the First Universalist Church. In politics
he is a Republican. He is a member of Morning
Star Lodge of Free Masons, joining June 19, 1906.
He became a member of Worcester Chapter of
Royal Arch Masons. He is also a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge, No. 43, Odd Fellows, and of
tlie Worcester Automobile Club.
He married, November I, 1890, Edith Emily
Cook, daughter of Benjamin Munroe and Susan B.
(Walden) Cook, of Worcester. Her father is a
machinist in the Crompton & Knowles Loom Works,
a veteran of the civil war. Their children : Ray
mond Harrison, Mabel Sophia, Harold Lincoln.
HARRINGTON 'FAMILY. The ship "Eliza
beth" which sailed from England, April 10, 1634,
had as one of its passengers Robert Harrington,
horn in England, 1616. He settled in Watertown,
Massachusetts, where he was given a "homestall"
by Deacon Thomas Hastings, probably a relative.
Harrington's name appears last on the list of pro
prietors of Watertown, made 1642 to 1644, at which
time he owned the above named "homestall." Octo
ber 1, 1648, he married Susan, (or Susanna) George,
daughter of John George, of Watertown. She was
at that time an orphan, the widow of Henry Gold^
stone being her guardian. She died July 6, 1694.
He was admitted freeman May 27, 1663, and died
May 11, 1707, aged ninety-one years. His will, dated
January 1, 1704, mentions sons — John, Daniel, Ben
jamin, Samuel, Thomas and Edward. To Edward
he gave the homestead. His will also mentions
daughters, Susanna Beers, Mary Bemis, Sarah Win-
ship; his grandson, Joseph, son of Joseph, deceased,
and daughter-in-law, Joanna Ward, late wife of •his
deceased son Joseph. His inventory mentions six
teen lots of land amounting to six hundred and forty-
seven and one-half acres, appraised at seven hun
dred and seventeen pounds. The estate included
house and mill, valued at one hundred and twenty
pounds. The children of Robert and Susan
(George) Harrington were : Susanna, born August
18, 1649, married, February 9, 1671, John Cutting;
John, August 24, 1651, died August 24, 1741 ; Robert,
August 31, 1653, died young; George, November
24. I<>55> was in Captain Samuel Wadsworth's com
pany and was killed by Indians at Lancaster, Feb

ruary, 1675; Daniel, November 1, 1657, died April
19, 1728; Joseph, December 28, 1659; Benjamin, Jan
uary 26, 1661, died 1724; Mary, January 12, 1663,
married John Bemis; Thomas, April 20, 1665, died
March 29, 1712; Samuel, December 18, 1666; Ed
ward, March, 1668; Sarah, March 10, 1670, married
Joseph Winship, Jr., November 24, 1687, and died
November 28, 1710; David, June 1, 1673, died March
11, 1675-
(II) Edward Harrington, son of the ancestor
Robert, married (first), March 30, 1692, Mary
Ocington, and (second), May 24, 1727, Anna, widow
of Jonathan Bullard, of Weston, Massachusetts.
He was selectman of Watertown, 1716-30-31. Their
children were : Mary, born January 2, 1692, married
Daniel Rogers, December 7, 1710; William, Novem
ber 11, 1694, died February 27, 1751; Mindwell, June
19, 1697, died October 14, 1700; Joanna, August 16,
1699, married John Taintor, May 25, 1720; Edward,
June 27, 1702, died December 6, 1792; Samuel,
August 3, 1704; Nathaniel, June 25, 1706, known as
"Master Harrington"; Francis, June 11, 1709, mar
ried Prudence Stearns; Susanna, born September 9,
171 1, married Samuel Barnard; her son Samuel was
one of the Boston tea party, and a major in the rev
olutionary war.
(Ill) Samuel Harrington, son of Edward and
Mary Harrington, was born August 3, 1704. He
married, October 19, 1725, Sarah Warren. He was
called "of Walthams" and had children : Samuel,
baptized May 19, 1728; Mary, baptized May 19,
1728; Elijah, born 1734, probably another son, was
in Worcester prior to 1768.
(IV) Samuel Harrington, was called "of Wor
cester" in 1776, at which time his daughter Hannah
married Daniel Maynard, of Shrewsbury. He very
likely was here prior to April, 1775, when his son
Samuel marched from Worcester in Captain Tim
othy Bigelow's company for Lexington. His chil
dren were : Samuel, born 1754, married Silence
Robinson; he died 1838, aged eighty- four years;
Hannah, born 1757, married Daniel Maynard; Noah,
born February 2, 1760, married Lois Kingsley.
(V) Samuel Harrington, fifth in line from the
ancestor Richard, married, November 19, 1782, Mrs.
Silence Robinson, at Dorchester, Massachusetts,
where they first settled and there all but one of their
children were born. He marched from Worcester
on the alarm at Lexington, April 19, 1775, in Cap
tain Bigelow's company of Worcester men, and
served twenty-three days in Colonel Artemas Ward's
regiment. He came with his family to Worcester
about the year 1796, and here his youngest son was
born, September 1, that year. Their children were :
Susanna, born February 12, 1783, married Abel
Flagg, October 31, 1802; Samuel, October 3, 1784,
married Nancy White, April 23, 1812; Lucretia,
August 21, 1786, married John Baird, December
25, 1800; James, June 23, 1788, married Esther
Flagg, April 25, 1821 ; Sarah, April 12, 1790, married
John Gleason, and Peter White; .ebenezer, Sep
tember 22, 1792; Mary, August 24, 1794, married
Samuel Perry; Austin, September 1, 1796.
(V) Noah Harrington, son of Samuel Harring
ton (4), was born February 2, 1760, and died July
18, 1832, aged seventy-two years. He served as
matross in Colonel Timothy Craft's regiment of ar
tillery. He was also in Captain Joseph Sibley's
company in 1777, and served in other capacities in
the revolutionary struggle. He is described as five
feet, eleven inches tall and of light complexion. He
married, July 27, 1784, Lois Kingsley, born Sep
tember 12, 1760, died October 11, 1820, aged fifty-
four years. They first settled in Shrewsbury, where
three children were born to them. They came to

416

WORCESTER COUNTY

Worcester about 1792, and lived on the Grafton
road, where it passes near the Boston & Albany
Railway tracks. He, with his brother Samuel, kept
a tavern in Boston on the site of the present Adams
House. Their children were: Lydia, born Decem
ber 25, 1784; William, 1786, died in infancy; Han
nah, 1792, died young; Samuel, died young; Will
iam, February 25, 1788, died February 12, 1871 ;
Luke, September 12, 1789, died November 1, 1855;
Samuel, 1797, died April 4, 1855; Eliza, 1800, mar
ried Mr. Shay, and died July 17, 1869; Thomas J.,
January 27, 1804, died Julys, i&SS; Hannah, July
17, 1809, married Henry Tower, and died March, 23,
i853- (VI) William Harrington, son of Noah (5),
was born February 25, 1788, died February 12, 1871.
He married Abigail Adaline Stowell, daughter of
Peter and Elizabeth Stowell. She was born March
I5> 1799- Mr. Harrington passed his youthful days
on his father's farm, and when a young man at
tempted to master the trade of a mason. While
at work on the original Exchange building on Main
street, Worcester, the staging on which he "and others
were at work gave way and all were thrown to the
ground. Young Harrington was picked up for dead
and carried to Mr. Hampilton's residence. In a few
moments Mrs. Hampilton discovered signs of life,
when every effort was put forth in his behalf. His
knee was crushed in the fall, and after a confine
ment lasting five years the limb was finally ampu
tated by Dr. John Green. He then fitted himself for
a teacher and taught in the Central Worcester dis
trict. Charles Stiles, George Bancroft, Stephen Salis
bury and Henry W. Miller attended his school.
Later he conducted a store and a tavern. The sec
ond time he embarked in mercantile business, he
located at what has come to be known as Harring
ton's corner. Flour sold in 1812 here at twenty-five
dollars per barrel. He resided on Park street, near
Salem street. He died in 1871, aged eighty-two
years, eleven months and seventeen days. His chil
dren were : Frances A., born October 4, 1821 ; Will
iam Henry, April 29, 1824; Chauncy Goodrich,
June 30, 1826.
(VII) William Henry Harrington was born
April 29, 1824. He married Lucy Forbes, of Mill
bury, and had one son to reach mature years, Will
iam Harrington, now of Worcester. After the death
of his first wife he married Mrs. Bemis. Mr. Har
rington was a manufacturer, and many years oper
ated the plant known as the Berlin mills, where
woolens are manufactured. Prior to this he made
wrenches. About 1855 he bought out the business
of Calvin Witherbee in Millbury, where he continued
making monkey-wrenches, chisels and drawing
knives. After the beginning of the civil war he
made bayonets for the government. A Mr. Heald
was interested with him in starting in business at
the Berlin mills, and also the Atlanta mills in Mill
bury. (Ill) Josiah Harrington, son of John Harring
ton, an elder brother of Edward, the father of Fran
cis, was born June 12, 1709. He married, May 20,
1730, Dinah Flagg, youngest child of Allen Flagg.
He boUght land in Worcester of Cornelius Durant.
May, 1754, he was "of Walthams, Massachusetts."
Their children were : Huldah, baptized September
25, 1731 ; Dinah, baptized May 20, 1733, died Sep
tember 30, 1759, was the wife of Elijah Livermore;
Elijah, baptized November 17, 1734: Tabitha, bap
tized September 11, 1737; Elizabeth, baotized April
!5> 1739; Josiah, baptized May 11, 1740, married
Mary Jones, January 10, 1764; Hannah, baptized
November 22, 1741 ; Jemima, baptized July 29, 1744 ;
Sarah, baptized May 11, 1746; Jemima, baptized

January 24, 1748; Anna, baptized July 2, 1749; Mary,
baptized September 15, 1751; Silas, baptized May 21,
1752, married, November 25, 1773, Mindwell Wel
lington; she died October 27, 1808, aged fifty-seven
years. Silas Harrington married Abigajl Thorp,
February 1, 1809. He died in Worcester, June 15,
1831. His children were: Olive, born 1775; Lydia,
1778; Jeremiah, 1779; Josiah, 1781 ; Clarissa, 1784;,
Silas, 1786; Mindwell Wellington, 1810; Hannah
Bucklin, 1812; Clarissa Harlan, 1815; Mary, 1817;
Silas Flagg, 1820.
(IV) Elijah Harrington, son of Josiah and
Dinah (Flagg) Harrington, married Azubah Rice,
February 8, 1758. She died in April, 1768, aged
thirty-four years. He married (second) ¦ Mehitable
Draper, in 1769. He died February 3, 181 1, aged
seventy-seven years. Their children were: Ephraim,
baptized June 29, 1760; Azubah, baptized April 11,
1761, died in infancy; Azubah, baptized March 24,
1762 ; Mehitable, baptized May 24, 1770 ; Abigail, '
baptized July 14, 1773; .Tamesin, baptized June 7,
1776; Fanny, baptized August 14, 1777; Elijah, bap-'
tized August 2, 1779.
(Ill) Francis Harrington, eighth child of Ed
ward (2) and grandson of Robert the American
ancestor, was born June 11, 1709. He married Pru
dence Stearns, of Watertown, Massachusetts, in
1736. She was born April 27, 1713, and died at
Worcester, August, 1751, aged about thirty-eight
years. He married (second) Deborah Brigham, in
Westboro, November 14, 1752. She died in Worces
ter, April 20, 1799, aged eighty-four years. He died
July 18, 1793, aged eighty-four years. At the date
of his marriage with Prudence Stearns he was called
"of Grafton." Thither he took his young wife and
established his home, and there their eldest child
Francis, Jr., was born. In the Spring of 1741 he
purchased of Joseph Dana and Mary Dana, his wife,
of Pomfret, Connecticut, the farm in Worcester that
was to become his future home. He no doubt took
possession of the purchase just named as soon as
Charles Davenport (then on the land) could easily
vacate the premises, and Harrington was the first
of his name to settle in Worcester, as evidenced
by the town records,' the name of Francis Harring
ton appearing in the list of "persons qualified to
serve as jurymen agreeable to law." This list was
laid before the selectmen at the meeting held July
19, 1742, and soon public honors and responsibilities
came to him, for at the next meeting he was chosen
field driver, and. was re-elected the next year. The rec
ord shows that at a meeting held May 16, 1743, it
was voted that in consideration of great sickness in
Francis Harrington's family, his tax for the last
year be repaid to him, being one pound, three shil
lings; and August. 29, the town voted him seventy-
two shillings for "two birds two tails." In March,
1748, he was chosen constable. For four years, 1754
to 1777 inclusive, he was chosen to serve on com
mittee to provide schoolmasters for his district. His
chief service, however, was given to the office of
surveyor of highways and collector of highway
taxes, having been first chosen to that office in
1750, and re-elected in 1758-63-68-72-83.
The children of Francis and Prudence (Stearns)
Harrington were : Francis, born in Grafton, 1737,
died in Worcester, April 6, 1768; Nathaniel, born
in Worcester, 1742, married-Ruth Stone; Mary, born
in Worcester, December 16, 1753, married Jonathan
Stone, Jr., February,- 1777; Prudence, born April 20,
1755, married Jonah Perry, July 6, 1780; William,
born November^ 18, 1756, married Mary Perry, May
29, 1781.
(IV) Nathaniel Harrington, son of Francis and
Prudence Harrington, was born in Worcester, 1742.

WORCESTER COUNTY

4i7

He married Ruth Stone, July 2, 1776, who was
born in 1748, and died August 24, 1817, aged sixty-
nine years. Mr. Harrington was born and reared on
the Harrington homestead, and when the alarm was
sbunded calling for men to assist in defending the
rights and liberties of the colony, he responded, go
ing out as sergeant in Captain Timothy Bigelow's
company of minute-men, Colonel Artemas Ward's
regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19,
1775. He signed, with others, order for advance
pay in June, 1775. He was also first lieutenant in
Captain Joshua Whitney's company, Fifth Worces
ter County Regiment of Massachusetts militia. Mr.
Harrington's introduction into public ofiice in his
native town was March 11, 1777, when at town
meeting he was chosen, with seven others, to serve
as "hog reeves." Two years later his name appears
on the jury list, and in 1780 also as assessor, and
the following year as one to provide schooling in
his district. In 1788-94 Mr. Harrington was chosen
surveyor of highways and collector of highway
taxes. He served on the school committee from
1790 to 1808, and was chosen on committee for
building public schoolhouses in 1797-99. For more
than twenty-five years from 1798 he was paid by the
town for boarding and nursing Kezia Morse, a poor
person. In 1799 he was fence viewer, and he served
as a selectman from 1803 to 1809 inclusive. About
the last public service rendered the town was in
running the boundary line between Worcester and
Shrewsbury. In 1808 he, with the other members
of the board, signed a letter to the selectmen of
Boston declining their request that the citizens of
Worcester be assembled in town meeting to concur
with the sentiments expressed by the inhabitants
of Boston in a petition addressed to President Jef
ferson, praying for the suspension of the embargo
act. He died February 28, 1831, aged eighty-nine
years. His children were : Francis, born May ' 15,
1777, died October 17, 1841 ; Jonathan, October 31,
1779, married Mary Flagg; Sarah, August 14, 1786.
(V) Captain Francis Harrington married Lydia
Perry, May 13, 1801. He remained on the old home
stead. He was captain of the militia of the Wor
cester South Company. Although not prominent in
public affairs, he, was honored more or less with
responsible positions by the town, such as school
committeeman, surveyor of highways and collector
of highway taxes. In 1816 he was chosen with
William Trowbridge, Thaddeas Chapin, Benjamin
Thaxter and Ebenezer Mower to report at a future
meeting on the claim made by Isaiah Thomas, Esq.,
"for work, etc., done at the bridge near Mr. Salis
bury's, etc." His children were: Daniel, born Octo
ber 4, 1802, married Clarissa Gray; Mary, March
20, 1804, married Captain and Deacon Samuel Perry ;
Hannah, February 12, 1806, died July 14, 1823 ; Jo
seph, February 27, 1808, died April 13, 1812; Fran
cis, August 11, 1811, married (firsO Harriet W.
Robbinson; (second) Frances J. Moore; he was an
alderman in i860; Lydia, December 12, 1814, mar
ried Nahum Flagg.
(V) Jonathan Harrington, son of Nathaniel (4),
was born October 31, 1779. He married Molly (or
Mary) Flagg, 1804, and resided on a portion of the
original homestead. Their only child was Benjamin,
born April 8, 1805, died August 15, 1873. His home
was at Harrington Court, near his cousin, Daniel
Harrington. He married Lucretia Flagg, March
18, 1834. Their children: Mary Elizabeth, born
January 25, 1836, married Samuel G. Curtis; Benja
min F., September 2, 1838, married Harriet W.
Harrington; Hannah Flagg, November 12, 1842, died
April 11, 1845; Henry Augustus, September 8, 1846,
married Delia M. Griggs ; he was a member of over
seers of th'e poor, 1888 to 1896, and a member of
27

the board of aldermen, igoo^oi ; Sarah A., married
Gonzalo Buxton.
(VI) Captain Daniel Harrington, son of Cap
tain Francis Harrington (5), was born October 4,
1802, and died September 11, 1863. He married
Clarissa Gray, born August 23, 1809, and died
June 6, 1885. He succeeded to the home estate,
and in 1831 his name appears on the jury
list. Subsequently he was called to fill the position
of fence viewer, school committee and highway sur
veyor. He served in the common council, 1849-1850,
and board of aldermen, 1851. Their children were:
1. Joseph A. Harrington, born October 26, 1829,
died December 4, 1875; a soldier in Fifty-first Regi
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in civil
war for nine months; married Zelia M. Pierce.
2. Emily A. Harrington, born October 23, 1831,
married George S. Battelle, died 1883.
3. Charles A. Harrington, born May 20, 1834,
died October 16, 1905. He married (first) Lucy
Goulding; (second) Margaret Patch. He served in
the city council, 1882-1883. His children were: El
mer W., Herbert H.
4. Henry M. Harrington, born March 20, 1836,
died August 6, 1837.
5. Delia A. Harrington, born March 21, 1841,
married George B. Andrews, 1863, residence Clinton,
Massachusetts. 6. Maria A. Harrington, born September 2, 1843,
married Edward W. Wellington, son of T. W. Wel
lington, coal dealer at Worcester; Mr. Wellington
enlisted in the civil war, serving as lieutenant. His
two children were : Delia M., Frank E.
7. Hon. Francis Alfred Harrington, born No
vember -17, 1846, married (first) Roxanna M. Grout,
who died December 24, 1900, (second) Mrs. Lillia
(Dudley) Leighton. He was born and reared
at the old homestead, the farm purchased in 1741,
which he now owns. He is a prominent Odd
Fellow and Free Mason, and also active in
Grange organizations, having been treasurer of the
State Grange for twenty years. He was elected as
alderman to represent ward three in the city gov
ernment, serving during the years 1887-88-89 in the
board of aldermen. The following year he was-
elected mayor, and was twice re-elected. His ad
ministration covered a period from 1890 to 1893,
and proved one of economy and success, for all
there were many difficult problems to solve. He was
then called higher and represented the Second Wor-
eester senatorial district in the legislature for the
years 1899-1900-01. He is past eminent commander
of the Worcester County Commandery, Knights
Templar, and past master of Athelstan Lodge of
Master Masons.
The children of Hon. Francis Alfred Harring
ton are : Charles A., married Luella B. Crook, of
Columbus, Ohio; he was a teacher in the Worces
ter high school, now engaged in the insurance busi
ness; he is commander of the Worcester County
Commandery, Knights Templar, past master of Athel
stan Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and
master of the Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus
bandry. Their children are_: Ruth Anna and Mildred
Elizabeth. Frank C, married Leora Leighton and they
have Frank L., Robert Dudley, Lillia L., and Anna
G. ; he is the secretary of the Callahan Supply Com
pany of Worcester, and is past master of Athelstan
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. May
E., married James P. Gray.
8. George A. Harrington, born July 8, 1849, died
1883. 9. Daniel A. Harrington, born May 8, 1851, was
educated at the Worcester public schools and acad
emy; also graduated at Howes Business College

4i8

WORCESTER COUNTY

Worcester, in 1867. He resided on the old Harring
ton homestead, farming and contracting in the dairy
business until 1876, when he became identified with
the livery business, in which he has been engaged
for twenty-eight years. His barns are models of
up-to-date liveries. He is also president and treas
urer of the Harrington Automobile Station. He is
a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows and.
in 1903 was elected brigadier-general of the Second"
Brigade of Patriarchs Militant of Independent
Order Odd Fellows. He served two terms on
the board of aldermen, and was a member of the
board when the vote was passed to build the new
city hall of Worcester, that now so beautifully
adorns the Common. Among other things he had
the honor of being chairman of the committee that
induced the trustees to locate the State Odd Fel
lows Home in Worcester, and was chief marshal of
• the immense parade when the corner stone of that
institution was laid in 1892.
Mr. Harrington married Jennie A. Spiers, by
whom the following children were born: Clara A.,
a teacher in the Worcester schools. Josie A., mar
ried Herbert Linnell, a graduate of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, who is now holding a posi
tion as resident engineer of the city of Colon at the
Isthmus of Panama. His was the first family to
reside there, from this country, after our govern
ment took possession of that' territory. Mr. and
Mrs. Linnell have two sons — Herbert H., born
1898, and Phillip, born 1900. John S. Harrington,
married Mabel M. Clark, by whom two sons were
born — John S., Jr., October 27, 1903, and William
Clark, June 28, 1905.
(VI) Mary Harrington, daughter of ^Captain
Francis Harrington, married Captain and 'Deacon
Samuel Perry, and they settled on the old Harring
ton homestead, Vernon street, Worcester. Their
children were: Hannah Harrington, born October
8, 1824; Mary Stone, November 8, 1826; Joseph
Stone, November 3, 1828; Julia Maria, October 13,
1830; Nathan Fiske, March 10, 1833; Lydia Al
mira, February 27, 1835; Harriet Newell, February
28, 1837; David Brainard, March 7, 1839; Samuel
Payson, March 18, 1841 ; Moses, July 15, 1843.
HOPKINS FAMILY. This surname was spelled
Hopkyns in England in the sixteenth century. It
is an ancient English family of Oxford county. John
Hopkyns was a civic officer in Coventry, Oxford
shire, in 1567. From the strong resemblance of the
arirjorial bearings of the Wykehams1 of Swelcliffe",
Oxford county, and of Hopkins of Oving, it is con
jectured by Burke that in early times some bond
of connection existed between these families. In
confirmation of this surmise there is in Sibford
Gower in Swalcliffe Parish a small estate which is
charged with a quit-rent of a hundred pence that
tradition has assigned to the late owners as the
nineteenth John Hopkins who has successively and
lineally inherited it without the intervention of any
other Christian name than John. It belonged some
fifty years ago to Mr. D. D. Hopkins, who had
then in his possession a deed of the ninth year of
Elizabeth's "reign when the name was written Hop
kyns. As this estate joins immediately to War
wickshire, it may fairly be assumed that the family
of Hopkins in Coventry and Swalcliffe derive from
a common ancestor. Following is the ancestry of
the Coventry family :
(I) William Hopkins, chosen to preside over the
city of Coventry. His sons : William, the heir ;
Richard, sheriff of Coventry 1554; Nicholas, sheriff
of Coventry 1561.
(II) William Hopkins, son of William (1), was

sheriff of Coventry 1557; mayor 1564; was pre
sented for heresy; married Agnes Riley, daughter of
Thomas Riley.
(Ill) Richard Hopkins, son of William Hop
kins (2), was also of Coventry. His sons: Samu-
son, William, proprietor of Shortley.
(IV) Sampson Hopkins, son of Richard Hop
kins (3), was mayor of Coventry 1609; represented
the city in parliament. He died 1622. Children:
Sir Richard, Sampson, mayor 1640; Ann, married
Matthew Babbington, Esq., of Rothby -Temple,
county Leicester, died 1648, aged thirty-three years.
(V) Sir Richard Hopkins, son of Sampson Hop
kins (4), was steward of Coventry; represented the
cfty in Parliament; married Sarah Burton, the
daughter and co-heir of John and Mary (Jesson)
Burton, of Buckland, Hampshire. Mary Jesson's
father, William Jesson, was mayor of Coventry in
1631. Children: Richard, Thomas, Sarah, married
Sir John Goodricke.
The American ancestor it is fair to assume was
connected with this family of Coventry, though
actual proof has not been found. The Hopkins coat
of arms : Sa. a chev. arg. charged with three roses
gu. between three matchlocks, or.
(I) Thomas Hopkins, the immigrant ancestor of
many of the numerous families bearing the name
of Hopkins, especially in Rhode Island and Massa
chusetts, was the progenitor of Frederick Ferdinand
Hopkins, of Worcester. He was the son of William
and Joanna (Arnold) Hopkins, and was born in
England, April 7, 1616, died in Providence prior to
December 27, 1792. His mother was a daughter pf
Thomas and Alice (Gully) Arnold. Joanna Arnold
was baptized November 30, 1577; her brother, Will
iam Arnold, was born June 24, 1587, the father of
Bendict Arnold, not the traitor hut the first governor
of Rhode Island under the royal charter of 1643 and
ancestor of the Arnolds of Warwick. Her half-
brother, Thomas Arnold, is progenitor of the Ar
nold families of northern Rhode Island. The wife
of Thomas Hopkins is believed to be Elizabeth Ar
nold, daughter of William Arnold, and sister to
Governor Benedict Arnold, a cousin. Thomas Hop^
kins was a deputy to the general assembly from
Providence for the years 1652-59-60-66-67, a member
of the town council for 1667-72. Children : William,
see forward; Thomas, Jr., died April I, 1718.
(II) Major William Hopkins, son of Thomas
Hopkins (1), was born about 1650. He was ad
mitted a freeman April 30, 1672, and married, about
1680, Abigail Dexter, widow of Stephen Dexter,
son of Rev. Gregory Dexter, daughter of John and
Sarah Whipple, early settlers in Providence, re
moving from Dorchester about 1659. Major Hop
kins was a man of marked ability, serving the colony
in both civil and military offices to an advanced age.
He was noted as a surveyor of lands throughout
the colony and numerous accounts of his labors in
this profession are found in the records. His home
&t the time of his death and probably for a long
time previous was at Massapauge, a portion of
Providence that was included in the part set off to
make the town of Cranston in 1754. He died July
8, 1723, leaving a large property, the bulk of which
he bequeathed to his grandson William. His widow
died 1725. The only child of Major William and
Abigail Hopkins was William, see forward.
(Ill) William Hopkins, son of William Hop
kins (2), was born about 1682, and died in Scituate
in 1738. He married early in life Ruth Wilkinson,
daughter of Samuel and Plaine (Wickenden) Wil
kinson. Samuel was. a son of Lawrence Wilkinson,
an early settler in Providence, and Plaine was a
daughter of Rev. William Wickenden,; who sue-

WORCESTER COUNTY

419

ceeded Rev. Gregory Dexter as pastor of the First
Baptist Church in Providence. The will of William
Hopkins was made June 11, 1738, and proved Octo
ber 9, 1738. The children : William, born probably
at Cranston about 1705, died in Providence, Feb
ruary 17, 1755; Stephen, born March 7, 1707, see
forward; Rufus; John, born about 1710, died Feb
ruary 1, 1755; Hope, born March 3, 1717, died July
20, 1803; Esek, born April 26, 1718, died February
26, 1802; Samuel, died September, 1744; Abigail,
born 1727, died January 30, 1772; Susanna, born
1728, died November 8, 1745.
(IV) Governor Stephen Hopkins, son of Will
iam Hopkins (3), was born in Cranston, Rhode
Island, March 7, 1707, as is shown by a record of
his family made by himself February 3, 1754, which
sets at rest the oft-repeated account of Scituate be
ing his birthplace. He was elected the first mod»
erator of the town of Scituate in 1730, and in 1731
was town clerk. He was first elected to the gen
eral assembly in 1732. In 1742 he removed to Provi
dence. After that he represented Providence in the
general assembly for many years and was several
times the speaker. He was for ten years chief jus
tice of the superior court. In 1755 he was elected
governor of Rhode Island and held that office nine
years. In 1774 he was elected member of the con
tinental congress ana he was one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence. At that time he
was suffering from a nervous affliction that made
writing very difficult. For a number of years pre
vious to 1776 it is stated on the authority of his
friend and associate, Moses Brown, that when he
wrote at all he was compelled to guide his right
hand with his left. This accounts for the poor ap
pearance of his signature on the Declaration of In
dependence. In early life he wrote a beautiful hand,
as shown in his town records written when town
clerk of Scituate.
Stephen Hopkins did not confine himself to
politics and the holding of office. He took an intelli
gent and active share in building the commerce of
Providence, and the Brown family, then already
prominent among the great mercantile and shipping
houses of New England, found in the rising judge
and statesman an energetic and practical coadjutor
in their efforts to increase the facilities for traffic
an* commercial intercourse. Such necessary public
works as bridging the rivers met with strenuous
opposition, and every improvement of a public na
ture had to be fought for in those days. A system
of insurance policies for the benefit of merchants
and chiefly if not entirely marine, appears to have
been instituted by Governor Hopkins as early as
1756, _ although the first insurance corporation, the
Providence Insurance Company, was incorporated
February 3, 1799, and is still in existence, the oldest
in New England. He began to write a history of
Rhode Island, but was interrupted by the revolu
tionary war and the difficulties preceding it, so that
only the first chapter, published in the Providence
Gazette and Country Journal, was ever written. Gov
ernor Hopkins, more than any other man, was re
sponsible for the national sentiment that developed
slowly in Rhode Island, but which finally triumphed .
and brought the state into the Union. He was for
a life time an advocate of co-operation among the
colonies, of independence even if force were neces
sary, as it was found necessary, and of a policy
leading up to a national government. "Next per
haps to Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he
was," says his biographer, William E. Foster, "most
active in developing the system of committees of
correspondence. It was he who may well be called
the father of the Congress of 1774, and whose com

manding influence in that Congress led to the form
ation of a powerful sentiment in favor of separation
from the home government; the member who intro
duced, advocated and carried through the Second
Congress those measures creating an independent
postal service, and an American naval armament,
which did so much to commit the still reluctant
colonies to the exercise of the national functions."
In a paper read before the Rhode Island His
torical Society, Mr. Foster thus summed up the
character and service of Governor Hopkins :
"Father of the commercial development and ever-
increasing prosperity of Providence; distinguished
among the founders of this college (Brown) ; the
founder of the first public library in Providence;
the first Rhode Island man to make the name and
influence of the colony a power outside of its limits ;
the very first delegate ever nominated and elected
to the very first Congress of the United States; the
governor of the colony for a greater number of
years than any other of its Eighteenth Century
governors, with two exceptions; — yet the strongest
of his claims to distinction is associated with the
creation and growth of a national sentiment in
Rhode Island. Rhode Island has had few names
more worthy of honor, few historic characters more
worthy of careful study, than that of Stephen
Hopkins." The Providence Journal, June 23, 1884, says
of Hopkins; "Stephen Hopkins lived to see the
states independent; he did not live to see them a
united nation. He died July 13, 1785, in his own
house on Towne street in Providence and was fol
lowed to his grave by the judges of the courts,
the President, Corporation and students of the col
lege and in the language of the Providence Gazette
by 'a prodigious concourse of respectable citizens.'
The state and the nation, and more especially the
people of Providence, whose particular champion
he was in all the struggles of party, owe to him a
debt of immortal gratitude, and his name will be
remembered in Rhode Island while Point Judith
repulses the assaults of the Atlantic, and Prospect
Hill looks down upon our city of homes."
Governor Hopkins married (first), October 9,
1726, Sarah Scott, born June 25, 1707, died Septem
ber 9, 1753, daughter of Sylvanus and Joanna
(Jenckes) Scott, and granddaughter of John Scott,
son of Richard Scott, said to have been _ the first
Quaker to settle in Providence. He married (sec
ond), January 2, 1755, Anne Smith, widow of Ben
jamin Smith, and daughter of a man of the same
name. She had by Benjamin Smith four children,
one of whom, Benjamin, born October 14, 1744,
was the father of thirteen children, whose home was
at Quinsnaket in the Arnold neighborhood, in what
is now the town of Lincoln. The children of Stephen
and Sarah Hopkins": Rufus, see forward; John,
born November 6, 1728, died July 20, 1753; Ruth,
born October "3, 1731, died April 2, 1735; Lydia,
born January 6, 1733, died June 29, 1793; Silvanus,
born October 19, 1734, died April 23, 1753; Simon,
born August 26 1736, died April 2, 1744; George,
born January 11, 1739, died 1775.
(V) Rufus Hopkins, son of Governor Stephen
Hopkins (4), was born in Cranston, Rhode' Island,
February 10, 1727, died in Scituate, November 13,
1812. He entered early upon a distinguished career
in business and public life. His early life was spent
in maritime pursuits, in which he attained high rank
as a nautical commander. He held many offices of
trust and honor. He was for several years a judge
of the court of common pleas for Providence
county, and for a season justice of the superior court
of the state; was repeatedly elected to represent

420

WORCESTER COUNTY

Scituate in the general assembly ; a trustee of Brown
University from 1782 to his death. About 1766 he
was associated with - his father and Messrs. Nicho
las, Joseph, John and Moses Brown and Jabez
Bowen in a project to utilize a bed of iron ore
found in Cranston and the building of Hope Furn
ace in which was cast, among other articles, cannon
for use of the army in the revolution. The bell
now in use in the steeple of the First Baptist Church
was broken in 1787 and recast at Hope Furnace.
It was at Scituate and Rufus Hopkins was in
charge. He married (first), October 13, 1747, Abigail
Angell, who died July 21, 1758, aged twenty-seven
years, eleven days, daughter of John Angell. He
married (second), November 11, 1759, Sarah Olney,
daughter of Captain Joseph Olney, and sister of
Colonel Jeremiah Olney. She was born March 31,
1732, died October 2, 1785. The children of Rufus
and Abigail Hopkins: John, born October 11,
1750, died September 2, 1754; a daughter, born and
died April 5, 1753; Silvanus, born September 17,
1756, died August 21, 1757. The children of Rufus
and Sarah Hopkins : Stephen, born January 1, 1762,
died June 2, 1830; Silvanus, born June 25, 1764,
see forward; Rufus, Jjorn November 15, 1771, died
August 29, 1773; Joseph Olney, born March 20,
1774,. died January 5, 1792.
. (VI) Colonel Silvanus Hopkins, son of Rufus
Hopkins (5), was born June 25, 1764, died August
18, 1824. He was for many years a resident of
Scituate, Rhode Island, and engaged in the manu
facture of cotton goods. He stood high socially as
well as in business, and rose to the rank of colonel
in the military service. About 1819 he removed to
Washington Village, Coventry, Rhode Island, and
became cashier of the Bank of Kent located there.
Subsequently he removed again to Norwich, Con
necticut, where he died August 18, 1824, and his
widow August 28th of the same year. He married
Mary Wanton, daughter of Captain Peter and Eliza
beth (Gardner) Wanton, of a distinguished Rhode
Island family. The children of Colonel Silvanus and
Mary Hopkins : Sarah Olney, died June 1, 1821, in
her twenty-ninth year; Joseph Olney, born January
22, 1794, died December 1, 1841 ; William Wanton,
died November 24, 1824, aged twenty-six years ; Sam
uel Stow, died October 16, 1826, aged twenty-six
years ; Edward A.., born July 4, 1802, died September
16, 1836; George Silvanus, see forward.
(VII) George Silvanus Hopkins, son of Col
onel Silvanus Hopkins (6), was born in Scituate,
Rhode Island, December 3, 1804, died December 12,
1863, at Colchester, Connecticut, aged fifty-nine
years. George Silvanus Hopkins received his education
in the common schools of his native town. At the
age of fifteen he removed with his parents to Cov
entry, Rhode Island. In early manhood he learned
the trade of machinist, which he followed through
life. He was master mechanic for a time at the
Naumkeag Mills, Salem, Massachusetts, and for
another mill in New Hampshire. He was master
mechanic at the Heywood Rubber Company at Col
chester, Connecticut, for a number of years, and
at Unionville, Connecticut. At one time he was in
the machine business at Norwich, Connecticut, in
partnership with Joseph Hopkins, his brother. He
was a Methodist in religion. In politics he was a
Whig until the Republican party was organized and
afterward a Republican. He was a member of the
Masonic fraternity at Norwich.
He married, September 15 1832, Esther (Rose)
Cooley, who died January 23, 1838, aged twenty-

nine years. He married (second), September i,
1843, Dianthia Robinson, who died December 7,
1850, aged forty-eight years. The children of George
S. and Esther Hopkins : William W., born Octo
ber 1, 1833, died August 7, 1850; Frederick Ferdi
nand, born February 17, 1836, see forward; Mary
Esther, born December 25, 1837. The only child
of George " Silvanus and Dianthia Hopkins was ;
George Warren, born April 1, 1845.
(VIII) Frederick Ferdinand Hopkins, son of
George Silvanus Hopkins (7), was born at Nor
wich, Connecticut, February 17, 1836. He attended
the common schools of his native place until about
seventeen years old. In 1854 he came to Worces
ter and entered the employ of Allen & Thurber,
manufacturers of fire arms. Mr. Hopkins continued
with the firm about three years. He worked for a
sljort time in a firearms factory, at Newark, New
Jersey. ' He was an expert machinist and skilled
in the making of fire arms. From 1858 to 1869 he
did contract work for Frank Wesson, brother of
Daniel B.. Wesson, late of Springfield (of the famous
firm of Smith & Wesson). In 1870 Mr. Hopkins
began as solicitor of business for the State Mutual
Life Assurance Company. He was promoted fin
ally to the position which he still occupies, as general
agent of the company. He formerly attended the
old Salem Street Congregational Church, but has
been a member of Piedmont Congregational Church
since its organization, and was for sixteen years sec
retary and treasurer of the Sunday school. He is a
member of the Worcester Congregational Club. He
is an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals
and was formerly an active member. He is an as
sociate member of George H. Ward Post, No. 10,
Grand Army of the Republic.
He married, January 1, 1857, Sarah Maria Lewis,
born in Norwich, Connecticut, December 16, 1836,
daughter of Joseph B. and Deborah (Rathbiin)
Lewis. Their children: Herbert Perry, see for
ward; Edward Earle, see forward; Marion A., born
June 16, 1862, died August 5, 1864; Frederick Syl
vanus, see forward.
(IX) Herbert Perry Hopkins, son of Frederick
Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was born at Norwich,
Connecticut, June 25, 1858. He removed with his
parents to Worcester when a young boy and was
educated there in the public schools, and the Cl^-
sical high school. In 1878 he entered the employ
of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad as an ex
press driver, was soon made express messinger,
and was appointed baggage master within a short
time. A year later he became clerk in the general
offices of the company, and in 1880 was made a
conductor of passenger trains, a position he held,
for six years. He resigned to become associated
with his father, who was general agent of the State
Mutual Life Assurance Company, with offices at
240 Main street, later in the Burnside building and
finally to the present quarters in the new State
Mutual building. He remained with his father un
til his death, December 28, 1904. He was elected
treasurer of the Worcester Association of Life Un
derwriters, a position he held to the time of his
death. He attended All Saints Protestant Church,
Worcester. He was a Republican in politics. He
was made a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, Free-
Maspns, April 12, 1889; Eureka, Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons, June 4, 1889; Worcester County Com
mandery, Knights Templar, September 20, 1889- He
was a member of Company C, Second Regiment,
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Worcester Light
Infantry, from December 2, 1879, to December,
1882. He was at one time a member of the Arling-

^, {/i

WORCESTER COUNTY

421

ton Social Club and for a number of years its
president. He also belonged to the Tutassit Canoe
Club and the Uptown Club.
He married, October 5, 1893, "lid had one child,
Sarah M., born in Worcester, May 14, 190.1, Mr.
Hopkins died in the very prime of life, cutting
short a promising career in business. He had the
natural ability and the personal magnetism that
makes a man especially successful in the insurance
business. He attracted friends by his voice and
manners, was social, sympathetic and generous, and
his death was universally regretted.
(IX) Edward Earle Hopkins, sou of Frederick
Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was horn at Colchester,
Connecticut, August a6, i860, lie received his early
education in the Worcester public schools, gradu
ating from the Classical high school in 1878. While
still in school he began the study of dentistry. In
1880 he entered the Harvard Dental School, Boston,
aud was graduated in 1882 with the degree of D.
M. D. In the fall of that year be began to practice
in Boston. His office* were at 85 Newbury street.
where he was located for fifteen years. He pur
chased the estate at 175 Newbury street, llosion,
in 1870, and has been located there since that time.
He was for seven years after graduating an in
structor in operative dentistry and bad charge of
the crown aud bridge work in Harvard Dental
School, He resides at 355 Newtonville avenue, Ncw-
Univillc, Massachusetts, He and his family attend
the Newtonville Congregational Church. In polities
Dr. Hopkins is a Republican, He is a member of
the Newton Social Club, the American Academy of
Dental Science, the Harvard Dental Alumni Asso
ciation and was formerly a member of the Harvard
Odontological Society.
lie married, August 4, 1886, Annie Louise Tulloek,
born April 7, 1801, daughter of Arthur and Emily
C, (Preble) Tulloek, of Whitefield, Maine. Their
children: Helen, born July 29, 1887; Stephen Tul
loek, born March 19, 1893, named for Governor
Stephen Hopkins (IV). mentioned above.
UX) Frederick Sylvanus Hopkins, son of Freder
ick Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was born in Worcester,
December 11, 1804. He whs educated in the Wor
cester public schools and the Classical high school.
In 1883 be became clerk in the Worcester National
Bank. Two years later he accepted a position in
the office of Norcross Brothers. In the fall of 1880
lie entered Harvard Dental Sehool, from which he
was graduated in 1880 with the degree of D. M. D.
He started at once to practice in offices at 2 Park
Square, Boston, After two years be removed his
othces to 159 Newbury street aud later to ioi New
bury street, his present location. From 1880 to
1893 he was instructor of operative dentistry in the
Harvard Dental Sehool. He resides in Worcester.
Dr. Hopkins and family attend Piedmont Congre
gational Church. He is a Republican in polities.
He is a member of the Harvard Odontologieal So
ciety, tlie Harvard Dental Alunuii Association, the
Boston Chapter, Sons of the Revolution, and the
Tatnuck Country Club at Worcester. He was for
merly a member of the Commonwealth Club and of
the Worcester Light Infantry, Company C. Second
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, from
1885 to .1887.
He married, August 23, 189a, at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, Etta May Holbrook, born May 22,
1865. daughter of Eliphalet and Harriet (Rice)
Holbrook, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Their
children : Esther, born August 6, 1804, in Plymouth,
Massachusetts; Robert Holbrook, born in Worces
ter, Massachusetts, March 22, 1902: Frederick Syl

vanus, Jr., born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 27, 1903, died May 24, 1905.
WARD FAMILY. William Ward (1) was the
immigrant ancestor of Edward Dickinson Ward,
of Worcester Massachusetts, aud of most of the
branches ol" tlie Ward family in Worcester county.
He was probably from York county, England. One
of the captains under William the Conqueror was
named Ward, of whom there is a record dated 1066.
In 1175 William de la Ward resided in Chester.
The family was numerous and well scattered ovei
Kngiand at the time of the settlement of the Ameri
can colonies. The ancient coat of arms of this fam
ily was: A/, a cross baton pr. Crest: Wolf's head
erased. The first record of William Ward is found in
Sudbury in 1639. He may have been there several
years, He was admitted a freenjan May 10, 1(143,
and for many years was one of the chief men of the
town. He was a deputy to the general court from
Sudbury in 1044, for many years was a selectman
and most of the time chairman of the board. He was
the local magistrate — the commissioner lo end small
causes. He 'deposed October 4, 1004, that he was
about sixlv-one years old, fixing the year of his birth
as 1(103. lie was one of the nine Sudbury men who
petitioned for the grant subsequently known as
Marlboro, and including originally not only the
present city of Marlboro, but the towns of West
boro, Northboro and Southboro. In 1000, the year
year of incorporation. Ward settled in the new town
where his descendants have been numerous and
distinguished. He was chosen the first deacon of
the Marlboro church. He drew fifty acres, the
largest size of house lot granted by the proprietors.
These home lots varied, according to the importance
of the individual proprietor, from fifteen to fifty
acres. His house was ou the south side of the road
nearly opposite the meeting house, and his land ex
tended to what was then called Belcher's pond, near
which the tavern of his son-in-law. Abraham Wil
liams, was located. Ward suffered the usual hard
ships and losses of the pioneer and especially during
King Philip's war he lost heavily. His buildings
were burned, his cattle destroyed and one son slain.
He died at Marlboro, August 10, 1087, aged
eighty-five wars. His will was dated April 6, 1686.
lie bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth; children John
and Increase; tlie children of sons Richard and
Eleazer deceased; son-in-law Abraham Williams;
to all his children bv former wife and present wife.
The widow died December 9, 1700. in her eighty-
seventh year. Their children were: John, born
about 1626, married Hannah Jackson; Joanna, born
1028 married Abraham Williams; Obadiah, born
id ?.\ see forward; Richard, born 1635, married
Man- Moore: Deborah, born 1637, married John
Tohiison: Hannah, horn 1639, married Abraham
'How ; William, born January 22, 1640, married Han
nah Eames: Samuel, born September 24. 1641. mar
ried Sarah How: Elizabeth, born April 14, W43:
Increase, born February 22, 1644. married 
Record; Hopestill, born February 24. 1046: married
Tames Woods; Mary, born about 1647, married Dan
iel Stone: William, born February 12. 1648-49;
Eleazer, married Hannah Rice; Bethia, born 1658,
married Daniel Price.
(IT) Obadiah Ward, son of William Ward (i),
was born in 1632. died iu Marlborough, Massachu
setts January 5. <7>8, aged eighty-six years. He
had lands assigned him in Sudbury in 1653 and
house lot of twenty-one aeres with the after divi
sions tn Marlboro in 1660, and he moved there

422

WORCESTER COUNTY

soon after. He was a deputy to the general court
in 1689 from Marlboro. He married, November
13, 1667, Mary  , who died August 22, 1706,
at Marlboro. He married (second) Joanna Mixer,
daughter of Isaac Mixer, of Watertown. Joanna
was born December 14, 1666. Children of Obadiah
and Mary Ward were: Alice, born November 14,
1668; William, born January 7, 1670, see forward;
Obadiah, born September 18, 1672, married Elizabeth
 ¦ — : — ; Bethia, born 1674, died same year; Mary,
born May 4, 1676; Jane, born 1677; Edmund, born
January 21, 1679; Sarah, born January 29, 1681, mar
ried Samuel Bartlett; Richard, born April 26, 1683;
Elizabeth, born December 4, 1685, died unmarried;
January 21, 1730; Hannah, born January 3, 1688;
Eleazer, born November 2, 1689; Prudence, born
1 691. (Ill) William Ward, son of Obadiah Ward (2),
was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, January 7,
1676. He resided in Marlboro, where all the chil
dren were, born, and in 171 1 sold out to Samuel
Morris and removed to Ashford, Connecticut, where
he purchased land in 1715 and where his son Wil
liam bought land in 1720. Jacob Ward, another son,
received a gift of lands there in 1726. William Ward
removed to Union, Connecticut, where he died Janu
ary 8, 1731, aged sixty-one years. His death was
the first in the town of Union. His wife Judith
died in Union, January 21, 1746. Their children
were : William, born June 9, 1691 ; Jemima, born
July 5, 1693 ; Gamaliel, born October 2, 1694, mar
ried Damaris  ; Jacob, born March 9, 1696-
97, married Hannah  ; Judith, born March 6,
1699-1700; Keziah, born June 4, 1703; Dinah, born
October 2, 1704.
(IV) William Ward, son of William Ward (3),
was born at Marlboro, .Massachusetts, June 9,
1691. He resided in Union, Connecticut, where he
became a very prominent citizen, as appears from the
town records. He was a large land owner and con
ducted several farms. There is a large rock on the
old place with the letters "W. W." roughly hewed
on the surface and it is said that they were cut
by William Ward. His will was dated August 12,
1772, and was proved October 2, 1780. Children of
William and Rachel Ward were: Uriah, born Feb
ruary 24, 1715, married Elizabeth Ingraham; John,
born November 9, 1716, see forward; Ebenezer, born
April 9, 1719, married Anna Peache; Moses, born
September 16, 1622, married Eunice Rood; Obadiahj
born February 9, 1725, married Esther Ruggles;
Rachel, born April 23, 1727, married Joseph Enos ;
Jesse, horn August 6, 1729, married Elizabeth Abbe ;
Benjamin, born February, 1731, died October 19,
1741 ; Sarah, died January 13, 1740; William, died
April 23, 1735.
(V) John Ward, son of William Ward (4),
was born at Union, Connecticut, November 9, 1716,
and resided there. He removed in 1749 to Belcher-
town, Massachusetts, with his family. Five children
were born in Union, the remainder in Belchertown.
He mstrried (first at Union, October 10, 1739, Abi
gail Walker; he married (second) Abigail Heath,
of Tolland, Connecticut, March 27, 1748, and she
died at Belchertown, February 21, 1813, aged eighty-
two years. He died there in 1800, aged eighty-four
years. Children of John and Abigail (Walker)
Ward were : Sarah, born about 1740, married Jona
than Drade ; Dorcas, born June 24, 1742, died Decem
ber 4, 1748; Eunice, born December 15, 1744, mar
ried Captain Shearman of Brimfield, where he died
without- issue. John, Jr., born January 1, 1747; died
June 20, 1747. Children of John and Abigail (Heath)
Ward were: Aaron, born October 11, 1748, died
November 1, 1748; John, born about 1749, married

Bethia Fuller; Benjamin, born 1751, married Mary
Clough; Tirzah, born 1753, married Richard Lull;
Zerviah, born November 27, 17c married Samuel
Ward; Sybil, born December 7, 1756, married Ben
jamin Clough; Mehitable, born February 6, 1759, mar
ried John Pease; Ruth, horn April 21, 1761, married
Guild Wilson, of Belchertown, June, 1780, and re
sided at Hebron, New York ; Hepzibah, born June 1,
1765, see forward; Beulah, born August 20, 1767,
married Samuel White, of Pelham, February 20,
1787, at Madison, New York; Moses, born October
29, 1769, married Rachel Convers; Ebenezer, born
July 19, 1773, see forward.
(VI) Ebenezer Ward, son of John Ward (5),
was born at Belchertown, Massachusetts, July 19,
1773. He also settled at Belchertown, probably in
that part of the town set off as Enfield. He married,
July 7, 1796, Rebecca Randall, of Belchertown. Their
children, all born at Belchertown, were: Israel,
born February 8, 1797, married Rachel Thayer; Al
vah, born September 17, 1798, married Louisa Shaw;
John, born May 19, 1800, married Sylvia H. Shaw;
Mercy, born September 10, 1801, married Samuel
Tinkham ; Abigail, born May 8, 1803, married Alvah
Thayer ; Zerviah, born July 23, 1804 ; Elizabeth, born
February 25, 1807; Benjamin, born April 24, 1809,
married Elizabeth W. Hawks; Mary, (twin) born
April 23, 181 1, married Oromel Walker; Sarah,
(twin), born April 23, 1811 ; Estes, born May 3, 1815,
(VII) John Ward, son of Ebenezer Ward (6),
was born at Belchertown, Massachusetts. He lived
¦in Enfield, Massachusetts, -formerly part of Belcher
town, and other towns of the vicinity. He married
Sylvia H. Shaw, daughter of Asa Shaw, of Enfield,
and his wife Abigail Hanks, who died November
15. 1839, in her fifty-third year, the mother of ten
children. Sylvia was born March 6, 1807. The father
of Abigail was Ebenezer Hanks, of Belchertown,
who married Hepsibah Ward, April 12, 1785. He
was a soldier in the revolution; they had eight chil
dren. Hepsibah was the daughter of John Ward .
(V), the thirteenth child. Children of John and
Sylvia H. Ward, all born at Enfield, Massachusetts,
were : Charles Rockwood, born April 27, 1834, see
forward; Verona A., born April 1, 1839; Caroline
F., . born April 1, 1839 ; Proctor L., born May 23,
1841 ; Henry W., born August 19, 1847.
(VIII) Charles Rockwood Ward, son of John
Ward (7), was born at Enfield, Massachusetts, April
27, 1834. He was educated in the public schools of
his native town. He was a carpenter by trade. He
married Julia Reed. He died October 26, 1901.
The children of Charles Rockwood and Julia
Ward were: Abbie J., born March 19, 1861, mar
ried Simon A. Norcross and resides at 728 Main
street, Worcester; Cora L., born November 27, 1862,
died when five years old ; Edward Dickinson, see
forward; Nellie A., born December 16, 1866, mar
ried F. A. Abbott, of Worcester; John Waldo, born
March 11, 1868, a carpenter, married Ida Hacker;
died in Worcester; Delbert E., born April 5, 1870,
carpenter, resides in Worcester; Carrie B., born No
vember 3, 1873; Albert E., born February 13, 1875,
a boat builder, resides in New York city. Frederick,
bern November 3, 1878, died young.
(IX) Edward Dickinson Ward, son of Charles
Rockwood Ward (8), was born in Enfield, . Massa
chusetts, March 6, 1864. He was educated in the
public and high schools of his native town. He
learned the carpenter's trade of his father and
worked for some years as a journeyman in Worces
ter and other places. He started in business for him
self in Worcester in company with W. F. Blanding.
After a few years the partnership was dissolved and
Mr. Ward continued on his own account. He has

^yj^t i>v^aw.

WORCESTER COUNTY

built many of the finest residences and public .build
ings of Worcester in the past ten years, and ranks
among the leading contractors and builders of the
city. Tie resides at 4(1 Alvnrado avenue and has his
office and shop at 48 Alvarado avenue, lu politics
¦ Mr, Ward is a Republican. He married, December
9, 1891, Miss Mabel F.. Kihbe, of Worcester, daugh
ter of Fugene U. and Mary Kihbe. Their children
are: Mildred May, born July 4, 1803; Ethel Mabel,
bom March 30, 1896; Irene Belle, born September
12, 1808,
ALBKRT AUGUSTUS BARKER, Richard
Barker (1), the only man known to have been in
Andover, Massachusetts, before 1(143, was the pro-
f suitor of Albert Augustus Barker, late ot' Worcester,
tassachusetts. For more than fifty years he was one
one of the leading citizens. The Essex county
records show that he bought stock and produce of
William Hughes in 1643, He .was called a husband
man in the early records. His home lot in Andover
was near that of John Osgood on the north side of
the Cochichaucke pond, aud his family and descend
ants have owned the land almost surrounding Great
Fond as it is now called. He was one of those who
organized the first church October 24, 1645, He
was entrusted with the administration of many es
tates. His will was dated April 7, 1688. and proved
March 28, 1693, It mentions eight children, grand
daughters, Priscilla, Hester and Sarah, children of
his deceased daughter Hannah. The children of
Richard aud Joanna Barker were : 1. John, died in
1722 of small-pox ; deacon of North church : In
dian tighter. 2. William, born 1646, died 1718, 3.
Ebene.'er, born March 12. 1051, died 1747, aged
ninety-five, 4, Richard, born April io, 1654. 5.
Stephen, see forward. 6. Benjamin, born February
28, KK13, married Hannah Marston: died 1750. 7.
Sarah, married. November 17. 1673, John Abbott. 8,
Hester, married John Stevens. 9, Hannah, born
October Jt, 16(15. married. May 27. 16S0, Christopher
Osgood. (11) Stephen Barker, fifth child of Richard Barker
(1), was born July 0, 1050, in Andover. Massachu
setts. He settled in Haverhill where he was active
in securing the incorporation of Methuen. Atkin
son, where his sons lived, was originally part of
Haverhill, Massacliusetts, The children of Stephen
Barker were: Stephen: Zebediah, see forward;
James, and perhaps others.
(HI) Zchedtah Barker, son of Stephen Barker
(a), was born in Andover, Massachusetts, probably
about 1700-10. He settled in Andover and Haverhill
where he loaned the town money August 14, 1777,
He married Deborah Merrill and they settled at
Atkinson, New Hampshire. Among their children
were: 1, Peter, see forward. 2. Abijah, born 1700,
married Susannah Wood, settled in Antrim, New
Hampshire, in 1787 : was a soldier in the revolts
tion; his wife was a sister of Peter Barker's wife.
3. Zehediah. Jr., who was a soldier in Captain Sam
uel Johnson's Company, Andover. 1777.
(IV) Peter Barker, son of Zebediah Barker (3),
was born in Atkinson, New Hampshire, in 1755. He
married Sally Wood, daughter of Samuel Wood,
of Methuen, sister of Susannah Wood, who married
his brother Abijah, who came to Antrim, New Hamp
shire, with him to make a home there. Peter prob
ably was in Antrim earlier, but he had his family-
there early in 1780. He bought the place now. or
lately, of Levi Curtis, but later exchanged with
his brother-in-law. Charles Wood, for the place that
was known as the Moody Barker place. Peter
Barker was captain of the alarm list. He was a
soldier in the revolutionary war. He died May

23, 1829, aged seventy-four. His wife died in 1843,
aged eighty-eight years. Their children were:
Samuel, born in Atkinson, died in Oppenheim, New
York; Hannah, born iu Atkinson, married Daniel
Mellvane; Peter, born in Antrim, March 14, 1789,
died in Cleveland, Ohio; Isaac, July 2, 1791 ; Thomas,
1703; Captain Moody Morse, see forward; Sally,
January 26, 1797, married Deacon Asa Bond.
(.V) Captain Moody Morse Barker, son of
Captain Peter Barker (4), was born in Antrim,
New Hampshire, May 24, 1795. lie received a com
mon school education in his native town. He in
herited the homestead and early in life he devoted
himself to farming, and was a prosperous man. He
was a strict Presbyterian and stood high in the es
timation of his associates in the church and his
fellow citizens. In politics he was a Whig, but later
in life became a Democrat, adhering strongly to
his political views. He was for some years captain
of the militia company in Antrim, though never
in the service. He married Nancy Bixby, of Hills-
boro, New Hampshire, in 1821. They lived together
until March 24, 1873, when he died. She died two
days later. Their children were : 1. John Bixby, see for
ward. 2. Emily, born in 1824, married Samuel Brown,
of Wilton, New Hampshire, had no children. 3.
Adeline, horn September 12, 1820. married, July 3,
1854, Charles Woods, of Hillsboro, New Hampshire,
and had two children: Charles Woods, who married
 Downs, of Francestown, New Hampshire, and
had three children. He died July, 1905: Adeline
Woods, who married Mark Woodbury, of Antrim,
and has sons: Mark and Valentine. 4. Miles C,
born 1832, married Sarah J. Carr, of Hillsboro, New
llanipsbire , resides in Nashua, New Hampshire, and
has two daughters : Carrie C, unmarried ; Jennie
Hatch, married Arthur Jefferson, of Conway, New
Hampshire, and has two children. 5. Henry Mar
tin, born August 24, 1838. married. November 30,
1804. Mary Jane Colburu ; they live in Staatsburg,
New York, and have three sons: Herbert Luther,
M. D„ born August 27, 1866, married Luella J.,
Derrick, of Staatsburg, New Y'ork, and has one son,
Robert Herriek Barker; Harry Colburn (Lawyer'),
born March ,u. 1870, married Marion Hughes, of
Staatsburg, New York: Fred Martin, born May 4,
1871, married Grace Barnes, of Rhinebeek, New
York, and has a son. Clifford V. Barker.
(VI) John Bixby Barker, eldest son of Captain
Moody Morse Barker (.5). was born in Antrim, New
Hampshire, November 13. 1822. He was educated
in the common schools of Antrim, and worked on
his father's farm there. Later be removed to Ben
nington, New Hampshire, where he remained for
about six years, two of which he was engaged in
making sand paper. He also learned the art of
paper making iu the mills at Bennington. In 1850
he was induced by his brother-in-law, Frederick
A. Newton, of Bennington, to accept a position in
a paper mill situated in Guadalajara, Mexico, under
the control of Grant and Warren, of Boston, Massa
chusetts. Soon after he became familiar with the
plant be was made the superintendent with a hand
some salary. He remained there six years, then went
to Southern California where he invested in wheat
growing. He lost money owing to a long drought,
and returned to his old position in Mexico where
he remained until his death two years later. Novem
ber 22. 1800. He was the first American buried in
the cemetery of that Mexican city, the permit being
obtained through the intercession of the American
consul. In bis younger days Mr. Barker was a Presby
terian, but he became more liberal in his religious
views and later joined the Universalist churcli. Dur-

424

WORCESTER COUNTY

ing the short time he was in this country after the
formation of the Republican party he was an earnest
supporter of the new political faith. His early death
cut short a very promising career. He married,
October io, 1848, Harriet Elizabeth Newton, daugh
ter of Luther and Harriet Elizabeth (Griswold)
Newton, of Bennington, New Hampshire. Luther
Newton was a paper manufacturer and learned his
trade of the Cranes, in Dalton, Massachusetts. He
was a Republican. He was a member of the paper
making firm of Newton & Tufts, of Alstead, New
Hampshire. The children of John Bixby and Harriet
Elizabeth (Newton) Barker were: Albert Augustus,
see forward; Mary Frances, born in Guadalajara,
Mexico, April 19, 1855 ; never married ; has lived in
Worcester with her mother and brother, and is a
teacher in the Oxford street public school; Adelaida
Elizabeth, born in Guadalajara, August 6, 1859, died
October 22, i860.
(VII) Albert Augustus Barker, eldest child of
John Bixby Barker (6), was born in Guadalajara,
Mexico, November 20, 1852. After his father's death,
when eight years of age, he came with his family to
Bennington, New Hampshire, where he lived five
years. In 1865 he came to Worcester, where he at
tended the public schools. After leaving school he
entered the office of Elbridge Boyden, one of the
oldest and best known architects of Worcester. Dur
ing the time he was with Mr. Boyden he was
frequently employed by Thomas H. Dodge, one of
the most successful patent attorneys in the country
in his day, from whom he received instruction as
patent solicitor. He started in business for him
self March 1, 1879, forming a partnership with Walter
B. Nourse, under the firm name of Barker & Nourse,
as architects and solicitors of patents. January 1,
igo4, the partnership was dissolved, and during the
last year of his life Mt. Barker was in business
alone. He was instructor in the evening drawing
schpols of the city of Worcester, having charge of
the architectural department, and was supervisor of
drawing in the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso
ciation evening schools. As an architect he en
joyed a wide fame, and many public and private
buildings erected from his plans, and under his
personal supervision, are a monument to his ability.
Among some of the more conspicuous buildings are :
The Society of Antiquity ; the Odd Fellows Home ;
the Winslow Surgery at the City Hospital ; the
English High School ; the Day Building ; the Aurora
Hotel, all of Worcester; the Gardner High School;
the Uxbridge High School ; the West Boylston High
School ; the Princeton High School ; the Shrews
bury Public Library; the Johnsonio Hotel at Fitch
burg. Mr. Barker was a Unitarian in religious faith,
and since 1865 a member of the Church of the Unity,
on Elm street. He was chairman of the Parish
Committee at the time of his death, and supervising
architect of the recent remodelling of the church.
' He was a' member of no secret orders. He belonged
to the Society of Antiquity, the Worcester Board
of Trade, Builders' Exchange; Worcester Chapter
of the American Institute of Architects, Worcester
County Mechanics' Association, Royal Arcanum and
the Hancock Club. He was always- a Republican
but never sought or held office. He married. Octo
ber 24, 1877, Eacyetta Boyd, daughter of George
and Rebecca (MacGerigle) Boyd, of Worcester,
Massachusetts. Mr. Boyd was overseer in a boot
manufactory. He was also engaged in woolen in
dustry. He was of Scotch-Irish stock, born in
Londonderry, Ireland. He was a citizen of Wor
cester for sixty years. As early as 1849 he was a
member of the Worcester Fire Company, and was on

duty at the great Merrifield Fire. He was, a Repub
lican. The children of Albert Augustus and Eacyetta
(Boyd) Barker were: 1. Everett Newton, born in
Worcester, Massachusetts, June 4, 1881, succeeded
his father in business, as patent solicitor and archi
tect, and resides at the homestead, 88 Chatham street.
2. Robert Stuart, born, in Worcester, Massachusetts,
April 3, 1884, is in the mercantile business, and' is
also at the homestead.
Mr. Barker was cut off in his prime June 9,
1905. A wide circle of friends will always hold
him in kindly remembrance, for he was an upright,
courteous gentleman,- winning the love and respect
of all who knew him.
ALONZO WILTON WHITCOMB. John Whit
comb (1), the first of the Whitcomb family to settle
permanently in this country, was the ancestor of
Alonzo Wilton Whitcomb, of Worcester. He ap
peared in Dorchester .as early as 1633. He joined
the church there in 1635 and his youngest son Josiah
was born in Dorchester. It had been supposed for
a long time that he was the son of Symon Whit
comb or Whetcombe, who was one of the original
patentees of the old Massachusetts Bay colony, but
the will of Symon's father shows this belief ab
solutely wrong. He may have been the brother. The
belief is gaining ground among those who have
studied the records that the emigrant, John Whit
comb, was the second son of John and -Anne
(Harper) Whitcomb, of London. John Harper,
whose daughter was the mother of John Whitcomb,
was a member of the East India .Company, June
16, 1620, and it is recorded that he gave John Whit
comb, who married his daughter Anne, a share in
Virginia viz. : America.
In 1640 John Whitcomb removed from Dorchester
to settle in Scituate, Massachusetts, where he al
ready owned land. During his residence in Scituate
he was made constable. He was on the list of those
able to bear arms in 1643. He was admitted a
freeman June 3, 1652. In 1654 he removed to Lan
caster, Massachusetts, where in 1652, when the town
was laid out, he had invested some money. Not
all his children accompanied him to Lancaster. His
daughter Catherine was settled in Scituate, where in
1644 she married Rodolphus Ellmes, who came in
1635 on the "Planter," aged fifteen. Robert Whit
comb remained in Scituate. James Whitcomb settled
in Boston.
¦ John Whitcomb and his son John, Jr., were
among the founders of the town of Lancaster. After
some thirty years of pioneer life in the colony John
Whitcomb died September 24, 1662, aged about
seventy-four years. He was buried in the old grave
yard at Lancaster, but there is no stone.
He married in England Frances  , and there
his elder children were born. He had certainly five
sons, perhaps six, and three daughters. He died
intestate and the widow and children mutually agreed
upon a division of his estate, which was approved
by the court. His widow, Frances, made her will
May 12, 1671, and died at Lancaster, May 17, 1671.
She named her youngest daughter Mary as executrix.
The children of John Whitcomb were : 1. Catherine,
married, 1644, Rodolphus Ellmes, of Scituate; re
sided there and had nine children. 2. James, born
in England ; settled in Boston ; may have remained
in Dorchester and Boston when his father removed
to Scituate; not mentioned in his father's will;
owned a place of five acres opposite the Boston
Common, died in Boston. November 23, i686,_ mar
ried twice, Rebecca and Elizabeth: had ten children.
3. John, born in England, may have been the oldest
son ; was most closely associated with his father.

WORCESTER COUNTY

425

(Their signatures are found together in several places
— once as early as 1652 when they both signed the
town covenant of Lancaster, and in 1654-5 both
are among the twenty families named in a petition
for a township drawn up by John Whitcomb, Sr.).
Married May 19, 1669, or January 16, 1671 ; prob
ably on the latter date, which is given by Savage;
he died April 7, 1683, accidentally drowned, leaving
wife Mary and two daughters. 4. Robert, remained
at Scituate when his father went to Lancaster;
married 1660 by a Quaker preacher, in Rhode Island,
to Mary Cudworth, daughter of General James Cud-
worth, but this marriage being pronounced unlawful
by the Puritan authorities he was remarried March
9, 1660. (She was born July 23, 1637). The preacher
was Henry Hobson, of Rhode Island. Robert Whit
comb was the first to settle at "Beechwood" in the
Beeches, the family place at Scituate where several
generations of Whitcombs have lived. He had seven
children. 5. Jonathan; was on the jury at the in
quest upon the death of Richard Mann, of Scituate,
Massachusetts, February 16, 1655, with his brother-
in-law, Rodolphus Ellmes, John Hoar and others.
(See Mann Family Sketch). He removed from
Scituate to Lancaster ; married November, 25, 1667,
Hannah  ; died February, 1690; July 18, 1692,
his widow Hannah was killed by the Indians at the
house of Peter Joslin, in Lancaster. He had eleven
children. One of his descendants is G. Henry Whit
comb, the envelope manufacturer, of Worcester. 6.
Abigail, no record. 7. Job. was a surveyor at
Lancaster; married May 19, 1669, Mary  . He
did not return to Lancaster after King Philip's
war, but settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut. He
died 1683. He had six children and has many de
scendants in Connecticut. 8. Josiah (see forward).
9. Mary, married John Moore, August 13, 1663,
son of John and Anna (Smith) Moore.
(II) Josiah Whitcomb, son of John Whitcomb
(1). was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1638,
and is believed to be the youngest son. He accom
panied his father's family from Scituate to Lan
caster in 1654. and his name appears variously in
the records of Lancaster. In 1688 he received a
bounty for killing a wolf. He was named in an
action for damages for killing swine belonging to
Stephen Gates. He married January 4, 1664, in
Lancaster. Rebecca Waters, daughter of Lawrence
and Ann (Linton) Waters, of Watertown, Lancaster
and Charlestown. She was born February, 1640.
During Queen Anne's war (1702-17) he was allowed
a garrison for protection against the Indians. This
garrison was situated in what is now called Bolton, '
set off from Lancaster in 1738. He lived in the,
southeastern part of Bolton. He was commander of
the garrison. In 1705 he was selectman and in
1708 he and twenty-nine others signed the church
covenant. In 1710 he was elected deputy to the
general court. He died in 1718. In his will made
March 20, 1718, he gave to each of his children one-
eighth part of his right to land in Littleton. His
widow died in 1726. His posterity is very numer
ous, thought to be the most numerous of the sons
of John Whitcomb. Their is a gravestone in the
Bolton graveyard marking his burial place. His
children were: 1. Josiah. born November 12, 1665;
died same day. 2. Josiah, born January 7, 1667 ; mar
ried (first) 1690, Mary  ; second Elizabeth  ;
he died April i2, 1718; widow married (second),
March 23, 1719, Jabez Fairbanks, of Lancaster,
Massachusetts. 3. David (see forward). 4. Rebecca,
born November 12. 1671 ; married Jacob Houghton,
1704. e. Johannah, born March 8, 1674: married,
December 26, 1708. Peter Joslin; died September
24, 1717- 6. Hezekiah. born September 14, 1681;

married Hannah  ; lived in Bolton, where he
was prominent in the church, died previous to
June 20, 1732; had eight children. 7. Deborah, born
December 26, 1683 ; probably died young. 8. Damaris ;
married, in Marlboro, Nathaniel Wilder. 9. Mary,
named in father's will. 10. Abigail, born March 13,
1687-8; married Josiah White, June 26, 1706. 11.
Eunice. (Ill) David Whitcomb, son of Josiah Whit
comb (2), born February 20. 1668; married May
31. 1700, in Concord, Massachusetts, Widow Mary
(Hayward) Fairbanks, who was descended from
Resolved White who came over in the "Mayflower"
with his parents. Her husband Jonathan Fair
banks was killed by the Indians at Lancaster, Massa
chusetts, September 4, 1697; she was taken a captive,
but was returned January 17, 1699, on the Province
Galley from Casco Bay. While in captivity she
acquired a knowledge of herbs, and afterward she
dispensed medicines and was called Doctress. They
lived in the southeastern part of Bolton, where they
kept a tavern. He died intestate April 11, 1730,
and his wife Mary died January 5, 1734, in the
sixty-seventh year of her age.
The children of David and Mary (Hayward)
(Fairbanks) Whitcomb were: 1. David; married
in Lancaster, Massachusetts, January 13, 1730-1,
Betty White; joined the Lancaster church July 18,
1736, and in 1741 was dismissed to the Bolton church;
was called Deacon, will probated December 5, 1786,
mentions ten children. 2. Jonathan, born at Lancas
ter, Massachusetts; married Rachel Woods, Decem
ber 12, 1722; died October 7, 1743. 3. Joseph, born
at Lancaster. 4. Rebecca; baptized 1708; married
Ezra Sawyer, January 16, 1725-6. 5. Benjamin, born
in Lancaster; baptized October or November 26,
1710 ; lived in Lunenburg in 1735 ; removed thence
to northerly part of Leominster, Massachusetts,
where he was elected deacon of the church Decem
ber 2, 1747 ; married Dorothy White, daughter of
Captain John and Eunice (Wilder) White; he died
October, 1778. 6. Simon, born in Lancaster ; bap
tized there March 7, 1713-4; married Thankful
Houghton, of Lancaster. July 12, 1733; had eleven
children. Order of birth unknown.
(IV) Joseph Whitcomb, son of David Whit
comb (3), born in Lancaster; married Damaris
Priest, daughter of John and Anna (Houghton)
Priest, of Lancaster, January 20, 1725, and the births
of their children are recorded in Lancaster. About
1760 the family moved to West Swanzey, New
Hampshire, where Joseph Whitcomb built a saw mill
and a grist mill, making the mill privilege on which
now stands the Stratton mills and the Box and
Bucket shops. He owned an extensive tract of land.
He was about sixty when he went to Swanzey. He
died November, 1792, at the age of ninety-two years,
and was buried in Swanzey. His wife died No
vember 12, 1770. In the expedition which laid siege
to Louisburg in 1745 Joseoh Whitcomb was lieutenant
in companv four, of which John Warner was cap
tain and Samuel Willard colonel. He was also a
lieutenant in the Crown Point Expedition in 1755.
In the conquest of Canada in 1758 Joseph Whit
comb was captain in Colonel Timothy Ruggles' regi
ment. His five sons took a very prominent part
in the revolution. One gamed the title of general,
two of colonel, one of lieutenant.
The children of Joseph and Damaris Whitcomb
were : 1. Abigail, born April 13, 1726 ; married 
Derby. 2. Elizabeth, born December 3, 1728. 3.
Joseph, born March 15, 1731-2; married December
16 or 18, 1754, Elizabeth Wheelock, of Leominster,
Macsachu?etts, was lieutenant in the revolutionary
army at Ticonderoga according to town records;

426

WORCESTER COUNTY

also other service ; removed to Grafton, Vermont, in
1790 or 1792. 4. Benjamin; born September 1, 1735;
died young. 5. Damaris, born January 7, 1737 ; died
young. 6. Benjamin, born September 29, 1738. 7.
Jonathan Priest (see forward). 8. Elisha (twin)
born October 18, 1742 ; had the military title of
major; was eleven months and eight days in Canada
in 1776; was in service also in 1777, called colonel
afterward on records; was at the battle of Bunker
Hill ; married Joanna Whitcomb, of Leominster,
Massachusetts : prominent citizen of Swanzey, state
senator seven years ; died September 17, 1814 ; widow
died December 17, 1835 ; had thirteen children. 9.
Elizabeth (twin), born October 18, 1742. io.
Damaris, born May 21, 1746; married April 3, 1765,
Jonathan Carter; she died July 6, 1820. 11. Phile
mon, born Octoher 29, 1748; had the military title
of general in the revolution; had a saw mill and a
trip hammer; married (first) Martha Sawyer, of
Lunenburg (intentions March 23, 1770) ; married
(second) Mrs. Anna Aldrich, widow of Amasa
Aldrich; died January 10, 1824. 12. Abijah, born
June 25 or 27, 1751; built a saw and grist mill
on the west side of the river at West Swanzey,
New Hampshire, and later with his brother Philemon
built a saw mill at what is now Spragueville, New
Hampshire; was in the battle of Bunker Hill; was
a pensioner ; served in Captain Jonathan Whitcomb's
company, Colonel Reed's regiment, of New Hamp
shire; married (first), November 6, 1786, Mary
Seaver, daughter of Shubael Seaver; married (sec
ond) Susanna Warner, daughter of Daniel Warner.
13. Anna, born 1755; married June 19, 1775, John
Carter. (V) Jonathan Priest Whitcomb, son of Joseph
Whitcomb (4), born January 14, 1740, at Leominster,
Massachusetts; married, September 5, 1764, Dorothy
Carter. She was born March 9, 1746; died Octo
ber 22, 1827. He settled in Swanzey, New Hamp
shire, and kept the first store and the first tavern
in the town. He served in the revolutionary war
and was paid for eight 'and one-half months service
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, _ during the siege of
Boston in 1775. He was captain of the largest com
pany in Colonel James Reid's regiment at Lexington,
April 10, 1775, and at Bunker Hill June 17. 1775.
His company encamped on Winter Hill, numbering
about seventy men from Keene, New Hampshire,
and Swanzey. He was promoted to the rank of
colonel in 1775. He had a difficulty with a Captain
Marcy, who accused him of cowardice, but a clean
and gallant war record was sustained by the court
of inquiry. Colonel and Mrs. Whitcomb used to
make horseback trips to Boston to buy goods, and
on one occasion brought home some lilacs, the first
they ever saw, which were planted on the old home
stead. Colonel Jonathan died Jung 13, 1792, _ and
his old, regiment attended the funeral. His widow
died at the home of her son Nathan. (Where the
dates in this family are double it is due to a con
flict between the dates of the Swanzey history and
the Carter Genealogy).
The children of Colonel Jonathan Priest and
Dorothy (Carter) Whitcomb were: 1. Dorothy,
born March 3 or May 23, 1765; died May 2, 1825;
married Nathan Capron and had four daughters. 2.
Jonathan, born September 20, 1766, or 67; married
May 11, 1786, Miriam Willard; he died December
13, 1844; resided at Swanzey. 3. John,, born March
22, 1768; died October 17, 1770. 4, Nathan (see
forward). 5. John, born March 9, 1772; married
May 7, 1795, Esther Morse, of Swanzey, daughter
of Henry Morse ; removed to Grafton, Vermont,
and Saxton's River, Vermont, where in 1830 he
bought the old Judge Baxter place; died 1875. 6.

Ephraim, born June 4 or 9, 1774: .died August 15,
1777. 7. Damaris, born April 29, 1777; died June,
1784. 8. Anna, born April 9, 1779; died June 17,
17S4, 9. Ephraim, born February 26, 1782; married
(first), in 1798, Dorothy Chamberlain; married
(secondl her sister, Charlotte Chamberlain, in 1817;
he died March, 1869; was a saddle-maker by trade.
10. Salome, born March 3, 1784; died March or
May 30, 1785. 11. Salome, born April 25, 1786;
married Amos Bailey.
(VI) Nathan Whitcomb, son of Colonel Jonathan
Priest Whitcomb (5), was born May 14, 1770. He
settled at Swanzey and died there. He married,
October 23, 1791, Penelope White, of Milford,
Massachusetts. She was born in 1771 ; died March
15, 1850. Their children were: 1. Leonard, born
January 26, 1793; married Betsey Woodward, daugh
ter of Josiah Woodward, February 9, 1819; died at
West Swanzey in 1866, aged seyenty-four years, 2.
, Carter (see forward). 3, Otis, born September,
1796; married July 22, 1818, Esther Osgood, daugh
ter of Ezekiel Osgood. He died March 18, 1882.
He had eighteen children. His wife was born Octo
ber 17. 1799; died April 20, 1867. He was called
captain apd always took great interest in military
matters. He has been made famous by Deriman
Thompson's play "Joshua Whitcomb," The char
acter of Joshua was a combination of Joshua Hol
brook and Otis Whitcomb. Mr. Thompson, the play
wright, was a native of Swanzey, and very fond of
Mr. Whitcomb, and often had him at performances.
Four or more sons were in the civil war. 4. Nathan,
died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. 5. Alva, born
about 1800; married Almira, daughter of Ezekiel
Osgood, September 21, 1820; removed to Pennsyl
vania, where he died 1850. 6. Lyman, born April
22, 1804; married September 26, 1837, Eliza Curtis,
daughter of Oliver and. Elizabeth Curtis, of Sharon,
Massachusetts. 7, Eliz'a, born at Swanzey; mar
ried May 12, 1839, Rev. James W, Bailey. 8. Son,
born 1812 ; died from scald, March 9, 1814. 9.
Infant. 10. Infant: died young.
(VII) Carter Whitcomb, son of Nathan Whit
comb (6), was born at Swanzey, New Hampshire,
February 9, 1794; married December 26, 1815, to
Lucy Baker, daughter of Jonidab Baker, of Marl
boro, New Hampshire. She was born February 4,
1794; died October 3, 1890, aged ninety-six years,
He died May 1, 1870. He was a merchant and
manufacturer of woolen goods from 1815 to 1837
in Saxton's River village, Vermont, in partnership
with Clement Godfrey. He took an active interest
•> in military and town affairs and was colonel of a
Vermont regiment. In 1837 he returned to Swan
zey and spent the remainder of his life there, on
his farm. Except the youngest, his children were
born in Saxton's River. His children were: 1.
Alonzo (sec forward). 2. Carter, born May 27,
1820: married Emily Augusta Spring, of Worces
ter, Massachusetts, who was born December 11,
1827, in Uxbridge. He was in active business with
his brother Alonzo until 1871. His death occurred
• December 1, 1880, in Worcester. His children were:
Ida Francena, born April 29, 1851 ; married Walter
G. Beal; Carrie Jane, born January 13, 1853; died
February 4, 1856; Henry Carter, bom August 29,
1857; resides in New York city; Franklin Luther,
born March 5, 1862, at Worcester ; married in Pitts
burg, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1893, Mary Piatt
Parry; is a manufacturer of car-wheels in Chicago,
where he lives ; has three children : Carter Parry,
born January 9, 1895, at Detroit, Michigan; Franklin
Luther, born June 15/1896, at Chicago; Pemberton,
born December 22, 1900, at Chicago, 3. Jonidab
Baker, born October 2, 1823 ; married Cynthia A.

WORCESTER COUNTY

427

Cutter, of Grafton, Vermont, April 5, 1855; settled
in Berkley, California; compiled "Ancestry and De
scendants of Colonel Jonathan Priest Whitcomb ;"
died January 22, 1890. 4. Byron, born April 17,
1826; married January 12, 1858, Eliza V. Lott, of
Flatlands, Long Island, New York; learned ma
chinist's trade at Worcester and removed to Fall
River, Massachusetts; went to California in 1849;
went with brother Jonidab Baker to the Yuba river
at Foster's Bar; from 1858 to 1868 lived at Young
Hill in Yuba county; removed then to Worcester,
where he went into business for a few years, finally
settled at Flatlands, Long Island; has five children.
5. Clement Godfrey, born December 12, 1828; died
April 1, 1893, at San Francisco ; unmarried. 6. Lucy
Jane, born May 9, 1834; married George Carpenter,
of Swanzey, New Hampshire. 7. Henry Homer, born
May 13, 1837; unmarried; died September 12, 1899.
(VIII) Alonzo Whitcomb, son of Colonel Carter
Whitcomb (7), was born at Saxton's River, Ver
mont, April 30, 1818. He came to Worcester in 1845
and was employed in the machine ""shops of S. C.
Coombs & Company until 1849 when, with his brother
Carter Whitcomb. (q. v.) he purchased the copying-
press business of George C. Taft, on Union street,
in the old Howe & Goddard shop. In a few years
they had developed this business largely and the
firm, then known as C. Whitcomb & Co., moved in
1852, to secure larger quarters, into the Merrifield
building at the corner of Exchange and Union streets,
where it remained until burned out in the great fire
of 18^4. After the fire the Junction shop was oc
cupied ' temporarily, then the firm moved into the
new Merrifield building at the corner of Exchange
and Cypress streets. In addition to the manufacture
of copying presses the firm also took up the manu
facture of metal-working machine tools soon after
its first establishment in the Merrifield building, and
this branch soon became the most important part
of the business.
In 1871 Carter Whitcomb retired from the firm
and the name was changed to The Whitcomb Manu
facturing Company. In 1872 Mr. Whitcomb moved
to the Estabrook shop at the Junction, and later in
1877 to the Rice & Griffin shop on Gold street. Here
he had another disastrous fire, having a $45,000 loss
with only $5,000 insurance, but the business suffered
no interruption. In 1892 he built the shop at the
corner of Sargent and Gold streets, since occupied
by his business. From 1866 to 1881 he was a part
ner in the firm of Rice & Whitcomb with Augustus
Rice, in the business established by Timothy F. Taft,
manufacturing metal shears and presses. Upon the
retirement of Mr. Rice this business was united with
the other, Mr. Whitcomb being sole owner of both.
He was one of the founders of the Kabley Foundry.
His partners in that concern were Frederick E. Reed
and Arnold Kabley. Before the death of Mr. Whit
comb that business had been incorporated, and the
officers were : President, Arnold Kabley ; treasurer,
Alonzo Whitcomb; director, F. E. Reed. The
foundry is located at 56 Gold street. In spite of times
of financial depression when it was the common
thing for shops to shut down, Mr. Whitcomb always
kept a certain number of men at work, preferring to
suffer loss of profits himself to depriving men who
had been faithful in their work for many years of
their much needed wages,
Mr. Whitcomb died March 28, 1900, after an active
business career of over fifty years. When over eighty
he continued to do his work, and was remarkably
active. He was of a quiet and retiring nature.
He ^referred his home life to public affairs and
social srtivity. He owned the famous old Governor
John Davis house on Lincoln street. Dickens,

Thackeray and other famous men have been guests
in this house, which is one of the most interesting
in the city. It is now the home of his son Alonzo
Wilton. Mr. Whitcomb married in 1857 Sybell (Heald)
Clary, who was born in Troy, Maine, October 17,
1820. Mrs. Whitcomb and her daughter, Camilla
Gertrude, reside at 35 Oxford street, the home built
by Mr. Whitcomb in i860. The children of Alonzo
and Sybell (Heald) (Clary) Whitcomb were: Lucy
Stella; married J. F. Browning; Camilla Gertrude;
Alonzo Wilton.
(IX) Alonzo Wilton Whitcomb, son of Alonzo
Whitcomb (8), was born in Worcester, Massachu
setts, April 11, 1862. He attended the Worcester
schools and graduated in 1880 from the Worcester
high school. He went to Amherst College where he
graduated in 1884. He came directly into his father's
business and worked in all the departments until
thoroughly familiar with all its details and ma
chinery. He was associated with his father in part
nership until his death in 1900, and during most of
the time in active management of the large interests
of the firm. Upon the death of Alonzo Whitcomb
the business was incorporated with Mrs. Sybell H.
Whitcomb, president; Alonzo Wilton Whitcomb,
treasurer; Samuel H. Clary, clerk and director. The
stock of Mr. Reed and Mr. Kabley in the Kabley
Foundry was purchased, and the same officers chosen
for the Kabley corporation. In 1905 a further con
solidation took place by the union of the P. Blais-
dell Machine Co. and Whitcomb Manufacturing Com
pany, in one Massachusetts corporation, with a capi
tal of $200,000. This consolidation gives the new
company a foundry and two large machine shops,
each having a large and prosperous business. The
officers of the new corporation are: President, A. W.
Whitcomb; vice-president and treasurer, Charles E.
Hildreth ; directors : William A. Blaisdell, Samuel
H. Clary and Camilla G. Whitcomb. The company
now makes a specialty of metal planers, engine lathes
and upright drills. The ordinary force employed is
three hundred and twenty-five. The name of the new
corporation is the Whitcomb-Blaisdell Machine Tool
Company. Mr. Whitcomb is a member of Quinsigamond
Lodge of Free Masons, and of the Commonwealth
Club. He is a trustee of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association and on the Executive Coun
cil of the Worcester Metal Trades Association. He
is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade.
He married April 4, 1894, Gertrude Coffey, who
was born in Worcester, April n, 1871. Their
children are : Dorothy, born January 2, 1895 ; Pres
ton, born May 30, 1897; Wilton Alonzo, born April
4, 1900. HENRY AUGUSTUS GREEN. Bartholomew
Green was a soldier in the revolutionary war, serv
ing in Captain Samuel Dexter's company. Colonel
Learned's regiment. The company return is dated
Roxbury Camp, January, 1776. This company was
raised in New Braintree, Hardwick and Oakham,
he being credited to the latter town. We find him
also associated with the companies of Captain Barna
bas Sears and Captain Ralph Earll, Colonel Dan
forth Keyes' regiment, enlisting in the latter com
pany July 2, 1777, discharged January 4, 1778, roll
dated Providence, and sworn to in Worcester county.
(Vol. VI, p. 795, Mass. Soldiers and Sailors, War of
Revolution) .
Records seem to be wanting to connect this
Bartholomew with other branches of the Green fam
ily, but it is perhaps a significant fact that one Joel
Green, of Spencer, Massachusetts, also Jeduthan

428'

WORCESTER COUNTY

Green, of same town, served in Colonel Learned's
regiment, and it is also a fact that children of both
Bartholomew and Jeduthan made their homes in
Rutland, Massachusetts, which fact at least is an
intimation that there was a family relationship exist
ing between them. Jeduthan Green was son of Will
iam and Rebecca (Tucker) Green, and lived on the
Charlton road in Leicester, born October 27, 1744.
Jeduthan enlisted from Spencer, and after the revo
lutionary war settled, in Barre. William, father of
Jeduthan, was born of Captain William and Sarah
(Sprague) Green; his father was son of Thomas
Green, of Maiden, Massachusetts.
Bartholomew, the revolutionary soldier, married
(as it would appear) rather late in life, in Barre,
April 11, 1804, Hannah, daughter of Skelton Feiton,
born Septemher 2, 1778. Her mother was Silance
Hale, born in Bolton, Massachusetts, February, 1776.
Skelton Feiton was in the fifth generation de
scent from Nathaniel Feiton, who was born about
1615, came from Great Yarmouth, county of Nor
folk, England, to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1633,
where he lived, and died July 30, 1705, aged ninety
years, leaving ten children. His son Nathaniel,
born August 15, 1655, by wife Ann Horn, had
eight children, among whom was Skelton, born about
1680, married, May, 1712, Hepsibah Sheldon; among
their seven children was Joseph, baptized August
14, 1715, married -Mary Trask, of Salem, in 1736,
and had thirteen children, the seventh being Skel
ton, born December 21, 1750, and married Silance
Hale. Children of Bartholomew Green, who died
in Barre, January 8, 1835, and his wife Hannah, who
died in Holden, Massachusetts, in 1846: Elbridge
Gerry, James Sullivan, Josiah Martin, Bartholomew,
Mary, Lydia, and Silance. No dates of their births
appear on the town records of Barre.
James Sullivan Green was bprn 1807, in Barre,
where he received his early education in the common
schools, and in early life worked on the farm that
was the property of his grandfather, Skelton Feiton,
of Barre, under the direction of his uncle, Captain
Benjamin Feiton, his mother's brother, who after
the death of the father, July 9, 1822, administered
on the estate. Captain Benjamin Feiton died in
Worcester, April 6, 1875, aged eighty-two years.
After a number of years farm work, Mr. Green re
moved to Grafton, where for several years he kept
the hotel now known as the Kirby House. He
then went to Millbury, and conducted the Tourtelotte
House, which for many years enjoyed an enjoyable
reputation as a popular hostelry. September 12,
1837, Mr. Green married Abigail Martin, of Shrews
bury, daughter of John and Sarah (Fay) Brigham.
At the time of this marriage, Mr. Green was a
resident of Grafton. He died in Millbury, Novem
ber 21, 1844, aged thirty-seven years and three
months. His children : James Oscar ; Henry Au
gustus, see forward ; Marion Augusta ; Sarah Abigail,
born May 7, 1843, in Millbury.
Henry Augustus Green was born in Grafton,
September 7, 1842. After the death of his father,
the mother removed with her children to Shrews
bury, where the subject of this sketch .attended the
public schools, and when a young man secured em
ployment in the store of Mr. Bontelle, where he
remained until September 25, 1862, when he enlisted
in Company A, Fifty-first Massachusetts Infantry,
serving with the Eighteenth Army Corps, in Cap
tain E. A. Wood's company, in the General Foster
expedition. He was at New Berne, Kingston, White
Hall and Goldsboro, North Carolina, being among
the nine months men, and was honorably discharged
July 27, 1862. On his_ return home he entered the
employ of E. T. Smith in the wholesale grocery

trade in Worcester, Massachusetts. Here he re
mained until 1870, when he opened a store on Shrews
bury street for the sale of groceries on his own
account, later taking Jesse Smith into partnership,
the style of the firm being Smith & Green, dealing
in groceries and provisions, lime and cement, their
store being on the corner of Shrewsbury and Mul-
bury streets, and there the business was continued
up to the time of Mr. Green's death, November 26,
1893. Mr. Green was an attendant at the Uni
versalist church, and was a Republican in politics.
He received his Master Mason degree in Montacute
Lodge; his Royal Arch degree in Eureka Chapter;
his Knight; Templar degree in Worcester County
Commandery, No. 5. He was a member of George
H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R. He married, Janu
ary, 1868, Frances Maria Gates, born March 20,
1846, in Worcester, rlaughter of Ephraim Gates, born
in Worcester, Octoher 27, 1815. Her mother, Maria
(Campbell) Gates, was born in Worcester, Febru
ary, 1822. Children of Henry Augustus and Frances
M. Green : 1. Walter James, born February, 1870,
died February 8, 1871. 2. Alice Elizabeth, born
December 12, 1872. -3. Albert Henry, born July
27, 1875; married Edith Wood Armington, of Wor
cester ; children : Richard Henry, Bradford, and
Frances, born March 20, 1895. 4. Marion Frances,
born October. 6, 1880; married Frederick E. Goulding,
of Worcester. 5. Florence Lillian, born October
25, 1882. 6. Cora Hden, born September 18, 1885.
THE HEYWOOD FAMILY OF WORCES
TER. The surname Heywood is distinct from Hay
wood, Hayward and Howard, although- the spelling
of ' each in every possible way makes it difficult-"
not to confuse the families, especially where Hey-
wards, Howards .and Heywoods were living in the
same town.
The derivation af the name Heywood is given
in a pedigree prepared by Peter John Heywood, of
Whitehaven, England, 1781, and published in
"Hunter's Life and Times of Oliver Heywood,"
who was a non-conformist clergyman of note in the
days of Charles I. The pedigree runs back to the
year 1164, a period when surnames were beginning
to come into use in the mother country. Often some
local feature of a man's place of residence was. em
ployed to distinguish him from others bearing the
same Christian name. The earliest authentic docu
ment containing the name of Heywood or its proto
type is a title deed still preserved for a tract of
land in Lancashire, from one Adame de Burgo or de
Bury, who held the knight's fee to a large section of
territory in the vicinity to Peter de Ey-wood, that is
"of wooded island." The latter was the reputed
founder of the Heywood family in England, from
which the American family is descended. This
estate remained in the possession of the descendants
of Peter Heywood more than five hundred years,
or until 1717 when Robert Heywood sold it to John
Starkey, of Rochdale, whose grandson, James
Starkey, dying intestate, allowed the place to pass
into the hands of.the Crown. It is now an attractive
public park, having been donated for the purpose by
Queen Victoria. While the English line is traced.
in an unbroken line from this Peter Heywood, the
ancestry of the emigrants to America had not at
last accounts been discovered. James and John Hey
wood, both about twenty-two years old, presumably
brothers, came together in the ship "Planter" in 1635.
They were both certified from Stepney Parish, Lon
don. James Heywood settled in Charlestown and
Woburn where he died November 20, 1642. John
Heywood is the ancestor of the Worcester and Gard
ner families of this name.

yfrurf

WORCESTER COUNTY

429

(I) John Heywood, mentioned above, settled in
Concord, Massachusetts, and was probably born in
London, England, about 1620. He married (first),
August 17, 1656, Rebecca Atkinson, daughter of
Thomas Atkinson. She was probably not his first
wife unless his age is estimated wrongly. She died
1665. He married (second), August 5, 1665, Sarah
Simonds. He married (third) Priscilla  , who
survived him. He was admitted a freeman in 1670.
The children of John and Rebecca (Atkinson)
Heywood, born in Concord, were: Rebecca, born
September 9, 1657, died young; Rebecca, May 13,
1660; John, Jr. (Deacon), mentioned below; Persis,
April 11, 1664; Benoni, July 31, 1665, died young;
The children of John and Sarah (Simonds) Hey
wood were: Sarah, born August 30, 1666; Judith,
January 3, 1667; Mary, November 3, 1669; Abigail,
April 9, 1672; William, April 17, 1674; Huldah,
September 17, 1676; James, January 27, 1678-79;
Joseph, January 3, 1680-81 ; Benjamin, March 17,
1682^83. (II) Deacon John Heywood, third child of John
Heywood (1), was born in Concord, Massachusetts,
April 5, 1662, where he als6 settled and lived, and
where, January 2, 1718, he died. In 1676 he was a
constable. He was keeper of an ordinary at Concord
in his later years. He married Sarah  . Their
children were: 1. Sarah. 2. Thomas, born July 16,
1686. 3. Samuel, October 11, 1687, married Eliza
beth Hubbard in 1710, was deacon and town officer,
died, October 28, 1750, had thirteen children. 4.
Edmund, July 31, 1689. 5. Josiah, November 15,
1691. 6. Daniel, April 15, 1694, removed to Wor
cester and is ancestor of a large number of the
Worcester family; married Hannah, daughter of
Obadiah Ward, another pioneer at Worcester ; he
lived and kept an inn on the site of the Bay State
House, and his son and grandson maintained the
tavern there for over a hundred years. 7. Eleazer,
August 3, 1696. 8. Nathan, September 24, 1698. 9.
Sarah, January 18, 1700-01. io. John, March 14,
1703, settled in Lunenburg. 11. Mary, March 23,
1704. 12. Phinehas, mentioned below. 13. Benja
min, October 25, 1709.
(Ill) Phinehas Heywood, twelfth child of Dea
con John Heywood (2), was born in Concord, Massa
chusetts, July 18, 1707. He settled in Shrewsbury
in 1739, in the northwest part near the Worcester
line. His descendants have been and are very numer
ous _ in Worcester, Shrewsbury, Gardner, and other
sections of Worcester county. He was a prominent
man, being a selectman of Shrewsbury, representative
to the general court, delegate to the provincial con
gress; committee of safety and correspondence 1774
and 1775. He was concerned in one of the first
overt acts of rebellion against the crown just' a year
before the battle of Lexington. Together with four
teen other Worcester county men, among whom
was Colonel Timothy Bigelow and Joshua Bigelow,
he was on' the grand jury that signed the famous pro
test against Chief Justice Oliver who had been im
peached by the general court for accepting pay
from the king in addition to his salary from the
province. _ This protest presented to the judges of
the superior court of judicature at Worcester, stated
the purpose of the jurors to decline to act if the
chief justice were present .on the bench "because
we apprehend it would be highly injurious to sub
ject a fellow-countryman to a trial at a bar where
one of the judges is convicted in the minds of the
people more heinous in all probability than any that
might come before him." The protest was read
publicly by the clerk, considered by the four, judges
Present, who at length stated that it was not prob
able that the chief justice would attend the session.

No attempt was made to discipline the rebellious
jurors. Although greatly interested in the events that
led up to the revolutionary war, he died at the very
beginning of the conflict, March 6, 1776.
He married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Deacon
Nathaniel Moore, of another of the important pioneer
families of Worcester. She died June 20, 1797, aged
eighty-six years. Their children, all bom in Shrews
bury, were: 1. Elizabeth, born May 15, 1755, mar
ried John Curtis, Jr., of another pioneer Worcester
family. 2. Mary, married Samuel Jennison, an early
Worcester family. 3. Seth. 4. Timothy, born Feb
ruary n, 1740, died at Westminster, 1825, aged
eighty-five. 5. Keziah, April 30, 1742, married
Bezaleel Howe, of Marlboro. 6. Phinehas, July 29,
1744- 7- Benjamin, October 25, 1746 (judge), father
of Dr. Benjamin F., grandfather of John G. Hey
wood. 8. Nathaniel, baptized November 13, 1748,
mentioned below. 9. John, born April 25, 1751. 10.
Levi, May 12, 1753, settled in Gardner.
(IV) Nathaniel Heywood, eighth child of Phine
has Heywood (3), was born in Shrewsbury and
baptized November 13, 1748. He married (first),
April 23, 1778, and lived on the homestead at Shrews
bury. His wife died May 25, 1792, aged thirty-five.
He married (second), July 1, 1793, Mary Chamber
lain, daughter of Deacon Jacob Chamberlain. She
died November 21, 1802, aged thirty-nine. He died
November 18, 1834, aged eighty-six.
He was a corporal in Captain Timothy Bigelow's
company, Colonel Artemas Ward's regiment, April
IQ» 1775, at Lexington, and also in Captain Jonas
Hubbard's company, Colonel Ward's regiment, in
1775. He was lieutenant under Captain William
Gates, in 1777, and served in New York.
The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Curtis)
Heywood were: I. Levi, born September 21, 1777,
died September 17, 1804. 2. Nathaniel, February 6,
1780, died October 4, 1836. 3. Benjamin, March 29,
1782. 4. John, August 24, 1784, died August 16, 1833,
at Shrewsbury. 5. Phinehas, May 4, 1788. 6. Daniel,
November 17, 1790, died December 20, 1802. The
children of Nathaniel and Mary (Chamberlain) Hey
wood were : 7. Hannah, February 9, 1794. 8. Daniel,
mentioned below. 9. Marietta, May 9, 1802, married
Elijah Stow, of Grafton.
(V) Daniel Heywood, eighth child of Lieutenant
Nathaniel Heywood (4), was born March 9, 1796, at
Shrewsbury. He married, October 21, 1824, Maria
Brooks, of Princeton. He settled in Shrewsbury
and his children were born there, viz. : John Brooks,
born August 8, 1825 ; George Chamberlain, June 18,
1827, died November 12, 1829; Charles Leland, men
tioned below; George Chamberlain, June 17, 1832;
Edwin Chapin, September 27, 1836; Henry Adams,
June 23, 1842. The baptisms of the children are
recorded in the second parish, Worcester.
(VI) Charles Leland Heywood, third child of
Daniel Heywood (5), of Shrewsbury and Wor
cester, Massachusetts, was born in Shrewsbury, Octo
ber 21, 1828.
(VII) Charles H. Heywood, son of Charles Le
land Heywood (6), was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts. He married, November 22, 1886, Cora
Maria Eaton, daughter of Amos Madison and Eliza
Maria (Kelley) Eaton, of Worcester. Their chil
dren are: Muriel Clio, Vincey Eaton, and Charles
Errol. AMOS MADISON EATON. John Eaton (1)
was the emigrant ancestor of Amos Madison Eaton,
of Worcester. He was the son of Nicholas and
Katherine (Marston) Eaton, and was baptized in
England August 21, 161 1. Nicholas Eaton was a
curate and church warden. John Eaton received a

43°

WORCESTER COUNTY

bequest of ten pounds from his step-mother's will
dated April io, 1635.
John Eaton is believed to have come with others
of the family on the ship Elizabeth and Ann in
April, 1635. He settled first in Watertown, Massa
chusetts, where he was a proprietor, and where May
25, 1636, he was admitted a freeman. He removed
to Dedham a year later and was a proprietor there
in 1637. He had grants of land at Watertown,
July, 1636, and February 28, 1636-37-38. He joined
the Dedham church in 1641 and signed the famous
Covenant there. He bought the rights of Thomas
Hastings when he went to Dedham May 11, 1637.
He was first present at the Dedham town meeting,
November 28, 1637, although he was one of a com
mittee in 1637 to cut pines for the meeting house.
He helped build the first foot-bridge across the
Charles river. He was on a committee to lay
out land for settlers and survey highways. He was
wood reeve for several years. He had the delicate
task in 1647 of deciding who were behind on the
highway work. In 1650 he was on the committee
to repair the 'foot-bridge. He had numerous grants
of land. He married in England, Abigail Damon, or Dam-
mant, who had two children, John and Jane, by
her previous marriage. He died November 17, 1658.
His will was made November 2, 1658, and proved
December 16, 1658. The children of John and
Abigail Eaton were : 1. Mary, baptized in Dover,
England, March 20, 1630-31, married, May 5, 1651,
John Mason. 2. John, baptized in Dover, England,
October 1, 1633, buried there January 27, 1734.
3. Thomas, born in England, 1634, died in Dedham,
September 10, 1649. 4. John, born in Watertown,
(see forward). 5. Abigail, born in Dedham, Jan
uary 6, 1640, married Robert Mason, of Med
field. 6. Jacob, born in Dedham, June 8, 1642, died
March 20, 1646.
(II) John Eaton, fourth child of John Eaton
(1), was born probably in 1636 in Watertown,
Massachusetts. He inherited the homestead at Ded
ham. He married Alice  , who died May 8,
1694. The children of John and Alice Eaton were :
John, born July 15, 1665, died October 15, 1665;
John, September 17, 1671 ; Thomas, July 23, 1675 ;
William, August 11, 1677; Judith, September 17,
1679, died April 26, 1780 ; Jonathan, (see forward) ;
David, March 8, 1683, died March 28, 1683; Eben
ezer, May 3, 1687, died May 23, 1688.
(Ill) Jonathan Eaton, son of John Eaton (2),
was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, September 3,
1681. He went to Connecticut in 1703, and bought
land in Woodstock in the part now Putnam, Con
necticut. In 1702 he paid taxes in Dedham, in
1704 in Woodstock. In 1705 he paid in Dedham
only, being "eased from all rates" in Woodstock
by special vote of the town. He attended church
at Woodstock until the establishment of a church
at Killingly, January 28, 1730,' of which he was
chosen the first deacon. This church is now the
North Society of Thompson, Connecticut. He mar
ried the second daughter of Comfort and Mary-
Starr, of Dedham. Comfort Starr was the son of
John and the grandson of Dr. Comfort Starr, of
Dedham, Massachusetts. Abiah (Starr) Eaton was
born February 8, 1687-88. Although her name
was Abiah she was baptized Lydia, June 17, 1688.
Her sister, Mary Starr, married her husband's
brother, William Eaton. Deacon Jonathan Eaton
died June 25, 1748, aged sixty-seven years. His
wife died March 4, 1751.
The children of Deacon Jonathan and Abiah
(Starr) Eaton, all recorded at Woodstock, were:

Lydia, born November 5, 1707, married Philemon
Chandler; Keziah, May 24, 1710; Alice, November
28, 1712; Susannah, April 8, 1715; Jerusha, April
16, 1717; Hannah, August 17, 1719; Jonathan, No
vember 10, 1721; John, May 18, 1724, settled at
Adams, Massachusetts; Penelope, March 21, 1727;
Comfort, September 25, 1729; Marston, October 21,
1731, died May 3, 1776, (see forward). (See Ded
ham Reg. Vol. 11.) _ The gravestone of Jonathan
is at Putnam, Connecticut.
(IV) Marston Eaton, youngest child of Jon
athan Eaton (3), was born in Killingly, Connecti
cut, in the section now Thompson. He married
Elizabeth Lyon, of Woodstock, -January 7, 1762. He
removed to Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 1776,
and shortly after his arrival • there he died, May 3,
1776. He and his brother Comfort operated a mill
on the Quinebaug river on land given them by their
father. The children of Marston and Elizabeth
(Lyon) Eaton were: Comfort; and Marston, see
forward. (V) Marston Eaton, second child of Marston
Eaton (4) , was born . at Killingly, Connecticut,
April 13, 1767. When a young boy he moved -with
his parents in 1776 to Belchertown, Massachusetts,
where he attended the public schools. He also lived
and went to school in the adjoining town of Pelt
ham, Massachusetts. He moved to Amherst,
Massachusetts, in 1804 and established a store there
removing to Pelham in 1806. He was prosperous
and had what was for his day and location a for
tune. The loss of $10,000 of convention money
embarrassed him, and he finally retired to his farm
where he spent the later years of his life. His
farm was in Pelham, where, October 10, 1845, he
was accidently killed by a tree which he cut, and
which fell upon him. He was a member of the
Universalist Church. He was a Whig in politics
and influential in town affairs. He was collector
of taxes in Pelham for many years and held other
town offices. He was a Free M'ason. At the time
of Shay's Rebellion he and other citizens in that
vicinity started for Worcester to join the ranks of
the malcontents, but he failed to carry out his pur
pose and went to Connecticut until the trouble was
at an end.
He married Charlotte Dutton, of Ludlow, Massa
chusetts, December 22, 1793. Their children were:
1. Rufus, born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, May"
1, 1794, married Fannie Holden. 2. Mary, born in
Belchertown, December 29, 1796, married David
Abercrombie, of Pelham, and had seven children.
3. De Marcus, September 10, 1798, married Ora
Austin, of Canterbury, Connecticut. Their children
were : Phebe A., married Charles Ray, of Canter
bury; Fayette, married Fannie Lester, of Canter
bury, and had Elmer Ellsworth and Sarah; Calvin,
married  Payne, of Providence, Rhode Island,
and had : Charles H. and one daughter. Mary
Hannah, unmarried, lives in Canterbury, Connecti:
cut; and Lutheria. 4. Lily, June 29, 1800, mar
ried Asa Briggs, of North Adams, Massachusetts;
and had eight children, s. Walter, July 24, 1802,
married Jerusha Austin, of Canterbury, Connecti
cut. 6. Jefferson, June 26, 1804. 7. Marston, see
forward. 8. Hannah, September 25, 1808, died at
age of three. 9. Madison, August 23, 181 1, died
October 19, 1836, married Orinda Hall of Shutes-
bury, Massachusetts. 10. Calvin Dutton, October
20, 1814, married Harriet Dudley, of Dudley, Massa
chusetts, and had "five children: Heman, Homer,
Julia, Cornelia, and Ellen. 11. Monroe, July' 24,
1817, married Clarissa Boyden and had three chil
dren : Morton Monroe, Frank Lapierre, and
Augusta, who lives in Hancock, Iowa.

WORCESTER COUNTY

43i

(VI) Marston Eaton, seventh child of Marston
Eaton (5), was born in Pelham, Massachusetts,
May 26, 1806. He received his early education in
the district schools of his native town, but he was
a self-educated man in "the proper sense of the word.
He was a life-long student. He began to teach
school when he was about nineteen years old,
working at home on his father's farm during the
summer seasons. For about fifteen years he _ was
a school teacher in Pelham, Amherst and vicinity.
During this time he worked two summers for his
brother DeMarcus, in Canterbury, Connecticut, in
his axe factory. He then returned to his home and
resumed teaching and farming for two or three
years. In 1847 he came to Worcester with his fam
ily and settled near Millstone Hill. Later he
bought a farm in Holden and lived there for six or
seven years, during which time he had charge of the
quarries at Millstone Hill. He finally exchanged
, his Holden property for a farm at the corner of
Belmont and Elizabeth streets, as the location is now
known. He built two dwelling houses there. He
lived there and in other parts of the city. In 1869
he retired from active business and went to Shrews
bury where he bought another farm on which he
spent the remainder of his days and where he died
January 3, 1873. He was a member of the Baptist
church. He was a Republican in politics. He
served in the militia in his younger days and was
drummer of the Pelham Company, being very ex
pert with the drumsticks.
Marston Eaton married (first), May 23, 1829,
in Millbury, Massachusetts, Betsey, daughter of
Sylvanus and Alice (Sprague) Joslyn, of Douglas,
Massachusetts. Sylvanus Joslyn was a farmer. He
was drowned in a pond on his own farm. Marston
¦ Eaton married (second) Sarah Whitney, of Boyls
ton, Massachusetts. He married (third) Abigail
Winter, of West Boylston. He married (fourth)
Angeline L. Bond, of Worcester. The children of
Marston and Betsey (Joslyn) Eaton were : 1. Rufus
Joslyn, born in Pelham, Massachusetts, 1831, mar
ried Julia Sampson, of Brookfield, Massachusetts,
who died February, 1905. They had four children:
Charles Henry, lives in Dallas, Texas, and has four
children; Carrie Augusta, deceased, married Henry
Boatmer, of Dallas, Texas, and had one child, James
W. Boatmer; Grace, died young; Mary Louise, mar
ried Henry W. Fobes, of New Braintree, Massachu
setts, lives in Dallas. Rufus Joslyn died in Dallas
in 1896. 2. Amos Madison, see forward. 3. Marston
Monroe, born in Worcester, June 14, 1836, married
(first) Emily Thayer, of Barre, Massachusetts.
They had two children: Bessie, who died young;
Emma Viola, deceased.. He married (second)
Marietta Knowlton, of Springville, New York. They
had two children : Bessie, who was burned to death
at the age of eighteen; Marston Monroe, Jr., of
Deer Lodge, Montana, a Methodist clergyman, has
four children : Marston Monroe, Jr., Mary Harriet,
Pauline and Lois. 4. Calvin Jefferson, born in Wor
cester, June 3, 1839, killed at Gettysburg battle July
4, 1863 ; he . was in Company B, Fifteenth Massa
chusetts Infantry. 5. Elizabeth Dimmis, born in
Worcester, April 14,. 1841, died in 1873, married
Augustus D. A. Guild, of Worcester, who was killed
in the battle of Spottsylvania ; married, Thanks
giving Day, 1858, and had one child, Marston Augus
tus Guild, deceased, who married Ella Boutelle, of
Aztalan, Wisconsin. They had four daughters :
Bernice Alvira, Elizabeth Eaton, Cora Eaton, and
Beulah. 6. Mary Harriet, born in Holden, Massa
chusetts, March 7, 1847, lives at 24 Maywood street,
Worcester, unmarried. 7. Orinda, born in Holden,
Massachusetts, April 6, 1849, married Benjamin T.

Marsh, of Worcester. The children of Marston
and Angeline L. (Bond) Eaton were: 8. Walter
Fayette, died young. 9. Lily Luthera, married Ed
ward A. Bartlett, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
They have five children : Henry A., Edith, Gladys,
Herbert, and Everett. 10. Annie Eliza, married
Charles A. Bacon, of Worcester, and they have five
children : Hazel Irene, Eunice Evelyn, Arthur
Charles, Ruth Belle, and Marston Eaton Bacon. 11.
Carrie Belle, married William T. Pratt, of Shrews
bury, Massachusetts. 12. Annie Frances, married
Fred C. Pratt, of Shrewsbury, and had one child,
Carlisle Clifton Pratt. Annie Frances Pratt died
December 25, 1901.
(VII) Amos Madison Eaton, second son of
Marston Eaton (6), was born in Pelham, Massachu
setts, October 21, 1833. At the age of ten or twelve
years he came to Worcester with his father's family
who soon afterward went to Holden where he at
tended the district schools. After receiving a com
mon school education he attended the Claremont
(New Hampshire) Academy. His first employ
ment was driving a baker's cart for George T. King,
of Orange street, Worcester. Then, after a year or
two in the bakery business, he went into partner
ship with Oran A. Kelley; on School street, in the
retail grocery business. After two years he bought
out his partner and for twenty-five years he car
ried on the business there, at 19 School street.
After retiring from the grocery business he carried
on a real estate business for about thirteen years
and cared for his own real estate interests. He
was also in the sand business for a few years and
died while engaged in that line of business, July
4, 1895, .at his home in Worcester, 807 Main street.
Mr. Eaton had a kindly social disposition that
won him many friends. He was a man of upright
ness and integrity. He won the esteem of his friends
by his frankness, honesty and good nature. He was
a member of the Unitarian church. In politics he was
a Republican. He married Eliza Maria Kelley, daughter of Oran
A. Kelley, of Worcester. (See sketch of Oran A.
Kelley's family in this work).
The only child of Amos Madison and Eliza Maria
(Kelley) Eaton was Cora Maria, who married
Charles H. Heywood, of Worcester, November 22,
1886. He is an inventor of envelope machinery,
and is a stockholder in the United States Envelope
Company. Their home is in the west.
The children of Charles H. and Cora Maria
(Eaton) Heywood are: Muriel Clio, Vincey Eaton
. and Charles Errol.
HENRY WARD BATES. The family of Bates,
Bate or Batt as it was variously spelled in ancient
times is an ancient name in England, and many
members of the family in England as well as Amer
ica have been distinguished. The Bates coat of arms
in England is a lion's head, erased, go. The name
is a form of Bertelot (Bartlett), derived from the
ancient name Bartholomew when surnames came into
vogue. Five generations of the family are traced
in England in the direct line of ancestry of Clement
Bates, Hingham, the emigrant ancestor.
(I) Thomas Bates, the ancestor of Henry Ward
Bates, of Worcester, lived in Lydd, parish of All
Hallows, county Kent, England, and died there in
1485. (II) John Bates, son of the preceding Thomas
Bates (1), died in 1522.
(Ill) Andrew Bates, son of the preceding John
Bates (2), had four sons; he died in 1533 at Lydd.
(IV) John Bates, son Of the preceding Andrew
Bates (3), died at Lydd in 1580, leaving three sons.

432

WORCESTER COUNTY

(V) James Bates, son of the preceding John
Bates (4), died at. Lydd in 1614. Among his chil
dren authorities give the three American pioneers
of this name: Clement, of Hingham, Edward, of
Weymouth, and James, of Dorchester, Massachu
setts. (VI) Clement Bates, son of the preceding James
Bates (5), was born in Hingham, county -Kent,. Eng
land, in 1595. At the age of forty he embarked
with his wife Anna of the same age April 6, 1635,
on the ship "Elizabeth," William Stagg, master. He
had with him also five children. He settled at
Hingham, Massachusetts, about the same time that
Rev. Peter Hobart's company arrived in September,
1635, and had a homestead of five acres on Town
street, near South street, and the original house was
lately standing and owned by descendants of the
emigrant. Anna • Bates died in Hingham, October l„ 1669,
aged seventy-four years ; Clement died September 17,
1671, aged seventy-six years. In his will dated at
Hingham, October 12, 1669, he gives land to sons,
Joseph, Benjamin and Samuel. The children of
Clement and Anna Bates were : James, born J621 ;
Clement, 1623 ; Rachel, 1627, died June, 1647 ; Joseph,
1630; Benjamin, 1633; Samuel, baptized in Hing
ham, March 24, 1639. -^
(VII) Joseph Bates, son of Clement Bates (6),
was born in county Kent, England, about 1630; mar
ried in Hingham, Massachusetts, January 9, 1657-8,
Esther Hilliard, daughter of William' Hilliard. She
died June 3, 1709. Joseph died April 30, 1706, aged
seventy-six years. In his will of April 24, 1706, he
mentions and provides for his wife Esther, also for
four sons and for daughters. He was a bricklayer
by trade, and undoubtedly a brickmaker as well. He
was constable from 1675 to 1678, inclusive. He was
selectman 1671-77-84-92; he was appointed sexton of
the parish in 1673 and served in that office until the
new meetinghouse was erected. He resided on the
old homestead, South street.
The children of Joseph were: Joseph, born Sep
tember 28, 1660; Esther, August 29, 1663, married
Richard Cobb; Caleb, March 30, 1666; Hannah, Oc
tober 31, 1668; Joshua, August. 14, 1671; Bathsheba,
January 26, 1673-4; Clement, September 22, 1676,
drowned June 29, 1706, in thirtieth year; Eleanor,
August 29, 1679, died September, 1679; Abigail, Oc
tober 16, 1680, married, June 12, 1704, John Chub-
buck. (VIII) Joshua Bates, son of Joseph Bates (7),
was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, August 14,
1671 ; married, January 15, 1695-6, Rachel Tower,
daughter of Ibrook and Margaret (Hardin) Tower.
She was born in Hingham, March 16, 1674-5. Their
children, all born in Hingham, were : Rachel, July
14, 1696; Joshua, June 15, 1698; Bathsheba, Feb
ruary 9, 1699-1700; Elizabeth, November 23, 1703;
Solomon, April 13, 1706; Isaac, March 3, 1707-8;
Jacob, August 20, 1710, of whom later.
(IX) Jacob Bates, son of Joshua Bates (8),
was born in Hingham, August 20, 1710. He married,
November 19, 1730, Mary Clark, daughter of John
and Rebecca (Lincoln) Clark. He resided in the
second precinct of Hingham and in 1745 was con
stable. Late in life he remoyed to Attleboro, Massa
chusetts, and later to Dudley, where he died at an
advanced age, July 6, 1795. The children of Jacob
and Mary (Clark) Bates were: Mary, born July
19, 1732; Simeon, March 21, 1737-8; Obadiah, May
7, 1741 ; James, April 19, 1743 ; Lydia, July 10, 1744 ;
Elijah, December 2, 1746; John, December 4, 1748,
of whom later; Jacob, April 15, 1751; Israel, April
15, 1753; Elizabeth, baptized May 8, 1761.
(X) John Bates, son of Jacob Bates (9), was

born in Hingham, December 4, 1748, died December
12, 1834, aged eighty-six years. He married Chloe
Fuller, who was born August 6, 1747, died July 11/
1825, aged seventy-nine years. She was the daugh
ter of Ensign Noah Fuller, who was born October
18, 1714, and died August 10, 1786, an ensign in
the militia. Her mother, Mary Cushman, was a de
scendant of Mayflower stock. He was a soldier in
the revolution and was paid for services at the battle
of Bunker Hill ; he was in Captain Ide's company,
Colonel Daggett's regiment. He was also in the
service in Rhode Island in 1776 and later. In 1775
he was in Attleboro and he went from there to
Bellingham, where other relatives lived. Later he
settled in Dudley, Massachusetts, now a part of Web
ster, where he spent the remainder of his life. He
was a farmer and large landowner.
His children were: Captain Alanson, born Jan
uary 30, 1772, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, died
August 22, 1842, married twice; John, born 1780,
of whom later; Subil, married  Joslin, re
sided at Thompson, Connecticut.
(XI) Captain John Bates, son of John Bates (10)
was born 1780 and died 1863, aged' eighty-three
years. He married (first) Patty •  , born
1786, died August 9, 1844, aged fifty-eight. He set
tled in Thompson, Connecticut. He had only one
child, John Wakefield Bates, born about 1800. Cap
tain John Bates was a man of wealth and influence
in his day.
(XII) John Wakefield Bates, son of Captain
John Bates (11), was born about 1800. He was
brought up in Thompson, Connecticut, and went to
school there. He learned the weaver's trade, at
which he worked for several years. He removed to
Webster, Massachusetts, when a young man and
went to work in the Slater mill. After a couple of .
years he bought a farm at Rochdale, Massachusetts,
known as the Bridges farm and became a farmer
for the remainder of his life. When a young man
he was a school teacher for a time in the common
schools in and about Thompson. He was a member
of the Baptist church. In politics he was a Repub
lican. He died September 25, 1881, at Rochdale.
He married Alma Perry, who was a native of
Connecticut; she died August 20, 1881. Their chil
dren were: John Franklin, died unmarried; Henry
Thompson, of whom later; Alma Jane, died May
5, 1867, married Washington Hill Merritt, of War
ren, Massachusetts, and their only child, Blanche,
died young; Emery F., died January 4, 1864, un
married. (XIII) Dr. Henry Thompson Bates, son of John
Wakefield Bates (12), was born in Webster, Massa
chusetts, November 12, 1832. At an early age he
removed with his parents to Rochdale, and was edu
cated in the public schools of that town. He also
attended Leicester Academy, and was graduated at
the age of eighteen. He then came to Worcester as
a clerk in the drug establishment of William Bush
(now Brewer & Co.'s), Front street. He began
to study medicine there and after two years entered
the Worcester Medical College on Providence street,
where the old Worcester Academy now is. He
studied there under Dr. Newton and Dr. A. Jack
son Howe. He subsequently went to the College of
Medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his de
gree of M. D. there.
He bought the practice of Dr. Hall, of Lowell,
and practiced his profession there for three years.
Then he disposed of his business there and removed
to Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he practiced for
ten years with gratifying success. But his health
became impaired and he removed to Norwich, Con
necticut, where he resided for a year and then came

WORCESTER COUNTY

433

to Worcester, where he spent the remainder of his
life. He never recovered his health and was able
to practice but little after leaving Brookfield. During
the last two years he was a hopeless invalid. He
died April 4, 1870. He was a Congregationalist and
while in Brookfield was the clerk of the parish. In
politics he was a Republican. He was on the school
committee in Brookfield when the school committee
had to run the schools and give them personal at
tention. He was a member of Hayden Lodge of
Free Masons of Brookfield and of the Worcester
District Medical Society.
He married, August 4, 1857, Charlotte Howe
Bush, daughter of Eleazer and Sarah (Howe) Bush,
of North Brookfield. Eleazer Bush was a farmer and
prominent in the militia. The children of Dr. and
Charlotte Howe (Bush) Bates were: Grace Alma,
born October 1, i860, resides at 58 Wachusett street,.
Worcester, unmarried; Henry Ward, born February
13, 1863, of whom later.
(XIV) Henry Ward Bates, son of Dr. Henry
Thompson Bates (13), was born at Brookfield,
Massachusetts, February 13, 1863. He began his
early education in his native town, but soon removed
to Norwich, Connecticut, where he went to school
for a time. He removed with the family to Wor
cester and attended the public and high schools. In
1879 he took the place of one of John D. Wash
burn's clerks who had resigned on account of ill
ness. He showed an aptitude for the insurance
business, and has been connected with this firm as
clerk and later as partner ever since. He was ad
mitted to partnership in 1896 and the firm name be
came John D. Washburn, Willis, Green & Bates.
This agency is one of the largest as well as one of
the oldest in the county.
Mr. Bates attends Central Congregational Church
and has been on its board of assessors three years,
part of the time as chairman. He has been a mem
ber of the Worcester Congregational Club for eleven
years and is at present the treasurer. He is treas
urer and clerk of the Worcester Board of Trade,
first vice-president of the Worcester Board of Un
derwriters, member of the corporation of the Wor
cester County Institution for Savings, member of
the Massachusetts Association of Local Fire Insur
ance Agents, the Worcester County Mechanics' As
sociation, the Tatassit. Canoe Club, the Automobile
Club, and other social organizations. In politics he
is a Republican. Mr. Bates served four years in the
militia and was second sergeant of the Worcester
Light Infantry, Company C, Second Regiment,
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
He married, October 15, 1895, Mabel Washburn
Jenkins, who was born February 25, 1871, the daugh
ter of James E. Jenkins, of Vernon, New York.
The children of Henry Ward and Mabel Washburn
(Jenkins) Bates were: Rachel, born in Worcester^
September 10, 1896; Hester, born in Worcester,
June 9, 1900.
General James E. Jenkins, father of Mrs. Henry
Ward Bates, was the son of L. Whipple Jenkins,
and was born in Vernon, New York, in 1842. His
father was one of the ablest lawyers in the state
in his day. His father's brother, Hon. Timothy
Jenkins, of Oneida Castle, was a congressman for
several years. He attended the schools of his native
village and afterwards prepared himself for college.
He was a student at Hamilton College when the
civil war broke out, and left at once to enlist. He
helped to raise a company of which he was to be
the captain, but after the company was raised there
was a long and costly delay in mustering them in,
so the men were scattered. Mr. Jenkins then be-
28

came first lieutenant of the Oneida Cavalry Com
pany, which went to the front in September, 1861,
and was made headquarters guard for the Army
of the Potomac and remained on this duty till the
end of the war, being mustered out September,
1865. In March, 1863, Lieutenant Jenkins was trans
ferred with the same rank to the One Hundred and
Forty-sixth New York Infantry, known as the Fifth
Oneida. The lieutenant colonel of this regiment
was David T. Jenkins, his brother. Lieutenant Jen
kins was soon made a captain and was brevetted for
special bravery at the battle of Spottsylvania. He
was terribly wounded at Gettysburg, shot through
the neck by a musket ball and at the same time his
back was badly torn by an exploding shell. He
was nursed back to health by his mother, who took
him to her home in Vernon as soon as he could be
moved. His brother, Colonel Jenkins, was killed
in the battle of the Wilderness while he was re
covering from his wounds. In September, 1864,
Captain Jenkins, re-enlisted in the Oneida Cavalry
Company and retained his command until mustered
out a year later.
After the war Captain Jenkins engaged in busi
ness in Worcester, Massachusetts, but in 1871 re
moved to New York, where he remained for about
ten years. He never recovered from the wounds
and exposures of army life, and in 1881 had to retire
from business.' He went to Florida, then to South
Dakota, and in '1882 decided to locate there. He
pre-empted a homestead in Brule county, near
Chamberlain, removing his family there the follow
ing year. His health improved and he became
prominent in his new home. In 1883 he was elected
treasurer of the county for three years, and in
1886 was re-elected. In 1887 he was appointed by
Governor Church adjutant general of Dakota, and
thus became known as General Jenkins. Had his
life been spared he gave promise of becoming one
of the distinguished men of the territory.
Mr. A. P. Case wrote of him at the time of his
death : "Brave and manly as a boy, brave on the
battle field, 'brave in his last struggle with his last
antagonist death. In the field he did not seem to
know what fear was. Always cool and collected,
a model commander, quick to see, prompt to act, he
only wanted a larger field of action to have become
distinguished as an officer. Himself friendly, he
always made friends, and was a favorite with his
playmates, his college chums, his army comrades,
and with the far western people among whom he
finally cast his lot. But ,with his friendliness he
always kept his stately, courteous manner, his self-
respect, his positive, determined character, thus com
pelling the respect -of others. In these respects, as
well as in personal appearance and dignity, he
often reminded his friends of his uncle, the late
Hon. Timothy Jenkins, of Oneida Castle. His vig
orous youth and erect form promised a long life,
but four years of army life hardships sapped it be
yond recovery."
He married Lizzie Learned Pierce, of Spencer,
Massachusetts. They had six children : Mabel W.,
Mrs. Henry W. Bates; Davfd T., resides in Minne
apolis; Alice S., at home; Bessie, deceased; Mar
shall P., at home; Gennette E., resides with Mrs.
Bates. GEORGE HENRY SHERMAN. The name
Sherman had a German origin, but the family in Eng
land is very ancient.
(I) Henry Sherman, the first English progenitor
to whom the line' of George Henry Sherman, of
Worcester, can be traced, lived in Dedham, Essex

434

WORCESTER COUNTY

county, England; married Agnes  ; died in 1589.
Their children were : 1. Henry, see forward. 2.
Edmond. 3. Judith. 4. John. 5. Robert.
(II) Henry Sherman, son of Henry Sherman (1),
married Susan Hills. He died in Dedham in 1610.
His children were: 1. Henry, born 1571; died 1645.
2. Samuel (see forward). 3. Susan. 4. Edward. 5.
Nathaniel, died young. 6. Nathaniel. 7. John. 8.
Elizabeth. 9. Ezekiel 10. Mary. 11. Daniel.
(Ill) Samuel Sherman, son of Henry Sherman
(2), born 1573, in Dedham, England; married
Phillippa  ; died in England 161 5. Their chil
dren were: 1. Mary, born 1599. 2. Samuel, died
in Boston, Massachusetts, and 3. Henry (twins),
died young. 4. Henry, born June 25, 1603. 5.
Martha, January 24, 1604. 6. Sarah, February 12,
1606; died December 12, 1612. 7. Philip (see for
ward). (IV) Hon. Philip Sherman, son of Samuel Sher
man (3), born in Dedham, England, February 5,
1610; died in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 1687; mar
ried Sarah Odding, daughter of Mrs. John Porter.
He came to New England in 1634, and settled first
at Roxbury, Massachusetts. He became interested
in the doctrines and opinions of Anne Hutchinson,
and when she was exiled he, with others, left Massa
chusetts Bay colony and went to Rhode Island. Here
by advice of Roger Williams, they bought the island
of Aquetnet, now Rhode Island, March 24, 1638.
The government was established July, 1639, with
William Coddington as governor, and Sherman secre
tary. He often held offices afterward. He was a
man of intelligence, wealth and influence. The early
records of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, are in his
handwriting, which shows an unusual degree of edu
cation. He was a neat and skilful penman. After
settling in Rhode Island Sherman became a Quaker,
and many of his descendants have been Quakers also.
Hon. John Sherman and his brother, General Will
iam T. Sherman, were descended from Philip's
brother, Edmund Sherman, who settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts.
Children of Hon. Philip and Sarah Sherman
were: 1. Eber (see forward). 2. Sarah, born 1636;
married Thomas Mumford of South Kingston,
Rhode Island. 3. Peleg, born in Portsmouth, Rhode
Island. 4. Mary, died young. 5. Edmund, born 1641.
6. Samson, born 1642; died 1720. 7. William, died
young. 8. John, born 1644; died 1734. 9. Mary,
married Samuel Wilbor, of Swansea. 10. Hannah,
married William Chase, of Swansea. 11. Samuel,
born 1648; died 1717. 12. Benjamin, born 1650:
married December 3, 1674, Hannah Marcy. His son
Jonathan, had son Jonathan and grandson Benajah
who lived in Exeter (no record .available of Bena-
jah's children). He was born in 1723; died 1785.
13. Philip, born October 1, 1652 ; married  Hath
away. (V) Eber Sherman, eldest son of Philip Sher
man (4), born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1634;
settled at North Kingston, and died there in 1706.
North Kingston formerly included Exeter, Rhode
Island. Children of Eber Sherman were: 1. Eber,
married Martha Remington, and resided at North
Kingston. 2. Stephen, farmer of North Kingston.
3. William, married May 12, 1681, Martha Wilbor.
4. Peleg (see forward). 5. Elisha, resided in North
Kingston. 6. Samuel, died 1744, unmarried.
(VI) Peleg Sherman, fourth child of Eber Sher
man (5), born in North Kingston, Rhode Island;
resided there on the farm now in the limits of
Exeter, Rhode Island, now or lately owned by
Othniel Sherman. Children were : 1. Ichabod, born
December 3, 1715. 2. Lydia, 1717; married William
Sweet. 3. Elizabeth, 1719. 4. Moses (see forward).
5. Mary, born June 27, 1725.

(VII) Moses Sherman, fourth child of Peleg
Sherman (6), born in North Kingston, July 8, 1723,
settled in that part of the town now Exeter,' per
haps on the homestead. He married (first), March
31, 1745, Sarah Austin ; (second) Mary Tarbox, July
13, 1758. Children of Moses and Sarah (Austin)
Sherman were : 1. Mellicent, born July 20, 1747. 2.
Elizabeth, October 4, 1749. 3. Hannah, February
26, 1752. 4. Moses, March 7, 1756. Children of
Mioses and Mary (Tarbox) Sherman were. 5.
Rufus, January 28, 1759. 6. Sarah, January 15, 1761.
7. Abiel, February 15, 1767. 8. Benajah (see forward)
(not in printed records). 9. Samuel, married Mary
Niles of West Greenwich, January 18, 1794. (Birth
not recorded of Samuel, see marriage record).
(VIII) Benajah Sherman, son of Moses Sher
man (7), born in Exeter, Rhode Island, April 16,
1774, was the father of Peleg Brown Sherman, born
October 11, 1798.
(IX) Peleg Brown Sherman, son of Benajah
Sherman (8), born in Exeter, Rhode Island, Octo
ber 11, 1798, was the grandfather of George H.
Sherman, of Worcester, and father of Hazard Sher
man, born January 14, 1821. His wife was Elsie
Dawley and they had fourteen children : Harriet,
Mary, Hazard, Susan, Peleg, Martha and Ruth
(twins), George, Robert, was in the navy during the
civil war; Elsie, Alford, Hannah, Emily, and one
who died young. He was killed by an accident, his
horse running away. He was a merchant.
(X) Hazard Sherman, son of Peleg Brown Sher
man (9), and grandson of Benajah Sherman, was
born January 14, 1821, in Exeter, Rhode Island,
where the family lived for many generations. The
town of Exeter was set off from North Kingston,
where the family located about 1660. His father was
born there October n, 1798, and his grandfather,
Benajah Sherman, was born on the same farm in
North Kingston, April 16. 1744. Hazard Sher
man settled in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, where he
kept a general store and was postmaster; was also
a carpenter and contractor. He was a member and
captain of the old Rough and Ready fire company,
of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was a man of
influence, and much esteemed by his fellow citizens.
For a number of years he served in the town coun
cil. He was a Free Mason and Knight Templar,
and a charter member of Unity Lodge of Lonsdale.
He removed from Pawtucket to Lonsdale later in
life. He attended and supported all churches liber
ally. He married Susan B. Follett of Massachu
setts, daughter of James Follett, and their children
were: 1. Hazard B. 2. Fred A. 3. George Henry
(see forward). 4. Frank P. 5. Charles J. 6.
Susan E. 7. Cora J. He died in Lonsdale about
1882. She is still living (1906) and resides at Paw
tucket, Rhode Island.
(XI) George Henry Sherman, son of Hazard
Sherman (10), born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island,
March 24, 1850; attended school in his native town
and in Lonsdale, and was graduated from the Lons
dale high school in 1867. He went to work in
his father's store, and for a time, while clerking
there, was assistant postmaster. He was in the store
six years. He then started in business for himself
in Lonsdale, but after a short time removed to
Florida, where he opened a general store, first in
Micanopy, where he remained a year, then in Gaines
ville. He made a specialty there of dealing in Sea
Island • cotton. He was in business in Florida in
all five years. In 1880 he accepted a position with
the American Supply Company, of Providence, deal
ers in mill supplies for cotton and woolen mills, as
commercial traveler, and has been with this house
ever since. He is well known to the mill owners
of New England. He lived in Valley Falls, Rhode

WORCESTER COUNTY

435

Island, for six years, and in Pawtucket nine years.
In 1897 he came to Worcester, and a few years later
built an attractive home at 690 Pleasant street, op
posite Newton Hill. He is a Free Mason, a member
of Union Lodge of Pawtucket; Pawtucket Royal
Arch Chapter; Holy Sepulchre Commandery, Knights
Templar; Palestine Temple, Mystic Shrine of Provi
dence; and Tatassit Canoe Club, of Worcester. He
was in the Pawtucket Light Guards in 1867-68. He
is a Republican, and in 1877 served in the common
council of Gainesville, Florida. He and family at
tend the Universalist Church, Worcester.
He married October 30, 1871, Harriet E. Cook;
born August 20, 1851, the daughter of Olney M.
and Harriet E. (Arnold) Cook. Olney M. Cook
died January, 1876; he was a farmer and merchant,
born and died in Cumberland, Rhode Island. His
wife died February, 1896. Their children were : 1.
Sarah. 2. Mary. 3. Davis. 4. Charles. 5. George
0. Cook. Her grandparents were Amos and Olive
(Darling) Cook, whose children were : 1. Ellis. 2.
. Eliza. 3. Arnold. 4. Sarah. 5, Olive and 6. Olney
(twins). 7. Levi. 8. Barton. 9. Davis. 10. Al-
bertis. 11. Amos. 12. Edmund. Amos Cook lived
in Cumberland and was a tavern-keeper.
Mrs. Sherman's mother was the daughter of
Simon and Lydia (Sheldon) Arnold. Their five
children were : 1. Edmund, married Virginia
Chapin. 2, Harriet, married Olney M. Cook. 3.
Henry, married Abbie Chapin. 4. Hetty, married
Asa Carpenter. 5. Rosa, married Flavel Carr. The
Arnolds lived in Pawtucket.
The children of George Henry and Harriet E.
(Cook) Sherman are: 1. Lola Gertrude, born Au
gust 19, 1873 ; graduate of the Pawtucket high school;
married William B. Hay, November 10, 1898; he is
manager of advertising of the Burroughs Screen
Company, of Partland, Maine; he is son of Flenry
H. and Eleanor Hay, of Portland ; they have a son,
Sherman Hay, born June 7, 1905. 2. Harrie Hazard,
born October 19, 1879 ; graduate of the Pawtucket
high school in 1897; graduate of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, 1901; is assistant manager of
the Webb Pink Granite Company, of Milford, Massa
chusetts; married June 9, 1902, Juliet Jennie Webb
and they have two children : 1. Webb Hazard, born
December 1, 1903. 2. Harrie Hazard, Jr., born Sep
tember 14, 1905.
EDWIN BUTCHER, son of Edwin and Mary
Ann (Perks) Butcher, was born in Kidderminster,
England, March 28, 1848. His parents were born
in Kidderminster, which is in the midst of the great
carpet manufacturing district of Great Britain.
When Edwin Butcher, Jr., was a year old he
was deprived by death of (his father, and conse
quently at the early age of eight was set to work in
a carpet mill. His time was divided between school
and the mill work, half a day at his books and half
among the looms. , He naturally became a weaver
and followed his trade in England until 1879, when
he came to America seeking a chance to better him
self. He sailed on the ship "Ohio" of the White
Star line, landing at Philadalphia, November 1,
¦1879. He secured work at his trade in that city,
but the following year moved to Thompsonville,
Connecticut, and in 1882 came to Worcester, Massa
chusetts, He began work in a very small way in a
wood shed at the back door of his house, moving-
later to the attic of his residence at No. 13 Cheever
street, and subsequently to the cellar. He came near
abandoning the business, owing to the low prices
which he was receiving for his goods, but he re
ceived an order from M. J. Whittall, the carpet
manufacturer of Worcester, for ten thousand at

an advanced price, which enabled him to manufac
ture at a profit. Thus 'the business began to grow,
and he sold large quantities in the United States,
Canada and England. In 1902, after working twenty
years at his trade in Worcester, he was forced to
abandon weaving on account of trouble with his
eyesight He is now engaged in the manufacture
of heddles for carpet looms, having secured valuable
patents in the United States and England. One was
granted to him August 3, 1897, and another Novem
ber 29, 1904; they are for certain new and useful
improvements in heddles for Jacquard looms for
carpet manufacturing. In the first year of manu
facturing this device he sold one hundred thousand.
His shop is now located at No. 4 Cheever street,
Worcester. Mr. Butcher has accumulated considerable prop
erty through thrift and careful investment. He
owns large apartment houses in Worcester, believing
in the solid value of such real estate. He is an ex
cellent example of adopted citizenship. He has
overcome the disadvantages of poverty and realized
the reward of the man who honors his trade and has
contributed something to improve it. He is an
active and influential Republican. He is a member
of the Congregational church, and of the Foresters.
Mr. Butcher married (first) Eliza Burns, daugh
ter of Jasper Burns, of Kidderminster, England.
She was born in 1844 and died on Easter Sunday,
1900. He married (second) Mary Follows, daugh
ter of John and Ann Roslyn (Badlands) Follows.
She was born in Kidderminster, England, February
4, 1857, coming to America with her parents when
two years old. Her family came to Worcester in
1870. Her father died in 1883, aged sixty-three, and
her mother in 1861, aged thirty-nine. , No children
were born to either union.
ALEXANDER DE WITT. John Witt (1), who
came from Holland to Lynn, Massachusetts, about
1630 and settled there, was the ancestor of Alexan
der De Witt, of Worcester, Massachusetts. The
prefix De was added by later generations and is
doubtless properly part of the surname. He married
Sarah  , and is said to have had two wives.
He died at Lynn, December 2, 1675. His children
were: John, married Elizabeth Baker; Jonathan,
married, March 23, 1663, Mary Dimond, of Lynn,
probably daughter of John Dimond ; Ann, married
 Barnes ; Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Martha,
born at Lynn, March 5, 1659; Thomas, born at Lynn,
July 25, 1661, married, February 26, 1685, Bethia
Potter, daughter of Nicholas Potter; Ebenezer, born
April 6, 1665, died young.
(II) John Witt, son of John Witt (1), was
born probably about 1650 in Lynn. He married,
January 14, 1676, Elizabeth Baker. They resided
in Lynn, where all their children were born, not all
being recorded. The children shown by the Lynn
records were : Elizabeth, bom August 9, 1677 ;
John, born June 3, 1679, married Mary Dane; Mary,
born August 14, 1681 ; Jonathan, married in Marl
boro, Lydia Mathews ; Abigail, born February 10,
1687 ; Samuel, born at Lynn, Octo"ber 20, 1691, mar
ried (first) Elizabeth Breed, of Lynn, (second)
Susanna Pierce ; Ebenezer, born August 8, 1693 ;
Thomas, born February 18, 1696, married Mary
Ivory ; Persis, born May 2, 1698.
(Ill) John Witt, son of John Witt (2), was
born at Lynn, Massachusetts, June 3, 1679. He mar
ried Mary Dane. They settled in Marlborough,
Massachusetts, about 1707. He died th?re in 1743.
His will was made March 6, 1741, and proved May
16, 1743. It mentions his wife Mary; sons, William,
Ellas, Joseph, John and Ebenezer; daughters, Mary

436

WORCESTER COUNTY

Dike and Elizabeth ; granddaughter, Rebecca Goodell.
He settled on the Indian plantation in the northeast
part of the town .where his descendants have since
lived. The children of John and Mary (Dane)
Witt were: William, born May 13, i7°8; Mary,
born July 29, 1710; Elias, born June 30, 1714, mar
ried, March 31, 1742, Elizabeth Marble; Rebecca,
born 1715, married, January 17, 1733, Eleazer Good
ale, of Sutton; David, born April 11, 1720, married
Sarah  , and had Thomas, bom April 11, 1745;
Ebenezer, born 1722, baptized June 22, 1722, mar
ried Lydia Woodbury; Elizabeth, married Benoni
Bailey; John, see forward.
John Witt, son of John Witt (3), was born at
Marlborough, Massachusetts, about 1720. He was a
nephew of Captain Ebenezer Witt, of Brookfield,
and he came to North Brookfield to settle as early
as 1744 with his wife , Sarah. They lived on what
is lately known as tne Cheever place. John Witt
sold his farm to Samuel Cheever, July 19, 1769. He
was one of the forty-eight charter members of the
Second Church, formed May 28, 1752. He was a
lieutenant in the militia in the Indian .wars. Four
of his children only are recorded at North Brook
field, as follows: Benjamin, born August 15, 1750;
Ivory, October 20, 1752; Stephen, August "15, 1754;
Joseph, January 3, 1757.
(V) Benjamin Witt, son of John Witt (4), was
born at North Brookfield, Massachusetts, August
15. 1750- He removed to New Braintree. He mar
ried Olivia Campbell, daughter of Duncan Camp
bell, and settled at Oxford, Massachusetts. He was
a soldier -in the revolutionary war. In 1794 he re
moved again to New Braintree, where he died April
17, 1818. His widow married Daniel Bacon, of.
Charlton, Massachusetts, and died February 5, 1848,
at Oxford, Massachusetts. Their children were :
1. Stearns, born December 22, 1787 (named for his
maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Stearns. This
name in England has always been "Stern'' and
Captain De Witt early discarded the "A" and wrote
his name "Sterns"). 2. Sophia, born April 22, 1789,
married, August 14, 1808, William Earle, resided
at New Braintree, Oxford, Franklin and Boston,
where he died August 27, 1867; she died January
3, 1885. Their children were: Olivier S., born r8i2;
William, 1814; Samuel H., 1816; Blenjamin A.,
1818; Paul, 1821; Henry A., 1824; Mary M., 1829;
Nancy S., 1831. 3. Polly, born March 22, 1791, mar
ried Amos Thompson, 1810. 4. Hollis, born December
22, 1792. 5. Archibald, born October 27, 1794, mar
ried Martha Fisher, daughter of A. F. Fisher, of
Franklin, where they settled; he died May, 1759.
His children were: George Alexander, William,
Martha and Horace. 6. Susan, born August 17,
1796, married Rufus Harris. 7. Alexander, bora
April 2, 1798. 8. Nancy, born March 29, 1800, mar
ried Horace Smith. 9. Elizabeth, born February
17, 1803, married Jonas Bacon.
(VI) Nancy De Witt, daughter of Benjamin
Witt, was born March 29, 1800, at New Braintree,
Massachusetts. She married Horace Smith, of
Leicester, his second wife. She died September 24,
1830, and her two children were adopted by her
brother, Colonel Alexander De Witt, who was child
less. The children were: Eliza L., born at Leicester,
May 2, 1825, married Dr. William Newton; Horace
De Witt, name changed to Horace Smith De Witt,
born at Leicester, Massachusetts, October 2, 1828,
married, March 29, 1852, Sarah Jane Phelps, daugh
ter of James Phelps, of Sutton.
(VII) Horace Smith De Witt, son of Horace
and Nancy De Witt Smith (6), was born at Leices
ter, Massachusetts, October 2, 1828. He married,
March 29, 1852, Sarah Jane Phelps, daughter of

James Phelps, of Sutton, Massachusetts. He died
May 4, 1859. They settled at Pepperell, Massachu
setts, where their only son was born : Alexander,
, March 7, 1854.
(VI) Colonel Alexander De Witt, son of Benja
min Witt (5), born April 2, 1798, at New Brain
tree, Massachusetts. He was great-uncle of Alex
ander De Witt, of Worcester, his namesake. He
was the next oldest brother of Nancy De Witt. Am-
midown says of him : "He was emphatically what is
termed a self-made man. Self-reliance was his motto
and from this resource he rose to whatsoever posi
tion he sustained in either public or private life."
He went to work at the age of fifteen in the store
of the Merino Manufacturing Company at Dudley,
Massachusetts, and remained in that position four
years, travelling some of the time to sell goods. In
1818 he went to Franklin and engaged in manu
facturing cotton thread in partnership with Dr. Mil
ler. Next year he -started a mill and country store
at Oxford, selling the thread he made from his
wagon. After he married he manufactured thread
at Franklin with his father-in-law until 1824, when
he entered a partnership with his three brothers,
Stems, Archibald and Hollis, and they began a small
business at what is now Buffum village in Oxford.
They continued but a few years. As his means in-.
creased he became interested in cotton and ' wool
manufacturing elsewhere. He resided in Oxford all
his life except from 1837 to 1840, when he was a
partner in a commercial house in Boston and lived
in that city, and in 1848 and 1849, when for about
a year he resided in Worcester. He became- wealthy
and held investments in railroads, insurance com
panies and many different industrial concerns.
He was for twenty-six years a director of the
Worcester Mechanics' and Farmers' ' Insurance
Company; for twenty-seven years director of the
State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worces
ter; for twenty years with the Mechanics' Savings
Bank of Worcester as trustee and president; di
rector and for nine years president of the Mechanics'
National Bank of Worcester; for five years presi
dent of the Oxford Bank; three years president of
the Worcester & Nashua Railroad; for seventeen
years director of the Providence & Worcester Rail
road; for twenty-five years director of the Norwich
& Worcester Railroad. He was often moderator
of the Oxford town meetings. He was representa
tive in the general court five years, state senator in
1842-44-50-51. He was a delegate to the constitu
tional convention in 1853. He was elected to con
gress in 1852 over the Whig and Democratic nomi
nees from the ninth congressional district, and re
elected in 1854. He gave freely to charitable ob
jects and was the largest contributor in the town
to religious institutions. He left a legacy to the
Oxford Congregational Church. He is described as
a large, florid, handsome man, jovial and hearty in
his manner and very attractive personally. He mar- ,
ried, June 5, 1820, Mary Makepeace, of Franklin,
Massachusetts. He died January 13, 1879; she died
April 6, 1887, at the age of eighty-nine. They had
no children, but adopted the children of his sister,
Nancy (De Witt) Smith.
(VIII) Alexander De Witt, son of Horace De
Witt (7), was born at Pepperell, Massachusetts,
March 7, 1854. He received his education in the
public schools at Sutton, Oxford, and Leicester
Academy, and in 1871 came to Worcester to live.
He began his business career in the office of Kinni
cutt & Co., hardware merchants, Main street. The
firm was composed of F. H. "'Kinnicutt, Samuel
Woodward and L. N. Kinnicutt. He remained'
with this firm until 1881. He was then associated

flstUvTZ^ c/' ^/'^Cc&^U^

WORCESTER COUNTY

437

with J. and J. Murdock, of Lester, until 1883. He
entered the banking business in partnership with
Lincoln N. Kinnicutt, in 1884, and continued until
January, 1906. They were interested with others
in the successful purchase and re-organization of
the Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company, now
the Worcester Trust Company, of which Mr. De
Witt is a director. He is also trustee of the People's
Savings Bank. He married, September 21, 1880,
Caroline Murdock, daughter of Joshua Murdock, of
Leicester, Massachusetts.
HON. EDWARD FOSTER FLETCHER. The
-surname Fletcher is derived from the occupation of
arrow maker, or maker of bows and arrows, from
the Anglo-Saxon "fledge," an allusion to the feath
ering of an arrow. The family is ancient, coming,
it is said, from Burgundy, now the Canton de
Vaud, in Switzerland. The first Fletcher came to
England with the Normans at the time of the Con
quest. The ancient coat-of-arms of the Fletchers
was : Sable, a cross flory between four scallop shells,
argent. Moses Fletcher came in the "Mayflower,'- signed
the Compact, and died soon after arriving. There
were three other prominent immigrants to New
England: Edward, from Badgeden, county Glouces
ter, returned to England; Robert, of Concord, men
tioned below; and William, of Concord. No proof
of relationship between them has been found.
(I) Robert Fletcher, the progenitor of Hon. Ed
ward Foster Fletcher, ex-mayor of Worcester was
born in England in 1592. The family tradition has it
that he came from Yorkshire, and the name is com
mon in the north of England. Robert settled in Con
cord, in New -England, in 1630, and became wealthy
and prominent ; he was ¦ appointed by the general
court a constable November 2, 1637. He removed
to Chelmsford; he joined with William Fletcher
and others in 1654 in inviting Mr. John Fiske and
the Wenham church to remove to Chelmsford in a
body. He died at Concord, April 3, 1677, aged
eighty-five years. His will was made February
4, 1672, aged about four score years; in it he com
mits his wife to the care of his son Francis and
wife; bequeathed to sons Francis, William and Sam
uel. The inventory is dated May 12, 1677. His
children; 1. Luke,' bom in England; died May 21,
1665, unmarried. 2. William, mentioned below. 3.
Caroline, married  Kebby. 4. Samuel, born
1632. 5. Francis, born 1630, married Elizabeth
Wheeler. (II) William Fletcher, son of Robert Fletcher
(1), born in England, 1622, came with his father to
Concord when eight years old. He was admitted a
freeman May 10, 1643; was selectman 1655, the first
public meeting, November 22, 1654, being held at his
house; in 1673 was appointed a commissioner for
Chelmsford. He was the owner of a tract of land
embracing what is now- the city of Lowell. A part
of the original lot, near the meeting house at Chelms
ford, has been occupied more than two hundred
years by his descendants. He died November 6,
1677; his wife Lydia died October 12, 1704. He
married ' Lydia Bates, of Concord,, October 7, 1645.
Their children: 1. Lydia, born January 30, 1647;
married Rev. John Fiske. 2. Joshua, mentioned he-
low. > 3. Paul, married, 'April 12, 1705, Deliverance
¦ Stevens. 4. Sarah. 5. William, born ¦ in Chelms
ford, February 21, 1657. 6. Mary, born in Chelms
ford, October 4, 1658. 7. Esther, born at Chelms
ford, April 12, 1664. 8. Samuel, born July 23, 1664.
(Ill) Joshua Fletcher, son of William Fletcher
(2), was bom at Concord, March 20, 1648, and ad
mitted a freeman March 11, 1689. He married,

May 4, 1668, Grissies Jewell, who died January,
1682, and (second) Sarah Willey, July 18, 1682.
He died November 21, 1713. The only child on rec
ord of Joshua and Grissies Fletcher was Joshua,
born about 1669, married about 1700, Dorothy Hale.
Children of Joshua and Sarah : 2. Paul, born 1683,
resided at Chelmsford; belonged to the Snow Shoe
company of soldiers in the Indian war 1724; was
town treasurer. 3. Rachel, born June 27, 1683. 4.
Timothy, born October, 1685, died March 2, 1705.
5. John, -born at Chelmsford May 7, 1687 ; married
Hannah Phelps. 6. Joseph, mentioned below. 7.
Sarah, born January 21, 1696; married Thomas
Reed. 8. Jonathan, married, May 5, 1735, Jane
Chamberlain, and settled in Westford; his widow
lived to be a hundred years old. 9. Elizabeth, born
June 10, 1698, married Samuel Hartwell. 10. Jonas,
born 1694.
(IV) Captain Joseph Fletcher, sixth child of
Joshua Fletcher (3), born in Chelmsford, June 10,
1689; married Sarah Adams, of Concord, November
17, 1712. She was born 1691 and died April 24,
1761 ; he died October 4, 1772. They settled and
lived in Westford, adjoining Chelmsford, on the
place known as the E. Tower place, where all the
children were born. Their children : 1. Joseph,
born July 6, 1713. 2. Benjamin, born August 8,
1716; married twice. 3. Timothy, born April 12,
1719. 4. Thomas, born March 10, 1721. 5. Sarah.
6. Edith, born April 8, 1725; married Benjamin
Carver. 7. Pelatiah, mentioned below. 8. Joshua,
born November 20, 173 1. 9. Ruth, bom August 28,
1733- 10. Mary, born August 29, 1735; married,
January 16, 1755, Eleazer Fletcher.
(V) Captain Pelatiah Fletcher, seventh child of
Captain Joseph Fletcher (4), born in Chelmsford,
May 3, 1727; married Dorothy, daughter of James
Hildreth, January 13, 1757. She was born August
26, 1736, died June 14, 1784. He married: (second)
Widow Betty Keyes, born in Hartwell, October 13,
1782. He was sent as a delegate from Westford to
the convention of committees from the towns held
at Dracut,' November 26, 1776. He died February
23, 1807. Children: 1. Betsey, born December 15,
1757. 2. Dorothy, born December 21, 1759; mar
ried Sampson Fletcher. 3. Joseph, born November
6, 1761, died December 25, 1765. 4. Sarah, born
August 12, 1763, died August 22, 1783. 5. Lucy,
born November 14, 1765, died July I, 1766. 6.
Pelatiah, mentioned below. 7. Joseph, born May
13, 1769, married Frances (Grant) Keyes. 8. Lucy,
born February 12, 1771, married Joseph Rockwood,
of Groton. 9. Adams, born March 10, 1773, died
September 27, 1775. 10. Ezra, born October 9, 1774.
11. Polly, born August 11, 1776; married Abram
Prescott. 12. Adams, born August 17, 1779.
(VI) Pelatiah Fletcher, sixth child of Pelatiah
Fletcher (5), born April 4, 1767; married Patty
Keyes, December 5,- 1785. She died December 9,
1786; he married (second) Sally Woodward, Sep
tember 22, 1788; (third), Mrs. Buelah Heywood, of
Concord, June 23, 1803; she died May, 1814. He
died May 7, 1811. Children of Pelatiah and Patty
Fletcher: 1. Joel, born at Westforji • 1786;
married. Abigail- Dinsmore, in Anson,- Maine;
seven children. Children of Pelatiah and . Sarah :
2-3. Sally and Patty, twins, bom in Ashburnham,
June 28, 1789; Sally married ' Richard Adams, De
cember 9, 1806 ; Patty married, April 9, 1807, Jacob
Osgood, of Westford, born March 13, 1787, died
1857, and had a large family. 4. Wiley, born at Gro
ton,' February 7, 1791 ; married Elizabeth Lyman, of
Sandlake, New York; removed to Albany, New
York. 5. Samuel, born at Ashburnham, March 21,
1792; married, April 13, 1813, Buelah Heywood, of

438

WORCESTER COUNTY

Westford; he died February 25, i860. 6. Timothy,
born at Groton, November 28, 1795 ; married, Jan
uary 25, 1825, Elizabeth Ann Edes; he was county
commissioner several years. 8. Harriet, born at
Groton, July 31, 1800; married Nathan S. Hamlin,
of Westford, November, 1829. 9. Mary, born at
Westford, January 25, 1803; married Thomas Rich
ardson, January 23, 1840; died March 22, 1877.
Children of Pelatiah and Buelah : 10! Pelatiah, born
in Westford, June 27, 1804, married, May 13, 1830,
Susan Hamlin, born August 29, 1808, died April
15, 1850; settled in Pepperell. 11. Lucy, born at
Westford, September 10, 1806, married Abel Stevens,
of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
(VII) Calvin Fletcher, seventh child of Pelatiah
Fletcher (6), b.orn in Groton, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 20, 1797. He was a farmer in Groton and
dealt also extensively in lumber. He served the
town as selectman, representative to general court,
and in other positions of trust and honor. He was
one of the prominent men of his day. At the time
of his death he owned a large amount of land at
Ayer Junction. He was well educated,' and in his
younger days was a school teacher. He married,
October 10, 1819, Nancy Reed, daughter of Samuel
Reed. Their children: r. Nancy E., born at West
ford, 1820; married William Sawtelle, of Shirley.
2. Calvin J., born at Westford, 1822, died Decem
ber 24, 1905; married Elizabeth Whitney, of Stowe,
1848, who died December 24, 1905 ; three children :
Emma C, bom 1849; Mary F., 1851 ; Helen B.,
1861. 3. Rufus R., mentioned below. 4. Samuel
W., born 1826, died 1845* unmarried. 5. Pelatiah,
bom 1827, died 1833. 6. Mary F., bom 1829; mar
ried Frederick W. Pope, 1853 ; three children : Nellie
F., born 1854; Frank F., 1859; William F., Pope,
died October 21, 1906. 7. Martha P., born 1833,
married Jacob W. Cooper, 1853; had Ida S. Cooper,
born 1854. 8. Pelatiah, born 1836, died. 9. Joseph,
born 1837, died; married, 1862, Sarah J. Stone, and
had: Calvin, bom 1863; Charles S., born 1867. 10.
Albert Francis, born 1840, died March 14, 1906;
married, 1889; two children — Robert and Edwin.
Sarah J. Stone died August 6, 1905.
(VIII) Rufus Reed Fletcher, third child of
Calvin Fletcher (7), born at Westford, July 2, 1823,
died April 16, 1906. He was brought up and went
to the public schools in his native town. He became
a nurseryman and florist in early life, and followed
that occupation during his active life, over fifty
years, and at the time of his death was living at
Rutland, Vermont. When a young man he owned
some valuable inventions and travelled extensively
in the west and south. He was an active member
of the Unitarian church in Ayer, where he resided
until recently. He was at various times trustee,
collector and treasurer of the church! Mr. Fletcher
was a gifted conversationalist. He had a fund of
good stories and good nature that attracted every
body who knew him. He made friends everywhere,
and few men were more fortunate in winning the
good- will and esteem of a multitude. He married
first, 1848, Sarah Marble Whitney, born November
3, 1819, died September 17, 1892. He married (sec
ond) Mrs. Mary E. Hayward, of South Acton,
Massachusetts. Children of jRufus Reed and Sarah
Marble (Whitney) Fletcherl 1. Harriet Josephine,
born August 25, 1849, resides in Worcester, un
married. 2. Sarah Elizabeth, born October 5, 1850,
married Charles B. Felch, a printer, of Ayer, Massa
chusetts, who died 1881; she resides in Worcester;
they had one son, Percy Fletcher Felch, born March
5, 1878, died July 8, 1900. He attended the city
schools of Worcester and then entered the Massa
chusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, and grad

uated in 1901, well advanced in his class. He was
very popular among his classmates ; he was per
suaded to remain after graduation for a few days
with his friends, and two days later, while bathing,
was drowned. He 'possessed marked musical talent.
His death was a severe blow not only to his widowed.
mother, but also to his numerous friends, who
revered and esteemed him for his many noble char
acteristics, which shone forth clearly in his daily
walk and conversation. 3. Daniel Whitney, born
February 1, 1852, resides at Ayer; president Middle-
sex Northwest Savings Bank of Ayer, and vice-
president Ayer National Bank; is owner of Fletcher
block; a dealer in men's clothing, furnishings, shoes,
etc., and has his two sons in business with him. He
married Emma Phelps, and has five children : Ethel
A., Howard P., Frank W., Dorris, Hazel died June,
1894. 4. Edward Foster mentioned below. 5 Samuel
Wyley, born May 28, 1857; was engaged in the
clothing business at Nashua, but March 1, 1906, sold
this and associated himself with his brother, Ed
ward Foster, in business in Worcester. He married
Susan Fletcher; two children. 1. Mary M., a teacher
in the kindergarten at Nashua, New Hampshire;
she has a fine contralto voice and sings in public,
thus furnishing pleasure for many people; she is
noted for her many acts of charity among the poor
and deserving. 2. Nina G., the well known violinist,
who has been heard with favor in Boston Symphony
Concerts and many recitals, and gives promise of a
brilliant career.
(IX) Edward Foster Fletcher, fourth child of
Rufus Reed Fletcher (8), was born in Littleton,
Massachusetts, June 17, 1854. When he was four
years of age his parents removed with him to Ayer,
and he attended the public schools of Ayer and Law
rence Academy, at Groton, Massachusetts. At the
age of twenty-one he entered into the boot and shoe
business in Ayer, where he continued for six years,
and then formed a connection with the Oakdale Shoe
Company, at Oakdale, Massachusetts. Two years
later he formed a partnership with Gilbert G. Bemis,
and began business in Worcester in the Crompton
block, on Mechanic street, 1883, under the name of
the Waverly Shoe Company. The rapid growth of
the business necessitated its removal in 1886 to
larger quarters on Front street, where the firm con
tinued for five years, when, having again outgrown
their quarters, they removed to the large factory
building in the rear of 560-62 Main street. The '
Waverly Shoe Company was one of the most pros
perous shoe concerns making shoes in Worcester.
In 1895 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Fletcher
sold his interests to his partner. Mr. Bemis moved
the business to Laconia, New Hampshire. Mr.
Fletcher retained for ten years a special partnership
in the company. In 1896 Mr. Fletcher formed the
Lincoln Shoe Company, and built up an extensive
business as jobber and wholesaler of shoes. George
F. Leavitt and P. E. Bassett had an interest
in this corporation. In 1904 Mr. Fletcher disposed
of his stock in the Lincoln Shoe Company to the
White Shoe and Rubber Company, of Worcester,
Franklin White, president, Front street, Worces
ter. The companies were consolidated and at present
are conducted by Mr. White under the name of
White Shoe & Rubber Company and Lincoln Shoe
Company, Consolidated.
Mr. Fletcher had become interested ih the Hough
Shade Corporation at Janesville, Wisconsin, and
since disposing of his shoe business has devoted
much time to this business, which is in a very pros
perous condition. He is vice-president of the com
pany, which has a capital stock of two hundred thou
sand dollars, employs one hundred and fifty hands,

WORCESTER COUNTY

439

and owns large brick and stone factories covering
seventy-four thousand square feet of land. More
recently Mr. Fletcher purchased the patents of the
Criss-Cross tube cleaner, and is now engaged in the
manufacture and sale of this very useful contrivance.
His office and factory are at 26 Southbridge street.
The device for cleaning tubes is the best known for
use in boilers, gun barrels, etc. It is a metallic spring
arrangement that will adjust itself to the variations
of size and shape in the tube and yet effectively cut
the dirt and deposits to be removed. The factory
is rushed with orders from all parts of the country.
Mr. Fletcher is doing business under the name of the
Reversible Tube Cleaner Company. He has secured
additional valuable patents since buying the original
in 1905. He has salesmen on the road in Canada
and England as well as in this country. He is di
rector and active in the management of the Thurston
Wrench Company, a rapidly growing concern with
a very valuable patented wrench. The factory is on
Hermon street. With these business interests and
the care of his real estate, Mr. Fletcher is a busy
man. He is not only successful in the various lines
of business he has undertaken, but his methods
have been fair and honorable, and he has the re
spect and friendship of even his active rivals in
trade. He is a Republican. His personal popularity
and success in business brought to him requests to
run for office, which in most cases he declined. He
served the city as member of common council in
1892, however, and again in 1893. When the city
had elected a Democratic mayor through dissensions
in the Republican party, and the city seemed to be
about to continue the administration then in power,
a conference of leaders was held and Mr. Fletcher
selected as the man best fitted in the city to bring
harmony in the party and redeem the city for the
Republicans, as well as to give a thoroughly capable
business administration. He was consulted and re
luctantly consented to run. At the city convention
next day the nomination was made, and Mr. Fletch
er's election followed. He was mayor of Worcester
in 1902, and re-elected for the following year by an
increased majority. He gave the city a clean, honest
and business-like administration ; the tax rate was
reduced ; w,aste in various departments cut off
and less money borrowed; he paved Main. Mechanic
and School streets, and made many important im
provements in the highways of the city. He became
interested in the City Hospital and great improve
ments have been effected in that institution. The
coal strike occurred while he was mayor, and he
organized the Fuel League, contributing one thou
sand dollars of his own money to buy -Welsh coal
to be sold to the people at cost. The day the
coal arrived in Boston, Worcester dealers dropped
their price from fifteen dollars a ton to twelve, and
the day the Fuel League began to sell at eight dol
lars and a quarter a ton Worcester dealers dropped
their price to eight dollars and. a quarter, while
coal was selling elsewhere in tlie state as high as
twelve dollars a ton. He made a strong effort to
establish a consumptives' home, or hospital, and
though the movement has not yet resulted in build
ing, he organized a corooration, of which he was
the first president, for the purpose of holding tlie
funds collected and raising more for the purpose.
In a wordj Mr. Fletcher gave the city a business
administration of its municipal affairs. Mr. Fletcher
is a member of Montacute Lodge, F. and A. M. ;
Quinsigamond Tribe of Red Men; the Worcester
County Agricultural Society; and the Worcester
Board of Trade, He is president of the board of
trustees of All Souls Universalist Church. He has

been a director of the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association. A statement issued December 3, 1901, by a com
mittee of twenty-five Republicans, contained this
summary of Mr. Fletcher's character : "He is a
successful business man, in the vigor of manhood,
trained and fitted by previous service in the city
government to manage its affairs. He has not sought
the office, but the office has sought him. He stands
as the type of -honest, independent, clear-headed,
vigorous and successful since Worcester needs these
qualities in her mayor in the coming year." James
Logan, general manager of the United States En
velope Company, was chairman of this committee.
He married (first), June 17, 1880, Mary E. Mi-
lant, of Boston, one child, Charles Edward, died
August 23, 1881'. Mrs. Fletcher died August 8,
1881. He married (second), February 18, 1887,
Helen Bassett, born February 17, i860, died Decem
ber 22, 1893, daughter of Hon. William Bassett, of
Berlin. The children of Edward F. and Helen
(Bassett) Fletcher were: Raymond Bassett, born
April 16, 1890, a student in the Worcester high
school; and Earle Whitney, bom February 11, 1892,
died March 10, 1894. Mr. Fletcher married (third),
July 7, 1897, Florence M. Bassett, a sister of his
second wife. Mr. Fletcher resides at No. 2 Tirrell
street and has a summer home at Berlin, Massa
chusetts. GEORGE JENNISON. The Jennings family
and the Jennison family are descended from the
same 'immigrant ancestor. Two brothers, Robert
and William Jennings, came to New England in
1630 or before. They came from Colchester, Eng
land. One of the descendants of Robert Jennison
was prominent among the pioneers of the town of
Worcester. None of the founders was more promi
nent. William Jennison was a settler in Charlestown
and built his house there in 1630. He sold out and
removed to Watertown, where Robert Jennison
settled, August 16, 1631. He held the rank of cap
tain. He was admitted a freeman May 18, 1631. He-
was formerly a partner of Richard Spitty of Grey's
Inn, London. He was one of the first selectmen ;
was deputy to the general court; went for a pilot
in the ship "Thunder" to Bermuda, October 17,
1633, and reported improved conditions there on his
return; commanded a company against the Pequot
Indians in the war in 1636; was called .to court in
July, 1644, f°r a slight difference of opinion on
the question between Parliament and the king,
proved to be most loyal to the colony and common
wealth ; was employed by the Earl of Warwick to
see to his vessel at Boston, June 27, 1646; returned
to Colchester, England. He was ensign August 16,
1631; captain March 9, 1636-7; captain of the Train
band 1638; selectman 1635-42-44; deputy to the
general court 1637-42-45.
(I) Robert Jennison, brother of the preceding,
settled at Watertown in New England and was
appointed ensign to Captain Patrick in the military
company August 16, 1631. He was a proprietor of
Watertown and was admitted a freeman in May,
1645. As attorney for his brother William, formerly
of Watertown, then of Colchester, England, he sold
land in 1657. His wife Elizabeth died October 30,
1638, aged thirty years. He married (second)
Grace  , and she died November 26, 1686.
He died July 4, 1690. His will was dated Septem
ber 15, 1688, with a codicil April 21, 1689, proved
October 7, 1690; it mentions his wife, daug'hter,
Michal Warren, son-in-law, George Reed; son

440

WORCESTER COUNTY

Samuel, executor; grandsons, William and Robert
Jennison. His children were: i. Elizabeth, born April 12,
1637, married, in Woburn, October 4, 1652, Deacon
George Reed, who was born 1629, son of William
and Mabel Reed, of Woburn, 2. Michal, born
December 17, 1640, married, February 10, 1657-8,
Richard Bloys, who died August 7, 1665; she mar
ried (second) John Warren, Jr.; she died July 14,
ty^- 3- Samuel, of whom later.
(II) Ensign Samuel Jennison, son of Robert
Jennison (1), was born at Watertown, Massachu
setts, December 15, 1642. He married, October 30,
1666, Judith Macomber, who died March 1, 1722-3.
Their children were: Judith, born August 13, 1667;
Mercy, January 23, 1669-70; Rachel, October 8,
1671 ; Samuel, of whom later ; William, October 17,
1676, settled in Worcester, one of the founders,
judge of the court, died in Worcester, September
19, 1741 ; Elizabeth, twin of the preceding, born Oc
tober 17, 1676; Grace, February 11, 1678; Peter, Oc
tober 1, 1681; Robert, July 24, 1684; Lydia, May 18,
1688. (Ill) Samuel Jennison, son of Ensign Samuel
Jennison (2), was born October 12, 1673. He mar
ried Mary Stearns, daughter of Samuel and Hannah
(Manning) Steams. He lived in Watertown dr
Newton. Their children were: Mary, born August
17, 1700; Hannah, July 17, 1702; Samuel, of whom
later; William, February 9, 1706-7 (H. C. 1724);
Nathaniel, April 5, 1709, settled in Watertown, later
in Weston, married, October 23, 1729, Abigail Mead ;
John, February 19, 1710-11, married in Lunenburg,
July 21, 1740, Mary Hubbard; Lydia, April 2, 1712;
Abigail, April 22, 1715, married in Lunenburg, Sep
tember 24, 1739, Jonathan Hubbard, Jr.; Mercy,
March 11, 1717-18; Sarah, died November 1,1, 1720;
Eunice, born 1721-2, married, July 11, 1739, Joshua
Richardson, of Woburn,
(IV) Samuel Jennison, third child of Samuel
Jennison (3), was born September 26, 1704, married,
February 13, 1733-4, Abigail Holden, of Watertown.
The children of Samuel and Abigail were : Samuel,
born November 6, 1734; Abigail, October 7, 1736;
Mary, June 27, 1741,; Phinehas, of whom later ; Lucy,
baptized April 20, 1746; Sarah, June 8, 1748; Will
iam, baptized September 23, 1750; Joshua, baptized
April 22, 1753; Mercy or Mary, baptized April 22,
I7S3- (V) Phinehas Jennison, fourth child of Samuel
Jennison (4), was born in Watertown, September
27, 1743, married, August 28, 1767, Susan Newtqn;
married (second), August 27, 1792, Sarah Whitney,
who died in 1815 at the age' of seventy-two years.
Phinehas Jennison removed from Watertown to the
adjoining town of Newton in 1795 and died there
February n, 1825, aged eighty-two years. His chil-
'dren were: Phinehas, baptized January 14, 1770;
Susan, baptized January 14, 1770; Elias, baptized
April 26, 1772, died 1842, married Sally Tallman
and had twelve children; Benjamin, baptized Octo
ber 23, 1774, of whom later; Phineas, baptized Sep
tember 30, . 1781 ; Josiah, baptized September 30,
1781, settled in Holden, Massachusetts ; William,
baptized 1784, died unmarried; Fanny, born in
Newton. (VI) Benjamin Jennison, fourth child of
Phinehas Jennison (5), was born in Watertown,
Massachusetts, and baptized October 23, 1774. He
settled in Newton and was for many years an under
taker at West Newton. He was a leading citizen.
He attended the Congregational church,- He mar
ried, 1804, Mary Tolman, who died March 7, 1842,
aged sixty years. (Records of marriage give name
Sukey. Gravestone gives the name Mary and age

fifty-six.) The children of Benjamin and Mary
Jennison were: Joel, married Lucy Trowbridge, No
vember 10, 1831; George : Albert, married Elizabeth
Wilton ; Edwin, Matilda, Mary.
(VII) George Jennison, second child of Benjamin
Jennison (6), was born in Newton, Massachusetts,
He handled the freight in the early days of the Boston
& Worcester Railroad at the first depot in Worcester,
He was a member of the Congregational church. In
politics he was a Whig. He married Nancy Fiske.
Their children were: George, of whoni later; Mary
Jane, born May 25, 1838, at Worcester, married
Curtis E. Robinson, of Framingham, and had one
child, Fred N, Robinson, born at Holyoke, Massa
chusetts; Martha Sophia, born February 25, 1840,
in Worcester, died there; married William Ii. Rich
ardson, of Poultney, Vermont, and had one child,
George William Richardson.
(VIII) George Jennison, eldest child of George
Jennison (7), was born January 6, 1836, at Worces
ter, Massachusetts. His father died when he- was
only four years old and he went to live with his
grandfather, Benjamin Jennison, at West Newton.
He went to school there until he was thirteen, when
he removed to Millbury, Massachusetts, and worked
for a year on the farm of Charles A. Smith. He
then came to Worcester and started to learn the
trade of tin, sheet iron and copper worker in the
shop of his brother-in-law, Isaiah D, Russell, on
Front street. After his four years of apprenticeship
, was out he worked two years for various concerns,
and four years for George R. Peckham making con
denser rolls for carding machines, ' He made copper
pumps for N. G. Tucker, Pleasant street, for several
years. He finally changed his occupation and be
came clerk in the fish market of G. P. Cobb & Co,,
on Front street, and about eighteen months later
opened a store on his own account at 24 Green
street. The business was prosperous and he ac
quired a competence, retiring in February, 1993, when
lie sold out to George W. Barker,
Mr. Jennison attends the First Universalist
Church. He is a Republican and has been some
what active in politics, having represented his party
in municipal, councillor, senatorial and state con
ventions, and received the nomination for repre
sentative to the general court. He is a member of
Athelstan Lodge of Free Masons; Eureka Chapter
of Royal Arch Masons; Hiram Council and is a
fourteenth, sixteenth and eighteenth degree Scottish
Rite Mason. He is a member of Quinsigamond

Lodge, No. 43, Odd Fellows; of Blake Lodge,
Knights of Pythias; of the Worcester Veteran Fire
men s Association, havins been a member of the fire
department twenty-five years, of which he has been
the president; and of the Worcester County Me
chanics' Association.
He married, December 26, 1861, Caroline Blanch
ard, born January 26, 1840, in Lyndeboro. New
Hampshire, daug'hter of Asa and Elizabeth planch-
ard, of Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, Her father
was a farmer. The children of George and Caroline
Jennison, all born in Worcester, were: Alice
Marian, born September 13, 1863, died February
25, 1864; Benjamin Fiske, born August 21, 1869;
Mabel Blanchard, born May 27, 1872; Grace Good
win, born April 28, 1875, works at the City Hall;
Walter Russell, born September 14, 1877, is in the
grocery business at Edison, Washington; Harry
Irving, born August 6, 1880, died October 23, 1882.
EDWARD A. CO WEE. James Cowce (1), was
the first ancestor of the Cowee family in this country.
He is the progenitor of Edward A, Cowee, ol Wor
cester, Massachusetts.

WORCESTER COUNTY

441

James Cowee or Cohee, as the name was some
times spelled, was born in 1726 or 1727' in the north
part of Ireland of Scotch Presbyterian stock. His
mother died when he was a young lad and his father
took a second wife. She did not take kindly to her
Stepchildren, James and his brother Bartholomew,
and neglected and abused them. As they grew to
manhood the father decided to send them to Amer
ica, where he believed they would have a better
chance than they would in the old country. Ac
cordingly, he made arrangements with a sea captain,
whom he knew, to take the boys as passengers. Bar
tholomew, the youngest boy, died on the voyage.
The captain of the ship proved himself a scoundrel
by keeping the money that the boys' father had
entrusted to him to be given to the boys when they
reached their destination in America, and by selling
James into temporary service in accordance with an
evil custom of those days. He was taken to a
frontier settlement and when his term of service
expired he worked his way back among the settle
ments of eastern Massachusetts. He was at Chock
sett (now Sterling) for a time. He came to Narra
gansett No. 2, later the town of Westminster, Massa
chusetts, where he eventually settled. He bought
of Rev. Elisha Marsh lot No. 96, in the north part
of the town, and proceeded to turn a section of the
wilderness into a farm. He bought his place October
1, 1750. It is now or was recently owned by Isaac
N. Smith, of Westminster. By the following July
he had six acres cleared, his orchard set, and a
good house built with cellar. The site of the house
may be discovered near the road, a few rods below
the present commodious dwelling house on the old
place. James Cowee was an industrious man, and he
became a skillful, shrewd and .prosperous farmer.
He was a man of much independence and force of
character. He became one of the largest land-holders
in the town, and at the time of the federal tax levy
in 1798 owned one of the most valuable residences
there. While he was working in Sterling he became ac
quainted with Mary Pearson (probably a, daughter
of John Pearson), of Rowley, Massachusetts. They
were married March 3, 1757, and had, a large family
of children. He died April 29, 1801,' aged seventy-
four years. She died March n, 1813, aged eighty-
three years. Their children were: 1. John, born
July 20, 1758; married Mary Rand and settled at
Chittenden, Vermont. 2. Sarah, born October 12,
'759; married Zeeb Green, settled in Westminster.
3. Mehitable, born March 2, 1761 ; married Nathan
Wood; settled in Westminster. 4. David, born
March 2, 1763; married Mellicent Jackson; settled
in Westminster. 5. James, born February 21, 1765 ;
married Susannah Baldwin ; resided in Westminster
and Gardner, Massachusetts, and had fifteen chil
dren. 6. Mary, born January 17, 1767 ; married John
Bigelow; had no children; died March 7, 1819, 7.
Rebecca, born September 14, 1768: married (first)
Jonathan Eager ; married (second) John Bigelow.
8. Nathan, born June 19, 1770 ; died unmarried, April
2i, 1813. 9. Rhoda, born April 30, 1772; married
William Sawin; had two children; died April 29,
1823. 10. Joel,' born February 15, 1774; died young.
11, Pearson, born October 9, 1775; married Susan
nah Upton; resided at Westminster; died August
29, 1850.
(II) James Cowee, son of James Cowee (1),
born at Westminster, Massachusetts, February 21,
1765; married Susannah Baldwin, daughter of Josiah
and Susannah (Green) Baldwin, February 17, 1783.
They settled in Westminster, hut after ten years
they removed to Gardner, Massachusetts, where they

spent the remainder of their lives, and where many
of their descendants have lived. Their farm at Gard
ner is known as the Eli Keyes, now or lately the
property of B. P. Hill. The site of the dwelling
house may be easily recognized in what is called
the Cowee pasture. Of their fifteen children six
were born in Westminster, and all the others in
Gardner except the last, Reuel G., who was born
at Ashby, Massachusetts. The Cowee place at Gard
ner was where Hezekiah Corey afterwards lived.
It was made a part of Ashburnham by act of the
legislature in 1814, at the request of Mr. Corey.
The children of James and Susannah (Baldwin)
Cowee were: 1. Persis. 2. Joel; married Bridget
Glazier; resided in Gardner and had seven children.
3. Rebecca. 4. Susannah. 5. Betsey. 6. Mehitable.
7. Sally, born April 15, 1794. 8. Lucinda, born De
cember 14, 1795. 9. Pearson, born October 6, 1797;
married Sarah J. Glazier. 10. George W., born Sep
tember 3, 1799; married (first) Leonora Greenwood
and had six children; married (second) Sarah Wil
cox and had five more. 11. Aaron, born August 1,
1801 ; married Susan Spaulding and settled in Em-
den. 12. James, born December 28, 1802. 13. Will
iam, born February 12, 1805. 14. John, born June
9, 1807, was the first maker of cane seated chairs
at Gardner, which is now a great centre of the chair
manufacturing business. 15. Reuel G. (see forward).
(Ill) Reuel G. Cowee, son of James Cowee (2),
born at Ashby, Massachusetts, about 1809. He was
the first to engage in the manufacture of chairs
by machinery in Gardner, which is now one of the
great centres of chair manufacturing in the East.
He sold his Gardner business and moved to West
Boylston, Massachusetts, in 1850. Here he bought
a mill privilege and operated a grist mill. His son
Aaron Cowee and his son-in-law George F. Hildreth
were later associated with him in the mill and feed
business. His grandson Edward A. Cowee is at
present conducting the business that he established.
He died in West Boylston in 1880 at the age of
seventy-one years. He married Lucy Ann Severy
and settled in Gardner. They had only two chil
dren. They were: Aaron (see forward); Mary,
(see forward).
(IV) Aaron Cowee, son of Reuel G. Cowee (3),
born at Gardner, Massachusetts, June 10, 1836; mar
ried Sarah Winter. They had one son : Edward A.
Cowee, born July 23, 1857. Aaron Cowee owned
a mill at West Boylston, Massachusetts.
(V) Edward A. Cowee, son of Aaron Cowee
(4), was born at West Boylston, Massachusetts,
July 23, 1857. He was educated in the schools of
his native place and after graduating from the gram
mar school entered the business of his father, who
had a grist mill, and dealt in grain and other sup
plies for farmers. Not only his father but his
grandfather and great-grandfather were millers. Mr.
Cowee has an inherited liking and aptitude for his
business. Edward A. Cowee started in for himself
in the grain and feed business when twenty-one years
of age with M. H. Bosworth for two years and then
with R. G. Cowee, his 1 grandfather, and remained
with him until the death of the latter when he took
the business alone and continued the business at
the old mill until driven out by the Metropolitan
Water Board and at the present writing the buildings
are torn down and land covered with water, there
having been a mill on the property about one hundred
and fifty years. At the present time he is running
a mill and elevator at 193 Summer street, Worcester,
with stores in different parts of the city and one in
Jefferson and one in Rutland and one in Auburn.
He has a livery stable at 14 Market street, Worcester.
Mr. Cowee has been an active Republican all his

442

WORCESTER COUNTY

life and a leader in his district. He represented the
eleventh Worcester representative district in the gen
eral court in 1896 and the thirteenth district in 1897,
He has been urged to become a candidate for sena
tor in his district and at this writing seems to be
the probable Republican candidate in 1905. For the
past few years he has resided at 25 Shaffner street,
Worcester, although he has large interests in West
Boylston, where he lived for so many years. His
mother lives with him.
He married, October 1, 1882, Hattie L. Cutler,
daughter of Oliver B. and Harriett R. (Cutting)
Cutler. They have two children : Howard, born
November 10, 1884; Marjorie, born November 21,
1890. (IV) Mary Cowee, daughter of Reuel G. Cowee
(3)1 born at Gardner, Massachusetts, November 18,
1839; married, in 1861, George F. Hildreth, born in
Sterling, January 22. 1836, son of James D. and
Betsey E. (Winn) Hildreth. His paternal grand
father, Timothy Hildreth, -and wife were both na
tives of Sterling and died there. They were mem
bers of the Sterling Baptist church. Timothy Hild
reth was a farmer.
James D. Hildreth, son of Timothy Hildreth, of
Sterling, was born in Sterling, and there and in
West Boylston spent the greater part of his life.
He grew up on his father's farm, and attended the
schools of his native town. He subsequently trans
ported various kinds of freight on wagons before
the day of steam railroads. He carried goods be
tween Leominster and Boston, Gardner and Boston,
Sterling and Boston and Providence and Gardner.
He died at the age of fifty-eight, and his wife in
1894 at the age of ninety-three. Their children were :
James N ; George F. ; Charles E. ; Sarah A., wife
of Alonzo Smith; Georgia A., married Alphonso
Smith, twin brother of Alonzo, whom her sister
Sarah married. Two children died young.
George F. Hildreth, son of James D. Hildreth,
attended the Sterling schools when a boy and worked
on the farm until he was twenty-one. He then went
to Worcester, where he worked for the city for two
years. In 1859 he removed to West Boylston, and
for the next twenty years was engaged in the grain
business there. He entered the employ of Reuel
G. Cowee and became the manager of Mr. Cowee's
grist mill, later entering partnership with Mr. Cowee,
whose daughter he married shortly after moving
to West Boylston. He was an assessor of West
Boylston ; trustee of the West Boylston cemetery,
and superintendent until his removal to Worcester
in 1897, where he has made his home since at 5
Newton avenue.
Mrs. Hildreth is the last survivor of her father's
family. She is greatly interested in the Sunday
school work of her church, both at West Boylston
and Worcester. Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth are Con
gregationalists. Mr. Hildreth served for twenty-
five years on the parish committee of the West
Boylston church.
HENRY AUGUSTUS SKINNER. Thomas
Skinner (1). the emigrant ancestor of Henry A.
Skinner, of Worcester, was an early settler at Mai
den, Massachusetts. He was born in England in
1617 and came from Chichester, England, some time
between 1649 and 1652. He settled at Maiden, where
he kept a tavern. He had two sons, both of whom
came to this country with him. He was admitted
a; freeman of Maiden, May 18, 1653. He was mar
ried in England to Mary  , who came with him
to Maiden. She died April 9, 1671. He married
(second) Lydia Ball, who died March 2, 1704. His
children were: Thomas, born July 25, 1645; Abra

ham, September 29, 1649, married Hannah  >
who died January 14, 1725-26.
(II) Thomas Skinner, son of Thomas Skinner
(1), was born in Subdeanerie parish, Chichester,
England, July 25, 1645. He married Mary Pratt,
daughter of Richard and Mary Pratt, of Maiden,
Essex county, England. Richard Pratt was baptized
there June 29, 1615, died ^1691. Deacon Thomas
Skinner removed with his family, consisting of his
wife, his sons Richard, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Nathan
iel and daughter Abigail to Colchester, Connecticut,
where he was one of tlie original proprietors. His
name and that of his son Ebenezer frequently occur
in the early records. He held various town offices
and served on important committees. He and his
son Benjamin were granted lots January 21, 1702,
and in May, 1702, he drew his house lot. The diary
of his son Thomas has been preserved and gives
many interesting details of family history. All the
children were born in Maiden. His wife died March
26, 1704. Their children were : Mary, born Novem
ber 3, 1666; Thomas, November 3, 1668, removed
to Norton, Massachusetts: Abiah, June 16, 1761;
John, April 5, 1673, settled at Norton with his
brother Thomas; they were among the earliest set
tlers ; have many descendants in and about Norton ;
Richard, June 2, 1675, married Hannah Pratt and
had six children; Joseph, January 13, 1678, died
January 18, 1725; Hannah, died October 21, 1728;
Benjamin, January 30, 1681, died at Hebron, Con
necticut, June 2, 1750; Ebenezer, April 23, 1684;
Nathaniel, January 27, 1686, married, June 13, 1706,
Marv Gillett, had eleven children; Abigail, Febru
ary 17, 1691, married, July 13, 1708-09, Ebenezer
Mudge, born at Northampton, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 26, 1683, died at Sharon, Connecticut, April
21, 1758; she died at Sharon.
(Ill) Benjamin Skinner, son of Thomas Skinner
(2), was born January 30, 1681, at Hebron, Con
necticut. He married Elizabeth  , who died
December 1, , 1753, at Hebron, Connecticut, where
all their children were born, viz.: Martha, Decem
ber ig, 1713; Richard, March 2, 1716-17, Benjamin,
October 5, 1718; Hannah, February 17, 1720-21;
Joseph. June 3, 1723, married, December 31, 1741,
Ruth Strong aud had five children ; Jeremiah, March
17, 1725; Thomas, May 5, 1731, married, August
14, 1751, Martha Wright and had six children.
(IV) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin
ner (3), was born at Hebron, Connecticut, October
5. 1 718, married, Mav 2, 1749, Rebecca Gott. She
was born 1725 and died April 27, 1774. Their chil
dren were : Benjamin, born May, 1750, married,
Mehitable Root; David, February 23, 1752, married
(first), September 18, 1780, Lydia Perkins, who died
June 22. 1781 ; he married (second), October 17,
1782, Ruth Chapell; Lydia, September 30, 1754!
John, April 18, 1759, died same day; Daniel, August
3, 1761 ; Oliver, April 20, 1764, married, November
26, 1792, Sibyl Root: Aaron, July 8, 1767, married,
February 16, 1794, Elizabeth Austin, of Lyme, Con
necticut, and had a large family. ,
(V) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin
ner (4), was born in Hebron, Connecticut, May 2,
1750. He married Mehitable Root. He _ settled in
New Hampshire probably. Among his children was
Benjamin, the grandfather of Henry .A. Skinner,
of Worcester. (VI) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin
ner (5), was born probably in New Hampshire.
Among his children was : Otis Skinner, see forward,
(VII) Otis Skinner, son of Benjamin Skinner
(6), was born in Dana, Massachusetts, February 3.
1813. He married Hannah Putnam Nourse, born
in Littleton, New Hampshire, November 17, 1816.

WORCESTER COUNTY

443

He worked on a farm and attended the common
schools when a boy. He learned "the trade of car
penter and became a maker of piano legs. At North
Dana he had a grist mill. He was a man of ex
ceptional mechanical skill. He died May 18, 1893,
in New Haven, Connecticut, and is buried at North
Dana, Massachusetts. His wife died May 13, 1874,
at Worcester, aged fifty-seven years. Her father
was John W. Nourse. His children were': Sher
man, born October 1, 1814, died at Grafton, New
Hampshire, about 1895, aged eighty years; Hannah
Putnam, born November 17, 1816, died May 13,
1874, married Otis Skinner, April 10, 1837; Vashti,
born April 27, 1819, died at Whitefield, New Hamp
shire, October 16, 1901 ; Polly, born April 29, 1821,
died at Littleton, New Hampshire, October 8, 1822 ;
John W, born February 3, 1823, died at Whitefield,
New Hampshire, April 24, 1903 ; Cynthia, born April
24, 1825, died at Patch Grove, Wisconsin, 1899;
Eunice, born July 12, 1827, died at .Littleton, an in
fant; William, born July 5, 1830, died in Boston,
1852; Ezra, enlisted in 1863, was wounded in battle,
discharged and returned home; upon his recovery he
returned to the war and was never heard from after
ward by his family. John Nourse, grandfather of
the above family of children, was born near Bos-
cawen, New Hampshire, and died April 11, 1846,
aged eighty-four years, ten months and fourteen
days. His wife died May 5, 1814, aged fifty-one
years, one month and three days. John W. Nourse,
father of the above children, died May 6, 1876, aged
eighty-eight years, two months and twenty-five days.
His wife died December 24, 1864, aged seventy-six
years, twenty days. They were married November
n, 1813.
Children of Otis and Hannah Putnam (Nourse)
Skinner were: 1. Polly Williams, born at Bethle
hem, New Hampshire, January 25, 1838, died in
Dana, Massachusetts, September 20, 1839. John .W.,
born at Stratford, New Hampshire, November 27,
1856, died at Worcester, July 21, 1900. Sherman
Franklin, born at Dana, Massachusetts, February
24, 184.0, died in Dana, August 9, 1842. Sarah Addie,
born June 22, 1842, resided at New Haven, removed
to New Jersey, married (first) Stillman Briggs
(second) Charles Magaffey, by whom she had one
son, Harry; (third) William B. Collier, living 1905
in New Jersey. Lydia Lemira, born at Phillipston,
Massachusetts, December 22, 1844, died in Dana,
October 10, 1862, unmarried. Henry Augustus, born
at Bethlehem, New Hampshire, April 20, 1847 ; see
forward. Lois V., born at Littleton, New Hampshire,
July 2, 1849, died August 22, 1895, in Springfield;
married John T. Wright, 'had one daughter Edith,
born in April, 1872, died June 10, 1879, has son
George who resides in Bridgeport and son Lewis
who resides in Springfield. -Benjamin Elias, born
at Littleton, New Hampshire, March 16, 185 1.
Charles E., born at Littleton, New Hampshire, June
1, 1853. (II) Henrv Augustus Skinner was born at Beth
lehem, New Hampshire, April 20, 1847. He attended
the North Dana (Massachusetts) public schools. His
father was a carpenter and maker of piano legs.
He learned his father's trade*and worked at it until
twenty years old, when he took a trip west and south
to see the country. When he returned he worked
for a time at Orange, Massachusetts, for the New
Home Sewing Machine Company. In 1868 he re
turned to Worcester to live. He worked for N.
P. Malloy, gunsmith and locksmith, at 394 Main
street; for J. B. Lincoln in his repair shop, Foster
street, and for G. Henry Whitcomb, repairing en
velope machinery at the envelope factory on Front
street. He returned for a time to sewing machine

work for S. L. Shaffer. In the meantime he had been
experimenting and had several inventions whi:li he
sold to a Springfield man, and he went there to
manufacture the goods for him. After three years
in Springfield he spent some time in Providence,
resided thirty-nine years in Worcester, and in No
vember, 1905, moved to Maiden, where he now
(1906) resides. He came with the Massachusetts
Oilless Bearing Company.
He started in business at 17 Hermon street in
the manufacture of patterns, experimenting and
building experimental machinery. At present the
business is incorporated under the name of the Wor
cester Pattern and Novelty Company. Mr. Skin
nier is president; John M. Sawyer is treasurer and
J. Walter Smith clerk. They are the owners of the
stock and the directors of the company. Mr. Skinner
has some valuable inventions. One is a buzz planer
which does the work of two ordinary planers' and
never requires oil, having the new oilless bearings.
Another invention is a band saw also with the new
bearings. He has an ingenious printing machine
that does the work of four machines. He has a
window fastener that keeps the window locked while
open any distance desired. The Security Blind
Fastener, which he invented, has been on the market
and in steady demand for thirty-two years. He
invented the Security Broom Holder, and has a
new device for blind hinges to Secure the blinds
against the wind. The latter is not yet on the
market. An electric device of Mr. Skinner for
indicating the height of water in a reservoir is in
successful use at Readsboro, Vermont. He has
patented a switch for street cars to be operated by
the motorman with his foot without leaving the
car. He has a patented device for automatically
shutting off water to prevent freezing of pipes in
cold weather. He invented the automatic car coupler
and sold it to the Boston & Albany and the Boston
& Maine Railroads a few years ago. He secured
fourteen patents which were pending at the same
time in the patent office. Mr. Skinner is one of the
most ingenious and versatile inventors in a city
remarkable for the number and value of its patents.
He is as active as ever in the study of mechanical
devices and his inventions, which now number over
five hundred, are of a widely different kind. He
has not been limited to the industrial field nor to
labor-saving domestic contrivances. He has turned
a natural mechanical genius loose wherever he saw
a chance for improvement in devices or machines
in use. He has been a very busy worker and has
spent most of his time in his shop. He is a mem
ber of the order of the Golden Star.
He married, January 22. 1872, Zilpha Lavinia
Vance, of Barnet, Vermont. She was the daughter
of Richard West and Lydia M. (Prouty) Vance.
He died November, 1886. His wife, Lydia Morgan
Vance, died in 1876, aged fifty-eight years, at New
Bedford, Massachusetts. The day of his death is
not known, for he wandered away from his home,
23 Prospect street, and was found dead the day
after Thanksgiving. Children of Henry Augustus
and Zilpha Lavinia Skinner are : Mabel Luella, born
July 22. 1874, married Walter W. Green, of Provi
dence, Rhode Island. Walter Arthur, born Feb
ruary 28, 1877, married Nellie Price, of London,
England, now of Lowell, Massachusetts, where they
reside. Charles Alton, born in Springfield, ' Massa
chusetts, June 20, 1879, has been in the photograph
business under the name of the Worcester View
Company for the past ten years, has made a collec
tion of old and new views of the city of Worcester
and vicinity, resided- with his parents at 61 Pied
mont street, Worcester, but in November, 1905,

444

WORCESTER COUNTY

moved with his parents to Maiden, Massachusetts,
and has opened a photograph studio at 56 Pleasant
street. CLOUGH FAMILY. John Clough (1), the
immigrant ancestor of that branch of the Clough
family to which Dr. Benjamin F. Clough of Wor
cester belongs, .was born in England in 1613. He
was twenty-two years old in 1635, when he sailed
for America in the ship "Elizabeth." The date
of sailing is given as April 11. The name for many
generations has been spelled variously Clow, Clough,
(pronounced to rhyme with "how") and Cluff and
Cluffe, pronounced as written. The established spell
ing Clough seems to be the proper way.
John Clough deposed in 1691 that his age was
seventy-seven years, thus substantiating the approxi
mate date of his birth obtained from his age at
emigration. He may have lived at Boston for a
time, but it is difficult to prove whether John Clough
of the Boston records is John of Watertown or
John of Salisbury. John of Watertown was a tailor.
The John Clough of this pedigree settled in Salis
bury, was a proprietor there as early as 1639, and
a house carpenter by trade. He had a second grant
of land 1640, and others later. He was admitted
a freeman May 18, 1642, and took the oath of fidelity
1650, and was a commoner and taxpayer 1650. The
general court granted to John Clough, then of Bos
ton, a lot of land at Salisbury (see Hoyt's Families)
March 13, 1638-9, the record stating that he had
served his master four years, indicating that he was
either apprenticed to learn his trade of carpenter
or was bound out for a term — a common way of
paying passage money. Or he may have been a
prisoner of war. It seems most likely that he was
apprenticed at Boston in some family that he knew
in England and with whom he came to this country.
He must have been counted a desirable citizen even
as a young man, or he would not. have been granted
land by the general court. He died July 26, 1691,
and his will was proved November 3d, following.
He made bequests to his wife Martha; sons John,
Samuel and Thomas; son-in-law Daniel Merrills
daughters Elizabeth Home and Sarah Merrill; the
children of daughter Martha, wife of Cornelius
Page, late of Andover, and other grandchildren.
He married (first) Jane  , died January 16,
I679. He married (second) January 15, 1686,
Martha Cilley, or Sibley. Children of John and
Jane Clough: 1. Elizabeth, born December 16, 1642,
married  Home. 2. Mary, born July 30, 1644,
died before her father. 3. Sarah, born June 28,
1646 ; married May 14, 1667, Daniel, son of Nathaniel
Merrill. 4. John, born March 9, 1648-9; married
November 13, 1674, Mercy Page; was eldest son in
1691. 5. Thomas, mentioned below. 6. Martha, born
March 22, 1654; married, November 13, 1674, Cor
nelius Day. 7. Samuel, born February 20, 1656-7;
married, August 31, 1679, Elizabeth Brown.
(II) Thomas Clough, son of John Clough (1),
was born at Salisbury, Massachusetts, May 29, 1651.
He took the oath of fidelity and allegiance 1677.
He was a farmer or yeoman 1730 and probably all
his life. He and his wife joined the church in Salis
bury, July 27, 1718. He married first, March 10,
1680, Hannah, daughter of Samuel Gile. She died
December 22 or January 22, 1683. He married (sec
ond) 1687, Ruth, daughter of Cornelius Connor.
Their children, born in Salisbury, were : 1. Samuel,
born December 5, 1680; mentioned below. 2.
Thomas, Jr., born December 9, 1681 ; cordwainer
by trade. 3. Jeremiah, born June 21, 1688. 4. Ebe
nezer, born July 5, 1690; died -young. 5, Ebenezer,
born April 27, 1691. 6. Zaccheus, born February 17,

1693 (?)• 7- Isaac, born January 24, 1693-4. 8.
Rebecca, born June 3, 1696; baptized, an adult, 1716.
9. Hannah, born September 25, 1698; died February
3, 1715. 10. Judith, born October 1, 1700. n,
Martha, born February 25, 17P2-3.
(Ill) Samuel Clough, son of Thomas Clough
(2), born at Salisbury, Massachusetts, December 5,
1686, also settled in Salisbury. He married Sarah
 . She administered his estate, receiving her
appointment as administratrix in 1728. Their chil
dren: 1. Theophilus, born 1703. 2. Eliphalet, died
1706. 3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4. Daniel, born
1716. 5. Anna, married Abraham Morrill. 6. Abi
gail, married Benjamin Morrill, of Kingston. 7.
Sarah, married Daniel Marston Hampton. 8. Mehi
table. 9. Miriam. All were living in 1728, except
Eliphalet. (IV) Samuel Clough, son of Thomas Clough
(3), was born about 1708 at Salisbury or vicinity.
He removed thence to the adjacent town of Kittery,
now in Maine, and married, February 14, 1736-7,
Hannah Hutchins, of one of the old families of that
section. Two of their children and perhaps more
were born at Kittery. He removed to Arundel, now
Kennebunkport, Maine, about 1758. Four or more
of their sons were soldiers in the revolution. Chil
dren of Samuel and Hannah Clough: 1. Joseph,
born at Kittery, February 21, 1742-3; was a revo
lutionary soldier ; married Elvira Hutchins, and after
the war removed to Hollis; New Hampshire. 2.
Thomas, married Hannah Goodnow. 3. _ Samuel,
married Lucy Wakefield. 4. Enoch, a soldier in the
revolution; died at sea. 5. Noah, mentioned be- 1 1
low. 6. Joel, married Dorothy Hutchins. 7. Rhoda,
born at Kittery, May 2, 1745; married Paul March.
8. Martha, married Thomas Huff. 9. Lydia, married
Silas Abbot.
<V) Noah Clough, son of Samuel Clough (4),
was born in Arundel, now Kennebunkport, 1754.
He was a soldier in the old French war in the six
ties and again in the revolution. He was in the
battle of Bunker Hill. He was wounded in the
attack on Quebec, was captured and kept a prisoner ;
was in .other service as stated below after he was
exchanged, and had a pension granted him after the
war on account of his health ; he was then an invalid.
, His war service in detail was: Private in Captain
Jesse Dorman's company, Colonel James Scammon's
regiment; enlisting May 8, 1715, went into Conti
nental army 1778 for six months; was a private in
Captain Abel Moulton's company, Colonel Jonathan
' Titcomb's regiment, 1777, Rhode Island campaign;
in Captain Joshua Nason's^ company, Colonel Stater's
regiment, at Queman's Heights ; served in same com
pany in Northern army 1777; mustered in for six
months October 25, 1780. The revolutionary war
rolls describe his personal appearance thus: Age
twenty-six years ;- height, five feet, ten inches ; dark
complexion. His children : David, mentioned be
low ; Obed, Shadrach.
(VI) David Clough, son of Noah Clough (5),
was born in Kennebunkport, Maine, November 16,
1780, and died March 16, 1864. He settled in Ken
nebunkport, where he was a farmer all his, life.
His children : Melville, Horace, Arthur, mentioned
below ; Lois ; Phebe, Charles W.
(VII) Arthur Clough, son of David Clough (6),
was born in Kennebunkport, Maine, ApriliS, 1811.
He received his education there in the public schools
and worked during his minority on his father's
farm. He also became a farmer. He bought a large
farm on the road from Kennebunkport ' to Saco
church, and lived there during his active life._ All
of his Children were born there. His farm yielded
excellent clay, and he made bricks in large quanti-

Jh/^^^C

WORCESTER COUNTY

445

ties to supply the demand in and about Kennebunk
port. He sold out his farm and brickyards in later
life and bought a house in the village of Kennebunk,
where he lived the rest of his life without the care
of farm or business. He died there February 17,
1886. Early in life he was a Methodist, but in
later years he belonged to an Orthodox Congrega
tional church. In politics he was a Republican. He
married, May 7, 1837, Harriet Gilpatrick, of Ken
nebunkport, Maine, born June 11, 1809. Their chil
dren: 1. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, mentioned be
low. 2. George Sylvester, born May 2, 1839 ; married
January 5, 1865 Mercy Stone March, of Saco,
laine; one child, Hattie, died young; he mar
ried (second) March 7, 1874, Sarah Jane,
of Kennebunkport, Maine, born May 31, 1845,
daughter of Thomas Cleaves and Olive Little
field (Hatch) Worth; their children: John
Arthur, born December 22, 1874, attorney at
law, Worcester; Cora Belle, born December 1, 1877,
resides with mother and brother at 1 Merrick street;
George S. Clough was a prominent carpenter and
builder; member of the school board of Worcester
three years ; common council ; general court 1891-92 ;
prominent in the Masonic fraternity. 3. John Hill,
bom November 7, 1846; settled in Worcester; was
a school teacher ; died March 23, 1871 ; married Abbie
Elizabeth Redding of Worcester, January 14, 1869.
4. Arthur Howard, born June 24, 1852; died August
8, 1852. (VIII) Dr. Benjamin Franklin Clough, son of
Arthur Clough (7), was born at Kennebunkport,
Maine, February 4, 1838. He attended the com
mon schools there and supplemented his schooling
with a course at Berwick Academy, at South Ber
wick, Maine, where he was fitted for Harvard Col
lege. To prepare himself for his medical studies
he entered the drug store of Alexander Warren at
Kennebunk, Maine, as an apprentice, November 6,
1856, and remained there until March, 1858, when
he accepted a clerkship in Biddeford, Maine, where
he remained until November 6, i860. He took a
short vacation and then came to Boston to work in
the drug store at the corner of Tremont and Boyls
ton streets, April 12, 1861. He remained in that
position until October 16, 1863, when he received
an appointment as surgeon's steward in the United
States navy. He proceeded to Cairo, Illinois, to
report to Admiral Porter on his flagship "Black
Hawk," began his new duties October 23d, and served
on that ship during the Red River campaign and
other engagements. The "Black Hawk" was de
stroyed by fire April 22, 1865, and he was trans
ferred to the hospital ship "Red Rover," where he
served until the close of the war. He was mus
tered out August 12, 1865.
He returned to Boston and accepted a clerkship in
the old drug store, corner of Tremont and Boylston
streets, remaining until the fall of 1866, when he
entered Harvard Medical School. He was gradu
ated with the degree of M. D. in 1869, and started
to practice in Worcester. His office was at 2 Myrtle
street until September 14, 1886, when he removed
to 46 Austin street, where he practiced to the
time of his death, May 8, 1899. He enjoyed a large
general practice and was accounted a wise and suc
cessful physician. He ranked high in citizenship
as well as in his profession. He was an active mem
ber of Trinity Methodist Church and of the
Epworth League. He was a Republican in
politics. He was prominent in the Masonic
fraternity, a life member of Montacute Lodge,
being raised November 13, 1893; made a
member of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter Feb
ruary 6, 1894; was a member of Hiram Council of

Royal and Select Masters, and of Stella Chapter,
Order of the Eastern Star. He was a member of
Charles Devens Council, American Mechanics. He
was one of the most interested members of the Grand
Army of the Republic. He joined George H. Ward
Post No. 10 during the first year of his residence
in Worcester, and was mustered in by Captain Amos
M. Parker in May, 1869. He was elected post surgeon
to succeed Dr. Albert Wood, December, 1891, and
re-elected December, 1892, serving up to the time
of his death. Hon. A. S. Roe calls him the "most
deyoted surgeon Post' 10, G. A. R., ever had." He
was also president of the board of trustees of Post
10, having charge of the relief work of that or
ganization. He was an active member of Farragut
Association (Naval) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society; the Worcester District Medical Society, and
the Harvard Alumni Medical Society. He married
August 15, 1871, Adelia Jane, born* September 13,
1845, daughter of John and Catherine (Sweetzer)
Perkins, of Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Her father
was a farmer and late in life was occupied largely
with the settlement of estates; was twenty-one years
town clerk"; captain of the militia, and representative
to general court. The only child of Dr. Benjamin
Franklin and Adelia Jane Clough was Bertha Fran
ces, born August. 1, 1873; died November 16, 1884.
" HOLLAND JOSEPH ADAMS. Henry Adams
(1), of Braintree, the immigrant ancestor of Hol
land Joseph Adams, of Worcester, was probably
born in Braintree, Essex county, England. The
Adams family in England is very ancient, but the
exact pedigree of Henry Adams is still in doubt.
He arrived in Boston in 1632 or 1633 accompanied
by his wife, eight sons and one daughter. He was
allotted land at Mount Wollaston, later ' the town
of Braintree, where many of his descendants have
lived. The name of his wife is unknown, ' and it
is thought that she and her daughter, possibly also
her son John, returned to England. Henry Adams
died in Braintree June 8, 1647.
His children were : 1. Lieutenant Henry, born
1604, married in Braintree, Elizabeth Paine, daug'hter
of Moses Paine ; he was deputy to the general court,
lieutenant of the military company; was killed by
the Indians while standing in the doorway of his
home at Medfield, and his sick wife was accidentally
killed the same day. 2. Lieutenant Thomas, born
1612, married Mary Blackmer or Blackmore; was
town clerk, selectman, and deputy to the general
court ; he settled in Concord, Massachusetts. 3. Cap
tain Samuel, born 1617; married (first) Rebecca
Graves; married (second) Esther Sparhawk; was
prominent in civil and military life. % 4. Deacon
Jonathan, born 1619, married (first) Elizabeth Fus-
sell ; ' married (second) Mary  ; settled in
Medfield with several brothers and had his house
burned by the Indians there in 1676. 5. Peter, born
1622; married Rachel  -, and had his house
burned by Indians, 1676, at Medfield, where he set
tled. 6. John, born about 1624, possibly John of
Cambridge. 7. Joseph, born 1626; maltster; select
man; married Abigail Baxter. 8. Ensign Edward,
(see forward). 9. Ursula, daughter.
(II) Ensign Edward Adams, youngest son of
Henry Adams (1), born in England in 1630; married
(first) Lydia Rockwood, daughter of _ Richard and
Agnes (Bickneli) Rockwood, who died March 3,
1676; married (second) 1678, Widow Abigail
(Craft) Ruggles, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, (or
Abigail Day) who died 1707: married (third) Jan
uary 6, 1709-10, Sarah Taylor. He settled, with
three other brothers, in Medfield, Massachusetts, and

446

WORCESTER COUNTY

was ensign in the military company, selectman of
the town, and deputy to the general court in 1689-92,
and 1702. He died in Medfield, November 12, 1716,
the last of the original settlers.
Children of Ensign Edward and Lydia Adams,
all born in Medfield, were: Lydia, born July 12,
1653, married twice; Captain Jonathan, April 4,
1655, married twice; John (see forward); Eliashib,
February 18, 1658-9, married a great-granddaughter •
of Captain Miles Standish and settled in Bristol,
Rhode Island; Sarah, May 29, 1660, married John
Turner, who fought in Captain Moseley's company;
Lieutenant James, January 4, 1661-2, settled in Bris
tol, now Barrington, Rhode Island; Henry, October
29, 1663, settled in Providence, Rhode Island, and
Canterbury, Connecticut; Mehitable, born March 30,
1665, married Josiah Faxon, of a well known Brain
tree family; Elisha, born August 25, 1666, settled
in Bristol ; Edward, Jr., born June 29, 1668 ; settled
in Bristol and 4eft children ; Bethia, born April 12,
1670; died 1672; Bethia, born August 18, 1672, died
young ; , Abigail, born June 25, 1675, died young ;
Miriam, born February 26, 1676, died young.
(Ill) John Adams, son of Ensign Edward Adams
(2), born in Medfield, Massachusetts, February 18,
1657; married (first), 1682, Deborah Partridge,
daughter of John and Magdalen (Bullard) Part
ridge, born 1662; died before 1695; married (sec
ond) Susanna Breck, daughter of Thomas and Mary
(Hill) Breck, born in Sherborn, Massachusetts. May
10, 1667, died May 28, 1744, at Medway. John Adams
inherited the homestead at Medfield and lived on
it. He died there March 1, 1751.
Children of John and Deborah Adams were:
Edward, born January 13,' 1682; John, Jr., born in
Medway, December 22, 1684, settled on the home
stead of his grandfather in Medfield ; Daniel, born
January 12, 1686; Eleazer, born September 22, 1687,
was a prominent man in West Medway; Obadiah,
born January 20, 1689 ; Jonathan, born 1692, settled
on the homestead in Medway. The children of John
and Susanna Adams were: Thomas (see forward) ;
Susanna, born July 30, 1697; Jeremiah, born July
13, 1699, settled in Brookfield; Abraham, born Au
gust 1, 1701, settled in Brookfield ; Bethia, born June
2, 1702; Phineas, born May 19, 1705; Hannah, born
March 29, 1707; Esther, born November 15, 1708.
(IV) Thomas Adams, seventh child of John
Adams (3), born in Medway, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary n, 1695-6, married October 26, 1720, Abigail
Fisher, daughter of Jonathan and Rachel (Fair
banks) Fisher. She was probably born in 1701.
He settled in Ashford, Connecticut, going thither
from Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1737 ; died in Am
herst, near Leverett, 1743-5. Children were: Isaiah,
born in Ashford, Connecticut, 1726, died in Amherst,
Massachusetts, 1810, unmarried, aged eighty-four
years ; Asa, born in Ashford, April 4, 1729, a pioneer
settler of Shutesbury, Massachusetts ; died there
aged ninety-eight years ; Nathan, born at Ashford,
July 1, 1731, died young; John, born in Ashford,
1732 ; lived in Amherst and Rowe, Massachusetts ;
Abner (see forward) ; Nathan, born in Ashford,
May 16, 1736; was soldier in French and Indian
war. 1757 ; settled in Sunderland ; Elizabeth, born in
Amherst, Massachusetts ; married Bezaleel Wilder,
Sr., of Shutesbury.
(V) Abner Adams, fifth child of Thomas Adams
(4), born in Ashford, Connecticut, August 10, 1733;
married May 9, 1754, Dorothy Murray, daughter of
General William and Hannah (Dickinson) Murray,
of Amherst, born August 11, 1729; died in Marlboro,
Vermont, January 16, 1809. He was in Amherst
until 1792, but removed to Marlboro, Vermont, be
fore 1795 ; died there after a long illness which af

fected his mind, 1828-9. He was a private in Cap
tain Noah Dickinson's company, Colonel Elisha
Porter's regiment in 1777, and marched to New
Providence. Children were: Dorothy, born in North
Amherst, Massachusetts, baptized April 10, 1757;
settled in Pittsfield, Monroe county, New York;
Thomas (see forward) ; Naomi, born in North Am
herst, October 17, 1759; David, born in North Am
herst, was a soldier in the revolution; Reuben, born
in North Amherst, July 8, 1770, fell into a well and
died in Genesee county, New York, unmarried.
(VI) Thomas Adams, second child of Abner
Adams (5), born in North Amherst, Massachusetts,
October 21, 1758; married, 1783, Lucy Perkins, born
in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 1, 1757;
died in Marlboro, Vermont, January 26, 1854-6.
He was a soldier in the revolution. He settled
in Marlboro, Vermont, in 1795. Late in life he
removed to Halifax, Vermont, with his son-in-law
Isaac Worden, and died there April 14, 1858, aged
ninety-nine years. Children were : David, born in
Amherst, Massachusetts, May 22, 1785, married, Octo
ber 22, 1807, Susan Warren, daughter of Captain
Jonathan Warren; Zebina, born in Amherst, August
1, 1787, married Clarissa Wheeler; Sally, born in
Amherst, June or August 17, 1790, married Jona
than Warren; Chester (see forward) ; Roswell, born
in Marlboro, Vermont, December 27, 1795, died
from a fall at Watertown, New York, June 28, 1817,
unmarried ; Orinda, born in Marlboro, December 27,
1797-1800, married Captain Isaac Worden, of Halifax,
Vermont. (VII) Chester Adams, fourth child of Thomas
A9ams (6), born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 14, 1793 ; married June, 1824, Lana Spear, of
Wilmington, Vermont, daughter of Francis B. Spear;
she died June 22, 1858, aged sixty-one years. He
died January 22, 1852. He was a prosperous farmer
at Marlboro, Vermont. ' Children, all born at Marl
boro, Vermont, were : 1. Samuel, born January 29,
1826, died February 7, 1826. 2. Francis Chester,
born March 24, 1829, died November, 1905, married
Mrs. Hannah (King) Powers; resided at Newfane,
Vermont, and had two children: Herbert, married
Mrs. Worden, and they have two children; Nellie,
married Leslie Stratton, and has two children. 3.
Lana Marana, born September 18, 1830, married,
November 20, 1851, Alonzo H. Brewer, of Benning
ton, Vermont, had two children. 4. Infant, died
September 8, 1832. 5. Lucy Ann, -born December
3, 1833, married, November 15, 1856, James Bennett,
of Brattleboro, Vermont; had two boys. 6.
Winthrop Hart, born August 21, 1836, married, Sep
tember 17, 1858, Mary Ann Eames, daughter of John
Eames. of Dover. Vermont; has one daughter who
married Charles Jones; resided at Brattleboro, Ver
mont, since 1870. 7. Holland Joseph (see forward).
(VlII) Holland Joseph Adams, seventh and
youngest child of Chester Adams (7), was born in
Marlboro, Vermont, October 11, 1839. He received
his early education in the common schools of his
native town. He left school at the age of thirteen,
and for six years worked on the farm at home. He
then settled on a farm at Dover, Vermont, where
he remained until 1867. He removed to Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, in 1870, and took charge of the farm
of J. B. Fisher for a year. After another year- in
Fitchburg, working for Joseph Cushion, dealer in
flour and grain, he removed to Worcester and started
in business for himself, manufacturing trunks, April,
1872, under the firm name of' Brown & Adams. After
two years he went into the fruit business with Sam
uel Burbank, and later became a partner in the
firm of Hiram H. Ames & Company, dealers in
furniture, remaining two years. He then withdrew

WORCESTER COUNTY

447

and purchased the confectionery business of Eugene
C. Akers at 506 Main street, where the Clark-Sawyer
Company is now located. Three years afterward he
removed to Front street and later to his present loca
tion 24 Pleasant street. He has for a number of
years made a specialty of ice cream for the trade.
He is, the largest manufacturer of ice cream in
the city. He provides ices and ice cream for parties,
fairs, and families as well as in wholesale quantities
to other dealers. He is a Republican in politics and
a member of the Universalist church and of Anchoria
Lodge of Odd Fellows, and Naomi Lodge of the
Rebekahs. He resides at 4 Dewey street, Wor
cester. He married Mariama Asquith Knight, daugh
ter of John and Diana (Brown) Knight, December
31, 1866. Her father lived at Dover, Vermont. Their
children are; r. Emma Adelia, born at Worcester,
June 25, 1871, married, February 6, 1890, Charles
Augustus Piper, of Worcester, and they have two
children: Carl Adams, born April 15, 1891 ; Ray
mond Hendrick, born August 9, 1896. 2. Charles
Holland, born in Worcester, August 11, 1875, mar
ried Ella L. Green, of Colbrooke, Massachusetts, and
they have: Chester Green, born May 28, 1894.
JOHN T. BRIERLY, son of James and Hannah
Brierly (born Barrett), was born at Millbury, Massa
chusetts. James Brierly was a cotton manufacturer
at Millbury. John T. Brierly received his early
education in the Millbury schools. After graduating
from the high school he went into his father's cotton
mill to learn the business. But finding that the dust
in the cotton seriously affected his health he gave
up his intention to follow cotton manufacturing. He
accepted a position as bookkeeper in the woolen mill
of Ashworth & Jones at Valley Falls, in Worcester,
near the Leicester line, and found there an appor-
tunity to learn the business. He put on jumper and
overalls and worked in the mill, beginning at the
job of wool-sorting, working in every department in
the mill, ending with the cloth finishing depart
ment. He left Ashworth & Jones to take a position
as superintendent oi the Brick City mill in Cherry
Valley owned by Edward D. Thayer. Two years
later Sumner Pratt & Company made him a very
favorable proposition to come to them in the ma
chinery supply business at 22 Front street. He ac
cepted the offer and has since been identified with
that business. It was established in 1847, by Sum
ner Pratt. Mr. Pratt was born in Oxford, Massa
chusetts, September 30, 1809. He came to Wor
cester in 1843, transferring the machinery from
Woonsocket to a mill in New Worcester, and manu
factured cotton thread, finally selling the business
to Albert Curtis in 1845, and soon afterward start
ing the business of selling cotton and ' woolen ma
chinery and mill supplies. The store at 22 Front
street was established in 1847, and the business grad
ually extended to reach manufacturers in distant
parts of the country. When Mr. Brierly went to
the business it was of large proportions and very
profitable. Mr. Pratt died January 6, 1887. The
present head of the firm, William H. Crawford,
went to work for Mr. Pratt in i860. In 1870 Mr,
Crawford was taken into partnership by Mr. Pratt
with his sons, Frederick S. and Edward Pratt. Ed
ward Pratt died later. A few years before his deafli
Mr. Sumner Pratt retired from the business.
The firm of Sumner Pratt & Company became
Crawford & Company in 1898. The partners were,
and at present are, William H. Crawford and John
T. Brierly. Crawford & Company had spacious stores
at 17 Mechanic street until March 17, 1905, when
the fire in the Crompton building compelled them to
vacate. The firm located in May, 1905, at 673 Main

street, where they have a very large and well stocked
store. Mr. Brierly is also a partner in the Whitaker
Reed Company. With Charles A. Geer he owns
and manages this industry. The Whitaker Reed Com
pany was established in 1869 by John Whitaker,
who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, July 5,
1839. His father was a silk printer in that city.
In 1849 his father went to California to dig gold
and was never heard from. The boy was thrown
upon his own resources when very young. He was
sent to Worcester to school. He learned the ma
chinist's trade at Brown's shop on Mechanic street.
As soon as he was thirty years of age he began
the manufacture of loom-reeds on his own account,
and continued in this business until his death. He
was very successful and made a fortune in the busi
ness. He died March 3, 1897. The Whitaker reeds
are adapted to all varieties of looms, cotton, woolen
and wire, cloth, and are made of the finest steel.
The Whitaker shop was at 184 Front street, and con
tinued there until the founder's death. The adminis
trator of his estate sold the business to John Mc
intosh, who continued in the same shop until 1900,
when he sold out to Mr. Brierly and Mr. Geer.
Before Mr. Whitaker began to make reeds they were
produced by hand labor. He applied machinery to
the manufacture of reeds and kept constantly making
improvements in the process. The present company
has maintained the high standards that he established,
and manifested the same spirit of progress. The
shops were moved to 84 Austin street a few years
ago, and larger quarters secured. Mr. .Geer came to
Worcester from Connecticut, where he had worked
in a woolen mill and acquired a practical knowl
edge of the machinery used, and the needs of the
manufacturers. Besides the reeds the firm makes
ring travelers for cotton, woolen and worsted mills.
The manufacture of these rings is a unique industry
in Worcester. The work is done at the Whitaker
Reed Company shops.
Mr. Brierly is a member of Anchoria Lodge,
Independent Order Odd Fellows; Regulus Lodge,
Knights of Pythias, and Pilgrim Congregational
Church; also one of the directors of the Worcester
Collateral Loan Association.
WALTER SCOTT CHASE. Joseph Chase (1),
great-grandfather of Walter Scott Chase, of Wor
cester, was born on Cape Cod and lived there all
his life. He was a farmer. He was descended from
Aquila Chase, mariner, who was at Hampton, Massa
chusetts, in 1640, and removed to Newbury, Massa
chusetts, where he was a proprietor in 1646. He
was born in England about 1618 ; died December 27,
1670. His widow Anne married (second) June 14,
1672, Daniel Mussilway. She died April 21, 1687.
The second generation of the Chase family settled
in the Plymouth Colony towns and has left a
numerous posterity on Cape Cod and vicinity.
Joseph Chase married Isabelle Thomas, of New
port, Rhode Island. She was niece (or cousin) of
General John Thomas, one of the first four generals
commanding under Washington. He was born at
Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1725. He was a prac
ticing physician and surgeon, and was the surgeon
for the provincial army sent to Nova Scotia in
1746. He was on General Shirley's medical staff in
1747, and 1759 colonel of a provincial regiment. He
commanded a regiment under Generals Amherst
and Haviland in 1760 in the capture of Montreal.
Colonel Thomas was one of the most active Sons
of Liberty in Massachusetts before the revolution.
He was appointed brigadier-general by Congress in
1775. He commanded a brigade at the siege of

448

WORCESTER COUNTY

Boston. After the evacuation he was sent to take
command of the American troops in Canada. He
joined the army before Quebec, May I, 1776, but
fell a victim to smallpox a month later. He died
at Chamblay, June 2, 1776.
(II) John Chase, son of Joseph Chase (1), was
born at Douglas, Massachusetts, in 1804. He was
engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods from
1835 to the time of his death in 1871. By his wife,
Elizabeth, who was a native of Pascoag, he had
three children: Oscar F. ; Mariette; Frederick T.
(Ill) Oscar Francis Chase, son of John Chase
(2), married Catherine Brown Howard. He was
a woolen manufacturer in Dudley, North Oxford
and Wilsonville, Connecticut. He made his home
in later years at Webster, Massachusetts. They had
one son Walter Scott Chase, born in Thompson,
Connecticut. (IV) Walter Scott Chase, son of Oscar Francis
Chase (3), was educated in the public schools and
then went to work in the woolen • mills of John
Chase & Sons, established by his grandfather at
Wilsonville, Connecticut, at North Oxford and Web
ster, Massachusetts. These mills have since been
incorporated with the American Woolen Company.
Mr. Chase left the woolen mill to learn the trade
of steam fitting, and he studied the subject of heat
ing and lighting houses in a scientific way. He has
become an expert in his business. He makes a
specialty of heating apparatus, high or low pressure
steam, and hot water heaters. He installs ventilat
ing machinery and steam power plants; also gas-
piping, bronzing and pipe covering. He has been
engaged in the business for twenty years. His head
quarters are at 10 Westfield street, Worcester. He
had the contract for the residence of Dr. George E.
Adams, corner of Stafford and Ludlow street; for
the residence of W. E. Turple, at 919 Pleasant
street; Albert E. Sanders at 19 Alvarado avenue;
M. H. Pettigrew at 3 Fairfield street; some twenty
houses for J. B. Scrimgeour, the real estate dealer;
four for James H. Howland, real estate dealer; for
John D. Cummings, foreman for Crompton &
Knowles, at 5 Woodbine street; for George War
den, at Auburn, Massachusetts; for the shop of
George L. Brownell, Union street; for the Coes
Wrench "shops to heat with exhaust steam without
back pressure on the engine.
He is a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, Anchoria Lodge. Mr. Chase has
studied six years in the International Correspond
ence School of Scranton, Pennsylvania, an institu
tion that has all the time some fifteen hundred stu
dents in Worcester county, studying engineering of
the various trades for which technical knowledge is
required. He married Stella Maud Buckley, of
North Grosvenordale, Connecticut. They have two
sons: Walter Minot, born May 12, 1889, and Hyram
Howard, born June 16, 1905.
(Ill) Frederick T. Chase, son of John Chase (2),
was born at Pascoag, Rhode Island, November 22,
1844. He was educated in the schools of his native
town. In i860 he came to Webster, Massachusetts,
with his parents. He went into the woolen mill of
his - father at Webster and learned the business
thoroughly. His brother Oscar F. and he became
associated with his father and owned several
mills under the firm name of John Chase & Sons.
After his father's death he acquired the business
and became sole proprietor. In 1879 he found it
necessary to enlarge the mill, and later made fur
ther additions until it had three times its original
capacity. The mill eventually was sold to the
American Woolen Company. Mr. Chase had always
been interested in politics. He was a Republican

and had repeatedly served the town as selectman. He
was chairman of the board for five years. He rep
resented his district in the general court in 1876,
and was chairman of the committee on manu
factures. He was a member of the Webster Lodge
of Free Masons, of the Worcester County Com
mandery, and has taken all the degrees of the
Scottish Rite. He attended the Universalist church;
he died January 16, 1898. He married Jennie S.
Alton, daughter of S. and Emby Alton. His chil
dren were: John F., Frederick T., Jr., Bessie F.
ELEAZER D. JORJORIAN. The emigrants
from Europe in the last half century have been
largely from countries where English was an un
known tongue. Most of the emigrants have been
deficient in early education, so that they have been
seriously handicapped in learning the language of
this country. Under the circumstances the Ameri
canizing of the emigrants of recent years has pro
ceeded with amazing rapidity and most gratifying
completeness. The American government has no
more loyal supporters, no more conservative and
sincere citizens than men from Italy, Russia, Syria,
Hungary, and the Scandinavian countries which
have sent such a numerous and excellent colony to
Worcester. Among the business men of foreign birth Eleazer
D. Jorjorian is one of the best examples of success
won in a new country, against all obstacles that for
tune seemed to have put in his way. He was born
in Turkey in the state of Harpoot. He was the
son of Stephen and Margaret (Tashjgaian) Jor
jorian. His father and ancestors were tillers of the
soil. He was born August 24, 1870, and is still a
young man at the beginning of a promising busi
ness career. He came to this country in 1888 and
immediately took advantage of the Worcester even
ing schools to get a knowledge of English, and some
general education. While he was studying at night
he was working by day in the electro-type foundry
of A. B. Brunell. Besides making electro-types Mr.
Brunell also did all kinds of electro-plating. Mr.
Jorjorian was in the employ of Mr. Brunell for
several years and learned his trade thoroughly. He
could have had no better opportunity, nor served
under no better craftsman. He was ambitious to
be something more than a skillful mechanic and
operative, and made the most of his opportunities.
He left Worcester to work in the largest silver
plating shops in the country, at New Britain, Con
necticut. He worked later in the silver manufactur
ing concerns at Meruien and at Hartford, for four
or five years. He gained a varied experience in all
branches of his trade. He returned to Worcester
in 1894, to sfart his own shop at 13 Mechanic street.
He sold out this business and bought put J. N.
Massoifs business on Hermon street, known as the
Acme Plating Company. In 1897 he changed the
name of the business to The New Acme Plating
Company, and in 1904 he removed his shop to 54
Hermon street, where he has been conducting a
prosperous and growing business. His company
does all kinds of electro-plating and has a large de
mand for its work from the varied manufacturing
industries of Worcester. In fact the product of
Mr. Jorjorian's shop goes all over the world in
connection with the machinery produced in Wor
cester. He has been a careful and prudent business
man. He has acquired considerable property, some
of which is invested in Worcester real estate. He
owns the block on Beacon and on Wellington
streets, and two other tenement houses on Beacon
street. Mr. Jorjorian takes an active interest in public

WORCESTER COUNTY

449

affairs and is a leader among the Turkish people
in this community. His influence as a good citizen
has often been used in political campaigns. He
married, August 7, 1897, Zabelle M. Thomanjero, in
Worcester. His wife is also a native of Turkey,
daughter of Th. and Yacsa Thomanjero. They have
one son : Leon E., born in Worcester.
SCOTT THEODORE PIERCE. Thomas Pierce
(1), immigrant ancestor of Scott Theodore Pierce,
of Worcester, Massachusetts, was born in England
in 1583-84. Many of the descendants of Thomas
Pierce spell the surname Peirce, although the pro
nunciation is uniformly purse in Massachusetts.
The genealogy of the family gives as the coat of
arms: Three ravens rising, sable. Fesse hummette.
Crest. Dove with olive branch in beak. Motto:
"Dixit et Fecit."
Thomas Pierce came from England in 1633 or
1634 with his wife Elizabeth and settled in Charles
town, Massachusetts. His wife Elizabeth was ad
mitted to the church January 10, 1634, and he was
admitted February 21, 1634-35. He was admitted a
freeman May 6, 1635. He was one of the twenty-
one commissioners appointed September 27, 1642,
"to see that salt peter heaps were made by the farm
ers of the colony." He removed to Woburn and
was a proprietor there in 1643 and was elected to-
town offices. His wife Elizabeth was born in Eng
land, 1595-96. She stated her age as seventy-one in
1667. He died October 7, 1666. His will was dated
November 7, 1665, aged about eighty-two years. He
bequeathed to wife Elizabeth, grandchildren Mary
Bridge and Elizabeth Jeffs now dwelling with
him; to all grandchildren; to Harvard College. The
widow deposed to the inventory March 22, 1666-67,
aged seventy-one years. The children : John, mariner,
admitted to church at Charlestown, 1652; Samuel,
married Mary  ; Thomas, Jr., see forward;
Robert, married, February 18, 1657, Sarah Eyre;
Mary, married Peter Jeffs and had Elizabeth ; Eliza
beth, married  Randall and  Nichols;
Persis, married William Bridge and had child Mary ;
married (second) John Harrison; she was ad
mitted to the church at Charlestown November
30, 1643; Abigail, born June 17, 1639.
(II) Thomas Pierce;' Jr., son of Thomas Pierce
(1), was born in England in 1608; married, May
6, 1635, Elizabeth Cole, who died March 5, 1688.
He died November 6, 1683. They resided in Charles
town in the part now Woburn. He is called ser
geant in the records, indicating military prominence.
He was the progenitor of President Franklin Pierce,
viz.: Franklin (VII), Benjamin (VI), Benjamin
(V), Stephen (IV), Stephen (III), Thomas (II),
Thomas (I). Sergeant Thomas Pierce was admitted
to the Charlestown Church February 21, 1634. He
was an inhabitant of Woburn as early as 1643. He
was selectman in 1660, and served on the committee
to divide the common lands. He was one of the
"Right Proprietors" elected March 28, 1667, and also
of the - committee of the general court appointed
1668 to divide lands, etc. The children: Abigail,
born August 17, 1639; John, March 7, 1643, mar
ried, July 5, 1663, Deborah Converse; Thomas, June
21, 1645, married, 1680, Rachel Bacon; Elizabeth,
December 25, 1646, married? November 9, 1666,
Thomas Whittemore, and died March 10, 1670; Jo
seph, September 22, 1646, died February 27, 1649;
Stephen, July 16, 165 1, married, November 18, 1676,
Tabitha Parker; Samuel, February 20, 1654, died
October 27, 1655; Samuel, April 7, 1656, see for
ward; William, March 20, 1658, married, April 8,
1690, Abigail Sommers, nee Warren; James, May 7,
1659, married Elizabeth Kendall; Abigail, Novem-
29

20, 1660, married February 18, 1684, George Reed,
Jr. ; Benjamin, married Mary Reed.
(Ill) Samuel Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce
(2), was born April 7, 1656, at Woburn, Massachu
setts. He married, December 9, 1680, Lydia Bacon,
who was born March 6, 1656, and died December
5, 1717. They resided at Woburn, where he died
July 5, 1721. His son Samuel, Jr., was appointed
administrator of the estate July 28, 1721. The agree
ment to settle the estate was signed July 17, 1721,
by Peter Waite as guardian of his two children,
by Hannah P., by Tabitha P., by Isaac, Timothy
and Abraham Hill. The children, born at Woburn,
were: Samuel, Jr., see forward; Lydia, born March
25, 1683, married Tomothy Snow; Joseph, borin
March 28, 1685, died young; Isaac, born March
22, 1687, married Grace Tucker, May 5, 1708; Abi
gail, born -February 27, 1689, married May 22, 1718,
Peter White; Sarah, born June 22, 1691, married.
Peter - Waite ; Ruth, born February 14, 1693, mar
ried Abraham Hill; Tabitha, born August 28, I797r
died September 30, 1797; Tabitha, born March 10,
1700. (IV) Samuel' Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce (3),
was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, November 25,
1681. He resided at Wilmington and Woburn,
Massachusetts, and Mansfield, Connecticut. He mar
ried, June 14, 1705, Abigail Johnson, died March
16, 1787. The children : Samuel, horn June 3,
1706, married Abigail  ; Josiah, born July 13,
1708, married Miriam Cook; Abigail, bora February
28, 1711, married Zephaniah Wyman; Esther, born-
February 7, 171 5, married Shubael  ; Seth,
born November 30, 1716, married Elizabeth Nye;
Enoch, born March 22, 1719, married Mary Mason.
(V) Seth Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce (4),
was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, or at Mans
field, Connecticut, after his parents removed, No
vember 30, 1716. He married Elizabeth Nye, of
Tolland, Connecticut, who was born 1680 and died
May 14, 1749. Seth settled in Mansfield, Con
necticut, where the children were born, viz. : Seth,
born September 12, 1744, see forward; Elizabeth,
born June 2, 1748, married Bennett Fields; Enoch;
Daniel, married  Nye, of Montpelier, Vermont.
(VI) Seth Pierce, son of Seth Pierce (5),- was
born in Mansfield, Connecticut. He was a captain
in the revolution in the Connecticut regiment com
manded by Major Smith on the New Haven Alarm,
1779. He married, April 17, 1767, Bethia Fields,
who was born in 1745 and died September 18, 1807.
He married (second), 1813, Patty Rindge. He died
at Homer, New York, in 1835, at an advanced age.
The children : Sarah, born November 20, 1767,
married Royal Storrs; Lucinda, born September 14,
¦ 1769, married, November 27, 1788, Thomas Welch
and had a large family; Bennett, born September
12, 1771, died March 17, 1773; Gordon, born August
31, 1773. married, 1796, Thirza Smalley; Bennett,
born July 14, 1775; Samuel, born May 23, 1777,
died August 26, 1778; Samuel, born May 20, 1779,.
married Persis Barrows; Elijah, born April 27,
1781, married, February 8, 1801, Patty Moulton;
Seth, born February 17, 1784; Daniel, born March
16, 1786; Elizabeth, bora September -12, 1788; mar
ried Chester Collins ; Bela, born April 13, 1792.
(VII) Samuel. Pierce, son of Seth Pierce (6),
was born May 20, 1779. He married, 1800, Persis
Barrows, who was born October, 1783, and died
February 5, 1858. He died August 17, 1858. They
resided in Brimfiled and Hardwick, Massachusetts.
The house of Samuel Pierce was on the boundary
line between Hardwick and Ware, and it is related
that he slept in two towns and two counties every
night, his head in Ware, Hampshire county, and 'his

4SO

WORCESTER COUNTY

feet in Hardwick, Worcester county. Their chil
dren: Seth, born May 15, 1802, married, Septem
ber 22, 1831, Fidelia Bassett. Chester, born June
20, 1803, married, March 15, 1831, Abigail Marsh.
Eliza, born February 7, 1805, married, February
10, 1825, William Pepper and had : Caroline W.,
born March 4, 1828, married George F. Tyler;
Samuel J., born November 2, 1829, married Sarah
Torrey; Abbie F, born June 24, 1832, married
D. A. Sampson; William A., born June 25, 1834;
Ashbell, born April 7, 1838, married Martha Sib
ley; Elijah, born April 27, 1840; Austin, born Jan
uary 23, 1845, married Eva Burnett. Granger, born
1806, see forward. S. Austin, born October 6,
1808, married January 28, 1831, Roxanne Harwood.
William, born March 4, 1810, married Sarah With-
erell. Brigham, born 1812, married Mrs. Cook.
Mandly, born October 31, 1817, married, May 3, 1842, ,
Emily Thomas. Octavia, born December 18, 1819,
married, December 15, 1844, Byram H. Hervey, re
sided in New Braintree.
(VIII) Granger Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce
{.7), was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, November
7, 1806. At an early age he removed with his par
ents to Hardwick, Massachusetts, where he was
educated in the common schools, working also at
home on the farm. He began to work out on
various farms in that locality until his mar
riage in 1822, when he settled in New Braintree,
Massachusetts. He bought there the old Warner
place near the Winnimisett brook, where Warner
killed the Indian. Eleazer Warner was the leading
settler before incorporation of the town. Here was
formerly an Indian town of considerable importance,
the headquarters and chief rendezvous of the Indians
when Brookfield was destroyed in King Philip's
war. In 1865 Pierce came to Worcester and bought
the old Reed farm on Holden street, a place of
historic interest, and continued there farming until
his death, March 17, 1886. He was^a Congregation-
alist in religion and attended the 'Central Church,
Worcester. He was in his early days a Whig and
Democrat, but in later years a Republican. He be
longed to the famous old Horse Thief Detecting
Society at New Braintree and to the Worcester
West Agricultural Society at Barre, Massachusetts.
He was a member of the Hardwick militia company
at one time.
He married, February 16, 1832, at Hardwick,
Mercy Stockwell of Prescott, Massachusetts, a
neighboring town. She was the daughter of Simon
and Dolly Stockwell. Their children: Rufus Jud
son, born January 12, 1839, see forward; Scott
Theodore, born June, 1841, was a member of the
Fifty-third Massachusetts Regiment and died in the
service during the civil war.
(IX) Rufus Judson Pierce, son of Granger
Pierce (8), was born in New Braintree, Massachu
setts, January 12, 1839. While a mere lad he worked
with his father on the farm, going to school in his
native town and later at New Salem Academy and
the Deerfield Academy at Deerfield, Massachusetts.
At the age of twenty he began to give all his time
to his father's farm. In 1865 his father and he
went to Worcester and bought the Rogers farm,
known also as the old Reed farm, Holden street,
where Scott T. Pierce now lives. The farm origi
nally consisted of sixty acres. Rufus Pierce con
tinued in the management of the farm until his
father's death, March 17, 1886, when he became the
owner. Though he sold off some of the farm he
continued to carry on the place until shortly be
fore his death, when he turned the management
over to his son Scott. He died February 5, 1903,
at his home. He was a Universalist in religion and

attended the First Universalist Church, Worces-
er. In politics he was a Republican. He was a
member of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus
bandry, No. 22, and of the North Worcester Aid
Society. He married, April 18, i860, Sarah E. Nye, who
was born September 25, 1834, daughter of Hosea
W. and Emily (Bartlett) Nye, of Hardwick, Massa
chusetts; her father was a blacksmith. The only
child was: Scott Theodore, born December 23,
1864, see forward.
(X) Scott Theodore Pierce, son of Rufus Jud
son Pierce (9), was born at New Braintree, Massa
chusetts, December 23, 1864: He removed when a
year old to Worcester with his parents and was
educated there in the public schools and at Foster's
Business College, where he graduated. For a num
ber of years he assisted his father on the farm. In
1888 he started a retail milk business, selling the
milk from his father's dairy. He gradually took
charge of the farm. He sold out his milk business
January 1, 1901. At the death of his father, Feb
ruary 5, 1903, he inherited the farm and has con
tinued to run it since then. In June, 1903, he erected
the present modern residence on a sightly spot some
distance from the main road, commanding a pictur
esque view of Indian lake. It is one of the most
attractive residences in that section of the city. Mr.
Pierce makes a specialty of market- gardening and
cider, having a cider mill on the farm. The present
area of the farm is about fifty acres. Mr. Pierce
is a member of the First Universalist Church. In
politics he is a Republican. He is a member of
Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 43, of
Worcester; of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus
bandry, No. 22 ; of the Worcester Yacht Club and of
the Worcester Agricultural Society. He is an act
ive member and director of the North Worcester
Aid Company, a charitable organization.
He married, October 15, 1890, Nancy Davis
Chamberlain, who was born at Holden, October
12, 1866, the daughter of Sumner and Cynthia
(Clapp) Chamberlain, of Holden. They have one
child, Ralph Chamberlain, born at Worcester, Au
gust 20, 1891.
EARLE FAMILY. Ralph Earle (1), who was
in Newport, Rhode Island, as early as 1638, was
the emigrant ancestor in the paternal line of Mrs.
Emily D. Richardson, of Worcester, Massachusetts.
He married Joan Savage, who was born in England
1594 or 1595. Ralph Earle was born in 1606 and they
were doubtless married in England. Ralph Earle
was one of fifty-nine persons admitted, October I,
1638, freemen of the Island of Aqueedneck (New
port). He bought and sold land frequently for
many years in various parts of Rhode Island. In
1655 and 1669 he served on the grand jury. On
May 25th, he was appointed by the court of commis
sioners to keep a house of entertainment. He
joined a company of horse August 10, 1667, and
later was chosen captain. On June 7, 1671, he was
on a special jury to try two Indians. Ralph claimed
the lands of the Dutch House of Good Hope, now
Hartford, Connecticut, and commenced a lawsuit
to establish his claim against Richard Lord and
James Richard, possessors of the Dutch land, about
1667. Earle affirmed that he purchased the land
of Underhill in August, 1653, and paid him twenty
pounds sterling for it; but Underhill protested
against the claim of Earle. It is not improbable
that the claim was well founded.
The children of Ralph and Joan Earle were:
Ralph, married Dorcas Sparague; William, married
(first) Mary Walker; (second) Prudence  •;

WORCESTER COUNTY

45i

Mary, married William Cory; Martha, married
William Wood; Sarah, married Thomas Cornell.
(II) William Earle, son of Ralph Earle (1),
was born in England. The first known record of
William Earle is dated April 2, 1634, when he and
his wife Mary sold to James Sands their interest in
fourteen acres that came by right of the late Widow
Walker, the land having come by marriage of
Mary Walker, daughter of the widow, to William
Earle. He was admitted a freeman at Bristol,
Rhode Island, May 11, 1658, and on May 18th he was
admitted a freeman of the colony at the general
court held at Warwick. On June 8th, in the same
year, he was chosen to represent Bristol in the
general court of trials at Newport. He was given
a grant of land in partnership with William Cory
May 1, 1665, provided they maintain a windmill for
the use of the town. In 1668 the windmill had been
erected. William Earle removed to Dartmouth
about 1670, and stayed there several years, his
interests there being large. He owned more than
two thousand acres from his claims in the original
division of the land.
The general assembly for Rhode' Island and
Providence plantations, for- the election of general
officers for the colony, was held May 6, 1691, at the
house of William Earle, it being removed from New
port by reason of the distemper. He was a deputy
from Portsmouth to the general assemblies held
at Providence, October 25, 1704, and at Newport
May 1, 1706, and July 3, 1706. He made a will
November 13, 1713, mentioning various legatees. He
died January 15, 1715. The children of William
Earle were: Mary, born 1655, married John
Borden; William, born at Portsmouth, Rhode
Island; married Elizabeth  _;_ Ralph (see for
ward) ; Thomas, married Mary Taber ; Caleb ; mar
ried Mary —  ; John, born at Portsmouth, mar
ried Mary Wait; Prudence, married Benjamin
' ' Durfee. (Ill) Ralph Earle, son of William Earle (2),
lorn in 1660; married Mary (Carr) Hicks, widow
of John Hicks, and daughter of Robert Carr, of
Newport, Rhode Island. She died the same year
that he died, 1757, at Leicester, Massachusetts, and
both are buried in the Friends' burying ground at
Leicester, where the graves of no less than six gen
erations of their descendants are. The earliest
known record of Ralph Earle is to the effect that he
had taken the freeman's oath prior to March 24,
1686. In 1688 his father gave to him and his wife
the land adjoining the "fall river" at Pocasset, in
Freetown, His removal to and occupancy of this
land must have occurred soon afterward. He lived
there between twenty-five and thirty years, the site
of this house being on what is now Bedford street,
about' ten rods northeast of the northeast corner
of the market, which was standing in i860. The
house had a gambrel roof and was destroyed about
1848. He was surveyor of Highways in 1690-92-
•96, constable in 1699, and grand juryman in 1700
and 1715. He had the military title of ensign.
In 1716 he went through Providence, Rhode
Island, into the interior of Massachusetts, as far
•as what is now Leicester. On the way, at Grafton,
he hired an Indian, named Moses Printer, as guide.
Over part of the way there was no path and they
blazed their way in order to find the track back
again. In 1717 he removed with part of his family
to Leicester and purchased of the original proprie-
, , tors of the town two tracts of land, containing in the
aggregate five hundred and fifty acres. One of the
tracts included the Mulberry Grove, now or lately
owned by George and Billings Mann, and the other
was on the west side of Asnebumskit Hill, in what

is now town of Paxton. Its westerly boundary
appears to have been the road leading northerly
from the Penniman place, a mile east bf Paxton
Centre. His dwelling house was built about one
and one-half miles northeasterly from the present
village of _ Leicester, on Mulberry street, and very
near the site of the residence now or lately owned
by Benjamin Wilson. It was a one story house with
a gambrel roof and was torn down in 1846. In
1721 he was a member -of the church that is the
Congregational church of Leicester. Within a year
a Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers,
was organized in the town and he joined it. In
1732 he and his sons William and Robert, with four
other men, asked to be released from paying any
part of the tax for the support of the minister or
ministers established by the laws of this province,
alleging that they as Quakers with a conscientious
scruple against paying such a tax. The Quaker
meeting house was erected upon land taken from
the farm of Ralph Earle and that of his neighbor,
Nathaniel Potter, both of whose graves are within
a few feet of the site of the old church. Ralph
Earless interest in the society was so great that
he made a trip to Philadelphia to visit William
Penn, the best known Quaker in the country. Penn
at the time was building a house at Pennsburg and
it is said told Earle that he would put his initials
on the chimney.
He still retained the confidence of his fellow-
citizen for he was chosen March 22, 1736, to per
ambulate the line between Leicester and Worcester,
with' the committee from the other town, for which
the town paid the munificent sum of four shillings.
It is said that Earle once owned Mount Hope,
Rhode Island, but no deed of it can be found on
record. His will was made May 25, 1750. Among the be
quests to his wife is the negro boy Sharp; and he
directs that if the negro be faithful and well be
haved, he should have bis freedom at her decease;
if not, he may be sold. But before Earle died
he himself manumitted the slave and April 6, 1756,
gave him thirty acres of land on the southern de
clivity of Asnebumskit. The negro took the name
of Freeborn as a surname later.
Children of Ralph and Mary (Hicks) Earle were:
William, born November 12, 1690, married Anna
Howard; John, born April 24, 1692, married Widow
Sarah Borden ; Mary, born October 24, 1693, married
 Sheffield; Elizabeth, born December 24, 1696,
married Robert Lawson; Sarah, born January 18,
1698, married Stephen Manchester; Martha, born
December 21, 1700; Patience, born November 24,
1702, married Benjamin Richardson; Ralph, born
March 14, 1704; Robert, (see forward) ; Mercy,
born March 13, 1708, married Jotham Rice; Ben
jamin, born March 14, 1711, married (first) Abigail
Newhall ; (second) Deborah (Buffum) Slade.
(IV) Robert Earle, son of Ralph Earle (3),
born March 2, 1706, in Freetown, Massachusetts;
married (first) Mary Newhall, born November 5,
1704, daughter of Thomas Newhall, of Leicester,
formerly of Maiden, Massachusetts, by whom he
had ten children. He married (second), March 23,
1756, Hepsibah Johnson, of Worcester, Massachu
setts. He died in 1796. He was eleven years old
when his father moved to Leicester, Massachusetts.
When he was of age his father gave him two tracts
of land, on one of which he erected his house at
the corner of Earle and Mulberry streets, and resided
there during all his married life. He sold the place
to his grandsons, Pliny and Jonah Earle, for three
thousand pounds, April 11, 1792. In the following
year Pliny removed the old dwelling house to the

45^

WORCESTER COUNTY

opposite side of the road and erected upon the old
site a new house, which with some changes and
additions is still standing. Here Robert Earle
passed the remainder of his days with the family
of his grandson Pliny. He had a remarkable con
stitution and retained his vigor and activity to al
most the close of his long life. After the nine
tieth anniversary of his birth he went alone on
horseback to visit his sons at Chester, Vermont-
On his return he arrived home at night, having rid
den fifty miles during the day. Once at least when
at this extreme age he rode, in one day, to Provi
dence, Rhode Island, to attend the yearly -meeting
of the Society oi Friends, to which he belonged.
Some years before his death he was injured by a
fall from his horse, and was afterward somewhat
lame from the effects of the injury received.
The wife cf Robert Earle, Mary" Newhall, was
the granddaughter of Thomas Newhall, the first
white child bcrn in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was
the soe of Thomas Newhall, who died at Lynn,
May 25. 1674, and Mary Newhall, who died Septem
ber 25. 1665. Both were emigrants from England.
Children of Robert Earle were: Martha, born No
vember 3, 1726, married (first) David Earle; (sec
ond) Hezekiah Ward; Nathan, born May 12. 1728,
married Elizabeth Richardson; Mary, born August
10, 1730, married Jonathan Sargent; Elizabeth, born
October 18, 1732, married John Whittemore; George,
born March 3, 1735, married Mary Baker; Thomas,
August 27, 1737. married Hannah Wait; Esek, born
February 10, 1741. married Mehitable Snow; Ro
bert, born October 10, 1743. married Sarah Hunt;
Lydia, born August 15, 1746, married (first) John
Wilson; (second) Micah Johnson; ( third) Jonas"
Newton ; Marmaduke, (see forward) ; Phebe, born
December 22, 1756, married Francis Flagg; Timothy,
born March 13. 1759, died in the Unites States army,
November 3, 1777.
(V) Marmaduke Earle, son of Robert Earle
(4), born in Leicester, Massachusetts, March 8,
1749; married, 1772, Elizabeth Newton, daughter
of Jonas and Rebecca (Richardson) Newton, of
Paxton, Massachusetts. She was bom June 22,
1755; <hed November 3. 1840; he died May 29, 1839.
He was a farmer and his homestead was on the road
to Barre, about a mile northwest of Paxton Centre.
He and his wife retained their membership in the
Society of Friends during life and were buried in
the Friends' burying ground, at Leicester. None
of the children were Quakers. Children were :
Lucretia, born February 25, 1773, married Samuel
Brown: Catherine, born March 3. 1775. married
Francis Washburn; Winthrop, born May 5. 1777,
died, unmarried in Paxton, January 15, 1836: De
liverance, born November 10, 1779, married Jon
athan Cunningham; Samuel, born December 26,
1781, died June 21, 1787: Amasa, bom March 11,
1784, married Lucy Howe; Philip, born April 10,
1786, married Patty Barton; Rebecca, bom July 21,
178S, married James Thompson; Emory, bora Sep
tember 10, 1790, married Eunice Smith; Candace,
born November 3, 1792. married William Boynton :
Persis. born December 18, 1794, married William
H. Scon: Phebe, born June 22. 1797, married Moses
Parkhurst: Elmer, (see forward); Homer, born
May 6. 1802. died August 30, 1804.
(VI) Elmer Earle. son of Marmaduke Earle (5I,
bora January- 6. 1800. in Paxton. Massachusetts;
married Sally Bellows, daughter of Jonas and Martha
(Bridges.) Bellows, born April 19, 1S04: died March
30. 1881. They lived in Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he died September 2. 1869. Their children
were: Louisa, born February 9, 1S25, died Septem
ber 26, 1S27: Adeline A., bom October 26. 1827,

married Charles Newton ; Emily D. (see forward) ;
Charles G, bora April 22, 1833, married Louisa M.
Starkweather; Susan M_ (.see forward) : Henry M^
born July 23, 1S41, died September 4, 1S45.
(VII 1 Emily Davis Earle, daughter of Elmer
Earle (.6), bora at Leicester, Massachusetts, August
31, 1830: married July 9, 1851, Seneca M. Richard
son, c-f whom later. (See Richardson Family under
William A. Richardson sketch elsewhere in this-
work). (VII) Susan M. Earle, daughter of Elmer Earle
(6), bom in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, Au
gust 24, 1S38; married Gilbert J. Rugg, of Lancas
ter. Massachusetts. October 20, 1858, at Worcester.
(.VIII) Seneca Merrill Richardson, son of Wyman
Richardson (7). was bom in Corinth, Vermont,
December 5. 1830. For the ancestry of Mr. Richard
son see sketch of his brother, William A. Richard
son. He was educated in the schools at Smithville,
where his parents were living during his boyhood.
He learned the machinist's trade as his brother and
ancestors had done. Both father and grandfather
on the Richardson side were expert blacksmith s-
and machinists. His father worked in various places.
He was at Athol, Barre, "Petersham and Boston^
filling positions where his skill and experience as a
mechanic and superintendent were needed.
Seneta Richardson came to Worcester to work
for Willard Williams & Company, manufacturers of
wood-working machinery, in their machine shop.
He went to Fitchburg and worked there in the
manufacture of cane goods for five years. Then-
he took the position of superintendent of the E. G.
Cleveland Machine Co., manufacturers of woolen ma
chinery, in the so-called Junction shop. This firm
was composed of J. M. Bassett, one of the veteran
manufacturers of Worcester, and J. C. Mason, also-
a well known name in Worcester industrial his
tory. In 1864 he went into business for himself
in the firm of Witherby. • Rugg & Richardson, to-
manufacture wood-working machinery. His part
ners were Luke'B. Witherby and Gilbert J. Rugg,
both men who had worked in the shops, manufactur
ing wood-working machinery such as the new firm
began to make. They began in a shop in the Annsby
building, at the comer of Central and Union streets
with twenty men. Later they moved to the build
ing on Salisbury street which was built by the older
firm of wood-working machine makers. Ball 8: Will
iams, in 1865. The firm of Ball & Williams formerly
employed all three of the partners in the firm of
Witherby. Rugg & Richardson. It was founded in
1830 by Thomas E. Daniels in the Court Mills, sold
to Deacon Richard Ball and Thomas Rice, who were
succeeded by the firm of Ball & Ballard. This firm
became later Ball & Williams, the partners being-
Richard Ball and Warren Williams, his son-in-law.
Mr. Williams retired from business in 1863. The
business of Witherby, Rugg & Richardson pros
pered for nearly thirty years, when the death of
Air. Witherby and Mr. Richardson left the business
in the hands of Mr. Rugg. It was incorporated in 1901.
and Mr. Rugg was elected president of the com
pany — the Witherby. Rugg & Richardson Company —
and managed the business until March 1, 1903. when
the entire capital stock of the corporation was sold
to the Hobbs Manufacturing Company of Worces
ter. Mr. Rugg, then retired from the business,
which has since been conducted by the Hobbs Manu
facturing Company as part of their business. Mr.
Richardson was highly esteemed as a citizen. He
ranked high as a business man, and was acknowl
edged to be one of the best mechanical experts in
his line of business. He died August 15, 1899. He
was a well known Mason, being a member of the

WORCESTER COUNTY

453

Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templar.
He w»s a charter member of Quinsigamond Lodge,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was a
Republican and thoroughly posted in public matters,
and interested in public affairs. Lie represented
Ward One for two years in the board of aldermen.
He and his wife were life members of the Uni
tarian Association and were leaders, both being-
delegates to different conventions and active in the
•councils of the association. He married, July 9,
1851, Emily Davis Earle, daughter of Elmer and
Sally (Bellows) Earle. (See sketch of Earle fam
ily). Her father was born in Paxton, Massachusetts,
January 6, 1800; the son of Marmaduke and Eliza
beth (Newton) Earle. Her mother was born in
West Boylston, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs.
Richardson had one child : Plattie Collins, born No
vember 18, 1856; married May 15, 1879, William
Henry Brigham and they have three children William
•Seneca, Bertha Emily, Katharine.
Mrs. Richardson lives in an attractive home at
134 Paine street, Worcester, Massachusetts.
She is a descendant of Ralph Earle, the emigrant,
who settled in Rhode Island among the early
•colonists, and of his grandson, Ralph Earle, the
Quaker, who was among the early settlers of Leices
ter, Massachusetts. (See sketch of the Earle Fam
ily in this work).
JOHN OTIS HALE. Oliver Hale, of Leo
minster, was probably the son of one of the Hales or
their descendants who settled in various places in
Massachusetts, the most prominent of which was
Thomas Hale, of Newbury. He was probably a de
scendant of Robert Hale, of Charlestown, a car
penter by trade, who was admitted a freeman on
May 14, 1634, joined the Charlestown church in
1630 and was a deacon thereof, also a town officer
of Charlestown and an ensign in the militia. Subse
quently he took up his residence in' Maiden, Massa
chusetts. His wife, Joan Hale, bore him the follow
ing children : John, born June 3, 1636, admitted
to the church, August 22, 1658, and became a minister
of the Beverly Church. Mary, born May 17, 1639.
Zachariah, born April 3, 1641, died 1643. Samuel,
horn April 9, 1644. Joanna, Zachariah 2d. Robert
Hale died' July 16, 1659, and in his will he men
tions wife and children. His widow married Richard
Jacobs. Oliver Hale, Leominster, born January 1,
1720, in Stowe, Massachusetts, was married twice.
His first wife, Hannah (Frost) Hale, bore him sev
eral children. His second wife, Catherine (Boutwell)
Hale, born in Sudbury, Massachusetts,' October 7,
1732, a member of the same family as the late ex-
Governor Boutwell, bore him the following chil
dren: Thomas, Daniel, Oliver, Calvin, Luther, Han
nah, Catherine, Sarah, Betty. Oliver Hale died May
7, 1799 ; he was survived by his wife, who passed
away July 16, 1821.
Luther Hale, son of Oliver and Catherine (Bout
well) Hale, of Leominster, Massachusetts, removed
from that town about 1788 and settled in Hubbards
ton, where his descendants have since resided. He
was born about 1765. He married (first), Jan
uary 16, 1787*, Joanna Carter, who died July 30,
1803, at the age of thirty-three years. He mar
ried (second), April 8, 1804, Phebe Wyman, who
died July 23, 1826, aged forty-seven years. He
married (third), October 23, 1834. Phebe (Kimball)
Upham, who died March 8, 1846, aged eighty-two
years. He died February 7, 1845, aged seventy-
eight years. His children were: John, born June
24, 1787, died January 7, 1850. Lucy, born Au
gust 23, 1789, died May 3, 1805. Clara, born June
12, 1791, died January 14, i860. Otis, born March

16, 1793, died April 13, 1822. Luther, born January
l9, 1795, married Melinda Goodspeed, January, 1823,
removed to Vermont. Roland, born December 28,
1796, married Clarissa Rice, of Templeton, June
13, 1833, died July 29, 1861. Esther, born Febru
ary 17, 1799, died about the year 1885 ; she mar
ried James Newton, and removed to Greenfield,
Massachusetts. Laura, born January 1, 1801, died
June 1, 1815. Oliver, born September 28, 1804,
was drowned on the voyage to California, February
16, 1853; he married March 18, 1830, Sarah D.
Parker, who died May 3, 1891. Thomas, born July
6, 1808, married, March 20, 183 1, Mary Pond, died
April 2, 1861. Lucy, born February 13, 1810, died
about the year 1883 ; she married Daniel Wilkinson,
of Templeton, July 11, 1833. Joanna, born March
11, 1812, died about 1886; she married Benjamin
W. Fletcher, of Worcester. Susan, bom April 2,
1814, died 1891 ; she married Amasa Hyde, and re
moved to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Charles, born
September 5, 1816, died December 30, 1818. Luke,
born August 21, 1818, died 1896; he married
Sophronia Wyman, of Winchendon, Massachusetts,
and resided there. Thomas, above mentioned, and
his wife, Mary (Pond) Hale, were the parents
of the following children : Louisa Minerva, born
September 30, 1832, died February 13, 1854. Thomas
Irving, born October 9, 1838, married (first) Martha
A. (Thompson) Hale, November 29, 1865; married
(second) Helen D. Pond, January 16, 1878. Luther
Hobart, born February 11, 1841, married Martha
A. Thompson, March 28, 1862, enlisted September
3, 1862, in Company H, Fifty-third Regiment Massa
chusetts Volunteer Militia, and died at Cleveland,
September 12, 1863, on his way home from the
hospital. Merrill, born November 25, 1845. Luke,
born July 15, 1850, died October 3, 1862.
Oliver Hale, son of Luther Hale, was born at
Hubbardston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1804.
He resided in Hubbardston until the gold fever of
1849, and was drowned on the voyage to California,
February 16, 1853. He married, March 18, 1830,
Sarah D. Parker, and their children were : John
Otis, born April 2, 183 1, see forward. Sarah Maria,
born August 3, 1833, died August 2, 1898; she
married Luke Davis, of Boston, August 31/ 1862,
and his death occurred August 31, 1883 ; they resided
at Newton, Massachusetts. Minerva Florilla, born
June 27. 1837, resides in West Newton, Massachu
setts., Catherine Swan, born June 8, 1841. Clara,
twin of Catherine Swan, born June 8, 1841, resides
in West Newton. Seth P. H., born February 12,
1846, married, December 2, 1867, Abby Bennett, who
died March 8, 1888, leaving one son, William B.,
.born May 14, 1871 ; he married (second), Feb
ruary 12, 1894, H. Gertrude Powers, and they are
the parents of one daughter, Gladys, born Decem
ber 26, 1899. Seth P. H. enlisted in Company G,
Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, January 4, 1864, and
was honorably discharged from the service on June
¦ 7, 1865. John Otis Hale, son of Oliver and Sarah D.
(Parker) Hale, was born at Hubbardston, Massa- -
chusetts, April 2, 1831. He settled in his native
town, and was a manufacturer of chair stock and
chair seats in Williamsville, a village of Hubbards
ton. He was a capable, energetic man and was
chosen to represent the district in the general court
during the years 1868 and 1869. John O. Hale and
J. D. Williams were instrumental in getting the
Ware River Railroad through Williamsville; they
authorized costly surveys to be made at their own
expense, and created so great an interest that the
Burnshirt Valley line was adopted. Construction
was begun on this road in Hubbardston, November,

454

WORCESTER COUNTY

1870, and passenger trains commenced running upon
the entire road in November, 1873, only a few days
prior to the death of Mr. Hale. Mr. Hale was also
instrumental in securing the valley road from
Templeton to Barre. He was a Free Mason and
a Knight Templar. Mr. Hale married, November
7, i860, Lucy Browning,- daughter of Joshua and
Laura (Morse) Browning, of Hubbardston, and
sister of Mrs. Robert H. Chamberlain, of Worces
ter, and Mrs. Wheelock A. Cheney, who resides at
No. 15 Bowdoin street, Worcester. Their children
are : Abby Calista, born July 21, 1862, died May
1, 1899. Oliver, born December 12, 1863. Joshua
Browning, born June 14, 1865, married, August,
1890, Nellie M. Lewis, and their children are : Robert
B., born June 13, 1891, and Roger W. L., born
December 29, 1902; the family reside in Provi
dence. John Otis, born December 1, 1866. Lucy
Dorritt, born August 18, 1868. John O Hale, the
father of these children, died December 8, 1873.
His wife died January 28, 1878.
John Otis Hale, son of John Otis and Lucy
(Browning) Hale, was born at Williamsville, Hub
bardston, Massachusetts, December 1, 1866. -His
father died when he was only seven years old.
He was educated in the public schools of Hubbards
ton, and during his early life worked on a farm.
At the age of eighteen he accepted a position as
steward of an institution at Barre, Massachusetts,
and was there employed for about five years. He
then came to Worcester, Massachusetts, entered into
partnership with his brother in the manufacture of
chains, and at the expiration of four years pur
chased his brother's interest in the business. This
enterprise was started in a shop at No. 65 Beacon
street, but the steady growth of the business neces
sitated its removal in 1901 to the present location
at No. 42 Lagrange street. The business was in
corporated January 1, 1905, as Hale Bros. Com
pany, John Otis Hale being the chief owner and
president ,of the company. The product of their
plant consists of jack and ladder chains, which
they manufacture in a variety of styles of all sizes,
and their trade extends throughout all the states
of the Union. Mr. Hale is a member of the First
Universalist Church.
Mr. Hale married, April 26, 1904, Josephine
Ann Aldus, of Belfast, Maine, daughter of William
S. and Jane (Robinson) Aldus.
THOMAS F. EAGAN, a successful hardware
manufacturer of Worcester, was born in county
Kerry, Ireland, March 25, -1850, and came with his
parents to America in 1853.
His childhood was spent in Worcester, where his
father settled. He was educated in the public schools.
He went to work first for Salem Copeland, a manu
facturer of firearms, and learned the trade of ma
chinist. After three years he accepted a place with
the firm of Amesbury & Harrington, makers of the
Union Mowing Machine. After three years he
went to the machine shop of L. W. Pond and
there served a regular apprenticeship to perfect him
self in his trade. He next was employed by the
Kniffin Mowing Machine Company in Worcester,
and for nearly twenty years remained in various
capacities with this company. In 1892 he bought
the business of the owner, Charles W. Chamber
lin, of Worcester.' A year later he bought the
Copeland Hardware _ Manufacturing Company of
Worcester. His business for nine years remained
in the old location in the N. A. Lombard build
ing. In 1901 he moved to Blithewood avenue, where
he built a shop for his use. Mr. Eagan has a
well equipped machine shop, in which he carries on

the manufacture of Copeland's and Cook's extension
dividers, window springs, storm window fasteners,
calipers, and of late years has carried as a side
line the agency of the Walter A. Wood harvesting
machinery, with a repair shop designed to handle
mowing machines and in fact all kinds of harvesting
machines. He married, September 14, 1881, Catherine I.
Devine, daughter of Daniel and Ellen Devine, form
erly of Auburn, Massachusetts. The children are
as follows: Edward D., born September 1, 1882;
Nellie G., born July 20, 1884; Thomas F, born Sep
tember 25, 1886; John J., deceased, bom March 16,
1888; Charles H., born October 29, 1890; Isabella
C, deceased, born December 14, 1893; and Mary E.,
deceased, born November 20, 1896.
THE HARLOW FAMILY
By Major William T. Harlow.
In a book on Derivation of Family Names,
by Rev. William Arthur, it is said that the
name Harlow is derived from the town of
Harlow in England. The modern town of
Harlow is situate on the east bank of the river
Stort in the county of Essex, twenty-three miles
north of London, on the high road to Newcastle,
and is a station of the Great Eastern Railway. Terri
torially, the town is only a small fraction of, and
nominally it is the last surviving relic of, a much
larger tract of land, once called the Half Hundred
of Harlow, or Dimidium de Herloua and by the
latter name many times* mentioned in Domesday
Book. It extended twelve miles from north to
south, and six miles in width, along the east side
of the river Stort, and contained seventy-two square
miles. As to the identity of the Dimidium of Domes
day with the Half Hundred, and of the names of
Herloua and Harlow my authority "is Morant's His
tory of the County of Essex, — an elaborate work in
two ponderous volumes, wherein the learned author
traces everything in the county back to Saxon origins.
The Half Hundred of Harlow contained eleven par
ishes; of which one was called the Parish of Harlow,
which parish included six manors (landed estates),
of which one was named Harlowbury. The term
hundred, originally used by the ancient Saxons to
mean one hundred men, assigned with their families,
under a quasi military form of organization, to
occupy a large tract of land, in time became the
name of the tract itself, and later came to signify
an intermediate territorial division, now obsolete,
between town and county.
Mr. Arthur classifies Harlow with names of local
origin, i. e. names derived from places and leaves
his derivation of the name from the town of Har
low to rest on unsupported assertion. This is not
the place to discuss at length the learned opinions
of accepted authorities. But I beg to suggest, what
in the absence of proof to the contrary seems to
me the more probable supposition, that Harlow was
originally the name of a man of whom the town
is the namesake. Towns, always the products of men,
not infrequently take their names from those of men,
of which . one may recall very numerous instances,
capable historically of easy proof. As to the re
verse derivation of English family names, from those
of towns, I make bold to challenge proof of a single
instance. I limit my challenge to English names,
in which I do not include titles of rank, nor names
with the prefix De, or its equivalent. But my pur
pose in referring to the origin of our family name
is to show its high antiquity and to suggest _ to
others, where with time and opportunity for foreign
research, which the present scribe hath not, they
may look for light upon our earlier family history.

WORCESTER COUNTY

455

(I) William Harlow, the first comer of the
Harlow name from England to New England, was
unaccompanied by wife, parents or kindred of any
degree. His name appears here first in a list of resi
dents (1629-1700) of Lynn, Massachusetts. Iu 1637
ten men of Lynn, originally called Saugus, had
leave granted them to take up and settle land in
Sandwich, and nine of the ten, with forty-six others,
of whom William Harlow was one, removed from
Lynn to, Sandwich and settled there. The same year
one Thomas Hampton, of Sandwich, not one of the
new comers from Lynn, diedt without family or
kindred, leaving a will, of wdiich William Harlow
was both an attesting witness and legatee, colony
law allowing such attesting. The same year also
he was fined ten shillings for keeping "3 hogges un-
wringed." In 1639 he was proposed for admission
as a freeman and took the preliminary oath of
fidelity. In 1640 he had assigned to him at a town
meeting of Sandwich four acres of meadow. I men
tion these rather unimportant items because of their
bearing upon the question of how old he then was,
to which I shall recur again.
William Harlow removed to Plymouth later. He
was a cooper by trade. He built several houses
in Plymouth, of which one, built in 1667 on a lot
granted him by the town and described, as a "little
knoll, or parcel, lying near his now dwelling house
on the westerly side of the road to sett a new
house upon," still stands where it was built on the
road to Sandwich (now named Sandwich street),
about a quarter of a mile southerly from Plymouth
postoffice. Another house built by him in 1660, re
ferred to in the above description, called the Doten
House, stood on the easterly side of the same road a
few rods further south till 1898, when it was taken
down. The house, still standing, was framed out of
old timbers of the Pilgrim Fort on Burial Hill in
Plymouth. As sergeant of the South Company Will
iam Harlow had had charge of the old fort for many
years, and after King Philip's war (1675-6), he
bought it of the town and used the old timbers
in the construction of his new house. In 1882, when
some repairs were being made on this house, a
ponderous iron hinge of the Fort Gate, attached to
a timber, was discovered, and may now be seen with
other Pilgrim relics in Pilgrim Hall.
Sergeant Harlow, so-called in many records of
the time still preserved, did military duty at a
period when the Home Guards were not a laughing
stock, ready day and night without compulsion or
compensation to defend home and country against
the savage foe. No details of his military service
are preserved, but there can be no doubt of his
employment in the Indian warfare of his time, of
which the chief event was the great Narragansett
fight, when both the Plymouth companies were pres
ent under the command of Major William Bradford.
Doubtless, Sergeant Harlow was with his company
when every able-bodied man in the colony was
there. In civil affairs, William Harlow, having been ad
mitted as a freeman (1654), served as juror or grand
juror every year, was rater (assessor) and excise
man many years, deputy to the general court two
sessions (Josiah Winslow being then governor), a
member of the board of selectmen fifteen years and
its chairman at the time of his death. He was also
active in the church affairs, and his name is of very
frequent occurrence in the records of the colony,
town and church.
The inventory of his estate, real and personal,
foots up to 234 pounds, 16 shillings, 11 pence, and
it was "ordered by the court that his four sons
have all his lands, the eldest to have a double

portion according to^ our law, saving to the widow
her thirds, the remainder to be divided among the
seven daughters,"
What was William Harlow's age at his death?
According to the town records he died August 26,
1691, aged sixty-seven years. This would fix his
birth in 1624, and his age at thirteen years when
he removed from Lynn to Sandwich and witnessed
Hampton's will, and was mulcted for keeping swine
contrary to law, and at fifteen when he applied for
admission as freeman, and took the oath of fidelity,
and at sixteen when he had a parcel of land as
signed to him by public authority. And still earlier
he must have crossed the sea without care of parents
or other kindred. Everywhere apparently treated as
a man after his appearance here, we can have little
doubt that he was at least twenty-one years old
when he left England and. that he must have been
at least seventy-five years old when he died.
lie married, at -Plymouth, December 30, 1649,
Rebecca Bartlett, who bore him four children and
died 1657, aged twenty-eight years. He married
(second), July 15, 1658, Mary Faunce, who bore
him four children and died October 4, 1664. He
married (third), January 15, 1665, Mary Shelley,
who bore him five children and survived him. Of
his thirteen children, all but the first born, lived
to grow up. The children of the first wife were:
William, born and died 1650; Samuel, see forward;
Rebecca, born June 12, 1655; William, born June 2,
1657. The children by the second wife were : Mary,
bom May 9, 1659; Repentance, bom November 22,
1660; John, born October 19, 1662; Nathaniel, born
September 30, 1664. The children by his third wife
were: Hannah, bom October 28, 1665; Bathsheba,
born April 21, 1667; Joanna, born March 24, 1669;
Mehitable, born October 4, 1672; Judith, bom August
2, 1676. William Harlow's first wife was a daug'hter
of Robert and Mary (Warren) Bartlett, and grand
daughter of Richard Warren, the Pilgrim. The name
of her grandmother (Warren's wife) was Eliza
beth Juat Marsh, and she was, when she married
Warren, the widow of one Marsh, Juat being her
maiden name. She did not come over in the "May
flower" in 1620 with her husband, but later in 1623;
in the ship "Ann,'' in which at the same time came
Bartlett and Mary Warren, not then married, and
two other daughters of the Pilgrim and his wife.
(II) Samuel Harlow, son of William (1) and
Rebecca (Bartlett) Harlow, was born in Plymouth,
January 27, 1652. He followed his father's calling
of cooper and received as his double portion of his
father's estate the house built out of the old fort
timbers, and lived in it during the remainder of his
life. He was admitted a freeman in 1689 and held
divers minor offices. Like his father he bore the
prefix of sergeant, having succeeded him as orderly
in the South Company. At the time of King Philipps
war Samuel was twenty-three years old and it is
more than probable that he took part in the Narra
gansett fight.
He married (first) Priscilla  and (second)
Hannah  . whose parentage and surnames are
unknown. Their Christian names were common
among the Pilgrims and that Samuel's wives were
both of Pilgrim descent is little short of certain,
considering that in his time tliere were few Plym
outh families without at least one "Mayflower" an
cestor. He died March 2, 1734. aged eighty-two
years. His second wife survived him. His chil
dren, by his first wife, were: Rebecca, born Janu
ary 27, 1678: by his second wife: John, born De*
ceinber 19, 1685; Hannah, born November 15, 1688;
Samuel, bom August 14, 1690; William, born July

456

WORCESTER COUNTY

26, 1692; Eleazer, see forward; Priscilla, bom Octo
ber 3, 1695.
(Ill) Eleazer Harlow, youngest son of Samuel
(2) and Hannah Harlow, was born April 18, 1694,
and lived in Plymouth, though not in the house built
bv his grandfather, that having passed to his older
brother John. Eleazer died suddenly in 1728, . aged
thirty-four years, but his grave has not been found.
His brothers, John and William, each have good
headstones on Burial Hill, Plymouth, that of Will
iam who died April 11, 1751, being the earliest
stone with the Harlow name upon it on the hill.
I have counted the names of eighty-eight Harlows
on stones mostly in the vicinity of the Cushman
monument, all doubtless descendants of the first
William. At the time of his death the hill was
already in use as a place of burial. The earliest
date on any original stone on the hill is 1681, that
of Edward Gray. Elder Cushman's original stone
gives as the date of his death- 1691. The hill was
used until the close of King Philip's war for mili
tary observation and fortification, but it doubtless
began to be used for a burial place soon after the
war. So there can be little doubt that Eleazer
Harlow, his father Samuel, and his grandfather Will
iam, are all buried there, though no visible memorials
mark their graves.
Eleazer Harlow married, October 5, 1715, Hannah
Delano, daughter of Dr. Benoni Delano and grand
daughter of Dr. Thomas Delano, both of Duxbury.
She died October, 1719. Eleazer married (second),
1720, Hannah Pratt, who survived him. Dr. Thomas
Delano was the son of Philip Delano (De la Noye),
the Huguenot Pilgrim, so-called, who came over
from Holland to Plymouth in the ship "Fortune" in
1621, and settled on a forty-acre lot by Mill Brook
in Duxbury and there lived the remainder of his
life. The wife of Philip Delano and mother of Dr.
Thomas was Hester Dewsbury, supposed to have
come from England with the Quakers and to have
been of their persuasion. The wife of Dr. Thomas
and mother of Dr. Benoni Delano was Mary Alden,
daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden,
and granddaughter of William and Alice Mullens,
all "Mayflower" Pilgrims. Nothing is known of
Dr. Benoni's wife, not even her given name. The
children of Eleazer and Hannah (Delano) Harlow
were: Eliphas, born March 5, 1716; Lemuel, bora
November 29, 1717; Eleazer, see forward. The chil
dren of Eleazer'and Hannah (Pratt) Harlow were:
Elizabeth, born October 21, 1721 ; Patience, born
October 1, 1722.
(IV) Eleazer Harlow, Jr., son of Eleazer (3)
and Hannah (Delano) Harlow, was born at Plym
outh, October 17, 1719. Left an orphan at an early
age, his mother dying shortly after his birth and his
father when he was only nine years old, he was
brought up by his grandfather, Dr. Benoni Delano
who, evidently designing him to be his successor,
began early to teach him the healing art. But the
doctor died April 5, 1738, before his pupil was out
of his teens. Nevertheless, having come by inherit-
ence into possesion of his granfather's medical and
surgical effects, books, drugs, recipes, panaceas,
lancets, forceps, old mare, and saddle bags, all and
singular, and no rival putting in an appearance to
dispute his title to inherit also -his grandfather's
jpatients, young Doctor Harlow married a wife three
years younger >and started out as his grandfather's
successor, about fifteen months after his death. In
due course of time, the young doctor succeeded to
the old doctor's place in the confidence and patron
age of the people of Duxbury. In 1765 his house in
the village of Millbrook, Duxbury, was burned and
two children, his own daughter Abigail, aged thirteen

years, and his step-daughter, Polly Dabney, aged
eleven years, perished in the flames. His wife, mother
of Polly, saved herself by jumping from a chamber
window. The doctor had another house on or near
the same site burned in 1797; after which, being
seventy-eight years old, he gave up his medical prac
tice and went to live with his son Gideon at Crooked
Lane, near Marshfield line, and died there August
5, 1812, aged ninety-two years, seven months, eighteen
days. In his last years his eyesight failed and he
became entirely blind, though he retained his memory
and mental faculties to the end of life.
The estate of Dr. Harlow, valued, at $3,994.85
in the inventory, was settled by his son Asaph,
then living in Cambridge. The graves of the ^doctor
and his third wife, marked by large headstones with
well cut inscriptions, are in an old and much
neglected graveyard, about a mile from his son
Gideon's farm at Crooked Lane. The grave of his
first wife is at Cedar Grove in Marshfield, near
the Congregational church, with those of her father's
family. The site of Dr. Harlow's burned houses
was near "Ford's Store" in Millbrook village, which
is partly within the forty-acre farm settled by Philip
Delano. Here also lived and died Philip's soil, Dr.
Thomas, and his grandson, Dr. Benoni Delano. Dr.
Harlow was their lineal descendant and successor
and the united terms of the trio as practitioners in
Duxbury extends from Pilgrim times to within the
memory of the writer's father, who was in his four
teenth year at the death of Dr. Harlow, his great
grandfather. He married (first), November 9, 1739, Abigail
Thomas, daughter of Gideon and Abigail (Baker)
Thomas, of Marshfield. The bride's age ons her
wedding day was sixteen years, eleven months, five
days ; and the groom's age was twenty years and
twenty-two days. She died November 24, 1743.
He married (second), September 11, 1745, Abigail
Clark, of Plymouth, and (third), about 1760, Mrs.
Elizabeth Dabney, widow of Charles Dabney, of
Boston. The only child of Dr. Eleazer and Abigail
(Thomas) Harlow was : Gideon, see forward. The
children of Dr. Eleazer and Abigail (Clark) Har
low were : Asaph, Thomas, Abigail, William, Arunah,
Hannah, Elizabeth, Patience.
(V) Gideon Harlow, son of Dr. Eleazer (4) and
Abigail (Thomas) Harlow, was born in Duxbury,
October 28, 1743. He was brought up by his mother's
parents, Gideon Thomas and wife, who lived in
Marshfield very near the line between that town
and Duxbury. His mother, Abigail, was the eldest
of their seven daughters, and, after her death, her
son seems to have taken her place in the hearts
of her parents. The Gideon Thomas homestead has
never passed out of the possession of his de
scendants, and is now the property of his great-great-
great-grandson, P. Foster White, of Worcester.
Through his grandmother Thomas, Gideon Harlow
was descended from Governor William Bradford,
the Pilgrim, and also from Ellen Newton, another
of the English exiles in Holland who followed the
"Mayflower" two years later in the ship "Ann" and
rejoined their fellows at New Plymouth in 1623.
His grandmother Thomas was the daughter of
Kenelm and Sarah (Bradford) Baker, granddaughter
of Major William Bradford and great-granddaughter
of the Pilgrim governor by his second wife, widow
Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, who was also a
passenger of the "Ann." Kenelm Baker was the
son of Samuel and Ellen (Winslow) Baker, and
grandson of Ellen Newton by her second husband,
Kenelm Winslow, who was a brother of Edward and
Gilbert Winslow, the Pilgrims. Kenelm came over
in 1629 from Droitwich near Worcester, England,

WORCESTER COUNTY

457

and. settled in Marshfield, where the house that he
built and lived in with his wife Ellen is still standing.
Gideon Harlow has the addition of "housewright"
in the deed of his farm, but except building a house
on his own farm," he did not to much extent
follow that trade. His house is still standing, though
not on its original site, an excellent example of old
colony architecture and handicraft. It contains
ornamental work of no mean order, and lumber
of choice character, such as one might now ransack
all the forests of Massachusetts in vain to find. The
great pines and oaks such as were wrought into
that house are not growing now anywhere in the
commonwealth. He was a revolutionary soldier, serving first
as a minute man at the Lexington alarm. He served
several years as assessor and as selectman of Dux
bury. His church relations, however, were with
the Marshfield church, of which he was a regular
attendant all his life and many years a deacon. He
was a prosperous and well-to-do farmer. He mar
ried, January 4, 1770, .Patience Ford Eames, widow
of Abner Eames, of Marshfield. Gideon and his wife
were both descendants of the widow Martha Ford,
and of her son William, who came over in the
"Fortune" in 1621, and of John Thomas, who came
in the ship "Hopewell" in 1634. For more than a
hundred years the Fords and Thomases of Marsh
field and Duxbury had been intermarrying and their
descendants of the third, fourth and later genera
tions were all cousins of some degree.
The Ford line of descent from the widow Martha
to Patience was by the widow's son William, grand
son Michael, great-grandson Thomas and great-great-
grandson Thomas Ford, Jr., who was the father
and whose wife Jane Thomas (daughter of Israel
and granddaughter of John Thomas) was th# mother
of Patience. Gideon Harlow's grandfather, Gideon
Thomas, was son of Samuel and grandson of John
Thomas. The wife of Samuel and mother of
Gideon Thomas was Mercy Ford, daughter of Will
iam Ford, Jr., granddaughter of the first William,
and great-granddaughter of the widow Martha.
Gideon Harlow died a year and four months be
fore his father, April 9, 1811, aged sixty-seven years,
five months, and thirteen days. His wife long sur
vived him and died December 22, 1840, aged ninety-
seven years, six months and twelve days. His sons
Abner and Eleazer settled his estate valued in the
inventory at $19,105.49. The graves of Gideon and
his wife are with those of his father and step
mother at the neglected old yard in Duxbury, be
fore referred to and are marked by good head
stones. Children of Gideon and Patience (Ford)
Harlow were: Abigail, born November 26, 1771;
Arunah, born January 29, 1773; Thomas, see for
ward; Lydia, born May 4, 1777; Elizabeth, born
May 10, 1779 ; Abner, born February I, 1782 ; Eleazer,
born November 4, 1784 ; Gideon, born April 10, 1786.
All of them except Lydia, who died in infancy, lived
to ages beyond the average of human life.
(VI) Thomas Harlow, son of Gideon Harlow
(5), was born May 17, 1775- He learned the tanner's
trade at Weymouth by a term of regular apprentice
ship (seven years), which expired March 16, 1796.
The very next morning, which was that of his
twenty-first birthday, he made an early start to go
on foot to Shrewsbury— fifty miles— for the purpose
of buying the tannery of one Seth Pratt, who wel
comed his customer on the evening of the same
day that he left Weymouth* and sold him the tannery
The writer well remembers how, if any one expressed aston
ishment at grandfather Harlow's great walking feat, he would im
mediately tell "a still more wonderful tale" of his nephew,
• Joshua Ford, who was sent up from Pembroke by his parents to

ior $1,000. A house and twenty-one acres of land
went with the tannery, of which no vestige now
remains, but the house which Pratt built in 1775
is still standing, and the land was the nucleus of
the farm, now owned by Henry Harlow, grandson
of Thomas. There Thomas Harlow followed his
calling about forty years and invested his gains
therefrom in land, until he came to own at one time
nearly three hundred acres. The _ only civil office
that he ever held was, that of highway surveyor,
to which he was elected in accordance with an under
standing in his highway district, that the taxpayers
should each serve in rotation. Though a public-
spirited man and regular attendant and voter at
elections and town meetings, he never sought or de
sired public office. In the Congregational Church
of Shrewsbury, of which he was a member, the
office of deacon was thrust upon him and he served
as such many years. He was a great reader of the
Bible, and was accounted high authority on all
Bible questions.
He married, May 17, 1798, Thankful Banister,
daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Whitney) Ban
ister, of the North Parish of Shrewsbury, now
Boylston. Nathan was born in Brookfield, remov
ing in 1775 to Shrewsbury to live with his wife's
father and mother on their farm in the southwest
part of the North Parish. His father was Joseph
Banister, son of Christopher, who came from Marl
boro to settle in Brookfield, and grandson of Nathan,
Jr., whose parents, Nathan and Mary Banister,
came from England in or before 1669 and settled
in Charlestown.' The first mentioned Nathan Ban
ister, Thankful's father, was a blacksmith by trade,
and a soldier in the revolutionary war. Two of
Thomas Harlow's brothers followed him later to
Shrewsbury and settled there — Arunah (whose
grandson, George H. Harlow, is the present register
of probate for Worcester county) in 1798 and Abner
in 1812. And most of the Harlows now living in
Worcester county are lineal descendants of the three
who a century ago came here Trom Duxbury.
Thomas Harlow died November 20, 18,65, aged
ninety years; his wife Thankful died January 5,
1847, aged seventy-three years. Their children were:
Gideon, see forward; Nancy, born July 25, 1802,
died in infancy; Elmira, born April 23, 1805; Abi
gail, born April 25, 1810.
(VII) Giedon Harlow, son of Thomas Harlow
(6), was born in Shrewsbury, February 17, 1799. He
succeeded his father under the tatter's will as owner
of the home farm. He built the brick house now
standing on the farm and occupied it with his family
during his life, his father and mother continuing
to occupy the older house built by Seth Pratt.
Like his father, Gideon Harlow served his term as
highway surveyor, and he was selectman several
years, also assessor and- member of the school com
mittee. He was elected deacon of the Congrega
tional church, but declined to serve. He did not
like the tanner's trade in which he was brought up,
and devoted his life with untiring energy and ap
plication to improvement of the homestead by good
culture, and the planting of fruit trees. There was

learn the tanner's trade with him at Shrewsbury and got so home
sick that he had to go home and ran all the way back (sixty miles)
in a single day. , , . , ... ,, ,. .
Many years afterwards I asked Joshua's sister, Mrs. Benjamin
F Gleason, of Worcester, (nee Mary Ann Ford) about her
brother's great day's journey on foot. She said there was no
doubt at all about it. She was then a girl and late in the evening,
when her father's family were about going to bed, Josh took them
all by surprise, opening the door and coming into the room where
they were. And so ashamed was he of his return that he did not
tell them that he left his uncle's house in Shrewsbury in the
morning. Nor did they know it till receipt of a letter from Uncle
Thomas about it.

458

WORCESTER COUNTY

a great quantity of wood and timber on the farm
which he cut off and marketed chiefly in Worcester,
where demand for firewood, telegraph poles, rail
road sleepers and lumber for building purposes in
his time, always seemed to exceed supply. Many
years before, his death, his father had by will de
vised the farm to him, and ever afterwards, with
his father's consent and approval, he made the same
use of it, as if the fee simple of it were already
his. No man ever did or could, with more persistent
self-denial and conscientiousness than Gideon Har
low, devote himself to the welfare of his family.
That his children,. should have opportunity by edu
cation and every other way to do better in life than
he had himself, was the mainspring of all his con
duct. Often did he say in the presence of his chil
dren : "I had rather lose a day in haytime than
have a child of mine lose a day in school." The
writer often recalls with gratitude his father's re
ply, now nearly sixty years ago, to the request of
some friends for leave to start a movement in
Shrewsbury to nominate him for representative to
the general court. He thanked them, but instantly
added: "No, I have so many things to do this
coming winter that I cannot attend to it." One of
the things he had to do was to haul to market in
Worcester a lot of wood to pay his son's expenses
in college. , ,
He married, January I, 1828, Harriet Howe,
daughter of Nathan and Mary (Parker) Howe.
Her father was the son of Captain Nathan and
Hepzibah (Taylor) Howe, and grandson of Daniel
Howe, who, with William Taylor, Hepzibah's
father, and several others, came from • Marlboro to
Shrewsbury and settled there in 1717. Daniel Howe ..
was the son of Josiah and grandson of John Howe,
who was in Sudbury in 1638, when, or very shortly
before, he is -supposed to have come over from
England. Mary Parker, wife of Nathan Howe,
Jr., was the daughter of Simon Parker, who came
to Shrewsbury from Groton in 1742, and was the son
of Samuel and grandson of James Parker, both
also of Groton. Simon Parker and both the Nathan
Howes were soldiers in the revolutionary war. Of
Nathan, senior, Ward says in his history of Shrews
bury: "He was an officer in the (British) service
at Lake George in the French war and aided in the
building of Fort William Henry. In 1776 he com
manded a company in throwing up works at Dor
chester Heights during the night (March 4-5).
From an illness taken there he never recov
ered. Nathan Howe, Jr., only fourteen years old in
1776, was not permitted by his father to enter the
United States service until after the fatal nature of
his own illness had unmistakably developed.
Captain Howe died March 21, 1781, aged, fifty-
one years, of a lingering consumption. His origi
nal commission as captain, dated February 5, 1776,
at Watertown, and signed, not by Royal Governor
Gage, who was then over in Boston . with the Red
coats, but by William Sever, of Kingston, and four
teen others "Major Part of the Council of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England," is in the pos
session of the writer.
Gideon Harlow, of Shrewsbury, died October
26, 1877, aged seventy-eight years and six months.
His wife Harriet died March 15, 1870, aged seventy
years and seven months. The children df Gideoii
and Harriet (Howe) Harlow were: William Tay
lor, see forward; Thomas, bora August 18, 1830;
Henry, born October 13, 1833; Hiram, born No
vember 27, 1839, died October 5, 1858; Harriet Ann,
born December 4, 1841, died April 2, 1883.

MAJOR WILLIAM' T. HARLOW
By Charles Nutt.
(VIII) William Taylor Harlow, son of Gideon
Harlow (7), was born in Shrewsbury, October 3,
1828. He was named for his great-great-grandfather,
William Taylor, one of the first settlers of the town
of Shrewsbury, and donor to the town of the site
of the Congregational meeting house, originally
fifteen acres of land, old style measure. His Ameri
can ancestry on the Harlow side, down to his grand
father, all belonged to Plymouth colony and included
six , "Mayflower" , pilgrims and eight other exiles,.
three in the "Fortune," 1621, and five in the "Ann,"
1623, who followed the pioneers of 1620 to New
Plymouth, as appears in greater detail in the fore
going sketch of the family. His four great-grand
fathers and one of his grandfathers were soldiers
of the American revolution, and brief mention of
their service has been made above.
He received his early education in the district
schools of his native town, .supplemented by a few
terms of private schools. When not attending
school he worked with his father and brothers on
the homestead. He continued his studies at home,
and was prepared for college chiefly by himself
without a teacher. He attended Monson Academy
one term in the spring and summer of 1848 under
the instruction of Principal Charles Hammond,
and upon his recommendation was admitted to the
sophomore class of Yale College in 1848, where he
was graduated in 1851. He studied law with Thomas
and Foster of Worcester (Benjamin F. Thomas
and Dwight Foster, both afterwards justices of the
supreme court of Massachusetts) and was admitted
to the bar at the March term of the court of com
mon pleas, 1853. He opened an office for the pract
ice of law, first in Worcester, but in less than a year
removed to Spencer, where he practiced until the
civil war.
He entered the United States ' service as first
lieutenant of Company C, Twenty-first Regiment,.
Massachusetts Volunteers, in August, 1861, haying
been occupied since the war began in April, mainly
in recruiting and drilling recruits, first at Spencer
and later at Camp Lincoln, Worcester. He took
part in the engagements of 1862 — at Roanoke
Island, February 8, at. Newbern, March 14, and at
Camden Court House, April 19, in North Carolina;
at the second battle of Bull Run, August 28^31,
and at Chantilly, September 1, in Virginia; at South
Mountain, September 14, and at Antietam, Septem
ber 17, in. Maryland; and at Fredericksburg Decem
ber 12-15, also in Virginia. He was detailed and
acted as regimental quartermaster after the battle
of Newbern for about' three months and was pro
moted captain July 29, 1862. The losses of his
company by wounds, disease and death in the cam
paigns of 1862 were such that he had in his com
pany only nine men left for duty. One of his
lieutenants was killed at Chantilly and the other at
Antietam. Though so fortunate himself as to es
cape serious wounds, he suffered much from ma
laria. As the other companies of this regiment
had suffered similar losses to those of Company
C, the colonel and several other officers, of whom
Captain Harlow was one, resigned with the expecta
tion that the Twenty-first would soon be _ consoli
dated with some other regiment. He received an
other commission, as major of the Fifty-seventh-
Veteran Regiment, and assisted in recruiting it, but
did not go with it to service in -the field.
He returned to the practice of law in Worcester
in October, 1863, and continued it there until Jan
uary, 1866, when he went to California with a view

WORCESTER COUNTY

459

to locate there. At Red Bluff in the Sacramento
Valley, (head of river navigation,) where his
brother Thomas had been living for several years,
and was then extensively engaged in wheat rais
ing, Major Harlow remained nearly two years.
Soon after his arrival there he received appointments
as county surveyor (Tehama county) and assistant
assessor of United States internal revenue. With
these offices and practice of law he did not lack
employment, but suffered much from malaria con
tracted during the war, more, in fact, than he had
ever suffered in the river' valleys of the Neuse and
Rappahannock. He finally on account of health
decided to return to Massachusetts, reluctantly giv
ing up his business in California; for he said that
like opportunity for doing well in the law and most
other kjnds of business he had never found else
where. He was appointed, June 22, 1869, assessor of
internal revenue for the eighth Massachusetts dis
trict, identical territorially with the eighth congres
sional district, then represented in congress by
Hon. George F. Hoar, through whose kindness he
received the appointment. He held the office until
it was abolished. It was laborious and responsible,
but with the aid of. assistant assessors and clerks,
its duties were performed by him to the satisfac
tion of the government at Washington and to the
taxpayers of the district. The four years employ
ment, during which he held this position, is said
by Major Harlow to have been the most agreea
ble and remunerative of any of his life.
He again returned to the practice of law in Wor
cester, and continued in practice there , until Jan
uary, 1877, when he was appointed by the justices
of the supreme judicial court assistant clerk of the
courts for the county of Worcester for a three-
year term, and held .the office by successive re-ap
pointments until January 1, 1904, when, pursuant
to an intention of long standing to retire at the age
of seventy-five years, and thereafter to take cum otio
what of life might remain to him, he declined an
other appointment..
On retiring, he was surprised by his brethren of
the Worcester bar by the tender of a banquet,
whereat he was overwhelmed with expressions of
their esteem, friendship and good will. And he
has received not only from the bar, but from • the
justices of the courts, and the county commis
sioners of Worcester county cumulative assurances
of their satisfaction with his discharge of his clerical
duties. Major Harlow spent the summer of 1904 abroad
with his daughter. He is a member of the First
Unitarian church of Worcester. In politics he is
a Republican. He served on the school committee
of Spencer and later at Worcester on the school
board and as a director of the Free Public Library.1
He is a conirade of the George H. Ward Post,
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, and a com
panion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion
of the United States, Massachusetts Commandery.
After his return form the war, at Spencer, May
31, 1863, Major Harlow married Jeannette Bemis,
daughter of Lewis and Maria (Stearns) Bemis.
Her father, a farmer, merchant and manufacturer,
was born, lived and died in Spencer. He was the
son of Joshua, grandson of another Joshua and
great-grandson of Samuel Bemis, the second settler
in Spencer, who came there from Watertown in
1721. Maria, wife of Lewis and mother of Jean
nette Bemis, was the daughter of Charles and Eliza
beth (McFarland) Stearns, of Worcester. Chil
dren of Major Harlow and wife, all born in Wor

cester, were : Frederick Bemis, see forward ; Gideon,
died in infancy; Margaret, see forward.
(IX) Frederick Bemis Harlow, son of Major
Harlow (8), and named after his uncle. First
Lieutenant Frederick A. Bemis, of the Twenty-first
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, who was killed
September 1, 1862, at Cantilly, Virginia, was fitted
for college at the Worcester high school and en
tered Williams in 1881. After remaining there
two years he entered Amherst (junior class) and
was graduated there in 1885. He studied law, and
was admitted to the Worcester bar in the superior
court, February 24, 1888. He opened an office in
Worcester and remained there in practice until May,
1900, when he removed to Paris, France, where he
has since been practicing his profession.
(IX) Margaret Harlow, daughter of Major
Harlow (8), graduated from the Worcester high
school in 1891. She then went abroad and spent
most of the next two years in the study of the Ger
man and French languages. Returning to Worcester
she taught German in the Worcester high school
until her mother's death, when she resigned her
place as teacher to become her father's housekeeper.
Mrs. Harlow died January 11, 1901. Younger
than her husband by nearly eight years, he had
not expected to survive her. A true helpmeet to
him in life, her- death, sudden and unexpected, by
apopletic stroke, was to him an irreparable loss.
"Her children rise up, and call her blessed,
Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying
Many daughters have done virtuously,
But thou excelleth them all." *
HARLOW FAMILY. George Herbert Harlow,
the present efficient and popular Register of Pro
bate and Insolvency for Worcester county, is a de
scendant from William Harlow, who came to Mas
sachusetts, and was proprietor in Sandwich, March,
1637, and removed to Plymouth, where he was a
proprietor 1653. The line has been traced from this
William through Arunah Harlow, of the sixth gen
eration, to the subject of this sketch. (See sketch
of Major William Taylor Harlow.)
(VI) Arunah Harlow, son of Gideon Harlow
(5), grandfather of George Herbert Harlow, of
Worcester, was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts,
January 29, 1773. He removed to Shrewsbury, Massa
chusetts, in 1798, where his brother had settled and
where he became a prominent and highly respected
citizen. He was a carpenter by trade and built the
house, wherein he spent his remaining days, upon the
'lines of the Duxbury homestead. He married, June
27, 1799, Sarah Banister, who died September 14,
1841, the daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Whitney)
Banister, of Boylston, Massachusetts. Their chil
dren were: Sarah, born September 20, 1800, mar
ried, September 9, 1824, Nathan Pratt, Jr. Eliza,
born March 26, 1802, married, May 4, 1826, Samuel
A. Knox. Patience, born March 1, 1804, married,
March 18, 1834, John Barnes, of Boylston, Massachu
setts. Nancy, born August 7, 1806. Nathan Bannis
ter, born September 2, 1808, married (intentions
dated April 20) , 1844, Louisa D. Kendall, of War-
. wick, Massachusetts. Clarissa, born May 2, 181 1,
married Christopher C. Doty. Arunah, Jr., born
April 17, 1813, married, November 7, 1839, Maria
C. Adams. Cleora Eager, born August 15, 1815,
married Samuel G. Reed, of Worcester. John
Thomas, born May 29, 1818, married Laura J. Wood.
George Henry, born June 18, 1820, see forward.
(VII) George Henry Harlow, son of Arunah
*Prov. XXXI, 28 and 29, Revised Version.

460

WORCESTER COUNTY

Harlow (6), was born at Shrewsbury, Massachu
setts, June 18, 1820. He received his education in
the common schools of that town and at the Worces
ter Academy and the State Normal school at Barre,
and became a popular and successful school teacher
in several towns of Worcester county. He settled
in Worcester in 1850, where he was a merchant and
fire insurance agent, his place of business being on
Front street in the block afterward owned by Dr.
Frank H. Kelly, just east of William Bush's drug
store, where Brewer & Company are now locatea.
He continued in this store until 1861. when he re
turned to Shrewsbury and purchased the farm form
erly belonging to his wife's father and known as
the Dr. Edward Flint place, situated near the centre
of the village, on the old Worcester turnpike. The
house was built in 1752, in 1768 was owned by Dr.
Edward Flint and is at present owned by George
Herbert Harlow, of Worcester. On this farm George
Henry Harlow spent the remainder of his days, and
died May 7, 1891. Aside from his merchant and
farm interests he carried on a fire insurance busi
ness upwards of forty years, representing the Mer
chants & Farmers Worcester Mutual Companies of
Worcester and others.
He was a member of the Shrewsbury Congrega
tional church. In politics he was a Republican from
the organization of the part}-. Active, earnest and
steadfast, prominent in the councils of the party and
interested alike in town, state and national affairs,
he was frequently elected delegate to important
nominating conventions but never sought office for
himself. He served on the school board of Worces
ter from ward four in 1855 and from ward six in
1856. After removing from Worcester to Shrews
bury, he represented the district composed of that
town and Grafton in the general court of 1873,
being elected by the largest majority ever given a
candidate for that office in the district. He was
trusted by all men, regardless of political beliefs.
For more than twenty-four years he was president
of the Farmers and Mechanics Club of Shrewsbury,
and was for many years a trustee of the Worcester
Agricultural Society. He was widely known among
Worcester county farmers, who held him in high
esteem, and his enthusiasm for the work of the
Farmers Club was characteristic; he had the nature
of a leader and organizer and stirred others to action
by his energy and example, and his influence was
shown particularly in the annual fairs of the Farm
ers' Club.
He married Jane Flint, who was baptized De
cember 22, 1822, the daughter of Major Josiah Flint,
who was born December 15, 1775, and his wife,
Mary (Stone) Flint, daughter of Luther Stone, of
Southboro, Massachusetts. Jane Flint was a grand
daughter of Dr. Edward Flint, who came from
Concord, Massachusetts, to Shrewsbury in 1758 and
bought the old homestead of eighty acres in 1768.
She was a lineal descendant of Hon. Thomas Flint,
who came from Mattock. Derbyshire, England, to
Concord in 1638 and died there October 3, 1653,
Dr. Edward Flint, grandson of the immigrant,
Thonfas Flint, was surgeon in the expedition to
Canada in the French and Indian war in 1758, and .
served with the Massachusetts Troops at Cambridge
in 1775 in the revolution. He died November 13,
1813, aged eighty-five years. The only child of
George Henry and Jane (Flint) Harlow is George
Herbert, see forward.
(VIII) George Herbert Harlow, son of George
Henry Harlow (7), was bora in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, educated there in the public schools, and at
Shrewsbury and Worcester high schools. When a
young man, he entered the internal revenue office

as clerk for Major William T. Harlow, then as
sessor. He afterward became deputy collector of
internal revenue under General Augustus B. R.
Sprague, of Worcester, and Judge Adin Thayer. He
was appointed assistant register of probate and in
solvency for Worcester county, June I, 1886, by
Judge Adin Thayer, a position that he held until
January 3, 1894, when he was elected the register,
his present position. The high reputation of the
Worcester county probate office for system, neatness,
accuracy and efficiency, speaks for his ability and his
attention to the details of his position. In politics
Mr. Harlow is a Republican.
He is an active member in the Masonic order;
was made a Master Mason February 12, 1892, in
Quinsigamond Lodge of Worcester; became a mem
ber of Eureka Chapter of Royal Arch Masons April
26, 1892; of Hiram Council, Royal and Select Mas
ters. May 3, 1892: of Worcester County Com
mandery, Knights Templar, June 23, 1892. Is a
member of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, Goddard
Council, Princes of Jerusalem and Lawrence Chap
ter of Rose Croix, A. and A. S. Rite. In 1876
he became one of the early members of the Wor
cester Continentals, an independent military organi
zation, organized that year in memory of the fathers
of our country, for the purpose of preserving the
customs and ideals of the Minute Men of Revolu
tionary days ; a kindred organization, of though not
so old as the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com
pany of Boston ; Mr. Harlow was elected clerk of the
company with rank of sergeant in 1878, and in 1891
was made first lieutenant and clerk upon the staff
of Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron S. Taft. He was
elected to the command of the organization, Feb
ruary 10, 1905, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
He was for some years a member and secretary of
the Hancock Club. He is a member of the Common
wealth Club and of the Tatassit Canoe Club, both of
Worcester. He married Ella Eliza Walker, daughter of Apple- •
ton and Zibah (Beaman) Walker, of Worcester.
She is a member of the Worcester Home Club,
the Worcester Woman's Club and of the Colonel
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the Amer
ican Revolution.
PORTER FAMILY. Richard Porter, who set
tled in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1635. em
barked at Weymouth, England, before March 20,
1635. He was a farmer, and a man of unusual
activity and prominence in the colony. He was
admitted a freeman May 18, 1653, and held several
important offices. He died in 1689. His will was
dated December 25, 1685, and proved December 26,
1689, bequeathing to Thomas, only son of deceased
son Thomas ; to son John ; to grandchildren Ruth
Richards and Samuel Bayly; and to daughter Mary
Bickneli. He married Ruth, daughter of Mary
Bickneli. Their children: 1. John, mentioned be
low. 2. Ruth, born October 3, 1639; married Sep
tember 19, 1660, Thomas Bailey, Jr. 3. Thomas;
married Sarah Vining. 4. Mary, married January
— 1659, John Bickneli.
(II) John Porter, son of Richard Porter (1),
was like his father prominent in the affairs of
Weymouth. He gave the Common to the town,
built the first saw mill, and held various town of
fices and had a large estate. He married Deliverance,
daughter of Nicholas and Martha (Shaw) Byram.
He died September 8, 1717; she died September 30,
1720. Children: 1. Mary, born October 12, 1663;
married William Pittee. 2. Susannah, born June
2, 1665; married Matthew Pratt. 3. John, born
July 2, 1667. 4. Samuel, born 1670, mentioned be-

WORCESTER COUNTY

461

low. 5- Nicholas, married Bathsheba Reed. 6.
Ruth, married September 18, 1776, Nathaniel Willis.
7. Thomas, married Susanna Pratt. 8. Ebenezer,
married Sarah Humphrey, 9. Sarah, married John
Dingley. (Ill) Samuel Porter, son of John Porter (2),
was bom about 1670, in Weymouth, and died Au
gust 31, 1725. He also lived in his native town, and
held town offices there. About 1705 he removed
to Abington, where he lived the rest of his life.
He was a schoolmaster as well as a shoemaker
and farmer. He was assessor of Abington in 1716;
selectman 1714, 1715, 1716, 1717, He was an orig
inal member of the Abington Church. He married,
1698, Mary Nash, daughter of Jacob and Abigail
(Dyer) Nash. Children: 1. Samuel, born May 14,
1699; mentioned below. 2. Mary, born October 5,
1701. 3. David, born 1702. 4. Jacob, born August
10, 1704. 5. Hannah, born December 16, 1712. 6,
John, died young. 7. John, born February 2, 1716.
8. Abigail, born June 23, 1719.
(IV) Samuel Porter, son of Samuel Porter
(3), was born at Abington, May 14, 1699. He set
tled in Bridgewater, and married Sarah Joslyn,
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Ford) Joslyn. Chil
dren: 1. Sarah, born May 26, 1723. 2. Alary, born
February 9, 1725. 3. Samuel, born October 12, 1727.
4. Joseph, born February 27. 1730, mentioned below.
5. Ebenezer, born September 15, 1731. 6. Mary,
bom August 3, 1733. 7- Adam, born February 24,
1735. 8. Hannah, born February iS, 1736. 9. Bet-
tina, born September 23, 1737. 10. Noah, born May
13, 1740. 11. Jonathan, born August 27, 1741 ; mar
ried Mary Chipman, 1763. 12. Deliverance, born
July 19, 1742. 13- Abigail, bom July 7, 1743. 14.
Tabitha, born 1744; married Samuel Brown, Jr.
15. Sarah, born 1757, married Noah Tinkham.
(V) Joseph Porter, son of Samuel Porter (4),
was born in Abington, February 27, 1730 and died
at Canton, Massachusetts, in 1803. He resided at
East Bridgewater and Stoughton, now Canton. He
was a lieutenant of his company in the Massachu
setts troops in the revolution. He married Eliza
beth, daughter of Samuel and Content (Wrhitcomb)
Burrill. Their first seven children were bom at
Bridgewater, the others at Canton. His wife and
daughters were women of remarkable beauty. Chil
dren: 1. Elizabeth, born November 8, 1753. 2. Jo
seph, born June 10, 1754. 3- Hannah, born July
21, 1758. 4. Robert, born March 30, 1762. 5. Isaac,
born February 23, 1765. 6. Content, born February
5, 1767. 7. Mehitable, born April 15, 1769. 8. Lib-
beus, bom at Stoughton April 22, 1771. 9- Cyrus,
born at Stoughton December 23, 1774.
(VI) Colonel Cyrus Porter, son of Joseph
Porter (5), was born December 23, 1774. and died
May 29, 1856. He married (intention dated No
vember 30), 1799, Rebecca French, born at Canton,
May 4, 1782, daughter of William and Mary (Per
kins) French. He married (second), September 8,
1835, Martha Alden, widow of Calvin Alden,
daughter of Ebenezer Hayden. They resided 111
Stoughton, where he was a prominent citizen. He
was a farmer. He rose to the command of his
regiment. Children: f. Oliver, born October 16,
1800; married Caleb Copeland, Jr. 2. Ahira, born
November 9, 1801, mentioned below. 3- Rebecca,
born November 11, 1803; died May 25, 1804. 4.
Rebecca, bom 1805; married Marcus Copeland. 5.
Cyrus, born June 12, 1807 ; married Eliza J. Dunbar.
6. Mehitable, born December 3, 1808; married Ezra
Churchill. 7. Eliza Ann, married, April 5, 1829,
William Hall. 8. Luther, born December 18. 1814;
married Lucy Talbot. 9. William French, born

January 23, 1823, The order of birth is not known
exactly. (VII) Ahira Porter, son of Cyrus Porter (6),
was born in Stoughton, November 9, 1807; died
December 6, 1863. He was a mechanic residing- in
Stoughton; married, 1826, Rachel- D. Swan, who
died November 4, 1861. Children: 1. Ahira Swan,
born January 30, 1827. 2. Rachel D., born Decem
ber 27, 1827. 3. William, born August 30, 1831. 4.
Samuel, born June 27, 1833, mentioned below. 5.
James, born October 4, 1835. 6. George N, born
January 30, 1843.
(VIII) Samuel Porter, son of Ahira Porter
(7), was born at Stoughton, June 27, 1833. He
spent his youth in his native town and attended
school there. When a young man he came to Wor
cester and engaged in the wood working business,
but later turned his entire attention to the manu
facture of lasts for shoe manufacturers, and estab
lished the industry with which his name is asso
ciated in the business world. His son succeeded
him in the business.
Mr. Porter was a member of the Masonic order.
He was a Republican in politics and a member of
the Universalist Church. He married, first, No
vember _ 26, 1857, Sarah Chamberlin, daughter of
Benjamin and Patience Chamberlin, of Marion,
Massachusetts. She died May 18, 1865. He mar
ried (second), June 1, 1870, Helen Frances Kendall,
of Portland, Maine. He married (third) Emma
G. Putnam, nee Wingate, daughter of Aaron and
Phoebe T. (Lamos) Wingate. She married (tirst)
E. J. Putnam, of North Grafton, Massachusetts ;
he died August 28, 1891. She married (second)
Samuel Porter, as stated above, July 4, 1894; he
died February 16, 1904. The children of Aaroii and
Phoebe Wingate, her parents, were : Sarah, died
1828; Anne Susan, born January 12, 1830; George,
born July 12, 1832; Edward P. and Ann Martha,
died in infancy; Elizabeth C, bora May 31, 1841 ;
Emma G., born January 6, 1844. The children by
the two wives of Samuel Porter were : Addie Les
ter, born July 9, 1859, died September 24, 1865 ;
Walter Chamberlin, May 13, 1865; Marian Kendall,
September 28, 1874.
(IX) Walter Chamberlin Porter, son of the
late Samuel (8) and Sarah (Chamberlin) Porter,
was born in Worcester, May 13, 1865. He married
Louisa Phillips, of Worcester, who died January 4,
1905. He has succeeded to his father's business of
last making with W. E. Bigelow, conducting busi
ness under the old name of Samuel Porter & Co.,
at 25 Union street. He resides at 10 Lenox street.
His children are: Helen Irene, born June 24, 1889;
Oscar Stanley, November 3, 1892.
HILDRETH FAMILY. Richard Hildreth (1)
was the emigrant ancestor of the well known Hil
dreth family of Worcester county, to which Charles
' H. Hildreth, 1, Charles H. Hildreth, 2, and George
F. Hildreth, of Worcester, belong. Richard Hil
dreth was an early settler in Cambridge and Wo
burn. He was admitted a freeman May 10, 1643.
He was one of the founders of Chelmsford, Massa
chusetts, and had a special grant of land in 1663
on account of having lost his right hand. A full
account of the emigrant is given in the sketch of
Andrew G. Hildreth elsewhere in this work. The
children of Richard Hildreth were : James ; Jo
seph, born April 16, 1658; Persis, born February
8, 1659; Thomas, born February 1, 1664; Isaac,
born July, 1663; Ephraim.
(II) Joseph Hildreth, son of Sergeant Richard
Hildreth (1), was bom at Chelmsford, Massachu-

462

WORCESTER COUNTY

setts, April 16, 1658. He married Abigail Wilson,
of \A oburn, Massachusetts, December 12, 1683. He
died January 28, 1706. Among his children were:
Joseph, born November 30, 1695; Ephraim, born
at Chelmsford, settled at Westford, Massachusetts,
and had twelve children there.
(Ill) Joseph. Hildreth, son of Joseph Hildreth
(2), was born November 30, 1695, died in 1780 in
Westford, where he settled, aged eighty-five years
in 1780. He lived in what is known as Minot's
Comer. He married (first) Deliverance  ¦. He
married (second) Abigail Hill, of Billerica. The
children of Joseph and Deliverance Hildreth were:
Ephraim, born 1718; Jonathan, 1722; Phineas, born
1725; Hannah, horn 1726; William, born 1728; Wil
son, born 1731; Hannah, born 1738. The children
of Joseph and Abigail (HiU) Hildreth were:
Ezekiel, born 1744, died young; Hosea, born 1744-5;
Timothy, born 1746, died young ; Abigail, born 1747 ;
Hannah, horn 1750; Ezekiel, born 1753; Timothy
(2), born 1756.
(TV) Timothy Hildreth, son of Joseph Hildreth
(3), was born in Westford, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 31, 1756. He married Hannah Hildreth. Rich
ard Hildreth, the historian, who was his grandson,
said of him : "My grandfather emigrated to Cavend
ish, Vermont, and there cut out for himself a farm
in the woods; but he soon returned to Massachu
setts and passed the greater part of his life on a
farm in Sterling. He had ten children. Hosea,
his third son, was my father." Timothy Hildreth
responded to the call to arms April 19, 1775, and
went to Boston with the Westford company. After
the battle of Bunker Hill he was ordered to drive
a yoke of oxen hauling fascines for the American
breastworks at Nooks Hill on the peninsular. The
work required great patience and endurance as it
had to be done at night over had roads. The driv
ers could not even speak to the oxen. In after years
he admitted that he shed youthful tears of vexation
over the hardships of his work there. At the same
time he expressed the greatest indignation at the
transformation of FaneuU Hall by the British sol
diers into a theatre for amateur performances and
the use of Old South Church for a riding school.
After his service he returned to Westford, where he
married Hannah Hildreth. She was descended from
Richard Hildreth (1) also as follows:
(II) Ephraim Hildreth, son' of Richard Hildreth
(1), and great-grandfather of Hannah Hildreth, who
married Timothy Hildreth, was born in Chelms
ford, Massachusetts. He moved to Dracut in 1710.
He owned land near the Providence Meadows in
Westford, Massachusetts. He was a grantee of
Concord, New Hampshire. He married Anna
Moore, of Lancaster, Massachusetts. His children
were: Joseph, born 1688; Abigail, born 1691;
James, born 1692, died young; Ebenezer, born 1696;
James, born 1698; Anna, bora 1703; Thomas, born
1707; Jacob, born 1709; David, born 171 1; Josiah.
(Ill) James Hildreth, son of Ephraim Hildreth
(2), was born 1698, in Westford, Massachusetts.
He settled there and married Dorothy  . He
lived on the place lately owned by J.Boynton Reed.
His children were: Rebecca; Zechariah, born 172S:
Amos, born 1730; Dorothy, horn 1732, died 1735;
Dorothy, born 1736, married Pelatiah Fletcher;
Lucy, born 1742; Samuel, born 1744, died 1748.
(IV) Zechariah Hildreth, son of James Hildreth
(3), was bora in Westford, Massachusetts, 1728.
He married, 1753, Elizabeth Prescott, daughter of
Jonas and Elizabeth Prescott Their children were:
Zechariah, born 1754, at Westford; Elizabeth, born
1755. at Westford; Hannah, born at Westford, 1758;
Timothy, born at Westford, 1760; James, born at

Westford, 1762; Lucy, bom at Westford, 1764-
Jonas, born at Westford, 1766; Ruth, bom at West
ford, 1768; Ed., bom at Westford, 1771; Jesse, born
at Westford, 1773; Hita, bom 1775.
(V) Hannah Hildreth, daughter of Zechariah
Hildreth (IV), was bom in Westford, Massachu
setts, 1758. She married Timothy Hildreth.
Timothy Hildreth settled in West Boylston,
Massachusetts, about 1800, after his return from
Vermont. In 1803 he removed to the town of
Sterling and spent the remainder of his days there.
He made his will April 29, 1816, and it was proved
May 20, 1817. His wife Hannah was made his
legatee and executor and all the heirs consented
in writing to the probate of the will. The names
of the heirs were: Richard Hildreth, Timothy
Hildreth, Hosea Hildreth, Abel F. Hildreth
Nabby Hildreth, Joseph Hildreth, Sophia (Hil
dreth) Robinson and her husband, Winthrop
Robinson; Hannah Patten and her husband James
P. Patten. Ezekiel was probably out west and did
not sign. The children of Timothy and Hannah
Hildreth were: Timothy, lived at Sterling; Hosea,
father of Richard Hildreth, the historian, was an in
structor in Philips Exeter Academy, graduated at
Harvard College in 1805, settled minister at Glouces
ter, Massachusetts; Ezekial, graduated at Harvard
in 1814. taught school at Wheeling, Virginia, mar
ried  Zane, of the family for which Zanesville,
Ohio, was named; Abel Fletcher, graduated at Har
vard in 1818, was a teacher in the Riverside Acad
emy, Auburndale, Massachusetts ; Nabby (sic) ; Jo
seph: Sophia, married Winthrop Robinson; Hannah,
married James P. Patten; Richard; an infant, Sarah,
probably. (V) Timothy Hildreth, son of Timothy Hildreth
(4), was bom at Westford, Massachusetts, or Caven
dish, Vermont, about 1780. He was a fanner and
settled at Sterling, Massachusetts, where he came
with his father in 1803. He married Eunice Sawyer,
of Sterling. They had six children: Thomas; James
Dwight, bom June 8, 1808; George, married Sophia
Howe, had no children; John, never married; Sarah,
never married; Sophia, married Samuel Howe, of
Sterling, Massachusetts ; Mrs. Howe was living in
1905; her husband was a blacksmith by trade;
their children were: Samuel, never married: John,
has two children; William, unmarried; Martha,
widow of  Ryder.
(VI) James Dwight Hildreth, son of Timothy
Hildreth (5), was bom in Sterling, Massachusetts,
June 8. 1808, died December 16, 1865. He married
Betsey E. Wreston, a widow, bom Winn, September
8, 1801. She had one daughter, Elizabeth Jane
Weston, by her first marriage, who married E. W.
Johnson, of West Boylston, Massachusetts, and is
living in West Boylston.. Betsey E. Hildreth died
November 23, 1894, at the age of ninety-three years;
having made her home with her son, George F.
Hildreth, for thirty-two years. The children of
James Dwight and Betsey E. Hildreth were: James
Nelson, born August 13, 1833, in West Boylston,
Massachusetts; George Francis, born in Sterling,
January 22. 1836; Charles Henry, bom in West
Boylston, November 5, 1837; John Harvard, born
June 2. 1839. in West Boylston, died in Grafton,
Massachusetts, January 11, 1894; Henrietta Sophia,
born in Rutland, Massachusetts, July 12, 1841, died
in Worcester. May 5. 1863; Sarah Ann, bom in
Rutland, April 22, 1844, married, June 30, 1867,
Alonzo Smith; Georgianna Elizabeth, born in Rut
land. June 23, 1846, married, June, 1870, Alphonso
Smith. James Dwight Hildreth spent most of his life
in West Boylston and Sterling. He was on his

yf- / ' fyp-isy^ez4J

WORCESTER COUNTY

463

father's farm until seventeen years old. He was well
known as the driver of a six-horse team from Leo
minster to Boston and various other points in New
England in the days when freight was transported
in that way. He carried chairs and farm produce
from Leominster to Boston and on the return trip
brought dry goods and West India goods. Later
he owned his own team and drove from Sterling
to Boston. He at various times drove teams from
Gardner to Boston and Gardner to Providence. He
was noted as a skillful horseman and whip and for
his knowledge of horses.
(VII) James Nelson Hildreth, son of James
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in West Boylston,
Massachusetts, August 13, 1833. Be married Mary
Frances Meaghan. They had seven children : Charles
Henry ; Everett, died young ; Frederick Albert ; Effie,
married Charles Poole, of Worcester ; Nettie, married
Fred Fisher, bookkeeper, of Worcester, and their
children are : Harry Woodbury, and Clayton Fay
Fisher; Clifford W.; Maud.
(VII) George Francis Hildreth, son of James
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in Sterling, Massa
chusetts, January 22, 1836. He attended the common
schools of his native town and worked at home until
twenty-one. He then went to Worcester and for
two years worked for the city. In 1859 he engaged
in the grain business in West Boylston, but at the
end of twenty years sold out and retired from active
business. After a year, during which time he was
in charge of the grist mill of Reuel G. Cowee, he
became a partner. The business was one of the
largest in the vicinity. The mill and grain business
at West Boylston were destroyed by the building of
the Metropolitan water basin at West Boylston. Mr,
Hildreth for the past few years has lived in Wor
cester at 5 Newton avenue. He was a trustee of
the West Boylston cemetery and until 1897 superin
tendent. Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth are member of the
West Boylston Congregational, church, and Mr.
Hildreth served for twenty-five years on the parish
committee. He married, May 1, 1861, Mary Cowee,
daughter of Reuel " Green Cowee, with whom he
was in partnership, the grandfather of E. A. Cowee,
who is now proprietor of the grain business con
ducted by his father and grandfather. (See sketch
of the Cowee Family in this work).
(VIII) Charles H. Hildreth, son of James Nelson
Hildreth (7), was born in West Boylston, Massa
chusetts, October 2, 1857. He attended school at
West Boylston, but came to Worcester when a young
boy. He went into business with Charles H. Hildreth,
first, in a livery stable business on Market street,
Worcester. In 1890 Mr. Hildreth established the
stable at 10 Sever street, which he has since con
ducted successfully. He was for four years in
the city council, in 1895-96 was in the common coun
cil and in 189*7-98 in the board of aldermen. In the
council he did good work for the city on the street
committee and in the board of aldermen was on the
street, water, legislature committees and the special
committee on grade crossings. He is prominent
in the Republican organization. He is a Free Ma
son. He married (first) Ada Elizabeth Rockwood,
of Leicester, Massachusetts, and (second) Addie
Elizabeth Kennon, of Worcester. He has no chil
dren. (VIII) Frederick Albert Hildreth, brother of
C. H. Hildreth, Jr., married Elise Lord, of Worces
ter, and their children are: Charles H., Harold,
Everett and Randolph Lord Hildreth.
(VII) Charles Henry Hildreth, son of James
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in West Boylston,
Massachusetts, November 5, 1837. He has always
been in ' the sale stable and livery business. For

many years he had a stable at Newton square, Wor
cester. He is at present the superintendent of the
city stables of Worcester. He is a veteran of the
civil war. He married Sarah Luce, a widow, who
was a native of Maine, but her parents moved when
she was very young to West Boylston. They have
an adopted daughter, Lillian Hildreth.
(VII) John Harvard Hildreth, son of James
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born June 2, 1839, in
West Boylston, Massachusetts. He married Ruth
Lincoln. They have two children: Herbert H., and
Etta E. John H. Hildreth died at Grafton, Massa
chusetts, January 11, 1894.
(VII) Sarah Ann Hildreth, daughter of James
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in Rutland, Massa
chusetts, April 22, 1844. She married, June 30,
1867, Alonzo Smith, who is in the express busi
ness in Worcester, Massachusetts. They have no
children. (VII) Georgianna Elizabeth Hildreth, daughter
of James Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in Rut
land, Massachusetts, June 23, 1846. She married,
June, 1870, Alphonso Smith, who is with the Wor
cester Hardware Company, 556 Main street, Worces
ter. They have several children.
AUGUST E. DICK, the surviving partner of
the well known firm of Thomas & Co., cabinet makers
and carvers, manufacturers of church furniture, with
shops at no Exchange street and 151 Union street,
was born in Saxony, Germany, March 13, 1858,
He is the son of A. F. Dick, a weaver by trade.
Mr. Dick started for America, July 1, 1872, with
his parents. They, settled at Lawrence, Massachu
setts. He worked in the Washington mills there,
and at the age of nineteen learned the trade of car
penter. He came to Worcester to work for Cutting
& Bishop, contractors and builders, and worked
steadily for that firm for eleven years. Then he
accepted a position with Thomas & Co., which was
established in the seventies, at No. 47 Foster street,
of which -later he became a partner and is now the
only surviving member of the firm. He is a mem
ber of the Worcester Social Turn Verein. He mar
ried Annie O. Behrmann, of Lawrence, in that city.
Their children are : Minnie ' H., born August 21,
1887 ; Annie, born in Worcester, May 8, 1889 ; George,
bora in Worcester, February 9, 1891 ; August, born
in Worcester, October 23, 1892.
CARL C. T. THOMAS. Frederick Carl
Thomas, father of the late Carl C. T. Thomas,
of Worcester, was a native of Mecklenberg, Ger
many. He married Mary Frederika Sass, a native
of Sweden, and they made their home in Pomerania,
Prussia. He was a wheelwright by trade. His wife
died in 1849 and he married again. He was em
ployed by a nobleman, Herr Wehard Von Heiden.
A conversation between the employer and the work-
man made a strong impression on Carl when a boy
of about twelve. When asked what Carl was going
to do when he was grown up, Mr. Thomas said
that he expected the boy to learn his trade of
wheelwright. Then the shrewd German gave him
this advice: "Whatever trade he learns, let him be
familiar with the use of the tools that he makes."
That is good advice for any maker of tools or
machines to follow.
In 1853 the father started for America with his
wife, her "baby, and the three children of the. first
marriage. He died on shipboard and when the
unfortunate little family reached New York, the
mother, and infant were sent to Ward's Island. The
child died- soon afterward and the mother left , the
island and was never heard of again by her step-

464

WORCESTER COUNTY

children. The other children: Carl C. T., John, and
Mary Christine, were sent to the Five Points Mis
sion House of Industry. Carl soon found work in
New York, and after a time the other two chil
dren were sent to Marblehead, Massachusetts, where
John was employed in a hotel rowing a small boat
from the shore to an island hotel in Salem har
bor. When the civil war broke out Xohn enlisted
in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, and
served nine months in the vicinity of Newbern,
North Carolina. When he returned from the service
he went to work for Edward Hixon of Cambridge-
port, Massachusetts, for whom he had worked be
fore enlisting. He became an expert cabinet maker.
He died unmarried.
Mary Christine was brought up by a Marblehead
family. She married Charles Ewell, . of Abington,
Massachusetts, and resided in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, and Chicago, Illinois. Both are dead.
They had a son Carl Ewell, born 1889, who survives
them. Carl C. T. Thomas, son of Frederick Carl
Thomas, before mentioned, born in Pomerania,
Prussia, June 22, 1838; died in Worcester, May 31,
1905. He started in life under the most depressing
conditions, being left alone in a strange_ country
with a younger brother and sister unprovided^ for.
He knew something of the wood-working business
and found employment in the cabinet shop of Shaef-
fer & Suckow, manufacturers of fine furniture. He
and Anton Burckel, who ' was afterwards his part
ner in business, learned the trade together. The ,
shop was at 127 Anthony street, later, on Mul
berry street, New York.
In 1859 he removed to Beverly, Massachusetts',
in order to be with his brother and sister, and
he contributed to their support. He enlisted in
Jub' 1861, in Company D, Fourteenth Massachusetts
Regiment, and served three years. He was wounded
June 19, 1864, in the battle of Spottsylvania, and
sent home by way of Fredericksburg. His regiment
was in the Second Army Corps, in General Biraey's
division, General Mott's brigade, General Hancock
commanding. Anton Burckel was in the same com
pany and both were transferred to the heavy
artillery. After the war he worked at his trade
in Beverly, Boston, and Cambridge, Massachusetts,
and finally decided to locate in Worcester. He
worked first for William G. Anderson & Company,
cabinet makers, corner of Union and Exchange
streets, for a short time. He did wood carving
for various furniture makers and builders. In _ the
early seventies he formed a partnership with Elisha
Witherell, under the firm name of Thomas & Com
pany, and established his business as cabinet maker.
A year later his partner died. In. 1873 his old friend
and comrade Anton Burckel became his' partner, the
firm name remaining the same. Their shop was then
at 91 Exchange street, and they made a specialty
of wood-carving and machine work; later they re
moved to the Baker building where they carried on
cabinet making on a larger scale. After Mr. Burckel
left the business, Mr. Thomas took another part
ner, Edward Minault, who was a member of the
firm for two years. After that he was alone in busi
ness until his son was old enough to join the firm.
This son, John Thomas, died July 11, 1893, again
leaving the senior partner the sole proprietor. His
shop was then at no Exchange street. He took
in November, 1897, as his last and surviving part
ner, August E. Dick, who now conducts the busi
ness. (See sketch of Mr. Dick).
The firm of Thomas & Company has done the
finest interior wood-work, such as church altars
and pews, in the churches of Worcester, and, in

fact,, all over New England. The firm always pros
pered and never met with failure in business. Mr.
Thomas was a member of George H. Ward Post,
Grand Army; Athelstan Lodge of Free Masons;
Encampment 83, Union Veterans; Stella Chapter,
Order of the Eastern Star. He was a man of
kindly, sympathetic nature, who made many friends.
His generous care of his orphan brother and sister,
to whom he took the place of father and mother,
was but an instance of his character.
He married December 11, 1865, Louise D. Allen,
daughter of Samuel Allen (3) (mentioned below in
the Allen family sketch). She was born Septem
ber 4, 1839, and resides at the home 66 Jaques
avenue. Their children were : 1. John Carl, born
January 1, 1868; educated in Worcester; was his
father's partner; died July 11, 1896. 2. Louisa
Augusta, born October 3, 1870; married Charles
Amos Black, January 23, 1895 ; their children are —
Arline Mildred, born August 15, 1897. Harold
Everett, bora October 27, 1899. 3. Bertha Allen,
born September 9, 1872; was educated in the Wor
cester public schools and was prominent in the Old
South church; died at Pine Bluff, North Carolina,
March 30, 1906; buried in Worcester. 4. Talbot and
5. Susan Anna, bora August 9, 1877 (twins) ; died
April 6, 1890. All of the children were born in
Worcester, Massachusetts, with the exception of
the eldest, who was born at Beverly, Massachu
setts. ALLEN FAMILY., (I) William Allen, the immi
grant ancestor of Mrs. Carl C. T. Thomas, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, was born in Manchester,
England, about 1602, according to a deposition made
November 30, 1664. He was one of the Dorchester
company on Cape Ann in 1623, and he went to
Salem with Roger Conant in 1626. He applied for
freemanship October 19, 1630, and was admitted
May 18, 1631. He served on the jury in 1637, and
was one of the grantees of Jeffreys Creek in 1640,
but was not then a resident. Jeffreys Creek is that
part of Salem now the town of Manchester. He
removed to Jeffreys Creek before it was incorporated
as a town May 14, 1645, and was one of the,
petitioners for the division of the town. He sold
his house and land in Salem in 1652, but was one
of the first board of selectmen of Manchester. He
was called an influential and enterprising citizen;
was a carpenter by trade. When he deposed in
1664 that he had lived in Salem for thirty-eight
years he must have included his residence in Man
chester as being formerly Salem.
He married (first) Alice  ¦, who died March
8, 1631-2, and (second) Elizabeth Bradley, who
probably survived him. He and his wife Elizabeth
were among the early members of the Salem church.
He made his will June 7, 1678 (?), and it was
proved June 26, 1679. He died May 10, 1679.
Children of William and Alice Allen were : 1.
Persis, born and died 1630. 2. Samuel, mentioned
below. The children of William and Elizabeth Allen
were : 3. Elizabeth, born September, 1634. 4.
Deborah, born April, 1637. 5. Bethia, baptized Jan
uary 16. 1630-40. 6. Onesiphorus, born June 30,
1642. 7. William, baptized March 31, 1646. 8.
Jonathan, baptized July 29, 1649, probably died
young. (II) Samuel Allen, son of William Allen (1),
born in Salem, January 8, 1631-2. Like his father
he was a housewright or carpenter, and became
a man of property and standing. He was a select
man in 1676-77-88-93, in the town of Manchester,
and held other positions of trust. He married
Sarah  who was living in 1695. His will dated

WORCESTER COUNTY

465

November 21, 1702, .was disallowed December 5,
1709. Children of Samuel and. Sarah Allen were :
1. Samuel, bom August 2, 1663. 2, John, born Feb
ruary 12, 1666. 3. Sarah, born March 12, 1668. 4.
William, born March 18, 1670. 5. Joseph, born
June 26, 1672. 6. Alice, born September 20, 1674.
7. Rachel, born February 19, 1677. 8. Elizabeth, born
March 18, 1679. 9. Benjamin, born June 4, 1681,
10. Jonathan, born September 4, 1684.
(Ill) Samuel Allen, eldest 'child of Samuel Allen
(2), born in Manchester, Massachusetts, August
4, 1663; ^vas a fisherman in his younger days and
later a trader, residing in Manchester. He mar
ried Abigail Williams, at Marblehead, March 17,
1687. She was living in 1720; and administration
was granted on his estate February 4, 1744. Chil
dren, all born in Manchester, were : 1. Sarah,
born July 4, 1687. 2. Abigail, born June 10, 1690.
3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4. Hannah, born
May 22, 1695. 5. Rachel, born October 1, 1698. 6.
Daniel, born August 1, 1701. 7. Martha, born
January 26, 1706-7. 8. Jerusha, born January 24,
1712. (IV) Samuel Allen, son of Samuel Allen (3),
born in Manchester, October 7, 1692; was a fisher
man and farmer, and lived in his native town.
He was the town clerk there in 1740, and a
selectman in 1753. He married Sarah Tuck, May
1, 1717. She was living in 1754 and he in 1758.
Their children were: 1. Sarah, baptized in Man
chester Church May 31, 1719. 2. Hannah, born
April 29, 1 72 1. 3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4.
Ambrose, born December 27, 1724. 5. Jeremiah,
born April 16, 1727. 6. Jerusha, born August 24,
1729. 7. William, born June 9, I73i- 8. John, born
July 30, 1733. 9. Abigail, born April 29, 1737.
10. Joseph, bom December 3, 1738. 11. Dorcas,
born August 3 1740. 12. Michael, born August
22, 1742. 13. Mary, born March 23, 1745.
(V) Samuel Allen, third child of Samuel Allen
(4), born in Manchester, March 4, 1722-3; was
farmer, fisherman and trader at different periods,
residing in Manchester. He married February 20,
1750-1, Sarah Marsters, of Manchester, who died
February 27, 1815, at the age of eighty-six years.
He died December 12, 1814, aged ninety-one years.
Tlieir children were: 1. and 2. Twins, bora and
died 1752, unnamed. 3. Benjamin Marsters, born
May 1, 1753. 4. Ruth, born July 25, 1755. 5.
Samuel, born September 25, 1757. 6. Ede, born
December 11, 1761. 7. Nathaniel Marsters, born
November 3, 1767, mentioned below.
(VII) Nathaniel Marsters Allen, youngest child
of Samuel Allen (6), born in Manchester Novem
ber 3, 1767; resided in Manchester and married
there Elizabeth Lee, of that town, December 10,
1789. She died February 28, 1847, aged eighty
years and he died January 31, 1855, aged eighty-
nine years. Their children, all born in Manchester,
were: 1. Sarah, born February 22, 1791. 2. Eliza
beth, born January 22, 1793. 3- Nathaniel, born
May 14, 1795. 4. Samuel, born February 7, 1799,
mentioned below. 5. Lydia, born December 18,
1801. 6. Benjamin, born April 8, 1803.
(VIII) Samuel Allen, fourth child of Samuel
Marsters Allen (7), born in Manchester, Febru
ary 7, 1799; married Nabby Smith, of Beverly.
Their children were: 1. Elizabeth Allen, born Au
gust 6, 1829, 2. Mary T., born January 26, 1831.
3. Sarah M., born December 5, 1833. 4- Abby S.,
born February g, 1835. 5- Lydia S., born March 24,
1837, 6. Augusta W. (twin), born September 4,
1839. 7- Louise D. (twin), born September 4,
1839, mentioned above in sketch of Carl C. T.
Thomas, her husband. 8. Eva, born January 4,
30

1842. 9. Samuel L., born April 22, 1844. 10. Susan,
born September 6, 1847.
WINSLOW HARLAND ROBINSON. John
Robinson (1), the emigrant ancestor of Winslow
Harland Robinson, of Worcester, Massachusetts, is
believed to have been born in Buoytown, Scotland,
about 1770. He certainly was of Scottish birth. He
came to America when a young man and settled on
Tinkers Island, Mt. Desert, Maine. He married
Betsey Fogg, probably at Mt. Desert, and after
ward settled at Machiasport. He was a man of
extraordinary physique, and at the age of ninety-nine
years or thereabouts, in 1869, rowed from Machias
port to Jonesport to shoot ducks. He must have
been taken ill after he landed on Fisherman's Island,
for there he was found by two men, nearly frozen
to death. By his side were six ducks that he
had shot. He was taken to the mainland and nursed,
but did not survive the exposure. He died the fol
lowing day. His wife lived until after 1856. The
children of John and Betsey (Fogg) Robinson were:
James, married Harriet Small ; Stephen ; William,
married Jane Sanborn; Hiram, lost at sea; Rachel,
married a Mr, Callaghan ; Louise, married a Mr,
Merritt ; Lucy, married a Mr. Robbins ; Eleanor,
married John Huntley ; Clara ; Julia.'married Stephen
Huntley. *
(II) James Robinson, son of John Robinson (1),
was born in Machiasport, Maine, in 1811, and died
there in 1898. He married Harriet Small. He was
a seafaring man, and became a captain. His death
at the age of eighty-seven was due to an accident.
The children of James and Harriet (Small) Robin
son were : Edgar, born at Machiasport, married
Lorena. Smith ; Elenor, born in Machiasport, married
Charles Holmes ; Fred, born in Machiasport, mar
ried Maggie Hay; was lost at sea,; Flora, born in
Machiasport, unmarried; Rosa, born in Machias
port, married Lee Pike; Winslow H., born at
Machiasport, April 17, 1861 ; Frank, born in Machias
port, married Annie Small.
(Ill) Winslow Harland Robinson, son of James
Robinson (2), was born Machiasport, Maine, April
17, 1861. He was sent to the district schools of his
native town until he was seventeen, when -he left
home to learn the ship caulker's trade. He had some
experience as a mariner, having sailed on his father's
ship. He came to Worcester in 1882, when he was
twenty-one. He went to work for W. O. Wilder,
who had a tin shop at 153 Front street, and was a
dealer in stoves, furnaces, etc., and learned his trade
there. When Mr. Wilder sold out next year to
T. B. Foss, Mr.. Robinson was employed by his suc
cessor, with whom he remained for five years. In
1889 Mr. Robinson engaged in business for himself,
dealing in furnaces and steam and hot water heaters.
His first store was at 20 Lincoln square. Two years
later he removed to 47 and 49 Main street, near
Lincoln square, where he was located for nine
years. Then he removed to his present quarters,
1 Lincoln square, at 3 Prescott street, in the rear
of the old Salisbury mansion. He has made a
specialty of hot air furnace work, tin, copper, sheet
iron work. He has installed in Worcester alone
over six hundred furnaces. He has been success
ful in business apd stands well among the business
men of the city.
Mr. Robinson is a well known Free Mason,
having taken all the thirty-two degrees of Masonry.
He is also a member of the Odd Fellows order.
He is a member of Adams Square Congregational
Church. He resides at 7 Lyford street, near Brittan
square. He married Ida May Smith, daughter of Charles

466

WORCESTER COUNTY

B. Smitli, a farmer, of Denmark, Maine. Mr.
and Mrs. Robinson have a cottage at Denmark, where
they spend their summer vacations. Their chil
dren are: Paul W., born October 25, 1894; Ruth
M., bora in Worcester, September 2, 1896; Marion
B., born in Worcester, February 14, 1898; Stanley
S., born in Worcester, March 5, 1901.
ANDREW GARDNER HILDRETH. Richard
Hildreth (1) was the emigrant ancestor of An
drew Gardner Hildreth, of Worcester, Massachu
setts. He settled first at Cambridge, Massachu
setts, where he was admitted a freeman May 10,
1643. He was a town officer in Cambridge in 1645.
He removed to Woburn, Massachusetts. He signed
the petition dated May 10, 1653, with twenty-eight
others, for the town subsequently named Chelms
ford. He was before that a petitioner for Woburn
and Concord. The Chelmsford town records show
that Sergeant Hildreth received prior to March 3,
1663, from the general court, grants of eight separate
lots of land amounting to one hundred and five
acres. In 1664 the general court allowed him one
hundred and fifty acres additional, on account of his
having lost his right hand.
It is believed that Richard Hildreth and his son-
James were the "ancestors from which all the Hildreth
families of the country are descended". Richard
Hildreth died in 1688, aged eighty-three' years.
Elizabeth, wife of Richard, died at Maiden, August
3, 1693, aged sixty-eight.
Sergeant Hildreth made his will February 9,
1686, in which he mentions his wife Elizabeth and
various children. The children of Sergeant Hildreth
were: 1. James, born 1631 (by the first wife of Ser
geant Richard Hildreth). 2. Elizabeth, born Sep
tember 21, 1646. 3. Sarah, born August 8, 1648.
4. Joseph, born April 16, 1658; married Abigail
Wilson, December 12, 1683 ; he died January 28,
1706. 5. Persis, born February 8, 1659-60. 6. Thomas,
born February 1, 1661-2. 7. Isaac, born July, 1663.
8. Abigail, married Moses Parker, of Chelmsford.
9. (Probably one of the eldest — mentioned as
"natural" in the will) Ephraim, of Stowe, to whom
the Chelmsford homestead was beqeauthed.
(II) James Hildreth, son of Sergeant Richard
Hildreth (1), was probably born in England in
1631, according to an affidavit made September 30,
1651, to be found in the Middlesex files. This
affidavit establishes the fact that Richard was his
father. He was a freeman in 1665.
He died intestate. The estate was administered
by his son-in-law, Israel Proctor. The division of
the estate in 1695 names the children then living in
the order of birth. James Hildreth married Mar
garet Ward, June 1, 1659. He died April 14, 1695.
Children were: Richard, the eldest son; Margaret,
married Israel Proctor; Abigail; Dorothy; Ephraim.
(Ill) Major Ephraim Hildreth, son of James
Hildreth (2), born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts,
January 9, 1680; died in Dracut, formerly part of
Chelmsford, September 26, 1740; married Mercy
(Parish) Richardson in 1707. She was the daugh
ter of Lieutenant Josiah and Mercy (Parish)
Richardson; was born January 9. 1688, in Chelms
ford : died December 25, 1743, in Dracut. Mercy
Parish, her mother, was the daughter of Robert and
Elizabeth (Blanchard) Parish, of Groton, Massa
chusetts. Lieutenant Josiah Richardson was son
of Captain Josiah and Remembrance (Underwood)
Richardson. Captain Josiah Richardson was the son
of Ezekiel and Susannah Richardson, of Woburn.
(See Richardson Family).
Ephraim seems to have been a surveyor, and was
repeatedly employed by the town. During his early

life he was a resident of Chelmsford, and after the
part of the town in which he lived became Dracut
he became identified with the history of the new
town. He was town clerk of Dracut most of the
time from 1713 to his death in 1740, and was suc
ceeded as clerk by his son Ephraim. It is rather
remarkable that the succession continued through
four generations. After Ephraim, Jr., came William
and William, Jr., in direct line. On March 3, 1800,
Lieutenant Israel Hildreth was chosen town clerk,
making the fifth Hildreth in successive generations
to hold the position.
Major Hildreth was a commissioner September
3, 1734, from Dracut to other neighboring towns
concerning a new county, of which Chelmsford
was to be the county seat. He was sergeant in
1712. He was assessor, surveyor of highways,
tithingman, town treasurer, trustee and selectman
of the town of Dracut at various times. He served
on many special committees for the town. He be
came captain about 1722 and major about 1736.
His will was proved in 1740. It mentions his chil
dren by name. Children were: 1. Ephraim, Jr.,
born July 18, 1708; died in Dracut, Massachusetts,
August 5, 1769; was very prominent in Dracut, town
clerk, selectman, ensign and many other offices ; mar
ried Mary Clark, of Chelmsford, February 11, 1735.
2. Josiah, born February 14, 1710; died in Dracut,
August 7, 1754; married Rebecca Wright, of Dracut,
December 20, 1740; was town clerk in 1747. 3.
Robert (see forward). 4. Mercy or Mary, bom
January 27, 1715; died in Dracut, Massachusetts,
December 10, 1729. 5. Zachariah, born September
26, 1718; died in Dracut, January 10, 1745.
(IV) Robert Hildreth, son of Ephraim Hildreth
(3), born at Dracut, Massachusetts, May 18, 1713;
married Sarah Abbott, of Andover, Massachusetts,
November 15, 1734. Robert Hildreth settled in
Dracut. He was elected deer reeve March 5, 1749.
His wife was school teacher for a time in Dracut.
He served on various committees for the town.
Children were: 1. Sarah, born in Dracut, August
3i, 1735; married Simeon Wood, of Dracut, No
vember 16, 1754. 2. Bridget, born at Dracut, May
t6, 1737; married Eliezer Colburn, of Dracut, No
vember 1, 1760. 3. Robert, born at Dracut, March
7, 1739: died there August 17, 1741. 4. Robert, Jr.,
born at Dracut, February 23, 1740. 5. Paul (see
forward. 6. Susanna, born fn Dracut, December 5,
1748. 7. Benjamin, born January 23, 1754.
(V) Paul Hildreth. son of Robert Hildreth (4),
was born at Dracut, Massachusetts, October 5, 1746.
He was the first white settler at what is now Lewis-
ton, Maine. He was a hunter. He built a log house
there in 1770, and was a resident of the village in
1788, and was there when the place was incor
porated on February 18, 1795. The route by which
he went to Lewiston from Dracut was down the
Merrimac river to the sea in a boat. He was towed
by a sailing vessel to Harraseket, now Freeport,
Maine. Thence he went by portages through the
forest to Royalstown, now Durham, where he again
put out in his boat and eventually arrived at Twenty
Mile falls in safety. He was joined in 1771 by
David Pettingill and one of the Dracut Varnums,
and one other from New Gloucester. Before he was
married he had his cabin on the island in the river
above the falls. The light in his cabin, by which
he freauently read late at night, was a beacon_ to
guide the Indians who were not afraid of the rapids.
On one occasion an Indian crirl warned him of a plot
to murder him at night. The Indians were jealous
of his success in killing otter. Paul shifted the
beacon, putting his lantern in his boat, anchored
in such a place that if the Indians came and mis-

WORCESTER COUNTY

467

took the light for the cabin where it usually shone,
.they would be swept over the falls and lost. The
trick was successful and the Indians, who never
discovered the trick, left him alone afterward be
lieving that he had a charmed life.
He married Hannah Merrill. The record of
their children here is incomplete. Two of them
were: 1, David, born November 9, 1770; died at
Gardiner, Maine, July 12, 1848, aged seventy-seven
years, eight months. He married April 22, 1792,
Esther Moody, daughter, probably, of Samuel and
Esther Moody who were early settlers of Industry,
Maine, She was born in Waterboro, Maine, May
16, 1770. David Hildreth settled in Industry, Maine,
in 1804, on the place now or lately owned by
Charles S. Rackliff. He removed later to Gardiner,
Maine, where he owned a saw mill. He was cap
tain of the Industry militia company. His wife died
in Gardiner, February 15, 1842. They had ten chil
dren, the two eldest of which were born in Lewis-
ton, Maine, where Paul Hildreth lived and where
David was born. 2. Robert '(see forward).
(VI) Robert Hildreth, son of Paul Hildreth (5),
born probably in. Lewiston about 1780; married
Phebe Marston, of West Gardiner, Maine. He died
at West Gardiner, October 20, 1833; his wife died
there_ February 4, 1S71. Children, born in West
Gardiner, were: 1. Emma Jane, born December
22, 1814; died April, 1902. 2. William, born Novem
ber 16, 1816; died October 28, 1898; unmarried.
3. Daniel, born September 1, 1818; living at West
Gardiner, Maine; unmarried (1905), 4, Mehitable,
born October 12, 1822, died May 16, 1883; unmar
ried. 5. Robert Gardner (see forward. 6. Thad
deus, born May 17, 1826; died young. 7. Esther,
born September 28, 1829; died young. 8. Hannah,
born May 4, 1832 ; living at Farmingdale, Maine.
(VII) Robert Gardner Hildreth, son of Robert
Hildreth (6), born at West Gardiner, Maine, Sep
tember 24, 1824 ; was killed in the civil war July
29, 1863, He was a fanner. He married Janu
ary 3, 1856, Hulda Hodgtoii, of Framingdale. Maine,
born Oetolier 17, 1838; died in Portland, Maine.
He enlisted in Company E, Twenty-fourth Maine
Infantry, in the fall of 1861 for nine months service,
and his time had expired at the time he was killed.
Children were: 1. Charles Albert, born Novem
ber 18, 1856; married Carrie E. Cliamel (?), of
Lewiston, Maine, November 18, 1876; he is a manu
facturer of overalls, etc., at Lewiston, Maine. 2.
Andrew Gardner (see forward). 3. Walter Thad
deus, bom February 17, 1861 ; died April 17, 1885 :
unmarried. 4. William Clinton, born May 10, 1863 ;
married Jane Weymouth, of Webster, Maine. His
daughter Myra Orissa, born Marcli 26, 1884. is
living in Worcester, Massachusetts. His son Herbert
Leroy, bom April 29, 1886, is living in Lewiston,
Maine, He went to sea and has not been heard
from for some years.
(VIII) Andrew Gardner Hildreth. son of Robert
Gardner Hildreth (7), was born at West Gardiner,
Maine, December 20, 1858, He was but four years
old when his father was killed in the civil war,
and the family was broken up. His mother mar
ried again, but lived only a few years. So Mr.
Hildreth began life under adverse conditions. When
a mere child he worked on the farms of those who
were keeping him, attending tlie district and village
schools in "the winter terms only. The physical
fatigue, the loneliness and the plain living of a
New England farm life forty years ago either made
a boy ambitious to do better or ground the very
heart out of him. Sometimes the work developed
tlie bov into a man of great physical strength: of
a philosophy that met everv difficulty in business

with patience and determination; of a strength of
character that sternness alone develops. Worcester
county has thousands of examples of successful men
developed under similar conditions to those of Mr.
Hildrelh's boyhood.
At the age of sixteen he went to work in the
Kennebec Wire Works at Hallowell, a town near
his native place. He remained in this position until
1882, when he came to Worcester. He had arranged
to enter partnership with his brother Walter Hildreth
as soon as the volume of business was large enough
to need two of them. But his brother died soon
afterward, and although the firm was known as
Hildreth Brothers in 1883, when the business was
established, and for some years afterward, Mr.
Hildreth was really alone in the business until 1890,
when he formed a partnership with W. J. Hall,
under the firm name of A. G. Hildreth & Co.
Twelve years later, in 1902, Mr. Hall retired from
the firm, and since then Mr. Hildreth has done busi
ness under his own name. The first shop was at
558 Main street. From there Mr. Hildreth moved
to the Stevens building, Southbridge street. The
factory was moved in August, 1904, to the present
location 25 Hermon street. In April he bought
the land and buildings which he occupies. The
floor space used at present is about 15,000 feet. The
regular force employed in the factory is no. Since
189S the prdduct has been doubled, and every year
the business has shown a large percentage of in
crease over the year preceding. In I904 Mr. Hildreth
made 45,370 dozens of garments and sold 44,438
dozen garments. Besides the making of overalls,
Mr. Hildreth manufactures shirts, frocks, etc.
Among well known specialties are his mechanic
overalls and outing shirts. His trade extends all
over the country. He has the best of machinery
for the work; everything is made in the factory
under his direct supervision. Mr. Hildreth is a
member of Ridgeley Lodge, Independent Order Odd
Fellows. -
He married Emma Augusta Hovey, September
12, 1880. She is a daughter of Eben Hovey, of
Hallowell, Maine, born April 12, 1859, in Hallowell,
Maine. Their children are: 1. Pearl C. born
October I, 1881, died October 13, 1881. 2. Walter
Hallowell, born July 25, 1886; attended the Wor
cester hisjh school. (In 1902 when Mr. Hall retired
and sold his interest to Mr. Hildreth, Walter H.,
his son, entered his father's shop to learn the busi
ness and assist as salesman. He is at present asso
ciated with his father in the business but not as
a partner). 3. Margaret Ina, born January 29,
1800 ; lives at home. 4. Bessie Andrews, bom Octo
ber 26, 1892 ; lives at home.
BOYCE FAMILY. Joseph Boyes (1), the im
migrant ancestor of Franklin James Boyce, of Wor
cester, was born in England about 1615. The name
is also spelled Boyce and Boyse. It is pf French
origin meaning Wood, and probably dates back to
the Norman conquest. Du Bois is still a common
name in France. Tn Scotland, whence came most
of the Boyes families of America, either directly
or from the branches settled in Ulster province,
Ireland, the family home is in Forfarshire. Jo
seph Boyes, who came to America, was a tanner by
trade. He settled in Salem, where he was a pro
prietor in 1639. He was admitted to the church
there April 7, 1640, and was made a freeman
May 18, 1642. He sold his house and land in
1657. ' But little is known of him. His will was
dated November 4, 1684, and proved February 18,
1694-5, bequeathing to his wife Eleanor, son Jo
seph;" daughters Mary Southick; Hester  ; and

468

WORCESTER COUNTY

Elizabeth Hanson; to Joseph's children, Joseph and
Benjamin. The children of Joseph and Eleanor Boyes were :
Hester, baptized February 21, 1640; Eliza or Eliza
beth, baptized at Salem, March 6, 1642, married 
Hanson; Joseph, of whom later; Benjamin, bap
tized May 16, 1647, died before 1684; Mary mar
ried  Southick.
(II) Joseph Boyce, son of Joseph Boyce or
Boyes (1), was born March, 1644, baptized at
Salem, March 31, 1644. He lived in Salem until
about the time of his father's death. He married,
February 4, 1667-8. Only the first child is re
corded at Salem. Their children: Sarah, born
December 4, 1668; Joseph, mentioned in grand
father's will, 1684; Benjamin, mentioned in will
aforesaid; William, born about 1690, of whom
later. (Ill) William Boyce, believed to be the son of
Joseph Boyce (2), was born about 1690, perhaps in
Rhode Island. The first records relating to William
Boyes are found at Mendon, Massachusetts, when
he was hired as school teacher. Under date of
August 20, 1718, we find : "Having settled with
Thomas Sabford, town treasurer, for ye years
1716 and 1718, the selectmen then agreed with
William Boyce to be ye town's School Master from
ye day of ye date until ye 4th day of March next
to keep said school at ye direction of ye selectmen
and that ye selectmen pay ye sd Boyce after ye
rate of 28 pounds a year and likewise after that
rate for the time ye said Boyce has kept school in
ye said town of Mendon from ye 12 day of May
last to ye day of date hereof, ye sd Boyce giving
account to ye selectmen what time he hath lost."
One writer gives the date of his coming to Mendon
as 1717, but from this record it appears that he
began May 12, 1718. He must have been well edu
cated to have filled the position. He was already
a man of family and had probably taught elsewhere
in the colonies. The fact that he came tb Mendon
at the time the first Scotch-Irish emigration be
gan to come makes it worth while to consider
whether he could not have been one of these im
migrants. It seems out of the question to think
that old Mendon would hire a Presbyterian Scotch
man for a school teacher under any circumstances,
such was the feeling in evidence against the Scotch-
Irish who came into the colonies. He proved sat
isfactory as a school teacher and citizen. He
continued to teach until 1728, when he was suc
ceeded by Grindal Rawson, son of Rev. Grindal
Rawson, and the first person living in Mendon to
graduate at the college. Mr. Boyce's contract in
1721 contained the curious provision that he should
keep a "Reading and wrighting school during the
year, unless the town shall be presented (by the
grand jury) for want of a grammar school, when
he was to cease teaching at ye selectmen's orders."
His salary was twenty-eight pounds unless "Mov
ing" when he should receive thirty pounds. He
taught most of the time one quarter each year in
four different sections of the town — at the school
house ; at the south end ; at Mill river and at Great
river (Uxbridge). He gained in favor rapidly. He
was a selectman in 1723-24. He bought the lands
and rights of Obadiah Wheelock, and December 5,
1719, the town of Mendon laid out to William Boyce
fifty acres of the seventh division, and forty acres
of Obadiah Wheelock on the south of Wigwam
Hill. He bought more land of John RaWson, Jan
uary 25, 1719-20, in Mendon, and another piece the
same day of William Hayward. He bought other
land in Mendon January 13, 1723-4, of Woodward
Thompson; November 15, 1726, of Nathaniel Wood

bury, and four parcels February 6, 1738-9, one of
Obadiah Wheelock, one of James Heath, one of Jo
seph Dorr and the other of Jonathan Hayward.
He died in 1733 in Mendon. ' Guardians were
appointed for his nine children February 7, 1734-5,
giving their approximate ages. The names of the
other children are to be found in the administration
papers of Jonathan, son of William Boyce. The
children of William Boyce were : 1. William, Jr.,
born 1714, died 1738. Benjamin, born 1719, resided
in Abington in 1742, probably the one who died at
Mendon, 1787; John, of whom later; Samuel, born
in 1721, resided in Medfield in 1742; Jonathan, born
1723, resided in Uxbridge in 1747, died that year,
administrator appointed May 14, 1747; Bethia, born
1726; Margaret, born 1726. Daniel Boyce, who drew
land in Mendon in 1733, may belong in this list of
William's children, but if so, he died before the
settlement of his brother's estate in 1747.
(IV) John Boyce, son of. William Boyce (3),
was born in 1718, in .Mendon, Massachusetts. He
probably settled about' the time of his marriage in
Uxbridge, formerly part of Mendon, where he
owned land in 1739. He sold part of the house lot
of his father, William Boyce, to Edmund Nurse,
of Mendon, July 30, 1739. His brother William
died in 1738, leaving a wife Lydia and four broth
ers. His brother Jonathan, blacksmith, died 1747.
John was administrator of his estate. By deed dated
February 15, 1747, he bought of his two surviving
brothers their interests in the estates of the two
deceased brothers, William Boyce, late1 of Mendon,
and Jonathan Boyce, late of Uxbridge. The broth
ers were Samuel Boyce, qi Medfield, blacksmith,
Benjamin Boyce, of Abington, cordwainer. Benja
min died in 1787, leaving four children — Jonathan,
who died without issue; Lucius; Asa, who left no
sons; Phebe, and in his will mentions the children
of his daughter, Lydia Going. It follows that John
Boyce, of Rutland, if he belonged to this family,
was son of Samuel or of John Boyce. Samuel was,
last heard of in Medfield, while John removed to
Oxford Gore, while John of Rutland was living in
Rutland. John Boyce sold out in Mendon, January
22, 1781, to Benjamin Read and to his brother, Ben
jamin Boyce, who returned from Abington. This
land was that of his father and brothers and a lot
bought of John Legg, May 30, 1751. He sold a lot
of land in Oxford South Gore, thirty-two acres,
July 10, 1786, to Benoni Benson.
He married Sarah  , who survived him. He
died at Oxford South Gore • in 1791, intestate. In
the administration of his estate the names of Pris-
.cilla, Amplias and Asenath are mentioned. Cenia
lived there at the time. John of Rutland must have
been son or nephew.
(V) John Boyce, son of nephew or John Boyce
(4), was born in 1736. He bought land in Rut
land of William and Sarah Phillips of Boston,
January 19, 1767. He had been living there since
his marriage in 1763 and for some time previously.
He sold a Tot of land in Rutland, February 14, 1769,,
to John Smith, who married his wife's sister. His
place was in the southern part of the town. The
history of Rutland says of him: "John Boyce had
land in Dublin originally laid out to William Fen-
ton, on which he lived many years. He bought
land in Rutland, April 16, 1777, of William Whit
taker, and February 8, 1775, land at Paxton of
Hollen Maynard, of Northboro. He sold land at
Barre, May 21, 1782, to Joseph Robinson, of Barre,
and February 18, 1784, one hundred and seven acres
at Barre to the same man. John Boyce and his son
Thomas sold out their interests in Rutland to Jo
seph Sweetser, of Paxton, December 14, 1813. On

WORCESTER COUNTY

469

the same day he deeded various lots to his son,
John, Jr., who remained at Rutland. He deeded a
farm of sixty-one acres to John, Jr., June 20, 1794,
at the time he gave an undivided half of the home
stead to Thomas.
He married (first), April 7, 1763, at Rutland,
Martha Dickee or Dickey, who died April 19, 1810.
He married (second), July 23, 1812, at Rutland, Mrs.
Anna Oliver, widow of James Oliver, of Barre.
She died November 8, 1828, aged eighty years, at
Barre. He died at Barre, May, 1817, aged eighty
years or more. The children of John and Martha
Boyce were: 1. Thomas, baptized November 3, 1765,
married, February 18, 1790, Patty Reed, who died
April 30, 1810; married (second) (intentions dated
January 3), 1811, Widow Margaret Thompson, of
Princeton. Thomas had twelve children born at
Rutland. 2. Jane, born October 4, 1767, married
Elijah Stearns, Jr. (Intentions dated June 25),
1785. 3. Martha, born at Rutland, baptized June 25,
1769. 4. Isabel, born in Rutland, , baptized Septem
ber 1, 1771; married Darius Bent* (intentions dated
January 28, 1797). 5. John, Jr., born April 28,
1773, settled in Rutland, of whom later.
(VI) John Boyce, son of John Boyce (5), was
born at Rutland, Massachusetts, April 28, 1773. He
received a common school education and worked
during his youth for his father on the farm. After
his marriage he purchased a farm which he worked
until 1819, when he removed ±0 Worcester and
bought the old Bigsbee farm, which is now owned
in part by the heirs, his grandson, John Richard
Boyce, located on Webster street. Although during
his last years he was retired he continued to live
there until his death. He was a Whig in politics
and an Episcopalian in religion. He was in his
younger days a member of the state militia.
He married (first), May 28,1794, Ruth Thomp
son, who was born December, 1768. He married (sec
ond), May, 1812, Polly Bond, of Leicester, who died
March 8, 1813. He married (third), June 29, 1815,
Lucy H. Prouty, of Brookfield, who was born Feb
ruary 24, 1782, and died November 3, 1827. He
married (fourth) Hannah D. Fuller, of Worces
ter. The children of John and Ruth Boyce were:
James Thompson, born March 1, 1795; Martha Patty,
born December 1, 1796; John Frazier, born Novem
ber 12, 1798; Ruth, born May 22, 1801 ; Clarinda,
born March 18, 1804; Witness, born October 21,
1811, died November 24, 1811. The children of
John and Polly Boyce were: Mary Eliza, born
March 3, 1813, died January 31, 1814. The children
of John and Lucy were : Lucy J., born March 14,
1819; Samuel Dexter, born September 24, 1825. The.
children of John and Hannah were : George Wash
ington, born January 7, 1830; Louisa Elizabeth,
born July 13, 1831 ; William W., born June 14, 1834,
died August 20, 1839.
(VII) John Frazier Boyce, third child of John
Boyce (6), was born at Rutland', Massachusetts,
November 12, 1798, died August 18, 1878. He re
ceived his education in the district schools of his
native town and worked afterward with his father
on the farm until the family removed to Wor
cester in 1819. He came to Worcester with the
family and learned the trade of dyer at Rochdale in
the woolen mill there, and worked there for a num
ber of years. He removed to Millbury and worked
at his trade there. He drew a quarter section of
land (one hundred and sixty acres) from the gov
ernment at Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, New
York, and for three years worked upon it from
spring to fall. Then he exchanged it for the farm
of Elliott Boyce, his cousin, at Spencer. Later he
sold the Spencer property to good advantage, and

took charge of his father's farm on Webster street,
Worcester. He bought the place and carried on th'e
farm profitably until his death. He was orthodox
in religion and attended the Old South Church,
then on the Worcester common. He was a Repub
lican in politics and served on the school committee
for many years. He was in the militia in his
younger days.
He married (first), at Barre, March 6, 1838,
Adeline Adams, of Barre, no children. He married
(second), at Heath, Massachusetts, April 23, 1840,
Sophia Temple, who was born March 6, 1810, daugh
ter of Richard and Caroline (Christie) Temple.
Her father was A. farmer. The children of' John
Frazier and Sophia Temple Boyce were: 1. Ada-
line Adams, bora March 26, 1841, died May 10,
i860. 2. Eunice Jennette, born January 5, 1843, mar
ried Otis H. Bancroft, May 15, 1862, and they have
four children — Adaline Jennette, born May 15, 1863;
Cora Eliza, born March 22, 1865; Nettie Louisa;
Clara May, born July 23, 1873. 3. Emma Sophia,
born December 27, 1845, died unmarried February
1, 1905. 4. John Richard, born February 2, 1848,
died February 18, 1901; married Lizzie Cora Rock
well, and they have had two children — Bernice Ma
rion, born April 29, 1892; Raymond John, bom
February 12, 1894. 5. Franklin James, born March
4, 1850. 6. William Charles, born July 10, 1852,
died July 15, 1889.
(VIII) Franklin James Boyce, fifth child of
John Frazier Boyce (7), was born at Worcester,
Massachusetts, March 4, 1850. He received his edu
cation in the common schools, taking also two terms
in Howe's Business College, Worcester. At the age
of twenty years he entered the employ of Rice &
Griffin, manufacturers of doors, sash, blinds, etc.,
at the corner of Union and Exchange streets, where
he was located for four years, when he and his
brother, William C, took charge of the farm until
the father's death, when it was willed to the three
brothers, John R., Franklin James and William
Charles, and the two sisters. His early experience
on the farm proved useful to him when he and his
brother John took charge of the paternal farm. So
well did the partnership with his brother succeed
that it was continued after the father's death, when
they became the joint owners of the property with
their brother William. After the death of William
in 1889 without issue, the two brothers, John R.
and Franklin James, continued the same equal di
vision of the property in joint ownership with their
two sisters. As the city grew the farm land be
came more and more valuable. Finally iri 1889 Mr.
Boyce and his brother began to build houses on the
property and more than forty have been erected and
sold since then. Mr. Boyce built his residence at
284 Webster street in 1874. He also owns land in
Auburn, a part of his present farm. When the
father died the farm contained one hundred and
forty- four acres; the brothers added to until they
owned over three hundred acres.
In religion Mr. Boyce is liberal, formerly at
tending the Universalist church, now the Bethany
Congregational church. In politics he is a Republi
can. He is a Free Mason, member of the Morning
Star Lodge, of Worcester Royal Arch Chapter,
Hiram Council and of Worcester County Command
ery, Knights Templar; Worcester Lodge of Per
fection, Goddard Council, Lawrence Chapter of
Rose Croix, the Massachusetts Consistory and of
the Aleppo Temple, Order of Mystic Shrine. He is
a member of the Worcester Agricultural Society and
of the New England Fair Association.
He married, December 28, 1881, Josephine E.
Buck, who was born April 2, 1858, the daughter of

470

WORCESTER COUNTY

Ezra and Louisa (Boyce) Buck, of Machias, New
York. Her father is a farmer. The children of
Franklin James and Josephine E. Boyce are: I.
Eugene Franklin, born December 20, 1883, a student
in Clark College. 2. Mabel Louise, born October
16, 1885, married Albert Stevens Allen, of Auburn,
Massachusetts. 3. Gladys Myrtle, born July 1, 1888.
4. Hazel Emma, born February 10, 1891.
THE BELISLE FAMILY. Alexander Belisle
(1), first of the name in Worcester, was born in
St. Damase, Canada, December 28, 1831, son of
Antoine Levasseur and Marguerite (Delage) Belisle.
At th'e age of eighteen he emigrated alone to this
country, and in the spring of 1847 found employment
in the shoe factory of Captain Wood at West Mill
bury. He resided in St. Marcel, Canada, for a few
years, then returned to Worcester county, and during
most of his life followed his trade of shoe'maker in
the various factories of Worcester. He died in
Worcester, March 14, 1903, aged seventy-two years.
He married, in Millbury, July 10, 1853, Marie
Dorval, who was born in St. Ours, Canada, 1832,
the daughter of Louis and Marie (Benoit) Dorval.
Her parents removed to Millbury in 1835. She died
in Worcester, January 31, 1906, aged seventy-tour
years. Of the fifteen children of Alexander • and
Marie Belisle, six died in infancy. Those who grew
to maturity were : Josephine, married Gaspard Du-
puis, of of Sutton, Massachusetts; Elmire, died
1897, married Andre G. Lajoie, a well known grocer
of Worcester; Alexander, Jr., of whom later; Felix
A., of whom later; Eugene L., of whom later;
George E., a lawyer, of whom later; Charles Ed
mond, managing editor of L'Opinion Publique oi
Worcester, of whom later; Hector L., graduate of
Harvard teacher, of whom 'later; Anna, a music
teacher, resides at the homestead, 69 Salem street,
Worcester. (II) Alexander Belisle, Jr., son of Alexander
Belisle (1), was born at Ste. Victoire, Canada, Sep
tember 4, 1856. His father had returned to Canada
on account of a long illness, returning to Worces
ter, December 31, 1862. Alexander, Jr., attended
the public schools of Worcester and learned the
trade of shoemaker with his father. He left the
shoe business at the age of twenty-two to become
business manager of Le Travailleur, a French news
paper, published in Worcester by the late Edward
Gagnon. In 1887 he entered the insurance office of
the late Colonel John D. Washburn, where he is
still employed. He has taken an active part in
politics and was the first Franco-American elected
to the common council of his city, serving four years,
1888 to 1891. He is at present a director of the
Free Public Library, and one of the best known
men among the Franco-Americans of the county.
An interesting fact concerning his education was
brought to mind by the death of Miss Carrie A.
George recently. When a young man Alexander,
Jr., attended with his father the evening school in
Worcester then in charge of Miss George. Later
she was the teacher at Cambridge street school when
his sons went there, and all of them were in her
class at various times. Thus she taught three gen
erations of the same family. Mr. Belisle is a mem
ber of several Franco-American societies, the Wor~
cester County Mechanics' Association since 1882,
and the Worcester Society of Antiquity.
He married at the age of twenty-one, 1877, Al-
bini Boulay, who was born at La Presentation, Can
ada, March 21, 1854, daughter of Narcisse and Hed-
widge (Laviolette) Boulay, of Acton, Canada. Of
their eight children, all of whom were born in Wor

cester, four sons are living, viz. : Narcisse A., born
October 14, 1878, a clerk at present in the Worcester
postoffice; Emilio H., April 21, 1881, graduate of
Holy .Cross College, 1906; Ferdinand J., August 20,
1883, graduate of Clark College, 1906; Eugene S.,
September 3, 1891, student in the Classical high
school. (II) Felix A. Belisle, son of Alexander Belisle
(i), was born in St. Marcel, Richelieu, Quebec, Oc
tober 22, 1857. He came to Worcester when a boy
of five years with the family, and was educated
there in the public schools and in Foster's Business
College. For some years he worked at the trade
of shoemaking with his father. Then he engaged
in newspaper work on the Patrie Nouvelle of Cohoes,
New York, and later on Le Travailleur of Worces
ter with the late Ferdinand Gagnon. In 1885 he
made up his mind to study law and gave up news
paper work to enter a law office in Lowell. He
completed his preparation as a lawyer in Worces
ter in the- office of Henry L. Parker and was ad
mitted to the bar in 1887. He entered immediately
upon the practice of his profession, in which he
was eminently successful. There was need for a
capable French speaking attorney in Worcester
county where the French speaking population is
already large and has been growing rapidly. He
had a very promising career before him cut short
by his death, April 13, 1905. He was taken ill in
the fall of 1904 after his return from a visit to the
St. Louis fair. He was twice operated upon in
St. Vincent's hospital and his ultimate recovery
had been expected. He died in an attack of heart
failure. At the time of his death Mr. Belisle was
president of L'Alliance Francaise of Worcester, a
member of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, the Casino
Club and of the Bar Association of Worcester Coun
ty. He married Agnes C. Smith, who survives him.
They had no children.
(II) Eugene L. Belisle, son of Alexander Be
lisle (1), was born in St. Marcel, Canada, March
10, 1859. He came to Worcester with the family
December 31, 1862, and was educated in the public
schools there. He also learned the shoemaker's
trade of his father. In the early eighties he was
an athlete of some note and was widely known as
one of the best polo players on roller skates in
New England. He started in business for himself
as a grocer with a store on Hanover street, Wor
cester. He gave up this business to became the
business manager and part owner of L'Opinion
Publique, a daily newspaper in the French language
printed in Worcester. In politics he is a Republican
and has been prominent in public affairs for a num
ber of years. He was twice elected to the common
council of the city of Worcester, serving in 1893-94-
95, and he was also a trustee of the City Hospital.
In 1905 he traveled extensively in Europe, and in
April, 1906, ont recommendation of Congressman
Rockwood Hoar and of Senators Lodge and Crane,
• he was appointed consul at Limoges, France. He is
unmarried. (II) George E. Belisle, son of Alexander Be
lisle (1), was born in Worcester, July 7, 1867. He
attended the public schools there and was grad
uated from Holy Cross College in 1888. He worked
seven years in the Worcester postoffice and ten years
in the postoffice department in Washington. While
in Washington He used his spare time as many
department clerks with ambition have done and
are doing, attending the law school of Georgetown
University. He completed the course and was ad
mitted to the bar. He was an active and prominent
member of Carroll Institute, the Catholic Club of

WORCESTER COUNTY

47i

the National Capital. He succeeded to the law
practice of his brother, Felix A. Belisle, who died
in 1905. He is unmarried.
(II) Charles Edmond Belisle, son of Alexander
Belisle (1), was born in Worcester, March 22, 1869,
and was educated there in the public schools and in
Foster's Business College. He learned the trade
of printer under Charles R. Stobbs, of Worcester,
then went to New York as journeyman and be
came a department foreman in the great printing
establishment of the city printer, Martin B. Brown.
In January, 1893, he returned to Worcester and in
partnership with four of his brothers founded
L'Opinion Publique, now a Franco-American daily
newspaper, of which he is the managing editor and
which he has been very successful in its field. The
Belisles have built up also a large book and job
printing business and have a large printing plant.
Mr. Bfelisle is a member of several Franco-American
societies. He married, July 19, 1897, Josephine M.
Perreault, daughter of the well known foundryman,
Presbey Pero (Perreault originally), of Worcester.
She died February 3, 1900. They had no children.
(II) Hector L. Belisle, son of Alexander Be
lisle (1), was born in Worcester, October 8, 1874.
He attended the public schools and graduated in
1896 from the Classical high school, one of the
honor men. He composed the music of the class
song at graduation. He entered Harvard the same
year and was graduated cum laude in 1900. He be
came at once teacher of French and history in the
high school of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In the
year following he was elected principal of the John
R. Rollins grammar school of that city, a position
he has held for the past six years. He married,
June 20, 1905, Grace Mildred Potter, of Boston, a
teacher in the Dorchester high school, Boston.
They have a son, George Edmond, born April 1.
1906. MICHAEL PHILIP McGRATH, of Worces
ter, a railroad builder and contractor, was born in
the town in which he now resides, November 15,
i860, a son of Michael and Johanna (Powers) Mc-
Grath. Michael McGratli (father) was bom in county
Waterford, Ireland, about 1825. He married, about
1849 or 1850, Johanna Powers, also a native of
county Waterford, Ireland, born about 1825, and the
following day they sailed for America, landing in
Boston, Massachusetts, and going direct to Worces
ter, where he devoted his time and attention to the
business of a contractor. About three decades ago
he erected a house at No. 2 Woodland street, Wor
cester, the same in which his son, Michael P., now
resides, and there spent the remainder of his days.
He died in 1877, and his widow passed away at her
home in Worcester in 1893. They were the parents
of nine children, one of whom died in infancy, and
the names of the others were as follows: Richard
Desmond; William, who is employed by his brother,
Michael P.; Mary, wife of the late James E. Fay,
of Worcester; Johanna, wife of Frank E. Reynolds,
of Worcester; Patrick Desmond; Michael P., (see
forward) ; Margaret F., deceased ; and John J., a
resident of Worcester, and a prominent member of
the Catholic church.
The public schools of Worcester, Massachusetts,
afforded Michael P. McGratli the means of obtain
ing a practical, English education. Upon the com
pletion of his studies he went to Clinton, Massa
chusetts, where he secured employment with the
Lancaster Gingham Company. Later he went to
Kansas, and while a resident of that state had
charge of gangs of men who were engaged in laying

water pipes made by R. D. Wood & Co., of Phila
delphia, manufacturers of iron pipes, who were also
the contractors for the work. Upon his return to
his native city, Worcester, he began the contracting
business on his own account, and his first piece of
work was the building of the Millbury line of elec
tric railway. He also was awarded the contract to
build the electric line from Rochester, New York,
to Buffalo, seventy-eight miles, and one from Mai
den, Massachusetts, to Haverhill, sixty miles. He
equips the roads complete, all ready for the cars,
power houses, barns, etc. He has built about forty
railroads, electric and steam, throughout various
sections of the United States. His latest contract
is for the building of three hundred and fifty miles of
railroad line for the Ottawa River Railway Com
pany of Canada, of which Colonel Edgar M'cMullen,
of Boston, is president, the project involving an ex
penditure of more than ten million dollars, exclusive
of equipment. The line will be from Montreal to
Ottawa, one hundred and six miles, thence to Mid
land, Ontario, on the Georgian Bay, where connec
tion will be made with the vessels which ply the
great lakes. It is a steam road, and will run through
a strip of territory between eighty and one hundred
miles wide, between the Grand Trunk and the Can
adian Pacific railroads, and, with a terminus at
Midland, it will be in a position to communicate
with any port on Lakes Superior, Michigan and
Huron. Later this is to be an electric road. •
The introduction of electrically propelled equip
ment for passenger and freight service will be an
innovation in Canada, and the outcome of the move
ment, which the projectors believe is beyond the ex
perimental stage, even so far as stiff grades are
concerned, will be watched with interest by rail
road men and the general public in the Dominion.
The Ottawa River Railway is the western extension
of the Atlantic & Lake Superior Railroad, running
along the south shore of the St. Lawrence river,
between Baie des Chaleurs, Quebec, and Montreal,
where it has communication with ocean-going
steamships. The terminal stations are to be built
at Montreal, Ottawa and Midland, in addition to
the smaller stations along the line. The company
will join with American and Canadian roads in
a union station to be in the heart of the uptown busi
ness district in Montreal, the entrance being by tun
nel. The station is to he modern in every respect.
Mr. McGratli has also tlie contract to equip the com
pany's system. The total contracts involve an ex
penditure of fourteen million dollars; the road is
to he in operation in three years.
Mr. McGratli serves in the capacity of general
manager of the Northampton Traction Company, and
chairman of its executive board; general manager
of the Lansdale & Norristown Electric Railroad,
which he built in 1902, and purchased May 27, 1905 ;
general manager of the St. Lawrence International
Electric Railroad, running from Redwood to Alex
andria Bay, New York, which he built in 1892; and
a stockholder in two banks, several railroads, and
a number of manufacturing concerns, the principal
one being the Fibre Pail Manufacturing Company of
Stockton, Pennsylvania. He is an advocate of Dem
ocratic principles, but not a strong partisan, as in
lcoal affairs he casts his vote for the candidates
who in his opinion are best qualified for office. He
holds membership in the Knights of Columbus. In
1898 he took a trip to Europe, visiting the places of
note and interest in the Old World, including the
home of his parents in Ireland. He married, Jan
uary 20, 1886, Ellen Frances Walsh, daughter of
Michael and Margaret (Power) Walsh, late of Wor
cester, Massachusetts, whose family consisted of

472

WORCESTER COUNTY

eight children, as follows : Bridget, wife of Patrick
Roach, of Worcester ; John, deceased ; Mary, de
ceased; Michael P.; Thomas J.; Edmurfd A.; Ellen
Frances, wife of Michael P. McGrath; and Mar
garet, deceased. Michael Walsh was born in county
Waterford, Ireland, about 1828, emigrated to the
United States about 1849, and for many years was
employed by the old Norwich & Worcester Railroad.
About the year 1850 Mr. Walsh married Margaret
Power, born in county Waterford, Ireland; died
in 1874. He died in 1891. -Mr. Walsh and family
were members of the Catholic church. Three chil
dren were ' born to Mr. and Mrs. McGrath : Michael
J., who is a student at the Norwich University, Ver
mont; Mary Eleanor, a student at the Worcester
high school ; . and Edmund. Mr. McGrath and his
family are members of the Catholic church.
FAYETTE ASARYL AMIDON. Roger Ami-
don (1) was the emigrant ancestor of Fayette A.
Amidon, manager and proprietor of the Worcester
Market, Worcester, Massachusetts, and of perhaps
all in this country of the name of Amidon. The
name has been spelled variously Ammidon, Ammi-
down, Amadon. Roger Amidon was in Salem,
Massachusetts, before 1637, when he was mentioned
as the owner of half an acre of meadow. There
seems to be no evidence that he was a French
Huguenot, except that some of his descendants
mingled with the Huguenots and perhaps intermar
ried with them at Oxford. He removed to Wey
mouth in 1640, and was in Boston in 1643. He set
tled finally at Seekonk, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
His house was at the northeasterly end of the
semicircle of houses comprising the original village
of Seekonk, and was about a mile north of the
church in the present town. He drew his house lot
July 18, 1648, and drew other lots June 3, 1662, June
7, 1665, in 1668 and 1671. He was one of the
original proprietors of Rehoboth, and was there
probably as early as 1645, when it was incorporated.
He married first, Sarah  , who died at Re
hoboth, June 20, 1668. He married (second) Joanna,
daughter of George and Jane Harwood. She died
July 1, 1711. He was buried November 13, 1673.
There were suspicions at the time that his death
was not natural, and an inquest was held. He had
four children by his first wife and three by the sec
ond. His estate was divided March 4, 1674, among.
his widow Joanna; son Ebenezer, by his representa
tive, John Coblech, of Swansea ; daughter Hannah,
wife of Jeremiah Wheaton. John Harrod, of Pa-
tucksett, brother of the widow, gave advice in the
settlement of the estate. The children of Roger
Amidon : 1. Ebenezer, -mentioned in settlement of
estate, 1674, was in Rehoboth 1689, advanced money
in King Philip's war, 1675. 2. Sarah, born December
6, 1640, Weymouth. 3. Lydia, born February 27,
1643, Boston. 4. Hannah, born September 20, 1652;
married Jeremiah Wheaton, of Rehoboth; had eight
children; died at Rehoboth, September 13, 1719. 5.
Philip, see forward. 6. Henry, born at Rehoboth,
January 24, 1671, was on list of inhabitants of Re
hoboth 1689. 7. Mehitable, born at Rehoboth,
August 27, 1672; married, December 23, 1709, John
Thompson, of Rehoboth.
(II) . Philip Amidon, son of Roger Amidon
(1), born at Rehoboth, January 26, 1670, resided
there until the death of his first wife, when he re
moved to Mendon. In 1717 he removed to Ox
ford, Massachusetts, where many French Huguenots
settled about that time, and died there March 15,
1747. He was a farmer and cooper. He and his
wife joined the Oxford church in 1720. He was a
selectman 1730, constable 1735. His will was proved

May 12, 1747. Of his old homestead three-fourths
belongs to the farm now or recently owned by
Franklin H. Clark, and the other quarter belonged
recently to Lucinda Morse. He married first, at
Rehoboth, May 27, 1698, Mehitable, daughter of
Samuel and Mary (Willard) Perry, born April 30,
1680. She had one child and died at Rehoboth, July
4,, 1699, aged nineteen. He went to Mendon about
1700 and married (second), September 16, 1700,
Ithamar Warfield, who survived him. She was
borri March 28, 1676, daughter of Deacon John W.
and Hannah (Randall) Warfield, of Mendon. His
will was proved May 12, 1747. His children: 1.
Henry A., see forward. 2. Roger, born February 6,
1702. 3. Ichabod, born May, 1704. 4. Mary, born
March 30, 1706, married, July 18, 1728, Benjamin
Chamberlain resided at Oxford. 5. Philip born 1708,
resided in that part of Oxford set off as Charlton,
and left many descendants. 6. Ephraim, born- 1710.
7. Ithamar, born April 25, 17 12. 8. John, born May
19, 1713. 9. Hannah, born February 2, 1717; mar
ried Samuel 'Wheelock, of Hardwick. Their daugh
ter Mary, borri 1738, married Caleb Cheney, of Men
don. They resided at Milford, where he was town
clerk, selectman and lieutenant in the revolutionary
army. They had twelve children, one of whom was
an ancestor of General A. B. Underwood, U. S. A.
(Ill) Henry A. Amidon, son of Philip Amidon
(2), born at Rehoboth, February 8, 1699, married, at
Mendon, March 31,1718, Meltiah, daughter of Jo
seph and Hannah (Thurston) Cheney, born Octo
ber 14, 1690, died May 17, 1780. He was a farmer
at Oxford and Dudley until 1744, when he removed
to Ashford,. Connecticut, where he died March 5,
1778. His children: 1. Jacob, born February 28,
1720. 2. Mehitable, born January 15, 1723; married,
December 12, 1742, William Curtis, of Dudley; had
James, Henry and other children. 3. Joseph, born
February, 1725. 4. Henry, bom May 3, 1727.
(IV) Captain Henry Amidon, son of Henry
(3), born at Oxford, Massachusetts, May 3, 1727,
was a farmer. He settled at Pomfret, Connecticut;
in 1752 removed to Willington, Connecticut, where
he died. He answered the Lexington call to arms
in ,1775 as a private from Willington. He was ap
pointed by Governor Trumbull captain of Third
company, Twenty-second regiment, March- 21, 1777,
and served at New London and other places. He
married, at Pomfret, Connecticut, September 25,
1751, Sarah Doubledee (Doubleday), who died at
Willington, January 8, 1794. His children: 1. Jede
diah, born May 15, 1752, died August 11, 1752. 2,
Jedediah, born 1753. 3. Moses, born 1756. 4. Jon
athan, born 1757. 5. Mary, born 1762, married Jona
than Flint, lived at Braintree, Vermont, where he
died August 26, 1840; had Asaryl, born 1785; Elisha,
1788; Joseph, 1789; Augustus, 1792; Anna, 1794;
Sally, 1796; Polly, 1798. 6. Jacob, born March 5,
1764. 7. William, born January 30, 1767. 8. Henry,
born February 9, 1769. 9. Asaryl, see forward. 10.
Sarah, born February 9, 1774; married Shubael
Hall; removed to Orange county, New York, 1799,
died there March 27, 1841. His children were Shu
bael, bora 1796; Sallie, 1800; George, 1805; mar
ried Ruth West.
(V) Asaryl Amidon, son of Henry Amidon (4),
was born at Willington, Connecticut, July 20, 1771.
He served in the war of 1812. He removed to
Belchertown, Massachusetts, where he settled, and
died there February 7, 1853. He married, November
29, 1799, Alethia Perry, born February 28, 1773, died
August 13, 1757. His children: 1. Asaryl, see for
ward. 2. Alethia, born July 23, 1802, died June, 1886.
3. Bridget, born July 28, 1804, died December 11,
1822. Sally, born August 4, 1807; married Porter

l (l Ciii>~^*

WORCESTER COUNTY

473

Edwards, and died in Willington, Connecticut, No
vember 23, 1845, leaving daughter, Sarah E., born
November 7, 1845, died April 6, 1861. 5. Samuel,
bom May 29, 1809; married, April, 1835, Harriet,
daughter of Martin and Sally (King) Sedgwick,
bom June 29, 1827, died July 12, 1889; resided at
Belchertown. Samuel died May 14, 1858, and widow
removed to Springfield, Massachusetts. - They had
no children, but adopted George Franklin Amidon,
who lives at Springfield, and has a son George
Samuel Amidon. 6. Polly, bom November 9, 181 1,
died January 12, 1824.
(VI) Asaryl Amidon, son of Asaryl Amidon
(5), born September 26, 1800, at Mansfield, Con
necticut; married, October 11, 1830, Aurelia Mc-
Intire, born April 9, 1809, at Thetford, Vermont.
He died at Belchertown, February 4, 1847. His
widow married Foster Edwards. She died 1871, at
Belchertown. Children of Asaryl : 1. Samuel Gil-
lett, bom October 16, 1833. 2. Edward Perry, see
forward. 3. John Alvin, born September 1, 1845,
died November 24, 1847.
(VII) Edward Perry Amidon, son of Asaryl
Amidon (6), born at Belchertown, September 4,
1837; married, May 10, i860, Sophia Olive, daugh
ter of Asa and Orlinda Shumway, born March 7,
1840, at Palmer, Massachusetts. He died at Belcher
town, November 12, 1874. She resides with her
only son, Fayette Asaryl Amidon.
(VIII) Fayette Asaryl ( Amidon, son of Edward
Perry Amidon (7), was born at Belchertown, Massa
chusetts, July 13, 1862. He attended school in his
native town until the age of seventeen. In 1880 he
removed with his mother to New Haven, Connecti
cut, where he went to work in a large pork-packing
establishment. Later he worked five years in a de
partment meat store. Then he went into business
for himself, dealing in butter and eggs. His health
failed, and he had to give up business for a time.
He resided at Springfield and Gilbertville, Massa
chusetts. He resumed business in Manchester, New
Hampshire, in charge of the butter and egg depart
ment in a large provision store, and remained there
four years. He then entered into partnership with
Oscar Swanson, Gustaf T. Malmstead and George H.
Pettis, to start the well known Providence Market
¦in Providence, a department market carrying gro
ceries as well as all kinds of meat, fruit and vegeta
bles, on a more extensive scale than had been done
hitherto, and the venture was an instant success.
The firm started a similar department store at Wor
cester, Massachusetts in October, 1894, and Mr.
Amidon took personal charge of it. He moved to
Worcester soon after the store was opened, and has
a handsome home on Germain street. It is generally
conceded that the Worcester Market, as their store
is called, is by far the largest and most profitable
market and grocery in the county. The credit for
the remarkable success of the house is given in
large measure to the business astuteness and per
sonal attention of Mr. Amidon. A self-made man,
he stands high in the estimation of other business
men of the city. He is a member of Trinity Church,
and of its finance committee; and is a Republican in
politics, but has never aspired to office. He is a
member of the Board of Trade, and president of
the Speedway Club, being an owner and admirer of
good horses.
Mr. Amidon married, June 16, 1895, Lucy Ella
Higgins, of Providence, Rhode Island, daughter of
Charles and Lucy (Watson) Higgins. Her father '
died in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1874, at
the age of fifty-eight years. Her mother died in
1881, aged fifty-seven, at Saylorsville, Rhode Island.
She was one of nine children born to her parents,

eight of whom lived to maturity. Mrs. Amidon is
a graduate of the high school.
CHARLES WALTER KING. William King,
Esq. (1), the emigrant ancestor of Charles Walter
King, of Worcester, was a Puritan emigrant from
England, sailing before March 20, 1635, from Wey
mouth, Dorsetshire, England. The records show
that he was aged forty, his wife Dorothy thirty-
four, and they had with them five children : Mary*
aged twelve; Katheryn, aged ten; William, aged
eight; Hannah, aged six; Samuel, aged two. They
settled at Salem, Massachusetts. He was admitted
a freeman there May 25, 1636. He had grants of
land of forty acres on Jeffrey's Creek, now Man-
chester-by-the-Sea ; thirty acres at Royal-side at the
head of Bass river, now Beverly, and he located his
homestead there. He was a grand juror in 1637.
He was a member of the First church at Salem, but
in 1637 joined the Antinomians and came under the
ban of the Salem authorities. He was requested to
sever his connection with the new church or have
his arms taken away from him. He remained with
the new faith and gave up his gun to Lieutenant
Danforth. Later he was banished for a time for
sheltering the persecuted Quakers. He died in
1650-51 and his estate was administered by his
widow Dorothy and son William.
He married Dorothy Hayne, born in England
about 1601 and died in Southold, Suffolk county,
New York, where her daughters Hannah, wife of
Richard Browne, Sr., and Deliverance, wife of John
Tuthill, were living. The widow of William King
bought a dwelling house and land at Salem of John
Swasey. She -sold it in 1653, and removed to Long
Island. She sold the homestead to her son, William
King. The records at Sherburne, England, show
that William King and Dorothy Hayne were mar
ried February 17, 1616-17. The parish of Sher
burne is in Dorsetshire.
Children of William and Dorothy King were:
1. William, of Royal-side, Salem, born about 1627-28
in England, was persecuted as a Quaker; he mar
ried Katharine Shaflin, daughter of Michael Shaf-
lin, of Salem. 2. Samuel, of Southold, Long Is
land, born in England about 1633-34, removed from
Salem to Southold, where he owned some four hun
dred acres of land in 1658 ; died November 29, 1721,
aged eighty-eight; married Abigail, daughter of
William Ludlaw. 3. John, of Salem, baptized there
November 11, 1638; in 1706 he gave deed of land
in Salem to son Samuel ; died before 17 19. 4- Mary,
born about 1623 in England, married probably, 1646,
John Scudder, son of Thomas Scudder. 5. Kath
erine, born about 1625, in England, married John
Swasey, of Salem, removed to Southold, Long Is
land, 1658. 6. Hannah, born in England about 1629,
married Lieutenant Richard Browne, Sr., of South-
old, Long Island, admitted freeman 1662, died 1686-
87. 7. Mehitable, born about 1635, baptized in Salem,
December 25, 1636, probably died young. 8. Deliver
ance, baptized in Salem, October 31, 1636, married
at Southold, Long Island, February 7, 1657, died
there January 25, 1688-89, aged forty-nine; married
John Tuthill, Sr. ; justice of the peace,- member the
colonial assembly, 1695-98, descendant of John Tut
hill, of Saxlingham, England.
(II) John King, son of William King (1), was
baptized November n, 1638, in Salem, Massachu
setts. In 1682 he was called son-in-law in the will
of Thomas Goldthwait. In 1699 with his wife Eliza
beth he gave a deed to Caleb Buffam, and in 1706
he gave a deed of land in Salem to his son, Samuel
King. He died before 1719.
He married Elizabeth Goldthwait, daughter of

474

WORCESTER COUNTY

Thomas and Rachel Goldthwait, of Salem. She was
baptized November 20, 1647, and married, September,
1660. Thomas Goldthwait wa's in Roxbury in 1631
and was admitted a freeman of Salem in 1634 and
was member of the church there. His will was
proved at Salem, March 6, 1719. Children of John
and Elizabeth (Goldthwait) King were: 1. John,
born October, 1662. 2. Samuel, born in Salem, May,
1,664, married Elizabeth Marsh, daughter of Zachary
and Mary (Silsbee) Marsh, of Salem, and grand
daughter of John Marsh, who settled 1636-37 with
his wife Susan (Skelton) Marsh, daughter of Rev.
Samuel Skelton; among their children was Ebe
nezer, who settled in Rutland. 3. Captain William,
born at Salem, 1669, signed deed for partition of land
left his father by Thomas Goldthwait, his grand
father; settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, with his
brother Jonathan, and was one of the most promi
nent and wealthy men there; bought land at Charl
ton; died November, 1748; married Hannah Cooke,
daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Buxton") Cooke,
June 4, 1695; married (second) Rebecca Littlefieldj
of Wells, Maine, daughter of Edmund and Agnes
Littlefield, who came to Boston from England in
1641 and removed to Wells. 4. Elizabeth, born Feb
ruary 16, 1671, married Nathaniel Aters, December
12, 1699. 5. Jonathan, born February 16, 1674, of
whom later. &. Thomas, born February, 1677, died
October, 1680. 7. Hannah, born April, 1681, mar
ried, June 24, 1709, Benjamin Marsh. 8. Mary,
born May, 1687.
(Ill) Jonathan King, son of John King (2),
was born February, 1674, at Salem, and about 1717
settled in Sutton. At first he was not a proprietor
but he bought a farm of his brother, William King,
and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Marsh, a fifteenth
of 3000 acres, in deed dated August 14, 1715. His
house was situate a few rods east of the one now or
lately of Solomon Severy. Subsequently he built
another on the spot where the Severy house stands.
At first his mother lived with him, and he was over
fifty when he married. He married, February 2,
1726, in Salem, Alice Verry. After his death his
farm was divided and his son John later bought
out the other heirs and had the homestead, and the
other children moved out of town. Children of
Jonathan and Alice were : I. Desire, born at Sut
ton, June 22, 1729, married Amos Gould, October
31, 1749, and removed to Charlton; she died in New
at the home of her son, Amos Gould. 2. Sarah,
born March 11, 1731, married, December 26, 1755,
Eliphalet Rowell, and settled in Great Barrington.
3. Jonathan, Jr., born September 31, 1734, of whom
later. 4. John, born January 19, 1837, married, Jan
uary 10, 1758, Elizabeth Town.
(IV) Jonathan King, Jr., son of Jonathan King
(3), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, September
3, 1734. He settled in that part of Petersham, which
became Dana, Massachusetts, in 1801. He lived in
Sutton for some time before his removal to Peter
sham, and his house was on the road from Eight
Lots School house to Millbury, nearly opposite what
is now called the Harwood place on the west side
of the road. He was a soldier in the revolution
and late in life a pensioner. His- widow drew a
pension after his death until her death about 1850.
He married (first), April 10, '1755, and (second)
at Petersham. April 25, 1787, Rachel Claflin. Chil
dren of Jonathan, Jr. and Elizabeth were : 1. Mary,
married, December 14, 1780, Benjamin Davidson,
settled in Spencer, grandparents of John C. David
son, of Worcester. 2. John. 3. Stephen, of whom
later, and perhaps others.
(V) Stephen King, son of Jonathan King (4),
was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, about 1765. At

the age of sixteen he ran away from home in order
to enlist in the American army in the revolution.
The story that he used to tell himself as to the
effect of being under fire for the first time is given
in the Sutton history. His hair stood up with fright
and he had to pull his hat down several times a.fter
it had been lifted from his head by the scare. He
soon got over this feeling, however, and made a
good soldier. Stephen King enlisted, according to
the revolutionary archives in the state house at Bos
ton, when he was sixteen years old. One record
gives his age as fifteen and a half. He enlisted in
the Continental army agreeable to the resolve of'
the general court of December 2, 1780, as returned
by the enlisting officer, Seth Washburn, supervisor.
He was in Captain Elliot's company, Colonel Davis's
regiment. The records give his stature as five' feet
two inches (also as five feet, three inches) ; com
plexion, light, and his occupation as farmer. He
was born in Sutton and engaged for the town of
Sutton, enlisting December, 25, 1780. Later he was
in Captain Remick's company, the First Massachu
setts Regiment, for a term of three years. This com
pany, in which he served to the end of the war,
was in the regiment of Colonel Joseph Vose (First).
His name is on a muster roll dated at Garrison,
West Point, April, 1781 ; he was at Camp Phillips-
burg in May, June and July, 1781. In October and
November, 1781, he was at York Hutts. He is
on a list of men tried by court martial subsequent
to 1781. King was tried December 6, 1781, by
regimental court martial, Captain William, presi- ,
dent, on the charge of stealing grain ; the charge
was not supported and King was acquitted. He was
at York Hutts January and February, 1782. His
father deeded him a farm in Petersham (later Dana)
by deed dated December 1, 1793. He sold land in
Dana, April 8, 1802, to Joel Amsden, the land deeded
to Stephen by his father lying north of the farm
of Jonathan. A few months later Stephen and his
wife Mehitable sold their farm of sixty-five acres
on the southeast corner "of my father Jonathan's
farm," land in Dana, to Elisha Woodward, of Peter
sham. Stephen King died at Dana, September, 1827.
His widow Mehitable administered the estate. Chil
dren of Stephen and Mehitable King were: I.
Stephen Jr., of whom later; 2. Betsey, 3. John.
(VI) Stephen King, Jr., son of Stephen King
(5), was born in Petersham, now Dana, about 1790.
He resided in the north part of the town of Dana
and died there. He was a farmer. He married
Sophia Dunham, of Brimfield, Massachusetts. Their;
children, all born at Dana, were: John, born
May 29, 1821, of whom later; Jesse Woodward,
born 1824, of whom later; George, married Lucy
Jane Barnes ; Stephen, married Esther Richardson
and their daughter Belle married Addison Marsh ;
Mary Ann, married Thomas McGrath and they had
— Eugene, Ada, George, Abbie, Herbert, Melvin,
and Edmund McGrath; Charlotte, married James
Gleason ; and their children were : James and Frank
Gleason. (VII) John King, son of Stephen King (6),
was born at Dana, Massachusetts, May 29, 1821.
He settled in Greenwich village in the adjoining
town, and is at present living there with his son.
He has seven children, nineteen grandchildren and
nine great-grandchildren, all living in 1906. He has
six four-generation pictures, the fourth generation
in each group representing a different family.
Mr. King married at Hardwick in the fall of
1844 Mary J. Richardson, daughter of Seth and
Alice (Johnson) Richardson, and their children are:
1.. Jane Elvira, born May 1, 1845, at Dana, married
Orville L. Johnson and had two children — Eldora

WORCESTER COUNTY

475

E. Johnson, born June 15, 1869 ; Bertha Ella John
son, born June 22, 1871, married Louis F. Conkey
and their children are : Annie E. Conkey, born July
29, 1891, and James O. Conkey, born August 5, 1898.
2. Alfred C, now residing at Greenwich village,
born December 7, 1846, married Sarah E. Hall, of
Hardwich, and they have five children — John Hough
ton King, resides at Greenwich village, born July
3, 1874, married Mrs. Hattie (Johnson) Rollins,
January 6, 1903, and have one child — Charles Her
mon King, born January 23, 1904; Arthur Willard
King, born Octoher 2, 1879, resides .in Greenwich
village; Walter Austin King, born September 10,
1882, resides at Springfield, Massachusetts, married
Winifred W. Gray and they have one child — Austin
W. King, born March 31, 1904; Sara M. King, born
March 31, 1884, resides in Greenwich village; Louise
E. King, born June 9, 1886, lives in Springfield,
Massachusetts. 3. Sarah Eveline King, born Janu
ary 10, 1848, married Lucius E. Sears and they have
three children — Lillie Eveline Sears, born April 14,
1867, married William K. Clute, and have one child,
Donald Sears Clute, born July 3, 1892 ; Minnie Eliza
Sears, born January 26, 1869, married W. Erie
Lemon ; Mabel Edna Sears, born August 13, 1871 ;
all the Sears family are living in Michigan. 4.
Edward T. King, born November 13, 1850, married
Mary J. Robinson, resides in Greenwich village, and
have children— Nellie M. King, born May 2, 1872,
married Frank Parker and they have two children —
Lowell Parker, born October 18. 1895, and Doris
Parker, born April 2, 1900; Willia Rohinson King,
born August 13, 1875, married, December 19, 1895,
Bertha L. Gray, who died in 1897 ; married (second) ,
1898, Lena Reed and have two children — Stanwood
King, born September 16, 1899, and Raymond King,
born December 14, 1900; they reside at Greenwich
village; Edward Grafield King, born November 2,
1880, married Nellie M. Nevins, resides in Ware,
Massachusetts; Oscar Asa King, born October 1,
1883, resides at Greenwich; Harry Lucius King,
born September 18, 1886; Lawrence Taylor King,
born October 16, 1895. 5. Harvey Walker King,
born August 16, 1852, married Mrs. Helen Cleveland
and they have one daughter — Maude E. King, who
married Walter Burgess, resides in Somerville,
Massachusetts. 6. Della E. King, born Feb
ruary 8, 1857, married Ira Howe, died June, 1900.
7. Marshall J. King, born February 20, 1859, resides
in California. 8. Albert K. King, born September
30, 1862, resides in Oklahoma; married Ida Foster
and they have two children — Dow King, born March
9, 1803 ; Alice King, born July 25, 1895.
(VII) Jesse Woodward King, son of Stephen
King (6), was born in Danna, 1824, and died Decem
ber 3, 1865, aged thirty-one years. He married,
October 21, 1848, Huldah M. Barnes, daughter of
Amos Barnes. She married (second) Billings Cum
mings, November 22, 1859. She died December 10,
1868, aged thirty-eight years. Children of Jesse
Woodward and Huldah M. King were: Charles
Walter, born November 12, 1849.
(VIII) Charles Walter King, son of Jesse Wood
ward King (7), was born iri Hardwick, Massachu
setts, November 12, 1849. He was educated in the
public schools of Hardwick, Massachusetts, and
worked at farming until he came of age. He went to
Athol, Massachusetts, October 26, 1871, and engaged
in the trucking business. He added the ice and coal
business and had the contract for sprinkling the
streets of the town. He was successful in his vari
ous ventures. In 1884, however, he decided to enter
a larger field and came to Worcester, buying the
livery stable at the rear of Piedmont Court. In
May of that year he began business there and has

continued in the same line, though on a larger scale,
ever since. In 1886 he purchased the property at
13 Piedmont street and added another stable to his
holdings. He added also to his business the stable
at 59 High street, formerly conducted by Dr. Charles
H. Perry The premises there were remodeled and
extensively improved and enlarged. Mr. King has
won a prominent place among the business men of
the city and is counted among the leaders in his
line. He is an excellent judgeg of horse flesh, a
careful buyer and has a liking only for handling the
best stock. His stable is thoroughly modern. The
personal attention he gives to details is largely re
sponsible for the growth of the business.
Mr. King is a member of Ridgeley Lodge, No.
112, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Worcester
Lodge, No. 56, Ancient Order of United Workmen,
of which he was one of the organizers ; Helping
Hand Lodge ; and of Charles Devens Council, Amer
ican Mechanics. In political faith Mr. King is a Re
publican. His residence is at 13 Piedmont street.
He married, March 29, 1872, Lora E. King and
they have one child, Jesse Walter King, born in
Athol, March 21, 1879, now associated in business
with his father; married, 1905, Mabel Sanborn,
widow, of Worcester.
(Ill) Samuel King, son of John King (2), men
tioned above, was the ancestor of Lora E. King, who
married Charles W. King. Samuel was born in
Salem, Massachusetts, May, 1664. In 1716 he gave
a deed of land in Salem to Benjamin Lynde and
others. In 1719, as the eldest son, he was one of
the signers of a deed of partition of his father's
estate. He died before 1738, when his sons signed
a deed of partition recorded in Salem, 1754.
He married Elizabeth Marsh, daughter, of Zach-
ery and Mary (Silsbee) Marsh, of Salem, grand
daughter of John Marsh, who settled 1636-37 with
his wife Susan Skelton, daughter of Rev. Samuel
Skelton. Children of Samuel and Elizabeth King
were: 1. Lieutenant Samuel, lived in that part of
the town that became Danvers and had many de
scendants there. 2., Zachariah, married Hannah
Southwick, daughter of John and Mary (Trask)
Southwick; in 1739 he joined his brother, Ebenezer
King, in a deed to Joseph Goldthwait of rights in
the common lands in Salem; died about 1771, wife
Hannah administrator. 3. Ebenezer, born 1700, of
whom later.
(IV) Ebenezer King, son of Samuel King (3),
bought 120 acres of land in Rutland, August 5,
1754, though he may have lived there some time
before that. He bought his farm of Joseph and
Hepsibah Feiton and added to his holdings land
in Barre and Petersham. The Rutland history says
of him : "Ebenezer King and wife Mary with their
children were from Danvers. He bought the Simon
Davis farm, where he and his son for many years
kept a tavern. As early as 1724 there was an orchard
on this farm and some of the trees were standing
until lately. King was a town officer at Danvers
'before he moved and was prominent also at Rut
land. He deeded his property to his sons before
his death. The deed to his son William of Rut
land District (Barre) was "on account of fatherly
love and affection" and included several parcels _ of
land, one in Petersham, one in Barre containing
fifty acres, part of Farm No. 22, and was dated
March 20, 1770. Ebenezer King died in 1786, and
his estate was divided finally May 15, 1789- Chil
dren of Ebenezer and Mary King were: 1. Joseph,
married, November 22, 1778, Mary Church, daughter
of Ephraim Church; married (second) Esther
 ; was lieutenant in revolution. 2. William,
of whom later. 3. a daughter married  Par-

476

WORCESTER COUNTY

lin and left children, Lemuel and Hannah Parlin.
4. Hannah, married Thomas Stimpson.
(V) William King, son of Ebenezer King (4),
was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, about 1750.
He came to Rutland with his parents. He married
Sarah  , and they settled in Barre probably
on land of his father's. He had extensive dealings
in real estate. He bought land in 1795 of Ebenezer
Rice at Barre, and in 1795 of Samuel Bullard, also
of William Russell in 1790 a farm of seventy-two
acres and buildings. In 1788 he bought land and
buildings on the road from Rutland to Barre. He
was in Barre as early as 1771, when he bought five
acres of Moses Boyden. As late as 1804 he bought
land in Barre of Micah Hamilton. William King
was a soldier in the revolution, a private in Captain
Benjamin Nye's company, Colonel Nathan Spar-
hawk's regiment, enlisting August 21, 1777, and
marched to reinforce General Stark. He died March
17, 1813, aged seventy-nine years. His wife Sarah
died February 3, 1846, at the age of eighty-nine years.
Children of William and Sarah King were: Sarah,
born 1777, died in Barre, April 17, 1793; Samuel,
born August 25, 1778, of whom later ; Hannah, mar
ried, December 27, 1810, Luther Freeman, of Hard
wick; William, born in Barre, October 12, 1782,
married Hannah Fiske, December 11, 1816; John,
born in Barre about 1798; Samuel Lee was his
guardian after his father died, appointed February
1, 1814; married, May 15, 1816, Hannah, daughter
of Daniel and Eunice (Clark) Parlin.
(VI) Samuel King, son of William King (5),
was born at Barre, Massachusetts, August 25, 1778,
and settled there. He married. November 20, 1801,
Sophia Clark, of Hardwick. She was born March
10, 1784. Their children were: Mary, born June
16, 1802, died March 5, 1810; Anna P., born Decem
ber 25, 1803, married Elliott B. Trow, of Hardwick,
March 27, 1831; Sarah, born February 6, 1806;
William Putnam, born October 24, 1808, married
Caroline Morgan, of Brimfield, 1831 ; Harriet, born
August 25, 1810, married, June 23, 1831, Sylvanus
N. Atwood; Jennison Clark, born October 2, 181 1,
married, May 26, 1833, Cynthia Carruth; Charles,
born December 7, 1813 ; Charlotte, born May 1, 1816,
married, December 22, 1836, W. B. Blodgett; Sam
uel, born July 12, 1818, married, 1840, Sybil Ray-
" mond, of Hardwick; Mary, born November 26. 1821,
married, December 8, 1840, Charles M. Flagg;
Joseph, born May 28, 1824, of whom later; Jane,
born March 17, 1829.
(VII) Joseph King, son of Samuel King (6),
was born in Barre, Massachusetts, May 28, 1824. He
married Irene Burroughs, of Dover, New Hamp
shire and they had seven children, viz. : Elias F.,
born in Barre, January 28, 1847, married Mary
Bemas, of Oakham, Massachusetts ; Julia Maria,
born in Barre, December 25, 1849, married James
Brown, of Dana, and had — Ida, Alice, Arthur
Brown ; Lora, of whom later ; Anna, married George
W. Bishop, of Claremont; Frank, had children —
Lyman, Elias, Mary; Jennie, married Clarence A.
Charles, of Dana ; Charles, married Florence Need
ham, of Coldbrook, and had Irene and Ruth King.
(VIII) Lora King, daughter of Joseph King (7),
was born in Barre, Massachusetts. She is the wife
of Charles Walter King, whose name heads this
sketch. GEORGE PEIRCE. Abraham Peirce (1), one
of the "purchasers or old-comers" at Plymouth, was
the emigrant ancestor of George Peirce, of Wor
cester. Abraham Peirce was born in England and
was the first actual settler of that surname in Amer
ica. He' was a taxpayer in Plymouth Colony as

early as 1623, and he shared in a division of the
common cattle in 1627. In the same year he ex
changed two shares he owned in a red cow for a
ewe lamb owned by Captain Miles Standish. In
1629 he sold some land abutting on Hobbs Hole to
Thomas Clark for thirty pounds of tobacco. He was
admitted a freeman in 1633, was a taxpayer in 1634,
a house holder in 1637 and in 1639 and 1640 had
more land granted him. He served as a soldier in
1643 under the famous Captain Miles Standish. In
1645 he was one of the original purchasers of ancient
Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Rebecca
 , and settled at Duxbury. His daughter Alice
was taken to Barnstable for baptism by his wife's
sister, Goody Scudder, and baptized July 21, 1650.
He died 1673, and his son Abraham was appointed
administrator June 3, 1673. His children were: 1.
Abraham, born in Plymouth, January, 1638, mar
ried, October 29, 1695, Hannah Glass, of Duxbury;
he died in Duxbury, January, 1718. 2. Rebecca,
married  Wills, djed Marshfield, March 30,
1724. 3. Mary, married  Baker. 4. Alice,
baptized July 21, 1650, married  Parker, died
at Duxbury, 1673. 5. Isaac, born about 1661, mar
ried Alice  ; he died in Middleboro, now Lake-
ville, February 28, 1732, was a soldier in King
Philip's war.
(II) Isaac Peirce, son of Abraham Peirce (1),
was born about 1661 in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Tradition says that he had two thumbs on one hand.
He married Alice  . He died at Middleboro,
now Lakeville, Massachusetts, February 28, 1732.
His will was dated 1722. His children were:
Isaac, Jr.; Thomas, married, April 16, 1714, Naomi
Booth, of Middleboro ; Mary, married  Saund
ers; Lydia, married (first), July 3, 1706, John Hey-
ford, of Bridgewater; married (second), January
12, 1725, Aaron Seekel; Mercy, married, May 15,
1707, Joseph Trouant, of Bridgewater; Sarah, mar
ried  Macomber; Rebecca, married Samuel
Hoar, of Middleboro; she died July 12, 1765; he
died February 13, 1746.
Isaac Peirce, Sr., was left an orphan at the age
of thirteen and at the age of sixteen served in the
army in King Philip's war. For hi? services his
heirs received a grant of land in township No. 4,
in New Hampshire. This was exchanged later for
land at Greenwich, Massachusetts, then known as
Quabbin. His wife was said by tradition to be Alice
Chartley, whose fare from Scotland Isaac paid upon
her arrival and forthwith married her.
(Ill) Isaac Peirce, Jr., son of Isaac Peirce (2),
was born about 1680. He married (first), 1703,
Judith Booth, youngest daughter of John Booth, of
Scituate. She was bom March 13, 1680. They were
married, contrary to the law of the colony, accord
ing to the Quaker form. Isaac Peirce was a mem
ber of the Society of Friends. He was persecuted
to the extent that he was fined for not conforming
to the law regulating marriage. He pleaded guilty,
was fined and seems to have been let alone after
ward, whereas many of the Quakers had their homes
broken up by the religious fanatics then in control
of affairs in the colonies. Many Baptists suffered
the same way later. The curious ignorance shown
bv the genealogist of the Peirce family in reporting
this court record requires this explanation here.
John Booth, the father of Mrs. Peirce, was at
Scituate in 1656. His son Benjamin was a partner
of Isaac Peirce, Jr., his brother-in-law, in the pur
chase of a ti-sct of land, at Middleboro and Taunton
in 1709. Judith (Booth) Peirce died May 4, 1733-
He married (second). 1756, Abigail  . In his
will, made 1756, he bequeaths a negro slave Jack.
He died January 17, 1757. He was called a very

WORCESTER COUNTY

477

uncompromising man and he "suffered great dis
quietude because his children, except one, left the
Quakers and became Calvinist Baptists." According
ly he left to his Quaker son, the youngest, who had
been "willing and obedient" the lion's share of
his property. His children were : I. Ebenezer, born
1704, married, December 13, 1728, Mary Hoskins,
daughter of Henry Hoskins and granddaughter of
William Hoskins; Ebenezer died August 14, 1796;
his wife died October 5, 1768. 2. Isaac, born 1705,
married, May 5, 1735, Deliverance Holloway, of
Middleboro. 3. Elisha, married, November 10, 1738,
Margaret Paine, of Freetown, daughter of John
Paine and Rebecca Davis. 4. Abigail, married, Oc
tober 28, 1736, John Howland, of Middleboro ; she
died 1756; he died 1790, aged eighty. 5. Judith,
born July 4, 1709, married, December 2, 1736, Lieu
tenant Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Middleboro, who
was twelve years selectman, fourteen years in gen
eral court, lieutenant of Fourth Company of which
Isaac Peirce was ensign; she died January 22, 1792.
6. Elkanah, married, March 2, 1742, Hannah Eddy;
they were Quakers.
(IV) Isaac Peirce, son of Isaac Peirce (3), was
born about 1705. He married. May 5, 1735, De
liverance Holloway, of Middleboro. He was com
missioned ensign 1762 in the Fourth Company of
militia. The captain was Joseph Leonard, lieuten
ant, Thomas Nelson, colonel, George Watson, of
Plymouth. Ensign Peirce died September 18, 1782.
His wife died October 11, 1801, aged eighty-seven
years. Their children were: George, born October
16, 1735, married, September 14, 1757, Sarah Peirce,
daughter of Shadrach Peirce and a relative; he died
July 17, 1774; she died April 20, 1778. 2. An in
fant. 3. Enos, born September 30, 1739, married,
December 28, 1785, Ruth Durfee, of Freetown; he
died July 29, 1794; she died October 9, 181 1, aged
fifty-two. 4. David, born March 20, 1741, married,
July, 1764, Abigail Hathaway, daughter of Ensign
Hathaway, of Freetown; David was ensign of the
first militia company of Freetown, served in the revo
lution and was accidentally killed March 9, 1779, by
the fall of a tree while cutting timber; his widow
married Josuha Howard, of Freetown, March 3,
1789. 5. Silas, bora July 25, 1744. 6. Lucy, born
May 28, 1755, married, November 30, 1775, Captain
Samuel French, soldier, deputy sheriff of Bristol
county; died March 26, 1830; she died April 26,
1845; they resided at Berkeley Tavern, Berkeley,
Massachusetts. (V) Silas Peirce, son of Isaac Peirce (4), was
born July 25, 1744. He married Anna Hathaway,
of Taunton, October 31, 1771. She was the daughter
of Melatiah and Anna (Hoskins) Hathaway. Silas
was for nine months a private in the revolutionary
army under Captain Amos Washburn, of Middle
boro. He died May I, 1816, and was buried in East
Freetown, Massachusetts. The children of Silas
arid Anne (Hathaway) Peirce were : I. Hope, born
February 2, 1772, married Simeon Peirce, of Taun
ton; she died May 6, 1857; he died November 17,
1859. 2. David, bom October 12, 1773, died April
7, 1809. 3. Lucy, born March 31, 1776, married Levi
Peirce, of Middleboro, removed to Worcester county.
4- Anna, bom April 28, 1778, married Oliver Peirce,
Esq., of Middleboro ; she died February 12, 1847 ;
he died August 17, i860. 5. George, born August
24, 1780, married Eunice Tinkham, of Rochester,
Massachusetts; she died June 22, 1827, aged forty-
five. 6. Isaac, born February 10, 1786, married De
liverance Sherman, daughter of Nehemiah and De
borah (Peirce) Sherman; Isaac died 1868; he was
a private soldier in the war of 1812 in the coast
guard near Plymouth. 7. Judith, born April 20, 1788, ,

married William E. Ellis, of Rochester Massachu
setts she died May, 1861; resided at Rochester.
b. Deliverance, born March 4, 1790. 9. Meletiah H
born October 7, 1792, married Sally White
(VI) Meletiah Peirce, son of Silas Peirce (5),
was born October 7, 1792. He was a ship carpenter
by trade. He married Sally White, of Fairhaven
Massachusetts. His children were: Benjamin
Philip, Judith, Laura, Samuel, John M.
(VII) Benjamin Peirce, son of Meletiah Peirce
(6) , was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was
a carpenter. He married Mary A. Vail, and their
children were: George, born in New Bedford, July
19,, 1845; Benjamin Franklin, lives in the west; a
child who died at age of. two years.
(VIII) George Peirce, son of Benjamin Peirce
(7), was born m New Bedford, Massachusetts, July
19, . 1845. He attended the public schools of his
native place and worked on a farm during his
youth. He was only fifteen years old, however, when
he enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts In
fantry and was sent from New Bedford to Newport
News, Virginia, where he saw the famous encounter
of the Merrimac and Monitor. He was in the com
pany of Captain Willard Tripp, of Taunton, Com
pany F, Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteer
Militia, Colonel Ebenezer Peirce. He served three
years and seven months and was in twenty-three
battles. He was discharged July 29, 1865, and must
ered out in August. Among the engagements in
which he took part with his company were : Hamil
ton Roads, Virginia; Gaines Mills, Peach Orchard,
Savage Station, Shady Grove, Virginia; Cold Har
bor, Virginia; Petersburg, Virginia; Licks Station,
Popular Grove, Virginia; Fort Stedman, Virginia.
He was wounded at Cold Harbor and was taken
prisoner at Fort Stedman. He fought in White
Oak Swamp, Glendale, Malvern Hill, on the seven
days retreat with General McClellan, Second Bull's
Run, Antietam, Vicksburg, Mississippi; Jackson,
Mississippi; Blue Springs, Tennessee; Campbell's
Station, Tennessee; Fort Saunders, Tennessee, and
Totopotomoy, Virginia; he was at Petersburg in
1865. After the war he followed his trade as a car
penter at Springfield, Illinois. After two years he
removed to Walpole. Massachusetts. He worked
at Boston and Foxboro, Massachusetts, also. In
1872, soon after his marriage at Foxboro, he came
to Worcester and settled. He began in business for
himself as a contractor and builder, and in the
past thirty years has built niany dwelling houses
and business blocks in Worcester. Among the con
tracts he had was for the New Park Hotel, the
Bellmar Hotel and part of the Standish Apartment
Hotel. He is a member of Montacute Lodge, -A.
F. and A. M. ; of Post 10, G. A. R. ; A. O. U. W. ;
and the American Order of Fraternal Helpers.
He married, in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Isabella
D. Hatch, daughter of William Hatch. She died in
Worcester in 1884. He married (second) Sophia
G. Hatch, sister of his first wife. He married (third)
Mary A. Cummings, of North Brookfield. She
was the daughter of Benjamin Cummings, Jr., a
farmer of North Brookfield. Her grandfather, Ben
jamin Cummings, also of North Brookfield, married
Mary Ann Mead. The family was prominent in
the history of Brookfield and is one of the old Wor
cester county families. Mr. Peirce has no children.
He resides at 131 Pleasant street, Worcester, Massa
chusetts. WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. Samuel Rich
ardson (1) was the first ancestor in this country
of William A. Richardson, of Worcester. Three

478

WORCESTER COUNTY

brothers, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson
settled in Woburn, Massachusetts. Samuel was born
about 1610 and the first record of his name was in
1636. The three brothers and four others were the
founders of Woburn, all coming from Charlestown.
A street in Woburn, where they located, is still known
as Richardson's Row. Samuel was selectman in
1644-45-46-49-50-51; the largest taxpayer in 1645.
His wife joined the church at Charlestown, Sep
tember 9, 1639. He died Marcli 23, 1658. Their
children were: I. Mary, baptized February 25, l637r
38; married Thomas Mousall, son of Deacon John
Mousall, one of the founders. 2. John, baptized
November 12, 1639; married Elizabeth Bacon, Mary
Pierson, Margaret Willing. 3. Hannah and tlie fol
lowing were born in Woburn, she was born March
8, 1641-2; died April 8, 1642. 4. Joseph, born July
27, 1643 ; married Hannah Green. 5. Samuel, born
May 22, 1646; married Martha  , Hannah
Kingsbury, Phebe Baldwinn, Sarah Hayward. 6.
Stephen (see forward). 7. Thomas, born December
31, 1651 ; died September 27, 1657. 8. Elizabeth,
born 1665.
(II) Stephen Richardson, son of Samuel (1)
and Joanna Richardson, born at Woburn, August
15, 1649; married January 2, 1674-5, at Billerica,
Abigail (Read) Wyman. He took the freeman's
oath 1690; died March 22, 1717-18. His widow died
September 17, 1720. Their children were: I.
Stephen, born February 20, 1675-6; married Susanna
Wilson. 2. Francis, January 19, 1677-8; died Janu
ary 27, 1677-8. 3. William, December 14, 1678;
married Rebecca Vinton. 4. Francis, January 15,
1680-1 ; married Sarah Houghton. 5. Timothy, De
cember 6, 1682; died January 18, 1683. 6. Abigail,
November 14, 1683 ; married John Vinton. 7. Prud
ence, January 17, 1685-6; married Samuel Kendall.
8. Timothy, January 24, 1687-8; married Susanna
Holden. 9. Seth, January 16, 1689-90; married Mary
Brown. 10. Daniel, October 16, 1691 ; married Jo
anna Mousall. 11. Mary, May 3, 1696. 12. Rebecca,
June 10, 1698; died December 6, 1711. 13. Solomon,
March 27, 1702; married Abigail Evans, of Reading.
(Ill) William Richardson, son of Stephen (2)
and Abigail Richardson, born at Woburn, Decem
ber 14, 1678; married September 15, 1703, Rebecca
Vinton, born March 26, 1683, daughter of John and
Hannah (Green) Vinton, of Woburn. They re
moved to Stoneham in 1710, and to Attleboro in
1718. Their children were : 1. Rebecca, born Au
gust 4, 1704 ; died unmarried. 2. Hannah, born Oc
tober 28, 1706. 3. Abigail, born April 18, 1709; mar
ried John Shepard. 4. William, bom April 17, 1712.
5. Stephen, born September 7, 1714, died unmarried
November 11, 1797. 6. John (see forward). 7.
Joanna, born September 17, 1722.
(IV) John Richardson, son of William (3) and
Rebecca Richardson, born at Attleboro, November
27. 1719 ; married Elizabeth Wilmarth, April 19,
1742. Their children were: 1. Lucy, born Decem
ber 5, 1742. 2. John, born May 24, 1744; married
Ruth Woodcock. 3. Wyman (see forward). 4. Bet
sey, born April 4, 1748. 5. Joel, born October 10,
1750; married Sarah Wyman. 6. Henry, born Au
gust 7, 1752; married Olive Blackinton.
_ (V) Wyman Richardson, son of' John (4) and
Elizabeth Richardson, born at Attleboro, May 13,
1746; married October 31, 1771, Ruth Lane, born
at Norton, Massachusetts, December 1, 1752. They
removed to Swanzey, New Hampshire, October, 1779.
His wife died at Acworth, New Hampshire, January
2. 1835. He died October 14. 1839, at the age of
ninety-three years. Their children were: 1. Ruth
and 2. Orra (twins), born August 8, 1772; 3. Azubah,
February 8, 1775 ; died at Acworth, New Hampshire,

August, 1838. 4. Wyman (see forward). 5. El
kanah, July 9, 1780; died at Stow, Ohio, January
8, 1836. 6. Stephen, June 4, 1783. 7. Luna, May 10,
1785; died July 11, 1824. 8. Ruth, September 18,
1787. 9. Calvin, July 17, 1790; died at Wolcott,
Vermont, July 12, 1828. 10. Lucy,  14, 1793 ;
died at Newfane, Vermont, May, 1830. 11. Sophia,
July 8, 1796; died at Swanzey, New Hampshire,
September 25, 1813. 12. Esther, April 27, 1799; died
at Newfane, May 12, 1833.
(VI) Wyman Richardson, son of Wyman (5).
and Ruth Richardson, born at Attleboro, June 10,
1777; married at Richmond, New Hampshire, Oc
tober 22, 1802, Deliverance Bolles, daughter of Elder
Nathaniel Bolles, of Rochester and Richmond, New
Hampshire, born at Richmond, July 23, 1782. Wy
man Richardson learned the blacksmith's trade from
his father, who was also a proficient cooper, and
worked at both trades. He died February 26, 1868,
aged ninety years.. His wife died August n, 1870.
Their children were: 1. Wyman (see forward).
2. Nathaniel, born December 21, 1804; married
Eurelia Young. 3. Delia, born April 23, 1807 ; mar
ried Hiram Boardman. 4. Luna Bolles, born De
cember 27, 1809; married Mary Kimball. 5. Thank
ful, born January 17, 1813 ; married Ethan Lord and
had five children. 6. Almira, born October 16, 1817;
married Jonathan Goodell and had one son, Jona
than. 7. Nathan Henry, born May 31, 1823; mar
ried Martha Ann Barber. 8. Phebe Sophia, born
April 19, 1826; married Lorenzo N. Hewes and had
seven children.
(VII) Wyman Richardson, son of Wyman (6)
and Deliverance, grandson of Wyman (5), and
great-grandson of John (4), and father of William
A., born at Swanzey, New Hampshire, March 5,
1803 ; married at Athol, Massachusetts, August 13,
1827, Arethusa Southwick (Lee), bom at Shutes
bury, Massachusetts, March 6, 1809. They settled
at Corinth, Vermont, where the three eldest chil
dren were born, then removed to Athol and Fitch
burg, Massachusetts. They resided at Barre, Peter-
sham^ and Boston. At Petersham he was the
superintendent of a button factory which was burned
in 1847, when the family moved to a part of Barre
known as Smithville, from the name of the mill
owner, John Smith, whose machinery Richardson
was put in charge of, after being employed first as
a machine hand. In 1850 David J. Foster, one of
the proprietors of the button factory that was burned
at Petersham, opened a new shop in Boston, and
Richardson, together with his sons moved thither
to work for him. After a few years in Boston
Richardson moved to Fitchburg and went into' busi
ness as a rattan manufacturer, his sons working
for him. Their children were: 1. Solon Oscar,
born July 3, 1828 ; married Nancy Nichols Fair
banks ; died March 31, 1872. 2. Seneca Merrill,
born December 5, 1829 ; married Emily D. Earle, of
Worcester, and was partner in the manufacturing
firm of Wetherbee, Rugg & Richardson, had a daugh
ter, Harriet. 3. Lyman Collins, born November 26,
183 1 ; never married; located on Pacific coast; was
in British service. 4. William Augustus, December
20, 1833; married Mary Ann Cowen, daughter of
Captain Robert Cowen, of Plymouth, ' Massachu
setts. 5. Charles Oswald, born November 13, 1839;
died at Athol September 26, 1840.
(VIII) William Augustus Richardson, son of
.Wyman (7) and Arethusa Richardson, was born
at Athol, Massachusetts, December 20, 1833. When
the family moved to Barre William was seven years
old, and there he obtained most of hig schooling,
though for a time he attended school at Petersham.
His first work was in the mill at Smithville as a

WORCESTER COUNTY

479

machine hand. He worked at the various branches
of the machinist's trade with and for his father,
becoming a mechanic of extraordinary skill. He
went with his father to Foster's button factory, in
Boston, and was with him in his rattan factory at
Fitchburg. In i860 he went to Waltham as an ex
pert machinist for the American Watch Company.
In 1863 he started in business for himself in New
York, manufacturing rattan goods but after one
year gave it up and entered the employ of Ball &
Williams, gun manufacturers, at Worcester. Later
he went into the factory of Frank Wesson, at Wor
cester, to manufacture pistols under the patents of
Gilbert H. Harrington, who subsequently became a
partner of Mr. Richardson, and whom he met there
for the first time. In 1874 the foundation of the
Harrington & Richardson Arms Company was made,
in a partnership between William A. Richardson and
Gilbert H. Harrington, to manufacture guns. They
started in quarters at 18 Manchester street, but these
soon were top small and they moved to 31 Hermon
street, where they continued until March 1, 1894,
enlarging their factory from time to time as busi
ness grew. The firm of Harrington & Richardson
were the exclusive manufacturers of the celebrated
Anson & Deeley hammerless gun, the first of its
kind to be made in this country from 1880 to 1887.
They secured a patent in April, 1887, for the safety
hammerless gun, and in the same year in October
patented the cylinder catch which is still used. They
took out a design patent iri 1889, applying to stocks,
and in 1895 a patent applying to lever springs. They
own other valuable patents. In January, 1888, the
firm was incorporated as The Harrington & Rich
ardson Arms- Company. The capital is- $75,000. Mr.
Harrington was president, Mr. Richardson, treasurer,
and George F. Brooks, secretary. Since the death
of the two partners Mr. Brooks has been the man
ager. The present handsome building was built
in 1893-4. It is a five story brick structure situated
at the corner of the Boulevard and Chandler street.
In 1900 and 1901 large additions were made to the
factory. It now covers 100,000 square feet and about
five hundred hands are employed. No more at
tractive building, architecturally, has been built for
manufacturing in this city of many mills and fac
tories. No more prosperous and well-ordered busi
ness is to be found in New England. It is one of
the shops to which Worcester people point with
pride, and it constitutes perhaps the most substantial
and enduring monument to the mechanical skill
and business sagacity of Mr. Richardson and his
partner. Mr. Richardson's skill and love for the
mechanics must have been largely inherited from
his ancestors who were blacksmiths and machinists.
He was conceded to be one of the most skillful
machinists in the state. Personally Mr. Richardson
was a careful, unostentatious man, generous with his
wealth, but preferring domestic life above all things.
He was a member of no societies or clubs. He was
a member and trustee of the First Universalist
Church and was liberal in his gifts to churches and
charities. He gave a large sum to All Souls' Church.
Since his death his wife has continued to_ donate
as she thinks he would have done had his life been
spared. She recently gave to St. Lawrence Uni
versity, of which the Rev. Dr. Gunnison, formerly
pastor of the First Universalist Church, is the presi
dent, a gift of $10,000. He was a Republican in
politics. The dominant characteristic of Mr. Rich
ardson was that of most self-made men, it was un
tiring energy and tenacity. He stuck to an idea,
and followed up a project to the end. He took an
honorable satisfaction in the knowledge that his suc
cess in life had come without outside aid. His

only capital was his skilful hands at the start. He
never would accept his wife's fortune to aid him.
He married Mary Ann Cowen, daughter of Captain
Robert and Ann (Tilden) Cowen. Her father was
a ship master at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They
had no children but reared several. Mr. Richard
son died November 21, 1897. Mrs. Richardson lives
at their handsome home, 921 Main street, Worcester.
EDWIN HAWES. Edward Hawes (1),, one of
the early settlers of Dedham, Massachusetts, was
the emigrant ancestor of Edwin Hawes, of Wor
cester. He was a mason by trade. He came from
England and was in Dedham as early as 1648, when
the records show that he was engaged to plaster
the meeting house there. He died June 28, 1686.
He married, April 15, 1648, at Dedham, Eliony
Lumber or Lombard. (See sketch in this work of
Manson D. Hawes). Children of Edward Hawes
were: 1. Lydia, born January 26, 1649; married
 Gay. 2. Mary, born November 4, 1650. 3.
Daniel (see forward). 4. Hannah, born February
1, 1654-5, married, January 5, 1676, "John Mason.
5. John, born December 17, 1657, died February 21,
1731-2. 6. Nathaniel, born August 14, 1660, died
October 16, 1714. 7. Abigail, born October 2, 1662,
married John Fales. 8. Joseph, born August 9, 1664.
9. Deborah, born September 1, 1666, married (first)
Ephraim Pond ; married (second)  Bacon.
(II) Daniel Hawes, son of Edward Hawes (1),
born February 10, 1652, at Dedham, Massachusetts;
married, February n, 1677, Abial Gay, born April
23, 1649, daughter of John and Joanna Gay. John
Gay came to Watertown from England before 1635,
and removed to Dedham in 1636. He was admitted
a freeman May 6, 1635. He was a town officer of
Dedham. His wife Joanna was admitted to the
Dedham church, July 25, 1639, and John Balducke,
her son by a former husband, was baptized August
8, 1639. John Gay died March 4, 1688, and his will
was proved December 17, 1689. The children of
John and Joanna Gay were: 1. Samuel, born March
10, 1639. 2. Hezekiah, born July 3, 1640. 3. Nathan
iel, born February n, 1642-3. 4. Joanna, born
March 23, 1644, married John Ware. 5. Eliezer, born
June 25, 1647. 6. Abial (twin) born April 23, 1649,
married Daniel Hawes. 7. Judith (twin), born April
23, 1649, married John Ware. 8. John, born May,
1651. 9. Jonathan, born August 1, 1653. 10. Han
nah, born October 16, 1656. 11. probably Elizabeth",
who married Richard Martin at Salem in 1660.
(Lydia Hawes married one of the sons, probably).
Daniel Hawes died March 16, 1737-8, aged eighty-
six years. His children were: 1. Mary,, born Sep
tember 17, 1679, married Eleazer Ware. 2. Abigail,
born November 15, 1681, married Thomas Mann.
3. Daniel (see forward). 4. Josiah, born April 6,
1686. 5. Hezekiah, born November 22, 1688, mar
ried Esther Ware. 6. Ruth, born July 9, 1691, mar
ried Nathaniel Wright. 7. Benjamin, born March
14, 1696, married Abigail Fales.
(Ill) Daniel Hawes, son of Daniel Hawes (2),
born in Dedham, March 30, 1684, died January 15,
1763.. He settled in Wrentham, Massachusetts, in
what is now Franklin. He married, December 20,
1710, Beriah Mann. Their children were : 1. Daniel,
born October 24, 1711. 2. Samuel, born January 7,
1713. 3. Peletiah, born October 8, 1714, married
Judith Peck. 4. Moses, bora August 28, 1716. 5.
Aaron, born April 13, 1718. 6. Ichabod, born Sep
tember 18. 1720. 7. Timothy, born June, 21, 1722,
married Mary Ware. 8. Beriah (twin), born March
30, 1724. 9. Josiah (see forward). 10. Mary, born
February 11, 1725-6, married Ebenezer Lawrence.
11. Joseph, born March 21, 1727-8.

480

WORCESTER .COUNTY

(IV) Josiah Hawes, son of Daniel Hawes (3),
born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, March 30, 1724,
died February 28, 1804. He settled in Franklin,
Massachusetts, and married, December 18, 1751,
Maria Lyon, who died August 28, 1779. Their
children were: I. Abijah, born August 31, (Sep
tember n, new style) 1752, at Wrentham, died Jan-
1 uary 10, 1839, at Wrentham ; settled at Union, Maine,
married, December, 1782, second cousin, Margaret
Hawes, born May 9, 1756, died May 24, 1833; had
five children. 2. Mary, born October 27, 1753, died
August 8, 1785. 3. Mathias (see forward). 4. Je
mima, born January 28, 1761, died April 26, 1835;-
married, November 23, 1782; Eliab Wright or Wight,
of Bellingham. 5. Beriah, born April 17, 1762,
died October 20, 1818. 6. Levi, born May 22, 1765,
died September 4, 1839; married, January 1, 1793,
Permelia Clark, who died September 4, 1839. The
old house in which Josiah Hawes, of Franklin, lived,
built about two hundred years ago, is standing, or
was until recently.
(V) Mathias Hawes, son of Josiah Hawes (4),
born at Franklin, Massachusetts (then Wrentham),
October 6, 1754, died November 4,' 1828; married,
January 1, 1783, in' Warren, Maine, Sarah Payson,
daughter of Captain Samuel Payson, who subse
quently moved from Warren to Hope, Maine, where
he died. Their children were: Sarah or Sally,
born April 5, 1784, died December 10, 1850; mar
ried William Brown, son of James and Ruth Brown,
and left many descendants. 2. James, born Novem
ber 11, 1785, died November 23, or 24, 1793, of throat
distemper. 3. Mary, born June 17, 1787; married,
August 14, 1808, Simon Barrett, born at Concord,
Massachusetts, September 24, 1765 ; resided at Hope,
Maine ; died at Augusta, Maine, April 20, 1845, and
left many descendants. 4. Sukey (twin of Mary),
born June 17, 1787, died of throat distemper, Decem
ber 20, 1793. 5. Oliver, born March 8, 1789, died
March 11, 1789. 6. Hermon (twin), born January
6, died January 17, 1790. 7. Pliny (twin), born
January 6, died' January 17, 1790. 8. Meletiah, born
April 21, 1791, married, June 2, 1825, David Crab-
tree, born February 26, 1781, resided at Hope, Maine.
9. Otis (see forward). 10. Austin, born September
22, 1794, died April 5, 1795. n. Noyes Payson, born
February 4, 1796, married, October 25, 1827, Abigail
Richardson, daughter of John Wilkes Richardson,
of Franklin, Massachusetts; resided at Boston. 12.
July, born November 17, 1797. 13. Silas, born Au
gust 1, 1799. 14. Lavinia Anthony, born September
20, 1800, married Vinal Ware. 15. Galen, born April
13, 1802, lived on the old homestead in Union, died
August 4, 1834; married, January 6, 1831, Harriet
Lindley, i daughter of Captain John W. Lindley;
widow married (second) Elias Blake, of Bangor,
Maine. 16. Levi, born December 24, 1804, died Au
gust 12, 1805. 17. Child, stillborn, July, 1806. 18.
Child, stillborn, August, 1807. 19. Madison, born
March 24, 1809, printer, resided in California; mar
ried, May 1, 1854, Nancy Nelson Dam.
(VI) Otis Hawes, son of Mathias Hawes (5),
born at Union, Maine, January 21 or 31, 1793 ; mar
ried, September 20, 1818, Elsie Davis, daughter of
John Davis, of Appleton, Maine. Their children
were: 1. Sarah, born April 9, 1820, died September
23, 1838. 2. Silas (see forward). 3. Roxanna Nott,
born December 18, 1823, married, 1843, Isaac C.
Hovey and had: Arthur M. and Carrie E. 4.
Lavinia A., born July 20, 1825, married Rev. Albert
Thurston. 5. Philander, born September 22, 1827.
6. Julia, born December 17, 1829. 7. Cyrene J., born
February 9, 1833, resides in Union, Maine, unmarried.
8. Laurinda, born July 19, 1835, married Augustus

Vaughan. 9. Edwin, born November 3, 1839. 10.
Charles Barrett, born November 26, 1841.
(VII) Silas Hawes, ion of Otis Hawes (6),
born at Union, Maine, December 26, 1821 ; married,
September 10, 1848, Margaret Hills, daughter of
Sarah B. Hills. (See Hills Family sketch). 'He
resided at Union, Maine, where he owned a farm.
Children were: 1. Emma F., born December 20,
1849, married Levi Daniels; resides at South Union
in the town of Union, Maine, and has one son,
Nathan S., who married Mabel N. Moody. He
works with his father on the farm. 2. Anna Flor
ence, born July 11, 1852, resides at Union, Maine;
unmarried. 3. William, born at Union, Maine, De
cember 20, 1854, owns the old Hills homestead at
Union, Maine. 4. Edwin (see forward).
(VIII) Edwin Hawes, son of Silas Hawes (7),
was born at Union, Maine, January 23, 1857. He
spent his boyhood in his native town. He attended
the district and village schools of Union and worked
on the farm. At the age of seventeen he left home
and entered the shops of the Walworth Manufac
turing Company, in Boston. This company was en
gaged in_ the steam-heating business, together with
steam fitting, etc. Within a year a business depres
sion caused Mr. Hawes to leave this position, and
he went to work next for Morey & Rogers, at Hollis
ton, manufacturing straw hats. After leaving the
business he went to the shop of H. O. Bernard &
Co., straw manufacturers, at Westborough, Massa
chusetts, where for nine years he was employed
as a blocker. In 1885 he returned to the steam-heat
ing business, and became shop foreman for the
firm of Braman, Dow & Company, Washington
Square, Worcester. This is the oldest house of its
kind in the city. The firm is in business still having
its headquarters in Boston, and a very prosperous
store and shop in Worcester.
Mr. Hawes went into business on his own account
in the same line, June 1, 1893, in a small shop on
Canal street, near the corner of Front street. He
was successful in his venture and soon took the store
at 246 Main street, where he remained until Flint
& Barker took a lease on the building and he had
to seek a new location. In 1898 he removed his
store and shop to 185 Front street, where he was
located for about three years. In 1900 he removed
to his present location at 17 Vine street. The busi
ness was incorporated under the laws of Massachu
setts in 1905. The officers of the company are:
President, Edwin Hawes ; secretary and treasurer,
James E. L. Todd. Mr. Hawes is also treasurer of
the Eddy Manufacturing Company, which makes
razor strops at 42 Southbridge street, Worcester.
He is a director of the company also. He is a mem
ber of Anchoria Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows; the Hancock Club and the board of trade.
In politics he is a staunch Republican. He belongs
to Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. He mar
ried, November 10, 1884, Hattie L. Richardson,
daughter of Duquesnel H. Richardson, . of West
Brookfield, Massachusetts. They have one son:
Herbert Richardson, born in Worcester, May 30,
1887 ; graduate of the Worcester classical high school,
1905, and a member of the class of 1909, Dartmouth
College. HILLS FAMILY. Joseph Hills (1), the emi
grant, ancestor of Edwin Hawes through his moth
er's line, was born in the parish of Great Burstead,
Billericay, Essex county, England. He was bap
tized there March, 1602, son of George Hills, who
married Mary Simonds, of Billericay, widow of
the late William Symonds, of Billericay, tanner. The

WORCESTER 'COUNTY

481

marriage license was dated October 13, 1596, at
which time Joseph Hills did not use the final "s" in
his surname, lt appears first February, 1608, prob
ably through a change in the vicar who kept the
records. Joseph Hills married Rose Clarke, at Great
Burstead, July 22, 1024, and the elder children were
born tliere. Not later than March, 1032, he and
his family removed to Maldou, a place in Essex
county, England, which was the birthplace of their
sons John and Stephen, and daughter Sarah. In
1638 he was an "undertaker" or stockholder iu the
voyage of the "Susan and Ellen," which arrived
July 17, 1O38, at Boston, with him and "his family.
They made their first abiding place in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, near the Market place, but soon re
moved to a farm on the Mystic side, lie was one
of the founders of the town of Maiden, lie was
the first deputy to the general court, and continu
ously represented tbe town in the legislature until
1664. It was he who gave the name to the town,
after the name of his last place of residence in
England, Maldon. He was selectman of Maiden in
1644 and speaker of the house of deputies in 1647.
He was captain of the Trainband, and willed his buff
coat to bis son Samuel, and his back sword to
Henry Lunt, his step-son. lie was one of the most
prominent legislators of his day. In 1666, when he
retired from public life, he was succeeded by his
son-in-law, John Waite, who filled the position of
deputy for nineteen years, being speaker in 1684
and nominated as a magistrate in 1083.
In 1645 Joseph Hills was named by the general
court to set out the lots to settlers in the Nasha-
way plantation. In 1650 he was second on a com
mittee, of which the governor was the chairman, to
draw up instructions for the Massacliusetts dele
gates to a gathering of commissioners of all the
colonies. In 1653 he served on a commission to
consider the question as to whether the LTnited
Colonies have power by the articles of agreement
to engage the colonies in war. In 1654, with Captain
Hawthorne, Captain Johnson and the treasurer of
the colony, he was on a coihmittee to frame an an
swer to the home government, which had demanded
an explanation of certain acts. He was on a com
mittee to audit the treasury accounts in 1650-53-01.
He framed the first code of laws in- the colony, and
was for many years engaged in the revision of the
statutes. In 1648 he was one of tlie committee that
reported the first codification of the laws of the
colony, and it was he who compiled the laws, pre
pared the copy for the printer and supervised the
printing. He was voted as extra compensation for
his work five hundred acres of land on the Nashua
river and remission of taxes in his old age. He was
appointed more times to edit the laws than even
Governor Bellingham.
His wife died in Maiden, March 24, 1650, and he
married (second), June 21, 1651, Hannah (Smith)
Mellows, widow of Edward Mellows, of Charles
town, who died 1655. In January, 1056. he married
(third) Helen, Ellen or Eleanor Atkinson. She
died January 6, 1063. In one of his marriages Mr.
Hills acted the part of magistrate as well as groom,
and married himself. The law required marriages
to be solemnized by magistrates. Governor Belling
ham set Mr. Hills an example by marrying himself
to Penelope Pelham. He was called upon to come
down and plead to a complaint against him for the
act. bin he refused to do so. Joseph Hills, being a
magistrate to end small causes, followed the ex
ample of the governor, January, 1O56, and was pre
sented to the grand jury for marrying himself con
trary to the laws of the colony. The records show

that he freely acknowledged his offense therein and
his misunderstanding the grounds whereon he wefit,
which he now confesseth to be unwarrantable. And
he was admonished by the court. (.Middlesex county
records). He married (fourth) at Newbury, Massa
chusetts, Ann Lunt, widow of Henry Lunt, aud
made his home at Newbury his residence thereafter.
He became blind in 1678. He died at New
bury, Massachusetts, February 5, 1088. His children
were : 1, Mary, baptized at Great Burstead, Eng
land, November 13, 1O25, died at Maiden, November
25, 1074. 2. Elizabeth, born in Great Burstead, bap
tized October 21, 1027, died at Maiden. 3. Joseph,
born at Great Burstead, August 2, 1629, died at
Maiden, April 19, 1074. 4. James, born at Maldon,
England, March 6, 1031, died young. 5. John, born
in Maldon, England, March 21, 1632, died at Mai
den, July 28, 1652. 6. Rebecca, born April 20,
1034, died at Maiden, Massachusetts, June 16, 1074.
7. Steven, born May I, 1O30, died at Maldon before
1038. 8. Sarah, born at Maldon, baptized August 14,
1637, died there August 14, 1637. 9. Gershom, born
at Charlestown. July 27, 1039, died in Maiden, Massa
chusetts, between 1710 and 1721. 10. Mehitable,
born at Maiden, Massachusetts. January 1, 1641,
died there July, 1652. 11. Samuel, (see forward).
12. Nathaniel, horn at Maiden, Massachusetts, De
cember 19, 1653, died there 1664. 13. Hannah, born
at Maiden. 14. Deborah, bom at Maiden, Massa
chusetts, March, 1057, died at Maiden, October,
ibb2. 15. Abigail, born at Maiden, October 6, 1658,
died there October 9, 1662.
(II) Samuel Hills, son of Joseph Hills (1), was
born at SI alden, July, }6$2, died at Newbury, Massa
chusetts, August 18, 1732. He was a sergeant in the
service during King Philip's war, and was in the
battle of Bloody Brook, September 18, 1675, and
Narragansett, December 19, 1675. He nmrried at
Newbury. Massacliusetts, May 20, 1677. Abigail
Wheeler, who died April 13. 1742, daughter of
David and Sarah (Wise) Wheeler, of Newbury,
Massachusetts. David Wheeler was die son of John
Wheeler, who was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
England, 1O25, and came over in the "Confidence"'
in 1638. He married Sarah Wise. May 11, 1650.
Children of Samuel and Abigail (, Wheeler) Hills
were: 1. Samuel, born at Newbury, Massachusetts,
February 16, 1680, died at Rehoboth, July 17. 1748.
2. Joseph, born at Newbury, July 21, 10S1. died at
Newbury, November 6, 1745. 3. Nathaniel, born at
Newbury. February 9, 1683, died at Hudson, New
Hampshire, April 12. 1748. 4. Benjamin, (see for
ward). 5. Abigail, born at Newbury, September
2, 1086, died there August 11, 1688. 6. Henry, born
at Newbury, April 23. 168S. died at Hudson, New
Hampshire, August 20, 1757. 7. William, born at
Newbury, October 8, 1089, died there before January
20, 1724. 8. Josiah, bom at Newbury, July 27. uxh,
died there April 20. 1726. 9. John, born at New
bury, September 20, 1003, died after 1734. 10. Abi
gail, born at Newbury, June 27, 1695. 11. James.
(.twin) bom at Newbury, February 26. >i097. 12.
Hannah, (twin) born at Newbury. February 26.
1697. 13. Daniel, born at Newbury, December 8.
1700, removed to Nottingham west, then to Nova
Scotia about 1754. 14. Smith, born at Newbury.
April 10, 1706. died at Leominster, Massachusetts,
August 23. 1786.
(,111) Benjamin Hills, son of Samuel Hills (jl,
bom at Newbury, Massachusetts. Oetober 16. 10S4,
died at Chester. New Hampshire, November 3,
1702 ; married, November 7, 1709, Rebecca Ordway.
daughter of Hananiah and Abigail Ordway. Han-
aniah was the son of James Ordway. Rebecca
was born December 22. 1690, died September 4.

482

WORCESTER COUNTY

1769. His children, all born at Newbury, Massa
chusetts, were: 1. Samuel, (see forward). 2. Abi
gail, born November 3, 1713, married Isaac Bailey.
4. Joannah, born March 15, 1717, married Thomas
Haseltine. 5. Ruth, born March 15, 1719, married
Nathan Mason. 6. Benjamin, born March 12, 1721,
died at Chester, New Hampshire, May 6, 1801. 7.
Abner, born February 13, 1723, died at Chester, Oc
tober 3, 1794. 8. Hannah, born November 10, 1724,
died October 5, 1806. 9. Prudence, born February
12, 1726, died 1773. 10. Moses, born February 9,
1728. (IV) Samuel Hills, son of Benjamin Hills (3),
born at Newbury, Massachusetts, August 10, 1710,
died at Chester, New Hampshire, February 2, 1762;
married (first), January ,28, 1735, Rebecca Thurs
ton, of Newbury. She died May 21, 1743; married
(second), November 18, 1743, Elizabeth Swain, of
Newbury. She died July 31, 1793. She married
(second) Ebenezer Dearborn, after the death of
Samuel Hills. He had three children by the first
and ten by the second marriage. His children were :
1. Edmund, born in Newbury, December 7, 1735. 2.
John, born May 25, 1738, died February 22, 1818.
3. Samuel, born May 17, 1743. 4. Isaac, born August
31, 1744, died at Chester, September 24, 1824. 5.
Stephen, born at Chester, March 29, 1746, died .at
Amesbury, Massachusetts, January 31, 1831. 6.
Elizabeth, born at Chester, January 4, 1747, died
1778. 7. Hannah, born at Chester, June 5, 1750. 8.
Reuben, (see forward). 9. Rachel, born at Ches
ter, August 6, 1754. 10. Rebecca, born at Chester,
August 6, 1756. 11. Josiah, born at Chester, October
30, 1760, died at Chester, September 22, 1790. 13.
Rachel, born at Chester, May 12, 1762.
(V) Reuben Hills, son of Samuel Hills (4),
was born at Chester, New Hampshire, August 14,
1752. He removed to Hawke, now Danville, New
Hampshire, thence to Union, Maine. He was a sol
dier in the revolution. He was prominent in the.
Methodist church, but late in life became a Quaker.
He married, January 18, 1779, Sarah Currier, daugh
ter of Gideon Currier. She died at Union, Maine,
November 1, 1835. He died there September 28,
1828. Their children, ten of whom were born in
Danville, New Hampshire, and two in Union,
Maine, were: 1. Samuel, (see forward). 2. Sarah,
born January 27, 1781, died at Searsmont, Maine,
May 3, 1862; married John Dickey, January 20,
1803, resided at Searsmont. 3. Nathan, born July
17, 1784, died at Union, Maine, August 28, 1858. 4.
Reuben, born March 2, 1786, died at Lincolnville,
Maine, October 3, 1874. 5- Josiah, born April 2,
1788, died- in Union, Maine, March 28, 1875. 6, Isaac,
born February 12, 1790, died at Lincolnville, Maine,
January 7, 1840. 7. Nancy, bora January 29, 1793,
died at Union, Maine, May 25, 1862; married, Jan
uary 1*1, 1817, Jonathan Eastman. 8. Betsey, born
March 2, 1795, died May 8, 1796, in Union, Maine.
9. Dr. Cyrus, born January 16, 1797, died at Cush
ing, Maine, October 26, i860. 10. Alden, born July
14, 1801, drowned at Union, Maine, July 17, 1807.
11. Charlotte, born June 29, 1802, died 1804. 12.
Louisa, born July 6, 1804, died in Union, Maine,
June 11, 1850; married, February 14, 1822, George
Silloway. (VI) Samuel Hills, son of Reuben Hills (5),
was born at Danville, New Hampshire, November
18, 1779, died at Union^ May 16, 1853. He was a
farmer and settled at Union. He should not be con
fused with a distant relative, Samuel Hills, living
in Union at the 'same time, whose son, Joel Hills,
married Abigail Hawes, daughter of Levi and Pa-
melia Hawes, of this same line of the Hawes family
into which the daughter Margaret of the first named

Samuel Hills (6) married. Samuel Hills married,
January n, 1816, Sarah B. Rogers, who died Octo
ber, 1836. Children were : 1. Edward, married Al-
mena Drake, had ten children, resided at Thomaston,
Maine, and was high sheriff of the county. 2. Israel,
resided at Appleton, Maine. 3. Benjamin B., born
February 18, 1821, married at Union, Amelia H.
Oxton, of Appleton, March 11, 1849; went to War
ren and built a house on the Patterson road. 4.
Emeline, married John Walton, resides at Union.
5. Margaret, married Silas Hawes. 6. Samuel, Jr.,
married and resided at New Orleans, Louisiana. 7.
Sarah, born at Union, married Nathaniel Thurs
ton; resides at Union.
(VII) Margaret Hills, daughter of Samuel Hills
(6), was born in Union, Maine; married Silas
Hawes, before mentioned.
DR. EMIL SAUER, a well established gen
eral practitioner of Worcester, and who has attained
distinction in certain special fields of his profession,
is a native of the city named, and comes from an
excellent German family.
Wendel Sauer, his paternal grandfather, was a
resident of Hesse Darmstadt, and a shoemaker by
trade. Prior to 1812 he entered the French army as
a substitute. He died at the age of sixty-One years,
and his wife at the age of fifty-one years. They
were the parents of six children, only one of whom,
Joseph, came to the United States.
Joseph Sauer, son of Wendel Sauer, was born in
Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, January 29, 1839. He
was educated in the schools, of his native village,
and at the age of fifteen years came to America,
landing in New York after a passage of thirty-two
days. For a time he worked in a woolen mill in
Broad Brook, Connecticut, and in 1859, located in
Worcester, Massachusetts. There he found employ,-
ment in the Allen & Wheelock pistol factory, after
ward in the Crompton loom works, and still later
in the carbine factory of the Ballards, with whom he
remained until they removed their works to New
buryport, Massachusetts. Early in the civil war
period he enlisted as a musician in the Fifteenth
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and during
a portion of his term of service performed hos
pital duty. After the war closed he opened a res
taurant on Front street, Worcester, subsequently
expanding his business to a hotel, and from which
business he retired in 1903. He married, August
13, 1864, Caroline Meyer, born in Wittenberg, Ger
many, April 25, 1841,' who, came to the United States
with her parents when she was seven years old; her
father, Francis Meyer, died at the age of sixty-five
years. Their children were: Carrie, married Julius
Ehlers, of Hartford, Connecticut, and they have two
sons; Minnie, married Herman Klingle, of Wor
cester, and they have two daughters; Emil, to be
further mentioned.
Emil, youngest child and only son of Joseph and
Caroline (Meyer) Sauer, was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, March 14, 1881. He was educated in
the public schools of that city and after leaving the
•high school' in 1899, at the age of eighteen years, he
entered the Jefferson Medical College of Philadal-
phia, completed the four year course, and was grad
uated with the degree , of Doctor of Medicine in
1903. He was for some time associated with the
eminent Philadelphia specialist in gynecology and
surgery, Professor Fisher, and subsequently went
abroad to further study professional specialties. For
six months he attended the Vienna General Hos
pital, having among other instructors the noted sur
geon, Dr. Lorenz. For a like period he was a stu
dent in Berlin, and during his sojourn there was a

-\J>~ L, -.IfcoVlJ^-

WORCESTER COUNTY

483

member of the Anglo-American Medical Association
of Berlin. In 1902 he made a previous trip to Europe,
with his bride, and during this time observed meth
ods in the Strasburg hospitals. In 1904 he entered
.upon general practice in his native city, making a
specialty of diseases of women and children, for
which he had prepared himself by his particular
.study of gynecology and pediatrics. From the first
he met with unusual success. Dr. Sauer is con
nected with various leading fraternal and social
organizations— Morning Star Lodge, F. and A. M. ;
Iroquois Lodge, Improved Order of Red Men; the
order , of the Eagles ; the Frohsinns, and the So-
cialer Turn Verein. He is a Republican in politics.
in 1904 he was presented in the Republican pri
mary in ward seven for the nomination for school
committeeman, and was defeated by the narrow mar
gin of forty-three votes, and in 1905 was elected to
the two year term which he is now serving. Dr.
Sauer married, June 11, 1902, Ethel S. Jordan,
daughter of the late John W. Jordan, a member of
John W. Jordan & Company, dea'lers in stoves,
ranges and furnaces. Their children are : * Caroline
Frances, born May 2, 1904; and Helen Louise, born
July 5, I905- N „
Mrs. irtnel S. (Jordan) Sauer is descended from
Samuel Jordan, a native of England, who came to
this country in young manhood and married, in
1805, Sarah Rogers, born in 1786, said to have been
sl descendant of John Rogers, who "for heresy" was
burned at the stake in 1555 under "Bloody Queen
Mary." Of their children two daughters and three
50ns grew to maturity, and one of the former died
in Michigan at an advanced age.
John Rogers, son of Samuel and Sarah (Rogers)
Jordan, was born in Philadalphia, Pennsylvania,
February 28, 1806. His mother being left a widow,
he was early thrown upon his own resources. When
-about ten years old he was sent to New Hampshire
to live upon a farm. He learned the trade of stone
mason, and became owner of an excellent quarry
at Lynn, Massachusetts, where he settled. He was
a man of character and ability, and an influential
member of the community. He was actively inter
ested in public affairs, served in both branches of
the city council, was a captain of militia, and was
a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was a man
of fine physique and handsome features. He reared
-an interesting family of nine children, by his first
wife, who was Susan Darling, one of a family of
¦seventeen children, whom he married in Mason,
New Hampshire.' His wife died in 1877, and he
¦had one child by his second marriage. His chil
dren were: John W., see forward; Susan Eliza
beth, married Ebenezer Harris, and resided in Fitch
burg, Massachusetts; Mary A., married Warren
Bailey, of Lynn, Massachusetts; Sarah, married J.
Wilson, of the same city; Lucy A., married a Rus
sell, also of Lynn; Alexander, resides in Somer
ville, Massachusetts; Samuel, who enlisted before
-he was eighteen years old, at Lowell, Massachu
setts, to serve in the Mexican war, and died at
Fort Jessup,' New Mexico, while en route to the
front; Oliver Hazard Perry, born 1830, died in
Worcester in 1863, leaving wife, son and three
daughters; Edward Darling, served in the civil war
in Company G, Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry
Regiment; he was wounded in the leg at the battle
-of Antietam, and died a few days afterward at
Sharpsburg, and was buried in Worcester; Henry
Harrison, died young.
John Warren, eldest child of John Rogers and
¦Susan (Darling) Jordan, was born in Mason, Ndw
Hampshire, October 1, 1826. At the age of eight

years he went to live with the family of Thomas
Kidder— the same among whom his father had
been brought up. He .lived there for five years,
during that time attending the district school only
. during two short terms. When thirteen he went
to work as a bobbin boy in a mill, and in four years
had been advanced to overseer of a room. He sub
sequently learned the tinsmith trade at Manchester.
In August, 1845, he arrived in Worcester, his entire
capital amounting to twenty-five cents, but he un
expectedly found old New Hampshire friends and
soon procured employment. He enlisted for the
Mexican war at Governor's Island, Boston Harbor.
In 1852 he established in Worcester the business
with which his name. has been associated for more
than a half century, which he conducted until his
death, in 1902— the oldest firm in Worcester in the
hardware and plumbing business. Since the death
of Mr. Jordan the managing company has had for
its head his son, Frederick B. Jordan. Mr. Jordan
was not only a successful man of affairs, but an
honored and useful member of the community. He
served in the common council in 1859 and 1861,
and in the board of aldermen in 1870 and 1871. He
was affiliated with Montacute Lodge, Free and Ac
cepted Masons, in which he was a past master, aud
he had attained the thirty-second degree, Scottish
Rite. Mr. Jordan and his family were members of
Piedmont Congregational Church.
Mr. Jordan married, in November, 1847, Caro
line C. Loring, of Townsend, Massachusetts, daugh
ter of Elmer and Mary (Hastings) Loring, and one
of a family of twelve children. She bore to her
husband four children, of whom but one came to
maturity— Genevieve H., who became the wife of
D. E. Forrest, of Medford, Massachusetts. Mrs.
Jordan died December 12, 1869, and Mr. Jordan
married (second), November 24, 1870, Lydia Al
mira Perry, daughter of Joseph S. Perry. The chil
dren of Mr. Jordan, by his second marriage were:
Lillie May, born March, 1872, died young; Annie
Rogers, born June 4,^1873, died February, 1879;
John Warren, born June 14, 1874; Frederick B.,
born August 15, 1875, married Bessie Edwards, and
they have two sons — Fred and Leslie; Ethel S., born
July 27, 1881, who became the wife of Dr. Emil
Sauer. '
CHARLES EDWARD HUNT. William Hunt
(1) was the emigrant ancestor of Charles Edward
Hunt, of Worcester. It is believed that William
Hunt was born in 1605 in England. He came to
New England and settled before 1640 in Concord,
Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman June
2, 1641. He was a witness to the will of a neighbor
in Concord, William Bowstred, October 23, 1642. He
was a farmer. He married (first) Elizabeth Best.
She died 1661. He married (second) Mercy (Hurd)
Rice, widow of Edmund Rice, 1664. He removed to
Marlboro, where he died October, 1667. He made
his will October 23, 1667, leaving an estate valued at
596 pounds. He bequeathed to wife Mary, sons Sam
uel, Nehemiah and Isaac, and daughter Elizabeth -
Barnes. His children were: Nehemiah, married
Mary Toole, 1663, and settled at Concord, Massa
chusetts; Isaac, see forward; William; Elizabeth,
married  Barnes ; Hannah ; Samuel.
(II) Isaac Hunt, son of William Hunt (1), was
bom in 1647 in Concord, Massachusetts. He married
Mary Stone, May 14, 1667. _ He died at Concord,
1681. His estate was appraised April 5, 1681, and
his wife Mary Hunt was appointed administratrix.
Their children were : Isaac, born January 12, 1668,
died June, 1669; Hannah, June 5, 1670, married

484

WORCESTER COUNTY

—  Fletcher (see Fletcher sketch) ; Samuel,
October 26, 1672; Isaac, November 18, 1675; Ebe
nezer, July 12, 1677.
(Ill) Isaac Hunt, fourth child of Isaac Hunt
(2), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 18, 1675. He settled in Sudbury. He married
Mary Willard. She was admitted to the Sudbury
church, January 20, 1717-8. He left a large estate,
having lands at Lancaster and Rutland. The inven
tory of his estate amounted to 1,477 pounds. The
children of Isaac and Mary (Willard) Hunt of Sud
bury, all born there, were: Isaac; Thomas, August
20, 1701: Mary; Ebenezer; Samuel, January 11, 1709;
John, see forward; Simon, April 20, 1713; Henry,
March 10, 1715 ;,Abidah, July 31, 1717.
(IV) John Hunt, sixth child of Isaac Hunt
(3), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, February
12, 171 1. He removed to what is now .Hardwick,
Massachusetts, and was one of the earliest settlers.
He lived for a short time at Grafton after leaving
Sudbury. He married Mary — :  . His farm
and homestead was about three-quarters of a mile
north of the common in Hardwick where Willis
Tavern stood. He was a tavern keeper as well as
farmer. During the revolutionary war his inn was
a stopping place for soldiers, and as there was an
epidemic of small pox -in various places Mr. Hunt
went to the pest house at New Braintree to be inocu
lated with virus. He died of the disease and was
buried in the orchard at the angle of the road to
New Braintree, a few rods south of the former resi
dence of Colonel Stephen Fay. The children of John
and Mary. Hunt of Hardwick were: Samuel, born
September 27, 1736; Moses, December 18, 1738, died
June 20, 1747; Hannah, March 18, 1744; Mary, Octo
ber 13, 1746; John, January 31, 1749-50; Moses, Octo
ber 28, 1756; Joseph, December 8, 1759, married
Elizabeth Fay and removed to Bennington, Vermont.
(V) Moses Hunt, seventh son of John Hunt
(4), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 28. 1756. He married Esther Jenney, daughter
of John Jenney, December 10, 1778.. He was a farmer.
His homestead was in the northern part of Hard
wick. He died there July 10, 1822. He was a revo
lutionary soldier in Captain Samuel Dexter's com
pany, 1776, Colonel Leonard's regiment; also Captain
Hodges' company, . Colonel Job Cushing, in 1777, at
the Bennington call. The children of Moses and
Esther (Jenney) Hunt were: Sophia, born October
2, 1779, married Joseph Dexter; Moses, August 27,
1781 ; Abigail, September 23, 1786 ; John, June 26,
1788, married Mabel Hopkins, January 4, 1816, set
tled in Hadley, Massachusetts; Mary Palmer, April
19, 1790; Esther Jenney, February 10, 1792; Zeph
aniah, August 4, 1793, settler in Barre; Orsamus,
see forward; Horace or Hiram, April 15, 1799, died
January 15, 1803 ; William, June 27, 1800, died Janu
ary 11, 1803: Hammond, July .8, 1802, died May
20, 1803; William, September 6, 1804.
(VI) Orsamus Hunt, eighth child of Moses
Hunt (5), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts,
February 16, 1797. He married (first) Laura New
ton, daughter of Silas Newton, January 7, 1821. She
died at Granby, Massachusetts, January 14, 1851,
aged fifty-six years. He married (second) her sis
ter, Caroline Newton. He died at Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts, May 25, 1864. He was a mason by
trade, also a contractor and builder, and lived in
various towns as his employment demanded. He
was in Stockbridge after he left Hardwick for sev
eral years. He removed to Lee, Massachusetts, an
adjacent town, where he resided for seven years.
The family lived in Amherst for a year and thence
removed to Granby, where he was living in 1851
when his wife died. F. B. Knowles, founder of the

Knowles loom works, married a sister of Mrs. Hunt.
The children of Orsamus and Laura (Newton) Hunt
were: 1. Addison Augustus, born in Hardwick,.
June 20, 1822, married Clarissa E. Thomas, March
16, 1852; was a school teacher, died 1892. 2. Calvin
Newton, born June 8, 1825, died May 21, 1830. 3.
Charles Edward, see forward. 4. Edwin Newton,
born in Lee, Massachusetts, December 14, 1834, was
a soldier and died at the age of sixty years.
(VII) Charles Edward Hunt, third child of
Orsamus Hunt (6), was born in Stockbridge, Mass
achusetts, May 21, 1830. He was educated in the
common schools in the towns where his parents lived
during his boyhood, in Lee, Berkshire county, Mass
achusetts, Amherst and Granby in the same vicinity.
At the age of fifteen he came to Worcester as an ap
prentice in the composing room of the old Worcester
County Gazette. At that time the paper was a
weekly owned by Estey & Evans. Political feeling
was strong. Abolition was an absorbing topic of
political conversation and action. Even the boys
who carried the paper to subscribers realized the
depth of feeling when some good citizen, angered by
a political editorial in the Gazette, would not only
stop his paper but would vent his feelings by chas
ing the paper boy away from the house when he
came to deliver the offending sheet. While in the-
Gazette office Mr. Hunt used to deliver papers Tues
day night and Wednesday morning after publication.
There has been some change in the business of
printing newspapers since then, not only in putting
stereotype presses in place of Washington hand
presses and Mergenthaler linotype machines in place
of the compositor, but in hours of labor and wages-
paid. Mr. Hunt received his board for his work dur
ing the first year. He was to receive his board and
ten dollars the second year. It is the custom to pay
boys a dollar a day for the first year and from $8 to-
$10 the second year in Worcester newspaper compos
ing rooms, while the scale of wages for journeymen
is $18 a week for day work, and eight hours per day
instead of ten. Among other boys in the Gazette-
office at the time was Hezekiah Conant, who later
built the big mills at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and
became very wealthy.
Mr. Hunt left the Gazette office after a year and1
a half to return to Granby, where he worked during
the fall and winter. He worked the next year or two
for H. S. Taylor, of Springfield, who established the-
first book and job office in Springfield, Massachu
setts. When he was nineteen he went to Greenfield,.
Massachusetts, and worked for one season on a hand
press in a printing office. He attended school for
a time at Easthampton and later taught school at
Belchertown, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1851
he went to work in a printing office at New Lon
don, Connecticut, on what was then a new and up-
to-date press. In 1852 he was assistant teacher with
his brother Addison at Ware, Massachusetts. In
the spring of 1852 he went to Springfield, Massa
chusetts, to do the power press work on the Spring
field Republican.. After a year and a half he went
into the job printing department of the Republican
office, but a few months later took charge of the job-
press room as foreman. The publishers of the Re
publican at that time were: Samuel Bowles, Dr. ,
Holland, and Clark W. Bryan, the business manager.
The firm name was Samuel Bowles & Co. When
the panic and hard times came, just before the civil
war, Mr. Bryan had to reduce the force and cut
salaries. Mr. Hunt declined to have his salary cut,
and in 1858 left the printing office again for the old
farm at Granby. which his father bought in 1839 and
which was left to the sons at the death of
their mother, January 14, 1851. He conducted

WORCESTER COUNTY

485

the farm for four years and then returned
to Springfield to work for Joshua F. Tannett,
who had a small printing office, and there
worked two years when the business was sold.
He was offered his old position of foreman of the
press room in the Republican office at twenty-one
dollars per week and accepted the place. During
.the civil war the modern newspaper was developed.
The telegraph service became a necessity, and faster
.and better presses were demanded. Mr. Hunt was in
the Republican office during this important period
¦of development, at the time that the reputation of
the Republican was established. He left the paper
May 1, 1869, and again returned to the farm at
Granby, where he remained until 1872, when he
bought out the interests of the other owners and
settled down on the farm until he sold it in 1887.
Mr. Hunt took an active part in town affairs at
Granby.- He was elected superintendent of the Sun
day school before he had removed to the town, and
in 1870 was elected deacon of, the church. He de
clined to accept either of these honors at the time,
"but later became deacon. He was elected secretary
of the Town Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a
position he held for ten years. He was for eight
years a member of the sehool committee and de
clined re-election. The district schools were still in
vogue there and the day of the superintendent had
riot arrived. In his report for the year ending March
1, 1881, Mr. Hunt advocated the grading of the
schools and concentrating them at the centre of the
town. His views have since been adopted, but at the
time they caused great commotion among the old
farmers and hurt his prestige as a safe and sane
man. His friends saw to it that he was re-elected,
however, without his making an _ effort. The public
¦system of which Massachusetts is so proud to-day
was the product of some struggles, and it developed
and is developing slowly. The struggle in which
Mr. Hunt was a leader in his town went on for years
throughout the state. The graded school displaced
the district school only after the proof of its super-
iorit-" became overwhelming from actual experience.
Mr. Hunt declined to run for selectman, but was
drafted into the office of assessor. Of his experience
in this office, he says : "I did not prove successful,
for when I found the lands of the rich -farmers that
cut two crops of hay each season assessed at $20 an
acre while that of some of the poor struggling fel
lows that was not so good, assessed at $30 and in at
least one case $45, I insisted that there should be a
square deal. One old fellow, rich in mortgages, who
"had for several years paid only a poll tax, was
brought to book when we found he had $4,000 on a
building in Holyoke. The rate ¦ was one per cent
and he was taxed on the full amount, making his bill
$42 in all. As I was the tax collector that year I
had the fun of collecting it." He was not re-elected
assessor for obvious reasons. It is a well known fact
that no department of municipal affairs, even in the
smallest towns, is so corrupt and unjustly admin
istered as the assessment for purposes of taxation.
A co-operative society or Grange was formed in
Granby in the seventies by twelve farmers. Mr.
Hunt was secretary. They met once a week to
transact business in rooms fitted up for the pur
pose. They had discussions of public questions,
lectures, etc. They bought their groceries by whole
sale in Boston and saved hundreds of dollars during
the four years that the society lasted. Mr. Hunt
sold his farm at Granby in 1887 and came to Mill
bury, Massachusetts, to manage a country place and
stock farm for his cousin, F. B. Knowles, the loom
manufacturer. The farm was sold in 1894. In 1895
Mr. Hunt took charge of the country place of Frank

P. Knowles, son of F. B. Knowles, at Paca'choag
Hill, Auburn, where a beautiful country home has
been built and a magnificent stock farm equipped
and developed. Mr. Hunt was in charge of the
work until 1897, when he resigned. Since then Mr.
Hunt has resided in Worcester and been engaged
in the real estate business. His home is at 62 Dewey
street. _ He is a member of the Old South Con
gregational Church, Worcester.
He ^married, September 4, 1855, Laura Warner,
of Springfield, Massachusetts. Their children are:
1. Hattie Maria, born March 21, 1858, at home; she
taught school seven years at Granby and Waltham.
2. Frank, born March, 1862, married Lucy Cathon,
and has two children : Francis and Ruth G. ; they
reside in Allston. 3. Samuel, born April 12, 1868,
married Cordelia Mathers, two children : Gertrude
and Charles; they reside in Allston. 4. Fred, borri
September, 1870, unmarried, remained with his father
until 1897, when he learned the trade of moulder
and is now employed in Detroit, Michigan, as in
structor. BIRNEY ASHER ROBINSON. Thomas Rob
inson (1) was the emigrant ancestor of Birney Asher
Robinson, of Worcester. He was a proprietor of
Roxbury about 1636, and his wife Silence was a
member of the church there. He removed to Bos
ton. It was not until November n, 1662, however,
that he disposed of" all his land at Roxbury. He
was a mariner and sold the ship "Speedwell," in
which many emigrants came to this country, to
Thomas Witherly of Southwark, county Surrey, July
27, 1640. Then he appears to have gone to Scituate
where, in 1640, he bought land of William Gilson.
He bought house and lands there in 1642. He
represented Scituate in the general court in 1643.
He was elected deacon of the second church of
Scituate. He was a juryman at Scituate in 1644,
and took the oath of fidelity March 3, 1644-5. . He
was proposed for freeman and probably admitted
1650. Iri August and September, 1654, he bought
two estates in Boston, adjoining each other, on the
west side of Washington street, opposite the Old
South church. The lots were two hundred and
seventy feet deep. He lived there some of the
time, though his children were taken to Scituate
to be baptized, perhaps because he was a deacon
there. All were baptized there except James. Isaac
Robinson, unquestionably a son of Rev. John Robin
son, pastor of the Pilgrims in Holland, settled in
Scituate at the time that Thomas went there, and
some believe that he also was a son of Rev. John
Robinson, but proof is lacking.
He made his will March 17, 1665, and it was
proved April 27, 1666. He made bequests to his
wife ; to children, Thomas, James, Joseph, and Mary ;
son John supposed to be in England; to brother
Joseph Rocke. After his first wife Silence died,
he married (second) Mary (Cogan) Woody, of
Boston, in that town January n, 1652-3. She was
the widow of John Woody and the daughter of
John Cogan, of Boston. She died October 26, 1661.
He married (third) Elizabeth Sherman, widow 'of
Richard Sherman. Her will was dated August 21,
1666, and was proved November 16, 1667. Thomas
Robinson died March 23, 1665-6. Children of Thomas
and Silence (probably) were: 1. John; merchant,
supposed to be in England 'at the time of his father's
death; was administrator of brother Samuel's estate
October 28, 1662. 2. Samuel; merchant; died un
married January 16, 1661-2, aged twenty-four years.
3. Josiah; apprenticed to Joseph Rocke, who was
named in father's will; died April 17, 1660. 4.
Ephraim, born in Scituate probably; died Septem-

486

WORCESTER COUNTY

ber 22, 1661. Children of Thomas and Mary
(Cogan) Robinson were: 5. Thomas (see forward).
6. James, born in Boston, March 14, 1654-5; died
September, 1676. 7. Joseph, baptized March 8, 1656-7 ;
married Sarah  ; died April, 1713. 8. Mary, bap
tized February 28, 1657-8; died young. 9. Mary,
baptized November 6, 1659; married Jacob Green,
Jr., of Charlestown. Joseph Rocke, before men
tioned, married Elizabeth, sister of Mary Cogan,
second wife of Thomas Robinson,
(II) Thomas Robinson, son of Thomas Robin
son (1), born probably in Boston, but baptized in
Scituate, March 5, 1653-4; married Sarah Dennison,
daughter of Edward Dennison, of Roxbury. He in
herited part of the Robinson homestead, where he
resided, and also his grandfather Cogan's house
and store on the corner oi Washington and State
streets. He was a cordwainer or shoemaker by
trade. He died June, 1700. His wife Sarah died
in Roxbury November 15, 1710, aged fifty-three
years. Their children were: I. Thomas, born No
vember 5, 1677 ; married Sarah Beswick, June 26,
1707: died (s. p.) February 15, 1729-30. 2. Sarah,
baptized December 28, 1679; married (first) John
Ingoldsbury, May 4, 1704; married (second) John
Perry, May 27, 1707. 3. Joseph, baptized Novem
ber 20, 1681 ; died young. 4. Elizabeth, born Sep
tember 26, 1686; died young. 5. James, born March
15, 1689-90.
(Ill) James Robinson, son of Thomas Robinson
(2), was born March 15, 1689-90, at Roxbitry (?).
He married, at Roxbury, Patience Ruggles, daughter
of Captain Samuel Ruggles, of Roxbury. He was
a housewright. The homestead of his grandfather
on Washington street, Boston, he sold February 7,
1711-12. He bought a house on the south side of
Boylston street which he sold April 12, 1714, and
removed to Rochester, Massachusetts, where Rev.
Timothy Ruggles, his wife's brother, was settled.
He lived there until the Spring of 1757, when he
exchanged his farm in Rochester for one in Hard
wick, Massachusetts, where several of his children
were already settled. Of his eight children Dorothy
alone remained in Rochester, all the others settling
in Barre and Hardwick in Worcester county. His
farm was on the road to Ware, marked on the R,
map "Mr. Leonard." He died shortly before March
11, _ 1762, when the will was proved. His wife
Patience died January, 1768, aged seventy-eight years.
Their children were: 1. James, born March 1, 171 1-12;
married Elizabeth Smith ; settled on the River Road
from Hardwick to Barre, in the then wilderness.
2. Thomas, born September 15, 1713; died young. 3.
Samuel, born November 1, 1715. 4. Thomas, born
April 20, 1718. 5. Sarah, born July 2, 1720; mar
ried Ebenezer Spooner, of Rochester, 1746. 6.
Dorothy, born March 10, 1722-3; married David
Peckham, October 27, 1743, and Major Elnathan
Haskell, November 26, 1749; died at Rochester,
Septemher 25, 1810. 7. Dennison, born July 16, 1725.
8. Joseph, born September 13, 1727.^ 9, Hannah, born
November 16, 1730; married Benjamin Green Au
gust 31, 1764.
(IV) Joseph Robinson, son of James Robinson
(3), born September 13, 1727; married Martha
Hedge in 1753, and they settled in Barre. Six of
their twelve children are recorded as born in Barre.
Some of their children were : 1. Mary, born June
3, 1754. 2. Dorothy, born February 23, 1756. 3,
Lemuel, born January 4, 1758; his son Lemuel, Jr.,
and probably others, settled in Bennington, Ver
mont. 4. Martha, born November 23, 1759. 5, Sam
uel Hedge, born January 25, 1761. 6. Levi, baptized
May 20, 1770.
(V) Levi Robinson, son of Joseph Robinscm (4),

was born in Barre, Massachusetts, and baptized in
the First church there, May 20, 1770; married Sep
tember 30, 1798, Betsey Nye, of Hardwick, in that
town. They settled in Westford, Vermont. Their
children, born at Westford, were : 1. Nye, bom
March 14, 1799; had three children. 2, Annis, born
1800; taught school at Westford, Vermont, 1820;
died, unmarried, 1821. 3. Charles ; had two children.
4. Lucinda, married Ira Graves and had two chil
dren. 5. Levi, born February 23, 1808, at Westford,.
Vermont, had eight children; died October 16, 1877,
6. Joseph, born November 28, 1809. 7. Stephen Pearl,
born March 16, 1808; lived at Westford.
(VI) Joseph Robinson, son of Levi Robinson (5),
born in Westford, Vermont, November 28, 1809;
married Aurelia Cross, October 17, 1833. They set
tled in Fairfax and Underhill, Vermont. Their
children were: 1. Sarah E., bom August 18, 1834,
at Fairfax, Vermont; died September 18, '1834, 2.
Sophronia L., born October 2, 1836; died at Fair
fax June 7, 1843. 3. Asher G, bom February 15,
1839, at Fairfax. 4. Lucinda A,, born July 13, 1841,
at Fairfax; died August I, 1858. 5. Sophronia (twin),
born March 26, 1845, at Fairfax; died August 8,
1845. 6. Malona (twin), born March 26, 1845; died
July 9, 1847. 7. Fillmore Joseph, born October 27,
1849, at Underhill, Vermont. 8. Fayette H., born
March 17, 1854, at Underhill; died April 7, 1854.
(VH) Asher C. Robinson, son of Joseph Robin
son (6), born in Fairfax, Vermont, February 15,
1839; married Euretta Stevens, of Richmond, Ver
mont, March 22, i860. She was the daughter of
Rufus and Ann Stevens and was born in Richmond,
Vermont, August 20, 1838 ; died May 27, 1903. He
represented the town of Westford in the ' Legisla
ture in 1874-5 and Chittenden county in the Senate
in 1880-81. Their children were: 1. George G,
born December 28, i860, at Clifton, Michigan; re
sides at West Rutland, Vermont. 2. Mortimer C,
born March 2, 1862, at Richmond, Vermont. 3.
Adelle, born at Underhill, September 9, 18^3. 4.
Erminie, born in Underhill, May 16, 1865. 5. Birney
A. (twin), born August 24, 1869, at Westford, Ver
mont (see forward). 6. Bertha (twin), born Au-
• gust 24, 1869, at Westford, Vermont. 7. Fanny L„
born June 12, 1874, at Westford, Vermont;, died
January 1, 1888.
(VIII) Birney Asher Robinson, son of Asher
C. (7) and Euretta (Stevens) Robinson, was born
at Westford, Vermont, August 24, 1869. His boy
hood was spent in his native town and he attended
the public schools there. Later he attended St.
Johnsbury Academy at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. His
first business experience was with Swift & Company,
the meat dealers and packers, of Chicago, Illinois,,
where he worked as salesman in one of the Chicago-
branches of the concern. He left this company to-
accept a position in the office of the Vermont Marble
Company, of which Senator Proctor, of Vermont,
is the head, at Proctor, Vermont. Later he was sent
to St. Louis to the branch office in that city. In 189S
he spent most of the year in St. Johnsbury, Vermont,,
coming to Worcester, Massachusetts, to live in 1897.
After an extensive foreign trip he returned to Wor
cester and started on his own account in the auto
mobile business in Worcester. When he opened his
first place at the corner of Clinton and Pleasant
streets, he was the first to venture in this line of
trade in Worcester, and has perhaps been the most
successful. As the demand for the machines in
creased he was obliged to enlarge his quarters. He
moved first from Pleasant street to the Bellmar
block on Main street, In August, 1904, he removed
again to a large building on Church place, at the
rear of the First Universalist Church on Pleasant

WORCESTER COUNTY

487

street. Here he conducts a general business in auto
mobiles and supplies in connection with the garage,
boarding and renting machines as well as dealing
in them. He has also a repair shop, a not unim
portant part of' the business. Mr. Robinson deals
in a number of the leading styles of automobiles
and has sold a large proportion of the machines
owned in Worcester.
He is a member of the Worcester Automobile
Club, the Worcester Continentals, the Common
wealth Club and the American Automobile Associa
tion. In politics he is a Republican. He and his
family attend the Plymouth Congregational Church.
He married October 23, 1895, Mabel Fairbanks,
daughter of William P. Fairbanks, of the famous
Fairbanks Scale Company, of St. Johnsbury, Ver
mont. Her mother was Rebecca Pike. She (Mabel)
was born at St. Johnsbury August 14, 1871. Their
children are : 1. Bertha, born November 9, 1896.
2. Clifton Fairbanks, born July 13, igoi. 3. Winfield
Fairbanks, born September 28, 1902.
FAIRBANKS FAMILY. (I) Jonathan Fair
banks, of Dedham, one of the most famous of the
pioneers on account of his large and distinguished
posterity, and perhaps also because his home in
Dedham is still preserved and has always been oc
cupied by his family and descendants, is the emi
grant ancestor of Mrs. Birney A. Robinson, of Wor
cester, and of many others to whom reference is
made in this work.
Jonathan Fairebanke (Fairbank, Fairbanks) came
from Sowerby, in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
England, to Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1633,
and in 1636 settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, where
he built the noted old "Fairbanks House" which is
still standing, and is to be indefinitely preserved by
the family, which, through the Fairbanks. Associa
tion, has purchased it. This house is an object of
great interest to the visitors to Dedham. It is
claimed that the oldest part of the house was built
in 1636. The house as it stands to-day was prob
ably complete as early as 1654. Jonathan Fairbanks
signed the famous Dedham Covenant which regu
lated the future conduct of the town. Among the
one hundred and twenty-five signers were his sons
John, George and Jonathan Fairbanks, Jr. Jonathan
Fairbanks was admitted a freeman March 23, 1637-8.
John was admitted a freeman as early as 1642, George
about 1651 and Jonathan, Jr. in 1654. Jonathan re
ceived numerous grants of land. He joined the
church August 14, 1646.
His will was made June 4, 1668. He evidently
believed in the old English law of primogeniture,
for he bequeathed the homestead to his eldest son,
John. The house has since been occupied successively
by John, Joseph, Joseph 2d., Ebenezer, Ebenezer 2d.,
Prudence, Sarah (Sally), Nancy and Rebecca. In
July, 1892 the house was struck by lightning and
damaged and Rebecca Fairbanks removed for a time
to Boston, but later returned and occupied it until
1904 when the Fairbanks Family Association took
possession. Of the immediate English ancestors of Jonathan
Fairbanks little is known. He was evidently notof
the ignorant lower classes, but had a fair education
and was, as tradition says, a man of strong common-
sense, sound judgment and good executive ability.
His name appears frequently in the town records,
, though he held only minor town offices. There are
good grounds for the inference that he had more
ample means than the average pioneer. He built
a better house and seems to have lived in better
style than most of his neighbors. And he left con-
L , _

siderable property. He was born about 1600, in
England; died in Dedham December 5, 1668. His
wife was Grace Lee. She died December 28, 1673,
or May 19, 1676.
Their children, all born in England, were: 1.
John; married Sarah Fiske in 1641 ; held offices
and various commissions to explore the Charles
river, Deerfield, etc.; inherited the homestead; joined'
the churcli May 4, 1651 ; died November 13, 1684;
wife died November 26, 1683; had nine children.
2. Captain George (see forward). 3. Mary, born
April 18, 1622; died May 10, 1676 or June 4, 1684;
married Michael Metcalf, April 2, 1644 (born in Eng
land August 29, 1620; died March 25, 1654); mar
ried (second) August 2, 1654, Christopher Smith;
among their descendants was Judge Theron Met
calf, pf the Massachusetts supreme court. 4. Susan;
married Ralph Day, of Dedham, a mason : she died
July 8, 1659, and he married (second) Novemher
15, 1659, Abigail Craft, daughter of Griffith Craft,
of Roxbury, and widow of John Ruggles; he died
November 28, 1677; had six children. 5. Jonas, an
cester of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, vice-presi
dent of the United States; removed to Lancaster,
Massachusetts, in 1657 ; signed the Covenant March
7, 1659, and was called one of the "fathers of the
town;" he was a farmer and believed to be also a
carpenter ; in 1652 he was fined for wearing great
boots before he was worth two hundred pounds,
which was contrary to a statute of 1651 ; he and his
son Joshua were killed by the Indians February 10,
1676, during a raid in King Philip's war; he mar
ried May 28, 1658, Lydia Prescott, daughter of John
Prescott, who came from Sowerby, Parish of Hali
fax, England. She was born in Watertown, Massa
chusetts, August 15, 1641, and after the death of
Jonas, she married (second) Elias Barron, of Water-
town, afterwards of Groton and Lancaster. Jonas
had seven children. 6. Jonathan, born in England;
admitted townsman in Dedham, January 1, 1654-5,
and signed the Covenant ; resided at Dedham ; died
January 28, 1711-12; was a soldier in King Philip's
war, serving in the first or Mount Hope campaign
in 1675, and in several subsequent campaigns ; mar
ried Deborah Shepard, of Cambridge, daughter of
Edward Shepard, who came from England with her
May 10, 1643 ; she died September 7, 1705 ; had
thirteen children.
(II) George Fairbanks, son of Jonathan Fair
banks (1), came with his father from England and
resided in Dedham until about 1657, when he re
moved to the southern part of Sherborn, afterwards
East Medway, now the town of Millis. He was one
of the first settlers there and was an esteemed citi
zen. His homestead in Medfield remained in the
family for four generations. The stone house orig
inally occupied by him- was the garrison house built
by the settlers on the Bogistow Farms, on the borders
of Bogistow Pond, as a place of refuge and defence
in time of Indian troubles. It was sixty-five or sev
enty feet long and two stories high. The walls
were built of flat stones laid in mortar. It had a
double row of port holes on all sides and was lined
with heavy planks of oak. The Medway Historical
Society has marked the site, the building having been
long since removed. In 1662 he signed the_ first
petition for the town of Sherborn. and again _ in
1674 he signed the successful petition, becoming
one of the proprietors of Sherborn, including the
present towns of Sherborn, Holliston and parts of
Framingham and Ashland. He was four years select
man of Sherborn, and was on the committee to en
gage and settle a minister. His sudden death by
drowning in 1682 was a severe loss to the new settle-

488

WORCESTER COUNTY

ment. He was a member'of the Ancient and Honor
able Artillery Company of Boston. He died Janu
ary io, 1682.
He married October 26, 1646, Mary Adams, of
Dedham, who died August 11, 171 1, in Mendon,
Massachusetts, probably at the home of her son-in-
law, William Holbrook. Their children were: 1.
Mary, born November 10, 1647; married January
16, 1665-6, Deacon Joseph Daniels, son of Robert
and Elizabeth Daniels; freeman of Medfield; she
died August 9, 1682 ; he died June 23, 1715 ; had
nine children. 2. George, born May 26, 1650, in
Medfield, Massachusetts, inherited south part of
father's farm; died 1737; was principal inhabitant
of the new town of Medway, October 14, 1713 ; mar
ried Rachel Adams, daughter of Peter and Rachel
Adams, in 1671 ; she died May 12, 1678, and he
married Susanna  and Sarah  ; had ten
children. 3. Samuel, born October 28, 1652; died
November 20, 1676. 4. Eliesur, born June 8, 1655.
5.' Jonas, born March 23, 1656-7; died November
28, 1676. 6. Jonathan, born in Medway, May I,
1662 ; resided in Sherborn, afterwards set off as
Medway, probably in the old stone garrison house
near Bogistow Pond; was the first physician in
Sherborn; selectman for several years and town
clerk ; drowned December 19, 1719, by falling through
the ice while crossing the river from Medfield in the
night; married Sarah  , who died July 9, 1713;
married (second) Annie •  ; had six children. 7.
Margaret, born June 27, 1664; married William Hol
brook, of Mendon; will proved December 16, 1714;
had three children.
(Ill) Eliesur Fairbanks, son of George Fairbanks
(2), born June 8, 1655; settled in Sherborn, Massa
chusetts. He drew a home lot of eighteen acres on
the main street of Sherborn, adjoining Peters Hill;
he was selectman in 1703. He married Martha  .
Their children were : 1. Mary, born October 31,
1678; married May 8, 1700, Isaac Woods, of Sud
bury, second wife; he died July 18, 1720; had seven
children. 2. Martha, born January 22, 1680; mar
ried Oliver Death, April 17, 1697; he died March
3. 1704-5, and she married (second) Ebenezer Le
land, January 9, 1708; he planted the magnificent
elms to be see on the old Leland place about 1708;
had six children. 3. Lydia, bora March 8, 1682;
married May 25, 1702, Edward Rice, of Marlboro
(born June 20, 1672; died July 20, 1741) ; she died
September 13, 1755 ; had ten children. 4. Margaret,
born December 19, 1684; died in 1698. 5. Mercy,
born October 18, 1688; married (first) Lieutenant
Joshua Underwood, of Sherborn, January 13, 1708;
married (second) Joshua Fairbanks July 26, 1732;
she died September 11, 1742; had seven children. 6.
Eleasur, born December 29, 1690.
(IV) Captain Eieasur Fairbanks, son of Eliesur
Fairbanks (3), born in Sherborn, December 29,
1690; resided there; died September 19, 1741. He
married Martha Bullard, daughter of Captain Sam
uel Bullard, December 25, 1712. She married (sec
ond) John Phips, December 22, 1743, and removed
to Brookfield, Massachusetts. Their children were :
1. Eleazer, born July 23, 1716; removed to Plain-
field, Connecticut, where he was admitted to the
Congregational church May 24, 1753; removed to
Killingly, Connecticut; married Prudence Cary; was
a preacher; had seven children. 2. Joseph, born
September 17, 1718; was commissioned Lieutenant
of Foot by General William Shirley, Captain Gen
eral of his Majesty's Governors of Massachusetts
Bay under George II in 1755; was at the siege of
Louisburg and after its capture went to Halifax,
where he was one of the earliest settlers ; was a
member of the first House of Assembly, which

was convened by Governor Lawrence in 1758 with
nineteen members ; became a wealthy and influen
tial man and with the most prominent people there
was identified with the growth and prosperity of
Halifax; married (second) Lydia Blagden, daughter
of Samuel and Ann Blagden, and sister of Colonel
Samuel Blagden of the American revolutionary-
army, died 1790 without issue. 3. Deborah, born
November 12, 1719; married Joseph Twitchell,
Esq., June 28, 1739; was captain of the militia;
commissary for the army in 1776; town clerk,
representative and magistrate, and the leading man
of the town until succeeded by his junior half-
brother, Hon. Daniel Whitney; had fourteen chil
dren, all born in Sherborn. 4. Moses, born August
14, 1721 ; was in the colonial wars from April 2,
1759 to September 29, 1760. 5. Sarah, born August
2, 1724; married September 28, 1741, Benjamin
Mason, son of Joseph and Mary (Monck) Mason,
who was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July
14, 1717; died July 5, 1801; she died in Sullivan,
New Hampshire, February 4, 1815 ; they settled
in Dublin, New Hampshire; one of their descend
ants is the author, Alice Morse Earle, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, New York.
7. Abel, born November 28, 1726. 8. Abigail, born
August 18, 1728; died young. 9. David, born Feb
ruary 2, 1731. 10. Abigail, born May 5, 1732. 11.
Ebenezer, born June 1, 1734. 12. Mary; married in
1757, Captain Samuel Sanger, and died without
issue. (V) Deacon Ebenezer Fairbanks, son of Eleazer
Fairbanks (4), was born in Sherborn, Massachu
setts, June 1, 1734. He removed to Brimfield,
Massachusetts, and settled on a farm- in the north
east part of the town. He was an esteemed citizen,
and a deacon in the Congregational church there.
He died June 6, 1812. He was one of the minute
men who ' responded to the Lexington Alarm, April
z9> 1775, with the rank of lieutenant. He also
served as a private later in the war. He married
July 2, 1761, Elizabeth Dearth, who was born Sep
tember 24, 1743 and died at Monson, Massachusetts,
June 15, 1818. Their children were: 1. Asa, born
March 4, 1762; removed to Dublin, New Hampshire,
in 1784, and died there July 26, 1819; enlisted in
the revolution service at the age of fourteen and
served on guard duty in Sherborn, at Rhode Island
and West Point; married April 28, 1784, Hepzibah
Adams, daughter of Captain Moses Adams; she
was born in Sherborn, December 8, 1761 ; had four
children. 2. Joseph, (see forward). 3. Betsey, born
August 23, 1766; died September 22, 1767. 4. Eben
ezer, bora December 15, 1768; died October 26,
1796. 5. Henry, born December 21, 1770, at Brim
field; died July 20, 1827; married October 29, 1795,
Margaret Bliss, born March 5, 1773; died June 4,
1843, aged seventy years, two months, twenty-nine
days; had six children. 6. Thaddeus, born March
i,3, 1773; was graduated at Yale College in 1796;
licensed to preach in 1800; preached as a licentiate
apparently for some years, but was not ordained;
preached at Canterbury, Connecticut, for a tune;
married Pamelia Burt; died at Monson, Massachu
setts, December 21, 1815 ; had three children. 7.
Elizabeth, born January 3, 1775 ; married Roswell
Merrick; died at Dayton, Ohio, January, 1855; aged
eighty years; had ten children. 8. Levi, born
August 24, 1778, at Sherborn, Massachusetts; settled
in Brimfield, Massachusetts; died there about 1850;
married Betsey Smith and Mrs. E. Howard; had *
one child by each.
(VI) Joseph Fairbanks, son qf Ebenezer Fair
banks (5), was born in Sherborn, November 1, 1763.
When he was twenty years old, his uncle Joseph,

WORCESTER COUNTY

489

who had received a lot of land in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, in recognition of his services under the Gov
ernment of Massachusetts in reducing the Island of
Cape Breton, sent for him to go and live with him.
The vessel in which he took passage from Boston
was forced to turn back for repairs and, as the winter
was coming on, he returned home. In the spring
he decided to go to Brimfield with his father instead
of going to Halifax. His cousin Rufus Fairbanks
went in his stead. At Brimfield he bought a farm
and also worked at the carpenter's trade. Having
Mr. and Mrs. ¦ Paddock, his wife's parents, in the
family through many years of expensive illness, he
had slow work paying for his farm, but was finally
successful. In 1815 he sold out his place at Brim
field and removed to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where
his son, Erastus Fairbanks, was already established
with his uncle, Mrs. Joseph Fairbanks' brother,
Judge Paddock. He purchased a small water-power
and timber, with which he and his son built a dam,
a saw mill, a grist mill and a wagon shop. The
family endured the hardships of pioneer life, to
gether with the special and unusual discomfort of
snow storms or frosts every month in the year. The
growing prosperity afterwards was due to his great
energy and ability as well as that of his sons. He
was a man of sterling character, of the best New
England type, influential among his neighbors and
highly respected.
, He died suddenly September 27, 1846. His wife,
to whom not less than to himself his sons owed
their strength of character, died' at the advanced
age of ninety-three years. He married October 21,
1790, Phebe Paddock, daughter of James and Ann
Paddock, of Holland, Massachusetts, whose emi
grant ancestor came to this country with Governor
Carver. She was born September 6, 1760; died
May 5, 1853. The Paddock family gave many hon
ored citizens to Vermont.
The children of Joseph and Phebe (Paddock)
Fairbanks were: 1. Erastus, born October 28, 1792,
at Brimfield, Massachusetts, in the little red 'house
near the Sturbridge line; he died November 20,
1864; he came to St. Johnsbury alone in 1812 and
for ten years afterward struggled against difficulties
and reverses, and acquired early maturity of habits
and purpose; frugality, industry, persistence, knowl
edge of men and of business; following the inven
tion of the platform scale by his brother Thaddeus,
he became the head of the firm of E. & T. Fair
banks & Co., a position which he held for thirty
years during which time, under his energetic and
skillful management, the business grew to large pro
portions and well established fame; in 1836 he was
sent to the State Legislature, where from the first
he was a leader, especially active in the interests
of temperance and educational measures ; he was a
presidential elector of the Whig party in 1848, and
about that time was actively pushing the construc-
tion_ of the Passumpsic Railroad, of which he was
president from White. River to St. Johnsbury, at
which terminus he greeted the first engine in No
vember, 1850; two years later he was elected gov
ernor of Vermont, and among other important legis
lative acts he had the satisfaction of affixing 'his
signature to the Prohibitory Liquor Law; in i860
he was elected governor again and became the war
governor of Vermont, and at the close of his service,
in acknowledgment of his delicate, laborious and
successful official aicts, the Senate and House passed
joint resolutions of the most appreciative and compli
mentary sort, and it was found that "the salary to
which he was entitled was never touched, and _ it re
mains in the treasury of the state, another evidence
of his generous love for Vermont, whose' interests

were dearer to him than his own, and an honor to
both people and Executive;" he was for fifty years
active in the Congregational church, and in later life
an officer and member of many benevolent boards;
he married Lois Crossman, daughter of Samuel and
Lois '"Chamberlain) Crossman, born November 13,
1792; died May 15, 1866; had nine children. 2.
Thaddeus, born January 17, 1796, at Brimfield, Massa
chusetts; died in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, April 12,
1886. As a child he was slender and delicate in
health, nervous and diffident and, indeed, he never
enjoyed good health. Much of his early education
was received at home from his mother. He learned
the use of tools early in life. Moving to Vermont
with his father in 1815, after building their mills,
he first made wagons, then in 1823 established a small
iron foundry, doing much of the work with his own
hands, and being joined by his brother Erastus, went
on under the name of E. & T. Fairbanks. His
parlor stove and his patented cooking stove sold
well, where only the open fire had been used before,
and he invented and introduced the plow with cast
iron mold board, now universally used, its novelty
being attested by the patent he received on it.
In 1829 he built hemp dressing machines and as
manager of the hemp mills had to weigh what he
bought. To fill this need .he invented the platform
scale. The first scales were for weighing wagons
and their loads, but he soon extended the principle
to all kinds and styles of scales until several hun
dreds of varieties were on the market. He obtained
thirty-two patents in this country on scales alone,
besides patents for a hemp machine, stoves, plow, a
device for creating draughts, a steam-heater, a feea-
water heater, which was patented on his ninetieth
birthday, and a refrigerator which hi gave away
at a time when he lacked the means to develop_ it,
which has proved to be worth more than a million
dollars to its owners. The Fairbanks Scales have
won prizes at all the World's Expositions. In 1842
he and his brothers established St. Johnsbury Acad
emy, and he gave liberally to educational and charit
able' organizations. He married January 17, 1820,
Lucv Peck Barker, a native of St. Johnsbury, whose
father Barnabas Barker came with his father John
and were the first settlers of the town. Both John
and Barnabas Barker were revolutionary soldiers,
and were in the battle of Bunker Hill. She was born
April 29, 1799; died in St. Johnsbury, December
29, 1866 ; she had two children. 3. Joseph Paddock,
born November 26, 1806.
(VII) Joseph Paddock Fairbanks, son of Joseph
Fairbanks (6) was born in Brimfield, Massachu
setts, November 26, 1806; died in St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, May 15, 1855. He began life as a lawyer,
but joined his two brothers in the scale manufac
turing business, and was in partnership with them
twenty-two years to the time of his death. His
business abilities were of the very first order. Much
of the early success of the enterprise was due to his
sagacity, minute attention to details and facility in
dealing with men and with business difficulties and
problems. His mind was strong, capacious, alert and
remarkably well balanced. He took broad views of
everything, was deeply religious and unsparing in
his efforts for the good of men. He was intelligently
familiar with law, theology, science, history and
literature. He was averse to public life while at
the same time, in more ways than men ever knew,
he was influencing public opinion and pushing needed
reforms He was influential in the Legislature, es
pecially in securing the passage of the Prohibitory
Law and acts to improve the school system. He
sent out hundreds of pages of letters and press
articles on almost every theme of current interest.

490

WORCESTER COUNTY

He was literally a leader of thought in his day. He
was a man of strong individuality, though never
alienating the love and respect of those from whom
he differed. He was benevolent and generous. He
was only forty-eight years old when he died.
He married in Derry, New Hampshire, June ii,
I835, Almira Taylor, daughter of James and Persis
(Hemphill) Taylor. She was bom October 12, 1811.
She married (second) September 4, 1857, Rev. W.
W. Thayer, of St. Johnsbury, and died there Janu
ary 20, 1883. The children of Joseph Paddock and
Almira (Taylor) Fairbanks were: 1. Edward Tay
lor, born May 12, 1836. at St Johnsbury, Vermont.
He was educated at Yale College, class of 1859, and
at Andover Theological Seminary. He spent two
years and a half abroad in study and travel. He
was ordained January 1. 1868. as pastor of the Con
gregational Church in St. Johnsbury, and since Janu
ary, 1874, has held his pastorate there. He wrote
the history of St. Johnsbury, and many pamphlets.
He is connected with many educational and religious
organizations. He received the honorary degree of
D. D. from the University of Vermont in 1893. He
married in Derry, New Hampshire, July 9, 1862,
Emma Cornelia Taplin, daughter of Guy Carleton
and Sally Malvina (Cady) Taplin, of Montpelier,
Vermont, where she was bom March 11, 1&44. They
have one child. Cornelia Taylor, born June 25, 1876.
2. William Paddock, bora July 27, 1840.
(VIII) William Paddock Fairbanks, son of Jo
seph Paddock Fairbanks (7), was born at St. Johns
bury, Vermont, July 27, 1840. He entered Dartmouth
College in 1858, but left before completing the course
to engage in business. He was for several years in
the office of' E. & T. Fairbanks, and a member of
that firm. Upon its incorporation in 1874 he was
made secretary and treasurer. He held the same
office in the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain
Railroad Company and offices of trust in other cor
porations. While in Michigan he was a member of Gov
ernor Pingree's staff and ably represented his
native town in the Legislature in 1884-85-86.
In 1888 he went to New York as secretary
of the • Fairbanks Company of the city, where
he remained until his death, which occurred
suddenly December 15, 1895. He was a man of
force and strong personality, wise, careful and ac
curate in business dealings; of quiet tastes; benevo
lent and generous. He married in St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, April 18, 1861, Rebecca Pike, daughter
of Dennison and Huldah (Johnson) Pike, of Water
ford, Vermont, where she was born November 8,
1841. Their children were. 1. Almira Taylor, born
February 12, 1865; married January 17, 1888, Her
bert W. Blodgett of St. Johnsbury ; has one' child,
Donald F. Blodgett, born June 6, 1895. 2. Mabel,
born August 14, 1871. 3. Joseph, born December 12,
1881. (IX) Mabel Fairbanks, daughter of Colonel Will
iam Paddock Fairbanks, was born at St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, August 14, 1871. She married October 23,
1895, Birney A. Robinson of Westford, Vermont.
(See sketch of Birney A. Robinson.)
CARL ELWOOD BURLINGAME. Sheldon F.
Burlingame (1), son of Harris and Sarah Avis
(Warren) Burlingame, was bora at East Killingly,
Connecticut, March 30, 1851. He was educated in
the public schools of his native town. His father
was a carpenter, and all the family had an inheritance
of unusual manual dexterity and mechanical in
genuity. Sheldon was set to work to learn the ma
chinist's trade in Worcester, in the shop of Abra

ham Burlingame on Cypress street In years past
the steam engines made by A. Burlingame & Co.
were among the best, and many of them are in use
in Worcester, giving the utmost satisfaction. After
Sheldon Burlingame learned his trade he went to
Philadelphia where he worked for several years.
He worked at his trade in New Jersey for a time,
but when he was prepared to enter business for
himself he returned to Worcester and opened a
shop on Central street, where he built steam engines
and did repairing.
After a few years he removed to' Florida where
he was employed by Governor Drew, of that state,
as master mechanic in the New Branford mills.
He followed his trade for several years in the South,
living at New Branford, Live Oak, High Springs,
Columbia City and other towns. He returned North
and worked for a short time for his brother, Abra
ham Burlingame. Early in the nineties he turned
his attention to gas and gasoline engines, believing
that these were the coming engines for small plants.
The development of the gasoline engine for use in
the automobile has exceeded all predictions of the
most sanguine. Meanwhile Mr. Burlingame has es
tablished an exceedingly busy little shop at Green-
dale, where he has for ten years been making an
excellent machine, and his business is rapidly grow
ing. The gasoline engine to-day is in demand on
every up-to-date farm as well as in small manu
facturing plants. The name of Mr. Burlingame's
firm is the Greendale Gas Engine Company. His son,
Carl E.. a skillful mechanic also, is in business
with him as partner. The factory is at 416 West
Boylston street, at the end of the Greendale car
line. The Greendale engine is wonderfully simple com
pared to the mechanisms called gas engines fifteen
or twenty years ago. This engine is started with
crank such as those used on automobiles, and the
operation of starting the machine, which was form
erly difficult and trying, and not always successful
even when undertaken by an expert, is now very
simple. The gasoline tank is in the base of the
machine out of sight It seems beyond belief to
the man who operated the old style gas engine that
this machine has only two valves, one for inlet,
the other for exhaust. The inlet valve works by
suction; the exhaust valve is water-jacketed. The
cylinder is of one casting and jacketed. All parts
are made interchangeable, after the custom now
prevailing in all the best manufactories. The engines
leave the Greendale factory set up and in running
order after a thorough test. The makers have no
fear of trouble or accident when sending them to the
most inexperienced owners or the most difficult posi
tions, such as for use to run portable saw mills;
dragged about the country on a cart in all sorts
of weather, exposed to rain and having often very
little attention from the operator. The machines
are run by unskillful farm hands to cut feed, to
saw wood, to run threshing machines, to operate
electric light plants, to pump water for private
reservoirs, and for a thousand purposes formerly
requiring manual labor. The result offsets the
growing scarcity of help on the farm, and saves the
life and strength of the farmer and his family,
making the disagreeable and discouraging features
of agriculture far less numerous. Mr. Burlingame
understands the revolution that he is helping to effect
with his machinery in agricultural conditions. One
of his engines has been run three weeks day and night
without a stop. Another five horse-power engine
was used eighteen months on a truck for sawing
wood, in constant use, with a total repair bill of
thirty-five cents. That shows the usefulness and

y

f*t\P\

y^9

fV

WORCESTER COUNTY

491

perfection of the modern gas engine. Four sizes
are made three and a half, five, seven, and fifteen
horse-power, the cost ranging from $175 to $360.
Several hundred of these machines operated either
by gas or gasoline are in use in and about Worces
ter county, and giving universal satisfaction. The
company does not hesitate to print the entire list
of those to whom machines have been sold. The
modern gas engine is a machine that sells itself.
Each customer makes others. Mr. Burlingame is
a Free Mason, having joined a southern lodge. He
was formerly a member of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association.
He married, November 26, 1872, Ida F. Chase,
daughter of Israel and Polly (Young) Chase, of
Killingly, Connecticut, born in Killingly, September
10, 1855. Their children are : Carl Elwood (see
forward). Maud S., born May 19, 1881, married
Robert C. Sweetser, instructor in chemistry at the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and has one child,
Sedric Sheldon ; resides at 2 Randall street, Wor
cester; Juniata, bora in New Branford, Florida,
August 5, 1888; Marion Pearle, born in Worcester,
December 24, 1896.
Carl Elwood Burlingame, son of Sheldon F.
Burlingame, was born at East Killingly, Connecti
cut, September 1, 1876. His education was obtained
in the schools of the various towns in Massachu
setts and Florida where his parents made their home
during' his youth. He graduated from Branford
Academy at Branford, Florida, in 1893. He learned
the machinist's trade and worked for the A. Bur
lingame Co., engine manufacturers, for the Wheelock
Engine Company and for the Marcus Mason Com
pany, builders of coffee machinery. He entered
partnership with his father when the Greendale
factory was built, and has had a large share in
building up the business of the company. His busi
ness ability, mechanical skill and persistent energy
have shown good results in the business. He is gen
erally regarded as one of the very promising young
manufacturers of the city. He is unmarried. He
is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias and
was formerly a member of the Worcester County
Mechanics' Association. He is a member of the
Congregational church at Greendale.
FRANK H. HAMBLIN, manufacturer of wire
goods, Worcester, Worcester county, Massachusetts,
was bora in East Boston, August 23, 1853, a son
of Joseph G. and Elizabeth (Hartwell) Hamblin.
Joseph G. Hamblin was one of the earliest set
tlers of East Boston, and a builder and real estate
operator, having built over one hundred houses on
his own property. During the latter part of his
life he was an assistant United States Assessor.
Frank H. Hamblin obtained his education in the
public schools of Boston, and afterwards studied
for_ a professional career. Deciding to go into
business, however, he was variously employed until
1883, when he removed to Worcester, and engaged
in the manufacture of wire goods. The following
year he incorporated the firm known as the Ayres
Manufacturing Company; the name being changed
in 1887 to Hamblin & Russell Manufacturing Com
pany, Mr. Hamblin becoming its treasurer which"
office he continues to hold. When this business was
commenced Mr. Hamblin employed only five or six
hands in a building on Front street, which is now
the Commonwealth hotel. Owing to the rapidly
increasing business the firm were forced to seek
larger quarters, and accordingly removey their estab
lishment into the boot and shoe factory of J. H.
Walker on Water street, which was subsequently
purchased by the firm. The enterprise has been one

of the greatest success, and three hundred hands
are now employed in the factory. They make the
largest variety of household utensils of any like
concern in the country, also hardware specialties.
The firm occupies about 80,000 square feet of floor
space. Mr. Hamblin is a member of the Worcester
Board of Trade, Commonwealth and Congregational
clubs. He married, in 1889, Mercy P. Sturtevant,
who bore him one child, Howard Parker. After
the death of his first wife, Mr. Hamblin married
Nellie Tucker, of Worcester, in 1891, and they have
three children: Louis Tucker, Marion Laurette and
Robert Hartwell.
EDWIN RUTHVEN MORSE. No family has
ranked higher in eastern Massachusetts for the past
two hundred and fifty years than the descendants
of Samuel Morse, of Dedham. The family has had
many distinguished members, not the least of whom
is Samuel F. B. Morse, to whom the world owes
so much for the {elegraph.
(I) Samuel Morse was born in England in 1586.
He sailed for New England in the ship "Increase,"
April 15, 1635, and settled at Dedham. He was ad
mitted a freeman there October 8, 1640, and later
removed to the adjoining new town of Medfield,
where many of his descendants have lived. He was
a town officer of Dedham and one of the proprietors.
He died April 5, 1654, and his will was proved
January 30, 1654. His widow died June 20, 1655.
He married in England Elizabeth  , who was
forty-eight years old when she emigrated, born there
fore about 1587. Their children were : A son, John,
born 161 1, died November 16, 1657; Daniel, bora
1613; Joseph, mentioned below; Abigail, married
Daniel Fisher, of Dedham ; Mary, married ^Samuel
Bullen ; Jeremiah, "went east.
(II) Joseph Morse, son of Samuel Morse (1),
the immigrant, also a progenitor of Edwin Ruthven
Morse, of Worcester, was born in England in 1615.
He settled first in Watertown, but in 1637, after his
father came, removed to Dedham* He married in
1638, Hannah Phillips. While he was clearing the
land at Medfield and preparing the house for his
family they lived at Dorchester, but he died before
he had his new home ready and the growing corn
and unfinished log house were left for his children
to care for. The widow married in 1658. Thomas
Boyden, who died in Boston in 1676 at the home
of her eldest daughter. The children of Joseph and
Hannah (Phillips) Morse were: Samuel, born 1639,
mentioned below ; Hannah, 1640 ; Sarah, 1643 ; Dor
cas, 1645. died 1725; Elizabeth, 1647, died 1715;
Joseph, 1649, died 1718, settled in Sherborn; Jere
miah. 1651 ; A child, who died young.
(Ill) Samuel Morse, eldest child of Joseph Morse
(2), was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, 1639. He
inherited part of his father's and grandfather's es
tate. His house built in 1663 on the knoll east of
Main and Pound streets junction was burned by the
Indians in 1676, and was not rebuilt on that site,
where the old cellar hole is or was lately visible.
He built his second house near that lately of John
Ord, Jr., and the old well is still in use. In 1705
he was a lieutenant of militia and teacher of the
school at Medfield. In 1706 he obtained leave to
flow the land "near the cowpens" for a fulling mill,
which was built on the site of the stone mill lately
owned by Crehore. Samuel Morse was selectman
six years and deputy to the general court in 1707.
He married. 1665, Elizabeth Wood, who died in 1682.
He married (second), 1684, Sarah Thurston, who
died in 1688. He died in 1718. The children of
Samuel and Elizabeth (Wood) Morse were: Sam
uel, born 1665; Elizabeth, March 21, 1668; Hannah,

492

WORCESTER COUNTY

August 31, 1669, died young; Ruth, March 21, 1672;
Joseph, 1674; Joshua, April 2, 1677, mentioned be
low; Eleazer, August 10, 1680; Benoni, June 19,
1682, died 1704. Children of Samuel and Sarah
(Thurston) Morse were: Solomon, born 1684.
died 1704; Sarah, 1686, married Isaac Bullard, of
Sherborn. (IV) Joshua Morse, sixth child of Samuel Morse
(3), was born on the homestead at Medfield, Massa
chusetts, April 2. 1677. He inherited part of the
farm of his father in Medfield and bought much land
on his own account. He was an innholder and owned
a grist mill and saw mill. He built the house now
or lately on the Jeremiah Johnston place. He mar
ried, 1699, Elizabeth Penniman, daughter of Samuel
Penniman, of Braintree, born 1675, died 1705. He
married (second) Widow Mary Paine, of Brain
tree, who died in 1747. He was largely interested
in the settlement of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and
the first meetings were held at his tavern to organize
the proprietors. He was deputy tp the general court
six years. He died in 1749. The children of Joshua
and Elizabeth (Penniman) Morse were: Eliza
beth, born 1701; Zipporah, April 20, 1702; Samuel,
May 4, 1703, settled in Uxbridge; Mary. 1707, set
tled in Worcester, married  Lovell; Jemima,
1709; Joshua, December 28, 1710; Eliakim, 1712;
Lydia, October 27, 1714; Ruth, October 6, 1716;
Ebenezer, mentioned helow; Joseph, November 30,
1721, married Olive Mason, and settled in Nova
Scotia. (V) Rev. Ebenezer Morse, son of Joshua Morse
(4), was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, March 2,
1717-8. He graduated at Harvard College in 1737
and was settled as minister of Shrewsbury North
District, now Boylston, Massachusetts, December 26,
1743- , His relations with his parish were pleasant
until just before the revolution when political feeling
was intense. He was summarily dismissed June,
1775. and excluded from his pulpit for "toryism;"
confined to the town limits and later re-dismissed
by advice of an ecclesiastical council. He then prac
ticed medicine during the remainder of his active
days. He died in 1802, at the age of eighty-four.
He married Persis Bush, daughter of John Bush,
November 27, 1745. He married (second) Rebecca
Symmes, widow of Thomas Symmes, who died in
the revolution. The children of Rev. Ebenezer and
Persis (Bush) Morse were: Dr. John, mentioned
below; Mary, born December 24 1747: Eliakim
March 8, 1750, died 1758; Joshuaj March 8, 1752.
mentioned below; Ebenezer, June n, 1754, died
young; Ebenezer, July 10, 1755; Joseph. January,
1757, married Sophia Bigelow; Amherst, November
11. 1760;. Annis, May 19, 1764; Mary, August 12,
1767. .
(VI) Dr. John Morse, eldest son of Rev. Ebenezer
Morse (5), was born in Shrewsbury (now Boyls-
j°nL July 15, 1746: married May n, 1769, Eliza
beth Andrews, mentioned below, of Boylston. They
removed to Newfane, Vermont, and settled on the
farm late of Elwin Ingram, June. 1774. Theirs
was the twentieth family to settle. He was the first
physician and for many years the only one in the
town; his services were of inestimable value to the
Pioneers. He died April 7. 1822, on the farm which
he had cleared and on which he had lived half a
century. His children were: Elizabeth, born March
2. 1770, at Boylston; John. January 15, 1773, at
Boylston; Ebenezer, July 14. 1775, at Newfane;
Jonathan, January 9, 1778; Mary, September 10,
1702: I homas Andrews, mentioned below.
r AVIl\ Thomas Andrews Morse, youngest child
of Dr. John Morse (6), born March 13, 1786 He
married Lucinda Wood. He was a man of great

industry and excellent character. He died July 29,
1840. His children were: Caroline, born November
28, 1810; Elizabeth A. (VIII), married Austin J.
Morse (VIII), mentioned below; Frederick J., Octo
ber 23, 1814; Franklin B., September 20, 1817; Ann
W., June 8, 1822; Andrews T., October 17, 1824.
(VI) Joshua Morse, fourth child of Rev.
Ebenezer Morse (5), was born in Shrewsbury North
District (Boylston), March 8, 1752. He married
Levinah Holland, of Boylston, daughter of Ephraim
Holland, sister of the wife of Luke Knowlton, who
came to Newfane, Vermont, with him in 1773 and
settled on the farm lately owned by Welcome Allen,
then removed to the Dr. Olds place on Newfane
Hill and subsequently to the farm later owned by
Sabine Morse. He died October 1, 1828. The chil
dren of Joshua and Levinah Morse were: Tabitha,
born in Boylston, September 8, 1773, died unmar
ried 1817; Amherst, mentioned below; Ephraim,
May 23, 1778; Joseph, September 16, 1780, died Janu
ary 26, 1792; Luke, February 6, 1783; Persis, Janu
ary 17, 1785; Eunice, March 28, 1787; Eunice, Au
gust 30, 1789; Windsor, January 7, 1793; Sewall,
April 12, 1795, died 1795; Betsey, August 24, 1796.
(Vii) Amherst Morse, second child of Joshua
Morse (6), was born in Newfane, Vermont, April
25, I776- He married Abigail Holden, February 11,
1800, and settled on the farm now or late of Mar
shall Houghton in Newfane; afterwards removing
to his father's farm on Newfane Hill, where he lived
until his death July 20, 1842. The children of Am
herst and Abigail Morse were: Maria, born May 4,
1804, married Nathaniel Cheney, of Wardsboro,
Vermont, October 27, 1825, removed to Brattleboro;
Abigail H., born May 20, 1807, married Huntington
Fitch, April 23, 1832, removed to Columbus, Ohio;
Austin J., mentioned above and below; Sabin P.,
March 15, 1817, married Sarah C. Fitts, September
12, 1839, owned the homestead.
(VIII) Austin J. Morse, third child of Amherst
Morse (7), was born in Newfane, Vermont, Novem
ber n, 1812. He married, April 9, 1835, Elizabeth
A. Morse (VIII), mentioned above, the daughter
of Thomas Andrews Morse (VII). Married (sec
ond) Catherine Miller, March 18, 1847. He resided
at Newfane many years and also at FayetteviUe,
Vermont. He was an extensive farmer and cattle
drover. He was a representative in the legislature
in 1863 and 1864; a delegate to the constitutional
convention in 1870. He removed to Brattleboro,
where he died April 18, 1895. The children of
Austin J. and Elizabeth A. (Morse) Morse were:
Edwin Ruthven, mentioned below ; Amherst, who
was a soldier in the civil war, a prisoner in Libby
and died from its effects. The children of Austin
J. and Catherine (Miller) Morse were: Ellen, Mrs.
M. J. Reed, of Vermont; Allie F., unmarried.
BRADSTREET FAMILY. (I) Governor Simon
Bradstreet was an ancestor of Edwin Ruthven Morse,
of Worcester. He was born in Hobling, Lincoln,
England, in 1603; received his A. B. at Cambridge
in 1620; A. M. in, 1624; was appointed assistant
to the Massachusetts Bay colony March 18, 1630,
and came with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He was
secretary of the colony from August 23, 1630, to
1636; deputy governor 1673-8: governor 1679-86;
again after the rising against Sir Edmond Andros
1689-92. He died March 27, 1697, aged ninety-four.
He married Ann Dudley, daughter of Governor
Thomas Dudley, who was born in Northampton,
England, in 1576, came to Massachusetts in 1638
with the commission of deputy governor, was gov
ernor from 1634 to 1640; was one of the signers of
the charter of Harvard College. Anne Dudley was
the first poetess of note in New England ; one of her

WORCESTER COUNTY

493

brothers was later governor of the colony and a
nephew was chief justice. She died September 16,
1672, and Governor Bradstreet married (second)
Ann Gardner, widow of Joseph Gardner, daughter
of Emanuel Downing; she died 1683. The chil
dren of Governor Simon and Ann (Dudley) Brad
street were: Samuel (H. C. 1653) ; Dorothy, married
Rev. Seaborn Cotton; Simon, born September 28,
1643; Hannah; Mercy, 1647; Dudley, 1648; John,
born July 22, 1652.
(II) John Bradstreet, son of Governor Simon
Bradstreet (1), was born at Andover, Massachu
setts, July 22, 1652; married, June n, 1677, Sarah
Perkins, daughter of Rev. William Perkins, of Tops-
field. He was living in Salem in 1681, but most of
his life was spent in Topsfield. Their children were :
Simon, mentioned below; John, Born January 30,
1693; Mary, November 27, 1696; Samuel, August
4, 1699. (Ill) Simon Bradstreet, eldest child of John
Bradstreet (2), was born in Topsfield, Massachu
setts, April 14, 1682 ; married Elizasbeth Capen, Octo
ber 12, 171 1. Their children, all bora in Tops-
field, were: Elizabeth, born August 28, 1712; Simon,
April 21, 1714; Dudley. May 27, 1716; John, March
2, 1717-8; Margaret, born April 24, 1720, married
Thomas Andrews, mentioned below; Priscilla, Sep
tember 27, 1722; Lucy, November 25, 1724; Joseph,
May 13, 1727; Mercy, November 27, 1728; Mary,
May 10, 1731.
(IV) Margaret Bradstreet, daughter of the pre
ceding. (See Andrews).
ANDREWS FAMILY. (I) Robert Andrews
was the immigrant ancestor of Edwin Ruthven
Morse, of Worcester, through Elizabeth Andrews,
who married Dr. John Morse (VI), as given above.
The mother of Elizabeth Andrews was Margaret
(Bradstreet), mentioned above. Robert Andrews
was a native of Boxford, England, who settled in
Boxford, Massachusetts, in 1656, bringing with him
six children and settling on a one hundred acre
farm bought of John Lambert, of Rowley. He
bought other land later. He died May 29, 1668.
His will was made May 16, 1668, and proved July
1, 1668. His widow was Grace Andrews, died De
cember 25, 1700, and her will made September 4,
1699, was proved January 4, 1702-3. Both are buried
at Topsfield. Their children, born there, were : Mary,
1638 ; Hannah, 1642 ; Elizabeth, 1645, married Samuel
Simonds (see sketch of the Simonds family) ;
Thomas, 1645, resided at Boxford; John, 1648, set
tled in Boxford, mentioned below ; Robert, 1651 ;
Rebecca, married Samuel Marble; Joseph, Septem
ber 18, 1657, great-great-grandfather of Governor
John A. Andrew; Sarah, 1658; Ruth, May 27, 1664.
(II) John Andrews, son of Robert Andrews (1),
was born 1648: married, July 9, 1713, Patience An
drews ; married (second) Hannah Kimball, April
28, 1724. They settled at Boxford. The children of
John and Patience were: Hannah, born April 28,
1715; Thomas, mentioned below; Mary, May 25,
1720. The children of John and Hannah were : Sam
uel, baptized May 28, 1727; Jeremiah, bom August
7', 1727: Daniel, December 27, 1729.
(Ill) Thomas Andrews, second child of John
Andrews (2), was born in Boxford, Massachusetts,
September 4, 1717; married, at Topsfield, November
27, 1739, Margaret Bradstreet, daughter of Simon
Bradstreet, whose ancestry is given above. Her sis
ter Lucv married Robert Andrews and both Robert
and Thomas removed to the North District of
Shrewsbury, later called Boylston, Massachusetts.
Thomas Andrews died at Newfane, Vermont, in
1760. His eldest children were: David; Jonathan,

died unmarried; Elizabeth, who married Dr. John
Morse. (Stated above).
(IV) Elizabeth Andrews, daughter of Thomas
Andrews (2), married Dr. John Morse. (See sketch
above.) ' (IX) Edwin Ruthven Morse, son of Austin J.
Morse (8), was born in Newfane, Vermont, Febru
ary 24, 1843, and died in Worcester, August 30,
1887. Mr. Morse was for many years a provision
dealer with a store at 145 Main street, Worcester,
a man of high standing in business and successful.
He was well known in Masonic circles, being a mem
ber of Montacute Lodge, Worcester Royal Arch
Chapter, the Worcester County Commandery and in
the Scottish Rite had taken all the degrees including
the thirty-second. In politics he was a Republican,
but never sought public office.
He married Martha E. Osgood, of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, March 16, 1869. She was born in New
fane, Vermont daughter of Willard Emory and Han
nah (Park) Osgood and granddaughter of Deacon
Jonathan Park, who was an officer in the revolu
tionary war and fought in the battle of Bennington.
She was educated at Wesleyan Seminary and was
a teacher in the public schools of Minneapolis before
her marriage. Their only child was: Lulu Mabel,
born in Worcester, February 24, 1884, educated in
the Worcester public schools and at a business
college. HOMER RISING KING. John Alden (1),
made famous, by Longfellow in the poem "Court
ship of Miles Standish," was an ancestor of Homer
Rising King, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of
others named elsewhere in this work.
John Alden was born in England in 1599. He
joined the Pilgrims on the "Mayflower" at South
ampton as the ship was on its way to America.
When the ship stopped there for supplies he was
hired as the cooper. He had not been with them
at Leyden and was probably not a member of the
Independent church, but soon joined. He cast
his fortunes with the Pilgrims after enduring the
hardships of that first terrible winter at Plymouth,
when so many died. He was doubtless influenced
in this decision by his love for Priscilla Mullens,
the story of which, with some embellishment, is
told in "The Courtship of Miles Standish." She
was the daughter of William Mullens, who came on
the "Mayflower" with his family. John and Pris
cilla were married in the spring of 1621. When
the common property of the colony was divided in
1627. Alden went with Captain Standish, Elder
Brewster, John Howland, Francis Eaton and Peter
Brown to Mattakeeset, the Indian name of the
territory now included in Duxbury, Marshfield,
Pembroke, Hanson and Bridgewater, Massachu
setts. For several years they were obliged to re
turn to Plymouth during the winter season to com
bine all their forces against the possible Indian
attack that was always dreaded and not unex
pected. The residents in Plymouth in winter also
gave then an opportunity to attend worship, and the
records show a written agreement of Alden and
others in 1632 to remove their families to Plymouth
in the winter. .
In 1633 Alden was appointed assistant to the
governor, an office which he held for nearly the
whole of the remainder of his life, serving with
Edward Winslow, Josiah Winslow, Bradford,
Prince and Thomas Hinckley. From 1666 until
his death he held the office of first assistant, was
often called the deputy governor, and was many
times acting-governor in the absence of the gov-

494

WORCESTER COUNTY

ernor. From 1640 to 1650 he was also deputy to
the colonial council from Duxbury. Winslow's
history of Duxbury says of him: "Holding offices
of the highest trust, no important measure was
proposed, or any responsible agency ordered in
which he had not a part. He was one of the coun
cil of war, many times an arbitrator, a surveyor
of lands for the government as well as for indi
viduals, and on several important occasions- was
authorized to act as agent or attorney for the colony.
He was possessed of a sound judgment and of
talents which, though not brilliant, were by no
means ordinary. Writers who mention him bear
ample testimony to his industry, integrity and ex
emplary piety, and he has been represented as a
worthy and useful man of great humility, and emi
nent for sanctity of life, decided, ardent, resolute
and persevering, indifferent to danger, stern, austere
and unyielding, and of incorruptible integrity. He
was always a firm supporter of the church, and every
thing of an innovating nature received determined
opposition." From the Puritan point of view Alden
was a model if the description of his virtues is truth
ful. He took his part in making the life of the
Quakers at Plymouth colony intolerable.
On the Alden farm there stands the house built
by John Alden's son Jonathan, having been oc
cupied by eight generations of Aldens in direct line.
It is the oldest house in New England with three
exceptions, the old Fort at Medford, built in 1634;
the Fairbanks house at Dedham, built in 1636; and
the old stone house at Guilford, Connecticut, built
in 1640. Here Alden spent his declining years. He
died in Duxbury, September 12, 1686, aged eighty-
seven, the last of the famous band of Pilgrim
Fathers, and the last of the "Mayflower" company
except only Mary Allerton, who died in 1699, aged
ninety. John Alden had eleven children, only eight of
whom are known. These were : 1. John, born at
Plymouth about 1622; Freeman, 1648, at Boston;
died May 14, 1702, aged eighty-nine years; mar
ried, April 1, 1660, Elizabeth Everell, widow, daugh
ter of William Phillips. 2. Joseph, (see forward).
3. Elizabeth, born 1625, died at Little Compton,
Rhode Island, aged ninety-three; married William
Peabody. 4. Jonathan, born about 1627, captain,
married, December 10, Abigail Hallett. 5. Sarah,
married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles
Standish. 6. Ruth, married John Bass, of Brain
tree, from whom the Presidents Adams descended.
7. Mary, married Thomas Delano, of Duxbury, son
of Philip Delano, who came in the "Fortune" in
1621. 8. David, prominent man of Duxbury.
(II) Joseph Alden, son of John Alden (1), born
in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1624, died February
8, 1697. He inherited land at Bridgewater, where
he settled, and also at Middleboro, Massachusetts.
He was admitted a freeman 1659. He married Mary
Simmons, daughter of Moses Simmons, Jr., who
came in the "Fortune" in 1621 and settled at Dux
bury. Joseph Alden's will was dated December 14,
1696, and proved March 10, 1697. His children
were: 1. Isaac, bom at Bridgewater, married (sec
ond) Mehitable Allen, December 2, 1685. 2. Joseph,
(see forward). 3. John, born at West Bridgewater,
died September 29, 1730, aged fifty-six; married
Hannah White, daughter of Ebenezer White, of
Weymouth. 4. Elizabeth, married, 1691, Benjamin
Snow. 5. Mary, married, 1700, Samuel Allen.
(Ill) Joseph Alden, son of Joseph Alden (2),
born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1667; died Jan
uary 22, 1747. He was deacon of the church there
and a prominent man. His will was dated Novem
ber 12, 1743. He lived at South Bridgewater. He

married, 1690, Hannah Dunham, daughter of Daniel
Dunham, of Plymouth. She died January 13, 1748,
aged seventy-eight. Their children were: 1. Daniel,
born January 29, 1691, married, 1717, Abigail Shaw
and settled in Stafford, Connecticut. 2. Joseph, born
August 26, 1693, died December 9, 1695. 3. Eleazer,
born September 27, 1694, married, 1720, Martha
Shaw; he died January 30, 1773. 4. Hannah, born
1696, married (first) Joseph Alden.; married (sec
ond), 1722, Mark Lothrop, of Easton. 5. Mary, born
April 10, 1699, married, second, 1719, Timothy Ed
son. 6. Joseph, born September 5, 1700, died Octo
ber 5, 1700. 7. Jonathan, born December 3, 1703,
died November 10, 1704. 8. Samuel, (see forward).
9. Mehitable, born October 18, 1707, died April 11,
1737. 10. Seth, born July 6, 1710, died September
6, 1784; married Mehitable Carver; settled at Bridge-
water. (IV) Samuel Alden, son of Joseph Alden (3),
born at South Bridgewater, • Massachusetts, August
20, 1705, died 1785; married, 1728, Abiah Edson,
daughter of Captain Joseph Edson, and settled at
Titicut. Their children were : I. Abiah, born 1729,
married Seth Harris, lived at North Bridgewater.
2. Mehitable, born 1732, married Joshua Packard,
lived in Maine. 3. Sarah, born 1734, married Tim
othy Packard. 4. Samuel, born 1736, died 1816;
married Hannah Williams. 5. Josiah, (see for
ward). 6. Simeon, born 1740, settled at Bridge-
water and Titicut; married, 1763, Mary Packard.
7. Silas, died aged twenty-one. 8. Mary. 9. Hosea,
killed by kick of horse ; married two daughters of
Josiah Washburn.
(V) Josiah Alden, son of Samuel Alden (4),
born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1738; settled in
his native town, later in Wales, Massachusetts. He
married, 1761, Bathsheba Jones, of Raynham, Massa
chusetts. Their children were: 1. Elijah, settled
at Brimfield and Ludlow; was soldier in revolu
tion; married Rebecca Fuller. 2. Azel (son), born
1770, died 1854, married, 1791, Bethany Wilbur. 3.
Abiah, married Benjamin Winchester. 4. Bathsheba.
5. Charity, married Peter Trask, of Randolph, Ver
mont. 6. Josiah (see forward). 7. Lucy, married
Amos Fletcher. 8. Rebecca, married Benjamin Snoe;
settled in Belchertown, Massachusetts. 9. Benjamin,
married Polly Hodges.
(VI) Josiah Alden, son of Josiah Alden (5),
born 1773; died September 3, 1833; married (first)
Olive Brown; married (second) Widow Bates.
Children of Josiah and Olive (Brown) Alden were:
1. Azel (son), born August 12, 1792, died October
22, i860, married Mary Bramard. 2. Justus, born
September 15, 1793, died September 30, 1831 ; mar
ried Betsey Porter. 3. Zenas, born November 1,
1795. died January 1, 1840; married Betsey Taylor.
4. Charity, .born June 5, 1797, died August 11, 1829.
5. Washington BrOwn, born July 14, 1799, died Aug
ust 5, 1859; married Hannah B. Bartlett. 6. Charles,
born December 6, 1803, died May 22, 1862; married
Margaret Moore and Louisa Paine. 7. John, mar
ried Huldah Wright, June 17, 1827. 8. Orsamus,
born June 5, 1808, married, June 28, 1842, Eliza Ann
Lehman. 9. Mary Needham, born September 13,
1810, married, October 27, 1831, Henry Fuller. 10.
Eunice Brown (see forward).
(VII) Eunice Brown Alden, daughter of Josiah
Alden (6), born at Ludlow, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 23, 1813, married, March 24, 1833, Marvin King,
of Longmeadow, Massachusetts. They settled at
Ludlow, where he had a farm. He died in Ludlow,
January i, 1903, aged ninety-five years. His wife
died 1863. Their children were: 1. Mary Madelia,
born February 9, 1834, married, November 26, 1852,
Justus Alden. 2. Marvin Henry, born April 5, 1835.

WORCESTER COUNTY

495

3. Ann Frances, born February 28, 1837, married
Charles Henry Knapp, of Northampton. 4. Samuel
Alden, born December 15, 1838, magistrate ; sergeant
in civil war. 5. Julia Isadora, born March 22, 1841.
6. Arthur Delano, born May 13, 1843, corporal in
civil war. 7. Homer Washington, born December
8, 1844, died September 5, 1846. 8.. Homer Rising,
born June 4, 1846. 9. Olive Eugenie, born May 14,
1848. 10. Frank E., born May 26, 1850, died Oc
tober 1, 1852. 11. Frederick Augustus, born Novem
ber 17, 1852. 12. Lelia Imogene, born December 23,
i8S4- (VIII) Homer Rising King, son of Marvin (7)
and Eunice Brown (Alden) King, was born in Lud
low, Hampton county, Massachusetts, June 4, 1846.
He attended the district schools of his native town
and worked on his father's farm until the age of
seventeen, when he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-
seventh Massachusetts Infantry, Captain Henry A.
Hubbard, Colonel Horace C. Lee, of Springfield,
Massachusetts, under whom he served two years.
He was with his regiment in the following battles :
Wallhollow Junction, Virginia; Fairfield church,
Virginia ; Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Bermuda Hun
dred, and in the battles in front of Richfnond up
to 1864. He was mustered out at the end of the
civil war. He returned to Ludlow and entered the
grocery and provision business. In March, 1866,
he gave up his store and went to Colorado. He
travelled on foot from Atchison, Kansas, to Fair-
play and South Park, Colorado, a distance of seven
hundred miles. He engaged in placer-mining and
in the provision business for four years. He, was
elected trial justice and deputy county clerk for
Jefferson county, Colorado, for three years. In 1870
he came east and with his brother, Arthur D. King,
started in the grocery and provision business in Wil
braham, Massachusetts. Three years later he re
moved to Worcester, where he followed the same
business, dealing also in cattle. He has for many
years been in the wholesale business only, dealing
in meats and cattle. In 1880 he bought the farm
of one hundred and forty acres at Tatnuck, in Wor
cester. It is well equipped for his business of deal
ing in cattle, and slaughtering purposes.
Mr. King has been repeatedly honored with pub
lic office. He was for three years alderman in
'893-94-95, and served on the committees of water
and highways, being the chairman. He was a mem
ber of the common council also in 1890-91-92, and
chairman of the same committees for three years.
He represented the eighth ward district in the gen
eral court. He was on the water supply committee
two years, and served on the special committee that
dedicated the Massachusetts monument at Anderson- '
ville, Georgia, in 1901. He is a life member of
Athelstan Lodge of Free Masons; Worcester Lodge
of Perfection and Eureka Chapter. He is a mem
ber of the State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry; of
Commonwealth Lodge, United Order of American
Mechanics, and of Post 10, Grand Army.
He married, December 9, 1869, Hattie L. Ward,
daughter of E. L. Ward, of Worcester, sister of
Mrs. H. M. Tompkins. (See sketch of Tompkins
Family.) They have one child: Mabel L. King,
born February 9, 1876.
THE MOONEY FAMILY, represented in the
present generation by Nicholas Joseph Mooney,
Richard Henry Mooney, A. M„ and John Francis
Henry Mooney, residents of Worcester, Massachu
setts, was founded in this country by Patrick Mooney,
farmer, who came from Carrick-Beg, county of
Waterford, Ireland, 1842, and settled in Worcester,
Massachusetts, where a number of his descendants

are now to be found. He was accompanied by his
daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. John Blade,
and his two sons, Richard and Nicholas, his wife
Nancy (Hagerty) Mooney, having died in Ireland.
Patrick Mooney, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. John
Blade, went to Wisconsin, where he engaged in
farming, and subsequently became the owner of one
of the largest and most productive farms in his
region, which he cultivated and improved, and re
sided on up to the time of his death. Nicholas
Mooney, aforementioned, died in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, June 12, 1848, and was the first person
buried in St. John's cemetery.
Richard Mooney, son of Patrick and Nancy
(Hagerty) Mooney, was born in Ireland, from
whence he came to the United States with his father.
He was a builder and contractor, learning his trade
in Ireland, where he served an apprenticeship of
seven years, becoming at the same time a .practical
surveyor and architect. He was continuously en
gaged in his business and built a large number of
houses in Worcester. By prudent and careful man
agement he acquired considerable landed property,
and was one of the most prominent men of his day,.
taking an active part in all town and municipal af
fairs. Being among the earliest Irish residents of
Worcester, and a man of education and business
ability, his assistance and advice was often sought
by his countrymen. His home was a center of in
formation for the Irish people, and he not only re
ceived their letters but often wrote their replies.
Richard Mooney was married in 1845, at St.
John's Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, by the
Rev. Matthew W. Gibson, to Margaret Doyle, a
native of the county of Waterford, Ireland. Their
children are: Julia A., married James H. Mellen,
had seven children; William R., John F. H., Annie
T., Catharine, James, deceased; Francis, deceased,
and Richard F. Mellen. Nicholas Joseph, mentioned
hereinafter. Annie Statia, died September 24, 1874.
Richard Henry, mentioned hereinafter. John Fran
cis Henry, mentioned hereinafter. Margaret Eliza
beth, married John J. Foley, who was for many
years organist at St. Anne's Church; he died in
1902, leaving five children : Margaret, Catherine,
Anna, Elizabeth, and John J. Foley. Richard Moon
ey, father of these children, died February 16, i860,
aged forty years, as the result of an accident, caused
by the giving away of a scaffolding. His widow Mar
garet (Doyle) Mooney, died at her home, 78 Madi
son street, Worcester, December 19, 1905, aged eighty
years. The funeral services were conducted in St.
Paul's Church, of which she was a benefactor. At
the time of her death, she was the oldest Irish Cath
olic in Worcester, in point of residence. She located
in Worcester in 1842, when the city was only a
town. She was one of the attendants at the laying
of the corner stone of the College of the Holy Cross
in 1S43, and was one of the original members of
St. John's parish, being present at the exercises
of the laying of the corner-stone of that church in
1846. Mrs. Mooney is survived by three sons —
Nicholas J., Richard H., and John F. H. — and one
daughter, Mrs. Margaret M. Foley. Another daugh
ter, Mrs. James H. Mellen, died May 9, 1885.
Nicholas Joseph Mooney, son of Richard and
Margaret (Doyle) Mooney, was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, October 10, 1848. He attended the
public schools of his native city,- and after complet
ing his studies worked as a carpenter, machinist
and boot crimper. In 1877 he was appointed a mem
ber of the police force of Worcester, Massachusetts,
by Hon. Charles B. .Pratt, mayor. After a service
of fifteen years on the force, he resigned therefrom,
and later engaged in the fire insurance business.

496

WORCESTER COUNTY

beginning as an agent for the Germania Fire Insur
ance Company of New York. In 1902 he became
general local manager of the company, which he still
represents. He also represents the Reliance, of
Philadelphia ; Commericial Union, of New York ;
American Insurance, of Boston; the Worcester
Mutual; and' the Merchants and Farmers. In the
insurance business Mr. Mooney has been successful
in an eminent degree, building up one of the largest
and best known offices in this line in Worcester.
His advice is considered safe and sound in all
financial matters, and is often sought in estimating
the value of real estate and in investments. He
is one ofthe original incorporators of the Bay State
Savings Bank, and a member of its investment com
mittee. Mr. Mooney has always taken an active interest
in all public and municipal affairs, laboring efficiently
in forwarding every material and moral interest.
He was a member of the common council for two
terms, serving on important committees and always
on the finance committee. During the famous strike
of the Knights of Saint Crispin, in 1870, Mr.
•Mooney was secretary of the organization and was
a prominent factor in the management and direct
ing of the same during that troublous time. He is
a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
and of the Father Matthew Total Abstinence
and Mutual Benefit Society, of which he was presi
dent for five consecutive terms, and was serving
in that capacity when the society presented a testi
monial to the late Hon. George Frisbie ' Hoar, in
recognition of his public services, and he was ap
pointed to make the presentation speech. He is a
charter member of the Police Relief Association of
Worcester. In politics he is a sterling Democrat.
In 1885 Mr." Mooney married Joanna M. Healey,
of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their children are :
Frances C, John J., Richard J., died March 25,
1905 ; Rachel, Annie, and Julia.
Richard Henry Mooney, A. M., son of Richard
and Margaret (Doyle) Mooney, was born in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, and has always lived there.
He attended the public schools of his native city,
and entered the College of the Holy Cross, Wor
cester, from which he was graduated in the class
of 1879, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Dur
ing his college course he took a very high rank in
his class, gaining prizes in English composition,
elocution, mathematics and physics. Having decided
to make teaching his profession, he entered the theo
logical and pedagogical department of the Laval
University of Montreal, Canada, where he pursued
a special course in theology, moral and dogmatic;
sacred Scripture and history of sacred writings;
literature; ancient, medieval and modern history;
history of education; psychology and philosophy.
He then became a special student in the State Nor
mal school, at Worcester, under the direction and
supervision of Professor E. Harlow Russell, princi
pal of the school, a recognized authority in pedagogy
and child study. In June, 1881, he received his
diploma from the State Normal school, and his
degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater.
In September, 1881, he began his work of teaching
in the' Adams Square school, Worcester, which was
then an ungraded school, where he taught everything
from the alphabet to algebra. In September, 1882,
he was appointed by the school committee principal
of the Quinsigamond school, over which he still
presides. In the growth and development of this
school Mr. Mooney takes pardonable pride, and the
entire village of Quinsigamond, which is the largest
and most thriving of the many suburbs of Wor
cester, the location of the South works, so-called,

of the American Steel and Wire Company, is con
tributory to this educational institution. When Mr.
Mooney first took charge of the school there were
five teachers in charge of about two hundred pupils, '
but at the present time (1906) there are twenty-five
teachers in charge of over one thousand pupils.
The graduates of this school are now engaged in
the various active pursuits of life, in the shop, office,
store, in the army and navy, in public service in
different departments of the city and county, in the
legislative department of the state government, and
the customs' department of the United States. It has
always been the constant aim of Mr. Mooney in
training the pupils under his charge to thoroughly
qualify them for the duties of life. He does not
leave them on the threshold of the school-room, but
meets them out in the world in the various walks
of business, professional, and social life, and cheers
them on in their undertakings. In his career as a
teacher he has manifested diligence, industry, exe
cutive ability of a very high order, decision, energy,
and a careful preparation of every detail in school
organization, "discipline, and teaching. In school
economy, methods of culture and history of educa
tion — in all that goes to make a thorough and prac
tical master of pedagogy, and in the science and art
of education, he holds high rank. Many of the
methods and devices occasionally put forward by
lecturers at school conventions as new and original,
have been in vogue in the_ Quinsigamond school
for many years. Especially is this so in regard to
promotions, individual work with pupils, special
attention to defective and backward pupils, small
classes, continuous and generous use of the black
boards by pupils and teachers, and in many other-
aids, devices, methods, and principles of teaching.
Mr. Mooney's collateral work has always been
along the lines of educational thought, activity and
philanthropy. He has interested himself very much
in the organization of societies which he foresaw
would or might do some good. In 1887 he was
elected secretary of the Alumni Association of the
College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater, and he
has built up that organization to its present pros
perous condition. In 1899 he organized the Young
Ladies' Lyceum of the Church of the Sacred Heart,
Worcester, over which the Right Rev. Thomas J.
Conaty, now Bishop of Los Angeles, California,
presided, and was appointed its first president. In
1890 he organized the Worcester County Total Ab
stinence Union, comprising the active total abstin- '
ence societies in the towns and cities of the county,
and was appointed its lecturer. He has also organ
ized many total abstinence societies for young men
and young ladies throughout Worcester county, and
has lectured on temperance in many cities and towns
in New England. He was one of the incorporators
of the St. Vincent Hospital, House of Providence,
and of St. Joseph's Industrial Home, Millbury,
Massachusetts. Mr. Mooney has published several books as aids
in the work of teaching. In 1891 he published "One
Thousand Questions and Answers on United States
History, Civil Government, Literature and Finance,"
also "One Hundred Questions and Answers on
Alcohol." In 1892 he published historical papers,
containing, with notes, the "Declaration of Inde
pendence," the "Articles of Confederation," the
"Constitution of the United States," "Washington's
Farewell Address," and "A Table of the Presidents.''
In 1892, by vote of the Worcester County Teachers'
Association in convention assembled, he prepared a
classified list of books for supplementary reading
by grades for the public schools. In 1893 he pub
lished "Patriotic Prose and Poetry." All of these

WORCESTER COUNTY

497

books have had an extended circulation. Mr.
Mooney has now in preparation "A Short History
of Ireland,'! and Elementary Algebra, and a Prob
lem Book in Arithmetic.
During the winters of 1886-87-88-89-90 Mr.
Mooney lectured before the pupils of the various
evening schools on historical, scientific and other
subjects. He has spoken before many local audi
ences, teachers' associations and societies in adjacent
cities and towns on literary, educational and patri
otic subjects. He is often introduced by presiding
officers as "the silver-tongued orator." In 1895,
while serving as president of the Worcester County
Teachers' Association, he presided over the largest
convention of that association, ever held up to that
time. He is a member of the Massachusetts Teachers'
Association. On Memorial Day, 1895, Mr. Mooney
was the orator on behalf of the Grand Army of
the Republic and the citizens in general at the
soldiers' monument on the common, where he de
livered one of the most eloquent and patriotic ad
dresses ever heard there. In . May, 1899, he spoke
under the auspices of the Men's Union of the Trinity
Methodist Episcopal Church on the Catholic Relig
ion. In 1895 Mr. Mooney was chairman of the
committee which organized the Schoolmasters' Club
of Worcester county, of which G. Stanley Hall,
president of Clark University, was the first president,
and Mr. Mooney held that office in 1899. Mr.
Mooney presided at the first dinner given by that
club. Mr. Mooney is an associate member — a life
member — of the George H. Ward Post, No. 10,
Grand Army of the Republic, and is always a wel
come speaker at it's gatherings. He was a member
of the committee of, fifteen, chosen at a meeting
of citizens, to arrange for the reception and dinner
in honor of the soldiers who returned from the Span
ish-American war. In 1896 he was chairman of the
committee which inaugurated the first course of
lectures for teachers ever given in Worcester. In
September of that year, as editor and proprietor,
he began the publication of the "School Register,"
a monthly paper devoted to the interests of educa
tion. Mr. Mooney takes an active interest in public
and civic affairs, and is always ready to perform his
duty as a citizen. He believes that a quiet, con
servative intercourse between the world and the
school is of mutual benefit. In 1885 he was appointed
by the executive of the commonwealth to the office
of justice of the peace, which commission he still
holds, a period of twenty-one years, which is an
eloquent testimonial to his ability as an adjudicator
as well as of his sterling integrity. He is a member
of the board of trade and serves on the committee on
municipal affairs. As president of the Quinsigamond
Improvement Society, he has been instrumental in
securing many improvements for the village in the
way of better roads, sidewalks, electric lights, shade
trees, electric car service, and finally, after years of
agitation and hearings before different committees
of the city government, a public play ground for the
youth of the village, called Greenwood Park.
In 1892 Mr. Mooney married Edith Genevieve
Loring, of Westborough, Massachusetts, daughter
of Willard Loring, of that town. Mrs. Mooney was
graduated from the Westborough high school and
from the State Normal school, at Worcester, and
previous to her marriage was a teacher in the public
schools of Worcester. Their children are: Mar
garet Loring, Richard Henry, Jr., Miles, and Edith
Loring Mooney. The family home is on Vernon
street, in the southern part of the city of Worcester,
and is surrounded by a spacious lawn and four
32

acres of land. The estate is dotted with many fruit
and ornamental trees.
Mr. Mooney is a member of no organization or
society not connected with his profession of teach
ing. Everything is subordinated with him to the
great work of turning out good, intelligent and pa
triotic citizens. In religion he is a Catholic, in poli
tics a Republican.
John Francis Henry Mooney, A. B., son of
Richard and Margaret (Doyle) Mooney, was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts. After his graduation
from the public schools he entered the College of
the Holy Cross, where he was graduated in 1879,
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He immed
iately took up journalism and for twenty years was.
connected with the .Worcester Evening Gazette as
reporter, and was also the local daily correspondent
of the Boston Globe. He is now (1906) engaged
in the insurance business with his brother, Nicholas
J. Mooney. In 1884' he was elected a member of the
house of representatives in the state legislature from
ward 5, and served on the committee on education
which reported the free text book bill, which was
passed that year. He served six years as a member
of the Worcester Light Infantry, in which he at
tained the rank of sergeant. He is a member of
the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was for a long
time president of his division. He is a member of
the Independent Order of Elks. Mr. Mooney is
one of the best known men in Worcester, meeting
in his work for a number of years men of all condi
tions and in all walks of life. He is a sterling
Democrat. JOHN J. POWER. William Power, father of
-Alderman John J. Power, of Worcester, Massachu
setts, was born in Waterford, Ireland, about 1850.
He belonged to a well known and numerous family
of this surname, among whom there were many
men of distinction in Ireland. He came to America
in 1869, when a young man, and made his home in
Worcester. He had learned the carpenter's trade
thoroughly in the old country, and was a skilful
mechanic. For the first year he worked for John
P. McDonald, carpenter and builder, of Worcester.
In 1870 he started in business for himself, and soon
became one of the leading carpenters of the city;
in the course of his career he built over three hun
dred houses in Worcester. He had many con
tracts also outside of the city, and continued actively
in business until his death, January -29, 1894. He
was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
and of St. John's Roman Catholic Church. His home
was always in the fourth ward where he was highly
esteemed, and had considerable influence among his
fellow citizens. He owned a number of houses in
that ward. He married Nora Ahassey in St. John's.
Church, Worcester. Their children are : Alice G.,
resides at home; John J. (see forward) ; M. Agnes,,
resides at home ; William H. ; George A., student in
the Harvard Medical school ; James T., student at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute ; Thomas F., stud
ent at Amherst College; Henry R., student in the
Worcester Classical high school, orator of the class
of 1906.
John J. Power, son of William Power, was
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 31, 1876.
He received his. education in the public schools of
Worcester, and at Holy Cross College. He became
associated in business with his father while still' in
school. His father died when he was less than
eighteen years old and he succeeded to the business
and care of the estate, being the eldest son. He con
tinued the business successfully, and has since car-

498

WORCESTER COUNTY

ried on a general contracting and building business.
He is a member of the builders' exchange and of
the board of trade. He belongs to the Washington
Club. In politics he is a Democrat, and he has
taken a strong interest in public affairs. He was
elected from ward four, a member of the common
council for the years 1901-2-3-4, and of the board
of aldermen for 1905-6. He has served on all the
important committees of the city council and is,
notwithstanding his youth, one of the veterans of
the city council; an efficient and faithful official.
Alderman Power resides, in a handsome new -resi
dence at No. 1 Granite street. He built the house
for his own use. He married, October 31, 1905,
Hannah M. Kehoe, daughter of Michael and Mary
Kehoe, of Worcester.
ROBERT LYONS GOLBERT, for many years
identified with the business interests of Worcester,
in which city he has spent the greater part of his
life, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July 2,
1837, a son of Robert Lyo.ns.and Rebecca (Stevens)
Golbert, of Boston, whose family consisted of four"
other' children, nariiely: George, who died while
serving in the Army of the Potomac during the civil
war; Benjamin B., who died in 1903, was a soldier
in the Ninth Company of Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry; Elizabeth, died in infancy; and William.
Robert Lyons Golbert (father) was probably a native
of Boston, was of German descent, and followed
the trade of a sail maker. His wife, Rebecca (Stev
ens) Golbert, was a native of Boston, Massachusetts,
and a descendant of an English family who were for
many years residents of Boston.
Robert Lyons Golbert attended school in Boston
until twelve years of age, when his father died, and
he then went to live at Hanson, Massachusetts. At
the age of seventeen he returned to Boston and
secured employment in the last factory of John
Armstrong, where he thoroughly mastered all the
details of the trade. In 1856 he came to Worcester
and entered the employ of Samuel Mawhinney, the
well known last- manufacturer and in 1869 was ad-
mtted to partnership with his employer. This con
nection continued until Mr. Mawhinney nioved his
business to Brockton, Massachusetts, and Mr. Gol
bert continued to manufacture lasts in Worcester
until February, 1905, when the business was incor
porated as the Golbert Last Company, his associates
being A. B. Taylor and Louis A Wheeler.' Mr.
Golbert is a member of Athelstan Lodge, Eureka
Chapter, Worcester County Commandery, and Grand
Lodge of Perfection, Free and Accepted Masons.
He is also a member of the Worcester Board of
Trade, Worcester Mechanics Association, and the
Hancock ,Club. Fie is a Republican in politics. Mr.
Golbert married Mary Elizabeth Field, of Nantucket,
Massachusetts, and they are the parents of one
daughter, Sadie Golbert.
JOSIAH H. CLARKE. Joseph Clarke (1), the
emigrant ancestor of the late Josiah Howe .Clarke,
of Worcester, was one of the pioneer settlers in
Dedham, Massachusetts. He was a proprietor in Ded
ham, September 28, 1640. He was one of the first
thirteen settlers of Medfield, Massachusetts. ' He was
admitted a freeman there May 18. 1653. His home
stead was on the south side of South street, Med
field, and the old cellar hole near the corner of Oak
street still indicates the location of his house. He
was selectman in 1660, but was seldom in offiee. He
died in 1684. His wife Alice, whom he probably
married in England, died in 1710. Their children
were: Joseph, born July 27, 1642; Benjamin, see
forward; Ephraim, bora February 9, 1644; Daniel,

born September 29, 1647, died in 1676 of wounds
received from the Indians during the attack and
burning of Medfield; Mary, born March 12, 1649,
married, 1673, John Boyden; Sarah, born February
20, 1651, died 1704; John, born . 1652, died 1720;
Nathaniel, born 1658; Rebecca, born 1660, died 1739.
(II) Benjamin Clarke, second child of Joseph
' Clarke (1), was born in Dedham, Massachusetts,
February 9, 1644. He married, 1665, Dorcas Morse.
He had a grant of land in Medfield, "near the way
as you go to Nantasket." His house was on Main
street, opposite Pound street. The original well is
said to be still in use. His house was burned by the
Indians in 1676, and he built again on the same spot.
What is known as the Peak House in Medfield is
an addition subsequently made to his. second house
in or about 1762. After the old part decayed and
was torn down, the present structure was moved- to
its present, location. Its unique shape has attracted
much attention and is even believed to be one of the
houses left from the burning in King Philip's war.
Benjamin Clarke was a very prominent citizen. He
was for seventeen years selectman of the town and
two years deputy to the general court. He died in
1724 and his widow in 1725. Their children were:
Hannah, born October 22, 1666, died 1757; Benjamin,
born November 20, 1668, died at the Eastward;
Theophilus, see forward; Tabitha, born December
10, 1672; Timothy, born December 19, 1674, died
1676; Timothy, born May 12, 1677; Edward, born
November 11, 1679, died 1746, at Medway; Ebenezer,
born 1682, died 1683; Rebecca, born 1684, died 1687;
Seth, born 1687.
(Ill) Theophilus Clarke, third child of Benjamin
Clarke (2), was born in Medfield, Massachusetts,
September 25, 1670. He married Rachel  .
They settled in Medfield, where he lived until after
her death, December 1, 1717. He married (second)
Elizabeth Cutler, of Reading, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 24, 1718. Thereafter he lived in Medway.
He had twelve children by the first marriage and
three by the second. The children of Theophilus
and Rachel, all born in Medfield, were : Ebenezer,
born January 21, 1690, died 1700; Rachel, December
13, 1692; James, March 7, 1693-4; Rebecca, January
2t. 1694-5; Benjamin; Theophilus, born April 16,
1698, died August 28, 1716; Deborah, October 12,
1701 ; Zebiah, November 1, 1703 ; Caleb, (see for
ward) ; Dorcas, March 13, 1706-7; Mary, May 5,
1710; Abigail, April 20, 1712. The children of
Theophilus and Elizabeth (Cutler) Clarke: , Esther,
January 1, 1719; Lieutenant Theophilus, April 19,
1722, died in service 1760; Benjamin, .March 17,
1724- (IV) Caleb Clarke, ninth child of Theophilus
Clarke (3), of Medfield, and Medway, was born in
Medfield, Massachusetts, September 24, 1705. He
married Phebe  . They were living in Fram
ingham in 1734, when he appears among the tax
payers. In 1735 he was in Sudbury, the adjoining
town. His brother Theophilus settled in Holliston,
which adjoins Framingham on the other side. They
had ten children born, in Sudbury and perhaps others
before they settled there. The children of Caleb
and Phebe Clarke were: Phebe, born August 26,
1735; Rebecca, March 28, 1737; Rachel, October 7,
1738; Abigail, March 19, 1740-1, died March 20,
1741 ; Benjamin, see forward; Seth, June 29, 1746;
Calvin, August 26, 1735, a soldier in the revolution,
married Martha Hunt; Jo'nas (twin), born June' 15,
1751; Abigail (twin), born June 15, 1751 ; Zebiah,
February 12, 1753, named for- her aunt, her father's
sister. Caleb, Jr., was probably his eldest son.
(V) Benjamin Clarke, son of Caleb Clarke (4),
and his fifth child, was born in Sudbury, Massa-

^y/^^^^^yH^ A/^> ^2*7^C{_^

WORCESTER COUNTY

499

chusetts.^ July 17, 1744. He seems to have been a
soldier in the revolution credited to Framingham.
He married, October 19, 1768, Abigail Hunt, daugh
ter of William and Mary Hunt. She was born in
Sudbury, December 17, 1750, and married there.
She died February. 11, 1830, in Marlboro, aged
¦seventy-nine years. He died April 15, 1829, aged
•eighty-six years. They 'settled in Marlboro, which
was a colony of Sudbury. Some of their children
were born in Sudbury, however. They probably
moved in 1776. The children of Benjamin and Abi
gail (Hunt) Clarke were: Mary, born in Sudbury,
December 18, 1769, married, August 29, 1787, Simon
Eames; Abigail, born in Sudbury, March 22, 1772;
Sarah or Sally, March 30, 1774, died young; Benja
min, see forward ; Sally, May 4, 1780, married, Sep
tember 11, 1798, Jonathan Weeks; Nancy, March 5,
1782; Betsey, October 10, 1784, married, February
20, 1805, Levi Colby.
(VI) Benjamin Clarke, fourth child of Benjamin
Clarke (5), was born in Marlboro, April 2, 1778.
He married in 1800, Catherine Eustis, and they had
sixteen, children, , among whom was Benjamin, born
about 1801. He settled in Marlboro and all his chil
dren were born there. He was a farmer.
(VII) Benjamin Clarke, eldest son of Benjamin
Clarke (6), was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts
about 1801. He married Lucy Howe, of Marlboro,
born November 1, 1794, the daughter of Josiah and
Molly (Adams) Howe (married February 24, 1770).
Josiah Howe was the son of Josiah and Mary (Good
ale) Howe (married August 12, 1741). Mary Good
ale was the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Good
ale. Josiah was born December 22, 1720. He was the
son of Josiah and Sarah (Bigelow) Howe (married
June 14, 1706), and he died June 14, 1766. The
latter Josiah Howe was born in 1678 and was the son
of Josiah and Mary (Haynes) Howe, who were
married March 18, 1672. The last named Josiah
was the son of John Howe (1). (See Howe Fam
ily elsewhere in this work, for John Howe (1), of
Sudbury.) Benjamin Clarke was a prosperous
farmer of Marlhoro, Massachusetts. Three of his
children came to Worcester to live : John B., who
was associated with his brother Josiah H. in the
•dry goods business; Dr. Henry, see forward; Josiah
Howe, see forward.
(VIII) Dr. Henry Clarke, son of Benjamin
Clarke (7), was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts,
October 3, 1824. He attended the schools of his
native town and spent several years at the acad
emies in Leicester and Marlboro. He began his
professional studies in the office of Dr. Henry
Sargent, of Worcester, in 1847. In 1848 he entered
the Harvard Medical School, where He distinguished
himself and won the Boylston prize. He was grad
uated in 1850, and after a year spent in the hospitals
-of Paris and Vienna began to practice medicine in
Worcester. To his practice he devoted himself
with a zeal and industry that often overtaxed his
physical strength, never very robust, and in 1861-67
lie went to Europe for rest and study. During
the, civil war he was for several months, in 1862,
at the front as a volunteer surgeon. He was for
'several years in the fifties city physician. He was a
member of the school board, and for fourteen years
physician to the county jail. He was one of the
-original trustees of Memorial Hospital ¦ under the
will of Ichabod Washburn, and was surgeon at the
City Hospital from the first. He died after a short
illness April 77, 1880, aged fifty-five years. Though
at his death he had barely passed middle life and
in aspect and manner appeared vounsrer than his
years, he stood in the very-ifirst rank of Massachusets
surgeons and physicians. As a surgeon he was re

markable bold and skilful. He was often called in
difficult cases.
(VIII) Josiah Howe Clarke, son of Benjamin
Clarke (7), was born in Marlborough, Massachu
setts, December 26, 1827. He received his early
education in the public schools of his native town
He also attended Leicester Academy. At the age
of twenty he engaged in the retail dry goods busi
ness in Marlboro as a member of the firm of Buck-
lm, Clarke & Co. About two years later he re
moved to Worcester (in 1850), where he worked
for his brother's firm, Newcomb, Thayer & Clarke,
established in 1846. In 1851 his brother, John B.'
Clarke, became the sole owner. In 1853 he sold the
store to Josiah, who was for more than forty-four
years identified with the business. In 1864 Thomas
B. Eaton entered the firm with Mr. Clarke under >
the name of J. H. Clarke & Co. In 1882 Mr. Eaton °
withdrew and Mr. Clarke admitted Hannibal A.
Johnson and Charles H. Carpenter as partners. Mr.
Carpenter had been connected with the business for
some time. Mr. Johnson came from Jordan, Marsh
& Co., Boston. In 1897 Mr. Clarke withdrew from
the firm, selling to his partners. Thomas E. Knight
was admitted as a partner and for a time the old
name was retained. Mr. Knight withdrew and the
firm became Johnson, Carpenter & Co. The firm
went out of business January 1, 1906, on account of
the illness of Mr. Johnson.
For some years Mr. Clarke's store" was located
in the Partridge block, opposite the Central Ex
change on Main street, but for thirty odd years it
was located at the last location, 353 Main street in
the American House block. The business has always
been conducted as a legitimate dry goods store.
Two floors were occupied and some thirty clerks
and assistants employed. Mr. Clarke made a for
tune in this business, and none stood higher in Wor
cester among business men. At the time he sold
out his interests in the store he had large financial
interests requiring his attention. He was for many
years a director of the Worcester National Bank.
He was a trustee and member of the finance com
mittee of the State Mutual Life Assurance Com
pany; a director of the Norwich & Worcester Rail
road Company; the Worcester & Shrewsbury Rail
road, now part of the consolidated system ; the Wor
cester Gaslight Company; the State Safe Deposit
Company; the McKay Shoe Machinery Company of
Boston; the Union Trimmer Company of Boston;
director and vice-president of the Sherman Enve
lope Company and trustee of the Worcester County
Institution for Savings. He was an active member
and vestryman of All Saints Protestant Episcopal
Church for more than thirty years. He was a mem
ber of the common council in Worcester in 1862,
He was a Republican in politics. Mr. Clarke was
fond of travel and in 1865 made a voyage around
the world, remaining some time at Foo Choo with
his brother, Adason L. Clarke, who was consul at
that port. He went west and to Europe several
times, and in 1898 travelled to the far east, includ
ing Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Nile.
Mr. Clarke married in 1858, Frances C. Ayres,
daughter of Horace and Mary (Woodworth) Ayres.
She was bprn in Worcester, March 18, 1836. She
died in Worcester, July 11, 1840, aged thirty years.
Her father married (second), November 19, 1844,
Caroline Corbett. By the first marriage they had:
Julia Anne, born 1833, died 1839; William J., born
and died 1858; Frances G, wife of Josiah H. Clarke.
Py the second marriage Mr. Ayers had one son,
Horace C. Ayers, born 1850, died 1806. Mr. Clarke
died in Worcester, May 30, 1904. The children of
Josiah Howe and Frances (Ayers) Clarke were:

5°°

WORCESTER COUNTY.

Mary Woodworth, born January 8, 1862; resides
at home with her mother at 50 Elm street; Frances
Ayres, born July 4, 1868; married Leonard P. Kin-
nicut, professor in the Worcester Polytechnic In
stitute (see Kinnicutt Family in this work) ; Grace
Howe, born September 29, 1869, died June 10, 1870;
Josiah Howe, Jr., borri August 13, 1872, died April
19, i895-
FRANK EUGENE POWERS, a well "known
citizen of Worcester, Massachusetts, prominently
identified with the coal and lumber industries of the
state, is descended from an old and honored family
of England. He is a representative of the eighth
generation in this country.
The family name of Powers, or Power, as it was
originally, is from the old Norman name "le Poer,"
and was known in England in the time of William
the Conqueror, one of whose officers, at the battle
of Hastings, bore that name, as appears on the roll
of suryivors in Battle Abbey. ' From that time on
ward the name has occupied an honored place in
the history of England. In the Herald's College
a curious incident is related of Richard le Poer,
high sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1 187, that he was
killed while defending the Lord's day. When King
Henry II invaded Ireland, 1 171, an important com
mand seems to have been given to Sir Roger le
Poer, an "English knight," and, "for his distinguished
services rendered," large tracts of land were be
stowed upon him by the crown. Haverty's history
says, the county of Waterford and the British parlia
ment have had many members in their ranks from
his descendants, from whom, and from the native
Celts who took the name of the estates to which
they were attached, the name has become very com
mon in that country.
In this country the name can be traced back to
several people. In- 1643 the name of John Power
appears in the Farmers' Genealogy of New England,
and about the same time Nicholas Power appeared
in Massachusetts, but made his permanent home in
Rhode Island, where he married and had one son,
Nicholas. He was followed by several generations,
each having one son, the last having no male issue,
and the name of this branch of the family became
extinct. By records in the town of Charlestown we
find that the wife of John Power was authorized
to make sale of the house and lands of h.er absent
husband. He is referred to as John Power, "hosier,"
and it is likely that not finding his business profit
able in the new country, he returned to Europe and
then sent for his family. A writer in the "New Eng
land History and Genealogical Register, Volume
XXII," says the early settlers bearing the name of
Powers in New England, came originally from Es
sex, England. The fact is that the names of Walter
and William Power were common there, and Walter
seems to have settled with other families from that
part of England, a daughter of one of which fami
lies he married. That the town where he settled
was named for Lord Littleton, member of parlia
ment for Essex, and other similar circumstances,
would lead to the conclusion that he came from that
district. (I) Walter Power, the direct ancestor of Frank
Eugene Powers, was born 1639; died February 22,
1708. He appears on the Middlesex county records,
in 1654, as a boy of about fourteen. Little is known
of him. He probably had no great educational ad
vantages, and depended upon the strength of his
body and sterling commonsense to establish a home
for himself and family. He settled on a tract of
land in or near Concord, which took the name of

Concord village, now the town of Littleton, and!
adjoining the Indian town of Nashobe, about the
year 1661. He bought of Thomas Waban and other
Indians, in 1694, one-fourth of the township of
Nashobe. His remains were doubtless buried in the
old "Powers' burying ground," which was on the
Concord road about two miles from the common,
in a southeasterly direction. He married, March 11,
1661, Trail Sheppard, daughter of Deacon Ralph
and Thankes Sheppard, of Maiden. She seems to
have been a woman of considerable education, and
from the position which his sons later took in the-
community, we may take it for granted that they
were well educated for the times. The sons seem,.
at various times, to have added the final "s" to the
name. (II) Daniel Powers, fourth son of Walter (1)
and Trail (Sheppard) Power, seems to have beei>
the first to add the final "s" to the family name. He
was born May 10, 1669. Married (first), April 8,
1702, Elizabeth Whitcomb; married (second) Martha
Bates. He settled in Littleton, and his children were
all born in Nashobe or Littleton, although some are
found recorded in Groton.
(Ill) Peter Powers, fourth son of Daniel (2)
and Elizabeth (Whitcomb) Powers, born in 1707;
died August 27, 1757. His early youth was spent
on the' farm of his father. After his marriage he
removed to that part of Dunstable now known as
Nashua; during the summer and fall of 1730, he
built the first house in Hollis, New Hampshire, and.
in January, 1730, removed, with his young wife and
two children, through the primeval forest to his
'new home. They were the first settlers in that now
thriving town. Here their first daughter was born,
she being the first child of English descent born
in the town. There were forty families within the
town limits in 1738, and he, with others, petitioned
for a town charter. He was prominent in the of
ficial business of the town, and particularly so itt
devising ways and means for the building of a meet
ing house, and in maintaining a preacher. While
living in Dunstable he had received a commission
as captain of , militia, from Governor Wentworth.
He was sent by the government at the head of an
exploring party through the Connecticut river val
ley, in 1754, but the news of. renewed hostilities be
tween the English and French armies, produced
such a commotion that his report was never pub
lished, and was finally deposited in the rooms of the-
Connecticut Historical Society, in Hartford. Captain
Powers raised a company of men, mostly residents
of Hollis, in 1755, to march under Colonel Josephi
Blanchard, against the French at Crown Point, on
the shores of lake Champlain. In this company were-
enrolled Jonathan Powers, and Levi, Stephen and
Whitcomb Powers, the last three named being sons.
of Captain Peter, who died shortly after this under
taking. He was one of the most prominent, mea
in the community. He married Anna Keyes in- 1728..
(IV) Stephen. Powers, second son of Captain
Peter (3) and Anna (Keys) Powers, was born,.
presumably in Dunstable, October 28, 1729. He mar
ried, July ix 1775. in Hollis, New Hampshire.
(V) William Powers, son of Stephen (4), mar
ried Pameiia Wright, of Pepperell.
(VI) Jonathan Jackson Powers, son of William-
(5) and Pameiia (Wright) Powers, was born in>
Pepperell, July 29, 1807, and died in Worcester,
Massachusetts, June 7, 1870. He resided in Pepper
ell and Shirley, _ where, for a time, he kept a store
of general supplies. He was a cooper by trade, but-
turned his attention to various other occupations,
being gifted naturally as a mechanic, and able to-

WORCESTER COUNTY

Soi

4ake advantage of any opportunity which presented
itself. He spent the last ten or twelve years of
his life in Grafton, Massachusetts.
He married, October 12, 1825, Priscilla E. Reid,
who died October 9, 1864. Their children were:
1. Pameiia Emily, born January 23, 1827; married.
Elbridge Farnsworth. 2. Caroline Augusta, Novem
ber 27, 1828; married Nathan B. Chandler. 3. John
Jacksoh, of whom later. 4. Charles Barron, June
19, 1832; married Sarah Hemphill. 5. Lucy Anne,
¦October 9, 1833 ; married Jabez J. Harnden. 6. Han
nah Elizabeth, June 8, 1835 ; married Charles A.
"Longley. 7. William Henry, February 7, 1837. 8.
.Albert Louis, November 19, 1838; died November 8,
1839. 9. Marcius Marton, September 14, 1840; died
January 29, 1859. 10. Martin Van Buren, January
8, 1843. 11. Harriet Lewis, August 24, 1844; mar
ried Alonzo Wessen; died in Nebraska, 1876. 12.
Perlfna Parker, September 18, 1846; married Charles
Bohannan, of Hollis, New Hampshire. 13. Martha
Chloe, January 27, 1850; married (first) Henry
Bohannan, of Hollis, New Hampshire; married,
(second) John Hildreth, of Townsend, Massachu
setts. (VII) John Jackson Powers, third child and
¦eldest son of Jonathan Jackson (6) and Priscilla
E. (Reid) Powers, was born in Pepperell, Massa
chusetts, September 1, 1830. His education was
acquired in the schools of his native town. When
still quite a lad, he worked for Major Longley, a
prominent citizen of Shirley, who desired to adopt
"him, having no son of his own. At the age of nine
teen he commenced working for the Old Colony
Railroad, now a part of the New Haven system, and
later for the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, now
a part of the Boston & Maine system. He was
division master on the Worcester & Nashua, and his
brother-in-law succeeded him when he resigned in
order to take a similar position with the Providence
-& Worcester Railroad. Eventually he- became road-
niaster, a position of great responsibility. He re
signed from railroad work after thirty-five years
-of continuous active work in various positions. He
was known among the railroad men of the state
, as an expert in practical, railroad matters, having
"been actively engaged during the important period
of introduction, early growth, and development of
the railroads of the country. The contrast between
the railroads of 1849, when he began, and those of
1884, when he 'retired from this field of activity,
is one of the most remarkable and sensational dem
onstration of American prosperity and progress. In
the early seventies, he started in the coal business
in Millbury, while his son Frank was still a' boy at
tending school. In this he met with unusual and
immediate success. Later, ih partnership with his
son, established a coal business in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, under the firm name of J. J. & F. E.
Powers. This, also, was successful from the very
"beginning, and Mr. Powers demonstrated great busi
ness ability in the years that followed. His career
w;as cut short by sudden death while he was with
"his men in the field on his farm, at Grafton, June
19, 1893. He was an honored and valued citizen,
and had filled, very acceptably, several town offices.
He was a strict temperance man, and a Republican.
He married, May 18, 1852, Anna Maria Stevens,
"born September 26, 1833; died March 31, 1897,
daughter of Seth Stevens, of Townsend, Massachu
setts. Her direct ancestor, Solomon Stevens, was
•one of the pioneer Baptists of Townsend, in 1769,
when the church was weak and small ; his home was
the headquarters of the preachers. His son, John
Stevens-, was one of the founders' of the Baptist

College in Granville, Ohio, now Denison University,
and he was president of this institution until he was'
more than eighty years of age. Dr. John Steven's
eldest son, William A. Stevens, is now professor
of the New Testament Interpretation in the Roches
ter Theological school.
Children of John Jackson and Anna Maria
(Stevens) Powers are: 1. Edgar Norton, born
July 2, 1853; died July 26, 1853. 2. Cora Isabelle,
March 7, 1856. Attended the public schools of her
native town, and for several years was a student at
the Oread Institute, a school for young girls, which
existed from 1854 until 1881, and which enjoyed an
excellent reputation. It was located in the southern
part of the city of Worcester in a building called
"Oread Castle." She married, December 7, 1887, in
Grafton, Frederick A. Dodge, of Sutton. He oper
ated a grain mill at Saundersville, Massachusetts,
and also conducted a retail and wholesale business,
at No. 362 Social street, Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
He was lay reader in St. John's Episcopal Church.
He died April 11, 1906. Mrs. Dodge is a member
of the Congregational church in Grafton; the St.
John's guild; and the Woman's Club, of Millbury.
Their children are: 1. Chester A. Dodge, born in
Grafton, August 21, 1890; is now (1906) a junior
in the Grafton high school. 2. Leslie Powers Dodge,
born in Grafton, June 24, 1894. 3. Frank Eugene
(see forward).
(VIII) Frank Eugene Powers, only surviving son
and youngest child of John Jackson (7) and Anna
Maria (Stevens) Powers, was born in Grafton,
Massachusetts, July 17, 1858. He acquired a good
education in the public schools of his native town,
and attended the high school for a time. When he
removed to Worcester he took a course in the com
mercial school there. He was but seventeen years-
of age when he took charge of the business inter
ests of his father in Millbury. In 1879 he bought
out his father's interest in this business, and con
tinued, it alone for some time, adding building ma
terials and lumber to the coal business. Business in
creased in volume and he was busily engaged until
1890, when he sold out to H. M. Goddard. In the
meantime, in 1886, the business in Worcester had
been commenced, and he devoted more time to this.
This was located on Southbridge street, and having
a chance to secure land on Southgate street, which
was much better suited to the requirements of the
business, they moved to this location, which has been
the home of the concern since that time. Mr. Powers
bought out the interest of his father in Worcester in
1891, and since the death of the latter, in 1893, has
conducted the business under his own name. Dur
ing the past twenty years he has won a high standing
for himself in the commercial circles of the city.
He is a quiet man and devotes himself strictly to
business affairs, rarely taking a vacation. He and
his family have resided, since removing from Mill
bury, at No. 38 Maywood street, Worcester, Massa
chusetts. They are members and attendants at
the Piedmont Congregational Church, and devote
much time to charitable undertakings. He is a
member of the Commonwealth Club of Worcester,
a director of the Millbury National Bank, a trustee
and a vice-president of the Millbury Savings Bank.
He married, June 15, 1882, Laura Belle Lincoln,
daughter of Dr. W. H. Lincoln, of Millbury. Mrs.
Powers was educated at Millbury, Massachusetts,
and is a graduate of Mount Holyoke. She is a mem
ber of the Woman's Club of Worcester. Their chil
dren are: 1. Frank Lincoln, born in Millbury, June
12, 1883; now associated with his father in the busi
ness in Southgate street. 2. Hiram Stevens, in Mill-

5°2

WORCESTER COUNTY

bury, September 29, 1884; now a junior in Har
vard College. 3. Gladys, born in Worcester June
13, 1892, is attending the public' schools in that
city. CHARLES ARCHIBALD MIDDLEMAS.
Peter Middlemas (1), grandfather of Charles
Archibald Middlemas, of Worcester, Massachusetts,
was born in Scotland. He settled in Nova Scotia.
He was a millwright by trade. He learned his
trade in the old country and followed it in Nova
Scotia. (II) John S. Middlemas, son of Peter Middlemas
(1), was bom in Nova Scotia. He married Re
becca Parker. He was a contractor and builder.
They had seven children, five sons and two daugh
ters. (Ill) Charles Archibald Middlemas, son of John
S. Middlemas (2), was born in Middleton, Annapo
lis county, Nova Scotia, November 11, 1859. He
attended the common schools of his native town.
He worked with his father as a carpenter and in the
general store owned by his brother-in-law. He also
learned the plumber's trade. He came to Worces
ter in 1882 and bought the business of J. D.. Sisson
& Co. at 33 Southbridge street, corner of Allen court.
The business was originally on the site of the pres
ent Federal building. He has built up a large busi
ness and reputation for skill and reliable work.
Among the contracts for plumbing that he has had
during the past few years are the Windsor, the
Boynton buildings, the City Hospital, Rawson &
Gibbs building, Main street; the Standish Apart
ment Hotel, the Royal Worcester corset factory,
the City Farm, the Bellmar, the Brunswick, the
State Insane Asylum at Medfield, Massachusetts.
In recent years he has been heavily interested in
street railway enterprises. He built the Worcester
& Webster Street Railway in 1899. He built the
Gardner & Templeton line and the St.' Albans, Ver
mont, Street Railway, of which he is the treasurer.
Mr. Middlemas is now engaged in the hay, grain
and feed business at No. 258 Park avenue, Worces
ter, in a building which he erected for the purpose.
'He began business November 25, 1905. fie is a
Free Mason, a member of the Worcester County
Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
He married, November 11, 1885, Clark J. Prouty,
daughter of Frank and Josephine (Hitt) Prouty, of
Spencer. They have one daughter, Sybil Frances,
bora January 15, 1896.
ERNEST AUGUSTUS TIMME was born in
Hatzberg, Germany, a city in Flanover, October 20,
1821. He was educated in his native place and
learned the trade of engraver. At the age of twenty-
six years in the year 1847 he came to America, fie
worked the first winter in New York city and the
following spring went to Worcester, Massachusetts,
to work for Mr. Wheelock in Allen's pistol fac
tory. After several years he went to work for J.
B. Knox, who carried on business as a steel letter
cutter and die sinker. While working there Mr.
Timme added steel letter cutting to the business.
Mr. Timme started in business on his own ac
count with a partner, J. P. Bailey, at 144 South
Clark street, Chicago, making steel dies and similar
goods. Mr. Timme bought out his partner and con
ducted the business alone for some years. Then
he returned during the civil war and worked for
various manufacturers of firearms, in which he was
an expert mechanic. He was employed by Colt, of
Hartford. He returned to Worcester in 1864 to
his former employer, J. B. Knox, who was in part

nership with Mr. Lang in the manufacture of dies,
seals, steel stamps, etc. Mr. Knox established this
business in Worcester in 1854. Mr. Timme bought
the interest of Mr. Lang and eventually became
sole owner of the business. The shop was at Har
rington, corner of Main and 'Front streets, for
many years. It is now located at 554 Main street.
In his line of work Mr. Timme had few equals. He
was a good business man and prospered. In 1869,
he bought a country place in Holden, Massachu
setts, a town adjoining Worcester, where he en
joyed the pleasures of agriculture as a diversion
from the cares of his shop and business. He died
March 26, 1890. During the last few years of his
life he had as partner his son, Augustus F. Timme,
and the firm name was Ernst A. Timme & Son.
Mr. Timme married (first) Rebecca Read, of
Worcester. He married (second), in 1862, at Hart
ford, Connecticut, Henrietta Anna Albimus, a na
tive of Hamburg, Germany, who died at Worces
ter, February 20, 1890. The children of Ernst
Augustus and Rebecca Timme were: A son who.
died in infancy; Carrie R., died November 7, 1905.
The children of Ernst Augustus and Henrietta A.
A. Timme were : Agnes L., married Henry G
Meyer, of Worcester, and they have two children;,
Ernst H., and Anna Meyer. Augustus F., unmar
ried, mentioned below; Hannah H., married Louis
Gilbert, of Milford, Massachusetts, and they have
two children : Emil and Alton (twins) ; Louise
G, married William Fisher, a farmer of Holden,.
and they have five children : Charles, George, Mil
lard, Edna, Albert; Ernst, died at the age of four
years; Alhert S., resides in Boston, unmarried;.
Minnie G, a trained nurse.
Augustus F. Timme, son of Ernst Augustus
Timme, was born in Worcester, October 5, , 1865.
He was educated in the public schools and learned
the trade of die sinking and engraving with his
father. He was taken into partnership by his
father and the firm became E. A. Timme & Son.
After his father's death in 1890 he became the
sole owner, but the name of the firm was con
tinued unchanged. Mr. Timme manufactures dies,
steel stamps, stencils, seal presses, seals, brands,
door plates, checks, embossing dies, etc., does all
kinds of engraving on metal,- also manufactures
rubber stamps for the trade. His shop is at 554
Main street. He is unmarried.
GEORGE WILLIAM HOUCK, son of John T.
and Annie (Phebus) Houck, was born in Frederick
City, Maryland, January- 29, 1864. On the paternal.
side his ancestors were of German origin.
He was educated in his native town in the pub
lic schools. At the age of seventeen he left home
and located in Massachusetts. After working on
a Shrewsbury farm for some months he decided
to learn the trade of mason. He served his ap
prenticeship under William F. Dearborn, the well
known contractor and mason, of Worcester, and
worked for him afterward as a journeyman. But
at the age of twenty-two years he started in busi
ness for himself, and for twenty years has con
ducted a successful business. Excepting for a few
years in the early nineties he has been alone in,
business. At that time he was in partnership with
James Miles of Worcester under the firm name of
Miles & Houck. Mr. Houck has built a large num
ber of substantial brick and stone structures in the
city and county of Worcester. In later years he
has invested heavily in Worcester real estate. He-
has a ten tenement apartment house at 89 Pleasant.
street ; the Whittier block, corner of Fruit and Pleas
ant street; a large block on Crown street and he is-

WORCESTER COUNTY

5°3

building a new apartment ho.use on Chatham street.
He has built mostly on his own account lately.
In addition to his building contracts he has
taken a number of large railroad contracts. He
had the contract and built tlie Worcester aud Clin
ton Electric Railway. He built a portion of the
electric lines at Milford. He constructed the Buf
falo, Hamburg & Aurora Railroad in 1901. He
built another railroad at Penn Yan, New York.
Mr. Houck is a member of Montacute Lodge of
Free Masons, Worcester, and of Worcester Chap
ter, Royal Arch Masons. In politics he is a Re
publican. He married, October 5, 1884, Annie Margaret
Whittier, daughter of Elias and Charlotte (Curtis)
Whittier. She was born in Enfield, Maine, March
24, 1866. The children of George William and
Annie M. Houck were: 1. Harvey Arfue, born at
Worcester June 11, 1886; graduate of tlie Classical
High School, Worcester, 1905; at present a collector
of die New England Telephone Company. 2. Char
lotte Annie, born at Worcester, December 21, 1887;
graduate of the Classical High School; bookkeeper
in the auditing department of the New England
Telephone Company. Among the buildings con
tracted are Gray block, corner Summer and Thomas
streets, Day block, 306 Main street, Higgins block,
Main street, Forest block, corner Main and Austin
streets, nine on upper High and Summer streets,
ten for tlie insane colony at Medfield, Jane Chase
block in Hudson, and many others.
PHILIP M. PFAFFMANN. Martin Pfaffmann
(1), the father of Philip M. Pfaffmann, of Worces
ter, was born in Germany. He was a gardener and
florist. He was educated' and learned his trade in
his native land. He came to America in 1848 when
a young man and settled on Long Island, New York,
and later removed to South Marshfield, Massachu
setts, where he was employed by Colonel Fletcher
Webster as head gardener. Colonel Fletcher
Webster was the son of Daniel Webster. At
that time he was living on what is now known as
the Caswell place, about two miles from his fath
er's farm. Mr. Pfaffmann worked there until the
death of his employer's father, in 1852, when he be
came head gardener on the Webster homestead. He
filled this position for Colonel Fletcher Webster until
1870, when he purchased a nursery at Quincy, Massa
chusetts, started in business on his own account,
and has since then continued in that business. He
married, at South Marshfield, Margaret Lawley.
Two of their children died in infancy. The others
are: Charlotte, Philip M., see forward; Catherine,
Caroline, Sibylla, George, see forward; Adeline.
(II) PhiKp M. Pfaffmann, second child of Martin
Pfaffman (1), was born in South Marshfield, Massa
chusetts, November 18, 1855. He was educated in
the public schools of Marshfield. He learned tlie
trade of carpenter. In 1885 he came to Worcester
to work at his trade for his father-in-law, Lucien
Bonaparte Buder, manufacturer of satinets, at 1469
Main street He learned tlie business incidentally
from the ground up and became useful to the
owner in the management of the business. He pur
cliased the business of Mr. Butler in 1899 and has
since carried it on successfully. Mr. Pfaffmann is
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel
lows, of tlie lodge, encampment and tlie Patriarchs
Militant, Grand Canton. He is also a member of
the Royal Arcanum.
He married, November 22, 1883, Helen Butler,
daughter of Lucien Bonaparte Butler. Mr. Butler
was bom in Rhode Island, and married Elizabeth
0. Ingalls, a native of New York state. He began

life as a mill hand and worked his way up to the
position of proprietor. He is counted among the
substantial men of affairs of the city. He is an
Odd Fellow and belongs to the Commonwealth Club.
He resides at 1404 Main street. The children of
Philip M. and Helen (Butler) Pfaffmann were:
Ethel May, Maude, Gladys, Philip M., Jr.
(II) George Pfaffman, son of Martin Pfaffmann
(1), was born in South Marshfield, Massachusetts.
He married Mabel Shaw, daughter of John Shaw,
former president of tlie Home Market Club, the head
of tlie firm of John Shaw & Co., dealers in chem
icals and dye stuffs at India Wharf, Boston. George
Pfaffman is a member of the firm. His home is in
Quincy, Massachusetts. The children of George aud
Mabel (Shaw) Pfaffmann are: John and Carl.
GEORGE MASON RICHARDSON. Samuel
H. Richardson (1), father of George Mason and
Charles G Richardson, of Worcester, was born De
cember 16, 1811, in, Dana, Massachusetts, formerly
Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was in his early
years a merchant, later a farmer. He formerly lived
on what was later the town farm of Hardwick. He
then bought a farm near the line between Hard
wick and Petersham in the northeast part of Dana,
where he lived for many years. Shortly before his
death in 1895 he removed to Dana Centre. Mr.
Richardson was a delegate to tlie constitutional con
vention from Dana in 1853.
He married, March 31, 1836, Caroline Chipman
(intentions dated at Petersham, March 4, 1836).
She was born December 10, 181 1, six days after his
birth, and she died January 31, 1895, one day before
his death. They were buried in the same grave.
They had lived together as man and wife for fifty-
nine years.
The children of Samuel H. and Caroline (Chip-
man) Richardson were: 1. George M., of whom
later; Charles G, born March 30, 1840, married
Sarah Lloyd, of Canada ; resided first at Dana," now
at the corner of Highland and Dover streets, Wor
cester; he is superintendent of a department of the
Royal Worcester Corset Company and in charge of
the machinery ; he is a machinist by trade ; Martha
J., born September 25, 1841, was a school teacher
for many years in Petersham, Phillipston, Barre,
Athol, Orange, Dana and Hardwick; after she re
tired from teaching she was elected on the Dana
school committee ; she died February 8, 1901 ; Ella
L., born June 20, 1850, was a school teacher until
recently, now residing in Ware, Massachusetts;
Mary G, born February 12, 1856, married George
Joslin, of Dana, and has one daughter.
(II) George Mason Richardson, son of Samuel
Mason Richardson, was born at Hardwick, Massa
chusetts. He attended the public schools and New
Salem Academy, and graduated at Wilbraham,
Massachusetts. He learned the trade of machinist
at Barre, Massachusetts, and followed it in various
positions since. He worked in Worcester for a
year, then for five years he was in charge of sewing
machines used in the Knowlton shops in West Up
ton. He made a specialty of the machinery used in
bat manufacture and worked in the hat shop at
Medway, Milford and Fislikill on Hudson, New
York, and in New York, where for seven years he
had charge of machinery used in the sewing and
making of men's hats. He returned to his native
state and for a time worked for a hat manufactory
at Westboro. For the past twelve or thirteen years
he has been- an expert machinist for the Royal Wor
cester Corset Company of Worcester.
He resides at 14 Dover street. In politics Mr.
Richardson is a Republican.

5Q4

WORCESTER COUNTY

He married (first), September 26, 1865, Alice
Cutting Hastings, of Petersham, who was born July
6, 1838, and died September 12, 1870. They had one
child, Alice Gertrude, born June 3, 1870, deceased.
Mr. Richardson married (second), April 21, 1874,
Lucy A. Moore, of whom later.
(I) John Moore, the pioneer ancestor of Lucy
A. (Moore) Richardson, wife of George Mason
Richardson, of Worcester, came from England to
Sudbury before 1642 when he appears as proprietor
there. His son John was of age and was also pro
prietor in 1642. John, Sr., bought a house of Ed
mund Rice, the progenitor of the Rice Family of
Worcester. This house was in the east part of the
town in the south part of what is now Wayland.
He was admitted a freeman in Sudbury, July 9,
1645. Later he bought land of John Stone and a
house in Sudbury. He signed the Lancaster cove
nant March 11, 1653, and drew forty acres of land
there November 30, 1653. His son John settled
there and possibly other sons and daughters. He
stayed in Sudbury and became a prominent man
there. He was a prosperous farmer. His will was
dated August 25, 1668, and proved April 7, 1674.
He mentioned his sons and daughters.
He married Elizabeth Whale, daughter of Phile
mon Whale. Their children were : Elizabeth, mar
ried Henry Rice; Mary, married, September 8,
1661, Richard Ward; he was drowned; she married
(second) Deacon David Stone; Lydia, born June 24,
1643, married Samuel Wright; John, married Ann
Smith, daughter of John Smith, the pioneer; Will
iam ; Jacob, born April 28, 1645 ; Joseph, born 1647,
married Lydia Playward; Benjamin, of whom
later. (II) Benjamin Moore, youngest son of John
Moore (1), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts,
December 13, 1648. Fie married, November 11,
1686, Dorothy Wright, who died October 20, 1717.
They lived in Sudbury. In 1726 he divided his land
between his sons, William, Edward, Hezekiah,
Uriah and Peter. The children of Benjamin and
Dorothy (Wright) Moore were : Dorothy, born
September 18, 1687; Abigail, December 2, 1688;
Prudence, July 4, 1690, died young ; William, Peter,
Edward, Hezekiah, September 13, 1696; Uriah, of
whom later; Comfort, July 22, 1704; Benjamin.
(Ill) Dr. Uriah Moore, eighth child of Benja
min Moore (2), was born in Sudbury, Massachu
setts, about 1700. He married, October 5, 1721, Abi
gail Haynes, daughter of David and Tabitha Haynes,
¦who was born in Sudbury, March 8, 1700-1, and
died October 16, 1729. He married (second) Mary
 , who died October 19, 1741. He married
(third), January 2, 1742, Parnel Parker, who died
in 1746; as his widow administered his estate. She
Was probably the daughter of Thomas Britnall. He
had two sons: David, of whom later; Uriah.
(IV)' Ensign David Moore, son of Uriah Moore
(3), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, January
21, 1722. He married, December 22, 1743, Hannah
Parker, daughter of his father's third wife. He
was a soldier in the revolution. He was lieutenant
in Captain John Nixon's company, Colonel Abijah
Pierce's regiment, April 19, 1775. He was later
captain in Colonel John Nixon's regiment, June
5. 1775, and also in Colonel Whitney's regiment,
(the Second Worcester). He died in 1808 and his
will was proved at Cambridge ; his oldest son, Will
iam, was named executor.
The children of David and Hannah (Parker)
Moore were : 1. Uriah, born July 3, 1744, 'died April
27, 1746; Abigail, October 25, 1745, died March 27,
1751 ; William, of whom later; Susanna, December,
1747; Uriah, September, 1751, was a soldier in the

revolution; David, March 2, 1754, was a soldier in
Captain Haynes' company; Thaddeus, November 9,
!758; Timothy, January 9, 1761, married, April 2,
1780, Hepzibah Nixon, daughter of General Nixon;
revolutionary soldier; Reuben, November 21, 1762,
was in the revolution in 1781 ; Abigail, November
12, 1764, married, April 8, 1784, Joshua Bacon, of
Lincoln. (V) William Moore, third child of David Moore
(4), was born in Sudbury, October, 1747. He was a
corporal in Captain John Nixon's company, Colonel
Abijah Pierce's regiment, April 19, 1775, and also in
the army in 1777. He married Abigail Wheeler,
October 12, 1769. He died March 29, 1836.
The children of William and Abigail (Wheeler)
Moore as recorded in their native town, Sudbury,
were: Elisha, bom January 7, 1770, died young;
Caleb, November 2, 1771, may have been the Caleb
who bought land in Bolton in 1 791 of John Rich
ardson, though other branches of the family settled
there; Uriah, December 20, 1773, died young; Uriah,
April 4, 1776, may have gone to Salem (David
Moore, of Salem, of the Sudbury family, was
guardian of the children of Uriah in 1821 and sold
land in Worcester county to Enoch Wiswall and John
Hunting) ; David, of whom later ; Marv. December
26, 1780; William, December 14, 1782; Abigail, Feb
ruary 13, 1785 ; Sarah, May 19, 1787 ; Elisha, August
7, .1792, was given a lot of land in Hubbardston in
Worcester county by his father, William Moore,
of Sudbury, in 1813 ; Wheeler, April 24, 1795 ; Han
nah, August 29, 178--,
(VI) . David Moore, fifth child of William
Moore (5), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Family tradition has it that he lived for a time in
Salem. Members of his father's family went to
Salem, unquestionably, and also to Boylston. Uriah
Moore, probably his father's brother, sold land in
Boylston to Abijah Moore, perhaps his son, in
Boylston in 1791. Uriah lived in Bolyston. Abijah
died in 1796, leaving young children, for whom
Henry Powers, of Berlin, was guardian. There
was also in Boylston before David Moore a Hugh
Moore, who left land in New Salem to his son
Hugh. He was possibly of the Salem family also.
David Moore probably came to Boylston to live
with relatives, for in 1805 he married a Boylston
girl. As mentioned above David Moore, of Salem,
was guardian of Uriah Moore and other children
of Uriah Moore, and sold land in Worcester county
in 1821. This David, of Salem, was born in Sud
bury, according to his son, David Moore, who was
born in 1817 and was living in 1904 in Salem. He
was very likely a son of one of David Moore's
(Boylston) uncles.
He married (first), April 26, 1804, Fanny Tilton,
who died December 10, 1806. She was the daugh
ter of Joseph and Elizabeth Tilton, of Boylston.
Most of the children were born in Hamilton, near
Salem, Massachusetts. Some were born in Prince
ton, where Uriah Moore, uncle of David Moore,
settled and where he and his wife died. Abijah
Moore, born October 1, 1757, at Princeton, son of
Abijah and Eunice Moore, who was born in Prince
ton and came to Boylston to settle the estate of
David Moore. He probably knew his wife as a
girl in Princeton, Hamilton or Ipswich.
The children of Joseph and Elizabeth Tilton
were: Fanny, born January 14, 1782, at Hamilton;
Nathan, born at Hamilton, September 11, 1783;
Joseph Tilton, July 16, 1785, died October 20, 1802;
Dolly Tilton, September 2, 1786; Oliver Tilton, Sep
tember 14, 1788; Aaron Tilton, July 17, 1792, died
' December 2, 1793; Ann Tilton, September 2, 1794;
Betsey Tilton, December 28, 1796; Aaron Tilton,

WORCESTER COUNTY

505

May 1, 1799- The last three were born at Prince
ton. Joseph Tilton died March 6 or 7, 1847, aged
eighty-seven years, six months. His widow, 'Novem
ber 19, 1841, aged eighty. David Moore's wife
Fanny died December 10, 1806, after having one
child, David Tilton Moore, born August 14, 1806,
of whom later, who was raised in his mother's
family. David Moore married (second) Dolly Hastings,
April 6, 1809, in Boylton. Members of this family
also came to Princeton and Boylston to settle. She
was born September 2, 1786. David Moore removed
about 1817 with his children by the second wife to
Athens, Ohio, where he died. He was a carpenter
and had a mill at Boylston at one time. The chil
dren of David and Dolly (Hastings) Moore were :
Fanny, born September 4, 1809, died April 5, 1810;
Chandler Carter, January 22, 181 1; Eliakim Hast
ings; June 19, 1812. (His son is Bishop David Hast
ings Moore, of the Methodist Episcopal church,
formerly of Ohio, now living in Portland, Oregon;
he served his church four years in China, Japan
and Corea) ; Eliakim, died at Athens, Ohio, April
4, 1900; Joseph, February 8, 1814; Elizabeth Upton,
January 28, 1816, died 1816; Lorinda, bora in Ath
ens, 1818; Solomon, Patience, Lorenzo.
(VII) David Tilton Moore, eldest son of Da
vid Moore' (6), was born in Boylston, Massachu
setts, August 14, 1806. His. mother died when he
was only a few months old and he was brought
up by his grandmother Tilton. He inherited the
Tilton homestead at Boylston. He succeeded his
grandfather and carried on the farm during the
active years of his life and left a competence when
he died in 1879.
The following tribute was written by a fellow
townsman : "Mr. Moore was a life-long resident of
this town (Boylston). His brother, E. H. Moore,
was a representative ' in Congress from Ohio, to
which state his father early removed. Mr. Moore
was a very prosperous farmer and in connection
with his sons at the time of his death owned and
occupied one of the largest and finest farms in this
section. "Mr. Moore throughout his active' life and until
within a few years of his death when compelled by
failing health to relinquish all care and. anxiety,
was an honored and useful citizen, deeply identify
ing himself with every enterprise that had for its
object the promotion of the prosperity of the town
and the social and moral elevation of its people. He
was frequently called upon to .act. in official posi
tions of honor and trust, and he served the town
Of Boylston upon the boards of selectmen and
assessors, much of the time in association with the
late Capt. Andrews whom in ' death he so quickly
followed. "In early life he took a deep interest in educa
tional matters and served for many years upon the
Boylston school committee. Possessed of abundant
means, ever kind and courteous in his bearing, al
ways acting under a sense of his duty, in every de
partment of life in which he was called, he ex
hibited a firm and dignified course, carefully _ seek
ing and zealously guarding- the rights of himself'
and others. Of a vigorous mind and rare and dis
criminating judgment, success was always sure to
follow iii whatever he undertook. He had long been
a leading and perhaps" one might more truthfully
and unostentationsly say the leading member of the
Congregational Church and Society, which he was
ever ready to assist; and to his wise counsel and
generous hand the church was indebted more than
to anything else for its financial prosperity and by
his associates in the church he will long be revered

as a faithful Christian member, a wise and true
counselor and ever ready friend."
He married Sally Wellington, daughter of John
and Elizabeth (Temple) Wellington and grand
daughter of John and Mary Gould (Flurd) Welling
ton. Her grandfather, John Wellington, married
(first) Mary Gould Hurd, a sister of General Hurd,
of the revolution, and settled in Michigan. They
had four children : John, of whom later ; .Ebenezer,
Priscilla and Sally. He married (second) Priscilla
Cutting, and had one child, Jonathan Wellington.
The son, John Wellington, born 1765, died 1825,
married Elizabeth Temple. The Wellingtons set
tled in Old Boylston after the revolution. The chil
dren of John Wellington were : Polly, married Da
vid Kendall, late of Worcester, (see Kendall sketch
in this work) ; Betsey ; Eben, September 23, 1805 ;
John, April 25, 1806; Lucy Andrews, November
16, 1807, died 1865; Thomas Hurd, November 12,
1809; Sally, April 24, 1811, died September 10, 1886,
wife of David Tilton Moore; Judith, September
4, 1812; William, November 6, 1814, deceased; Asa,
December 14, 1816, died May 10, 1892; Lydia
Brooks, August 11, 1819 (or August 10) ; Agnes or
Annis, April 14, 1821, died November 19, 1902;
Eunice, February 26, 1823, died August 16, 1903.
The children of David Tilton and Sally (Welling
ton) Moore were: William Alfred; Sarah Eliza
beth, born July 22, 1836; George Harris, July 29,
•1838 ; Olive Kendall, February 20, 1841 ; Lucy Ann,
married George Mason Richardson, mentioned
above; Charles Walter, October 5, -1847; Harriet
Fanny, January 11, 1850; Jennie Mar, October 6,
I857- (VIII) Lucy Ann Moore, fifth child of David
Tilton Moore (7), was bora in Boylston, Massa
chusetts, January 4, 1843 (not January 7, as given
in the Boylston records). She attended the public
schools in her native town. _ Elaving developed an
aptitude for drawing and painting, she studied art
under Mrs. Kellogg, corner of Fourteenth street
and Fifth avenue, New York. She studied also
under Miss Edgar at Newburgh, New York. Miss
Edgar studied in. Rome .and Florence for fifteen or
sixteen years. She then took lessons _ in sketching
of Joseph Greenwood, the • famous artist. She has
developed talent for painting and has devoted a
large part of her time to her profession. She is
known among Worcester artists for her clever work
and her constant interest in art; The following is
a partial list of the pictures painted by Lucy A.
Richardson: A scene on the Charles River; Edge
of the Wood; Mirror Lake; The Christ Child,
copied from the original paintings in Rome; Beatrice
Cenci, by Guido Reni, one' of the old masters, by
Miss il 'Edgar; A Summer Morning, owned by Dr.
W. E Ball, city; Under the Oak, owned by Mr. O.
S. Kendall, Jr., 15 Fruit street, city; A Wood In
terior, owned by Mrs. G E. Sawyer, Brooklyn, New
York ; At Close of Day, owned by Mrs. G Goddard,
Grafton; Poppies, owned by Mrs. Arthur Rockwell,
Westboro ; Summer Morning, owned by Westminster
Library ; Bancroft Tower, owned by Miss L. E. Case,
Osaka, Japan.
Alice G. Richardson, daughter of George Mason
Richardson, was educated in the public schools, at
Mt. Beacon Academy and at the State Normal
school, at Albany. She taught schools at Fishkill-
on-Hudson, New York, for two years; at Attleboro
and Milford, Massachusetts. Then she attended
Becker's Business College as a. student, taking the
full course. She then taught in the evening -high
school in Worcester one year. She died at the
very beginning of a promising career, May 22,
1899.

506

WORCESTER COUNTY

CHARLES HENRY KNAPP. William Knapp
(i), the emigrant ancestor of Charles Henry Knapp,
of Worcester, was in Watertown as early as 1630,
as he is referred to in the Colonial records of No
vember 3, 1630. He died August 30, 1659, aged
about eighty years, and accordingly his birth must
have occurred about 1579, and he was over fifty
years of age when he emigrated to New England.
Nicholas Knapp also settled at Watertown in 1630,
and the presumption seems warrantable that they
came together from England prior to the month
of March, 1630. If Nicholas was his brother he
was much younger; he was not his son.
William Knapp was a carpenter by trade. He
was one of the proprietors of. Watertown in 1636,
and in 1655 he made a deed of gift to his son, John
Knapp. The will of William Knapp mentions his
wife Priscilla, who was the widow of Thomas
Akers, also children : William, Jr., married Mary
 , died September 25, 1676; John, born
1624; James, born 1627, married Elizabeth War
ren; Mary, married Thomas Smith; Judith, mar
ried Michael Cady, of Watertown; Anne, married
Thomas Philbrick; her death occurred prior to the
death of her father; Elizabeth, widow of

-, of St. Mary, Suffolk county, England;
she sent power of attorney, December 27, 1660, for
collection of her dues. Most of the estate was
bought up by Nathaniel Coolidge.
(II) John Knapp, son of William Knapp (1),
was born in England, possibly at Bury St. Mary's,
in Suffolk county, where his sister lived, in 1624.
He was also a carpenter by trade. He was ad
mitted a freeman in 1652. He sold land to John
Fiske in 1666, and a very large number of real es
tate transactions of his are on the records. He
married, May 25, 1660, Sarah Young, and their
children were : John, bora May 4, 1661 ; Sarah, horn
September 5, 1662; Henry, Isaac, Daniel and Abi
gail. His will was dated January 22, 1695-96, and
proved April 27, 1696. His estate was administered
by his brother-in-law, Henry Young. It mentions
his wife Sarah, and children, Henry, Isaac, John,
Daniel and Abigail.
(Ill) John Knapp, son of John Knapp (2), was
born May 4, 1661, in Watertown, Massachusetts.
He settled in Newton, Massachusetts, the adjoin
ing town. He married, August 4, 1686, Sarah Parks,
and their children were: John, born in Newton,
December 11, 1688, died 1730; he married (first),
July 13, 1713, Mary Whitney, of Watertown, and
married (second) Sarah  , who died in 1736.
James, born February 4, 1690. John Knapp (III)
died 1733; his wife died 1727.
(IV) James Knapp, son of John Knapp (3),
was born in Newton, Massachusetts, February 4,
1690-91. He married, April 2, 1714, Elizabeth Bond,
who died January 12, 1715-16, and their child was
Jonathan, born October 23, 1714. He married (sec
ond), October 10, 1716, Mary Fiske, and their chil
dren were : James, horn in Watertown or Waltham,
baptized November 24, 1723; Elizabeth, born at
Watertown, May 15, 1729; John, born October 31,
I73i. James Knapp (IV) died about 1748, and his
son James had- a guardian appointed in Worcester ;
the guardian was Benjamin Flagg. The Flaggs
and Kings intermarried and there was some rela
tionship between the lad and his guardian. The
names on the bond of James Knapp were : James
Moore, John Chandler and Moses Marcy, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts.
(V) John Knapp, son of James Knapp (4),
was born in Waltham or Watertown, October 31,
1731. His father died in 1748, when he was about

sixteen years of age. The probate records at Wor
cester show that on May 17, 1748, Benjamin Flagg,
of Worcester, was appointed his guardian. He was
described as John Knapp, son of James Knapp, late
of Waltham, aged about sixteen years. The sureties
and witnesses were James Moore, John Chandler
and Moses Marcy, of Worcester. John Knapp mar
ried (first), about 1760, Anna  , and settled
in Petersham, Massachusetts, where their seven chil
dren were born, namely : Lydia, April 10, 1761 ; Levi,
May 16, 1763; Jazaniah, October 1, 1765; James, May
20, 1767; Anna, September 22, 1770; Lucy, Janu
ary 31, 1773; Molly, June 24, 1775. John Knapp
married (second) Elizabeth Feiton, of Templeton.
Intentions dated January 2, 1779.
(VI) Jazaniah Knapp, son of John Knapp (5),
was bora in Petersham, Massachusetts, October 1,
1765. He married, October 25, 1798, Elizabeth
Howe, of Petersham, and they settled in that town.
Elizabeth, or Betsey, as the name is given on the
town records, was born July 4, 1773, daughter of
Asa and Mary Howe, of Petersham. Their chil
dren were: Eliza, born September 21, 1799, died
February 15, 1801 ; Lucy, born June 12, 1801, mar
ried Erastus Swan, died at Athol, June 28, 1877;
Levi, born May 13, 1804; Mary H., born October 6,
1807, died March 8, 1813; Mehitable, born in Peter
sham, March 31, 1810, married Seth Cole, died at
Geneseo, Henry county, Illinois, April 20, 1864.
Jazaniah Knapp (VI) died March 21, 1812; his wife
died September 17, 1835.
(VII) Levi Knapp, son of Jazaniah Knapp (6),
was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, May 13,
1804, and died there June 7, 1888. He married
Fidelia Ballou, and they settled in Petersham. Their
children were : George, never married ; John, en
listed in Company H, Fourth Regiment, Heavy Ar
tillery, August 10, 1864, and was discharged June
17, 1865, at Fort Richardson, Virginia, at the close
of the war; he married Mrs. Morgan, widow, re
sides in Petersham ; Caroline Elizabeth, married
Jerome Lord, of Athol, and has a son, Palmer J.
Lord; Mary Jane, born in Petersham, October 19,
1844; Charles Henry, born in Petersham, August
12, 1846; Harry Taft, born in Phillipston, married
Mrs. Carrie Adele Jackson, widow, December 31,
1884, and their children were : Grace Adele, born
November 25, 1885 ; Florence Lillian, born Septem
ber 26, 1887; Edwin LeRoy, born July 14, 1889;
Elsie Mildred, born December 28, 1893; Annie
Laura, born September 2, 1897.
(VIII) Mary Jane Knapp, daughter of Levi
Knapp (7), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts,
October 19, 1844. She married, September 27, 1868,
William Henry Damon, then of South Hampton,
Massachusetts, born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts,
February 10, 1842. When only a year old William
H. Damon was taken by his parents to Worthing
ton, Massachusetts, where he lived until he was
fourteen. He went to work in a Northampton store,
and after remaining there four years went to Spring
field and worked as a clerk in a store until he en
listed in the civil war, remaining in the service for
three years. He married (first) Sarah A. Elliott,.
of Southampton, Massachusetts, March 10, 1866;
she died at Springfield, Massachusetts, March 12,
. 1867. Immediately after his marriage to Mary Jane
Knapp, Mr. Damon settled in Easthampton, Massa
chusetts, on a farm, and the first four children were
born there. After living there for seven years they
removed to Northampton and there resided for four
years. They then moved to Old Hadley, Massachu
setts, thence to West Brookfield, then to Barre,
where they remained three years, then to North

WORCESTER COUNTY

507

» Brookfield, where they remained one year, and for
the past three years has resided at New Braintree,
Massachusetts. The children of William Henry and Mary Jane
(Knapp) Damon were : Lillian Augusta, born De
cember 21, 1869, in East Hampton, Massachusetts,
died there August 31, 1870; Minnie Jane, born
March 6, 1871, married Albert L. Woodis, February
n, 1892, in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, where
he was born, and they have one child; Annie
Augusta, born in Easthampton, July 19, 1873 ;
Charles Henry, born in Easthampton, December
3, 1875 ; Bennie W., born in Northampton, March
8, 1879; Lizzie Carrie, born in Old Hadley, March
26, 1883.
(VIII) Charles Henry Knapp, son of Levi
Knapp (7), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts,
August 12, 1846. He was educated in the Petersham
schools. After the age of twelve he worked for
wages on a farm, and during the school term in the
winter he worked for his board. A sample of the
work imposed upon young children by the hard
conditions existing as lately as fifty years ago is
shown by a story told by Mr. Knapp. The town
shoemaker offered him a pair of cowhide boots,
when he was only thirteen years old, in payment
for sawing four cords of wood for the church. He
sawed the wood and' secured the boots. It must be
said that the shoe business would be very dull, if
each pair cost the sawing of a big woodpile Hke
that. That incident showed the determination and
grit of the boy. He left Petersham to seek a larger
field in Worcester, being then twenty years old. His
first employment was in the wood working depart
ment of the Ames Plow Company, and during his
two years connection with this company had con
siderable experience in the machinist trade as well
as in wood working. For a short time thereafter
he worked at his trade in Worcester, and then en
gaged in business for himself as a contractor and
builder. Mr. Knapp performed a large part of the build
ing for H. fi. Bigelow at the time when Mr. Bige
low was very actively engaged in building, erecting
a block containing seventy-two rooms for him, also
the buildings for the dummy railroad which that
gentleman constructed to make Lake Quinsigamond
accessible to the people of Worcester. Mr. Knapp
built the Lakeside Boat Club-house, the Dodge Pa
vilion, and fine residences for Edwin Ames, Louis
Dean, Frank Gray, and E. D. Cheney. ¦ He also
built about forty dwelling houses at Lake View.
The larger part of his work has been the construc
tion of dwelling houses in Worcester, he having
built ten or twelve yearly, and in all has been the
contractor or builder for nearly two hundred houses
in the city. He made a specialty, as many other
Worcester builders have done,' of building houses
to sell when he had the opportunity. Mr. Knapp
resides at No. 17 Baker street, Worcester, and at
tends to business at his home. He is an attendant
of the First Universalist Church. He belongs to
the Worcester County Mechanics' Association and
to the Worcester Agricultural Society.
Mr. Knapp married (first), April 23, 1874, Eliza
beth S., daughter of Levi Miles, of Hubbardston,
Massachusetts. She died in Worcester, November
3, 1895. He married (second), February 3, 1897,
Annie Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Merrick
Houghton. John Houghton (1), the emigant ancestor of
Mrs. Charles, Henry (Houghton) Knapp, was born
in England in 163 1. He came to New England in
the ship "Abigail" in June, 1635, when he was only
four years old. He came from Eaton Bray, Bed

ford county, England, and may have been born
there. He resided in Dedham until after his mar
riage to Beatrix  , about 1658-59, and then
settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts. His will was
proved in 1684. His cousin, Ralph Houghton, was
one of the early settlers in Lancaster, Massachu
setts. It is believed that he was in Lancaster as
early as 1652.
(II) Jonas Houghton, son of John Houghton
(1), was born in Lancaster (probably) in 1660. He
married, February 16, 1681, Mary Berbeame (or
Berban), of Woburn, while the family was staying
there on account of the Indian troubles. Woburn
records say that she was born there and married in
Lancaster. After his father's death he settled in
Bolton on his father's land on Vaughn's Hill. Jonas
Houghton served in Queen Anne's- war.
(Ill) James Houghton, son of Jonas Houghton
(2), was born in Woburn or Lancaster, 1700, bap
tized August 3, 1718. He served in the Indian war
under Captain John Lovewell and Captain John
White in 1724-35. He also had power of attorney
to represent Jonathan Parlin, of Concord, who for
the same service was to draw land. He sold Jon
athan Parlin's right to Josiah Richardson, October
5, 1733, and his own to William Richardson, of
Lancaster, October 30, 1733. His wife Mary is
mentioned in the deed. He married, October 8,
1725, Mary Jones, of Concord.' He died in Lancas
ter, August 9, 1770.
(IV) Nathaniel Houghton, son of James Hough
ton (3), was born in Lancaster, September 5, 1729.
He married Mary  , and they settled in that
part of Lancaster, now Sterling, or Bolton, Massa
chusetts. The children of Nathaniel and Mary
Houghton were : Nathaniel, born in • Lancaster,
July 16, 1759 ; Ephraim, March 28, 1761 ; Stephen,
May 8, 1765; Josiah, November 20, 1768; Manasseh,
April 18, 1771 ; Mary, November 30, 1773 ; Tilly, -
March 20, 1776; Jonas, July 25, 1778.
(V) Manasseh Houghton, ^on of Nathaniel
Houghton (4), was bora in Lancaster, April. 18,
1771. He settled in Sterling, Massachusetts. The
children of Manasseh Houghton were : Nancy, born
December 20, 1798; Heman, October 31, 1800;
Eunice, December 17, .1802; Manasseh, October 6,
1804; Eli, January 21, 1807; Merrick, December 24,
1809; Susan, April 15, 1811; Torry, July 3, 1813;
James, February 18, 1816.
(VI) Merrick Houghton, son of Manasseh
Houghton (5), was born in Sterling, December 24,
1809, came to . Worcester in 1865 and spent the
remainder of his life there. The children of Cap
tain Merrick Houghton were : Mary Caroline, born
February 25, 1838; George Merrick, January 20,'
1840; Hattie Kendall, April 1, 1842; Annie Eliza
beth, February 19, 1845, aforementioned as the wife
of Charles Henry Knapp; Sarah Ensebin, March
21, 1847; and John Lynds, August 23, 1849.
THOMAS ASA SHAW. Abraham Shaw (1),
the immigrant ancestor of Thomas Asa Shaw, of
Worcester, came from Halifax, York county, Eng
land and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, before
1636. In that year he signed the famous Dedham
Covenant. In the old country he was a clothier and
a man of some property. He was a planter at
Dedham. " When he first came to America he went
to Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was a pro
prietor in 1636; his house was burned in October
of that year, whereupon he seems to have removed
to Dedham, where Jie was a constable in 1636-37-38.
and was admitted a freeman March 9, 1637. He
removed to Cambridge and was a town officer there
in 1640. He was owner of coal mines in Halifax

5<>8

WORCESTER COUNTY

and November 2, 1637, shortly before his death, he
received a grant of half the coal and iron he might
find in the common lands. He was given a permit
to erect a corn mill February 12, 1637. Mary, sup
posed to be his wife, was admitted to the church
at Charlestown, July 1, 1646. He died in 1638, and
his will, made Novemher of that year, was proved
before the end of the year. He mentions Joseph,
John, Mary and Martha, his children, and Nicholas
Byram, son-in-law. Of the children Joseph removed
to Weymouth ; John is mentioned below ; Mary was
born about 1638; Martha born about  ;
Susanna married Nicholas Byram before 1638.
(II) John Shaw, son of Abraham Shaw (1),
was born about 1625-36. He married Alice Phillips,
of Weymouth, where they settled and where their
eleven children were born, viz. : John, about 1655 ;
Elizabeth, February 26, 1656; Abraham, October 10,
1657; Mary, May 24, 1660; Nicholas, March 23,
1662; Joseph, April 15, 1664; Alice, July 6, 1666;
Hannah, April 7, 1668; Benjamin, June 16, 1670;
Abigail, July 15, 1672; Ebenezer, April 24, 1674.
(Ill) John Shaw, eldest son of John Shaw (2),
was born about 1655, in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
He married Hannah  , and their children,
born in Weymouth, were : Hannah, born December
16, 1679, probably died young; Abraham, born Feb
ruary 14, 1685; Hannah, bora April 26, 1687; John,
born January 20, 1690; Mary, born May 5, 1691 ;
Benjamin, born July 45, 1693, mentioned below.
(IV) Benjamin Shaw, youngest son of' John
Shaw (3), was born July 25, 1693. The records of
him are meagre. He married fiannah Rogers, of
Abington. His children: Benjamin, born 1728;
William, mentioned below.
(V) William Shaw, son of Benjamin and" Han
nah Shaw (4), was born in Abington, February 22,
1730. He was a tanner and shoemaker by trade.
He removed to the North Parish in 1754 and settled
there. He was "an excellent moral arid religious
character and of very industrious habits." He mar
ried, 1754, Hannah West, who died November 9,
1772. fie married (second) Dorcas Smith, June
24, 1773; she died July 23, 1797, aged sixty-four
years, fie died January 17, 1809, aged seventy-nine
years. The children of William and Hannah Shaw
were : Hannah, born March 26, 1755 ; William, born
January 14, 1757; Dan, mentioned below; Isaiah,
born October 19, 1760, died November 19, 1760;
Rhoda, born August 1, 1762; Napthali, born June
20, 1764; was a revolutionary soldier; graduated at
Dartmouth in 1790; taught school in Boston; studied
theology and settled at Kensington, New Hamp
shire, and remained twenty-one years; bought a
farm in Bradford, Vermont, near his brother Dan;
had four , children by wife, Mary Crafts ; Betsey,
born June 12, 1766; Michael, born September 25,
1768; Patience, born August 28, 1770; Molly, bora
November 4, 1772. The only child of William and
Dorcas was : Abigail, born January 29, 1775.
(VI) Colonel Dan Shaw, third child of Will
iam Shaw (5), was born in Bridgewater, Massa
chusetts, November 15, 1758. He was a tanner and
currier by trade. He married in March, 1780, Joanna
Perkins, daughter of Deacon Isaac Perkins, of Mid
dleboro, Massachusetts. She was born January 5,
1761. They came immediately to Lyme, New Hamp
shire, to make their home, fie established a tannery
there, the first in that section, and a bark mill, be
came a leading citizen, was selectman, and held other
positions of trust and honor. He had much to do
with maintaining the efficiency of* the state militia,
rose from the ranks to the command of his regi
ment, and was for many years prominent in military
circles. To his energy and enterprise is due the

building of the county road from where he lived to
Lyme Plain. He joined the orthodox church when
sixteen years old and later was deacon. He became
liberal in his views later in life, and even published
a pamphlet dissenting from doctrine preached by
Rev. William Conant, and advocating more liberal
views. About 1805 he left Lyme and bought a farm
in Bradford, Vermont^ his place being on the west
side of the River road, where later Amos Clement
lived. He preached often in his later years along
the lines of universal salvation, and became mor
bidly interested in religion, so much so that it un
dermined his health, mentally and physically. His
wife Joanna died at Lyme, November 22, 1803, and
he married (second) Mary Bliss. He died at Brad
ford, November 14, 1814, and she married (second)
Colonel Freeman, of Hanover, New Hampshire.
The children of Colonel Dan and Joanna Shaw
were : Nancy P., born December 16, 1780, married
Joshua Balch, of Lyme, June 15, 1800, and died
there January 24, 1850; Dan, Jr.,' born October 13,
1782, died May 4, 1805^ Samuel, born November 12,
1784, died March 31, 1803; Joanna, born April 3,
,1787, married Abel Kent, Jr., of Lyme, January 1,
1806; died November 4, 1856; Asa, mentioned be
low; Abraham Perkins, born June 20, 1813, married
Mary Jenkins, daughter of Joseph Jenkins, of Brad
ford, June 20, 1813; they resided at Bradford; he
was a cabinet maker; Naphthali, born May 20, 1793,
married, January 21, 1817, Hannah Worthern, of
Bradford; she died August 16, 1844; he died Sep
tember 3, 1861 ; Pollycarpus, born February 25,
1797, went to Indiana; died February 1, 1849; Man-
dana, born April 9, 1799, died June 6, 1801, at
Lyme. (VII) Asa Shaw, son of Colonel. Dan Shaw (6),
was born February 20, 1789. He married Eliza T.
Slade, of Hanover, born November 14, 1801, daugh
ter of Thomas artd Elizabeth (Thurston) Slade.
Her father was bora September 29, 1776, and her
mother July 22, 1780, and they were married Feb
ruary 22, 1801. Her mother died ' November 25,
1801, and her father married (second) Polly Thurs
ton, her mother's sister, February 12, 1807. They
had a daughter, Polly Thurston Slade, December 3,
1807, and the mother died September 27, 1808, aged
twenty-two years. The grandfather, Samuel Slade,
was born September 15, 1747, married, November
28, 1773, Sarah Durkee, bora November 18, 1755,
and they had thirteen children : ¦ Isaac Davis, born
November 30, 1774; Thomas, mentioned above;
Esther, born June 13, 1778; Samuel, born October
12, 1780; Sally (twin) born September 16, 1782;
Polly, (twin) born September 16, 1782, died Octo
ber 4, 1784; Polly, born November 27, 1784; Harry,
born May- 19, 1787; Becca, born May 19, 1789;
Susa, bora May 2, 1791 ; Elizabeth, bom August
31, 1793; Eunice, born September 15, 1795; Lavinia,
born August 29, 1797, died August 3, 1800,
, Asa Shaw was a merchant, senior partner of the
firm of Shaw, Hewes & Perkins, of Lyme Plain.
Later the firm was Shaw & Churchill, fie was the
leading citizen of the town for many years ; post
master, town clerk for thirty-seven years, a member
of the legislature in 1832 and 1833. For more than
forty years he was a member of the Congregational
church at Lyme, and his life was that of an ex
emplary Christian. He was a Free Mason. He
died July 4, 1861, and his widow removed to Wor
cester, where she died at the home of her son. Their
children were: Thomas Asa, mentioned below.
Eliza, born 1824, died unmarried, 1884, at Lyme.
(VIII) Thomas Asa Shaw, only son of Asa
Shaw (7), was born in Lyme, New Hampshire,
April 27, 1827. He' attended the district schools

WORCESTER COUNTY

509

of his native town, and Thetford and Hebron Acad
emies, Vermont. He served in his father's store, and
was clerk in a general store in Buffalo, New York,
and Newark, Ohio, for several years. In 1864 he
came to Hartford, Connecticut, and established a
flour and grain store, which he conducted with
marked success for thirty-three years. He had
several partners in his early days in business, one
after another, but only for a short time, preferring
to do business alone. He built up one of the larg
est stores of its kind in that section, and was pru
dent and successful in business. All the years of
his business in Hartford he was at 542 Main street,
and at a store nearly opposite, near the corner of
Trumbull street. He was a Democrat in politics,
but never cared for public office. He was devoted
to business exclusively, and belonged to no clubs
or social orders. He attended the Congregational
church, but was not a member. In 1884 he made
arrangements to remove his store to Worcester,
and hie bought his present residence at that time,
24 King street, but decided to remain in Hart
ford, and although he lived in Worcester and had
his family here, he continued in business in Hart
ford until December 1, 1897, when he retired and
has since lived quietly at his home" on King street.
He married, October 11, 1865, Marie Persis Bond,
daughter of Thomas Bond. (For her ancestry see
the Bond Family, sketch of Oran A. Kelly in this
work). Their only child was Dr. Thomas Bond
Shaw. (IX) Dr. Thomas Bond Shaw, only son of
Thomas Asa Shaw (8), was born at Worcester,
Massachusetts, December 3, 1866. He attended pub
lic and high schools of Hartford, Connecticut, but
took his last year and was graduated from tlie Wor
cester Classical high school in 1886, and was grad
uated at Yale University in 1890. He attended the
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in
1891 and 1892, then entered Dartmouth Medical
College, where he was graduated in 1893. He re
ceived hospital training in the Roosevelt and other
New York city hospitals. In 1894 he was surgeon
on a Ward line mail steamer to Cuba and Mexico.
For two years (1895-96) he took instruction in the
Allgemeine Krankenhaus, Vienna, and the Hotel
Dieu, Paris. He located in Worcester, in 1897, open
ing an office at 47 Pleasant street, and has built up
an extensive practice, and made for himself an ex
cellent reputation as a physician and surgeon. He
is a member of leading professional bodies — the
Massachusetts Medical Society, Worcester District
Society and American Academy of Medicine, and
of the Life Insurance Examiners. He is staff sur
geon of the Second Regiment Infantry, Massachu
setts Volunteer Militia. He is a member of the
Union Congregational Church and of its parish. He
is a member of the following societies and clubs :
Secretary and treasurer of the Yale Alumni Asso
ciation of Central and Western Massachusetts, Dart
mouth College Alumni Association, Alumni Asso
ciation of Rings County Hospital, Brooklyn, Han
cock Club, Automobile Club, Tatassit Canoe Club,
Commonwealth Club, Uptown Club, Lakeside Boat
Club, and Worcester Continentals: Dr. Shaw resides
with his parents at 24 King street, Worcester.
WALTER H. RICHARDSON, D. D. S. Ed
ward Eugene Richardson, father of Walter H.
Richardson, and son of Heman Richardson, was
bom at Holden, Massachusetts, October 23, 1845.
He received his education in the common schools of
Holden, working on the farm when not in school.
He became an attendant in the State Lunatic Asylum.
Worcester, where he worked two or three years.

Then he served an apprenticeship in the machinist's
trade in the shop of R. Ball & Co., Worcester. He
was employed by this firm for about ten vears, until
it went out of business, when he took a position
with the N. A. Lombard concern, corner of Union
and School streets, and worked there more than
fifteen years. He worked for Davis & Nelson for
two years and for the North Emery Wheel Com
pany about the same length of time. About 1901
he entered the employ of Wehinger & Co., where
he remained a year and a half. He then took up
fanning at the old place in the west part of Hol
den, on Muschopauge street. His father left the
farm to him and his brother Isaac, whom he bought
out about 1886, and has since carried on the farm
there. He attends the Holden Congregational
church. In politics he is a Republican. He is a
life member of the Worcester County Mechanics'
Association of Worcester.
He married, October 1, 1868, Victoria Augusta
Bolton, born April 18, 1840, daughter of Ransom
and Fidelia (Traverse) Bolton, of Gardner, Massa
chusetts. Her father was a farmer. Their children :
Edith August, born April 29, 1869, married, Octo
ber 17, 1888, Joseph Hildreth Hadlev, of Princeton,
Massachusetts, and they have— Helen Augusta Had
ley, born February 3, 1889; Ruth Hildreth Hadlev,
bom March 15, 1891; Maud Esther Hadlev, bora
November 22, 1895; Edith Richardson Hadle3% born
January 4, 1897; Alice, born October 5, 1900, died
June 24, 1901; Joseph Hildreth, bom July 9, 1903.
Elmer Eugene, bom June 29, 1872, married, June
15, 1889, Sarah May Keyes and they have— May
Eugenie, bom December 14, 1900; Arthur Edwin,
born May 11, 1903; Edward Eugene, bom June 18,
1904. Walter Herbert, see forward.
Walter Herbert Richardson, son of Edward
Eugene Richardson, was bom in Holden, Massa
chusetts, November 22, 1874. His parents moved to
Worcester when he was two years old, and he re
ceived his early education there in the public schools.
The family returned to Holden to live when he
was eleven years old, and he was graduated from
the Holden high school. He then took the full
course at Hinman's Business College, graduating in
1890. He entered the employ of the Worcester Cor
set Company as bookkeeper and remained two years.
He was bookkeeper for the Singer Sewing Ma
chine Company two years. He decided to study
dentistry for a profession and entered the University
of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1897
with the degree of D. D. S. In the fall he opened
an office at 520 State Mutual building, Worcester,
where he practiced for three years. He left to asso
ciate himself with Dr. John F. Adams, at 4 Elm
street, where he was located six years. In June,
1906, Dr. Adams retired and Dr. Richardson re
moved from the old office, which was one of the
buildings torn down to make way for the new Slater
building, to his present quarters at 11 Elm street
Dr. Richardson enjoys a large and select practice,
many of his patients coming from a distance. He
resides at 303 Lincoln street, Worcester. In politics
he is a Republican. He belongs to Quinsigamond
Lodge of Free Masons, Worcester, since January
15, 1904: to Eureka Chapter of Royal Arch Masons
since May 24, 1904, and to Worcester County Com
mandery, No. 5, Knights Templar, since September
27. 1906; belongs also to Worcester Lodge of Per
fection, fourteenth degree ; Goddard Council. Princes
of Jerusalem, sixteenth degree; Lawrence Chapter,
Rose Croix, eighteenth degree, since February 23,
1905. all Scottish Rite Masonry. He is a member of
Tatassit Canoe Club, the Uptown Club, and Leices
ter Country Club. He was a charter member of

Sio

WORCESTER COUNTY

the Worcester Golf Club. He is a member of the
National Dental Association, Massachusetts Den
tal Society, the Central District Dental Association,
the Northeastern Dental Association, the National
Federation of Dentists. While at University of
Pennsylvania was a member of the college society.
He rowed with the University of Pennsylvania
(Freshman Varsity) crew in 1894. Was 'also a mem
ber of the Huston Club of Philadelphia, Pennsyl
vania; of Delta Sigma Delta fraternity, and of the
Sophomore Society Theta Nu Epsilon. He was
manager in 1895 of the Dental Football Team. He
served three years in the Worcester Light Infantry
in Company C, Second Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia.
Fie married, October 12, 1897, Mary Silence War
ren, born January 24, 1875, daughter of Berthier
Warren and Eunice Chace (Boyden) Warren. (See
sketch of the Warren family of Holden.) Their
only child is Berthier Warren Richardson, born
August 20, 1900.
HERMAN S. HASTINGS was born Febriiary
2, 1873, at Berlin, Massachusetts. He is the son of
Samuel H. and Harriet (Barnes) Hastings. His
paternal grandfather was Henry Hastings, born and
reared at Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a farmer.
His great-grandfather was Captain Henry Hastings,
a soldier in the revolutionary war; also an officer
in the militia. He was a man of much means and
a prosperous farmer. The maternal grandfather
of Herman S. Hastings was Daniel Barnes, an in
fluential farmer in Berlin, Massachusetts, where he
spent the better part of his life. The father of Her
man S. was a contractor and builder of much
eminence. He had four children: Matilda, mar
ried George H. Hastings ; Nettie L., who married
R. W. McOrmand; Leo L., Herman S.
Herman S. Hastings was educated at the public
graded schools of Worcester, and later attended
the Boston University Law School. At eighteen
he graduated from the Foster Business College of
Worcester. For a time he followed bookkeeping,
but later became secretary of the Worcester Repub
lican committee, during which period he was assoc
iated as a lawyer with Frank L. Dean, of Wor
cester, and devoted much of his time to the adjust
ment of estates. In 1901 he was elected secretary
of the Worcester Agricultural Society, the oldest and
wealthiest organization of its kind in the United
States. Two years later he was appointed secre
tary of the Worcester Metal Trades Aassociation,
a manufacturers' association, which place he still
fills with much credit to all concerned. Politically he
is an active worker in the Republican party. He
has held all the offices of the Worcester Republican
Club, which has a membership of five .hundred. As
an accountant and bookkeeper he stands at the
head among his profession in Worcester.
ROGER FREEMAN UPHAM. John Upham
(1), probably of Somersetshire in England, came
to America in the company with Rev. Joseph Hull
known as the Hull colony in 1635. With him were
his wife Elizabeth, aged thirty-two, Sarah Upham,
probably his sister, aged twenty-six, and his children,
John, Jr., aged seven, Nathaniel aged five, Eliza
beth aged three. His wife was probably Elizabeth
Webb. These emigrants made their home at Wey
mouth, where John Upham was made a freeman
September 2, 1635, at the same time that Rev. Mr.
Hull acquired his citizenship in the colonies in the
same way. In 1636 Mr. Upham drew land at Wey
mouth and from time to time afterward added by
purchase and drawing. He was a prominent figure

in the colony from the outset. He was one of the
six who treated with the Indians for lands at Wey
mouth. He was appointed a commissioner to try
small cases. He was selectman in 1645-46-47, and
was a deputy to the general court. He removed to
Maiden, about 1648, and was elected selectman there
in 1651-52-53. He was commissioner also for Mai
den. In August, 1671, he married  Hollie,
probably Katheryn, widow of Angell Holland. He
was moderator of the town meetings in Maiden in
1678-79-80. He was a deacon of the church for
twenty-four years. He and his son were interested
in the settlement of Worcester at the time of King
Philip's war. He died February 25, 1681, aged
eighty-four years.
His children were: 1. Nathaniel, born May 23,
1629-30, in England, married Elizabeth Steadman,
March 5, 1661-2, died March 20, 1661-2, leaving no
children ; widow married Henry Thompson, 1669.
2. Elizabeth, born 1632, married Thomas ' Welch,
had thirteen children, died January 12, 1705-6. 3.
Phineas, born probably 1635. 4. Mary, married
John Whittemore, died June 27, 1677. 5. Priscilla,
born 1672, married Thomas Crosswell, died 1717;
she had twelve- children ; she died December 8, 1717.
(II) Lieutenant Phineas Upham, son of John
(1) Upham, of Maiden, was born in 1635 'at Wey
mouth or during the voyage from England. He mar
ried Ruth Wood, April 14, 1658. He bought land
in Maiden in 1663 and resided there. In 1673 he
surveyed a road from Maiden to Cambridge. In
the year 1672 he first became interested in the set
tlement of Worcester together with other Maiden
men. He drew a lot of fifty acres July 8, 1673, in
consideration of his services in promoting the col
ony. The grant was confirmed in April, 1675. The
breaking out of Philip's war at this junction turned
the attention of the lieutenant from real estate to
the battlefield. He was commissioned as lieutenant
in the little army of the colonies as early as Sep
tember of the year 1675. The forces under General
Winslow met the Indiarls in battle December 19,
1675. In this fight, which is known as the storming
of Ft. Canonicus or the battle at the Great Swamp
Fort, he ' was mortally wounded. With other
wounded he was carried to Wickford from the field
of battle. H was sent to Rhode Island, January 6,
1675-6, and later was borne to his home at Maiden.
The march from Rhode Island is called the Hungry
March. There was much suffering from lack of
food and the horses were killed and eaten on the
way. In October, 1676, he died. The general court
made a special appropriation to pay the cost of his
long illness and gave the widow ten pounds, as she
was left with seven small children to support. The
wife was Ruth, widow of Edward Wood, who died
in Charlestown, August 20, 1642. She died Janu
ary 18, 1696-7, at the age of sixty years. The Up
ham Genealogy says of him : "In battle Lieutenant
Upham exhibited the character of a brave man and
patriot, purchasing with mortal wounds the palm
of victory and the government was not unmindful
of his great sacrifice but bore testimony upon the
records to the long and good services he did to the
country and the great loss sustained by his friends
in his death." Flis children were : Phineas, born
May 22, 1659 ; Nathaniel, bora 1661 ; Ruth, born
1664, died™ December 8, 1676; John, born December
9, 1666, married Abigail Hayward (or Howard);
Elizabeth, married Samuel Green, October 28, 1691 ;
Thomas, born 1668; Richard, born 1675.
(Ill) Nathaniel Upham, son of Lieutenant
Phineas Upham (2), of Maiden, was born at Mai
den, 1661. He married Sarah Floyd, who died aged .
fifty-three, October 14, 1715. He died November

C^rriS,

WORCESTER COUNTY

5n

11, 1717, and left by will his property to his chil
dren. His gravestone is to be seen at the old bury
ing ground at Maiden. He had the rank of ser
geant in the militia. His children were : Nathaniel,
born 1685-6; Sarah, born 1688-9, married Samuel
Samuel Grover, 1713 ; Ruth, born 1691, married
Nathaniel Nichols, 1716-7; Dorothy, married John
Coleman, 1723, died 1734-5, at the age of forty-two ;
Noah, born 1696; Joanna, born 1699, married Sam
uel Wesson, 1717; Lois, born 1701, married James
Hill, 1727; Eunice, born 1707, married Benjamin
Wesson, April 18, 1726.
(IV) Noah Upham, son of Nathaniel Upham
(3), of Maiden, Massachusetts, was born at Maiden,
1694, married Lydia Jenkins, daughter of Obadiah
and Mary Jenkins and widow of Joseph Lewis, of
Swanzey. She died October 14, 1762. He lived at
Maiden until he was thirty-three years old, when
he "removed to Pomfret, Connecticut, and bought a
farm of one hundred and three acres with buildings,
fences, etc., built, for Joseph and Elizabeth Ses
sions for five hundred pounds. The date of the
deed 1727 is probably the date of their removal
from the old home in Maiden. In 1748 he was living
in Pomfret, Connecticut. He died February 8, 1766.
His children were : Noah, born at Maiden, 1720,
married Hannah  ; Benjamin, born April 10,
1723, married Ann Wood; Lydia, born January 3,
1725, at Maiden ; Mary, born October 22, 1730, at
Pomfret, died at Mansfield, October 31, 1745.
(V) Noah Upham, son of Noah Upham (4),
of Maiden and Promfret, Connecticut, was bora at
Maiden, Massachusetts, 1720. He married Hannah
 , who was the administratrix of his estate
October 2, 1750. He died September 16, 1750, only
thirty years old. His father was appointed guardian
of his minor children. Their children were : Joseph,
born March 30, 1748, married Mary Fletcher, re
sided at Mansfield, Connecticut; Noah, born De
cember 18, 1749, married Rebecca Freeman and set
tled in Marathon, New York; Mary, married Aaron
Blackman, of Windham, Connecticut.
(VI)- Roger Upham, son of Noah Upham (5),
was born at Mansfield or Pomfret, Connecticut, De
cember 18, 1749. He married Rebecca Freeman,
March 26, 1771. She was a daughter of Prince
Freeman and born June 14, 1749. She was a sister
of Experience Freeman, who married Jane Upham,
January 17, 1781. He married (second) after the
death of Rebecca, Widow (Newell) Solace. He
moved from Mansfield, Connecticut, to Hanover,
New Hampshire, and thence to Monson, Massachu
setts. In 1808 he went to Marathon, New York. He-
died in Cincinnatus, New York, February 17, 1817.
Their children were : John, born November 22,
. 1772, lived and died in Woodstock, Connecticut,
had a son Freeman; Roger Freeman, born January
3, 1777, married Anna Howard ; Clarissa, born March
18, 1785, in Hanover, New Hampshire, married,
May 14, 1807, Spencer Keep, of Monson, New York,
and died there May 6,- 1829; Newell Noah, born
August 5, 1793, married Isabella Green, died Sep
tember 10, 1878.
(VII) Roger Freeman Upham, son of Roger
Upham (6), was born, in Mansfield, Connecticut,
January 3, 1777. He married, November 25, 1802,
Anna fioward, at Woodstock, Connecticut. She was
born at Ashfield, Connecticut, December 27, 1779,
died at Belchertown, Ostober 14, 1857. He removed
from Connecticut to Belchertown, Massachusetts, in
1812. He died in Belchertown, March 14, 1858.
Their,' children were: Howard, horn December 17,
1803. married Cynthia Freeman Childs, resided at
Belchertown; Freeman, born April 1, 1805, married
Elizabeth Livermore; Lucius, born July 7, 1807,

died December 12, 1855, married, no children; Amos,
born August 2, 1809, married Eloisa Leonard, re
sided at Castile, New York; Anna, born February
25. 181 1, died at Enfield, Massachusetts, unmar
ried ; Newell, born September 6, 1812, married twice ;
Whitman, born December 6, 1814, died January 22,
1825 : Lathrop, born January 1, 1816, married Calista
Livermore; Hannah, born December 17, 1817, mar
ried Abijah Child, September 24, 1840; Porter, born
October 1, 1820, died April 17, 1872, unmarried;
Martha, born November 18, 1822, married George L.
Washburn, of Castile, New York; Emily, born Au
gust 25, 1825, married, April 7, 1847, Gilbert Mc-
Kenny, died January 8, 1883.
(VIII) Freeman Upham, son of Roger Freeman
Upham (7), was born at Mansfield, Connecticut,
April 1, 1805. He married Elizabeth Livermore,
daughter of David Livermore, of Spencer, Massa
chusetts, who was born June 18, 1809. They set
tled in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was a prom
inent contractor and builder. He died ' February 1,
.1876. They had one child, Roger Freeman, born
at Worcester, September 13, 1848.
(IX) Roger Freeman Upham, son of Freeman
Upham (8), was born at Worcester, September 13,
1848. The other lines of Mr. Upham's ancestry
are not less interesting. A prominent ancestor
on^ his mother's side was Oliver Watson, of
Leicester,^ a revolutionary soldier. His mother
was a Livermore, a lineal descendant of John
Livermore, who settled in Watertown in 1638, and
of his son, John Livermore, who was a lieutenant
in the King Philip war, fighting in the same troops
with which Lieutenant Phineas Upham served. The'
great-grandfather of Roger Upham, David Liver
more, was a soldier in the revolution. He was in
Captain Ebenezer Mason's company from Spencer,
which marched to Lexington at the Lexington alarm.
and joined the regiment commanded by Colonel
Jonathan Warner.
Roger Freeman Upham was educated in the pub
lic schools of his native city. He was the salutatorian
of the class of 1866 at the Worcester high school.
Immediately after graduation he entered the office
of the People's Fire Insurance Company of Wor
cester as entry clerk and was soon advanced to the
position of bookkeeper. In a few years he had be
come assistant secretary, a position that he occupied
when the great Boston fire of 1872 which ruined
so many fire insurance companies caused the failure
of the People's Company. Mr. Upham soon after
ward entered the office of the Worcester Mutual
Fire Insurance Company, with which he has been
associated ever since.
The Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance, of which
Mr. Upham has been secretary for twenty-five years
and of which he is also the treasurer, is the oldest
mutual fire insurance conducting business in the
state of Massachusetts. It was organized in 1823
and its first president was Levi Lincoln, who re
signed within a year to become the governor of the
Commonwealth. The presidents have been among
the most prominent men of their day — Rejoice New
ton, Frederick William Paine, Anthony Chase,
Ebenezer Torrey, John A. Fayerweather. Mr. Up
ham has been president of the Massachusetts Mutual
Fire Insurance Union, an organization composed
of the managers of the various fire- insurance com
panies of the state. Mr. Upham is a vice-president
of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, trustee
of the Rural Cemetery Corporation and secretary
of the Home for Aged Men. He is interested, in
other social and charitable organizations in the city.
He is a Republican in politics.
He married, June 16, 1873, Clara G Story, daugh-

512

WORCESTER COUNTY

ter of Simeon N. Story. She was born April 2,
1850. They have one child, Edith Story, born Sep
tember 21, 1882.
WATSON FAMILY. The surname Watson, is
derived from "Wat," the familiar form for Walter,
with the termination "son," signifying therefore, son
of Walter. It is of English origin, though the fam
ily for some generations before coming to America
lived near Londonderry in the northern part of
Ireland and intermarried with the Scotch-Irish peo
ple there. The Watson family of England bore
arms and members of the family were Barons of
Rockingham. To this branch of the family it is
believed that the American family's descent may be
traced. Edward Watson, of Lydington, Rutland county,
had fifteen children. His eldest son and heir
died in 1530, leaving a son Edward, of
Rockingham Castle, county Northampton. His son,
the second Baron of Rockingham, married Lady
Anne Wentworth, eldest daughter of the Earl of
Stafford, and had two sons : Lewis, who becarrie
the Baron of Rockingham, and Thomas, who took
his mother's name, Wentworth. The son of this
Thomas (Watson) Wentworth became Earl of Mal-
ton and later also the heir of the barony of Rochester.
The arms of the family, brought to America by the
first emigrant, are: Parted Pr. Pale first argent on
Chevron Azure three crescents or between three
martletts sable. '(See the Watson Family of Leicester,
printed for the family).
(I) Matthew Watson, the immigrant ancestor,
was from Londonderry, coming to Boston iri 1718
with his wife, Mary Orr. Her father was a victim
of the Catholic soldiers at the time of the siege
of Londonderry. He was not only killed but his
head was severed from the body and borne on a
pike. A branch' of this Orr family settled in New
Hampshire, where the largest number of the Scotch-
Irish immigrants in 1718 settled. The Watsons spent
the first season in Framingham, Massachusetts, and
in 1720 settled in Leicester and built their home.
In that year Mr. Watson introduced the potato in
that section. Before the year closed he was killed
by a falling tree, and his widow and children had
to take up the task of carrying on the farm. In
Ireland Mr. Watson had been a manufacturer and
dealer in linens and cloth. He married there in
1695 and eight of their nine children were born in
Ireland, the youngest being born on shipboard on
the way over.
The children: Matthew, born March, 1696, died
at Barrington, Rhode Island, January 17, 1803, aged
one hundred and seven years ; married Bethia Reed ;
had a remarkable career ; left an estate worth $80,000,
a fortune in his day; Samuel, born 1698, died at
Leicester, March 19, 1776; Patrick, born 1706;
Robert; William; Elizabeth, born 1709, died Decem
ber 1, 1815 ; Margaret, married a Mr. McNeal : John,
born November, 1716, died at Palmer, November 9,
1795 : Oliver, of whom later.
(II) Oliver Watson, son of Matthew Watson
(1), was born in 1718 on the voyage to America;
spent his early life in Leicester. He bought 2,000
acres of land there from Joel Whittemore ; at" the
time of the incorporation of Spencer, May 14,
1753, his place was included in the new town; it
is the first farm 'over the line on the old post road
from Leicester to Spencer. He became one of the
leading citizens. In 1771 he was third in point of
wealth ; he was selectman in 1755, 1756, 1757, 1760
to 1767 inclusive, 1771-1778; town treasurer 1757
to 1768 inclusive; assessor 1755, 1756, 1757, 1760
to 1767 inclusive, 1771, 1778; four years in the gen

eral court He was a patriot before and during the
revolution; he was a delegate to the provincial con
gress in Watertown in 1775, and was also a member
oi the committee of safety and correspondence of
that year. He was deacon of the Spencer church.
Three of his sons served in the revolutionary army.
He died December 20, 1804, aged .eighty-six years.
He married (first) Elizabeth Blair, of Worcester,
December 4, 1742. She died December 4, 1779,
aged fifty-five years. He married (second) Hannah
Peters, of Brookfield, November, 1782. She died
March -6, 1808, aged eighty- four years. The chil
dren of Oliver and Elizabeth Watson, all born in
Spencer, were: Oliver, born November 18, 1743;
Robert, of whom later; Elizabeth, born January 1, ,
1748 ; Mary, born April 30, 1752 ; James, born July
20, 1754; Abigail, born November 27, 1759, married
Reuben Whittemore ; Martha, born June 18, 1763,
married Benjamin Green; David, born March 17,
1766. (Ill) Robert Watson, second child of Oliver
Watson (2), was bom in Spencer, May 28, 1746;
married, 1777, Tamer Whittemore, who was born
June 12, 1757, and died October 9, 1836. He died
January 20, 1806. He was a Minute Man in Cap
tain Eben. Mason's company from Spencer in 1775
and marched to Lexington. He inherited the home
stead and always lived in Spencer. His children :
Amos, born March 2, 1778, married Polly Wood;
Betsey, , October 28, 1779 ; An infant, born October
13, 1781, died next day; Jeremiah, of whom later;
Charles, October 15, 1784; Robert, October 16, 1787,
married Lydia Watson, who died April 11, 1889,
aged one hundred and two years ; Sally, July 18,
1788, married Simeon Sibley ; Aaron, ' born 1800,
died October 28, 1813 ; Tamer, married, September
4, 1816, Josiah Green; she died October 13, 1820;
Polly, married Jonathan Ryan, of Charlton; A child,
born April 4, 1796, died young; A child, born Octo
ber 27, 1797, died young; Sibilla, bora February 24,
1799, married William Mouley, Ashtabula, Ohio.
(IV) Jeremiah Watson, fourth child of Robert
Watson (3), was born December 14, 1782, in Spen
cer; married Chloe Sprague, daughter of James and
Chloe (Baldwin) Sprague, Sr., July 6, 1809. She was
born December 30, 1786, and died i860. He died
January 2, 1856. Their children : Lodicea Amanda,
born April 5, 1810, married Horace Waite, of Leices
ter; Lory Sprague, of whom later; Emily, born
July 14, 18 1 7, married Thomas Hersey; Roswell, born
July 31, 1819, died November 6, 1820; Roswell S.,
bom February 26, 1822, died December, 1876 ; George
Henry, born April 29, 1828, died Ocfpber 30, 1828.
(V) Lory Sprague Watson, second child of Jere
miah Watson (4), was born in Spencer, May 4,
1814. He obtained his education in the common
schools, and while living with his father helped on
the farm and learned the carpenter's trade, at which
he .worked in Spencer for a short time. In 1842
he removed to Leicester and in company with his
brother-in-law, Horace Waite, under the firm name
of Waite •& Watson, began the manufacture of hand
cars and_ stripping cards. In 1845 Mr. Watson pur
chased his parner's interests and continued alone, ad
ding to the business the manufacture of wire heddles.
His business constantly grew and he had to increase
his facilities from time to time. The business was
incorporated in 1890 with Mr. Watson as president,
a position he continued to fill until his death. His
son, Edwin L. Watson, was associated with him
in the business as secretary and treasurer of the
companv. and after his death he became the presi
dent. The name, of the corporation is the L. S.
Watson Manufacturing Co.
Mr. Watson took a leading part in public affairs

(2 cJJet^

7

WORCESTER COUNTY

5i3

in Leicester. He was for several years in succession
selectman and assessor; in 1868 and 1870 he repre
sented the town in the general court, serving on
important committees. The handsome public library
building of Leicester was his gift to the town; it
is a standing monument to his generosity and pub
lic spirit. In politics Mr. Watson was an active
and loyal Republican. He was a director of the
Leicester National Bank and president of the Leices
ter Savings Bank. He was an active member of the
Congregational church, and a liberal contributor to
the building fund and to the various departments of
the church. His interests were thoroughly identified
with those of the town, and no man in his day was
more generally respected and esteemed by his fel
low-citizens. He married, February 23, 1837, Mehitable Luther,
who was born April 22, 181 1, and died October 19,
1885, the daughter of Sylvester and Catherine
(Howe) Luther, of Spencer. He married (second),
June 16, 1887, Mrs. Hannah (Grout) Watson, widow
of Roswell S. Watsori, his brother. She was born
November 27, 1825, the daughter of Joel Grout.
Lory S. Watson died May 21, 1898. The children
of Lory Sprague and Mehitable Watson were : Ed
win Lucius, of whom later; Henry Luther, of whom
later. (VI) Edwin Lucius Watson, eldest child of Lory
Sprague Watson (5), was born in Spencer, Massa
chusetts, January 22, 1841. He is at present living
in Worcester, fie was educated in the public schools
of Leicester and in Wilbraham and Leicester Acad
emies. He became early in life associated with his
father in the manufacture of hand cards, and when
the business was incorporated in 1896 he became
the secretary and treasurer of the corporation. For
many years the burden of the business has been on
his shoulders. Since the retirement of his father
he has been the president of the L. S. Watson Manu
facturing Company. At present the company manu
factures improved cotton and wool hand cards of
every description. Hand stripping cards are made
of all lengths from eight to fifty inches of hardened
and tempered steel wire. The patent heddles of the
company have a high reputation among manufac
turers. They are made on machinery specially de
signed for the purpose. The company also manu
factures shuttles, pickers and lug straps, and is agent
for the Endless Steel Tempered Tinned Wire
Heddle. Mr. Watson was a director of the Leices
ter National Bank, now in liquidation. He is a
Republican, but has declined to accept public office.
He is a member of the Congregational church. Mr.
Watson was active in getting the electric railway
built to connect Worcester, Leicester and Spencer,
and was president of the Worcester, Leicester &
Spencer Street Railway Company.
He married, June 10, 1869. Louesa M. Cogswell,
daughter of John D. and Fanny H. (Leonard)
Cogswell, of Leicester. She was born July 15,
1846, and died March 3, 1893. He married (second),
September 12, 1896, Rhoda M. Lawson. His only
child was Walter Cogswell, of whom later.
(VI) Henry Luther Watson, youngest child of
Lory Sprague Watson (5), was born in Leicester,
July 12, 1845. He was educated in the schools of
his native town and Wilbraham Academy. In 1867
he removed to Minnesota and entered the woolen
manufacturing business. In 1873 he returned to
Leicester and was interested in the card manufac
turing business. He was a soldier in the civil
war. For ten years he was trustee of the town
library. He married, November 21, 1867. Amelia Maria
Brown, daughter of Hugh G and Sarah (Young)
33

Brown, of Leicester. She was born March 30, 1848,
and died December 27, 1873. He married (second),
May 16, 1876, Gertrude Moore Ray, daughter of
Trask andMary (Davis) Ray, of Templeton, Massa
chusetts. She was born June 18, 1854. The chil
dren of Henry Luther and Amelia M. Watson were :
Edwin R., born August 20, 1868; Amelia B., born
December 6, 1873, died August 27, 1882. The chil
dren of Henry Luther and Gertrude were: Henry
Ray, born February 27, 1885; Gertrude, born May
24, 1892.
(VII) Walter Cogswell Watson, only child of
Edwin Lucius Watson (6), was born in Leicester,
May 21, 1870. His education was received in the
public schools and at the famous old Leicester Acad
emy of his native town. He became connected with
the L. S. Watson Manufacturing Co., established
in 1842 by his grandfather, and at the present time
(1906) is the manager of the company and director
of the corporation. He has served the town of
Leicester for five years as town treasurer. He is
a trustee of the public library, of which his grand
father was the founder, and in which the Watson
family has always been interested. He is an active
Republican, and takes an interest in the affairs of
the town and state. He is a member of the Leicester
Congregational Society, of which he is at the pres
ent time the treasurer.
He married, December' 6, 1893, Lelia Blanche
Jordan, daughter of John Quincy and Mary S.
(Lane) Jordan, of Leicester. She was bora in Lewis-
ton, Maine, February 25, 1872. Their children are:
Wilbur Lory and Clifton Edwin.
AMOS A. GOULD, who is now leading a re
tired life at his home in Leicester, surrounded with
peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there
is no reward so satisfactory as the consciousness
of a life well spent, was born in Douglas, Massa
chusetts, August 28, 1841, one of fourteen children
born to Sylvester and Julia A. (Aldrich) Gould,
the former named being for many years a prominent
resident of Douglas, Massachusetts.
At the early age of three years Amos A. Gould
was brought by his parents to the town of Sutton,
where he resided six years, after which he located
in Oxford, remaining there two years, from thence
he removed to Charlton, and after a residence of
ten years there came to Leicester, where he resides
at the present time (1905). He devoted his time
and attention to box making, which line of busi
ness he Successfully conducted up to his retirement
from active pursuits. The esteem -in which he is
held by his fellow-citizens is evidenced by the fact
that he was chosen to fill various offices of trust
and responsibility, among them being tax collector,
in which he served ten years ; constable, in which
he served fourteen years ; assessor, in which he
served two years, and water commissioner, in which
he served six years. He adheres to the principles
of the Republican party. Mr. Gould married Char
lotte E. Kent, a daughter of Emerson and So
phronia (Ayers) Kent, of Leicester, Massachusetts,
and one child was the issue of this union : Sarah
S., deceased. Mrs. Gould passed away August 26,
1900. HENRY CLAY HALL. John Hall (1), the
emigrant ancestor of Henry Clay Hall, late of Mill
bury, Massachusetts, was born in England about
1605. The English ancestry has been traced, and
the surname has been common for many centuries
in England, originating, it is said, in Saxony. John
Hall came to America in 1633. He was in the Pequot
war in 1637, was made a freeman of the Massachu-

5H

WORCESTER COUNTY

setts colony as easly as- 1634, and probably lived in
Boston until 1639, when he removed to New Haven,
Connecticut. He married Jane Woolen, of Boston,
who had lived in the family of William Wilkes, of
Boston, and probably came with his family, for he
paid her fare. After her marriage she had to
bring suit against him for unpaid wages for serv
ices in his household. John Hall became one of
the early proprietors of Wallingford, Connecticut,
and he and his descendants have been conspicuous
in the history of that fine old town ever since its
settlement. The first list of proprietors contains
the names of John Hall, David Hall and Dr. Hall,
the latter being Isaac Hall, son of Francis Flail, of
Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1669 Samuel Hall and
John Hall signed the first covenant of planters at
Wallingford. Just before his death John Hall and
his son, John, Jr., were on a committee together.
in his sixtieth year he was freed from military
service by order of the general court, dated 1665.
He served the town of Wallingford as selectman
in 1675, and in many other important commissions.
He died March 3, 1676, making an oral will on his
deathbed. Children of John and Jane (Woolen)
Hall : 1-2. John and Sarah, twins, baptized August
9, 1646. "3. Richard, baptized July 11, 1645, (his
daughter married Governor Thomas Fitch). 4. Sam
uel, born May 21, 1646.. 5. Daniel, about 1647-8. 6.
Thomas, March 25, 1649. 7. ' Jonathan, April 5,
1651. 8. David, March 17, 1652.
(II) John Hall, son of John Hall (1), .born
probably in Wallingford, 1641, baptized August 9,
1646, died at the age of seventy-six, September 2,
1721. He married, December 6, 1666, Mary, daugh
ter of Edward Parker, of New Haven. She died
September 22, 1725. John Hall became the first
deacon of the church at Wallingford, was selectman
and deputy to general court 1687, and held other
positions of trust. Rev. Aaron Hall, formerly min
ister at Keene, New Hampshire, had one of the sil
ver spoons of John Hall, marked "John and Mary
Hall." He and his son John and brother Samuel
Hall were on a committee to treat with Rev. Mr.
Whittelsy and offer to buy him a home lot on Dea
con John Hall's land if he would come to Walling
ford. John, Samuel, Thomas and David Hall had
land in Meriden in 1689. John Hall had numerous
other land grants. Children of Deacon John and
Mary (Parker) Hall: 1. Elizabeth, born August
11, 1670, New Haven. 2. Daniel, born July 26, 1672.
3. Mary, June 23, 1675. 4. Nathaniel, February 8,
1677. 5- John, March 14, 1681. 6. Lydia, January
22, 1683. 7. Samuel, December 24, 1686, died young.
,8. Esther, born August 30, 1692. 9. Caleb, Septem
ber 14, 1697.
(Ill) John Hall, son of Deacon John Hall (2),
bora in Wallingford, March 14, 1681, married, June
28, 1707, Elizabeth Royce, who died September 2,
1755, aged sixty-six years. He died April 27, 1766,
aged eighty-five years. They resided at Walling
ford, where he was a prominent citizen. Children
of John and Elizabeth (Royce) Hall. 1-2. Isaac
and Peter, twins, born July 22, 1709. 3. John, De
cember 28, 1712. 4. Abel. 5. Asahel, born January
19, 1717. 6. Royce, December 26, 1718, (Yale 1735)
died May 29, 1752. 7. Abigail, born March 7, 1723.
8. Elizabeth, July 9, 1725. 9. Benjamin, April 4,
1728. 10. Elisha, September 15, 1730. 11. Sarah,
August 25, 1732.
(IV) Asahel Hall, son of John Hall (3), born
in Wallingford, June 19, 1717, died November 11,
1795; married, July 29, 17 — , Sarah Goldsmith, died
February 25, 1784. Their children : 1. Catherine,
born August 6, 1739. 2. Joel, May 21, 1741. 3.
Sarah, March 5, 1743, died young. 4. Asahel, born

May 15, 1745, died young. 5. Jerusha, born August
31, 1746, died young. 6. Sarah, born June 9, 1748,
died young. 7. Asahel, born July 16, 1750, died
young. 8. Mehitable, born March 13, 1753. 9.
Aaron, born July 28, 1755, died October 6, 1759. 10.
Charles, born November 12, 1757. 11. Asahel, born
January 14, 1759. 12. Aaron, born November 4,
1760. (V) Aaron Hall, son of Asahel' Hall (4), bom
in Wallingford, November 4, 1760, died September
30, 1839,- aged seventy-nine years. He married, May
24, 1781, Elizabeth Cook; married "(second), De
cember 11, 1820, Sarah, widow of Charles Hall;
married (third), June 18, 1827, Anna Brooks. He
was a soldier in the revolution, and was with Wash
ington in the New Jersey campaign; he served from
1777 to 1781. Children of Aaron and Elizabeth
(Cook) Hall: 1. Benjamin Atwater, born April
6, 1782. 2. Elizabeth, October 23, 1783. 3. Electa,
September 9, 1785. 4. Aaron G, November 11,
1787. 5. Mary, January 20, 1790. 6. Asahel, April
6, 1792. 7. Salmon, August 12, 1793. 8. Anna, Jan
uary 6, 1796. 9. Caroline, December 21, 1798. 10.
Kirtland, July 4, 1805.
(VI) D„r. Asahel (or Asa, as he was generally
called) Hall, son of Aaron Hall (5), was born in
Wallingford, April 6, 1792. He was studying to be
a physician when the war of 1812 broke out, arid
he entered the service when only about twenty years
old as an army ,surgeon, and was stationed at Fort
Griswold, Connecticut. After the war he located
in Dutchess county, New York, and lived at Rhine-
beck, Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. During the last
twenty years of his life he lived in Poughkeepsie,
and practiced there. He married Catherine (Van-
derberg) Toffee, of Rhinebeck, widow, descend
ant of one of the ancient Dutch families of New
York. Dr. Hall died in Poughkeepsie in 1877, and
his wife in 1880, at the age of eighty-eight years.
Children of Dr. Asa and Catherine Vanderberg
Hall : 1. Henry Clay. 2. George Vanderberg, resides
in New York city. 3. Anna, married Silas Woodell,
lived and died in Poughkeepsie. 4. Dewitt Clinton,
resides in New York city.
' (VII) Henry Clay Hall, son of Dr. Asahel Hall
(6), 'born in Dutchess comity, New York, August
17, 1820, died in Millbury, Massachusetts', October
29, 1901. He was for nearly thirty consecutive
years in the consular and diplomatic service of the
United States in Cuba and Central America. His
public life was remarkable and brilliant. He served
in the foreign field under eight presidents from
Buchanan to Cleveland and his long and honorable
career is believed to be without parallel in the
history of the consular or diplomatic service.
After leaving school he went to Mexico as agent
for a cotton mill, and remained there nine years,
holding this position during the Mexican war, when
few Americans cared to remain in Mexico. He
returned to his home in Fishkill, New York, where
he was engaged in com'mercial business until 1853.
In the fifties he went to Cuba. His first appoint
ment was consular agent for the United States
at Matanzas. He was promoted to vice-consul
March 18, 1864, his appointment signed by Presi
dent Abraham Lincoln. He did effective work for
his government during the civil war in detecting
blockade runners which were often equipped in
Cuba. He was appointed vice-consul general at
Matanzas, February 27, 1869, and consul general
January 15. 1872. He was appointed vice-consul
general at Havana, December 8, 1873, and consul
general December 24, 1879. fie was appointed,
April 17, 1882, minister resident in Central Amer
ica, and July 13, 1882, received a new commission

WORCESTER COUNTY

515

from President Arthur as envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary to the Central American
Republics. He resided from 1882 to 1889 at Guate
mala, and represented the United States in five
of the Central American States. At present this
district has been divided in two parts. For many
years Mr. Hall held the position of dean to the
diplomatic corps, and retained his position when
Cleveland was president He remained in the service
until 1892, during Harrison's administration. After
leaving the consular service he became interested
in the Nicaragua Canal, and he drafted the original
treaty which provided for its building. It was a
great disappointment to him when the plan which
seemed to be in a fair way to be executed failed
at last. Doubtless the more recent coup d'etat
in Panama would have been even more distressing
to Mr. Hall when it seemed finally decided that
the United States would build over the Nicaragua
route. Mr. Hall's health compelled him to relinquish
his duties in Central America, being afflicted with
rheumatism. He made his home in Millbury near '
the residence of the mother of Secretary Taft, and
there spent his last days, and died October 29,
1901, and is interred at Poughkeepsie, New York.
He never lost interest in public affairs. He kept
himself well informed, and followed closely the great
public questions of national importance. Although so
much of his life was passed on foreign shores he
was always thoroughly American in his ideas. He
was an interesting talker on the events of his life
and times, but extremely modest and professionally
reticent, too modest to speak much of his own
work. It is a remarkable fact that Mr. Hall was
seventy-six years old when he cast his first vote,
for he was out of the country so much that he had
not acquired a legal residence in the United States
-until he came to Millbury after he retired from
public life. His services in behalf of Central Amer
ica are gratefully remembered there, where he was
generally known as the "Father of the Nicaragua
Canal." Mr. Hall was a Mason, initiated in Sylvan Grove
Lodge, No. 275, of New York city, March 25,
1856. He was a member of some local societies
and clubs in Cuba and Central America. He ap
preciated the value of the Masonic order, and oc-
» casionally told an incident in the life of his wife's
father, Antonio Echeverria, who was an eminent
-merchant of Cuba in his day. Before the youth
ful American Republic sent its warships to the
Mediterranean to destroy the pirates, American ship
ping suffered constantly. Mr. Echeverria was once
on his own ship on the way from Africa to Cuba,
when taken by pirates. It was the custom then to
make the captured sailors and passengers walk the
plank over the side of the vessel into the sea, to
suffer death by drowning. Some of the prisoners
were ready for the fatal step and all had resigned
themselves to their fate, when the pirate chief was
recognized as a fellow Mason by Mr. Echeverria,
and remained faithful to his Masonic pledges even
at that critical moment. The lives of the prisoners
were saved, and the Cuban merchant loaded with
costly gifts before they parted company. Mrs.
Hall remembers many of the articles that her father
brought from this remarkable adventure. The secre
tary of the lodge wrote to Mrs. Hall after the
death of her husband: "In his death this lodge
has lost one of its oldest members, an upright and
true Mason, an honor to the fraternity and this
Lod?e." During his official life he was the means of
destroying the coolie trade in Cuba, and perhaps
took more satisfaction in this act of humanity than

111 an other experience. He was appointed a repre
sentative of the Chinese government at the suggestion
of the Washington authorities of the Chinese and
American governments, and was able to put such
evidence m the way of the Chinese government
that Chinese laborers were forbidden and pro
hibited from engaging in the voluntary slavery which
had disgraced China and all those countries en
gaged in the cruel business. When a Chinese coolie
was sold by the Spanish government to a Cuban
planter for about $300 for eight years of service,
the Chinaman was practically doomed to slavery for
life, as the pittance he received would not help
to give him a start in life.
Mr. Hall's services in the interests of the Amer
ican nation were during some critical times, when
it took a man of iron will and cool brain to
stand firmly at his post and defend his country's
honor. He was in Havana during the civil war,
holding the post of consul general in the days of the
civil war, and his conduct of affairs in those perilous
times, when his life was in constant danger, at
tracted the attention and admiration of diplomats
the world over, and won for him the highest praise
and approval of President Lincoln and his cabinet.
For thirty years he was the trusted servant of
his country in foreign lands. In many respects his
career was unique.
Mr. Hall married, March 27, 1856, at Wilming
ton, Delaware, Leila Echeverria, daughter of
Antonio and Sarah (Newell) Echeverria. Her
father was born in Florence, Italy, but lived nearly
all his life in Cuba, where he was a leading mer
chant in the foreign trade. Her mother came of
the Newell family of Marblehead, Massachusetts,
where she was borri. This family is one of the
oldest and best known of Essex county. Leila
was born in Matanzas, Cuba, July 15, 1828, and
was educated there and in the United States. She
is a remarkably well preserved woman, cultivated
and charming in manners, bright and entertain
ing in conversation. She resides part of the year
in her Millbury home. She has no children.
ALDEN E. BACON, a lifelong resident of the
town of Leicester, bora October 3, 1872, is a son of
Frank A. and Emily (Bond) Bacon. Frank A.
Bacon (father) was born in Paxton, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, from whence in later life
he removed to Leicester. He was identified with
the Baptist church, and was a Republican in poli
tics. By his marriage to Emily Bond, of Leicester,
the following nanied children were born : George
F., conductor of street railway, resides in Worces
ter, Massachusetts, is married, but no children have
been born to this union; Charles A., a resident of
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, married Annie. Eaton,
of that town, and they have four children : Ruth,
Haezl, Arthur and Eunice Bacon; Mary E., resides
with her mother at Leicester. Alden E., see forward.
The educational advantages enjoyed by Alden
E. Bacon were obtained at Leicester Academy, from
which institution he was graduated. Throughout
his active career he has 'followed the quiet but use
ful calling of agriculture, and by industry and good
management his land yields abundant harvests
which well repay him for the labor expended
thereon. He' has served his town in the capacity
of overseer of the poor and superintendent of streets,
his incumbency of office being noted for efficiency
and capability. He holds membership in the Con
gregational church, and his political affiliations are
with the Republican party, the principles of which
he firmly advocates and upholds. Mr. Bacon mar
ried, October 30, 1894, Cynthia Anna Gilman, a

Si6

WORCESTER COUNTY

resident of Corinellsville, Pennsylvania. No chil
dren have been born of this marriage.
MILO BOLTON, a well known and esteemed
citizen of Leicester, in which town he has resided
for more than half a century, is a native of Ver
mont. He is engaged in the card clothing business,
from which he derives an income that is ample
to supply his family with the necessaries and some
of the comforts of life. He is a member of the
Congregational church, and a Republican in
politics. Mr. Bolton married Mary A. Loring, born in
Leicester, Massachusetts, in 1833, a daughter of John
and Eliza (Ayers) Loring, who were the parents of
four children. John Loring was bora in Spencer,
December 10, 1795. The death of his wife occurred
January 26, 1837. Mr. Loring married (second),
May 12, 1839, Clarinda Reed, born at Rutland,
Massachusetts, December 4, 1806, died March 7,
1884, leaving three children. Four children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, namely: Walter E.,
married Jennie Tilden, of Hyde Park, Massachu
setts , and one son was the issue, Milo Oscar Bolton ;
Herbert L., Oscar, Fred Augustus, a farmer by
occupation, married Dora Brown, and resides at
Monroe, New Hampshire. Mrs. Bolton, the mother
of these children, received her education at the
academy in Leicester, and prior to her mariage
taught school in that town for eight years, unclud-
ing one winter in Cherry Valley.
ESTABROOK FAMILY. Joseph Estabrook
(1), the pioneer ancestor of the Estabrook family,
of Worcester county, and of .James E. Estabrook
and Arthur E. Estabrook, of Worcester, was born
in Enfield, Middlesex county, England. He came
to New England in 1660. He entered Harvard col
lege and graduated there in 1664. He was ordained
soon afterward as the colleague of Rev. Edward
Bulkeley, of Concord, Massachusetts, and on the
death of the pastor in 1696, succeeded him, fill
ing the position with honor to himself and his peo
ple until his death, September 16, 1711. He was
succeeded by Rev. Joseph Whiting (H. G 1661).
Joseph Estabrook was admitted a freeman May 3,
1665. His biographer tells * us that as a preacher
he was plain, practical and persuasive. In his inter
course with his people he was grave, affectionate
and greatly beloved. In fact, he was generally
known as "The Apostle." He was invited to take a
church in Boston and urged to go to a larger field
by friends who knew his powers. But great things
have originated in the little town of Concord, the
greatest men of America history have been, born
there, and lived there — men like Estabrook, who
helped frame the characters of the early generations
there, men of his spirit and pride in his own town,
though its population was small and its business fu
ture unpromising. His salary at Concord was only
forty pounds a year in money, and forty in farm prod
uce of various kinds. The Boston News Letter said of
him at the time of his death : "He was eminent for
his skill in the Hebrew language, and a most ortho
dox, learned and worthy divine, of excellent prin
ciples in religion, indefatigably laborious in the
ministry, and of holy life and conversation." He
was chaplain of the Massachusetts legislature. He
married, May 20, 1668, at Watertown, Mary Mason,
daughter of Captain Hugh Mason, the Indian fighter,
and his wife, Esther Mason. (See Mason sketch.)
She was born December 18, 1640. The children of
Rev. Joseph and Mary (Mason) Estabrook were:
Joseph, bora at Concord, Massachusetts, May 6,
1669. Benjamin, February 24, 1670-1, (H. C. 1690),

first minister at Lexington, Massachusetts, inst
October 16, 1696; died July 22, 1697, married
gail Willard, and had two children. His w.
married (second) Rev. Samuel Treat, and
three children, one of whom was the mothe
Robert Treat Pain'e, signer of the Declaratioi
Independence, attorney-general, and supreme c
justice. Mary, born at Concord, October 28, ]
married Jonathan Green, April 30, 1700. San
born Concord, June 7, 1674 (H-. G 1696), tai
grammar school at Concord 1706-10, and assi
his father in the ministry; was ordained June
1711, as the first pastor of Canterbury, Connect]
where he served until his death, June 26, 1
He married, March 3, 1713, Rebecca Hobart (s;
family as Hubbard), daughter of Rev. Nehen
and Sarah (Jackson) Hobart, of Newton, Ma:
chusetts. Daniel, born February 14, 1676, man
at Concord, November 21, 1701, -Abigail Flint, b
January 11, 1675, daughter of John and M
(Oakes) Flint; removed to Weston, thence to S
bury; died January 7, 1735. Ann, born Decern
30, 1677, married, January 26, 1709, Joshua Hayi
of Sudbury. (II) Joseph Estabrook, son of Rev. Joseph Es
brook "(1), born Concord,, Massachusetts, May
1669. fie settled first in Hingham, and in 1; .
moved to Lexington, Massachusetts: He was t
eldest deacon there in 1716, and held the office un
his death, September 23, 1733. He was high
respected, and filled almost every town office, i
eluding town clerk, terasurer, selectman, assessi
and representative to the general court. He w;
captain of the military company and school teache
He was often employed as surveyor. He died Set
tember 23, 1733.
He married, December 31, 1689, Millicent Woodis
daughter of Henry W. Woodis. She died Marcl
26, 1692. He married (second), August 25, 1693
Hannah Loring, of Hingham, daughter of Johr
Leavitt and widow of Joseph Loring. The chile
of Joseph and Millicent Estabrook was : Joseph,
born October 10, 1690, died August 19, 1740. The
children of Joseph and Hannah Estabrook were :
John, born July 28, 1694, married, October 27, 1720,
Prudence Harrington; Solomon, born December 22,.
1696, died July 7, 1697; Hannah, March 2, 1698,.
married, May 23, 1717, Joseph Frost; Millicent,.
March 21, 1700, married (first) Jonathan Rand and.
(second) in 1764, John Chamberlain; Elijah, August:
25, 1703, married, 1733, in Sherborn, Hannah  .
(Ill) Joseph Estabrook, son of Joseph Esta
brook (2), born Hingham,' Massachusetts, October-
10, 1690. He married at Lexington, July 8, 1713,
his step-sister, Submit Loring. They had two chil
dren. She died March 31, 1718, and he married
(second), March 26, 1719, Hannah Bowman. He-
succeeded his father as a leading citizen in all the-
walks of life. He became captain of the military
company and deacon of the church. He was town.
clerk, _ assessor, treasurer, and selectman at vari
ous times. Fie bought the Estabrook farm, in
Holden, of Gershom Rice, five shares, July 29,
1724, so that the Estabrook family dates back to the-
very settlement of Worcester. He died August 19,
1740, and his widow married, July 19, 1753, Cap
tain Benjamin Reed, of Lexington. She died April
I5> 1774, aged seventy-two years.
Children of Joseph and Submit (Loring) Esta
brook : Joseph, born June 27, 1714, died July 17,-
1714; Joseph, March 16, 1717-8, died March 18,.
1717-8. The children of Joseph and Hannah (Bow
man) Estabrook : Joseph, April, 1720, died De
cember 7, 1747; Hannah, September 26, 1725, died1'
September 29, 1728; Benjamin, born October 9, 1727,.

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y-y/y.

WORCESTER COUNTY

517

•died December 29, 1728; Hannah, born October 9,
1727, died December 29, 1728, (probably one of the
two foregoing is an error of record — Ed.) ; Benja
min, born December, 1729, married Hannah Hub-
hard, May 9, 1757; was revolutionary soldier; Han-
jiah, born October 6, 1731, married Ebenezer Hub-
,bard; Solomon, born June 10, 1733, died October 1,
1733; Samuel, born June 16, 1735, entered Harvard
College; died July 25, 1754; Millicent, born July
¦25, 1738, married James Barrett; Ebenezer (post
humous), born September 21, 1740, married Ruth
Reed. (IV) Ebenezer Estabrook, son of Joseph Esta
brook (3), born Lexington, Massachusetts, Septem
ber 21, 1740. He married, December 13, 1759, Ruth
Reed, the daughter of Captain Isaac and Rebecca
Reed, born November 7, 1741. Soon after they
were married they removed to Holden, about 1760,
probably, and made their home there, where so
.many of their descendants have since lived. He was
an influential citizen of Holden, was selectman
twelve years, and representative to general court
four years. He died June 29, 1811. She died June
.9, 1782. Children of Ebenezer and Ruth (Reed)
Estabrook: 1. Molly, born February 27, 1760, mar
ried Solomon G Cheney. 2. Hannah, born Feb
ruary 27, 1762. 3. Ebenezer, born February 19,
1764. 4. Jonathan, born April 4, 1766. 5. James,
born May 16, 1768. 6. Joseph, born August 1, 1770.
7. John, born January 11, 1773. 8. Rhoda, born
March 19, 1775.
(V) James Estabrook, son of Ebenezer Esta-
hrook (4), born May 16, 1768, . at Holden, Massa
chusetts. He married December 15,, 1795, Betsey
Lovell, at Holden. She was born July 28, 1775. He
died at Holden November 26, 1825. She died
February 22, 1826. They lived in Holden, and all
¦their children were born there. He was prominent
in town affairs. In 1821 he was elected selectman,
-and served in that capacity in 1822-23-24. The
•other members of the board in 1821 were, Samuel
Damon, Silas Flagg, Abner Perry, John Davis,
.all prominent men, whose descendants have been
honored in the city of Worcester as well as the
town of Holden. It would be difficult to find five
men of their day who have had a more illustrious
.ancestry in Massachusetts, or have been followed
by more distinguished posterity. Children of James
and Betsey (Lovell) Estabrook: 1. James, born
September 4, 1796, married November 15, 1822,
Almira Read, of Rutland, Massachusetts. 2. Ben
jamin, born July 2, 1798. 3. Betsey, born De
cember 18, 1800. 4. Millie, born March 24, 1803,
married Rev. John Davis Pierce. 5. Simon Read,
'born December 31, 1805, married, 1828, Frances A.
Scarborough, daughter of Philip Scarborough, of
Brooklyn, Connecticut. She died June, 1834, and
"he married (second), March 2, 1836, Mary Bushnell,
daughter of General Andrew Bushnell, of Hartford,
Ohio, born April 29, 1815; removed to Warren,
Ohio, in 1837, and lived there until killed by the
cars on a railroad July 7, 1871 ; she died October
20, 1879. 6. Eliza Barrett, born September 17, 1809,
married July 2, 1834, John Crowell of Warren,
•Ohio. .(VI) Colonel James Estabrook, son of James
Estabrook (5), was born in Holden, Massachusetts,.
September 4, 1796. Although known generally as
¦a Worcester man, he never forgot his native town.
He was raised in Holden and attended school there,
and the Leicester academy. He got his start in
life there. Colonel James Estabrook, as he was
--always called, obtained the title as the commander
•of the last regiment of cavalry maintained in the
¦county, He led his regiment, in 1824, at the re

ception to Lafayette in Worcester, having the right
of line as escort. He was not only prominent as
an officer of the town, and as a military man at an
early age, but as a Free Mason. In 1825 the Wor
cester County Commandery, Knights Templar, was
organized, at Holden, with Colonel Estabrook as
the Eminent Commander. Some of the ceremonies
were held on the Holden common. He married
Almira Read of Rutland, in 1822 and removed to
that town for a time. In 1828 he came to Wor
cester to live, and, with the exception of a few
years spent in Boston, his life was identified with
the town and city of Worcester, and he played
an important part in its development and prosperity.
In 1829 he began business in Worcester in the re
tail grocery trade, with Gen. Nathaniel Heard as
partner, in the old Green store, as it was called,
but soon removed to Boston. Upon his return to
Worcester he again opened a grocery store. His
second location was in Lincoln square, in the Salis
bury blqck. He was not only a successful merchant,
but became interested in real estate and various
manufacturing enterprises. He was for many years
one of the most active business men of the city, a
leading citizen in every sense of the term. He was
sheriff of the county when the coalition of the Dem
ocrats and Free Soilers defeated the old Whig party,
and put Governor. Boutwell in office. The Whigs
temporarily recovered power, and he lost the place
after two years. He was an officer in the custom
house, Boston, for a time. But usually he affiiliated
with the minority party and, therefore, held few
offices. He was one of the eight men who voted
for Andrew Jackson. It must be admitted that his
prestige in his party all over the state would have
placed within his reach almost any office, had his
party been in the ascendancy. He was self-educated
but well-educated, for he had a shrewd and con
scientious teacher. He was the only man elected
to the Worcester Fire Society, then and now the
most exclusive, and one of the oldest, organizations
in Worcester. He was evidently welcomed, when
he first came to Worcester, as a man of importance.
He was active in the Old South Church and later
in Union Church. He died in Worcester, 1874.
In 1841 he sent a characteristic greeting _ to
Holden on the occasion of the centennial celebration
there. It was : "The Early Settlers of Holden :
Distinguished for their love of order, peace and so
briety, and piously devoted to the cause of civil
and religious liberty, may we, their descendants,
cherish' their virtues and not prove recreant sons
by neglecting to do all in our power to hand them
unimpaired to those'who shall come after us." The
late Hon. John D. Washburn wrote of him : "In
stature he was below middle height. His complex
ion was very dark. His manner quick, his eye
bright and intelligent. * * He was courteous to
his opponents; refrained from the imputation of un
worthy motives, and carried none of the bitterness
of party contest into the relations of private life."
The old homestead was located where the Nor
wich & Worcester freight station is now. He mar
ried Almira Read, of Rutland, Massachusetts, 1822.
Children of James and Almira (Read) Estabrook:
1. Almira Rowena Julietta, born July 31, 1824. 2.
James E„ born October 29, 1829, at Worcester. 3.
Arthur Edgar, born in Boston, August n, 183?.
4. Francis Albert, born April 22, 1835, in Boston.
5? Willis Herbert, born in Worcester, November
29, 1843, died December 4, 1844.
(VII) James E. Estabrook, son of Colonel
James Estabrook (6), was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, October 29, 1829. He attended the
Worcester public schools and fitted for college in the

5i8

WORCESTER COUNTY

Worcester high school. He was graduated from
Yale College in 1851. He then studied law with
Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, in Worcester, attended
the Harvard law school and was admitted to the
bar in the autumn of 1853, at the age of twenty-
three. Later he became the law partner of Dwight
Foster, late justice of the Massachusetts supreme
court, and practiced law until the outbreak of the
civil war.
Colonel Estabrook, as he is generally called by
his friends, responded promptly to the call for
arms, although politically he had acted with the
Democratic party. His example was of particular
value to the . Union cause at that time. He was
assigned to duty on the staff of General Charles
Devens, and later served on the staff of General
Benjamin F. Butler, in the Department of the Gulf.
Compelled to resign from the service by sickness,
he returned to Worcester. His father left a large
estate, and the increase in real estate values added
to it materially. Mr. Estabrook found his' pri
vate interests sufficient to engross his attention and
abilities, and since the war he has not actively pract
iced law. He has been active in politics, however,
and has been a leader of the Democratic party in
this section for fifty years. Not only in Worcester
and Massachusetts but in. national affairs -he has
been an influence in shaping history. He has been
a delegate to almost every national convention of
the Democratic party since the close of the civil
war. He has been chairman of the Democratic
state central committee, of Massachusetts, as well
as the county, district, congressional, and city com
mittees of his party. Even his political opponents
have given him respect and esteem. Judge Adin
Thayer, who for many years was leader of the
dominant Republican party in. Worcester county,
was a close personal friend of Colonel Estabrook.
They knew how to retain their friendship even in
the exigencies of political controversy, because both
played fair and both deserved the respect and con
fidence of their followers and the people. It was
the natural and graceful thing for the Democratic
leaders to induce President Cleveland to appoint
Colonel Estabrook postmaster, when a Democratic
administration came into power. He served with
credit during his term of office. He was succeeded
by the late J. Everts Greene, for many years the
associate editor of the Worcester Spy, when the
Democratic administration was ended. Colonel Esta
brook served the city of Worcester on the school
board. He was president of the common council
in 1861 and served in the legislature in 1874. He
represented the city for some time in the general
court. He has been a director of the free public
library, a position most congenial to him. He has
one of the best private libraries in the city, and
has always been fonder of books than of any other
recreation or amusement. He never married. He
has made his home with his brother for many years
in his handsome residence, 8 Lagrange street, Wor
cester. (VII) Arthur Edgar Estabrook, son of Colonel
James Estabrook (6), was born in Boston, August
11, 1832, but came to Worcester with his parents
when very young. Except for two years, 185 1 to
1853, he has lived in Worcester. He was educated in
the Worcester schools. His life has largely been
associated with that of his father whom he assisted,
until his death, in his various business enterprises,
and since then in the care and management of the
estate. He and his brother, James E. Estabrook,
have been associated together in their business in
terests. He is an officer of the Union Congrega
tional society. He is considered a man of sagacity

and high business principles by the business leaders,
of the city. He married November 15, 1873, Emily
H. Hickox at Cleveland, Ohio. She was educated
in the public schools of Akron, Ohio. She died in
1882. Children of Arthur Edgar and Emily H.
(Hickox) Estabrook: 1. Millicent Barrett, born in-
Worcester, October 20, 1874, tutored by Miss Wil
liams for ten years; graduated at Smith College in,
1895. 2. Jane D., born in Worcester, ¦ September 14,
1876, educated by Miss Williams, her tutor; gradu
ated at Smith College in 1896. She married Dr.
Arthur Errell, September 6, 1905. He is a pro
fessor in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
NELSON FAMILY. Thomas Nelson (1), the-
immigrant ancestor of the Nelson family of Grafton,.
to which Charles H. Nelson belonged, was the
wealthiest of the Yorkshiremen who founded Row
ley, Massachusetts. He was given the prefix "Mr.""
in the early records, signifying a man of high
station. He came first to Boston and was one of"
the twenty families that emigrated with the Rev.
Ezekiel Rogers from Rowley, England, in December,.
1638. They probably spent the winter in Salem and
vicinity, and Nelson went with them in the spring
to a place between Ipswich and Newbury, called at
first Mr. Rogers's Plantation. In the following Sep
tember the general court gave it the name Rowley.
Nelson lent money on mortgage to Richard Evered,
of Cambridge, showing that he had money to invest
when he came over. Thomas Nelson was admitted"
a freeman May 23, 1639; was deputy to general
court 1640 and 1641 ; and commissioner of the court.
In 1643 he was chairman of a committee to make
a survey of the town and lay out and register lots.
In October, 1644, he was appointed magistrate with)
power to perform marriages. He built mills in.
1640-42. In January, 1644, the town granted 'fiim
thirty-six acres on the mill field, ten of which were
to encourage him in building a mill. The Nelson
mill was built just above tide water on Mill river,.
where there have been mills down to the present
time, now owned by Nathaniel N. Dummer, a de
scendant of the family to which the wife of the
immigrant Nelson belonged. Nelson's grist mill
was leased in 1643 to John Pearson. He went to,
England on business and died there.' He made his
will here, adding to it when about to start for home,
December 4, 1645, and August 6, 1648. It was
proved February 21, 1650. He bequeathed to his son
Phillip a double portion ; to sons Thomas and Samuel
and daughter Mercy. He refers to his aunt Katherine
Witham, and to a legacy she had left to his eldest-
son, Phillip. Richard Bellingham and Richard Dum
mer were executors, and had charge of the educa
tion of the three youngest children. He left to his-
wife Joan his mill, mill house and lands at Rowley
for her life, the reversion to his children. The-
commissioners of the estate found in Mr. Dummer's
hands 1,685 pounds. The division of the houses-
and lands was agreed upon September 16, 1676, by
the sons Philip and Thomas Nelson, and John Stocke,
who married their sister Mercy, his attorney, Benja
min Alford, acting for him. The probate account
shows that the administrator went to York and Hull"
to collect moneys due the estate, proved the will,
and had it recorded in England. He married first
— — -, who came with him and died soon. He mar
ried (second), contract dated February 15,
1641-2, Joan, daughter of Thomas Dummer,.
niece of the famous Richard Dummer. Thomas
Dummer was from Chicknell, North Stone-
ham, county Hants, England, and came in the
"Bevis," May, 1638, with daughter Joan, aged
nineteen years, settled at Rowley, Newbury and1

WORCESTER COUNTY

Si?

Salisbury. His will was proved in England, Novem
ber 9, 1650. In it he mentions his eldest daughter
Jane Nelson. Children of Thomas and Joan (Dum
mer) Nelsort: 1. Phillip, born in England, 1636,
died August 19, 1691. 2. Thomas, born in England,
1638, died April 6, 1712. 3. Mercy, born at Row
ley, February 26, 1643-4; married John Stork. 4
Samuel/born 1646, at Rowley. 5. Mary, born Decem
ber 21, 1648, at Rowley.
(II) Sergeant Thomas Nelson, second son of
Thomas Nelson (1), born in England, 1638, died
April 6, 1712. He married Ann, daughter of Francis
Lambert, the immigrant settler. She died January 2,
1678. He married (second), May 18, 1680, Mary
Lunt, of Newburg, died May 28, 1688. He married
(third), April 9, 1690, Philippa Platts, of Rowley,
died October 10, 1709. He was admitted a freeman
May 3, 1665. The gravestone of Thomas Nelson
at Rowley has the following inscription : "Here Lyes
buried Mr. Thomas Nelson, who died April ye 5th,
1712. " Who lived a saintlike, harmless* life,
Loved all good books, but no bad strife,
Who dyed a quiet easie death
And to Christ resigned his breath.
So live, my sons, my Christ O seek,
And when you die, like Christ be meek."
The children of Thomas and Ann Nelson were :
1. Thomas, mentioned below. 2. Dorothy, born Feb
ruary 14, 1662. 3. Hannah, born June 22, 1665. 4.
Jonathan, born November 20, 1667, died 1690. 5.
Elizabeth, born February 25, 1669; died December
31, 1688. 6. Gershom, born July 11, 1672; removed
to Mendon, died there September 15, 1727. 7. Fran
cis, born February 19, 1675. Children of Thomas
and Mary Nelson: 8. Ephraim, born March 23,
1681. (Ill) Thomas Nelson, eldest child of Thomas
Nelson (2), born March 16, 1661 ; died May 20,
1719, aged fifty-nine years. He married Hannah
 , 1690. Tltey resided at Rowley, and there
their children were born: 1. Samuel, bora February
14, 1691 ; married, September 3, 1721, Hannah
Palmer; removed to Upton about 1728, where Han
nah, his wife, died November 13, 1788, aged ninety-
two years. 2. Hannah, born December 17, 1693,
removed to Upton, Massachusetts, .with her brother.
3. Abigail, born February 4, 1696; died May 12,
1716. 4. Lieutenant Jonathan, mentioned below. 5.
Dorothy, born Rowley, 1701, died at Upton, 1794;
resided with brother Jonathan; never married. 6.
Elizabeth, born in Rowley, October 5, 1704; married
Joseph Aspinwall, June 5, 1728.
(IV) Lieutenant Jonathan Nelson, son of Thomas
Nelson (3), was born in Rowley, December, 1698,
died at Upton, August 29, 1792, aged ninety-four
years. He settled in Upton. He married first, Mary
 , died February. 16, 1730. He married (second),
1732, Sarah Ames, died March 6, 1740- He mar
ried third (intentions dated November 27), 1742,
Anna Jones, died May 7, 1780. Children of Jona
than and Sarah Nelson : 1. Jonathan, born 1732,
died September 16, 1732. 2. Nathan, born October
7, 1733, died young. 3. Mary, born February 6,
1735-6; died April 15, 1736. 4- David, mentioned
below. 5. Jonathan, born January 26, 1739-40; died
March 10, 1740. Children of Jonathan , and Anna
below. 5. Jonathan, born January 26, 1739-4° : died
March 8, 1743-4. 7- Sarah, born 1741 ; married
Stephen Williams, of Uxbridge, Massachusetts. 8.
Mary, born August 14, 1745; died May 24, 1826,
aged eighty-one years; married Grindall Wood, of
Mendon, who died June 29, 1825; one son and four
daughters. 9. Hannah, born June 5, 1749; married
Thomas Barden, 1770; joined Shaker settlement

at Harvard ; one son, Shadrach. 10. Lois, born March
r9, 1752; married  White, of Gorham, Massa
chusetts. 11. Isaac, born October 16, 1755; died
December 30, 1812, from injuries received from
falling tree; married Hannah Fisk, of Upton. '
(V) David Nelson, son of Lieutenant Jonathan
Nelson (4), born June 4, 1737, in Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts. He married first, 1761, Susannah
Bachelder, of Upton ; second, Susannah, daughter
of John Brigham, November 24, 1785. He died
March 30, 1830, aged ninety-three years. His widow
died March 12, 1830, aged eighty-five years. Chil
dren of David and Susannah (Bachelder) Nelson:
1. Abijah, born at Shrewsbury, March 28, 1762;
married Sarah, daughter of Asa Mixer, 1791. 2.
Susannah, born December 30, 1764; married Captain
Peter Salter, 1784; removed to western New York;
three sons and two daughters. 3. Thankful, bora
September 21, 1766. 4. David, Jr., born May 23,
1769; married Lucy Adams, of Northbridge; nine
daughters. 5. Solomon, born August 10, 1771 ; mar
ried Elizabeth Dunn, of Northbridge; removed to
Ohio ; four sons and three daughters. 6. Jonathan,
born July 6, 1773 ; married Eunice Stone, March 8,
1798. 7. Daniel, horn December 15, 1775 ; removed
to Ohio; married Sarah Smith, of Orange, Ver
mont. 8. Josiah, mentioned below. 9. Amasa, born
October 2, 1780; married a daughter of Daniel Mix-
ter. 10. Sarah, born March 20, 1783; married, 1806,
Isaac Newton; four sons and two daughters.
(VI) "Josiah Nelson, son of David Nelson (5),
was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, February
15, I778- He lived on the homestead of his fathers
in his native town. He married Sophia Goddard,
June 28, 1812, at Shrewsbury. Their children : 1.
James Horace, born October 29, 1814; died Febru
ary, 1815. 2. Luther Goddard, born March 31, 1816;
married Sarah Newton. 3. Henry Harrison, bora
January 23, 1818. 4. Henry, born February 20, 1819;
married Susan Vickers ; two sons. 5. Jasper Stone,
mentioned below.
(VII) Jasper Stone Nelson, son of Josiah Nel
son (6), was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts,
June 2, 1822, on the old homestead that has been
in the Nelson family since revolutionary days. He
attended the district school of his native town and
worked on the farm after the fashion _ of the farm
er's boy of his day until he was eighteen years
old. He finished his education with one term at
Worcester Academy. He learned the trade of shoe
maker from his elder brother, and until, about
twenty-three years old he divided his time between
the farm and the bench. In 1845 his career as a shoe
manufacturer began in Shrewsbury. The shop in
which his first shoes were made was a plain wooden
building ten by thirteen feet, situated only a few-
rods -from the house in which he was born. His
business prospered, and he doubled the size of his
little shop. He and his brother worked together.
They selected the leather and other stock, prepared
it themselves for the shoemakers, most of whom
sewed and treed and lasted the boots and shoes
in their own little shops on their farms. The Nelson
brothers were also their own salesmen. They
managed to' .produce satisfactory goods and their
business prospered. In 1848 Mr. Nelson removed
to what is now North Grafton, and became asso
ciated with James S. Stone o.f Boston, a native and
former resident of Grafton. In 1850 Stone & Nel
son purchased a tract of land near the Boston &
Albany station, and with it a building which forms
part of the present establishment. Mr. Nelson bought
out his partner November 1, 1857, and carried on
the business in his own name until January 1, 1869,
when George H. Rugg, a former employe became

520

WORCESTER COUNTY

¦his partner. In 1873 Charles H. Nelson, his only
son, also became a partner. Four years later Mr.
iRugg retired, January 1, 1877, and the firm during
the rest of its existence was known as J. S. Nelson
& Son. The factory, which was originally thirty by
forty feet, two stories high, has been enlarged from
time to time to meet the requirements of steadily
growing business, until at the time of Mr. Nelson's
death the buildings were 30 by 264 feet, four stories
high, and the firm employed two hundred hands.
During the civil war he was on a special com
mittee chosen by the town to co-operate with the
selectmen in charge of the military affairs of the
town, and he was foremost in the work of relief
for those left destitute by the soldiers at the front
or bereaved by their death. He led the movement
to give aid and encouragement to the troops in
every way. He was on the board of selectmen two
years, and a representative to general court in
1870-71. He was a stanch Republican in politics.
Mr. Nelson was an ideal employer, never losing
the knowledge that he himself gained as a shoemaker
at the bench, nor his sympathy and understanding of
the men who worked for him. He was just and
honorable in dealing with his hands. In turn the
men loved and respected him. He was an earnest
supporter of the temperance movement, a man of
law and order, loving justice and righteousness. He
was an active member of the Baptist church, and
a liberal contributor to its various funds. One who
knew Mr. Nelson wrote of him : "To known Mr.
Nelson at his best was to know him as a friend,
and those thus favored — and there were many, for
he was a man to attract others — found in him at all
times, and under all circumstances, the courteous
gentleman, the genial companion and sympathetic
helper. He was a man of strong attachments, loyal
to his friends and eminently domestic in his habits ;
he loved his home, and was not easily enticed away
from its luxury and cohiforts." In person Mr.
Nelson was a man of fine physique and command
ing presence, blessed with a vigorous constitution,
and until the closing year of his life he enjoyed
excellent health. He died October 22, 1884, while
yet upon the rising tide of a prosperous business
career, beloved and mourned by all who knew him.
He married, October 31, 1848, Mary E. Wheelock,
daughter of Gardner Wheelock. She was born Janu
ary 1, 1825. and died June 26, 1896. Their children :
1. Emma Elizabeth, born July 31, 1849; died Decem
ber 3, 1865. 2. Charles Horatio, mentioned below.
3. Carrie Gilman, bora September 24, 1855 ; died
July 9. 1869.
(VIII) Charles Horatio Nelson, son of Jasper
Stone Nelson (7). was born in Grafton, Massachu
setts, January 9, 1852. He was educated in the pub
lic schools of his native town, and at an early age
became familiar with the various departments of
his father's factory. He became a partner at the
age of twenty-one. an-d the firm name became J. S.
Nelson & Son. He acted successively as salesman,
buyer and manager of the concern, and for twenty
years after his father's death he conducted the busi
ness. The change from firm to a corporation affected
the name slightly. The J. S. Nelson Shoe Company
succeeded J. S. Nelson & Son. Mr. Nelson was
principal owner and president of the concern. He
increased the business, improved the plant with new
machinery, and continued its history of prosperity
and growth up to the time of his last illness. The
line of footwear produced in late years by this factory
was used exclusively bv the high-class retail trade
in all parts of the United States : before this the
company had only manufactured the plainest kind
of goods. Although not an old man when he died,

Mr. Nelson was a veteran among shoe manufac
turers. He had taken part in the revolution of ways
and means of making shoes, and had the intelligence
and foresight to profit instead of losing by the
changes. He was an example ' of progress
and enterprise in this line of business. About
a year before his death his health failed and he
had to withdraw from active business. Ow
ing to his continued illness the business was wound
up, the corporation dissolved, and the factory that
had so long been the centre of an important in
dustry became silent and empty. The Boot and Shoe
Recorder said of him at the time of his death: "He
was for many years a leading representative of the
New England shoe manufacturing business having
been first associated with his father in the produc
tion of men's and women's plain shoes at North
Grafton, and in later years becoming the head of the
business. * * * His social qualities endeared
him to a large circle of friends in and out of the
trade. In Boston he was among the best known of
the many shoe manufacturers who visited the city
frequently. His erect figure and quick alert step
made him conspicuous at all times, while his hearty
greeting was invariably forthcoming."
The following tribute from the pen of a close
personal friend was published in the Boston Herald:
"Of the typical virtues of a high-minded and up
right New England maufacturer even those who
knew him only casually could readily bear witness.
His energy, resourcefulness, integrity and courage
here could be seen toward his employes who de
pended on him, his liberality toward any that stood.
in need of him — these, though obviously visible to
only a limited circle, could also not be hidden. But
the fine poise of his intellect, his stern, uncom
promising with wrong, . his delicate perception of
true beauty in art, going, straight to the core thereof
with keen discernment ; his truly classic enthusiasm,
as distinguishing from the fancy of the faddists,
for nature's flowers, ¦ in nature's ovtn seasons, in
nature's own surroundings ; his democratic whole-
heartedness withal in everything that appealed to
himr from whatever field of letters and life, and only
the best did appeal to him — these qualities stamping
him as they do as one of nature's own noblemen,
were of necessity, visible only to the few. He had
ample means to satisfy his -love for flowers, to
have them within his own reach at all seasons of the
year. But instead, he had the poet boy's joy in
going himself into nature's own hidden recesses to
gather them there with his own hands, even if he
had to walk miles, and into regions where nature
exacts her tribute of discomfort to the flesh before
yielding up her treasures. In spite of his four
and fifty years Charles Horatio Nelson was a young
man ; young to the last in his energy, young in his
feeling, young in his enthusiasms ; young, above all,
in his devotion to loved ones. He was liked by all,
loved by not a few, and he inspired with a passionate
devotion to himself those who were entitled to
passionate devotion from him. In Charles H. Nel
son, his townsmen in Grafton, where he was born,
where he had lived all his days, lose not only a great
industrial force, which will henceforth be missed
there even materially, but they lose also a most
valued citizen, who never shrank from the perform
ance of a public duty, even if it involved conse-
quences_ disagreeable to himself. But his friends
mourn in him a soul the like of which is only rarely
met, and the void created in their hearts by his
departure thev feel to be one that cannot be
filled." (I. P.)
To the town of Grafton he was a large and fre
quent benefactor. More than one public gift serves

X<^c<yan^<^^<^^^nJ

WORCESTER COUNTY

5«

as a memorial to him and his lamented father. In
politics Mr. Nelson was a Republican, but was too
busy to take public office. He was a member of
the Republican town committee. He served the town
from 1886 to 1890 as selectman and declined a re
election. He was a charter member of the Algonquin
Club of Boston, a member of the Commonwealth
Club of Worcester, and of the Tatassit Canoe Club
also of Worcester. He married, January 2, 1897,
Annie Boleyn Brown, at Providence, Rhode Island,
who survives him. She is the daughter of James
Brown, a native of Pictou, Nova Scotia, of English
ancestry. Her mother was Candace A. (Wheelock)
Brown, daughter of L. S. Wheelock, a descendant
of Ralph Wheelock, one of the pioneers of New
England. Her grandfather was Robert Brown. Mr.
Nelson died December 30, 1905.
FRANCIS A. RICHARDSON, deceased, for
forty years a resident of the town of Leicester, was
born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, September 16,
1834, and died at his home in Leicester, Massachu
setts, May -31, 1889. He was educated in the schools
of his native town, and then removed to Millbury,
residing there until he was fifteen years of age,
when he took up his residence in Leicester. He
devoted his entire attention to the card clothing
trade, and this line of business enabled him to
provide a comfortable home for his family. In
religion he was a Congregationalist and in politics
a Republican. Mr. Richardson married, August 13, 1856, Sarah
A. Knowles, born October 4, 1834, in the old Wash
burn mansion at Leicester, Massachusetts, where she
now (1905) resides and which was built in 1789,
it being one of the oldest houses in that town. She
was educated at a select school in Leicester. Two
children were the issue of this marriage: May A.,
horn July 26, 1862, in Leicester, died August 1,
1862; and Edward, born Decemher 5, 1865, died
September 11, 1866. Mrs. Richardson is a member
of the Congregational ''church. Edward Knowles,
father of Mrs. Sarah A. Richardson, was born in
Hardwick, Massachusetts, September 13, 1799. He
was educated in the schools of that town, and later
learned the trade of carpenter which, he followed
for a number of years in the town of Leicester,
Massachusetts. He attended the Congregational
church, and was a Republican in politics. By his
marriage to Sarah Bigelow, of S,pencer, a daughter
of John Bigelow, who came to that town from
Framingham, the following named children were
born : Dennis Wright, born October 5, 1829, died
1833; Sarah A., bora October 4. 1834, widow of
Francis A. Richardson ; George E., born February
10, 1836, died 1871 ; and John B., born June 3, 1837,
died March 17, 1850.
JOHN EDWARD BACON, a merchant of
Spencer, Worcester county, Massachusetts, was there
born July 11, 1837. He was the son of Berthier
•and Cynthia Ann (Wilson) Bacon. His father is
a tanner by trade and his mother, Cynthia Ann
Wilson, was the daughter of Jacob and Lydia Wil
son, of Silencer, Massachusetts.
, John Edward Bacon received his first educational
training in the common schools of Charlton, and at
the age of sixteen years went to Leicester Academy,
¦later to Quabog Seminary of Warren, Massachu
setts, and then to the high school at Spencer, Massa
chusetts. After leaving the school room he started
in the boot manufacturing business. In 1865 he
¦entered the Charles & George Watson Boot Manu
facturing Company, and in 1866 the firm name was
changed to George Watson & Co., Mr. Bacon then

becoming a member of the firm. One year later
he took hold of the business himself and conducted
an establishment under the firm name of Kent &
Bacon for eight years. In 1875 his business con
solidated with that of Bush & Grout, and continued
that way for two years. From 1877 to 1880 the firm
was knpwn as Bacon & Co., and for the next thir
teen years as Bacon, Kent & Co. From that time,
1889, he conducted the business alone for the re
mainder of his life. During middle life Mr. Bacon
engaged in school teaching, and also in the grocery
and provision business with Asa Lamb.
Mr. Bacon's political sympathies lie with the
Republican party, and he served in the legislature
in 1893 and 1894, on the State House and agricul
ture committee, being chairman of the latter in 1894.
He was school committeeman of Spencer for a num
ber of years. He was also on the board of select
men for a number of years. In religious affairs he
affiliated with the Universalist faith, and was very
active in organizing the Universalist church of Spen
cer. Mr. Bacon was very fond of music, and had
charge of the church choir for a number of years.
He was a member of the Masonic Order.
On January 1, 1867, he married Mary J. Hersey,
of Spencer, Massachusetts. Miss Hersey is a daugh
ter of Nathan Hersey, who was born January 11,
1809, and the granddaughter of Elijah Hersey, who
was born 1750 and died 1850. Her father, Nathan
Hersey, was sheriff of Worcester county. He mar
ried Harriet Lamb, of Spencer, April 18, 1838.
Their children were: Lucinda Ann, born 1840, died
1842; Harriet Newhall, born May 3, 1842, and Mary
Jane, born September 2, 1845. Nathan Hersey died
November 6, 1895, and his wife died October 20,
1849. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. John E.
Bacon were : Linus Hersey, born October 22, 1872,
married, June 28, 1899, Edith Florence Howland,
who was born in Oxford, July 8, 1871. Their chil
dren are Rachel, born September 11, 1900, and Mary,
September 21, 1902. William E., born October 8,
1874, married, August 3, 1897, Sarah Antoinette Car
penter, born August 16. 1875. They have one child,
Gertrude Louise, born January 22, 1899. Mr. Bacon
passed away February 4, 1898.
LUCIAN A. TAYLOR. Robert Taylor (1), the
immigrant ancestor pf Lucian A. Taylor, of Wor
cester, Massachusetts, was born in England about
1620. He resided at Scituate. Massachusetts, and
at Newport, Rhode Island. He was a rope maker
by trade. He was admitted a freeman in 1655, served
on the jury October 21, 1673, at Newport, was
prison keeper, appointed October 29, 1673, by the
general assembly. He died at Newport, January
13, 1688. He married, November, 1646, Mary
Hodges. Their children were: Mary, born Novem
ber, 1647, married. 1664, George Hulate. Ann, Feb
ruary 12, 1650; Margaret, January 30, 1652; Robert,
October 4, 1653, died June 12, 1707; married Deborah
Peckham: John, of whom later; Peter, July, 1661,
died 1736; James, died October 7, 1690; married
Catherine  .
(II) John Taylor, son of Robert Taylor (1),
was born in Newport, Rhode Island. June, 1657,
died June 9, 1747, at Little Compton, Rhode Island.
He settled at Little Compton. His will was dated
April 24, 1745, and proved 1747. John and Robert
Taylor, executors. He married (first) Abigail  ,
who died September 16, 1720. He married (second)
Sarah  , who died 1764. Her will was dated
October 27, 1756, and proved August 7, 1764. The
children of John and Abigail Taylor were: Mary,
born October 25, 1682: Anna, September, 1686;
Margaret, July, 1688; Lydia, April, 1691; John,

522

WORCESTER COUNTY

January 7, 1694, of whom later; Robert, Decem
ber, 1695; Philip, May 13, 1697.
(Ill) John Taylor, son of John Taylor (2),
was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, January
7, 1694. He settled at Providence and married
Neomy or Naomi  . Their children were : John,
born August 6, 1716, of whom later; Elizabeth,
January 3, 1717; Benjamin, January 27, 1719;' Char
ity, May 10, 1721.
(IV) John Taylor, son of John Taylor (3),
was born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 6,
1716. (V) Richard "Taylor, the son of John Taylor
(4), was born in Providence about 1750. He mar
ried Susannah, who died May 20, 1830, aged seventy-
eight years, making her birth in 1752. Some of their
children were': William, born November 4, 1783,
died April 17, 1816; married, February 14, 1808,
Ruth Smith ; Richard, Jr., born about 1775, of whom
later; Stephen, of whom later.
(VI) Stephen Taylor, son of Richard Taylor (5),
was born . about 1770 in Rhode Island, and died
1810, aged forty years. He married Freelove Har
ris. Among their children was Jared Taylor, of
whom later.
(VII) Jared Taylor, son of Stephen Taylor (6),
was born in Scituate, Rhode Island. He lived at
Woodstock, Connecticut, where he died and was
buried. He was a farmer. He married Catherine
Truesdell, and their children were: Henry Fenner,
John Erstine, Sophia Truesdell, Elizabeth Elvira,
Andrew Harris, Lucian A., of whom later; a boy
who died in infancy.
(VIII) Lucian A. Taylor, son of Jared Taylor
(7), was born in Burrillville, Rhode Island, June
20, 1846. He obtained his early education there
and at Woodstock, Connecticut, whither the family
removed when he was twelve years old. At Wood
stock he went to school in the building his grand
father built for the town. When he was sixteen
he enlisted in the Eighteenth Connecticut Volun
teer Regiment and served three years in the civil
war. Before he was seventeen years old he was
captured at the battle of Winchester and imprisoned
at Belle Isle and Libby prisons. He was exchanged
later, after undergoing great suffering from want
of proper food and clothing. He served in various
campaigns under Generals Milroy, Sigel, Hunter,
Crook, and Sheridan. He was ' at Lynchburg and
in the Shenandoah valley campaign. He was mus
tered out in June, 1865. He returned to Wood
stock and resumed his studies at Woodstock Acad
emy and Howe's Business College, Worcester.
In April, 1867, he entered the office of the city
engineer of Worcester, the first assistant employed
in the office. He was connected with the city en
gineering department for seventeen years. He was
in charge of work for the sewer and water de
partments. In 1884 he was elected water commis
sioner and served also in 1885 and part of 1886.
He resigned to accept a position in Boston. In
1888 his employer died and he went into business
for himself as general consulting engineer. He made
a specialty of public works, such as reservoirs, dams,
water works and sewer systems. He has had his
headquarters in Boston. He has had charge of the
construction of the water works of many of the
principal cities of New England and has also been
engineer of construction and consulting engineer
for many cities and towns in Massachusetts. He has
often been called as an expert in litigation over
water works and has often served as appraiser in
condemning^ land property for water works, etc.
He has designed many water works for towns and
villages. Mr. Taylor is a member of the American

Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society of
Civil Engineers, the Connecticut Society of Civil
Engineers, the. New England Water Works Asso
ciation, George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army
of the Republic, and the Worcester County Me
chanics' Association.
He married, August 29, 1868, Jennette Arnold,
of Putnam, Connecticut. She was the daughter of
Alexander and Nancy (Bellows) Arnold. Their
children are: Edwin A., graduate of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, Civil Engineer, employed by
the Atlantic Coast Railway; has two children; Eva
M,, lives at home with parents, at 8 Dean street.
LEVI HUBBARD HOWE. John How (1),
the English progenitor of Levi Hubbard Howe, of
Holden, Massachusetts, was descended _ from _ an
ancient and distinguished family. His immediate
family descent, we are told, is from the Hows
of Hodinhall. Very little is known of the English
ancestry beyond the name and that John How lived
in Warwickshire and was the father of John How,
the immigrant ancestor, of whom later. .
(II) John Howe, son of John How (1), came
to New England when a young man and is said
to have been at Watertown for a short time. He
settled in Sudbury in 1639 and lived there nearly
twenty years. In 1642 he was selectman, and in
1655 was appointed by the minister and selectmen
to "see to restraining the youth. on the Lord's Day."
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640. He
was one of the Sudbury petitioners to the general
court in 1657 for the grant of land which con
stituted Marlboro, and he was the first white man,
to settle in what is now the flourishing 'city of Marl
boro. He has had a host of descendants in that
town aiid the vicinity, though some of the families
of this name are descended from another early
settler in Marlboro, Abraham Howe, who came
there from Roxbury. Edward Howe, of Water-
town, Massachusetts, was some relation of John
Howe. John Howe settled about a hundred rods
from Spring Hill meeting house, a little east of
the ' present road from Spring Hill to Feltonville.
He was a neighbor, and friend of the Indians until
the war broke, out in 1675, and was often an arbi
trator and advisor. He ' was selectman of Marl
boro. He petitioned the general court September
30, 1662, to be excused from training because he
was "aged, thick of hearing and maintained three
soldiers in the family." It is likely that these three
sons fought in King Philip's war. He kept the
first public house in Marlboro.
He died at Marlboro May 28, 1680. His will was
made May 24, 1680, and proved June 15, follow
ing. He bequeathed to his wife Mary; children
Samuel, Isaac, Josiah Thomas, Eleazer, Sarah Ward,
Mary Witherby ; grandchild John, son of John.
The children of John and Mary Howe were : John,
Jr.. born August 24, 1640, married, January 22, 1662,
Elizabeth  ; he was killed by the Indians ; Sam
uel, born October 20, 1642, married, June 5, 1663,
Martha Bent; Sarah, born September 25, 1644, mar
ried, June, 1667, Samuel Ward; Mary, born June
18. 1646, died 1647; Isaac, born August 8, 1648,
married, June 17, 1671, Francis Wood ; Josiah, mar
ried, March 18, 1671, Mary Haynes, of Sudbury;
Mary, born January 18, 1654, married, September
18. 1672, John Witherby; Thomas, born June 12,
1656, see forward ; Daniel, born June 3, 1658, died
1661 ; Alexander, horn December 29, 1661, died Jan
uary following: Eleazer, born January 18, 1662,
married. 1683, Hannah How, daughter of Abraham
How. the immigrant.
(Ill) Thomas Howe, son of John Howe (2),

WORCESTER COUNTY

S23

was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, June' 12, 1656.
He became one of the most prominent citizens of
his day in Marlboro. He held the principal town
offices, assessor, selectman, etc., and was deputy to
the general court, lie doubtless fought in King.
Philip's war and afterward he look part in a severe
engagement with Indians at Lancaster; he became
colonel of his regiment and was the most prominent
military man of his section, lie was one of His
Majesty's justices of the peace. He kept a public
house at Marlboro iu 1690. He married (first),
June 8, 1081, Sarah Hosmer. She died April 7,
"1724, and he married (second), December 24, 1724,
Mary Barron, He died February id, 1733, aged
seventy-seven years. Children of Colonel Thomas
and Sarah Howe were: Tabitha, horn March 20.
1084, married, April 2, 1713, James Kagcr; James,
horn June 27, 1085, married Margaret Gates; Jona
than, born April 23, 1087, married, April 5, 1711,
Lydia Brigham; Prudence, born August 2, 1078,
married, January 5, 1715, Abraham Williams;
Thomas, born June 16, 1002, see forward : Sarah,
born August 10, 1697.
(IV) Thomas Howe, son of Colonel Thomas
Howe (3), was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts,
June lb, K102. He settled in Marlboro also. He
married Rebecca  , who died July 3, 1707. He
died at Marlboro, April -\ 1777. Their children, all
born at Marlboro, were: Thomas, born June 20,
1710; Mary, June 30, 1718: E.-ekiel, June 20, 1720,

see forward ; Simon, Oetober 28,

married

Lydia Baker, of Littleton, Massachusetts; Sarah,
July 4, 1725. married, 1740, Benjamin Hoar; Re
becca, August 10, 1727.
(V) K/ekiel llowe. son of Thomas llowe (.4),
was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, January 20,
1720. He was brought up at Marlboro and married
there Kli.-abcth Rice, daughter of Samuel and Abi
gail (Clapp) Rice, descendant of Kdnuind Rice,
the immigrant, a sketch of whom is given elsewhere
in this work. K/.ekiel Howe removed to Worcester
about 1743, and is the ancestor of many of this
surname in Worcester county. Children of K/ekiel
and Elizabeth Howe were: Patience, born June 10,
1742, at Marlboro; Elizabeth, born at Worcester,
February 12, 1744; Khene.-er. bom Xovember 4,
1740, settled in Winchendon, Massachusetts: Joel,
born Xovember 2, 1748; Jotham, see forward: Lucy.
born April 20, 1752: Rebecca, born April 3, 1754;
Exekiel, Jr.. born March 20. 1750.
(VI) Jotham Howe, son of K/ekiel Howe (5),
was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, June 17,
1754, His name appears in a list of revolutionary
soldiers that were enlisted for active service, in
Captain Samuel Thomson's company. Major Asa
Baldwin's division, of Colonel Denny's regiment,
September jo, 1777. to reinforce the northern de
partment of ihe Continental army. He lived at
Winchendon a few vears, where his brother Khene::er
settled. He bought' a farm in Holden, February ^5.
1773, of Moses Stieknev. formerly Colonel Hatch's,
lie married. July 2, 1770, Dorothy Smith, at
Worcester. She was born in Holden, March I,
1751. daughter of Isaac and Martha (.Davis) Smith.
He settled in Holden iu 1773- He was a fanner.
He and his wife belonged to the Congregational
church until November 15, 1784. when at their own
request tbev were dismissed and recommended to
Mr. Gair's, of Medlield. evidently a Baptist society.
for the church record states: "the objections offered
against the church were admitting persons without
a verbal relation of a work of grace on the heart,
and baptizing infants without warrant from the
word of God."
Children of Jotham and Dorothy Howe, all born

in Holden, were: 1. Dolly, born November 11,
1770. 2. Patty, born May 25, 1779, married, August
7, 1707, Isaac Fuller, of Holden, and had Amasa.
3. Dorothy, born September 12, 1780, married, No
vember 28, 1700, Aaron Holt, of Holden, and they
had—Joel, horn March 30, 1803; Jotham How, bom
horn February -'-', 1805. 4. Jotham, Jr., born April
'"¦ 1*83, see forward. 5. Thomas, born August 19,
1785, married Sally Walker, September 25, 1806,
at Holden, and they had: Amasa, bom November
13, 1807; Lyman, born December 13, 1S11; William,
bom June 1, 1814: Thomas, born April 8, 1810; Joel,
horn May 11, 1818.
(Y1D Jotham Howe, son of Jotham Howe (.6),
was born at Holden, Massachusetts, April 17, 1782.
lie was a farmer and cooper by trade, and he fol
lowed his trade to some extent besides conducting
his farm, which was situated in the northeast part
of the town, lie joined the Baptist Society of
Templeton, March 13, 1805, and was exempted from
being taxed to pay the Congregational church ex
penses. He was later a constituent member of the
Holden Baptist church.
He married (.intentions dated June 29), 1807,
Elinor Henry, of Princeton. Their children were:
Almira, born at Holden. September 27, 1808, died
January, 1832: Jotham, Jr.. born May 23. 1810;
"Sukey, born September 30, 1813 ; Silas, see forward ;
Harriet Newell, born lulv 13. 1827, died July 6,
1833. lATII) Silas Howe, son of Jotham Howe (7).
was horn in Holden, Massachusetts, October 5, 1814.
He was educated in the common schools of his
native town, and during- his youth assisted his father
ou the farm. Then he worked in the saw mill
at the North woods, and during the busy seasons
used to work nights and half the days as well, put-
ling in eighteen hours out of twenty-four in the
miil. When he was twenty-two years of_ age, he
went to live on the homestead of his wife's father,
Benjamin Hubbard, in the northern part of the
town, and later he bought the farm, which cou-
lained some one hundred and ten acres. He car
ried on this farm for a period of forty years or
more. In his younger days be taught school for
several terms. He did an extensive teaming busi
ness and burned charcoal for the market before
the days of anthracite and bituminous coal. He cut
timber and sold lumber and fire wood besides his
general farm work. He was a man of great activity
and energy, and used to say that be did not know
what it was lo be tired. His physical endurance
must have been remarkable and it was tested almost
dailv through a long life of hard labor. He was
thrifty, saving and shrewd in making investments,
and acquired a competence. He invested largely in
government bonds at a time when financial support
was appreciated by friends of the Lhiion. He used
to answer those who questioned the wisdom of his
course by saying that, which ever way the war
went, be stood as good a chance as anyone. In
this ease he combined shrewdness and patriotism.
He was a close student of public affairs, a well-
read man on many subjects, a man of independent
iudjrment. common sense and self-reliance. In re
ligion be was a Baptist, and in politics a Republi
can, He served on the district school committee.
was overseer of the poor aud highway surveyor.
He died at Holden. October 20. 1801. '
He married. April 24. 1838. Persis talker Hub
bard born September 24. 181 s, daughter of Benja
min and Pollv (Walker) Hubbard, of Holden. Her
father was a farmer, and one of rhe charter mem
bers of the Baptist church. Children of Silas and
Persis W, Howe were: Augustus Franklin, born

524

WORCESTER COUNTY

April 19, 1839, died October 25, 1879; Charles Nel
son, bofn January 27, 1841 ; Levi Hubbard, born
August 23, 1845, see forward; Mary, Chandler
(twin), born October 10, 1847, died February 5,
1869; Joseph Leander (twin), born October 10,
1847; Hervey Newton, born June 4, 1849, died Sep
tember 27, 1849; Silas A., born September 18, 1856,
died- August 6, 1878; Frances N.
(IX) Levi Hubbard Howe, son of Silas Howe
(8), was born at Holden, Massachusetts, August 23,
1845. He began his school life rather early and at
tended the public schools of Holden until he was
¦fifteen years old, working at the same time on his
father's farm. At the age of sixteen years and
-until he was twenty-five, he carted wood from
Holden to Worcester, bringing back groceries, coal
and general merchandise for the Holden merchants.
In 1871 he removed to Princeton, where he bought
•of his uncle, Warren Hubbard, an eighty-five acre
farm in the south part of the town, and conducted a
dairy farm, selling his milk and eggs in Worcester,
largely to private customers. In 1894 he returned to
Holden to take charge of the homestead and he
remained there eleven years. In 1892, shortly after
his father's death, he bought his present farm of
twenty-fqur acres at Holden Centre of Thomas W.
Gleason. It was known as the Ethan Davis place
at that time. He has been especially successful with
his dairy and has a large herd of cows. His resi
dence is one of the finest in the town.
Mr. Howe is a member of the Baptist church
and one of the executive committee, of which he has
been the chairman. In politics he is a Republican
and has been delegate to various nominating con
ventions of that party. He was tax collector of
Holden 1895-96, and is at present (1906) the presi
dent of the Cemetery Commission. Fie served as
road commissioner while in Princeton. He is a
member -of Anchoria Lodge, No. 42, Odd Fellows,
of Worcester. He is also a member of the Wor
cester Agricultural Society, of the Farmers' and
Mechanics' Association of Holden, the Worcester
County Bee Association, and the Harvest Club of
Holden. He married, May 3, 1871, Angelina Rouett Moore,
born March 11, 1848, daughter bf William and Ange
line (Chaffin) Moore, of Holden. Her father was
a farmer, was prominent in town affairs. He was
an active member of the Holden Rifle Club of
Massachusetts Volunteers. Children of Levi Hub
bard and Angelina R., all born in Holden, were:
1. William Josephine, born August 1, 1874, married,
September 2, 1896, George C. Johnson, of Holden,
and they have': Robert . Howe, born November 19,
1898; Raymond Walker, born July 14, 1902; Benja
min Hubbard, born December 14, 1904. 2. Edith
Georgia, born December 22, 1875, resides with par
ents. 3. Clara Persis, born June 16, 1877, mar
ried. June 18, 1902, Edward Franklin Drawbridge,
of Brookline. 4. Olive Angeline, born February 2,
1880, married, November 26, 1903, George Herbert
Marsh, of Holden.
EDWARD MARVIN WOOD comes of Colonial
ancestors. The progenitor of the family was John
Wood, alias Atwood, who settled in Plymouth,
Massachusetts, as early as 1636, and died leaving a
will probated March 7, 1675, 'which mentioned sons :
John, Nathaniel, Isaac, and six daughters. For
many generations their descendants have paid tribute
to the old historic Plymouth Colony.
Among the early settlers of Stafford, Hartford
county, Connecticut, were the families of Wood,
Alden, Fuller, Foster and others from Plymouth
county, Massachusetts. Thomas Wood, of Bridge-

water, a blacksmith by trade, bought of James Linds-
ley, January 4, 1742-43, for one hundred and thirty
pounds current money, fifty acres of land in Stafford,
the deed having been recorded January 24, 1742-43.
After making this purchase, he seems to have re
turned to Bridgewater where, February 23, 1744,
was recorded the intention of his marriage to Dinah
Perry. Having taken Dinah to wife, they returned
to Stafford where, May 30, 1748, he purchased twen
ty-five acres of land of James Blodgett, deed re
corded July 19, 1748, and states that both the parties
were of Stafford. The children of Thomas and
Dinah (Perry) Wood, as recorded at Stafford, were:
Joshua, born January 26, 1747-48; John, January
20, 1749; Nathan, March 16, 1752; next child record
was torn, name not readable; Ruth August 15, 1756;
Lydia, August 22, 1758.
Nathan Wood, bom March 16, 1752, married
Anne Bixby, November 30, 1780, and died August
28, 1806. Their children were bora in Stafford, but
on account of the condition of the record the names
and dates cannot all be deciphered. They had a
daughter  , Celinda, died May 3, 1793; Nathan
Marble, Abijah, and Homer John, born April 2,
1794, through whom the ancestral line is continued.
Homer John Wood, the grandfather of Edward
M'. Wood, was born in Stafford, Connecticut, April
2, 1794, his father, Nathan Wood, dying when he
was twelve years of age. At the age of eighteen,
Homer J. Wood entered the employ of the United
States government at the armory in Springfield, re
maining there continuously for fifty years, living to
the age of seventy-four years, and died October 15,
1868. A part of the land now occupied by the. Spring
field Armory was formerly owned by him.
Corbin O. Wood, father of Edward M. Wood,
born August 25, 1821, invented and patented several
improvements in guns. He was first employed at
the United States armory in Springfield, but in 1852
entered the employ of the late Ethan Allen, of Wor
cester, as a contractor, and employing as contractor
twenty-five men in the making of guns. He was a
skillful straightener of rifle barrels, an art which at
that time was confined to comparatively a few men.
He retired from active business in the year 1883
to enjov in tranquility the fruits of his previous
years of skillful labor and success. In early life he
was somewhat of a musician, playing the violin in
the church choir. After having retired from busi-
, ness, he made violins as a recreation, duplicating by
actual measurement the celebrated violins of
Guanarius and Stradivarius and producing some
really fine instruments. He was a man of natural
intelligence, a great reader of books, of progressive
ideas, and mechanical ingenuity.
May 18, 1843, he married Eunice A., daughter of
Marvin Kirkland, of Agawam. She died December
3, 1890, having been the mother of two children,
Sarah C. and Edward M. He died in the year 1904
at the age. of eighty-three, leaving an honorable
record. Edward M. Wood, a resident 'of Worcester, was
for over twenty years a manufacturer of edge tools
at Millbury. He was born in Springfield, Massachu
setts, January 27, 185 1, attended the public schools
of Worcester and the Wesleyan Academy at Wil
braham. He strove to become broad-minded by
good reading and the liberal education which asso
ciation with the men of the Commonwealth in
spires. With a desire to acquire a thorough knowl
edge of mechanical processes by actual labor under
proper instructions, he was taught in the machine
shop of Ethan Allen mechanical drawing, pattern
making, and the operation of various machine tools,
as lathes,, planers, milling machines, etc. Turning his

^Qd>

£6cAsT2>L*>t sfa, LLnnrt^

J -SI

WORCESTER COUNTY

525

attention to the commercial side of manufacturing,
after serving an apprenticeship in the hardware store
of White & Conant, he, at the age of twenty-one,
with a partner, opened a hardware store on Main
street near Franklin square, in Worcester, and buy
ing out his partner in 1879 he continued the business
successfully until 1884, when he disposed of the same
to W. H. Willard & Co., who are at the present
time (1906) continuing the business at the same
place. In 1884 he became connected with the Buck
Brothers Riverlin Works, edge tool manufactory in
Millbury, and was for a number of years the senior
member of the firm. This enterprise is a fair rep
resentation of an old Sheffield industry, transplanted
to this country and firmly established, and is the
culmination of efforts of three generations of skill
ful edge tool makers. The Riverlin works were
established in 1853 and occupy a substantial brick
building erected for the manufacture of edge tools,
which is surrounded by neat cottages, forming an
attractive little village. The product of this firm is
of a high order of excellence, enjoying an enviable
reputation, and consignments are sent on orders to
nearly all parts of the world. The tools made here
are adopted as samples by the United States
government. While not claiming to be an inventor, Mr. Wood
has by inheritance and training acquired an inclina
tion toward things mechanical, and his knowledge
in that direction has enabled him to contrive devices
for greatly facilitating and improving the process
of the manufacture ot the output which has in turn
contributed materially to the success and enlarge
ment of tlie Riverlin works. He retired from this
firm, and from active business in 1905. He has
made several foreign trips, believes in out-door re
creation and is connected with several social clubs,
being a member of the Society of Antiquity, the
Worcester Club, the Tatnuck Country Club, and was
for many years a member of the Art Students Club.
He is an enthusiastic automobilist, being among the
first to take up that form of recreation, having been
interested as far back as 1894, when he visited the
shop of one of the first makers of automobiles in
Paris, long before they came into general use.
Mr. Wood married, May 27, 1879, Annie M.
Buck, of Millbury, and two children were born to
them, Bessie, March 24, 1882, died April 10, 1892;
and Helen Frances, February 18, 1888. Mr. Wood
is by profession a Congregationalist and a member
of Piedmont church, as are also his wife and daugh-
terer. The family resides at No. 6 Ripley street,
Worcester, Massachusetts.
STONE FAMILY. Gregory Stone (1), the
immigrant ancestor of Lyman T. Stone, of Boylston,
Massachusetts, was baptized in Great Bromley, Essex
county, England, April 19, 1592. According to his
own deposition made September 18, 1658, he was
born 1591 or 1592, his age being about sixty-seven
years. His age at death, November 30, 1672, was given
as eighty-two years. He was probably born, there
fore, in 1591. He was the son of David and Ursula
Stone, and grandson of Simon and Agnes Stone, all
of England. He had a brother, Simon Stone, who
also emigrated to America, sailing in the ship "In
crease," April 15, 1635 ; settled in Watertown ; was
admitted freeman May 25, 1636; town officer and
deacon; died September 22, 1665. Various other
immigrant settlers have been erroneously supposed
to be brothers of Gregory; Rev. Samuel Stone of
Hartford was not a brother. Gregory Stone was
admitted a freeman with his brother Simon, May 25,
1636. He was a proprietor of Watertown, but re
sided most of his life in Cambridge. He had some
famous orchards for his day. His farm was on

the present site of the Botanic Gardens of Harvard
University. He was one of the most prominent
men of his day; a deputy to the general court;' was
elected deacon of Shepard Mitchell's church, and
served thirty- four years, being the last survivor of the
original membership; 'was a civil magistrate, and one
of the governor's deputies. His will, proved De
cember 14, 1672, mentions his wife Lydia and her
children by her former husband—John Cooper and
Lydia Fiske ; his sons Daniel, David, John and Sam
uel ; daughter Elizabeth Porter ; daughter Sarah, wife
of David Miriam; grandson John, son of David
Stone. He married in England, July 20, 1617, Mar
garet Garrad, born December 5, 1597, died August,
1626,' in England. He married (second) Lydia
Cooper, widow, who died June 24, 1674. Her son by
her former husband was John, married Anne Spar-
hawk; her daughter Lydia married David Fiske.
Children of Gregory and Margaret Stone: 1. John,
mentioned below. 2. Daniel, baptized July 15, 1620 ;
settled in Cambridge; married Mary  ; was a
physician. 3. David, baptized September 22, 1622;
resided at Cambridge; married three times — Eliza
beth, Dorcas and Hannah. 4. Elizabeth, baptized
October 3, 1624, buried in Nayland, England. Chil
dren of Gregory and Lydia Stone: 5. Elizabeth, bap
tized March 6, 1628; married" Anthony Porter. 6.
Samuel, baptized February 4, 1630; died September
27, 1715; resided at Lexington; married first, Sarah
Stearns, of Watertown; married (second), June 7,
1655, Abigail  . 7. Sarah, baptized February 8,
1632 ; died 1677 ; married July 12, 1653, Joseph Mer
riam (Miriam). These children were baptized at
Nayland, England.
(II) John Stone, son of Gregory Stone (1),
baptized at Nayland, England, July 31, 1618, died at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 5, 1683. He re
moved to Sudbury with the early settlers, was a
proprietor there, and shared in three divisions of land.
He bought of the Indians at Natick, May 15, 1656,
ten acres of land on the south side of the river at
Sudbury, and his purchase was confirmed by general
court 1656, together with a grant of fifty acres
of land for services, etc. He added to the tract he
already owned in what is now the village of Saxon-
ville, in the town of Framingham, until he owned
a very large stretch of land. He built his house where
the present railroad station is located in Saxon-
ville. He built the first house in what is now the
village of Cochituate, in the present town of Way-
land, then Sudbury. He built in all six houses in
Sudbury and Framingham and built the first mill
in Framingham, in 1659, at the falls now known as
Stone's Mills, a corn mill, and his son Daniel built
there the first saw mill. He was appointed fence
viewer 1654, town clerk 1655, and was admitted a
freeman 1665. In 1645 he sold his house in Sud
bury to John Moore. He was the first to build his
house in Framingham. He located, without having
a grant, at Otter Neck, on the west side of Sud
bury, in 1646-7. He married, 1638, Annie, born in
England, daughter of Elder Edward and Margaret
Howe, natives of England. Children of John and
Annie Stone: 1. Hannah, born June 6, 1640; mar
ried July 1, 1658, John Bent. 2. Mary; married Isaac
Hunt; second April 30, 1681, Eliphalet Fox. 3.
Daniel, born August 31, 1644, mentioned below. 4.
David, born October 31, 1646; married Susanna. 5.
Elizabeth, born 1650; married 1678 Samuel Stow.
6. Margaret, born October 22, 1653 : married William
Brown January n, 1695. 7- Tabitha born May 20,
1655; married November 3, 1674, John Rice. 8.
Sarah, born September 22, 1654; married Jacob Hill.
9. Nathaniel, born May 11, 1660; married Sarah Wayt
of Maiden April 25, 1684. 10. John, non compos
mentis, n.  , died young. 12.  , died young.

526

WORCESTER COUNTY

(III) Daniel Stone, son of John Stone (2), bom
August 31, 1644, died 1719, aged seventy-five years.
He had the mill, and May 22, 171 1, sold a quarter
interest in the water privilege to Samuel How, Sr.,
of Sudbury, but bought it back February 15, 1714.
The mills remained in the Stone family until 1824,
when the business was incorporated. Daniel settled
in one of his father's houses near his father's resi
dence. He was one of the first board of selectmen
of the town of Framingham in 1700, and was for
two years deacon of the Sudbury church before that.
He married, November 2, 1667, Mary (Moore)
Ward, widow, a school teacher in 1693-4 in Sud-
burv died June 10, 1703, in Framingham. He mar
ried (second) February 6, 1704, Abigail Wheeler,
died October 28, 1711. He married (third) Novem
ber 18, 1712, Ruth Haynes, of Sudbury. His son
John administered the estate. Children of Daniel
and Mary Stone: 1. Daniel, mentioned below. 2.
Anne, born January 15, 1670. 3. Tabitha, born May
4, 1673 ; married David Haynes. 4. Sarah, born Feb
ruary 14, 1675 ; married James Rice. 5. Mary, born
August 10, 1677; married Jonas Rice. 6. Elizabeth,
horn November 9, 1678; married Joseph Livermore.
7. Abigail, born February 13, 1680; married Dr. John
Sherman. 8. John, married Anne Tileston of Dor
chester, January 31, 1706-7; died November 26, 1710;
she died March 25, 1733.
(IV) Daniel Stone, Jr., son of Daniel Stone (3),
born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, November 22, 1668,
died at Framingham, December 22, 1702, aged thirty-
four years. Although a young man when Tie died,
he was selectman and town treasurer of Framing
ham in 1702, and served in the expedition to Canada
under Phipps in 1690 with the Sudbury company.
He married Patience Brown, who died November 13,
1722, at Framingham. She married (second) Na
thaniel Rice. Children of Daniel and Patience Stone :
1. Priscilla, married James Fox, of Dorchester. 2.
Beulah, born August 23, 1695 ; married, January 14,
1719, Josiah Brown, of Sudbury; (second) Colonel
Timothy Minot, of Concord. 3. Keziah, born July
29. 1697; married March 5, 1728 Eliab Moore. 4.
Micah, mentioned below. 5. Lois, born November
21, 1701 : married Moses Maynard, of Sudbury,
March 18, 1723-4.
(V) Micah Stone, son of Daniel Stone, Jr. (4),
born on "The Island," Sudbury, now Wayland,
March 11, 1699, died October 13, 1738, of small pox,
at the age of thirty-nine years. He resided in
Framingham and was selectman there 1732 until his
death ; deputy 1734 and 1735. He married, April ,
2, 1724, Abigail Stone, of Lexington. She mar
ried (second.) January 22, 1752, Colonel Joseph
Perry, and she died October 4, 1796, at. an advanced
age. Children of Micah and Abigail Stone: 1.
Josiah, born December 23, 1724; married Anne
Haven, February 24, 1746-7; died April 2, 1785. 2.
Daniel, mentioned helow. 3. Micah, born May 30,
1729; married Rachel Haynes, of Sudbury, Octo
ber 11, 1748; married (second) Sarah Bacheller,
widow, of Grafton. 4. John, born March 28, 1731 ;
died in army, December 6, 1755. 5. Moses, horn
June 26, 1734; married Hannah Moore, of Sud
bury. November 14, 1754 ; died in Framingham, July
13, 1813. 6. Eliab, born May 5, 1737; married, Octo
ber 17, 176=;, Sarah Hubbard, of Concord ; died Au
gust 31, '1822; graduate of Harvard 1758; teacher
at Sudbury; ordained minister at Reading, May 20,
1 761. (VI) Daniel Stone, son of Micah Stone (5),
born at Framingham, Massachusetts, April 11, 1727,
died April 3. 1813, asred eighty-six years. He was
selectman 1767-68. His house was burned in 1766.
He and his wife are' buried in the Church Hill
cemetery at Framingham Centre, near the middle

of the yard, in a lot enclosed by iron fence. He mar*-
ried, 1749, Persis Haynes, born 1728 and died May
7, 1804, aged seventy-six years. Their children: 1.
Persis, born July 17, 1750; died March I, 1752. 2.
Nahum, born November 25, 1752; married Hannah
Haven; died at Grafton, 1805. 3. John, mentioned
below. 4. Daniel, born September 5, 1760; mar
ried Sally Buckminster, born 1770, died April 9,
1845 ; he died November 9, 1834. 5. Persis, born Au
gust 15, 1762; married Buckley Adams, February,
1785- (VII) John Stone, son of Daniel Stone (6),
born at Framingham, February 17, 1757, died at
Cambridge, August 18, 1844. His occupation was
hotel keeping, at which he was popular and suc
cessful. At one time he worked for Governor Liv»
ingston at Livingston Manor, New York, and his
son, Peter Royal Stone, was named for the governor.
John Stone had hotels at various times in Wayland
and Sudbury. He finally bought a farm at Cam
bridge, where he and his daughter Abigail lived after
the death of his wife. He married, June 25, 1778,
Ann Hunt, born 1760, died October 20, 1829. Their
children : 1. John, Jr., born 1779, died December
16, 1807, at Washington, Vermont. 2. Peter R.,, mar
ried Lavinia Winship, of Lexington; died May,
1875, buried at Mt. Auburn. 3. Daniel, married Mary
Jackson, of Boston ; died at Newton, i860. 4. Walter,
born January 13, 1796; died August 22, 1869; mar
ried Tane Merriam, born July 13, 1797, died May
23> 1873. 5. William, mentioned helow. 6. Nancy,
married  ¦ Hatch, of New York. 7. Mary, mar
ried Daniel Learned. 8. Hannah, married Reuben
Hastings, of Northboro. 9. Abigail, died unmar
ried. 10. Persis, married Coolidge Jones, and died
of consumption soon after her marriage.
(VIII) William Stone, son of John Stone (7),
born at Sudbury, May 13, 1787, died there March
10, 1862. He followed his father's business of keep- .
ing hotel, and was proprietor of taverns at Way-
land, Sudbury and Stow. He was an earnest worker
and became well-to-do. He married, October 25,
1805, Sukey Cutter, born February 6, 1786, at Sud
bury, and died there January 18, 1871. Their chil
dren: i. Dana, mentioned below. 2. Emeline Susan,
born October 16, 1808 ; married Abel Dakin, of Way-
land, and (second) Walter Rogers, of Sudhury, July
10, 18s 5. 3. William born December 2, 1810; un
married ; died at sea on whaling voyage and buried
in Indian Ocean. 4. John, born November 8, 1812,
at Stow ; died April 15, 1892. 5. George W., born
January 23. 1815, died September 30, 1871 ; mar
ried Maria Dudley, born at Wayland, 1835, died July
iq. i88g. 6. Albina, born September 5, 1817; married
Warren Barker Hale, June 29, 1834.
(IX) Dana Stone, son of William Stone (8),
born at Stow, Massachusetts, February 19, 1806.
He attended the common schools at Sudbury. He
worked at farming at Marlboro and Wayland, and
also engaged in stage driving. After his first wife's
Heath he settled in Northboro. He died June. 1883.
He married first, Mary A. Whitney, a native of
¦Weston, Massachusetts, and descendant of John
Whitnev. of Watertown, the immigrant ancestor of
most of the Massachusetts families of Whitney. He
died June, 1883. In his younger days he was in
the state militia and trained for many years. He
was at one time road commissioner of the town
of Northboro. He was first a Whig in politics, later
a Democrat. He, attended the Unitarian church. He
lmrripd f second) Mary Newton, of Northboro;
(third) Lois Newton, of the same town, and
(fourth) Mrs. Nancy Rogers, also of Northboro.
Children of Dana and Mary A. (Whitney) Stone:
1. George Dana, born November 10. 1833, resided in
Northboro. 2. Mary Ann, born October 1, 1835,

WORCESTER COUNTY

527

married Emery Coolidge, who held a position on a
transatlantic steamship and crossed the ocean over
a hundred times; both died at Northboro. 3. John
Alphonzo, born December 25, 1836, resided in Hud
son, Massachusetts.' 4. Susan Ellen, born October
27, 1838, died a young lady. 5. William, born No
vember 11, 1839, died when about thirty years old.
6. Louise, born October 17, 1841, married Albert
Wheelock, and resided in Shrewsbury. 7. Lyman
T., mentioned below. 8. Lavinia, born, May 25, 1846,
married Joseph Fairbanks, and resides in
Worcester. (IX) Lyman T. Stone, son of Dana Stone (8),
was born in Northboro, Massachusetts, April 23,
1843, and attended the public schools there. He
began life on a farm, but when a young man learned
the trade of butcher. When the civil war broke
out he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-first Regiment
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, with which he
served for a period of eleven months, and was hon
orably discharged at the end of his term of enlist
ment. He returned to Massachusetts and settled in
Boylston, where he bought a farm and combined with
farming the business of butcher and dealer in meats
and provisions, and he has acquired a competence.
In politics he is a Republican, and he has served the
town very acceptably as highway commissioner. He
attends the Unitarian church. He married, Octo
ber 1, 1867, Mary E., daughter of Henry South
wick, a native of Connecticut. Their children : 1.
Theodore H., born July 4, 1868; died , November 2,
1901 ; married Bernice Peckham, and had one son,
Ernest W. 2. Louis C, born February 13, 1870;
married Amy Taylor. 3. Lois M., born November
25, 1871. 4. Carrie E., born February 26, 1873; mar
ried. Ernest Doty, and had one daughter, Clarissa.
5. Alfred A., born March 20, 1876. 6. Herman H.,
- born May 30, 1878 ; enlisted in Twenty-second Regi
ment United States Infantry, afterwards in the
Twelfth Infantry; killed in the Phillipine Islands,
October 27, 1899. 7. Angie B., born March 20,
1888; married George Bruseau. 8. Laura A., born
June 28, 1884; married Rupert Smith, and they have
two children : Bernard R. and Ethel Irene.
EDWARD FOSTER BISCO. Edward Bisco (1),
is the first known ancestor of Edward Foster Bisco,
of Worcester, and the Bisco family of Worcester
county, Massachusetts. The usual form of the name
is Biscoe. Edward Bisco lived at Little Missenden,
in Bucks county, England. He died in May, 1563,
and was buried June 1, 1563. His wife was proba
bly Ann, who was buried at Little Missenden, April
22, 1561. Their children were : 1. Thomas, of Lit
tle Missenden," tanner, buried there December 3,
1594, died without issue; married November 25,
1565, Lettice Randall, daughter of John Randall, of
Little Missenden, and wife Joyce ; she died Feb
ruary, 1598-9; both left wills. 2. Robert, settled in
Wendover, Bucks county, and was a tanner. 3.
Elizabeth, bora at Missenden, buried there February
I7, 1597-8; married Hugh Venables, July 6, 1567,
at Little Missenden. 4. Agnes, buried at Amersham,
September 2, 1596; will dated July 30, 1596; mar
ried Thomas Webbe of Agmondesham, Bucks
county, September 16, 1567. 5. John, married Joan
Randall. (II) John Bisco, son of Edward Bisco (1),
lived at Little Missenden. He' was a yeoman. He
died June 3, 1606; his will was dated May 27, 1606,
and was proved July 8, 1606. He owned lands at
Agmondesham from his mother's estate. He mar
ried Joan Randall, July 18, 1567, at Little Missenden.
Her will is dated March 13, 1617-8, and was proved
1622. Children of John and Joan (Randall) Bisco
were: 1. Edward, baptized at Little Missenden,

July 31, 1569, married Alice Taylor. 2. Richard,
baptized, Little Missenden, March 2, 1567. 3. Robert,
baptized, Little Missenden, February 2, 1571-2, died
September 16, 1630; will dated September 14, 1630,
proved October 25, 1630; lived at High Wycombe,
Bucks county; was gentleman and sometime alder
man; married Joan Hell, widow, at Little
Missenden, August n, 1596; married (sec
ond) Susan, daughter of Thomas Lane, of
Northdeane, parish of Hughenden, Bucks county
yeoman, who died in 1615; Agnes Lane, his
wife, died 1636; Susan (Lane) Bisco's will was
dated April 9, 1648, proved May 17, 1648. 4. John,
baptized Little Missenden, January 30, 1574-5, buried
' there March 13, following. 5. Richard, baptized
Little Missenden, May 6, 1576. 6. John, baptized
Little Missenden, September 21, 1578, buried there
August 17, 1615 ; will made August 7, proved Sep
tember 27, 1615; married Elizabeth  . 7. Jane,
baptized Little Missenden, January 29, 1581-2, mar
ried there October 12, 1601, Henry Edlyn; both liv
ing May 27, 1606. 8. Joan, baptized Little Mis
senden, 1583, buried there November 12, 1583. 9.
Elizabeth, baptized Little Missenden, July 31, 1587.
(Ill) Edward Bisco, son of John Bisco (2),
baptized Little Missenden, July 31, 1569, resided in
Agmondesham, Buckshire, England ; buried at
Amersham, October 26, 1605; will dated October 18,
1605, proved January 20, 1605-6; married Alice,
daughter of Henry Taylor; he was buried at Little
Missenden, July 3, 1610; she married (second)
John Randall, at Little Missenden, March 3, be
tween 1603 and 1606. Children of Edward and Alice
(Taylor) Bisco: 1. Nathaniel, baptized Little Mis
senden, November 16, 1595 ; emigrated to New Eng
land 1639, and was in Watertown 1643, returned
to England about the end of 1651 ; married October
21, 1615, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Honor, yeo
man (who was buried at Little Missenden, April 23,
1623) ; Elizabeth died at Watertown, buried there
November 20, 1642. 2. Sarah, baptized Amersham,
February 26, 1597-8. 3. Rebecca, twin sister of pre
ceding, baptized Amersham, February 26, 1597-8,
buried there March 19 same year. 4. Rebecca, bap
tized Amersham, September 21, 1602. 5. John, bap
tized April 27, 1600; resided St. Margaret's, West
minster, London; citizen and apothecary of Lon
don; buried November 14, 1644; married Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Gabriell, November 14, 1626;
she married (second) Christopher Thomlinson, citi
zen and draper of London, who was buried at Bun
hill Fields, 1680-1. 6. Phebe, born 1594, Little Mis
senden, died young. 7. Walter, baptized Amersham,
December 16, 1604, buried there February 27,
1604-5. (IV) Nathaniel Bisco, son of Edward Bisco
(3), baptized Little Missenden, England, No
vember 16, 1595; emigrated to New Eng
land 1639. In 1642 he wrote and circulated
privately a pamphlet "against the way of supporting
ministers" that gave great offense, and for which
he was fined ten pounds. In that year his barn with
leather and corn to the value of two hundred pounds
was destroyed by fire. t±e was so dissatisfied with
the prevailing religious intolerance that he returned
to England about the end of 1651. He sold to
John Wincol, October 2, 1651, the forty-six acres of
land that he had bought of the town. His son,
Nathaniel Bisco, Jr., was one of the witnesses on
the deed. He wrote a letter, dated London, Sep
tember 7, 1652, which fell into the hands of the
government and produced some excitement at the
time. In that letter he mentions his uncle, Richard
Bisco (or Briscoe, as he usually spelled the name)
who died a little before the date of the letter. Na
thaniel left his four grown children in Massachu-

528

WORCESTER COUNTY

setts when he returned to England, and from them
have descended the American Bisco families. His
wife died at Watertown, and was buried there No
vember 20, 1642. He was commonly known both
in England and America as "the Rich Tanner." His
children were: 1. Nathaniel, baptized Little Missen
den, May 18, 1629; mentioned in his father's letter
and by Governor Winthrop as a gentleman born,
was the first usher of Nathaniel Eaton, "the first
person who had charge of the institution" (i. e. Har
vard College). 2. Mary, married Thomas Brough
ton, one of the witnesses to the deed of sale of the
elder Nathaniel Bisco's property when he returned
to England. (Broughton first settled, but in 1650
removed to Boston, where he died November 12,.
1700, aged eighty-seven; had nine children). Mary
was baptized in Little Missenden, England, Septem
ber 16, 1619; Thomas Broughton was the son of
Edward Broughton of London. 3. John, born 1622,
baptized June 13, 1623. 4. Sarah, baptized Little
Missenden, May 7, 1626, married William Bond,
Esq., from whom Dr. Henry Bond, the genealogist
and historian, is descended; they had nine children;
she died February, 1692-3.
(V) John Bisco, son of Nathaniel Bisco (4),
the emigrant, baptized June 23, 1623, at Little Mis-
sended, came to New England in 1639 with
his father and mother. He learned his
father's trade of tanner. He was admitted a
freeman of Watertown, Massachusetts, April
18, 1650. He married, December 13, 1650,
Elizabeth Bidleston; she died August 18, 1685, and
he died October 18, 1690. His will, dated October
15, 1690, and proved November 21st, following, ap
pointed his sons-in-law, Abraham Jackson and Ed
ward Goffe, executors. He was selectman several
times between 1650 and 1680, and was designated
as Mr. Bisco when the term Mr. indicated a class
distinction. Children of John and Elizabeth (Bidles
ton) Bisco: 1. John, born October 5, 1651, died
young. 2. Elizabeth, born December 18, 1653, mar
ried, November 20, 1679, Abraham Jackson (born
1655, died 1739, son of Deacon Edward Jackson), had
eleven children. 3. Thomas, born April 1, 1655. 4.
Mary, born November 22, 1658, married Edward Goffe
(born November 28, 1658, son of Samuel and Han
nah (Barnard) Goffe of Cambridge; tanner; died
about 1691. 5. Sarah, born March 14, 1661, died
1669. (VI) Thomas Bisco, son of John Bisco (5),
born Watertown, Massachusetts, April 1, 1655, died
previous to October 15, 1690. He married, Decem
ber 24, 1684, Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Han
nah (Manning) Stearns. Hannah Manning was
eldest daughter of William and Dorothy Manning
of Cambridge, and was born June 21, 1642. Hannah
Stearns was born December 8, 1666. Samuel Stearns
was the sixth child of Isaac and Mary Stearns, and
was born April 24, 1638, died August 3, 1683. Isaac
was from Stoke Nayland, Suffolk county, was a
freeman of Watertown May 18, 163 1 ; town officer;
tailor by trade; married Mary, daughter of John
Barker, of Stoke Nayland. He died 1693, and Han
nah Biscoe, his widow, took out letters of adminis
tration January I, 1693-4, She married (second),
September 28, 1708, Samuel Gookin, Esq., high
sheriff of Middlesex. Children of Thomas and
Hannah (Stearns) Bisco: 1. John, born October
22, 1685. 2. Elizabeth, baptized July 17, 1687. 3.
Thomas, baptized May, 1689.
(VII) John Bisco, son of Thomas Bisco (6),
born Watertown, Massachusetts, October 22, 1685;
he married, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, February
1, 1710-n, Sarah Remington. His will is dated
September 6, 1714. and proved January 8, 1714-5.
After the birth of his first child he removed to Cam

bridge, where he was living at the time of his
death. His children: 1. Thomas, born Watertown,
November 11, 171 1. 2. Name unknown. 3. Eliza
beth, born 1713 ; June 3, 1734, chose for her guardian
Samuel Danforth; she resided in Reading in 1738.
(VIII) Thomas Bisco, son of John Bisco (7),
born Watertown, November 11, 1711, married, June
i-4> 1737> Abigail Mason, born in Watertown, Octo
ber 10, 1715, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Monk)
Mason. Joseph first settled in Boston and later at
Watertown, where he was justice of the peace, town
cterk, representative 1733 and 1734. Mary Monk
was daughter of Elias and Hope Monk, of that
part of Dorchester now called Stoughton. Joseph
Mason was son of Joseph Mason and his wife, Mary
Fiske, and was born October 2, 1688. Mary Fiske,
born July 5, 1661, was daughter of John Fiske, born
1619. John Fiske was born in England, married
December 11, 1651, Sarah Wyeth, eldest child of
Nicholas Wyeth of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jo
seph Mason, Sr., was son of Capt Hugh Mason,
one of the first settlers of Watertown, Massachu
setts, and most prominent among the pioneers;
deputy to general court ten years ; selectman twenty-
nine years; made captain May 5, 1652; died Octo
ber 10, 1678, aged seventy-three; wife Esther died
May 1, 1692. Children of Thomas and Abigail
(Mason) Bisco: 1. John, born Watertown, April
10, 1738. 2. Josiah, bom July 18, 1740, settled
at Watertown; married, September 30, 1765, Grace
Whitney; she died April 30, 1773, and he married
Mary, daughter of Joseph and Grace (Bond) Mason;
December, 1762, he returned from Woodstock, Con
necticut, to Watertown.
(IX) John Bisco, son of Thomas Bisco (8),
born Watertown, April 10, 1738. He was a soldier
at Lake George, 1756-7. He removed to Spencer,
Massachusetts; 1763. He married, May 10, 1764,
Deborah Prouty, born October 19, 1742, daughter
of Jacob and Ann (Capen) Prouty, of Spencer. She
died December 22. 1795, and he married (second),
November, 1795, Mrs. Esther Moore, of Worcester.
He. died November 15, 1808. He settled in the cen
tral part of the town on the farm still known as
the Bisco farm. The history of Spencer says : "He
was a gentleman of good education, sound judgment
and unblemished character." He had the respect
and confidence of his townsmen to an unusual de
gree. He held the highest offices of honor and
trust. From 1767 until his death he was town clerk,
selectman, assessor or treasurer. He was repre
sentative in general court 1777, 1780, 1781, and
member of state constitutional convention 1779. He
was appointed justice of the peace, with' the duties
of magistrate, by Governor John Hancock, in March,
1781. - He was deacon of the Spencer church. "As
a magistrate he was correct, faithful and impartial,
as a churchman he was devout, pious and ex
emplary : as a citizen and man he was honest, digni
fied and patriotic." (From the inscription on his
gravestone). Children of Deacon John and Deborah
(Prouty) Bisco: 1. John, born May 29, 1765, died
May, 1812, unmarried. 2. Elizabeth, born October
9, 1767, married July 15, 1690. Enoch Mason, son
of Capt. Ebenezer Mason, who removed from Water-
town to Spencer: she died in Nelson, New York.
3. Abijah. born February 7, 1770, graduated Dart
mouth College 1798; candidate for ministry, but died
1801. before he was- settled. 4. Jacob, born June 12,
1772, married January I. 1799. Sarah, daughter of
Capt. John Draper. 5. Abigail, born July 25, 1777,
married November 7, 1799, David Prouty. Jr., son
of Major David Prouty: she died April 22, 1846.
6. Anne, born March 8, 1780, married December
13, 1807. George W. Harwood, son of Maj. Peter
Harwood, of Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Z£/Wij4s v3lJ o-e>

WORCESTER COUNTY

529

(X) Jacob Bisco, son of John Bisco (9), born
Spencer, Massachusetts, June 12, 1772; married
Sarah, daughter of Capt. John Draper. He in
herited his father's homestead, and lived and died
in Spencer. He died April 7, 1837, aged sixty-
five years. His wife Sarah died May 27, 1855.
Children of Jacob Bisco: 1. Dwight, see forward.
2. Chloe, born August 20, 1800, married, August
18, 1818, Spencer Prouty, son of Reuben and Sally
(Bartlett) Prouty. He was born at Marlboro, Ver
mont, September 20, 1796. She died February 22,
1823, at Spencer. 3. Adeline, born November 16,
1801. married, May 18, 1817, Abiathar Johnson, son
of Abiathar and Meribah (Fuller) Johnson; he was
born at Weston, Massachusetts, September 30, 1795,
died at Worcester, November 6, 1863; she died at
North Brookfield, Massachusetts, September 14, 1827.
4. Foster, born July 10, 1803 (died at Spencer,
June 18, 1881), married, September 16, 1830,
Eunice Whipple Rice,, daughter of Jonas and
Esther (Bixby) Rice, of Worcester; she was
born at Worcester, December 25, * 1802, died at
Spencer, January 17, 1863; he married (second),
October 27, 1864, Mrs. Eliza Wallis, of Cherry Val
ley, Leicester, who was born June 2, 1813, and died at
Spencer, March 24, 1877; he married (third), June
26, 1877, Martha Cecilia Rising, daughter of Julius
and Statia Rising; she was born at West Suffield,
Connecticut, November 11, 1832. 5. Emily, born
September 10, 1804, married, 1827, Liberty
Prouty, son of Eli and Rebekah (Browning)
Prouty; he was born at Spencer, July 1,
1800, died at Spencer, February 27, 1854 ; .
she died at Spencer, April 6, 1857. 6. Alden, bom
October 25, 1806, married, August 17, 1833, Selinda
Martin, of Oxford, Massachusetts; she was born
February 24, 1810, died at Melrose, Massachusetts,
May 19, 1874; he died at Leicester, January 11, 1843.
7. John, borri^October 9, 1808, married, November
25> 1835, Letitia Moore Lee, of Woodbridge, New
Jersey; she was born December 30, 1816, died in
New York city, March 18, 1892; he died at New
York city, February 7, 1895. 8: Hull, born Novem
ber 10, 1810, died unmarried at Spencer, April 23,
1836. 9. Roswell, born April 16, 1813, married, Au
gust 9, 1838, Abigail Watson Whittemore, daughter
of Daniel and Fanny (Prouty) Whittemore; she was
born in Spencer October 13, 1818, died May 10,
1886; he died May 5, 1896. 10. Lavinia Bisco, born
August 16, 1815, married, May 10, 1838, Reuben
Randall Hills, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Ran
dall) Hills; he was bom at Richmond, New Hamp
shire, March 5, 1812, died at Leicester, April 5,
1893 ; she died at Leicester, April 30, 1901 ; they cele
brated their golden wedding May 10, 1888. 11.
Jacob, bom October 8, 1817, married, April 15, 1849,
Emeline Statia Rising, daughter of Julius and Statia
Rising; she was born at West Suffield, Connecticut,
June 7, 1827; he died at Dudley, Massachusetts,
March 25, 1896.
(XI) Dwight Bisco. son of Jacob Bisco (10),
was born at Spencer, Massachusetts, April 27, 1799.
For sixty years he was one of the leading citizens
and business men of the town of Leicester, which
adjoins Spencer, his native place. He was raised
in Spencer and worked on his father's farm until
twenty-two years of age, when with a silver dollar
(as his biographer. Rev. Samuel May put it) as his
only money capital, he came to Leicester and went
to work for Cheney Hatch, manufacturer of card
clothing — a business of which at that time Leicester
had almost a monopoly. "Bringing with him," Mr.
May says, "good character, intelligence, habits of
industry and self-control and not afraid of work,
he steadilv acquired skill in this intricate and dif-
34

ficult manufacture." In 1826 he associated himself
as partner with Isaac Southgate, Joshua Lamb, John
Stone and Joseph A. Denny (See Denny Family),
another house in the same business. In 1843 Mr.
Denny and he bought the interests of tlie other part
ners and continued the business under the name of
Bisco & Denny until Mr. Denny's death in 1875.
It was then passed on by Mr. Bisco into the hands
of his sons and of Mr. Denny's only son, he con
tinuing to occupy himself in the factory until Feb
ruary, 1882, when he withdrew entirely. He was
then in his eighty-third year. In middle life he
had invested the chief part of his savings in the
Leicester Boot Company. It was unfortunate, and
was brought to end by the burning of the company's
buildings and stock. The investment was a total
loss. Mr. May says that with quiet courage he
applied himself again to business as closely as in
his youth, and was enabled in a few years to make
good his loss and to present to his eight children
at a Thanksgiving dinner table, $500 each. He was
a leader in town affairs, repeatedly a selectman of
the town, a member of the state legislature in 1847
and 1848, director of the Leicester Bank for eleven
years and treasurer of the Pine Grove Cemetery
Company for forty years, deacon of the Unitarian
Congregational church, and for forty years the
treasurer. He married, at Leicester, Massachusetts, Ruth
Woodcock, daughter of John Woodcock, Sr.,
and sister of John, Josephus and Lucius Wood
cock, January 8, 1826, and they lived together
more than fifty years when they celebrated their
golden wedding, January 8, 1876. "we saw them," says
Rev. Mr. Coolidge, "standing together a spectacle
rarely witnessed, an unbroken family" — parents,
children and grandchildren — a circle which death
had then never entered. But in September of that
year»Mrs. Bisco died. She was born in Rutland,
Massachusetts, December 13, 1802, and died in
Leicester, September 20, 1876. Mr. Bisco died De
cember 7, 1882. In a notice of him in the Christian/
Register, Abraham Firth wrote of his public life, o£
"his marked faithfulness in all these relations andi
in every sphere of life in which he moved. He was
always found on the side of virtue and of political
and spiritual freedom. Brought up under the teach
ing of Calvinism, it never satisfied him." One who
was long in daily business association with him wrote
in the Worcester Spy "he was known among his as
sociates as an honest, upright man, of superior sense
and judgment." His pastor, during his later years,
wrote of him, "I have never known a truer man,
nor one of greater strength of character." A mem
orial book of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Bisco has been
published. The children of Dwight and Ruth (Woodcock)
Bisco were: I. Emily Avesta, born April 11, 1826,
married, August 29, 1848, Josiah Quincy Lamb, son
of Liberty and Harriet (Stone) Lamb, of Oxford;
she died at Webster, February 4, 1895 ; he was bom
at Oxford, May 9, 1823, died at Webster, February
23, 1886; their children: Clara Adeline Lamb, born
at Webster, October 7, 1849, married William
Morris, and had Alice Josephine, bom June 2, 1877 ;
Ruth Anna Lamb, born March 26, 1855, married,
January 22, 1884, Charles Herman Klebart, son of
Henry and Johanna Dorothy (Lippold) Klebart, who
was born in Reietherback, Germany, December 25,
1841, and their children are: Arthur Herman Kle
bart. born at Webster, February 10, 1885; Leroy
Elmer, born at Webster, August 5, 1886, died Au
gust 25, 1886; Marion Emily, bom March 15, 1888;
Louise Frances, bom June 10, 1893. 2. Charles.
Dwight, see forward. 3. George, born November

53°

WORCESTER COUNTY

28, 1830, married, November 24, 1853, Ellen Jose
phine Hill, daughter of Stephen and Charlotte
(Lamb) Hill; she was born in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, July 6, 1835 ; they resided in Manchester,
New Hampshire, where they celebrated their golden
wedding November 26, 1903 ; their only child, Charles
Edwin, born July 31, 1856, resides at Manchester.
4. John Waldo, born July 10, 1834, married, July
30, 1857, Ellen Maria Eames, daughter of William
A. and Hannah Park (Waite) Eames ; she was born
at Worcester, December 30, 1837 ; he resided in Wor
cester and there died December 1, 1904; their only
child, Annie Louise, born June 15, 1862, married,
June 20, 1882, Joseph Bradford Sargent. (See Sar
gent sketch,). 5- William, see forward. 6. Henry
B., see forward. 7. Edward F., see forward. 8.
Fred Alden, born February 25, 1847, married, June
16, 1881, Abbie Eliza Hodges, daughter of Ira and
Jane Hodges; she was born in Winslow, Maine,
January 28, 1859 ; he died in Leicester, June 5, 1891 ;
they had two children : Frederick Raymond, born
at Leicester, January 19, 1883, died October 31, 1905 ;
Lura Rosamond, born in Leicester, May 28, 1884.
(XII) Charles Dwight Bisco, second child of
Dwight Bisco (11), was born in Leicester, January
6, 1828. He married, November 29, 1853, Elizabeth
Ann Outley, at St. Louis; she was born in Dublin,
Ireland, August 15, 1833, died at New Orleans, Lou
isiana, December 6, 1880. He died at Newark, New
Jersey, December 3, 1895. Their children were: 1.
Harry Dwight, born at St. Louis, October 26, 1854,
¦married, April 26, 1876, Libby Carpenter, of Troy,
New York, daughter of William O Carpenter; he
died at New York city, September 27, 1890. 2.
Joseph Outley, born March 24, 1858. 3. Agnes
Louise, born June 25, 1866, married, December 25,
1886, Horace Hurlburt Mitchell, one child. Mar
guerite Frances Mitchell, born in Newark, New
Jersey, July 22, 1888. .
(XI) William Bisco, fifth child of Dwight Bisco
Oi), was born in Leicester, February 21, 1839. He re
ceived a common school education in his native town.
At the age of sixteen he began his apprenticeship in
the card clothing manufactory of his father at
Leicester. He became a skilful card machine opera
tor and continued in this occupation until the busi
ness was sold in 1890 to the American Card Cloth
ing Company. William, and in fact all his brothers
except Edward, learned the trade of their father,
serving a three years apprenticeship. Mr. Bisco
never married. He was a quiet studious disposition
and a love of nature that has been like an avocation
rto him. He is a skilful painter in oil and water
colors, and is especially fond of painting flowers.
Mr. Bisco is also interested in genealogy and local
history. He is the family historian and has col
lected a vast amount of material about the family,
and also incidentally about matters of local inter-
•est He has some very valuable scrap-books for
amy student of Leicester history. He lives in the
house in which he was born in Leicester with his
brother, Henry Bisco. The homestead is full of
treasures of antique furniture, plate and china
handed down for many generations. Mr. Bisco has
among other articles of family interest the Bisco
coat-of-arms painted in colors on parchment. The
arms are: Az. three greyhounds courant sa. seiz
ing a hare ppr. The family motto is : "Grata sume
manu." He is a member of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association of Worcester, and of the First Con
gregational Church of Leicester. In politics he is
a Renublican. (XII) Henry Bisco, sixth child of Dwight
Bisco (11), was born in Leicester, March 19, 1841.
Fie attended the public schools of his native town

and also Leicester Academy in 1859 and 1860. At
the age of' sixteen he was apprenticed for three years,
and except for the three months in winter while
school kept he worked at his trade until he enlisted.
He earned fifty dollars the first year, seventy-five
dollars the second and one hundred and twenty-five
dollars the third year. He served in the civil war
in Company F of the Forty-second Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, under Captain John D. Cogs
well and Colonel Isaac Burrill. When he was must
ered out of the service he went back to Leicester
and has worked at his trade ever since. He is an
expert card machine operator. He continued with
the American Card Clothing Company after his
father's business was absorbed by that concern in
1890. He worked in the central factory in Leicester
until March, 1905, since then he has worked in the
Worcester factory. Mr. Bisco lives in the Bisco
homestead and has inherited many rare specimens
of antique colonial furniture, china, pewter, etc. He
is a member of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free Masons
of Worcester, and has been president of the Leices
ter Masonic Association. He is at present quarter
master sergeant of George H. Thomas Post, No.
10, Grand Army of the Republic, and has filled about
all the chairs. He was for seven years the com
mander. In politics he is an independent and in
religion a Unitarian. He has for some years been
treasurer of the Unitarian church at Leicester. He
organized the relief corps connected with the Grand
Army post while he was the commander, and his
wife was the first president. It is called George
H. Thomas Relief Corps, No. 152.
He married (first), at Ware, Massachusetts, Au
gust 29, 1864, Laura Melvinia Stowe, daughter of
John T. and Lavinia Stowe. She was born in Graf
ton, July 31, 1846, died at Leicester, September 29,
1884. He married (second), at Worcester, June
16, 1887, Moselle Olmstead, daughter of Sylvanus
Eaton and Anna R. (Dean) Olmstead. She was
born in New Braintree, November 20, 1858. The
children of Henry and , Laura M. Bisco were :
Alice Maria, born August 6, 1868; Herbert Henry,
born at Leicester, October 8, 1876.
(XII) Edward Foster Bisco, son of Dwight Bisco
(11), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, February
19, 1844. He was brought up in his native town and
attended the public schools there. He graduated
from the high school in 1862, and went into the
Leicester Bank (later the Leicester National Bank)
to learn the banking business. In October, 1865,
he took a position in the National Park Bank of New
York city, where he gained valuable metropolitan
experience, filling various positions there until July
1, 1872, when he was elected secretary of the Wor
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company to succeed
the late Samuel T. Bigelow. He came to Worcester
at that time, and has since made his home there. He
was secretary of this trust company until October,
1891, when he was elected president. In 1903 there
was a revolution in the banking business of Wor
cester. The controlling interests in the Worcester
Safe Deposit and Trust Company changed hands,
and in February the Trust Company absorbed two
of the largest and most prosperous national banks
of the city— the Central National Bank and the City
National Bank. Later in the year two more banks
were absorbed— the First National Bank and the
Citizens' National Bank of Worcester. The name
was changed later to the simpler form of Worcester
Trust Company. When Mr. Bisco became an officer
of the bank in 1872 the deposits amounted to about
$1,200,000. When the consolidation took place the
deposits amounted to $3,300,000. After the con
solidation the deposits aggregated $9,000,000. The

WORCESTER COUNTY

53i

shrewd and prudent management of Mr. Bisco had
much to do with bringing his bank to the foremost
position among the banks and trust companies of
Massachusetts, the largest outside of Boston. He
was called to the presidency of the Washington
Trust Company of Boston, October 1, 1904. The
banking rooms of this company are at 20 Milk street,
Boston. Mr. Bisco stands in the front rank of the
successful bankers of the state. He has attained
this position through much natural ability and con
stant devotion to his profession. He began at the
lowest round of the ladder with a salary of $100
a year, and has thoroughly deserved all the success
that he has won in life. Mr. Bisco continues to re
side at 11 Irving street, Worcester. He is a mem
ber of the -Commonwealth Club, and of the Tatassit
Canoe Club, a trustee of the People's Savings Bank
of Worcester, and commissioner under the city
government of the Jacques Fund of the City Hos
pital. He and his family attend the. First Universal
ist Church. He is a Republican. He married, No
vember 29, 1866, Anna Eliza Spra*gue, daughter of
Austin and Laura (Wilson) Sprague, of Leicester.
She is a descendant of William Sprague, of Hing
ham, Massachusetts, who was a proprietor there in
• 1636. He was a brother of Richard Sprague and
Ralph Sprague, both of Charlestown. The only child
of Edward Foster Bisco is Adeline Maud, who re
sides with her parents in Worcester.
DRAPER FAMILY. Thomas Draper (1), an
cestor of Edward F. Bisco, lived and died in York
shire, England, in the parish of Hempstontell and
vicarage of Halifax. He was a clothier by trade.
His children were : Thomas ; John ; William ; James ;
Mary; Martha; all except James died in England.
(II) James Draper, son of Thomas Draper (1),
born in Hempstontell, England, 1618, came to Rox
bury, Massachusetts, where he was a proprietor
1640-50. He was proprietor of Lancaster in 1654.
He is generally known from his religious tendencies
as James Draper, the Puritan. His gravestone is
to be seen in the West Roxbury graveyard. He
married  Stansfield, who came from the same
parish in England. He died July, 1691, aged seventy-
seven years. His children were James, John, Moses,
Daniel, Jonathan.
(Ill) James Draper, son of James Draper (2),
was born about 1660. He married Abigail Whiting
of Dedham. He died April 30, 1698, aged forty-
four years. His wife died October 25, 1721, aged
fifty-nine. Their children: Nathaniel, William,
James, Gideon, Ebenezer.
(IV) James Draper, son of James Draper (3),
born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, about 1694, mar
ried Rachel Aldrich, who died early without issue.
He married (second) Abigail Child, November 12,
,1719- She was noted for musical gifts. They lived
in Dedham. He was captain of the militia company
there. He died April, 1768; she died November 12,
1767. Their children : 1. James, born September 22,
1720, died Dedham, November 8, 1745. 2. Abigail,
born December 12, 1721, married Henry White. 3.
John, born June 16, 1723. 4. Joshua, born December
25, 1724. 5. Josiah. 6. Rachel. 7. Mary. 8. Abi
jah. 9. Samuel, and three others, all by the second
wife. The first four came to Spencer, Massachu
setts. (V) James Draper, son of James Draper (4),
born Roxbury, Massachusetts, September 22, 1720,
married Mehitable Whiting, of Dedham, November
12, 1742; (second) Martha Ward, widow of William
Ward, Jr., of Southboro. He died March 2, 1781.
She died September, 1791. Their children were: 1.

Rebecca married Benjamin Bemis, Jr, November
17, 1708. 2. John, born November 16, 1745 3
James born July 24, 1747, was in the revolution. 4.
Ira, born February 14, 1753. 5. Mehitable, born
August 29, 1756, married Noah Forbush, of Brook-
held, November 9, 1779.
(VI) John Draper, son of James Draper (5)
married Rebecca, daughter of Deacon John Muzzy
December 24, 1770. He died December 22 1822
aged seventy-seven years. His wife Rebecca died
April 29, 1818. Their children Were born in Spencer
He was a private in Captain Ebenezer Mason's com
pany of minute men, Colonel Jonathan Warner's
regiment, which marched on the Lexington alarm
April 19, 1775. He was sergeant in Captain Joel
(jreen s company, Col. Ebenezer Learned's regiment
enlisted May 3, 1775; was in Capt. Josiah White's
company Lt. Col. Benjamin Flagg's division, Col.
bamuel Denny s regiment. 1777, and in Capt. David
Prouty s company, September 25, 1777, which
marched to reinforce the Northern army. The chil
dren of John Draper: 1. Zenas, born May 31, 1772
married Jemima, daughter of Israel Allen. 2 Olive'
born January 30, 1774, married Elias Hatch, Novem
ber 10, 1791. 3. Sarah, born August 8, 1779, mar
ried Jacob Bisco (X), 1799. 4. Charles, married
I homas Loring, September 28, 1803. 5. Nancy born
October 28, 1783, married Samuel Gleason,' Feb
ruary 3, 1811. 6. Becca, born April 10, 1786, mar
ried January 18, 1817, Willard Prouty. 7. John,
born July 22, 1788, married Lavinia daughter of
Eh Prouty, December 4, 1817. 8. Rhoda, born July
10, 1791, married, 1817, Ebenezer Cogswell. 9. Elea
zer Bradshaw, born August 26, 1795, married, May
15, 1821, Louisa Prouty.
(VI) Sarah Draper (or Sally), daughter of John
Draper (6), born Spencer, Massachusetts, August
8, 1779, married, 1799, Jacob Bisco (X), grandfather
of Edward F. Bisco.
JONATHAN NELSON FLAGG. Thomas
Flagg (1), immigrant ancestor of Jonathan Nelson
Flagg, of Worcester, is the progenitor of all the
colonial families of this name in Massachusetts. He
was born doubtless in England, and came to America
in April, 1637, in the service of Richard Carver, of
Skratby, England, where Flagg may have come from
also. Flagg was twenty-one years old, hence his
year of birth was 1616. He settled at Watertown,
Massachusetts, and was yeoman, lieutenant, pro
prietor and town officer there arid selectman in 1671,
1674, 1675, 1676, and 1678. He lost his left eye by
a gunshort wound previous to 1659. He died Feb
ruary 6, 1697-8. His will, dated March 5, 1697,
and proved February 16, 1697-8, bequeaths to wife
Mary; sons Michael, Thomas, Eleazer, Allen and
Benjamin; daughters Mary and Elizabeth Bigelow
and Rebecca Cooke; grandchildren John Flagg and
heirs of deceased son Gershom. The widow Mary,
born 1619, made will December 30, 1702, proved
April 21, 1703; names children Mary and Elizabeth
Bigelow ; Rebecca Cook and Benjamin Flagg. Chil
dren of Thomas and Mary Flagg. 1.' Gershom, born
April 16, 1641. 2. John, born June 14, 1643 ; died
February 6, 1696-7. 3. Bartholomew, born Febru
ary 23, 1644-5. 4- Thomas, born April 28, 1645.
5. Michael, born March 23, 1650-1 ; died October
16, 171 1 ; was one of the earliest proprietors of Wor
cester at the first attempt to settle. 6. Eleazer, born
May 14, 1653, ancestor of many Worcester county
families. 7. Elizabeth, born March 22, 1654-5 J died
August 9, 1729; married Joshua Bigelow, settler
at Worcester and Westminster. 8. Mary, born June
14, 1657; died September 7, 1720. 9. Rebecca, born

532

WORCESTER COUNTY

September 5, 1660; married Deacon Stephen Cook.
10. Benjamin, mentioned below. 11. Allen, born
May 16, 1665; died November 17, 1711.
(II) Benjamin Flagg, son of Thomas Flagg (1),
was born June 25, 1662. He removed to Worcester
and settled there as one of the early proprietors,
was admitted a freeman April 19, 1690, and died
there May 3, 1741. He married, September 26, 1690,
Experience, daughter of Richard Child, of Water-
town. She died at Worcester, 1747. Children of
Benjamin Flagg and wife Experience: 1. Benjamin,
born August 25, 1691 ; died at Worcester June 12,
1 751; selectman, captain, sheriff. 2. Experience, born
May 5, 1693; married, October 26, 1713, Caleb Ball,
of Concord. 3. Abigail, born April 16, 1694-5. 4-
Bartholomew, born November 16, 1697, mariner of
Bristol. 5. Elizabeth, born December 28, 1699 ; mar
ried Peter King. 6. Gershom, mentioned below. 7.
Mary, baptized April 9, 1704. 8. Ebenezer, born Jan
uary 21, 1705-6. 9. Richard, born May 30, 1708;
lieutenant Holden company, died November 12, 1799,
aged ninety-two years; he settled in Holden, and his
son was Colonel Samuel, who was selectman of
Worcester i7go-i8o8;_ owned 240 acres on Green
street. (Ill) Gershom Flagg, son of Benjamin . Flagg
(2), born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July 11,1702,
removed to Worcester with his father and settled
in the adjoining town of Shrewsbury. He had lot
No. 36 in Shrewsbury in 1729. He married Han
nah, daughter of Captain John Keyes, January 6,
1725. Their children, all born in Shrewsbury, were:
1. Persis, born June 8, 1726. 2. Stephen, mentioned
below. 3. Jotham, born July 30, 1730; married Re
becca Kendall. 4. Solomon, born March .6, 1733. 5.
Gershom, Jr., born January I, 1735. 6. Thankful,
born January 21, 1739.
(IV) Stephen Flagg, son of Gershom Flagg (3),
bora in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, July 22, 1728,
settled there and married, December 6, 1750, Judith,
daughter of Eleazer Taylor. She died in Boylston,
February 21, 1810, aged eighty years. Their chil
dren, all born at Shrewsbury, were : 1. John; Oc
tober 4, 1751. 2. Solomon, August 13, 1753, died
1756. 3. Stephen, March 23, 1755, died 1758. 4.
Judith, March 6, 1757; married 1777 Samuel An
drews. 5. Stephen, mentioned below. 6. John, De
cember 21, 1760; died January 30, 1785. 7. Solomon,
April 21, 1764; died July 5, 1810; married, October
17, 1789, Rebecca Dakin. 8. Benjamin, May 25,
1766. 9. Lucretia, June 2, 1768. 10. Gershom, Sep
tember 2, 1770.
(V) Stephen Flagg,, Jr, son of Stephen Flagg
(4), born June 8, 1759, at Shrewsbury, died at Boyls
ton, May 25, 1828, aged sixty-nine years. He settled
in Boylston, formerly Shrewsbury, North District.
He was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain Asa
Rice's company, Colonel Job Cushing's regiment, in
1777, at the Bennington Alarm; also in Captain
Joseph Warren's company, Lieutenant-Colonel
Wheelock's regiment, with the rank of corporal,
1777; also in Captain David Moore's company, Col
onel John Jacob's regiment, Light Infantry, in Rhode
Island campaign 1779.' He married Betsey  ,
who died April 1, 1838, aged seventy-seven years.
Their children were: 1. Abijah, mentioned below.
2. John, born May 9, 1790. 3. David, February 17,
1794. 4. Stephen, March 14, 1796; died August 30,
1849 at Boylston. 5. Mary (Polly), February 19,
1783; married  Gough, who was the father
of John B. Gough, the great temperance orator. 6.
Betty', March 17, 1787. 7. Sally, November 22, 1789.
8. D°lly> October 18. 1788. 9. Lydia, April 27, 1792,
married Benjamin Fassett.
(VI) Deacon Abijah Flagg, son of Stephen Flagg

(S), born in Boylston, Massachusetts, August 27,
1784, died there December, 1850. He was a farmer
througli his active life. A man of strong religious
views, he served the First Congregational Church at
Boylston as deacon. His farm is at present occu
pied by Montraville Flagg. In politics he was a
Whig. He trained with the militia company of
Boylston. He married Mary, born February 18, 1786,
died March 3, 1863, aged seventy-six years, daughter
of James Longley, a very prominent citizen, repre
sentative to general court thirteen years, town treas
urer, selectman eighteen years, and chairman of the
board thirteen years, assessor seventeen years and
chairman twelve, member of school committee, jus
tice of the peace (See Longley family). Children
of Deacon Abijah and Mary Flagg: I. William
Frederick, born at Boylston, April 2, 1808, and had
children : Sarah, Fanny, Edward. 2. Montraville,
born at Boylston, January 31, 1810; died February
17, 1888; married Parney Houghton, of Boylston.
3. Nahum, mentioned below. 4. John Dexter, born
August 3, 1815; married Elizabeth Davenport; chil
dren — John Nathaniel; George Abijah; Estella V.;
Harriet E. ; Mary Maria. 5. Mary, married 
Stewart. 6. Israel, died aged eighteen years.
(VII) Nahum Flagg, son of Deacon Abijah
Flagg (6), was born at Boylston, Massachusetts, July
15, 1811, and died April I, 1862. He was educated
in the common schools of his native town and began
life on his father's farm. He followed farming
through his active life on the part of the homestead
which he inherited. He purchased large tracts of
woodland which he cut off at various times and sold
to good advantage. The farm was divided before
the father's death ^between Nahum and his brother
Montraville, each working his part separately. He
was a member of the Boylston Congregational
church, and served on the parish committee. In
politics he was a Republican. He served the town
as highway surveyor. In early life he was in the
militia. He married, at Worcester, Hannah Brackett
Nelson, born June 13, 1812, daughter of Jonathan
and Hannah (Nelstyi) Nelson, of Upton, Massa
chusetts. Their children: 1. Jonathan Nelson, born
May 3, 1840, mentioned below. 2. Emma Elizabeth,
born September 27, 1842.
(VIII) Jonathan Nelson Flagg, son of Nahum
Flagg (7), was born at Boylston, May 3, 1840. He
was educated in the common schools of that town
and at the Worcester Academy. He then taught
school at Lonsdale, Rhode Island, for two winters,-
working at home on his father's farm in the sum
mers. In i860 and 1861 he taught school at Rut
land, Massachusetts, and later at Boylston until he
was twenty-six years old. After his father's death
he carried -on the homestead until 1867, when he
sold it. He bought another farm at West Boylston
and conducted it two years. August 23, 1870, he
entered the employ of the United States and Canada
Express Company at Worcester as messenger, a
position that he filled for seventeen years. In
July, 1887, he accepted the position of janitor of the
Worcester County Mechanics' Association in charge
of Mechanics' Hall, Worcester, and has filled that
position to the present time. He is a member of
Central Congregational Church, Worcester. In poli
tics he is a Republican, and has frequently been
elected delegate to various nominating conventions.
He was collector of taxes in Boylston two years,
and member of the school committee there for five
years. He is a member of Worcester Lodge, No. 56,
I. O. O. F, and of Wachusett Encamp
ment, No. 10, of which he has been an of
ficer; and of the Worcester County Mechan
ics' Association. He married first, September

WORCESTER COUNTY

533

7, 1867, M. Edna Andrews, born in Boylston,
July 7, 1842, daughter of Robert and Martha
(Toombs) Andrews. Her father was a farmer. He
married (second) June 4, 1879, Anna Belle, daughter
of John and Olive (Hobbs) Drew, of Somersworth,
New Hampshire. Fler father was a foreman in
machine works there, and later at the navy yard at
Porthmouth, New Hampshire. Children of Jona
than Nelson and M. Edna Flagg: 1. Robert Nelson,
born July 9, 1870. 2. Lucy Edna, August 16, 1871 ;
died March 20, 1872.
GEORGE A. FLAGG, of the same family, traces
his line to Benjamin Flagg (5), son of Stephen
Flagg (4), who was born May 25, 1766, at Shrews
bury, Massachusetts. He settled in the north pre
cinct of Shrewsbury, now Boylston. He married
August 26, 1787, Persis Dakin, at Boylston, and she
died March 24, 1848, aged seventy-nine years, at
Boylston. Their children were: Lucretia, born
November 24, 1787; Joseph, of whom later; Hepzi-
bah, December 13, 1791 ; Benjamin, January 2, 1794;
Judith, March 13, 1796; Levi, April 21, 1798; Seth,
July 15, 1800; Sally, February 19, 1803; Persis,
March 5, 1809.
(VI) Joseph Flagg, son of Benjamin Flagg (5),
was born at Boylston, Massachusetts, October 22,
1789. He settled in his native town and was a
farmer. He was a highly respected citizen. He
married Patty Hastings, December 26, 1815. Their
children, all born at Boylston, • were : Persis, De
cember 23, 1816 ; Levi Lincoln, of whom later ; Mary
Martha, March 23, 1820; Edward Whipple, June 7,
1822 ; Ezra Hastings, November I, 1823 ; Seth Alden,
December 22, 1825; Henry Martin, August 19, 1830;
Cleora Maria, August I, 1833.
(VII) Levi Lincoln Flagg, son of Joseph Flagg
(6), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, Septem
ber 20, 1818. He . attended the district schools of
his native town and of Shrewsbury and then went
to work in the good old way, as a farm hand. For
the first two years he worked for neighboring
farmers for the sum of eight dollars per month
with board. His next position brought him one hun
dred and sixty dollars per year. With money saved
by frugal management from this small income, he
bought the homestead of his father and thereafter
he divided his time between the farm and the live
stock business, in both of which he was successful
financially. He is living on his farm at Boylston,
at present, active in spite of his advanced age.
He is a Republican in politics and has always
been active in public affairs. He was assessor for
twenty-five years, representative to the general court
and for a period of thirty years was on the board
of selectmen of the town of Boylston, a remarkable
tribute on the part of his fellow-townsmen to his
ability and good judgment, such as few men in any
town of the Commonwealth have ever received. A
service of thirty years is sometimes found in the
offices of town clerk or town treasurer, but the in
stances of such long service asUhat of Mr. Flagg
in the office of selectman are very rare in the past
as well as in the present generation.
He married, 1847, Caroline Barnes, who died in
1872. Their children are: Elmer E, married Pres
ton P. Lane, and they have two children; Christo
pher L. ; Arthur, married Elizabeth Blackman, and
they have two children; Joseph Walter, married
Isabel Whitten; George A, of whom later; Alice
J. married George Hazzard, and died, leaving .four
children; Jennie L; Mary M, married Merritt
Stewart, and they have seven children.
(VIII) George A. Flagg, son of Levi Lincoln
^agg (7), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts,
June 14, 1855. He was educated in the public schools

of his native town. For three years he remained at
home after his schooling was ended and assisted his
father on the farm. Then he bought a farm in Boyls
ton and conducted it on his own account. In addi
tion to his farm he has dealt to a considerable ex
tent in cattle. He is counted among the most suc
cessful and prosperous farmers of the town.
Mr. Flagg has invested largely in local electric
railway companies, which have given such an enor
mous advance in the value of suburban farm prop
erty. In politics Mr. Flagg is a Republican and has
been honored by his fellow-citizens with many posi
tions of responsibilty and trust. He has served as
collector of taxes, assessor, and town treasurer of
Boylston. He and his family attend the Congre
gational church.
Mr. Flagg married, February 21, 1888, Mary L.
Bruseau, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Hawsville)
Bruseau, of Worcester. Their nine children are:
Mabel, born May 4, 1888; Levi Lincoln, April 16,
1890; Frank E., January 21, 1892; Caroline Eliza
beth, August 10, 1893, died December 1, 1900; Ger
trude Elizabeth, August 24, 1895; Augustus, July
21, 1897, died January 4, 1901 ; J. Walter, July 16,
1899 : George A, September 21, 1901 ; Henry M,
October 28, 1904.
JOHN NATHANIEL FLAGG, of the same fam
ily, is a son of John Dexter and Elizabeth (Daven
port) Flagg, the former of whom was born in Boyls
ton, August 3, 1815. Provided with a good educa
tion which was completed at Philips (Andover)
Academy, he adopted agricultural as an occupation
and followed it in Worcester, Westboro, Millsbury
and Spencer successively. John Dexter Flagg died
December 23, 1893. In early Hfe he was a member
of the state militia. Politically he acted with the
Republican party, but never aspired to office. He
was an active member of the Congregational church.
His wife, Elizabeth, who is also deceased, became
the mother of six children, namely : George A.,
Estelle V, Harriet E, Mary, Maria and John Na
thaniel, the principal subject of this sketch.
John Nathaniel Flagg was born in Boylston,
October 12, 1854. He pursued the primary branches
of his education in the public schools of his native
town, and completed his studies at a private school
in Boston. When a young man he engaged in team
ing, but subsequently turned his attention exclusively
to agriculture in Boylston, which he is now fol
lowing with profit. In politics he is a Republican
and has served with ability as road commissioner.
He is a member of the local grange, Patrons of
Husbandry. His religious affiliations are with the
Congregational church. Mr. Flagg married, Janu
ary 8, 1879, Abbie Frances Ball, daughter of James
Emerson Ball, a prosperous farmer of Boylston. Mr.
and Mrs. Flagg have no children.
FRANK EUGENE DUNTON, a manufacturer
of Spencer, Massachusetts, was there born August
28, 1846, a son of Warren Hamilton and Eliza
(Jones) Dunton, and grandson of Abner Dunton.
His grandfather, Abner Dunton, lived in Brookfield
for a number of years, and in March, ' 1807, was
united in marriage to Mary Dickerman, in. Boston,
Massachusetts. His son, Warren Hamilton Du.nton,
father of Frank E. Dunton, was born in Brookfield,
Massachusetts/December 11, 1820. He married Eliza
Jones (See Erastus Jones), of Spencert and their
children were: Henry Asa, born 1844, died in in
fancy; Frank Eugene, born 1846; Mary Lucy, born
1849, married Arthur M. Stone, of Worcester, Massa
chusetts, September 7, i86q; Angelina Powers, born
1853, died in infancy. Warren Hamilton Dunton
died'August 15, 1853, at the age of thirty-three years.

534

WORCESTER COUNTY

Frank E. Dunton, second son of Warren H. Dun
ton, acquired his early education in the common
schools of his native place, and later attended high
school. After leaving the school room, he learned
the boot manufacturing business with E. Jones &
Co:, and in 1867 in conjunction with D. A. Drury,
established a boot factory at Spencer in the old C.
& G. Watson shop under the firm name of D. A.
Drury & Co. This association continued for three
years, when Mr. Dunton sold his interest in the
business. He then entered the firm of E. Jones
& Company, then consisting of Erastus Jones, H.
P. Starr and F. E. Dunton. Since Mr. Starr's re-
tiracy from the firm in 1889 the business has been
conducted by Erastus Jones and F. E. Dunton.
Politically Mr. Dunton is a Republican, and in relig
ious affairs affiliates with the Congregational church,
of which he was treasurer for twenty-one years. He
was one of the founders of Spencer National Bank
and is one of its board of directors. He was in
strumental in establishing the Savings Bank and
kept its first set of books.
On June 20, 1871, Mr. Dunton married Jennie
L. Prouty, daughter of Isaac Prouty, (See Prouty
Family) and their children were : Lewis W, born
November 3, 1872, married, June 28, 1905, Grace D.
Taylor, of Rockland, Maine; Charles Erastus, born
December 25, 1876, married Cora M. Watson, of
Spencer, Massachusetts, October 11, 1898; (Mrs.
Cora (Watson) Dunton is a daughter of Frank
Boice Watson, who was a provision merchant of
Spencer, Massachusetts) ; Florence Prouty, born
September 14, 1880. Messrs. Lewis W. and Charles
Erastus Dunton are associated with the E. Jones
Co, of Spencer.
ABRAHAM CAPEN, for many years a well-
known merchant of Spencer, Massachusetts, was
born in South Spencer, November 20, 1825, son of
Abraham and Lydia (Mason) Capen, of Spencer,
and grandson of James Capen, a farmer of Spencer,
Massachusetts. His father, Abraham Capen, was
a farmer of Spencer; he married for his first wife,
Polly Hinds. After the decease of his first wife,
he married Anna Bemis, and their children were :
Alfred, Aurelia, Alonzo and Annie. Mrs. Capen
died, and Mr. Capen took for his third wife Lydia
Mason, of Spencer, and the following children were
bora: Abraham, Mary, Eliza, Ebenezer, James and
Susan. Abraham Capen, the eldest son of Abraham and
Lydia (Mason) Capen, was educated in the Pine
Wood school house of Spencer, and , after leaving
the school room worked first at farming, and then
entered into the meat business, in which occupation
he was engaged for twenty-three years. Then the
ice and coal business took up his attention for about
fifteen years, and he subsequently returned to farm
ing. _ Politically Mr. Capen affiliated with the Re
publican party, and he was a member of the board
of selectmen for ten years, also overseer of the poor.
He was a member of the Grange. In religious af
fairs he accorded with the Congregational faith.
Mr._ Capen married, September 18, 1859, Sarah
L. Craig, of Leicester, Massachusetts, the daughter
of Nathan and Dulcina (Huntington) Craig. The
following children were bora to Mr. and Mrs. Capen :
Wallace A, deceased ; Nathan Craig, 1861, super
intendent of streets of Spencer and also stock farmer
of Leicester; Stella Maria, deceased, married Benja
min Choate Richardson, of Vermont; Clarence A,
deceased. _ ERASTUS JONES. Lewis Jones (1), the im
migrant ancestor of Erastus Jones, of Spencer,

Massachusetts, came from England and settled in
Roxbury in New England before 1640. He was a
member of the church there in 1640. He lived in
Roxbury until about 1650, when he removed to
Watertown, where many of his descendants have
made their homes. He owned land near Fresh Pond
and in other parts of Watertown. He died April
11, 1684, and the inventory of his estate is dated
April 20, 1684. His will is dated January 7, 1678-9,
and was proved June 14, 1684. The children of
Lewis and Anna Jones were: Josiah, born 1643,
of whom later; Phebe, born at Roxbury, January
21, 1645, died there 1650; Lydia, married Jonathan
Whitney; Shubael, born July 1, 1651.
(II) Josiah Jones, son of Lewis Jones (1), was
born in 1643. He was admitted a freeman April 18,
1690. He settled in that part of Watertown now
Weston; was a charter member of the Weston
Church and was elected deacon January 4, 1709-10.
He was captain of one of the Watertown companies,
and about 1690 the town was divided into the dis
tricts of Weston, Watertown and Waltham, of which
the officers in command of the military companies
were respectively: Lieutenant Jones, Captain Gar
field and Captain Bond. Later Josiah Jones was
made captain. He was selectman of Watertown in
1685-86-87-90-1702 to 1709 inclusive. Among his
real estate was a farm of one hundred and twenty-
four acres purchased of John and Sarah Stone, sit
uated on the north ¦ side of the Sudbury highway,
about two miles from Sudbury. He died October,
1714. He married, October 2, 1667, Lydia Treadway,
who died September 17, 1743, aged ninety-four years.
Their children : Lydia, born August 25, 1668, mar
ried Nathaniel Coolidge; Josiah, bora October 20,
1670; Mary, born December 10, 1672; Nathaniel, of
whom later; Samuel, born July 9,, 1677, died January
17, 1717-8; James, born September 4, 1679; Sarah,
bora February 6, 1681, married John Warren; Anna,
born June 28, 1684, married Deacon Joseph Mixer;
John, born March 19, 1686-7 ; Isaac, baptized May
25, 1690, settled at Bolton, Connecticut.
(Ill) Nathaniel Jones, fourth child of Josiah
Jones (2), was born in Watertown, December 31,
1674. fie became a prominent citizen of Watertown,
was one of the first settlers of Worcester, and later
in life went to Falmouth, York county, Maine, and
settled there. He was a captain of the Weston
company. In 1719 he drew forty acres in the first
division and was one of the third and permanent
colony to settle Worcester. He was selectman of
Worcester in 1722-23, and representive to the general
court in 1727. He left Worcester about 1730 and
settled in Falmouth, now the state of Maine. He
was in Falmouth in 1731 when he deeded land in
Sutton, though in 1729 when he deeded land there
to his son, Nathaniel Jones, Jr, he was still of
Worcester. An extra grant of land on account of
an error in a previous grant was made to Captain
Nathaniel Jones in Worcester, March 17, 1735. Cap
tain Jones had land in Oxford which he sold in
1737. While in Worcester Captain Jones kept a
tavern on the road to Leicester, about a mile beyond
New Worcester, and for a century afterward it was
known as the Jones Tavern.
He married (first) Mary Cook, and they had
eleven children, five of whom were born in Worces
ter. He married (second) Marv Flagg, and had
three more children, the youngest of whom- was
born in Falmouth, Maine. He died in Falmouth,
November, 1745. The children of Nathaniel Jones
were: 1. Phinehas, born February 28, 1704-5, died
November 3, 1743; settled in Portland or Fal
mouth (?), had three daughters. 2. Nathaniel, of

^6U^t*^Qc?-7<^

WORCESTER COUNTY

535

whom later. 3. Stephen, born August 17, 1709, mar
ried, July 31, 1735, Lydia Jones; settled in Fal
mouth near his brother Phinehas; was captain of a
company in the Quebec expedition in 1746 and was
killed during an attack by the French January 7,
1746; he left two sons and two daughters. 4. Noah,
born November 26, 171 1, married Rebecca Hey
wood, ( ?) of Worcester. 5. Jonas, born .April 22,
1715, married, September 6, 1763. 6. Ichabod, bap
tized May 26, 1717, married  Coffin, of New
bury, Massachusetts, settled in Boston. . 7. Isaac,
born in Worcester, October 14, 1722, married a
Nantucket girl and died in the West Indies. 8.
Sarah. 9. Mary, bom August 16, 1719. 10. Eunice,
bom November 21, 1724 (twin). 11. Lucy, born No
vember 21, 1724 (twin). 12. Moses, had one daugh
ter. 13. Lydia. 14. Jabez, inherited the farm at
Falmouth, had three wives.
(IV) Nathaniel Jones, Jr, second child of Cap
tain Nathaniel Jones (3), was born April 5, 1707,
at Weston, Massachusetts. He lived in Sutton, Lei
cester and Charlton. He married, according to
Bond, four times, but the writer found records of
only three of the marriages. The first wife had
seven children, of whom Enos and Asa alone were
living at the time of the father's death in 1795. Na
thaniel was living in Leicester in 1742. In 1858 or
before he removed to the Country Gore as Charlton
was then called. He was, a Baptist and belonged to
the Sutton Baptist Church. He filed a certificate
with others at Charlton in 1761 to secure exemption
from paying rates for the support of the Charlton
church or parish. His third son, Daniel, was killed
by the French at the attack on Ticonderoga in
1758. The children of the first marriage were : 1.
Enos, born about 1730, perhaps in Sutton, married
Amplias ¦  before 1750, settled in Charlton.
2. Asa, born about 1735, married (intentions dated
November 6) 1762, Dorcas Wade, of Gloucester.
3. Daniel, killed in 1758 at Ticonderoga. Child of
Nathaniel and Hannah : 4. Mary, born at Leicester,
August 12, 1742, married in 1761, at Charlton, Dan
iel Streeter. No children recorded of Nathaniel
and Elizabeth Butler (intentions filed at Leicester;
both recordedas of the Country Gore). The children
of Nathaniel and Eleanor (Woodward) Jones. She
was of Newton, Massachusetts, intentions dated
April 10, 1758. 5. Eli, born June 5, 1759. 6. Han
nah, born September 28, 1760. 7. Phinehas, born
February 7, 1762, was a soldier in the revolution. 8.
Eleanor, born December 26, 1764. All the eight
children just named were mentioned in the will of
the father made in 1795, except Daniel, who was
deceased. (V) Eli Jones, son of Nathaniel Jones Jr, (4),
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, June 5, 1759.
, , He was a private in Captain Abijah Lamb's Charl
ton company, Colonel Jonathan Holman's regiment,
in 1776 and 1777. He settled at Charlton; married
there, April 21, 1786, Lydia Lamb, and died there
February 13, 1812. Lydia (Lamb) Jones died May
27, 1848. Their children: Dr. Asa, of whom later;
Eli, born April ,16 (1789; Susannah, January 20,
1792; Ebenezer, May 15, 1794; Lydia, May 21, 1796;
Erastus, March 31, 1800; Hannah, June 24,1806.
(VI) Dr. Asa Jones, eldest son of Eli Jones (5),
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, February 20,
1787. He studied medicine for a number of years
and settled in Spencer, where he practiced his pro
fession during all the active years of his life. He
was only forty-four years old when he died, October
22, 1831. He married, December 22, 1814, Lucy
Dunbar, the daughter of Thomas and Lucretia
(Smith) Dunbar, of Leicester; she died at Spencer,

July 27, 1844, aged fifty-four years. Their children :
Mary White, born September 9, 1817, at Spencer,
married Rev. Gideon Johnson, of Haverhill; Eliza,
born May 7, 1819, married Warren H. Dunton, May
9, 1844; Asa Thomas, born August 17, 1820, founder
of the shoe factory in Spencer; Erastus, of whom
later; Lucy Dunbar, born August 2, 1828.
(VII) Erastus Jones, fourth child of Dr. Asa
Jones (6), was born in Spencer, Massachusetts,
September 11, 1825. He was educated in the public
schools of Spencer, completing his course of study
at the high school. He spent several years in the
employ of his brother, Asa Thomas Jones, who was
a shoe manufacturer in Spencer. Asa T. Jones be
gan to make boo'ts and shoes in 1841 in the old Liver
more house at the corner of Main and North streets.
When Erastus was of age he was admitted to part
nership by his brother and the firm name became
A. T. & E. Jones. This partnership continued until
1862, when the senior member of the firm retired
and Hezekiah P. Starr was admitted. The style of
the firm then became E. Jones & Co, a name that
has been familiar to the shoe trade of the country
as well as to all the people of the vicinity for forty
years or more. The present Jones factory was
built in i860, but has been enlarged to several-
times its original capacity, and the firm has almost
constantly given employmet to several hundred
hands. The factory is a five-story structure, eighty
feet long, with two ells of like dimensions, and has a
capacity of more than twenty-five hundred pairs of
shoes a day. The firm has been very successful.
While all the latest machinery has been adopted and
advanced ideas in production sought for, the man
agement has avoided speculation and risks of all
kinds. Mr. Jones has been president of the Spencer Na
tional Bank since its organization in 1875, and for
about twenty-five years was the president, trustee
and member of the board of investment of the Spen
cer Savings Bank. He was town treasurer of
Spencer for a number of years and also town clerk.
In 1874 he was representative to the general court,
and in 1896-97 was state senator from the fourth
Worcester senatorial district. During his first term
in the senate he was on the committee on banks and
banking, and chairman of the joint standing com
mittee on liquor laws. During his second year he
was chairman of the committee on banks and bank
ing, also a member of the committee on taxation and
on printing. He is an earnest and consistent Repub
lican in politics.
Mr. Jones and his wife are members of the Con
gregational church of Spencer. The Spencer Sun
said of Mr. Jones not long ago: "Mr. Jones is a
man of marked characteristics, in both his business
and private life, and his generous disposition through
long years of intercourse has endeared him to his
business associates and numerous employees. They
have found him a man of few words, but yet enough
to convey an unmistakable meaning. He is quiet
to a fault, if that be possible; nevertheless there is
an energy in his quietness which has made his busi
ness life a success. * * * His life from the be
ginning of his business career has been one of un
tiring industry." Mr. Jones has been a generous
contributor to various charities and public objects.
He married, June 5, 1850, Mary I. Starr, daugh
ter of John B. H. Starr, of Thomaston, Maine. They
have four children : Lucy I, bora July 3, 1852, mar
ried Charles L. Kingsbury, of Boston, Massachu
setts; Julia F, born January 5, 1856; Mary P.,
born July 31, 1866, married, June 4, 1891, Albert
Sauveur, of Boston, a member of Harvard College
faculty; Everett Starr, of whom later.

53^

WORCESTER COUNTY

(VIII) Everett Starr Jones, youngest child of
Erastus Jones (7), was born in Spencer, Massachu
setts, November 28, 1864. He was graduated at
Harvard University in the class of 1890. He was
employed actively for several years in the factory
of his father's firm and became the general superin
tendent of the factory. For about two years he
was with the American Ballot Company, engaged in
the manufacture of election apparatus. In the spring
of 1897 he left this company and in the fall sailed
for Germany, spending a year and a half at the
universities of Leipsic and Berlin. Upon his return
he accepted a position as teacher of German in the
Providence Classical high school. In the fall of
1899 he was appointed an instructor in the depart
ment of modern languages at Tome Institute, Port
Deposit, Maryland, where he has ever since been
engaged. ' Iii ¦
He married, July 8, 1897, Anna Arnold Hunt, of
Boston. They have three children: David Everett,
born in Charlottenburg, Germany, November 12,
1898; Sheldon Starr Jones, born at Fort Deposit,
Maryland, June 2, 1900; Erastus, bom 1905.
LONGLEY FAMILY. John Longley (1), father
of the immigrant ancestor of the Longley family of
Shirley, Massachusetts, and of Charles I. Longley,
of Boyiston, was a resident of Frisby, Lincoln coun
ty, England. He was a clerk. Shortly after his
son and heir William went to America, John Long-
ley died, and August 8, 1638, William, his son, made
a letter of attorney (power of attorney) to Thomas
Meeke, of Wynflete, St. Mary, Lincoln county, to
sell and rent lands, goods and legacies descended to
him from his father. Owing to an error in the rec
ords at Lynn in the. name of William when his
land was granted to him, Savage and others were
led to believe that Richard Longley was the father
of William. It is doubtful if any Richard Longley
ever, lived in Lynn in the early days. If so, Will
iam knew him not. William seems to be the only
son who emigrated to America.
(II) William Longley, son of John Longley
(1), was born in Frisbie, Lincoln county, England,
in 1614. He came to Lynn as early as 1638, and was
admitted a freeman March 4, 1639. He resided in
Lynn twenty-two years, and was a prominent citizen
and office holder there. He removed to Groton
about 1659. His name appears first on the Groton
records in 1663, arid in 1065 he was elected select
man. William Longley had to go to the courts to
correct the title to his lands at Lynn, which he drew
in 1638, and on which he had lived over twenty
years. It seems that through a clerical error Will
iam's name was entered as Richard Longley on the
proprietors' book, and the court records give ample
proof that no Richard Longley existed, so the title
was cured and doubtless William was able to deed
his land to the purchaser when he went to Groton
to live. He had to leave Groton, of course, in
1675, on account of King Philip's war, and he went
to Charlestown to live during the hostilities. He
served at one time as clerk of writs, indicating that
he was well educated. He died November 29, 1680.
His will, made November 3, 1680, was recorded
April 10, 1681 ; bequeathing to wife Joanna, sons
John and William, daughters, Mary Lemmond, Han
nah Tarbell, Lydia Nutting, and Sarah Rand, and
their children specified.
He married, in England, Joanna Goffe, sister of
Thomas Goffe, who was deputy governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Company that received a grant
from the Crown, March 19, 1628. Goffe was a mem
ber of both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay com
panies; was a merchant of London; lost money on

the business of chartering ships for the colonists
of Governor Winthrop and others. His widow mar
ried (second), Benjamin Crispe, and she died in
1698. The children of William and Joanna (Goffe)
Longley were: 1. John. 2. Mary, married, 1666,
Samuel M. Lemont. 3. Sarah, born October 15,
1660; married June 17, 1679, Thomas Rand, father
of Robert Rand, to whom a grant of a thousand
acres of land was given by the general court in
what is now New Hampshire, on account of the
losses suffered by Governor Goffe, his great-uncle.
4. Lydia, married James Nutting. 5. William, Jr,
mentioned below. 6. Hannah, married Thomas
Tarbell, Jr. 7. Ann. 8. Elizabeth, married James
Blood. (Ill) William Longley, Jr, son of William
Longley (2), was born about 1640, at Lynn, Massa
chusetts, and removed with his father to Groton
in 1661, or earlier. He was well educated, and stood
well among his townsmen. He was tpwn clerk from
1666 to the time of his death in 1694, when he and
his family were victims of an Indian raid. All were
slain except three of the children, who were carried
into captivity. The house was rifled and burned.
Near where it stood the mutilated bodies were
buried by the neighbors and the spot marked by a
small stone. A few -years ago a more suitable monu
ment was erected to mark the site of the massacre
and locate the graves of the victims. It is said in
Butler's History that the daughter Jemima, who had
been tomahawked and scalped with the others, was
found alive sitting upon a rock, that she recovered,
married and raised a family. Those who were
captured were : Betty, Lydia and John. Betty died
of starvation. Lydia was sold to the French in
Canada, became a Catholic, entered a convent and
became very zealous and bigoted. She wrote letters
to her brother John, expressing her sorrow that he
should remain under the influence of a heretical
faith through which none could attain salvation.
John, who was about twelve years old when he was
captured, told the Indians that his father's sheep
were shut up in a barn and would starve unless
they would permit him to go back and let them out.
He promised to return if they would let him go
back,; they consented and he kept his word and ap
parently won their admiration and confidence at the
same time. He made the best of his predicament
and often said in after years that he liked the wild
life he led among them and hoped he should never
have to return to civilization. And when the gov
ernment finally ransomed him after five years, he
had to be taken with force. But soon after his re
turn to Groton he entered upon his duties as a
citizen with interest and zeal. He was well edu
cated and a man of uncommon ability.
William Longley, Jr, married Lydia  . He
married (second), May 15, 1672, Deliverance Pease.
His children: Betty, died in captivity; Jemima,
scalped, but lived; Lydia, the nun; William, born
February 17, 1675; John, mentioned above and also
below; Joseph, born January 6, 1687.
(IV) John Longley, son of William Longley,
Jr-, (3). was born in 1683, at Groton, Massachu
setts. He was captured by the Indians, July 27,
1694, and lived with them until ransomed in 1699,
After he was brought back by force and educated,
he became a leading citizen. He was town clerk
six years, deacon of the church 'from 1722 to the
time of his death, 1750; town treasurer and parish
treasurer and deputy to the general court, for three
terms. He was called a good man and an exemplary
Christian. He died May 25, 1750, aged sixty-seven
years. He married (first) Sarah Prescott, of. Gro
ton, who died March 8, 1718. He married (second)

WORCESTER COUNTY

537

about 1720, Deborah Houghton, who died November
j, 1763. His first wife was a sister of Hon. Ben
jamin Prescott, father of Colonel William Prescott,
of Bunker Hill fame, of Colonel James and of Dr.
Oliver Prescott, of Groton. The children of John
and Sarah were: Sarah, born March 28, 1706;
William, February 13, 1708; John, January 6, 1710;
Jonas, January 22, 1712; Lydia, June 26, 1716, mar
ried Amos Farnsworth. Among the children of
John and Deborah Longley were : Zachary, born
August 30, 1721; Joseph, September 12, 1724, died
of wounds in the revolutionary army at Greenbush,
New York, 1758; Jonathan, November 18, 1726;
Zachariah, June 7, 1729; Nathaniel, September 6,
1731; Rohert, March 11, 1733-4.
(V) William Longley, son of John Longley
(4), was born in Groton, Massachusetts, February
7, 1708. He settled in what is now the South Vil
lage of Groton, and his house was on the north side
of the Catacunemaug on the side of the hill about
half way between the river and the present location
of the Fitchburg Railroad. He and Samuel Hazen
built the first grist mill in Shirley, and later added
a saw mill. The mills tood on the north side of the
river. His brothers Jonas and William also settled
in what is now the town of Shirley, then Groton,
in 1751, thirty years after the first settlement there,
and two years before it was incorporated as a dis
trict of Groton. The Shirley history contains an
interesting account of the removal of the three Long-
ley families through the wilderness to their new
homes in Shirley. The trip took three days, though
only about ten miles as the crow flies. William
Longley died at Shirley, May 15, 1788. He married,
January 4, 1734, Mary Parker, of Groton. Their
children were: 1. William, bom at Groton, died
young. 2. Mary, born at Groton, October 13,
1736, died in 1749. 3. William, born at Groton,
May '23, 1738; was a miller; left numerous de
scendants in Shirley. 4. Sarah, born at Groton,
February 18, 1740; married (first) James Willard,"
(second) a Mr. Hall, of Swansea. 5. Anna, born at
Groton, March 10, 1742; married Samuel Bartlett.
¦6. Lydia, born at Groton, December 31, 1743; mar
ried Thomas Bennett, of Lancaster. 7. Israel, born
at Groton, October 12, 1745, progenitor through his
son Israel, of a large family of the name in Nova
Scotia and vicinity. 8. Nehemiah, bom at Groton,
September 4, 1747; married Miriam Sawtell, of
Shirley. 9. Mary, born at Groton, November 4,
1749; married John Priest, of Lancaster. 10. Joshua,
born at Groton, July 23, 175 1 ; married Bridget Mel
vin, of Concord. 11. James, mentioned below. 12.
Abigail, born at Shirley, December I, 1755; died
October, 1758.
. (VI) James Longley, son of William Longley
(5), was bom at Shirley, Massachusetts, November
A, 1753. He married Molly Bartlett, of Northbor-
¦qugh, who died August 27, 1831. He resided in
Boylston during his active life, and died there Jan
uary 14, 1837. He had to begin early in life to
earn his own living. He was bound out to Samuel
Gamble, of Northborough, a carpenter by trade,
and received rather shabby treatment that would
not be allowed under modern conditions. The boy
was not properly fed nor clothed, and received no
schooling. He completed his apprenticeship accord
ing to the terms of his father's agreement. As soon
as he became of age he obtained work in a hotel at
Northboro and arranged with a private teacher to
assist him in acquiring a knowledge of the alphabet
and the first principles of education. He learned
rapidly and soon mastered all that was taught in his
day in the public schools. He was a student all his
life. He became captain of the military company.

He was for nearly half a century a justice of the
peace, an office that formerly possessed the import
ance of local magistrate. For many years he was
assessor and selectman and deputy to the general
court. He was a soldier in the revoluion. First he
served as mariner under Commodore Moody, and
made several successful cruises. He afterward
joined the land forces, and was with the army under
General Sullivan in the famous retreat after the
Battle of Long Island. He was in the campaign that
ended with the surrender of General Burgoyne. He
settled in Boylston, Massachusetts, shortly before
the end of the war. During his declining years he
enjoyed a pension. He was loyal to the new govern
ment at the time of Shay's Rebellion, and held a com
mission for its suppression. He was in that night
march from Hadley to Petersham through a blinding
storm of snow.
The children of James and Molly Longley were :
1. Otis, born December 8, 1784, married Lydia
Patch, of Worcester; had six children, all bora in
Boylston. 2. Mary, horn in Boylston, February 18,
1786; married, February 18, 1808, Deacon Abijah
Flagg, who died December 22, 1850; they had seven
children. 3. Jonas, born November 11, 1787; married,
December 22, 1812, Susan Smith, of Northboro;
he died at Westborough, January 31, 1866; they had
four children. 4. Jonathan, born June 21, 1789;
graduate of Harvard, a preacher of distinction;
never married; died January 26, 1850. 5. James,
born June 22, 1791, died June 10, 1793. 6. Israel,
born November 21, 1792, died June 6, 1793. 7.
James, born September 3, 1794; married Sally Eu's-
tice, of Boston, July 3, 1838; he was an alderman
of Boston. 8. Israel, horn November 8, 1795, died
November 30, 1812. 9. Betsey, born May 28, 1799;
married Daniel Barnes, of Berlin; they had ten
children, all born in Boylston. 10. Parker, men
tioned below. 11. Lois, born May 26, 1805; mar
ried, April 29, 1829, Joseph Dudley.
(VII) Parker Longley, son of James Longley
(6), was bora in Shirley, November 22, 1800. He
married, April 3, 1832, Lydia D. Green, of North
boro. He was never possessed of firm health, and
was obliged to go abroad in his youth, foljowing
the sea for a number of years and visiting Nova
Scotia, where he had relatives, and various other
places. He was a man of kindly and generous na
ture, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him.
He followed farming through life. In politics he
was a Whig, and in his last years a Republican.
He attended the Congregational church. His wife,
Lydia Davis, the daughter cf Aaron and Lydia
(Goddard) Green, of Northboro, died at Boylston,
October 9, 1877. Their children were: 1. Edwin,
born October 3, 1833, died October 17, 1833. 2. Ed
win Franklin, born August 29, 1834; married Emily
Stephenson, of Northboro, January 19, 1856. They
have three children: Nellie Anna, born September
4, 1857; Edwin Franklin, born November 19, 1858,
died February 17, 1859; Charles Herbert, born De
cember 28, i860. 3. Charles Israel, mentioned be
low. 4. Asahel Parker, born November 11, 1840,
resided at Marlborough.
(VIII) Charles Israel Longley, son of Parker
Longley (7), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts,
April 12, 1837, and was educated there in the public
schools. He went to work first for his brother, Ed
win F. Longley, Marlboro, who was a large manu
facturer of boots and shoes, later of shoe boxes.
After four years! in this business, he returned to
Boylston, purchased the interests of his brothers in
the homestead, and conducted it the rest of his life.
He took a lively interest in public affairs. He was
a Republican in politics, and active m the party or-

538

WORCESTER COUNTY

ganization, serving frequently as delegate to sen
atorial and other conventions. He was for seven
years on the board of assessors, and for two years
collector of taxes. He was one of the trustees and
clerk of the Boylston Social Library for nearly
twenty years, and was among those who helped or
ganized "and promote the Boylston Public Library
which was the successor of the Social Library,, and
he was on the first board of trustees. In his early
days he was a member of the militia company. He
was an active member o* the Congregational church,
and served on the Parish Committee. He was in
terested in music and had a well trained voice. For
many years he was the leader of the church choir.
Few men in Boylston had a larger sphere of influ
ence in his day, and none, was more highly respected
and loved than Mr. Longley. He died September 5,
1900, having been an invalid fqr eighteen years pre
vious to his death.
Mr. Longley married, June 4, 1864, Olive Esther
Stratton, daughter of Jonathan and Laura (Wick-
wire) Stratton, born October 12, 1840. Her father
was a farmer and wheelwright. Their children, all
born in Boylston, were : 1. George Henry, horn
February 5, 1867; married Lena W'alker, of Boyls
ton, and has one . child— Harriet Walker, born Sep
tember 7, 1903. 2. Walter Stratton, born September
29, 1870; married Jennie B. Lancourt, of Worcester,
•and has one child, Henry Wright, bora September 2,
1900. 3. Levi Parker, born January .5, 1873; mar
ried Sallie N. Miller, of Hagerstown, Maryland,
and has one child, Bertha Miller, born September
9, 1902. 4. Charles Frederick, born February 12,
1876. 5. James Edwin, born .February 22, 1880.
WALTER EVERETT MYRICK, of Spencer,
Massachusetts, was. born March 26, 1872, the son
of Charles Willis and Catherine (Woodhead) My
rick, and grandson of Nathaniel Myrick, who was
born in East Dennis, but lived in Spencer the
greater part of his life, engaged in the wire manu
facturing business,, one of the leading industries, of
Spencer, of which he was one of the .founders in con
junction with Richard Sugden. W. E. Myrick' s
father, .Charles Willis Myrick, was a boot and shoe
manufacturer of . Spencer, Massachusetts,, with Ed
ward Kent, under the firm name of Kent & Myrick,
and his wife, Catherine Woodhead, was a native of
England. Walter E. Myrick received, his early education
in the common schools of his native place, and later
attended high school, thus acquiring a good, general
English education.' After leaving school he first
engaged in the cranberry business for four years,
and later for about eighteen months he was en
gaged in boot and shoe manufacturing business, as
stockholder of the Tyler Moulton Shoe Company.
of Brookfield. He subsequently returned to the
cranberry business, in which he is at present en
gaged, conducting a profitable and extensive busi
ness, and is the owner of bogs in Wareham and
Carver in the cape. He holds the offices of presi
dent and manager of the Chandler Bog Company
and the Myrick Bog Company, both bf Plymouth
county. Mr. Myrick's political sympathies lie with
the Republican party, and he is a member of Spencer
Lodge, F. and A. M, Worcester Chapter, R. A. M,
and I. O. 0. F. In religious affairs he accords with
the Universalist faith.
Mr. Myrick married Fanny Chandler Packard,
of Wareham, Massachusetts, the daughter of Free
man G. Packard, a wheelwright, and Sarah Abby
Packard. Nathaniel W, a younger son of the late
Charles Willis Myrick, married Helen Fairchild, of

Los Angeles, California, where Mr. Myrick is treas
urer of Consolidated Iron and Pipe Company.-
FRANK ADAMS DRURY, a. member of the
banking firm of Drury & Bonney, of Worcester, and
also actively interested and identified with other
financial enterprises, was born in Spencer, Worces
ter county, Massachusetts, July 12, 1868, a son of
Franklin and Caroline H. (Bemis) Drury, grand
son of  Drury, of Spencer, a prosperous
farmer, and great-grandson of  Drury, who
located in Spencer from Boston early in the eight
eenth century. Franklin Drury (father) was a boot
manufacturer of Spencer, and he and his wife were
the parents of four children : ¦ Angenette, wife of Ed
ward G. Desoe, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and
mother of two children : Roland and Harold ; Carrie,
wife of Abner C. Clark, of Spencer, and mother of
three children : Edith, Mabel, and Earle; Sadie, wife
of A. G. Lamb, of Worceser, and mother of two
children: Miriam and Gladys; and Frank Adams
Drury. In 1884, after, completing a common and high
school education, Frank Drury became con
nected with the Spencer National Bank, assumed the
position of cashier in 1889 and held the same until
his resignation in 1901. He then came to Worcester
and engaged in the banking business under the
name of Drury & Bonney, which has continued to
the present time (1906). He was largely instru
mental in the organization of the Merchants' Na
tional Bank of Worcester, and is a director and ,
vice-president of the Spencer National Bank. He
holds membership in the Worcester, Commonwealth
and Congregational Clubs. He gives his political
support to the candidates of the Republican party,
the principles of which he firmly believes to be for
the best form of government.
Mr. Drury married, June 4, 1891, Ellen S. Prouty,
daughter of Lewis Prouty, a boot manufacturer,
who was a son of Isaac Prouty, of Spencer. (See
Prouty family). They are the parents of one
child : ' Percival Prouty Drury, born August 9, 1895.
Mr. and Mrs. Drury are members of Plymouth Con
gregational Church of Worcester.
ARTHUR NEWTON BOOTH. Edward Booth
(1), the great-grandfather of Arthur Newton Booth,
of Worcester, was born in England, about 1775. He
came to America when a young man and settled in
Otter Creek,. Wallingford, Vermont. He married
 Hill. He was a farmer. He met his death
accidentally about 1812 from the overturning of a
wagon in which he was riding. After his death his
widow and family removed to Potsdam, New York,
and later to Parishville, New York. His children,
all born in Wallingford, Vermont, were: Ludwick,
who was a shoemaker by trade; Norman, who was
a tanner; Edward Skinner, see forward; Lavina,
married Ira Sayles, a farmer.
(II) Edward Skinner Booth, son of Edward
Booth (1), was born about 1808, in Otter Creek,
Wallingford, Vermont. He settled in Parishville,
New York, and was a prosperous farmer there.
Among his children was John Hill Booth, of Wor
cester, see forward.
(Ill) John Hill Booth, son of Edward Skinner
Booth (2), was born in Parishville, New York,
January 16, 1839. He attended school there and
then learned the trade of painter. At the age of
twenty-three, August 18, 1862, he enlisted in Com
pany A, Fifty-third Massachusetts Regiment, and
served one year. He was in the battle of Port Hud
son and at Fort Bisland in Louisiana. Returning

^2

The Lswis PuhTis'hvn.q..Co.

WORCESTER COUNTY

539

from his service in the civil war, Mr. Booth went
to Illinois and later to Michigan, where he engaged
in farming. He returned after a time to New York,
however, and worked at his trade of house paint
ing in HornellsviUe. He removed to Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, where he worked at his trade. He
was also employed at Lowell for a time. Fie came
to Worcester, May 30, 1887, and was soon afterward
appointed night janitor of the old city hall. When
the new city hall was built he retained his position
and holds it at the present time. He is a member
of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army, the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Victor Lodge,
and a member of the Laurel Street Methodist
Church. He married (first) Charlotte Sophia May, daugh
ter of Nathan and Sophia Powers May, of Sterling,
Massachusetts, and they had one child. lie mar
ried (second), March 6, 1865, Maria Lucy Parks,
daughter of Aaron Parks. Her parents were both
born in Vermont. He married (third) Semira Au
gusta Wheeler, daughter of Lorenzo and Jane
(Spofford) Wheeler. There were three children by
1 the second wife, none by the third.
The only child of John Flill and- Charlotte Sophia
May Booth, Jennie L, died in infancy. The chil
dren of John Hill and Maria Lucy Booth were :
Lottie May, died in infancy; Yolney Harvey, born
August 23, 1867, married Nora Moore, resides in
Springfield, Massachusetts ; Arthur Newton, see for
ward; Clayton O, born November 25, 1872, died
July 26, 1890.
(IV) Arthur Newton Booth, son of John Hill
Booth (3), was born in Gardner, Illinois, June 5,
1869. He attended the public schools at Hornells
viUe, New York; Fitchburg and Worcester, Massa
cliusetts. After completing his education he began
to learn the carpenter's trade under M. L. Hall,
for whom he worked three years; then for about
seven years for Charles A. Vaughan, the builder
and contractor, becoming foreman for Mr. Vaughan
on important and difficult work. In 1896 he started
in business for himself, and achieved success from
the first. He is known as one of the most reliable
and responsible builders in the city, with a thor
ough practical knowledge of his business. As a
workman is known by his chips, the following build
ings among those Mr. Booth built in the past ten
years testify to his skill and ability as a builder:
The residence of Frank L. Coes, Coes Square; N.
S, Liscomb, a large double house, the first built on
the Merrifield estate; Thomas Brown's, Germain
street; Edwain Hall's, Oberlin street; Edward Mc-
Cabe's, and J. F. Healy's, Forrest street; Arthur
Ballard's; Louis E. Booth's, Dean street, near High
land; Deacon H. H. Merriam's at Shrewsbury. Mr.
Booth built the handsome residence, 18 Schussler
road, in which he lives. He has had the contracts
for many of tlie tenement houses in Worcester. He
built school houses at Northville and Trowbridge
ville for the city and the Highland Street Church
of Christ. Mr. Booth has a wood- working shop at
51 Hermon street, where he gets out his own finish
and cabinet work. He is a member of Worcester
Lodge of Odd Fellows, of Wachusetts Encampment,
Canton, Worcester, No. 3, Athelstan Lodge of Free
Masons and Eureka Royal Arch Chapter.
He married, November 25, 1891, Annie T. Hol
land, daughter of Thomas and Ellen (Curran)
Holland, Her father was born in England and her
mother in Ireland. Tlieir children are: Clayton
Thomas, died young; Ethel May, bom May 11,
1S93; Mildred Evelyn, born February 14, 1896.

HEZEKIAH PRINCE STARR, who is now
leading a retired life at his home in Spencer, sur
rounded with peace and plenty, and realizing to the
full that there is no reward so satisfactory as the
consciousness of a life well spent, was bom in
Thomaston, Maine, January 14, 1832, a son of John
Bentley and Isabella (Prince) Starr, of Thomas
ton, Maine, and grandson of Richard Starr, a Bap
tist minister of Maine. The family of which Heze
kiah P. Starr is a member consists of two other
children : John B, and Mary Isabella, wife of Eras
tus Jones, of Spencer, whose personal history and
genealogy are contained in this publication.
The educational advantages enjoyed by Hezekiah
P. Starr were obtained in the common schools of
Thoinaston, Maine, and the grammar school at
Bath, Maine, lie then served an apprenticeship at
the trade of tin and sheet iron worker, which line
of business he continued for five years. In 1854 he
located in Spencer, where in the following year he
entered the employ of A. T. and E. Jones, boot and
shoe manufacturers, with whom he continued to be
associated up to 1862, when the senior member of
the firm retired from the company and Mr. Starr
became a member of the company thereafter known
as E, Jones & Co. Mr. Starr retired from business
in 1888. Mr. Starr was one of the founders of
Spencer Savings Bank and also one of its board of
trustees. A Republican politically he served as
member of board of selectmen, and in earlier years
was especially actively interested in Spencer's fire
department. Fie was a member of Commonwealth
Club, of Worcester, Massacliusetts.
In January, 1857, Mr. Starr married Ellen Smith
Prouty, daughter of Isaac Prouty, who died January
7, i860. One child was the issue of this union :
Ellen Prouty Starr, born January 4, 1858, died May
22, 1898; she was the wife of Chester T. Linley, and
mother of three children : Helen Frances, bom May
2, 1890; Isabella Prince, born November 1, 1892;
and Richard Starr, born "October 26, 1896. On April
23, 1807, Mr. Starr married Ellen E. Lamson, of
Worcester, daughter of Eli B. Lamson, and her
death occurred March 22, 1894. The children of this
marriage are as follows : Sarah Lamson, born Jan
uary 31, 1868, died January 15, igoo; she became
the wife of Ralph B. Stone, of Spencer, April 23,
1891, and their children were : Gerald Starr, born
March 9, 1897; and Marjorie Adele, born February
14, 1899, Erastus Jones Starr, born December 19,
1869, married, August 1, 1893, Flora Elizabeth Bemis,
of Spencer, and their children are: Conant Lam
son, born February 16, 1895; Ellen Bemis, born
August 2, 1896; and Hezekiah Prince, born July 27,
1899. BOND FAMILY. Jonas Bond (1), progenitor
of the Bond family of Worcester county, Massachu
setts, lived in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk county,
England. He moved there about 1590, after the
birth of his second child, and was buried there
August 5, 1601. He belongs to an ancient English
family. He married Rose WTood and their children
were: I. Oliver. 2. John, elder of the name, two
being given the same name, both living. 3. John,
the younger, baptized December 26, 1591; married,
June 28, 1612, Lydia Tixtott, and had eight chil
dren. 4. Bartholomew, born in Bury St. Edmunds,
mentioned in father's will. 5- William, baptized De
cember 28, 1595. 6. Thomas, baptized September
8 1597; maltster, of Bury St. Edmunds. 7- Eliza
beth, baptized March 12, 1599; married (second),
February 8, 1625. Deacon Ephraim Child, of Water-

54o

WORCESTER COUNTY

town, Massachusetts. 8. Margaret, baptized Decem
ber io, 1600.
(II) Thomas Bond, son of Jonas Bond (1), was
family and resided in the Plymouth colonv
born in Bury St. Edmunds, England, 1597, and bap
tized September 8, 1597. He settled there, married
and had children : 1. Thomas, baptized September
22, 1622. -2. John, baptized February 5, 1624. 3.
William, mentioned below. 4. Henry, baptized April
5, 1628. 5. Elizabeth, baptized March 12, 1630. 6.
Thomas, baptized May 31, 1632. 7. Mary, baptized
January 31, 1636. 8. Jonas, baptized August 5, 1638,
grocer at Bury St. Edmunds.
(Ill) William Bond, son of Thomas Bond (2),
was the immigrant ancestor. He was born at Bury
St. Edmunds, 1625, and baptized there September
3, 1625. He probably came to New England in 1630
with Deacon Ephraim Child, whose wife Elizabeth
was sister of Bond's father. He settled on what is
lately known as John P. Cushing's place, in Water-
town, and was an ancestor of the historian, Dr.
Bond. William Bond became one of the foremost
men of his day; was town clerk, justice of the peace,
captain of the Watertown military company; on the
council of safety in 1689 ; was a deputy to the general
court; first speaker under the new charter uniting
Plymouth with Massachusetts Bay Colony, and pre
sided in 1691, 1693 and 1695. He was admitted a
freeman 1682, and joined the church in full com
munion March 27, 1687. He served with Captain
Prentice and Deacon John Stone on the committee
to rebuild Lancaster after King Philip's war. He
died December 14, 1695.' An agreement for the di
vision of his estate was made January 23d following
between sons William, Thomas, Nathaniel, and
Elizabeth Barsham and Richard and Mary Coolidge.
He married, February 7, 1649-50, Sarah, daughter of
Nathaniel Bisco, the rich tanner. (See Bisco fam
ily). She died February, 1692-3, and he married
(second), 1695, Elizabeth, widow of John Nevinson.
Children of William and Sarah Bond: 1. William,
born December 1, 1650, lieutenant and deacon. 2.
John, December, 1652; freeman April 18, 1690,
housewright and sergeant. 3. Thomas, mentioned
below. 4. Elizabeth, born November 30, 1656; mar
ried Captain Nathaniel Barsham. 5. Nathaniel, born
January 19, 1658-9, died young. 6. Nathaniel, born
January 9, 1659-60, lieutenant, admitted freeman
April 18, 1690. 7. Sarah, born July 27, 1661 ; mar
ried Dr. Palgrave Wellington. 8. Jonas, born July
13, 1664; lieutenant colonel and justice of the peace;
died April 21, 1727. 9. Mary, married, June 22,
1693, Richard Coolidge.
(IV) Thomas Bond, son of William Bond (3),
born in Watertown, December 23, 1654, died De
cember 17, 1704. He settled in that part of Water-
town now Weston. He married, September 30,
1680, Sarah, bora 1661, daughter of Thomas Wool-
son, of Newton. Bond died 1704, and administration
on his estate was granted to his widow Sarah
and son Thomas, January 22, 1704-5. Their chil
dren : 1. Thomas, mentioned helow. 2. Sarah, born
December 2, 1685; married, February 12, 1701-2,
James Tredway. 3. William, born February I,
1687-8. 4. Mary, baptized December 7, 1690; married,
December 29, 1709, Isaac Bigelow. 5. John, born
July 14, 1695. 6. Isaac, born July 22, 1698, cord
wainer, resided in Sherborn, Natick and Sudbury.
(V) Thomas Bond, son of Thomas Bond, (4),
born at Watertown, April 29, 1683; married, August
25, 1706, Lydia Spring; he died May 17, 1737; his
widow married, June 20, 1744, Deacon John War
ren, of Weston. Children of Thomas and Lydia
Bond: 1. Thomas, born May 3, 1708, settled in
Newton. 2. Jonathan, mentioned below. 3. Henry,

born September 6, 1712. 4. Amos, born August 23,
1714; died September 29, 1762. 5. Thaddeus, born
January 15, 1716-7; married in Marlborough, March
24, 1740, Mary Rice; married (second), April 11,
1745, Prudence Warren, of Weston. 6. Lydia, born
May 21, 1718; married, March 21, 1744-5, Samuel
Fiske. 7. Phinehas, born January 8, 1724-5. 8.
Abijah, born November 28, 1727.
(VI) Deacon Jonathan Bond, son of Thomas
Bond (5), was born at Watertown, November 7,
1710. He resided at Waltham, Mendon and West
borough. He married, April 13, 1732, at Water-
town, Mary Harrington and settled in the West Pre
cinct of Waltham, whence he moved to Mendon in
1743, and thence to Westborough in 1750. He served
in Captain Benjamin Woods' company as lieutenant
in 1755 in the French war, and in Captain Flagg's
company in 1757. He was dismissed from the Wa
tertown church to. that of Westborough, September
29, 1757, and was for many years deacon of it. He
died January 11, 1789. Children of Deacon Jonathan
and Mary Bond: 1. Mary, born at Watertown, De
cember 2, 1732; married Aaron Warner, of Upton,
and settled in Westborough. 2. Jonathon, born
April 22, 1736, njentioned below. 3. Thomas, born
January 30, 1737. 4. Eunice, born at Waltham, Feb
ruary 18, 1742; married  Newton, of West
borough. 5. Joseph, born at Mendon, July 6, 1744;
married Hepsibah Pratt, and settled in Westbor
ough; removed to Bondstown, now Hampton, Ohio.
6. Lydia, born at Mendon, January 12, 1747; married
Moses Wheelock. 7. Elizabeth, born at Westbor
ough, March 28, 1752, died 1756. 6. Lucy, born June
22, 1755-
(VII) Jonathan Bond, son of Deacon Jonathan
Bond (6J, was born at Watertown, April 22, 1736. He
settled in. Boylston, Massachusetts, was deacon of the
church there, and died there 1794. His will was dated
November 1,1793, and his son John was executor. He
married Ruth Tyler, who died at North Brookfield
April 26, 1814. After the death of Deacon Bond
she went to live with her son, Deacon Jonathan
Bond, and married (second) October 11, 1809, Rob
ert Bruce, of North Brookfield. Children of Deacon
Jonathan and Ruth Bond : 1. Jonathan, born at
Sturbridge, March 17, 1760. 2. Joseph, born March
8, 1762; died October 16, 1781. 3. Solomon, born
May 9, 1764. 4. Mary, born at Brookfield, August
27, 17 — . 5. Sarah, born May 14, 1771 ; married
Abijah Pierce, of Boylston. 6. Ruth, born March
14, 1771 ; married John Bond, of Boylston, and died
soon, leaving son Tyler. 7. Eunice, bora August
I3> 1775, at Boylston; married John Gates, of Strat
ford. (VIII) Jonathan Bond, Jr, son of Jonathan
Bond (7), was born at Sturbridge, Massachusetts,
March 17, 1760. He settled at Boylston, and mar
ried, 1784, Lucy, daughter of Robert Andrews, Sr.
She died October 14, 1817, aged fifty-eight years,
five months, eighteen days. He married (second)
Mrs. Mary Cobb, December 3, 1818; he died at
Boylston, September 3, 1821, aged sixty-one years,
six months. He was deacon of the church at Boyls
ton and representative to general court. Children
of Jonathan and Lucy Bond : 1. Joseph, born No
vember 20, 1784, mentioned below. 2. Lucy, born
December 8, 1786. 3. Lucinda, May 5, 1790. 4.
Joanna Hurd, January 11, 1792. 5. Eli, May 28,
1794. 6. Elliott, June 29, 1797. 7. Ruth Tyler, No
vember 10, 1801.
(IX) Joseph Bond, son of Jonathan Bond (8),
was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, November 20,
1784. He was educated in the public schools. He
kept a general store in his native town until 1832,
when he bought the farm on Lincoln street where

The Sawyer Memorial Library
boylston. massac h u s etts .

WORCESTER COUNTY

54i

his grandson, Charles Elliott Bond, now lives, about
half way between Worcester and Boylston, and is a
very productive and valuable estate. He lived there
the rest of his life. He was a prominent member
of the Second Parish (First Unitarian) Church,
and an active religious worker. In politics he was
a Whig until that party disbanded, when he joined
the Republican party. He died in 1863, and left
his farm to his son, Joseph Elliott Bond. He mar
ried (published September 2) 1814, Sophia, daugh
ter of Moses Smith, of Sterling. Their children:
Sophia, born at Boylston November 9, 1815; Joseph
Elliott, bom at Boylston June 20, 1820.
(X) Joseph Elliott Bond, son of Joseph Bond
(9), was bom in Boylston, June 20, 1820. He was
educated in the public schools of Boylston and Wor
cester and at Worcester Academy. As the only son he ,
was associated with his father in conducting the
farm, and at the death of his father he succeeded to
the ownership of the homestead. He was a Uni
tarian in religion, and was one of the original mem
bers of the Republican party in Worcester. He mar
ried Julia Ann. daughter of Silas and Hannah
(Stowell) Barber, who resided in the vicinity of
Barber's Crossing, Worcester. Children of Joseph
Elliott and Julia Ann Bond, all born in Worces
ter: 1. Elizabeth Sophia, July 21, 1847. 2. Mary
Chapin, January 23, 1850. 3. Florence Amelia, Jan
uary 15, 1857. 4. Charles Elliott.
(XI) Charles Elliott Bond, son of Joseph Elliott
Bond (10), was bom in Worcester, October 3, 1851.
He attended the public schools of his native town
and took the course of study at the old Worcester
Academy, then located at Lincoln Square. He also
took a commercial course in Howe's Business Col
lege, Worcester. He assisted his father on the home
stead, and lated succeeded his father in the owner
ship of the farm. Mr. Bond has lived all his life in
the house on Lincoln street, and is one of the best
known citizens of that locality. He is an active Re
publican, and has frequently served his_ party as
delegate to nominating conventions. He is a mem
ber of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Husbandry,
and Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows. He is a
Unitarian in religion, but usually attends the First
Universalist Church. He married, November 17,
1880, Fanny Louise, born in Chelsea, Massachu
setts, December 26, 1850, daughter of George Fran
cis Kingman and Lydia (Loring) Kingman. Her
father was a prominent sail maker of Chelsea. They
have no children.
EVERETT KENDALL. Francis Kendall (1),
the immigrant ancestor of Everett Kendall, of Boyls
ton, Massachusetts, born in England in 1620, gave
his age as about thirty-eight years in a deposition
December, 1658. He settled in Woburn, Massachu
setts, in 1640, or earlier, and was one of the thirty-
two men of Charlestown who signed the town orders
for Woburn. He was on the Woburn tax list in
1645 with his brother, Thomas Kendall, and was
admitted freeman May 26, 1647. When he married,
December 24, 1644, Mary Tidd, his name was re
corded "Francis Kendall, alias Miles, and the
family tradition explains this alias by the fact that
he was said to have left England without the con
sent of his parents. His brother Thomas seems
never to have used any other name. Francis Ken
dall served the town at different times eighteen
years on the board of selectmen, and often on im
portant committees, such as the laying out of lots
to the proprietors and the building of the meet
ing house. He was tithing man m 1676. He got
into trouble with the Puritan church because "edict
not believe very much in infant baptism, failed to

attend communion, and was even found guilty of
attending Anabaptist meetings. He was also fined
tor being late once at a selectmen's meeting. He
r; j?r ' and hl? wife died J7°5. His will was
dated May 9, 1706. He was a miller, and left his
com mill to sons John, Thomas and Samuel. This
old mill was in the ownership of the family for six
generations. The present mill, known as Kendall's
Mill, was built by Samuel Kendall shortly after
1700. Children of Francis and Mary Kendall: 1.
John, born July 2, 1646. 2. Thomas, January 10,
1648-9. 3. Mary, January 20, 1650-1 ; married Israel
Reed. 4 Elizabeth, born January 15, 1652-3, married
tirst, tphraim Winship; second, James Pierce. 5.
Hannah born January 26, 1654-5; married William
Creen, Jr, as his second wife. 6. Rebecca, born
March 2, 1657; married Joshua Eaton, December,
1706. 7. Samuel, mentioned below. 8. Jacob, born
January 25, 1660-1. 9. Abigail, born April 6, 1666;
married William Reed, May 24, 1686.
(II) Samuel Kendall, son of Francis Kendall
(1), born in Woburn, Massachusetts, March 8,
1659, settled about 1742 in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
and is the progenitor of the Sterling family as well
as that of Boylston and others of the vicinity. His
will was made December 6, 1742, and proved 1749.
He died about 1749, when he was ninety years old.
He married, November 13, 1683, Rebecca, daughter
of Isaac Mixer. She died October 25, 1691. He
married (second), March 3, 1692, Mary, daughter of
William Locke. Children of Samuel and Rebecca
Kendall were: 1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2
Isaac, born September 13, 1686; married, October
9, 1706, Hannah Walker, and settled in Ashford,
Connecticut. 3. Joshua, born March, 1689; married,
March 25, 1710, Susannah Harrington; resided at
Watertown, •Massachusetts; and Ashford, Connecti
cut. 4. Rebecca, born July 6, 1691 ; died November
25, 1691. 5- Mary, born February 3, 1692-3.; died
August 14, 1727." 6. Rebecca, bom January 26,
1694-5; married Samuel Russell. 7. Abigail, born
March 3, 1697; married William Nichols, of Read
ing, 1719-20. 8. Ebenezer, born May 16, 1700; mar
ried Hannah  . 9. Ruth, born April 23, 1703 ;
married Bancroft. 10. Tabitha, born January 22,
1706-7; married, 1729, Nathan Richardson.
(Ill) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall
(II); was born August 13, 1684. He married Pru
dence  about 1710. Their children were :
1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2. Rebecca, born
August 27, 1714. 3. Stephen, born March 10, 1717.
(IV) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall
(III), was born September 4, 1711. He settled in
Sterling, Massachusetts, and married Phebe Brin-
tain September 23, 1736. Sterling then was knowii
as Chocksett, part of Lancaster. These children of
Samuel and Phebe were baptized in Sterling by
Rev. Mr. Mellen: 1. Samuel, baptized February
17, 1745- 2. Rebecca,, baptized February 17, 1745.
3. Abigail, baptized July 20, 1746. 4. Caleb, bap
tized May 15, 1748. 5. Bartholomew, baptized Feb
ruary ' 18, 1749. 6. Caleb, baptized March 24, 1750.
7. Bartholomew, baptized February 28, 1753. 8. Will
iam, baptized October 13, 1754. 9. Phebe, baptized
July 3, 1757. 10. Lucy, baptized February 10, 1760.
11. Lucinda, baptized November 14, 1762.
(V) Caleb Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall (4),
born 1750, baptized in Sterling (Chocksett) Church,
March 24, 1750, settled in Boylston. He married
first, Priscilla Savory, who bore him four children.
He married (second), April 15, 1788, Mrs. Lucy
(Baldwin) Kendall, widow of Thomas Kendall. She
died at Boylston, November 22, 1845, aged eighty-five
years. Children of Caleb and Priscilla: 1. Priscilla,
2. Zipporah. 3. Caleb, Jr.; married, June 24, 1803,

542

WORCESTER COUNTY

Dolly Sawyer. 4. Joshua, mentioned below. Chil
dren of Caleb and Lucy: 5. Lucy, married Joseph
Sawyer. 6. David, born March 12, 1791. 7. Samuel,
born October, 1792. 8. Hannah, married Phineas
Moore. 9. Elmira, married Jotham Howe. 10.
Emily, married James Hastings. 11. William, mar
ried Susan Hartshorn.
(VI) Joshua Kendall, son of Caleb Kendall
(5), born at Boylston (Shrewsbury, North Precinct)
May 1, 1781, died there September 22, 1813, aged
thirty-two years, four months and twenty-one days.
He was, according to an account we have of him,
"a veritable giant in his day, whom no single man
would care to meet in any contest, yet his. kindly na
ture and amiable disposition made him a choice com
panion among his associates." He resided in the
house now or lately owned by Mr. Lynch. He mar
ried at Boylston, May 25, 1807, Patty Sawyer. Their
children: 1. Oliver Sawyer, mentioned, below. 2.
Charles Sheldon, born August 19, 1809; married
Mary Andrews. 3. Horace Hastings, died young.
(VII) Oliver Sawyer Kendall, son of Joshua
Kendall (6), was born at Boylston, April 30, 1808.
He resided on the Oliver Sawyer farm at Boylston,
where he died July 26, 1881. Flis educational op--
portunities in youth were limited, but largely by his
own efforts was a man of excellent education. In
early manhood he engaged in the lumber business,
which he followed successfully for many years. He
was a prominent man in local affairs, serving the
town as assessor for several terms; selectman from
1853-6 and was representative to general court 1854.
In politics he was originally a Whig, but with the
majority of his party associates joined the Repub
lican party at the time of its organization. He mar
ried, December 13, 1836, Mindwell (called "Min-
day"), daughter of Nathaniel Lamson," of Boylston.
Their children, all born in Boylston: 1. Nathaniel
Lamson, born June 27, 1841. 2. Everett, born July
17, 1845, mentioned below. 3. Oliver Sawyer, Jr,
born July 30, 1848; married Hattie Moore, 1871,
and resides in Worcester (the founder of the well
known house of Oliver S. Kendall & Son, dealers
in stoves, furnaces, §team heaters, gas and electric
fittings, mantels, etc. He was in partnership with
his son, Oliver S. Kendall, Jr.
(IX) Everett Kendall, son of Oliver Sawyer
Kendall (8), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts,
July 17, 1844. He attended the public schools of his
native town and the New Ipswich (New Flampshire)
Academy. For some years he was employed by his
father in the lumber and firewood business. Then
for some time he was engaged in farming. After
his marriage he removed to Worcester and entered
the grain and feed business, but after his father's
death he resumed farming on the- homestead at Boyls
ton in company with his brother Nathaniel, and has
ever since resided there. The Kendall farm is one
of the most desirable in the town. Mr. • Kendall
was at one time actively interested in the local
grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He was formerly
'a member of the Sunday school class, of John B.
Gough, the famous temperance orator, whose home
was in Boylston. In politics Mr. Kendall is a Re
publican. He has been on the board of assessors of
the town of Boylston. He married, January 9, 1872,
in Sterling, Mary Frances, daughter of Asa and
Lucy Walker (Iiubbard) Keyes. Her father was
a prosperous farmer, selectman of Sterling, and- rep
resentative to general court 1872. Mr. and Mrs.
Kendall have no children.
DARLING FAMILY. Dennis Darling (1), the
immigrant ancestor of the Darling family of Men
don, to which the late Albert Newbury. Darling be

longed, was a pioneer at Braintree and Mendon,
Massachusetts. He had an older brother, George
Darling, who settled in Salem, Massachusetts, about
1647, and resided also at Lynn and Marblehead.
Another brother, John, came with Dennis Dai ling
to Braintree and also to Mendon. John Darling
settled in what is now Blackstone and south Belling
ham. Dennis located at first near the town seat,
but his children located more in the south parish.
He removed to Mendon just after the close of King
Philip's war in 1677 or 1678. He signed a pathetic
petition of the inhabitants of old Mendon, in 1681,
asking aid and church privileges of the general
court. His name appears on the tax list for 1685.
Hei was married, May 3, 1662, by Peter Brackett,
at Braintree, to Hannah Francis. They seem to
, have had six children in Braintree and four in
Mendon, viz. : Cornelius, born June 1, 1663, at
Braintree; John, born 1664-5, see forward; A child,
born August 18, 1667, died next day; Sarah, born
January 26, 1669-70; Cornelius, born March 23,
1675; Hannah, born June 14, 1677; Ebenezer; Daniai,
born at Mendon; Elizabeth; Benjamin, born at'
Mendon. (II) John Darling, son of Dennis Darling (1),
was born at Braintree, September 2, 1664, died at
Bellingham, May 29, 1753, in his ninetieth year.
Captain John Darling became a great business man
and landed proprietor. He headed the petition for
the setting off of the town of Bellingham, which
was incorporated in 1719, and he owned land in
Mendon in 1718. As one of the heirs of Samuel
Shepherd, in 1691, he gave a quitclaim deed and
again in 1706. Land was laid Out to John Darling
in Mendon, June 7, 1700, and he 'served on com
mittees to lay out land there.
He married (first) Elizabeth Thompson, who
died 1687. lie married (second) Ann  1689.
She died 1690. He married (third) Elizabeth Morse.
The only child by first marriage was John, see
forward, by the second marriage was Ann. The
children of John and Elizabeth (Morse) Darling
were: Elizabeth, Samuel, born March 18, 1693-4;
Ruth, Hannah, Margaret, Ebenezer, ancestor of the
Oxford and Sutton families; Mary, Martha, Abigail,
Deborah. (Ill) John Darling, Jr, son of John Darling
(2), was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, April 1,
1687. lie is first mentioned on the Mendon records
in 1718, when he received a five acre home lot in
the sixth division. The place was located on Caleb
hill, south of the common, and adjoining lands of
Benjamin Wheelock and Thomas Thayer and his
own land. He had many grants after that, in
1718-22-23-29. He is called Junior as lately as
1740, when his father apparently became identified
with Bellingham, where he died in 1753. Among
his children was Pelatiah, born in Mendon, see
forward. (IV) Pelatiah Darling, son of John Darling (3),
was born in^ 1720 at Mendon, Massachusetts. He
is first mentioned on the Mendon records in 1746,
when land was laid out to him adjoining his other
land, probably inherited or deeded to him by his
father. He drew four acres April 17, 1757, in
the eleventh division. He must have been in the
militia and served in the revolution, as he was
called_ ensign on the records. He was a private in
Captain William Henry's company in 1779 at Castle
and Governor's Island in Boston harbor. He was
also in Captain B. Beard's company, commanded by
Lieutenant John Benson. Fie was in Captain Philip
Ammidon's company, Colonel Dean's regiment, in
1781. He was called lieutenant on some records.
He was on the Mendon school committee (nth

ALBERT N. DARLING

WORCESTER COUNTY

543

district) in 1780. He was moderator of the pro
prietors' meeting, April 3, 1792. He deeded a farm
to his eldest son John in 1787 ; another to Pelatiah,
Jr, in 1797. He died in 1798,- and his estate was in
process of settlement in July, 1798.
He' married (intentions dated November 4), 1743,
Elizabeth Darling. Their children were: John!
settled in Mendon; Pelatiah, settled in Mendon, see
forward; Abigail, Joshua, Mary, Ruth, Phinehas,
Elizabeth. The foregoing are probably not in the
correct order of birth.
(V) Pelatiah Darling, Jr., son of Pelatiah
Darling (4), was born at Mendon, Massachusetts,
April, 1760, and was a soldier in the revolution,
serving in Captain Peter Penniman's company,
Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment, in 1776
and 1777. He deeded his farm to Pelatiah Darling,
Jr, in 1831. He married, July 22, 1790, Phila Taft,
born January 4, 1772, died September 6, 1841. He
died April 3, 1839. Their children were: Newton,
born August 22, 1791 ; Maria, born March 22, 1794;
Newbury, born September 18, J797, see forward;
Phila, born September 4, 1800; Pelatiah, Jr, had the
old homestead; Cyrus, Willis, Hannah.
,(VI) Newbury Darling, son of Pelatiah Darling,
Jr. (5), was born at Millville, Massachusetts, Sep
tember 18, 1797. He became a manufacturer of
scythes at Easthampton, Connecticut, and at Mill
ville, Massachusetts. During the latter part of his
life he lived on a farm. He married, August 17,
1824, Olive Kelley, born December 11, 1806, died
November 4, 1867, the daughter of Wing and Diama
Xelley. Her father was born May 15, 1773, died
December 17, 1836; her mother Diama Daniels, was
born March 14, 1774, died February 14, 1842. The
children of Wing and Joanna (Fowler) Kelley
(Joanna born August 22, 1774, died October 12,
1797) , were : Nancy, Lydia, Abigail. The children
of Wing and Diama (Daniels) Kelley were: Joanna,
born December 1, 1802; Ruth, born November 4,
1804; Olive, mentioned above; Diama, born Octo-
"ber 14, 1808; Abby, born January 15, 1811; Albert,
"born March 30, 1813 ; Margueritta Lucy, born Sep-
temher 15, 1817. The children of Newbury and
Olive (Kelley)) Darling were: Isadora, born Feb
ruary 20, 1826 ; Albert Newbury, see .forward ; Ellen
M, born June 21, 1829; Eva, born Novemher 13,
1829, died December 29, 1830; Homer Wing, see
forward; Susan Caroline, born January 2, 1834, at
Easthampton, Connecticut, died February, 1900;
Newton, born June 15, 1840, at Easthampton, see
forward; Warren Pollard, horn December 10, 1843,
died July 25, 1844.
(VII) Albert Newbury Darling, son of New-
ibury Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, Con
necticut, August 31, 1827, died at Mendon, Massa
chusetts, December 22, 1902. He received a com
mon school education at Easthampton, supplemented
by instruction in a private school. He became asso
ciated with his father in the manufacture of scythes
at Millville, Massachusetts. After giving up this
business he was engaged in various enterprises,
among which was a grocery store in Millville, Massa
chusetts. In 1869 he went to Brooklyn as treasurer
of the Brooklyn Watch Case Company, and there
resided until 1888, when he retired from active busi
ness and went to Mendon to live. Mr. Darling was
a large owner of stock in the Fahy's Watch Case
Company and the Brooklyn Watch Case Company.
He was a Republican in politics, but devoted his at
tention almost exclusively during his active -life to
his business and acquired a large competence.
He married (first), June 21, 1852, at Millville,
. Julia A. Wilson, who died June 13, 1853- He mar

ried (second), November 19, 1855, at Johnston,
Rhode Island. Frances M. Potter, who was bora
in 1833 and died February 14, i860. He married
(third"), at Worcester, April 3, 1861, Harriet E.
Field, who was born at Coldbrook, Massachusetts,
September 23, 1833. She resides at the homestead
in Mendon. The children of Albert Newbury and
Frances (Potter) Darling were: Julia Frances,
born at Millville, Massachusetts, February 27, 1857,
resides at Mendon and is an active member of the
Unitarian church; Bert, born April 2, 1858, at Bur-
rillville, Rhode Island, died August 30, 1859. The
children of Albert Newbury and Harriet E. (Field)
Darling were: Albert W, born August 3, 1862, at
Millville, Massachusetts, died at Warren, Rhode
Island, June 24, 1903; married, May, 1887, in Hope-
dale, Abbie Dudley, who was born May, 1867, in
Mendon; Florence, born July 2, 1867, at Provi
dence; Henry Field, born at Providence, September
4, 1869, died at Brooklyn, July 3, 1870; Justin, born
at Brooklyn, New York, February 27, 1871, died
same day ; Everett F, born, March 3, '1875, married,
February 3, 1905, Bertha Efilers, born September n,
1875, in Trinidad, and they have — Ruth Ehlers Dar
ling, born February 1, 1906, at New Rochelle, New
York. (VII) Ellen M. Darling, daughter of Newbury
Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, June 21,
1824, died 1887. She married Edward Thayer,
Their children were: Albert S, Edward D, Ellen
O, Ernest L. Thayer.
(VII) Homer Wing Darling, son of Newbury
Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, Connecti
cut, January 8, 1832, died December 11, 1892. He
was a farmer during the greater part of his life.
He married, April 7, 1857, at Uxbridge, Abbie Cook,
who was born at Uxbridge, November 11, 1839.
Their children were. 1. Emily, born March 28,
1858, at Burrillville, Rhode Island; married, May 2,
1876, Samuel Bennett ; their children are : Edith,
born at Mendon, June 13, 1878, married, August 1,
1896, Timothy Raymond Scott, and their children
are : Florence, born October 17, 1897, at Provi
dence; Robert, born June 8, 1902; Florence, born
August 21, 1882, at Mendon. 2. George Homer,
born February 7, i860, at Uxbridge, married, Jan
uary 24, 1883, Annie Parkinson, and their children
are: Ida Olive, born December 19, 1883, at Men
don; Abbie M, born August 13, 1887; Homer, born
September 16, 1893. 3. Grace, born July 14, 1872,
at Mendon, married, February 16, 1898, Fred Piatt,
and their children are : Infant son, born December
27, 1898, at Lynn; Marjorie Piatt, born December
31, 1899, at Saugus; Doris Piatt, born September
24, 1900, at Saugus; Gertrude Piatt, born October
24, 1902, at Saugus.
(VII) Newton Darling, son of Newbury Darling
(6), was born at Easthampton, Connecticut, June
15, 1840, died January 31, 1895. He was in various
lines of business in early life, but for many years
was interested in the Brooklyn Watch Case Com
pany, of which his brother was treasurer for^many
years. He married, at Mendon, October 10, 1867,
Mary Hastings. Their children were.: Clare, Chris
tine, Clarence.
WILLIAM' HENRY HASTINGS. The Hast
ings family of Boylston are the descendants of
Thomas Hastings, who came from Ipswich, Eng
land, as a stowaway on a ship which arrived in
Massachusetts Bay, April 10, 1634. He settled in
Scituate, where he married, and many of his de
scendants are to be found in this commonwealth.
Nathaniel Hastings, William Hastings' grand
father, was a lifelong resident of Boylston, and a

544

WORCESTER COUNTY

prosperous farmer of his day. He served in the
local militia company. Eli Hastings, father of Will
iam H. Hastings, was born in Boylston, April 29,
1831. In his earlier years he was a noted" cattle
dealer in that section, but tlie active period of his
life has, for the most part, been devoted to tilling
the soil. He formerly took an interest in civic af
fairs, serving as road commissioner for a number of
terms, and died May 25, 1906. Eli Hastings married
Adeline Maynard, daughter of Asa and Adelaide
(Mivter) Maynard. She died about 1884.
William Henry Hastings, the principal subject of
this sketch, was born in Boylston, January 27, i860.
He acquired his education in the Boylston public
schools. When a young man he engaged in the
live-stock business, which he followed with gratify
ing success for a number of years, or until unable to
compete with the western cattle shippers, and he
then engaged in farming exclusively. For two years
he served as an assessor, and is at the present time
chairman of the overseers of the poor. In politics
he is a Republican. He,is heartily in sympathy with
all movements relative to the general improvement of
the community, and is an active member of the local
grange, Patrons of Husbandry. In his religious be
lief he is a Congregationalist.
In 1885 Mr. Hastings married (first) Arvilla
Snow, a native of Eastford Midway, Nova Scotia.
The children of this union are Eli Leigh, born in
1887; and William Earle, born in 1889. His present
wife, who was, before marriage, Melinda Anastasia
Tumbling, daughter of John Austin and Elizabeth
(Micner) Tumbling, of Lahave, Nova Scotia, is
the mother of one son, Calvin Raymond Hastings,
born October 27, 1900. Since retiring from the
cattle business Mr. Hastings has engaged extensively
in market gardening and the growing of apples ; also
conducts quite an extensive dairy farm.
DAVID CARROLL, one of the early Irish set-
, tiers of Worcester, was born in Bruree, county
Limerick, Ireland, August 15, 1814, son of David
and Ellen (Fitzgerald) Carroll, natives of ¦ Ballin-
garry, county Limerick, Ireland, whose family con
sisted of four other children, namely : James,, John,
Mary and Anne. The Carrolls were well-to-do
farmers, and belonged to the powerful and ancient
Irish sept of the 6'Carrolls. To this sept, also be
longs the ancestors of Charles Carroll, of Carroll-,
ton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
David Carroll, of this review, learned the trade
of a cabinet maker in early manhood. He and his
brother James and sister Mary left their native
townland of Rockhill, Bruree parish, in April, 1840,
and after a voyage of about thirty days landed in
Mirimichi, on the northeast coast of New Bruns
wick, where they remained for about four months,
David and James being employed at shipbuilding
ahd the sister as a domestic. In October of that
year they came to Boston, Massachusetts, and late
in the following month came to Worcester, David
and James being employed, in |he meantime, re
pairing bridges on the old Boston & Worcester Rail
road. As early as 1842 David Carroll paid a real
estate tax in the city of Worcester, but later he took
a notion to try farming, and in 1856 moved to Charl
ton, having purchased a large farm in that town
upon which he lived until 1873, when he returned to
Worcester. In 1875 he purchased the house at No.
128 Central street, in which he has resided ever
since. Mr. Carroll and his wife were among the first
(Micner) Tumbling, of Lahave, Nova Scotia, is
contributors to the fund to build St. John's Church.
They were members of Christ's Church, the first

Catholic church that was built in Worcester, occu
pying the site now covered by St, John's Church.
For more than thirty years Mr. Carroll has been a
communicant at St. Anne's Church. He contributed
his labor as a carpenter, free for sixty days to erect
the first St. Anne's church on Shrewsbury street,
which was abandoned when the new St. Anne's
Church was built. In 1846 Mr, Carroll was selected
by Rev. M. W. Gibson, then pastor of St. John's
Church, to purchase a site for a Catholic cemetery in
some central location, the Catholic burying ground
at Tatnuck, from which the bodies were removed
this year (1906), being considered too far out of
the way. He purchased a tract of land for the ceme
tery from old "Deacon" Brooks, south of Cambridge
street, between the old Norwich & Worcester and
the Providence & Worcester railroads. After the
price had been agreed, upon, however, the good "Dea
con" found out that this land was to be used as a
Catholic cemetery, and accordingly refused to give
the deed. Mr. Carroll then purchased a tract of
sixteen acres from the Hon. Eli Thayer for one
hundred dollars an .acre, it being stipulated in the
agreement that four hundred dollars should be paid
down. That tract formed the nucleus of St. John's
cemetery, which at present covers an area several
times the size of the original tract.
David Carroll married, October 6, 1842, Margaret
Purcell, born near Limerick, Ireland, daughter of
James and Mary (Quinn) Purcell, the former named
having been an uncle of Archbishop Purcell, Their
children are : Thomas Edward, born December 23,
1845, married Bridget Butler, of Oxford, Massachu
setts, January, 1873, and their children are: Addie,
Florence, Gertrude, Julia Cecelia, Charles, Edward
Thomas, David Chester, Margaret and Mildred.
John, born May, 1855, married Mary Weisman, of
Millbury, Massachusetts. Margaret, born August
26, 1850. . Mary Jane, born August 13, 1858. Julia,
bom August 3, i860, married Eugene M. Moriarty,
of Worcester, Massachusetts.
LEANDER. SIBLEY, who for many years prior
to his death, April 7, 1890, led a retired life at his
home in Spencer, Massachusetts, surrounded with
peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there
is no reward So satisfactory as the consciousness of
a life well spent, was born in Hardwick, Massachu
setts, July 10, 1838, son of Sardius and Mary (John
son) Sibley.
John Sibley, the founder of the American branch
of the Sibley family, was a native of England, from
whence he emigrated in 1629, took freeman's oath
at Old Salem, and settled in Sutton, Massacliusetts.
The line of descent from this pioneer ancestor is
as follows : Samuel Sibley, who came to Sutton,
1652, and his wife Sarah (Leland) Sibleyj born
in England, 1625, also took up her residence in that
town the same year. Even Sibley, who came to
Sutton in 1680. James Sibley, Moses Sibley, Sarah
Sibley, who was born in Sutton, 1755, died 1842.
Charles Sibley, who married Huldah Harwood, of
Barre, Massachusetts. Sardius Sibley, father of
Leander Sibley, was born in Barre, Massachusetts,
1804. He married Betsey Johnson, of Barre, Massa
chusetts, and their children were: Huldah, born
1827 wife of the Rev. Benjamin Stevenson; and
Sardius J„ born 1829. On April 4, 1831, Mr. Sibley
married for his second wife Mary Johnson, who
bore him the following children: Betsey, born in
Barre, 1834, became the wife of Roland Oakes, of
Holyoke. Mary Jane, born in Hardwick, 1836, be
came the wife of Joseph Perce, of Worcester. Le
ander, born in Hardwick, 1838. Charlotte Ellen,
born 1840, became the wife of Orlando Remington*

c^x^eJfc^

c^e^z.

WORCESTER COUNTY

545

of Fitchburg. Julia M., bom 1S42, became the wife
of Samuel S. Dennis, of Hardwick. Emily L, born
1844. Leander Sibley was deprived of a father's care
at theage of four years, his mother being left with
six children to rear and educate, but, being a woman
of strength of character and experience, she was
equal to the task and guided her children in such
a way that they all became useful and active mem
bers of society. During his boyhood he depended
partly on his own exertion, and his education was
acquired in the public schools of Hardwick and the
academy at New Salem, At the age of nineteen he
had an illness which left him a cripple for the re
mainder, of his life, but notwithstanding this he led
a useful and industrious life. For seventeen years
he taught schoor in Hardwick, a profession for which
he was well qualified. In 1873 he removed to Spen
cer, Massachusetts, and opened a news and variety
store, thereby earning a comfortable livelihood, and

in 1885 he disposed of the business and retired from
active labor. During his residence in Flardwick, Mr.
Sibley served as a member of the board of assessors,
and he also filled a similar ofiice in Spencer, in
addition to serving as a member of the school com
mittee, commissioner of public parks, and commis
sioner of roads. He was an active and consistent
member of the Universalist church, and donated
generously toward the building of a new structure
for that denomination a year prior to his death. He
was a Republican in politics and aided to the best
of bis ability toward the success of the measures
adopted by that party and to the election of its
candidates. On October 24, 1876, Mr. Sibley married Hen
rietta E. Fales, daughter of Charles Fales, a boot
manufacturer of Brookfield, and granddaughter of
Daniel Fales. No children were born of this mar
riage.

INDEX

Adams, Holland J, 445
Adams, Thomas, 446
Alden, Eunice B, 494
Alden Family, 494
Alden, Josiah, 494
Aldrich, Cyrenus, 126
Aldrich, Paine, 127
Allen, Albert S, 370
Allen, Alvan, 370
Allen, Charles A, 368
Allen Family, 464
Amidon, Asaryl, 473
Amidon, Edward P., 473
Amidon, Fayette A, 472
Anderson, Hjalmar S, 349
Andrews, Albert W, 326
Andrews Family, 493
Andrews, Willard, 328
Atlterton, Alfred, 221
Atherton, Bessie F, 222
Atherton, Frank A, 221
Atherton, Ralph E, 222
Athy, Andrew, 274 ,
Athy, James A, 274
Back, John R, 349
Back, William, 349
Bacon, Alden E, 515
Bacon, John E, 521
Bacon, Mary J, 521
Bailey, Frederic W, 370
Bailey, Noah S, 371
Bailey, William E, 371
Baldwin, Charles C, 312
Baldwin, Daniel, 310
Baldwin, Family, 309
Baldwin, John D, 310
Bancroft, Andrew J, 79
Bancroft, Bertram A, 333 »
Bancroft, Enoch, 333
Bancroft Family, 332
Bancroft, Stowell, 80
Bancroft, Timothy, 333
Barber, Benjamin A, 368
Barker, Albert A, 423
Barker, Eacyetta B, 424
Barker, John B, 423
Barker, Moody M„ 423
Barnard Family, 348
Barnard, Franklin, 349
Barnard, Rebecca, 349
Barry, Russell W, 120
Bartol, George, 86
Bartol, George M, 85
Barton, Edmund M, 14
Barton, Family, 13

Barton, William S, 14
Bates, Elijah, 117
Bates, Henry T, 432
Bates, Henry W, 431
Bates, John W, 432
Bates, Theodore C, 115
Bazeley, Margaret, 347
Belisle, Alexander, 470
Belisle, Charles E, 471
Belisle, Eugene L, 470
Belisle Family, 470
Belisle, Felix A, 470
Belisle, George E, 470
Belisle, Hector L, 471
Bemis, Daniel W, 144
Bemis, John M, 141
Bemis, Merrick, 143
Bemis, Samuel F, 142
Berry Family, 119
Berry, Harriet Gage, 120
Berry, Zebina E, 120
Bigelow, Abraham, 214
Bigelow, Alexander, 214
Bigelow, Amos, 360
Bigelow, Converse, 360
Bigelow, Eleanor J, 361
Bigelow Family, 268
Bigelow, George A, 213
Bigelow, George C, 359
Bigelow, Humphrey, 269
Bigelow, Silas, 269
Bisco, Charles D, 530
Bisco, Edward F, 527
Bisco, Dwight, 529
Bisco, Henry, 530
Bisco, William, 530
Bishop, John W, 174
Black Family, 154
Blackmer, Amos, 373
Blackmer, Francis T, 373
Blackmer, Frederick W, 372
Blackmer, William H, 373
Blake, George F, 242
Blake, George F., Jr, 244
Blake, Thomas D, 244
Blake, Increase, 243
Bliss, Abel B, 365
Bliss, Harrison. 365
Bliss, William H, 363
Blodgett Family, 107
Blodget, Harrison, 108
Blodget, Walter H, 107.
Blodget, Walter H, Jr, 108
Blood, Thomas F, 73
Blood, William H, 72
Bolton, Milo, 516

Bond, Charles E, 541
Bond Family, 539
Bond, Joseph, 540
Bond, Joseph E, 541
Booth, Arthur N, 538
Booth, Charles M, 300
Booth, Edward S, 538
Booth, John H, 538
Boyce Family, 467
Boyce, Franklin J, 469
Boyce, John F, 469
Bradley, Henry O, 367
Bradley, John E, 367
Bradley, Osgood, ,367
Bradstreet Family, 492
Brannon, Henry, 206
Brannon, John, 206
Brierly, John T, 447
Brooks, Charles E, 216
Brooks, Nathaniel, 216
Brooks, Walter F, 215
Brown, Aaron, 114 ,
Brown, Albert, 39
Brown, Albert S, 40
Brown, Benjamin, 306
Brown, Charles E, 42
Brown, Edward A, 308
Brown, Edwin, 38
Brown Family, 305
Brown, Henry W, 40
Brown, James M, 114
Brown, John, 114
Brown, J. Stewart, 40
Brown, Theodore P., 113
Brown, William O, 307
Buck, Barney, 388
Buck, Edgar E, 387
Buck, William L, 388
Buffington, Charlotte E. W, 113
Buffington, Elisha D, in
Buffington, Samuel, 112
Bullock, Alexander H, 20
Bullock, Augustus G, 19
Bullock, Brigham N, 21
Bullock, Flora B, 22
Burke, James H, 332
Burlingame, Carl E, 490
Burton, Ezra, 83
Burton, Nahum, 83
Butcher, Edwin, 435
Butterick, Ebenezer, 300
Capen, Abraham, 534
Carr, George W, 372
Carroll. David, 544
Cary Family, 295

54?'

INDEX

Cary, Foster H, 297 '
Cary, Hiram R, 297
Cary, Luther, 297
Chace, Charles H, 72
Chace Family, 70
Chamberlain Family, 320
Chamberlain, John, 321
Chamberlain, Robert H, 322
Chamberlain, Thomas, 321
Chandler, Alice G, 67
Chandler Family, 64
Chandler Family, 180
Chandler, John G, 67
Chandler, Nathaniel, 66
Chapin, Henry, 346
Chapman Family, 156
Chase, Anthony, 88
Chase, Charles A, 88
Chase, Walter S, 447
Childs, Benjamin W, 209
Claflin, Charles W, 241
Claflin Family, 240
Claflin, James, 241
Clarke, Benjamin, 499
Clarke, Henry, 499
Clarke, Josiah H, 498
Clemence, Richard H, 222
Clemence, George H, 222
Clough, Arthur, 444
Clough, Benjamin R, 445
Clough, David, 444
Clough, Adelia J, 445
Clough Family, 444
Coates, George- H, 235
Coes, Aury G, 100
Coes Family, 56
Coes, Frank L, 58
Coes, Frank L. R, 58
Coes, John H, 190
Coes, Loring, 57
Cole, Alonzo, 126
Cole, Alonzo W, 125
Cole, Elisha, 125
College of the Holy Cross, 245
Colton Family, 107
Comey, Elbridge G, 76
Comey, Perley P., 75
Cone Family, 236
Cooley Family, -107
Cowee, Aaron, 441
Cowee, Edward A, 440
Cowee, Mary, 442
Crawford, Elias B, 412
Crawford Family, 410
Crawford, James, 411
Crawford, Sidney, 412
Crawford, William1 H, 412
Crawford, William T, 411
Curtis, Albert W, 293
Curtis, Benjamin F, 293
Curtis, Samuel G, 292
Curtis, Samuel G, 293
Cuthbertson, Alexander, 337
Cuthbertson, Elizabeth, 337
Cuthbertson Family, 337
Cuthbertson, Mary A, 337
Dadmun Family, 165
Dadmun, Jeduthan, 166
Dadmun, William S, 166
Danielson, George W, 313
'Dapper, Joseph C, 191
Darling, Albert N, 543
Darling Family, 542

Darling, Julia F, 543
Darling, Homer W, 543
Darling, Newbury, 543
Darling, Newton, 543
Davis Family, 319
Davis, Horace A, 189
Davis, John W, 319
Davis, Rodney H, 136
Davis, Samuel, 137
Davis, Samuel E, 137
Davis, Walter H, 319
Davis, Wesley, 188
Davis, William L, 320
Denny, Daniel E, 301
Denny, Edwards W. , 302
Denny, Isaac, 302
Desper, Elvira (Orcutt), 316
Desper, Henry A, 316
Desper, Henry A, 318
Desper, James, 316
Desper, William E, 316
Dewey, Charles A, 37
Dewey Family, 37
Dewey, Francis H.,-37
Dewey, Francis H, Jr, 38
Dewey, Sarah B, 38
De Witt, Alexander, 435
De Witt, Alexander, 436
De Witt, Horace S, 436
De Witt, Nancy, 436
Dexter Family, 241
Dexter, William H, 241
Dick, August E, 463
Dickinson Family, 108
Dickinson, Samuel F, 109
Dickinson, Mary W, no
Dickinson, William, no
Doane, Cheney, 363
Doane, Thomas, 363
Dodge, Edward H, 325
Dodge, Edward M, 324
Dodge, Henry H, 324
Dodge, Malachi F, Jr, 17
Dodge, Pliny, 324
Dodge, Thomas H, 16
Doggett, Perez F, 54
Doggett, William S, 53
Dolliver, Edward B, 271
Dolliver Family, 269
Dolliver, Henry W, 271
Dolliver, Samuel B, 271
Draper Family, 531
Draper, James, 531
Draper, John, 531
Draper, Sarah, 531
Drawbridge Family, 318
Drury, Frank A„ 538
. Dunton, Frank E, 533
Eagan, Thomas F, 454
Earle, Elmer, 452
Earle Family, 450
Eaton, Amos M, 429
Eaton, Avery, 195
Eaton, Charies B, 195
Eaton, Marston, 430
Eaton, Marston, Jr., 431
Eaton, Mary H, 431
Eddy, Henry W, 219
Eddy, Lewis, 220
Eddy, Samuel, 220
Eldred Family, 115
Eldred, Frederick A, 115
Eldred, Mary A, 115

Eldred, William, 115
Ellinwocd, Daniel, 400
Ellinwood, Daniel W, 399
Ellinwood, Daniel W, 400
Ellinwood, Eugene, 400
Ellinwood, James, 400
Emerson, Benjamin F, 98
Emerson, Benjamin K, 98
Emerson, Kendall, 96
Estabrook, Arthur E, 518
Estabrook Family, 516
Estabrook, James, 517
Estabrook, James E, 517
Fairbanks, Amos, 192
Fairbanks Family, 487
Fairbanks, Henry, 192
Fairbanks, Joseph P, 489
Fairbanks, Mabel, 490
Fairbanks, William H, 191
Fairbanks, William P, 490
Fales Family, 175
Fiske, Charles N, 382
Fiske, Daniel, 381
Fiske, Jeremiah, 162
Fiske, ' Jeremiah, 164
Fiske, Stephen B, 382
Fiske, Walter H, 380
Flagg, Abijah, 532
Flagg Family, 179
Flagg, George A, 533
Flagg, John N, 533
Flagg, Jonathan N, 531
Flagg, Joseph, 533
Flagg, Levi L, 533
Flagg, Nahum, 532
Fletcher, Charles A, 262
Fletcher, Benjamin F, 263
Fletcher, Calvin, 438
Fletcher, Edward F, 437
Fletcher Family, 117
Fletcher, Rufus R, 438
Fontaine, Felix D, 334
Forbes, Ephraim T, 353
Forbes, Jonathan, 353
Forbes, William T, 352,
Foskett, Eben, 177
Foskett, George M, 158
Foskett, Samuel W, 176
Foster Family, 176
Foster, Rufus, 176
Foster, Thomas R, 176
Fowler, Charles, 181
Fowler, Rufus B, 180
Fox Family, 184
Fox, William B, 185
Frazer, Charles, 67
Freeman Family, 156
Frost Family, 413
Frost, Frederick E-, 4J5
Frost, George W, 414
Frost, Joseph, 414
Fyfe Family, 189
Fyfe, William, 189
Fyfe, William E;„ 189
Gage, Anson, 401
Gage, Eliphas S, 401
Gage Family, 401
Gaskill, Albert, 257
Gaskill, Francis A, 256
Gaskill, George A, 257
Gaskill, Lebbeus, 257
Gates, Charles B, 190

INDEX

549

Gates Family, 101
Gates, John, 190
Gates, Simon, 102
Goddard, Delano A, 201
Goddard, Dorrance S, 199
Goddard, Dwight, 200
Goddard Family, 197
Goddard, Harry W, 200
Golbert, Robert L, 498
Goodnow, Edward A, 58
Goodnow, Edward, 60
Gould, Amos A, 513
Goulding, Henry, 351
Goulding, William H, 350
Green, Andrew H, 27
Green, Bernard, 68
Green, Ezra, 67
Green Family, 22
Green, Henry A, 427
Green, James, 26
Green, James, 34
Green, John, 30
Green, John, Jr., 34
Green, John P, 29 , .
Green, Martin* 30
Green, Oliver B, 29
Green, Samuel F, 29
Green, Samuel M, 35
Green, Samuel S, 31
Green, William O, 35
Greenwood, Aaron, 392
Greenwood, Charles, 391
Greenwood, Moses, 391
Grimes, Joseph, 392 ¦
Grosvenor, Charles W, 326
Grosvenor, Jonathan P, 325
Grout Family, 48
Grout, John W, 49
Grout, Jonathan, 48
Hadwen, Obadiah B, 63
Hale, John O, 453
Hale, Oliver, 453
Hall, Aaron, 514
Hall, Asahel, 514
Hall, Charles S, 330
Hall, Henry C, 513
Hall, Leila E, 515
Hamblin, Frank H, 491
Hamblin, Joseph G, 491
Hamilton, Calvin W, 394
Hamilton, Charles A, 393
Hamilton, Edward, 394
Hamilton, Fanny M, 394
Hamilton, James P., 392
Hammond, Andrew H, 314
Hammond Family, 139
Hammond, Richard H, 315
Hanselman, Joseph F, 246
Harlow Family, 454
Harlow Family, 459
Harlow, Frederick B, 459
Harlow, George H, 460'
Harlow, Gideon, 457
Harlow, Margaret, 459
Harlow, William, T, 458
Harrington, Chauncey G, 357
Harrington, Daniel A, 417
Harrington Family, 357
Harrington Family, 415
Harrington, Francis A, 417
Harrington, Jonathan, 417
Harrington, Mary, 418
Harris, Charles M, 35

Harris, Henry F, 35
Harthan, Antipas S, 377
Harthan, Silas E, 376
Flarthan, Silas S, 377
Hartshorn, Calvin L, 382
Hartshorn, Arthur E, 385
Hartshorn, John W, 384
Hartshorn, Jonas, 383
Hartshorn, Sarah, 384
Hartshorn, Susan, 383
Haskell, William H, 72
Hastings, Herman S, 510
Hastings, William H, 543
Hawes, Edwin, 479
Hawes, Otis, 480
Hawes, Silas, 480
Hawkins, Arthur C, 150
Hawkins, Nathaniel, C, 150
Herindene Family, 388
Herindene, James, 388
Hewett, Elbridge, 128
Hewett, George F, 128
Hewett, William, 128
Heywood, Albert S, 63
Heywood, Charles H, 429
Heywood, Charles L, 429
Heywood, Daniel; 429
Heywood Family 428
Heywood, Frank E, 63
Heywood, Samuel R, 61
Hildreth, Andrew G, 466
Hildreth, Charles H, 463
Hildreth Family, 461
Hildreth, Frederick A, 463
Hildreth, George F, 442
Hildreth, George F, 463
Hildreth, James D, 442
Hildreth, James D, 462
Hildreth James N, 463
Hildreth, John H, 463
Hildreth, Paul, 466
Hildreth, Robert, 467
Hildreth, Sarah A, 463
Hildreth, Georgianna E, 463
Hills Family, 480
Hills, Margaret, 482
Hills, Samuel, 482
Hilton Family, 358
Hilton, William, 358
Hoar, George F, 1
Hoar, Rockwood, 4.
Hoar, Samuel, 2
Hobbs, Clarence W, 224
Hobbs, George, 91
Hobbs, George W, 91
Hobbs, Horace, 91
Hobbs, William, 225
Hobbs, William H, 90
Hobbs, William W, 225
Holt Family, 92
Holy Cross College, 245
Homer, Charles A, 334
Homer, Lyman, 335
Hopkins, Edward E, 421
Hopkins, Family, 418
Hopkins, Frederick F, 420
Hopkins, Frederick S, 421 •
Hopkins, George S, 420
Hopkins, Herbert P., 420
Home Family, 352
Home, Ichabod, 352
Home, Thomas, 352
Horticultural Society, 64
Houck, George W, 502

Houghton Family, 263
Houghton, Herbert O, 265
Houghton, Mercy R, 264
Houghton, Merrick, 507
v Houghton, Stillman, 264
Howe, Daniel A, 282
Howe, Eliphalet, Jr, 283
Howe Family, 366
Howe, Jotham, 523
Howe, Levi H, 522
Howe, Samuel A, 283
Howe, Silas, 523
Howe, William, 366
Humes, John F, 347
Humes, John R, 348
Humes, Warren, 347
Hunt, Charles E, 483
Hunt, James, 295
Hunt, Moses, 484
Hunt, Orsamus, 484
Ingraham, Albert W, 173
Ingraham, Dexter, 171
Ingraham, Edward P, 172
Ingraham, Emery D, 172
Ingraham Family, 170
Ingraham, Louis A, 172
Ingraham, Nathaniel H, 17
Ingraham, William F, 173-
Inman, Albert H, 197
Inman, William H, 197
Jennison, Benjamin, 440
Jennison, George, 439
Jennison, George, 440
Jewett, Eben, 304
Jewett, Ebenezer, 304
Jewett, Warren C, 303
Johnson, Charles R, 396
Johnson, Theodore S, 395
Johnson, Theodore W, 395,
Jones, Asa, 535
Jones, Erastus, 534
Jorjorian, Eleazer D, 448
Kendall, Charles D, 161
Kendall, Everett, 541
Kendall Family, 159
Kendall, Frederick H, 162
Kendall, Horace, 161
Kendall, John, 162
Kendall, John M, 162
Kendall, Oliver S, 542
Kendall, Sanford C, 161
Kilbourn, Jeremiah, 212
Kilbourn, William A, 212
Kilburn, William, 212
King, Charles W, 473
King, Homer R, 493
King, Jesse W, 475
King, John, 474
Kinnicutt Family, 231
Kinnicutt, Francis H, 231
Kinnicutt, Frank P, 231
Kinnicutt, Leonard P, 232
Kinnicutt, Lincoln N, 231
Kinsley, Ben A, 249
Kinsley, Daniel, 248
Kinsley, Daniel, 250
Kinsley Family, 249
Knapp, Charles H, 506
Knapp, Levi, 506
Knapp, Mary J, 506
Knowles Family, 120

-031-

INDEX

Knowles, Francis B, 122
Knowles, Simeon, 121
Logan, David, 69
Logan, James, 68
Longley, Charles I, 537
Longley Family, 536
Longley, James, 537
Longley, Parker, 537
Macauley, Thomas, 276*
Macgowan, Henry A, 272
Mann, Aaron, 375
Mann, Albert G, 374
Mann, John, 375
Manning, David, 75
Manning Family, 73
Manning, Theodore, 75
Marble, Jerome, 371
"Marble, John P, 372
Maxwell, Alexander, 336
Maxwell, Arthur L, 337
Maxwell, Roswell, 336
Maynard Family, 106
McGauley Family, 276
McGauley, Thomas F, 276
McGauley, Walter J, 277
McGown, Henry, 194
McGown, Joseph, 194
McGrath, Michael P, 471
McKibben, Frank P, 398
McKibben, Frank R, 397
McKibben, William W, 397
Mellen, Henry, 293
Mellen, Leonard, 294
"Mellen, Walter L, 295
Merrifield, Alpheus, 354
Merrifield Family, 354
"Merrifield, William t.', 354'
Middlemas, Charles A, 502
Middlemas, John S, 502
"Miles, James, 291
Miles, Walter J, 291
Mills, Cyrus, 332
Mills, George H, 331
"Mirick Family, 274
Moen, Augustus R, 55
"Moen Family, 55
Moen, Philip L, 55 .
Moen, Philip W, 56
"Mooney Family, 495
Mooney, Nicholas J, 495
"Mooney, Richard H, 496
Moore, Baxter, 391
Moore, David T, 505
"Moore, Lucy A, 505
Moore, Nathaniel C, 391
Moore, Pliny, 390
Morgan, Charles R, 107
Morgan, Charles H, 105
Morgan, Francis H, 106
Morgan, Hiram. 104
Morgan, Paul B, 102
Morgan, Ralph L, 106
Morse, Amherst, 492
Morse, Austin J., 492
Morse, Edwin R.. 491
Munroe, Alexander C, 279
Munroe, Charles, 280
Munroe, Nathan, 280
Murdock, Elisha, 408
Murdock, Frank L, 407
"Murdock, Lucius A, 408

Murray, Grace P, 314
Myrick, Walter E, 538
Nelson, Charles H, 520
. Nelson Family, 518
Nelson, Jasper S, 519
Norcross, Arthur W, 261
Norcross, James A, 260
Norcross, James F, 261
Norcross, Jesse O., 262 •
Norcross, Mary Ellen, 262
Norcross, William E, 261
Otis, Albert S„ 208
Otis, Benjamin B, 207
Otis, Harrison G„ 206
Otis, Mary E, 206
Otis, John C, 208
Otis, John P. K. 208
Paine Family, 131
Paine Family 343
Paine, Nathaniel, 345
Parker, ' Chester, 218
Parker, Edmund L., 147
Parker Family, 145
Parker Family, -217
Parker Family, 232
Parker, George A, 217
Parker, Herbert, 218
Parker, Herbert L, 146
Parker, John L, 146
Parker, New W, 147
Parkhurst, Charles F. W, 50
Parkhurst. Wellington E, 49
Parsons Family, 379
Parsons, Norman B, 380
Parsons, Samuel B, 380
Parsons, Solomon, 380
Peckham Family, 312
Peckham, Fenner H, 313
Peckham, Fenner H, Jr, 314
Peirce, Benjamin, 477
Peirce, George, 476
Pellett, John C, 406
Pellett, Thomas A, 406
Pennington, Lawrence W, 192
Perry, Charles H., 237
Perry, Josiah G, 238
Perry, Nathan, 238
Pevey, Amos A, 299
Pevey, Benjamin A, 299
Pevey, Benjamin M, 300
Pevey, Charles K, 300
Pevey, Edward P, 299
Pevey Family, 297
Pevey, Franklin M„ 299
Pfaffmann, Philip M, 503
Pickett, Josiah, 50
Pierce, Granger. 450
Pierce, Rufus J, 450
Pierce. Scott T, 449
Pike, jane C. 337
Pinkerton. Alfred S, 355
Porter, Ahira, 461
Porter Family, 460
Porter, Samuel, 461
Porter, Walter C, 461
", Potter Family, 403
Potter, Luke, 403
'} Power, John J, A07
1,. Powers, Frank E, 500
|j Powers. John J., 501
' Pratt, Emma A, 233

Pratt, Frederick- S„ 23;.
Pratt, Henry S, 89
Pratt, Sumner, 233
Putnam, Davis, 342
Putnam Family, 337
Putnam, Otis E, 342
Read, Calvin, 259
Read, Charles F„ 258
Reed, Frederick E, 252
Reed, John, 254
Reed, Mary F, 158
Reed, Micah, 157
Reed, Micah T, 157
Reed, Samuel, 254
Reed, Thomas H, 156
Rice, Dexter, 323
Rice, George H, 322
Rice, Lewis W, 323
Rice, William E, 45
Richardson, Emily D, 453
Richardson, Francis A, 521
Richardson, George M, 503
Richardson, Mary S.. 169
Richardson, Seneca M, 452
Richardson, Walter H, 509
Richardson, William A, 477
Richardson, Wyman, 478
Richardson, Wyman, Jr, 47,'
Robinson, Asher £., 486
Robinson, Birney A, 485
Robinson Family 257
Robinson, James, 258
Robinson, James, 465
Robinson, Joseph, 486
Robinson, Stephen, 258
Robinson, Stephen A, 258
Robinson, Winslow H, 465
Roe- Alfred 'S, 385
Roe, Austin M, 386
Roper Family, 224
Rugg, Arthur P, 79
Rugg, Gilbert J, no
Rugg, Oliver W, 77
Rugg, Prentice ISI, 78
Russell, Elias, 187
Russell, Elias H, 186
Russell, George S, 300
Safford, Arthur L, 93
Safford, Charles, 94
Salisbury Family, 5
Salisbury, Stephen, 6
Salisbury, Stephen, Jr, 7
Sauer, Emil, 482
Sawyer, Stephen, 265
Sawyer, Stephen, Jr, 267
Scott, Charles C, 402
Scott, Charles C. 403
Scott, Charles N, 205
Scott, Clinton B, 403
Scott, David, 204
Scott, David, Jr., 204
Scott, Ebenezer W, 402
Scott, George T, 205
Scott, Nelson R, 203
Searls, Phinehas, 247
Searls, William, 247
Searls, William P, 246"
Sessions, Frank E, 273
Sessions, George, 273
Sessions, Waldo E, 273
Shattuck Family, 250
Shattuck, James Ii, 252

INDEX

5 5 1>

Shattuck, Josiah, 251
Shattuck, William B, 252
Shaw, Asa, 508
Shaw, Thomas A, 507
Shaw, Thomas B, 509
Sherman, Benajah, 434
Sherman Family, 107
Sherman, George H, 433
Sherman, Hazard, 434
Sibley, Leander, 544
Skinner, Henry A, 442
Skinner, Otis, 442
Smith, Ellen M. G, 49 .
Southgate Family, 254
Southgate, John P., 255
Southgate, Reuben H, 256
Southworth Family, 210
Southworth, Nathaniel, 211
Southworth, Simeon, 211
Spaulding, Albert A, 328
Spaulding, Augustus, 329
Spaulding, Dua, 329
Sprague, Augustus, B. R, 43
Sprague, Caroline F, 43
Sprague Family, 42
Sprague, Lee, 43
Starr, Hezekiah P., 539
State Normal School, 187
Stewart Boiler Works, 194
Stewart, Charles M, 194
Stewart, James C, 194
Stewart. John C, 194
Stone, Christopher C, 147
Stone, Dana, 526
Stone Family, 107
Stone Family, 525
Stone, George, 149
Stone, James, 149
Stone, Lyman T, 527
Stone, Walter A, 149
Stone, William, 526
Stonebarger Family, 230
Stowe, Henry H, 99
Stowe, Moses, 100
Streeter, David, 290
Streeter, Prescott B, 290
Streeter, Stephen P, 289
Sumner, Erastus, 85
Sumner Family, 83
Sumner, George, 85
Taft, John, 223
Taft, Lyman J, 222
Taylor, Jared, 522
Taylor, Lucian A, 521
Tenney, Abijah W, 285
Tenney, Arthur B, 285
Tenney Family, 284
Tenney, Thomas, 285

Thayer, Alden, Jr, 135
Thayer, Charles D, 135
Thayer, Eli, 134
Thayer Family, 132
Thayer, George A, 135
Thayer, John R„ 133
Thayer, Mowry R, 133
Thomas, Bertha A, 464
Thomas, Carl C. T, 463
Tidd Family, 107
Timme, Ernest A, 502
Torrey, Ebenezer, 410
Torrey Family, 314
Torrey, Joseph R, 409
Torrey, William, 410
Trowbridge Family, 355
Trowbridge, James, 355
Trowbridge, William, 355
Upham, Freeman, 511
Upham, Roger F, 510
Upham, Freeman, 511
Vaughan, Charles A, 238
Vaughan, George P, 239
Vaughan, John, 239
•Wadsworth Family, 129
Ward, Charles R, 422
Ward, Ebenezer, 422
Ward, Edward D, 422
Ward Family, 107
Ward Family, 421
Ward, John, 422
Warner, Amory P, 288
Warner, Emerson, 287
Warner, Phineas, 288
Warren, Berthier, 169
Warren, Eunice C, 169
Warren Family, 130
Warren Family, 167
Warren, Henry W, 169
Warren, Samuel, 169
Warren, Waterman G, 168
Washburn, Charles, 11
Washburn, Charles .F, 11
Washburn, Charles G, 12
Washburn, Elihu B, 9
Washburn, Family, 8
Washburn, Francis, 12
Washburn, Ichabod, 9
Washburn, Israel, 9
Washburn, John D, 13
Washburn, William A, 13
Washburn, Wrilliani B, 12
Watson, Edwin L, 513
Watson Family, 512
Watson, Lory S, 512

Watson, Walter C, 513
Wellington Family, 389
Wellington, Fred W, 389
Wellington, Nehemiah, 389
Wellington, Timothy W, 389.
Wells, Alonzo R, 277
Wells, Moses, 278
Wesson, Daniel B, 229
Wesson, James E, 228
Wesson, Rufus, 229
Wesson, Rufus, Jr, 229
Wesson, Walter G, 230
Wetherhee, Judah, 227
Wheeler, Edward W, 150
Wheeler, Edwin W, 153
Wheeler, Erastus W, 153
Whitcomb, Alonzo, 427
Whitcomb, Alonzo W, 424.
Whitcomb, Carter, 426
White, Franklin B, 138
White, Fred W, 285
White, Hosea, 139
White, Lowell, 286
White, Merrick D, 286
White, Rollin G, 330
White, Sylvanus, 138
Whitman, Charles, 227
Whitman Family, 226
Whitney, Anna Henshaw, 82-
Whitney, Asa H, 82
Whitney, Edward, 47
Whitney Family, 46
Whitney Family, 81
Whitney, John, 47
Whittemore, Eli J, 94
Whittemore, Eric H, 96
Whittemore, Oliver, 96
Wilder, Alexander H, 203,
Wilder, Harvey B, 201
Wolcott Faihily, 107
Wood, Bernard, 234
Wood, Cyrus G, 158
Wood, Edward M, 524
Wood, Mary S.. 159
Wood, Peter, 234
Woodcock Family, 15
Woodcock, John, 15
Woodcock. Theodore E, 15
Woodward, Edwin, 183
Woodward Family, 181
Woodward, Henry, 183
Woodward, Lemuel F, 185
Woodward, Rufus, 185
Woodward, Samuel, 183
Woodward, Samuel B, 183
Worcester Normal School, 187
Wyman, Horace, 404
Wyman, Horace W, 406
Young, Arthur 0, 241